My First VS Pro Circuit Qualifier (30th JAN)

I went to Suntec City for the VS PCQ today. I reached there at around 1 pm and just looked around first. The tourney was held in a rather small meeting room; it wasn't as big as I had imagined. The morning's Sealed/Draft tournament was still on. I learnt that DS was playing in it. I met up with Orchi, Jeffrey, JokerZ and the rest. I was still considering whether I should join the Constructed event. In the meantime, I went to take the registration slip, filled in my name and decklist, and decided to carry it around until I made up my mind.

I saw quite a number of different decks. FF-Toys, FF-Burn, Common Enemy, Curve Sentinels, Brave and the Bold, Superman, Gotham Knights, X-Stall, Arkham, Spiderfriends. There was quite a lot of variety.

I kept debating whether if I should join. I didn't want to look like a 'newbie' by picking up every card to read. I also hated big crowds and playing with strangers as usual. I also didn't like the fact that I had to play the super-long 7 rounds of Swiss qualifiers. In the end, when they were having last call for registrations, I just shook my head and handed my form to the judge. I guess I might as well play since I was already there.

From then on, I became my afternoon journey into the world of VS.


Swiss Qualifiers
Round 1 of 7: Vs. Fantastic Four Equipment
Result: Win

My opponent was a very nice guy. He shook my hand and introduced himself. (From then on, I made it a point to shake hands and introduce myself to all my opponents.) At first, I thought he was playing CE like me, but when the 5th turn came, Mr. Fantastic came out, along with all the Fantasticars. At once, my heart sank; I've had trouble playing against 'Mr. Lup-it''s FF-Toys deck in casual games already. The guy began to bully me with his pumped-up characters. Our life gap was very long; he was leading 35 to my measly 9. He had 3 characters in play while I only had 2. It was hopeless for me. I thought I would lose.

When turn 7 came along, I recruited Submariner. My opponent leaned over to read, so I assumed he wasn't familiar with the effect. I picked up the card and handed it to him, saying: "Here, you can read it. Be careful with your formation." I was one who did not like to take advantage of my opponent if he did not know a card's effect.

He looked at the card, put it down, then started putting 2 of his characters in the SUPPORT ROW. I stared at him, eyes wide open in amazement, "Uh, you're done with your formation?" He replied, "Yes." Just to make sure I wasn't jumping on my moves, I re-affirmed: "Okay, here comes my attack step", to which he nodded.

Submariner proceeded to whack all 3 of his characters, and his life dropped to zero. It was an amazing thing to happen. My opponent was just as surprised, too.


Swiss Qualifiers
Round 2 of 7: Vs. TNB (The New Brotherhood)
Result: Win

I greeted my opponent, introduced myself and extended a handshake, but he did not return my goodwill. I felt he was a little unfriendly. Oh, well. The game goes on.

I had a pretty bad start, but fortunately for me, I HAB'ed his Avalon Space Station before he could abuse Lost City even more. Both of us were quite evenly matched. My condition started improving in the later turns when my fatties were out.

On the 4th turn, I opened Doomstadt and Faces of Doom to search for Dr. Doom:DB. He Ka-Boom'ed my Doomstadt in response. I almost let it through, but somehow, holding the 4-drop Dr. Doom in my hand and seeing only 3 resources on my side felt a little funny. I was about to summon Darkoth when I suddenly realized something. "Excuse me, I think Ka-Boom can only be played during the Combat Phase." Good thing I noticed it or else I would've been 'cheated'.

On the turn 5, and he got his 5-drop Magneto and Rogue out. I had Dr. Doom and Thing - Heavy Hitter. I managed to tap his Magneto with Mystical Paralysis. I was very nervous at this point in time as both of us had near-fatal life points (around 5+). My opponent decided to perform a last ditch effort by ramming his little Rogue into my Thing. He tossed all the Rogue cards in his hand to power up Rogue. I was a little shocked, but then realized I had a little surprise tucked away. I opened Unmasked from my resource row. Immediately, his face had a "WTF!!!" kind of expression and he began packing up his cards. A lucky win for me. hehe.


