I managed to get the book changed. At first, the lady at the Customer Service Counter was reluctant to help me because I did not have the receipt. After a while, she took the book from me and went to pry the metallic strip off with her colleague.
Looks like it wasn't as big a deal as I thought. Wee.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Stupid Metal Strip
After running around trying to find out which store sells the cheapest Tuxedo Gin comics (and delaying my chance to read the book for like 3 months), I finally bought it from Kinokuniya (they sell it for $18.76, as opposed to the near-$20 price in other stores).
And what did I get for all my trouble? An obnoxious metallic barcode strip thingie glued on one of the pages. It is impossible to remove it without causing damaging and it even blocks one of the comic panels.
I feel real pissed. I am definitely going back to Kinokuniya and try to change the book for a fresh copy. I've already thought up of all sorts of things to say if they refuse to entertain my request. Stay tuned.
And what did I get for all my trouble? An obnoxious metallic barcode strip thingie glued on one of the pages. It is impossible to remove it without causing damaging and it even blocks one of the comic panels.
I feel real pissed. I am definitely going back to Kinokuniya and try to change the book for a fresh copy. I've already thought up of all sorts of things to say if they refuse to entertain my request. Stay tuned.
Monday, March 14, 2005
VS System PCQ (13th March)
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
----------------
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
--------------
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
---------------
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
---------------
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
---------------
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
---------------
(*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
---------------
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.
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
----------------
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
--------------
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
---------------
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
---------------
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
---------------
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
---------------
(*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
---------------
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.
Friday, March 11, 2005
Thursday Night Out
On Thursday, I was supposed to meet Kelvin Soh, Jeffrey and others at Somserset to go attend a weekly VS. System tournament.
I was a little early and decided to drop by at Orchard first to shop around. I did some price comparison on the Tuxedo Gin comics at Kinokuniya and Borders. (Absolute Comics would be next when I go to Bugis next time.) Yup, I'm really gonna buy it soon despite its hefty price; no point fighting my urge to read it. Every time I pass by the book shelves, I'd admire the cute covers.
I also found a huge book on display that contained profiles for possibly all the characters in the DC comics universe. I spent a good ten minutes reading through the book. Even though each character only had around 1/4 or 1/2 a page to himself, it was great fun to sift through. I mainly looked at all the Revenge Squad baddies that I knew.
After my little trip in Orchard, I went to meet Kelvin Soh at Somerset at 6:20 pm. We walked over to Midpoint Orchard and had a quick meal at the Burger King. (I crave Chicken Cheesesticks and Taro Turnover. Yummy!)
When it was almost time, we went up to a hobby store (it didn't seem to have a sign or name outside) and played in the VS tourney (*details can be found in the Blog entry right below this one for those who like the nitty gritty of it). As usual, Jeff was late and he missed the chance to sign up. Around 10 people joined (yup, real small tourney) and I got 3rd place. Wee.
When everything was over, it was 10 pm. We went to Burger King again (more Cheesesticks and Taro for me). The rest of the guys (Reno, Kelvin, Edwin) all stay at Hougang, so it was a long ride back home on the MRT for me. How I hate these late-night trips home.
I was a little early and decided to drop by at Orchard first to shop around. I did some price comparison on the Tuxedo Gin comics at Kinokuniya and Borders. (Absolute Comics would be next when I go to Bugis next time.) Yup, I'm really gonna buy it soon despite its hefty price; no point fighting my urge to read it. Every time I pass by the book shelves, I'd admire the cute covers.
I also found a huge book on display that contained profiles for possibly all the characters in the DC comics universe. I spent a good ten minutes reading through the book. Even though each character only had around 1/4 or 1/2 a page to himself, it was great fun to sift through. I mainly looked at all the Revenge Squad baddies that I knew.
After my little trip in Orchard, I went to meet Kelvin Soh at Somerset at 6:20 pm. We walked over to Midpoint Orchard and had a quick meal at the Burger King. (I crave Chicken Cheesesticks and Taro Turnover. Yummy!)
