Wisconsin TOC, 7 May 2005

I fix a taillight, play Smeagol, and win the most unusual Final Confrontation ever. Read on.

Pre-tourney: This will be the fourth time I've headed to Madison for a LotR TOC. I've also written a report each time, so I can't skip this one. Of course, this time I'm less concerned about the bye, since at Gencon I'll defend .hack on Saturday. But I still want to go and hang out and trade. My drive partner this year is Mike Burke, another Chicago dAgent, and the fourth different partner in four years. Unfortunately, because I need to replace a bad taillight Saturday morning, we get going very late. Mike had tried the number listed on the tourney site but got a fax machine. I engage in a little civil disobedience while Mike builds his deck. I convince him to remove G is for Grand and run Travelled Leader in Sudden Fury Hobbits with Gandalf. Despite my driving, we're still about 12 minutes late for the 2:00 start. This usually isn't a problem at Misty Mountain, since Chris Wiemer often lists registration time, and starts once all forms are filled out. This time, it almost is, because there are only eight other folks there when we rush in. Mike and I make 10, which means two people will not cash. (Attendance each year was 16-28-22-10.) Three of the contestants are female, which encourages Mike and I, since the maleness of CCGs was one of our conversations on the ride. Since the pairings are just announced, Chris lets us in, repairs, and so we begin.

My deck, finished around 3 AM, is Smeagol / Morcs. I had said I would play "solo" smeagol in Wisconsin, because some people thought it was terrible. I hadn't known that it was common online when I made that boast. I considered Pledge of Loyalty for Faramir to keep him alive longer, but went with Not Listening and Sneaking and Master Commands It for Morgul Orc and archery defense. Who would play Corsairs anyway? The list with comments, titled "Beatrice in the Fray, almost alone", is in the decks area. To explain, my deck titles for the past year have been structured around females I know. The deck is named for Beatrice, a coworker from several years ago who remains a friend. She in DC and I in Chicago often comment on our lack of marriage prospects, and the difficulties of the fray of courtship, and how we're almost alone. Thus, she gets a deck with a lonely Fellowship. And no, I'm not giving out her number.

Round 1: Michael "King of Discard", Dwarf/Gandalf and Corsairs
Michael often plays discard type decks, so I'm expecting I win 1-0 and go first. He sighs seeing Smeagol. I draw really well, and can move to 3 with Safe Passage, though I sigh seeing a boat in his support area. He plays a Dwarven Warrior and some other stuff and tries to double. Afterwards, I saw he had 4 Warriors but no other discard. If all the discard does is remove a few cards, but not deck the opponent, it's just like reshuffling and putting the discarded cards on the bottom. Actually, it's worse, since there are more ways to grab things from discard piles than decks. In this game, it doesn't matter, since I can go 3-5, but he gets stopped at 4 via a fierce damage +1 Lemenya with Orcs, losing Linnar as well. I'm so set up that I see a Castamir somewhere in here, but Nasty in each skirmish keeps both bodies alive. At his site 4, he drops Gandalf and a Warrior to add to Durin and Gimli, plus 2 Watch and Wait and some other stuff, moving with one burden. For 18 twilight, I drop Lemenya, Nertea, Nelya, Cantea, switch to Woody-End, and remove the burden to toil a Witch-King for free. Five fierce Nazgul is trouble, but if he has one Honed in hand he survives (though basically crippled). He doesn't have it, though, and it's over. Full Win, 1-0.

Round 2: Brian "King of Star Trek", Knights and Corsairs
Brian is a dAgent, who mostly plays Trek, I think. He wins the bid 2-1 but makes me go first, and sighs at Smeagol. He plays a small Corsair at site 2, and I sigh at not packing those Pledge of Loyalty, but Faramir can take it at 2 and 3. I have Follow Smeagol set up by this point. He goes to 2, and I bluff. A Nertea-led swarm would have killed him at 3, so he correctly stops. I single to 4. On his single, I play just Gollum, confusing him, so he stops - another good idea since I could still kill him. I'm set pretty well, with 2 Nasty in hand and lots of support conditions, so I can double into 6. He still has no Castamir, and starts dropping Marauders and Plunderers to cycle, no problems for me. He goes 3-4, I drop the stuff I've been holding, he has to stop, and it's basically over. I can go 6-8 via the Caras Galaghon play, then from there pick Caras up with There's Another Way and Follow Smeagol it to 9. He concedes. At 9, Faramir could take Castamir once, Smeagol taking something small, then I have 2 Nasty in hand. This game shows the power of Follow Smeagol; I went first and at the end of the game had one site left in my adventure deck. Full Win, 2-0.