Swiss Qualifiers
Round 3 of 7: Vs. TNB (The New Brotherhood)
Result: Win

I only realized that this guy was a 'celebrity' when I got home. His name is Noel and he wrote an article for VSUniverse. He ran a Brotherhood deck. Again, I got trounced by early rushes with Lost City. Our life gap was pretty wide; he had near 40 and I was at 10+. On the 4th turn, I got a Doctor Doom out so that I could use Boris to search for Unmasked. He seemed un-impressed when I revealed it. From then on, I proceeded to open/close Unmasked every turn to put him in a lock. He seemed a little frustrated at being unable to power up his Magneto:MOM and Mystique. He even tried to find fault with my timing of closing Unmasked but I managed to prove that I was playing it correctly. Finally, my Silver Surfer came out and bashed Magneto for the win. I only had around 3 life left. Good thing I had enough life to upkeep Unmasked to the very end. Phew.


Swiss Qualifiers
Round 4 of 7: Vs. Gotham Knights
Result: Lose

He seemed like a nice guy. I introduced myself and shook his hand. Again, I only learnt he was a 'celebrity' after the match. His name was Bert and it is said he played in the KL 10k.

I managed to team-up with Common Enemy early in the game. I had Dr. Doom and Thing out. He bombed my Common Enemy with HAB. I took the top card of my deck, took a little peek, then just placed it face-down into my resource. I was too preoccupied with attacking and just rushed with Thing. He played Acrobatic Dodge from hand. I said: "Sorry, Dr. Doom is out." He smiled and said: "Yup, but you don't control another Doom characters." I slapped my head. "Oh, yah. Common Enemy is gone." I declared attack with Dr. Doom; another Acrobatic Dodge came from his hand. I wasted my attack for the turn. I looked at my face-down resources to see if there was anything I could play. To my horror, I saw a Common Enemy down there!!! I then realized that his HAB bombed my Common Enemy, only to be replaced by another Common Enemy. I could've just opened it, but I was too engrossed to pay attention. Then he could not play those Acrobatic Dodges. Grrr.

Because of that mistake, and due to the fact that I got no big drops from him Fizzling 3 of my Signal Flares, I lost.


Swiss QualifiersRound 5 of 7:
Vs. Curve Sentinels
Result: Lose

My opponent this time was David, the 'office guy' who usually drops by at AMK. I was wondering what deck he was playing today. Would it be Teen Titans, Brave and the Bold, or X-Stall?

Well, he was playing Sentinels. I remember that both of us were pretty close, but I got a little lost at what to do halfway, attacked the wrong characters and lost.


Swiss Qualifiers
Round 6 of 7: Vs. Superman
Result: Lose

My opponent was a rather nice and chatty guy. He was very kind & courteous when I had trouble following what his card effects did and explained them to me. I missed a number of drops and got overwhelmed by his evil Superman.

After I lost, he was funny and remarked, "Phew, I was expecting your Submariner on turn 7. See how I arranged my guys?" Then he struck a defensive kung fu pose which made me laugh.

The Foilkid came along and saw my opponent. He exclaimed "Ahhh! It is you! The Evil Savage Beatdown Man!" I learnt that my opponent defeated Foilkid by playing 3 Savage Beatdowns all of a sudden to reduce his life from 30+ to 0. We all laughed at the Foilkid's comment.


Swiss Qualifiers
Round 7 of 7: Vs. Arkham Inmates/Sinister Syndicate
Result: Win

This was the first time I am facing Arkham. I pardoned myself and told my opponent that I may have to pick up a lot of card effects to read because this is the first time I am playing against Arkham.

My opponent probably had a very very bad hand during this game. He merely summoned 1/2-drop weenies for the first few turns and his biggest was only a 4-drop... on turn 6. I guess he was just plain unlucky. I managed to win on account that I got all my big drops out.


============
Intermission:
============

I counted that my record for the qualifiers was 4W and 3L. I was very tired, having played non-stop from 2 pm to 7 pm. The rest were waiting for me for dinner. I told them that I will wait for my results first then collect my door gift prizes before I go. When I went to look at the final 8 listings, I was surprised to see that I was in; just nice at the 8th position. Looks like I will be staying for the finals.

First the judges verified out decks against the one that we have submitted earlier on. Then we started pairing from. From what I learnt, the final 8 decks consisted of:

1. Common Enemy
2. Teen Titans
3. Curve Sentinels (2 of them)
4. Brave and the Bold
5. Superman
6. The New Brotherhood
7. Gotham Knights

Oh, well. Onto my first match.

