Regional championships Journey: A Scrubs Chronicle
2-18-08
I will start by saying that is going to be really cool to have the opportunity to get to play in the regions championship tournament on May10, 2008. I and my brother got the invite to this back in February when the season changed. At that tournament of only 10 people, I went undefeated and he placed 7th, to Q us both.
I won that event with pretty much a hybrid version of the Omedus net deck. I changed a few things, most notably taking out 2 Faesha, which was a huge mistake. And aside from putting in the quest One Draenei’s Junk, only a few misplays and a really good healing warlock deck gave me troubles. But I don’t want to relive all of that.
I figured I would come home after that RC and tear apart that build forever. This same deck on the same evening actually went 2-2 at my local BG, which was very disheartening. All day long I had the situation of ‘you were way past dead next turn’ on my side. Total opposite here against turtle paladins.
Instead, a few days after, I went into study mode and tried to realize what my weaknesses were for my synergy. To sum up the build, rush allies are used to pile on as much early damage as possible on their hero, then turn 4 or 5 drop shadow weaving, pray you live that next turn, then combo out by turn 7. Against most decks, this strategy would shine like a star. But one thing I kept seeing in my more difficult matches, if damage got healed or prevented, or even more specifically, was lost to protectors, I had bad problems. Now I don’t mean that as in it was an auto loss by no means. The problem was, that I could deal with early protectors, and even be mostly stable against early rush, but it became a very long game and I would just be waiting to draw into a double morlug/faesha to end it. And the trouble is, as evident by me going to almost all 3 game matches, it came down to ‘do it on this next turn, or I lose’. I can admit that 2 of those 6 games, I pulled out of my @$$, with topdecks directly from the hand of God himself. But to summarize, this was really my fault, comparable to trimming an eagles’ wings. Sure it still looks pretty and will flog you to death, but it just doesn't fly as majestic as an eagle should.
4-25-08
My initial instinct was to head back to my favorite cow Bulkas, and play with his new toys from the new set. But most every class got access to a lot of things to make equipment destruction very easy to main deck. So for now, most of my warrior ideas are on the back burner. Other classes have my interest also, but I keep going back to a focal point of discard priest. I read an article that touched on how this could be a contender if tweaked just right. Then I seen the report from the DMF in Germany. My opinion of the rest of the top8 list aside, this Runetusk deck had to be one of the more powerful there. Here is the winning list:
Hero: Runetusk
Abilities (26):
4 Greater Heal
4 Mental Anguish
4 Touch of Darkness
4 Soul Rend
4 Mind Spike
2 Mind Blast
4 Melt Face
Allies (10):
4 Tatulla the Reclaimer
2 Jon Reaver
4 Doshura Risestrider
Equipment (8):
4 The Bringer of Death
4 Voidfire Wand
Quests (16):
4 Counterattack!
3 Swift Discipline
3 Information Gathering
2 The Root of All Evil
4 Thwarting Kolkar Aggression
Side Deck:
2 Mana-Sphere Shoulders
2 Nyn'jah
2 Shadala
3 Absorb Magic
1 Darkness
Let me take a second to explain. This deck goes way beyond a little bit of hand disruption. 14 total cards will make you discard cards from your hand. That does not count the situational Soul Rends. Most decks have problems recovering from not having a hand. This covers a lot of aspects like untargetables and mid- to big-size allies as well as, well, most any threat.
But just discarding in the early turns is still not a win condition, even if you hit the perfect curve of it. They can still play cards and allies can still hit the table. This is where Melt Face and Soul Rend come in. Soul Rend in almost itself makes this level of discard worth playing. The ideal situation is, discard them a couple cards on turn 1&2 (2x ToD or 1 ToD+Mind Spike up to turn 2) There hand is still going down in size from playing resources, and maybe their turn 2 or 3 ally. Turn 4 can be pivotal, their hand should be almost empty, can play Mind spike to deal with an ally and discard, or ToD, then Soul Rend. They will be lucky to maybe still have one card by now, and will go into topdeck mode. Not a good feeling before turn 5.
But even then, they still have ways to get cards in hand. Mostly by quests. This is where Kolkars Aggression comes in to null that idea.
But if they happen to get lucky and get a card, odds are in your favour it wont be one that will completely swing control back to them. This is where Voidfire Wand comes in. With this down, they don’t need to worry about topdeck modeJ.
4-30-08
Ok so the idea is, you sit with no hand, more or less no allies, probably no quests and no way of drawing cards.
Now let me say, I don’t know how is first 5 constructed matches went. Matchups are one major key to success at bigger events. But I will skip speculation and go to my experience.
