This covers weeks #2 and #4 of the Adventures at Hogwarts pre-release. We didn't do a week #3, as we were vacationing. This report is novel length, so get yourself a drink and a snack and sit down to read all about it. You can read the report on week #1 here:

 

http://www.pojo.com/harrypotter/KillerDecks/2002June+/JeffAHGameDay1.htm

 

Last week was the last week of the season for my older son's soccer team, so he was now available to play. This gave the Hodgkinson clan a full contingent of six: me, my sons Daniel and David, my brother Greg, and his kids Amanda and Neil. With one more player, we needed to make one more deck. I gave the deck I played last week to my son Daniel, and devised a completely new deck.

 

I had two different ideas I wanted to try out. One was a Potions Class Disaster (PCD) deck, fueled by Wand Shop. The other was a Draco Slytherin item deck. I strongly favored the idea of the item deck, as its concept was so unique in comparison to our other decks, providing a nice contrast to the same old thing. But the deck struggled against fast creature decks in play testing. Extensive tuning improved it greatly, but the performance was still a bit lacking. So with some regret, I gave my other idea a try.

 

The hard part of the Wand Shop deck was deciding on a win method. After much soul searching, I settled (unimaginatively) on a few choice creatures of very large size. Squid, to be exact. We had picked up four Giant Squid in the packs of the tourneys we had played in the previous weekend, and these 5/10 creatures for 10 lessons seemed tailor-made for this deck concept. After working out a functional design, I then devised a non-Hogwarts variant, just in case the tourney organizers disallowed cards from the new set to be played. The replacements would be two Mountain Trolls, a Black Dragon, and Fluffy. I had to really grit my teeth to include Fluffy. I have long considered it to be an unplayable card used by amateurs. I held it in great disdain. But its fit in the deck as the big terminator was unmistakable. Its inclusion also allowed me to come up with the deck's name - Snape Doggy Dog.

 

My brother had scoped out three tourneys in the area for this week #2. The first was held mid-day on Saturday on our home turf - the Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) store in Columbia Mall, Maryland. We got there just as the store opened, and I bought sleeves for the newly made deck. We asked about the inclusion of Hogwarts cards, and were told they would not be permitted. So I frantically adjusted five of our six decks back to having no Hogwarts cards. A first round bye allowed me the time to sleeve my own deck. Here it is:

 

Professor Snape (starter)

4 Potions Class Disaster

2 Obliviate

4 Wand Shop

3 Gringott's Vault Key

4 Stream of Flames

1 Dragon Heart Wand

2 Phoenix Feather Wand

1 Halloween Feast

2 Titillando

1 Toe Biter

1 Hannah Abbott

1 Professor Quirrell

2 Bruiswort Balm

1 Hedwig

2 Mountain Troll

1 Black Dragon

1 Fluffy (AKA Doggy Dog)

8 Creature Lessons

19 Charm Lessons

 

This is very much a work in progress, as I didn't have time to tune it much. Some design choices were forced on me due to the limits of our remaining card collection. (Does anyone have a spare Key that they'll sell/trade me?) I'm used to having McGonagall at the helm of my decks, to put me into that comfort zone feeling when facing opposing adventures. I didn't have that, and was also concerned about drawing too many lessons once I had managed to get the 12 out that the deck needed to be fully operational. Additionally, I fretted about the opposite problem of not getting going if my opponents targeted my Wands and Wand Shop. This deck just didn't give me any sense of confidence. I thought I would manage a respectable finish, but this deck didn't look like a contender for the top spot. That was OK. I just wanted to have fun. Any deck that has Fluffy in it can't be taken too seriously.

 

So we started. My first match was against Brian Wensus. He's a regular in our store, and he's playing one of my own decks against me. He copied the listing from one of my previous tourney reports and modified it slightly to suit his needs. He ended up finished tied for third, so he did well overall. The game begins with him winning the flip, and we both proceed to work on our development. He gets to his deck's playing level of six lessons first, so he drops some critters and commences with the beatdown. Things are looking good for him until I get to my playing level of 12 lessons. I then play three PCD's in two turns to wipe him out. A Black Dragon shows up soon after to smoke him.

