Went 3-1 and won the Pgh pre-release after the final four decided it was too late to finish a playoff. (long day)

The event was held at Mr. Nice Guy Games. When the events were held at Phantom, they were a bit less expensive, but, both stores are well run and run great events. MNGG is close for me, and I don't have to pay for parking, so, it balances out.

I ran:
Gith Dragon Knight
Dragonmarked Heir
Gnoll Priestess
Free League Ranger
2x Greenspawn Sneaks

On Mushroom Cavern (planned to use the spikes in the middle to help me out when using the Dragon).

Game 1.
I played against Dan, who was running a construct band with the Lord of Blades. I hit 5 of his 7 figures in a breath of fire, he failed a bunch of saves, and it was downhill from there.

Game 2.
I played against Don. Don was running a bunch of lightning bolt creatures. Red Hand, Thunderlizard, Warmage, and a few creatures immune to lighting, like the Stag Beetle.  He also had the Dragonkith, which he used next to the Thunderlizard to make it more powerful in melee.

Fortunately, I had the Dragonmarked Heir, so, I put immunity to electricity on my Dragon and went to work.

He made a tactical error that he didn't see, which opened up a small window where I could cone 5 of his units... just like the first game.

I then blocked the thunderlizard with the Gnoll Priestess and hit it with Vrock Spores (which routed it).

It was downhill from there, and I'd played two games without losing a piece.

Don is a good player, and he beat the guy I ended up playing in round 4... but, when I snuck in that cone move at the beginning of round 2, it was mostly over.

Game 3.
I played WakeXX from the forums here.

We had a pretty close game. He ran Vaalkith, Centaur, Shadowdancer, Greenspawn and a Gnoll Barbarian.

He disintegrated my Gnoll Priestess (which was actually ok with me, although I was hoping to make SR or the save).

I then closed on Vaalkith and delayed his ability to bring the Centaur to bear due to the spikes and unit placement.

I got the lead, but eventually had to move my Dragon to the top left scoring tile near his exit. He moved in to try to kill the dragon, which was his way to win, (and he could have done it with the Centaur, Gnoll, and Shadowdancer).

I had 85hp left, but, I was able to kill his Centaur, which was down to 55, with a smite and a regular hit.

Semi-close game, although I had the edge, I could have lost if he'd had a few crits at the end.

Game 4.
I'm forgetting his name right now, but, I played a near mirror band.

He didn't have the Dragonmarked Heir, so he used a Hero of Valhalla and a few other units like the Gnome Trickster instead.  I put blindsight on my Dragon immediately.

This game came down to rolls.

He breathed on my commander, my commander failed his save, then failed his morale save.

I breathed on his commander and his gnome. Both made their saves. Then, he brings in the Hero of Valhalla and crits my dragon, putting me 30 down in the dragon vs dragon wars.

I did get 1 crit in the match to his 7, but, the game still came down to the wire as I was able to use my bodyguard to give my dragon extra HP.

In the end, I thought my luck had turned when his dragon rolled a 1 and missed, which would have given me time to kill his dragon.  But his next roll was a 20, and my dragon missed several attacks as well.

His dragon survived the game with 25HP as I missed most of my attack rolls against it with the DMH and Gnoll Priestess.

He played a good game, I played a good game. Sometimes, it just comes down to crits, overall dice, and initiative.

I'd beaten a guy who beat him, and he beat me...  so, on STR of schedule, it was REALLY tough to tell how we were all going to be placed.

When it came down to 1st and 2nd, my last opponent and I were still alive (1-2), so, before the winner was announced, we agreed to split the 1st and 2nd place boxes evenly.

It turned out, I was the winner on STR of schedule by just 2% points...  so I gave away a box of minis, but, it was worth doing.  He'd beaten me anyway, so it would have sucked for him to have a lesser prize.

Good games, good event. 

The PGH area really has a lot of DDM players, as Phantom supported another large event on the same day, with the prize being a CRD.