DDM 2.0 Constructed Qualifier Bloomington IN 06/14/2008

Here's a tournament report from the DDM 2.0 Constructed Qualifier in Bloomington IN on 06/14/2008. Here's the link to the original thread:

http://www.hordelings.com/forums/postView.php?post_id=151935&viewPage=0#151935


So after the TN Qualifier, I was unsure if I would be making the trip up as I was already qualified. But my buddy, Visage, said he wanted to go to try to qualify. So we planned to go up Friday night and get a hotel room and then drive over to the store early Saturday morning. I had hoped to get off work early, but that didn't work and we didn't leave southern KY until almost 7 for the 5 hour drive up. We ran into some heavy rain for part of the trip, but outside of that it wasn't a bad trip. We got up there about 11:30 that night, checked into the hotel room, and was entertained by all 2 channels that the Motel 6 had. After a good night's sleep, we got up early Saturday morning and drove over to the Game Preserve. After getting there we hung out with Johnny Quest, Aesoph, XXX_Buzz_XXX, Matt Lee, and a few others. It was good to get to see everyone.

I had been toying with the idea of running Exarchs. I liked them but just wasn't able to get in any practice time. So I decided to go with something I knew how to play and went with the Liches again. I ran:

Mind Flayer Lich x 2
Large Shadow Dragon
Ravenous Ghoul
Darkmantle x 3
Map: Blue Dragon's Lair

Round 1
I play Will. Will is running Death Knight x 2, Raistlin, Wild Mage, Bodyguard, Farmer x 2 on Ratfang. He got map so Rat Fang it was. He got an early Stun off on one of the Liches and it stayed that way for awhile. I also kept missing his Death Knights with the Liches. During this time the Large Shadow and the Darkmanltes were going after Raistlin and the Wild Mage. Once Raistlin and the Wild Mage were killed, the Large Shadow came back over to help the Liches out. One Lich was dead and the other was getting closed in on by the Death Knights. It was very back and forth, but I was able to get one Death Knight confused and finish it off. After that it was getting some lucky inits and hitting my attacks on the remaining Death Knight to finish it off. 1-0

Round 2
I got paired with I think Cliff. He was running EB, Wulfgar, Wild Mage, Werewolf Champion, Merchant Guard, Kobold Trapmaker, Farmer x 2 on Flooded Ruins. He got map so we played on Flooded Ruins. After I had set up, he set up the Wild Mage so it could get a first turn blast off onto my Liches. I won the init instead though and confused the Wild Mage with one of my Liches. After that I was able to get up on activations with the Darkmantles by taking out most of the Farmers. I then got Wulfgar confused. After that the Large Shadow went after his EB, Werewolf Champ, and the confused Wulfgar. He had a really bad streak of luck here with the Large Shadow where he just couldn't hit it, either because of it's AC or conceal. That added with the Mind Flayers just staying back and shooting things put me up. It came down to the Werewolf Champ against the Large Shadow, who was at 10 hps, and 2 full MFLs. He wasn't able to hit the Large Shadow and the Liches were able to finish it off. 2-0

Round 3
I got paired up with Johnny Quest. JQ and I have only played one other time, and that was at the Cincy Qualifier. JQ is a great player and he beat me pretty soundly that day. So I knew I was in for a hard fought game. JQ was running Merc General, Human Sellsword x 5 (I think), Yuan Ti Malison x 2, Halfling Paladin, Raistlin. I ended up winning map init, which was the first time that that has happened to me in both tournies that I've played Liches in. First round JQ tries for a sleep on the Liches with Raistlin. He missed them both but moved up the Merc General to bodyguard anything that might hit him. I shot with the Liches and managed to confuse the Merc General. We positioned some more first round. Second round I won the init and brought up the Large Shadow to get a breath off on the Merc General, Raistlin, and both Yuan Ti. Horrible breath weapon though as I only hit one of the Yuan Ti. The Sellswords attacked the Large Shadow, but they had a hard time bringing it down. While they were having a hard time with it, the Liches just stayed back and were shooting whatever they could. The Large Shadow eventually fell, but the Liches were able to do too much damage before the Sellswords could get to them. 3-0

Round 4
I got paired against John Stevens. He was running Large Gold, Merchant Guard x 5, Elf Archer x 4. I got map again and we played on Blue Dragon's Lair. He went after the Darkmantles and the Ravenous Ghoul early. I got some shots off with the Large Shadow and the Liches. He came after the Shadow with the Gold and was able to bodyguard most of my attacks. The Large Shadow eventually fell and it was down to the Liches against the Dragon and a few Guards and Elf Archers. I missed several attacks against the Gold. However, John was able to get control of the Dragon every time it was confused. He was able to eventually get the Liches to fall for the win. 3-1

Round 5
I got paired up with Dagaron. He was running EB, Wulfgar, Pony, Wild Mage, Raistlin, Merchant Guard, Kobold Archer, Farmer x 2 on Market Square. He won map so we played on Market Square. He went for an early shot at the Liches and missed with the Wild Mage. I then was able to confuse her. After that I sent the Large Shadow up there to try to take out the Wild Mage, Raistlin, and the Guard. He got 2 of the 3, but Raistlin was tougher than he looked. I put all 3 Darkmantles on him and they just did not hit him. He went after the Liches with Wulfgar/Pony, and the EB. I got a crit on Wulfgar with one of the Liches to confuse him and dismount him. After that though, the Liches just weren't able to stand up to the EB who mounted up on the Pony. The Shadow came back over to help out the Liches and to hopefully finish off Wulfgar, but he rolled low and missed him. The Darkmantles spent probably 8 or so attacks on Raistlin before finally killing him. By that time, he'd done enough damage to the remaining Lich so that it was killed off. The Shadow just couldn't hold his own against the EB. After that and some VP, Tony was able to pull out the win. 3-2

I knew it'd be close for 4th place between me and Dan. And it was with Dan pulling ahead of me for 4th place again. Everyone looked at the standing after Swiss and since Pozsgay and Dagaron were paired up, no one dropped so that Pozsgay could scoop him in. Since there were no drops I decided to hang around a bit more and grabbed a bite to eat and watched the final game of Dan vs John where John and the Dragon were able to pull it out for the win. Overall, it was a pretty fun trip. I think thanks have to be given to our great judges, Aesoph and Matt Lee. And to the Game Preserve for holding a great tournament as always.