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Mouzaka 2005
Firstly, a big thank-you to all the Mouzaka team for providing a great tournament. If I go to one tournament outside the UK next year, it will be the next Mouzaka :)
Mouzaka is a tournament that's proven extremely popular among Brits over the years. So this year, I decided to find out why. I've not been playing a massive amount in the Web environment, so getting a deck together was a bit of a scramble. In the end, I went with my first Web deck, the one I've had most experience playing - MGC bloodspeaker blitz. Having put together a CoR Dragons deck, and a couple of control decks, I didn't really feel that the dragons were consistent enough, and didn't have time to properlylearn the control decks - which left me playing corrupt Phoenix for the first time in a story tournament - something that didn't make me especially happy, I admit!
I took Friday and Monday off work for travelling there and back. Met up with two fellow Jade Cats - Eljas and Mike - at Heathrow, and we flew out on BA's lunchtime flight. Arriving at Athens ahead of schedule, we caught the metro (new for the Olympics, I think, as I don't remember it from my last visit) and walked the 10-15 minutes to the President Hotel - where we were staying, and the tournament would be held. Gaming was well underway in one of the subterranean conference rooms, with challenge booth games, booster draft, and friendly games occupying a mid-size hall. Got a few games in, grabbed some food at the TGI's down the road, and borrowed some cards from Mike to complete my deck. As usual, there was a fair-sized UK contingent - at least a dozen of us, all told.
Saturday morning we woke, showered and breakfasted before registering. Salman was there selling cards at extremely good prices, so I picked up a few things I was missing and generally took the chance to speak with everyone I'd not seen for a bit. At around 11.30ish, the tournament began - 8 rounds of Swiss, as there were 109 players.
Round 1: Soteris Nanos, City of Rememberance/Right Hand (Top Phoenix)
Last year's Mouzaka top Phoenix, and a really nice guy. In fact, I don't think I have a bad word to say about any of my opponents; I hope they all enjoyed our games as much as I did :)
I suspect when I see his stronghold that I'm going to be punished by kharma for playing corrupt. We both buy 2 holdings turn 2, he then buys Kanjiro, Seruma and a holding, while I obtain the services of the Lady of Pain herself, Asako Kinuye experienced, and one of her lackeys. Seruma's name is Written in Blood, but Kanjiro lays an egg, momentarily becomes uncertain, and two Kanjiros attack different provinces. The Egg uses a Strength of Purity to take one province, while the uncertain Kanjiro discovers that Destiny has No Secrets, and requires him to explode messily to take the province (Wedge). His last holding buys a Seruma, and it's my turn, 2 provinces down with a Kanjiro and a Seruma on the other side of the table. Kinuye, now well practised, writes this Seruma's name in blood as well, feeding Seruma's soul to the Blade of Thorns. The lackey attacks a second province, and draws upon Jigoku's Rage to destroy it. Two provinces all. I buy Hirotsugu and T-soup-ko and end my turn. Kanjiro looks across the table, sees that he's outnumbered 3 to 1, and stays at home - being joined by Sezaru. In my turn, Kinuye takes the Jigoku's Rage back, and I attack both provinces, with Hirotsugu going it alone and Kinuye and T-soup-ko attacking the other. Predictably, Soteris defends against the lone Hirotsugu. I Rage, he plays Fortunes Smile (he's at 11, I'm at 6). I Rend. He plays a second Fortunes Smile, which Kinuye Flees. He has no tricks left, and both his guys fall to Hirotsugu. He flips Sueno in his last province, but has no way of stopping me - especially as Sueno is bowed out by Rising Shadows :)
1-0, Corruption proves stronger than Purity.
Round 2: Chris Fatouros, Kenson Gakka/Right Hand
Eek. Playtesting has shown my deck to be weak against people with heavy battle control - which I figured was OK in an environment dominated by Crane, Mantis and Unicorn. Lion, however, traditionally cause me problems, so I enter this game nervous.
