Tournament in Madison, WI

[Kaemon Awa 123]

I am going to be bringing one additional person, will there be room for him to play?

[Clarissimus]

Sorry guys, but I won't be able to make this one. But I am planning on coming to town next weekend for the Heroscape event, maybe I will see some of you there.

[Ranior]

I am going to be bringing one additional person, will there be room for him to play?

I'm not sure anyone has actually called him or reserved a spot. I should tomorrow and see if he wants me to bring some boards with me and what not.

[Corre]

Sorry guys, but I won't be able to make this one. But I am planning on coming to town next weekend for the Heroscape event, maybe I will see some of you there.

So someone else has a chance to win this tournament is what you are saying

[Jexik]

I can't make this one either. I've got two birthdays to attend, as well as a black belt pre-test.

I'll try to make the next one.

[Kaemon Awa 123]

Taliya's Spirit got here in the mail today, so I'm set, and ready to leave tomorrow.

[Ranior]

Looking like I shall make it for sure now. Now...I just have to figure out the bus system well enough to get over there, or walk for like 2 hours haha.

[Kaemon Awa 123]

Excellent tournament, everybody, 12 is more than a decent turnout.

I did learn a few things about the Shadow Elves...

1. It is possible to win without Hydrake (or Grubs)
2. Melek is Xaeserbane's brother (but better)
3. Hunters are awesome (and 2 is not enough)

[Ranior]

I had a GREAT day today at the tournament.

First off, I have to say I'm Board is probably the best game store I've ever been in. The owner was super friendly, and very very helpful with everything. He answered my questions, helped suggest games to purchase, and just did a great job running the tournament.

Additionally the stock and selection of games was simply astounding. It was a well laid out store, unlike many other gaming stores I've been at, they had tons and tons of choices of games (like pretty much whatever you would want I should think). They had sections of puzzles and very young childrens games as well, and party games and just everything. It was awesome.

And then....the back area for gaming was also great. They have seats for like 30? people I'm guessing to game, a nice bathroom, and a good library of games to use in store, or check out so you can see what it looks like before buying it.

And all the people in the store this weekend and at the tournament were very friendly and amiable and kind...it was really cool. I've been to other stores where it seems the regulars like stare out any new guy who shows up and huddles over their game table unwilling to talk or interact with others. Everyone was really cool.


But....now onto the tourney. There was 12 entrants, so a nice size field. There was also some nice diversity in the ages as well, with a few children, a couple teenagers, and a few adults. Everyone had out their master set boxes, quite a few had some cool faction dice (which I really need to go get), and were all set to go. It was cool.

There was also a good distribution of factions...if I remember right there was 2x TO, 2x FK, JE, MV, BN, SO, SE, SG, PE, and CG

As is, I ran Jungle Elves, with Makienda Ru, Miti Mumway, Khan Queso, 4x Archer, 5x Lioness, 2x Vermin, 2 x Lioneer, 3 x Gorilla, 1 x Elephant, 1 x Jungle Guard.

I find that splashing commons with Jungle Elves like this works quite well. They don't generally need any commons, but can be useful at certain times. There is only one Lioneer in my draw stack here, which is intentional. Players now are so used to them they block the lanes to their summoner anyhow....and so Lioneers are never worth summoning usually, so I just leave one.

There are lots of one cost commons, and that is also intentional. Almost every hand you will draw one, and if you are ever getting rushed and stuff I find the JE can use a cheap common til Miti or Ru can get to the table. Khan is also very useful in stemming the tide if the opponent is coming at you fast.

So the basic goal of my deck was to get Ru and Miti down throughout the game and let them wreck as much havoc as they could. If I have the magic I'll summon up some beefier commons to help out as well, and use a Gorilla whenever possible to assist in the takedown of a champ, wall, or summoner. Khan is in to allow better ability to summon some Gorillas and other commons, as well as Khan is great to block access to Abua or just stem the tide of a rush.

As was....things didn't always go exactly how I wanted, but things did go well.


Game 1:

Myself (Jungle Elves) vs _____ (Sand Goblins)

Sadly I forgot the name...he was a younger kid and I can't remember his name, except that it wasn't a very common name. As was, this was an interesting round. I was right away impressed with my opponent, as he certainly knew what was up...I haven't gamed with children much, the few I have have apparently given me the wrong impression. Very very respectable play, knew all the rules and abilties going on, and was really nice and cool with everything. As was, we both kinda just turtled at the start, killing our units and building magic. He got up to like 12, I was at like 10. I summoned Miti Mumway just to get him out of my hand, and continued to build magic for a turn. He continued building too to like 13.

I think used a CoH and a summon to block the front of his walls and started to beat them down. This got him to begin moving a bit. After a bit he pulled out Tark, and said Miti couldn't attack him...that was annoying. Luckily I was able to summon Ru and smack him for 3/4 right away, and Tark then had to hide for much of his life taking very safe shots at times.

Miti and Ru did their jobs very well of clearing through mostly everything. They took out a lot of walls, Tark, Biter, and Silts. At the end Krusk began coming forward, and Ru got a power shot in at him for a few wounds before dying. Then Khan Queso came down, and the next turn Krusk died due the plague. Abua was at full life but I was out of cards at that point, so it was really a pretty close end all things considered and a fun first round game.