When it was almost time, we went up to a hobby store (it didn't seem to have a sign or name outside) and played in the VS tourney (*details can be found in the Blog entry right below this one for those who like the nitty gritty of it). As usual, Jeff was late and he missed the chance to sign up. Around 10 people joined (yup, real small tourney) and I got 3rd place. Wee.
When everything was over, it was 10 pm. We went to Burger King again (more Cheesesticks and Taro for me). The rest of the guys (Reno, Kelvin, Edwin) all stay at Hougang, so it was a long ride back home on the MRT for me. How I hate these late-night trips home.
VS Report: Thursday Nite VS @ PL
I have no idea what to use as the title for this entry, but just decided to get the name off the Upperdeck site of listed tournaments in Singapore.
Now, people might wonder why such a long post for a simple event. Well, so long as I find myself learning something new or having some notesworthy story to write about every time, then it is worth mentioning.
I spent the previous day playing against Curve Sentinels to tune my deck (the win rate for my CE against CS is only 2 out of 10++ rounds). I streamlined a lot of cards, reducing them to 3 copies, and making way for 3 Nasty Surprise and 3 Valeria: Daughter of Doom.
Round 1: Vs. Crimelords
This guy recognized me as the person who 'Unmasked' him at the first PCQ (most probably my 2nd opponent). For me, I recognized him as the 'quiet guy who didn't return my greetings'.
When the game started, I got Boris out attacked his Roscoe Sweeney, but he powered up Roscoe (?!) and my Boris got stunned. On turn 4, I managed to recruit Dr. Doom and double-Reigned away all his first 3 drops (Roscoe, Cobra, Hyde), leaving only his Saracen in play.
During the course of the game, I Overloaded his characters twice (thanks to my Nasty Surprise) since he kept pumping them. He kept complaining that he was just using a 'modern age deck'.
On one turn, he got out Kirigi and used his effect to attack my Valeria in the hidden area. Child abuse!!!!
On the decisive turn, I stunned all his characters and used Hulk to direct-attack, pumping him with a Savage Beatdown. At this moment, I forgot all about Kingpin and he used his ability to bring him out into the open, thereby forcing my Hulk to ready and having wasted my Savage Beatdown. (*Note: There is a mis-play here. If I wasn't so tired, I would've been alert and realize that Hulk has already exhausted to attack, so even if Kingpin moved out, it would not have stopped the attack.)
Despite that, I just ended my turn since his life was already in the negatives. Good thing I won the match, even though I was 'cheated'. (*Note again: This was the same guy who played Ka-Boom during my Build Phase at the PCQ. I am beginning to suspect him of being a cheater.)
Result: 1W-0L
---------------
Round 2: Vs. Common Enemy
My opponent was a guy in a business suit. From his appearance, I somehow felt that I was in for a hard time as he seemed experienced. I have never played a Common Enemy mirror match before and this would be quite interesting.
The game begun and he played Valeria. I was surprised as I thought I was the only one who liked Valeria. hehe. Anyway, things got a bit hairy for me on the 4th turn. He had the initiative and recruited Dr. Doom first. As I was new at playing the mirror, I was not used to Dr. Doom:DB's effect and tried to play Plot Twists from my hand and he had to remind me. Oh, well. I went ahead and recruited my own Dr. Doom, but he chained with Reign of Terror to bounce my She-Hulk, leaving my Dr. Doom the only character in play with his ability 'switched off'.
On the 5th turn, I played Have-A-Blast from my resource row and recruited a new Dr. Doom to re-use it. I bombed both his "Common Enemy" team-up cards, and felt quite satisfied at my comeback. Now, he was the one with the 'switched-off' Dr. Doom.
As the turns proceeded, both of us had more than 10+ cards in our hands because of our Dr. Doom DB's effect harassing each other. Finally, there was a turning point on turn 7; he missed his drop and recruited 3 Boris to fetch various Plot Twists (I saw Savage Beatdown and Overload; I smell trouble). I tried to be careful with my moves and made only one attack that didn't require any pumps so that I don't go into Overload range. When it was his turn for combat, he proposed 2 of his larger characters on 2 of my smaller guys, but I played a Nasty Surprise for each, much to his surprise, leaving all our characters stunned.