I took a version of it to my local tournament. I had a very bad match against rush, albeit a nut drawing rush. I also had a hard time against a solo Rotun, flavoured with poisons. The rogue matchup was very winnable with a little side deck help, but rush was a bigger problem. I made a few minor changes for the next week, before the RC, and still had a problem with the rush, but it was a lot better with my allies. The DMF allies are great for what they do, and it is arguable if they are the perfect choice for this deck still. But Rogg is still a 2 for 1 trade that puts a halt to non- untargetable rush, at least long enough to hopefully stabilize. Versus Doshura, who again is good, but she has to target to get her first trade, then has to protect to get the other. Rogg does the same damage to possibly more allies without needing to protect.
Jon Reaver was ok and is still a certain level of useful and can be the nuts against solo, but I think there will be a bigger problem with heavy ability decks leaking down on me, mostly from serpent/feral druid.
5-9-08
There was many things to consider going into Atlanta. I ended up trying to build a deck that had an answer for almost everything. This way of thinking usually never works, but discard decks deal with threats in a different way so with all things considered -
This is the list that I SHOULD HAVE registered for the Realm Championship Tournament on May 10th 2008 in (Duluth) Atlanta GA.
Hero: Runetusk
Abilities- 23
4 Touch of Darkness
4 Mind Spike
3 Mental Anguish
4 Soul rend
4 Melt Face
3 Greater Heal
3 Eclipse
Allies- 9
3 Rogg Dreadnock
4 Tatulla the Reclaimer
1 Magistrix Larynna
1 Retainer Cedra
1 Varimathras
Equipment- 12
4 Voidfire Wand
3 The Bringer of Death
2 Mana-Sphere Shoulderguards
Quests- 16
4 Thwarting Kolkar Aggression
4 Counterattack!
3 Information Gathering
3 Swift Discipline
2 Chasing A-Me 01
Side Deck- 10
3 Fade
2 Retainer Kedryn
2 Shadala
3 Spiritual Domination
5-10-08 1.30am-
The list above is a result of many addins and ideas and not workings and such.
Let me explain some of my choices that would appear to be a little unorthodox. I will start with the side deck.
Kedryn has the idea of going past protectors and for the throat of any problem allies. If not, he is at worst a 1 for 1 trade, which a lot of people hold in such high regard.
Spiritual domination is side decked more or less for game 2 surprises. The idea is to of course take an ally, but hopefully a bigger one that has been discarded early game.
Shadala is an all-star of course.
Fade is there as more help against solo. These are really fighting for spots for Silea in here and I am really torn. Fade buys me more time against a wider range of decks, but silea will almost ensure success against equipments.
It is 1.30am, the morning of the tournament as I review the testing earlier against Nathadan control, Bulkas solo and Druid rush. All of these decks exploit the only couple true weaknesses- a slow, non- discard opening few turns, and drawing extra cards. But bigger than those conditions, preventing the wands damage makes this deck run and even look like a peon discard deck. After that, if you kill of the few weapons I do have down; it’s more or less auto-scoop for me. As I fight drifting off to sleep, I read last minute posts on what people think the meta game will be leaning towards. I really don’t notice a lot of mention of Traitor Druid so much, which issues beatings with early rush wrapped up by serpent form and twig. I will admit that I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to this deck and didn’t really expect a lot of rush other than weenie blue untargetable, which I had a very strong game against
5-10-08 6.30am
I slept all of maybe an hour, I guess maybe nerves and excitement of the day, knowing I have a good chance and taking my ‘anti almost everything cept rush’ deck to a good top 8 finish. I still hadn’t wrote my decklist out, so I use this excuse to go ahead and get up and break the deck down again to see if I am overlooking anything. This is where the trouble starts.
Somehow I convince myself that rush is going to be so little of a problem; I can just completely do without my aces. To do this, I want to better my chances against control, and what a better way than with Shadow Weaving! Of course to do this, I have to go back to Runetusk, and this means I lose the Eclipse/Greater Heal janked up win condition and also Spiritual Domination from the side deck. But hey, this only helps my chances that much more against control, with Shadala and Silea and absorb magic and mass dispel and fade in the side now. (I know, I cant believe I would even re-type such a horrid thought either! )
So after some altercations, namely we have -1 Bloodtusk to +1 Runetusk. Then, -3 Eclipse, -3 Rogg Dreadnock for +1 Greater Heal, +1 Mana-S Shoulders, +4 Shadow Weaving. Side deck went to 3 Silea, 3 Fade, 2 Shadala, 1 Absorb Magic, 1 Mass Dispel.
