Niles Rowland(Miles), Robert Swarowski(Bob), Kirk Buckendorf(Kurt), and myself(Tom) made the trip to the Darkmoon Faire from Las Vegas. The typical Las Vegas ritual of preparation for any constructed tournament is about 12 hours of weak play testing leading up the final week before the tournament. The last week is full on dedication, playing multiple hours every night. This DMF was the first one that I felt under-prepared for. While we played in the weeks leading up to the tournament, the final cram session to really finalize deck choices during the last week was not there.

Instead of the last minute play-testing, we examined the results from the Realm Championship Qualifiers. It looked like the top decks were going to be [Pidge Filthfinder], [Zorak'tul], [Zaritha], and some Death Knight decks. In our gauntlet we also had two really aggressive decks, [Witch Doctor Koo'zar] and [Souldrinker Bogmara], and one full on control deck, [Velindra Sepulchre].

I knew instantly that I could cross off the two aggressive decks. While I felt both of these decks were viable options, I do not enjoy playing pure aggro decks. At the other end of the spectrum I also crossed off the control Mage. I had plenty of experience playing control Mage from other tournaments, but I did not want to play a deck that would likely go to time every round. After testing all of the different decks, I was unhappy with my options. The deck I felt most comfortable with was [Pidge Filthfinder]. [Pidge Filthfinder] is a fine deck, but really I felt it was kind of boring and I did not want to play a ton of mirror matches.

At this point I fired up my AIM and found my good old reliable friend Brad Watson. Brad was stuck at home since his house was covered in about 3 feet of snow and we started talking about the upcoming tournament. He too was on the Warlock plan, but was unsure about it. I started throwing out some ideas I had and we decided we should test a Death Knight deck. Death Knight has some incredible cards against rush, [Extract of Necromantic Power], [Deathcharger] and [Corpse Explosion]. Death Knight also had one of the best cards for a format consisting of mid range decks, [Army of the Dead].

Hero
[Triton the Sacrilegious]

Allies
4 [Broderick Langforth]
4 [Deathcharger]
4 [Vuz'din]
4 [Dethvir the Malignant]
3 [Nathanos Blightcaller]
3 [Saurfang the Younger, Kor'kron Warlord]
4 [Cairne, Earthmothers Chosen]

4 [Tuskarr Kite]
4 [Army of the Dead]
4 [Corpse Explosion]
3 [Entomb]

3 [Scimitar of the Sirocco]
4 [Extract of Necromantic Power]

3 [Kor'kron Vanguard]
3 [Cleansing Witch Hill]
3 [Darkness Calling]
3 [Proving Grounds]

I will talk about the deck briefly as Brad is planning on writing about it in his next article. The card that makes this deck shine is [Scimitar of the Sirocco]. This card can single handedly win you games. The match-ups it shines in are against Warlock mid-range decks like [Pidge Filthfinder] and any Mage deck. The Scimitar also works nicely with the previously mentioned Army of the Dead.

[Extract of Necromantic Power] is the other equipment we decided to play. With all the aggressive decks in the format, [Extract of Necromantic Power] is a shining star. Every good aggressive Horde ally deals non melee. Once you have one in play, the only threats that you need to deal with are dead [Broderick Langforth]s and [Saurfang the Younger, Kor'kron Warlord]s.

The main issue with the deck is that it lacks good card draw. Without [Tuskarr Kite], this deck would be unplayable. I'm still not a fan of [Tuskarr Kite] being so powerful and generic, but I have to agree with my boy Brad that banning it would make some classes unplayable. That being said, I still think the correct decision is to ban [Tuskarr Kite]. My reasoning is that some classes should be better at doing things than other classes. Mages should be better at drawing cards, while Warriors should be better at attacking. With World of Warcraft TCG under Cryptozoic, I think that the game is moving in the right direction, and they will find the balance between the classes to make them all playable.