Finally, turn 8 came along and he had the iniative. I recruited Dr. Doom:LOL and re-used HAB to bomb his 3rd Common Enemy team-up card. Our life totals were pretty close, but stood a good chance if I stalled to turn 9 for Silver Surfer. I moved all my characters to the back row (even those without Range) cos' I only planned to reinforce this turn to eat minimal damage, and then strike back on turn 9.
All of a sudden, the organizer called for time and told everyone to end the game on the current turn. I was pissed when I heard this; I was totally screwed. My opponent simply attacked one of my guys to reduce my life to lower than his, then ended his turn. There was nothing I could do since I have already moved all my guys to the back row. AAAARGH!!!!!! *beep beep beep* I felt so pissed.
Result: 1W-1L
---------------
Round 3: Vs. Common Enemy (another mirror)
*Gasp* This time, it was David using CE, too! Did everyone agree to use CE because Yap, the Sentinel player, wasn't participating today?
Anyway, David had a very rocky start. He missed his drops and got a She-Hulk on turn 4. I had Dr. Doom and Valeria in play and teamed-up. He almost forgot the Dr. Doom's effect was on because Valeria was tucked away in the hidden area.
When he finally got out Dr. Doom and tried to team-up with Common Enemy, I flipped Betrayal, hoping that it'd work, but he chained with a 2nd Common Enemy.
There was nothing much to write about for this match. David had very bad draws and I managed to win. The only thing interesting was when he got Apocalypse out on the 8th turn and I 'Unmasked' him when he powered it up.
Result: 2W-1L
---------------
Round 4: Vs. The New Brotherhood
*Yikes* It's Kelvin Soh now. I am quite afraid of playing TNB and my only answer to it is 'Unmasked'. Somehow, I think that CE does not stand much of a chance against TNB without it.
Oh, well. The match began, and Kelvin rushed me like crazy. By the 5th turn, I was at 15 life whereas he was still in the 30s. I had just used Boris to fetch Unmasked, while Wolverine, Dr. Doom, and Valeria were out, but they weren't teamed-up. An idea struck me and Kelvin watched in amazement as I rammed Valeria into his Sabretooth. I followed up with Wolverine attacking Sabretooth, triggering his super-obscure effect for probably the first time ever (!!!).
On turn 6, I flipped open Unmasked and it made me feel rather safe as I attacked. That was the only time I played it. On turn 7, Kelvin recruited multiple Pyros to burn me and a Toad. The burn damage put my life below 0, so I couldn't flip down Unmask. Kelvin had Magneto, Toad and Pyro in play, while I had Dr. Doom, the Hulk, and Wolverine. Magneto used his effect to exhaust Wolverine, while I exhausted him back with Dr. Doom's Mystical Paralysis. I then played Flame Trap to stun both his small guys, then swung with my Hulk. It dealt just enough damage to win the game. I was so afraid he might power up at this very crucial moment.
Result: 3W-1L
----------------
Well, that was it. A very short 2-hour tournament. In addition to the 2 MK packs+ EA promo I got from the admission, I got an addition MK booster as my prize.
The winner for the day was my 2nd opponent, the Common Enemy guy who won me by time-up. Somehow, I feel that this is gonna bother me for quite a while.
Now, people might wonder why such a long post for a simple event. Well, so long as I find myself learning something new or having some notesworthy story to write about every time, then it is worth mentioning.
I spent the previous day playing against Curve Sentinels to tune my deck (the win rate for my CE against CS is only 2 out of 10++ rounds). I streamlined a lot of cards, reducing them to 3 copies, and making way for 3 Nasty Surprise and 3 Valeria: Daughter of Doom.
Round 1: Vs. Crimelords
This guy recognized me as the person who 'Unmasked' him at the first PCQ (most probably my 2nd opponent). For me, I recognized him as the 'quiet guy who didn't return my greetings'.
When the game started, I got Boris out attacked his Roscoe Sweeney, but he powered up Roscoe (?!) and my Boris got stunned. On turn 4, I managed to recruit Dr. Doom and double-Reigned away all his first 3 drops (Roscoe, Cobra, Hyde), leaving only his Saracen in play.
During the course of the game, I Overloaded his characters twice (thanks to my Nasty Surprise) since he kept pumping them. He kept complaining that he was just using a 'modern age deck'.
