Battle Report – April 13, 2008

Battle Report – April 13, 2008
Format: Constructed (8 players, 4 preliminary rounds + Finals)

Hero: Ta'zo
Tourney rank: 2nd
Final score: 4-1

For this tournament, I decided to use the same Ta'zo deck I used the last time 2 weeks ago. I had a good reason - the deck won 7 out of 8 rounds in the tourney. So, as the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I noticed a couple of guys in the event that I haven't faced before so I was looking forward to some new matchups and find out how my deck stacks up.

For the second straight time, I won all my games in the preliminary rounds. I lost the final round to come in 2nd for the tournament. The highlights for me were the games against the guys I haven't played before that day.

My 3rd round match was against a guy named Paolo and he was packing Nathadan the Paladin. I haven't played against him before but I met him when I was playing Guild Wars about a year ago and he's a nice enough fellow. I was actually looking forward to this matchup because Paladin decks won a couple of US Regionals a few months back. But with the new Betrayer set available, I really didn't know what to expect. I assumed he brought a couple of Paladin staples such as Lay on Hands, Hammer of Justice, etc. so my plan was to either try to counter if Lay on Hands does come out or just keep allies in play long enough to overwhelm him. The game was going my way when he casted Lay on Hands and healed for 21 points of damage. I still had allies on the board so, although I had to start from the beginning again, I maintained control of the game and eventually won the round. It also didn't hurt that I was able to Nether Fracture his Aegis of the Vindicator which would have seriously put a dent in my game.

The 4th round was against another guy new to me named Lloyd. Turns out to be a nice guy as well. He brought Daspien, that wily Rogue. On the 6th turn, he dropped a bomb on me - Evasion. It was a new Betrayer card and it was something I've never even seen before that day. I had to read it twice because I couldn't believe its power. Here it is: "Ongoing: Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to your hero." Wow. He still had more than 10 life left and my allies were as useless as snow skis in Cebu. All I could hope for was to get enough direct damage cards from my deck to deal fatal damage before he does the same to me. He was dual-wielding already so I knew it was only a matter of time. I finally got him down to 3 life and fired a Dragon's Breath. He countered with a Kick and I countered that with a Fizzle. Good game.

Round 1: vs Jim Paul - Kassandra
Result: win

Round 2: vs Dudes - Pagatha
Result: win

Round 3: vs Paolo - Nathadan
Result: win

Round 4: vs Lloyd - Daspien
Result: win

Finals: vs Dudes - Pagatha
Result: loss

Tournament winner: Dudes
Tournament runner-up: me