A Howling Time at Carnage

This past weekend saw my third annual trip to Vermont's premier gaming convention, Carnage on the Mountain. Again this year I was tapped by the convention's organizers to run a handful of Legend of the Five Rings events. I'll write a bit more about my role as a Tournament Organizer in a future blog, but before I forget the details I wanted to look back at the eight person Magic: The Gathering Side Draft I took part in on Sunday.

As you know if you've been reading my blog, while I've been whole-heartedly enjoying the Innistrad Limited environment, even if my performances with it have been lacking any success. That said, I'm happy to share that with some advancement along my MtG learning curve and a small bit of luck, I was able to rack up an appearance in the finals match of this Side Draft pod with G/R Werewolves.

Going in to the draft, I once again approached the drafting portion of the event with a clean slate, no agenda on my mind other than to have fun. Cracking my first pack, I see I've gotten two rares, what with my dual-faced Transforming card being a rare as well as the one normally found in the pack. The commons and uncommons in the pack were fairly generic, but a few solid options were there. After some hemming and hawing over what direction to take in the draft, I could see there where quite a few Werewolf cards cracked in this first round of packs, so I opted to see if I could avoid signaling too much and make a deck that would support the Instigator Gang/Wildblood Pack in my fresh pack, itching to cause some carnage. Howling at the moon on the inside, I quietly set the card Moon side up in front of me and casually passed the remaining picks to the left.

For my next pick, a Gatstaf Shepherd/Gatstaf Howler caught my eye right off, and while a quick glance over the other cards in the pack offered nothing really any more powerful, I decided to risk possibly committing to not just two colors early, but an entire tribal theme. As the packs continued to circle the draft pod, it became clear not many players were picking up on table signals, much less noticing my affinity for drafting Werewolves, as I picked up two Moonmist and another Lycanthrope in the first round of drafting.

With my colors and archetype now completely locked in, I spend the rest of the draft picking up a few more Werewolves, a pair of Full Moon's Rise, a spot of removal and some other utility cards. Upon laying out my pool to start deck construction, it becomes clear that the deck I'm building will certainly want to play very aggressively, and allows little room for coming back should a game go long. Sleeving up my assemblage of fur and claws, we start the single elimination rounds.

Round 1 I'm paired against a fairly aggressive G/W Human build. My opponent wins the die roll and opts to play, coming out quick and dropping an Avacyn's Pilgrim turn one. Following it up with a two more creature drops on her turn two. I untap on my turn two, dropping my Gatstaf Shepherd in to play already eager to start attacking her life total. Unfortunately she makes her third land drop, uses a Pilgrim to produce a white mana and drops a Slayer of the Wicked on to the battlefield. As my Shepherd finds it's way to the graveyard, I get attacked by her Doomed Traveler and second Pilgrim. Over the next few turns, I manage to drop at least one creature in to play a turn, and stay from dipping below 10 life.

I lose another Werewolf to a second Slayer of the Wicked, but my Ashmouth Hound and Hamlet Captain give me some breathing room on her attacks, when I'm finally able to drop my Butcher's Cleaver and equip it to the Captain. I slowly start making attacks with my now lifelinked Humans, and while she is killing them off by chump blocking, I'm very slowly getting ahead in the life total race, as I gain 4-5 life a turn, and she's only delivering 3 points of damage a turn with her flyers. Eventually, her deck stalls out on her, and she draws 3 lands in a row, allowing me to take the tempo of the game back. Flashing back a Travel Preparations and casting a Feeling of Dread to tap out her two remaining blockers, I manage to swing in for lethal damage after casting a Moonmist to flip the two Werewolves I'd manage to stick in to play without her finding what I found out was the 3rd Slayer of the Wicked she's drafted.

In game two, she opts to play again, but ends up making a fatal mistake in keeping a hand with 3 Forests in it, and the majority of her remaining hand being white spells. As I start to build a fearsome howlpack of my own, she keeps dropping Forest after Forest on to the battlefield, chump blocking with whatever small green Creature she can, but he deck denying her the white heavy hitters in her hand. I feel bad for the speed I close of the game, but her choice to not mulligan in to a white mana source really cost her the game.

Round 2 I'm paired against a B/R Vampire deck; very aggressive. My opponent decided to brag to me a bit while constructing his deck, so I know he's running 7 low cost Vamps in addition to the Bloodline Keeper/Lord of Lineage he pulled pick one, pack one. Knowing he's going to come at me quickly, I will the die roll and opt to play, but have to mulligan to 6 cards to get in to a decent hand to help fight off his onslaught of blood-feeders. Unfortunately, my opponent finds enough removal to deal with my threats, and a fourth turn Keeper that flips on turn six allows enough damage to get through to knock me to 0 life.