Single Elimination Finals
Match 1: Vs. Gotham Knights
Result: Win 2-0

I was wondering if there was something wrong with this pairing when I realized that I had to play against Bert again. After I learnt that he was a 'celebrity', I felt that I had a very low chance of winning him. I just told myself that if I lost, I will just go home happy with my prizes.

Round 1 began. I had a steady stream of characters and it helped me a LOT that my Dr. Doom re-used Mystical Paralysis 3 times to waste his initiative turns. I managed to win this one because of that. This was something I did not expect. Perhaps I had a chance!

Round 2 began. I had another steady draw of characters and managed to hit all my drops from turn 5 onwards. Bert had trouble; he missed his 7th drop, but got Apocalypse out on the 8th turn. On my side, I had Silver Surfer. Apocalyse bombed my land, whereas my Surfer stole the initiative every turn.

Finally, it came to the decisive turn. I had Darkoth, Dr. Doom VVD, the Thing: ELBET, Hulk and Silver Surfer. He only had Lady Shiva, Nightwing and Apocalypse out. I took a VERY long time to make my move. He started complaining, "Hurry up, I wanna have dinner." Both of us had around 10 life left. Eventually, I decided to play safe. Very safe.

I used Darkoth + Hulk on Shiva, and Silver Surfer + ELBET on Apocalypse. If he managed to dodge any one of them, I would be dead. At this point in time, I experienced a most intriguing situation that I thought would only happen in movies.

Bert called me to stop my attack. He had a few words with the judges before he spoke to me. "Look, your next match will be against Curve Sentinels. Your CE will not have a chance against it. Are you sure you want to do this?"

At this point in time, I knew what he was proposing. He wanted to conspire with me. If I let him win, he will split his prize with me. The judges around us started whispering. Normally, this sort of thing is not allowed, but I guess he knows the judges, so they are willing to let it pass.

I didn't want to burden myself with all this nonsence and replied: "Sorry, but I am not familiar with this sort of thing. I think I will just continue the game as for normal." Immediately, his face turned black and he slumped back on his chair.

"So you want the game to go on as for normal?" One of the judges asked. I nodded my head, "Yes." The judge turned to him, "Okay, you heard him, Bert." He just shook his head.

I proceeded to conclude my attack, letting good old Victor Von Doom deliver the finishing blow.

Now this is the sort of thing you don't see everyday. hehe.


Single Elimination Finals
Match 2: Vs. Curve Sentinels
Result: Lose 0-2

The weird pairings carry on. Here I am, facing David again. It was getting late and the judges were all sick/tired/hungry. I was a little pissed when I heard a voice from afar shout: "Hey, CE guy! Concede the game leh. CE confirm cannot win Sentinels lar. Don't waste all our time!" I don't know who that asshat is, but I continued to play on.

I think that Bert guy was cursing me from elsewhere or something, cos' just as he said, I couldn't do much against Curve Sentinels. I lost on both rounds with Magneto:MOM came out and trashed all my guys.


==========
Conclusion
=========

Oh, well. I had a very enlightening but tiring day. Playing from 2pm to 8pm non-stop was very stressful. I managed to place 3rd/4th in the tournament and went home with a Batman shirt, 12 packs of Man of Steel, and a Dr. Doom:DB extended art promo. wee~

This tournament was overall very fun for me. I didn't expect to make it so far and was very satisfied with my performance. I would like to thank everyone who was there with me today and all my VS-playing friends.

I hope that there will be more of us joining the next PCQ together. Cheers.

Weekend of VS

The VS System PCQ (Pro Circuit Qualifiers) is tomorrow. I really feel like joining it, but just like all other cardgame tournaments, I have something against massive crowds and playing with strangers. It is something that I have not managed to grow out of. Anyway, I have managed to put together a Common Enemy deck using all the cards I've gotten over the course of the past few weeks. I was lacking "Have a Blast!", but Orchi managed to help me buy them from a Malaysian trader at CCK. Talk about being at the right place at the right time. I am indebted to him. Now I can save my money by not whacking packs/drafting anymore and just wait for Marvel Knights.

