Worlds 2008 - Tournament Report

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Ringbearer
Ex Council Member
Posts: 474
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2007 3:39 pm

OK, my report starts actually at tuesday. I packed my car in advance, bringing the decks, prizes and other sponsored stuff. Making a quick stop at my parents to print out all the rules stuff I then relax... noticing I cant fall asleep. So I slept for like 3 hours, wondering what can go wrong. Organising a big think like this can be bad for the nerves, especially the night before.

Wednesday: "Why so serious?"
So hjust high on Red BUll I actually drive north first, towards Schiphol Airport to pick up Mikko. He will be driving with me to the South. In the parking garage its chaos due to the crown of people going on vacation. I managed at parking spot after 20 minutes and walked quickly to the gate where Mikko already was waiting. We took a quick stop at my work for free tea and then set off to the south. We found the Hostel pretty quick and then went to the store to talk a bit with the owners, look at the venue. After some lunch/dinner at Mc Donalds we then decide (or actually we decided before) to go and see the new Batman Movie which premiers the same day in Belgium. After driving for 30 minutes on a failing navigation system (the huge trees and houses sometimes interfering with the sattelite signal) we just park the car somewhere and decide to walk. WIth our luck the cinema is actually close by. We get the tickets and go back to the venue to rest a little bit (and play Prof Layton on the DS).
In the evening we kinda skip dinner and just go for the movie, which was AWESOME. Mikko kept quoting Heath Ledger the entire tournament, wether he was drunk or not ;)

Tuesday: After a good night rest (kinda) we got up, had breakfast and met the first MECCG player at the Hostel (more would follow) which was Thomas Schrei from Austria. He went to look at the city a little bit while we prepared for day one. Arriving a bit early at the store we find it closed, but see Joe and Kris (and Kris his car after failed parking. Luckily for him no visible damage). We then walk to get a beer and relax a little. After a nice hour and the other guys look at 16 year old girls singing we go back and get day 1 rolling.
Other people slowly come inside the venue during the day, but we start slow with a 4 person sealed deck and a 4 person 1-deck hero (that one started a little bit later cause Heiner was late).

My sealed deck was actually quite good, considering of 2 greaters, some nice factions and a few ahunts. I could actually play dragons hoard on Exarcae at Home, since I got her at home, her ahunt AND her lair. I opt not though and make a fairly decent deck.

The games I cant rememebr that much, knowing I tie against Thomas and win the others 4-2 if I recall correct. Thomas did better though and he won first place.

THe 1-deck was won by Heiner with a deck I heard he didnt chance in years and won every tournament with it that he plays.

In the evening I try the ARDA, a sort of draft idea with 5 players that JOe cooked up. It plays quite nicely. I get a nice company rolling but lose Saruman to do wolling 3 on a CC of 3. That cdosted me some time and I end up last. Mikko won the tournament after scoring Fate of the Ithil-Stone and staying in front of Joe by 2 points. I had a nice moment though where Arwen went to Goblin Gate and Mikko played Great Goblin. Thinking she is weak he plays the hazard that reduces his prowess and body with 1 to have +1 to the body check should he win. Arwen, the tough chick that she is rolls 10... exactly a win. Bodycheck on the Goblin: a 7. Exactly a kill. He didnt expect THAT to happen.

In the dream card tournament Michel won fairly easy with an Elrond Elflord with Glorfindel and Aragorn.

Afterwards we play some 6-player diplomacy where I again fail. Joe and Kris and Dominic won IIRC.

Friday, day 2
I leave Mikko behind as he does some sight-seeing. We decide on the spot not to hold the qualifier, since with all preregistered people we have exactly 32 persons, which suffices for 5 rounds. Most people go for minion sealed, but I loan a deck from Leon and play in the virtual tournament. Its a mithril deck with some extra stuff upstairs if Mirthil goes too slow.

Game 1 vs Mark and his FW burning.
This game was all about the rolls. I went down to Under-Grottos but lost one guy at Goblin Gate due to a CVCC. That set the tone. We both got quite some body checks, but Marks suddenly started to work. He killed Glorfindel, Radagast and Thranduil in CVCC and Aragorn bit the dust vs an orc hazard. A Clear 6-0 loss.

Game 2 vs a french guy who played something I fotgot. I actally got Mithil running and that netted me a nice 6-0 win.

Game 3 was vs Birk, he had a tower raided deck. I managed to heedles shim to he wouldnt score from raider that much but his nice greaters sealed him the win.

