My Manchester WKO Event Re-Cap

The third U.K. WKO of the Winter Season took place last weekend at Fanboy 3 in Manchester. There were 12 players in attendance for the event with many familiar faces around from “the circuit” travelling in from various locations around the UK.

The atmosphere was warm & jovial as players gathered in the local coffee shop waiting for some late arrivals, who were experiencing traffic problems, before the event started. Lots of banter was floating around as we discussed Bard, rotation and the quality of the Manchester weather.

Once everyone had arrived team lists were swiftly completed and registration arranged by Dave the Owner of Fanboy 3. Dave delivered his briefing, along with some hints around the upcoming Nationals, and ran the Swiss seatings for us all.

After a bit of shuffling around and settling in everybody was set & raring to go.

Let’s start by talking through my team…

The Team

The team I had prepared was:

Basic Actions

• The Oppression Begins
• Blink – Transmutation

Character/Action Cards

• Multiple Man – Pile On! (6)
• Constantine – Helblazer (2)
• Captain America – Super Soldier (2)
• Oni – Greater Giant (2)
• Oracle – Master Investigator (2)
• Storm – Wind-Rider (3)
• Blue-Eyes White Dragon – Monstrous Dragon (1)
• Colossus – Piotr Rasputin (2)

The plan was simple – use ‘Multiple Man’ for ramp with his swarm game-text, buy ‘Colossus’, then start fielding ‘Multiple Man’ to provide loads of bodies for that awesome ‘Colossus’ game-text.

The rest of the team was pretty much reactive defense cards. Through play-testing the team it was uncommon not to have a ‘Constantine’, ‘Oracle’, and maybe a ‘Captain America’ (usually at least two of them), sitting in the field to both protect me and to be yet more bodies to feed the ‘Colossus’ direct damage machine. I took to calling this wall my “back office function”.

‘Oni’ and ‘Storm’ are for removal as required, and ‘Blue-Eyes White Dragon’ was there to allow me to rinse & repeat them as required.

With my team set, here’s how my games went…

Round One – Matt

My first pairing was against Matt, who I had met and played before at previous events.

Matt & I had faced off in the Nottingham WKO and, on that occasion, Matt had squarely thrashed me – so I was looking forward to the opportunity for a re-match. Here’s Matt’s team:

Basic Actions

• Invulnerability
• Magic Missile

Character/Action Cards

• Guy Gardner – Blinding Rage (4)
• Dex-Starr – I Good Kitty (4)
• Hulk – Jade Giant (2)
• Spider-Man – Webslinger (2)
• Batgirl – Commish’s Daughter (2)
• Human Paladin – Lesser Emerald Enclave (2)
• Superwoman – Lois Lane (3)
• Professor X – Trainer (1)

Matt’s strategy was to buy up his ‘Guy Gardner’ die to get the pressure on, with a view to eventually line up a ‘Spider-Man’ and walk his lethal horde through.

The first game of the round went exactly like that too. Matt got some ‘Guy Gardner’ die out, along with some Sidekicks, and relentlessly started smashing against my wall. Matt had also clocked my ‘Blink – Transmutation’ global and picked up one of his ‘Human Paladin – Lesser Emerald Enclave’ die to stop my shenanigans.

The main upshot of this was that my own purchases (largely ‘Multiple Man’ dice and a ‘Constantine’) were repeatedly getting KO’d by the ‘Guy Gardner’ assault, killing my Swarm ramp mechanic, and hitting me hard on fielding costs, despite my abuse of Matt’s PXG.

By the time I had settled in, got a more stable board, and ramped to a ‘Colossus’ Matt had his ‘Hulk’ out and kept killing my ‘Colossus’.

Eventually Matt’s ‘Spider-Man’ came along to deal with my army of ‘Multiple Man’ die and walked his ‘Guy Gardner’ die through to victory.

I had lost my first game of the event. I took my lumps and learned my lessons, lessons I carried into games two & three of my round with Matt.

