Since the initial post I've run 9 tournaments using the Web of Spider-man prize kits. All of them have been modern age, with point values running from 300-600 points and sometimes with additional restrictions. Turn out has ranged from 2 to 6 people, which isn't exactly ideal. Hopefully I can pick that up in the new year, as 8 minimum would give the best tournaments.
Of the figures in the set I've pulled and used, the star has to be the Bombastic Bag-man. Leap/Climb and Super Strength mean he can easily pick up a heavy object and basing a major threat on the other side. The opponent either has to waste time and actions breaking and running away or try and kill Bag-man and take heavy damage in response. Ignoring him means being hit with the heavy object and taking a lot of damage anyway. I've found him great in 400 points with The Thing, Mr. Fantastic and Reed Richards. The Thing is a superb primary attacker, and with their strongest figure busy, he can quite easily mop-up the rest of their team. Reed and Fantastic are there for outwit and perplex, though their 6 square ranged attacks help out too.
I've also run a 600 point Watchmen theme team. Rorscach is annoying to kill and Dr. Manhatten is the powerhouse of the team. Comedian can't be ignored, especially with twin-bolt Energy Explosion and Ozymandias is superb, especially with well timed uses of his second Outwit. Nite Owl and Silk Spectre are just there as tie up pieces, they haven't proved useful in any other capacity. Still, they appear to be a really good team when used together. With practice I think they would make a really competetive team. Shame 300 points is the norm value for tournaments.
I've picked up the Jonah Hex Action Pack, The Armor Wars Battle Pack, Brightest Day and a case of DC7th. I usually get a case of each set, then try and pick up the rest through trading and buying singles online.
Jonah Hex - I haven't used any of these figures yet. Though they are low pointed, they don't seem worth even those little points. The 15 point Enhancement figure is ok, but there are better figures with that power that also bring more to a team than she does. Can't really knock them til I try them, but I don't have high hopes for their battlefield performance.
Armor Wars - Bought this so I could have a Samuel L Jackson Nick Fury with a modern card. Haven't used him yet, but I know how good the figure is from past experience. The other figures I've used in the past as well, so nothing new from the set except the cards. Worth it for Nick Fury and Black Widow alone.
Brightest Day - only got these figures last week, so not used them yet. Can't wait to try Captain Boomerang on a Rogues theme team though.
DC75th - Literally got these figures two days ago, so I'm waiting to use these. Didn't get Captain Comet and Animal Man from the CUR set. This appears to be because White Lanterns replace the Rare in the booster, rather than the Common like Super Rares. Got 6 Super Rares; Barry Allen, Hal Jordan, Sinestro, Ares, Batman and the Wonder Twins. Would rather have pulled something other than the Twins, but that's how it goes. My White Lanterns were Wonder Woman and Animal Man. Not bad, but could have been better. Prize Kit arrives next week, so I can look at the map and start planning the tournaments.
I should be able to get 10 tournaments out of the prize kit, like with the last one. That should keep us going til the release of Giant-Size X-Men, which I am really looking forward to. Magneto, Apocalypse and Nextwave are figures I really want in Clix. I just hope they aren't all Super Rare, though Apocalypse is bound to be.
