Sunday night, I played my first ever Spoils game. Not online. Anywhere.

This “first game ever” was Round 2 of the Spoils Tournament (My Round 1 was never played; free W was awarded to me, hazzah.) My opponent was, as you know, Tommy G –who had a bit of a head start on me in terms of actually playing the game, so I was nervous. I’m nervous when doing something new… this was double new, both game AND Lackey.

I’d watched the 9 part tutorial that TC made. I’d familiarized myself with what cards I had access to and what I might see played against me. I’d even broken down the differences between MagicTG and Spoils, because there are several mechanical differences that make for a hugely different game. But I never buy into a game I don’t yet know how to play… often, when my money tree isn’t producing, the only way I get to play games like this that require a bit of coin is to find a way to play them online. Not to mention Spoils players don’t grow on trees either.

Until that game, it was all theory for me. (“…You don’t say….”) I brought with me a high degree of understanding on card games, but no experience whatsoever in Spoils itself. Being able to play online is going to be the only Spoils I get for a little while — but I can already tell that this is my new card game. Can I say F MagicTG? F stands for forget! (Never gonna happen; I love that game too.)

The faction I like best by far is Gearsmith, so when I first decided to dip my hand into Spoils I knew my first deck would be that faction — and if possible, it’d be that alone. Last Friday night, I put together that Gearsmith deck. Sunday afternoon, I spent all of 10 minutes tweaking it. The real thought was already done before I began… weeks and weeks ago, when I posted a rough idea for a mono-Gearsmith deck on the TC Spoils forum. I popped in 4 of every card I liked, and started deleting the ones that seemed least important. No sophisticated process. No 1-of’s.

START
1x Tournament Faction — Mistake? Alliance of Handy Weirdos would have been handy.
2x Elitism

DECK
4x Arrogance
4x Elitism

4x Basic Node
4x Clay Node
3x A Series of Tubes — I dropped 1 for an Elitism; 99% sure I’ll be switching back.
4x Micromajig Maker
4x Micromajig Master
4x Drivey Car
4x Micromajig Shipping Container
4x Recyclable Golem
4x Toolbox Elf
4x Epiphany Elf
4x Mountainous Golem

4x Giant Spork Defense
4x Exploding Sock Puppet
4x Mysterious Invasion
4x Luteoderm Prototype
4x Contrabulous Fabtraption
4x Leet

Here is where I want to say a HUGE thank you to Tommy G for helping me get Lackey working, and for helping me to learn its controls. I would have had to drop out of the tournament without that help, and maybe even abandon the Spoils altogether. Bless you.

THE GAME
I win the flip, and choose to go second. I’m hoping the 1/2 card advantage in a game where it can be hard to draw cards will be bigger than it is in MagicTG. (You always want to go first in MTG; no exceptions.)

Tommy starts with 2 rage in play, and is also using the Tournament Faction. He plays a deception resource, but his only drop is Crazed Deputy. I’m thinking he has something for me with those 2 open resources. But he passes the turn with no other drops… I realize he is either holding some nasty big cards I’ll see over the next turns, or he has nothing and is wide open. I look at the Exploding Sock Puppet in m hand and wonder if it is ever useful here.

On my own first turn I drop an Elitism. I play Drivey Car and then Contrabulous Fabtraption … a great chump blocker to buy myself time vs what might be a rush deck, and some more potential chump blockers that won’t appear until after Drivey Car does its thing. Tommy comments on how scary the Contrabulous Fabtraption looks to him, and I wonder if he is playing a deck that uses gear to buff.

Tommy’s second turn catches me off guard when he chooses to draw before getting out his fourth resource. He immediately hits me with Dragon’s Strategy and draws again (via cantrip), putting me to 23. I might be facing a deck full of low cost cards? There’s nothing worse that not know what is in your opponent’s deck. I feel like I’m winning the game physically, but Tommy has me doing a few mental cartwheels trying to guess what he CAN do. I’ve seen only the Crazed Deputy, which looks like an attacker he wants to buff up so that I have to block it.

On my second turn, I play Giant Spork Defense as a face-down resource and make a mental note to myself that I have that layer of defense. From now forward, I want to leave 1 resource open if I can to utilize that card. But in my hand is a very good reason NOT to leave it open. I play Leet and draw a card (via cantrip). Then I play Epiphany Elf — and play Mountainous Golem for free. It takes Tommy at least 2 minutes before he can recover mentally, as he looks at his hand for what to drop and looks at his deck list for a good way to kill off the 13/13 juggernaut. Finally, he drops a Thundering Nilpha for free. If that is his best drop, he’s definitely on little guys.

On his third turn, Tommy draws again… and my jaw drops. Still no fourth resource; why? Then I realize he’s scrambling for chump blockers and trying to draw into some kind of real reply to the Mountainous Golem. By what is in my hand, I know the game is likely over. Tommy starts to attack with the Thundering Nilpha — and has to take it back, as he realizes that the 13/13 is in his way. He pays 3 to draw again and takes the defensive.

On my third turn, I play Clay Node as a face down resource. First I attack with Mountainous Golem — his Crazed Deputy tries to halt the 13/13, and meets an ill fate. Then I play Mysterious Invasion and Micromajig Maker. Both Maker and token get sacrificed to Mysterious Invasion, killing off his Thundering Nilpha. He is left with no blockers for next turn… or this one. I attack with Drivey Car and Epiphany Elf, putting him to 22. Then I pay 1, using flip-up the Clay Node into play. Tommy insists that I do get to search for a new node (I’m thinking I don’t — ruling, anyone?), so I go fetch another Clay Node for my hand… and get A Series of Tubes instead — oops. Tommy is looking at 18 damage coming next turn if he doesn’t put something in the way.

On Tommy’s fourth turn, I’m expecting him to do whatever he can to stall. He draws again (!!!). In comes another Crazed Deputy and a Clockman Pickpocket. We hates you, Clockman Pickpocket. That is all that comes out, and Tommy says hit him with what I have. He’s feeling that the game is over… a sign that he doesn’t see a way to survive the 13/13.

On my fourth turn, I draw a card for the first time and get Micromajig Master. I play it and sacrifice the 2 new tokens to Mysterious Invasion to kill the Clockman Pickpocket. Then comes the 13/13, and his new Crazed Deputy goes the way of his old Crazed Deputy. Afterwards, I attack with my other guys — putting Tommy to 17. I have 1 open resource for my face-down Giant Spork Defense… but it’s looking like I’m not going to need it this game.

On Tommy’s fifth turn, he plays a face-down resource. His only play of the turn is Hammer Smash. He wins the flip and chooses both of my items (Mysterious Invasion and Contabulous Fabtraption), so I pop the CF to get 2 micromajig tokens as reply. I lose the Invasion, but note that he has no blockers.

On my fifth turn, I sweep over with 18 damage to end the game. My ending hand is Exploding Sock Puppet, A Series of Tubes (should have been Clay Node), and Toolbox Elf (which I never needed to play).

After that we played 2 more games for fun. In game 2 I went first, got the Mountainous Golem out on my second turn, and proceeded to win in precisely the same way as game 1 except faster. Game 3 saw no Mountainous Golem, but instead saw Mysterious Invasion and Micromajig Shipping Container overrun Tommy’s best drops with sheer numbers.

So I’m pleased, so far. It’s still in the clunky stages — but I feel like mono-Gearsmith has the right cards to play a resource every turn while dropping threats every single turn. Mysterious Invasion is every bit as good (and scary) as I imagined it would be. Deck test successful.

In round 3, I’m flipping a coin. Heads says I’m on a new faction….

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