Againsto wrote:
Some of you might have been reading along, marveling at the first two rounds of our little, family-internal tournament (here and here); in this write-up, I'll sum up the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals, and end on a reflection of our tournament mode. So buckle up!
Left over from Round Two were the following noteworthy heroes:
Robin Hood
Beowulf
Alice
Black Widow
Velociraptors
T. Rex
Medusa
Genie
As per SOP, my wife selected the randomizer chits, and we ended up with the following pairings:
Quarter-Finals:
Match 1: Genie (me, AGAIN) vs. Robin Hood in the Hanging Gardens
Match 2: Beowulf (me) vs. Black Widow in King Salomon's Tomb
Match 3: Medusa (me) vs. Alice in the Raptor Paddock
Match 4: T. Rex (me) vs. Velociraptors in the T. Rex Paddock. Yes, this is happening.
Faites vos jeux; we have seen that in this tournament, not everything resolves as expected...
[o]Match 1: Genie (me) vs. Robin Hood (him) in the Hanging Gardens
Not unexpectedly though, the win went to the Genie, who has been really strong so far, eliminating Sun Wukong and InGen in previous rounds. So Genie wins, with not a lot of health, nor a lot of cards, but one big final turn of two Three Wishes cards that made RH discard, an own discard for the third action, and three attacks of which only the first could be defended. This is probably its final, truest, most terrifying form. The Hanging Gardens made for constant repositioning, but neither party managed to gain a clear advantage from this.
Match 2: Beowulf (me) vs. Black Widow (him) in King Salomon's Tomb
Reader, I blew it. I guess mistakes do happen, and maybe I was tired, but there really is no excuse. When it was over, my son just looked at me.
Reader, I blew it.
Beowulf's No Contest Expecteth had killed Maria Hill before any missions could be effectively recycled, and ironically, by triggering after her Clone defense card, Beowulf had effectively defeated her twice. So Black Widow was doing stuff on her own, doing okay in fulfilling those missions and putting some hurt on the man, and then her deck ran out. And I saw this, of course, and then I forgot about it. Beowulf could have simply moved away with his action, easy to do in the tombs, make her run after him if she wanted a shot at winning, but I didn't do it. And Beowulf ate two attacks to his face, and lost, utterly needlessly. We both felt like he shoulda won, but, well, player mistakes are part of the game, aren't they? And so, the Lucky Loser from Round 1, advances.
I did him dirty, reader.
Match 3: Medusa (me) vs. Alice (him) in the Raptor Paddock
Alas! for poor Alice; no frabjous day for her. The map worked really well for Medusa, it has to be said - she managed to constantly keep Alice encircled, and ping away at her without much danger. The Jabberwock was annoying but not sufficiently relentless, and Medusa moved on in this BoL 1-internal match. Alice seemed to lack the tools to really mount a threat against Medusa here.
Match 4: T. Rex (me) vs. Velociraptors (him) in the T. Rex Paddock
Rarely has somebody taken so much damage in one round as T. Rex did here. 13 or 15 or something like that in the first round, with an aggressive encircling and a few chained attacks. When the raptors get going, they can really have a field day with other fighters who might not be fully prepared yet for such an onslaught. But eventually, T. Rex stabilized his defenses, and began swatting the little ones. One. By one. By one. It was really a fun game, since even the last single raptor had an outside chance of taking T. Rex down, but the king stay the king, as it were.
So - four winners, Genie, Black Widow, Medusa, T. Rex, and if it hadn't been for my brain-fart in match two, it would have been a sweep for me, after a much more balanced outcome in Round 2.
Still, these as the final four felt right; they had delivered, and earned their spots. But who would take on whom? Again, my wife cast the lots:
Semi-Finals:
Match 1: Medusa (me) vs. T. Rex (him) in Sherwood Forest
Match 2: Genie (me) vs. Black Widow (him) in the Helicarrier
I won't put a spoiler inside a spoiler, so, just keep your expected winners in mind and read on.
Match 1: Medusa (me) vs. T. Rex (him) in Sherwood Forest
T. Rex did well, all things considered; he took out two harpies early, but of course struggled against Medusa’s sniping shots and her discard abilities weakening his at the best of times precarious hand management. His deck in fact felt kinda brittle in this match, if that gets my point across: He draws all the time, but if the wrong cards come up at the wrong time, or the right cards are discarded at the right time, he just stands there. I do think it was one of the hardest struggles for Medusa so far, so a good semi-final, but the outcome was pretty much clear at half-time.
