SMU championship 2014 personal tournament report
May 14, 2014 2:58:47 GMT 8
BALLS, ThE AuThORitY, and 2 more like this
Post by xbchee on May 14, 2014 2:58:47 GMT 8
Hi guys, I'm back with my personal tournament report again. This time round it is for the SMU Championship 2014, organised by Wei Jie (alonsocwj). Thank you for organising this tournament. Hope there will be more of such tournaments (with better prizes of course )
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Having emerged victorious from the previous tournament organised by Joshua (stucket) using Leader of the Peepulation, I decided not to use it again to avoid being called a one-trick pony. I browsed through my limited resource to see which other superstar can I use for the tournament, and I was saddened by the standard of the sets I have. All of my other sets are one-page superstars (full set takes up only one page of a nine pocket album), such as Jamie Noble, Dangerous Alliance, Sable etc. I do not have a solid set to play. I flipped through my Lethal Library collection and saw Vince Mcmahon, a superstar which I had never used for a tournament, so I decided to give him a try. Here's the list:
pre-match (10)
1 chicago street fight
1 managed by vince mcmahon tb
1 for the love of the game
1 vince mcmahon interferes
1 the first family of professional wrestling
1 distracting divalicious
1 it's showtime
1 giving 'em high fives
1 ECW one night stand
1 old school wrestling match
mid-match (10)
2 for the love of the game
1 undermine the competition
1 the road to victory
1 you are as graceful as a cow on ice
1 sustained damage
1 shoot counter
1 second wind
2 a phoenix rising
reversals (30)
3 a revolution of the mind
3 sloppy, very sloppy
2 elbow to the face
2 spot adjustment
2 volley this
2 knee lift tb
3 no chance in hell tb
2 once is enough
1 the raw deal revolution
1 divine intervention
2 leg drag tb
2 sidewalk slam tb
1 don't try this at home
1 a dynasty's destiny
1 i'm vincent kennedy mcmahon, dammit
1 insurrection
1 master manipulator
maneuvers (18)
3 shoot forearm
3 everything and the kitchen sink
3 take your own medicine
3 armed & dangerous
3 garbage can lid tb
3 struck by kendo stick tb
actions (12)
3 shoot action
1 don't cross the boss
3 comeback! tb
2 J.R style slobber-knocker
1 vengeance
1 according to contract table
1 ring steps
The deck was built based on my resource, so it is pretty sub-par. Considering that there's not a lot to fight for in the tournament anyway, I was contented with the deck.
Fast forward to the tournament day, there was a whooping attendance of 20, which is pretty awesome! The tournament started a little late due to some technical issue, but it's not gonna prevent the tournament from kicking start!
Round 1
youmadbro
Eddie Guerrero
Eddie had always been a solid deck in my opinion, and of course I was unhappy that I would run into one in my first round. Knowing that my Shoot Forearm will run into his Ultimo Rechazo, I decided that it would be wiser to gain my initial fortitude using For the Love of the Game instead. The first one got blanked by The Road to Victory. He proceeded to attack me with Clutch Onto Opponent, followed by Blindside Elbow Drop, which I Undermined so as to keep his fortitude in check. I went on to play my second and third For the Love of the Game, gaining 6F from there, bridging into 2 copies of Shoot Action. With 18F, I knew it was time to force out all his reversals using Everything and Kitchen Sink. N turns later, I am still trying to break through his hand of red. Meanwhile, I took some damage from 2 German Suplex tb, Lasso from El Passo, a couple of Sidewalk Slams tb, and the standard reversals. I was down to less than 20 before I finally deplete the reversals in his hand and backlash deck. With ECW One Night Stand at works, I manage to recover a little while keeping his handsize low. With things firmly in control, I eventually grind him out with my never ending foreign objects.