 

Being once again distracted by kids constantly requesting deck shuffles and this time being saddled with the added difficulty of trying to play a deck I wasn't familiar with, the games turned into a blur after that. I remember my 4th match though. It was against a nice woman named Korena. Upon sitting down, I looked at her record, and it was 0-3. It didn't take long to figure out why. The first creature she put down was Surly Hound. The next was Curious Raven. The next was Scottish Stag. I had a Stream of Flames in hand, but refused to waste it on such inferior creatures. She didn't have much in the way of disruption, so I was able to get to full 12 lesson power soon enough. I then knocked out her hand, and most of her lessons in play, before unleashing Fluffy on her. It was the first time I had ever put the three headed dog into play. I wanted to have some sense of angst at that moment, but it was hard to feel bad when you're doing 12 points of damage a turn (compared to the 5 points delivered by the four creatures she had out at that time). I guess you know how that game turned out.

 

The only other memorable moment in the first half of the tourney came against a charms/creature deck. I had a Wand Shop in hand, but held it up, as my opponent had many Charm Lessons out already. I didn't want to play it until I could use it to reach my magical level of 12 lessons. That moment finally came, and the Titillando I used for my second action removed from play his only creature and reduced him to just one card in hand. My opponent seemed pleased and told me that I was going to hate him for this. He drew twice and played that one remaining card in his hand - a Fluffy of his own. However, this left him with only 8 cards in play. On my turn, I double PCD'ed him. He probably hated me for that. I then rolled him with Trolls.

 

After seven straight victories, the tourney organizer motioned me over to play my nemesis, Professor Lockhart, stating that one of the two of us was certain to win the tourney. I looked at Lockie's scoresheet. Lo and behold, there amongst the swarm of W's was this odd letter that didn't look like it belonged. It was an L! Hey! Lockie, you've lost a game! How did that happen? He seemed mortified and sputtered out his story:

 

"I had just sat down with my opponent. We started, and then about two turns into the game a passerby brushed up against me and... and... and... and he mussed up my hair! Why, you can understand that I had to immediately take care of that. After pulling out my mirror to help repair the damage, and then taking a few more minutes to admire the fix, I looked up to find my opponent had six creatures on the table and my deck was nearly depleted. I couldn't recover. I summoned the organizer over but he wasn't willing to declare the result invalid just because of bad hair. The injustice of it all!"

 

Uh... OK. Whatever. We flip. He wins. Grrrrrr...... This was only one of nine lost coin flips in my ten tourney games. Outrageously bad luck! Anyway, my deck's weakness versus adventures finally haunts me this game, as he puts out an early Through the Arch and follows it with another the turn after I solve the first. He also uses Lost Notes to further stall my development. It's over in a hurry. I get smashed.

 

We both win out our remaining games, which leaves us tied for first place with 9-1 records. We agree to split and play a friendly game just for fun. Now that the tourney is officially over, I win the flip. After taking some initial creature damage. I'm able to go off, with my typical Obliviate/PCD nonsense. I completely clear him out of cards and play a fattie. I make a playing error near the end by just passing my actions, instead of playing the extra lessons in my hand. Had he drawn a Griphook, he could have punished me for my poor play. But he didn't. My sons Dan and Dave finish tied for third with Brian Wensus. Technically, I was tied for 1st/2nd, so my streak of consecutive second place finishes had reached six.

 

My brother played in another tourney later that day with his kids. I didn't want to drive all the way to Virginia, so I skipped that. Greg came in first, Amanda third, and Neil fourth. There were only three other people playing besides them.

 

The next day, the six of us went to another tourney at Gamekeeper in Towson. We were the only six to show. I did really badly. My streak of consecutive 2nd place finishes came to an ignominous end, as I went 2-3 in match play, tied for 3rd with three others (one of which was Dave, keeping his string of third place finishes alive). Amanda was first, and Daniel was second. That later tourney result should give caution to anyone wanting to try this deck against stiff competition. I did make numerous playing errors, but there were also times when the design of the deck simply failed me. One thing is for sure, this deck does not like to see opposing adventures that shut down spells. I do suggest that if anyone was going to try this deck out, they should be secretive about it. My family members were mercilessly crushed by this deck one day, but once they had that rude introduction to it, they quickly figured out where it's weak points were, making it much more difficult for me the second time around. A lot of the success of this deck derives from it's surprise factor.

 

After breaking for a week to vacation, we played in one final tourney on Sunday, June 30th, at the DugoutZone in Carrolltown Center (Eldersburg, Maryland). My brother called ahead and found that they were allowing Hogwarts cards. Yay! I had been wanting to try out the squid in my PCD design. Unlike the WOTC places, DugoutZone ran their tourney in a manner I vastly preferred - timed rounds of 15 minutes each. This meant I would finally have time to keep a detailed record of the play as it happened, and I wouldn't be frequently bothered by my kids asking for a deck shuffle.

