Nova Open Recap: Team

All for one and one for all and all that. 

Going into the Open the team tournament was a big question mark for me.  I didn't try to find a team before the event as conventional wisdom said it would be good to have some non-event time at a con.  With Iron Arena going, and a total lack of details before the Open began, I figured I could either get in Iron Arena games, nap, tour the con, or fill out someone's squad.  There was a bit of chatter about finding people on Thursday which grew in intensity through Friday and into Saturday.  I knew I could find a place to play if I wanted to, but the question of whether I wanted to or not was still undecided after the close of the morning's Steam Roller.  After three tournaments in a day and a half what I wanted most was to have a leisurely meal so I strolled over to the Bozzelli's that had spurned my breakfasty advances that morning to get a big, greasy meal that I could lord over like a dragon and its hoard.



While waiting for my order, who walks in?  Danny and Jeff, names that should be familiar by now, also in search of food.  It took all of a minute for us to form up like Voltron and set the autopilot for team success.  There was plenty of time for my relaxing (though too large) meal, plus a little time to consider lists, and then it was back into the fire.  I went with eLylyth and Aby for my two lists, both of which were standard builds that I'd normally list out but a) I need to finish this series off already and b) I've detailed them both at various sizes a number of times so it shouldn't be hard to connect the dots if you're so inclined.  For the search-challenged here's a quick breakdown: eLylyth had lots of shooting, Aby had lots of beasts.

We should have decided like this.

After a round of "I don't want it, you take it" we determined team seedings: myself, then Danny, then Jeff.  The big difference between the three slots?  I had to wrangle paperwork.  In a more competitive frame of mind I would have suggested playing with the order some to try and create mismatches, but since we were there just to roll dice and have a good time  deep strategy had no real place.  We also dropped the ball when deciding a team name.  Our pick (the PG_Plarzoid Foundation) was the sore thumb amidst all the dick jokes (Pants Off Dance Off and More Dick Jokes being the only two I remember).  Live and learn.  As future planning/idle speculation, an all Gator team called "Rock Out With Your Croc Out" would be puntastic and appropriate.

In round one I played Andrew (who was related to Brandon in some way) and his eCaine list.  I had my first severe mental lapse when choosing a list.  The scenario was Guidons, which might as well be named "If possible play eLylyth."  Naturally I took Aby instead.  Andrew got in a real good turn of feat-inspired shooting but ultimately failed to kill my Guidon.  He probably got a beast (Ravagore?) though.  Unfortunately for him he brought eCaine too far upfield.  Typhon advanced, sprayed out some Rangers to open some landing spots, and dinged up Caine in the process.  Then the Angel flew in and killed Caine.  I don't recall specifics, but I do remember that Danny and Jeff both lost.  It was an interesting dynamic watching their games after mine was finished and seeing Andrew on the other side of the table doing the same thing.

Round two we drew the bye, which was the only one for me all weekend.  I don't remember much of what I did during the downtime, though I think it involved trying to pass out Gatorade to people.

What I expected for round three.

Round three we played against a group of DMVers, at least two of which are from GNS.  I forget my opponent's name, but remember he played Sloan against my eLylyth.  The idea of a sniper duel was intriguing, but ultimately it never came about.  The eLylyth game plan got executed by the numbers and Sloan got executed by ranged fire some time in the second turn.  My game was again the first done, so I got to cheer on my teammates again.  I don't remember anything about Jeff's game, though I think he won, as I was engrossed in Danny's game.  He played Anthony who was running at least two huge bases all weekend, and eHaley with dual Stormwalls in particular that game.  Danny was running Rhyas on a whim (which got my Rhyas and Swordsmen UA their first table time), which seemed like a horrible matchup.  Danny was at a big material disadvantage when I picked the game up, so much so that it seemed like a sure loss.  When he was down to just Rhyas against a Stormwall and Haley I wandered off elsewhere, expecting the swift demise of Rhyas.  Imagine my surprise when I see them packing up and wander back over only to find out that Danny has managed the win.  He had Rhyas bunkered up in a wrecked jack and Anthony couldn't get her out of it.  The clock played a factor in their game, though I'm not sure if it decided the game itself or just pushed it in a particular direction.  It was quite the epic.

We ended up "2"-1, with a "win" for the bye.  My best result of the weekend came here as I finished up 2-0, but individual results mattered less than team results.  The notion that you can win a game but lose the round, or the other way around, has a great appeal to it.  This tournament was my biggest question mark going in, but in retrospect it was a great time and a format I'm keen to try again.  Unfortunately because of the need for lots of players I think it'll be limited to big cons or big travel events (I saw one going just north of Philly that got me thinking for a bit), which is a shame as I think it would add an extra layer to have all the teams be locals so that you knew who everyone was and could anticipate match-ups easier.  With my mission to travel the area this summer and bring battle to my DMV neighbors starting to bear fruit in terms of getting local metas to mingling, perhaps a local version isn't such a distant thing.