Re: Worlds 2013 Spain Llinars (Barcelona) September 20-22
Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 10:05 am
Hi everybody,
as the rest of the finalists, I'll tell you my experiences in Worlds 2013. Please forgive my English, I'm not a native speaker (or writer!!).
Friday's Hero only was quite intense, as you had to run fast and get the MP to call the Council ASAP. I don't remember very well my opponents, but I think they were Altymira, Heiner and... someone else. I played an absolutely classical Hero-Rudahur-and-surroundings deck (Gollum, Goldberry, Palantir of Amon Sul, Orcrist, Glamdring, Wormsbane, Rangers of the North, Blue Dwarves, Lindon Elves.. with lots of lucky blow, flatter a foe, old trush...) with the only difference of Starting with Elrond, twins and Eowyn, and Vilyas in the deck. As hazards, a little of corrupction, call of home, muster disperses and auto-attacks enhacers (quite fun!). Marc Roca posted the final scores, i had 13 points, but I can't remember which were the individual scores of each game. I only remember a 6-0 victory vs Altymira, so the rest... 1-5 and 6-0, maybe? Can't remember... In the end, 2nd place, quite impressive for a deck built in less than 30 minutes the day before.
Saturday was the biggest challenge. All players already there (we were less people in friday). As someone already posted, I played an Aragorn+Arwen Minas Tirith thematic (AKA squatter) deck. Some surprises my deck had were two hobbits to play To Fealthy Sworn and Red Arrow to make Hour of Need with the Rohirrim and getting Theoden as follower. Hazards vs Hero: the fastest I could think about, 9 nazgul for khamul, assasins, cave worms and some other things to make the 12 creatures and drop everything as fast as possible. Hazards vs minions, almost the same but with Nameless Things and Maia.
My first game was vs Jordi Sorribes, the winner of friday's Hero Only. He played a Fallen Alatar in Eriador with Short Rest. I've played only vs. one FW Alatar, my friend Jaime's deck, wich plays The Hunt and The Great Hunt. I was expecting something like that, but everything changed when he played the sapling in the first turn. I was expecting to be the only White Tree player there... man, I was so mistaken. I was lucky enough to play sapling in my first turn too and then ran to Minas Tirith to plant the tree. However, Jordi's deck was impressively fast, and he called me for a 4-2 win. Not a good start...
My second opponent was my namesake Alvaro. He played a company of Thrain II, Thorin II and Oin as starting characters, so King under the mountain? In a championship? Seemed weird to me. He made two great turns gathering items, I remember saying to him "I'm impressed of what you are doing with just that 3 stinky dwarves!". But everything changed in the middle of the game, after a short visit to Moria the company was almost whiped out by worms, and after that it was easy for me to get a 5-1. He told me later that the purpose of the deck was going under-deeps to play Aiglos, Dragon Helm and all that things, but he was not able to do that in that game, too many woundeds.
The third game was vs Jordi Pesudo. This game was quite lucky for me (or unlucky for him, as you want) because I had first turn and played a lot of things he also had in his deck (starting with Alatar). He did not have a real chance, luck was not with him in the first two turns (he did not draw a single MP, his companies reached the places untapped but nothing to do in the site phase...), and later.. it was simply too late. 6-0 for me.
My fourth game was vs. Marc Roca. He played a Great Shadow Balrog deck burning Rohan and, of course, playing zounds of 1MP stinking characters from the sideboard. It was my firs game in my life against a Balrog deck, so I was not very sure of how to behave, and his area of action was really close to Minas Tirith, which made me suspect Buthrakaur and his friends trying to beat my (weak) company badly. Luckily, that didn't happen. I played him Saruman as creature the first turn and he was one body check away of killing him, phew! Ater that, he played I'll report you x2 and some items that made his company untouchable by my creatures, so I just centered in the Khamul machine, which was not very effective anyway. More or less he played unbothered by me. I was able to keep more or less his pace in MP gathering, and finally he called me 7 MP above. In my last turn I travelled from Minas Tirith to Buhr Widu with Gandalf, Glorfindel and Bilbo with the palantir. I played there The Red Arrow, aligned the palantir and A chance Meeting to get Theoden, while in Minas Tirith I played a 2 MP faction. Wow, that was great, in the end 4-2 for me with just 1 point above him. The greatest thing of that game was that I ended with more Character MP than him, quite impressive vs a Balrog deck...
