Shadowfist Tournament Report: Smackdown in Jacktown 2005
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[posted 11 Nov 2005; updated 3 Aug 2008]
Kel McKay of Toronto fame won the second annual Smackdown in Jacktown multiplayer tournament in Jackson, Michigan [decklist].
Tim Linden, also of Toronto, won the dueling event [decklist].
Braz King provided a quick summary, and Benjamin Barnett provided a play-by-play of the multiplayer final.
Originally published in the Shadowfist Forum on Yahoogroups on 7 November 2005. Republished with permission. Members can read the original in the archive.
I'm in a rush to get to the office at the moment, so I'll just say a few things. The turn out was really good. I think we had 26 in the Final Brawl and many were newer players, with a couple of really young kids, a bunch of later teens/early twenties with about... maybe 1/2 to 1/3 of the players hardcore veterans.
Friday night the Toronto contingent played in the Jackson Battlegrounds proving ground, both guns blazing duelling. A local player, who's name I forget, dominated with a 7M Unexpected Rescure/WotC, Ben. Tao, Fox Pass/TotA S, Balanced Harmonies monstrosity. Tim Linden came second with his Sorcerer's Throne deck, and I came third with my Brawl in the Tombs Dragon deck.
The Smackdown Champion (Final Brawl) this year is Kel McKay, of Toronto. It was a great win for him going undefeated through four qualifying rounds then taking the final in about half an hour. Kel hasn't won any major tournaments before so this was exciting to see. He also hasn't even played casual cards much this year because he and his wife Anita have had their first baby this year. So congratulations to Kel and his ReAscended/Golden Comeback deck for a dominating win!
I should note that Zev played in this tournament and was actually the leader, by far, after the final qualifying round. He was playing his old PingPing deck and I could not believe it was winning so much! LOL! However, the amount of CHARs in the tournament helped as he was running multiple Purist Sorcerers and when there wasn't a CHAR to take he would drop the state that changes the designator and take another hitter (saw him get the Eastern King that way). The Walking Corpses were standouts as well, because at any time when there was an open window, he could drop that 2 for 4 and take a site, or whatever was needed. Zev bowed out of the final to let another player in, who turned out to be Gordon ? from Chicago area.
Tim Linden own the duelling event, and I came second again. In the final between Tim and I his deck rolled, my tipped over and died. Four of my five Brawls were in the bottom 8 cards of the deck and I didn't draw a foundation till turn three, so the final was anticlimactic, but the event was fun.
That's all I have time for now! Someone else can add to this perhaps?
Cheers,
Braz.
Published with permission.
PLAYERS / DECKS
(in play order):
Gordon ? / mono-Architects (good stuff?)
Benjamin Barnett / Ascended-Hand Cascade (Bull Markets + card draw) [decklist]
Kel McKay / Ascended-Dragon Reascended [decklist]
Charles Soong / Monarchs good stuff
Players diced for seating order, shook hands all around, and got down to an unexpectedly short (about 25 minutes) slugfest for all the marbles. I only jotted highlights, and omitted turns where nothing notable seemed to be happening; if I'd known there'd only be 6 turns in total I would've been more thorough.
Just a quick mention that Greg Zimmerman and the Michigan crew did another amazing job organizing a top tier event, with 26 participants in the multiplayer tournament. That's 2 better than Nationals drew this year! And thanks of course to the Canadian contingent, who drove all that long long way to hand us our asses. Thanks also to Zev for showing up, kicking ass like a playa, then bowing out of the final to give as many non-owners as possible a shot at the katana. You the man, Z.
TURN ONE:
=========
G: --- (plays nothing)
B: FSS
K: FSS, ASC foundation
C: FSS
TURN THREE:
=========
G: FSS (2 total), Beta Beast, Test Subj, Reinvig Process
B: Reveal Coral Reef, play FSS (2 total), attack with Gangsters, Reef
K: Reveal Waterfall Sanct (don't remember why? pinged by C?), play FSS (2 total),
Political Corruption
C: Reveal and employ Gambling House, make King of the Fire Pagoda v2. Nerve
Gassed by Gordon.
TURN FOUR:
=========
G: K Final Brawls at end of turn, mostly clears board
B: ---
K: Golden Comeback Hacker
C: no notes
TURN FIVE:
=========
G: no notes
B: Bull Market and attack K FSS with spuds, successful but not fatal
K: make Serket, attack B Coral Reef, BFV; Hacker reveals G Whirlpool
C: no notes
TURN SIX:
=========
G: make Napalm Belcher
B: --- at end of turn G belches K column, K brawls in response to kill Serket
K: Golden Comeback Serket, attack G whirlpool for win!
Gordon and Kel's decks seemed most focused and were able to do something almost every turn. Charles didn't perhaps have enough time to come back from losing King of the Fire Pagoda v2, and my deck was slow out of the gate -- I was relying on Blade Palm and Positive Chi to thwart wins and I just didn't draw into them soon enough. In fact my turn 5 attack was as much an attempt to Reef myself into some stoppage as to take a site. Congrats again to Kel McKay for a tightly-tuned deck and relentlessly efficient, tournament-winning play!
[writeup by Benjamin Barnett]
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