the flip side of the coin (Canadian Open 2012)

Just to show everyone that what nuffle gives, nuffle also takes away, I need to put up a post about the Canadian Open 2012.  I brought my dark elves to this tournament due to playing them in the NaBBLe league, but managed to continue my poor showing with them at tournaments (so poor in fact I am now the worst dark elf coach in Canada by NAF ranking!)

I thought about bringing a new team to this tournament, but decided last minute to bring what I have been playing recently.  To be fair, I don't think the ruleset was very favourable for elf teams (hence me being the only one?) 5 additional skills (one can be a double) meant little to my very expensive team, all of whom really need some upgrades to shine.

My record over two days was 2 ties, 3 losses.  My dice weren't great, though I think I gave myself too much to do in several matches.  I managed to avoid the wooden spoon thanks to tiebreakers only...  whew!  My consolation is I was never blown out in any games, I always managed to keep it close, with a bit more fortune 1 loss could've been a tie, 1 loss could've been a win and 1 tie could've been a win - but it wasn't to be.

Day 1
Game 1 vs. Colin's skaven
First block of the game, double skulls..  OH oh, at this point I was thinking "today's gonna be tough, hopefully tomorrow should even it out.." - didn't quite work out that way!!  I failed a not so risky play - but without much in the way of protection, and it cost me, giving Colin an early TD.  This was the game where a bit of luck (catching a handoff, 2+) could've made this a tie.  Key word "could" - I was trying to stall out so Colin still would've had a chance to stop my score, though he would've had to mark two players before blitzing my runner (to protect against dump off).  In the end Colin won 2-1.

Game 2 vs. Alex's vampires
Alex brought vampires as the TO's were trying to avoid taking home prizes.  His build wasn't really that difficult to play though, as he only took 2 vamps, had 14 thralls AND he had the halfling master chef, so was overflowing in rerolls while his opponents usually had none.  Alex is a strong player as well and he ended up in second place - which speaks to both his skill but also that maybe his team wasn't as weak as it might look on paper.  He thought I played too agressively, but I felt that was my only chance - I couldn't stall because I had no rerolls for a last turn score and it kinda fed right into his hands.  I didn't feel I had much chance of winning this game, I couldn't pull off elfy plays much without rerolls (though I did score once!) and there was no chance of trying to win a battle of attrition so again lost a match 2-1.

Game 3 vs. Christian's orcs
Christian is the NaBBLe commish, and we discussed our teams at length during drives to/from league games.  He does play a bit riskier style than the standard orc cage, which while entertaining definitely can hurt you in tournament play.  With a bit of luck I could've turned this one into a win, but a couple times failed passes or catches put the kibosh on that.  To be honest not a lot went Christian's way this match either so a 1-1 tie was a fair result.

Day 2
Game 4 vs. Laurent's ogres
Laurent was the other TO and his team was definitely more suitable to not taking home prizes.  I am super super dissapointed with this result, as I played really really well, at one point having 5 of his 6 ogres off the pitch!! (Fouling FTW!!).  Unfortunately since I had nobody with tackle, I was super nervous about just shoving his snotling with the ball late in the second half (while we were tied 1-1) so I attempted to surround him near the sideline so I could crowdsurf him to ensure getting the ball (well except for double skulls).  As it happened I needed to push one square with a lineman to surround him and failed the "go for it" 1, reroll, 1.  He then dodged 4 times without failing once to score the winning touchdown (giving him his only tournament win, grrrr.) and making me feel really silly for not just taking a 2 die blitz with reroll hoping for one open star or both down. Lost 2-1 and probably should have won 2-1.

Game 5 vs. Gord's norse
Final game of the tournament and whoever lost this would be guaranteed the spoon! So of course we drew 2-2 (game with most TDs for me all tournament) with the game going back and forth and me tying the game late on in the second half.  The wooden spoon therefore came down to tiebreakers.  This is where keeping it close mattered, as Christian had beaten Gord 3-0 (go risky orc play!) and the TD difference gave him the spoon over me.. lucky!  Thanks Christian!

Probably my worst tournament performance ever (first time I have not had at least 1 win) and a very frustrating weekend overall, hence it took me a while to put this report together - but it needed to be done.