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This is just a quick little note cause I was thinking recently, and I wanted to get some words out there to the people. With Continental Champs coming up, testing has been in full effect for wow players across North America. I'm pretty excited that Gencon takes place less than 10 miles from the apartment my girlfriend and I have. The little group I test with has become fairly organized, and that has led some friends on other "teams" to lead to ask me what our teamname is.

 

Let me be first in saying that I like anonimity, for the most part. I'd rather be the underestimated, unknown guy than the one expected to take down the field. I feel this is probably due to the fact that up until now, I've not really done anything ridiculously deserving of people knowing who I am, in the wowtcg anyway. Being associatted with a "team" gvies you an identity, good or bad, that people impress amongst you when they know someone from that team. I don't know what I think about that...

 

So in thinking about a team name, I thought about what I knew of that sounded cool. I referred back to a group of guys with matching T-Shirts at Gencon last year, who had a picture of a buddy and in big bold text "Team Stevie Stayed Home". I thought about "Team Alternate Win Condition", and their much less original, almost uninspiring new name "Team East Coast". Regionals around here, people from "RIW Hobbies" show their colors in matching polo shirts. Not feeling it...

Much like the bands of the early "00s" and the word "the", a lot of teams feel the need to put "team" in their name. Then there's "Cheatyface". They've got no "team" in their name, and it sounds way cooler. Almost like a gang...

 

A lot of the Cheatyface guys used to play magic, and I chatted extensively with Brad Watson and Armando about the origin of their team name. They attributed it to their days of playing magic, and one of the funnier cards they've ever had the pleasure of playing with. **

 

** No one from Cheatyface, nor Brad or Armando were contacted about this, and the author is totally pulling things out of a hat.

 

 

Now one last team that I almost forgot is "Clan Tao". The have a website, even - Clan Tao . Check it out, it's pretty badass, and it even has the sweet collaboration of Helmet and House of Pain as a theme song, Just another Victim. These guys got about every MMO covered, and as Damien Dufresne (WOWTCG Metamart?!) has shown, they are no slouches when it comes to raging your face for a spectral tiger. I wonder if they had started TCGs first, if they'd be named "Team Tao".

 

So with that, I think I know where I'm heading... And at the next tournament you need to keep an eye out for a hardcore group of playtesters with mustaches showing way too much chest hair, wearing cowboy hats and matching "southern style" button down shirts with a Trans Am logo on the back. That's right, you're about to go up against one of... Los Banditos

 

I love pre-releases, and this weekend did not disappoint.  We had some major stuff going on in the area, card flopping wise; Yu-Gi-Oh Nats was going on in Columbus & Magic had Grand Prix Indy, so the turnout was less than our past pre attendance of 65+.  20 people ended up sitting down to check out the new Hunt for Illidan set at the Indianapolis store Gamerz.

 

I just want to give a quick rundown of the cards I saw that were complete bombs, or just what I thought were really cool (i.e. what blew me out…).  I opened my packs and had solid abilities in Warrior, Rogue and Priest.  Not having access to any traitor heroes sort of hurt, because I would of loved to of taken Lionar, Ressa or Remba in their traitor versions.  As I contemplated what class I wanted to wreck face with, I noticed that I did have 3 very solid warlock pets… Thulthun, Velnoth and Sarlia.  To top that off, I had 2 Dawn Rivensdale in Horde, so I could effectively have 3 steal essences if I went with Forang Deathrattle.  I checked my allies, and sure enough Red looked like the much more aggressive approach, and Warlock filled in some key drop spots, so that’s what I chose.

 

To boot, Scryer in the new set seems a lot better… Historian Firana is amazing for preventing tricks you wouldn’t see coming, and Arcanist Bartis enables you to keep the board clear if you can get you opponent in the right position; worst case they lose a card.  So looking at the cards, Forang Deathrattle with NO abilities, but a Runesong Dagger, seemed the way to go.

 

I won’t give a game by game run down, but Sarlia rocked.  A 6 drop 5/7 untargettable is huge to get out there.  Backed by the beaters Luk’a Da Wall, Illia the Bitter & Ra’waza Stonetusk to soak up some damage, once the game got into the later stages I was usually able to start smashing face.