Joe won the prize for 1th place after he creamed Mark with Itangast and Dragons Breath. Nicolai won for nicest deck which used covert guys to Raid with the corsairs while Khamul CVCCS people away.

In the evening we went for dinner at a nice restaurant where I ate 1.6 kilos of mussels. It was fun with all those nationalities and I had a nice talk with Birk Pfeiffer and his girlfriend/wife (didnt find out what she exactly was). Kris took some people to a jeneverbar while I walked the rest back to the store.

Night of firday-saturday: MIkko crawls in at 5 in the morning, completely hammered.

Saturday: day 3
The real deal begins, 5 grueling rounds of 2-deck general opponent. We get exactly 32 people and I collect the informations, and we're off.

Game 1: My Wolfiehog vs Martin Karlssons underground hog.
I didnt get the hog turn 1 but scored some wolves. MArtin plays his turn but somehow discovers that he has it during his movement phase and didn tplay it. I get the hog turn 2 and keep him easily at bay with some undead. I double allies, a lot of wolves and stinker to make it 6-0.
4 people 6-0 at that point.

Game 2: My (or actually Marks) AkhoraKILL vs Birks Choice of Luthien deck.
I get the shuffle going and he gets into the freedomains of Anorien, Belfalas and Lebennin. 2bnd turn Akharahil comes down and chases after Arwen and Aragorn (after a nice move by Birk, he let me play the good site, picked the wrong one first). Aragorn gets maladied but only discarded so I dont get the kill points while Arwen gets wounded in CVCC. I just do the thing and harass him while getting my points and after time is called I win 5-1.
So far one at 12, a few at 11 and 10. THe first nutcracker was Mark vs Heiner.

Game 3: MY wolfiehog vs Marc Roca's wolfiehog.
Yay, wolve svs wolves. He gets the hog out first and both palantirs, so I have a problem from the bat. Luckily I could get Stinker, the King and the Axe. TYhings still seem a bit dim until I manage to play balanc eof things and roving Eye on UMagaur. He missed the cc of 8 and so we tied 26-26, but he revealed the King, the Axe and Doeth for a 4-2 win for him.
So 13. Still top position.

Game 4: My wolviehog vs Hercalio Sanchez wolfiehog.
Yay, again hog vs hog and wolves vs wolves. BUt this one was kinda good for me... I had literally all the luck one can get.
I got the Hog first
He tried for Stinker.... I Heedless and get it on my turn.
He Tried for the Palantir... River and I get on my turn.
I also get the Warg King out and manage to kill of some of his puppies. He got the Ancient Black Axe out though after some nice rolls from a Troll-Purse Attack but I called nonetheless and played balance of things on his turn. He failed the CC so I won 5-1

18 points before last round. I wouldnt actually make finals now, would I?

Game 5 vs Mikko Vithemaki's Ettenmoors FW radagast.
I had a good turn with 1th turn Akhorahil to Ettenmoors, forcing the troll chief to discard by use of malady and killing some dwarves. He runs around a little and gets the girdle thing going. He gets a little in advance adn calls, but I malady some more. He had too much allies so we tie.
21 points. I then watch how Mark is doing, since he is the only one able to keep me out, but he 4-2's and misses the spot. SO I am actually in :D

Final four:
1. Heiver Vierhues
2. Alfons van Impelen and MIkko Vithemaki
4. me

I opt not to play drinking game but go for a good sleep, knowing I will need it. I didnt bring any extra decks to surprise the opponent though, not thinking I would actually make it. That would hinder me.

Again MIkko comes back at 4, but this time he stayed sober. Mark got hammered though and thought it was fun to bang on our door at 5 am.

Day 4: finals.

Some people go for mixed sealed, some guys play the team tourney and the four of us proceed to finals.

Game 1 vs Alfons van Impelen.
He played hobbits in dragonland, but adjusted the deck a little so he could go coastal too. I played quite well in the beginning, just lucking out where he had a river to stop Akhorahil before the hobbits went to the sea. I got hammared though where I Voices his Troll Pure away, only to get a 2nd when I get Aiglos. I then just forgot to VOice it all game and deserve the 6-0 that was handed to me.
The other game was much closer as Heiner squeezed out a 4-2 win vs Mikko.