Game 2

Me (Jungle Elves) (1-0) vs Conor (KaemonAwa) (Shadow Elves) (1-0)

So this was a wild game. Very early on a SM got to Abua and went 2/2. Abua retreated into the corner kinda, and hid for a bit. The opening Lioneer lived for a bit, and Abua was hiding behind it for protection while he built magic. Conor summoned up Kuldrid, a cool new SE I hadn't seen before. He killed the Lioneer and was set to come in the next turn and get Abua. I summoned Ru and a Gorilla, and got lucky in killing Kuldrid with a Pummel and good power shot. Critical time for a good roll, really swung some help to me.

But then Kaemon goes on the next turn to summon a SM, and then summon a Hunter right off of that immediately to shoot Abua 2/2 again. Abua was down to one life, had just his starting wall, and the SE had a new wall bearing down on him!

I got lucky that turn to draw one of my other walls, and kill the units I needed to with fair, but important rolls not to whiff on.

At this point...Abua was pretty well safe. I had a huge advantage in magic, units, and draw pile....so the SE still needed to be tricky. Unfortunately for them, they couldn't get anything down quite.

Miti and Ru wound up killing off the Rider guy, and Khan's plague and and CoG Miti finished off the hopeless Sel.

While the end was clearly in my favor, that midde game was tight, and Abua had to be super super careful to hide correctly to avoid that last wound. Good game.


Game 3

Me (Jungle Elves) (2-0) vs _____ (Benders) (2-0)

...again I seem to stink at remembering names. I'm guessing also that this is Ronaldo from this forum.

But as was...this was an interesting round as well. The Benders opened by killing their Decievers, I just started killing my stuff and attacking walls.

My Lioneer wound up sitting on top of his 2nd wall, which was placed forward, so my Lioneer couldn't be Mind Controled. I had an Archer behind it, shooting 4 dice at the wall each turn, while building magic. I had Ru, Gorilla, and Miti in hand with like 8 magic which is a great spot to be in.

He summoned Sorgwen behind his wall, and I got to destroying one of the walls. At that point there was some back and forth trading of commons in the center, and Miti was summoned, sitting on top of the other wall, stomping commons that came to him. I kept building all my events, he wound up mind controlling 2 of my units, including my Lioneer who was forced to attack Miti for 6 dice. That one hurt.

Still Miti emerged through the fight basically, and Ru popped in to finish off Sorgwen. At this point I had a magic advantage, and a bit of a unit advantage. He couldn't afford to unsommon Ru, but Ru did get some good shots in at a wall and stuff. I had enough magic and summoned a Jungle Guard down, and got an Archer behind him shooting over him. He summoned out Kalu and Talu to kill Ru, but luckily Ru survived one turn to seriously wound the pair. The pair killed off Ru and a Gorilla the next turn, but then the Jungle Guard and Archer killed them off. The Benders were down to Tacullu with little magic against a Jungle Guard, Archer, and a Khan Queso yet to be summoned. As earlier, in the end, Tacullu died to the plague, and Khan Queso notched another kill. Fun round, and as happened a lot today, I got my luck at the critical and important rolls, which really helped me out.


So...at this stage the rounds were over, but there were two of us at 3-0 so we had to go into the championship game...


(And the forums character limit means next post will have it....)

[Ranior]

Game 4, the Championship

Me (Jungle Elves) (3-0) vs Ethan (Guessing username is Corre) (Mountain Vargath) (3-0)

In this game Abua was risky early on a little shooting 2 life commons 2 or 3 times, and not failing which helped me get some early magic. My Lioneer suicied forward to kill the Warrior turn one and did just that.

He began to push forward, but I was able to plop down Ru early and CoG her to take a 5 die shot at Sunderved, and got 4 wounds. This was huge, as he know needed to find a Fall Back and keep Sunderved safe all game.

Ru did her stuff killing a unit or two after, as I built to Miti Mumway. Miti came in to kill some units, as well as killing Growden. Miti though did benefit from a CoL or two throughout this.

There was the exchange of a few more commons, and then the end game reached. He pulled out Quen to finish off Miti and some of my units, but I then whipped out enough to kill Quen fast. It was down to a Brute, Rusher, and Sunderved to take one what I brought out, whcih was a Jungle Guard, and Khan and some other common. Abua did wind up getting wounded by being too agressive (well and rolling 0/5 on a wounded Rusher with Khan's aid)...so that was a bad miss, he pulled his Brute in and went 4/4 on Abua....so my summoner was down to 1 life. Luckily I was able to hid him safely, and just use my units to finish off Sunderved, but this one too was pretty close in the end.



And therefore I won! That was pretty cool, I was very surprised then too at a nice game certificate to I'm Board, which I just had to use right away to get a game....which is where the owner proved to be a great aid and really helped me out in deciding, as well as getting to peek at the demo copies to see what I'd like. I walked out with Cosmic Encounter, in addition to the 4 new summoner wars packs that I bought as soon as I got there haha. It was a really great day, and a really fun tournament. Definitely will need to look into having one again soon.


And with that being said...if there's every some summoner wars gaming going down out there, let me know. I have a few friends at college that would come out and show up, we'd just have to know the day and time and we could probably show up for a few hours.