Today, I went back to NUS to do a survey based on the last project that I did. I usually wouldn't bother myself with such things. However, just this once, I decided to just go for it when I learnt that I would be paid (S$10) and that an old friend of mine was in charge of the whole thing for his honors year project.
I met up with my project mates before we proceeded to the room. Only AL, KH, and JN had made it. We went up and I saw Augustine and Darren; two fantastic people whom I spent two semesters with on another project. They asked me where I was working, to which I awkwardly replied, "Still job-hunting". Anyway, after the survey was over, we were wondering where we could go have our lunch, and Augustine to suggested checking out the new cafe in the school that has recetly opened.
Good thing AL knew the way and led us there. The place was called "Coffee Ground" and was nice & quaint little restaurant. We were wondering what they served, but the moment we saw 'pasta' on the menu, we just walked right in. The price was just right, too, with most of the items on the menu costing less than S$4. I bought a Black Pepper Chicken and for dessert, a Brownie Delight.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Monday, February 21, 2005
VS System PCQ (20th FEB)
I couldn't remember when was the last time I've had twelve hours of sleep ever since I've had insomnia. When I came home from the PCQ, it was around 10 pm and I told myself I'd go lie for a while before posting my thoughts. Next thing I knew, I only woke up on the next day. I guess I was really tired.
On Sunday, I had planned to go for the Sealed event which starts at 10 am. My main aim was to hopefully get some great cards for Marvel Knights out of the packs I drafted. I was unable to sleep the night before as I was restless and kept reading through the MMK cards I got. In the end, I went to bed at 7 am, slept for an hour, then woke up at 8 am to prepare to leave home for the PCQ.
I arrived at the same old room and there were traders there already. Most of them have whacked MMK the day before, so I browsed around and tried to learn the prices of the more expensive cards (for the curious, it's: Wild Ride, Mystic Chain, Weapon of Choice, all around $15-$20. Some guy was even selling Weapon of Choice for $25). Soon, the event was starting. I went to sign up and thus began my first VS sealed tournament.
First up was registering the cards. We were all seated at tables while the judges passed out 5 packs and a MMK checklist to each person. (I studied the checklist and found it to be exactly like the one that was put online during the American MMK pre-release.) When everyone was ready, I cracked opened my 5 packs, sorted them according to affiliation, and started filling up the checklist.
I was rather delighted as I opened my packs, since I knew I was not going to be the one using them. I got crap card after crap card, with nothing exciting at all in my 5 packs. There wasn't even a team-up card. "Good luck to the person drafting my packs," I said to myself. Somewhere across the room, a guy was cursing aloud because he got power rares in his packs (I later learnt it was foil Wild Ride, foil Doop and Mystic Chain). Everyone laughed at his outburst.
Finally, time was up, and the judge announced everyone to pass the packs to the person sitting opposite them. I looked up and saw that the guy opposite me had a foil Professor X: Mental Master on the table. David (the office guy) was sitting nearby; he knew the guy opposite me and remarked, "Lucky Kelvin! You're gonna get the Prof. X." It felt comforting that I'd get at least one good card.
Everyone then started passing their cards, but the guy opposite me seemed to be very slow in filling up his checklist. The judge allowed him a bit more time, but he was still taking an eternity. In the end, I traded cards with someone else. In the end, the guy opposite me did not have to pass his cards at all; he just played with whatever he got. David went up to him and asked, "Eh, how come like that?" to which the guy just smiled. Somehow, I feel that he planned it all along. He was deliberately slow because he knew he would keep his stuff. After all, he knew David so he could not be new at this. Heck, this is my first time in Sealed and I filled my checklist faster than him.
Anyway, I looked through the cards I got through the exchange. First, I looked through all the rares and to my dismay, they were all crap; just like the ones I started with. I was a little disappointed and went on to sort out my cards. To my horror, my selection of cards were very weak. To sum it up, the deck I made was a mess. It was a Crime Lords/Marvel Knights deck with an unstable character curve, no team-up cards and zero offensive pumps. (You'd think I'd at least get one of the three MK pumps, but nooo). I had no confidence in my deck at all and told myself that I would probably drop out soon to join the Constructed event or something.
And so, the matches started. The format was was 8-round Swiss, with a lunch break after the 4th round.
I didn't know what happened, but I was pleasantly surprised when I won my first 4 rounds and had a clean 4-0 record. This was something I never expected out of the mess of cards I was carrying in my hand. It was also very comforting when I checked the standings and found that I was currently ranked 3 out of the 47 participants that day! All of a sudden, my morale was high and I told myself that I actually stood a chance of advancing if I won at least one more round.