1-0
Round 2
Cyril
Spirit Squad
I was a little surprised when he told me he is using Mitch instead of the more popular Johnny. Other than having my Managed by Vince Mcmahon tb and Old School Wrestling Match blanked, and Vince Mcmahon Interferes Switcherooed, nothing really special happened. I started the game and got the upper hand first through Shoot Forearm. After a few For the Love of the Game and Armed & Dangerous, I finally wrecked his hand (mine was equally wrecked by his ability). With his hand down, I just rinse and repeat the usual Kitchen Sink + 2 other foreign objects to victory.
2-0
Round 3
Iver (G.O.K)
Big Show
My pre-match was pretty screwed by his Mine is Bigger Than Yours, United States Title Belt, Old School Wrestling Match etc. Luckily I still managed to get to play my Chicago Street Fight and ECW One Night Stand. I had played with his Big Show countless time, and I know he plays Step Aside/Escape Move instead of A Revolution of the Mind. However, somehow I was convinced that he would have swap in his A Revolution of the Mind from other his other decks for this tournament, so I took a risk by start with Shoot Forearm. Of course, he reversed it with Step Aside. A more logical move would have been to play For the Love of the Game to secure 2F first, so that I can play the Spot Adjustment and The Raw Deal Revolution in my hand. This mistake proved deadly as he went ahead to beat the hell out of me. He had a lot of fortutide (he hit me with a Big Show's F5), and I was struggling. I knew my only hope of turning the tide was Comeback. I had 2 Comeback in hand, but he had 2 Blindside Control in his ringside pile. I played a J.R. Style Slobber Knocker, hoping to bait his Blindside Control. He did not reverse it. I guessed that he had forgotten about the 2 Blindside Control, so I went ahead to play Comeback. It went in, and he had 4F left (Judo Takedown). I started my fightback from there. With little fortitude, he had limited reversals to my foreign object maneuvers. After a few tries, I managed to get them through. Once again, with ECW One Night Stand at work, I completed my fightback and got a hard-fought victory.
3-0
Round 4
Zhi Xian (BALLS)
RVD
He knew how my deck works, so he did not hesitate to play I Want to Play the Game to clear my ECW One Night Stand. I cleared his The Champ is Here in return. He used Unscripted to pluck my Managed by Vince Mcmahon tb and went on to play Hidden Dragon: Balane and R-V-D before I Old School Wrestling Match his last pre-match. I started the game witrh Shoot Forearm and he had no choice but to let it in. Knowing that he had Sidewalk Slam tb from R-V-D, I took the safer route of For the Love of the Game + Armed & Dangerous. His hand was, however, more than just Sidewalk Slam tb. He had a couple of A Revolution of the Mind, and I had no choice but to force my foreign objects through the hard way. We traded blows, and both of us were left with little health. With his fortitude still less than 30 due to my Undermine the Competition, a timely Phoenix Rising helped me secure my fourth victory of the day.
4-0
Top 8
Here Comes the Pain
Carlito
Having played Carlito for throughout the entire No Way Out period, I was very clear of the tricks of Carlito. I played my pre-match against it such that he only manage to have one In the Interest of Fairness tb in play at the end of both players' pre-match phase, and I managed to keep a couple of reversals in hand to handle whatever he has to offer. With my ECW One Night Stand and Vengeance constantly keeping his handsize low despite his superstar ability, he had little to offer in terms of attacking. A couple of Kitchen Sinks later, I secured my spot in top 4.
5-0
Top 4
Cyril
Spirit Squad
Semi-final was best-of-three. We played each other during the second swiss round, so we knew what each of us has to offer. The game went about the same as the previous time we met. I started off with Shoot Forearm, and continue to build on my board advantage. Both of us, again, had little cards in hand due to ECW One Night Stand and Mitch's ability. However, with Garbage Can Lid tb in ring area, his maneuvers had no way through. I finished him off with Ring Step. The second game went just about the same, except that I had a poor hand, and he managed to hit me with a couple of Technical Monkey Flip, making the game a little trickier. However, I was lucky that he didn't had too many reversals in his hand either, and it took me only awhile to force through my first foreign object. Things went downhill for him from then.
