@qauz Very well played every game ! Wishing now I’d switched to Jaina after game 1 with Riskonade in the bank.
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Yeah, Setsuki mirror very much seems like a race to nonsense, or else who can transition out of econ mode and into aggro mode first.
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One amusing thing that I just remembered we both did in game one was to Double-Take Gem Essence for all the arrows! to thin our decks dramatically in a single move—two gems and a puzzle chip trashed, all with a chip that only costs $3 instead of the $8 that Degenerate Trasher would have cost had it been in the bank that game.
5 Likes
@jch3xf 3 - 2 @Castanietzsche
crazy bank, almost only reds !
I aimed for the golden chip, got it but died 
really close one, I finished drawing all my chips but one and that was the crash one. I had big blocks though 
perse + risky move is crazy against rook
bank reroll, still risky move but tons of wounds, I wounded a lot but still got wrecked ! jch2xf plays a really scary rook, ggs !!! 
@jch3xf wins !
Thanks for the games mate I may have written mistakes about the rounds, still have to check detailed results !
3 Likes
Round 4
Zqxx v @Nopethebard
3–1
Starting Bank
- Bang Then Fizle
- It’s a Trap
- Sales Prices
- Chip Damage
- One True Style
- Ouch!
- Pick Your Poison
- Combos are Hard
- Custom Combo
- The Hammer
Once again I was facing Rook. He buys 2 copies of Sales Prices on his opening move, so I assume he’s going for an economy build. So, turn 1 I buy a Pick Your Poison, and then I aggressively keep buying more. A couple (admittedly lucky) draws allowed me to chain 3 or 4 on several turns, and the combination of hand destruction and pile pressure got me the game.
Pick Your Poison 
One of Each
I was unsurprised that he took out Pick Your Poison, seeing as it had been so central to my rushdown the previous game. Once again he buys two Sales Prices on turn 1, so I’m immediately trying to find my path to a rushdown. This time, I go with a more orthodox heavy-purples strategy, buying lots of combines, an extra crash, and an Ouch!
Ouch! One-Two Punch
This time, the situation reverses. I try to buy an early Combos are Hard to nab a double crash and speed up to the late game as early as possible, but some misplays and bad draws meant there were too many turns between buying CaH and actually playing it. Meanwhile, while I was busy durdling,
One-Two Punch Mix Master
I execute a similar heavy-purples strategy as before, except Mix Master makes it even more potent against
Good games! Thanks for the set.
2 Likes
zeromh (Midori) v carpeguitarrem (Setsuki)
3 - 0
Thanks for the games!
Starting Bank
- it’s a trap
- repeated jabs
- blues are good
- button mashing
- color panic
- risk to riskonade
- dashing strike
- ouch!
- roundhouse
- degenerate trasher
After 1st game: Risk to riskonade 
Stolen purples
After 2nd game: Blues are good sale prices
Thoughts:
Overall, I think carpeguitarrem had similar issues in all three games. The starting bank was not good for Midori (no upgrade chips, lots of attacks, nothing that helps him get purples). The bank got worse when Stolen Purples came on the scene, and again when the one blue shield got taken away. I expected carpeguitarrem would use lots of attacks to deny me purples and/or force me to ante. He did this a bit, but it wasn’t enough to really change my game. I’m no expert on Setsuki (or Midori), but I think Setsuki has to disrupt Midori enough to get her economy going. carpeguitarrem seemed torn between disrupting me, keeping his gem pile low, and building econ. As a result, for the first two games I was able to stick to rushdown with dragon form crashes, and was able to use Rigorous Training to get enough purples.
In the third game, I lost my Crash early due to Stolen Purples, so I felt I should delay Dragon Form. I ended up never using it. I kept my gem pile down with Dashing Strike until I could get more purples. This worked, though I think carpeguitarrem delayed crashing too long.
Anyone agree/disagree or have other thoughts?
Rules Questions:
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In our fourth (unofficial) game I tried to use Rigorous Training to exchange Ouch! (cost = 4) for a Combine. The rules and the in-game text make it seem like exchanging for the same cost chip is allowed, but the game wouldn’t let me do it. I ended up exchanging for a Crash. I just tested Ouch! -> Combine in a practice game and it worked, so… this is a bug?
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If a reaction says that you “become immune” to a chip, does that mean that if your opponent plays two of that chip, or plays the same chip twice, then neither of them work? I could’ve sworn I’ve seen it work that way before, but carpeguitarrem did a Double-take attack against me, and my immunity only worked for one of them.
4 Likes
Bomber678 3-1 Happy_Thoughts
Opening bank
Training Day
It’s a Trap!
