I was very afraid that I would not be able to join the tournament today because of some crappy traffic jam. I was about to reach Suntec by 1:30 pm, but the traffic was so bad that I only arrived at 2:10 pm. I was very relieved when I realized that registration was still going on. I grabbed a form and began filling it up, while one of the judges recognized me and said: "Ah, still playing Common Enemy?" I merely smiled in return as I was still panting from rushing up to the room.
Just then, they made the annoucement: "We are sorry for the 15-min delay in the start of the Constructed as we had technical difficulties." If it weren't for the delay, I would not have been able to participate.
'Mister Lup-It' Andrew told me that this would be my last chance to play Common Enemy until the next Golden Age tournament because the following month's format will be Marvel Modern Age. Boy, was I glad I came. I was eager to test out my unconventional Common Enemy with the changes I have made.
There were 30 players today and the format was the usual 7-round Swiss. Orchi pointed out to me that there were 11 Sentinel players today. That's not a good sign for me.
The deck I used was a modified Common Enemy.
Round 1: Vs. Curve Sentinels
My opponent was a friendly-looking guy. He even placed a "Chaos Soldier" (Ritual Monster from Yu-Gi-Oh) on the table; probably as his good luck charm. I was like "OMG", when I realized that my first opponent played Curve Sentinels. I shouldn't really complain, since the Singapore metagame is Sentinels-dominated, but to meet one in my first match, I was a bit surprised.
Anyway, the game proceeded pretty normally, with both of us hitting a comfortable amount of drops. The guy took pretty long to make some of his moves, and I kept looking up at the big-screen timer cos' I had a phobia of the recent 'time-up defeat' I had. I think I made him a little nervous, cos' he also asked me if we had enough time.
During the first half of the game, I managed to use Boris to fetch Betrayal, hoping that it would help me in the lategame. Finally, turn 6 came along and the dreaded Bastion (altogether now, say: "Leader of Operation: Zero Tolerance") turned up. He had initiative, and that was dangerous for me, so I minimized damage by placing all my characters in the support row and reinforcing where possible. It was my offense on turn 7. I had 3 characters; Dr. Doom:DB, Hulk, and a just-recruited Submariner. He had Bastion, Magneto:MOM, 2 Mark V's (one boosted), and a Mark II in play. I took a pretty long time to think of how to make my move. I had 2 Nasty Surprise & Overload in my hand. My plan was to trick him into pumping any of his guys into Overload range, but he could just play Cover Fire and not fall for the bait. I took a gamble, and proposed Submariner+Hulk for 28 points on Bastion. At this moment, my heart was pounding; I realized that if he felt that 28 points was too high, he wouldn't even bother pumping and just take the damage. He thought for a while and made his move, pumping Bastion to 16 ATK in an attempt to stun-back my Submariner. This made me very relieved and I promptly went on with my own Nasty+Overload combo to stun Bastion. Both my characters readied, and I proposed Submariner to take down the boosted Mark V. He put up a fight by flipping up a few Tag Teams and Cover Fires, pumping Mark V's DEF to 16. At this moment, I looked through all my cards frantically for a solution; I had none! I didn't draw a single pump card since the beginning of the game! At this moment, I was really desperate and said: "I am going to try using Have-A-Blast on my own Doomstadt, and see if there is anything that can save me." I played the HAB, and got quite a surprise at the replaced card. I flipped open "It's Clobberin' Time", much to my opponent's amazement. He allowed his Mark V to be stunned. Hulk's attack on the other Mark V worked out, too, and when everything was over, I let Dr. Doom to Mystical-Paralysis Magneto. I survived the turn, but the next one would be crucial.
At this moment, the both of us noticed that two judges were watching over us. We looked up and realized that the whole room was actually watching us (Eek!!!). My worst fear have come; our match lasted too long, and everyone was waiting for us. One of the judge broke the dreaded news: "Take one last turn after this and finish up the game". Talk about pressure. In my mind, all these people were probably thinking: "The CE should just concede to Sentinels". But I told myself that even if I lost, I'd try my best at the very least.