Friday

It was 20 minutes into my 4 hour flight and my crotch was soaking wet. I wish I could have said it was from the excitement of the Darkmoon Faire, but it was about 6 ounces of coke and ice. I went to pick the newly filled cup and dropped it right into lap. The flight to Orlando was very uncomfortable. Once we landed my pants had completely dried and it was a little after midnight on Friday morning.




We were able to meet up with Mike Rosenberg and went to the hotel to sleep.

The tournament hall opened at noon, which gave us plenty of time to sleep in late, get breakfast and catch up with all our friends from across the country. The first tournament of the day was the iTournament. The highlight of the day is while signing up a player named Sergio came up to me and complimented me on the site, telling me that some days he will come and read an article up to five times a day. Hearing stuff like this makes me excited that we started the site.

The second most exciting event of the weekend was talking to Andrew Wolf. Andrew works in Research and Development for the World of Warcraft Trading Card game. Andrew is very open and was willing to discuss lots of different ideas. It's very refreshing to hear his positive attitude towards the future of the game.

We finally got down to building our sealed decks. My deck was very marginal. The best class in my pool was Hunter. The three class cards I had were [Boomer], [Tesla] and [Stakethrower]. I got my first loss quickly to another hunter deck in round 3. The first and third game where complete blowouts as my opponent had turn two [Boomer], turn 4 [Charmed Ancient Bone Bow] with Stash to add a counter to his bow. I decided to stay in the tournament and got my second loss to Jeffrey Voewerd in round 5. Jeffery had a very good hunter deck. Game 2 I felt I had completely in hand, but boy was I wrong. It was my turn 8 and I was attacking aggressively. Jeffery had out [Aspect of the Wild] and Tesla with 2 cards in hand. I sat with seven damage on my hero so I felt that my 21 health remaining was enough. Little did I know that he had two more [Tesla] in hand to steal the game.

After the iTournament, I hopped into an iPod draft. I decided to try out Rob's strategy and draft Warrior. I felt the deck was powerful, but I did not have a weapon, so I had terrible late game. I lost to Caleb in the first round. He was playing Alliance Druid and all the healing plus his flip was able to kill all of my allies. I never really felt I had a shot either game as my [Koeus] hid in my deck. Caleb went on to lay beatdowns on Rob, but was unable to derail the entire Las Vegas train as he faced off against Niles in the finals. Kirk was also able to win his draft pod for an iPod, so overall it was a great success.

Saturday

The main event was finally upon us. There was a quick announcement of the Worldbreaker Token of Justice cards and upcoming OP news. With 163 players we looked forward to 11 rounds of swiss with a cut Top 8.



Round 1 – Antonio Jones from Florida playing [Sarina the Immaculate] (Lost Die Roll)

I had no idea what to expect from Antonio. I thought he could be playing a [Renewal of Life] deck, an equipment based deck, or a deck with some unique allies leading up to [Highlord Tirion Fordring]. My mulligan decision was to search for a hand that contained [Entomb] and an [Army of the Dead]. My opening hand contained both along with [Tuskarr Kite], [Broderick Langforth], [Darkness Calling], and [Proving Grounds].

Antonio started off strong with [Gryth Thurden, Gryphon Master]. Next turn he played a Human ally 1 drop, readied his freshly played [Stormwind City], and dropped [Father Gustav]. The following turn he was able to play [Crusade Commander Entari]. Luckily for me I was able to [Corpse Explosion] away his entire board before anything else got out of hand. Winning from this point was easy since his explosive start left him with few options.

1-0



Round 2 – Adrian Carter from Georgia playing [Lord Benjamin Tremendouson] (Lost Die Roll)

If there is one deck that I know how to play against its Death Wish. In this match you want to Mulligan for hands that contain [Vuz'din], [Entomb], [Tuskarr Kites], [Dethvir the Malignant], and [Nathanos Blightcaller]. My first hand contained zero of the cards needed for this matchup, so I mulliganed into a hand that contained three [Army of the Dead], three [Broderick Langforth], and [Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen]. This was probably one of the worst hands I could have hoped for. Needless to say I did not win this match. Adrian was able to whomp on me quickly with a [Death Wish] and [Greaves of Ancient Evil], while my [Vuz'din]s and [Entomb] hid in my deck.

