Just look at that hot mess, lol. You are reading that correctly, that is a 9.9 out of 100 for Rankey. That is a 67 SAS, which is normally reserved for the bargain bin, with most competitive decks, even in a sealed tournament, at least in the mid-70s, with winners in the 80-90s typically. Then you have an AERC rating of 41, where most competitive decks are in the 50s-60s. So you can see that on paper (or in this case on-app), this deck is well below what is considered to be a competitive score. To give you another way of looking at it, here are the SAS scores of the decks that made it to the top 8 of the event (As of this writing, only 7 have been entered into the Keyforge Vault):
#1: Maxima, Hunter of the Eloquent Strand 80
#2: Beaker Harker 79
#3 Hon T. Roogquimp, the Fourth 86
#4 The Mister of Burnminster 82
#5 The Ruffian that Antagonizes The Chosen 81
#6 Peacock, the Moneylender of Darklande 83
#7 Charbos, the Racer of Deer 90
Yeesh. But before we delve deeper into this deck, let's start at the beginning of the tournament.
This would be my second Vault Tour, and second attempt at the Sealed event. I felt a lot of pressure to do well, considering my very lucky success at getting Top 4 at Origins. As usual though, I try to go into it not expecting much. After all, there is a lot of luck in regards to what decks you get, what matchups you get, and then during play what draws you get. Representing Pittsburgh, PA, from my local store Mr. Nice Guy Games, and our loosely organized team name of Team Fuzzy Gruens, I wanted to try and at least win as much as I lost. Just like last time, there were a few things I look for in a deck when preparing for Sealed:
1. Look for Shadows and Dis - These two are still the best Houses in AoA in my opinion. I believe I listed Dis at the top at Origins, but after playing at many local sealed events, I have been convinced that Shadows is once again on top, with Dis close behind. That Amber stealing and control, mixed with plenty of other really solid creatures, artifacts, and actions...These Houses can do it all.
2. Amber Control/Generation - No matter what Houses you get, a main thing to look for is Amber generation and Amber control. That has consistently been the line between good Keyforge decks and bad ones, at least in my experience. It also is the most logical and easy way to win. If you can generate more Amber than your opponent, you will probably win. If you can control the Amber your opponent has, they cannot win. And you can achieve both with steal, so look for that.
3. Creature Count - A solid way of generating Amber in AoA is with a ton of creatures. There are so many little combos that creatures can pull off, as well as the obvious thing that if you have a ton of creatures on the board, that means you can probably Reap with them for a ton of Amber. Also, board wipes are few and far between in this set, so a large board can be hard to deal with. This is probably the best counter to Shadows that AoA has. Their steal may not mean as much if you can get a board with 6+ creatures on it, constantly Reaping. Also, you can control your opponent's creatures better when you have more. But with Sealed AoA especially, I have found that you can win plenty of games by just flooding the board with creatures, and trying to rush to the win before your opponent can gain control of the board.
4. Board Wipes - With creature count being very important, it becomes paramount to have an out in case your opponent floods the board. Enter the board wipe. AoA doesn't have a lot of good choices, with the most consistent being Brobnar having Coward's End, and Dis having Key to Dis and Unlocked Gateway. But I am always looking to see what I can use to clear the board if I have to.
5. Raw Amber - A good way of generating tons of Amber, and a way to consistently outrace your opponent, is to simply gain free Amber when you play your cards. When you have less than 10, you better have a decent creature count, but with greater than 15, you can start to maybe sacrifice that creature count in favor of racing with actions.
That being said, I did not feel confident upon seeing my 3 decks, lol:
Sov Grillaek Pagano
Magnusson of Warringey
Chancellor Oglestar Browning
Ok, so I don't really like my choices. I am missing some of the best stuff I feel like most competitive decks have (no Shadows or Dis). Also, I feel like I am severely lacking in on-play Amber control and Amber generation. I have some consistent board wiping in Magnusson, but that completely lacks Amber control, which I feel is a death sentence. Sov has some raw Amber, but without creatures or crazy tricks, I'm afraid I will lose to anyone with a board. Also, all this Sanctum and no Aubade and the Grim?! That guy is a common and probably the best Sanctum card in the set. I suppose I have to go with the Chancellor. Right now I am feeling a little let down. This is a Vault Tour, and a sealed event, and I feel like my only real chance at succeeding (since I never favor myself in Archon due to not having great decks). But without Shadows or Dis, I really don't feel like I have a chance.
