scritto sulla board FFG:
CITAZIONE
Came back home and here my report about this great WE... life is magical and when you think you cannot do it... starts "your moment"...
We arrived at Frankfurt "Ryanair" airport friday at 9 o clock and we moved quickly to the castle... I had a terrible week of playtesting...
Dondiego almost killed my 6 agenda deck martell every time I played against... He knews it very well cause we tested a lot and he knews my weakness and with a control targaryen deck (based on hills) it was impossible to me to play...
I spent a week thinking about soul problems :-) I am a Stark - Greyjoy player and I wanted to play them... but to have a chance to win I thought it was not possible this time to play them... and If i make a great tournament I wanna at least start with possibilities... so the only hope was multiple agenda knowing almost all of them will be heavy military - low control...
Why martell???
the only answer is this: cause they have responses to my weakness and to all the weakness I would have facing a heavy military 6 agendas deck.
After I will speak about the deck, now let's focus on our journey...
Friday morning I started testing deck with italian crew (we were 8 players 2 supporter and one artist: Tiziano :-))
I didn't feel good with the deck... I lost several match in the day before at 25 points when I needed 2 more so I thought the most logical and statistic solution were to... an agenda :-) Let's put off the power NW one :-)
I always play valar in my decks... in this one it cannot work cause I expect to face at least 2 opponent valar before finishing and I cannot add mine... I tried to put wildfire assault but I never never never found it useful... If I need a reset I want a big one and not a "middle way"... so another great move were:
let's open other decks and let's take a claim 2 one instead of wildfire... a casual one...
I started thinking about making melee but I were pretty unfeeling well (never playe kingsmoot) so I made draft one... I started in 2009 and I didn't knew any single card... I lost all the games badly cause I created a very very very very bad deck... I let pass "arya 5KE" and other staff to make a very very very bad greyjoy deck... I lost every single game continuing asking about other card text... not fun anymore and not a great start of the WE: all lost matches :-)
No sleep at all and let's go to the Main Event... Joust Tournament...
9:30 am
After entering the house I were impressed about the crowd... amazing...
here's my games... I start apologizing about the fact that I cannot remember amost all names... only nationality... I faced all greats players and all of them were skilled... not a dead game in Swiss rounds... I had to fight against each opponent very closely...
1st Game 0 -1
Gualdo vs Spanish Targaryen Player
Which is the better than start with a very huge LOSS??? I was in control, I think 15 -0. He played valar. I re-splashed the table... BUT... he had 2 to be a dragon in discard pile... He played street wife and infinitevely recycled its dead pile. I killed one and recycled. I didn't draw a single venomus to get rid of street wifes and I lost... Great Combo. Great player.
2nd Game 1-1 WIN
Gualdo vs Portuguese Stark "The Wall" NW deck
I think: PROBLEMS PROBLEMS PROBLEMS :-)
First plot he searched for a The Wall. I searched for a gold income location cause I don't play nothing in this deck about location :-)
I tried climbing its wall with my wild attachement but a frozen killed it.
and I think: PROBLEMS PROBLEMS PROBLEMS
A Routing charge kill my army. But when the Free Folk King entered game It was so good and blanking The Wall made the game be won by me quite easily.
(All portuguese players were so nice with me and I thanks them for their support and friendship)
3rd Game 2-1WIN
I remember a stark winterfell siege. But I cannot remember the game. I'm really sorry. I only remember that I won quite easily... it is a match up impossible for him due to my control + strength in military
4th Game 2-2
Gualdo vs Spanish Baratheon Guy LOSS
Starting I felt I could won quite easily but one of my "threat" were coming... Ser Davos to saving with money and most of all Stannis Baratheon... I don't have lords... and If game of cyvasse is not in hand I have serious problems :-)
And so Baratheon killed the armies quite easily. If I don't face my 8 cards to draw and not face game of cyvasse in the first plot cycle it is getting difficult :-)
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Thx to top 16 rules ant swiss seven rounds I know that I have some possibilities... but since I know also that it is very difficult I begin to play free... without stress... let's try to do it...
