So we have two reports coming up from our Winter Championships. The first is from Mark, Stephen and Colin. Team ‘Mostly Not There’ @ The UK Winter Championship The UK Winter Championships is ahead of us still at this point. Our road trip will begin tomorrow morning, bright and early. The day is full of promise, and all three of us have different goals from the event. We will write this in mini-paragraphs, and express our objectives and experiences of the day. Goals (Mark) I will be attempting to win the day, and will be happy with a top four finish. I’m pretty confident at the moment but as long as I come away with a positive record I’ll be fairly chuffed. Last time out in Folkestone I also won a fair-play award which I’m quite proud of, so I’d like to continue in that same vein. (Colin) Well the main point is to have fun and partake in some close competitive matches, maybe learn some new combos, card triggers or deck types I may have missed. From a competition point, I would like to aim for a top four place and would feel a sense of achievement on the journey home with that. (Stephen) To finish in the top half is a realistic goal, but I would like to get top four. It’s important to take part properly and having fun is the priority. Last time around it was loads of fun, so hopefully there will be the same atmosphere! The Event (Mark) I got what I considered to be a pretty average card-pool; sure it had a few mega-bombs in it but not enough support to get me there. I built a deck that was growth, fixing & card draw using Banker & Gearsmith with bombs drawn from Warlord & Gearsmith. Receiving the bye in round one let me stew for another hour about my deck, but when I was paired with Colin in round two I felt a bit more relaxed, he’d also said he wasn’t happy with his deck and if he beat me I’d be happy for him. I then went undefeated until the final (much to my surprise) where a combination of high pressure from much deserved winner Laurie Glover and resource flooding panicked me into a pretty sound drubbing. (Colin) With a card pool fairly evenly split across the five trades I ended up with Warlord/Arcanist deck. My first match was over in around fifteen minutes with a victory behind me, was my deck that good? Was my opponents deck that bad? My second round against Mark was close but started to slip away from me the more the match went on. After a quick lunch break I was refreshed and raring to go, I soon had my opponent on 13 influence, while I was sitting on 21, surely victory was there for the taking. A couple of cards later and my most (up to that point) effective creature and item were with my opponent and being used against me, a loss… My last match was my most enjoyable, lots of thinking and maths involved to try and push home for the win whilst making sure I did not leave myself open to a possible loss. (Stephen) At the event I was surprised to find that they were planning to do deck-checking meaning a lot of writing! After some deliberation I ended up with a Banker/Warlord deck. My second round match started badly with an accidental illegal play and this played upon my mind, possibly contributing to my loss. The third game could have gone either way and my fourth felt quite comfortable. In the constructed side event I was fortunate enough to secure second place. The Long Ride Home (or bragging and commiserations) (Mark) So I finished second, honestly I’m happy with that. I can’t win every single match I ever play, and losing in the final to a good opponent is nothing bad. I would have liked to win and that was my goal. But winning the swiss-pairings and getting to the final is good enough for me. I’d like to think I was a fair and helpful opponent all day too!?! (Colin) I ended up 5th overall, missing the cut on count back, so I am happy with that despite missing my goal by one place. I know what to expect at bigger tournaments now and I’m happy that despite my card pool being fairly even split across the five trades I did manage to build a fairly competitive deck. I am looking forward to another event soon so I must have enjoyed myself! (Stephen) Overall I was quite pleased with my performance, two & two in the main event and two & one in the side. Even though I missed out on my target by one place and enjoyed the day immensely. I am looking forward to the next event though need to work on my deck-building skills to do better next time!
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 12:29:20 +0000