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Enchante Chang
Infinite Crisis
Enchante Chang
May 22, 2006
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I had to go to work after the Sneak Peek so I didn't get to grasp the infinite gas that was Infinite Crisis. However, when I got home I got my cards out, sorted them and began writing the kind of article I've never written before, A Sneak Peek Tournament report and a Sealed Deck Analysis all in one!

In the morning I had a Rugby game to go to…no, not to watch…but actually play! It's for a division called restricted and only people 85kgs or under can play…me? I weigh 68kgs but have been going to the gym to bulk up, but enough about me…let's talk about me! After the game I rocked up to the venue where the Sneak Peek was held and had found out that DazDaz came 1st after getting a concession from Shaun and Shaun placed 3rd after going 4-0. Nik had said he wanted to play off-curve for this Sneak Peek and I totally agreed with him, so I was more than a little disappointed when I found out that he didn't get to play off-curve because his card pool did not allow it. 3.30pm : Flight 2 of Infinite Crisis begins and I start to crack packs not knowing what cards were in this set except the preview cards on the various websites around the world. I did however, have one goal in mind; to make my deck off-curve and make top 3 (so I would get a playmat). I was really lucky and got to play off-curve, as I had some FREE 1-drops, good 2-drops and some insane blue/green and grey. I barely finish making my deck before deck construction ends. I talk to Nik for a few and found out that he did get his wish and managed to build off-curve too. Iain announces that Round 1 has been paired so I go for a wander.

I go find out who I am playing…

…hmmm…who do I play….

Round 1

Enchante Chang vs Nik Smith

OH COME ON! YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING!

BATTLE OF THE OFF-CURVE BEGINS! PLACE YOUR BETS……NOOOOOWWWWW!!!!!

I won the dice roll and choose to take odds.

Turn 1

I play Jacob Lee and Nik had Amadeus Arkham and I preceded to bash him. 49-48

Turn 2

Nik plays…Dr. Psycho…and I'm like WTF! Oh your so gay…

Go on…play a drop taunted Nik. I really had no choice and played out Stargirl. I lost my 1 drop and Nik lost nothing, so good for him! 41-46

Turn 3

I played out Blue Devil and Jaime Reyes, and thought about who I should play T-Spheres on. Nik starts to build and I'm like hold on…he's like…oh what else can you do, you've spent your points! I played the T-Sphere on Stargirl and got a cheeky…you cheat! From Nik.

After some random complaints from Nik, he played Sports Car on Dr. Psycho and played out Black Thorn in the Concealed . I sent Jaime into Psycho for a mutual, Stargirl into a 1-drop, and then Blue Devil into the Dome with Rann. 37-36

Turn 4

Nik had another concealed character in Valentina Vostock <> Negative Woman. I had Charles McNider in my concealed. Nik attacks Black Thorn into Stargirl and I had no plays and we both stunned. Then he attacked Psycho into Blue Devil which also stunned Jaime. Valentina attacked into my face and Charles did so likewise to Nik (I actually forgot to use Rann here). I recovered Stargirl and gained 6 endurance when I KO'ed Blue Devil and Nik recovered Dr. Psycho. 26-25.

Turn 5

I played Helm of Nabu on Charles and mised Sarge Steel! Why did I mise him? It was because I had two Target Acquired in my row which I couldn't use at all! I discarded Talia, Beloved Betrayer. I played the Steel and also a Weather Wizard. Before passing to Nik I played Thanagarian Invasion to make my guys insane, and then Sarge got even more insane when I spent my last resource point on him. Nik laughed a bit before playing out…Sarge Steel, Weather Wizard and 1-drop (2/1). Nik's formation was Steel protecting Psycho, 1-drop protecting Wizard and then exhausted Valentina to give all my guys -3DEF…DAMN SHE'S BROKEN!

I attacked with my wizard into Dr.Psycho and forgot about Steel's ability, Nik declined to reinforce and then his Steel and my Wizard stunned. I then felt that even though stunning his Wizard and making his guys bigger was bad, it was still better than him reinforcing my attacking Charles and Steel. So I attacked Stargirl into Wizard; Nik reinforced with Psycho. I attacked Charles into Nik's 1-drop thinking I would not stun but he had Defend Yourself! For the mutual. Nik is now on 12 and I think I can only do like 9 to him…remember those two Target Acquired? I thought you had to exhaust Locations to get any effect…how wrong I was. I attacked the then 8/4 Sarge and then flipped up the two Target Acquired, use Rann and Death from above to put Nik at -2!

