Judgemental

(TL : DR If you just want to see the Top 8, scroll down past the quick run down of both days of the WKO weekend, I posted the lists before reporting my own experience at the open, feel free to skip whatever you wish)

First and foremost I have to thank Shahin (@TheRoyalFalcon) for stepping out of the event as a player to step up big time as the volunteer judge for this event, he made sure everything ran smoothly over the course of the weekend .

The second thanks goes to the staff and owners of Carta Magica, they were very supportive of the event and even provided additional prizes for bonus unofficial side events including a few AvX super rares and older hard to find promos which made for a pleasant surprise!

On to the events themselves:

Saturday March 26th - The side events

• 21 players came out to play side events on the Saturday

• We played from 11am to 5pm.

• We ran the store out of stock drafting rather quickly, 2 pods of 8 ran until there were no more foils !

• So many Canadians were happy to see sooooo many Iron Fists in one spot!

• Everyone wanted to keep playing even though the Iron Fists and Batmobiles were done for the day .Carta Magica genereously provided additional prizing so we could do a quick unofficial tournament for Gobby and other Promos (Full Art PXG, Beast – Mutate 666 etc). It turned out to be some pre-WKO practice and with fierce competition at that! I got myself a Prof X promo for a second place finish using my Poly/Hulk control team.

• Overall everyone was smiling and having a blast. I think its been said time and time again, the Dice Masters community is amazing.

Sunday March 27th - The Main Event

• The tournament ran from 11 am to 7 pm to complete the swiss rounds and the Top 8, along with a few side events that started after the swiss rounds were complete at around 4pm. We took a much needed 30 minute break to eat and stretch our legs before the finals.

• 24 players came out on to play in WKO.

• We were lucky to have a few people coming from out of town, a big shout out to the players from Montreal and Toronto, it was a pleasure to meet you all and thanks for making our event bigger and better.

• We did a 4 round swiss, it could have been a 5 round swiss but the judge called it on 4 rounds when the top 8 was set. With more players maybe we would have done 5, the judge made a wise call to end the swiss rounds at this point as more were not necessary .

• The swiss rounds themselves went super smoothly, very few judge calls were made, no arguments ensued and everyone was out playing their best . There was some interesting diversity despite the top 3 teams of this tournament having the exact 10 cards and dice distribution, but more on that later.

Worlds Finest and FUS and their impact on our Meta:

• Worlds Finest was legal for this event, this led to a slew of Oracle – Master Investigator integrated into our meta, this card is one to watch out for.

• One team in the top 8 was a full Batman family team that was actually incredibly scary to play against from what those who faced this team described, I did not have the pleasure of coming up against it.

• From FUS the standard meta champions were seen all over the place: Elf Thief common, Dwarf Wizard rare, Golems (Mostly Clay Golem), the Ring and the Half-Elf Bard – Master Lords' Alliance all shook up the game we knew before this set came out.

Let's start with the lists, here is our Top 8:

5th-8th place in no particular order:

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Jason – Gobby and Golem:

Green Goblin – Gobby x4
Elf Thief – Lesser Harper x4
Clay Golem – Leser Construct x4
Iron Fist – The Immortal x1
Captain America – Super Soldier x2
Professor X – Recruiting Young Mutants x1
Human Torch – Johnny Storm x2
Storm – Wind Rider x2
Delayed Blast Fireball
Blink-Transmutation


http://dm.retrobox.eu/?view&cards=4x...x30fus;3x27fus

This team aims to field Elf Thief and Gobby early on to start slowing down your opponents use of the PXG and to do damage. It then uses the Fabricate engine of the Clay Golem to keep it's when fielded characters ready to go each turn. It supports an impressive anti burn kit along with the distraction global on Blink-Transmutation to slow down any combat damage team. Storm - Windrider and Delayed Blast Fireball are there to clear annoying answers on his opponents turn or his own.. Jason was eliminated by Petrus (4th place)

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Chad – Control / Golem Elf Thief Dwarf Wizard:

Elf Thief – Lesser Harper x4
Dwarf Wizard – Paragon Zentarim x2
Nightwing - Flying Grayson x3
Hulk – Green Goliath x2
Oracle – Master Investigator x2
Half-Elf Bard – Master Lords' Alliance x3
Clay Golem – Lesser Construct x3
Professor X – Recruiting Young Mutants x1
Polymorph
Magic Missile

http://dm.retrobox.eu/?view&cards=3x...36bff;3x135bff

This team works similarly to the first team I listed however it takes the control aspect of the well known Polymorph / Hulk control teams. Chad has been testing for his last slot on this team for weeks and decided to adopt the Nightwing rare the day of the event as a cheaper option to Hulk GG , he says it was a work horse for him in most games and he did not regret his last minute decision. Frequently he will buy Elf Thief and Polymorph early in order to steal energy to make the turn 3 purchase of Hulk or other tools easier and at the same time guaranteeing a body for Polymorph if he misses a sidekick roll. Oracle being cheated out onto the board on turn 3 serves to slow down his opponents economy and find the time to set up his board for a win with Nightwing clearing the way for a Bard enhanced one turn kill.

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Laurier – Bat-Rush

Alfred Pennyworth – MI5 x4
Robin – Kid Detective x3
Bruce Wayne – International Playboy x3
Green Goblin – Norman Osbourne x1
Oracle – Master Investigator x3
Batman – Natural Leader x4
Doomcaliber Knight – Fiendish Fighter x1
Professor X – Recruiting Young Mutants x1
Dark Avenger
Vigilante Justice


http://dicemastersdb.com/teams/team/?id=12873

Laurier did a nice write up for his team on the Dicemastersdb.com link provided, please read his write up for more details. All I will add are that all I could hear from is opponents is “All of sudden there were Batmans I had no blockers and I lost” Just looking at the list I can piece it together, what crazy interactions! Hands down the coolest team in the top 8 . Congrats to Laurier for showing off the latest set like no one else could. He was eliminated by Kevin (2nd Place)

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Richard – Gobby Parallax

Green Goblin - "Gobby" (x4)
Prismatic Spray - Lesser Spell (x4)
Constantine - Hellblazer (x4)
Blue-Eyes White Dragon - Monstrous Dragon (x2)
Parallax - Fear (x2)
Red Dragon - Lesser(?) Dragon (x2)
Professor X - Trainor (x1)
Ring - Epic Gear (x1)
BAC's:
Polymorph
Rally (Richard: “mistake - should have played blink-transmutation”)

http://dm.retrobox.eu/?view&cards=4x...avxop;3x136bff

This is the Parallax Gobby machine I've grown to respect in the last few months worth of testing, when this goes off and there's 3-4+ sidekicks on the field it hurts. Richard brought Spray to counter any burn counters he may face and opted to go for PXG to set up his kill condition as fast as possible with Ring global to gain additional sidekicks and fix energy when he had a used pile for it. He brought Polymorph for removal, to make sure he could get rid of pesky Zombie Magnetos and Green Goliaths . Richard was eliminated by Eric (3rd Place)

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The Top 4:

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4th Place – Petrus – AvX Burn


Black- Widow - Tsarina 4x
Green Goblin - Gobby 4x
Oracle - Master Investigator ) 3x
Constantine - Hellblazer 2x
Ring (super rare) - 1x
Blue-eyes White Dragon – Monstrous Dragon 1x
Human Torch - Johnny storm- 2x
Storm – Goddess of the Plains 3x
Resurrection
Distraction

http://dm.retrobox.eu/?view&cards=4x...25avx;3x137bff

A familiar setup now to most experienced Dice Masters players, the AVX burn trio of Gobby, Tsarina and Torch continues to be powerful to this day. Petrus chose to add the new Oracle – Master Investigator to slow down either his opponents use of PXG if they brought it and to discourage the use of his own amazing globals. The Ring global is a power house on this team, frequently providing sidekicks faster than you could ever roll them. Petrus lost 1-2 to myself (1st place) in the semi finals, and went on to lose to Eric (3rd place) in their game to determine who would get the 3rd invite to nationals (We were 24 exactly).

