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Damien the Bloodfeaster
Sergeant
885 Posts
    
Portland, OR
 | | 07/02/2006 1:41 PM |
| There were nineteen players who showed up at our tournament. A total of three Aspects of Tiamat and two Bahamuts were drawn. I believe all three AoT players made the final four, with the fourth player having run a Bluespawn Godslayer and Pack Lord. No one drew a Dracolich or Sorcerer on Black Dragon, and I think only one person drew a Tundra Scout. We had one player who drew no commanders at all, and one who could not make 500 points without having to use the HFS.
My draws were the Displacer Beast Pack Lord and the Godslayer, and my rares were the Spellscale Sorcerer and the Golden Protector. My commander was the Yuan-ti, so I opted to use the spider repaint over the DBPL due to the synergy. Sadly, only one enemy in five rounds failed the save vs. the virulent poison, and I never got to use the spider's enhanced damage vs. poisoned foes.
My complete warband: Bluespawn Godslayer, Huge Fiendish Spider, Yuan-ti Sorcerer, Ogre Skirmisher, Golden Protector, Spellscale Sorcerer, Diseased Dire Rat, and Cleric of Lagozd (or however you spell it). I decided to run the Tomb of Queen Peregrine, since I figured all the walls would benefit the HFS.
My first round I faced off against a Purple Worm and Epic Tordek warband, and lost. The worm's ability to burrow 12 squares to my back defenses was ultimately impossible. Tordek was brutal, and my Godslayer had no outsiders or dragon types to face. Despite a valiant effort, it was a fairly one-sided fight. My opponent was a good player from my local league; I had also faced her in the first round of the regional qualifier, with a similar defeat. Kudos to her! 0-1
The second round I faced a Mountain Troll, HFS, Greenspawn Razorfiend, Cleric of Syreth, Wizened Elder Watcher, War Weaver, Dragonwrought Kobold, and Small Copper Dragon. He was a solid player and rolled pretty good on his attack rolls, but the blur I had placed on my two huges (from the Spellscale Sorcerer) saved my skin--he failed an amazing number of conceal checks. Because of that, I managed to win on luck and points (barely). 1-1
Round three, I faced an Eldritch Giant, non-epic Blackguard on Nightmare, Bonded Fire Summoner, Cleric of Lagozed, Witchknife, Cleric of Syreth, and Goliath Cleric of Kavaki. The player was apparently fairly new to the game, and I was able to defeat his warband easily (it didn't help that he led with his blackguard). This was the only fight where I managed to get a poisoned enemy--not that I really needed it in this case. 2-1
Round four, I faced an Aspect of Tiamat, Fang Dragon, non-epic Tordek, Storm Archer, Whitespawn, and the Aasimar. I knew this one would be an uphill battle, and it was. The breath weapons actually weren't the worst of it (my opponent mostly saved them to pick off fodder and support units)--it was the 6 attacks per round from the AoT for 20 magic damage apiece. Despite failing some conceal checks, I simply couldn't do enough damage to the AoT--I also failed a couple key initiatives. In the end, I got the AoT down to 100 hp, took out a couple fodder pieces, and lost pretty much all of my warband. 2-2
In the final round, I faced a Huge Fiendish Spider, Redspawn Firebelcher, Huge Fire Elemental, Ogre Skirmisher, Yuan-ti Sorcerer, Small Copper Dragon, and Cleric of Yagozed. This was the only match I played on a different map than Tomb of Queen Peregrin--I did win map initiative, but decided to go with his map (Field of Ruin), just for variety's sake. I had a distinct advantage here since my Golden Protector and HFS both had fire resistance. I was able to dominate the central victory area and take out his HFE, and win on points. 3-2
After tallying the results, I ended up coming in fifth out of the nineteen people who came. Overall, I'm fairly satisfied with how I did. It was apparent to me that anyone pulling an Aspect of Tiamat was almost guaranteed a spot in the top four. Bahamut, surprisingly, did not fare as well, and I think the two Bahamut players ended up somewhere in the middle of the pack.
I was surprised (especially after reading some of the results from other prereleases) at how many Aspects of Tiamat made an appearance. I wonder if it had something to do with the seeding of the cases for the prerelease? I hope in the next set there won't be another situation where a person who gets just one or two pieces has such a clear and decisive advantage over the rest of the pack. Luck in your pulls is certainly an important part of the game, but I hate it when a particular piece is basically a 95% guarantee to make it to the top four. | | | |
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ahmish
Sneak
58 Posts
| | 07/02/2006 6:27 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Damien the Bloodfeaster
I was surprised (especially after reading some of the results from other prereleases) at how many Aspects of Tiamat made an appearance. I wonder if it had something to do with the seeding of the cases for the prerelease? I hope in the next set there won't be another situation where a person who gets just one or two pieces has such a clear and decisive advantage over the rest of the pack. Luck in your pulls is certainly an important part of the game, but I hate it when a particular piece is basically a 95% guarantee to make it to the top four.
Each TO received 20 cases of WOTDQ for the event. Each case supports 3 players, so with a 19 player event the packs were probably drawn from 7 sealed cases. It is possible, and likely that if one opened the other 13 cases the overall distribution of Huge Rares would be relatively even.
Large events like Montreal get more product. They cracked 23 cases to provide product for 68 players. Assuming even distribution of rares, one would expect 7.6 of each Huge Rare an event with that many cases. They had 14 Aspects, slightly below the expected number.
I don't believe that Pre-release cases are seeded with more enticing rares.
I also share your sentiments regarding the dominance of one or two pieces spoiling the sealed format.
Dragoneye doesn't work in 200-point sealed precisely for this reason. (LSD) | |
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