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Fizzle your Fizzle?
by Scott Smith
Fo Shizzle mah nizzle. Hello budding VS fans and welcome to yet another article written by yours truly the Titan of Teens, the Inmate of Arkham, the Knight of Gotham and yes, even the Five of Fearsome (wtf). Anyways, we’ve all come together in an effort to read how the latest Sydney PCQ went, and how yours truly, despite being the (john) Mayor (My Body is Wonderland) of Misplay City, made top 8 and eventually won the day.
Waking up to “We are the Champions¨ on my radio alarm, I had the distinct feeling of destiny as Queen foretold the days events. Arriving at the scene my shock and dismay we’re evident as about a hundred a fifty billion or so (give or take) Yu-Gi-Oh! players surrounded the tables in which we were to be playing, yammering on how their Blue Eyes White Dragon did something or other, and how they were the best 12 year old in the game whilst some of my VS friends were left standing up, looking around hopelessly for a place to stash their goods. After stepping on a few, and elbowing the rest, we finally got a small square of a table to place our things and waited for the beginnings of the days events.
We were informed that it would be 3 rounds of swiss and then cut to top 8. Now I have mentioned on many occasions before that VS is the easiest game to win money at, that I have ever seen. 3 rounds plus a top 8 for $500 US. That's ridiculous! Anyways, I sit down and open my 5 packs and am not yet pleased at what I see. This is the deck list I played with.
1 Mirage, Miriam Delgardo
1 GCPD Officer, Army
1 Dawn Granger <> Dove, Agent of Order
1 Hank Hall <> Hawk, Agent of Chaos
1 Tim Drake <> Robin, Young Detective
1 Dinah Laurel Lance <> Black Canary, Canary Cry
1 Roy Harper <> Arsenal, Sharpshooter
1 Huntress, Helena Rosa Bertinelli
1 Cassandra Cain <> Batgirl, Martial Artist
1 Bart Allen <> Kid Flash, Speedster
1 Red Star, Leonid Kovar
1 Catwoman, Selina Kyle
1 Batman, Caped Crusader
1 Dick Grayson <> Nightwing, Titan Leader
1 Lady Shiva, Sandra Woosan
2 Cassie Sandsmark <> Wonder Girl, Zues’s Chosen
1 Dick Grayson <> Nightwing, Defender of Bludhaven
1 Koriand’r <> Starfire, Alien Princess
1 Connor Kent <> Superboy, Tactile Telekinetic
1 World’s Finest
1 Bat-signal
1 Tag Team
2 Mega-blast
2 Break You
1 Shape Change
1 Home Surgery
1 Fizzle
It looked solid but for 5 packs I was at least hoping for a guy I could boost on the 7th turn, a Mr Freeze I could play off-affiliation or one of the many Teen Titan or Gotham Knight locations. I did have a clock tower that ended up in my board which would’ve been ok but I don’t think I’d play it over any of the plot twists in my deck and I only really want about 10 plot twists anyways. As it turned out the deck was the nut high, and was easily one of the best decks there even though it didn’t have any “bombs¨ (I was later to discover that Cassie Sandsmark + Mega-blast was indeed a bomb).
My first round pairing was with none other than Ray Isasis ( Ray WOWsais on the forums). Ray and I are part of a play test group who have been playing since the start. There’s a history between us which involves him winning money at all 3 (4 including that day) PCQ’s while I have only attended and won 2 (3 including that one). The story is that I was told for the second one I couldn’t play because I’d already won one, so I decided to stay at home and study for a test I had the following day. Ray rocked up and they told him he could play so obviously he won and has been rubbing the extra win over me in ever since. Which is cool because it’s all for a greater good.
The first game he wins after on the 7th turn on his initiative he drops Azrael with boost and puts him in the back row, and I play Starfire with 5 guys in the yard but with a break you in resource row and Dick Grayson Nightwing in play. Problem is I put her in the front row to protect my guy behind me without checking out the Black Canary he has in his back row. So as I can not discard to either break you or Dick Grayson without them first being a defender I am left stunning his Black Canary instead and losing narrowly by a couple of endurance.
The next game I get the “good¨ draw, dropping everything at every drop including 1st turn GCPD Officer, 2 drop Tim Drake + Team Up, 3 drop Hawk/Dove, 4th turn Cassandra Cain , 5th turn Cassie Sandsmark and 6 drop Dick Grayson with all the good plot twists that come with that draw. Eventually I steamroll over and we’re into the third game.