Game 2 vs Mikko Vithemaki.
He had also teched but I had the god hand and got both Great Bats and Aiglos turn 1. That gave me a decent base and I got more lucky that he got 2 Short Rest going, since I didnt have the wraith out just yet. BUt in my turn played the Wraith, did the shuffle for a bazillion cards and proceed to lay waste on his company. ONe Elf-Lord got trough though to wound the RW but he missed the BC. I then Maladied Strider away for a 6-point swing. A second malady on Cirdan and a CVCC did no permanent damage. He then proceeded to Great Road the rest of the game, while I got Ice orcs. IN the end he was 1 point ahead but he had a nasty cc so he mocved 2 companies together. In that move he loast a noble hound to a cave drake, which tied us again.

In the other game Alfons overcame Heiner by a 4-2 win.

Game 3 vs Heiner Vierhues.
Heiner played Red Hills, adn was just as me fairly chatty since the odds of him winning was low while I couldnt win anymore. Especially since I got out the hog. Things went ok for me, I blocked him every turn, except for 1 map and one tempest by recycling heedless and undead detainers. THe turnabout came though where he played his trump card: Prone to Violence. Knowing he would probablly do damage I try to exhaust as soon as possible, but I draw a bit bad so I stay with 1 card left in the deck. He gets in the site, where I have one hope... Radbug was the weakest, so my Umagaur with 3 allies should battle him. Of course Umagaur lost, but the following body check (where like 10 people were watching and it took forever to lift that cup) he rolled 10. So I lose 7 points and he scored 3 kill points. The damage was done and I lose this 6-0, so Heiner became againstall odds World CHampion, since MIkko had the luck of Pilfering some of Alfons Hobbits for a 5-1 win.

Aftermath:
I went with Kris for some dinner and went for the Hostel with Bruno, Wolfgang and Dominic in the car. WIth alittle detour but Iron Maiden on to ease the pain we get there. I try to get a good sleep. A huge thunderstorm woke me up though, with a bazillion flashes a minute. I fall alseep again till the moment MIkko crawls back in, again drunk. On monday we pack up and leave. After dropping MIkkko of at the airport and having a burger for lunch, I manage to get home, tired but satisfied with the tournaments....

"Well, I'm back" he said.
Last edited by Ringbearer on Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"I used to roll the dice, feel the fear in my enemies eyes."
- Coldplay, Viva la Vida.

Gaming is life, the rest is just dice rolls.
- John Kovalic, Dork Tower
Pallando
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:01 pm

Ringbearer wrote: Game 3 is kinda a blur, I know that I lost nearly.



Game 2: My (or actually Marks) AkhoraKILL vs Birks Choice of Luthien deck.
I get the shuffle going and he gets into the freedomains of Anorien, Belfalas and Lebennin. 2bnd turn Akharahil comes down and chases after Arwen and Aragorn. Aragorn gets maladied but only discarded so I dont get the kill points while Arwen gets wounded in CVCC. I just do the thing and harass him while getting my points and after time is called I win 5-1.
So far one at 12, a few at 11 and 10. THe first nutcracker was Mark vs Heiner.
Bert the third game on Friday was against me ...
Okay I played a deck built by Joe - Thx to Joe again !!! The deck "Tower Raided" all the darkholds in and around mordor ...
Was fun for me and indeed You found Mithril again !!!

Well, well Aragorn was only discarded because I alowed You to change the site card Pelagir to Dol Amroth. Otherwise Akorahil had visited a site without any character.

But anyway, You was so lucky to have everything in Your hand ...

Thx for the report !!!!
Ringbearer
Ex Council Member
Posts: 474
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2007 3:39 pm

NOw I remeber. Thanks for the head-up Birk :) You were and are a nice guy :)
"I used to roll the dice, feel the fear in my enemies eyes."
- Coldplay, Viva la Vida.

Gaming is life, the rest is just dice rolls.
- John Kovalic, Dork Tower
Pallando
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:01 pm

Ringbearer wrote:NOw I remeber. Thanks for the head-up Birk :) You were and are a nice guy :)
You too. Greetings to the Netherlends also from my girl friend.
Pallando
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:01 pm

My Worlds report

Wednesday:
I thought that I would fly to Bruxells in the evening. But Lufthansa send me a message in the morning that my flight was cancelled. They offered me a flight via Frankfurt. But I refused this offer because I made very often bad experiences with Frankfurt – the flights are always late and Your luggage will be lost. So I change to a flight at Thursday morning …

Thursday:

Well, well, well. It is not easy for me to get up before 6:00 am. But I have to get up at 4:45 am to catch the flight at 6:50 am. The flight was fine and the coke light (why they don’t have coke zero on board ???) helped me to get awake.
The plan arrived in Bruxells in time and my girlfriend and I decided to take the express bus to Antwerp. The bus should leave the airport by 9 am but the bus had a delay. So we left at 9:30 am and arrived at the hotel in Antwerp at 10:10 am. I made a fix reservation and so I know that I had to pay the night from Wednesday to Thursday without staying in the hotel  But I was sure and I was also told by the hotel (I called on Wednesday that I will arrive Thursday morning) to get a room for store the luggage and have a place to refresh. But the reception guy told me that there are no rooms available. Well this was his greatest mistake. I was angry (because I still was pissed that LH cancelled the flight), a little tiered, thirsty and hungry. So I cried for the manager and this helped me to get a room. We rushed to hotel room and went to the breakfast room because this was closed by 10:30. The breakfast was great (Champaign and delicious food) and so I was fit for the first tournament.

We found the bus station and the friendly bus driver told us that we can have a five day card for using all of the public transportation in Antwerp for only 18 EUR. Well so we bought the card and went to the city. We found the shop easy and I meet the guy and traded a little bit …
Hours later (and after finding a source for coke zero) the 1 deck tournament should start. But there were only 3 players: Dominic, Martin and me. Heiner told me that he will also join the tournemant but like always Heiner was late. So meanwhile I joined the Arda game. I played with Mikko and Joe and it was fun. Then Heiner arrived and I had to play against him because Martin and Dominic had played before. I was not really able to stop Heiner and during my last turn I made some big mistakes (it was too hot inside) and so I lost 1-5. The next game was against Dominic because he has lost too. During the character draft four characters bounced and so we both started with our weakest characters. Well my deck worked great and so I beat Dominic 5-1. The last game was against Martin. I got all my characters and so I had a great start. I didn’t draw the needed MP-resources but my hazards wounded and killed a lot of Martins characters. So I won finally 6-0 But this was still not enough because Heiner has won all three games and like at last Lure he won the one deck tournament …
After that I tested my deck for the qualifier on Friday because Bert told me that we have to held this tournament …

My opponent was Heiner with his Balrog Red Hill Deck. I started the game but I lost Strider on the first turn because Heiner played a searching eye against my concealment 
Then Heiner had his first turn. I had only two hazards in my hand: Lady and My precious. I was waiting for an elf-lord and a chill. But I only got an elflord. Heiner was so lucky. He could play great shadow, balrog and I’ll report You in the first turn. He arrived nearly safe at the red hill entered the site and played Hold Rebuilt and Repaired. So I really could stop Heiner and I lost 0-6. The highlight for Heiner was his last turn. Because of the great number of characters he could play 3 Tempest of Fire during one site phase. So Heiner was lucky and I was not sure whether I could make it to the semi final on Saturday.
In the evening we went out with most of the Spanish Armada (we missed Agustin but his girlfriend was with us) and Heiner and his girlfriend and ended in a small pub. The spaghetti were great but I was so tiered so my girlfriend and I left the fellowship early and went back to the Hotel. I also had to change my deck a little bit and I had to put some extra sites because I forgot my site cards at home …

Friday
I slept very badly because the noise from the highway disturbed me a lot. So I was still tired and in a bad mood. But the breakfast helped me to refresh a little bit and so I arrived at 11:30 am in the Outpost. Bert told me that we will have no qualifier because only 33 will take part in the semi final. So I thought to play the minion sealed but then Joe convinced me to take part in the VC-tournament. He gave me his Tower raided deck. So the first game was against a French ? guy. I could not really remember what he was playing because my hazards and my resources run so good. So I won 6-0. The second game was against Mark. He followed me every round and killed and “maladied” nearly all of my starting company and was always destroying my environments long events resources. The only character which survived was Boromir with wormes bane. But Mark did not get enough MP. So I had a last turn. I moved Boromir back to the heaven to draw cards. And I was lucky to get the Knights of Dol Amroth. Imrahil was already waiting in Dol Amroth. But the dices betrayed me again. I needed a 4 but the dices were at 3 and so I lost the faction and also Imrahil gave me 0 points because he still had Await the Advent of Allies … So I lost 6-0 otherwise I had won 4-2 because the knights had count as 6 MP because Mark had no faction …
The last game was against Bert (the game he could not remember) . Bert was slowly entering the underdeepsite to play Mithril and he was successful with this. But I had more points in the end and won 4-2. This tournament was the funniest and best I played for years. Thanks to Joe for this great deck (I was not allowed to vote for this deck – grrr). But I hope to get the deck list from Joe during this century ;-)
In the evening we went out in the great pub. Thanks to Kris !!! I really enjoyed the evening but I was still too tired to stay longer. So after eating and chatting I left the location …

