| | You are not authorized to post a reply. |
| | Author | Messages | |
Wayne
Underboss
1371 Posts
    
 | | 01/29/2006 1:06 PM |
| After a decent 11-player turnout for the Draft tournament, we ended up with only seven players for an Epic Assault tournament. Due to a good swing of luck -- from "bad" to "woohoo!" -- I managed to go 3-0 and win the event. The finish order was:
(1) Jeff Wilder ("Wayne"), (2) Mike Derry ("derry"), (3) Jim Havey, (4) Eric Cleaver ("doranur"), (5) David True ("Darksuit"), (6) Elliott Chin ("Feathers," who had to drop after a win in Round One to go watch Cirque de Soleil), and (7) Jeff Asbury.
Some notable landmarks from the day: (1) I'm still undefeated (3-0 lifetime) against Michael Derry, who is, I believe, supposedly one of the top 25 players in the world. Now if you want to chalk all three of my victories up to a ridiculous amount of good fortune, well, you'd be right. But it's still rude. (2) This was my first Epic game, not to mention Epic tournament. So I'm undefeated in Epic play, too. I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar. (3) Oh, it was also my first Draft event, my first time playing on the Hellspike map (which I now officially hate), and my first time playing on Queen Peregrine's Tomb (which is a surprisingly bright and cheery place, from a 3-0 perspective).
My band for the Epic tournament:
Aspect of Kord (epic) (208) 208
Ghaele Eladrin (124) 332
Rask (52) 384
Wand Expert (33) 417
Celestial Pegasus (32) 449
Crow Shaman (26) 475
Half-Ogre Barbarian (25) 500
(As an aside, I built this band starting with the Ghaele, not Kord, for one reason: during Angelfire early release, I pulled four Ghaeles out of my first 10 boosters. I had grown to absolutely despise her. But the Ghaele is a seriously hot chick -- for a one-inch tall piece of plastic -- and it's against my philosophy of life to sever all diplomatic ties with hot women. (At least until they try to kill me by sabotaging my motorcycle's hydraulics, but that's a digression for another time.) So I had to find some way to make the Ghaele mine. Oh, yes, she will be mine.)
My "strategy" was simple and unformed, but, in my defense, it was also simplistic and vague. I'd spend the first one or two turns doing (1) cat's grace on the Ghaele, blur on Kord, legion's magic weapon; and (2) cat's grace on Kord, blur on the Ghaele. I'd protect the Ghaele behind a dispersed wall of lesser hitters, spacing them to prevent serious threats -- like, oh, a Huge Red Dragon -- from being able to land nearby. (Most non-huge hitters who entered the zone trying to get the Ghaele would get eaten alive like neopolitan ice cream under a lawn mower in summer.) I'd use the Ghaele's missile fire (now at a respectable +14) or gaze attack as needed, and, of course, Kord would be doing the heavy lifting -- at a potential 150 damage per activation, with Ghaele's huge initiative advantage -- of eliminating the enemy. The Pegasus is the VP grabber in this band. The Wand Expert and Crow Shaman's uses are obvious.
My apologies if I got some details wrong ... and I almost certainly did. I simply am not a good enough player to take notes at the table, and I have a memory like a steel sieve. The major turning points are correct, though.
Match One, versus Mike Derry
Derry played a Huge Red Dragon-Slaad band. The lineup was HRD, Death Slaad x3, Blue Slaad x2, Tiefling Captain, Warrior Skeleton. Remember, this was my first time playing Epic format, so I'd never really payed much attention the stats on the Huges; when I got a look at the HRD's stats for the first time, I'm pretty sure my right testicle ascended and hid behind my liver. But, hey, no problem. No expectations. If I lose, I have, like, dozens of reasonable-sounding excuses, and that's not even counting my standard fallback of "man, I can't roll for crap."