Gem Essence
Blues Are Good
Improvisation
Pick Your Poison
One of Each
Option Select
Custom Combo
Degenerate Trasher
Option Select>Money for Nothing
Gem Essence>Roundhouse
New bank
Really Annoying
Ebb and Flow
Knockdown
Button Mashing
Colour Panic
One True Style
Improvisation
Combos are Hard
Option Select
X-Copy
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Bubble Shield’s reaction (and similar chips) are basically counterspells. They make you immune to that instance of the red chip and only that instance
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We’re just waiting on one last Round 4 match before I send out the next round of invites.
3 Likes
Quaz vs Keithburgun
This was an intense game, very back and forth and took the most turns for this match. Onimaru was able to crash too many 4 gems for arg’s bubble shield to handle, and despite all the wounds onimaru had he was still able to eek it out.
A hit confirm with bonecracker revealed a momentary weakness in an otherwise strong onimaru, deathstrike dragon hit for 4 gems when oni couldn’t counter crash and the game ended abruptly despite the stregnths of oni’s deck.
Bank was randomized to mostly browns. After a bit of econ both players were crashing quite a bit most turns. Deathstrike dragon was just used as routine defense this game, much later menelker double crashed and crashed for 6 gems and was able to put away onimaru who was also usually crashing 4+ per turn.
Bank was randomized again, now mostly reds! Onimaru started wounding menelker early. Menelker went heavy econ and had to use death strike dragon defensively again. A timely bonecracker revealed that onimaru would not be able to crash any gems on the coming turn, with his gem pile at 7. A sneaky mass buy of 1 cost chips brought the game to DANGER TIME! Onimaru ante’d 3 to his pile and the game abruptly ended despite a very strong onimaru deck stuck in his bag.
Fun fact of the day, the danger time tactic that ko’s with a higher ante was exactly how I won the last master puzzler tournament like 7 years ago.
4 Likes
5 match sweep ! Nice one !
Can someone explain what TB, Buchholz, and Pts Diff are on the tournament results?
I don’t remember what they all are specifically, but they’re related to tie-breakers in the cut to the final bracket.
jch3xf (Rook) vs. Hobusu (Setsuki)
3 - 2
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petE 3 - 2 Zqxx
Really close !
Game 1: bank was overall favourable for Sets (Just a Scratch, Chips for Free, Mixmaster, Punch-Punch-Kick, Roundhouse). Zqxx went for wounding and mixmasters, I went for economy to snag cantrips. Though I got to DCG first, mixmaster pressure and crashing from Zqxx meant I overflowed pile height before getting to use it.
Game 2: random bank.
New bank had decent chips for both players (Gem Essence, Roundhouse), and though there were good Sets econ chips (Training Day, Draw Three) that was negated by Stolen Purples. Zqxx ended up with 2xDCGs, but I was able to take the game with Gem Essence into Stolen Purples and Crashing a 3.
Game 3: Zqxx switched Stolen Purples for Thinking Ahead
This was a really long game (299 steps!). We both ended up with deck full of purples and Roundhouses, but the longer the game went, the more Zqxx pulled ahead by double taking training days to upgrade the deck and using Knockdown to work around Stone Wall. Around step 260 we made a double blunder – Zqxx crashed a small gem that would allow me to win by countercrashing a 3; but I missed it too! Game went to Zqxx.
Game 4: petE switched to Midori.
Liked the look of the Midori-Sets matchup with Gem Essence and Training Day in the bank. This was a short Dragon Form-autopilot, with Training day upgrading to purples for the rushdown.
Game 5: Zqxx switched Training Day for Pick Your Poison
With no upgrading or pseudopurples I didn’t use Dragon Form at all, but went for early economy to get a Roundhouse. Zqxx went mono-red, and was soon chaining PYPs, Chip Damages and Knockdowns and forcing me to discard down to 1 or 2 chips each turn. But I ended up with more purples for pile control for a narrow win.
Fun and tense games !
3 Likes
petE, your diagram and your score contradict each other. Zqxx was Setsuki, right?
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Don’t go away quite yet, folks. The original formulation was a 5 week swiss, and then top 4 into single elim rounds. So, we’ve got a few more games to play.
And, if folks are interested, I’m happy to continue doing technical facilitation on once-a-week tournaments.
5 Likes
thanks, edited
TB = wins against other players with the same current score
Buchholz = Opponents’ total wins, excluding the strongest and weakest
Pts Diff = Total games won minus total games lost.
I think if PumpedAaron wins, Keith’s top 4 even if he loses. He’d have a TB of 2 (Zqxx and PumpedAaron) while none of the 2-2 players could have a TB greater than 1 (another 2-2 player who also won the round). Even in the unlikely event Zqxx beats him on tiebreakers, that puts him in 4th.
1 Like