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5th Game 3-2 win
6th Game 4-2 win
7th Game 5-2 win
from these games I remember only a Martell Summer deck... I feared most of all influence + bleeds and saving viper with the maester of the Sun... I draw very well in that game and made it to win quite easily also because Viper came out later during the game and not in the start.
I'm really sorry about this "hole in my report": hope someone will fix it but my brain remember only starting to the moment when I realized I was 14th and so did it to the finals...
I was increadibily happy... My italian friends and spanish guys supported me a lot... this is the kind of feeling that I loved the most... competition but without nervous moments... all of us have made at least one rule error but no complainings... no referee call or so on...
8th finals WON
Gualdo vs Spanish Metamagos 6 Agenda Stark
Nightmare Nightmare Nightmare
EPIC EPIC EPIC
He knew I think I didn't have reset. He made an incredible combo. He had the best agenda deck I faced. All things were perfect. I think it was the "Perfect" 6 agenda HARD MILITARY deck. Luckly for me I expected to face this kind of deck and prepared some trick. But I didn't thought about a deck could run so well. So:
"Please god help me... Buddha if you are listening show me the way and I will follow you... if others god would help me I would appreciate... I'm not a racist... I love all of you :-)"
I were going to drop... impossible to face... Val with 2 duplicates. Dolorus Edd... draw cap at 9... Fury of... so much gold so much cards in play... he had I think 17 characters in play. 80% STR 5 or more... Wolves played freely STR6... Armies... Army no kneel in attack... terrible... Then Benjen core set to recycle dead piles... terrible with val still in game...
I don't know how much the game lasted... It was "infinite" and my opponent helped me a lot making "math calculation" :-) And since no time limit were in place he was so kind to don't press me... a real gentlemen... a true champion... I asked him information cause my head was "going out". After calculating stealth and total STR...
"If I attack with 32 and stealth those char you can defend???"
...he always helped me saying, no, my total stealthed STR is X and so on... Those kind of game (How much it lasted? 1 hour? 2 hours?) would be very bad with a unkind player against (And I never met one during all the tourney)...
I resurrected... thx to the the moves I had thought about this kind of deck... but too lucky by my side to have drawn all of them...
2 traitorus... and 2 armies went down... game of cyvasse to recycle my traitorous... I think this move were "new" for metamagos and he didn't expected that... recycle the traitorus were my best move in all the tourney... all the decks multiple agenda I faced didn't use the traitorus... this was the key I think about my games... and recycle them was such a crazy help to my resurrection...
So... 2 traitorus 2 armies lost.... recycle one traitorus... one amry lost... there is still one army in play in my opponent side, the NW one (first of all I focused on the wildling ones cause stealth was the key factor in our game)...
I'm getting better. Now the table is quite balanced (my 5 - 2 claim plot helped a lot to return in game)... BUT.... he is at 26 power... he needs only one and i'm at 15 (10 more needed).
All my plots except Fury has low initiative... he plays the Ministerel Muse plot. I think I played a Power of Arms (another key factor for mirror matches that almost nobody played against me)... He has more STR in play than me... 2 armies... It is lost I think... and I sayed... Let's try the TOP DECK DRAW... my friends laught and I laught with them... stress went out cause it was with no hope for me... I kissed my deck and took 2 cards:
1- orphan of the grennblood
2- traitorous crow
this is love
I stopped smiling... cause I had the best draw of my life... in the moment I needed... this things can happen... and I can win now...
traitorus, last army wilding go down.
orphan blocked another char and finally... the winning move...
I had in hand from a lot of time a seductive... I waited the right moment... and the moment came... Last army stolen (i cannot remember if I did this this round or the one before)...