I was also a little sour at the way we began the tournament. We started out by being given 3 unopened decks, a slip of paper, and a baggie. We were told to leave the registration table, write down the archons on the slip of paper, and then return with it all in the baggie. These baggies would then be distributed at the start of the tournament at random. But what was stopping someone from opening their packs, seeing a really good deck, or at least one that could fetch a lot of money like a double Timetraveller, and then keeping it for themselves and replacing it with a crappy unscanned deck (like from the deck vending machine that was right there?)? Nothing was stopping them. There was nothing there to prevent it. I hope people wouldn't do that, but honestly the integrity of the tournament was completely brought into question with this decision. I told some of the upper-ups about this after the tournament, and they agreed with me. So hopefully this won't happen again, but nonetheless it was in the back of my mind.
Despite me not expecting to do well at the tournament, I was going to approach it like I always do: with the attempt to just go out, try my best, and to have fun. I knew I would get at least 30 shards for participating, and with such a large number of creatures in my deck, I figured I could maybe get a few wins against opponents that couldn't deal with them. I was going to use the AOAOAOA (Age Old Age of Ascension Organized Approach - bit of a stretch) I had no expectations of making day 2 (dramatic foreshadowing), but I wanted to at least try and get an even record. So I sleeved my deck, and was set to go.
My first match was against a young man from Brazil. He said English was not his primary language, and he apologized in advance for any barriers, but honestly he spoke quite well, and I don't think we had any issues understanding each other. In fact, I understood him better than a lot of Pittsburgh natives, or Yinzers, as they are called (for fun, look up a Pittsburghese accent). But anyway, I started out strong in Mars, and got my Invasion Portal out. Little did I know how important that card would be in my games. Pretty much every turn I stayed with Mars. I don't typically like to do that, since there is no cycle that way, but with Invasion Portal, there kind of was. And besides, if your opponent cannot address the 6+ creatures out there, you will just keep reaping for the win. Also, with my deck, I would just be playing more creatures in other houses, so it's not like I am missing some great action cards or anything. I forged my keys fairly quickly, and when my opponent threatened, I managed to pull out the Resonator. He eventually did forge a key at 10 cost, and threatened to forge a second, but by that time I easily had enough to forge my third. The only delay was that my opponent had Shadows, and so he would steal from me and slow me down, but I felt pretty dominant the whole time. 1-0
I really need to take better notes for my games, because the next two games were a blur. I know I won my second game very quickly, with me just flooding the board with creatures and controlling enough with the few cards I had. I believe I did forge my third key using either Chota or Key Charge, but it was mainly Mars, with a little support with Sanctum, that won that game. My third game was against a guy who had just learned about the game a few months prior, but who had never played in a tournament before. His deck had Brobnar in it, which scared me. Luckily though, I did what I always did and flooded the board. It got dicey a few times with those big Brobnar creatures, especially with him having a Drummernaut out there, but I managed to use my Sanctum to good effect. I believe Lord Golgotha with Smite and Shield of Justice helped clear out the board to give me the advantage at one point (A Lion might have also been present). After the game, I found out that his Grump Buggy and Burn the Stockpile were at the bottom of his deck. That would have made a big difference. I definitely would have been slowed down. And although I can get some decent sized creatures out there to slow him down too, it might have been the deciding factor in his favor. Luckily for me, the draws were on my side. 3-0.
