It’s been quite a while since I’ve been able to enjoy the slow burn of excitement/nervousness before a big tournament. As is the case with most of us, I typically play with a certain group of people. We all know each other and have a great time during our games – but there’s really no pressure. Occasionally situations arise in which you have to focus to make the best move, but even then, it’s fairly casual. Once you’ve played with the same people for months (or years), tournaments are more about “hanging out” and trying new things than they are about winning.
This vassal tournament, though, is quite different. Not only are you playing players who you’ve never played against, but most of the time you’ve never even seen them or heard their voice. You do not know if they are serious or casual players. You do not know if they are among the elite of Monpoc players or far from it. More than that – you do not even know HOW they play. And it is all of these factors, as well as others, that gave me the feeling I became obsessed with years and years ago when I first started playing these kinds of games. I was nervous, excited, anxious, and happy.
Luckily or unluckily, my first opponent wasn’t a complete mystery. I was playing against Kevin from Artifex. When Zach went to San Diego to cover their event, Kevin was kind enough to host him. While being hosted, Zach got the chance to play a lot of Monpoc with Kevin, and consequently I was told that he was an excellent player. For me, playing against an excellent player is when Monpoc gets exceptionally fun and challenging, so I was pumped.
We both got on Vassal at 10PM CST, Friday. He was playing Quantum Kondo. I was playing Ultra Aquosia. This is what happened:
I won the roll as would be going first. Unfortunately I haven’t had much time to test Aquosia on many maps other than Danger Lake (generally my go-to), but Downtown Beatdown isn’t too bad for me. Knowing that I was going against Kondo, my top priority was P-Dice denial, and this map had two negative zones within 7 spaces of my far west and east spawn points. That was a relief. I also had a nice spot for my Earth Avatar. What I didn’t like (and why I like Danger Lake) is the density of buildings in the middle of the map. Kondo’s Jump advantage was going to make it a pain for me.
My first unit turn was fairly standard. I got one Water Avatar on a Negative Zone, transported a Kami forward onto a power zone, and secured Stock Exchange. This gave a healthy 5 P-Die powerup and allowed an easy secure of Gov’t whenever I needed it. I also had access to Financier for future turns. The 4 units securing made it much less enticing to tow my Earth Avatar. Had I only used 3 to secure, an EA tow would have made my powerup good for only 1 – a good tradeoff for 3 A-Die on Kevin’s part.
Kevin’s first turn was different than expected. He spawned 3, secured Insurance, and then brawled the SoL he placed after using Beacon. Berserk made it a 3*4 attack with Demolition, so it easily hit, gaining him 3 P-Die.
That Beacon showed the signs of a Rampage coming up, so I stepped up and brawled the Bank HQ. My intent was three-fold – open up the middle of the map, gain some P-Die, and threaten a power attack after his Rampage. Big whiff here though, effectively stunting my early game plans and long-term mobility.
I pushed all but 1 A-Die (knowing I could Shuffle it) and planned for a unit turn.
As expected, Kevin hypered and rampaged, gaining 10 P-Die. He then sprinted off of rubble and into a better position. Had that Bank HQ been destroyed, he’d have a lot more to think about at this point.
I know pretty much how Kondo works. I’ve played Zach quite a bit, though only 3-4 times with Aquosia. The city is like his fuel gauge. The more that is standing, the more power he can harvest. So, for every building I knock down, it’s every building that isn’t Rampaged/Stomped/Punched. Also, Kevin is ready to Rampage right through my powerbase, so I wanted to make it less enticing for him. I could have gone for the unit damage here, but that leaves me with few P-Die, no way to gain more, and at that point Kondo completely controls the game. I secured the Bank HQ and Stock, got my units out of the way, and then shot the Hotel. I also flew a G1 down to stop Shuffle. I also put another Water Avatar on the west Negative Zone, giving me both.
Kevin used his units to jump off of the Insurance and do a big radial attack with his Glass Airborne Ape. This was a solid move. I didn’t account for blue Hasten. My mistake =( But at least it kept Aquosia from taking an early damage.