 

The 1 game I lost went to time, where most of the match my opponent had 2 First Responder Margan out.   I will note though, we were definitely “lolly-gagging” around, and when 10 minutes was called out I realized we needed to get the game on the move… I guess I’m not used to 30 minute rounds.  By the time I dealt with First Responder Margan, I had 3 large protectors I was going to drop, as well as a top decked Runesong Dagger (where were you when I needed it?) – I think I could’ve swung the comeback!! 

 

We drafted afterwards, and I was confident with a super sick hunter deck, complete with 2 Shadows,  3 bloody welcome & 3 Ice Trap.   The draft was single elim, 1 game matches, since it was a pre-release.  I lay the beats on my opponent, curve out, make great trades, get him to 20 while staying damage free.  At this point he strangling roots my Shadow, and drops a protector.  My next turn I play Luk’a Da Wall and pass with what looks to be a great setup…  and then he plays Elaar.  With no way to kill Elaar in 1 turn, I figure I’m pretty much boned… I can’t play any allies, and he slowly gains back control of the board to bring him to win the game & match.   I drew my second bloody welcome, which would’ve enabled me to kill Elaar with the Patient Shot in play I had been pinging his dudes with, but I would not have survived the next turn.  A funny moment was when I had 2 ice traps in hand, and the only dude he was attacking with had frost resistance.

 

I ended up leaving with 2 playmats (door prize & trades ftw!) a deckbox, 12 new rares, 2 new epics, 3 Path of Iliidans, and about a million ideas for “a new type of deck”.

Getting new people into the game is tough. We have a fairly tough, competitive group here in Indianapolis. We may not be world renowned (yet?) but we’re dedicated and pretty solid.  We’ve top 16ed several DMFs, gone undefeated in several regionals, achieved 3^rd and 6^th at Realm Champs most recently… But the problem lies in the fact that we play at a big shop, where we try to welcome new players to come in and learn the game. We do tournaments, and throw in an extra $5 on top of the draft packs, or just chip in $5 if it’s constructed. With 10-12 people, or more, that equates to a decent chunk of change. For someone new to the game, though, it’s quite an annoyance when they repeatedly lose their $5.

 

Getting people to understand the rules is pretty easy – we have a couple house starter decks we can sit down and show people how to play. I’ve not often been the pilot of one of these decks, but the guys who work at the store can usually be found behind either Zag’zil or Hepto, taking their 30 card deck to the ropes. Moving beyond that, playing competitively and trying to bring original ideas to the table when you don’t have all the cards, or know the cards, or have a means to get the cards (a lot of younger players don’t or can’t use ebay and paypal), is where we start to lose people.

 

Before most big tournaments that our group is going to compete in, we can be found with anywhere from 10-20 decks between us. We’ll use proxies where we need to, covering duplicate rares that span builds, or cards we don’t have yet, but a lot of us buy enough product that we’re usually covered. Then you have the casual group, who bring the same deck week after week or stick to the same class, who don’t get a lot of time to test between weekly tournaments, and who don’t pay attention to big tournament postings. They have fun, sure, but how do we keep these players into the game, supporting the scene, when they constantly lose?

 

I love it when people sit down, take their deck apart and they're like "tell me how to make it good". You suggest cards to remove, and cards to put in, and they're like "oh I like this card though". “If I get these 6 cards out, the deck is almost unstoppable” – has been a mainstay of a lot of new players. I’m still working on my bedside manner of taking apart someone’s deck, you never know who you might offend because they really thought their idea was original and the greatest new thing.

 

As much as I hate to curb originality, the first thing I tell people to do is to netdeck something that won a recent big tournament. This’ll introduce them to the mechanics of a good deck, and then they can go from there. The end result is if you want to get better you got to play the good decks. Learn what they do, how the synergies work, why it succeeds. Then try and implement new ideas into them and see if it works or not. Don’t reform the wheel, take the wheel and implement a new hybrid hydrogen fuelled propelling system onto it.

For myself, and most of the Indianapolis wowtcg community, we're on casual mode until the Illidan pre-release tournament, June 21st. We have a good amount of local players, so we'll draft or just play tournaments with fun decks... Totemic Focus & Aurastone Hammers aside though, a large part of the player community is getting ready for DMF Seattle.

 

Lyon introduced a lot of tweaks to the metagame, and I was more than happy to see traitor Ressa come out and get 2 of the top 8 positions. I want to analyze the changes made in the decks which made top 8, but first I’ll introduce some of my own changes which I’ve made after getting more experience from Realms and further playing.

