Shadowfist Tournament Report: Kublacon 2008

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[posted 10 Aug 2008; updated 12 Aug 2008]

Kublacon 2008 (May 23-26 in Burlingame, CA) had lower Shadowfist turnout than years past. The winners were announced by Pete Bratach in the Shadowfist Forum on Yahoogroups on 26 May 2008. Read the original in the archive if you're a member.

Two reports for you so far:

Pete Bratach posted a report to the Shadowfist Forum. Reposted below, with Pete's permission.

Michael Stadermann posted a report to the Shadowfist Forum. Reposted below, with Michael's permission.

Kublacon 2008 Report
by Pete Bratach, 26 May 2008

Originally posted to the Shadowfist Forum on Yahoogroups on 26 May 2008 by Pete Bratach. Republished with permission. If you're a member of the group, you can read the original in the archive.

This year was a decidedly sedate Kublacon, as far as Shadowfist goes. But we do have a West Coast Champion!

Friday night was the demo/open play. At most 6 people, all veterans, showed up, I believe (I couldn't make it, was too exhausted from a long week at work). Games went on until about 11:30 or so before everyone dispersed.

Saturday night was the first scheduled Whirlpool of Blood (we'd been running two a year the past couple of years as they had been well- received). 9 people signed up. So we had 3 tables of 3, played 3 rounds and a final. We also didn't draft with starters; instead we used 2 CS, 2 SSG, 4 Standard, then one each of Throne War, Red Wedding, N2, 2FT, Dark Future. It was a nice alternative and people built pretty good decks out of them. 3 old school Queens were drafted. One memorable play was Dan winning on the very last turn in round 2 with a Morphic Spirit and a LaGrange 4. I'm sure there were others.

In the end, Joe Ganis, Dan Hoffman and Earl Miles made it to the finals table, with Earl finally taking the win.

Sunday morning was the Final Brawl. We had to delay the start because only three of us (Dan Hoffman, Tim Wong, and me) signed up. Then Michael Stadermann arrived, so at least we had 4. Seeing as no one else was coming, and the other Fisters around opted to do something else, we decided to have one 4 player game for the title, no time limit. Not that we needed one, as Michael made fast work of us with his Lotus Devil's Rope/Torture/Bribe/sac Demon Horde deck. Dan was playing his reliable Dragons gun deck, Tim was playing Arch and I played Dragons/7Masters. So in about 40 minutes, Michael became the Shadowfist West Coast Champion!

Sunday night was supposed to be our second Whirlpool of Blood, but only 6 people signed up. Thinking it not a good use of draft stock, we abandoned the tournament of opted for some casual play. And that pretty much was the end of Kublacon, Shadowfist-wise.

One fun note is from a casual play game. Joe Ganis attacked someone with a dozen cards in play with a Shaolin Agent, Rig-Disc'ing himself numerous times, getting him up to 160-something fight. Later he sac'd him to his own Devil's Rope.

All in all, it was good seeing the people who showed up that I don't normally see anymore, but the turnout for what's normally a pretty popular Shadowfist event (last year we had 15 and the year before was like 24 for the draft) was troubling, and I wonder if that has any significance for the game in general. I'll be curious to see how the other cons do this summer.

[writeup by Pete Bratach]

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Kublacon 2008 Report
by Michael Stadermann, 30 May 2008

Originally posted to the Shadowfist Forum on Yahoogroups on 30 May 2008 by Michael Stadermann. Republished with permission. If you're a member of the group, you can read the original in the archive.

Here we go, in chronological order:

Friday: meet & greet and demo. I showed up around 6:00, found Dan, Tim and Max, and we went to the CCG room, only to find out that the event was listed in the miniatures room for some bizarre reason. No problem, we're flexible. We're also being told an hour later that we should have been in the open gaming area. Ah well. A total of 6 people wander by, no takers for a demo. Max gets me fired up about playing Man O'War in the morning. Around 11pm, I head home so I can be back for the 9am Man O'War game.

Saturday: 9am Man O'War. Max doesn't show up, but the game is fun nevertheless: The Hunt for Red Orktober.

We discover a pre-painted miniatures game with giant cyborg monkeys called AT-43 and have a demo. Then, Joe arrives, and there is more Fist. This is the game with the now legendary 171-Fighting Shaolin Agent. What wasn't mentioned so far was that he wasn't the only enormous agent. He was preceeded by the 54-Fighting Shaolin Agent, who had bad memories and a terminal encounter with a coil of rope. Alas, I had to ditch 4 of my 6 take-over events before getting into the game, so the game goes on and on until finally there is a big massacre, and Fonso wins.

The evening event is the Whirlpool, with a turnout of 9 people, about half of what we had last year. Most of the SoCal crowd didn't show, and DanO and Lugo also were absent. I draft a pretty nice deck, mono-Lotus with 2 Tortured, Ice Queen, and Evil Twin. I win the first round handily, having the Queen and her Twin in play, but the game times out before I can win. This is the tie-break point that I'll be missing when it comes to the finals later. Second round, I run into Joe's Dragon deck of Doom that played Hoosegow on turn 2 in the first round. Joe opens again with a quick beatdown, then gets stalled, and when time is called, Joe and I tie for points. Last round is Joe again, and Earl, who managed to draft an even better Lot deck than me: Destroyer, Tortured, Bribery, Ice Queen, 2 Demon Whiskeys, ... Joe opens up with speed again, then is stopped as his Senoritas are bribed to stop Hoosegow. I finally manage to get into the game with a Queen, then decide I can't really go anywhere because there's more than 11 fighting in blockers everywhere. The Queen dies to a borrowed Senorita with Six-gun before the turn comes back to me, then Earl reburies me as I try to play a blocker from my smoked pile with Library. Game over for me. Earl wins in the finals against Dan and Joe.

Sunday: I was going to play War of the Ring with Tim and Quyen (sp?), but see only 3 people for the Brawl as I walk in and decide to join (last year, there were 16 people for this event). We decide to play it out in a round. The Demon Horde appears, borrows a Senorita here, a Bruiser there, a Blightman is strangled, and cruises to the win with ~24 fighting in Demons. Yay, I'm West Coast Champion and get a House of Pancakes!

Afterwards, we decide to try out D&D 4e. Dan buys the intro module, dice and miniatures, everybody takes a pre-gen, and I run the game. Fun is had by all.

In the evening, we try to Whirlpool once more, but only get 8 players. More Fisters are around, but they want to play board games or other card games. Since we had set 9 as the minimum limit, there is no Whirlpool, and everyone wanders off for some open play or other stuff. I get to play two board games I have never played before, Starcraft and War of the Ring. Starcraft doesn't really find my liking, but War of the Ring was great.

The Con ends with much less Fist this year, but it was fun anyway. We were lacking at least 5 regulars this year, and several others only showed for one day. If scheduling is an issue, I'd like to hear suggestions for different times. Last year, the schedule worked well, with 16 people per event. As the Fist events are usually among the first to go up on the schedule, we will only be able to plan around major events, not minor game rounds.

Cheers,
Michael

[writeup by Michael Stadermann]

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