Game two, I opt to play again, and thankfully he gets a much slower start. We trade damage back and forth with him slowly creeping a head in the damage race, but once more I get the Butcher's Cleaver in to play. Managing to keep my Werewolves Human though some crafty spell play, I bring the game back under my control but then he drops his Bloodline Keeper again and my clock starts ticking. Thankfully, I top deck my Geistcatcher's Rig before he can hit the 5 Vamp threshold; dealing with the biggest threat in his deck, I continue my slow march to victory with my still Human lycanthropes.

Game three, I'm on the play, and it's clear that my opponent is fading fast (some hard played games after a weekend of little sleep I find out). We both start trading early damage, and I draw my Geistcatcher's Rig again, holding off on casting it until I see that dreaded Keeper again. Unfortunately, it becomes clear very soon that my opponent's heart isn't in playing anymore, and he intentionally makes bad decisions with his cards, allowing me to win and advance to the finals. I thank him for some great games and move on to meet my next opponent.

Round 3 and I'm super happy to be doing as well as I have so far. Unfortunately that excitement ends quickly, as in both my games this round, my deck fails to keep up with the very aggressive Blue and Green pool my opponent drafted, not to mention any threats I do produce fall quickly to his excellent splashed Red removal. After the match, I talk a bit with my opponent about drafting a tribal theme, Werewolves in particular, and we both agree that it's not a good strategy to go in to a draft with, but sometimes the cards fall the right way, and one can build something like I did that day.

Below is the main deck and sideboard from my pool, and as always, I'm interested to hear what you may have done differently.

Main Deck
1 Ambush Viper
1 Ashmouth Hound
1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Feral Ridgewolf
1 Gatstaf Shepherd/Gatstaf Howler
1 Geistcatcher's Rig
1 Grizzled Outcasts/Krallenhorde Wantons
1 Hamlet Captain
1 Instigator Gang/Wildblood Pack
1 Kruin Outlaw/Terror of Kruin Pass
1 Pitchburn Devils
1 Somberwald Spider
1 Tormented Pariah/Rampaging Werewolf
1 Villagers of Estwald/Howlpack of Estwald
2 Caravan Vigil
1 Butcher's Cleaver
1 Feeling of Dread
1 Full Moon's Rise
1 Geistflame
2 Moonmist
1 Traitorous Blood
2 Travel Preparations
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Plains
6 Mountain
7 Forest

Sideboard
2 Ghostly Possession
1 Purify the Grave
1 Silverchase Fox
1 Voiceless Spirit
1 Stitcher's Apprentice
1 Ghoulraiser
1 Nightbird's Clutches
1 Rage Thrower
1 Riot Devils
1 Full Moon's Rise
1 Grave Bramble
1 Naturalize
1 Spidery Grasp
1 Demonmail Hauberk
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Sulfur Falls

Cardboard Cares!

As many of my friends know, I'm a huge supporter of giving back, and a major factor in why I love Legend of the Five Rings' community so much is the numerous charitable opportunities that are attached to larger events. Every year, I run a storyline event as part of the Carnage gaming convention in Fairlee, Vermont. This year I decided to put my money where my mouth is and add a charity drive to my event. So without further ado, I am happy to share here my charity drive:

Restoring the Doji Treasury - A L5R Charity Fundraiser

The weekend of August 27th, Hurricane Irene made her way up the East coast of the United States. The large amounts of wind and rain brought by Irene, then downgraded to a Tropical Storm, have devastated parts of Vermont with possibly the worst flooding to occur in the past 85 years. Entire towns became cut off from all access routes as roads washed away when up to 11 inches of rain fell in parts of the state of Vermont. Although the loss of life has been small, more than 260 roads and highways were closed due to flood damage and roughly 50,000 people lost power; some are still without it a week later. This has all put a terrible burden on the disaster relief agencies in Vermont and New England, and it is my hope that the people of the amazing and charitable community that surrounds L5R can help lighten that burden.

During the Name A Celestial event at CarnageCon this year, I will be running a Penny War fundraiser to benefit the Vermont Foodbank and the American Red Cross of Vermont and the New Hampshire Valley.

