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From Wild Swings to iOS Champion

AcidVeins details his tournament experience.

(Editor's note: AcidVeins23, the winner of the October 2012 iOS Tournament, did a great job writing up a summary of his tournament experience. Check back at a later date for actual video of the match courtesy of Playdek, along with commentary from AcidVeins23 and DoctorPenick.)

Round 1

Bmeagle(TO) vs (CL)
Eagle and I go way back. We started playing together a few months ago, and I knew he would play TO. It's easily his best race, and I actually modeled my cloaks vs tundra orcs style through games with him, so it was only fitting that I play them against him in this tournament. He nearly beat me in this game, as an unlucky smasher roll left him with 1 success short of killing vlox, but I had a huge magic lead. The whole game came down to that roll, and he missed.

RudyValentine (JE) vs (JE)
Choosing JE was a big mistake for me in this tourney. I greatly overestimated my ability with them. This game hinged on a stand off between Makeinda Ru, and Miti in the middle of the battlefield. Rudy's Ru won the battle, and it all went downhill for me from there.

Hatchet Jackson (JE) vs (JE)
I had played hatchet a few times before this, and he stomped me. I was really unhappy to see him in my first pool. That being said, this game turned out pretty interesting. Hatchet got a wound on my Abua early on in the game. I quickly gained an upper hand by summoning Miti pretty early in the game, and maneuvering him into a position to trap the enemy summoner. It was only a matter of time before I finished him off. Then, a terrible move by me left my Abua open to a Lioneer. Three dice + chant of growth = a dead Abua. I still want revenge, Hatchet!

Jyoder(GD) vs (PE)
This was one of the closest games I have ever played. A misstep left me open to two consecutive magic drains, which left me playing catch up for the entire game. I played a pretty solid defensive game, and I think Jyoder played a little more aggressive because I was on the back foot. Fast forward to the endgame, I was building a very solid economic lead, but his army was pressing forward quickly. A few lucky rolls left me with no walls left to summon the 3 fencers left in my hand. I killed his last unit, which left me with laleya, and Elien, and him with Oldin. He moved Oldin up to shoot my Elien, who had 1 life left... And rolled two ones. I retaliated with my only option, needing 5/5 dice, and I rolled it. Thank you, dice gods.

Oliver (VG) vs (PE)
At this point, I knew that whoever won this match advanced to the next round. I was really excited and nervous about this game, and it crept by, taking place over many days. I'm sure Oliver felt the same. We both played meticulously. I was trying to throw him off his game by setting up as many attack angles as possible, but Oliver had my number, and played a great defensive game. I eventually had his main middle wall pressured with my fire drake to the point where he had to respond. He summons two priest, and plays all three of his holy judgements, and rolls three handfuls of dice against my remaining walls. Needless to say, they came crashing down, but he spent too many resources on my walls, and left me with too much firepower. My two remaining champions plus a spirit of the Phoenix finished off Sera, in spite of Her guardian, Kalon.

Round 1 was a really tough division. I think anyone in this group could have made it to the finals. GG to every one from the Wild Swing division, it was fun.

Round 2

My only goal at the beginning of round two was to not go 0-5. So, I was pretty happy with the results. Lol. Unfortunately, my memory isn't working very well for these matches.

Passive assassin (TO) vs (TO)
This was easily my worst game in the entire tournament. Passive slaughtered me. I can't seem to understand the TO. I lost so badly, I think I blocked this game from my mind.

Airstone(TO) vs (CL)
I wanted to play cloaks at least once each round. They are my favorite faction, and I wanted to prove that they aren't as underpowered as most would have one believe. This game started with at least five fury rolls for Airstone. The first turn ended with three wounds on my summoner. The game turned into an all out offensive from Air, but my more efficient commons saved the day.

GoldenTrader(TO) vs (GD)
I had suffered a bad loss to golden online, and I was worried about this game. We both played slowly, and ended up with clogged hands. I was forced to play several events that I wasn't ready to play, and so was Golden. His last hero was Bragg, but he was forced to play all of his feeezes earlier to free his hand, I gained a large magic advantage because of this. The game ended with a lot of left over commons from me that finished the game.