And the final game was vs Pawel and his Great Shadow Balrog deck. I realized the game was going to be different when I saw Gangways over the Fire as starting event. He played with a small-but-each-turn-growing company running in the deeps and playing things, and popping out to play some factions. He played crack in the wall the first and second turns, and moved about 3 or four times each turn, so i gathered my 3 nameless things and patiently waited for my moment. The third turn and no crack in the wall... here we go! I didn't kill anyone (maybe an Orc tracker, don't remember), but I was able to wound almost everybody, so he had to press the brake and go back to Under-gates for healing. Meanwhile Aragorn slayed two asassins, one with the help of forewarned and no wait to wonder (peace of cake!), and the other just by himself!! phew. In the end I played almost all my MP and slowed him enough to call him council with something like 8 points above, which he reduced in hos turno but not enough. In the end 4-2 for me and pass granted to the finals.
Off-side: Personal achievement: 5/5 white tree planted XD
Someone asked me what I was going to play on the finals on sunday, which I answered: Huh? Can we change decks? Lol, noob me, I didn't even know that this could be done (and, of course, I didn't planned to reach the finals anyway), so i was almost forced to play the same deck again, with the drawback that everybody knew at that time what kind of deck I was playing... Alas, let's cross fingers and see what happens tomorrow.
On sunday, my first game was vs Karsten. We bounced Aragorn in the draft, so i played Strider to change him later. He played a gap of Isen-Rohan-Anorien deck, so quite a few MP duplicated among us... I had to be as fast as possible. His hazards were roadblock, which didn't bother me as long as I could reach Monas Tirith, of course. I achieved it after twilighting a snowstorm without response. Unlucky him, his next card was a twilight... I managed to play the sapling and the Tree before him, and slayed Saruman later in the game, so finally that gave me the edge to call and get a 4-2 for me.
The second game was vs Mark Alfano. As he already posted, he played an Eriador short-rest. In the first turn he moved Radagast alone from Rivendell to the Blue Mountains Dwarf-Hold, I had one assasin in hand and drew another one... let's try: he more or less passed the first, but was thrice wounded with the second. However, no luck in stabbing him to out of game, damn... He was gathering MP's quite fast, although I was more or less managing to keep the pace. But, alas, how I missed the Whithdrawn to Mordor that I removed from the deck a few days before... He tried the Lobelia Sackville-Baggins anti-hobbit trick (unsuccessfully), but after that Elwen influenced Choiced Arwen, followed by a Call of Home to Returned King Aragorn, and that was the end for me. Aragorn came next turn in Isengard with Gandalf to play the red arrow, but the game was lost 6-0 anyway. I'm still blaming myself for not arranging the characters in the company correctly (I was playing with Strider because we bounced Aragorn in the draft, and when I changed him I forgot to put Fatty Bolger as follower, which would have given me 3 more free GI, which maybe would have changed some things). I also sideboarded two call of home to use against him (he was 0 GI free), but none decided to show up until i drew the last card after his last turn... aaargh!!.
The last game was against Heiner. Hard opponent, and harder for me as I never played vs a FW Radagast before. I realized soon he was going to make a Wellinghall squat, so I sedeboarded 3 Herat Grown Cold and managed to get one in play soon enough to avoid him playing the ents but he already had an one-MP-animal faction in play, so I could't duplicate Mp for my own factions... damn! This was my fastest White Tree ever, first turn sapling and steed, second turn, Minas Tirith and the Tree... never done before (by me, of course). He also moved Radagast to Minas Tirith in his last turn, which made all my alarms sound, expecting any tricky thing unknown by me (influencing or something)... but he just played the keys of Orthanc. Finally I was able to scratch a 4-2 after a hard balance-of-things-Ren-corruption turn, that gave me the 3rd place in the championship.
Off-side: Personal achievement: 3/3 white tree planted XD
General impressions of the deck: 8/8 trees planted (wow), never totally bounced Aragorn (when bounced, replaced without problems with Strider), never bounced Arwen or the hobbits, almost no characters killed (can't remember exactly, but I think none, feel free to correct me on this) and 6/8 General Opponent games won. Far beyond my expectations as casual player.
As I told a few days ago, it has been an incredible experience, the fellowship shown by everybody was fantastic and I enjoyed very much (and also learnt a lot). I wish I would repeat this experience in the future, LURE, next Worlds, next Spanish Nationals or whatever, let's see if real life allows me.