Saturday, 25 December 2010
Magic the Gathering catch up
Well, rotation and the release of Scars of Mirrodin saw the cards that made up Jund rotate out of Standard. I was playing a janky Green/White mid-range deck. It was showing ok results, but it wasn't adapting to the changes in the local metagame well. So I've switched to a basic White/Green Quest deck. It's a basic build at the moment as I get used to the deck and how it works. Managed to 4-0 Week Night Magic this week, beating back-to-back Blue/White control decks rounds 2 and 3. Here is the list:-
Main Deck
4 Quest for the Holy Relic
2 Argentum Armor
1 Sword of Body and Mind
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Glint Hawk
4 Bird of Paradise
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Fauna Shaman
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Kor Outfitter
4 Vengevine
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Sunpetal Grove
1 Stirring Wildwood
8 Plains
6 Forest
Sideboard
1 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Kor Firewalker
3 Devout Lightcaster
3 Obstinate Baloth
1 Darksteel Axe
3 Celestial Purge
1 Sword of Vengeance
Main plan is get early Quest, trigger it and use Argentum Armor to destroy my opponent with 1 or more mini Eldrazi. Back up plan is use Fauna Shaman to fill the graveyard with Vengevines and then use the cheap creatures to recur them as needed. Plan C is equip and early Sword and mill my opponent out. If all else fails, I have to reply on a weird hybrid plan, with maybe one Vengevine or hard-casting Argentum Armor. The singleton Kor Outfitter is to get around the high equip cost of the Armor.
The Sideboard is basic, as I wait to do more playing and testing against the rest of the field. Currently, based on our local meta:-
Firewalker, Purge and Baloth vs Mono-red/Boros
Lightcaster, Purge and Baloth vs Vampires/UB Control
Mystic, Axe and Sword vs UW Control/Ramp
it's to be refined as I play more. Proper testing starts after the Christmas break.
Also looking at brewing up a new Black/White/Green Doran Rock list, probably still featuring Fauna Shaman (can you tell what my fav creature in M11 is? :p) for Extended. An update of the list I used in the GPT at Nationals. Legacy has become a puzzle again as my Elf deck was using Survival of the Fittest. With that card banned from the format, I need to find replacement cards, test the deck to see if it is still viable and if it isn't, find a new deck. Not looking forward to that process, as I really enjoyed the deck in it's current form. As for Vintage, I still have Green/White haterator built (hmmm, there is a recurring theme in my decks). Need to get some playtesting in, see how it performs against the current Vintage Metagame.
That's caught you up on what I'm doing for competetive Magic. For EDH/Commander I still have Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund built. Will put the list in another post at some point, but it's basically Jund/Tribal Dragons. Over the next couple of weeks I'm also looking at building Nath of the Gilt Leaf aggro/discard/Tribal Elf and Doran the Siege Tower classic Rock. Should allow me to use some good cards that I keep rejecting from Karrthus because of theme. All in all, the immediate future for Magic and me looks good.
Until Mirrodin Besieged....
Main Deck
4 Quest for the Holy Relic
2 Argentum Armor
1 Sword of Body and Mind
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Glint Hawk
4 Bird of Paradise
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Fauna Shaman
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Kor Outfitter
4 Vengevine
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Sunpetal Grove
1 Stirring Wildwood
8 Plains
6 Forest
Sideboard
1 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Kor Firewalker
3 Devout Lightcaster
3 Obstinate Baloth
1 Darksteel Axe
3 Celestial Purge
1 Sword of Vengeance
Main plan is get early Quest, trigger it and use Argentum Armor to destroy my opponent with 1 or more mini Eldrazi. Back up plan is use Fauna Shaman to fill the graveyard with Vengevines and then use the cheap creatures to recur them as needed. Plan C is equip and early Sword and mill my opponent out. If all else fails, I have to reply on a weird hybrid plan, with maybe one Vengevine or hard-casting Argentum Armor. The singleton Kor Outfitter is to get around the high equip cost of the Armor.
The Sideboard is basic, as I wait to do more playing and testing against the rest of the field. Currently, based on our local meta:-
Firewalker, Purge and Baloth vs Mono-red/Boros
Lightcaster, Purge and Baloth vs Vampires/UB Control
Mystic, Axe and Sword vs UW Control/Ramp
it's to be refined as I play more. Proper testing starts after the Christmas break.