 

That morning, we looked over our decks to make adjustments for the new set. I put in the three squid, and then debated adding a 4th, and taking out Fluffy. Doggy Dog is great for finishing someone quickly, but I didn't like how it forced me to play with more creature lessons, making my Wand Shop less effective. So the 4th Squid went in, and I changed one Creature Lesson into a Charms Lesson. I couldn't come up with a decent replacement deck name. Squid-snape? Nah. Earlier results had me believing the Dragon Heart Wand was not appropriate for this deck. I took it out and put in a Photo Album instead. The final card I gave strong consideration to was Argus Filch. Given that I had suffered terribly before to adventures (mostlyPrivet Drive and Through the Arch), and that at least two decks I would face would have four Privets each (Dave and Amanda's decks), I felt I needed to address this critical weakness in the deck. Photo Shop seemed the least worthy card in the deck, so it was dropped to make room for Filch. The design that was played:

 

Professor Snape (starter)

4 Potions Class Disaster

2 Obliviate

4 Wand Shop

3 Gringott's Vault Key

4 Stream of Flames

1 Argus Filch

2 Phoenix Feather Wand

1 Halloween Feast

2 Titillando

1 Toe Biter

1 Hannah Abbott

1 Professor Quirrell

2 Bruiswort Balm

1 Hedwig

4 Giant Squid

7 Creature Lessons

20 Charm Lessons

 

I was annoyed that we didn't have any Madam Pomfreys. If we had one, I would have put her in with Photo Album, and tossed the two Bruisewort Balms. There were 16 people at this tourney, including our group of six. They said they would give everyone a pack and split into two groups. The six adults in one group and the 10 kids in another, with each group's winner getting one additional pack. This was much better than how they distributed the prizes last time, when they gave the winner most of the packs. This way is much more likely to build community support (as is the idea of separating kids and adults). Another improvement over the last time was that they didn't change the tourney structure for late arrivals. Be on time or don't play. They said we could open our packs before we started, to possibly include the new cards in our decks. None of our 6 packs included a Madam Pomfrey.

 

So the pairings were announced, and I start to hand out our decks. That's when I noticed that I left Amanda's deck (arguably our 2nd best deck) at home. ACK!!! So much for having a relaxed start! Anyway, my brother and I had dicussed the merits of having our 6th deck be my old green Hooch design, or instead using his new blue Hooch design. My goof in leaving a deck at home meant that we had to play with both. Greg took blue Hooch, and Amanda was stuck with a deck she was completely unfamiliar with - Greg's "light" lesson denial deck. The two tourneys would each go 5 rounds, with a playoff in the event of a tie record. This meant I would play each other adult once.

 

First round is against Ed McCaulley. He's running McGonagall as his starter. He wins the die roll. He gets out an early Candy Cart against me. It would be the only adventure played against me in the tourney. I would draw Argus in several games, and he would just sit in my hand, mocking me. In this one game that there was an opposing adventure, I actually initially liked having it out, as the virtual damage of three was bearable, given that it was improving my hand quality. He also gets out a Scabbers, but my 4th turn Wand Shop gets me to full power (12 lessons). I then Titillando Scabbers to get him back in Ed's hand, and make him discard three cards. Ed plays two Marble Gargoyles on his turn, and I respond with a Titillando to one, and then play Hedwig to get it right back. On turn 6 I kill his other Gargoyle (emptying his hand), and then lay down my Squid. Hannah follows a turn later to get a PCD, and (for lack of anything better) Argus Filch; as by this time, I was getting stuffed eating all that candy. I didn't need Argus, as I picked up another PCD on the ensuing draw. The double PCD on turn 8 completely wiped him out of cards in hand and in play. The Squid then squished him.