Best regards, everybody, and sorry for the wall of text!!
as the rest of the finalists, I'll tell you my experiences in Worlds 2013. Please forgive my English, I'm not a native speaker (or writer!!).
Friday's Hero only was quite intense, as you had to run fast and get the MP to call the Council ASAP. I don't remember very well my opponents, but I think they were Altymira, Heiner and... someone else. I played an absolutely classical Hero-Rudahur-and-surroundings deck (Gollum, Goldberry, Palantir of Amon Sul, Orcrist, Glamdring, Wormsbane, Rangers of the North, Blue Dwarves, Lindon Elves.. with lots of lucky blow, flatter a foe, old trush...) with the only difference of Starting with Elrond, twins and Eowyn, and Vilyas in the deck. As hazards, a little of corrupction, call of home, muster disperses and auto-attacks enhacers (quite fun!). Marc Roca posted the final scores, i had 13 points, but I can't remember which were the individual scores of each game. I only remember a 6-0 victory vs Altymira, so the rest... 1-5 and 6-0, maybe? Can't remember... In the end, 2nd place, quite impressive for a deck built in less than 30 minutes the day before.
Saturday was the biggest challenge. All players already there (we were less people in friday). As someone already posted, I played an Aragorn+Arwen Minas Tirith thematic (AKA squatter) deck. Some surprises my deck had were two hobbits to play To Fealthy Sworn and Red Arrow to make Hour of Need with the Rohirrim and getting Theoden as follower. Hazards vs Hero: the fastest I could think about, 9 nazgul for khamul, assasins, cave worms and some other things to make the 12 creatures and drop everything as fast as possible. Hazards vs minions, almost the same but with Nameless Things and Maia.
My first game was vs Jordi Sorribes, the winner of friday's Hero Only. He played a Fallen Alatar in Eriador with Short Rest. I've played only vs. one FW Alatar, my friend Jaime's deck, wich plays The Hunt and The Great Hunt. I was expecting something like that, but everything changed when he played the sapling in the first turn. I was expecting to be the only White Tree player there... man, I was so mistaken. I was lucky enough to play sapling in my first turn too and then ran to Minas Tirith to plant the tree. However, Jordi's deck was impressively fast, and he called me for a 4-2 win. Not a good start...
My second opponent was my namesake Alvaro. He played a company of Thrain II, Thorin II and Oin as starting characters, so King under the mountain? In a championship? Seemed weird to me. He made two great turns gathering items, I remember saying to him "I'm impressed of what you are doing with just that 3 stinky dwarves!". But everything changed in the middle of the game, after a short visit to Moria the company was almost whiped out by worms, and after that it was easy for me to get a 5-1. He told me later that the purpose of the deck was going under-deeps to play Aiglos, Dragon Helm and all that things, but he was not able to do that in that game, too many woundeds.
The third game was vs Jordi Pesudo. This game was quite lucky for me (or unlucky for him, as you want) because I had first turn and played a lot of things he also had in his deck (starting with Alatar). He did not have a real chance, luck was not with him in the first two turns (he did not draw a single MP, his companies reached the places untapped but nothing to do in the site phase...), and later.. it was simply too late. 6-0 for me.
My fourth game was vs. Marc Roca. He played a Great Shadow Balrog deck burning Rohan and, of course, playing zounds of 1MP stinking characters from the sideboard. It was my firs game in my life against a Balrog deck, so I was not very sure of how to behave, and his area of action was really close to Minas Tirith, which made me suspect Buthrakaur and his friends trying to beat my (weak) company badly. Luckily, that didn't happen. I played him Saruman as creature the first turn and he was one body check away of killing him, phew! Ater that, he played I'll report you x2 and some items that made his company untouchable by my creatures, so I just centered in the Khamul machine, which was not very effective anyway. More or less he played unbothered by me. I was able to keep more or less his pace in MP gathering, and finally he called me 7 MP above. In my last turn I travelled from Minas Tirith to Buhr Widu with Gandalf, Glorfindel and Bilbo with the palantir. I played there The Red Arrow, aligned the palantir and A chance Meeting to get Theoden, while in Minas Tirith I played a 2 MP faction. Wow, that was great, in the end 4-2 for me with just 1 point above him. The greatest thing of that game was that I ended with more Character MP than him, quite impressive vs a Balrog deck...