1-1



Round 3 – Lukas Heihs from Europe playing [Witch Doctor Koo'zar] (Won Die Roll)

Lukas is a great guy. I've played him multiple times now and he was always very friendly and a pleasure to play against. As soon as he showed his [Witch Doctor Koo'zar] I knew what I was going to mulligan for. The most important card against them is [Extract of Necromantic Power], with the other cards you want being [Kor'kron Vanguard], [Broderick Langforth], [Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen], and [Corpse Explosion]. No mulligan was needed as I drew the stone cold nuts. My opening hand was two [Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen], [Deathcharger], [Tuskarr Kite], [Corpse Explosion], and [Extract of Necromantic Power]. Lukas on the other hand was not so lucky. Lukas probably got the worst hand possible coupled with how powerful my hand was, this match was rather straight forward.

2-1



Round 4 – Ramilo Vilomar from Florida playing [Lanthus the Restorer] (Lost Die Roll)

I had not playtested against [Lanthus the Restorer] but I knew the general idea of his deck. He's looking to stick a creature with [Gift of the Earthmother] on one of his bomb allies and bash my brain in. Most of the Alliance allies that see play deal melee damage, so my extracts were not going to help me in this match. In this match I was going to look for [Broderick Langforth] or [Deathcharger], [Corpse Explosions] so I can survive along to resolve [Army of the Dead]. I got the hand that I needed with one copy of [Broderick Langforth], [Deathcharger], and [Army of the Dead].

This match was one of the closest that I had. On turn one, Ramilo played the [Shanis Bladefall]. Normally I would say that this card is not constructed quality, but it stopped my Broderick from killing any of his allies. Over the next two turns he played an [Ashnaar, Frost Herald] and [Flint Shadowmore]. [Corpse Explosion] would easily answer his board, but I was unable to get an ally into the graveyard. I had to suck down the beatings one turn to complete [Darkness Calling] to discard an ally. After resolving the [Corpse Explosion] I stabilized the board over the next couple turns. I was able to play [Scimitar of the Sirocco] and swing in with a few allies. Ramilo drew an Avatar of the Wild off the top to take my life total from 18 to 25. Luckily for me at this point he was at 13. I swung in with my Blightcaller token, Sword of Sirroco, and Nathanos to take him to 21. I then cast [Army of the Dead] and my Ghouls were able to kill him.

3-1



Round 5 – Mike Stigall from Virginia playing [Nicholas Merrick] (Lost Die Roll)

Mike was playing Nicholas Merrick. I did not know what to expect from his deck. It could be a typical control deck or he could be an ally based Mage deck. The cards I want against either version are [Scimitar of the Sirocco], [Extract of Necromantic Power], and [Vuz'din]. Both my mulligan hand and my second hand were terrible. I was basically the living bye for Mike. The cards that Mike smashed me with were [Gladiator's Regalia], [Kel'thuzad], [Gnomish Poultrygizer], [Hemet Nesingwary] and [Battle Mage's Baton].

One a side note, Mike has been working on his drafting site. If you get the chance you should go and check it out. http://www.stigoon.com/draft/index.html. Mike will be the first to admit that there are possibilities for improvement, but that is where you come in. He is looking for people to test it and provide feedback. You can leave suggestions on the forums here or over on the main WoW TCG forums.

3-2



Round 6 – William Patterson from Philly playing [Souldrinker Bogmara] (Won Die Roll)

In this match you look for the same exact cards you would against [Witch Doctor Koo'zar]. My opening hand was really good. It contained [Deathcharger], [Broderick Langforth], two [Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen], [Tuskarr Kite], [Corpse Explosion], and [Dethvir the Malignant]. This round I was the aggressor. At every point in the game William was playing defense trying to stop me from killing him. The [Scimitar of the Sirocco] came down and from that point on damage was coming at him.