Also looking at brewing up a new Black/White/Green Doran Rock list, probably still featuring Fauna Shaman (can you tell what my fav creature in M11 is? :p) for Extended. An update of the list I used in the GPT at Nationals. Legacy has become a puzzle again as my Elf deck was using Survival of the Fittest. With that card banned from the format, I need to find replacement cards, test the deck to see if it is still viable and if it isn't, find a new deck. Not looking forward to that process, as I really enjoyed the deck in it's current form. As for Vintage, I still have Green/White haterator built (hmmm, there is a recurring theme in my decks). Need to get some playtesting in, see how it performs against the current Vintage Metagame.
That's caught you up on what I'm doing for competetive Magic. For EDH/Commander I still have Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund built. Will put the list in another post at some point, but it's basically Jund/Tribal Dragons. Over the next couple of weeks I'm also looking at building Nath of the Gilt Leaf aggro/discard/Tribal Elf and Doran the Siege Tower classic Rock. Should allow me to use some good cards that I keep rejecting from Karrthus because of theme. All in all, the immediate future for Magic and me looks good.
Until Mirrodin Besieged....
Technical difficulties....
Well, that was a good start. Started a blog, then had my Desktop PC breakdown. Two months later I finally accept that it's dead and start using my Netbook more. Probably should have done that sooner. Will update this more now :D
Probably shouldn't make promises like that :p
Probably shouldn't make promises like that :p
Monday, 20 September 2010
Allow me to re-introduce myself...
Hello and welcome to my blog. I imagine most of you have come here because you know who I am, but for those who don't -
* I am an avid tournament player of Magic the Gathering, a customizable card game from Wizards of the Coast
* I am a player and ex-judge for Heroclix, a comics-based tabletop miniatures game from Wizkids Games
* I am a Storyteller for Final Nights - Plymouth, a Live Action Role Play game based on White Wolf's Vampire the Masquerade
This blog will mostly be dedicated to discussing those three topics. Magic talk will focus on strategy and my personal performance at tournaments. I am an ok player and wish to get better, so I hope for costructive comments about the game. Plus you can get some insight into the testing process I use. Heroclix talk will also be about strategy but will focus on tournaments I run rather than participate in. This will help keep an archive of my tournaments, especially since Wizkids don't officially run organised play yet. LARP talk will be mostly about amusing/exciting events happening at the LARP. No plot spoilers, I'm afraid.
Magic History
I've played Magic since 1994, my first cards being from Revised. I played casually in school, quitting at the end of Exodus. My reason? The story in the book packaged with the pre-constructed decks said Urza was coming back. Pretty dumb reason, but that's what happened.
I came back during Nemesis, and started attending the local Arena league, Pre-releases and a block constructed tournement. Still wasn't playing seriously, and was playing more casual multiplayer than anything else. I can't even remember why I came back to the game. I left when Mirroden came out. This time due to a dislike for the new card frames. Both breaks have allowed me to miss the "over-powered" sets.
This time, my return was due to moving in with some friends that were still playing the game. I came back for the Dissension pre-release, managed to miss Time Spiral block due to other commitments and finally came back properly for Lorwyn. Been playing since. I still dislike the card frames, but the game play is good enough for me to ignore that.
Most recently I've gotten into more competetive play. I traveled to last year's and this year's UK National tournaments. Failed to qualify for either, but that is the goal for 2011. My best tournement placings are 5th place at two seperate Grand Prix Trials, one Standard and one Extended. I also place well enough at Week Night Magic and am currently around the 1800 point rating mark.
Heroclix History
I'm a huge comics fan, so when Heroclix came out it was a natural game to try. Started collecting with Marvel Infinity Challenge. Played a few tournaments and did ok. Started helping the local judge with the Avengers set, in a shamless attempt to get more Galactus prizes given out locally. Took over judging duties with Crisis, as the other judge had to stop due to personal issues.
I've been to the last two UK Nationals. Didn't do so well in my first one, but came 11th at my second one. This was largely due to much better force selection, and openeing the Teen Titans in a box for the sealed portion. Kinda hard to lose when fate gives you a constructed team in the limited part of a tournament. Currently I am running tournaments as each prize kit comes out. Waiting for Wizkids to re-instate the old organised play program, with registered judges.