How does a Penny War work?
The rules of this Penny War are simple. Upon arriving at the event, those in attendance will find 10 buckets, each marked with a Clan or Shadowlands mon. Players can gain points for the faction of their choosing by dropping Pennies into the faction they wish to support; for each Penny donated, that faction will gain 1 point. Players can also drop Nickles, Dimes, Quarters and Dollar Bills in to a bucket, but the catch is, those coins and bills reduce the points for that faction by the value of the coin or bill. After all points for and against have been counted, the faction with the most points (or least amount of negative points) wins.

So what does my faction win?
It's very hard to reward an entire playerbase, but I will be attending at least 3 Kotei this next year, and I am donating myself to playing the faction that wins the Penny War at at least one Kotei, more if the amount of money raised at my event exceeds $500.

I know I don't have the tournament resume of better known players, but I have managed 3 Top 4 finishes over the course of the Celestial arc, all in events with first class players and at least 40 participants, most notably finishing 3rd at the 2011 Ottawa Kotei. I promise no matter what faction wins, I will give it my all to represent that faction to the best of my ability.

But, I'm not making it to Carnage and I still want to help.
Awesome! The community of this great game is why I'm still dedicated as ever playing after 8 years. For those still wanting to help this cause, I will offer another chance for me to represent your faction.

Anyone wishing to send me a donation online can do so, and I will keep track of what faction you want your donation to represent. I will then total all the online donations for each faction, and the faction that has donated the most money online will be played by me at one of the other Kotei I will attend in 2012. Note: These online donations will not gain or cost points for your faction on the day of the event. Anyone wishing to make a donation online, can email me for my PayPal or mailing address.

After the event, all collected donations will be split evenly between the two charities, who doubtless will be needing them as they head in to the Thanksgiving and Holiday season. Please donate what you can, and if you have any questions for me, please do not hesitate to ask.

Please repost this to any other forums or L5R venues you may visit. Thank you for your time.

The Art of the Duel

Earlier in the week, AEG announced the upcoming rules changes to happen with the new tournament arc for Legend of the Five Rings. They've been introduced to help streamline and simplify a rules set that some have referred to as "the chess of CCGs." One of the biggest changes occurred in the subsection of rules that have handled the system of Iaijutsu contests, one on one duels between two Personalities. This is only the third or fourth major tweaking of the in depth game mechanic in the 16 years of L5R's history, and certainly on par as one of the most dynamic.


In the early stages of the dueling mechanic, a player used cards from hand for their Focus Value to add to their Personality's duel stat in an effort to get a better stat total than the opposing player's Personality. The winner would get various rewards while the loser would be forced to suffer the consequences of losing, often having their Personality destroyed. The number of cards used would only be limited by the number of cards in your hand, and how many of those cards each player wanted to risk investing in any particular duel. Once a card was used to add to the duel stat, it was discarded. This use of the duel mechanic lead to careful consideration of how to invest one's resources, but ultimately lead to Personalities with an already higher duel stat bullying on lower stated targets, rarely resulting in a loss of resources on the initiating duelist's part.

As we entered the modern era of L5R, a new dueling mechanic was instituted, that of the Focus Pool. This change used only a limited number of cards from the top of each player's deck to determine what Focus Values could be added to a Personality's duel stat and one card from a player's hand could also be added to this pool if the player so desired. Introduced at roughly the same time was the Duelist keyword for Personalities. This keyword allowed Personalities with it to circumvent the usual dueling procedure and get the first opportunity to increase their duel stat via the Focus Pool as long as their starting duel stat was equal to or lower than their opposing Personality's stat. These mechanics, when recently coupled with some powerful effects on cards that would occur when their card was used to increase the duel stat, lead to some player griping about the overpowered nature of the current dueling environment. Not to allow a potentially degenerate mechanic to continue to invade their game, L5R's current Design Team once again moved the proverbial cheese and shifted the mechanic again.

Now as we enter the Emperor Edition arc, dueling has taken on a seemingly more risky nature with the current changes. Now instead of having a set pool of cards to use, you are still limited to four the number of times to can use a card to boost your duel stat, but where these cards comes from has changed significantly. Now the four cards can come from any combination of the top of your deck and your hand, with the catch that the cards from the top of your deck cannot be looked at prior to you using them to boost your duel stat. Do you invest resources from your hand, knowing by how much you've pump your stat? Or do you risk the unknown, and keep you hand flush with other options?

Also changed in Emperor Edition is how the Duelist keyword works. Gone is the option to pump your stat first if you have an equal or lesser duel stat, now the keyword allows you to win duels where the outcome is tied (tied duels still result in a double loss) as well as accessing some card manipulation after players are done boosting their duel stat. Have you found the card you used blindly from the top of your deck to be a low enough Focus Value that you'll lose the duel? The Duelist keyword now allows you, before effects from card's used resolve, to remove one of your used cards from pumping your stat and replace it with another, either from your hand or the top of your deck.