Karlihn(PE) vs (PE)
I used a burn on my own archer to play two magic drains. I gained a large enough magic lead to play two heroes on the next turn, and pressure him into exposing his summoner into bad positions. I kept the aggression up until His summoner eventually fell.

Esper(88) (TO) vs (PE)
I played extremely aggressive this game. TO biggest weakness is commons, and I exploited this. I think esper's game was thrown off after that. Sorry I don't remember specifics.

Round 2 was fun. Passive moved forward with me, and I was convinced that he would take the final pool by storm. I was starting to worry that my prevalence with PE would betray me In the final round. I thought, maybe someone would try to metagame me, and choose cloaks or JE. However, dr. Pennick  had already proven that PE can overcome anything. Onto the final group!

Round 3

Alkazar(TO) vs (TO)
A repeat from round 2, only worse. My TO game is terrible, but this game was ridiculous. He walked two thwarters across the entire map, and nearly 7 attacks from shamans couldn't take them down. I finally killed one thwarter with an attack from grognack. If you look up irony in the dictionary, there is a replay of this game. Krung lost about 6 hit points to the same thwarter that lived for ten turns. Even given my terrible luck, the loss was my fault. Alkazar outplayed me 100%. In hindsight, I should have summoned more shamans, or thwarters of my own, and I also gave him a few free reinforcements, which was a much larger mistake than I initially thought.

Sower1(GD) vs (PE)
A classic game with this match-up. Sower tried to put me into a bad position to destroy my walls. He started the game very strong by parking a ballista a space away from my starting wall. I was forced to respond with commons(aka magic I didn't want to spend). Luckily, he overreacted to his advantage and went all out aggression. I played a smart defensive game, which gave me the benefit of using Elien's strong attack/special ability. I think this is what won the game for me. One key to the Phoenix elves is to use Elien as efficiently as possible, and I succeeded. This lead to a magic advantage at the end of the game, and a few extra commons to Finish the game strong.

Zyre(PE) vs (PE)
I used the nastiest trick available to the PE; I burned my own archer to play magic drains. Zyre could never catch up after that.

Passiveassassin(PE) vs (PE)
My second PE mirror match in this round, and against my self declared "rival". (No hate Passive, I'm just being dramatic.) This game started off very poorly for me. My hand was clogged very early on, and I was forced to summon my fire drake. Passive responded with two warriors and placed a lot of wound markers on my beast. I knew I needed a big play to bring me back into the game.
I managed to save my fire drake, and hide him for a few turns. I knew that keeping my drake alive could be the key to winning the game.
I made my best move of the tournament by baiting his fire drake into a trap. I left my summoner open to a fire blast through his protecting wall. Passive took the bait. He did one wound to my Elien, but I sprung  my trap. Maleena, a warrior, spirit of the Phoenix, greater burn, and fire breath brought his drake down to one remaining life. (This was actually a mistake in my part. I was going for a huge play to catch up. I should have held the greater burn, and finished the drake with attacks.)
Then, my move of saving my fire drake paid off, as I moved into position to pressure Elien, he played his greater burn to kill my drake. Whew, I didnt have to worry about that anymore.
We both began to run low on cards in deck, I knew I was ahead in that regard, but he had two unsummoned heros. I baited his next hero, much like his drake and killed it immediately.
I had a lot of commons left, and he had one hero, but not enough magic to get it out. So, I decided to go straight for his walls and assure myself the game. He didn't have enough units or resources to stop me, and I happily rolled the final dice on his summoner. If anyone wants a challenging game, give passive an invite.

DoctorPenick (GD) vs (CL)
(Video and commentary coming soon.)

This tournament was a great experience for me. I  have met some great players, and I'm thankful that this community is full of great people that understand sportsmanship, and fun. GG to everyone involved in this tournament, and everyone on this forum. I have witnessed the poisonous atmosphere attached to competitive video games, and I am so glad that the board gaming community in general (especially the Heroscape/SW people) are friendly and courteous folks.

Thanks to Joe, Colby, and the entire plaid hat crew for being amazing at what they do. Long live Plaid Hat Games!

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