On Sunday, 20 players battled it out to take the top spot in the Patriot Games Achroma tournament. Luckily I was able to make it up, so thought I’d write up a little tournament report.
I didn’t think I’d be able to go, but last week a spot unexpectedly opened up, meaning that I joined Sarah and Chris for the 6 hour return (8 for them) road trip up to Sheffield (via a stop in an Equestrian Centre). The evening before, we chatted all things Achroma, and got in a few games. All evening noone played Rayders. But on the day, both Sarah and I opted for the deck, knowing it was probably our best shot at winning a share of the massive prize fund.
Lots of players showed up early on the day, and I got in a number of casual games: some 1v1s and some multiplayers. The atmosphere was great; it’s a lovely playing space, and the community as always are really friendly. The cafe at Patriot Games does excellent coffee and cakes too. If I’m ever in the area again, I’ll definitely swing by. It was great to see 3 players turn up and pay on the day too, in addition to the 18 others who signed up in advance. Massive credit also goes to Shaz, who, when seeing that there were 21 players, decided to not play meaning that all players would get to play all 5 full rounds.
The tournament was 5 rounds of Swiss. Other than the fact there were 5 players playing Rayders, there was a wide range of decks, with some from Salum (mostly Secrets decks surprisingly), Spirata (mostly fairies) with a bit of Draco (dragons) and I think just one player on Norso Traders.
My games were mostly very fast; that’s the nature of Rayders: whether you lose or win, it’s fast. I had to face Sadistic and Sarah in Swiss, both of whom were also playing Rayders. However, I won both matchups, eventually finishing the Swiss portion of the event the only player with a 5-0 winrate. My closest matchup was actually against a Fairy Painter Copper Joss deck: I lost the first game in a protracted 15 minute epic, but fortunately had a good start in the last 2 games and took the win. The silliest matchup was game 2 against Sadistic, when we both played Ray, Firetender, Splat Square, and also traded HAIM Shard Cache in our first turn. Talk about a mirror match. Luckily I’d had the fortune to go first that game, so handily won on the next turn.
At the end of the 5 rounds, 2 players were on 4-1 (Sarah playing Rayders, and a very nice gentleman called James playing the Norso Traders deck) and 7 players were on 3-2. Sadistic snuck in to the Top 4, as he had had the toughest matches in Swiss. I commend Chris for running an event with 5 rounds so that everyone who lost a match still had a spot guaranteed in the Top 4; it’s a very fair way to run an event, rather than relying on Strength of Schedule to separate out those people not on a perfect run of games.
I was hoping to face Traders in the semis as it is probably the best matchup for Rayders, but as I was top seed I had to play against 4th seed Sadistic and Rayders again. Both games he got Ray out first turn and I had no way of dealing with him. I did manage to make what I considered to be a really solid counter play in the first game, achieving a whopping 7 steal. But he managed to pull the perfect counter card to my Ray/Cintimani combo: Sorrono. I don’t believe I made any misplays in the matches; Sadistic played the deck solidly and efficiently, and came out on top with a 2-0 victory. Sarah (Rayders) beat James (Traders), leaving another Rayders mirror match for the final, which again Sadistic dispatched in 2 games. Well played to him, and I was especially glad that the one person who came in cosplay won the event.
I had a very friendly playoff for third against James and Traders, and with nothing on the line (as prizes for 3rd and 4th were the same) finally had the confidence to play my new Draco palette, which took a 2-0 win for third.
3 major Achroma tournaments done, 3 times I’ve made the Top 4, 3 times I’ve been knocked out in the semis. Maybe next time. Nevertheless, I walked away with an achroma voucher, an Unlimited palette (I went for Phisto), a couple of promos, and some excellent Achroma memories. Thank you so much to Chris, Shaz, Sarah, and everyone else involved and who I played against. It was a lovely atmosphere and a great event.
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