So where does these new rules leave players, like myself, who have enjoyed employing them while playing the game? Personally, I like the new direction the Design Team is taking the mechanic. Removing the ability to have the first action to pump a duel stat allows Design to create strong effects on these focused cards, while avoiding the Negative Play Experiences many players perceived in dueling's second incarnation. Unfortunately, the new system does seem to hearken a return to "bully dueling" tactics, where the dueling player would use his duel actions on his largest stat Personality and target a much lower stat opposing Personality. While this would likely be seen as a negative change to the casual observer, Design has had the foresight to already have seeded the Emperor arc card pool with enough "negative" Focus Effects that these bullied players will choose to pump their duel with. While these effects won't save their Personality from losing the duel (save for one card right now, and even that's only a delay), they do help mitigate the effects for losing what some have argued are the potentiality strongest pool of actions in the game.

At first, I'll admit, I was sure that these changes would spell a complete flavor-nerf of L5R's most unique mechanics, but after looking at all the facts we have at this time, it seems like Design just might know what they are doing. Ultimately, I don't see these dueling changes as good or bad for the game, at least not yet. All but the entire Emperor Edition base set of cards is still unknown, and who knows how that will shape the dueling metagame at the start of the arc. The mechanics by themselves certainly present us with a new approach on a classic mechanic however, and I for one welcome the opportunity to take these new tools out for a test drive.

A View of States

49 players clash at Quarterstaff Games.

The Gothic Horror of Relearning

During the lull of time prior to the new arc for Legend of the Five Rings, I've been enjoying dabbling in the worlds surrounding Dominaria by playing some of the first games of Magic: The Gathering I've played in the past nine years. I've always enjoyed MtG for it's fun and balanced Limited environment, and seeing I was just in time to enjoy the release of Innistrad (a very flavorful Gothic Horror themed set), I was excited to once more play the game that started my obsession with cardboard.

Now once upon a time, I considered myself fairly good at Booster Draft MtG. I have memories of drafting very synergistic decks that performed well and caught my opponents off guard. Since the release of Innistrad, I've participated in two drafts and put up the respectable record of 2-4-1.

How is roughly 28% win percentage respectable, you might ask?

Well apparently my memory of my past booster draft performance is highly rose-colored. After taking off my Sunglasses of Urza and looking over my draft record from nine years ago (surprisingly easy thanks to the new Planeswalker Points system and interface), I was surprised to see my draft record of 7-14-2; a solid 30% win percentage. Apparently, I'd only lost 2% of my skill after nearly a decade playing other CCGs. Factoring my performance at the Innistrad Prerelease sealed deck event, my win percentage in Limited MtG events since my "return" jumps to 38%. Awwww yeah.

Seriously however, I have been a bit taken aback by my performances at these events. Maybe it's some overconfidence provided from a few years of tournament success within L5R, but I really thought my dip back in to slinging Sorceries and summoning Creatures would be a bit more... triumphant.

So I guess there is a lot I've got to (re)learn if I want to have my MtG ramblings here taken with anything more than the proverbial grain of salt. Looking over my notes from the second draft I played, I'd thought I'd give you a small bit of run down on the tips I'll be taking away from this 0-2-1 lesson of hard knocks.

During the actual draft portion of the night, I found I still am pretty good at reading signals on what others at the table are drafting. I had easily figured out that likely only one other person in the pod was drafting Blue. What I failed to pick up on was the fact that player was seated to my immediate right, and therefore in two of the three packs we drafted, I was only getting the second best Blue option in the pack.

One of the biggest mistakes I made while drafting was my first pack, first pick: Charmbreaker Devils, a mana expensive but cheap money Rare. I had gotten burned in the previous week's draft, failing to keep any Rares and missing out on prize packs by going .500, and I was determined to not let that happen again. Unfortunately, in my zeal to keep some of my investment, I slid some blinders on and forced myself to commit to a color too early and pass on potentially better cards in order to not feel like I lost out on value. As I can see now in hindsight, I had already put me at a disadvantage going forward in to the tournament portion of the night.

For those interested, here are the cards I drafted and how I assembled them in to my main deck and sideboard. Please feel free to critique my choices and tear in to me on how I could have possibly thought this pile of junk could be any good.