Those next two games went much smoother. I grabbed my ‘Oracle’ much faster than in the first game to slow his ramp down (she also proved to be an awesome blocker) and then speed ramped to my ‘Colossus’ to start getting my direct damage in sooner. (He, incidentally, also proved to be a handy bit of muscle to have around for blocking too on the lvl 3 face I rolled in game 2) I also repeatedly got lucky with ‘Constantine’ naming ‘Guy Gardner’ a few times, which helped a lot.

This strategy proved much more effective for me, and I went on to win the round two games to one in the end.

1W – 0T – 0L

Round Two – Ben

Next up was my main man Ben Said Scott, current U.K. National Champion and regular contributor to this blog.

Ben had been the inspiration for my team and had helped me out with some feedback & suggestions as I was brewing it over the last few weeks. It was in a conversation with Ben he suggested ‘Colossus’ as a win condition for my team to suit my tentative, less-aggressive style of play. So Ben was very familiar with my team & I his.

Here’s Ben’s Team:

Basic Actions

• Fighting
• The Oppression Begins

Character/Action Cards

• Elf Thief – Lesser Harper (4)
• Constantine – Hellblazer (3)
• Rip Hunter’s Chalkboard – When Am I? (1)
• Nitro – Explosive Personality (3)
• Prismatic Spray – Lesser Spell (3)
• Beholder – Lesser Aberration (4)
• Red-Eyes Blue Dragon – Inferno Fire Blast (2)
• Blue-Eyes White Dragon – Monstrous Dragon (1)

Ben’s strategy was to line up ramp using ‘The Beholder’s’ “when fielded” game-text, field Sidekicks, buy up his ‘Red-Eyes Blue Dragon’ and then clear the field with REBD & ‘Fighting’ to swing for lethal with some fat stats.

‘Blink – Transmutate’ global was the hero of these games for me. I quickly loaded up with ‘Multiple Men’ die and fielded some early Sidekick die for my BEWD global to eat up. This got me to my ‘Colossus’ purchase nice & quick so I had an abundance of Mask energy to feed the ‘Blink’ global and keep Ben’s big attackers at bay.

I also got early an ‘Constantine’ die out to keep away the ‘Red Dragon’ & ‘Beholder’. Between ‘Constantine’ and ‘Blink – Transmutate’ global I managed to make life tough for Ben and when ‘Colossus’ hit the table in both games there was enough bodies to deliver lethal damage over a handful of turns.

I had won my second round.

2W – 0T – 0L

Round Three – Paul

My third round was against another friend & regular blog contributor: Paul Fullwood.

Here’s Paul’s team:

Basic Actions

• Imprisoned
• End of Days

Character/Action Cards

• Oracle – Master Investigator (2)
• Blue-Eyes White Dragon – Monstrous Dragon (1)
• Elf Thief – Lesser Harper (4)
• Oni – Greater Giant (4)
• Constantine – Hellblazer (3)
• Professor X – Trainer (1)
• Dwarf Wizard – Paragon Zhentarim (2)
• Half-Elf Bard – Master’s Lords Alliance (3)

I moved to purchase ‘Oracle’ nice & early and bought up some of Paul’s ‘Imprisoned’ die in an attempt to slow him down.

I then moved across to my own plan and started picking up my ‘Multiple Men’ die to get my own ramp up. I used Paul’s PXG in a handful of early rounds too, but this was soon scuppered by Paul’s ‘Oracle’ making it initially too expensive.

Paul hung tight and worked on building up a little army awaiting their Bard support. I did all I could to slow things down but in the end it was not enough. Paul pulled an ‘Imprisoned’ move off clearing a chunk of my field, including my ‘Oracle’, and then eventually got his ‘Bard’ out. I had filled my bag up too much replacing my ‘Imprisoned’ die and so my own ‘Imprisoned’ simply eluded me.