On one turn, he got out Kirigi and used his effect to attack my Valeria in the hidden area. Child abuse!!!!
On the decisive turn, I stunned all his characters and used Hulk to direct-attack, pumping him with a Savage Beatdown. At this moment, I forgot all about Kingpin and he used his ability to bring him out into the open, thereby forcing my Hulk to ready and having wasted my Savage Beatdown. (*Note: There is a mis-play here. If I wasn't so tired, I would've been alert and realize that Hulk has already exhausted to attack, so even if Kingpin moved out, it would not have stopped the attack.)
Despite that, I just ended my turn since his life was already in the negatives. Good thing I won the match, even though I was 'cheated'. (*Note again: This was the same guy who played Ka-Boom during my Build Phase at the PCQ. I am beginning to suspect him of being a cheater.)
Result: 1W-0L
---------------
Round 2: Vs. Common Enemy
My opponent was a guy in a business suit. From his appearance, I somehow felt that I was in for a hard time as he seemed experienced. I have never played a Common Enemy mirror match before and this would be quite interesting.
The game begun and he played Valeria. I was surprised as I thought I was the only one who liked Valeria. hehe. Anyway, things got a bit hairy for me on the 4th turn. He had the initiative and recruited Dr. Doom first. As I was new at playing the mirror, I was not used to Dr. Doom:DB's effect and tried to play Plot Twists from my hand and he had to remind me. Oh, well. I went ahead and recruited my own Dr. Doom, but he chained with Reign of Terror to bounce my She-Hulk, leaving my Dr. Doom the only character in play with his ability 'switched off'.
On the 5th turn, I played Have-A-Blast from my resource row and recruited a new Dr. Doom to re-use it. I bombed both his "Common Enemy" team-up cards, and felt quite satisfied at my comeback. Now, he was the one with the 'switched-off' Dr. Doom.
As the turns proceeded, both of us had more than 10+ cards in our hands because of our Dr. Doom DB's effect harassing each other. Finally, there was a turning point on turn 7; he missed his drop and recruited 3 Boris to fetch various Plot Twists (I saw Savage Beatdown and Overload; I smell trouble). I tried to be careful with my moves and made only one attack that didn't require any pumps so that I don't go into Overload range. When it was his turn for combat, he proposed 2 of his larger characters on 2 of my smaller guys, but I played a Nasty Surprise for each, much to his surprise, leaving all our characters stunned.
Finally, turn 8 came along and he had the iniative. I recruited Dr. Doom:LOL and re-used HAB to bomb his 3rd Common Enemy team-up card. Our life totals were pretty close, but stood a good chance if I stalled to turn 9 for Silver Surfer. I moved all my characters to the back row (even those without Range) cos' I only planned to reinforce this turn to eat minimal damage, and then strike back on turn 9.
All of a sudden, the organizer called for time and told everyone to end the game on the current turn. I was pissed when I heard this; I was totally screwed. My opponent simply attacked one of my guys to reduce my life to lower than his, then ended his turn. There was nothing I could do since I have already moved all my guys to the back row. AAAARGH!!!!!! *beep beep beep* I felt so pissed.
Result: 1W-1L
---------------
Round 3: Vs. Common Enemy (another mirror)
*Gasp* This time, it was David using CE, too! Did everyone agree to use CE because Yap, the Sentinel player, wasn't participating today?
Anyway, David had a very rocky start. He missed his drops and got a She-Hulk on turn 4. I had Dr. Doom and Valeria in play and teamed-up. He almost forgot the Dr. Doom's effect was on because Valeria was tucked away in the hidden area.
When he finally got out Dr. Doom and tried to team-up with Common Enemy, I flipped Betrayal, hoping that it'd work, but he chained with a 2nd Common Enemy.
There was nothing much to write about for this match. David had very bad draws and I managed to win. The only thing interesting was when he got Apocalypse out on the 8th turn and I 'Unmasked' him when he powered it up.
Result: 2W-1L
---------------
Round 4: Vs. The New Brotherhood
*Yikes* It's Kelvin Soh now. I am quite afraid of playing TNB and my only answer to it is 'Unmasked'. Somehow, I think that CE does not stand much of a chance against TNB without it.