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3rd Place – Eric Trudel – Bard Blitz

Eric lost to Kevin in the semi finals 1-2 in the mirror and was victorious over Petrus in the battle for 3rd place.

2nd Place – Kevin Richer (Drakolich) – Bard Blitz

Kevin defeated Eric to move on to the finals to lose to myself 1-2 in the final mirror of the day.

1st Place – Mike Trudel (myself) – Bard Blitz


Morphing Jar – Canopic Jar x4
Miri Riam – Beacon in the Dark x4
Half Elf Bard – Master Lords' Alliance x4
Prismatic Spray – Lesser Spell x 3
Doomcaliber Knight – Fiendish Fighter x2
Ring – Lesser Gear x1
Parallax – Source of Terror x1
Blue-Eyes White Dragon – Monstrous Dragon x1
Resurrection
Relentless

http://dm.retrobox.eu/?view&cards=4x...137bff;3x31uxm

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Ok, where do I begin?

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First:

The Bard and how we rule him around here.

The weakest interpretation or ruling we can think to give this card is that when he attacks and his ability triggers he will give +1+1 to each attacking character (including himself) for each UNIQUE active character other than the Bard . Ex: I have 2 Miri 2 Jars 2 Sidekicks 1 Bard on the field. Miri, Jar and Sidekick are 3 unique characters that are different than the Bard, when the Bard attacks with other characters they each get +3+3. Since this is an on attack ability, it does stack.

Second:

Yes we played the exact same list, the exact same dice distribution etc. This list is a project the 3 of us have been working on when we realized just how strong the Bard really was. My brother, Eric , has been saying ever since the card was revealed that if this card gets interpreted in weird ways, it could cause a turn 3 kill every time. This stuck on his mind until one day he said what if we use Miri to bring in a 1 cost with the Bard.

He had me hook, line and sinker. We quickly made a list sent it to Kevin and asked him “Is this as scary as we think it is?” Of course we evolved the team from there, but from that point on we kept this a secret and worked on it along side our favored teams. We quickly came to realize that not only could this team compete in the current meta it could possibly completely dominate it. On to my experience.


The Swiss:

Round 1 Opponent: Maxime – Playing Mask Ring:


This was the first game of the day and I was nervous. To the point where I just realized while writing this that my opponent had 2 dice on puzzle! Oops! Being a control player normally and going all in to play a turn 3 kill team while having little faith in the consistency of Guy Gardner or Patch Ant Man combos were the main reason I was nervous. I really had no reason to be. Testing had shown me what would happen in this match up. I went first, I bought Miri on turn 1, pxg 2x, then bought Bard on turn 2, pxg 3x. On turn 3 my opponent had an open field. I rolled out a 3/3 Miri a 2/3 Bard a 1/1 Sidekick and Miri brought in a 2/1 Morphing Jar .. 6/6 + 5/6 + 4/4 + 5/4 were their stats when they all swung together with a fist payed for the DCK global to prevent his Blink-Transmutation global. Turn 3, 20 damage.

Round 2 – Adam – Guy Gardner Big Entrance


Adam went first. Having regained my confidence in the team, this match up came down to 2 things. First make sure to have a single sidekick to block the Spider since I don't want that extra bit of damage hitting me and second hope he does not get the Guy Rush god rolls. He got 2 Guys with Miri and brought out the Giant Spider but fielding costs and not getting the 3rd Guy out allowed me to take a 12 damage swing. He was forced in only swinging with the Guy Gardners and the Spider having seen one of my compatriots take down an opponent near him in round 1, he needed blockers. Miri and Spider were left on the field. My turn 3: I field Bard, field Miri to bring in the Jar and I had 3 sidekicks. It didn't matter which faces they were on, I had 2 masks for Relentless. Over 20 damage on turn 3 in this one.


