|
|
Brendon Marotta (10), Megan Marotta (7) and I (David Marotta) traveled to the 1998 OverPower Regionals in Alpharetta, GA just north of Atlanta.
Thirty (30) people participated in the tournament, many of whom had played in the northeastern Regionals at New York's Neutral Ground the week before but had failed to make it into the top 8 players there.
Brendon and Megan were definitely the youngest players there (I think they were the only children!). Brendon was playing FF Plaza with Mr. Fantasic, Invisible Woman, Thing and the old Namor in Reserve with a Concrete Jungle Battlesite. I was playing the same deck with a Hell's Kitchen Battlesite. Megan had a great deck of all girls with Shadowcat, Invisible Woman, Scarlett Witch with Spiderwoman in reserve.
Megan won her first game after a heated battle where she and her opponent shuffled their powerpacks several times. She lost her next three games, but each time the games were close and the battles fiece. In her third game her record was 1-1 but she was chosen from among the 1-1 players to play a 2-0 player and so she had to play Gary Martin, Jr. one of the best players in the game. He said she gave him one of his toughest games and even negated one of his best plays.
Brendon won his first game, but lost to Gary Martin, Jr. in his second game, and to another player who finished in the top eight in his third game. He went on to win his fourth game, but his 2-2 record put him in a multiway tie for 9th, just out of the top eight.
I won my first games, and then in my second game I had my battle site attacked for the first time. I ended up losing my battle site (after a long time) but winning the game. My opponent was playing Any Heroes and had the event to reshuffle the power pack and the deck pile together. This really hurts minimalized battlesites. In my third game I lost to a Maruaders and X-Babies deck with an Onslaught citadel battlesite. This was the first time I had seen this deck. I had considered an Onslaught citadel battlesite, but it seemed most useful (with it venture manipulating specials) if you were willing to take hits. The FF plaza deck is predicated on the proposition that you won't be taking many hits, hence Onslaught citadel isn't as useful. But with X-Babies you can take all the power card hits you want (assuming you get a Vertigo) and then use the special that puts them into the permenant record and win the venture. I lost the game when time was called, but I believe I would have lost it anyway.
I won my fourth game and went on to the top eight single elimination.
My first game was against Gary Martin, who had defeated both of my children. Gary was playing Heroes For Hire, Starjammers, The Reavers, and original Morph with Onslaught's Citadel Battlesite. Gary and I had only played two other games against each other a long time ago. He had won the first, and I, losing, had Savage-Landed him in the second encounter and turned the tide to win. Gary plays consistantly in more competative circles than I do, and travels more for tournaments so I consider his playing more cosmopolitan, and mine more bumpkin. Brendon is my main sparing partner, so if he or I haven't learned it, we haven't seen it. Gary attacked my battlesite some, but couldn't knock it out. He played well, but this strategy didn't work quickly enough, and I ended up winning.
In the semi-finals there was a play where my opponent played off the wrong teamwork follow-up in haste and the Judge ruled he had to live with it. It cost him the battle and possible the game. I never know how to handle those, and always call the judge and let him decided. I hate the rulings about reneging, keeping duplicates and unusables, and the inability to take back a card you have decided you shouldn't have just played. I have been burned by the rules enough time that when it is potentially in my favor I let the judge decide. It felt cold and ruthless (and probably appeared that way to those watching) but I don't have any better philosophy for handling rules questions except to have someone who is impartial make the rulings consistantly. Brendon and I practice what we call "e;cut-throat"e; judge's rules since the 1997 Nationals. At that event, I had one game where I lost three straight battles (six mission cards) because of the reneg rule. It was a sealed deck tournament where I had mistakenly put a teamwork into my deck which none of my characters could use. I asked the Judge and the ruling was that I must leave the card in my deck for the remainder of the tournament and discard it in the hands it came up as unusable. Well it is hard to remember that a card is unusable when all your characters are still awake! I ended up finishing third (out of 58 players!) with Brendon finishing second and Norman Barth first, but it taught me the penalty of not looking carefully and thinking before making a teamwork follow-up.
In the finals I was still a little rattled by the controversy of the semis, but my opponent was superb. Again the Maruaders and X-Babies with Onslaught citadel was played to perfection. I didn't really have much command in the game and went don't quicker than I would have liked. My opponent was 7-0 for the day, and deserved the win. Coming in second was nice, and I enjoyed seeing the other decks and learning what was working. For additional information, contact David Marotta
Home | Decks
| Rules | Reports
|
Articles | News
| Links | Fun
Stuff