So I won on turn 5 and was amazed at how quick my deck could be…OFF CURVE RULES!

I doubt anyone would have been paying attention that much, but if you paid full attention. On turn 5 you should have drawn 14 cards, I had drawn 15 because of my Helm. If you read carefully…I actually used all 15 cards this game…GAS!

(I can't remember all my games so I'm just going to summarize these last ones)

Round 2

Enchante Chang vs Jared Philips

I lost the die roll here and got even initiatives. This game, Jared did not get many Blue cards and I had my off-curve going nuts with some good Blue to pound him. I won on turn 6. These games are fast!

Round 3

Enchante Chang vs Aaron Newson

All I hear is bitching from Aaron because he had a bye round 1 and now had to play me. He won the roll and choose to go evens (I think he thinks that games go to turn 8…HA!) I out class him with my weenie swarm. On turn 4 he had 3-drop 4/4 (+3ATK while exhausted) and the new Feral Rage 11/7 (vengeance: opponent gains 4 endurance). He attacks his 3 drop into my Sarge Steel and I flip up Rann to cause a mutual…Aaron was not amused. He then attacked New Feral into Blue Devil, I flipped up Checkmate Safe House to team up Checkmate and Rann (how good!) and then preceded to use Target Acquired, exhausting the safe house to give him +3ATK and causing another mutual!!! Aaron now was bemused now. I smash with my guys and not only did I have a huge board advantage but also an endurance advantage. My deck the coughed up the Curve part of my deck and with Character Advantage and Endurance Advantage, there was no way Aaron was going to win, and I won on turn 6 even though he had the Initiative!

Round 4

Enchante Chang vs Tony Matthews

This game was short and sweet. I played out Jacob Lee turn 1 and Tony has The Atom and pumps him when I attack. Turn 2 I had Stargirl to his Stargirl. He smashes my Stargirl with his and then Pumps his Atom for the 2 nd time and I decide not to attack. From here it was all downhill for Tony. I play Sarge Steel with Boost to knock off The Atom…which caused yet another COME ON in this tournament (I reckon Lleyton Hewett would have loved to have been at this tournament) before playing T-Sphere on Stargirl. Tony had to under drop with a 1-drop, and then used Death from Above on his 1-drop before passing. I just attacked Stargirl onto Stargirl before 1-drop into 1-drop and then Sarge into the Face. I go into turn 4 with 3 characters and Tony only has the lone 2-drop. Tony plays out 4-drop (6/6 when attacks or defends, put a +1/+1 counter on him). I play out Katar Hol, Eternal hero. When Tony attacked into my Stargirl and flipped Rann…he looked at his cards in hand…looked at his face down resources…and conceded on the spot…TURN 4 WINZ FOR LIFE YO!

So I'm 4-0 and I have to go to work in 15 mins. I asked Glenn for a prize split and he agreed, I then told him I would concede to him because I had to go to work. Thanks Glenn!

I had a blast playing the Sneak Peek and I never would have thought I would be playing off-curve at a Sneak Peek but Avengers has taught us all a lot about off-curve. I was told in the end via msn from Nik that I had come 2 nd and won myself a playmat and a Dr. Fate EA! How good!

Now that the tournament report is over, here is the card pool I opened and what I played below.

Enchante Chang
Card Pool
Characters Plot Twists

Legacy or 1 off Guys

The Joker, Permanent Vaction
Bart Allen <> The Flash
Obsidian, Todd James Rice

Shadowpact

Shazam, The Sorcerer
Detective Chimp, Bobo T. Chimpanzee
Ragman, Patchmonger
The Phantom Stranger, Fallen Angel
Blackbriar Thorn, Druid of Cymru
Witchfire, Rebecca Carstairs
Blue Devil, Big Blue
Blue Devil, Dan Cassidy

JSA

Power Girl, Earth 2 x2
Thunderbolt, YZ
Kendra Saunders <> Hawkgirl, Eternal Heroine
Charles McNider <> Dr. Mid-Nite, Golden Age Academic
Katar Hol <> Hawkman, Eternal Hero
Superman, Earth 2
Michael Holt <> Mr. Terrific
Stargirl, Courtney Whitemore
Wesley Dodds <> The Sandman

Villians United

Ishmael Gregor <> Sabbac
The Calculator, Noah Kuttler
Dr. Psycho, Twisted Telepath
Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard
The Calculator, Crime Broker
Sinestro, Villain Reborn
The Calculator, Evil Oracle
Talia, Beloved Betrayer
Weather Wizard, Mark Mardon

