Wisconsin TOC, 27 March 2004

Pre-tourney: A little surprisingly, I had played in only one sanctioned LotR tourney since Gencon, and that in August. Months of demos, dot hack, running events, and thesis research can do that. But I want a Gencon bye, because I'll be teaching Introductory Statistics every Tuesday and Thursday this summer. To play in Day 1, I'd have to arrange a substitute lecturer. Iowa made the wonderful decision to play draft, so that looks decent, and I book a hotel out there. Since I'm judging Illinois, life commitments make Wisconsin my only constructed shot. Not having much time to test, I decide to play something comfortable and easy, stupid swarm. I slap a straightforward Rohan side on top, figuring that my better Fellowship might get a win or two, and can survive longer than Sam/Gimli in the mirror. And who doesn't want to run Goblin Man? You can find the decklist as "Why, yes, it is Goblin Man". Brian O. from Cicero rides up with me. 22 intrepid folks show. I joke that I'll just go 4-2, since in 4 tourneys at Misty Mountain I've never done anything different.

Game 1: Christian, Rohan/Gandalf and Corruption Gollum/Nazgul
A very tough matchup, as Christian played Day 2 Worlds last year. He goes first, starts Dernhelm and Eomer, and drops Trust Me at site 1, and I sigh inwardly. He does stop at 2, because he knows I sometimes play Dunland. I realize I need to go Fellowship, so roll through to 3 getting 1 burden. He goes 2-3. I try to double again - he's not doing much damage, though Gollum Stinker with They Stole It is building wounds, and Captured by the Ring gets threats. His site 5 is the discard or 2 burden one, and I foolishly take 2 burdens. Here, a Nazgul gets a kill, while my other 4 people are almost all exhausted with 4 threats to convert. This stinks, as instead of watching everyone but Eomer and Frodo die, I go to 7 burdens, hoping for Sam soon. He gets Gandalf out and can double at will. So without Sam, I try to run to 7, managing decently. He follows. I go 7-8, losing people and going to 9 burdens. Eowyn and Eomer are exhausted. He makes a mistake, dropping companions 6 and 7, so my Number Must be Few prevents him from the easy fellowship win. Instead, his site 9 is Slag Mounds, that adds a burden for each kill. I finally see Sam, but removing 3 doesn't help, so I hope for a lucky Ring Toss. Enquea comes down, kills Eowyn, and puts a stop to that. A first round loss, and I'm wishing I would have just stayed in bed.

Game 2: Casey, Gandalf/Wraith and Easterlings.
A youngster and new to the game. He wins the bid 1-0 and goes first, starting Gandalf and Oathbreaker. No companions, he moves to 2, and smartly stops. I go to 2 and Eomer offs a Captain with Raider Bow (he didn't find the Small Hope to use the twilight), doubling safely to 3. He still plays no companions, so I can play nothing at 3. For some reason, he doubles to 4 with 3 companions.

Game 3: Ken, Rohan and Nazgul orcs
A quiet father and nice guy. I'm frustrated, so I bid 1, win the die roll, and go first. I go 1-3, with no issues, though I do see a Destroyer. He goes 1-3, as I think I have him at 3, but I can't count and am 1 twilight short. My hand is still full of white hands, so at 3 I play just Firefoot, and his 4 is Anduin Banks, cool. He adds Merry, to be 5 people plus Firefoot, and gives enough pool for 4 one cost minions, Gollum, and a Warrior. Frodo with the water ring takes a 5 strength Orc. He puts on the Ring, and even with that extra burden it's only 9 versus 5. Unfortunately for Ken, one of the two non-minions in my hand is Servants to Saurman.

Game 4: Ian, Elf/Gondor Bowmen and Nazgul
Ian's an old Star Wars player, like me in not playing sanctioned LotR since last summer, though for different reasons. He's back for the TOC and convention season. I win a die roll and go first. Attea stops me at 2. He plays Cliffs, Gondor Bowmen, and Elrond, giving me 10 at 2 with Arwen and Greenleaf. I play nothing, so he doubles, for 13 twilight. Shaman, Tinker, Warrior use 11. Thankfully for me, Goblin Man has home site 2. 4 on 3, no Greenleaf, all 2 vitality, and we can talk about his college plans.

Game 5: Erick, Sam/Gimli and wounding Orc Swarm
Erick is another good old Wars player. I bid 0, he goes with 4 and makes me go first. I mulligan, luckily to Sam and a Simbelmyne for Firefoot. There are no double moves in this game. On my move to 4, I have Theoden, Eowyn, Eomer with Firefoot, Sam, and Frodo. He tells me later that he has 8 minions in hand, but his inferior wounding Orcs are too pricey at 2 and 3 and only six can come down, even helped by Goblin Runner. On his move to 4, his 4 twilight archery one, he plays Thrarin, but Talent for Not Being Seen means just 7 twilight. So I drop 7 one cost minions, and that does Sam in. I get Sting on the move to 5, which saves me, since he now can play 8 minions. I have enough with Sam. He now has to move, and my hand is not all fellowship.