So I figured I would soon be up against some really good decks, and this next one was no joke. I was playing Sydnie Steele, whom I met at Origins, who also made it to Day 2 of that sealed event. She was very friendly and bubbly, and also very good at Keyforge. I knew this would be a tough match, but at least I knew my opponent would be very nice either way. Our game was super close. She jumped into the lead early on, but I managed to scrape back, even when she wiped the board. I just kept on trying to flood the board and cause her to waste time to kill my creatures. Eventually we both had 2 keys and were in that Keyforge game state of constantly taking each other out of check. It could have gone both ways, but I eventually won out. Sydnie did not draw very well in the game. We played another friendly game, where she jumped ahead 2 keys to none very quickly, but I managed to get real lucky with my Resonator and Hypnotic Command I believe. Sydnie was gracious as always. I felt a little bad, as I felt that her deck was better than mine, but perhaps she just kept having some bad draws. 4-0
My friend, Pritika Dasgupta, a fellow Fuzzy Gruen, was also doing very well in the tournament. She and I were both 4-0. We both kept hoping we would not be matched up together but we knew it was a possibility. Unfortunately, we had to play each other. Luckily, we knew that we at least wouldn't eliminate each other from making Day 2, although we would be making it harder for the other. On another plus side, was that whoever won was guaranteed to get to day 2. I believe she ran Shadows/Logos/Mars. She started out extremely fast, generating 6 amber on her second turn. I think I had to use Maruck the Marked with a Smite just to capture an amber to slow her down. We kept going back and forth. I believe she forged first, then I tied it, then she got her second before I got mine, but I could be wrong on that timing. It was by far the closest match I had so far in the tournament. I don't recall whether it was a Key Charge, or just massive amounts of Amber that won me the game, but I knew that if it went on for another turn, she would have won. As gracious in victory as in defeat, Pritika was a great sport. She gave me my win to guarantee my entry into day 2. I really hoped that I didn't screw her over but she ended up losing her last match as well, leaving her at 4-2. I believe she was 4-2 at Origins as well. Solid turnout both times. Team Fuzzy Gruens is represented well. :) 5-0
Well, I could relax a little bit in my last match, knowing that I was guaranteed to make it Day 2. I knew I still wanted to win, because I wanted a first round bye if possible, but I wasn't going to kill myself trying to play. I was asked again to play on stream (I was also asked in the 3rd round, but declined), and this time I accepted. And thus started the curse, lol. I was playing Nathan Starwalte on the livestream (around the 1:10:00 mark). It was an embarrassing game, lol. I'm not sure if I just misplayed, or it was a horrible match. It was probably a wonderful mixture, lol. Well, I know one combo that spelled doom for me: Key to Dis and Lifeward. What a great combo, and so good against my deck, lol. And then he got the combo again after using it. Maybe my misplay was not shuffling his deck enough, lol. His deck was definitely better than mine though. I should have discarded Save the Pack way earlier than I did, that was a dead card for too long. I always misplay that dumb card. But anyway, I finished the day at 5-1, ranked #10 going into Day 2.
I got there early to make sure I wasn't late (Day 1 starting 2 1/2 hours late thanks to computer glitches. yay). I managed to notice Josh Massey and Alex Watkins sneakily playing a friendly game with some new decks from the next expansion, Worlds Collide. I took as many pictures as I could and shared them to Facebook that evening. Side note: I can't wait for it, everything looks awesome. Another article spoiling the new cards will be coming hopefully soon. But back to the Vault Tour, I found out I was not ranked high enough to get a first round bye. I was matched up against Erich Taylor of Team SAS. Erich informed me of his curse of making it to Day 2 and then losing in his first match, a curse I would have been happy to oblige, although I doubted winning with my deck still. He had Mars/Sanctum/Shadows. I was really scared about the Sanctum and Shadows because if he had big and strong Sanctum creatures I would have trouble, and Shadows could steal everything I had with me not being able to reciprocate. I started out flooding the board like I usually want to do, but Erich played Scowly Caper on me.