At this point Aquosia was in need of a good move. I couldn’t get across the map, and from there Kondo was free to swat me for 2 damage every turn. I chose to run away…towards his base. I rampaged south, gaining some P-Die and transporting a Kami to screen and invade his base.
Kondo hypered down and moved down to swat my G1 at me with Super Swat, doing a damage.
With my powerbase unthreatened again, I re-established Stock, EA on powerzone using nesting, and Bank HQ. My Water Kamis also moved into Insurance and killed his Bellower.
He this opportunity to block me and do a point of damage with his Raptix. I’m beginning to fall behind in damage, but I’ve got board position.
I power up, taking 2 P-Die from Kondo and Rampage north to get out of the Raptix block. I transport for more Kami loving. I still need a solid route across the map.
Kondo mirrors me and swats again. Another damage.
I again power up and Rampage into alignment with Kondo. He now has 1 P-die and 1 A-die. He can’t retaliate, and must either retreat or eat 5 damage.
He retreats, but gives me the opportunity to form him by taking two monster turns. I’ve got Gov’t, so I can do 1A 1B powerups for 4 P-die.
I hyper up for a 2 damage slam North. After that Slam, I can do a Quick move to his East and slam him again for 4 into the Cathedral. I roll 1*3*3 (83% chance) and whiff. All I can do now is hyper down and hope for the best.
Kevin does 1 damage with Ignite and tries to get some board position so that he can get his P-Die rolling.
I take my unit turn and clear his Power Zones while also re-securing Stock Exchange. This will make it impossible for him to power up for any P-Die.
Kondo moves into a screen and is forced to push due to his lack of P-Die.
I take a monster activation, Hyper up, and Swat his screen into him. Those same 83% odds, and another big whiff.
He re-establishes his screen and does the same Radial Attack trick, harvesting 3 P-Die and shutting down my powerbase.
I move West and swat his Fire Kami. I finally score a hit! 2 damage.
Kondo moves over to the Apt. Building and attacks the Apartment Building, probably planning a Riot Stomp. He won’t get the heal from the building, but he will fill his P-Die pool. Luckily for me, he whiffs.
I advance some units and do 2 quick unit damage, adding in a Fire Kami for Rage and Ignite. Somewhere in here the Airborne Ape got adjacent to me.
This is where I made my mistake for the game. Looking at it carefully here, I could have taken 5 steps and a Quick advance to get aligned with Kondo’s north edge. The throw into the Hotel would have been form and would have also eliminated his only power zone. Instead, I swatted his unit off of that power zone for 2 damage. My sole focus was keeping him away from P-Die, so I missed the move. I could have accomplished this while also doing an extra damage. Always look for alignment!
Kondo jumped to his East and brawled the Bank HQ for much needed P-Die.
I advanced and Swatted his Raptix, getting the form.
Kevin went to harvestin P-Die with his units, killing a Water Kami, and hopping on some power zones (though Airborne can’t hold).
I wanted to keep Quantum Kondo out of P-Die, so I moved my Fire Kami and combined on the Stealth Ape to knock him off. I also blocked him in with my units. If he just stays there and swats, I have a 4 dmg throw which I can follow with a 2 damage swat for game. If he moves, he’s stuck on Rubble for an easy unit damage.
He swatted, leaving me at 2 Health and him at 1 P-Die. He moves where I can’t power attack him, but he’s still stuck in his box. I now realize that my situation is getting very tight – 2 health left and plenty of swat opportunities for Kondo. The only way I can win is to do 3 2-damage turns while also keeping him from harvesting 2 P-Die.
I move up and get an easy blast in for 2, holding dice for another blast next turn. Kevin has to get my units off of those negative zones or harvest 4 P-Dice in order to be left with 2 after my powerup. He opts to destroy the Water Avatar on the east Negative Zone and attack my Water Kamis, leaving him with 3 P-Die. There’s nothing I can do now, as any way for me to damage him will leave me open for a 2-damage swat with full dice.
I run away, hoping he’ll make some sort of glorious mistake.
He doesn’t and instead Rampages, leaving me no hope to win the game. I do a unit damage and then next turn he ends the game.