From then on, things changed and my fairly-tale dream ended. I began losing my matches, and before I knew it, I lost all my matches to the end, putting me at 4-4 and 19th place.
I was in a pretty bad mood after that. It was almost as if the heavens was making a fool out of me. I originally planned to drop, but since I was blessed with the 4 straight wins, I carried on, but only to lose the remainder of my matches and wasted my time. My original plan of getting good rares from draft was also down the drain because I ended up with crap that I already got since the asshat sitting opposite me schemed to keep his cards.
Overall, I was very pissed. It was a complete waste of time. After this, I don't think I will ever dare join another Sealed event again.
On Sunday, I had planned to go for the Sealed event which starts at 10 am. My main aim was to hopefully get some great cards for Marvel Knights out of the packs I drafted. I was unable to sleep the night before as I was restless and kept reading through the MMK cards I got. In the end, I went to bed at 7 am, slept for an hour, then woke up at 8 am to prepare to leave home for the PCQ.
I arrived at the same old room and there were traders there already. Most of them have whacked MMK the day before, so I browsed around and tried to learn the prices of the more expensive cards (for the curious, it's: Wild Ride, Mystic Chain, Weapon of Choice, all around $15-$20. Some guy was even selling Weapon of Choice for $25). Soon, the event was starting. I went to sign up and thus began my first VS sealed tournament.
First up was registering the cards. We were all seated at tables while the judges passed out 5 packs and a MMK checklist to each person. (I studied the checklist and found it to be exactly like the one that was put online during the American MMK pre-release.) When everyone was ready, I cracked opened my 5 packs, sorted them according to affiliation, and started filling up the checklist.
I was rather delighted as I opened my packs, since I knew I was not going to be the one using them. I got crap card after crap card, with nothing exciting at all in my 5 packs. There wasn't even a team-up card. "Good luck to the person drafting my packs," I said to myself. Somewhere across the room, a guy was cursing aloud because he got power rares in his packs (I later learnt it was foil Wild Ride, foil Doop and Mystic Chain). Everyone laughed at his outburst.
Finally, time was up, and the judge announced everyone to pass the packs to the person sitting opposite them. I looked up and saw that the guy opposite me had a foil Professor X: Mental Master on the table. David (the office guy) was sitting nearby; he knew the guy opposite me and remarked, "Lucky Kelvin! You're gonna get the Prof. X." It felt comforting that I'd get at least one good card.
Everyone then started passing their cards, but the guy opposite me seemed to be very slow in filling up his checklist. The judge allowed him a bit more time, but he was still taking an eternity. In the end, I traded cards with someone else. In the end, the guy opposite me did not have to pass his cards at all; he just played with whatever he got. David went up to him and asked, "Eh, how come like that?" to which the guy just smiled. Somehow, I feel that he planned it all along. He was deliberately slow because he knew he would keep his stuff. After all, he knew David so he could not be new at this. Heck, this is my first time in Sealed and I filled my checklist faster than him.
Anyway, I looked through the cards I got through the exchange. First, I looked through all the rares and to my dismay, they were all crap; just like the ones I started with. I was a little disappointed and went on to sort out my cards. To my horror, my selection of cards were very weak. To sum it up, the deck I made was a mess. It was a Crime Lords/Marvel Knights deck with an unstable character curve, no team-up cards and zero offensive pumps. (You'd think I'd at least get one of the three MK pumps, but nooo). I had no confidence in my deck at all and told myself that I would probably drop out soon to join the Constructed event or something.
And so, the matches started. The format was was 8-round Swiss, with a lunch break after the 4th round.
I didn't know what happened, but I was pleasantly surprised when I won my first 4 rounds and had a clean 4-0 record. This was something I never expected out of the mess of cards I was carrying in my hand. It was also very comforting when I checked the standings and found that I was currently ranked 3 out of the 47 participants that day! All of a sudden, my morale was high and I told myself that I actually stood a chance of advancing if I won at least one more round.
From then on, things changed and my fairly-tale dream ended. I began losing my matches, and before I knew it, I lost all my matches to the end, putting me at 4-4 and 19th place.
I was in a pretty bad mood after that. It was almost as if the heavens was making a fool out of me. I originally planned to drop, but since I was blessed with the 4 straight wins, I carried on, but only to lose the remainder of my matches and wasted my time. My original plan of getting good rares from draft was also down the drain because I ended up with crap that I already got since the asshat sitting opposite me schemed to keep his cards.