In few rounds the game ended... I will remember this game forever... it was the most exciting game in my tourney and I think the people that attended this "never ending" match were very excited... at least because it was finished :-)
Nothing more to say about this struggle... metamagos showed me something "never seen" (combo to draw "infinitevely)... I show him the trick traitorus + game of cyvasse + kingdom of shadows that in this type of deck is "winning games"... After winning I knew I couldn't find in my tourney something worst than that...
4th Finals - WON against another spanish guy that played baratheon.
I was winning. 2 Army NW in play and lot of control... Metamagos came to our desk informing me that (cause we had the same dragonshield black sleeves) I reshuffled in my deck the army I've stolen with Seductive and one frozen solid). I apologized with my opponent and we rematch from the beginning.
I won quite easily. I have made the deck fearing the most rush decks so Stark siege, baratheon and martell suffered me a lot I think.
Semifinals against Kabe.
I love this guy... he is crazy... I'm crazy too... so we have the right feeling :-)
He played targaryen and I feared it was a deck similar to the one of dondiego based on the hill "looking in hand and kill".
When I saw he didn't search with plot or marshalled it in the first round I understood it wasn't a deck pure control so I breathed freely...
I blanked a Flaming pitch and the turn after, fearing the plot discard attachement, I burned it with condmened by the council... I was in control all the game... I resurrect from valar with 2 armies... I had in hand a Hand's Judgement to "kill" his forever burning... and all my character no attachements made me fear only the hill... an hill "taking dead piles" were in play and in the meanwhile I discarded anotherone with an intrigue claim... I didn't suffered the hill next round and finally the most hated hill "looking and killing hand" were in play... but I didn't have char in hand... all in play and the game ended for me when a venomus killed a street waif (remembering my first match I feared something like that was happened before).
I signed a contract with Kabe before game... If I would won I would go to madrid to make a revenge match... and this will be done for sure in the very near future... ;-)
With the power of the Hat gifted me by Kabe I went to the central table.
Finals against Maekar Martell 3 wildlings agenda. I was happy to face not NW chars cause those means "no intrigue against me" Also in this case only a wildfire assault to face. I started very well. Fear of winter. fury with val (if i remember well). Army Army Army. He played one event "Retreat and regroup" and I canceled with Hand's Judgement. He played an army and I put a traitor out from the shadow. The deck drawn all the best I could have hoped. Nothing to say.
Somebody complained about a very boring final. I have to admit that the X-Agenda archetip it is not spectacular... but I think I put my effort to make it "something different from all x-Agenda played in the tourney"... or at least I hoped...
At the end I think all the players in the first 30-40 places in classification were great players... when you go to a tournament you have to risk and predict "Which will be the most played deck?" and try to make something to rely on... This time I had the luck to predict well... and to don't face a lannister toll gate deck or something like my "bad dreams deck"...
That's all... in next message I will post decklist and showing you my idea just to share points of view...
After 16 hours of tournament I was lost... I have changed 1000 cards in my mind... and all of them would be banned before printing :-)
I didn't attended Nations cup cause I were destroyed in mind... but very light and happy about people exchanging cards with sign and "Hasta la victoria siempre" dedications... I exchanged one army wild with Maekar and he wrote me very kind worlds... I appreacieted a lot...
...and finally come back home... with a madrid trip to plan in the future... and lot of joy in my head...
Ed ecco le mie considerazioni...
Perchè giocare 5-6 agende The North??? Perchè attualmente è l'archetipo più forte... a prima vista non sembrerebbe, ma visto ciò che è successo negli ultimi tornei è una verità. E' un archetipo broken al momento e probabilmente ha bisogno di una ERRATA.
Dopo tantissimo estenuante e noioso playtesting col mazzo penso di avere trovato un equilibrio semiassoluto per coprire le debolezze intrinsiche nel dovere vincere con 10 poteri più dell'avversario.
Le cose che spaventano il mio deck sono
1- il reset continuo coi bleeds e coi valar
2- Stannis e Red Viper con Taste of Blood
3- hill targaryen (sia quella guarda uccidi mano che quella resuscita e ruba morti)
4- e pescate morte che mi fanno perdere predominio sul campo.