6-0
Top 2
Zhi Xian (BALLS)
RVD
After 7 games, both of us were pretty exhausted (and the weather made things worse), I offered to just split the prizes since they are essentially the same. He agreed, but we still played 1 game to determine the winner (he said no to Rock-Scissors-Paper ). This game was a lot harder for me compared to the game we had at round 4. He searched for 2 Sidewalk Slam tb and 1 Volley This with R-V-D to add to his hand of 3 Revolution of the Mind! I managed to get 9F from Shoot Forearm, but what developed from there was just painful. I had to fight through 2 Revolution of the Mind (he discarded one), 2 Sidewalk Slam tb, 1 King Interferes, and some other random reversals. Luckily I had my fair share of reversals to keep him at bay. He managed to break through my defenses before I could do so to him. The match was pretty stagnant for awhile, with both of us just trying to reverse whatever thrown at us. Eventually, I got the situation tilted slightly on my side (3 maneuvers every turn is just too demanding), but both of us were already down to less than 10. He used his Fifth Anniversary to shuffle in his final wave of onslaught, and I used mine to shuffle in my wall of red. What I did wrong here was that I didn't pay attention to what he shuffled back, only noticing Atomic Lariat and Shoot Lock-up. I played Kitchen Sink + 2 Garbage Can Lid, all being reversed on the overturn. I drew stun for all 3 of them, hoping to draw into Leg Drag tb/Master Manipulator for his Atomic Lariat, and upping my handsize to Sustain Damage his Shoot Lock-up. I was down to 4. During his turn, he searched for Precision Haymaker using Hidden Dragon: Balance, and made me draw all 4 cards left in my arsenal. I had the Leg Drag tb, but only manage to bring him down to 3. He counted me out and walked away the victor.
6-1
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Congratulations to Zhi Xian for his wonderful performance. Well-deserved winner. I am also satisfied with my result, considering that it was a sub-par deck. A Mcmahon Us - Interrupt Us wouuld have won me that match, just saying... Oh, and I pulled out a Violent Vendetta from the prize packs. 2 Violent Vendetta in 2 tournaments since returning to the game. Not bad
Hope you enjoyed this lengthy tournament report, and hopefully have some positive takeaway. Have a nice day!
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Having emerged victorious from the previous tournament organised by Joshua (stucket) using Leader of the Peepulation, I decided not to use it again to avoid being called a one-trick pony. I browsed through my limited resource to see which other superstar can I use for the tournament, and I was saddened by the standard of the sets I have. All of my other sets are one-page superstars (full set takes up only one page of a nine pocket album), such as Jamie Noble, Dangerous Alliance, Sable etc. I do not have a solid set to play. I flipped through my Lethal Library collection and saw Vince Mcmahon, a superstar which I had never used for a tournament, so I decided to give him a try. Here's the list:
pre-match (10)
1 chicago street fight
1 managed by vince mcmahon tb
1 for the love of the game
1 vince mcmahon interferes
1 the first family of professional wrestling
1 distracting divalicious
1 it's showtime
1 giving 'em high fives
1 ECW one night stand
1 old school wrestling match
mid-match (10)
2 for the love of the game
1 undermine the competition
1 the road to victory
1 you are as graceful as a cow on ice
1 sustained damage
1 shoot counter
1 second wind
2 a phoenix rising
reversals (30)
3 a revolution of the mind
3 sloppy, very sloppy
2 elbow to the face
2 spot adjustment
2 volley this
2 knee lift tb
3 no chance in hell tb
2 once is enough
1 the raw deal revolution
1 divine intervention
2 leg drag tb
2 sidewalk slam tb
1 don't try this at home
1 a dynasty's destiny
1 i'm vincent kennedy mcmahon, dammit
1 insurrection
1 master manipulator
maneuvers (18)
3 shoot forearm
3 everything and the kitchen sink
3 take your own medicine
3 armed & dangerous
3 garbage can lid tb
3 struck by kendo stick tb
actions (12)
3 shoot action
1 don't cross the boss
3 comeback! tb
2 J.R style slobber-knocker
1 vengeance
1 according to contract table
1 ring steps
The deck was built based on my resource, so it is pretty sub-par. Considering that there's not a lot to fight for in the tournament anyway, I was contented with the deck.