 

4 Orders from Lady Vashj

3 Dr. Boom!

3 One Draenei's Junk

2 Corki's Ransom

 

3 Vindicator Kaldel

4 Apprentice Merry

3 Jeleane Nightbreeze

4 Zandar Shadesprocket

4 Myriam Starcaller

3 Marksman Glous

4 Lowdown Luppo Shadefizzle

 

3 Gut Shot

4 Purloin

3 Pick Pocket

3 Jacknife

3 Prey on the Weak

 

4 Perdition's Blade

3 Whispering Blade of Slaying

 

SB: 3 Chipper Ironbane

SB: 3 Dismantle

SB: 4 Gouge

 

You spoke, I listened… Luppo is amazing in the deck. Chipper moved to the side, there were a few times he came in handy main, but I think his utilization isn’t as great against the faster meta. Chips McGee (as he’s referred to around here) comes in vs. pally, warlock, and boomkin. You could argue that he comes in vs. form of the serpent decks, but I’ve found gouge and dismantle are enough to keep them at bay while you try and myriam/rush/swing/burn them to death. Overall, this is not much different than the build I took to RCs, and while I’ll talk about the changes brought forth in Europe, I think this is the way I’d play it.

 

Remi Lacorre is a Frenchman, and a newcomer in the spotlight as far as wowtcg is concerned. He was 1 of 2 to pilot our Leper friend to top 8. The changes he introduced were to include 4 gouge maindeck, 1 leeroy & 3 kick, at the sacrifice of -1 chipper, -1 kaldel, and NO pickpockets. I can agree with 4 gouge, as Desecrator and Mythen are both houses that you need to control, and could show up in quite the abundance. Leeroy isn’t a bad card, though I am not a fan of 1 ofs without a tutor (search) ability. I don’t feel kick should go main, even in a Deafening shout heavy environment, because by turn 7 if you’re not so close that any finisher you top deck gets the win, you’re probably in bad shape anyway. Sure I would side it in against a warrior control deck, possibly, but not main. Also – pickpocket can be INSANE!! I have had way too many games won by turn 2 when I purloin & pickpocketed my way through 3 or 4 cards to ever think that this card is not maindeck material. Worst case, you get to see their hand… and in a defined meta, you can almost surely tell what someone is playing by just glancing the hero.

 

Remi’s sideboard seemed a little out there, to me. I understand a lot of it, but I don’t jive with 2 felstriker (late game ally control), 2 narthadus (late game form of the serpent control?), and 1 Eviscerate (when did this come in, and with 1 it just seems filler). Evasion is one that seems a little hit and miss, what with all the ongoing ability hate in the field, but it could be a game winner.

 

Jan Palys is a German, and has had some high places in previous large tournies. He stuck to the “established” build more, with a sideboard that I feel fit the deck and complemented it’s weaker matchups. I still think that Gouge in the side would’ve helped out, but burn away might shear up the form of the serpent matchup just as well.

 

Jan ran Andiss, and I think that’s a bold move because it cures one of the most annoying things with having the weapons. In the end, the daggers are secondary to your primary kill (Myriam/Kaldel) and your finisher (gutshot) so I’m not sold on Andiss. I haven’t tested it, just analyzing results… maybe Andiss is the 1 card that pushes this over the top.

 

So that being said – I think Ressa is a great deck for DMF Seattle. Purloin & Pickpocket are amazing forces of discard, Myriam/Kaldel has been proven, and the usual slew of untargettable/elusive guys backed up by gut shot really pack some heat. Jackknife & prey on the weak help sure up the protector walls, and the deck is just blazing. If I were to go to Seattle, I would be playing the version detailed above.

I decided early on in my realm champs playtesting that I wanted to play something that worked against the meta game.  Stuttgart DMF results were all anyone was talking about, and local Indianapolis scenesters as well as nationally recognized players were stuck on how well Runetusk and Lionar ruined the game we had come to understand thus far.  Serpent form turned twig combo in a new beast that wasn’t a rocket car anymore, but was a full-fledged off road rally racer, climbing hills and taking sharp corners on dirt roads. I’ve tried being the metagame before, and I’ve had less than stellar results, and I wanted to bring something new to the table.

