# Gateway 1998 - Report

by Stefan Vincent
September 10, 1998

### Saturday Night: Sealed Deck

The good, the bad, and the attractiveness-challenged:

    Jason Jung, dragged back into Shadowfist by his rabid friends
    Randy Trepp, playing a menagerie he called "Arkee-teks"
    Tim McCann, actually drafting for those Jammers...
    Ray Clouse, affectionately naming his deck "Sealed"
    Frank Bustamante, deprived of sleep and playing like it :)
    Eric Kam, played "Sealed!" (*not* the same as Ray's - note the exclamation point)
    Mike Nickoloff, playing the un-named and rather lame thing he put together :)
    Victor Luke, going with "Sealed" as well
    Stefan Vincent, playing "I Got A Queen!"

Cheap fist was had by all - $4 for a standard deck, a standard booster, and 3 flashpoint boosters. We did things a little different this time - everyone opened their starters and sorted through what they had, then we drafted the boosters (open a pack, take one card of your choice, pass the pack to the next person, repeat). A new concept to some folks, but very amusing, I think. As usual, you were allowed to retune your decks between rounds, too.
One lesson I learned about drafting Shadowfist - check your Feng Shui Sites. I made a little pile of the ones that came in the starter but assumed I had plenty as you normally would get from a starter; after the draft (I picked up a Birdhouse Cafe and a Turtle Island, too) I had only 12 FSS. Not the assortment I wanted to choose from, since that meant the Lily Pond and Family Restaurant had to go in...

#### Round 1

We put aside about 20 minutes or so to make decks, then sat randomly in groups of three. At table 3, Ray drew first blood against Eric but I managed to get the site and an early burn for power, and never slowed down. Eric ended up being the whupping boy; we were finished in about 15 minutes so both Ray and Eric used the extra time to retune their decks and we played again. At table 2 Tim's monkey-lovers rolled around in their Homemade Tanks for the win, and table 1 (the slow table) gradually ground down leaving Frank in the winner's seat. Scores after round 1:

    Frank   (1) 8 Tim M. (1) 8 Stefan (1) 8
    Jason J.    5 Randy      5 Ray        3
    Mike N.     3 Victor     3 Eric       1

#### Round 2

Second round matched up the winners; this game my Queen of the Ice Pagoda made an appearance to seal the win for me, leaving Tim and Frank tied. At table 2, Jason muscled his way to a win despite not knowing what he was doing, and at the kiddie table, Eric got a win (did you get your King out Eric? I forget). Scores after round 2:

    Stefan (2) 16   Jason J. (1) 13 Eric  (1) 9
    Tim M. (1) 10.5 Randy        11 Ray       9
    Frank  (1) 10.5 Mike N.       6 Victor    6

#### Round 3

So Jason moved up to the big boy's table; Frank moved down by random draw, and Ray stayed at the kiddie table by random draw as well. Round 3 was very interesting - I was the complete and utter whupping boy at table 1, at the mercy of Tim's monkeys-in-tanks. Table 2 saw Frank's chances crushed as Randy rolled over the opposition, and Ray's win at table 3 wasn't quite enough to get him into the finals... Scores after round 3:

    Tim M.   (2) 18.5 Randy (1) 19   Ray    (1) 17
    Jason J. (1) 19   Eric  (1) 12   Mike N.    11
    Stefan   (2) 19   Frank (1) 11.5 Victor     10

