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“Call it aftermath, she's turning blue
While I just sit and stare at you”
- A Perfect Circle “Blue”
Hail and well met WoW TCG players! Welcome to another of my juicy reports, this time from the lovely town of Cologne, Germany. The King and the winner of DMF Koln is Krzysztof “ZoZo” Morzyc who not only happens to be my teammate and friend, but is also a person who really deserved to win this event with his personally constructed Mage deck. He is a long time player who nearly got to top 8 a couple of times, but somehow missed it by an inch. Now he was able to show us his skills as a professional gamer and take Team Problem to another level, earning us a title of DMF Champion amongst our ranks. Congrats to him!
Putting Krzysztof aside and leaving him to his freshly won iPad 2 as he will probably write something of his own, I will concentrate on the event itself. I don’t mean the DMF only, but the RPC as a whole!
The thing was BIG! There were lots of people and many of them in costumes. You could see Stormtroopers, Elves, Orcs and Star Trek officers all in one room. The whole thing looked like Caverns of Time under the watchful eye of the great father Nozdormu. At one time you were walking between the tents of a fantasy faire just to bump into a post-apocalyptic camp filled with radiated corpses and then suddenly into a Quidditch field filled with people riding brooms. How cool is that? Dwarves were singing medieval songs, knights and barbarians were fighting in a ring and you could just spend your day standing and staring at the lovely elven women giving out leaflets (they were blamed for a couple of lost matches during the DMF).
Apart from all that the whole event was a gamer's dream. People were playing everything and everywhere. Board games, TCGs, figures, riddles, quizzes and computer games were the main attraction luring all the good folk. People of all age groups came to Cologne to try their luck and have fun while battling others for the glory and prizes. Even though we focused on World of Warcraft and found only a little time to explore what RPC was offering we felt that all of us participating are connected as fellow players.
So what happened at the DMF itself? I was 17th with a 6-2 score and I’m going to write about how it went and why I had so much fun with the Zaritha deck I stole from my friend. If you don’t want to read further I can’t blame you, but if you do want to spend some time here then I hope you enjoy it!
So little time, so many decks..
Zaritha was a really peculiar deck choice for me. I’m a hardcore Horde player and I’m always choosing aggro decks. If not playing a rush I have the most fun by trying to finish my opponent with some burst damage. A “google shaman” presents a totally different approach to gameplay than I’m used to. How did I end up playing this deck then? After the Realm Champs we had 2 weeks to prepare. We had no time and no reason to test it before. After the tournament in Krakow we suddenly ended up with fresh ideas and lots of cards to pick from. Not only we were back in Classic, we also had a totally new set to examine and include into our crazy decks.
We started testing with some Death Wish variations, Zaritha, Kuma Control, Bogmara, Pagatha decks and Mages. The mages were a [Slow] Mage Varanis and a new attempt at Fizzle built by Krzysztof. Somehow we excluded a Rogue from our gauntlet and played just a few games to see how it works. I didn’t want to play Warlock again as after the World Cup and Realm Champs I was a bit tired of it and wanted to pick something different. As I’m not a deckbuilder myself I had a choice to get one of Krzysztof’s Mages, or our other friend’s Zaritha. Cezary “Wasko” Wasiłowski was working on that Zaritha since forever and while testing he was beating all the decks I threw at him. Bloody Mary, Pagatha and even Kileana Warlock control were naught against the tweaked Zaritha with the new cards. On Thursday - 2 days before the tournament - I made my decision. If you can’t beat them - join them. I was not happy to pick a deck so late, but I was observing how it plays for so long that it made me confident that I could make it. Of course my first attempt to play Zaritha was to kill my opponents with Adams and Mikaels – luckily I had my teammates to yell at me and explain that it’s the last thing I’d want to do in this deck.
The decklist that my team made in the end was as below:
Hero: Zaritha
Master Hero: 2
2 [Highlord Tirion Fordring]
Allies: 22
3 [Rufus Claybourne]
1 [Savage Raptor]
1 [Collidus the Warp-Watcher the Warp-Watcher]
1[ Iravar]
4 [Crusade Engineer Spitzpatrick]
3 [Adam Eternum]
1 [Scrapper Ironbane]
1 [Pappy Ironbane]
1[ King Varian Wrynn]
1 [Weldon Barov]
3 [Mikael the Blunt]
1 [The Abominable Greench]
1 [Malfurion Stormrage]
Abilities: 19
4 [Wind Shear]
4 [Squall Totem]
3 [Tuskarr Kite]
3 [Chain Purge]
4 [Ancestral Awakening]
1 [Wavestorm Totem]
Equipment: 3
3 [Voice of Reason]
Locations: 3
3 [Eye of the Storm]
Quests: 12
4 [Darkness Calling]
2 [The Torch of Retribution]
2 [Cleansing Witch Hill]
4 [A Question of Gluttony]
Side deck:
1 [King Varian Wrynn]
3 [Lady Bancroft]
3 [Antonidas's Aegis of Rapt Concentration]
3 [Abomination Knuckles]
It’s a pretty standard Zaritha list if you ask me, but I’m not the one to judge. To cut it short I will explain some of our deck choices here without going too much into details:
3 [Rufus Claybourne] – he is a jack of all trades. You can use Rufus as an aggro ally that can help you against Mages, or to kill some of the small guys on the opponent’s side to stop him from killing you. You can play him on T2 to immediately follow with the Kite on T3. Additionally he is great to protect your Weldon T6 from being burned. If you happen to meet a Spark deck he will also save you from dying. He will be as good as you make him.
