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Saturday I went up to the Wizard's Tower for "Gold's Last Hurrah," which was the last Gold edition L5R tournament at the store, since Diamond comes out this month. In the days leading up to it, I had a hard time deciding which clan to play. On the one hand, this would be my last chance to use things like Judgement, Bitter, and Doji Reju XP2 (which would mean I'd play Dragon), but on the other hand there was a certain appeal to playing my chosen clan, Scorpion. There's certainly plenty in that deck that's disappearing when Diamond rolls in, after all...such as about 3/4 of the personalities. Aside from wanting to play a deck that was going to change a lot when the environment reset, I also wanted to play something that would actually be fun. Furthermore, I also wanted to play a deck that was at least sort of effective, so I'd have a shot at winning. The prizes were scheduled to be spiffy. I finally settled on Scorpion, since it seemed to be the one deck that had all 3 elements - soon-to-vanish cards, fun, and effectiveness.
Sadly, we had a very disappointing turnout - only 4 of us. Bleh. In light of that fact, we opted for smaller entry fee and smaller prizes...which actually turned out to be a good thing, since I came in 3rd out of the 4 of us. The first game I lost to Ratling, in which he got one of the most amazing starts I've ever seen. Lots of gold, followed up by all 3 White Rats in 2 turns. I put up a valiant fight, but it was pretty much hopeless. The second game I was doing much better, and was at least holding off the Shadowlands while waiting for a Rallying Cry so I could launch an attack of my own. If it hadn't been for a pesky Imperial Funeral, I would have won via honor. Alas, the Funeral set me back enough that before I was able to honor out, I was done in by Sneak Attack/Deadly Ground doom. I'd made it back up to 32 after losing 11, too (needing 40 to honor out). I won the third game in 5 turns. Sigh.
I stayed after the tournament to play a few more games, since I'd been looking forward to a day full of L5R. The most memorable of those games was an arms race between my Phoenix ranged attack deck of doom and a Mantis (Castle of Wasp) ranged attack deck, which ended when I honored out. I had some ridiculous things on the table by the end of that game. After all of the other players and the guy running the event left, I even ended up teaching someone else how to play. No, I didn't corner him and force him to learn just so I could keep playin - he commented that he wanted to learn, and I offered to teach him, since I wasn't expected back home at any particular time.
Sunday my gaming group was supposed to be playing random card games and board games, since we needed a filler week so the next RPG could be prepared. I was really looking forward to that - hoping to get in some Magi-Nation and hopefully have someone try my Eye Jabbing game. Alas, that was myseriously cancelled. Hopefully nothing serious behind that.
With my day suddenly empty, I was tempted to try to start cleaning. However, I had already planned to start cleaning on Monday, when I'd have a table set up in the garage where I can put things temporarily while I clean out the stuff that was behind them. I couldn't set up the table early, since I didn't know where it was. I really didn't want to kick up a lot of dust in my room if it wasn't going to actually accomplish anything, so I decided to wait until Monday. Instead, I settled for writing out the contents of all of my Gold L5R decks, so I can start taking them apart to prepare for Diamond. While it wasn't really the most constructive thing to do with my time, it had the advantage that it could be done in my room next to the rather toasty lamp over my bed, so it wasn't quite as cold as the rest of the house. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's cleaning, though, so I can get the actual heat going in my room. I'm sick of being cold. This is the time of year that I hate - at least in the depths of Winter I can stay in a heated room to hide from the freezing cold. Right now, since we can't turn the heat on yet because the radiators aren't clear or dusted, it's cold outside and it's cold inside - the only thing I can do to stay warm is hide under tons of blankets. It's hard to engage in most of my hobbies while under a mountain of blankets, though.
Sadly, we had a very disappointing turnout - only 4 of us. Bleh. In light of that fact, we opted for smaller entry fee and smaller prizes...which actually turned out to be a good thing, since I came in 3rd out of the 4 of us. The first game I lost to Ratling, in which he got one of the most amazing starts I've ever seen. Lots of gold, followed up by all 3 White Rats in 2 turns. I put up a valiant fight, but it was pretty much hopeless. The second game I was doing much better, and was at least holding off the Shadowlands while waiting for a Rallying Cry so I could launch an attack of my own. If it hadn't been for a pesky Imperial Funeral, I would have won via honor. Alas, the Funeral set me back enough that before I was able to honor out, I was done in by Sneak Attack/Deadly Ground doom. I'd made it back up to 32 after losing 11, too (needing 40 to honor out). I won the third game in 5 turns. Sigh.
I stayed after the tournament to play a few more games, since I'd been looking forward to a day full of L5R. The most memorable of those games was an arms race between my Phoenix ranged attack deck of doom and a Mantis (Castle of Wasp) ranged attack deck, which ended when I honored out. I had some ridiculous things on the table by the end of that game. After all of the other players and the guy running the event left, I even ended up teaching someone else how to play. No, I didn't corner him and force him to learn just so I could keep playin - he commented that he wanted to learn, and I offered to teach him, since I wasn't expected back home at any particular time.
Sunday my gaming group was supposed to be playing random card games and board games, since we needed a filler week so the next RPG could be prepared. I was really looking forward to that - hoping to get in some Magi-Nation and hopefully have someone try my Eye Jabbing game. Alas, that was myseriously cancelled. Hopefully nothing serious behind that.
With my day suddenly empty, I was tempted to try to start cleaning. However, I had already planned to start cleaning on Monday, when I'd have a table set up in the garage where I can put things temporarily while I clean out the stuff that was behind them. I couldn't set up the table early, since I didn't know where it was. I really didn't want to kick up a lot of dust in my room if it wasn't going to actually accomplish anything, so I decided to wait until Monday. Instead, I settled for writing out the contents of all of my Gold L5R decks, so I can start taking them apart to prepare for Diamond. While it wasn't really the most constructive thing to do with my time, it had the advantage that it could be done in my room next to the rather toasty lamp over my bed, so it wasn't quite as cold as the rest of the house. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's cleaning, though, so I can get the actual heat going in my room. I'm sick of being cold. This is the time of year that I hate - at least in the depths of Winter I can stay in a heated room to hide from the freezing cold. Right now, since we can't turn the heat on yet because the radiators aren't clear or dusted, it's cold outside and it's cold inside - the only thing I can do to stay warm is hide under tons of blankets. It's hard to engage in most of my hobbies while under a mountain of blankets, though.
