# Gamex 1998 Report

by Stefan Vincent
May 23, 1998

### Friday's Report:

Eight people entered the arena, but only one emerged...

    Ernie   - "The Purple Gang"      Lotus
    Garrett - "Not Cheese"           Hand/Lotus (and I saw a couple DNA mages, too)
    Stefan  - "Industrial Espionage" Ascended/Architects discard
    Mike N. - "Patience, Patience"   Dragon/Hand/Lotus
    Frank   - "The Absorbing Hand"   Dragon/Hand/Monarch
    Tim M.  - "Inflation"            Ascended/Hand
    Matt    - "Smak Bak Yak Attak"   Dragons
    David   -                        Monarchs

#### Round 1

Dragons with a strong showing as usual... We played 3 rounds of 1 hour-ish each; no games timed out, although the second round came close. Round one saw Stefan cause difficulty all around by using almost all of his discard cards at table 2 and squeak out ahead of Matt & Frank, while Garrett took a fairly quick win at Table 1. Scores were:

    Stefan (1) 9   Garrett (1) 9
    Matt       6.5 Mike N.     6
    Frank      6.5 David       5
    Ernie      4   Tim M.      2

#### Round 2

So with three folks staying at Table 2, we renamed it Table 1 and swapped Garrett and Ernie. Round two had a bit of back-and-forth at Table 1, but Matt swept in for the win when everyone else had used up their stoppers. Garrett never really got going, and his 4-Body sites were just easy targets for everybody. Left us plenty of time to play a couple of games of Lunch Money while we waited for Table 2 to settle out; Mike finally getting the best of the group there.

    Matt    (1) 15.5 Mike N. (1) 15
    Stefan  (1) 14.5 Tim M.       9
    Frank       12   David        8
    Garrett (1) 12   Ernie        9

#### Round 3

Still open at this point; with Garrett and Frank tied, a little random decision making had Garrett go to Table 2 and Frank stay at Table 1. This time, David made short work of the folks at Table 2 and they played lunch money. Table 1 went on quite a bit longer, with everyone having a shot at the win (I thought Matt or Frank had it early) but then a late-turn exposure of Frank's Family Home left me with an easy shot at the win, so I took it, with a wee bit of overkill just to make sure. Scores were:

    Stefan  (2) 23.5 David   (1) 17
    Matt    (1) 22.5 Garrett (1) 19
    Frank       17   Tim M.      14
    Mike N. (1) 18   Ernie       11

#### Final

David's win didn't give him quite enough to pass Mike N. and get into the finals, leaving Mike, Garrett, Matt, and me to battle it out for the terrific prizes. Uh, yeah.
The final started slowly, with Matt trying to find a resource and Mike doing the power-build-up thing. Matt and Mike got to four sites early and battled back and forth. I managed to sneak in to take a couple of weakened sites, despite the fact that my discard deck wasn't providing me with any discard cards this game. Garrett came out of nowhere by recruiting the Evil Twin of Marisol, and the Evil Twin's Twin as well, and he burned two sites in one turn, leaving him also 1 away from the win. The original Marisol (now complete with Claws of the Dragon) joined my Lodge, and the King of the Thunder Pagoda decided to help her out with a shot at grabbing one of Mike's sites; Garrett's lowly DNA Mage backed by Turtle Beach stopped the King but Marisol managed to punch her way through. Next time it was public service, with the King and Marisol going after one of the Evilly Twinned Marisols; taking one out. Garrett layed down a pair of Killing Rains on his turn; the landscape was looking pretty bleak and easy pickings for Garrett, but his Dark Traveler/ Marisol Twin attack was foiled by my Tactical Team leaping out and various brawls from the Dragons. Matt couldn't capitalize on it, but he did grab a site from Mike (which let Mike put down two City Parks. Doh.). With all the denial gone, Mike put down the Golden Gunman and grabbed a last site for the win (from me. Doh.). Final results:

    Mike N. 1st
    Garrett 2nd (courtesy of all those burned sites)
    Matt    3rd
    Stefan  4th

Congratulations to Mike!

### Saturday's report:

Excellent turnout for the sealed deck last night. 13 folks showed up and we decided on this mix for the cards:
1 Starter (Ltd. or Std.)
2 Std. Boosters
4 Flashpoint Boosters
Some people got really lucky - Mike with an Evil Twin, John and Tim with Queens of the Ice Pagoda, a couple of Little Jims even popped up - but others were not so lucky - Matt with a Fist of Legend and Seal of the Wheel...