Chris organized an 8-man VS constructed tournament at his shop. I joined it for fun since it only costed a dollar to join and he was giving away the EA (short for 'Extended Art') Donna Troy promo. I managed to come in second place, having only lost to Kelvin "Foil Kid" Soh's TNB ("The New Brotherhood") deck. During the finals, I missed my first few drops which was enough for TNB to deal nearly 20+ dmg to me. It also didn't help that the rest of the 'noisy' people have finished their matches and were crowding around, doing their usual badgering. I thought that I managed to make a comeback when I played a 4th turn Dr. Doom DB and double-Reigned, but I got no characters or tutors for my next two turns and get killed by Sabretooth, Blob and Magneto. I normally wouldn't mind losing to the Foil Kid, but those noisy cheerleaders' badgering left me in a pissy mood.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself and it was a morale booster. Somehow, I feel that I should give the Sunday PCQ a try, but I think I did not play-test my Common Enemy enough to decide what to put into its 'toolbox' of anti cards.

I managed to buy Inquest today and it came with a copy of MMK's Werewolf by Night. I am gonna hunt for foil versions of it for my Underworld deck just because of its pretty artwork.

Visit to Settler's Cafe

Jeffrey took me and Orchi out to "Settlers" today. At first, I was expecting a card shop since Jeff mentioned that he wanted to ask the Level 2 VS Judge there some rulings questions. When we arrived at Clarke Quay and found the shop, I had quite a surprise. This was no ordinary card shop. The decor was unusually nice. There were several huge tables and sofas around. It was some sort of gaming cafe! (They even have their own webbie: http://www.settlerscafe.com/ )

A guy with the name-tag Colin showed us to our seats and brought us a menu. He also asked us what games we were interested in playing. Jeff told him that we were VS players. We asked to look at their singles album. After hanging out with us for a while, Jeff had to leave for work, but he would be back to join us in the evening. In the meantime, I played a few games with Colin, while Orchi played deck with another big-sized guy.

Colin was using a Spider-Friends Army deck with Longshot. I found it funny that he was naming inconsistent/random cards with Longshot. It slowed him down a lot. I found it weird that whenever Colin was about to pull of something tricky, he would burst into a loud high-pitched laughter that makes my hair stand. (No joke. He would make a great voice dubber for some anime villain.)

More VS players soon came in. I was like: “Oh no, soon everyone will crowd around and disturb us with their running commentary”. To my surprise, all they said was, “Wow, a Doom deck!” then went on to play amongst themselves. OMG!!! No external disturbances badgering me in a card game? Now this is what I call a miracle!

After my game, I went to check out Orchi. It seems that his opponent ended up criticizing his deck and so he is now undergoing a deck reconstruction based on the guy’s suggestions. I chose to ignore him cos’ I disliked people who offered 'advice'. Instead, I quietly watched the other players. I realized everyone was mainly playing with DC cards. I saw decks like Arkham/Fearsome Five, 'Brave and the Bold' and Teen Titans. No wonder they reacted that way to my Doom deck; I was the only pure Marvel player around. It made me feel like ‘unique’. Hehe.

Jeff soon came back. He played against Orchi’s opponent, who I realized was the Judge that he was going to seek for rules clarifications. The funny thing was that, every time this ‘Judge’ wanted to confirm something, he’d shout “Hey, Level 2 Judge!” Then a guy would come running out with a PDA to answer Jeff. (This big 'Judge' was either rusty in his rules or he liked bullying freshie Judges.) Jeff sat down to play against the big-sized guy, who I now realized was running a Teen Titans/X-Men deck. From watching them, I realized that Teen Titans was all about who could pump his Roy Harper bigger and trounce the opponent. *Sigh* Looks like it wasn’t a strategic deck as I thought. Jeff lost the match, and the guy went on to criticize & suggest improvements for Jeff’s deck; the same way he did with Orchi’s. He spoke as if Teen Titans was the greatest thing on Earth. Seemed like part mindless rush, part Roy Harper pump race and Teen Titans Go! abuse to me.

After that, the three of us had a few more games amongst ourselves. We were going to have dinner there before we left, but I changed my mind when I realized that anything that was filling on the menu had a 2-digit price tag attached. It was time for us to go. Perhaps we will visit there again another time.

I kinda like the place. Nice atmosphere, relatively friendly players (beng-ish looking people who are nice! *gasp*), and most importantly, no crowding around “haha you die liao” nonsence. The price of the food is a little high, though, but I guess it is worth trying out once in a while.