It was Turn 8; I was leading my opponent by a bit, with around 20 life to 15 life. My opponent recruited two new Sentinel armies. He moved all his characters; Magneto, Bastion, Sentinel Mark V and Sentinel Mark III to the front row. I opened Betrayal from my resource row, and he promptly chose to stun Mark III. I recruited Boris and a new Dr. Doom: DB to cover my Betrayal. Combat began. I had the Hulk and Submariner up front, with Dr. Doom and Boris behind. He first 'chased' my Boris away to see what I'd come up with. I looked through my deck, hoping for a solution. I thought I'd take Overload or Savage Beatdown to try and fake him, but then again, I decided to go with good-old Nasty Surprise.
Seeing the Nasty Surprise, he chose to attack up the curve, hitting my Hulk with Mark V and pumping up for a double-stun. The guy had Magneto and Bastion left, while I had Submariner and Dr. Doom. Magneto proposed attack on Dr. Doom, but I tapped him with Mystical Paralysis, leaving only Submariner and Bastion left on the field as the only ready characters. He was still determined to take down Dr. Doom and attacked again with Bastion. I looked up and realized that he only had 2 cards in his hand. I thought for a while, thinking whether to play Nasty Surprise or Betrayal. He only had to pump Bastion once to move out of my Nasty Surprise range, so I flipped over Betrayal. My opponent had a hard time thinking whether to stun his attacking Bastion or the immobile Magneto. Time seem to froze as the whole room watched him staring at the table in deep thought. I watched with bated breath, still unsure of how I was gonna handle the situation if he chose to stun Bastion or Magneto. The two judges looked on, but didn't want to pressure him any more by calling for time.
It took him around 4-5 minutes to make his decision; he turned Bastion face-down and passed combat to me. I only had Submariner left and the only defender he had left was a tapped Magneto. It was my final move; I attacked Magneto with Submariner and played "It's Clobberin' Time". My opponent looked at the cards in his hand for any response. Eventually, he just extended his hand out to me for a handshake, and I was so nervous that it took me a while to realize that he conceded. I shook his hand and thanked him for a very exciting game. He revealed a Recon Program from his hand and said he couldn't use it because of Dr. Doom. (No wonder he kept wanting to stun my Dr. Doom.)
The people around us started talking as the match ended. I saw Bert in the crowd, who asked why didn't I play the Nasty first before Betrayal, and I said I was afraid he'd out-pump me. (At this moment, I was glad that Bert did not harbor a grudge against me, despite my bad experience with him.)
The judges happily took the results of the match and put up the pairings for the next match. I did not even have time to rest. I told myself that, no matter I won or lost today, it was worth joining today just to experience the excitment and drama in this first match. =)
Record: 1W-0L
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Round 2: Vs. Teen Titans
Wow, this was my first time playing against Teen Titans at any tournament. I didn't have much experience playing against them, so I reminded myself to be careful.
To sum up this match: I lost without putting up much of a fight. No kidding. I still had a hand full of cards and none of my resources were flipped up except for a Doomstadt. Every turn, I'd recruit my character, glance at the cards in my hand/resource, and get whacked. I didn't draw any combat pumps or tricks to use. All I had were things like Flame Trap and Reign of Terror, but they proved useless as the guy curved up with 4:Redstar-5:Garth-6:Starfire.
The game ended on turn 6, with him still at 40+ life and not even breaking a sweat. I extended a handshake and thanked him, to which he replied, "Good game". I don't really like this guy. He had a somewhat arrogant look and the tone of his voice throughout the game sounded condescending. I was so glad that this match was over.
Score: 1W-1L
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Round 3: Vs. X-Beats
*Gasp* This time I was playing against Fengokill. I have played with him in casual games and knew how pesky the X-Men were with their recovery cards and Bamf. I smiled and wished good luck to both of us.