1 [Savage Raptor] – it’s a crazy kill on T9. You can get this guy on Turn 9 with your Ancestral Awakening, putting 14 points of damage on him and boosting his attack to 20. If you have an opening and managed to put your opponent to 20 health you can just one shot him with this reptile. What is more you just use 4 resources for the Awakening, so you still have 5 more to protect the raptor with [Wind Shear], [Rufus Claybourne] or cast a [Squall totem].
1 [The Abominable Greench] – this guy won a couple of games for me. It’s a solid winning condition that is just too good to leave it out of this deck.
1 [Wavestorm Totem] – it’s an ally now and if you rowed your Collidus the Warp-Watcher early you can get this totem instead with your Ancestral Awakening.
1 [Malfurion Stormrage] – Malfurion is cool and all, but it’s a mistake in this deck. To be able to use him successfully you’d have to draw him and have an established board as he does nothing while entering play. I have also similar thoughts about Soridormi, which looks very interesting, it’s better to wait 3 more turns and just win instead of calling her on turn 6 or 7.
Our side deck was crafted against mages. We were hoping to see many Varanis decks as it seemed very solid against everything except for Chaigon. King Varian Wrynn was entering the deck against warlocks and Abomination Knuckles were an obvious answer to equipment decks.
After the tournament I would definitely get the Malfurion out and think about getting some [Calamity’s Grasp] inside. Other than that the deck is very solid and the transition to Core won’t hurt it that much.
The matchups:
I must admit that this time my notes are not very descriptive and that I’ve often had to pass my turn after the draw and resource as this is how this deck plays. Most of the games when I’ve won I ended up with a King, or Raptor. I will try to focus on the key things only and keep it short.
Round 1 vs Michel, Yoann – Zin’sul
Game 1: First Game Yoann opened with a Rantuko Grimtouch and started pinging me with this guy. He followed with [Deathcharger] and [Drandus the Deathcaller]. I had [Voice of Reason] on my side and felt pretty safe. I played Crusader Spitzpatrick to draw some cards, but essentially I felt no pressure. On Turn 8 the board was wiped with [Army of the Dead], but with no Scimitar of Sirocco the ghouls where just standing there and doing nothing. I called [King Varian Wrynn] on turn 9 and turned all the tokens to dust. Yoann did not falter and played Lich King on Turn 11 creating a King vs King situation on the table, but even Arthas was no match for a crazy Raptor attacking him for 20 along with King Varian for the final kill.
Game 2: In this game my opponent was in a better situation as my early Voice of Reason was answered by Munkin Blackfist. He got Drandus and some other small ally on board, which was answered by Mikael the Blunt on my side. The game slowed down and I had everything under control. On turn 9 I used Ancestral Awakening to get an Abominable Greench. Yoann tried to cast [Suffocating Grip] on it, but of course it was not a legal play. He conceded two turns after that.
1-0
Round 2 vs Fiedler, Maik – Pagatha the Soulbinder
Game 1: Maik was going first; he drew 8 cards and got a game loss.
Game 2: The deck Maik was playing was actually a Jeremiah Karvok from Core. He admitted that he took a Core deck and is not planning to win this event. Even so, he was not so kind to give the game for free and started pressuring me. A standard play of Brodericks, Dreadsteed, Dethvir and Nathanos and I found myself struggling to survive. On turn 9 there was an opening to cast Savage Raptor and get 20 damage on him, but he had no damage on himself, so there was no chance for lethal. I had to take Weldon Barov to extend my miserable struggle as the King would only give -2/-2. He finished me easily in the next 2 turns.