Oh, well. The match began, and Kelvin rushed me like crazy. By the 5th turn, I was at 15 life whereas he was still in the 30s. I had just used Boris to fetch Unmasked, while Wolverine, Dr. Doom, and Valeria were out, but they weren't teamed-up. An idea struck me and Kelvin watched in amazement as I rammed Valeria into his Sabretooth. I followed up with Wolverine attacking Sabretooth, triggering his super-obscure effect for probably the first time ever (!!!).
On turn 6, I flipped open Unmasked and it made me feel rather safe as I attacked. That was the only time I played it. On turn 7, Kelvin recruited multiple Pyros to burn me and a Toad. The burn damage put my life below 0, so I couldn't flip down Unmask. Kelvin had Magneto, Toad and Pyro in play, while I had Dr. Doom, the Hulk, and Wolverine. Magneto used his effect to exhaust Wolverine, while I exhausted him back with Dr. Doom's Mystical Paralysis. I then played Flame Trap to stun both his small guys, then swung with my Hulk. It dealt just enough damage to win the game. I was so afraid he might power up at this very crucial moment.
Result: 3W-1L
----------------
Well, that was it. A very short 2-hour tournament. In addition to the 2 MK packs+ EA promo I got from the admission, I got an addition MK booster as my prize.
The winner for the day was my 2nd opponent, the Common Enemy guy who won me by time-up. Somehow, I feel that this is gonna bother me for quite a while.
Monday, March 07, 2005
Free Plan Upgrade! Wee~
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for choosing SingNet BroadBand.
We are pleased to inform you that the download speed of your SingNet
BroadBand 256kbps Plan has been upgraded to 512kbps, absolutely FREE.
With this upgrade, you can now enjoy an enhanced broadband Internet
experience as you download your favourite music or video files, play online
games or perform other bandwidth-intensive Internet activities with greater ease
and efficiency.
I got this in the mail today. I actually can't tell that my Internet connection is faster. I guess I can only note the difference when I download massive 100+MB files. Wee. So nice of Singnet.
Too much sweets.
I woke up on Sunday with a stuffed nose and sore throat. Oh no, how did I fall sick? I can't think of anything out of the ordinary that I did recently other than having 2 McFlurries in a day.
That's it! It has the be the McFlurries!
"The colorful toppings compel you!"
That's it! It has the be the McFlurries!
"The colorful toppings compel you!"
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Skin Problems Redux
I recently got my 'hand rot' problem again, but this time I went to see a different doctor. The former one costed a hundered dollars for treatment because it was a skin specialist, so this time, I went to see a simple friendly neighbourhood clinic.
He told me that it was some skin allergy. He asked me if I have any idea what I was allergic to, or if I have touched anything that might have caused it. I have somehow always suspected I was allergic to dust, but I didn't tell the doctor. (I even remember AL remarked: "Allergic to dust?! OMG, every time someone used that excuse during NS, I thought they were making it up!")
The doctor gave me some purple-colored solution to wash my hands in and some cream to apply. He also told me not to always wrap my hand in plaster (because of the adhesive), so from then on, I decided to just wrap my hand in tissue & tape every time I leave home.
This time, my skin problem recovered pretty fast and it costed much less, too. Wee. Guess I'll be careful from now on. I still think my dirty computer mouse might be the cause behind it.
He told me that it was some skin allergy. He asked me if I have any idea what I was allergic to, or if I have touched anything that might have caused it. I have somehow always suspected I was allergic to dust, but I didn't tell the doctor. (I even remember AL remarked: "Allergic to dust?! OMG, every time someone used that excuse during NS, I thought they were making it up!")
The doctor gave me some purple-colored solution to wash my hands in and some cream to apply. He also told me not to always wrap my hand in plaster (because of the adhesive), so from then on, I decided to just wrap my hand in tissue & tape every time I leave home.
This time, my skin problem recovered pretty fast and it costed much less, too. Wee. Guess I'll be careful from now on. I still think my dirty computer mouse might be the cause behind it.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Back to School for Survey
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.
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 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.
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