4-2



Round 7 – Bert DeGuia from California/Maryland playing [Grizlik Sparkhex] (Won Die Roll)

I assumed this deck would have the same mulligan decisions as any rush deck and I was right. I kept my opening hand that had multiple [Broderick Langforth], [Dethvir the Malignant], [Extract of Necromantic Power] and [Corpse Explosion]. I took a lot of early damage from a [jek'kresh], but once I was able to destroy it I was the conductor of the [Corpse Explosion]/[Army of the Dead] train. With multiple ghouls coming every turn it did not take long to sweep up the game.

5-2



Round 8 – Kirk Buckendorf from Las Vegas playing [Triton the Sacrilegious] (Lost Die Roll)

Kirk was playing a card for card copy of the deck. In the mirror match the most important card is [Dethvir the Malignant]. After him the cards you want are [Tuskarr Kite], [Scimitar of the Sirocco], [Extract of Necromantic Power]. My opening hand had [Extract of Necromantic Power], [Tuskarr Kite], [Dethvir the Malignant], [Deathcharger], a couple quests. All of Kirk's attacks with [Broderick Langforth] and [Dethvir the Malignant] were nerfed by my Extract. I had an active [Tuskarr Kite] from turn 3 on while Kirk had an active [Scimitar of the Sirocco]. The Scimitar made the game really too close for comfort, but I was able to squeak out ahead in the damage race with only 4 health remaining.

After the match Kirk told me he was sitting on [Entomb] waiting to keep a Scimitar off my side of the board. We talked about it and we both agreed that he should have [Entomb]ed my Extract on turn 2, and he would have easily have killed me. I did learn from this how important the Extract was in the mirror.

6-2



Round 9 – Phillip Bryene from Florida playing [Souldrinker Bogmara] (Won Die Roll)

I hope you know what kind of opening hand I want for this matchup. I mulliganed into a hand that had [Extract of Necromantic Power] and [Corpse Explosion], but I was unable to put an ally into either of our graveyards. Phillip had a quick start with two [Rosalyne Von Erantor] and a [Trade Prince Gallywix], followed by two [Onnekra Bloodfang]. The first ally I played was a [Dethvir the Malignant], which ate up damage for me and allowed me to Corpse Explode his board away on turn 5. The damage was already done at this point as he played [Saurfang the Younger, Kor'kron Warlord] two times in a row to hit me for 14 to finish the game off.

6-3



Round 10 – Antonio de Rosa from Manilla playing [Triton the Sacrilegious] (Won Die Roll)

For those who do not know him, Antonio de Rosa is a former set designer for the World of Warcraft TCG. I have played him previously in other cards games, and he was always very funny and really nice to play against. We were in a mirror match with a couple different cards, but mostly similar. I think the biggest difference is that he was playing [Ring of Invincibility] over [Scimitar of the Sirocco]. I wish that this match up was more exciting, but I could sum it up by saying I had two [Dethvir the Malignant] to his zero. My Dethvirs just kept swinging at his hero, while all he could find were [Army of the Dead]s.

On of the best stories I got from Antonio is the one where the name Skumm Bag'go came from. For those of you who played Vs System, you will enjoy this. When testing new sets for VS, Antonio would always be the one to make the fun 3-4 team deck. To run a deck like this you would need multiple teams up cards (cards that crossed over teams like X-Men with Spiderfriends). In testing one of the other R&D guys would always play cards that destroyed the team ups making Antonio's deck inefficient and unplayable. They would always call this member of R&D a skummbag for playing that type of card while they were testing the fun decks. Hence the reason why Skumm Bag'go affects other peoples resources.

7-3



Round 11 – David Bodimer from Chicago playing [Triton the Sacrilegious] (Lost Die Roll)

David was also playing a card for card copy of the deck. If you looked at the round that I played Kirk, it was the exact opposite except David had my board position and I did not have the [Scimitar of the Sirocco]. I was buried underneath a ton of card advantage. I wish the match would have been better, but I missed on drawing the important cards for the match up. It worked out for the best as David had really good tiebreakers and winning gave him a shot for Top 8, while a win for me would only have been a Top 16 finish.