Fast forward to the tournament day, there was a whooping attendance of 20, which is pretty awesome! The tournament started a little late due to some technical issue, but it's not gonna prevent the tournament from kicking start!
Round 1
youmadbro
Eddie Guerrero
Eddie had always been a solid deck in my opinion, and of course I was unhappy that I would run into one in my first round. Knowing that my Shoot Forearm will run into his Ultimo Rechazo, I decided that it would be wiser to gain my initial fortitude using For the Love of the Game instead. The first one got blanked by The Road to Victory. He proceeded to attack me with Clutch Onto Opponent, followed by Blindside Elbow Drop, which I Undermined so as to keep his fortitude in check. I went on to play my second and third For the Love of the Game, gaining 6F from there, bridging into 2 copies of Shoot Action. With 18F, I knew it was time to force out all his reversals using Everything and Kitchen Sink. N turns later, I am still trying to break through his hand of red. Meanwhile, I took some damage from 2 German Suplex tb, Lasso from El Passo, a couple of Sidewalk Slams tb, and the standard reversals. I was down to less than 20 before I finally deplete the reversals in his hand and backlash deck. With ECW One Night Stand at works, I manage to recover a little while keeping his handsize low. With things firmly in control, I eventually grind him out with my never ending foreign objects.
1-0
Round 2
Cyril
Spirit Squad
I was a little surprised when he told me he is using Mitch instead of the more popular Johnny. Other than having my Managed by Vince Mcmahon tb and Old School Wrestling Match blanked, and Vince Mcmahon Interferes Switcherooed, nothing really special happened. I started the game and got the upper hand first through Shoot Forearm. After a few For the Love of the Game and Armed & Dangerous, I finally wrecked his hand (mine was equally wrecked by his ability). With his hand down, I just rinse and repeat the usual Kitchen Sink + 2 other foreign objects to victory.
2-0
Round 3
Iver (G.O.K)
Big Show
My pre-match was pretty screwed by his Mine is Bigger Than Yours, United States Title Belt, Old School Wrestling Match etc. Luckily I still managed to get to play my Chicago Street Fight and ECW One Night Stand. I had played with his Big Show countless time, and I know he plays Step Aside/Escape Move instead of A Revolution of the Mind. However, somehow I was convinced that he would have swap in his A Revolution of the Mind from other his other decks for this tournament, so I took a risk by start with Shoot Forearm. Of course, he reversed it with Step Aside. A more logical move would have been to play For the Love of the Game to secure 2F first, so that I can play the Spot Adjustment and The Raw Deal Revolution in my hand. This mistake proved deadly as he went ahead to beat the hell out of me. He had a lot of fortutide (he hit me with a Big Show's F5), and I was struggling. I knew my only hope of turning the tide was Comeback. I had 2 Comeback in hand, but he had 2 Blindside Control in his ringside pile. I played a J.R. Style Slobber Knocker, hoping to bait his Blindside Control. He did not reverse it. I guessed that he had forgotten about the 2 Blindside Control, so I went ahead to play Comeback. It went in, and he had 4F left (Judo Takedown). I started my fightback from there. With little fortitude, he had limited reversals to my foreign object maneuvers. After a few tries, I managed to get them through. Once again, with ECW One Night Stand at work, I completed my fightback and got a hard-fought victory.