Sul forum spagnolo scrivono una cosa che mi fa molto piacere:
che sono l'unico che ha capito in anticipo il meta attuale e mi sono adattato ad esso meglio degli altri.
Io mi aspettavo (a differenza di molti) tantissimi mazzi X-Agende. Me li aspettavo TUTTI o quasi incentrati su Militare spinto. E così è stato.
Come adattarsi ad un meta così??? Usare le stesse armi sarebbe stato come tirare una monetina e sperare che la dea bendata mi avrebbe aiutato... ho cercato di farmi un mazzo che si adattasse a qualsiasi avversario e soprattutto fosse in vantaggio contro le X-Agende heavy militari.
Allora...
dopo vari test mi sono deciso che ho bisogno di non avere pescate morte in mano. Quindi 39 char.
Non ho bisogno di location speciali quindi solo quelle essenziali per income e riduzioni.
chiave della partita: giocare i traditori. NESSUNO li ha giocati fermandosi al loro lato di "servono solo nel mirror match". Io, dopo averli visti giocare da erick una volta, ne ho subito capito la meraviglia che va ben oltre il solo mirror match.
giocando le agende è un 4 triicona stealth con shadow crest. Costa 2+1. Se sei in mirror match scarta dal gioco un'armata forza 9. Se non sei nel mirror match mi aspettavo tantissimi summer deck e quindi può liberarsi facilmente di Gilly e Sam.
E se l'avversario non gioca niente di tutto ciò??? Carta morta???
Mi autoscarto un ranger of the watch costo 1 e mi tengo il traditore. Che in combo con le Kingdom of shadows ti permette di fare due sfide a turno restandandolo.
Eventi. I martell sono una bomba in questo campo. Ma non volevo avere un mazzo con tante carte perchè devo avere la quasi certezza del tutto.
Se avessi incontrato mazzi vipera o supernobili il mio scopo non era la forza diretta contro i top char anche perchè con la plot salva nobili si faceva dura.
Ho scelto di giocare 5 plot claim 2 appunto per fare piazza pulita di "tutto ciò che sta intorno ai cannot be killed". Per raggiungere sto scopo mi sono aiutato anche con 3x game of cyvasse e 2x seductive promise e naturalmente le meravigliose 3x venomus blade.
Una volta isolato il pesce grosso il marched to the wall faceva il resto...
Altri eventi che si sono dimostrati vincenti sono stati:
2x hand's judgement per cancellare i possibili bleeds e i forever burning
2x condmened per controllare location.
Andando negli attachement finiamo con le 3x climbing spikes che hanno permesso di sbiancare cose che temevo quali flmaing peach e hill e black cells.
E poi le già citate venomus.
La prima partita della top 16 è stata terribile... EPICA direi... è durata un'infinità... il mio opponent: metamagos, spagnolo ha fatto un 6 agende Stark meraviglioso. Ha alzato il draw cap in più tunri a 11 con dolorous edd e con val mi ha splashato il tavolo di armatone, lupi forza 6 e varie eventuali.
Penso che ad un certo punto fossimo 20 char lui e 5 io.
Lui sapeva benissimo tutte le mie plot dato che ho giocato il 90% delle mie partite contro spagnoli e sapendo che non avevo un reset metteva giu tutto senza problemi.
Ero sul punto di concedere ma ci ho provato. Pian piano, i traditori, le claim 2 hanno ridotto il gap. Ho usato le "game of cyvasse" per fare una cosa che prima manco avevo mai pensato:
RECICLARE i miei traditori --> ecco la chiave del tutto.
Ho pescato due traditori e quindi due armatone vanno via. Ne reciclo una e un'altra armata va via.
Siamo più o meno pari di char adesso... basta un nonnulla e passo in vantaggio e so con certezza che se passo in superiorità vinco.
Lui però è a 26 poteri. Un potere e vince. Io sono a 15 (me ne mancano 10)...