And the final game was vs Pawel and his Great Shadow Balrog deck. I realized the game was going to be different when I saw Gangways over the Fire as starting event. He played with a small-but-each-turn-growing company running in the deeps and playing things, and popping out to play some factions. He played crack in the wall the first and second turns, and moved about 3 or four times each turn, so i gathered my 3 nameless things and patiently waited for my moment. The third turn and no crack in the wall... here we go! I didn't kill anyone (maybe an Orc tracker, don't remember), but I was able to wound almost everybody, so he had to press the brake and go back to Under-gates for healing. Meanwhile Aragorn slayed two asassins, one with the help of forewarned and no wait to wonder (peace of cake!), and the other just by himself!! phew. In the end I played almost all my MP and slowed him enough to call him council with something like 8 points above, which he reduced in hos turno but not enough. In the end 4-2 for me and pass granted to the finals.
Off-side: Personal achievement: 5/5 white tree planted XD
Someone asked me what I was going to play on the finals on sunday, which I answered: Huh? Can we change decks? Lol, noob me, I didn't even know that this could be done (and, of course, I didn't planned to reach the finals anyway), so i was almost forced to play the same deck again, with the drawback that everybody knew at that time what kind of deck I was playing... Alas, let's cross fingers and see what happens tomorrow.
On sunday, my first game was vs Karsten. We bounced Aragorn in the draft, so i played Strider to change him later. He played a gap of Isen-Rohan-Anorien deck, so quite a few MP duplicated among us... I had to be as fast as possible. His hazards were roadblock, which didn't bother me as long as I could reach Monas Tirith, of course. I achieved it after twilighting a snowstorm without response. Unlucky him, his next card was a twilight... I managed to play the sapling and the Tree before him, and slayed Saruman later in the game, so finally that gave me the edge to call and get a 4-2 for me.
The second game was vs Mark Alfano. As he already posted, he played an Eriador short-rest. In the first turn he moved Radagast alone from Rivendell to the Blue Mountains Dwarf-Hold, I had one assasin in hand and drew another one... let's try: he more or less passed the first, but was thrice wounded with the second. However, no luck in stabbing him to out of game, damn... He was gathering MP's quite fast, although I was more or less managing to keep the pace. But, alas, how I missed the Whithdrawn to Mordor that I removed from the deck a few days before... He tried the Lobelia Sackville-Baggins anti-hobbit trick (unsuccessfully), but after that Elwen influenced Choiced Arwen, followed by a Call of Home to Returned King Aragorn, and that was the end for me. Aragorn came next turn in Isengard with Gandalf to play the red arrow, but the game was lost 6-0 anyway. I'm still blaming myself for not arranging the characters in the company correctly (I was playing with Strider because we bounced Aragorn in the draft, and when I changed him I forgot to put Fatty Bolger as follower, which would have given me 3 more free GI, which maybe would have changed some things). I also sideboarded two call of home to use against him (he was 0 GI free), but none decided to show up until i drew the last card after his last turn... aaargh!!.
The last game was against Heiner. Hard opponent, and harder for me as I never played vs a FW Radagast before. I realized soon he was going to make a Wellinghall squat, so I sedeboarded 3 Herat Grown Cold and managed to get one in play soon enough to avoid him playing the ents but he already had an one-MP-animal faction in play, so I could't duplicate Mp for my own factions... damn! This was my fastest White Tree ever, first turn sapling and steed, second turn, Minas Tirith and the Tree... never done before (by me, of course). He also moved Radagast to Minas Tirith in his last turn, which made all my alarms sound, expecting any tricky thing unknown by me (influencing or something)... but he just played the keys of Orthanc. Finally I was able to scratch a 4-2 after a hard balance-of-things-Ren-corruption turn, that gave me the 3rd place in the championship.
Off-side: Personal achievement: 3/3 white tree planted XD
General impressions of the deck: 8/8 trees planted (wow), never totally bounced Aragorn (when bounced, replaced without problems with Strider), never bounced Arwen or the hobbits, almost no characters killed (can't remember exactly, but I think none, feel free to correct me on this) and 6/8 General Opponent games won. Far beyond my expectations as casual player.
As I told a few days ago, it has been an incredible experience, the fellowship shown by everybody was fantastic and I enjoyed very much (and also learnt a lot). I wish I would repeat this experience in the future, LURE, next Worlds, next Spanish Nationals or whatever, let's see if real life allows me.
Best regards, everybody, and sorry for the wall of text!!