He buys an early couple of Aoikos, while I get a Hirotsugu with Fire and Air and a Bronze Lantern follower, and we take a province each. He then attacks with 3 guys the following turn, and I defend with a Tsuruko. Tsuruko Rages, and I Tireless in the Hirotsugu with Fire and Air. He drops Invincible Legions, and fetches a card. I Fire and Air away, conceding the battle (and province) rather than let him carry on - though he has to Wedge his last Aoiko. My Hirotsugu takes another province while my other personality - a Mad 4/7 Asako Katsuhito - stands back, and I buy 2 more guys. He flips two Crystal Mines, and doesn't attack, with 2 personalities to my 4. I attack two provinces, take one and kill his army at the other.
2-0, saved by him not going for Invincible Legions as his first action off his first Invinvible Legions - and the two Crystal Mines!
Round 3: Tasos Grigoriadis, Tani Hitokage/Right Hand/Tenshu Sensei (T10)
I know what my plan is here: kill all his bezerkers with chi death, and take his provinces before he has a chance to get enough guys in play to oppose me. I have a Written in Blood in my opening hand, and flip 2 Tsurukos on turn 4. However, the only force pumps I see are Bronze Lanterns (with accompanying Armory) and I don't see any shugenja asides from 1C Tsurukos! I kill his first 6 guys but only take one province in this time; with a couple of Blades of the Meek he wins the first opposed battle we fight despite the Rage and Rend I'd drawn into, and takes the game shortly thereafter.
2-1, the Crab stop Iuchiban's minions dead.
Round 4: John Panagiotidis, Kyuden Bayushi/Left Hand/Voice/Tishi Sensei
A Scorpion discard deck. My first thought is that my deck should be too fast for it. I'm proven correct as I draw into two early Bronze Lanterns and a Shogun's Armory, plus the shugenja to use them effectively. He has a lot of send-home and I only see one Tireless, but the Right Hand and bloody-minded persistance see me through. Yogo gives me a nasty scare when he fetches Maru and Rieko rather than the Shosuro I was expecting, which buys him a bit more time, but Maru is killed by Maho and Rieko is sacrificed soon thereafter to save a province.
3-1, the sneaky Scorpion cannot stand up to the power of Blood!
Round 5: Domenic Adenuga, House of Tao/Fire/Someisa Sensei/Right Hand (Top Dragon)
There are two people who, whenever we attend the same tournament, I end up facing. Domenic is one of them :) Every game is a blast, and this one is no exception. I start in my traditional fashion, blitzing a couple of provinces. Then Mirumoto turns up, and with a couple of Victory or Death/No Victories turns the tables and takes one of mine. With three challenges he kills more guys and gains honour, but I sneak a province with movement tricks and a Flee for his Steel on Steel, and keep buying more people (MGC and a Mura allowing me to buy 2-3 people a turn consistently to keep up with the kill). He attacks with his deck nearly empty having Egged Mirumoto, leaving one to defend and one to attack, both with some supporting spuds. I defend with a few disposable bloodspeakers, hoping to draw out the Steel on Steels. He plays one, and I pass, saving the province. Then he plays two Palm Strikes, a card I wasn't expecting to see. He takes the province and goes home. Realising that my options are now extremely limited (he's on high honour and has all his deck in his hand bar two cards), I attack into his third Steel on Steel and third Palm Strike, and can't quite overcome his defenders- his last two cards are two copies of Into the Darkness, which he uses to send home my army having drawn them with Mirumoto/Ring of Fire.
It should be noted - just to publicise the interaction - that cards focused with Tsuma Dojo do not count towards the number you draw from Ring of Fire. Read the cards carefully to see why :) Domenic drew about 7 extra cards from the pair of us misplaying these two during our game - and neither of us knows how the game would have turned out otherwise :)
3-2, the bloodspeakers run out of fodder to throw at the Dragon duellists.
Round 6: Tolis Koutsikos, Kenson Gakka/Right Hand (Top Lion)
Another Lion? where are all the Crane, Mantis and Unicorn? This game goes far more along normal lines. I buy a turn 1 Tsuruko, and Rage for a turn 2 province, and Feign. I then realise that my masterplan relies on me using the sensei ability twice, so can't get a turn 3 province as well (I can't bow for both Playing with Madness, to take me to 5F before Wedge, as well as using Rising Shadows to bow out his one person). I draw a Tireless and take a second province T4, but he starts using harpoon tricks to kill my guys. Despite a 4-2 province advantage I can't keep my guys on the table, and he soon has enough people to take provinces without exposing himself.