Creatures
1 Ashmouth Hound
2 Bloodcrazed Neonite
1 Charmbreaker Devils
1 Civilized Scholar/Homicidal Brute
2 Crossway Vampire
1 Deranged Assistant
2 Fortress Crab
1 Invisible Stalker
1 Makeshift Mauler
1 Moon Heron
1 Reckless Waif/Merciless Predator
1 Stitched Drake
1 Stitcher's Apprentice
1 Undead Alchemist

Spells
1 Claustrophobia
2 Curse of the Pierced Heart
1 Geistflame
1 Harvest Pyre
1 Hysterical Blindness
1 Nightbird's Clutches
1 Traveler's Amulet

Lands
1 Kessig Wolf Run
6 Mountain
7 Island
1 Forest

Sideboard
1 Armored Skaab
1 Curse of the Bloody Tome
1 Forbidden Alchemy
2 Frightful Delusion
1 Sensory Deprivation
1 Stitcher's Apprentice
1 Altar's Reap
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Night Terrors
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Curse of the Pierced Heart
1 Furor of the Bitten
1 Nightbird's Clutches
1 Moldgraf Monstrosity
1 Cobbled Wings

Now in to the swiss rounds, I find myself first paired against a veteran player from another draft pod. It becomes clear very early he drafted much better (play)value cards in his pod, and he makes short work of the match, winning two games in just over 15 minutes. In both games, I had expected the slightly buildup nature of limited card pools to let me get in to the game while starting defensive, then shifting in to an aggressive board state as I got to my better cards. I vowed to myself that in the next round I'd mulligan to get my best cards in my hand to start with, rather than wait for them to potentially show up.

Round 2 pairs, and I find myself taking the lessons learned in Round 1 to heart. I mulligan my opening hand in to 6 much better cards and easily take game one with my new found confidence. We each make a few sideboard substitutions, but his prove to be better choices, and manages to eventually crack my defenses in a stalemated game to tie us up. I probably could have won this game too, but forgetting that a card can still do things while in your discard cost me the early game tempo I was building, resulting in the clogged up battlefield and ultimately my loss. With only minutes left for game three, we end up going to time and forcing the draw. RTFC (once is good, more is better) is the lesson I take away from this match.

Round 3 sees me facing the worst luck of the night, where after mulliganing and rereading my cards I get stuck on only three Land and can't keep up with his well tailored curve and flow of Creatures. Game two sees me starting off much better, and even maintaining a lead in tempo early game, I once again fall behind and can't draw a Creature, my mana fixing Artifact or my lone Forest to deliver lethal damage with my unblockable Invisible Stalker and onboard Kessig Wolf Run. Seeing as tonight's just not my night, I cut my losses and drop. Lesson here, sometimes shit happens.

Despite my atrocious performance, I really like the feel of the Innistrad design and flavor of the set, so I'm not down on myself for long. I love the thrill of limited card pool events, thankfully to a third pack Liliana of the Veil, I'll have the funds to play in at least a few more events. Let's just hope the lessons learned this week stick with me. Who knows, maybe next time I'll be able to share more than how bad I am at this game.

Men at Work

While not coming from a land down under, I do have plans to provide sone graphical refinement and upgrades to this blog in the near future.

So please, bear with me in this time of creation and know a much more polished look is on the way.

Living in a (2.5"x3.5") Box

Welcome to my blog, Flopping Cardboard.

Ever since I cracked my first booster pack back in 1994, I've been engaging in the hobby of collectible card games, or CCGs. From the original, Magic: The Gathering, to the popular, Legend of the Five Rings; from flash in the pan, The Spoils and Wildstorm, to cult favorites, Middle-Earth and Vampire: The Eternal Struggle; I've played more than my fair share of them over the past 15 years. So why decide to blog about them now?

The answer is two-fold.

First, while certainly not a recognizable name in any sizable or well renowned gaming circle, my decade and a half experience with the genre certainly must give me some insight in to the hobby and it's nuances, insight that I'd like to share with those lower on the experience totem than myself.

Secondly, I'd like to use this blog as a way to force myself to analytically review my hobby and the decisions and critical thinking involved in it in order to grow as a player myself. I am also hopeful that players more experienced than I will eventually comment and facilitate communication and growth here.

While this blog will focus on two CCGs in particular (Legend of the Five Rings and Magic: The Gathering), I hope to have a nice mix of technical entries, as well as more generally accessible posts regarding the hobby. The Legend of Five Rings posts will take priority, as that is the CCG I play most and have the greatest understanding of, in a competitive sense. The Magic: The Gathering ones will focus more on concepts and ideas, as well as mark a travel journal of my experience and growth in the limited card pool events I participate in.

Once more, welcome to Flopping Cardboard and please do not hesitate to ask questions, make comments and get involved.