Game 6: Samuel, Eowyn's Sword Rohan and Sauron Overwhelming
Christian from Round 1 is 5-0. There are 3 4-1s, Chad, Samuel, and I. Chad hasn't faced Christian, so that makes the pairings easy. He goes first after another 1-0 bid defeat. He only has Eowyn Restless Maiden, Eomer with Firefoot, Merry with Sword, and Wicked Master at site 4, but my hand doesn't have the minions. So I play nothing - the only minion he's seen is an Isengard Warrior at site 2. He doesn't add anyone at 5, but I still can't kill him. As you might guess, this lack of Shadow means I had good Fellowship, and was in great shape at 4, so he risks the jump. I discard a fellowship card, get an Isengard Warrior, so I can drop 6 minions. He tries to use Merry's Sword and Unheeded, but unfortunately one of my minions is a Shaman, and there's nine pool. Wicked Master doesn't work there either. He tries twice, then puts on the Water Ring. We can both count to ten, the number of black tokens on Frodo.

I have to wait for the Christian-Chad result. If Christian wins, I'm in as second seed. Chad wins, so it's tiebreaker time and somebody just gets hurt. Fortunately for me, Ian and Erick are both 4-2, combined with Samuel's 4-2 and Christian's 5-1. After quality judges Chris Wiemer and Liz Walker do the math, I'm through. Later, Chad tells me that my Hand Orcs would have massacred him, so a playoff would have just delayed the rematch. Because Christian's game was the only one all day where I saw site 7, we both know most of the opponent's deck. We both agree that he has the advantage, since his Aragorn ROTN, Bounder, and Trust Me make it really hard for me to kill him. Christian's cool, too, so this should be fun.

Final Confrontation: I have to bid zero, he kicks off with 2. He only has Firefoot, and he knows I'm playing multiple Goblin Man, so he rightly stops at 2. I double to 3. He gets Aragorn, but must stop at 3 because he knows I'm building. I get very lucky and find my one Sam, which gets played alongside Eowyn, Eomer with Firefoot, and Hrethel. Getting down to no burdens is huge, and I beat his Gollum at 4, so I push to 5. This gets messy, as he plays a Witch-King, another two Nazgul, and Grima. Eomer's got a Spear, Bow, and Firefoot, so I freak out until I notice that it's Chief Counselor. This time I discard my hand of Aragorn ROTN and two Orcs, and we both laugh. I only lose Hrethel, take two burdens, and Eomer gets a Black Breath. He's afraid I have Enquea (I bluffed it in game 1), and he knows I have Orc Insurgent, so he can't risk Gandalf. I still have 6 minions at site 4, and even though he only loses one skirmish, his Anduin Banks and the Isengard Shaman mean 5 survive, and he can't move on. I skirt into 6 and begin to think about fellowship. He easily doubles into 6, as I'm just throwing away minions now. At 6, the Black Breath means Eomer's stuck exhausted, but everyone else heals, including Hlafwine courtesy of Leowyn. The audience laughs. Sam strips burdens too. I beat something down at 7, and recklessly double to 8. Hlafwine helps, but Theoden, Elite Rider played from Theoden's death, and Frodo all die. He drops Gandalf and goes to 7. I go Insurgent happy, draw a bit, but 7 minions isn't enough.

One of those minions is Goblin Man, though, which is huge. I now know he has Gollum, Desert Lord, Attea, the Gollum card that adds a burden if Gollum wins, and a Nazgul Sword in hand. He draws three more cards. There are no Evil-Smelling Fens on the table, but there is They Stole It.
I have Sam with 4 wounds and 1 burden, exhausted Eowyn with Spear, exhausted Eomer with Spear, Bow, Firefoot, and Black Breath. Leowyn, Deor, and exhausted Hlafwine on the table. My hand is Brego, Merry, 3 Arrow-slits, and three other cards. I've seen his site 9, which adds a burden per kill. What's the optimal play?

Take your time. While you're thinking, let me remind you that the Illinois territorial is this weekend, Saturday April 3, at Pastimes in Niles. Registration is 10-11, tourney begins at 11. This intermission has been brought to you by Steak and Shake (now accepting credit cards, awesomely), Marriott Hotels, the letters T and C, and the number 2.

I can't give 14 twilight, because fierce Attea, Desert Lord, and Gollum means I lose. The best play is to play Brego, use Leowyn to heal Eoywn again, and keep two Deor plusses available. This means Eowyn can take either two wounds from Gollum, or one Wound and We Must Have it, and still win. Eomer dies on the first, Eowyn on the fierce, but I win with exhausted 3 burden Sam.
Do I do this? NO, of course not. I play Brego, but keep 7 cards instead of healing Hlafwine or Eowyn. Cantea or Fear win him the game here, but those aren't there. His optimal play is Gollum-Attea, keeping 6 in hand. I can still win, though. I assign both to Eomer, he wins and kills Eomer (burden 2), adds a burden with the event (3) and Stinker (4). But Eowyn survives the fierce skirmish via Deor, and I'm good. Christian also plays the Nazgul sword. This makes my life easier, as Eowyn wins over Gollum despite a We Must Have It, via Deor. Eomer dies to Attea, then Eowyn, but the Ringbearer stands alone. I earn a bye, though I'll still go to Iowa for a fun weekend of draft and dot hack. Now, I need to get Homestar Runner shirts in the Decipher store....

Please become a registered member