I Walk the Line: TOC Madison, 10 May

Chasing the net-deck, the need for Erland, wishing for Grima, and tornadoes. An average day.

Pre-tourney: I'm one of the judges at the Illinois TOC (obligatory notice: Saturday May 24, Pastimes in Niles, register at 11, Standard format), and I'd like one chance to get the worlds bye, so I plan to go to Madison for their Standard TOC. Playtest partner Tucker wants to go too, and we spend the week before testing. I have a nice Last Alliance/Dunland, "Ring of Fire", that goes 50-50 or better against everything. Except I put together a version of Vida Moria (like the Netherlands TOC winner), and start losing. A lot. Secret Sentinels is useless on the top of my draw deck. We even experiment with The Seen and the Unseen, but it's not enough. Thursday night, I abandon it. One of the local players here, Mark Couture, had an interesting big-companion build with condition removal besides Secret Sentinels. I don't feel comfortable enough with it, and I had played Vida about 10 times, so I modified that a little and went with it.

The important changes are that I went to discarding Merry and hobbit-catcher Treebeard, 3 Gandalf, and an Erland (I'll give you a second. ---- Erland prevents Shadow players from revealing or looking at cards in hand, which neuters the Palantir.) On Shadow, I ran Shaman over Forger (I'm willing to give up one strength for the extra vitality), 2 Palantir, 3 Enquea, and tossed in a Desert Lord to annoy Aragorn ROTN - over a Chief Counselor. More on that later.

Saturday comes, really rainy, and we have to detour around traffic tieups in several places. We spend some of the ride debating the two versions of "Hurt" - I am drawn to the brilliance, the pain and anguish, of the Johnny Cash cover and video, while Tucker somehow prefers the angst of the original. We get there during registration, and it's pretty lively. There are a few folks from Minnesota, Tucker and I from Illinois, and lots of Wisconsin folks. Total turnout is 28, 12 more than last year. Yes, that's twelve MORE.
We start the tourney about 3:40.
I know some of these games will have less than full detail. In some games, only one side mattered, and my memories focus on that. If you don't like game details, you can skip to the bottom for a brief summary of the top 8, and my comments.

Round 1: Trevor, Bowmen / Nazgul
I care most about the Worlds bye, and that means top 2 to get the chance. Because Rider Chris Wiemer has no help at the beginning of the tourney, and because a first-round loss messes tiebreakers so horribly, I tell Chris that if I lose, I'll go 0-1 drop and just help out.
We each bid 3, I win the die roll and go first. He starts Arwen DoE and Greenleaf, I start Pippin, Merry, and Forest Guardian. On my first turn, I get out some guys and move, to my least favorite site, Wold of Rohan. One or two of my people die and I stop. He starts by pulling Aragorn KiE and playing Gondor Bowmen, and I feel pretty comfortable. He stops at 2. I move to 3, lose another companion. He moves to 3. I move to 4 and somebody else dies - see a pattern? I haven't drawn many stealths. He plays Sam at 3 and moves. I get out Enquea and enough to make things difficult, and he decides to off Sam so that everybody else is OK. At some point in here, he discards a Company of Archers I think he could have played to discard an Armory, but that's a minor thing. I survive the plains site 5. He moves, I finally have an Isengard Warrior and a Shaman, plus enough to have one extra. The two smallest minions are 12, Frodo with Sword and Isildur's Bane is just 6, and using the Shaman means that he needs two PATHS. He doesn't have either. We finish pretty quickly, so there's time. I say hi to folks, talk a bit with latecomer (and thus assistant judge) Chris H, and then sit and read the Economist.
Full Win (1-0, 3 pts)

