Santa Barbara 1/10/09 Pack Rat

[barenakedladies]

Hey everyone,

So this will kick off the new year of tournaments and what a better way of getting some new cards and honing our Pack Rat skills. We get everyone there, wait for the 45 player pokemon tournament to clear out and we finally get our 6 person highlander tournament underway.

We had six people in total:
Myself
Cat
Jon
Chris
Ryan
And Aaron

We cracked open our packs and starters of Search for Vengeance. We all bemoan the fact we didn't get a whole lot of dodges. I think two was the max. I look through my cards and see I got two Huntress'. We pair up the first round and we start to throw down:
Chris v. Jon
Cat v. Aaron
Myself v. Ryan

Ryan was fortunate enough to crack open not one but TWO Master Head Shots. So I am a little weary and I will watch my head on this one. We attack and block the first couple of turns. Going back and forth. I get a Huntress in my hand and play it. Ryan reads it and doesn't look all that happy. He throws out some lower attack and I block with a Guard, I follow it up with a Upper Center Head Shot. He says the words I loooooooove hearing "I'll exert for a defense" he flips 5 and doesn't find one. Thook!

1-0 +2

Chris defeated Jon
Cat defeated Aaron

Round 2:
Cat v. Jon
Aaron v. Ryan
Myself v. Chris

I get out a Huntress pretty early in this game so I can start throwing out really hard to defend attacks. We go back and forth, he finally throws out Rudy and I can't do much against that, so I start throwing out more than one attack. He played cards in this game to get them out of his hand, however they always screwed up my plans....like playing Warning. I was holding two locations and a Colin Master Dodge. Ugh. Anyways, I am able to ping him with Slashes, Rush and other small attacks that go through. Rudy is burning through cards and he finally exhausts to bring him down to 2. I remove Doc Byrnes to reduce damage, but also to reduce his hand size to 1. Time is called and I throw out a Thrust...he can't do much against that and scoops.

2-0 +1 (+3)

Aaron defeated Ryan
Cat defeated Jon

Round 3
Aaron v. Chris
Ryan v. Jon
Myself v. Cat

We draw our opening hands and he wins the Attribute check and goes first. He throws out a slash and plays a special (I forget which). I play Huntress and take one from the Slash. I throw out a upper right. He tries to block it but I remind him about Huntress. He exerts but doesnt find anything. Takes 1. He throws out Fight for Freedom and grabs the Slash and hits me again. I take the one and go Upper Left Head Shot. He says the words, flips 5 and misses. Thook!

3-0 +2 (+5)

Chris defeated Aaron
Jon defeated Ryan

So here are your final standings:
1. Myself
2. Chris
3. Cat
4. (In a true tie) Aaron
4. Jon
6. Ryan

I was able to get a Rebecca Horne quickening and I got some packs....of the game. Thanks for reading guys and I hope you enjoyed!

Cheers,
Wilson

[Static Cat]

Their are definitely some cards in SFV that are a tad overpowered in sealed deck - especially the Huntress card that doesn't allow you to block unless you have an ally in play, normally in real decks we could tech against that either by having allies in play or police or cards that can get rid of it, but regardless, not being able to block in a sealed format - HARD!

And I had 3 dodges still didn't help against Wilson's deck. However, I did win in the rematch with Hyde vs. Kurgan . . . now off to make a Back to Basics deck and then prepare for the next tournament.

Thanks for the report Wilson.

Cat

[prowler7]

Jan 11, 2009 17:07:05 GMT -5 Static Cat said:

Their are definitely some cards in SFV that are a tad overpowered in sealed deck - especially the Huntress card that doesn't allow you to block unless you have an ally in play

True, but that is why there are Investigation in the starters.

[barenakedladies]

Jan 11, 2009 18:41:08 GMT -5 prowler7 said:

Jan 11, 2009 17:07:05 GMT -5 Static Cat said:

Their are definitely some cards in SFV that are a tad overpowered in sealed deck - especially the Huntress card that doesn't allow you to block unless you have an ally in play

True, but that is why there are Misfortune in the starters.

*cough* investigation *cough*

[prowler7]

Thats what I said

Its one of them thar toolbox cards

[Static Cat]

True enough, however the chance of getting it is about the same as getting any other card, however, when you have 2 of them in your deck and getting it out makes it a lot easier.

Regardless, it's just nuts some cards, others as well . . . but hey that's the price we pay.

We did however do a ruling that seemed to work quite well for us


"You do NOT have to use the Persona that you get in the starter ( meaning no persona power if you opt that way ) and you do NOT have to use the Weapon of Choice if you don't want to"

The Weapon of Choice was deemed important to do because of the last Sealed we had, 2 people had the Kanzashi, which on it's own in a built deck could be useful, but in a sealed where you can't block power blows, that's critical, especially with a very LIMITED number of dodges if any at all.

Just the way we played and we had fun and we'll be doing it again.

