Disappointment is really the only word that can describe my feelings after my latest Armory event at EH Gaming. Coming off the back of a three from three win at Geek Retreat in Leeds the previous Tuesday, managing only one win out of three on the Saturday brought me down to earth with a bump.
I know that at least one of the possible match ups (against Bravo) was going to be a tough one, but I was perhaps a little too confident going into the event in the power of my Prism Deck (and my own ability).
The first game (Win) was against Dorinthea, and was a relatively comfortable win and the Prism deck performed well. I managed to get off a couple of really big attacks in the first few turns that put my opponent on the back foot. After that, it was just a matter of keeping up the pressure and ensuring at least one (ideally two) decent attacked each turn. As long as my opponent didn’t have a full hand at the start of his turn, I felt reasonably confident I could get the win.
His was definitely not the case though for game two (Loss) against Bravo. This was the same Bravo deck (albeit a different player) I had faced the previous week in the ‘uncapped’ event, but the lack of Phantasmal Footsteps this time round really highlighted the limitations of Prism against classes that can easily pop Phantasm. As my opponent himself accepted, he did get a couple of really good hands on the first few turns, that had me on the ropes from the start. I did have an opportunity mid-game to get one good turn in that allowed me to at least void a 20-0 defeat, but the outcome was pretty much sealed from the start. My opponent is someone whose opinion I value greatly, and I took some solace in the fact that he said he felt I played pretty much the best game I could, but that there was very little I could have done to have affected a different outcome.
The final game (Loss) was against Chane. This is a regular player at EH Gaming who was now also playing regularly at Geek Retreat in Leeds. We seem to be paired up at pretty every event we are both at and we are (I believe) very evenly matched having both won roughly half the games we’ve played (including a few casual games). I was probably feeling a bit deflated from the loss against Bravo and more resigned to defeat than I would normally be. Even so, it was the usual very close game with neither of us particularly having the upper hand. At six Soul Shackles, he ended with a really strong set of banished cards that allowed him to put together a strong attack that finished me over the edge with arcane damage. I think the only thing I could have done differently in this game would have been to maybe block a little more earlier in the game to prevent the arcane damage finishing me off. Having a low health score is manageable with some other heroes, but I need to always remember the arcane damage that Chance can deliver. I could maybe have also selected a different set of equipment to give me more arcane barriers and/or tried to get more Spectral Shields in play.
Cracked Bauble 