This was a great play by him, and it was something that would hound me almost the whole game. I have no direct removal, so unless he destroys it himself, or he plays something with Hazardous, that Scowly Caper will just keep killing my line. I think I probably played my best game of the tournament this game though. I had a lot of decisions to make. I knew I had to keep playing creatures each turn, in order to stay ahead of Scowly Caper's removal, or else I would never be able to play anything. There were times I played a Lion next to him, and with the help of Haedroth's Wall, I was swinging in with 6-power with skirmish creature every turn, to help clear my opponent's board. At one point Erich did have someone with hazardous out, but Scowly was actually too powerful to be killed by it, lol. I rapidly played some more cards to try and stay ahead of Scowly, but then Erich played Mars Needs Amber and Phloxem Spike on me after making sure everyone was wounded.
It was quite a dramatic turn around, and although Erich wasn't sure of the play, I think it was the right call at the time. He almost came back, but I managed to flood the board once again with Mars creatures and managed to gain enough Amber to stay away from his stealing Shadows. Rob's Gaming Table streamed the game. Check it out, here, because it was a pretty exciting game. 6-1.
I made it to the Top 16! Nobody was more surprised than I. I was riding this high when they asked if I wanted to be on stream and I unfortunately said yes. Being on Livestream (we start around the 1:17:00 mark) puts undo stress on me, plus there is the curse, lol. But actually, it would not have mattered anyway, because both my opponent and his deck were much better than myself and mine. Jason Scarrow from Team Reapout had Shadows/Dis/Sanctum, which was probably my worst kind of matchup. He was able to flood the board just as well, if not more, than I. He had some really strong creatures which included Aubade the Grim, 3 copies of Abond the Armosmith, and Charette. He also had 3 Exhumes and 3 Miasmas, lol. It was a crazy deck.
He just kept playing so many strong creatures, and I was just trying to stay alive and stop him from forging keys. I could not even trade with his. I made him wipe the board when I finally got ahead, and managed to grow another big board, but he just kept racing. At the end I needed Invasion Portal to get my Resonator to stop him, but I didn't draw it. I don't think it would have mattered though, as he just would have destroyed it and reaped the next turn. His deck was considerably better than mine I'd say. I don't think I would beat his deck even 1/10 of the time. But oh well. Thus ended my run. I ended the tournament at 6-2 in 13th place. It was enough to earn me a ton of shards, as well as push my silly deck to power 5, which is hilarious. The earned VT shards also pushed me to #21 on the VT leaderboard, which is pretty cool. I wonder how I would do if I ever got a Sealed deck with a SAS rating above 80 (my Origins top 4 was 76 SAS)? I'd probably lose faster or something, lol.
Side note: I also played in the Archon tournament. I managed to go 4-2, which was just shy of making it to day 2. My highlights were a loss to Kyle Coons who went 9-1 and finished in 3rd in the tournament, as well as giving Colby Gerrish his only loss of Day 1 (he went on finish 7-2 in 8th place). My teammates Pritika Dasgupta and Bill McIntyre also went 4-2, so it was a really great showing for Team Fuzzy Gruens! As a team, we have 2 Day 2 appearances (top 4 at Origins Sealed, and top 16 at Gencon Sealed), and between our members I think we have a collective record of 49-23 at the Vault Tours at Origins and Gencon (7 team members), which I think is amazing!
Going back to this Sealed VT, that is how I got a 67 SAS/41 AERC/9 Rankey deck to the top 16 at a Vault Tour. I still don't think my deck is good. It has way too many flaws for it to be competitive, especially in Archon. But this tournament goes to show there is something to be said for a high creature count. I don't think our current ranking metrics really account for that very well yet. I suppose in an Archon format, most decks run some board wipes, so it really hurts high creature decks. But still. With a high creature count, you can in theory win every game, just because of how the reaping mechanics work. I definitely got some good draws and good matchups that really helped me advance, but I think I probably miscalculated how good having all those creatures really was. So yeah, don't give up, and don't think you can't compete just because you don't have an amazing deck. I still love Sealed the most for Keyforge, and I can't wait to see what the new set brings. If you made it this far, thanks so much for reading, I hope it was entertaining, and as always, happy gaming!
No comments:
Post a Comment