3rd Game was good but a blur. It came down to his initiative and he placed his Freeze in the front and his Killer Croc in the back. He attacked his Freeze into my Starfire , I reinforced and tag teamed, he used combat reflexes on it to hit it exactly. Now I had fizzle in my resource row (which I’d had since the start and on a previous attack I’d wanted to use it with no Gotham Knights in my hand and no team up in sight), but with the Croc in his back row I knew he had to have the Mega-blast , so with the big guys trading off, I let it resolve we both went into the teens in endurance. True to the call, he tried to play the Mega-blast, which I Fizzled (Fo Shizzle), and his initiative went to crap and with 5 drop Batman on the table and a whole host of fatties with more to come, Ray scooped and the first round was mine.
I hated the fact out of the whole room I had to play Ray first, because it pretty much meant that one of us wouldn’t be making the top 8, but such is life and I’m glad it wasn’t me. =)
Next round was against Tim “National Magic Champion and 5th Beatle¨ He, and one of his usual assortment of broken limited decks. It turned out that our decks were very similar even down to the Fizzle we both had. The games were none eventful really, as in both he Fizzled some early spells, which left me to Mega-blastCassie to bash up the curve later on, without me losing any guys. I never did get to say “Fizzle your Fizzle? fo shizzle mah nizzle¨, but the thought was there, and Tim is a good all round gamer, and member of Team OMG which made the win that much better.
The 3rd and final round (did I mention that it was 3 rounds then top 8 for $500?) was against long time Magic player Minga Wong, who was playing up after being 1/1. His deck looked awesome with teen Titans/Gotham Knights splashing for 3! Mr Freezes (one was even foil). I personally thought it was a mistake to leave the 7 drop Batman in his SB but he argued that he thought he’d get hit by the loyalty. To each his own I guess.
First game I got the curve with him having his first drop (a 2 drop) on turn 3 while I went similar to the game against Ray in the first Round. In the second game I thought I had him but it was not meant to be. The turn before he was left with a free hit on me and asked how much I was on counting the cards in his hand. I knew he had at least one Break You, which I had not seen yet (I did in the first game), so I knew for the next turn I would be able to Fizzle it. I had Lady Shiva in my front row with Superboy in the back and no team up. He team attacked my Shiva bringing me to 6 with his Dick Grayson 6 drop on the table waiting to bash my Superboy. I played Home Surgery to make it so my Lady Shiva came back so he had to attack it again. He did and I waited his pump with my fizzle but he powered him up with the 5 drop Dick Grayson and I was left on 0 with no attackers’ sad for me.
The 3rd game came down to Cassie and Mega-blast bashing up his Dick Grayson 6 drop. It was a shame for Minga because his deck was really good I’m just interested how he lost the other match!
Top 8 was announced and seating was arranged. It went a little something like this
Scott Smith
Andy Young
Tim He
Ryan Dare
Egidio De Gois
Scott Hunstad
Paul Ven Der Werk
David Xu
I was playing Egidio with each person’s opponent opposite them for the top 8. Some of the memorable picks we’re opening Mr. Freeze then getting passed two Bane ’s Arkham 6 drop) in a row. In the second pack passed to me by Dave there was also a Starfire and a Foil Heroic Sacrifice, but if you know anything about the print runs you’ll know that Starfire and Superboy come in the same pack, and due to the fact it was missing I surmised that Dave went Titans, so I took the Bane sticking with a good character and pretty much cementing myself in Arkham (even after the 2nd pick). I then opened up another Freeze in the second pack which is the hottest of the hot. In the same set of packs I was passed a 7th pick Lady Shiva (7 drop)! I was no where near any League type of deck so I took the always awesome Combat Reflexes and passed her to the ever waiting Mr Xu. I opened up Poison Ivy in the 3rd pack which I was greatful for cause there was nothing in that pack. I took a Killer Croc over a Batman in the next pack with the thought that they were both good on offence, but I needed dudes for 6 drop Bane’s loyalty as well I didn’t have a huge amount of Gotham Knights I thought I would be team attacking with. I then had the same choice 2 picks later but took a No Man’s land instead as I had three 5 drop Lady Shiva’s already and a Killer Croc which I think is plenty of 5 drops. Here’s the list I played.