Round 2: Andrew? Dauntless Hunter / Nazgul
I lost this name, oops. I'm really sorry (and if someone tells me, i'll fill it in later). I know he was from Minnesota and he finished 8th. When I see his start, I feel pretty good about the matchup. His Wraiths send a lot of people to my dead pile, and he manages to get ahead on the site path. New Bad Beef has to let a lot of people die against Nazgul. I'm helped a bit by the fact that he's playing Tips and Breaths, not pure overwhelming. He plays Aragorn, Wingfoot, and gets a Bow eventually. From my view, the important part is that I get a Palantir out early, and see he has a Secret Sentinels and two Severed in hand. So I'm very cautious, not playing any minions unless I can Palantir away all the cards and keep my conditions. My Saurman at site 5 knocks out a Cliffs.
Let's jump to the chase. He puts an Escape on Pippin, not Merry Friend to Sam. At site 6, he's got Pippin/Merry/Aragorn/Legolas/Frodo. He uses Merry and Frodo to map away from my obvious Cavern Entrance. Because I haven't played minions, I get down eight, including the Warrior-Shaman, and have enough pool so that he can only keep two cards. I manage to grab both Severed (not the Sentinels, though), the single wound on Merry means that even though he'll stay alive, he can't pump Frodo; I've removed the Cliffs and the saves, and by assigning an extra minion to Legolas, he can't use the Bow of the Galadhrim. He's really mad about the Map, though it turns out I have just enough to win anyway, overwhelming Merry with a Shaman and a Runner, beating Legolas, and getting 12 strength on Frodo. I have more time to not scout and quietly read about North Korean weapons programs.
Full Win (2-0, 6 pts)

Round 3: Cedric, FOTS / Moria
Another Minnesotan, he tells me he hasn't played recently while pile shuffling. I win the bid, he starts Gimli Son of Gloin and Legolas Greenleaf. I begin to regret my choice to not include Chief Counselor. On my first move, I get surprised by Isengard Orc - Palantir. So I have Palantir disadvantage. This REALLY hurts Vida, as it needs to play its stealths and cycle through the Ents. Effectively, I'm choked, particularly since his only plays at sites 3 and 4 are a single Isengard Orc and the Palantir. Meanwhile, he goes full-out FOTS, eventually getting Ranger of the North, FOTS, Gimli with Battle Axe, Greenleaf, Eowyn, and Arwen. It's slow on both sides. Finally I can Wizard for my Erland (which is so janky he needs to read it), but by now I have severe card disadvantage. I'm ahead, though, and use Saurman to remove a Trust Me.
At site 6, I try a bait, playing nothing and hoping for a good draw at Cavern Entrance. Cedric makes a good move by doubling into the lead, and my draw's not great. I can do some damage, but ROTN, the Battle Axe, and Sting put me two minions short. Everybody's pretty hurt, though. I stop at 7, with a Grown Suddenly Tall in hand ready to fly to 9. He drops Eowyn and Arwen and moves to 8. I've got the Enquea, and a couple guys, and his moving through sanctuary has his Greenleaf and ROTN close to exhausted, and the double is really risky. Unfortunately, time is called. I'm unsure if I could double to 9; I've got open ROTN, but not tons else. It doesn't matter, though; I concede the full loss.
Full Loss (2-1, 7 pts)

Round 4: Erick, HiDan / Troll Moria
Erick's a blast to play with, and is trying to get into university at Chicago here where I teach. He also has a rating above 1900, so this elimination match will be no cakewalk. I go first, get started, and run into the Palantir. Again. Suffice it to say this is not good news. He's not double moving, though pretty quickly he gets out ROTN and Eomer with Firefoot and Fortress never Fallen. I can't recall an early Shadow skirmish I win, and he gets three or four tokens. He's also smartly keeping me ahead of him, building his conditions, At Site 4, I find a Wizard and he asks me "what for? Albert? Treebeard?" I laugh and show him Erland. I still barely survive site 5, with Aragorn and Gandalf exhausted thanks at least partially to the annoying regroup ability on the Isengard Warrior. He stacks three or four minions on swarms, though I manage to avoid a Scavengers win by discarding Merry in a side skirmish, without Treebeard out and with no other Merry in the deck. We both know that unless I can find a Grown Suddenly Tall, it's over. On his move to Deeping Wall, his site 5, I annoy him by nailing his FNF, hah! Of course, I have to empty my hand, throwing away perfectly good cards and keeping just a Questions that Need Answering. I draw seven; to make it more fun, I say "no" each time. Not on Gandalf's card draw, either. So I play Questions - no, YES! But 8 twilight, plus 4 for Treebeard, means I see a Cave Troll on the move to site 6. I'm left with an Ent, Aragorn, and exhausted Frodo. It doesn't look good. He rolls into 6. I plead for him to kill me at Cavern Entrance so we can go to dinner early, but sadly he can't; another Troll does kill off everybody but Frodo. I do get a chance to kill him at the Entrance, but all my good stuff had gone in my survival chase. It's not even close. Alas, poor Frodo at site 8. At least dinner is fun.
Full Loss (2-2, 8 pts)

