After hanging out with and going to lunch with the guys from The Zone, we took off down to Bloomington where most of them were going to participate in the tour event at Gryfalia’s Aerie.  This would give a few of the guys a second crack at being paired up against me for their EA Varimathras.

 

 

The packs that I cracked were pretty nice to me on the Alliance side of things, but I have much love for the Horde and wanted to stay loyal.  I pulled a Varimathras from one of my packs and figured that that was the sign I needed to brush my Alliance cards under the rug. Not so fast! After thoroughly looking at the cards, I decided that while Horde had some bigger beats, Alliance had more consistency (and a Myriam).  I also was struggling between the weapons that I could have used Paladin or Warrior with, or the double Earth Mother’s Blessing that I had.  Since I decided on Alliance, my plans of world domination with Zandar x2 and Blessing x2 would soon come to fruition!

 

Mythen of the Wild

 

Allies – 22

Zandar Shadesprokect x2

Vindicator Belian

Vindicator Dindro

Xanata the Lightsworn

Durae Crystalshield

Angelista

Rahn Grimstaff

Rysa the Earthcaller

Bizzazz

Waldo the Decoy

Anchorite Viluaa

Bulvai of the Watch x2

Myriam Starcaller

Vindicator Melina

Caretaker Devonar x2

Orderkeeper Henley

Stella Forgebane

Domona the Ever-Watchful

Kronore

 

Abilities – 5

Sustain or Reclaim

Lacerate

Earth Mother’s Blessing x2

Swipe

 

Quests – 6

The Spirit Polluted

The Sigil of Krasus

Hellfire Fortifications

Lexivus the Soul Caller

Survey the Land

Information Gathering

 

Round 1 – Andrew Chamberlain – Remba, Abbess of Ash

 

 

My first match was against one of the two players who hadn’t been at The Zone earlier in the day.  I didn’t get a chance to talk all that much to Andrew about things because I was too busy crying inside about his Hero’s flip power after I had begrudgingly decided to go Alliance Druid.  Looks like my Earth Mother’s Blessings were going to sit in my hand or be resources if necessary.

 

We exchanged allies a bit as I sat back and hoped that he would Infusion of Fortitude something and steal it so that I could use my Blessings, but it never came.  Turn six and seven were the big plays of the match as I attacked killed his Magistrix Tibrana with my Bulvai of the Watch, but since I had Vindicator Belian in play, Bulvai took no damage and Belian went to the yard.  I had played Myriam on turn five, so she was now free to start the countdown to destruction.  Andrew proceeded to Twist of Fate my Bulvai, but since he was exhausted he couldn’t really do anything, and he sucked up Myriam’s nuke at the end of his turn because of his effect.  I got free shots in on my turn seven and continued to establish my board with Domona the Ever-Watchful.  Andrew used Spiritual Domination to snatch my Bulvai to try and save himself some beats, but Bulvai was promptly nuked again by Myriam at the end of the turn.  Andrew couldn’t stabilize after that and with a few more allies and another turn or two from me spelled the end of him.

 

After the event was over, he was the lucky player to inherit my non-EA Varimathras that I had pulled, so he didn’t walk away empty handed.

 

1-0   at Gryfalia

2-3 Total

 

 

Round 2 – Johnny Hulet – Mythen of the Wild

 

 

The first swing came on turn four when Johnny used his Bearlady Brala’s pet Twig to attach into my Durae.  Instead of flipping and healing her, I decide to play Earth Mother’s Blessing.  Johnny’s Twig goes bye bye, but after combat Johnny uses The Natural Order to get rid of my Earth Mother’s Blessing which promptly kills Durae since she had three damage on her.  I thought I would be ok after I dropped Bulvai on my turn four and Myriam on five with only Caretaker Mooncrier in the way.  Johnny played Breen Toestubber on seven, and that is where it started going downhill.  I was sitting back and hoping to Myriam my way to victory rather than taking out his Allies with Bulvai, and as turn eight and nine added Givon, Weeble, and Marksman Eowan which pretty much shut down my offense. With Myriam dead on eight to Breen and no way to really do damage with Givon and Breen both on the table, I took my first loss of the day.  EA Varimathras was forced to rear his ugly head and part ways with me.

 

1-1 at Gryfalia

2-4 Total

 

Round 3 – Andy Sipka – Kil’zin of the Bloodscalp

 

 

After having played six matches, Andy was the first player I went up against where I really felt behind from the turn one.  It was just that feeling in my gut that only usually happens in the office when I play against Russ Pippen, Ian Estrin, or most of the guys in R&D.  I won the die roll to start a new streak, and my Vindicator Belian turn one was demoralized when Bloodsoul hit the other side of the table.  We played and traded some allies until Andy Life Cycled my Bizzazz at the end of my turn three.  On turn four I dropped Bulvai, but Andy quickly dealt with him with an Elemental Fury, and Bloodsoul continued to beat on my face.  Andy dropped Roena Trailmaker on five, and made her big enough to survive my Caretaker Devonar on turn six by ripping a quest.  I brought Caretaker Melina in, but Vexmaster Nar’jo promptly dealt with her.  Turn eight saw Myriam and Zandar come in to give some more threats, but I didn’t put two and two together, so Andy, with plenty of health to spare, attached into my Myriam with his Hero to put more damage on himself, and then Death Shocked Zandar to deal eight damage to finish me off.  It’s quite the embarrassment to die to your own ally, so EA Varimathras was happy to part ways with me after that showing.

 

1-2 at Gryfalia

2-5 Total

 

Round 4 – Ken Roth – Hekto Starspire

 

 

Ken was my last pairing for the day, and he likes to play fast, so I didn’t get to take many notes.  Ken was rocking a lot of equipment for his Pally, but my Stella Forgebane on turn seven helped to wipe some of his equipment out.  I had managed to get a Lacerate on his hero early, which he was kind enough to remind me of when I forgot.  When he dropped Bloodeye on seven and Bloodblade on nine, I was so concerned with the two cards that I didn’t realize that Ken was at 20 damage and I had more than enough on board to kill him.  I took two steps back to count out the damage and realized that I had the W, so we shook hands and I took my .500 record for the day.

 

2-2 at Gryfalia

3-5 Total