KoHIT Approacheth

Tournament last Friday at Clifton Road Games. Eight participants, with Dyer sitting out to avoid that uncomfortable 'odd number' situation.

I won. Jin Valford blitzed his way to the front and to victory numerous times, but wasn't quite up to the task of taking Beradah Dythanus - I ceded that particular honour to Rich and Cathel Rowan.

There's been an awful lot of dissatisfied talk on the Temple of Lore forums regarding the FreeK starting line-up of Spencer Latham and Brother Dominy. While I did utilise this formidable front rank for my deck, not once did it prove to be as overwhelmingly powerful as some would have you believe. Not once did I utterly shatter the opposing ranks, even when Unison and Sucker Punch found their way into my opening hand (which they did with pleasing regularity). I was lucky if the Lathams managed to kill two opposing characters, to be honest. Facing off, as I did, against the likes of Jiyacin Fret, Javvyn and Linnea Warsong, Spence was far from earning his keep.

No, it was purely Jin himself that did all the hard work. The plan was that Spencer would allow Warren Brood (who looks disturbingly like Dyer, it must be said) to clear the path for Jin to get to the front quickly, but more often I was relying on Glenn the Blaze to do so - shortly before he and his Hag friend motivated Jin to work harder. I even got to change into Cyldragen in one game, which pleased me no end and really annoyed the Trespass that had managed to 2/3 kill Jin.

Of course, none of this murmuring has anything to do with the title of this article. Except that I am, at this moment, wondering about what deck I should use at KoHIT, that massive international tournament in Germany. While I do kind of like the Free Kingdoms, I can't help but feel bandwagonny in the current environment, and I can't stand that. Also, while frontline fighters like the Bloody Countess and Jin are fun, the sad truth is that snipers such as Trevor Magson and De'zicrah beat them so resoundingly that they're not a safe option to use at the moment. I could always go back to the leves, those to whom I was once a faction loyalist, but nothing there currently inspires me (unless someone out there wants to photoshop me a full-bleed Laurena card using her original art...).

As a story team emissary, I feel that I should be putting together some deck that makes a form of sense with regards to the fiction, as well. It's not an official obligation or nuthin', but I need to retop my kudos.

Then there are also the side-events to consider. Haven't even looked at Open for months - what new wackiness is Lord Netheryn capable of now? And doubles - are there any interactions left here, at the start of Epic edition?

These conundrums are circling round and round in my head, along with the possibility of securing a deck-backin' quantity of SS-SAURTH!!! cards...