US Nationals Top 4 Stark Fealty Melee 1.0

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• 1.0

Before I go into this long drawn out thing, I want to thank Joe Hannes for building this deck so that all I had to figure out was how to make it do stuff.

I took this deck to the US Nationals Melee Tournament. I had very casually played maybe 5 games of melee in the last 5 years or so. I played 2 rounds at worlds in 2013 before dropping to go play Star Wars or something. I was freaking out a little in the week before trying to figure out what the hell I signed myself up for. I received a lot of great suggestions from the community and then Joe came through with a deck that seemed close enough to the Joust deck I was already playing. Then Chris built the deck minus a couple cards he doesn’t usually keep on hand. I believe this list reflects those changes but I could be wrong. I handwrote my list out that morning and didn’t get it back.

This thing flew. In every game except the final table I actually thought I was losing until I looked down and realized, “ hey this wins this turn huh?” weirdest feeling I have ever had playing this game. Not great for my stomach. I didn’t keep detailed notes. So, my tournament report is gonna be rambling crap.

Round 1 I got sat next to Kyle Vancil, Josh from Olney, and Michael Benson. This game I mostly staved off Kyle by promising not to attack him when I already supported him. I looked down and there was 15 power on my house with Kyle sitting at 12. Beginners luck.

Round 2 saw me going up against Aaron Davis, Aaron Groth(An amazing player who I already somehow managed to sneak away a joust win from the day before on stream.), and Melee World Champion Ryan Jones. My luck was about to run out. Or is it? I kept pretty much everyone focused on Ryan Jones. Ryan Jones seemed to be lasered in on Groth. To be fair, Groth dropped Renly Baratheon (FFH) 1st turn. But then, I looked down and had 15 power again with Ryan sitting on 14. What magic had Joe Hannes put into my hands?

Going into Round 3 I was still uncertain about my ability and my luck. Table talk began before we even flipped the first plot.Sadly I did not get the names of the gentlemen I played this round. Everyone laid their figurative cards on the table. I thought I needed 2nd place with 12-14 power to make the final table. Another guy wanted to win to get in the top 16. I played the cards I was dealt and staved off everyone and let them battle each other while I gained power. Here comes part 1 of why I am not a good melee player. I was sitting at 13 power with 2 Riverrun Minstrel in my hand, and I looked over and top 16 contender was at 13ish power. Before we flipped what would be our last plots I asked the table if any of them had a problem with him winning. This was also a little bit of a strategy on my part as I didn’t want to go into the final table winning every table I sat at. They agreed and I flipped sneak attack and gave him first player. I marshalled one minstrel and passed my turn then gave him an unopposed power to secure my 13 power.

Turns out 13(6 points) was more than enough to make the final table and I was king of swiss. Damnit!

So, I sat down at the final table with a small target on my head against the best 3 players in the field (despite my inflated score).The Sleeveless Stallion, Tommy Pils sat across from me. The Photoshop Phenom, Michael Lamszec sat to my left. The White Book Wizard, Will Lentz sat diagonally from me. Time for my fraudulence to come to light. I made a stupid mistake in my first challenge swinging with a lot to miss a power challenge by 1. I left myself open to take a lot of abuse from Will and Tommy. Michael appropriately tried to stop Tommy after I fucked everything up. I was in a bad spot. One of my 2 Catelyn Stark (WotN) got pulled for intrigue so playing her next turn was gonna be scary. Luckily I drew the 3rd one. But, it was already too late. So we were sitting on plot 3? When the store was about to close and we were being told to hurry it up. Tommy had 12? Power. I had 4? Michael had 11? And Will had 9? So, all within reach of victory. Will tried to Seize the Initiative which Michael reminded me to use Bran Stark (Core). I was so tilted at this point. Then Tommy was in a position of power. I was in the unenviable position of choosing whether or not to defend a power challenge and give Michael the game or let it be unopposed and give Tommy the game. Michael had the redirect and there was much discussion about whether or not he use it. If he did he would turn Will into kingmaker and Michael thought Will would choose Tommy after the Bran reminder. Michael wanted to know what I planned to do and I had no skin in the game at this point. I couldn’t even make it to 3rd place when challenges got to me. I asked to flip a coin and was told that I couldn’t because Michael’s decision couldn’t be influenced by my coin flip. So, I asked Michael to make a decision and he chose not to redirect. I asked if I could flip a coin to choose whether I opposed or not. I was granted permission. This is good, because I was going to do it either way. At this point a DQ seemed inviting. I flipped and the coin landed in Tommy’s favor. Thus ended the most stressful game I have ever played.

Again thanks to Joe for the deck. I want to thank Will and Kristen Lentz for being wonderful hosts. I also want to thank Tommy, Michael, and Will (again) for being good sports and for letting me watch an excellent Melee game and giving me the “opportunity” to choose my own ending.

I want to Thank Chris Schoenthal, Alex Esposito, Ryan Jones, and Jesse Carpenter for keeping my spirits up.

So, that’s what happened.