#### Final

which gave us a clear set of finalists with a three-way tie for first and Tim close behind. We had quite the interesting game, with a few folks sticking around to watch. We all started pretty slowly, but we did build up to some fun stuff - I got out an early Lotus team, with the Walking Corpses leading me to the first site. Looked like I was going to do some serious damage, but then Randy played Wind Across Heaven and totally, completely parked my Lotus goons in front of my sites. I was playing about half Lotus so that really hurt me. I spent quite a few turns just playing sites while I dug for characters that wouldn't get wiped out when they tried to do something. In the meantime, other folks had a chance to build a bit. Tim brought out the Green Monk for some kung-fuing, then layed the Shadowfist on him (yes, really. The Shadowfist. from a sealed deck. I didn't believe it either). He was looking like he had just won the game, with a now unstoppable hitter unless somebody had a nerve gas (unlikely, but maybe Randy could get it). Unfortunately, his chances dropped immensely when the Monk joined my Lodge on the next turn - a Shadowy Mentor was all the incentive I needed to play Ascended. And now I had a non-Lotus hitter. I had also saved enough power to get the Queen out, but there was enough trash on the board that I couldn't get more than one site, so I was also forced to use Tortured Memories to borrow Tim's Red Monk in the Homemade Tank (thereby giving him Superleap; good for me) taking me to 2 sites burned. The Red went home at the end of the turn; without Tank of course since the Queen just couldn't let such a dangerous toy stick around. Tim made another bid for the win, Superleaping over Jason's only defender to go for his unknown site, and of course another Homemade Tank popped out. Too bad Jason's site was - doh - a Marsh! In the course of the next turn, we managed to damage but not destroy Jason's Marsh, leaving it with three or four body. When my turn rolled around, there was no character bigger than a 4 left, so the Shadowfist-ed Green Monk just moseyed over and grabbed hisself a Marsh. Nobody had any events to stop him, but I also had a Year of the Rat ready in case something odd happened. So I won the game, courtesy of Tim's characters (sounds familiar, doesn't it?).

### Sunday Afternoon: Constructed Deck, Multiplayer

The cast of characters:

    Randy       "Arkee-Teqs" (no, not the sealed one) Architects, of course
    Travis Ball "Ace in the Hole" straight Ascended denial/control
    Jason Jung  "Hold On I'm Thinking" Dragons thugs
    Jason Yang   borrowing my Dragon/Architect cop deck
    Frank        playing the borrowed Dragons guts/states deck from Tim
    Mike N.     "We Control the Future" Architects Dangerous Experiment
    Eric Kam    "Fire + Ice" Monarchs
    Brandon      playing Dragons with a dash of CHAR for spice
    Stefan      "Borg" (ok, so I didn't have time to make a new deck. Next time) Peacock
    Tim M.       playing an unnamed straight Ascended deck rather similar to Travis'

#### Round 1

With 10 folks playing, we set up a game of 4 and a pair of 3s, but scored all as games of 4. The lucky foursome at table 1 saw Jason Y. successfully Jedi-mind-trick Tim into thinking I was the target, leaving Jason J. time to build slowly. When the dust settled, none of us had anything left to stop Jason's simple attack for the win. Doh. At table 2, Frank's borrowed Dragons deck worked the Architects and Monarchs into submission - although Randy's CHARs were busily chewing up Eric's Fire characters... And at table 3 Brandon's thugs kicked in faster than Mike's Dangerous Experiments, leaving Brandon with the win as described by Mike:
"Brandon and Mike both took one site from Travis early on, putting Brandon at 4 sites and Mike at 3. After one turn around the table, Mike attempted to take a site from Brandon and missed. Mike allowed Travis to take the site from Brandon; he burned it for power to get back into the game. Travis repeated this on his next turn (taking a site from Mike) and had amassed quite a bit of power. Travis had a Might of the Elephant and Adrienne Hart, but was unable to take a fourth site. Brandon then Golden Comebacked CHAR, and on his turn, layed a CHAR and went for the win. Mike was able to Discerning Fire "CHAR" and stop Brandon. Mike Arcanotechician'ed a Pocket Demon, and tried for the win on his turn. However, it was moot as Travis Roar of the Beast'ed the Pocket Demon. Travis layed a site and went for the win on his turn. However, Adrienne left home without a gas mask (Nerve Gas) and Might of the Elephant was toasted, (Bzzzzt!) complete with sound effects ;>. Brandon then summoned his heroine, Ting Ting, and took his final site from Mike for the win!"
Scores after round 1:

    Jason J. (1) 9 Frank (1) 9 Brandon (1) 9
    Stefan       6 Randy     7 Travis      6.5
    Tim M.       4 Eric      2 Mike N.     6.5
    Jason Y.     2

#### Round 2

Round two saw the high scores placed at table 1 (everyone but Jason J. leaving) where Jason was able to continue his streak and leaving the other three in a three-way tie for second. At table 2 Travis came up 1 point short of taking my Peacock Summit (you'd think 17 points of damage would be enough, wouldn't you?) leaving Mike in a good position for a win, which he did on the tiebreak since we timed out during the turn I was going to mount my winning attack (I hope. Oh well.). I did get to have a lot of fun with Shaolin Surprise along the way, I must admit. At table 3 Eric's Fire deck started rolling but not soon enough - he got the win on the tiebreak when the time ran out. Scores after round 2:

