# Torrance - June 1998 Report

by Michael Nickoloff
June 24, 1998

Only 7 people showed up for the tournament -- Matt moved, Stef had work, and Garrett had a prior committment.
People/decks:

    Victor Luke       d/e Gun deck
    Frank Bustamante  h/d
    Corey Benjamin    d
    Eric Kam          h
    Tim McCann        Peacock
    Ray Clouse        j/d
    Michael Nickoloff h/m

Alot of Hand this time, with the usual assortment of Dragons. Jason Jung came along and asked, "Where are the Ascended?" Mike shrugged. 2 Rounds swiss, then final. (and semifinal, if needed...which we did) One game of 4 (top table) and one game of 3.

#### Round 1

    Table 1    Table 2
    Ray      4 Mike      6
    Tim      7 Corey     3
    Eric (1) 9 Frank (1) 9
    Victor   2

No idea on Table 1. On Table 2, Mike got out the Darkness Queen a little too early and went to town. Each turn, she toasted a bunch of characters....or got stopped by an event. However, one turn, Mike seemed to pull a trick, jedi mind-tricked Frank or was just lucky enough to keep the queen on the board--and heal a 1 fighting queen next turn. One time she had 2 Claws of Darkness and 11 damage counters...but no Final Brawl to finish it off. Late in the round, she finally got put down and Mike ran down to 1 card left in the deck with a huge Butterfly Knight on the table. (2 Claws and Amulet of the Turtle...with help from the Spirit Pole) Frank decided to be sneaky and bust out a 15 fighting Bao Chou when everyone wasn't looking and won.

#### Round 2

    Table 1      Table 2
    Tim       14 Victor     8
    Eric  (1) 10 Ray       10
    Mike      10 Corey (1) 12
    Frank (2) 18

Corey did his usual dragon thug thing and won in 6 turns or something--real quick. Table 1 was much more of an extended affair. Frank got out 4 sites quick, but no characters. Mike got out the Queen again and took a site off of Frank to keep us all at 3. Before his next turn, the other 3 gang rushed the queen and took her down--She toasted 7 characters then...where was my Darkness Priestess? Frank stopped my Proving Ground the next turn (Mike Into The Lighted for the Queen), while Tim and Eric stalled. Frank plopped down Mr. Golden Gunman and took Eric's only site as Tim's architect resources were absorbed by the Queen. One of the best plays of the game: Mike Pocket Demoned Tim and out comes a Claw of Fury. Mike then uses a proving ground for a Red Monk--here comes Portal Jockey. Mike attacks and Tim intercepts the Monk with these 2 characters. However, Mike plays a Drunken Stance onto the Red Monk and--POOF!--they're back in Tim's hand. We now had a tie, so we played a 4 person semi final. The top person would move onto the finals.

### Semifinal

    Mike  Win
    Eric
    Victor
    Ray

Slow buildup game for all. Eric and Ray stalled at no sites for 2 turns. Mike had a great opening hand (2 Golden Candle Society, 1 Violet Meditation, 1 Drunken Stance, 1 Fortune of the Turtle, and 1 Proving Ground), but I never drew another site for many turns, noone played more than 1 site for the same amount of time, and Eric pulled out Gardeners all over the place. Many weird occurrances happened--Victor didn't stop Ray from getting a Yellow Senchi Chamber (Ray would have 3 FS + 1 NFS, instead of letting Mike get it for 1 FS + 1 NFS), Ray attacking potential interceptors, and Eric unfamilarity with his cards. (forgot Birdhouse cafe + others) Anyway, Ray was stopped for a win leaving a Proving Ground w/ 3 damage and a turned Fox Pass with 4 damage. Mike threw down some characters and waltzed in for the win.

#### Final

    Mike  Win
    Corey 2nd
    Tim   3-4
    Frank 3-4

The finals were really boring and were over in less than 20 minutes. Corey seemed to stall somewhat on hitters, Frank had tons of sites, and Tim--well, Tim produced the weirdest cards all day, and this game was no exception. Mike played the Queen (again) and took 2 sites in consecutive turns for the win!

Last modified: October 2, 1998.
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