KFCgamers MTG Championship #1 2015

20th of June 2015

Game(s) Played:

Session – 2015 KFCgamers Cube Championships

After nearly 6 weeks of waiting, we finally managed to organize the 2015 KFCgamers Cube Championships! All the pent up anticipation, brain burn from poring over deck lists & psychological analysis of Players' characteristics were unleashed in one epic three hour cube draft that will be remembered for the ages.

Our cube set for the 2015 Championships is based on the very popular & very fast Innistrad block set. The mechanics in Innistrad are both interesting for experienced Players & easy for new Players to get into due to the flavourful way the mechanics tie into the theme of the block.

Without further ado, let's introduce the Players!

Player(s):

Both Jun Han & Tobias & Ryu are completely new to Magic: The Gathering but we had a short 30 minute introductory session to kick things off. Many of our Players are actually new to drafting & deck building which is why we had a few kinks in our actual draft (missed packs, stacking packs etc.) but as we are in a really casual setting, we simply smoothed over the awkward moments when a Player somehow ends up drafting 46 cards.

The 15 card "boosters" were pre-packed to simulate an actual booster draft

The drafting did take a little longer than anticipated as the new Players were somehow all clustered next to each other & needed some extra time to read through the card text. As such, we had to reduce the number of rounds in our Swiss format from 5 to 3 rounds. Whilst we were originally slated to compete through brackets, the Swiss format is definitely more suitable as Players are not eliminated through a single loss. I was using the MTG Draft Calculator app on android & surprisingly it randomly paired the new Players against experienced Players in round 1 which turned out nicely for our purposes.

First round matches taking place

Adrian & Ryu played to a draw which basically means they timed out

Here we see Padawan Minigeek aka my Sideboard Manager, she had tonnes of fun

So here are the match-ups & results:
Round 1
Adrian (Draw) vs Ryu (Draw)
Gideon (Win) vs Sean (Loss)
Moses (Loss) vs Jun Han & Tobias (Win)
Justin (Win) vs Ben (Loss)

Round 2
Justin (Loss) vs Adrian (Win)
Moses (Win) vs Ryu (Loss)
Gideon (Loss) vs Jun Han & Tobias (Win)
Sean (Loss) vs Ben (Win)

Round 3
Adrian (Win) vs Jun Han & Tobias (Loss)
Gideon (Loss) vs Moses (Win)
Ben (Loss) vs Ryu (Win)
Justin (Loss) vs Sean (Win)

A win gives you 3 points, draws 1 point & losses give you 0 points. The Swiss format is supposed to match Players with similar scores each round which the app automatically arranges for me, so that was at least pretty convenient.

The final standings were as follows:
1st - Adrian (7 Points)
2nd - Jun Han & Tobias (6 Points)
3rd - Moses (6 Points)
4th - Ryu (4 Points)
Dead Last - Benedict, Gideon, Justin & Sean (3 Points)

We actually combined the Swiss format with a finals round which was to be played by the top 2 in the standings. Since Jun Han beat Moses in a previous match-up, he qualified for the finals ahead of Moses to meet Adrian at the finals where the first to 2 wins will be crowned KFCgamers Cube Champion!

The tense finals where we had to go to game 3 after tying at one win each for each Player

In the final game, Adrian was mana screwed with only white cards in hand with no Plains on board. If he had taken advantage of his turn three Markov Blademaster instead of not attacking because he didn't understand Double Strike, he might still have won though.

In the end, there can only be one, note the glee of our couple team 2015 KFCgamers Cube Champions! Complete with subliminal advertising

Time Taken: 210 minutes

Comments:
Picks up 3rd pack which has 5 cards left & notes that there's a Craterhoof Behemoth in the pack. "Is NOBODY drafting Green at this table?" - Justin

Loss after drawing land after land. "I wish I could attack with mana." - Ryu

"If a card you want comes back around, you know you're in the right color." - Justin

MVP Cards:
I asked each Player to comment on the cards which they thought were the MVPs in their decks. Here are some of the responses I received.

Arbitrary Deck Name: I Have No Sideboard
Adrian decided to play a 4 colour, 60 card deck. I actually lost to this ridiculous card after Avacyn, Angel of Hope made all his stuff indestructible

Arbitrary Deck Name: Triggered Abilities All Over This Place
Jun Han & Tobias were playing Dimir (blue/black). Surprising choice since it doesn't really look like a bomb but gave them two wins

Arbitrary Deck Name: Green Beef
Moses was playing a green deck with a little splash for blue but this card is very scary

Arbitrary Deck Name: Craterhoof Behemoth - The End
Ryu finally did pick up the Craterhoof Behemoth which is difficult to cast but ends games when you do

Arbitrary Deck Name: Angels & Demons
Benedict was in Orzhov (white/black). Sean walked right into this & ended up burning himself to death

Arbitrary Deck Name: Four Colour Good Stuff... Maybe
Gideon was also in his strange 4 colour madness. I didn't end up playing against him but from the MVPs he's chosen, you can tell his deck was a bundle of joy

Arbitrary Deck Name: Vampires, Werewolves & Humans... Why Can't We Be Friends?
I was playing Rakdos (black/red). This was my best piece of equipment but surprisingly I couldn't win with it.

Arbitrary Deck Name: Must Feed The Beasts
Sean was also playing Orzhov (black/white) & I actually faced his MVP where I totally forgot that he had to have a Human to have the additional abilities. Should have just taken out the humans.

5 Things I Learned Organizing A Casual Magic Championship:
1. If you don't have a full day to burn, plan things down to the minute & then add some
2. Come prepared in case people don't have dice, tokens, pen & paper etc.
3. Always bring extra sleeves just in case
4. Proxies do not in any way detract from the overall experience so keep your moxes at home
5. You can't play & judge at the same time

And so, I'm gonna call it and say that this was probably our most successful event EVER which is why it is so appropriate that this event be the curtain call for KFCgamers before it goes on hiatus again. This year, we actually shifted the KFCgamers meetup to Saturdays which was the only way we could have sessions at all. As I will be working on Saturdays from next month onwards, the continuation of KFCgamers appears unfeasible at this point of time. There may pockets of sessions here & there to take advantage of any public holidays but for the time being, things will probably slow down for a bit.

For those who have been attending & following us, thank you for being a part of us & until next time, happy boardgaming.