3-0
Round 4
Zhi Xian (BALLS)
RVD
He knew how my deck works, so he did not hesitate to play I Want to Play the Game to clear my ECW One Night Stand. I cleared his The Champ is Here in return. He used Unscripted to pluck my Managed by Vince Mcmahon tb and went on to play Hidden Dragon: Balane and R-V-D before I Old School Wrestling Match his last pre-match. I started the game witrh Shoot Forearm and he had no choice but to let it in. Knowing that he had Sidewalk Slam tb from R-V-D, I took the safer route of For the Love of the Game + Armed & Dangerous. His hand was, however, more than just Sidewalk Slam tb. He had a couple of A Revolution of the Mind, and I had no choice but to force my foreign objects through the hard way. We traded blows, and both of us were left with little health. With his fortitude still less than 30 due to my Undermine the Competition, a timely Phoenix Rising helped me secure my fourth victory of the day.
4-0
Top 8
Here Comes the Pain
Carlito
Having played Carlito for throughout the entire No Way Out period, I was very clear of the tricks of Carlito. I played my pre-match against it such that he only manage to have one In the Interest of Fairness tb in play at the end of both players' pre-match phase, and I managed to keep a couple of reversals in hand to handle whatever he has to offer. With my ECW One Night Stand and Vengeance constantly keeping his handsize low despite his superstar ability, he had little to offer in terms of attacking. A couple of Kitchen Sinks later, I secured my spot in top 4.
5-0
Top 4
Cyril
Spirit Squad
Semi-final was best-of-three. We played each other during the second swiss round, so we knew what each of us has to offer. The game went about the same as the previous time we met. I started off with Shoot Forearm, and continue to build on my board advantage. Both of us, again, had little cards in hand due to ECW One Night Stand and Mitch's ability. However, with Garbage Can Lid tb in ring area, his maneuvers had no way through. I finished him off with Ring Step. The second game went just about the same, except that I had a poor hand, and he managed to hit me with a couple of Technical Monkey Flip, making the game a little trickier. However, I was lucky that he didn't had too many reversals in his hand either, and it took me only awhile to force through my first foreign object. Things went downhill for him from then.
6-0
Top 2
Zhi Xian (BALLS)
RVD
After 7 games, both of us were pretty exhausted (and the weather made things worse), I offered to just split the prizes since they are essentially the same. He agreed, but we still played 1 game to determine the winner (he said no to Rock-Scissors-Paper ). This game was a lot harder for me compared to the game we had at round 4. He searched for 2 Sidewalk Slam tb and 1 Volley This with R-V-D to add to his hand of 3 Revolution of the Mind! I managed to get 9F from Shoot Forearm, but what developed from there was just painful. I had to fight through 2 Revolution of the Mind (he discarded one), 2 Sidewalk Slam tb, 1 King Interferes, and some other random reversals. Luckily I had my fair share of reversals to keep him at bay. He managed to break through my defenses before I could do so to him. The match was pretty stagnant for awhile, with both of us just trying to reverse whatever thrown at us. Eventually, I got the situation tilted slightly on my side (3 maneuvers every turn is just too demanding), but both of us were already down to less than 10. He used his Fifth Anniversary to shuffle in his final wave of onslaught, and I used mine to shuffle in my wall of red. What I did wrong here was that I didn't pay attention to what he shuffled back, only noticing Atomic Lariat and Shoot Lock-up. I played Kitchen Sink + 2 Garbage Can Lid, all being reversed on the overturn. I drew stun for all 3 of them, hoping to draw into Leg Drag tb/Master Manipulator for his Atomic Lariat, and upping my handsize to Sustain Damage his Shoot Lock-up. I was down to 4. During his turn, he searched for Precision Haymaker using Hidden Dragon: Balance, and made me draw all 4 cards left in my arsenal. I had the Leg Drag tb, but only manage to bring him down to 3. He counted me out and walked away the victor.
6-1
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Congratulations to Zhi Xian for his wonderful performance. Well-deserved winner. I am also satisfied with my result, considering that it was a sub-par deck. A Mcmahon Us - Interrupt Us wouuld have won me that match, just saying... Oh, and I pulled out a Violent Vendetta from the prize packs. 2 Violent Vendetta in 2 tournaments since returning to the game. Not bad
Hope you enjoyed this lengthy tournament report, and hopefully have some positive takeaway. Have a nice day!