test-of-the-emerald-champion-1-13

Title: test-of-the-emerald-champion-1-13
Author: Geoff "gsiva" Snider
Date: Jan 15, 2001

so it was saturday morning, and i was asleep...then all of a sudden i was awake...and driving to this tournament at the store where i’m the mgr. i’m playing my Toturi’s Army "you’ll never get a battle action" deck, and i’m pleased as i walk into the basement of the store to see 22 people ready to play. bret ran the tournament that day, and since he was playing in it, i considered him to be my only threat...my only obstacle. his "spirit" deck is monstrous...and not because it’s him, but because it’s 6 freakin’ provinces to start. that’s like getting 10 force on turn 1. it’s just brutal. so i’ve got "Palace of Otosan Uchi"

game 1 vs. jason wallace’s Naga military
this was a pretty good game. it started out kinda slow for me because he played nio sensei. toku’s on turns 1 and 2 brought my honor up a bit, and then after i got out a holding on turn 3, the personalities started flooding into play. he got several nagas out, i got several dudes out. we attacked back and forth until we each had 2 provinces left, and an earlier battle left me at 27 honor. i attack...he defends...i sneak and flank Isha, and then scout for suspended terrain (he was defending with everyone, while i was only attacking with about 1/2 my total force). he shoots a follower with Purusha, and i play stand (yes i had 2 followers on each dude) to bow out all but 2 of his naga. imperial legion bows his pearl guardians, and i shoot his other 2-force follower with ashigaru archers. i gain 16 honor and wipe his military out. i win...a close game...but a solid win.

game 2 vs. ryan weisheit’s Naga military
ryan got a balls out start after i got out 2 guys (toku and nakao). inheritance to bring out 3 guys on turn 2. ouch. i wasn’t really concerned with this one because i didn’t think he’d be using as many followers as the last naga deck, but nonetheless he brought out naga shugenja which are a real pain in my a$$ (’cause i can’t hurt the pumped up nagas with my shooty bitz). so it comes down to my two provinces and i’m at 41 honor. he has to divide his forces (each force had 60 total) and i have about 70 altogether defending 1. an eventual night battle keeps me above him in force and no more pumping that damned greensnake. i win...an EVEN CLOSER game against another freakin’ snake player.

game 3 vs. tyler nafziger’s ninja abandoning p-kill
i get the best start of the day with Inheritance, basecamp, nakao and toku, and on turn 2 i have at least 10 chi, so 3rd turn province. 4th turn province. 5th turn province. he can’t get a shugenja to rise from the ashes, and i sneak deadly his last province. military win

game 4 vs. justin leisner’s ninja military with DUELING!!!
whoa. i think justin got an a$$ draw, ’cause after i killed a chochu early he just had nothing really left to hurt me. military win.

game 5 vs. bret swanson’s spirits....evil broken stronghold...dammit.
so bret and i are both undefeated, and after a decent start from me (toku 0/1 takes a 2nd turn province with ashigaru spearmen) bret gets up and running. i have a constant onslaught against his provinces, but he runs 9 cards that can send units home from battle, so i can’t take more than 1 more. at this point he starts bringing out Tetsuko’s and begins to rape my provinces with cavalry. ouch. he eventually burns his whole dynasty AND FATE decks to get about 7 cards in hand that will send me home from battle. i die horribly after new year’s celebration takes my decent hand, and some of his. my own card kinda smoked me on that one, but i don’t think i coulda won it either way.

game 6 (finals round 1) vs. justin’s ninja military
i HATE PLAYING NINJAS. they are counter-intuitive to the entire freakin’ game. ick. so i get out lots of dudes, and eventually take all 4 provinces in a rather uneventful manner. justin does manage to get chochu duelling my guys with Come One At A Time, but since i play Kuro Sensei against duels, i just send my guys home dishonored.

game 7 (finals round 2) vs. matt’s weird-ass dishonor
matt tries to cheat me by not losing honor to his corrupt gold mine, but i quickly rectify that matter. i jump ahead in honor, and his 2 attempts at racing me fail miserably due to my 3x imperial ambassadors. new year’s celebration takes matt to the cleaners because evidently he had THE perfect hand to smoke me. haha. i eventually take all 4 provinces after he rises 3 turns in a row. sneak deadly, sneak deadly, scout deadly. game.

game 8 i woulda played bret again, but he’s like "here’s the prize for 1st" and i’m like "cool man, it’s all you." so he takes first, and i get the packs + shirt.

so it’s all good. i see no shame in losing to a broken deck, for it says nothing about how my playing ability whatsoever. good tournament.