[FIST] Gencon 97 - Sealed Deck tournament report
Andrew S. Davidson
The event was ably organised by Tom Luongo. It was in a semi-swiss
style to ensure a four player final - a pure double-elimination event
could have resulted in an awkward two-player conclusion.
Each player started with a sealed starter - I got a dream starter with
lots of sites and Sacred Heart Hospital/City Square as the rares -
worth playing just for those alone. After going through that, the
players were grouped into 5/6 for a Flashpoint Booster draft - take a
card and pass the rest to your left. This was very interesting - I
eventually ended up with
2 Flying Windmill Kick
1 Scrappy Kid
1 Plasma Trooper
1 Alchemist's Lair
1 Portal Jockey
1 Bzzzt
1 Disinformation Packet
and used all except the Jockey and the Lair. These cards definitely
gave one the punch-through needed for Sealed Deck - I particularly
liked the Plasma Trooper/FWK/Hospital combo.
I won the tie-break semi-final against Ken Kurpiel, Tim Gereau and Dan
Deerwester to see who took the last spot in the final. The finalists
were:
Andrew Davidson
Brad Dubord
Ron Kilby
Yuit Sum Vong
I made an early attempt to steal a win with an Instrument of the Hand
and a concealed Flying Windmill Kick but this was prudently shot down
by the others. After that the game locked up - I had a hand full of
big events but no characters while the other three massed armies of
foundation characters. Ron eventually broke the logjam and opened up
the game. After a bit more skirmishing, Yuit made a big play for the
win with a massed assault. All her weenies were taken out by
interceptors and her big hitters - the two $10,000 Men - were taken
out by City Square and Robust Feng Shui. Things looked bad but, in
her typical style, Yuit paused for effect and then brought out her ace
in the hole - the independent Gorilla Fighter. She had been hoarding
him for some time - aggressive discarding is a mistake in Sealed Deck
- and he now did the business for her - taking Ron's Mountain Retreat
for the win.
Yuit was a very worthy winner with four straight wins - no-one else
came close to this record. Details of her winning deck follow.
Andrew
Tom Kassel
>Yuit was a very worthy winner with four straight wins - no-one else
>came close to this record. Details of her winning deck follow.
>
>Andrew
Congratulations Yuit. Well done! Glad to see the London contingent
making a strong start.