Game 3: This game was more or less a mirror of the first one. A red suite of my favorite allies was pushing me hard with Saurfang leading the charge. We went to turn 8 and as we were close on time I’ve played Voice of Reason. Maik Fel Traded his allies to get a Munkin Blackfist and put even more damage on me. On Turn 9 I’ve played King Varian Wrynn from my hand. Maik had only 1 card in hand and the time was called. He top decked Hesriana and removed my King. I was not able to recover and there was no time to get enough damage on him. Two more turns and the game would be mine as I had my Master Hero ready to be played on the next turn. It was a bitter loss, but a really nice game.
1-1
Round 3 vs Schollmayer, Martin – Zin’sul
Game 1: Death Knight is fine to play against. If I do not overextend and just wait for the King I can win easily. Martin got me to 15 damage with his Scimitar followed by allies popping from time to time, but he didn’t draw any answer to the Voice of Reason. He was not able to kill me before I’ve played King Varian and when I did he conceded. This game was really close and at one time the board position was in Martin’s favor and he could get me to around 1-2 points of health with his attack – stash strangulate – army – scimitar strike – attack again. He was missing those 2 last points of damage, though.
Game 2: This one was an uphill battle for my opponent. He was met with a band of protectors, Squall Totems and Voice of Reason. I was even able to get him to 13 points of damage in the meantime. I don’t remember if I finished with the King, or Savage Raptor, but surly it was the end at Turn 9.
2-1
Round 4 vs Wasiłowski, Cezary - Zaritha
Wasko is a longtime Zaritha player and my Zaritha tutor. He was overseeing my games during the playtesting period and giving me advice. It was a very challenging to meet him at Round 4.
Game 1: In the first game I wanted to rush him. Zaritha can do this, believe me, and I had a good hand to try. I was sure that he won’t expect it because he always taught me to play really safe and I knew that would be his game plan against me. I wanted to give it a shot. In the beginning it worked well. I got him to 21 and had a real chance to finish it. While I was forcing the game with Adam, Rufus and Mikael he was defending with Spitrzpatrick and drawing cards from Adam juggle. On turn 9 there was an opening and if I had had an Ancestral Awakening the first game would be mine. Unfortunately I didn’t and he managed to recover. We ended up playing our Kings, but his Varian was giving mine a -5/-5 and mine was only a -3/-3.
Game 2: The rushing tactic didn’t work, so I decided to play it stable. We were mostly just drawing cards all game and preparing for the final turns. At one time we had a Windshear exchange as both of us cast double Wind Shear each – Cezary won this fight. In the end this game was the same as previous one. When we got our Kings unleashed Wasko had an advantage due to the fact of having an equipment and a location, which I was missing. His King proved to be bigger and won him the game supported by a bunch of other allies like Malfurion Stormrage and The Abominable Greench.
2-2
Round 5 vs Morawa, Kim – Kil’zin the Bloodscalp
A gamer girl is always a jewel of the community, so thank you for playing with us Kim.
Game 1: I was actually confident to play against Kil’zin. I knew it had new tricks and all, but it was a rush deck. If I could stop it then the game would be mine very quickly and Zaritha is well equipped to do just that. As expected Kim was very aggressive with Brodericks, Sava’gins and some weapons, but I managed to get an unanswered Voice of Reason, which toppled her efforts. On Turn 6 I tutored my newly bought Weldon Barov EA and managed to protect it with Rufus on Kim’s turn. My Weldon remained on the field till turn 9, which invited The Abominable Greench and the Christmas was over. Kim had no possibility to draw an answer after that.
Game 2: This game was very similar to the first one, the interesting play was that Kim had hard cast Sava’gin on turn 3 and followed with another on turn 4. Fortunately I was able to counter that with Mikael the Blunt who was tutored with Ancestral Awakening. Next I had my Voice of Reason played and again Weldon who was saved by a Wind Shear. Kim had Black Amnesty and 2 allies, but she didn’t draw anything useful till turn 9 at which King Varian Wrynn ended the battle.
I think that on both games she did use her flip too early, which might have been very decisive in killing my Weldon Barov.
3-2
Round 6 vs Egas, Wouter – Lanthus the Restorer
Wouter was playing an aggro Druid with [Ashnaar, frost herald], [Gift of the earthmother] and [Avatar of the Wild]. If I didn’t have that knowledge it might get very tricky to win against him. Fortunately I’ve been following feature matches from the World Cup and I’ve seen his deck in action which prepared me for this game.
Game 1: It was a very close game and I won only because of my opponent’s mistake. Wouter was bashing me from the start with his blue ally suite and he didn’t give me a chance to establish any healing with my Voice of Reason. At turn 7 I cast [Ancestral Awakening] to get my [Collidus the Warp-Watcher], but I forgot that he is now a lazy resource. Going through my deck for a couple of seconds I finally settled on a Wavestorm totem to get Wouter’s allies back to his hand and kill his Avatar of the Wild token. Wouter was so much focused on the fact that on the next turn he can get 2x Gift of the Earthmother on his Ashnaar and attack for 24 that he didn’t burn my Wavestorm with his Nature’s Focus EOT. This was deadly as it gave me enough time to recover, protect my Wavestorm Totem and get a King on Turn 9 to wipe his board.