Checkmate

Amanda Waller, Queen
Annihilation Protocol <> OMAC Robot
Elimination Protocol <> OMAC Robot
Aspiring Pawn, Army
Sarge Steel, Knight
Ahmed Samsarra, White King
Jacob Lee, Knight
Graziella Reza, Knight
Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype

Secret Six

Catman, Thomas Blake
Fiddler, Isaac Bowin

Unaffiliated

Mordru, Dark Lord
Jaime Reyes <> Blue Beetle, High-Tech Hero



Taking Up the Mantle
Mystical Binding
Systematic Torture
A Moment of Crisis
Return Fire!
Justice United
Deflection x2
It's Not Over Yet
Return of Donna Troy
Multiverse Power Battery
Target Acquired x2
Thanagarian Invasion
Death from Above
Mourn for the Lost
Defend Yourself!



Locations

Thanagar
Rook Control
Dr. Fate's Tower
The Science Spire
Rann x2
Checkmate Armory
Checkmate Safe House




Equipment

Helm of Nabu
T-Spheres

 

 

Enchante Chang
Final Deck
Characters Plot Twists

1-drops

Jaime Reyes <> Blue Beetle, High-Tech Hero 2/1
Fiddler, Isaac Bowin 1/1
Jacob Lee, Knight 2/1

2-drops

Blue Devil, Dan Cassidy 4/2
Stargirl, Courtney Whitemore 3/1
Wesley Dodds <> The Sandman 2/3
Talia, Beloved Betrayer 3/3
Weather Wizard, Mark Mardon 2/3
Sarge Steel, Knight 3/3

3-drops

Kendra Saunders <> Hawkgirl, Eternal Heroine 5/4
Michael Holt <> Mr. Terrific 4/4
Ahmed Samsarra, White King 6/6
Graziella Reza, Knight 4/5

4-drops

Obsidian, Todd James Rice 8/6
Charles McNider <> Dr. Mid-Nite, Golden Age Academic 7/7
Katar Hol <> Hawkman, Eternal Hero 8/6

5-drops

Thunderbolt, YZ 9/8

6-drops

Superman, Earth 2 13/12  

7-drops

Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype 14/14



Target Acquired x2 ATK/DEF
Thanagarian Invasion ATK
Death from Above ATK/DEF
Mourn for the Lost Fizzle
Defend Yourself! DEF



Locations

Rann x2 ATK/DEF
Checkmate Armory ATK/DEF
Checkmate Safe House DEF/TUTOR




Equipment

Helm of Nabu
T-Spheres

When I went into the mindset of building Off-Curve, I had learnt from Uly/Hunstad to play a back up play, and that is why I have 1 of each 5, 6 and 7 drop. In the end I felt that a 7drop was not needed and it should have been another 2-drop, most likely Ragman.

I had a lot of good blue and green cards, the insane ones I had were: The Science Spire, Mystical Binding and Systematic Torture. However I could not fit enough Shadowpact and Villians United Characters into my deck.

Cards that did not make my deck but were considered.

Deflection: Could be a huge defensive pump but I felt that attacking was my game plan
Thanagar: I already had 2x Rann in my deck and they were suited to my deck type
Justice United: Rann pseudo teams up your guys and I had Checkmate Safe House
Taking Up the Mantle: I just had so many ATK pumps and this was the worst of the half decent ones.
Ragman: Should have been in instead of Sasha.
Ishmael Gregor: Too small
Blackbriar Thorn: Too small, didn't play Magic cards
The Calculator, Noah: Didn't have Coercion in the card pool
Detective Chimp: Loyalty was really hard to fulfill.
Aspiring Pawn: Felt he did nothing during the later turns if he wasn't played early.
Elimination Protocol: Only good with Annihilation Protocol and I didn't play it.
Annihilation Protocol: Possibly should have played this over Thunderbolt.

I felt that if I wanted to play curve I could have but had set my mind on playing off-curve right from the start, I did get a couple of “Your Brave…” for playing Amhed, the funny thing is I never saw him in any of my games.

I recommended playing off-curve at your next Infinite Crisis Sealed event because this set is primed for it. There are many free 1-drops, free equipment like tricked out sports card and all round pumps like Thangarian Invasion.

Until Next Time VS Fans, Same VS Time, Same VS Channel

 

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