1 Harley Quinn, Dr Harleen Quinzel
1 Query and Echo, Double Trouble
1 GCPD Officer, Army
1 Tim Drake <> Robin, The Boy Wonder
1 Dinah Laurel Lance <> Black Canary, Canary Cry
1 Huntress, Helena Rosa Bertinelli
1 The Penguin, Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot
1 Poison Ivy, Pamela Isley
1 Cat Woman, Selina Kyle
1 The Joker, Laughing Lunatic
3 Lady Shiva, Sandra Woosan
1 Killer Croc, Waylon Jones
1 Brother Blood, Leader of the Church of Blood
2 Bane, The Man Who Broke The Bat
2 Mr. Freeze, Dr Victor Fries
1 GothCorp
1 No Man’s Land
2 Prison Break
1 Bat-Signal
1 Crossbow
2 Combat Reflexes
1 Fear and Confusion
1 Break You
1 Gone but not forgotten
I know what your thinking cause I was thinking it too; this is the best deck you’ve ever seen! The sheer crappy-ness that is my deck cannot even begin to be told. There are so many sub optimal cards in the deck I have a wonder how I won any games at all. The deck revolved around 5 drop Shiva, 6 drop Freeze, 7 Drop Bane. If I couldn’t do that I was toast. GothCorp was the 30th card. I never used it and I only really needed it once in the first game when I didn’t draw a Freeze or a Bane.
I played Egidio first and his deck was really good with mostly Teen Titans and things like Teen Titans Go, Tamaran and Superboy etc. The first game my draw was absolutely shocking. Even with Egg forgetting to zap me with his Red Star he dispatched me quickly and I knew my deck was crap from the get go. The second game was interesting with him getting me down to 1 after bashing my freeze (I pumped up my freeze once as well. Then seeing he couldn’t attack my Lady Shiva in the back row, he passed and was ready to draw for the next turn. However with him on 15 I double Combat Reflexes her and played Break You for 6 to bash over the top of a lonely Dawn Granger for 21 (glad he didn’t have fast getaway) in this game he missed 2 zaps of the Red Star and with me on 1 I was very grateful. He realised this at the end of the game and chided himself on the misplay. For the third game an interesting event occurred which requires another paragraph.
His initiative on the 6th turn I drop my Mr. Freeze and after forgetting to zap me with Red Star again he was forced to team attack the Cold One. On the next turn I was so intent on him forgetting to zap me with Red Star that I didn’t notice him ready his guys he team attacked my Freeze with the turn before. We went through the turn, (he did indeed forget again to zap me, even after admonishing himself the turn previously) then went to the next, and then realised he’d forgotten again with the Red Star and that he’d readied his guys! Now if we went back to the start of the previous turn he would’ve been able to zap me and that probably would’ve been game, but I would’ve done more damage to him with my Freeze as he wouldn’t have been able to reinforce or pump the defence of his Superboy. Judge ruled we’d gone too far so we kept going and in the long run a boosted Bane with Freeze got the late game done. It was both our faults for forgetting the ready, but even Egg will admit the missing zaps cost him the game. Thanks anyway Egg, they were still good games.
The next round was semis and we decided on a 4 way split between Me, Paul Van Der Werk (beating Tim He), David Xu (beating Ryan Dare) and Andy Young (beating Scott Hunstad). We played the games out and I beat Paul 2-1 and Andy beat Dave 2-0. Apparently in the first round Andy had played multiple (upwards of 4) Mega-blasts on his Bart Allen and hit Scott for over 30 points of Damage in one turn to take a game he shouldn’t have won!
When we got to the Final we realised that the loser would actually get the better end of the deal as it looked as though Andy would get the Spot anyway as I already had an invite, and the loser would get 12 boosters. To make it so we didn’t throw the match we decided on a prize split then (admittedly we should’ve split the prizes in the previous round with Paul and Dave by eh whateva). First game was all Andy, hitting me with Teen Titans go and a boosted Tim Drake to absolutely demolish any semblance of a board I had. The second and third games were mine though as Andy missed his 6 in both whereas my Mr Freeze proved why he is indeed the best common character in the set.
In the long run the top spot and the invite went to me. I went 6-0 for the day, and despite some close calls, all the games we’re very fun to play, proving that VS is still the best game out there right now, Magic be damned (am I allowed to say that?) In the constructed portion, the top 4 also split which included Ray Isasis, Luke Bartter, Alex Brown, and Thomas Mann. The first 3 playing Big Brother and Thomas playing Doom/FF. Fo shizzle it was great day (how can I complain, I won), and here’s waiting for the next PCQ in 2 weeks time, so much money, so little time.
-Scott Smith
Cool Zero on modo and Forums
Krazy in RL
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