Round 3 and 4 – My unluckiest moment or luckiest moment in the Swiss, however you choose to look at it.

The mirror match board state depicted here! Let the game of chicken begin!

Round 3 was against Eric (3rd place)

My first mirror match of the day and I went second. This mirror is a game of chicken and who misses a single roll first. Without PXG, you manipulate your used pile via the Resurrection global and the Ring global in order to be able to constantly use the Ring global to produce sidekicks. Eric had to make the risky play of using Blue-Eyes' global on his turn 4 to acquire a second Bard to try to finish me off leaving him one less blocker. I set up my board defensively on turn 3 with only the Bard drawn and Miri left in bag. I purchased 2 Morphing Jars which allowed me to draw some Jars with Miri for a turn 4 lethal with enough masks for Relentless.

Round 4 was against Kevin (Drakolich - 2nd place)

Guess what? I went second ...again. If you thought I was nervous in round one, this is where I'm freaking out at having to play the mirror again so soon. Even though we knew this could happen going into the event with the exact same list, it was nerve wracking regardless. Kevin missed his turn 3 Miri roll and in non PXG games we aren't as free to use Parallax's global so he opted to make buys. This eventually led to a turn 6 kill for me despite both of us having huge sidekick walls out and with our kill condition established. I was able to purchase my 3 extra Morphing Jars slightly faster than he was and have something like 7 masks to use on Relentless for lethal . 4-0 and on to the finals!!

Interesting fact about Bard Blitz: At this point I've played maybe about 15 minutes of Dice Masters total all day!


The Top 8 and the Rise of Bard Blitz.

So the 3 of us have done it, my fellow Bard Blitzers have only lost to me at this point and we're all in the top 8. The rounds are announced and we don't even need to do a mirror match until the semi finals or finals. We were pretty excited there was a chance we could have the team be 3 of the top 4.

Top 8 Round 1 – Quarter Finals - Opponent : Chad playing a Golem Elf Thief Control team. (See top 8 above for details) – Record of 1 - 0 – 1

This was my hardest match of the day. I rolled and got to go first, I tell myself great! He has PXG, turn 3 kill incoming. WRONG. I rolled no masks on turn 1, I used blue eyes to buy Bard. Oh boy. Chad rolls and re-rolls his first turn. No masks. OK, we're in this for a good game.

Well, this turned into a 40+ minute slug fest. The Oracle really slowed down our global heavy team because I failed to setup lethal damage on turn 3, mainly a mistake I realize now as I should have decided to forgo the use of “optimal” PXG on turn 2 and aimed to setup my turn 3 lethal using Resurrection and the Ring like in a non PXG game. The team thrives on having it set up immediately, even if you can't win right away. Using that board state to pressure your opponents economy while buying a Spray or more Jars to secure a win is the most common strategy. This was a game decided by mistakes on both sides. I bought a second Bard when I needed Spray, and he missed things on a few key turns as well. The Spray I eventually bought slowed down his PXG use and let me use globals normally for the first time since turn 4. I won the next time Spray showed up with sidekicks overcoming blockers after a few Relentless activations that only cost me 1 mask each finally!

Our next game is nothing to talk about, we had less than 5 minutes to play it and he could not find lethal damage in time, I decided to use an alternate strategy and buy Spray on turn 2 to slow him down. That really sums up that draw since it ended on turns.

Top 8 round 2 – Semi Finals – Opponent: Petrus with his AvX Burn list (See top 8 above for details). Record of 2-1-0

This is where I say I may have been lucky to have played the mirror twice in the swiss. Even if I went second both those games. At least I didn't need to do a best of 3 mirror in the semi finals and the finals.

This is a matchup we dreaded when theory crafting the team and practicing . The problem is its the same as the mirror, your opponent uses double Ring globals to setup a massive sidekick board that blocks our kill con. However, his damage is over the top burn and we give him Parallax for his Gobby.

Game 1: I went second, which I immediately knew was not in my favor. I lost that game to the Parallax + Gobby strategy. I think Gobby went from a free field to bolts back to a free field something like 4 times in a turn for 3 damage each re-field for a total of 12 or so. Well done.