Ok, you can stop laughing now… please… *sigh*…
Here is what I registered for the tournament:
Hero: Runetusk
Abilities- 27
4 Touch of Darkness
4 Mind Spike
3 Mental Anguish
4 Soul rend
4 Melt Face
4 Shadow Weaving
4 Greater Heal
Allies- 7
4 Tatulla the Reclaimer
1 Magistrix Larynna
1 Retainer Cedra
1 Varimathras
Equipment- 10
4 Voidfire Wand
3 The Bringer of Death
3 Mana-Sphere Shoulderguards
Quests- 16
4 Thwarting Kolkar Aggression
3 Counterattack!
3 Information Gathering
3 Swift Discipline
2 Chasing A-Me 01
1 Orders from Lady Vashj
Side Deck- 10
3 Fade
3 Silea Dawnwalker
2 Shadala
1 Mass Dispel
1 Absorb Magic
Ok, just for a brief second, I will go on the defensive here. Piling up damage with my discards+Shadow Weavings, itn too far out of an idea. Add the bonus that the Shoulders also get from it, and the AoE damage can be rather explosive. This rids the threat of untargetableness, including the now much feared Myriam.
Well, let us get right to the tragic disaster that was my tournament.
Tournament Report-
Round 1- Jonathan (eligible last name, my bad)
Ressa, Alliance Rogue
I tested some against rogue, and the matchup is usually cutthroat either way, depending on the build. I like my chances though.
He opens to 100% God-hand, as this build often does. I never really heard the gun fire, Game 1 was over by turn 5, and it was quite magical, really. Game 2 I side in Silea and Shadala. He opens just a bit slower this time but still doing ok damage. I halt his damage progress some with Shadala then Tatulla. I had his board clear the turn I was able to put Voidfire down, but wasn’t able to swing to stop his draw. He top decked a TimeSlicer to put me at 24 damage, and I couldn’t answer with an ability for Silea to get rid of it. So I had to pop my Bringer for 1 Timeslicer. But I was holding another Wand to lock it up on turn 8. Game 3 looked like a problem early, but I was able to keep damage light because of Shadala and some early discard. I was able to lock it up on turn 8 at 16 damage, only I didn’t need Bringer this time.
Johnathan was a really nice fella and a good player though. /salute
1-0 – MVPs = Shadala and Silea.
Round 2- YEAH! Seated at table #1 baby! (Hey let me enjoy this, I am a scrub, remember J )
Pat Price – Ressa Traitor
Oh good, another rogue.
To my delight, he drops a Merry on turn 1. YES, untargetable! What I am built against, what with my Mana Shoulders and Shadow Weavings and all. I keep my opening hand of 2x Touch of Darkness, Mind Spike, a Counterattack and 2 Shadow Weavings. His rush hits me, with a few Perd Blades thrown down. I complete 1x counterattack and 2 swift discipline the entire game. This of course didn’t draw me into the ace I need against the untargetables. I instead play 2 Soul Rends, him holding 2 cards. He complets 1 of his Orders of Lady Vashj on my EoT. Plays 2 more Merrys and a another Blade, then completes the other Order. After his brutal Jelean and Merry and blade assault, I am at 22 damage. Holy crap I top deck a Greater Heal! Damage continues next turn and I top an information gathering. I reveal a Bringer, Voidfire and Kolkar quest. Yea, I have just enough resources to drop it and pop it on my next turn, thanks to a few missed resource drops. As a side note to this, if I lived thru this next turn, after dropping the Kolkar, my next turn would have drawn my shoulders and I still had my flip. I hate rabbit hunting sometimes.
Game 2 I mulled into a hand of 3 Tatulla, a BoD and other worthless stuff. His rush is a bit slower and turn 7 (again already in top deck mode, drawing 1x A-Me the first 6 turns,) top deck a Info Gathering turn 7. I do some rough math and should survive his turn 7 with 2 health left after his attacks. This will get me to my turn 8 to drop and pop my Bringer. Ah, the pivotal turn 7. I look across and see 3 untapped resources. All I am holding is a GH and BoD so I pay the 3 and gather some info. Into a Wand, Kolkar quest and another GH! Sweet! Wand to hand, quest to top, wont need the other GH. Hmm.. 3 open resources, nah he cant be holding it, all I seen was a vanish, and it was discarded last game, I should be ok. Tap my 4, GH. In response he taps 3, Kick. SON OF A!!!! pwned!!!11!1. The 2 damage from it plus the 8 from his attacking puts me at 26 on his turn 7 so I extend my hand to him.
Pat was cool and a pleasure against too.
1w-1l -MVP = Soul Rends for keeping me alive as long as they did. Also to his Kick (it may as well have been right dead square in the nuts, it wouldn’t have hurt any less)
Round 3 – Gary Clark
Traitor Druid*
Well I managed to avoid this match until round 3 it seems. Gary is a part of TEC, and a heck of a nice and funny guy. Or maybe he was just trying to keep the mood light because he knew he had the nuts against me in this match? Either way, was fun to get beat by him… *sigh*.