I drew a starting hand with one 5-drop and three Plot Twists. I instinctively mulliganed, but was quite surprised when this time, I had one 8-drop. I thought things would improve, but then the nightmare began. As the first few turns passed, I think I drew all the 8-drops and 6-drops in my deck, without any Signal Flare to help me out. As a result, for the first 5 turns, Fengokill attacked me directly with his characters since I was completely left open.
Turn 6 came along, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I recruited my first character for the game; Dr. Doom: Victor Von Doom. I looked at my life and saw that I had 20 life left compared to Fengokill's full 50. "Okay, I'm dead," I told myself. He had Colossus(6), Wolverine(5), and Proudstar(4) on the field. On turn 7, I missed my 7th drop and had to settle with recruiting the Hulk.
On turn 8, I recruited Dr. Doom:LOL and thought of saving Surfer for later, but he recruited Apocalypse to bomb my resources, one of which was my Savage Beatdown (*sigh*). By the time it was turn 9, I looked at our life totals, and by some crazy miracle, I had managed to bridge the gap. We were both tied at 11 life!
Fengokill summoned a boosted Mental Master to control my Dr. Doom:LOL, to which I responded by Mytical-Paralyzing Apocalypse. My turn 9 play was miserable; just Boris, She-Hulk, and Darkoth. I attacked one of his smaller characters with my Hulk, and he responded with Have-A-Blast on my Doomstadt. I scratched my head and felt that it was odd. Why did he play HAB during my attack declaration? Did he want to give me a chance by replacing my Doomstadt for me? Or was he just playing around cos' he knew he'd win? He just kept very-very-very quiet (Hmm). I carried on with my Hulk's attack, but I only found out his true intention after the attack. My Boris was stuck on the field and couldn't run because my Dr. Doom: LOL and Doomstadt were gone. I had planned to use Boris to fetch a 2nd Savage Beatdown (one was already in my hand), and use everything I've got to pump She-Hulk or Darkoth (who can also pump himself). Now I couldn't do any of that, and all my small characters were sitting duck. I just conceded.
Score: 1W-2L
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Round 4: Vs. Sentinels
Sentinels again and this time it was Andrew aka Mr. Lup-It. I know I was in for a hard time. I may have been able to beat Curve Sentinels in my first round, but chances like that are like 30-70 and probably happen once in a blue moon.
Oh, well. I just lost the same away any Common Enemy deck would crumble to Curve Sentinels.
Score: 1W-3L
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Round 5: Vs. Superman Robots
When you start seeing strange unorthodox rogue decks near the end of a tournament, it is bad news for you because it an indication of how low your standings is.
This was a Superman Robot army deck that relies on LongShot. The Superman Robot is a 3-cost 4/4, but with a Boost:1 ability that gives +1 to all Superman Robots for each of them on the field. My opponent would always name Superman Robot and one other random card, and anyone can tell you that naming random cards would always lead to inconsistent draws. (In fact, his LongShot only succeeded ONCE during the entire match.)
Basically, I paid the upkeep on Unmasked every turn (I drew it myself) when I realized that he was tossing Superman Robots to power up his guys on the field. I stalled till turn 7 and played Thing:ELBET to return everything. Having only 2 Superman Robots left on the field against my larger characters, he lost.
Score: 2W-3L
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Round 6: Vs. Spiderfriends/Gotham Knights
The name of my opponent on the list was "Lu Wei". It sounded familiar and I soon realized that it was a guy that I saw Orchi hanging out with today since he kept calling his name. It made me feel comfortable that I was not playing against a stranger. Before the match began, though, Aaron approached me and told me that I should concede to Lu Wei because he had 1 more win than me and stood a better chance of advancing. As usual, I wasn't into this sort of thing, so I just replied, "I'll see how it goes".
Orchi came along to watch our match. "Kelvin, help me beat this evil guy," Orchi said jokingly. I learnt that Lu Wei was a nice and friendly guy, so it helped me to relieve my stress a little.
