Hour 11, Your Last Chance to Win.

Last weekend saw the 1st Spoils Australian Open Championships. The location: Good Games Melbourne. The players were excited and pumped for a weekend of TCG cards & a little of the cards that Crown had on offer.
For all the Sydney & Wollongong players whom travelled thanks for supporting the event. Thanks to Good Games Melbourne whom were happy to host the event.

Friday evening saw a learn to play sealed event “Spoils for a Volcanic Island.” MTG players learnt to play then build their sealed decks and played a small tournament consisting of 3 rounds.

The players caught on quite easy built their decks with little assistance at all. By round 2 most were playing like veterans of the game. There were characters galore on the table with tactics & combos being played full steam ahead.

The player of the evening would have to also be the youngest in the field 12 year old Bruce Lee (yes that is his name), not only does he play The Spoils well he is a seasoned WOW & Pokemon player. Good on him for having a go and giving the big boys a run for their money.

The winner of the evening was Simon Harnden closely followed by Tom Arthur. Thanks guys for turning up and giving The Spoils ago hope to see you playing more regular events.

DAY 1 SEALED EVENT

After a steamy night in Melbourne everyone turned up refreshed and eager to get cracking and deck building.

The sealed event was 1 Seed Competition Pack & 2 Seed 2 boosters to construct the decks with. The Spoils sealed decks consist of 45 card deck.

Packs were cracked decks prepared and lists written. My predictions as to whom would win the event was Troy Armstrong or Neil Crompton. Were my predictions correct – just read on to find out.

The sealed event saw 4 rounds played before we cut off to a Top 8 draft.

Top 8 Play-Off was as follows.

Neil Crompton vs Sam Walker (Sam Walker Wins)
Kieren Otton vs Shane Brierley (Shane Brierley Wins)
Kenny Nguyen vs Mark Patman (Kenny Nguyen Wins)

SEMI-FINALS

Troy Armstrong vs Sam Walker (Troy Armstrong Wins)
Kenny Nguyen vs Shane Brierley ( Shane Brierley Wins)

The finals saw the game between Troy Armstrong (current worlds number 1 player) & Shane Brierley go to time. It was certainly a battle which was worth watching.

Troy had turned up to this event with 4 hours sleep but that is how he rolls at big events the less sleep the better he performs.

Final standings for Day 1 are as follows:

1. Troy Armstrong
2. Shane Brierley
3. Kenny Nguyen
4. Sam Walker
5. Neil Crompton
6. Kieren Otton
7. Colin Harris
8. Mark Patman

THE WINNING DECK

Staple Faction: Tournament Faction
Starting Resources: 2 Greed
Resources: 6 Deception & 7 rage

Characters:

1 x Black Scourge of the Brine
1 x Fountain Diver
1 x Agile Highwayman
1 x Casino Kingpin
1 x Flimflam Man
1 x Obtuse Pipesmoker
1 x Swollen Ostrich
1 x Gallant Commander
1 x Nimble Conscript
1 x Vigilant Rider
1 x Dwarvish Grimalkin
1 x Emissary of Loot
2 x Fired Hand
1 x Lucky Bastard
1 x Aroused Stiffbone
1 Plunging Shiver
1 x Spry Archer

Tactics:

1 x Implovise Explosion
1 Barrier of Benevolence
1 x Improvised Blowtorch
1 x Perforate
1 x Roulette Wheel of DOOM!!!
2 x Deserted Island
1 x Subordinate Demotivation

Items:

1 x Scintillating Chamberpot
1 x Rusty Pickaxe

As the day & the event drew to a close, the evening had only just began. A bunch of us decided to refresh ourselves from the long day and venture out to see what Melbourne had to offer. First we found what looked like a nice pub to grab a meal at, but alias upon entering and going up stairs it turned out to be more of a trendy pub with music too loud for conversation and not at all a place for us nerds.

We left to find some place more suitable as we also needed to discuss winning tactics for later at the casino. We found a nice Mexican place which involved a 40 minute wait for a table. With many hungry mouths we decided that the pizza place across the road had to be a 3rd time lucky.

The pizza place was small but the food & service were great. We had loads of pizza followed by massive slices of cheese cake, before strolling down to Crown.

The casino was on fire with all its glitz & glamor. Much gambling,laughing.drinking.more eating & laughing was to be had. At 12pm we decided that sleep would be good at this point so most headed back to the hotel.
That is all except Troy Armstrong whom hang out for a few more hours to win or lose we would find that out in the morning.

DAY 2 Constructed

Everyone arrived nice & early at Good Games Melbourne ready to claim the title of the 1st Constructed Champion for The Spoils.
Who would take the title – my predictions for today were Kenny Nguyen or Neil Crompton. Both are solid players with interesting decks.

Finals

Troy Armstrong beat Colin Harris.

The matches were well fought out and there were some interesting decks. The following are some of those decks.

You can find the top deck lists here!

There were lots of great prizes for everyone. There were limited edition playmats & National Championships sleeves among other prizes. The lucky door prize went to Kieren Otton – he received a Rare Foil Item Set as a prize.
There was a prize of an Uncut Sheet of Seed 2 for the player whom finished on the most points over all the two days.

Kenny Nguyen & Troy Armstrong finished on the same amount of points. Therefore the only fair way to settle who got the prize in the tradition of crazy Sydney players was a dance off. Troy easily won with Kenny making a lame attempt at his disco moves. As the Sydney players chanted “Dance Off, Dance Off” the surprised staff thought we were calling out “Pants Off”. I am sure Troy would have accommodated this move.

The weekend ended nicely with a game of Agrcoila afterwards. We all thanked Good Games Melbourne for their hospitability.

It was now time for a quick change of clothes and a final trip to relieve Crown of some more money. We found a hidden cheap eatery under the casino so hungrily devalued some Chinese & ice-cream before making our way to the tables.

Kenny, Nathan & Michael lost before heading back to the hotel for a early night, the young these days are light weights. Us older more wise people found a table to play on. We had a awesome dealer along with a waiter whom keep our glasses full of refreshing drinks.

By 11pm Shane, Kieren, Mark & Troy’s chips were piling up. Shane & Mark had changed their chips and headed off to get some much needed sleep.

Troy, Kieren & I kept playing & winning. Lucky I was helping Troy because his decision with what hands to throw & what to keep became questionable after 410 beers.

We cashed up & left the Crown around 1am to find a 24 hour pizza store before we headed back to the hotel.

With good friends & good food the weekend was a success I must say.

A BIG THANKS TO ALL WHOM TRAVELLED AND SUPPORTED THE GAME.

The Spoils Australian Championships 2012 will be held at Good Games Wollongong. Players are already counting down till then & also trying to find a suitable gambling facility in the Gong.

Eliza Michael