 

Once his team was strong enough in surplus to my blockers & saved ‘Blink’ Masks Paul swung in for lethal (which, to be fair, with ‘Bard’ out it meant it was only really a handful of additional characters he needed to get that required headcount up)

We racked up for a second game but time was not on my side. I was able to stall Paul as I did in the first round, but I could not get it together in time to deliver lethal by the close of the five rounds at time. I had kept him at bay with enough blockers & ‘Blink’ global to runout the clock but had no capacity to deliver lethal damage myself, and so conceded in the “out of time” five turns, giving Paul the round.

I was now on 2W – 0T – 1L

Round Four – Seth

My next round was against Seth – the younger part of the Fullwood Father & Son Manchester Dice Masters combo.

Here’s Seth’s team:

Basic Actions

• End of Days
• Magic Missile

Character/Action Cards

• Half-Elf Bard – Master Lord’s Alliance (4)
• Hulk – Green Goliath (2)
• Professor X – Trainer (1)
• Oni – Greater Giant (4)
• Elf Thief – Lesser Harper (4)
• Oracle – Master Investigator (2)
• Blue-Eyes White Dragon – Monstrous Dragon (1)
• Constantine – Hellblazer (2)

‘Oracle’ was the secret to my success here. Unlike his Dad’s team, Seth was using his ‘Hulk – Green Goliath’ to clear the way for his lethal ‘Bard’ blow so I knew I just needed to slow down his ability to get the big green terror out.

As with my previous games I was not short of ‘Multiple Man’ meat to throw in the way of any attacks Seth lined up or Masks to ‘Blink’ a few back. As I had hoped: the ‘Hulk’ eluded Seth through a combination of ramp choke from ‘Oracle’ and some unsuitable rolls on Seth’s part, keeping my little wall relatively safe and ready to block if needed.

Once ‘Colossus’ had been bought and hit the field the “back office function” was in place and ready to deliver some big Hits of direct damage over just a few rounds to bring a win.

The second game went much the same way. I got my head down and stuck to the strategy that had worked for me all day really – ‘Oracle’, ‘Constantine’, and an initial ‘Mulitple Man’ early doors, then stock up on swarmers for ramp & muscle.

Sticking to the plan paid off, and once again ‘Colossus’ hit the field to a small unit of Lvl 2 & higher characters to give me lethal over a small handful of rounds.

Round four stats: 3W – 0T – 1L

Top Eight Cut

I glided into the top 8 cut, holding the second position in Swiss after only Paul, who so far had gone undefeated. There was some anxious players as the cut was announced with a band of 2W – 2L players waiting to see whether the ‘Strength of Schedule’ sorted the rankings in their favour.

Participation cards were distributed and a short break was called to grab some sandwiches and pick up some much needed coffee.

With my belly filled and my caffeine levels increased I headed into the Top 8 round…

Top Eight Round – Dante Moss

My top 8 draw was Dante, a well known player on the scene who I had played a number of times in past events. Dante will travel the length & breadth of the country for a good game of Dice Masters and is a regular voice in the online community.

Here’s Dante’s team:

Basic Actions

• End of Days
• Escape Incarceration

Character/Action Cards

• S.T.A.R. Labs – Advanced Research (1)
• Thousand Dragon – Noxious Nostril Gust (1)
• Human Paladin – Lesser Emerald Enclave (2)
• Prismatic Spray – Lesser Spray (2)
• Taskmaster – Watch and Learn (3)
• X-23 – Blades of Rage (3)
• Mary Jane – MJ (4)
• Stepford Cuckoos – Celeste (4)

Dante’s strategy was to control my field with the ‘Stepford Cuckoos’ and ‘End of Days’, then pivot move to ‘Mary Jane’ and ‘X-23’ for some nasty overcrushing pain.

I stuck to my plan & grabbed ‘Constantine’ and ‘Multiple Man’ nice & early to get my strategy running. Dante jumped out the gate buying up his ‘End of Days’ and ‘Stepford Cuckoos’ die.

I managed Dante’s ‘Stepford Cuckoos’ with my ‘Constantine’ and managed to keep a ‘Multiple Man’ die in the field whenever ‘End of Days’ swung around. I’d bought up nearly all my ‘Multiple Men’ die early doors, so was in a strong position to churn through my bag with swarm and get to the dice I needed despite frequent board clearing from ‘End of Days’.

