My next stop was at the Collector’s Item in Jackson, TN. After a nice two hour drive from Nashville, I arrived and started to gunsling with my constructed Shaman deck featuring a card or two from Hunt For Illidan. All the folks I played against agreed that the cards I was running would see Constructed play. Does destroying an ability and dealing damage to its controller equal to its cost seem good to you?

I think the karmic gods were paying me back for my exceptional deck on Friday by handing me a difficult stack of cards. Neither Alliance nor Horde presented any real late game, and none of my class specific cards were incredibly powerful. At least I opened a few good pieces of equipment! Once again, I didn’t open anything that would deal with abilities or equipment, and I secretly hoped that this theme didn’t continue tomorrow. Here’s what I ended up bringing to the table.

Forang Deathrattle

Allies – 18
Gobloz
Vindicator Ostakron
Lilith Smythe
2 Hulok Trailblazer
Wysko
Jaedan Sunshot
Vindicator Trytan
Tyrennius Scatheblade
Jessup Smythe
Anchorite Viluaa
Anchorite Fareena
Rogg Dreadnock
Bloodblade
Anchorite Jaliah
Roena Trailmaker
Groundshaker Earnheart
Jae’va the Relentless

Abilities – 3
Soul Inversion
Warlock Training
Swallow Soul

Equipment – 2
Arcanium Signet Bands
Devil-Stitched Leggings

Quests – 7
An Improper Burial
2 Survey the Land
Forge Camp: Annihilated
The Sigil of Krasus
2 Orders from Lady Vashj

I had a lot of low costs allies, but a big dearth of 4, 5 and 6 drops and the low cost allies weren’t super impressive in my book. I did have two of the best uncommon pieces of equipment in the format, but I didn’t have any real ally control other than those pieces. I also knew that equipment and abilities were going to be a big problem should any of them hit play. I hoped for a 50% win percentage, and I was fairly certain that Tennessee would finally claim an extended art Varimathras today.

Round 1 – Ryan Ixamos the Corrupted

Ryan started playing WoW with Heroes of Azeroth and then took a break, but he came back for March of the Legion. I lost the die roll and Ryan led out with Zandar Shadesprocket while I played Gobloz. Ryan missed entirely on turn 2 and I added Hulok Trailblazer to my team, who was promptly binned by Maelstrom Weapon on Ryan’s third turn. I used Forang’s hero power on turn 3 to get rid of Zandar and do a bit of damage to Ixamos in the process, while Ryan followed up with the immensely powerful Myriam Starcaller. That required an answer I didn’t currently have, but I played Wysko and Jaeden Sunshot to put some pressure on the board. I was able to clear Myriam by attacking her with Wysko and then having Gobloz finish off the pesky ally, slowing things to a crawl. Ryan played equipment pieces in the following order: Ring of the Silver Hand, Reflex Blades and Platinum Shield of the Valorous. I was not going to be attacking any time soon.

We spent the next few turns trading allies and adding to our boards, but the damage totals were not increasing by any measurable amount. Eventually I was able to mount a team of Groundshaker Earnheart, Anchorite Jaliah and Bloodeye while retaining some of my smaller drops, and Ryan’s board stalled out on the ally front as I had a Devil-Stitched Leggings that was picking off his side. The allies were finally starting to do some damage to Ryan, with Jaliah healing my big drops as my early drops were hitting the yard. We hit time and I had three cards left in my deck, and on the last turn of time I was able to deal fatal damage to Ixamos. Ryan showed me the card from his resource row that would have instantly killed me, Crystalfire Staff. Yeah, I was glad he rowed that.

1-0, 11 damage on my Hero.
5-0 overall

Round 2 – Matt Sharpshooter Nally

I played Matt in a few pick-up games before we got started, and he was a super friendly guy who was trying to grind out a Continentals invite before Gen Con. I won this die roll and started out like last round with a Gobloz whereas Matt played the slightly more aggressive Magister Ashi. I played Arcanium Signet Bands on my turn and Matt didn’t like how Gobloz looked and crushed him with Bloody Welcome during his turn. I plopped down Anchorite Viluaa and Matt followed with Caretaker Heartwing and Quigley Slipshade. I sent Viluaa into Quigley as Matt had no resources open, and then played the uber powerful Devil-Stitched Leggings. The Leggings would spend the next few turns thinning Matt’s board while my team slowly whittled down Matt’s life.

Matt decided the time was right to spice things up with Spymaster Thalodien. That particular epic required immediate attention, which was achieved with a combination of Leggings and Soul Inversion. I followed up with Bloodblade and the game ended shortly thereafter.

2-0, 2 damage on my Hero.
6-0 overall

Round 3 – Eric Bloody Mary

And here was where the wheels came off. Eric is a very talented WoW player who I have run into at events before, and I knew he was sporting a very powerful fury Warrior build with some exceptionally potent allies. I was not super happy about my odds going into this game, but winning the die roll bolstered my chances slightly.

Eric’s first three turns netted him Arcanist Alathana, Retainer Zian, and Jessup Smythe, whereas my first turns were a whiff of Soul Inversion on Alathana and a mediocre Hulok Trailblazer. It only got worse from there. I played Arcanium Signet Bands hoping to stabilize the board, and that was not to be as Tatulla the Reclaimer made short work of my equipment. I used my flip power to get rid of the already damaged Zian and heal a bit of health, whereas Eric played “Acid Hands” McGillicutty and added more beats to his board. I had been losing quite a bit of health from his team, and Bloodblade came to both of our boards on our next turn. I needed to stabilize and I hoped to do so by attaching Warlock Training to Bloodblade. I was able to bounce his Bloodblade but Eric dropped a bomb on his turn: Piercing Howl. I promptly scooped up my cards only having done 5 damage to his hero.

Eric netted the first EA Varimathras of the weekend and high-fives went out all around.

2-1
6-1 overall

Round 4 – Brian - Kintara Wintermoon

I have witnessed a lot of savage beatings in TCGs during my time in this industry, and I was on the receiving end of one of the worst. I’ll save you all a lot of reading and give you the board positions on turn 4.

Brian – Quigley Slipshade, Caretaker Mooncrier, Retainer Kedryn, Zandar Shadesprocket Falana of the Glen.

Ian – Arcanium Signet Bands, Rogg Dreadnock, Gobloz.

To say things were not looking up for me is an understatement. My only saving grace was that Brian was out of cards heading into his turn 5, but when he windmill slammed Shadow Silhouettes off the top of his deck, my only response was “Bad…..beats”. My follow up play was Lilith Smythe and my hero got his Orc head caved in on the following turn. At least it was over quickly.

2-2
6-2 overall

Well, all good things must come to an end and I left Jackson two Varimathras lighter than when I got there. We all had a good time and it was good to see a crowd of folks around watching us flop cards down on the table. I’m hoping that my card pool tomorrow will be stronger than today’s, but it would be hard for me to think it could get much worse. Do I hear Murphy’s Law calling?