 

Round two is against Ed's wife Dana, who is also running McGonagall. She's also winning the die roll to go first. She's playing a deck that has lots of items, and a fair amount of cards that can destroy lessons. She uses Chocolate Frogs to get the new Draco on turn 5, playing him the turn after that. Her deck never seems to take off, though. She had Bulgeye Potion for her offense, but couldn't draw it. She put out Silver Unicorn Horn twice, but most of the time her deck just kept trying to interfere with my deck. I helped her by having a bad start, and when she cast a Charms Exam on turn 8, I had to discard 12 cards. She cast it twice again after that to lesser effect. I returned the favor with an Obliviate on turn 10, but her casting of Lost Notes four times and Picking on Neville three times seriously inhibited my development. However, on turn 14 I was finally able to use PCD on her, and followed up with another on turn 17. Unfortunately, at he conclusion of her part of turn 18, time is called, and she's declared the winner, as her library contains 39 cards to my 20. I believe the odds were in my favor to win if we played it out, however. At the end, she had one card in hand and five in play. I had out a Phoenix Feather Wand, Wand Shop, 5 Charms Lessons, and had two cards in hand (one a Key). On my turn, I would have used Snape's heal, and then used the Key to fetch a PCD, reducing Dana to just one card in play (probably a Pewter Cauldron), and one in hand (the Collapsing Cauldron bounces back to her hand after being discarded). She would certainly have chances for counterpunching, but I felt I had a strong positional advantage at that time. Oh well. I guess I need to win out.

 

Round three is Carol Delisle. She's playing Draco. Initially, I thought this was the new (item) Draco, but it was actually the old (discard) one. Incredibly, I win the die roll and get to go first (how often does that happen?). My Wand Shop comes out on turn 4, and the Feather Wand on turn 5. I Obliviate/PCD her on turn 6, and the Squid shows up three turns later to drown her. She was never able to get a card into play other than a lesson. Afterwards, we have a nice chat. She was concerned about how much money was needed to play this game, as my deck was filled with rare cards (19). So far, I've spent less than $100. I bought an initial box of the base set and a complete set and 8X common set of Quidditch Cup. I then bought some specific singles on Ebay. Most of my Diagon Alley and Adventures at Hogwarts cards have been picked up playing in tourneys. It helps that I'm not a collector, so I'll trade a foil card for its premium value. It also helps that I can raid my brother's collection for cards when I have to. :) Carol, if you're out there and reading, I want to assure you that it is possible to have a fine deck with a less substantial collection. The deck my niece plays is better than my PCD design, and contains only 4 rares cards: McGonagall, Hedwig, and two Halloween Feasts.

 

Round 4. My brother is cruising along at 3-0, and I need to beat him to keep up. I am pumped. This is one freight train headed for a wreck. We roll. I lose. Sigh. We each get five lessons down in the first three turns. On turn four, he casts a Wand Shop, followed by Cobbing. I look at him in disbelief. Did he forget what deck I was playing? I suppose I should remind him. I discard a creature lesson, draw, play a lesson, and then a Squid. He frowns. That's why he shouldn't have done that! He manages to make a game of it by popping out Nimbus 2000 and a couple of Mid Air Collisions. But it's not enough. I steal the win.

 

Round 5. Shaun Cole is playing Hermione. We roll. I win. It's comeback time. He goes bonkers laying out lessons, and has 10 in play by the end of turn 5. But that doesn't give him much time to do anything else. He does put out a Marble Gargoyle, but I Stream it in response. By turn 7 I'm ready. Obliviate and PCD. A second PCD arrives two turns later, reducing him to just a River Troll. I burn that on the following turn and call in a Squid to turn out the lights.

 

So my brother and I face off again for the title. My son Daniel had breezed through the kids tourney 5-0, edging out his brother. It's time for the bigger brothers to settle their score. We partake in the perfunctory pregame snarl and then roll the die. Oops. Hey! He's not supposed to win that! Well, maybe he'll screw it up again. He gets an early jump on me with a turn 4 Nimbus and Cobbing. He then Ouches on 5, Mid Airs on 6, and Loop the Loops on 7. On my turn 7 I answer with Obliviate/PCD, reducing him to just the Broom in play. He looks glum. But I'm worried, as I'm already low on cards. It takes two more turns to draw the Creature Lesson I need to get out my Squid. He plays a lesson, and then another, and Fouls me for the win just two turns before the Squid could finish the job. Wasn't it nice of me to give him those two turns he needed to pull out the win? You see, way back on turn 4 when he Cobbled me, I discarded my only Creature Lesson in play. Had I not done that, my Squid would have hit the board two turns earlier. Oh yeah, and I also forgot to use Snape's heal. How dumb is that? Very. Bleah. Second place again. In a final bit of irony, a Madam Pomfrey shows up in those last two packs we received for winning the tourneys.

 

Jeff Hodgkinson