Cat

[barenakedladies]

I liked our ruling with the weapon of choices...however I'm not too thrilled about the persona ruling. I mean, there is no down side to using an immortal persona. Just my thinking.

[prowler7]

Jan 12, 2009 10:33:16 GMT -5 barenakedladies said:

I liked our ruling with the weapon of choices...however I'm not too thrilled about the persona ruling. I mean, there is no down side to using an immortal persona. Just my thinking.

Yeah, I dont quite understand the persona ruling.

Marcus -
You can swap Master gems for other gems : Not applicable in sealed deck
You can draw a card for each object alley you have in play - Its a choice, so no downside here

Colin-
Lower your opponents max hand size for every ally of your removed from the game - no down side
Discard to be able to block ranged attacks - no down side

Kyala-
You can make a Hard Exertion to attempt to remove an ally from play or the game - No down side

Malik -
If you make an exertion, your opponent must make an exertion - No down side

Could someone explain why this rule was put into effect for your group?
Are you disallowing Personas to allow for more Master cards?

[Static Cat]

Their abilities are bent on allies . . . and their aren't a lot of allies in the set so it makes their abilities kind of moot.

But it's just an option of course, I had Marcus Octavius but didn't use his ability at all, I just used the Gladius.

Regardless, it's just something we offer, you don't have to do it.

Cat

[headswillroll]

Jan 12, 2009 10:33:16 GMT -5 barenakedladies said:

I liked our ruling with the weapon of choices...however I'm not too thrilled about the persona ruling. I mean, there is no down side to using an immortal persona. Just my thinking.

Prowler and I were discussing this last night, and we came up with only one glitch on the persona part. The weapon choice is ideal, considering the Kanzashi for SFV sealed deck tourneys. The choice of persona usage is basically irrelevant in "Pack Rat" Sealed Deck format, since everyone uses what they get. However, the issue comes in during a Standard Sealed Deck tourney, concerning how many Master Cards can be used by a player depending upon their persona. We are looking into this unasked question to see if we need to address it or not.

[barenakedladies]

Jan 13, 2009 9:06:38 GMT -5 headswillroll said:

However, the issue comes in during a Standard Sealed Deck tourney, concerning how many Master Cards can be used by a player depending upon their persona. We are looking into this unasked question to see if we need to address it or not.

.....Um...don't you just throw all the cards in together in pack rat? Why should the number of Master cards allowed in your deck matter?

[headswillroll]

Jan 13, 2009 13:40:39 GMT -5 barenakedladies said:

Jan 13, 2009 9:06:38 GMT -5 headswillroll said:

However, the issue comes in during a Standard Sealed Deck tourney, concerning how many Master Cards can be used by a player depending upon their persona. We are looking into this unasked question to see if we need to address it or not.

.....Um...don't you just throw all the cards in together in pack rat? Why should the number of Master cards allowed in your deck matter?

Yes, you do just throw all the cards together in Pack Rat. I was referring to a regular sealed deck tourney. In those you get a starter and two boosters and then you are given a short amount of time to make your deck. It is rarely used anymore, since Pack Rat is faster and less complicated as far as rules go, and more popular with the public. We just thinking about it since it is still a format that can be used.

[barenakedladies]

Jan 13, 2009 14:39:02 GMT -5 headswillroll said:

Jan 13, 2009 13:40:39 GMT -5 barenakedladies said:

.....Um...don't you just throw all the cards in together in pack rat? Why should the number of Master cards allowed in your deck matter?

Yes, you do just throw all the cards together in Pack Rat. I was referring to a regular sealed deck tourney. In those you get a starter and two boosters and then you are given a short amount of time to make your deck. It is rarely used anymore, since Pack Rat is faster and less complicated as far as rules go, and more popular with the public. We just thinking about it since it is still a format that can be used.

So, in regular Sealed format, do you adhear to all the gem restrictions or just the Masters? I would think that just making it so you had to play as a persona in Sealed would be fine. There are little to no down sides ability-wise and I don't see a quick fix if you play as a generic immortal (Unless you just say all the gems are set to 5 including the Masters.)

[headswillroll]

Now you know why we are discussing it.

The issue is not the gem restrictions, since those are waived for any sealed deck tourney. We don't see any reason why the persona should be a choice, because like you said, there is no down side. The only difference is that in regular sealed deck you should abide by the master card limit of the persona you are playing. We are toying with it to see if it needs to be handled.

[Static Cat]

Of course the only downside to a "Sealed format" is that you might get persona "A" and a lot of cards for persona "B". "C" or "D" and then your deck might become to small for a legal deck.

Make sure you keep that in mind as well when you design the "Sealed Format" this way everything will work out accordingly. Unless of course it's a "Pack Rat Sealed Format" where you can streamline your deck, but still use all the cards . . . which would make the decks a lot more brutal. Especially if it's a 50 card deck.

Just another monkey wrench to throw your way - if you want help you know where I am.

Cat