7-4

After playing the deck I still really enjoy it and think it is a good deck. I dislike that if you do not draw Tuskarr Kite, you are really hard pressed to keep up with other decks in the format in terms of card advantage. The other issue is that you have to aggressively mulligan with the deck and sometimes you can get some really clunky draws. I would need to test the deck out more, to really tell you how we could improve it.

After the tournament was said and done, Kirk was 7-4, Rob was 7-4, I was 7-4 and Niles was 8-3 which was good enough to Top 8, along side Matt Walsh, Stuart Wright, and Jim Fleckenstein.

After the DMF being the draft fiends that we are we hopped in the iPod draft. I was passed a very interesting Death Knight deck that featured 4 [Grip of the Damned]. Niles ended up winning his pod as did Rob.

After the draft we retreated to the room. It was so late that we decided to order in food. Even though Niles Top 8'd, he is not above getting messed with. I'll let Rob recount the events of our late night meal:

After a good day of gaming it was time to eat, and there was just enough time to order from the menu that was stuffed under our door. With nothing but fried foods on menu I made the healthy choice, chicken fingers and fries. Chicken is good for you and I'm getting a side of veggies. After about 30 minutes there is a knock on the door. When I open it I start tearing up from the amount of cologne the delivery guy has on. That odor stayed outside that door for the next half hour; I guess he had a hot date. Niles' bed soon becomes the dinning room table for Tim and I, as it was the night before. If anyone was going to sleep on sheets spotted with grease Niles is the best choice. Niles once told me a story about his youth, instead of getting money under his pillow from the tooth fairy he received food. I decided to bring him back to his childhood and shoved a handful of fries under his pillow, young Niles would not go hungry this night.

Sunday

Sunday I decided to play in the Gadgetzan tournament. I had an average Alliance Druid deck, but again the abilities were really shallow for each of my classes. I ended up losing to Joe who eventually won the entire tournament. He had a spicy Alliance Warlock deck that featured [Jhuunash]. I ended up winning a [Mottled Drake] for my efforts.

Niles lost in Top 8 again. I feel happy for him and sad at the same time. Niles is the only player that I know that can Top 8 every tournament he plays in, but somehow never manages to win one. I know it will happen one day and my guess is that it will be in Chicago.

Overall the weekend was fantastic. I was able to spend 3 days with my best friends playing the game that we love. I also got to play a lot of great people from all over, and I got to walk away with a bunch of new friends.

Kirk came up with a song that explains how the iPod drafts went for the Las Vegas group:

We're climbin' in your DMFs
We're snatchin' your iPods up
Tryna draft 'em all so y'all need to
Hide your Packs, Hide your Nanos
Hide your Packs, Hide your Nanos
Hide your Packs, Hide your Nanos
Cuz we out draftin' errbody here
We're gunnin' for you
We gon' find you
We gon' find you

Out of every iPod draft that had a Las Vegas player, it was won by someone in our group.  Niles came out the biggest winner winning all three iPod drafts he played in.  We just pretend that Nanos are cakes.

Well this report is getting long enough. I want to apologize to the Question of Gluttony Podcast group. This weekend was so busy that I was unable to hit the studio with them, but I promise that I will make time in the near future. If you have time you should check out their podcast as they are doing great things with it.

To finish I wanted to give a shout out to all the volunteers and the Cryptozoic staff. You put on a great event once again, and as a player I really appreciate all the hard work that is put into an event like this. For anyone that may be new to the game or for those players who just haven't had the time or money before now is the best time to visit a Darkmoon Faire. I promise you will have a great time.

-Tim Rivera

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Tim Rivera is one of the most recognizable faces from the Las Vegas WoW TCG community, and is considered to be one of the best limited players in the world. He has multiple top 8 finishes at high-level events over the years, including a win at DMF Los Angeles in 2008. He also has back-to-back top 8 finishes at the 2009 and 2010 North American Continental Championships, with a win in the 2010 event in his hometown of Las Vegas.