Overall, I was very pissed. It was a complete waste of time. After this, I don't think I will ever dare join another Sealed event again.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
PS2: Devil May Cry 3
I bought "Devil May Cry 3" to play during the weekend. It lacks the feel of the classic DMC1, but definitely a million times better than DMC2. The free-style combos are back and so are the small interlinked stages. The story this time round is very, very cool, though. Some of the action cinematics are even more absurd than what you see in the Matrix movies.
I am now going through the game on Easy after realizing how hard Normal is (took 5 retries to beat the first mini-boss). I am near the end, and even though I enjoy playing through a game without being stuck, Easy mode seriously lacks any serious challenge at the moment. I foresee I am going to have a frustrating time on the harder difficulty levels.
I am now going through the game on Easy after realizing how hard Normal is (took 5 retries to beat the first mini-boss). I am near the end, and even though I enjoy playing through a game without being stuck, Easy mode seriously lacks any serious challenge at the moment. I foresee I am going to have a frustrating time on the harder difficulty levels.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Chinese New Year Outing
It is only the second day of the Chinese New Year, so most of the stores in Singapore are still closed. I was already bored stiff of staying home. I thought that it would be a good time to catch the movie "Constantine" and so arranged a little movie outing with Orchi, Kyo and Bahamut.
We were supposed to catch the 3:50 pm show at Bishan, but little did I know that hundreds of other people had the same plan as me. The show was fully booked all the way till 9:00 pm, so we decided to try our luck elsewhere. In the end, we managed to get tickets for the show at AMK Jubilee at 5:00 pm. wee.
The show lasted till 7:00 pm, and we were a little lost after that, cos' there was absolutely nothing to do since all the stores around were closed. I hate this. Oh, well. Everyone went home after that. Tomorrow will be a regular day again. wee.
Anyway, Constantine is a great movie (It's based on the DC comic title "Hellblazer", but the name was changed cos' it sounded similar to other movies with 'Hell-xxx'). I did not read up on any spoilers or sypnosis on what it was about, so I was surprised/intrigued/amazed every step of the way. To sum it up for anyone who is considering it, the show is about a guy named John Constantine who hunts devils/demons. Other than that, I highly recommend that you catch the show.
We were supposed to catch the 3:50 pm show at Bishan, but little did I know that hundreds of other people had the same plan as me. The show was fully booked all the way till 9:00 pm, so we decided to try our luck elsewhere. In the end, we managed to get tickets for the show at AMK Jubilee at 5:00 pm. wee.
The show lasted till 7:00 pm, and we were a little lost after that, cos' there was absolutely nothing to do since all the stores around were closed. I hate this. Oh, well. Everyone went home after that. Tomorrow will be a regular day again. wee.
Anyway, Constantine is a great movie (It's based on the DC comic title "Hellblazer", but the name was changed cos' it sounded similar to other movies with 'Hell-xxx'). I did not read up on any spoilers or sypnosis on what it was about, so I was surprised/intrigued/amazed every step of the way. To sum it up for anyone who is considering it, the show is about a guy named John Constantine who hunts devils/demons. Other than that, I highly recommend that you catch the show.
Monday, February 07, 2005
Chinese New Year is Coming!
The Chinese New Year is coming. I went to Chris' shop today one last time because they will be closed all the way until Friday.
I accompanied him to Bishan Junction 8 to shop around and realized that the place have changed a lot because there is a new building extension. It seemed like most of the stores have had major renovation works. Those who used to frequent Bishan may want to check it out and be surprised at all the locations of the various stores being shifted around (like BreadTalk, KFC, Mos Burger, etc).
Now I am wondering what to do until Friday. I dislike having reunion dinners and visiting relatives. My brother took the easy way out by volunteering for guard duty during the Chinese New Year period. How clever of him. And he will be compensated with day-offs.
I accompanied him to Bishan Junction 8 to shop around and realized that the place have changed a lot because there is a new building extension. It seemed like most of the stores have had major renovation works. Those who used to frequent Bishan may want to check it out and be surprised at all the locations of the various stores being shifted around (like BreadTalk, KFC, Mos Burger, etc).
Now I am wondering what to do until Friday. I dislike having reunion dinners and visiting relatives. My brother took the easy way out by volunteering for guard duty during the Chinese New Year period. How clever of him. And he will be compensated with day-offs.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
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.
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.
Saturday, January 29, 2005
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
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.
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.
Monday, January 17, 2005
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.
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.
Friday, January 14, 2005
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.
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.
Monday, January 10, 2005
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.
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.
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