Hong Kong Ablaze II - Report

by Calvin Jim
March 24, 1998
 

Well, it wasn't the most spectacular tournament I had ever run or participated in, but it was a start - a good one at that. We had a whopping total of four participants, and I got in on the action as well (for a total of five players). Not stellar, but a start. Each player, including me, had to buy a Starter deck of FIST (on sale at our local store, Dragon's Den, where the event was held). The RARE cards made up the prize pool. The prizes ended up being:
Brain Bug EQ3000
Dragon Mountain (x2)
Redeemed Assassin
Sacred Heart Hospital
Safehouse
Secred Headquarters
Suicide Mission
Water Sword

The decks ended up as follows: 

Al Kolenovsky Mortal Combat                 Dragons
Greg Teed     Shakespeare's Complete Works  Jammers/Dragons
Phillip Leek  Tortured Past                 Lotus
Bill Stafford Guns n' Magic                 Dragon/Monarch/Lotus
Calvin Jim    Wild Cards                    Ascended
The tournament was run as a series of duels with a final multi-player round to determine the ultimate winner. However, because of the minimal turnout, it was decided to have a round-robin series of duels and the top scoring players gain extra power in the first turn of the multi-player. At the end of the Round Robin, Al Kolenovsky had 3 points, Calvin Jim had 2 points, Greg Teed had 1.5 points, Phil Leek had 1 point and Bill Stafford had 0 points (poor Bill). As coordinator, I acted as the Wild Card and did not count my wins for the purposes of the final multi-player round, nor did I take home any prizes. I was there just for the fun of it. Unfortunately, the multi-player round took a long time, and we had to cut it short for the sake of our poor store manager who had to cajole us out the door. Thank you goes to Darren Holoboff, owner/operator of the Dragon's Den in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, for having us. So, the winner, ultimately, was Al Kolenovsky with his Mortal Combat, all Dragon faction deck.
The next tournament will be in May, 1998, so watch out for it. The prize will be a signed Shadowfist card, so if you are reading this and want to come out, remember, the prize will be good.
In case you were wondering, the remaining cards from the Starter Decks we bought for the Prize Pool were used by each of us to play an impromptu OMNI FIST league. We are rediscovering the roots of FIST (in all its glory) and rediscovering some of the reasons that made the game so GREAT and also some of the reasons they added cards like HACKER and POCKET DEMON. Still a great play out of the deck, as long as you trim your deck to about 40 cards (an agreed upon, manageable level). We play for ante, but the ante comes from the cards you don't play with. We'll see what happens and report back to you.
 

Mortal Combat

by Al Kolenovsky
5 Friend of the Dragon
5 Everyday Heroes
5 Hacker
5 Netherworld Vets
Golden Gunman
Little Jim
Zheng Yi Quan (the "Queez" himself)
Kar Fai
Ze Botelho
3 Golden Comback
3 Kiii Yaaah
3 Dirk Wisely's Gambit
3 House on the Hill
Kar Fai's Crib
2 Charmed Life
2 Thunder on Thunder
2 Heroic Conversion
Supercomputer
2 Whirlpool of Blood
2 Field of Tentacles
2 Ring of Gates
Locksley Station
Hanging Coffins
Red Lantern Tavern
Dragon Mountain
Fox Pass
2 Wall of a Thousand Eyes
Mourning Tree
Sacred Heart Hospital
Breakdown:
15 Foundation Characters
10 Other Characters
11 Events
4 States
1 Edge
4 Sites
15 Feng Shui Sites
60 Total Cards

Last modified: May 19, 1998.
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