The Knight's Quest in Gardner, MA held its first Kotei warm-up tournament yesterday. We had 22 participants, and I took first place with Naga. Here's the breakdown: 2 Naga 2 Horde 1 Crab 3 Unicorn 3 Phoenix 2 Dragon 3 Lion 2 Scorpion 2 Crane 2 ?? Can't remember... Anyway, the tournament was once again run very smoothly and efficiently. Props to Erik Brann, the tournaments have been getting progressively faster and better as of late. The whole tournament wrapped up in under 6 hours and the experience was enjoyable for most everyone. We plan to have at least one more warm-up style tournament before the store-sponsored bus trip to the NYC Kotei tournament on June 10. Here's how my games went: Round 1 - Eric Belville, Tattoo Dragon Military (Kaede) Eric gets a crappy start with Akui, Hitomi 3, and Kokujin, and some event. I'm running Nio sensei but he DOESN'T DITCH anything! I proceeded to draw two deep forests, a black market, and purusha. He brings up corrupt gold mine, I get Warlord and Ashigaru on Purusha. Akuai comes out, gets Ambushed by Purusha. Warlord takes a Naga Guard and crushes the next cheapest thing. Repeat for the next three turns. We played a game for fun afterwards and I was stalled a bit by his dragonfly/crane tattoos, but Storms of War secured another win. 1-0 Round 2 - Kyle Nicholson, Broken Halls Phoenix Honor (Satsume) He gets a first turn Shin Shrine and Large Farm, with Osugi and Gennai exp showing. He brings up farm, I get a decent start with an Issut and free gold. Turn two he tries to bring up a silver mine and Gennai but forgot about Nio sensei, so he just brought up the farm. I attached Ashigaru to Issut and charged to take a province, brought up a warlord. He brought out Iuchi Karasu exp2, but he got dropped by Purusha/Arrows from the Woods after holding off the warlord for a turn. Tao of the Naga resolved right after he first took the favor. Kyle conceded after I took his last non-shrine province. Satsume sensei almost annoyed me but all I needed were the Ashigaru and a pair of Naga Bushi. 2-0 Round 3 - Roger Ballou, Old School Corrupt Phoenix (original SH with Norikazu sensei! sick, sick, sick) We both develop average, Rog gets a turn 3 Ogre Outlaw while I'm sitting on Purusha and Issut with Naga Bushi. Turn 4 he attaches a 1F Ashigaru and a Hurricane Initiates (!) He doesn't use the Initiates ability and attacks, I defend with Purusha. I Frenzy the ogre and sacrifice a Purusha and Province to kill the followers. Losing 2 honor from the Ashigaru dropped him to -1 so he couldn't bring up Asako Hosigeru, and Issut attacked for a province on my turn. I had a Palace of the Emerald champion by this point so I knew I could afford to trade provinces. In short, I get lucky and take out his next couple personalities with attacks while bringing out a Shahadet and Isha for back-up. He never gets more than the outlaw out, although with Oath and the Lost Ono it's potent. In the end he can't match me for force, though, and I take the last province. 3-0 Round 4 - Peter Bilodeau, Crab Ratling (Ak'tok'tuk) Pete's been working on his Crab Ratling deck lately, so I was wondering what sort of changes he had in store for open. Didn't get to see much, since our game was pretty quick. He took an early lead in ratlings including a ratling conjuror and Rop'tch'tch. My Kolat Dupe took out his Ruantek with a follower, I attacked and took a province. He took two of mine in response, and then I took two of his. Purusha/Concealed archers destroyed his Chitattchikkan before it could do much damage, and I held him off long enough to get the Qamar out. After a few turns of searching for followers, bringing out Naga, and drawing a ton of cards, I attacked and took his last province. 