Early on in our testing we found rushing out runetusk was the most consistent way to get in for the win.  We also found that we were in a perpetual game of rock paper scissors with the 3 top deck archetypes, and wanted something that really blew out the whole board.  While I don’t think we found that, we at least found a deck style that made a lot of games completely unfair – ripping cards out of your hand, 2 for 1s, inspiring allies that you do NOT want to inspire, and in short just trying to “get there” the quickest way possible.  I’ll forgo listing the reasons for every card in the list, as it’ll be apparent in the tourney report… so without further ado:

Ressa the Leper Queen

Quests

4 x Orders from Lady Vashj

3 x Dr. Boom!

3 x One Draenei’s Junk

2 x Corki’s Ransom

Allies

4 x Apprentice Merry

4 x Zandar Shadesprocket

4 x Jeleane Nightbreeze

3 x Marksman Glous

3 x Vindicator Kaldel

3 x Chipper Ironbane

4 x Myriam Starcaller

Equipment

4 x Perdition’s Blade

3 x Whispering Blade

Abilities

4 x Purloin

3 x Pickpocket

3 x Prey on the Weak

2 x Jackknife

Side Deck

2 x Jackknife

3 x Dismantle

3 x Vanish

2 x Kick

The tournament results list 71 people, so we did 7 rounds.  

Match 1 (incomplete info… sorry bud) Ended up 49th

Leper Queen Mirror Match

I am all excited that I’m taking my homebrew deck to a fairly big tournament, and that at least I’ll be playing something different.  I see my opponent put Ressa out on the table and I chuckle… I think at this point he thought I was being cocky, until he saw I was playing her also.  We shuffle up and I win the die roll, so I think if this is a mirror match I have the advantage.  Slowly but surely we start dropping the same guys, except I’m noticing he runs only untargettables.  Prey on the weak becomes a resource, but I curve up to my turn 3 and pass, only to have the 2 Myriam Starcallers left in my hand Pickpocketed out.  This is one of many unfair things that will occur with this card throughout the day, and I’m the butt of the joke to start out.  Game 2 I side out my prey and jackknives to bring in kick and dismantle.  I’m going first, again, and I hit my curve this time, with Gut shot for 4 & kick putting us into game 3.  Game 3 I am on the play, but I achieve Myriam & Kaldel synergy, followed up by the early onslaught of blue guys.  The start of my turn 6 I tap Myriam for the 3rd time in 3 consecutive turns and deliver a gut shot for the final 1 point of damage.  Amongst probably 50 of the same maindeck cards, I notice he runs vanish and escape artist.  

Match 2 (Delmar Edler) End up 43rd

Victoria Jaton Strike Out

Del was a super cool guy, but his old school Victoria build, which I only saw the improvement of adding smash to the old classic, was no match for the Myriam chain guns.  Game 1 I dropped Merry turn 1, turn 2 purloin/pickpocketed out a perdition’s blade and 2 heroic strikes.  Later on (5 maybe) I picked a mortal strike, but I also dropped my second Myriam on top of an active Myriam & Kaldel.  Game 2 looked even worse for the Victoria deck on paper, as I only took 3 damage, but the pilot did a good job of picking off allies so the field never stacked up.  Unfortunately for Del, I pick pocketed 2 more heroic strikes and Gut shot him twice for 7 & 5 to seal the deal. 

Match 3 (Michael Jacobs) Ended up 2nd

Ozzati Burn/Rush

Mike is a reserved guy, who didn’t really talk at all.  Game 1 I got to purloin/pickpocket on turn 2, and that set me up for the rest of the game.   He had me to 16, and at the end of his turn I got a 7 point gut shot in to let me win with dudes on board the next turn.  Game 2 he was on the initiative, and got the dude rush going hard core.  Some highlights of the game were my double jackknifes and perditions blade pretty much clearing his board.  Jackkniving 2 zandars feels almost like cheating… but in the end I lost out from the mage burn.  I had an active Myriam out, with a Kaldel in hand, but I never got to play them together.  Game 3 I kept a hand that had a whispering blade and 3 jackknives… I thought this was a lock.  Turns out, Xavar & Marksman can be used for things other than completing quests, such as fizzling my removal.  With 3 failed attempts of trying to jackknife his dudes, I was way behind in tempo, and by the time Myriam got active it was way over.  First loss.

