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.
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Intermission:
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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.
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Conclusion
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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.
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