Io ho plot ad iniziativa bassa e lui gioca ministerel muse (se vince dominance fa 4 poteri. Ha più forza totale di me. Se non fa niente vince dominance facile. Sono perso... unica cosa che mi tocca fare???
Dichiarare ad alta voce: "L'unica è provare il tutto per tutto".
bacio il mazzo fra le risate generali e pesco:
1- terzo traditore
2- orphan of the greenblood
io non scherzo più... culo o non culo... vado a vincere...
Quando metto in ombra lui deve avere capito il tutto... Va lui. Faccio uscire dall'ombra: scartata l'armata wildling stealth.
Orphano sbianca icone dell'armata NW. Non può fare niente. Vado io. Attacco con armata, seductive promise (da tanti turni che aspettava il suo momento)... la sua ultima armata rubata... tempo qualche turno e vinco facile...
Metamagos è stato un signore (come tutti gli altri giocatori incontrati, soprattutto spagnoli). Mi ha incitato a non concedere al momento di terrore nero. Avevamo forze totali di 40 con mille stealth ma mai mi ha fatto pressioni nei momenti di difficoltà, anzi mi aiutava a fare calcoli e simili... e anche nei suoi report dice che ho fatto un mazzo "avanti" nel riconoscere il meta quando in molti avrebbero solamente scritto... "Ha sculato e ha vinto"...
Da lì in poi quarti di finale, semifinale e finale sono stati una passeggiata... ero tesissimo ma il mazzo mi ha dato il paradiso girando alla perfezione... tutte e 3 le partite 25 a 0 in 25 - 30 minuti...
I miei compagni di squadra, i tifosi di tutte le altre nazioni (soprattutto spagnoli) che urlavano il mio nome... loro sono i ricordi più belli... di un gioco che riunisce persone che si divertono un mondo a giocare a questa meraviglia... e seppur con amarezza, sono dei signori...
Qui la mia decklist...
CITAZIONE
House Martell( The Rangers, The Free Folk, The Last Giants, The Stewards, Blood of the First Men )
Characters:
3X Ranger of the Watch (Defenders of the North)
1X Craster (Defenders of the North)
1X Stonesnake (Defenders of the North)
3X Traitorous Crow (Defenders of the North)
1X Orell the Eagle (Defenders of the North)
3X The Wildling Horde (Defenders of the North)
3X Defenders of the North (Defenders of the North)
1X Coldhands (Defenders of the North)
1X Mance Rayder (Defenders of the North)
2X Val (Defenders of the North)
1X Arianne Martell (Princes of the Sun)
1X Ser Arys Oakheart (Princes of the Sun)
3X House Messenger (Princes of the Sun)
3X Orphan of the Greenblood (Princes of the Sun)
3X Dornish Paramour (King's Landing)
3X Skinchanger (Defenders of the North)
1X Varys (King's Landing)
1X Gilly (A Time of Ravens)
1X Ellaria Sand (Princes of the Sun)
3X Refugee of the Citadel (A Time of Ravens)
Locations:
3X Kingdom of Shadows (Kings of the Sea)
1X Lord Doran's Chambers (Princes of the Sun)
1X The Land Beyond the Wall (A Clash of Arms)
3X Water Garden (Princes of the Sun)
1X Street of Sisters (Core Set)
Attachments:
3X Climbing Spikes (Defenders of the North)
3X Venomous Blade (King's Landing)
Events:
2X Seductive Promise (Core Set)
3X A Game of Cyvasse (A Time of Ravens)
2X The Hand's Judgement (King's Landing)
2X Condemned by the Council (King's Landing)
Plots:
1X Fear of Winter (Defenders of the North)
2X The Power of Arms (Core Set)
1X Marched to the Wall (Lords of Winter)
1X The Winds of Winter (A Time of Ravens)
1X Fury of the Sun (A Clash of Arms)
1X Mutual Cause (Core Set)