Match 2: Genie (me) vs. Black Widow (him) in the Helicarrier
Well, damn. In a way, it is a really good story that Black Widow after her walloping by T. Rex in Round 1 had such a glamorous trajectory, taking out Invisible Man fairly and Beowulf undeservedly, and now she put paid to the Genie, who fell for Maria Hill's bloody Clone trick once but still did manage to bleed Black Widow of the Maria Hill-reshuffle cards quickly. But on the Helicarrier, what with its items, having a sidekick who could also make a play for them was a big asset, and of course Maria Hill and Black Widow were just as ranged in their attacks as the Genie. In the end, I/Genie went out with a Blaze of Glory, trying to swat the uppity human with a barrage of attacks, and while it might have worked, I guess retrospectively, I overcommitted. Victory to Black Widow.
GRAND FINALE: MEDUSA (me) vs. BLACK WIDOW (him) in ... the Yukon?
And wow, did that ever matter, that we fought in the Yukon. But did it, really? Could Black Widow on a map of her choice, on her best of days, truly have defeated Medusa? We don't know, but it didn't feel like it. Medusa's victory felt inevitable, and I (meanly) made brutal and clearly unexpected use of the Yukon Death Loop to keep Black Widow (and for a time Black Widow AND Maria Hill) trapped on the grey spaces, constantly harried and perennially damaged by Medusa's special ability. I think my son had never looked at the Yukon map like that before - what can be a great fall-back position (or an escape route) can go bad as well.
So, to reiterate; Winner was Medusa (defeated Jekyll/Hide, Yenenga, Alice and T. Rex), runner-up was Black Widow, with a shared third place for T. Rex and Genie. (We could say T. Rex won on points by defeating eventually second-placed Black Widow in Round 1, but WHO CARES. He didn't win, did he.)[/o]
Reflections on the format:
Serviceable, I guess? The 32-fighter roster is interesting, and now that we go Hell's Kitchen and Redemption Row for Christmas, we actually have 36 fighters at hand, which is great. No more lucky losers! (We actually have even more, because I have the Shakespeare box hidden in a drawer for a rainy day, but the kid doesn't know that.)
What felt unsatisfying was that we often would have liked to keep a fighter throughout the tournament, and not have luck decide each round who got to play whom. So the next tournament will see a draft phase, in which we both select 16 fighters, and randomly choose pairings. In the following rounds, in the likely case of a player having more fighters left than the other, he can lend out those he chooses to balance the numbers, meaning, a player is rewarded for winning by getting to keep his favorites in each round. I guess I'll keep some more detailed records next time!
Thanks for reading along!
Unmatched Tournaments will continue!
Left over from Round Two were the following noteworthy heroes:
Robin Hood
Beowulf
Alice
Black Widow
Velociraptors
T. Rex
Medusa
Genie
As per SOP, my wife selected the randomizer chits, and we ended up with the following pairings:
Quarter-Finals:
Match 1: Genie (me, AGAIN) vs. Robin Hood in the Hanging Gardens
Match 2: Beowulf (me) vs. Black Widow in King Salomon's Tomb
Match 3: Medusa (me) vs. Alice in the Raptor Paddock
Match 4: T. Rex (me) vs. Velociraptors in the T. Rex Paddock. Yes, this is happening.
Faites vos jeux; we have seen that in this tournament, not everything resolves as expected...
[o]Match 1: Genie (me) vs. Robin Hood (him) in the Hanging Gardens
Not unexpectedly though, the win went to the Genie, who has been really strong so far, eliminating Sun Wukong and InGen in previous rounds. So Genie wins, with not a lot of health, nor a lot of cards, but one big final turn of two Three Wishes cards that made RH discard, an own discard for the third action, and three attacks of which only the first could be defended. This is probably its final, truest, most terrifying form. The Hanging Gardens made for constant repositioning, but neither party managed to gain a clear advantage from this.
Match 2: Beowulf (me) vs. Black Widow (him) in King Salomon's Tomb
Reader, I blew it. I guess mistakes do happen, and maybe I was tired, but there really is no excuse. When it was over, my son just looked at me.
Reader, I blew it.
Beowulf's No Contest Expecteth had killed Maria Hill before any missions could be effectively recycled, and ironically, by triggering after her Clone defense card, Beowulf had effectively defeated her twice. So Black Widow was doing stuff on her own, doing okay in fulfilling those missions and putting some hurt on the man, and then her deck ran out. And I saw this, of course, and then I forgot about it. Beowulf could have simply moved away with his action, easy to do in the tombs, make her run after him if she wanted a shot at winning, but I didn't do it. And Beowulf ate two attacks to his face, and lost, utterly needlessly. We both felt like he shoulda won, but, well, player mistakes are part of the game, aren't they? And so, the Lucky Loser from Round 1, advances.
I did him dirty, reader.