Match 4 (Nate Phillips) Ended up 11th

Halavar Control

Nate and I have been playing each other in tournaments since the game came out, and I have an ongoing joke with him that he’s my arch nemesis, cause I’ve never beaten him.  Game 1 I remember purloining a deafening shout, and getting a Myriam active, with a second one threatening to go active.  On my turn I brought Halavar to 24 damage and had a Gut shot and Jackknife to seal the deal.  Game 2 I got Havalar to 20 damage, with a 7 point gut shot, but my scorepad shows 5, 10, 15, 20 so I think this is the game he got double Myriam out on me.  Game 3 I got to purloin a perditions blade and pickpocket 2 chasing A-me… Nate fought valiantly through halavar, when I played Kaldel after having my 4th Myriam finally become active, he succumbed to the pressure. 

Match 5 (incomplete info again) Ended up 31st

Taheo Moonkin

My scorepad says it all for this matchup – Game 1 I took 1 damage, and ended start of my turn 5, game 2 I took 4 and ended start of my turn 6.  My opponent was unfortunate in getting paired up, but I know that purloin and pickpocket annihilated his hand until turn 4 I could get Myriam & Kaldel active, both games.  

Match 6 (Cory Dawson) Ended up 6th

3 card off mirror

Cory is a playtest partner and rode up with Darren Miller, Jeremy Grey and I.  He was undefeated, but I got more Myriams out and won the match.  During this match, I purposely tried to kill Luppo as fast as I could, or render him useless, because this was the 3 card difference in our decks.  Luppo ended up being an all star for cory, but as much as I tested with him and without him, I ended up not running him because I felt he was a little too slow.  You won’t be the first person to call me crazy on this one… 

Match 7 (Nicholas Schian) Ended up 9th

Taheo Moonkin

With the utter (no pun intended)  slaughtering of moonkin I had earlier in the day, I didn’t think this match would be that tough.  Nick was packing wastewalker armor though, with other pieces of armor for moonkin form abuse, and certainly had some tricks up it’s sleeves.  Game 1 I won the die roll, and achieved the amazingly great purloin pickpocket turn 2, yet again.  It almost feels like you’re cheating.  Wastewalker leggings and 2 susvayin’s straight to the yard, Nick had a tough time catching up and at 20 damage faced a Myriam & Kaldel that pushed him over.  Game 2 was much more in his favor, as he was able to clear my board of all threats.  At one point I corki’s-ed into a corki’s, only to draw a dr. boom and corki’s into a orders of lady vashj.  I let Nick get to the point where he’d built up quite a hand and field, knowing that if I’d draw into a couple of well placed gut shots that’d be game… but soon we were shuffing up for the last one.  Game 3 I had a million answers for Nick’s armor, as well as the wealth robbing rogue abilities, and I show a damage spike from 13 to 25 (dual Myriam + one Kaldel, minus armor?) and a gut shot to seal the deal. 

Quarter Finals (Cory Dawson)

Well, 1 n 8 chance of playing Cory and we hit the odds… I had more Myriam. 

Semi Finals (Michael Jacobs)

Game 1 I got the dude rush on Michael, and I only took 1 damage. Maybe I was getting careless, or chalked up his win vs. me as a fluke, but I totally punted my side decking.  In came Vanish (try and steal a turn in dude rush) and Jackknives, but out went 4 zandar and a marksman.  I guess I took them out because they were targetable and he had dragon’s breath, arcane missle, magma spike and fire blast.  In hind sight, I should have kept all my dude rush in there, because he blew me out with untargettable dudes game 2.  Game 3 he pulled double Myriam, and I skipped killing one with my perditions & whispering blade combo to go at his head and have the kill next turn.  Then I see Metalmorph, and I now can’t push through enough damage to get the kill before Myriams add 10 to my damage total… so I extend my hand. 

I feel 3rd place isn’t the first loser (it’s the second) but I was a little bummed I got beat, I think If I’d thought about side decks and possibilities of outcomes, I would’ve done things differently against Michael in the Semis.  David Bodimer took my list, via Dusty Hostutler, changed about 10 cards and took it to first place in Philly.  I won’t clue you in on what he changed, except for saying that he didn’t have Vindicator Kaldel!!  That guy was an all star for me all day long, inspiring Myriam to turn her into a ridiculous chain gun of damage reigning down. 

I’d love to hear some feedback, or hear from the other players in Columbus, Ohio that day.  Now I’m off to play some GTA IV, newly purchased with some of my $275 best buy bucks. 

*”we” as used when discussing deck construction refers to the Indianapolis “Gamerz” crew, specifically Sam Gilly, Mark Slack, Vince Greco, Cory Dawson & Jason Green.