# Flashpoint Finchley XV - Report

by Andrew Davidson
November 16, 1997

A record turnout this time - 25 people. This was partly because there was no competing Magic tournament, partly because of some newcomers. Happily our new venue, the Catcher in the Rye, was able to accommodate us all. The players and their decks were:

    Alex Wargacki         ..F.... Anti-Spice (Dangerous Experiment)
    Andrew Davidson       A..H... Student Uprising (Kung Fu Student)
    Andy Holt             A....LM We will control the Horizontal
    Anil Das-Gupta        A.F.... I am in control (Mentor/Vivisector)
    Arthur Howlin         A.F.... Bent Cops
    Bart Sobieszczuk      ..F.J.. Fat Man
    Bill Dawbarn          ..FH... Spawn of the New Flesh
    Colin Burton          AD..... What the heck?
    Daniel Vandenburg     ..F..LM Air-conditioning (Ice/Sportscar)
    Dave Martin           A..H... Surprise Mentor
    Glenn Cannon          A...J.M Triumvirate
    Hedley Coppock        .....LM Zombie Flesh-eaters burnt my Pagoda! (Fire Twins)
                                  - this gets my vote for best deck name.
    Ivan Hartley          ..F...M Fun, fun, fun
    John Davis            ...H... Invincible Shih (Chi)
    Nithiyan Thiruudaian  .D.H... 90s Boyz with Confucian Principles
    Oliver Breese         .D.H... Both Guns Blazing
    Peter Woodmansee      A..H... Two-time Loser
    Rob Illing            .D....M King of the Ice Dragons
    Robert Lee            .D....M Charming Champion
    Ron Wheelhouse        .D..... Holding on for a Hero (Hero)
    Sam Waller            .DF.... Opener of the Way (GG + way-clearing)
    Stephen Biggs         ..F.... Dangerous Experiment
    Tom Hooker            ADFHJLM Drunken God (Peacock)
    Tom Kassel            .D...L. Kun Can't
    Yuit Sum Vong         .D...L. Lapdog (Mad Dog McCroun/Claws of Fury)

Faction Popularity
9 Dragon
9 Flesh Architects
8 Ascended
7 Guiding Hand
7 Monarchs
5 Lotus
2 Jammer
1 Peacock

Round 1
Alex Wargacki beat Anil, Oliver, Tom K (t3)
Bart Sobieszczuk beat Colin, Daniel, Tom H
Bill Dawbarn beat Hedley, Ivan, Stephen
Nithiyan Thiruudaian beat Andy H, Arthur, Yuit
Ron Wheelhouse beat Glenn, Peter, Rob L
Sam Waller beat Dave, John, Rob I (t1)

Round 2
Bart Sobieszczuk beat Anil, Arthur, Dave
Daniel Vandenburg beat Bill, Oliver, Rob I
John Davis beat Alex, Colin, Peter
Nithiyan Thiruudaian beat Glenn, Hedley, Tom H
Ron Wheelhouse beat Ivan, Tom K, Yuit (t1)
Stephen Biggs beat Andy H, Rob L, Sam (t3)
("t1" means time-out tie-break win with 1 site burnt for victory)

The first two rounds produced three double winners: last month's champion Nithiyan; Really Big Deck specialist Ron Wheelhouse and enfant terrible Bart Sobieszczuk. This was a particularly impressive performance by Bart. He is quite young (12?) and has very few cards. He makes up for this with a lot of talent - he is a top rated Magic player - and an uncompromisingly aggressive play style. The six single winners were split into two semi-final qualifiers while the rest of us played consolation games. This was my only opportunity to play. I couldn't afford a protracted battle and so played my hit-or-bust Student Uprising deck. I hadn't played it since all the publicity here but it performed better than ever - a walk-over victory in no time.

Consolidations
Andrew Davidson beat Andy H, Glenn, Rob I
Peter Woodmansee beat Arthur, Hedley, Tom K
Tom Hooker beat Anil, Rob, Yuit

Semi-finals
John Davis beat Alex, Bill
Sam Waller beat Daniel, Stephen

Final
Nithiyan Thiruudaian beat Bart, John, Ron, Sam

It was noteworthy that two of these finalists were top-rated Magic players - Sam Waller recently had the highest rating in the UK. John Davis too is a Magic veteran though less of a tournament regular. This suggests that single-minded Magic players are superior to the more dilettante Shadowfist players or is this just a flash in the pan? One clue is that Bart has gone on to cut a swath through our best and most experienced Shadowfist players in recent club games, winning 9 out of the last 10 games!
Bart attacked repeatedly in the final but there was too much denial to overcome and this was a problem for all of the players. I had set a time limit for the final because of a curfew set by Bart's mother and this became significant as the game wore on. Several players had burnt one site for victory but John Davis had burnt two, giving him a winning edge in the event of a tie-break. He defended this lead for the latter third of the game as the tension mounted.
I was watching the clock carefully (the players do not get to see this) and the last minute expired as Nithiyan was mounting a winning attack. It looked to me that the attack had not been completed - Ron had an unturned Fox Pass which had not yet been used. After the alarm went, I started to declare John the winner but the other players protested that Nithiyan had won. It turned out that the Fox Pass was of no use - Nithiyan had an unturned Whirlpool which I had not noticed. There were no other effects which could have stopped Nithiyan and so he had, in effect, completed his winning attack. Given this, I decided that Nithiyan had won. This was such a close call that John deserved credit too and I awarded him a special prize for second place.
So with this second tournament win, Nithiyan joins the elite club of repeat winners - Alex Wargacki, Dave Martin, John Davis, Tom Kassel and Yuit Sum Vong being the others. Perhaps Anil (who has only won one tournament) should stop lending him such good decks and make him buy his own cards <g>.
So, thanks to all the many keen players who turned out and especially to the Magic players whose impressive performance will keep us on our mettle. Thanks should also go to the Catcher in the Rye which is proving to be a more welcoming venue than the Queen's Head.

Last modified: March 11, 1998.
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