Round 5: Scott, Gandalf Gondor / Hate and Anger
Scott's from Kenosha, a good guy who destroyed me in Game of Thrones last time I saw him. I go first, and realize at site 2 he's playing a deck I've seen before, but not in his hands. I saw it in Open, with his friend "mad Jamaican" Jason, where it gave my choke deck a whipping. I won't give away the secrets, just that losing the Regular hurts it a lot. Also, I remember to Wizard for Lindenroot. His deck is good against Moria, though, and he gains the lead. Plus he gets Palantir advantage, before site 3, Again. Yrgh. Saurman does his job by removing a Trust Me, and he laughs when I drop Erland.
Moving forward, he's moving from 6 with ROTN/Gandalf/Frodo/Pippin, I'm back at 4 or 5. It's Cavern Entrance, and he has to sacrifice Aragorn and I get 4 or so goblins on Swarms. I know I can't catch him, and he knows, so he starts burning for massive card draw. At site 8 he drops Sam, puts swords on both hobbits that matter, and moves. I play everybody off, and kill Gandalf with the surplus, since I can't kill both Frodo and Sam this time due to a Bounder.
Things get really interesting about now, because we're interrupted by loud sirens. Being a Midwesterner means I know what tornado sirens sound like, and so I ask Chris if there is a tornado shelter at Misty Mountain. There's not. I guess playing card games is a decent way to go.
Oh, the end of the game: He plays Boromir and Faramir and moves to 9. Because there's still a Betrayal on the table, each card draw costs me 1. This means 10 minions, but only enough remaining twilight to take 4 of his 6 remaining cards with my NPE in glass. Unfortunately for me, one of the two remaining cards is Elendil's Valor. So things get touch and go. It turns out I can put 23 strength on Frodo and 18 on Sam. With a bounder and the water ring, Scott wins. It's too bad that his ring is Isildur's Bane.
Full Win (3-2, 11 pts)