Sunday Lunch Outing and Others

Finally, something else to do on a Sunday afternoon. I went out with my former project-mates for lunch at the Wheelock Place. We ate at NYDC. This was my first time there and I have no idea what is stands for (New York Dining Cafe?). Sylvia pointed out that this place serves very good pasta and most of us ordered "The Three Amigos". It contained a lot of cheese, meatballs and macaroni. It was very filling and I loved it very much. My only problem was that the waiter kept refilling my water and I just continued to drink it all down. Led to lots of toilet trips.

After lunch, the rest went to watch Elektra, which I had already watched the previous day. It was an okay movie. The plot was alright, though the fights were weird. The baddies all died too quickly and when they did, they'd burst into greenish light. Too weird.

I left my friends and went straight to Ang Mo Kio. When I arrived, I saw a huge group of loud-mouthed ah bengs sitting outside the shop. Was it some poker or daidi tournament? No, they were playing the VS TCG. (Holy $h1t, they made me feel like I was playing a scrub's game.) They were yelling vulgarities at one another and slamming cards on the table. Anyone can make an educated guess immediately that they were CCK players. (Of course, no offense to my nicer CCK friends.) It seems that Jeffrey brought them along. Even Auntie Krys pointed out that they were the CCK VS Judges. No wonder they could screw up rules that are printed in the rulebook.

VS Fever

I have been playing the Marvel VS TCG practically everyday for nearly a week now. This is probably one of the most engaging card games I have played in a long time. It has a lot of depth & variety and I daresay it is even more balanced than Magic: The Gathering.

I drafted with various groups of people 1 - 3 times a day. Feeling very broke but also very satisfied with my collection. Perhaps it is time for me to get singles.

No More Doggie

The doggie in the kitchen has finally been picked up by its owner after nearly ten months. I kinda regret not taking any pictures of it for keepsake.

No more noisy barking in the middle of the night or when strangers step up to the door. No more clawing my legs when I go into the kitchen. I miss petting it, though.

Now that it's gone, I found myself raiding the kitchen in the middle of the night again. Ah, the good old days.

TCG: The Vs. System

When Upperdeck's Vs System TCG was first released, I swore that I will never touch it. I am somewhat prejudiced against American-made TCGs and the American-style comic book art did not attract me.

Despite that, I recently started playing the Marvel/DC Vs TCG after watching JokerZ & Orchi playing it and then drafting the game once with Jeffrey and Darius. I found it to be very interesting. I told myself that I will save money by only drafting for cards, but ended up buying a box myself.

The gameplay is very refreshing (but, yeah, all card games are 'refreshing' until you play it a million times and it gets old...). I would say it is a mixture of Magic: The Gathering, Duel Masters and Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Monsters, and more. There is tapping of creatures, mana costs, power & toughness (M:TG); any card can be played face-down as 'land' for mana (D.M); your 'land' can be flipped over as 'Trap cards' and you choose the targets for your attacks during combat (DM).

The combat engine is one of the most interesting aspects of the game. The way you arrange your characters on the board matters. And at the end of combat, when all your characters are stunned (i.e. marked to be destroyed), you can choose to recover one of them. This means that your favorite character will usually be around and survive for many many turns. It really makes you feel attached to that character as his very presense truly immerses you into the game. Compare this to other games where your favorite monster gets zapped the moment he comes out, or even if he does, he will usually not live for more than 2 turns. That's kinda anti-climatic.

Oh, and did I mention that both players carry out their turns pretty much simultaneously? This means that both players actually go about with their actions in one turn (of course, depends on which player has Iniatiave aka priority). No one sits around and twiddle their thumbs while waiting for their opponent to say, "I end my turn".

I've made a simple Doom deck so far because I like Doctor Doom. Didn't read the comics, but I thought he was cool in those Capcom fighting games.

I am not sure if the VS system will be another passing fad for me. I am upkeeping too many card games now, and M:TG Betrayers of Kamigawa is coming out soon. If anyone is interested, I am aways game for a draft session.

Protect your Goodies

Yay, my DS finally has screen protectors! It is simple things like this that makes me happy.