#### Round 1

We split into 1 table of 4 and 3 tables of 3. First round saw Brandon whup his opponents ridiculously quickly at Table 2, and John following not too far behind on Table 4 with the help of his Queen of the Ice Pagoda. Tim & I pummeled on Jeff at Table 3, with me getting the win. Table 1 (the four player game) timed out, leaving Matt ahead on the tie-break. Since we had one game of four, we scored all games as if they had four players - highest scoring players were forced to the four-player table. Scores after round one:

    Matt     (1) 7 Brandon (1) 9 Stefan (1) 9 John (1) 9
    Brian V.     6 Lissa       7 Tim M.     6 Ernie    6
    Garrett      4 Frank       3 Jeff       3 Randy    4
    Mike N.      2

#### Round 2

With three folks tied at six, we did the random selection thing and sent Brian V. to Table 3. Round two saw Lissa and Garrett win at Tables 2 and 3, but Tables 1 and 4 fought to a standstill - Table 4 dead tied all around, and Table 1 ending as I was trying to plan a winning attack, leaving John & I tied for first. Scores after round two:

    Stefan  (1.5) 15.5 Lissa (1) 16 Garrett (1) 13 Jeff    (0.5) 9
    John    (1.5) 15.5 Tim M.    12 Brian V.    13 Frank   (0.5) 9
    Matt    (1)   11   Ernie     10 Randy       10 Mike N. (0.5) 8
    Brandon (1)   12

#### Round 3

Which, oddly, left Table 4 to go at it _again_. And with a tie at 13, the random selection process put Garrett at Table 1 and Brian V. at Table 2. Table 1 once again timed out, leaving me in the lead (since I had burned two for victory along the way). Tables 2, 3, and 4 (yes, even 4!) finished within the time limit - Tim's win at Table 2 showing that it does indeed pay to be the winner at the 2nd table in the last round before the final :). Scores after round three:

    Stefan  (2.5) 22.5 Tim M.  (1) 21 Matt (2) 20 Jeff    (1.5) 18
    Lissa   (1)   22   Brandon (1) 19 Randy    16 Mike N. (0.5) 15
    Garrett (1)   17   Brian V.    18 Ernie    14 Frank   (0.5) 14
    John    (1.5) 17.5

#### Final

So Matt barely edged out Brandon; 1 point less and we would have had a semi-final (which was just as well at this point, since it was already 12:30 and we still had the final to go...).
Final game started slowly (as they always do in sealed), but Tim and Lissa built reasonable site structures while Matt and I were looking for more feng shui sites. Matt's early Covert Op against Tim came up with what we feared the most - Tim sitting on his Queen of the Ice Pagoda (well, in a manner of speaking, anyway) so Matt was obliged to discard that, despite the other goodies in his hand (which we saw later). My Forty-Story Inferno drew a lot of attention early in the game, until Matt made a bid to grab it and Lissa hit it with an Orbital Laser Strike (for 1) to smoke it. Lissa and Tim continued jockeying for position; Tim's early Scorched Earth eventually getting 3 counters on it, giving him a hand size of 9! Matt built slowly, playing non-feng shui sites (and grabbing them from others) and soon we had the usual armada of 3s and 4s on the table. Tim punched in the Glimpse of the Abyss (who expects that in sealed deck?) and managed to grab a site to offset the "hole" counter. My $10,000 Man made a shot for a site but was stopped with Tim's Fox Pass (who knew?), and after that he joined Matt's Lodge. Matt made the mistake of coming for me, so I was forced to Imprison my own $10,000 Man (ok with me). On my turn, there were too many interceptors on the board, so I decided to build by putting my $10,000 Man back out, and also putting down a Purist Sorcerer who took control of Matt's Plasma Trooper. The cyborg armada then proceeded to steal two non-feng shui sites from Matt so I could build for the next turn. Lissa made a bid for the win, with her Ex-Commando and his Grenade Launcher. Tim was the target, and neither Matt or I helped since he still had his Fox Pass and a weenie to retarget, so Tim used Tortured Memories to borrow Matt's Ring Fighter (the one that Tim had put a Helix Rethread on somewhere around turn 3, but had been unable to kill) and throw her in the way. At that point, the Ex-Commando whipped an Arcanotank out of his pocket and proceed to run down the poor Ring Fighter. Tim gained his power, finally, and used it to call in the buro with a Police State, canceling and smoking the poor Ex-Commando. Matt couldn't pick off any of the remaining sites, so he decided to sent his demonic Liquidators (Demon Within'ed) to retrieve his Alchemist Lair. I knew I needed that power on my turn, so I Nerve Gassed the little buggers. On my turn I had just enough power to play a 4th feng shui site and pay for Kun Kan (with the help of my handy Proving Ground), so Kan, the borrowed Trooper, and the $10,000 Man went after Tim's Inexorably Corrupted City Park for the win. The Fox Pass kicked in and retargeted the $10,000 Man, but the rest got through and Lissa's Orbital Laser Strike wasn't big enough to smoke the site, so I won! (yes, I know it's rare, but it happens sometimes). Final results:

    Stefan - 1st
    Lissa  - 2nd
    Matt   - 3rd
    Tim M. - 4th (because of his "hole" counter, Matt edged him out. Doh.)

All the winners declined to select anything from the prize box, so we still have some good stuff in there. During this looooong game (it was about 2:00 am when we finished), Frank had been teaching somebody else, and since there wasn't anyone else around to dump our cards on, Jeremy got the benefit of a big pile of commons and uncommons (and even a few cheesy rares).

### Sunday's report:

Eight folks showed up to play Sunday's constructed deck game:

    Matt     - "Unholy Alliance"    Dragon/Architect
    Frank    -                      Architects
    Brian V. - borrowing "I'm Huge" Ascended no-rares from me
    Corey B. -                      Dragons
    Stefan   - "Vietnam"            Hand/Monarch Battleground sites
    Garrett  -                      Dragons
    Mike N.  - "Cabbies Revenge?"   Dark Traveler
    Tim M.   -                      Dragon/Architects

once again showing that the Dragons are the most popular faction 'round here. We played three preliminary rounds.

#### Round 1

At table 2, Brian V. fought off Garrett while Corey B. and I tried to make it through some baaaaaad stalls. And since Battleground Sites don't count for points, I was out of luck :) Game at table 1 went back and forth as the heavy denial boys traded Nerve Gases, finally timing out leaving Matt the win on the tiebreaker. Scores after round one:

    Matt   (1) - 7 Brian V. (1) - 9
    Frank      - 5 Garrett      - 6
    Mike N.    - 2 Corey B.     - 5
    Tim M.     - 0 Stefan       - 3

#### Round 2

Round two saw Brian V. again beat out the Architects denial, while the kiddie table struggled against the onslaught of Corey's Dragons. Tim had another stall, and Mike's 4-Body sites were just too tempting. I managed to fight my way back with a pair of Queens (Ice and Darkness), enough to grab the last site for the win since Corey's Jason X made Tim's Nerve Gas too costly. At least Tim got himself out of the zero club. Scores after round two:

    Brian V. (2) - 18 Stefan  (1) - 12
    Matt     (1) - 14 Corey B.    - 10
    Frank        - 10 Mike N.     - 5
    Garrett      - 8  Tim M.      - 1

#### Round 3

At table one, I was whupping boy once again; my single feng shui site was all I could get as all of my attacks were stopped just short of getting another. Doh. The game timed out, leaving Frank in the lead (since he had wisely prepped for the tie breaker by playing a fourth site). Matt and Brian V. tied for second. Table one's game was much quicker, with Corey's Dragons doling out a beating. Tim once again improved his score, though. Scores after round three:

    Frank    (1) - 17   Corey B. (1) - 19
    Brian V. (2) - 22.5 Garrett      - 14
    Matt     (1) - 18.5 Mike N.      - 7
    Stefan   (1) - 13   Tim M.       - 3

#### Final

which left Frank, Matt, Corey, and Brian to play the final, while the rest of us played Corporate Shuffle. We played a lot of it, too, while the denial boys went at each other and Corey. Frank's Dunwa played havoc with Brian's characters, and Matt's Police States kept Corey busy. In the end, Matt's denial was stronger, and he got the win. Congratulations to Matt!

    Matt     - 1st
    Corey B. - 2nd
    Brian V. - 3rd
    Frank    - 4th

Last modified: October 1, 1998.
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