Round 3: Christian "King of the Bye", Dwarf/Gandalf and Corsairs
Christian won his bye at an online PSI. I win 1-0 and start off, again seeing a boat early, and again cursing my deck choice. He draws a lot better than Michael did, and gets to 3 easily. On my single to 4, I give 6, and he can get down Black Numenorean plus Halberd. I have to waste my board with Clever Hobbits to win the skirmish, killing the Corsair but forcing a stop and a broken board. He got Gandalf early, plus in the site 4 regroup plays Blood Runs Chill to wipe the board so he can double to 5. With my board empty, I have to single, and he's set really well (I think, based on a Maneuver pause, he's got Argument Ready to Hand). Plus he doesn't make any mistakes, so I'm in trouble. My final single move of the game is from 6 to 7, while he's at 8, so I drop lots of stuff. He gets out Castamir, Black Numenorean, and a Plunderer, but no toys. I have Faramir and one Clever Hobbits, with 7 conditions out. What's the survival play?
Leave Castamir unassigned, putting the Plunderer on Smeagol. If Christian assigns Castamir to Faramir, I can Clever Hobbits in the fierce. If he assigns to Smeagol, I Clever Hobbits now, leaving enough +1s to survive the Numenorean, and have Faramir available for fierce Castamir. He goes to Faramir, I lose the fierce skirmish 28-25, but live. On his move to 9 I can't win with what's in hand, so I Squealer out Otsea and hope. Nothing good happens, so I wind up 4 against 4, plus he has Terrible and Evil in hand. And the Argument. Full Loss, 2-1.

Round 4: John "King of Swarm", Elf/Aragorn and New Orc Swarm
At this point, Christian is 3-0. There are four 2-1 players, including Mike Burke (who won one game with Traveled Leader to Caras Galadhon at site 9), and I get hit with a pairdown to John, who is 1-2. At this point, I give up most hope on finishing second or higher. Christian, even with a loss, should finish first, making the bye pass down. Anyway, I'm happy I've cashed, and figure I'm playing for Top 4 positioning and ten extra fan dollars. Ten iTunes songs is a decent motivator, right? As usual, I win the bid 1-0 and double. He plays nothing at each site, but discards Champion Orc after my double. This is rather problematic for me, since I know I must now go slowly. He plays Sting, maybe something else, and singles for 7 pool. I play nothing, since he started Glorfindel and all things would just die. He doubles, giving 10. I play Nertea, Morgul Brute (he takes burden), Morgul Destroyer (he takes wound), Morgul Whelp, Morgul Whelp. That's 5 on 3. He can kill a Whelp, since he's using the Legolas that pitches 4 cards to wound a minion - a very nice choice for a cycling swarm deck. Even with that, the Frodo wound means the two smallest minions still sum to 15, which overwhelmes Frodo. It takes less than 10 minutes. We have enough time to play a second game, which I win via a There's Another Way (to a non-underground site so Goblin Hordes doesn't work) - Follow Smeagol Caras Galadhon double to 9. The last card in his deck is the site-changing Orc he needed. I fall out of my chair in laughter when he turns it over. Full Win, 3-1.

In the other games, the stars align. Christian wins, making him 4-0 and in 1st. Mike's loss makes one other 3-1, Guy. Because Michael and Brian both won, my tiebreakers are 28 (12-8-8). Guy's are also 28 (12-8-8). This means we have a tie on all official tiebreakers except for the last one. It's time for the ...

Final Confrontation: Guy "King of Bad Rolls", Noble Leaders and Evil Men Archery
Chris gets pictures of us setting up. Guy is holding the orangish orb of LotR power in his hand. It's a d20, and rolling is the random determination. As the home player, Guy rolls first, yielding a 6. I am happy at this, because my chance of winning has improved from 50 to 72.5 percent. I shake my hand, let the die drop, it bounces around, and stops at ...

Hey, has anyone seen this site collegecuteness.com? Two guys set out to determine whether or not attractiveness actually does vary from school to school. They used female facebook pictures from 10 schools, put them on hotornot.com, and did summary statistics. Not surprisingly, my school, the University of Chicago, came in tenth. I will so be using these results while teaching my introductory statistics class this summer.

... Sixteen! I win the most difficult Final Confrontation ever!

Now I have a Worlds Bye for both my games. I can give my final on Thursday, then head down to Day 2 of LotR on Friday, and .hack which on Saturday. See you there.

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