Game 1 wasn’t even close. Pure hardcore horde rush, with Bloodsoul, Kagella, Broan. I did last until his turn 6 because of a Greater Heal. He didn’t even need to Form up with a Twig. Game 2 was almost the same as game 1 only no Bloodsoul opening. Form and Twig were a turn earlier, for another turn 6 win. My turn 3 and 4 resource drops were Shadow Weaving face down. These 2 games pain me. Bad. More on this later.
1 – 2 now with a big YSF to me.
Round 4 – Anthony Reynolds
Mazar rush
I really liked the idea he had for this deck, and it almost pulled off a quick victory. He played the forgotten Kalis Truarc with untargetables, including Luppo if I'm not mistaken. I almost lost game 1 at 22 damage when I was able to finally drop Mana Shoulders and hero flip out of desperation, wiping his board and Wand locking him. Game 2 was pretty amazing draw for him. I seen 3x Kalis down on turn 2 and knew I was in trouble. He ended up swinging for 9 a turn, not even GH could stop the bleeding that early. Game 3 looked really grim with a no quest opening hand, but a good discard curve. He had some rush but I wiped his stuff with Mana Shoulders and was able to swing with the wand to lock it on turn 7.
Hats off to Anthony and his group for not playing pure netdecks.
2 and 2 MVP= Mana-Sphere Shoulders
Top 16 is probably out of the question by now, but I would be happy to go home from here with a 5-2 record. And it was up to me to represent MarioNC now, as my poor little bro dropped at 1-3 with his healing holy priest. (I know, as we say here in the south, ‘bless his heart’)
Round 5 - Justin Hostutler
Traitor Druid
Oh gawd! Talk about the stone cold nuts against Discard Priest. Most of game 1 I sat with my mouth gaped all open. But not so much at his, what I would guess was his ‘perfect’ draw, but how good it was against my best opening all day. This good opening, however, only lasted until I drew my first 2 cards. Top deck 2x Shadow Weaving FTL! Anyway, I curve my discard perfectly, with 2x soul rend after that. And on turn 4, I am STILL staring at 4x Marksman Glous. The problem was is extra draws from Kodo and I think a Finkle snuck down also. But it gets better. I still kept his army thinned down, but did not have an answer to his turn 3 Cobrascale Hood. Of course my quests helped this cause – Chasing A-Me, Orders, and a Swift Discipline, yay. I wont embarrass myself any further and just say, I had no answer for any of this. Game 2 he did open much slower and I had answers for most of his early allies. I was able to pop my Bringer on turn 6 or 7, but didn’t draw the first quest all game long. The turn after that I needed to top deck a Voidfire, which of course did not happen. All it took was his turn draw and an Orders completeion and that was it. I look at my face down resources and almost cry at 3 out of 7 cards being Shadow Weaving. (also 2 sided in Silea and a Fade)
2 - 3 MVP = Discard. It did all it could against its weaknesses.
This pretty well ended my day for the Atlanta Championships. I will try to say this with as much pride as possible. I can’t make excuses for sucking this bad. I wanted to flavour this my way, while having what I thought was a good chance against a control meta. A ‘no sleep, 6am the morning of decision’ told me that Shadow Weaving would be nuts against control. It pains me to see how wrong I was. I think back to all the games that SW was either face down (in multiples usually) or was bottomed by Info Gathering. These were favoured over the Rogg Dreadknocks that I did most of my testing with. People can say what they want, but this guy stopped hardcore rush in its tracks, in multiple ways.
Discard Priest was not a bad choice for this event, at least not for our area. All I read about it being the deck to beat was true, and it did need improvements from the DMF Stuggart list. I can’t say for sure how the other versions did against rush, but that was one of its only weaknesses. One, that for some reason, I decided to leave myself wide open to. The other ways to have a good chance against this deck is to simply draw more cards. Orders from Lady Vashj was always an advantage against me by whatever deck ran it all day. I will also say with confidence, that Marksman Glous was the Kobe Bryant of the day.
I will end this nightmare of a tournament report with a bit of irony. The same card that I relied on to combo me undefeated to this RQ spot, is the same card that most likely cost me at least 2 games (hmm ok you may need to think about it for it to make sense as ironic I guess).
Some losses are tougher than others. Sometimes when games are over, you then notice misplays like maybe not completing the Counterattack on THEIR EoT, and the like. But it feels different when you just straight up stone cold sabotage your own deck versus half the field. What WAS I thinking!?!!!11 At least I am man enough to bust my ignorance out here in front of everybody, I guess…
Oh well, time will heal the wounds. I hope to bounce back in July in Charlotte. Hope to see you there!
Tags: WOW RC REALM REPORT
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World of Warcraft TCG