I didn't know what to expect. I saw Spiderman on the 3rd turn and suspected it was a Spiderfriends/MK deck. I played Dr. Doom on turn 4 and tried to Reign away his evil Spiderman, but he flipped up a Plot Twist and said: "Nice Try." (The name of this card always makes me laugh when people say it out. hehe.) I was surprised when Batman: Caped Crusader popped up on turn 5. He flipped up World's Finest to team-up. I tried to Have-A-Blast it, but he countered with Fizzle. Later on, I used Dr. Doom:DB to re-use HAB. It succeeded this time round, but he opened a Metropolis to team-up again. Argh!
Things were okay until the 7th turn came on, and he recruited the evil Amazing Spiderman. I knew how totally wicked that card was, so I moved all my guys back to reinforce.
Turn 8 came along. I recruited Dr. Doom: LOL and had a few other guys on the field. I knew he had a Cosmic Spiderman in his hand from an early Costume Change, but to my surprise, he did not recruit him, and instead, chose to pitch it to exhaust my Dr. Doom. I felt that he had made a very huge sacrifice by discarding his Cosmic Spiderman and missing his drop, but he had just denied me of my big hitter on my initiative turn! Argh. I just ended my turn.
The game went on to turn 9. He moved all his characters to the front, preparing to attack, but I recruited Silver Surfer, much to his dismay. I stole the initiative and attacked his characters with both Dr. Doom and Surfer for heavy damage. He just conceded.
At this moment, Aaron came around and again, requested me to report Lu Wei as the winner. Although Lu Wei is a nice guy and I wouldn't mind doing it, it was against my principles to conspire or do any form of rigging in any way. I apologized and told Aaron that I wished to carry on. I wished Lu Wei good luck for his last round.
Score: 3W-3L
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(*I later asked Orchi about Lu Wei, and he told me that he didn't blame me for my decision. He's an okay kinda guy.)
Round 7: Vs. 'My Beloved'
Here I was, my last match for the day. I told myself to give my best shot and maybe I might still stand a chance. I was surprised to learn that my opponent was Edwin, who plays 'My Beloved'. Maybe I was a little over-confident, but I felt that I had a good chance of winning this since 'My Beloved' did not have beefy characters or offensive pumps.
The match began. Edwin went turn 2 Talia and turn 3 Ubu. I had Darkoth on turn 3, and remarked that Ubu is probably the fattest 3-drop ever (of course, I forgot about the 6/6 Wolverine).
On the 4th turn, I missed my drop and settled on She-Hulk while he got out Dick Grayson: High-Flying Acrobat. I attacked Ubu with Darkoth and played "It's Clobberin' Time". He played Fizzle, but fortunately, I powered up my Darkoth once to avoid 'banging wall'. I soon realized it was in vain, however, as I was unaware of Dick Grayson's effect, and to my horror, it worked in stunning both She-Hulk and Darkoth.
On the 5th turn, he recruited Bane, while I got out Dr. Doom and reigned away Ubu. I tried to HAB his team-up card, but he countered with Fizzle. His characters were bigger than mine, and I got hit for major damage. On the 6th turn, I recruited Hulk, while he got out Ras Al Ghul.
On turn 7, he recruited Lady Shiva. I had a Submariner in my hand, but he'd be KO'ed straightaway. Instead, I chose to perform 'stunts'. I planned to recruit Dr. Doom to Mystical-Paralysis Lady Shiva. I recruited Boris to fetch Signal Flare, but to my horror, he Fizzled my Signal Flare. I simply played a Dr. Doom:DB from my hand to reuse a earlier Signal Flare, and used that to search for yet another Boris, which in turn led me to Mystical Paralysis. I managed to get through turn 7, but he got out Ras Al Ghul on turn 8, and I conceded because I was close to death and have used up every card I've got just to survive turn 7.
Score: 3W-4L
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In the end, Edwin got 10th place. People who entered the top 8 included Jeffrey and David (both at 5 wins). I also noted that other local VS celebrities have also gotten in, like Yap, Lee, and Noel.
I did poorly this time and ended up at the back of the pack. Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun and I will remember my super-long Sentinel first match for the rest of my VS gaming experience.
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