The first round went as expected. I did my buffing and did some dispersal, leaving myself the ability to continue buffing on | |
Jeff "Wayne Laredo" Wilder | Email | Have/Want List | Trade Policies | Are You an Ethical Trader?
| |
| DDM Constructed Champion 2006
derry
Warrior
268 Posts
| | 01/29/2006 1:58 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Wayne
Anyway, I'd like to hear other folks' opinions. I know I strongly respect both Derry's and Eric's opinions, but the truth is that the three pieces in question performed exactly as I was hoping and expecting them to, and all three made significant contributions to my inevitable and incredibly impressive victory.
Don't listen to those idiots. You had a strategy with your choices and they allowed you to pursue that strategy. That is more important than picking a choice that may only match their play style and their strategy.
Most seriously, my suggestions were due to problems with damage output I feel your warband has in its form, hence the non-epic Kord, and vulnerabilities to Beholders. That is why I feel a couple Medium Astral Constructs would be good as better defense against the common LE warbands with one or more Beholders. | |
Member of the Low Post Count but High Post Content Society | |
|
Feathers
Underboss
1140 Posts
| | 01/29/2006 3:03 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by derry
quote:
Originally posted by Wayne
Anyway, I'd like to hear other folks' opinions. I know I strongly respect both Derry's and Eric's opinions, but the truth is that the three pieces in question performed exactly as I was hoping and expecting them to, and all three made significant contributions to my inevitable and incredibly impressive victory.
Don't listen to those idiots. You had a strategy with your choices and they allowed you to pursue that strategy. That is more important than picking a choice that may only match their play style and their strategy.
Most seriously, my suggestions were due to problems with damage output I feel your warband has in its form, hence the non-epic Kord, and vulnerabilities to Beholders. That is why I feel a couple Medium Astral Constructs would be good as better defense against the common LE warbands with one or more Beholders.
Derry is right on choosing pieces to support your strategy. But yeah, my dual Beholder, dual Iron Golem band woulda chewed you up. [)]
In Epic, you have to count on seeing at least 1 or 2 Beholders. So you need either a very aggressive warband that can base and eliminate them rapidly (e.g. HRD counts), immune blockers (e.g. constructs and undead), or high save leaders (e.g. LSD, Ulmo, etc.). Your band, while fast and aggressive, won't be able to get to my Beholders because of the Queen Peregrine map and my dual Iron Golems. The setup I used against Eric would have been very difficult for your Epic Kord to penetrate. My band isn't really built to get the quick kill with Beholder rays. As long as I get the normal odds for inflict wound and slides, I can position my band to block your access to my cannons and whittle away your health. With Soth's Abyssal Blast, I'm betting I can get the points lead by eliminating or routing all your support (wand expert, crow shaman, etc.) and hold on for the win. And if I get lucky with some high Beholder rolls, so much the better. And should you actually end up getting paralyzed by the Gauth (not likely, but not impossible as you spend vital rounds trying to get through my blockers), then it's over.
Yer lucky the Cirque was in town. [)]
But seriously, congrats on the win! For all my talk, a couple dice rolls the right or wrong way (especially with the Ghaele's CFX), and you could still clear out a Beholder band. | |
Champion of Neogi
Completed Trades/Transactions: sttmxn, Krush, jgsugden, Ayrychx2, Venport, Tysac
| |
| 
Wrackspawn
ChristopherGroves
Warlord
6093 Posts
| |
Darksuit
Skirmisher
44 Posts
| | 01/31/2006 3:21 AM |
| Have to agree with feathers, though I would have loved to have played against you Wyane... instead I wound up getting bad draws, back to back agianst the same band, run by two seperate people... ugh... I was hoping for a little varation in the match ups.
My band... Point of Denial or The Eye has it.
Dark Naga
War Forged Titan (x2)
Beholder
Chraal
Mind Flayer Telepath
While the band is fun to run,and it is ... the best part of the matches was when I turned Derry's Huge Red Dragon to Stone. | |
| |
|
| | You are not authorized to post a reply. |
|
| |
ActiveForums 3.7 | You must be signed in to participate in the
games. |