Game 2: This game was totally in my favor. There was no pressure from Wouter as I enshrouded myself with endless Squall Totems and a Wavestorm again. Collidus the Warp-Watcher turn 7 and a really good board position helped me get to a turn 9 King Varian Wrynn without any problems. That was another game for me.
Both games were very enjoyable and I had lots of fun. It was a feature match, so we had a judge at hand, but unfortunately there was no coverage.
4-2
Round 7 vs Wieder, Helge – Thoros the Savior
Game 1: Control Paladin, aye? It’s an interesting choice and an interesting deck. Luckily I know what a Horde Paladin has in stock as I’ve played countless games with Krzysztof while he was trying different setups for this class. I knew I needed to play aggressively, but I had to be mindful of his Penance. I did just so. I built a stable table position and pushing with the damage. First game I steadily finished Helge with Adam, Spitzpatrick and some Rufus. He got [Chief Researcher Amereldin]e on the table, but wasn’t able to stabilize in time. I didn’t see his winning Condition and I’ve just made an assumption that it would be King Varian Wrynn. When I got my King on the table and he fetched it to read what it does I though it a neat bluff.
Game 2: Game 2 was again a mirror of the first. I was relaxed and pushing with Adam and some small guys as Helge was on the defense. He got Kyria on board and healed some of the damage, but I was having an advantage. On turn 9 I cast awakening to call the king. My opponent was not aware that when he lets Ancestral Awakening resolve it’s already too late to react to the ally I get. Due to PPP his Kyria was destroyed. In the end we both got The Abominable Greench on the table, but his Greench died instantly to my King, whom was giving him -5/-5.
5-2
Round 8 vs Volbracht, Vitus – Eadric the Pure
I more or less supposed what Vitus is playing as I’ve seen Jan Pałys putting this deck together before the tournament. My knowledge couldn’t prepare me for the sheer power of the Paladin deck though.
Game 1: Bronwyn turn 1 and double Blessing of the Kindred turn 2 seemed like a great start. Vitus was building his board position with buffed Paladins, while drawing cards with such cards like A report to Goldshire and Light Within the Darkness keeping his hand size healthy. I was trying to defend by Chain Purging one of the Blessings, putting some Spitzpatricks into play to protect and healing with Voice of Reason. Fortunately my opponent didn’t find an answer for the blasted shield, which successfully got me to turn 9 and King Varian Wrynn. The ard that won me this match was also Collidus the Warp-watcher giving me a total tempo advantage on turn 7.
Game 2: Vitus was on the offensive showing me how his deck works. Bronwyn, Ashnaar, Blessing of the Kindred, Bolvar, Mr Wyrmbane and finally Tirion just trampled me without mercy. He got about 12 damage on me turn 6 and I had a Weldon Barov with 3 tokens to protect. It was a righteous massacre.
Game 3: This last game went very well for me. It was very similar to the last game I’ve played with Wouter Egas. I’ve managed to hide behind Squall Totems, Wavestorm and Collidus the Warp-Watcher turn 7. Protecting myself so well that Vitus managed to put only 4 damage on me during the whole game. On turn 9 I’ve got my King Varian Wrynn on the table and Vitus conceded.
This deck was awesome and Vitus was its designer. It’s really a pity that he didn’t win with me as he definitely would be in top 8 due to very high standings. I just hope that he won’t get revenge on me in Rimini and stop me from getting to Day 2.
6-2
See you later Classic Constructed
After all of that, Classic Constructed has made a positive impression on me. I was afraid that this would no longer be the WoW TCG that I know, and that thebest of 3 with side deck would be no fun. You can see from this report that I was proved wrong. The format is very different from Core, but it has its charms.
In the end DMF Cologne was a great event and I had lots of fun. I met a lot of new friends and had a chance to talk to some old ones along the way. My final score of 6-2 is satisfying. I’m happy that I managed to get a control deck to a good score and prove to myself that I can adjust to a different play style and thought pattern on a big event with serious players. Everyone improves with time as they say and I’m working right now to improve even more when I meet some of you in Rimini at the EUCC event. I’d also like to wish good luck to all of the players who will attend NACC. And last but not least I’d like to congratulate Lee Tung Shing for winning APCC! I hope to see you guys from Asia join us in Amsterdam while battling for the World Champion’s title in November.
As a finisher I’d like to share a photo of how we celebrate our victories in Team Problem.
Problem?
-Gnimsh
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