Saturday

I woke up and got the information that Lufthansa is again under strike starting on Monday (where I have planned to leave). So my mood was again bad. Then we meet Heiner and his girlfriend at breakfast. The breakfast was now completely different from the days before. So my mood was not changing. Heiner told me that he decided after waking up to play his Balrog red hill deck. But then he explained me that this is not the best choice because he expected a lot of other Balrog decks.
Heiner and I went by bus to the Outpost. Heiner has changed his deck after breakfast (now playing his Fallen Radagst) and so he was talking all the time. I tried to concentrate to win my first game.
My first game was against Stiphan (sorry for the wrong spelling). He played a two lieutenant company burning down the free holds. Well my hazards elves and maias worked perfect against him and so I won 6-0.
The next game was against Bert. I know from the starting company the he was playing a Akorahil deck. I was lucky in the first turn to wound one of his squatter and killed one other. But then I lost my luck. I didn’t draw any MP resources. So in Round 3 Bert put Akorahil to the table + Fell Beast and send them to Pelagir. But Aragorn and Arwen were already in Dol Amroth and so I allowed Bert to change the site. I had a elf lord and a chill in my hand and hoped to wound or kill the RW. But Bert was so lucky to play two deeper shadow and so the RW arrived. Aragorn had a Lure of Expedience and the Balance of thing was on the table. So Akorahil maladied him with a 4. He wounded Arwen but could not kill her …
So my strategy was now to play the faction in Grey Heavens and the item at Himring. And I hoped that my allies are safe in Bag end / Bree. But in the end I only got the factions. I didn’t draw the item and Akorahil maladied the character with the two allies. So the faction and Items were doubled and I lost 1-5. So Bert had a nice revenge for the loss in the VC tournament.
The next game was against Mikko. Sorry I promised Mikko to tell nothing about his deck. So my whole characters exploded in the first turn and I had a 0-6 loss.
The good thing was that Mikko and I went for dinner and we really enjoyed it …
The next game was against a French ? guy with a Fallen Radagst welling hall deck. My hazards don’t really hurt him because he could marvel/voices all the nasty permanent. He was successful to destroy two factions so that the alliance could noct work and Arwen didn’t showed up (I didn’t draw one of the three chance meeting) to play the White tree. In the end I lost 2-4. And I learnt that I can not trust the women ;-)
My last game was against Wolfgang. Wolfgang was very unhappy that he didn’t face any minion. So the game started. And during draft all my ranger characters are bounced or on Wolfgang sites. I had to start and was not lucky to draw any MP resources. Wolfgang killed one of my characters and wounded one other. Then in Wolfgangs turn he played Pallando and with chance meeting one of my bounced ranger. And of course some MP. So I decided to declare a 0-6 loss for me, because I could not play without ranger and Pallando (I had one Gandalf as backup in the deck and another wizard in the sideboard). But to have fun Wolfgang took now his deck against Minion and I played my Sauron deck. I had a great start. Wolfgang started now and went from Rivendell to Glittering Caves (by asking the site path – please Wolfgang play more Region site sealed or region card memory). I had three !!! True fire drakes in my hand and Yes they killed one of the 4 elves and wounded two others. In my first turn I played the lidless eye and one more character. Because I was playing a DoN hazard strategy Wolfgang had the same “luck” like me during my game against Mark during the VC tournament. So the CVCC against his elves were not so bloody … And Wolfgang was also unlucky to lose Glorfindel by transferring an item …
In the end we had a lot of fun and I won 5-1 …
After that game I was too tired to watch or play the drinking game and went back to the hotel. Because of the LH strike I said good bye to the guys because I hoped to fly back on Sunday evening. Unfortunately LH didn’t gave me a free change of the flight.
But I promised my girl friend to make sightseeing one day with her. Because of the strike LH advised us to come earlier to the airport at Monday to have better chances to get back to Berlin. So this was not possible on Monday.
We had nice weather and so I really enjoyed the sight seeing and we had a great dinner in the evening. On the next morning we went straight to the airport to catch a flight to Berlin. When we arrived LH told us that it is not possible to check to the flight and so we could not use the lounge and hat to carry the whole luggage with us. So I was very angry again and so LH gave us an other flight to Berlin with Bruxells airline to Berlin. So we arrived 5 hours earlier as expected and could relax …
I hope that all the others also arrived safe back home and that everybody enjoyed the worlds.
Thx again to the organization committee and the referees …
I hope that I can join world next year and then I will play a boring Fallen Radagst and/or Red Hill Deck to become World Champion ;-)
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miguel
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Pallando wrote:The next game was against Mikko. Sorry I promised Mikko to tell nothing about his deck. So my whole characters exploded in the first turn and I had a 0-6 loss.
The good thing was that Mikko and I went for dinner and we really enjoyed it …
It's ok, I played Crazy Carambor. You can read more about this deck in the next newsletter. :wink:



My Worlds Report

I saw the new Batman movie, met a lot friends, stayed up late and got drunk (I was drinking beer even in the finals). I'd tell more about it but I can't recall. Good times! As we say in Finland: "Kuolema kuittaa univelat." 8)
Sfan
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Location: Königswinter, Germany

Sounds like you had fun, Mikko. :D
Jambo
Posts: 888
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 3:01 pm

miguel wrote:My Worlds Report

I saw the new Batman movie, met a lot friends, stayed up late and got drunk (I was drinking beer even in the finals). I'd tell more about it but I can't recall. Good times! As we say in Finland: "Kuolema kuittaa univelat." 8)
Hehe :thumbsup:

That's prob what mine would've looked like had I been there.
Alter Tuk
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Posts: 453
Joined: Sun Aug 27, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Germany

Sounds like lots of fun. As we germans say to fins: Kolmannen asteen turbomuna! :lol:
[url=http://gccg.sourceforge.net/]Come to GCCG or die a lonely death.[/url]
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miguel
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Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 8:21 am

Alter Tuk wrote: As we germans say to finns: Kolmannen asteen turbomuna!
That's me, baby! 8)

Also, FYP :P
Leon
Posts: 312
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:18 pm

I´m from the Netherlands, so people from outside Belgium and the Netherlands probably considered me one of the locals in Antwerp.

Thursday I arrived and we played a 4 player game in the afternoon and the dreamcard tournament in the evening. I borrowed a deck from Nicolai and ended somewhere in the middle regions. Michel Schelfhout won this tournament with his Elrond deck, proving his earlier statement that this Lord is slightly overpowered. That night I stayed at Michels place.

Friday was the minion sealed, which offered me a deck with an overload of playable factions (6 of which I played a maximum of 4 in one game) After a 5-1 win and a 4-2 loss a corruption check during the council of the last game gave me the 6-0 I needed to win this tournament. After the tournament I went eating with a few of the guys and wandered a bit in Antwerp. At some point I met Miguel, Kris, Mark, Heiner and Marc again in a gin bar. Several rounds of different gins and some Koninck for the others followed. After we decided we should have a last round of drinks, all of us paid one more round (yeah, that is 6 rounds) and went off to a party where Kris took us. By the way, Miguel, I have seen the Black Night recently and it indeed awfully impressive. You thought is was so good that you had to quote it for days. This night and the last I could stay at Kris´ place.

Saturdays I did not compete in the main event, but played some casual games and went into the city for some comics. During the weekend I have had enough opportunity to finally try some decks outside gccg, including some virtual cards. Unfortunately my Brand/Bard Bowman deck could not survive a dragon hazard portion. 2 or 3 attacks of Itangast in one game is a bit too much.

On sundays I participated in the mixed language sealed, where the main difficulty lies in recalling the exact text of a card you would never use in a constructed. Here I ended up 2nd, after a disastrous last game. All in all it was a terrific weekend and I hope I can come to Lure next year.
domse
Ex Council Member
Posts: 171
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:55 am

I know I am a bit late, but here comes my report...

The adventure "Worlds 08" started on wednesday morning for me. I went to Niko Willineks place near Krefeld and we then drove to Tilburg to Eric Danes place together. In the evening we had a warmup 3-player-game until 4 AM. So, the next morning, I had a terrible lack of sleep, but I knew I'd have to get accustomed to this to survive the following days.

