KublaCon 2007

KublaCon 207

Somehow, some people got the idea that I take notes during games and at gaming conventions so I can write about what happened – who attended, what decks were played, who won and how did they win, etc.

This is not the case.

A while ago, it occurred to me, as I’m sure it’s occurred to most of you, that one can tell much about people by watching them play Shadowfist. At some point in the future, I may make a bid for world conquest, and I figure knowing more about possible opponents is a good thing. (Or allies – there are certain to be many minion positions available.)

Ha ha. I am, of course, kidding.

Visually … unfortunately, it turned out that my camera battery was dead, and so I could take no pictures. But do not despair! While my only resource was MSPaint on a computer with only a touch pad – no mouse or digital pen-thing – I have still somehow managed to create images that I think realistically depict some of the key events of the weekend

KublaCon weekend officially started for us on Thursday night. No Shadowfist. Instead, pizza and beer at world-famous Zachary’s in Berkeley.

Friday morning, it was off to the Pork Store for breakfast. The Pork Store, located in historic Haight Ashbury, is the best place to get pancakes in the world.



[Steve Valladolid and Erik Berg Enjoying Pancakes]

After breakfast, we head out to Amoeba Records where many DVDs are purchased. I make my Roll to Save vs. Section: Cult/Subsection: Shatner, and manage to escape without purchasing anything I will later regret.

Then on to the con!

Things Noticed During Various Casual / Non-Tournament Games

Quyen tells Steve that General Snuggles (General Senggelinqin) is ineffective. Steve points out that General Snuggles has taken three sites in the last three turns.

Paul, Steve, and Max in an intense 3-player game. While the decks are more friendly than tournament-level, the players aren’t. The action is fast and furious, sites are taken and retaken, and the balance of power constantly shifts – each of the guys looks as though he’s about to win at a couple of points, and each looks completely out of the game at others. Eventually, with only one Feng Shui Site on the board, Steve draws his last card, makes a bid for the win, and is stopped. Max, with only a Bridge of Birds in play, sees that Paul is at 3 FSS, has five cards in hand, and with but one card left in his deck. With plenty of Power and two Confucian Stabilities in hand, Max draws, smirks, and says, “Done.” Jerk.

Another “friendly” game, and Michael Stadermann has just declared a big attack against Max. Poor Max … until a new guy (Daniel?) comes over, looks interested, and states he’d like to learn how the game is played. Michael is on demo-duty, and thus he goes to demo the game. All Michael’s cards are therefore removed from play, and the attack is declared to have never been declared. Lucky Max!

Lugo manages to play John Fenris, the Iron Man. Yay Lugo! Fenris is almost immediately killed in a Michael’s War of Attrition, though, and his brain eaten by a Michael’s BoneChill. Max’s janky Reverend deck (featuring Reverend RedGlare, Reverend Adam Wither, and Reverend Zebediah Paine) manages to pull through for the win.

Early game, after he plays a Railroad Workers and a Wah-Shan Clan Warriors, Max is brutally – yes, brutally – attacked. He responds with an Unexpected Rescue, pulls Red Bat, and follows with Shaolin Hoedown, baby! Five Power for the Maxster! So, he’s the one everyone else beats down for the rest of the game. Le sigh.

Constructed Tournament:
Players were allowed to change decks between rounds. There were 13 players – so, to make things easy, I decided not to play.

Decks seen:
Steve: (1) Unexpected Rescue, (2, 3) ???
Paul: (1, 2, 3) Monster Hunters, Capture Squads, and Sinister Accusations
Eric: (1) Shaolin Agents, Butterfly Swords, Scales of the Dragon, (2, 3) ???
Warren: (1, 2, 3) Ascended power cards with Serena Chase
Tim: (1, 2, 3) Architect power cards with Tracer Implants
David: (1) Lotus/Hand, (2, 3) Dragon beatdown
Darren: (1, 2, 3) Dragon deck with Swift Eagle
Randall: (1) Big Bruiser, (2, 3) ???
Berg: (1) Lotus/Dragon, (2, 3) ???
Quyen: (1) Can of Whupass, (2) Fire Ants, Nightclubs, (3) ???
Robert: (1) Commander Corliss, Drop Troopers, Assault Squad, (2, 3) ???
Dan: (1) Jammer/Dragon Gun deck, (2) Yakuza Enforcers/Dragon deck, (3) ???

Round One, 2 out of 3 four-player games time out. Match ups were:
Randall, Darren, Paul, and Erik. Time out.
Eric, Tim, Quyen, and David. Time out.
Steve, Robert, Warren, and Dan. Warren wins.

Round Two: 2 out of 3 games time out. Match ups were:
Warren, Erik, Tim, and Paul
Randall, Steve, and Darren
David, Dan, and Quyen

Round Three: Max did not take note. Bad Max.

Winner: Warren Snider



[Warren is The Man]

Things Noticed During Various Constructed Tournament Games

Berg with a 4th turn Golden Gunman, but Quyen’s Jenny Zheng Opens a Can of Whupass on Berg’s front-row FSS, taking it.

Tim’s Proving Ground has been beaten on by the person to his left and has just 1 Body remaining. The table falls prey to his subtle manipulations, though, and the Proving Ground somehow survives the full round all the way back around, allowing Tim to bring out CHAR.

Steve has declared an attack that is about to take Warren’s Whirlpool of Blood. Before damage is dealt to the site, Steve announces he will use his Bazaar. Eric Lui turns his Field of Tentacles and says, “Cancel.” Steve, displaying the pure chutzpah that is one of the marks of a true Shadowfist champion, points to the site he is about to take from Warren. “Whirlpool?” he asks innocently.

Draft Tournaments

I have few (basically no) notes on the two Draft events.

Drafting Shadowfist is always fun. Besides Quyen’s broken draft deck (2 Big Bruiser, 2 Black Ops Trooper, 2 Imprison, 1 Nerve Gas, 2 “Is That All You've Got”, 1 Golden Comeback, 1 Rise of the NeoBuro, etc.), that is.

During the last round, I sorted out my deck, then somehow neglected to put the Feng Shui Sites back in when I shuffled it all up. I dropped a first turn Student of the Bear, though, and held on to a Bite of the Jellyfish until Dan Burned for Power. I played a Paradox Garden off that, and eventually managed to generate enough Power for both a Mad Monk – who took one FSS – and another reasonable hitter, who took another. My comment: “Feng Shui Sites are for amateurs.”

At one point during the KublaCon weekend, the convention center/hotel was attacked by a huge beast – Godzilla, I believe. The Seven banded together to defeat him, with Paul filling in for Jan and someone else (whose name escapes me at the moment) filling in for John. Eric attacked him (Flying Leap) immediately, and the rest of us soon followed.



[Eric Lui Attacking Godzilla While the Rest of The Seven Look On]

And these were just some of the highlights of Shadowfist at KublaCon 2007.