A few days ago, I scratched the touchscreen my precious Nintendo DS while playing Feel the Magic and it freaked me out. (I sorta deserve it cos' it is like running around with a loaded gun.) Since the beginning of time, I did not believe in using such things cos' I am always careful with my game consoles. *sigh*

I went to Mega Multimedia immediately and bought some Hori Screen Protectors. It costed a whopping S$22, but I was desperate to protect my precious investment. (Come to think of it, it was dumb.) I spent an hour trying to get it on, but air bubbles and dust kept getting trapped under it. In the end, the screen protector got mutilated by my careless hands and I tossed it away. S$22 down the drain, just like that.

Today, Chris got some nice affordable LCD Guardian protectors at S$12. He helped me to put one on for the touchscreen and I was so proud of myself when I conquered my fear by placing the top one on myself.

Remember; almost protect your investment.

Not-so-Good Service

I went back to Absolute Comics on Thursday to have a look and was delighted to find that they had the 2nd printing of Darkstalkers #1 at an affordable S$6 (as opposed to the S$30 1st print I saw the other time). I over-heard some guys at the counter talking about issue 2. I did not see it in the shelves, though, so I promptly took the 1st issue and brought it to the counter.

I handed the comic to the cashier. He was a yellow-haired person who did not even look at me. He was busy talking to some middle-aged guy. I patiently waited for him to ask for payment, but just then, one of the saleslady (not the kind one I saw from last time) came to the counter and plunked a huge stack of comics on the table. I saw the new Darkstalkers #2 right on top and got a little excited. "Wow, is issue 2 for sale already?"

The yellow-haired guy stopped talking to the middle-aged man and took notice of me at last. He curtly replied: "We are out of stock. There'll be more next week." I graciously thanked him, but again, he turned away, treating me like I am invisible. Instead, he continued to chat with the middle-aged guy, and he punched some numbers into the cash register, and the figures "$286.00" flashed on the display.

Now I get it. The huge stack of comics are the middle-age guy's purchases. The yellow-haired beng was chatting with him and totally ignoring me because the guy was a 'big customer' who just spent a buttload of cash. How lame. The way he replied to me about issue 2 also sounded as if the old guy deserved it more than me or something.

In the end, I was only served like five minutes later. It was the lady who served me and not the yellow-haired beng. I think he is the boss or something. Looks like I'll have to tolerate him again the next time I come for future issues.

First Baby-Step in Job-Hunting

Tried to psych myself up for job-hunting today by browsing JobsDB.com (lots of my friends found jobs off this site).

Just as I had feared, my degree in Computer Science is worth nuts when all the IT-related posts specifically request that the applicant be either very proficient in programming (which I am not) or have 1-2 years of experience. It made me a bit regretful when I saw that most employers were looking for people with degrees/diplomas in business, accounting, banking, and all the other stuff that I actually considered taking when I entered NUS. But I just had to choose Computing cos' I thought it would be 'fun'. (Yeah, right.)

I looked through around 20+ pages of job listings and realized that I can only do stuff that mainly require little-to-no experience such as sales assistants, admin assistants, etc. I'll bookmark those and have a look at them another time.

On an interesting note, I saw a job that made me go "WTF". It's a Japanese translator job with an amazing salary of S$2,500 and requiring only 'O' Level qualification. (In comparison, jobs with degree/diploma requirements pay around $1500-$1800+.) Makes us wonder why we even go through JC/Poly/NUS when we can just study Japanese and take JLPT instead.

Happy New Year

It's the year 2005. Happy new year to everyone.

Everyone is busy with school. For me, I have not started job-hunting yet. I doubt any IT firm will take me yet cos' my degree is insufficient to meet the expectations of the real working world. Damn NUS and their screwed up 3-year degrees. They save all the good stuff for the honor students and treat us like 2nd rate citizens. I have a feeling that 1st year IT students from Poly learn more than 3-year computing students from NUS.

I really should jump at any job opportunity now. I can't believe I let one slipped by. I was at CCK and those Singnet salesperson approached me and asked me if I was interested in applying for Broadband. I told her that I was already using Singnet Broadband and she asked if I had any friends who was interested in a full-time job. Being the slow-witted dum-dum I am, I just said "no" and left. It slipped my mind that I could just referred myself.

Anyway, my Mum suggests that I take some courses to improve myself first. I guess I'll scout around and take one baby-step at a time.