3-3, the valiant Lion hold fast in the face of a furious assault by the enemies of the Empire.
Round 7: Orestis Pirlis, Razor's Edge Dojo/Umasu Sensei/Right Hand
Still no Crane? Hm. I blitz one province, Fire and Air to try and grab the second the following turn, but he moves in and is able to stop my attack. He pulls off an Invincible Legions a turn or so later, and the game is over - and with it, my tournament.
3-4, I'm getting weary of fighting against Invincible Legions again and again :)
Round 8: Giorgos Giopas, Yogo Towers/Tangen Sensei/Right Hand
This game is for pride, and I enter determined to salvage an even record. His deck is too slow to deal with my blitzing and lack of targeting actions - though he does redirect a Rising Shadows, which could have been a lot nastier than it was. I blitz two, sleaze a third, then buy my deck and attack with a very large army of bloodspeakers, accompanied by Jinn followers and with a hand full of force pumps. Sezaru renders the Towers useless.
4-4, and Kinuye's battered pride is somewhat restored.
After the eight rounds we are asked to fill in a sheet to rate the "honour" of our opponents on a 0-5 scale. Honour here being sportsmanship, and similar. Then the top 32 are announced, and we all scatter for the evening. Both Eljas and Mike qualified, Mike as the only Mantis in the top 32. Crab, Crane and Unicorn are all represented in the top flight.
I spend Sunday morning going to the Acropolis, approaching it through the Temple of Dionysus and around the south side. From up there you get a great view of Athens; it really is a white city, nestled in the surrounding hills. There's a lot of scaffolding on the various buildings up there, and notes suggesting that a co-ordinated attempt at restoring most of the buildings there is being planned. I walk down the west side and head north to the ancient agora (marketplace), and stop for lunch in a small restaurant in the shadow of the Acropolis. After lunch I do a bit more sightseeing in the area, and head back to the hotel conference rooms to play friendly games and build a new deck. I spend a really enjoyable afternoon and evening talking with Greek Phoenix players and experimenting with a new deck.
While I'm doing this, Chris (lead TO) comes over to me and tells me that there are prizes for the top two Iuchiban Sensei decks, and presses a mounted print of the art from Defend Your Master (featuring the Temple of the Ninth Kami) into my hands. It was as pleasing as it was unexpected, which is to say very :-)
Later, during the prize ceremony, my weekend is rounded off with a perfect finish. There are three sportsmanship awards given out, and I'm awarded the second one - for the highest rankings by opponents from the sheets we filled in after the eight round. I'm given a wakizashi, no doubt to allow me to preserve my honour in need... and another UK player (Dave Ruddock) is given the main sportsmanship award, a katana - no doubt to act as my second ;) The third award also goes to a UK player (Gary Whittle), which either goes to show that us Brits are a decent bunch, or that the organisers were bribing us to come back next year. I'll leave it to the reader to decide which :-)
Many thanks to all the organising team for a very smoothly-run, flavourful and enjoyable tournament!
Decklist:
MGC/Right Hand/Iuchiban Sensei
Dynasty (40)
3 Asako Hirotsugu
3 Asako Kinuye (really didn't do much - need her to be a shuggie)
3 Asako T-soup-ko
3 Shiba Hayama
3 (Asako) Shukumei
3 Asako Katsuhito
Kinuye XP
Isawa Sezaru
Kan'chek
Price of Power
A New Wall
In Time of War
2 Shogun's Armory
1 Masume Mura
3 Kinuye's Garden
3 Silver Mine
2 Shrine of the Eternal
1 Shi-Tien Yen-Wang Temple
1 Gifts and Favors
1 A Favor Returned
1 Shrine to Bishamon
1 Shrine to Daikoku
Fate (40)
3 Bronze Lantern
1 Blade of Thorns
3 Travelling Ronin
2 Fire and Air
3 Rend the Soul
3 Wedge
3 Jigoku's Rage
3 Written in Blood
3 Tireless Assault
3 Playing with Madness
3 Feign Death
3 Flee the Darkness
3 Uncertainty (yes, really)
2 Retribution
1 Rising Shadows
1 Egg of P'an Ku
Shiba Samoshii
Phoenix Clan Acolyte of Water*Ricepaper Shugenja*Team Jade Cat Inquisitor*Gozoku Courtier
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