    Jason J. (2) 18 Mike N. (1) 13.5 Eric    (1)  9
    Brandon  (1) 13 Stefan      12   Tim M.      10
    Frank    (1) 13 Travis      11.5 Jason Y.     5
    Randy        11

#### Round 3

At this point Jason Y. dropped out, not seeing a future for himself in this game. We resat in three tables of three; with only Jason J. assured a spot in the finals, it was all up for grabs. After an amazing amount of back-and-forth at table 1, Jason J. continued his streak with another solid win; here's the way Mike described it:
"Jason Jung (2 time winner), Brandon and Mike all battled it out on the top table. Jason had a slow start, as his first three resources were Darkness Priestesses (his deck is mostly Dragon), but generated a ton of power from his 4 site structure and from the sacrificing from Mike's Vivisectors. Both Mike and Brandon took advantage of this by Pocket Demoning Jason for 4 regularly, and by taking his sites. Brandon had a chance for the win, but made a huge error. He discarded a Hacker late in the game, which allowed Mike to Bzzzzt! (with sound effects) a Yakuza Enforcer, that stopped Brandon from winning the game. Mike was unable to win on his turn. Jason summoned the Queen of the Ice Pagoda, and took his final site easily -- Both Mike and Brandon were void of stoppers."
At table two Frank fought his way to Travis' front-row Kinoshita House and kept rolling from there. He quickly built to four sites, and when I mentored his Average Joe (with Baptism of Fire) and Shaolin Surprised the Mentor that Travis had put on Frank's Stuntman (everyone needs to join the Lodge sometime) plus attacked with my Golden Candle Society, I thought I'd be able to get at least one site. Some event work by Frank left me with only my Golden Candle Society - the Stuntman with Shotgun had been Vivisected for power and the GCS was suddenly riding in a MegaTank, hoping to knock Frank down a bit when Travis sleepily played an Operation Killdeer on him. I didn't understand why, but I had enough power for a Neutron Bomb so wasn't worried too much - until Frank put down Jason X and my Bomb now cost 4, which I didn't have. Doh. Game to Frank. At table 3, Randy took advantage of the kiddies and CHARed them into submission. Scores after round 3:

    Jason J. (3) 27   Frank (2) 22   Randy (1) 20
    Mike N.  (1) 19.5 Stefan    17   Tim M.    16
    Brandon  (1) 18   Travis    14.5 Eric (1)  13

#### Final

Leaving us with four clear high-scorers for the final. I had to get some dinner so I bailed out, but Mike was kind enough to send me some comments about the final:
Jason Jung (3 time winner), Frank, Mike and Randy (who made it from the kiddie table!) battled it out in a showdown of good (Frank, Jason playing Dragons) vs evil (Mike, Randy playing Architects of the Flesh). Jason had a worse start, this time starting with a Darkness Priestess and no sites for quite some time. However, it looked that Jason's lapse from playing Shadowfist hurt him, as he did not discard as heavily as needed. Randy had character problems too; however he always seemed to have a stopper available when needed. Frank started the assault early with a Stunt Man with a Claw of the Dragon. This allowed him to take one site for an early lead. Mike, on his turn, played a CHAR and Gnarled Attuner, and went after Frank. Frank revealed a front-row Kinoshita House and sent the Attuner home. However, he didn't realize that CHAR would still be successful in the first attack. Mike took the site and burned it for victory; 2 away from the game. Randy built up to 4 feng shui sites and a Secret HQ, but no hitters. Jason summoned alot of weenies but they only put 4 damage on one of Mike's Inner Sanctums. Frank followed up Jason's attack on the Inner Sanctum, but the big Stunt Man was stopped by a Police State from Mike. Randy stopped Mike's attack by both Imprisioning CHAR and the Gnarled Attuner. The table stabilized for a full cycle around the table, with everyone now at victory conditions. Frank went for the win on his turn, but Mike was able to stop him. Mike then played the CHAR and the Attuner from before and went to take Randy's Creche of the New Flesh for the win!"

Last modified: October 2, 1998.
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