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Staff

Pook VS The World

My First Tournament:

The Heralds of Galactus Sneak Preview
August 28, 2006 

By Pook
 

            Greetings all!  Welcome to the latest edition to the Pookiverse, Pook VS The World!  Many of you may know my from Pojo’s Yu-Gi-Oh page, and if you don’t, make your way over to Pook’s Place and find out for yourself.  But enough about that, let’s get on with this, shall we?

            About two months ago, I started to become interested the game of VS.  I was a long time Yu-Gi-Oh player who had taken an extended hiatus, mostly due to the lack of progression in the game.  I turned to VS mostly because I am a life-long comic book fan, and was interested in playing a game that could handle them effectively (need I remind you of the mid-90’s disaster known as Overpower?).  So I picked up some starter decks, did my homework, and put together a deck – Green Lanterns are a personal favorite of mine when it comes to comics, so I made a pretty decent GL/Emerald Enemies deck.  But what I lacked was experience.  I have been trying to teach people at my local card shop how to play the game, and it is slowly catching on in interest, but not at the point where I have any sort of friendly competition – I’m the teacher, and they are my students. 

            So, I was desperate for some real competition.  Luckily for me, the Heralds of Galactus Sneak Preview was right around the corner, so I geared up.  I read all of the previews I could, I learned about the new play mechanics, and I was ready. 

            Saturday, August 26, 2006, a day that will live in infamy…for me.  This was the day of my very first VS tournament.  I was pumped.  I even left a party early the night before so I could wake up early to attend – I had about a 45 minute drive to the Anaheim Convention Center, so I knew I’d be calling it an early morning.  9AM, I arrive, only to find a much smaller sort of room than I had imagined.  Previous events I had attended were two Yu-Gi-Oh World Championships and GenCon 2004, so to see a smaller venue was something I wasn’t totally ready for.  None the less, I immediately started talking to people and got to play my first real game of VS.  It was my GLEE deck against a Villains United/X-Statix deck, and I played fairly well for a newbie.  Then, it was time – the event was beginning.  There were about 100 people there, all salivating to get their hands on the new packs.  That, and the free stuff.  I was lucky enough to randomly win a Hearalds of Galactus deck tin, which I was quickly propositioned about selling.  Instead, I traded it for an X-Men deck tin and a JLA deck tin.  Some people might say trading it was a mistake, but hey, two-for-one is a good deal in my book. 

            Now even though I’ve been a member of the card gaming community for a number of years, this was my first Sealed Pack tournament.  I received my 5 Heralds of Galactus packs, hoping I would get either the big man himself, or at least the Infinity Gauntlet (not to play, just to have – personal favorite of mine), but alas, I was without either.  What I had was sort of a mess – not enough of one or two teams to make a straightforward deck of 30, so what happened was sort of a Heralds/Inhumans/Kree mishmash.  I build my deck rather quickly, in about 20 minutes or so, and waited for the pairing of round one. 

            Round one – I played fairly well.  I got an early lead of endurance, until my opponent brought out Johnny Storm, Invisible Man.  I didn’t have the character power to get to him, so unfortunately, he was able to regain a decent amount of endurance.  The match ended in my defeat. 

            Round two – My opponent was a long-time player, but this too was his first tournament.  He had lost his first round match as well, and again, I gained an early lead.  Come turn 4 or so, the tables turned in his favor, and he won.  I was 0-2.  At this point, people 0-2 were starting to get disheartened and forfeited the tournament.  Not me, though.  I’m tough.  I stuck it out. 

            Round three – Things started to get messy.  Once again, I was playing an opponent with no wins so far, so I really buckled down and focused.  It didn’t work.  My early lead once again lead to my defeat.  There was an inherent flaw in my deck which was becoming abundantly clear – my mid-drop characters.  It isn’t that they were weak or poorly played, it was that I had no support for them – no power ups, no boost, no (playable) equipment.  It was a mess.  But I stayed put.  0-3. 

            Round four – Truth be told, I don’t even remember much of it.  All I remember is gaining and early lead and losing.  That and being stuck with only hidden characters and taking a massive amount of direct damage.  Sure, it was a recurring theme, but who cares.  But at this point, I thought the only thing I was winning today was that deck box…which I traded away.  Was it bad karma catching up with me? 0-4. 

            Round five – It was me against the only other 0-4 player who stuck around.  This time, I didn’t just get an early lead, I got a commanding lead.  But, through a series of bad draws and poor decisions on my part (which 7-drop do I play, Captain Mar-Vell from my Resource row or Adam Warlock from my hand?), I still managed to lose.  And there I was, the only 0-5 player in the entire room. 

            That’s right folks…I came in last place. 

            But you know what, I’m ok with that.  You know why?  Because my sticking it out paid off in the end.  One of the judges announced my name over the loud-speaker, and then privately told me to stick around.  When I asked why, he told me that they were rewarding me for not quitting.  I felt kind of honored in a strange way.  So they gave me the booby prize – an extra pack and a t-shirt left over from The X-Men Sneak Preview event.  Oh, and I got a copy of the rankings.  There I was, at the very bottom of the list – 86^th place. 

            You’d think something like this would turn me off to the game, or sour me on this new set, but truthfully, I guess it’s where I should have been.  I’m a rookie – I learned to play only two months ago and I have the chutzpah to step into the ring with the big boys.  Sure, we all like to see the underdog take the grand prize, but this is life, not a movie.  For me, it was a great learning experience, one that shows that if you never give up, there are still rewards to be had.  And, I got a complete set of the Infinity Gems, which was one of my goals for the day.  Long story short, I’ll take my 86^th place, and do you know why?  Because I’ve got no place to go but up.  Until next time.