DDM Prerelease, Richmond KY 10/28/2006

Here's a tournament report for a Prerelease we had in for the Blood War set for DDM on 10/28/2006. The original post can be found below:

http://www.hordelings.com/forums/postView.php?post_id=29062&viewPage=0#29062


So, after drooling over spoilers for much of last week and consulting with other players about the stats, it was time for the prerelease. I took the day off of work for it and hoped I'd at least have a somewhat good pull and even if I didn't do well that I'd at least get something I might use for constructed. I got to the shop early and talked with several players about the set and things. Then noon rolled around and boosters were passed out. Both of mine were light and I was fearing the worst as it probably meant no Fire Giant or Pit Fiend for me, both of which I wanted. However the booster gods were with me as I reach into my first booster and pull out a Maralith. Second booster nets me a Storm Silverhand. Looking through my UC/C, I saw I had a Gnome Trickster and had already picked him to be an almost auto include piece of tech. So after that I had a choice to make. I also pulled an Elf warmage and while she fit with my other pieces, she put me at 199 points and 4 activations. I left her out and built another band with 7 activations, but I just wasn't happy with it and ended up running the 4 activation band. My warband was:

Storm Silverhand
Maralith
Elf Warmage
Gnome Trickster
Map: Drow Outpost

So, with my 4 activation warband, I went into the first round hoping for some luck. I get paired against Carl Wolfe who had a Thundertusk, Eladrin army. It was a very slow game as we only got 3 full rounds in and had started our 4th round with about 2:00 left on the clock. I had done a good amount of damage to his Thundertusk and his Eladrin as well as a few other pieces, but there just wasn't enough time for me to do anything. He finished off my Warmage to go up on points and that was it. 0-1

So, I got paired down where I would stay for the rest of the day. While I feel that had we gotten in another round, I could have won against Carl's army (my warmage was the only figure to take damage), it actually helped me out as I didnt' get paired against any other Maraliths, Pit Fiends, or Solars.

2nd Round I get paired against Mike Wice. Mike is a local player who is about to graduate so he hasn't been out lately but came out to the Prerelease. He was running a Fire Giant, Storm Lizard, Doomguard army. We played on Outpost and moved up. His figures were bunched together and I won the 2nd round initiative. I moved my Elf Warmage over and did a Sudden Empower Blast of Flame to get everything except the Fire Giant and his commander. Everything either failed the spell or made morale and ran off the board. So after my first activation he was down to 2 activations. I was able to concentrate on the Fire Giant at that point and while the Giant killed Maralith, the Elf Warmage walked up right after that and did a Maximized Shocking Grasp to him to finish him off. 1-1

3rd round I get to play Ken McCutchen. Ken is a good local player who's alot of fun to play against. He was playing a Fire Giant (yay another one), Centaur Warhulk, Harmonium Guard band. I had to play somewhat cautiousely because I knew how much damage he could put out with his Warhulk, Fire Giant combo. We play on Outpost and Ken split up the Fire Giant and the Warhulk. As the Warhulk came up I concentrated on it and was able to eliminate it by the time the Fire Giant engaged. I got the Fire Giant to half and he checked and failed morale. The Giant tried to rally and he rolled a 1 and ran off the board for game. Two really bad rolls when Ken needed them in that game. 2-1

4th Round was against Jeff. Jeff is a new DDM player who was running a Thundertusk, Elf Dragonkith combo. He really just didn't have the damage output to compete with the Warmage/Maralith in this one. 3-1

5th round and I get paired with Tony Pitman (visage), who's running a Lord of Blades and Maug combo. I know my tiebreakers aren't good so if I win, I'm in at 4-1 and if I lose I'm out of it. I start off casting my Invisibility Sphere. Maralith sat there for a long time being Invisible. I saved it because I was sure I'd need it for the Lord of Blades/Maug assault. Sure enough the Maug walked up, rolled a 20, then rolled for Conceal because she was still invisible, and missed her. After that Maralith magically appeared and killed him and then went to work on the Lord of Blades before finishing him off next round. 4-1

So with 4-1 I made top 4 coming in at number 4. I get paired against Jim McKinney who's running a Solar/Maralith build. We play on Outpost and he takes the cave side and gets off a first turn Slaying Arrow onto Storm. Luckily Storm passed the save. The dice really weren't with me this game as I either missed some key attacks or was unable to win the imporant initiatives once we enaged. Final result was 4-2. So, while I lost in the first round of Top 4, I still was happy to make Top 4 as it's my best performance at a Prerelease yet. My 2 boosters got me a Fire Giant and an Owlbear. I was excited about the Fire Giant and am working on warbands for him now. :)