I also struck it super lucky in the first game as Dante failed turn after turn to roll any Bolt energy to buy yogis ‘X-23’ dice. This meant I could crack on without the threat of a big overcrusher swinging across the field at me.

As was now routine for the day up until now; ‘Colossus’ hit the field and did a job once again, and in a few short turns I had delivered lethal through direct damage.

There was a bit of confusion at this point as to whether Top 8 cut was Songle Affiliation rounds, but the TO confirmed it was a “best of three” so we racked up a second game.

The second game went really well for me. I ramped to a ‘Colossus’ super quick: the dice just rolled in my favour. By third turn I was dealing damage from the big man.

Conversely: Dante was still cursed by dodgy rolls. He had bought up some X-23 dice this time around, but now they would not roll a character face. It was a tough break, but one I took full advantage of.  I kept chipping away with ‘Colossus’ until lethal damage was delivered.

I was through to the top 4 cut.

Top Four Cut – Ben Said Scott

This was my second face-off with Ben of the day and Ben clearly had a few thoughts as to how he could make this time around more challenging for me.

He shifted gear with his strategy and rushed to purchasing his ‘Red-Eyes Blue Dragon’, ‘Beholder’ and ‘Elf Thief’ die and proceeded to fire them aggro style across the field turn after turn. The ‘Elf Thief’ die kept dipping into my stash of Mask energy for ‘Blink – Transmutation’ Global’ and my “back office function” had to keep getting thrown in front of the onslaught like lambs to the slaughter.

I was also struggling to keep a ‘Multiple Man’ in the field for my ramp/churn and my ‘Constantine’ as I needed them as blocking muscle.

This went on for aaaaages, until eventually I got so boxed in (I was starting to tilt… badly) I just let a number of attackers through and took the hit to get them to the Used Pile & out of my face. I was on 5 life, but it was just the breather I needed to get some ramp going to buy a ‘Colossus’ die.

In the words on Ben himself “between aggro and control, control will win through in the end.” I had kept him at bay as much as possible with my ‘Constantine’, ‘Blink’ global, and blocking that I had managed to get myself into a better position.

Once ‘Colossus’ hit the field I had some damage going the opposite way, as well as a beefy blocker with the stats to stay in the field when he blocked. Bit by bit, turn after turn, I got Ben chipped away with ‘Colossus’ damage and finally took the win. Phew!

It was a hard fought, single game round, but I got there in the end and secured a position in the final!

Top Two Cut – Paul Fullwood

There we were then, me & Paul, set to fight it out for the top spot. We were both already pleased with our performance through the day as our position in the final guaranteed us both a qualification spot for the UK Nationals.

I was exhausted and had honestly lost focus & concentration altogether by that point. Between Paul’s well piloted, strong team and my dodgy decisions & bad play, the outcome was pretty inevitable.

I can catalogue all the daft things I should have done: I failed to buy any of the ‘Imprisoned’ die out from under him, mis-timed my ‘Oni’ purchase, picked up a ‘The Oppression Begins’ (which would have cleared all his nasty little army out) too late, and generally struggled to focus & concentrate to the end.

Not only that, but Paul had his lucky Loki with him to cast his mischievous magic and disrupt all my rolls.

I was an easy beat, but second place was waaaaay higher than I ever imagined I’d place, and I had secured my Nationals qualification place. 

———–

There we go then folks. It was a great day’s gaming and I had a tremendous time. Once again the U.K. community proved itself to be the best gaming community I’ve been involved with – all my opponent’s were a diamond bunch of gents. 

Congratulations to Paul – well done mucka! I’ll see you at Nats – I’m coming after that Bard! LOL 

I’ve already started casting my thoughts to Nationals and what team I might play. I’d welcome any suggestions anyone may have for a tentative, gentle player such as myself.

Any questions – drop me a note in the comments below…