Match 3: Medusa (me) vs. Alice (him) in the Raptor Paddock
Alas! for poor Alice; no frabjous day for her. The map worked really well for Medusa, it has to be said - she managed to constantly keep Alice encircled, and ping away at her without much danger. The Jabberwock was annoying but not sufficiently relentless, and Medusa moved on in this BoL 1-internal match. Alice seemed to lack the tools to really mount a threat against Medusa here.
Match 4: T. Rex (me) vs. Velociraptors (him) in the T. Rex Paddock
Rarely has somebody taken so much damage in one round as T. Rex did here. 13 or 15 or something like that in the first round, with an aggressive encircling and a few chained attacks. When the raptors get going, they can really have a field day with other fighters who might not be fully prepared yet for such an onslaught. But eventually, T. Rex stabilized his defenses, and began swatting the little ones. One. By one. By one. It was really a fun game, since even the last single raptor had an outside chance of taking T. Rex down, but the king stay the king, as it were.
So - four winners, Genie, Black Widow, Medusa, T. Rex, and if it hadn't been for my brain-fart in match two, it would have been a sweep for me, after a much more balanced outcome in Round 2.
Still, these as the final four felt right; they had delivered, and earned their spots. But who would take on whom? Again, my wife cast the lots:
Semi-Finals:
Match 1: Medusa (me) vs. T. Rex (him) in Sherwood Forest
Match 2: Genie (me) vs. Black Widow (him) in the Helicarrier
I won't put a spoiler inside a spoiler, so, just keep your expected winners in mind and read on.
Match 1: Medusa (me) vs. T. Rex (him) in Sherwood Forest
T. Rex did well, all things considered; he took out two harpies early, but of course struggled against Medusa’s sniping shots and her discard abilities weakening his at the best of times precarious hand management. His deck in fact felt kinda brittle in this match, if that gets my point across: He draws all the time, but if the wrong cards come up at the wrong time, or the right cards are discarded at the right time, he just stands there. I do think it was one of the hardest struggles for Medusa so far, so a good semi-final, but the outcome was pretty much clear at half-time.
Match 2: Genie (me) vs. Black Widow (him) in the Helicarrier
Well, damn. In a way, it is a really good story that Black Widow after her walloping by T. Rex in Round 1 had such a glamorous trajectory, taking out Invisible Man fairly and Beowulf undeservedly, and now she put paid to the Genie, who fell for Maria Hill's bloody Clone trick once but still did manage to bleed Black Widow of the Maria Hill-reshuffle cards quickly. But on the Helicarrier, what with its items, having a sidekick who could also make a play for them was a big asset, and of course Maria Hill and Black Widow were just as ranged in their attacks as the Genie. In the end, I/Genie went out with a Blaze of Glory, trying to swat the uppity human with a barrage of attacks, and while it might have worked, I guess retrospectively, I overcommitted. Victory to Black Widow.
GRAND FINALE: MEDUSA (me) vs. BLACK WIDOW (him) in ... the Yukon?
And wow, did that ever matter, that we fought in the Yukon. But did it, really? Could Black Widow on a map of her choice, on her best of days, truly have defeated Medusa? We don't know, but it didn't feel like it. Medusa's victory felt inevitable, and I (meanly) made brutal and clearly unexpected use of the Yukon Death Loop to keep Black Widow (and for a time Black Widow AND Maria Hill) trapped on the grey spaces, constantly harried and perennially damaged by Medusa's special ability. I think my son had never looked at the Yukon map like that before - what can be a great fall-back position (or an escape route) can go bad as well.
So, to reiterate; Winner was Medusa (defeated Jekyll/Hide, Yenenga, Alice and T. Rex), runner-up was Black Widow, with a shared third place for T. Rex and Genie. (We could say T. Rex won on points by defeating eventually second-placed Black Widow in Round 1, but WHO CARES. He didn't win, did he.)[/o]
Reflections on the format:
Serviceable, I guess? The 32-fighter roster is interesting, and now that we go Hell's Kitchen and Redemption Row for Christmas, we actually have 36 fighters at hand, which is great. No more lucky losers! (We actually have even more, because I have the Shakespeare box hidden in a drawer for a rainy day, but the kid doesn't know that.)
What felt unsatisfying was that we often would have liked to keep a fighter throughout the tournament, and not have luck decide each round who got to play whom. So the next tournament will see a draft phase, in which we both select 16 fighters, and randomly choose pairings. In the following rounds, in the likely case of a player having more fighters left than the other, he can lend out those he chooses to balance the numbers, meaning, a player is rewarded for winning by getting to keep his favorites in each round. I guess I'll keep some more detailed records next time!
Thanks for reading along!
Unmatched Tournaments will continue!
Great summary!!! Thanks for sharing. Poor Beowulf!! Through all your matches I did have several that were real surprises. Surprises for you too, I see. Thanks for sharing.