I feel like we both were playing quite well throughout the whole game. I did make one mistake in that I missed that Throw, but at the same time, throwing Kondo would have given him free reign over the middle of the map and could have ended poorly. I was VERY happy with my ability to control his P-Die and to force Kondo to take less-than-optimal monster turns. Aquosia is extremely solid. I truly do think that this game could have easily gone my way, but it just so happened that the dice were against me. The early whiffs really slowed me down and caused me to miss out on at least 4 damage. 83% just isn’t what it used to be!
Regardless, Kevin was an exciting (and skilled) opponent, and though I’m sad to be out of the tournament on the first round, I truly enjoyed this match. If nothing else, it proves to me that Aquosia is a force to be reckoned with, and that Kondo CAN be controlled.
Related posts:
Steven is a philosopher, spiritual guru, and avid gamer currently residing in the wonderful metropolis of Oklahoma. He helped start Covenant TCG a few years ago and has been doing a lot of the photoshop/design work ever since. If he's not building a debris hut in the wilderness he's behind a computer screen striving to make Covenant a little bit better each day! 
Jeremy and I watched that match on Sunday to get a feel of his Round 3 opponent, and man, watching the match, I was definitely feeling for you, Steven.
The dice have no heart, I tell ya.
But I got to say that you took it in stride and performed very well with Ultra Aquosia, a monster that I find hard to use myself. The game ended up pretty close at the end.
By the way, those Aquosia power ups looked painful, what with you taking 4 P-die a turn.
I also noticed this when I watched the v-log, but shouldn’t Quantum Kondo have taken a point from the Live Wire he ended on in Monster turn 1?
More then ten years ago now, I’d been engaged to a Japanese graphic designer. We’d started to live together at that time, and had discovered a local store that focused on Star Trek memorabilia, comic books and gaming products of various types, most notably CCG and the like.
I taught her how to play Magic: The Gathering at the time, both so that we’d have something fun to do in our spare time and as a means for her to understand my interest in gaming. Turns out she was a very quick study, as in her very first local tournament she’d managed to take home the win. It was single elimination format, and guess who got to be her first opponent?
Me.
I was both extremely proud of her and shocked at how ruthless she could be!
Sounds as if you really had a chance to put Aquosia through her paces too, that’s good to hear. I think I’ve finally settled on using Guard, Shadow Sun, UCI and Elemental Champions as my armies of choice, and I’ve been curious to see how she held up to the likes of King Kondo. I’m heartened to see that she’s no slouch!
XandZero2,
The Live Wire reaction goes off during step 5 of the Rampage attack, whereas the movement and destruction happens on step 3. By the time Live Wire reacts, Kondo is already far, far away.
Colin,
Thanks =) I remember how a few friends and myself would drive to Tulsa to play in 15-20 player Star Wars: TCG tourneys. There were 3 of us and 20 strangers. Invariably, two of us would play each other first round!
Come to think of it, those friends were Zach and Philip. Haha.
The worst were the really big qualifier tournaments when we’d have two of our “gang” paired against each other almost every round. It’s so brutal when you want your opponent to win almost as badly as you want to win yourself.
Hey great report! I was most excited to see Kondo kick some ass! I have recently started playing with Kondo and my goal is to eliminate the bad rep he’s developed. He is really playable as again proved by this game. Good game though Stephen.
Thanks for a great write up Steven. Its nice to get the players thoughts aswell as the report. I wanted to see Aquosia win too, damn dirty apes :p
The battle report is nice and all, but can you guys post up the “Tuesday Night Monster” before it becomes the “Friday Night Monster”? I want to schedule a time for beating up Kevin and I also want to have people watch the awesome game I had against Galactus.
In some early test games I’ve played, the double LK build also really chokes out Kondo.
Gratz on showing Aquasia is a decent force. Had much luck with her mega?
Nate,
I started with her Mega and played it extensively over the Ultra. However, as I played the Ultra more and more…it just felt more like Aquosia. Quick and Annihilate are just incredible together. Don’t get me wrong, I love the long-range WM blast, and Jump is infinitely better…but 5 DEF hurts, and I really miss those super damage swats.
Also, there’s so much anti-blast meta right now that I feel annihilate is stronger. (Mantacon, Mega Yasheth, Macros, etc)