4-0 Round 5 - Dan Ramos, Lion Tactician (Hantei) Dan's an old rival of mine, having beaten me in the store's first sword tournament waaaay back, and I think I still owe him a beating for it. :) After deciding to play (we were both guaranteed in the final 8 and I kinda wanted to take the time to get some lunch), the game started pretty evenly. He took an early lead in personalities but I had enough defense. I Shady out an Armor of Earth and just Ambush his Ken-Os before they can do anything. Purushas defend me well, and I just build up faster and take him. 5-0 Quarterfinals - Clint Stinnett, Lion (no sensei) We both started out pretty strong, but I took out his early personalities with Purusha/Ambush. I knocked him down to three provinces and Kolat Duped a Matsu Suhada. Next turn? He flips THREE Matsu Suhadas! Argh! 9 free force...first time I've seen Dupe bite someone back like that. :) Tim Smart made a comment about "that's what you get for dealing with Kolat," but I kept going. Used Ambush/Sneak/Arrows to knock his Ken-O from the board, concealed archers and Purusha defended me while I started attacking again. I get the Qamar and plow through my fate deck for the cards I need to win. On the last turn, I flip Desperate Measures on the Palace of the Emerald Champion...silly! 10 cards off the deck for a province, good deal. He's down to one province and I outforce him with three Purushas, Shahadet, Qamar, and assorted Naga on the board. Movin' on. Semifinals - Dan Ramos again, Lion Tactician (Hantei) Similar to our last game. Dan starts stronger than I do but fizzles, I draw more gold and Purusha/Ambush and Retirement took the teeth out of his Ikoma Ken-O's. He gets out some weenie lions but is never in a good enough position to attack. I build up my naga and start taking provinces each turn (enlistment/Ashigaru/Qamar). I drew three Concealed Archers by turn 2 and made excellent use of them to take out Lion's Pride and defend my provinces from the fife. He destroys my Palace of the Emerald champion so I flip, and lose ALL THREE RALLIES. Creative Purusha defenses are enough to hold me together at that point though, and I wrap up the game in a couple turns. Finals - Chuck Derby, Dragon Dueling (Toshimoko) Unfortunately, Chuck and I have a long-standing Karmic rule. He always beats me up in casual play, and I always destroy him in tournaments. It sucks when Karma skews the finals, but that's exactly what happened. I had a GOD game...first turn Desperate Measures and Issut, couldn't take a turn two province in battle but did Kolat Dupe his Bujun. He brings up Daini, I've got Purusha/Ambush. Charge/Ashigaru on Issut, next turn Naga Guard, I've won by turn 7 without Chuck ever having a personality up to defend meaningfully. Tao of the Naga drifted up right after his first opportunity to favor-grab, and the last four dynasty cards he has access to are gold. I picked up some excellent points and $45(!). Bought a Naga starter among other stuff and gave Tim the Yakamo exp 3, and admitted I was a fat bandwagoning little whore so our dedicated Naga player could have his moral victory. :) I definately like the deck, although I really want to trim the fate down...anybody with suggestions LMK. DYNASTY Inheritance Tao of the Naga Desperate Measures Enlistment Retirement Kolat Duplicate As the Shadow Falls Golden Sun Plain Palace of the Emerald Champion 1 x Shinomen Forest 3 x Deep Forest 3 x Forest 3 x Black Market 3 x Small Farm Retired Advisor Qamar exp The Daini (anti-ninja, gonna take him out) Shahadet 4 x PURUSHA (MVP by far) 4 x Warlord 3 x Damesh 3 x Issut 2 x Isha FATE (yeah, it's mad bloated...useful for Palace though) 3 x Ambush 3 x Avoid Fate 3 x Concealed Archers 3 x Rallying Cry 3 x Charge 2 x Frenzy (Anti-wind's truth tech, anti-follower) 3 x Arrows from the Woods 3 x Sneak Attack 2 x Storms of War 2 x A Test of Courage 3 x Shady Dealings 3 x Ashigaru Archers 3 x Ashigaru Spearmen 4 x Naga Guard 3 x Naga Bushi Armor of Earth Ring of the Void Nio Sensei Kisada Sensei (when you can't use Nio) -"Hida" John Brouillet Team "We need a better name" Knight's Quest crabfort@hotmail.com ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com