On Thursday I played the hero 1-deck. Due to laziness I didnt have a real deck, but just some grabbag-eriador-ressources, which didnt work together so well. Thats why it was kind of frustrating... I lost all my 3 games and got my lesson: dont play if it took you 10 minutes to build the deck! In the evening I played in a 5-player ARDA game which was very cool. Congrats to Joe for this! It is a really relaxing game when not taken too serious and many of the errata/virtual card texts make it different to normal games in a refreshing way. Afterwards I was introduced to Diplomacy... THANK YOU, cant wait to get my copy.

Friday I expected to play the prequalifier, which then didnt take place. So I played Minion Sealed although I never played Minion before :), it went quite well nevertheless, won 2 games, lost 2 games. But more important: all very pleasant games with nice opponents in a chatty atmosphere. The night after I got woken up at 5.40 AM by Mikko saying: "Do you mind if we drink Whiskey in your room?" But I had the strength to say YES, so I had enough sleep for the big day - the main event.

Saturday main event - more details here:
I was playing a hero east side deck with Thranduil and Gimli/Galdor. The trick was to avoid creature hazards by playing with high discipline. Gimli/Galdor are moving between Beorns House and Eagles Eyrie until they play the proper ressources, protected from Assassins by Fifteen birds in five firtrees. After having played the Beornings/Gwaihir, they fly to the Iron Hill dwarfhold and get those. Thranduil plays his faction and 1-2 greater items (emerald). Radagast is doing the same if not helping out with factions. Key cancellers: 15 birds, flatter a foe, many turns and doublings, sacrifice of form. If you dont get tempted to take too risky moves, you'll make your points with it. Now the games:

1st game - Bruno de Lucia
We knew each other very well, as we were teammates in the last GCCG nations cup and regularly playtested decks on each other... He was playing a tempest of fire/cvcc balrog. I managed to kill some of his allies/characters and he made the mistake of insisting too much on killing my thranduil in cvcc, so that it was very close in the end. But his people diminished at thranduils halls gave him a 4-2.

2nd game - Luigi Sbaffi
Another italian! I got his fallen alatar great hunt deck in serious trouble with the right hazards at the right time, while my ressources just went through as designed. At the end a doubled alliance of the free peoples made it a devastating 6-0 (51 MP!)

3rd game - Heiner Viefhues
Thats what you get from winning 6-0. You have to play Heiner. My deck was pretty much toast after 2 assassins on turn 1 - assassin protection isnt ready so early. So I kind of gave it up and we had a very relaxed game. 0-6.

4th game - Wolfgang Penetsdorfer
Thinking about it now - my best game that day. Hazards worked very well and I cant remember making big mistakes. It seemed like a 5-1/6-0 for a long time, but Wolfgang recovered on the last turn and made it a 25-20 (and he got a dead wizard...). So: 4-2 for me

5th game - Franck Stassin
Franck tried to play all Ents, untapping Wellinghall with Fireworks. I think he made 3/4 of this style mission, but happened to have only 1 item: Glamdring on Voteli, lone in Goblingate. After entering, Baduila took care of her and I double sth like 12 item points for another 6-0.

So, thanks to a late 6-0, I have 18 TP and finish 9th place - 11th if you apply tie-breakers. This was just better than anything I dreamed of. I have been playing this game for about 1,5 years now and I just wanted to have a nice tournament... This definitely is the point to say THANK YOU to the GCCG community! I am so glad to have you around, I wouldnt play this game without you!!!

Evening was drinking game, my cards very kind of average and i was tired, so i lost 2 games and won 1. Fun part of it was the Mark/Marc card eating session several others already mentioned. I will attach a picture of the nicest "trophies" I got from the evening to this post. I think this is way better than reporting all the crazy stuff I testimonied there.

Sunday was hangover time. But still I thought I'd be able to play Country Cup - WRONG! Sorry Heraclio, I was sleeping during our game. But what I learned from this game was: my 9th place from saturday was sheer luck. Because if we had played a 6th round I could have faced Heraclio, who was 9th too, and his deck would have eaten mine even with 100% concentration.
I spent the rest of the day watching the finals, which was great.

It could have been a perfect weekend, but unfortunately I spent the last 2 hours of it, searching a bag i had put all cards in I got during the event - including a german AS set. Thanks to everyone who helped! And: I got it back 2 days ago when i got back from holidays.

Thanks to all players for such a nice event. Thanks Bert for organizing.
And see you at Lure!
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