Roleplay History
I've played Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, GURPS Supers, Hunter the Reckoning, GURPS Invasion, Scion, Shadowrun and Vampire the Masquerade and a Fantasy LARP. I have run Star Wars (west end games), Werewolf the Apocalypse, GURPS Supers, Exalted and a previous Vampire Larp. Our new LARP starts October 3rd. The system we are using is a homebrew system based on Vampre the Masquerade tabletop, rather than the Minds Eye Theatre rules.
That's probably all you need to know for now. Anything else, feel free to ask in the comments. Until next time...
* I am an avid tournament player of Magic the Gathering, a customizable card game from Wizards of the Coast
* I am a player and ex-judge for Heroclix, a comics-based tabletop miniatures game from Wizkids Games
* I am a Storyteller for Final Nights - Plymouth, a Live Action Role Play game based on White Wolf's Vampire the Masquerade
This blog will mostly be dedicated to discussing those three topics. Magic talk will focus on strategy and my personal performance at tournaments. I am an ok player and wish to get better, so I hope for costructive comments about the game. Plus you can get some insight into the testing process I use. Heroclix talk will also be about strategy but will focus on tournaments I run rather than participate in. This will help keep an archive of my tournaments, especially since Wizkids don't officially run organised play yet. LARP talk will be mostly about amusing/exciting events happening at the LARP. No plot spoilers, I'm afraid.
Magic History
I've played Magic since 1994, my first cards being from Revised. I played casually in school, quitting at the end of Exodus. My reason? The story in the book packaged with the pre-constructed decks said Urza was coming back. Pretty dumb reason, but that's what happened.
I came back during Nemesis, and started attending the local Arena league, Pre-releases and a block constructed tournement. Still wasn't playing seriously, and was playing more casual multiplayer than anything else. I can't even remember why I came back to the game. I left when Mirroden came out. This time due to a dislike for the new card frames. Both breaks have allowed me to miss the "over-powered" sets.
This time, my return was due to moving in with some friends that were still playing the game. I came back for the Dissension pre-release, managed to miss Time Spiral block due to other commitments and finally came back properly for Lorwyn. Been playing since. I still dislike the card frames, but the game play is good enough for me to ignore that.
Most recently I've gotten into more competetive play. I traveled to last year's and this year's UK National tournaments. Failed to qualify for either, but that is the goal for 2011. My best tournement placings are 5th place at two seperate Grand Prix Trials, one Standard and one Extended. I also place well enough at Week Night Magic and am currently around the 1800 point rating mark.
Heroclix History
I'm a huge comics fan, so when Heroclix came out it was a natural game to try. Started collecting with Marvel Infinity Challenge. Played a few tournaments and did ok. Started helping the local judge with the Avengers set, in a shamless attempt to get more Galactus prizes given out locally. Took over judging duties with Crisis, as the other judge had to stop due to personal issues.
I've been to the last two UK Nationals. Didn't do so well in my first one, but came 11th at my second one. This was largely due to much better force selection, and openeing the Teen Titans in a box for the sealed portion. Kinda hard to lose when fate gives you a constructed team in the limited part of a tournament. Currently I am running tournaments as each prize kit comes out. Waiting for Wizkids to re-instate the old organised play program, with registered judges.
Roleplay History
I've played Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, GURPS Supers, Hunter the Reckoning, GURPS Invasion, Scion, Shadowrun and Vampire the Masquerade and a Fantasy LARP. I have run Star Wars (west end games), Werewolf the Apocalypse, GURPS Supers, Exalted and a previous Vampire Larp. Our new LARP starts October 3rd. The system we are using is a homebrew system based on Vampre the Masquerade tabletop, rather than the Minds Eye Theatre rules.
That's probably all you need to know for now. Anything else, feel free to ask in the comments. Until next time...
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