Round 6: Tucker, big fellowship / Wounding
The tornado warning is just a warning, I don't think there was even a twister touchdown. The drive back to Chicago was a mess, nevertheless. Between rounds 5 and 6, Scott, Jason, and I discuss the advantages of New Bad Beef and the cycling improvements over straight Gandalf Gondor. Then this pairing comes out. The disadvantage is that we each know the other's deck from testing. The advantage is that one of us will get a pin.
So we both bid 5. I win the die roll 20-17, and go first, reducing to 4 with Pippin HosI. His site 2 is Derndingle, and so I attempt to crush spirits by rolling onto site 4. He has to stop back at 2. From this point, we know the ability of my fellowship to roll is primary. I smartly Wizard for Treebeard, and manage to get off a Merry discard for only 1 wound. He does kill Gandalf with Saurman Servant of the Eye - Lurtz - some Uruk archer at site 5, but I had Albert out already, no worries. Jump forward to my Fellowship phase at site 7, though he's caught up since I've dumped a lot of Shadow. I have clean Aragorn, Lindenroot with 1 wound and Birchseed, Frodo exhausted with Frying Pan, and play Faramir and a Sword (instead of exerting Treebeard for Merry). I also play There and Back Again, use Barliman to pick up a Risk a Little Light, so I wind up with 5 cards in hand. Note I made a mistake by not transferring two wounds from Sad Frodo to Faramir.
He plays Isengard Warrior and some archers, and Wizard Storm. In Maneuver, I plunk the Storm with my last Albert exertion. I pitch 2, Lindenroot unfortunately has to exert to neuter the Warrior, Treebeard takes some of the archery and punks out an archer, and Faramir with sword wins too. So I move to 9. With palantir chamber for a Ranged Commander, lots of Uruk archers, and a Southron Bowman, he has 5 8 strength archers, isengard warrior, and southron bowman, plus a Weapons. This is going to be close. I blow TABA, make Aragorn D+3, and prepare to take 8 archery. Frodo takes 3 as burdens, Faramir and Birchseed die, and Lindenroot gets exhausted. I pitch 2, leaving 1 card in hand, and leave the Bowman unassigned. So it's 13-7 on Frodo, and I'm safe. Oh, the last card in hand was Severed His Bonds for a smidge more safety, but I have exhausted Frodo and 8 burdens. Thankfully, it's still three points.
Full Win (4-2, 14 pts)

********
Top 8 after Swiss
1st (6-0): Ryan, HiDan / Trackers
2nd (5-1): Chad, Rohan Elf / Troll Moria
3rd (5-1): Erick, HiDan / Troll Moria
4th (4-2): Cedric, FOTS / Moria
5th (4-2): Your Correspondent, Vida Moria
6th (4-2): Christian, Dauntless Hunter / Sauron burdens
7th (4-2): Trevor, Bowmen / Tip Nazgul
8th (4-2): Andrew? (2nd round opponent), Dauntless Hunter / Tip Nazgul
********

Comments:
Standard Format: It's nice to say "Standard Introduces Variety!" Let's look at the top 8 from the Madison Open PSQ in January, which had almost the same number of players, at a similar skill level.
1st Bad Beef / Ally Hunter Uruks
2nd Big Fellowship / Site Control Uruks
3rd Last Alliance / Moria
4th Big Fellowship / Uruk archery
5th Big Fellowship / power Uruks
6th Big Fellowship / power Uruks
7th Big Fellowship / Dunland
8th Horn / power Uruks
There, we had a dominant (four Power Uruks), and some others. Now, we have one dominant (four Moria), a side (2 Nazgul), and some others.

Organization: Chris W and Chris H get major props for running a smooth tournament. The sixth round finished close to 9:45 - about 6 hours for 6 rounds, including a 30 minute dinner break. They paired by hand, which for better or worse is the quicker option at this point.
Another smart thing was not announcing the pairings, instead allowing people to find their name at the seats. This makes it harder to scout since nobody else hears your matchup and opponent's name. Unfortunately, at a hundred person tourney, this might take too long, but numbers or codes might work instead. Misty Mountain also had enough space to provide an area away from the pairings; additionally, the judges patrolled the play and waiting area.
One more improvement would be mixing matchups. At a lot of places, seating is done in standings order, pairing from the top. An improvement would be to seat high - low - high - low. In later rounds, it would be very unlikely to sit next to a potential opponent and "accidentally" see their deck.

Questions: There are some questions I've been considering. One is playoffs. I found out at dinner that Erick lost to Tucker in the first round. As I pointed out, that clobbered his tiebreaks, and he finished third. An option to cut to "top 2 and ties" and hold playoffs at significant events might be nice.
Another is rule 11 of the tournament FAQ, which states that judges may not point out misplays, even intentional ones. This means that a judge who sees outright physical cheating cannot do anything during that game. I'd like to hear comments on this, either in the responses or via mail.

Thanks: Finally, thanks to my opponents for being cool to play against, and I had a good and fair time.
Last but certainly not least, RIP June Carter Cash.
Good luck in all your journeys, whether here or a million miles away.

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