Game 2 : Going first was much easier. I had my 20+ damage lethal setup on turn 3, he had 3 sidekicks to block it and I don't have masks for all 3. I bought Morphing Jars that turn with my spare energy and used the Ring globals available to make sure I was getting them by thinning my bag of sidekicks and I drew well next turn and won with Relentless on turn 4.

Game 3: This one had Petrus start and quickly setup his 5 sidekick board state so the Parallax + Gobby began (Petrus was purchasing Tsarina early to ensure he could use her double fist side for extra energy for Parallax's global, smart move!) . On his turn 5 I believe I was at 11 and he had the energy for 5-6 Parallax globals. He had 1 more sidekick then I could block with his initial roll before using Parallax's global so he only needed to refield Gobby twice and have 1 or 2 masks left for my Relentless global. Well the roll gods were on my side, 4-5 times he used the global and 4-5 times Gobby came up on a face and never left the field. I won the next turn using Morphing Jars' double mask sides for my Relentless global.

Top 8 Round 3 - The finals – Opponent: Kevin (Drakolich) – The mirror. 2-1-0

At this point we're joking about how going second in the mirror is clearly favored, even though Kevin's semi final round proved that going first was still better. Apparently they crushed each other going first and Kevin pulled a win going second to finish 2-1 to come play in the mirror again with me. I won't detail our games here since I promise it came down to rolls. I won going second in game one, basically because he missed a single roll, making the rest easier. I won going first in game 3, much like he won going first in game 2.


About Half-Elf Bard – Master Lords' Alliance :

So one of the goals behind this team and this write up was to make a statement about this Bard's strength, this part of my write up is dedicated to just that.

I'd encourage everyone to try our team or play against it once or at the very least experiment with the Bard. This particular Bard (talking about the card itself not so much our team) is a bit crazy. Even on my control team the Bard has been a no brainer addition. I no longer need Jinzo to wear my opponent down, I can use the Polymorph basic action to bring in Oracle to slow you down, follow it up with a Hulk the next turn and once I have Oracle, Hellblazer + Hulk it's not hard to see the Poly + Bard play. What's insane is I've won on turn 3 just buying Tsarina on turn 1, the Bard on turn 2 and rolling 4 lucky sidekick faces with my 2 characters on turn 3.

Also do we need it to stack? I was testing against Chad and his Elf Thief/Golem/Bard control team before the open and I've hit him for over 110 damage with 2 Bards out in a game that became “wally” between my control team and his. Do we need to have the potential of doing this much damage in a game where our life total cannot go over 20?

Never have a I felt as a player that a card in this game should be fixed. Not Jocasta, nor Vulture... You get my point. This is a first. I am not sure if Wizkids intends to review the power level of this card or not but if they don't ... I can only see myself playing the team we made at a competitive level until we find a counter or there's a change.

It is an oppressive aggro team that melts almost all of the teams I considered to be “The BEST teams in Dice Masters” only a month ago. The fact that it can set up a 20 damage + board state without PXG on turn 3 almost every single game is frightening. An interesting note I made to myself playing the Mirror multiple times this weekend: often 1 more sidekick means you need 1 less Relentless. Your sidekick die rolls are often 50/50 for lethal with this team because a ? a mask or a sidekick face is the same to you.

Since my favored play style is Poly/Hulk, this was one of the craziest experiences I've had with the game.

Our little Bard team was definitely the talk of the tournament, but I would like to extend this conversation to the international community at large. Can we play any other kill condition but the Half-Elf Bard – Master Lords' Alliance right now? I don't think so, even though Gobby is still doing a great job!

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Give me your thoughts and thanks for reading if you stuck with me the whole way through! Overall the Wizkids Open was everything I wanted to be. It was competitive, it was fun and it brought people in from out of town for me to meet! I thanked the store and judge, but now I thank my opponents and those I didn't play, you were all a part of making this event a success.

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