FAB Skirmish Tournament Report V: Tall Dorinthea Strikes Back

Here we go again! I was playing another Skirmish event today with a variation on my tall Dorinthea deck — a little different from last time (I’m giving Dauntless and Twinning Blade a spin) — but the same concepts are still in effect! This time I was playing in the Gamer’s Guild event hosted by Intrinsic Gaming, and it looked like we were around 32 players total.

Round One: Dorinthea

This was a Dorinthea mirror, but I had a bit of an advantage in that my opponent lacked an Arcanite Skullcap and was playing with a Hope Merchant’s Hood instead. This wasn’t a huge issue but did mean that I had that little bit of extra cushion — ultimately I managed to get into an aggressive position midgame and stay there, allowing me to get the win.

Victory! (1-0)

Round Two: Ira

My first Ira match of the day — and against the #1 ranked player in the United States, Jake Burns! This was going to be interesting. I believe this match was streamed by Intrinsic Gaming and it was quite an exciting one! Jake was using a different and more aggressive Ira build than those used by some of the opponents I’ve been playing against. In midgame Jake let me get a Dawnblade counter and then unleashed a huge aggressive turn that drained a lot of my tempo — Kodachi into Whirling Mist Blossom (which I overblocked thinking a Razor Reflex might be coming) into Enlightened Strike into Command and Conquer! Ouch!

However, I was able to keep up some aggression with Dauntless, making it more awkward to defend against me. The game continued, with me using my last equipment blocks to avoid Razor on a Kodachi swing, then coming in with an aggressive turn. While I was able to get Jake low on life quickly, he had multiple heals (two Sigil of Solace (Red) and a Tome of Fyendal) to get back out of the danger zone! Ultimately a Dawnblade counter made defending awkward and he double blocked against a Dauntless -> Dawnblade with counter for seven damage, letting me hit for one. This proved to be a key opportunity as I broke my Bolters and swung again, forcing him to block with his other two cards and letting me get a turn of respite, at which point I drew into Ironsong Determination to close out the game.

Victory! (2-0)

Round Three: Ira

This game was against a newer opponent who was also playing Ira. He had the “top tier” equipment but was somewhat unfamiliar with this matchup, and I was able to get a Dawnblade counter quickly and keep it for the rest of the game, eventually adding a second counter. While my opponent whittled me away a bit I was able to use my armor to deny Mask and maintain tempo, ultimately closing things out with an Ironsong Determination turn.

Victory! (3-0)

Round Four: Dorinthea

This was a Dorinthea mirror against a player I’ve played against before and it quickly became a very aggressive game! My opponent blocked heavily with his armor on the first turn and let me get a Dawnblade counter, then did a huge attack turn to get a counter of his own! On the next turn I did another big attack and he opted to let me in, but I forced him to play a Steelblade Shunt by playing a Singing Steelblade (without Reprise!) to threaten lethal on my second swing, At that point his momentum was blunted and I was able to knock his counter off and then keep up the aggression for the win… but if I hadn’t had a reaction I could use without Reprise this one might have gone quite differently!

Victory! (4-0)

Round Five: Ira

For the last round of Swiss I found myself against DragonLotus, an Ira player that I had encountered in previous events. He was running a slightly different equipment loadout than I was used to seeing, with Breeze Rider Boots instead of Snapdragon Scalers. Ultimately I was able to get the initiative in this game and maintain my aggression, and while I was whittled down to pretty low life I was able to push through with Dawnblade for the win after some crazy turns — in one turn he had 10 defense from hand to bolster his initial block and try to stop my Dawnblade, but I had 9 offense from hand to get through anyway! Dauntless won the game for me by stopping him from using his whole hand to defend against a Dawnblade attack for thirteen damage (!) — while he had two red defense reactions in hand, he had to pitch a card to play the first one and therefore could only block for eleven

Victory! (5-0, undefeated in Swiss)

With that, I was on to the top eight, and as top seed I would get my choice of first or second in all remaining games.

Top 8: non-OTK Viserai

This time I was up against a Viserai player who was running an aggressive build rather than OTK. This game started off with both of us trading some hits. He hit me with a surprise Pummel on a Drawn to the Dark Dimension, which stung a lot, but I was still able to block out his Arknight Ascendancy and still come in with Ironsong Determination + Steelblade Supremacy to get some card draws, some big damage, a red Overpower in arsenal, and a Dawnblade counter. On the next turn though, my opponent was really able to put on the pressure with a crucial topdeck from another Drawn to the Dark Dimension — it hit a Meat and Great that allowed him to make three attacks in the turn instead of two. As a result I had to use my whole hand for defense, and while I got him down to two life on the following turn by using Courage to swing Dawnblade for four, I had already used my Bolters so couldn’t threaten lethal and he was able to take the damage and hardcast an Arknight Ascendancy to win the game.

Defeat! (5-1, final standing probably 7th)

This was another event that I really enjoyed — while I did end up being knocked out sooner than I’d hoped, it was at least to an interesting and cool deck! Thanks to Gamer’s Guild and Intrinsic Gaming for hosting, and stay tuned for more event reports and the like to come from me in the future!