Saturday, June 23: 10:44 a.m. - Dreamblade $10k Manchester Begins!
 Here at the Game '07 in Manchester UK, players are vying for the first title of $10k Champion to be given away in Europe. The European contingent of Dreamblade players has already had an effect on the worldwide face of the game, with Nicolas Pilartz having already won two such events, looking to secure a third in an event that it relatively local to his hometown of Paris. A strong contingent of Italians, sporting World Cup winner shirts, led by the appropriately imposing Boka in a Grosso shirt have descended on Manchester, looking to dominate the dice rolling like they dominated the football.
 | Ben Stoll |
From further afield a collection of American players has made the jump across the pond, and while the likes of Ben Stoll and Mike Pozsgay running variations on the brutally powerful Hunter Killer plan from Huntsbury, Sam Black has elected to go with a different plan, having built his warband just the day before. He named the deck 'Tomorrow Morning'. Is he one day ahead of the metagame? Will he be playing on Sunday? Stay tuned to find out. With 65 players in the event, the good news is that prizes are going pretty deep. There will be just the one person in the field who misses out. Nobody is looking at this though. There is money to be won, and here in Manchester, everybody wants a piece.
Saturday, June 23: 12:03 p.m. - Round 2: Sam Black vs. Ian Stickland
 | Ian Stickland |
It's always the way - you travel halfway around the planet to play the game you love, and then end up playing against the person that you sat next to on the plane. Awkward. This is particularly tough if you're Sam Black or Ian Stickland, simply due to the fact that they are both some of the best players in the game, and having to play against either is not exactly the ideal straightforward matchup that one might hope for in round 2 of a big tournament. Professional as ever, each sat down and laid out their warbands, with Stickland looking pleased about his last minute switch from Noble Dragon to Unsated Helldrake given the matchup. While a tiny bit worse against Hunter Killer, the Helldrake can prove something of a beating against most other bands, and each player had one on the bench to as the beatings commenced. The early game went to Ian, as after an uneventful couple of turns with an 8 and a 10 spawn, he had the upper hand in what would prove to be a crucial turn with no spawn, allowing for a brutal fight. Lady of the Manor, Infernal Gothic, Bloodthirsty Redcap and Clawclan Scout got to bundle into a lone Scarab Warcharm occupying the centre of the board, and with the initiative, Ian quickly offed the charm, with enough blades to develop his board position in the turn that followed. After playing out a Heartsblood Temple, to Black's Pearlthorn Castle, Ian was able to hold the centre and start powering out threats, without being easily disruptable.  | Sam Black |
A spawn of 11 to Sam, allowed him to plop down a Noble Dragon in his centre line, shifts it forward with his castle, and pass. Unsated Ragedrake came down for Ian in the same line. Sam's Ragedrake would have to watch from the bench for a while in the dragon war. Sam's Rainforest Shaman and Lunar Handmaiden disrupted Clawclan Scout, but when an Angry Redcap filled it's place on a shift from Ian, the turn remaind Stickland's, now 2-1 up. Ian had a Hunter-Killer, and a huge 21 dice attack with his Ragedrake, Scarab, Redcap and Infernal Gothic, fighting in the 1 cell. With just the one blade though, Sam was pretty happy. While the Ragedrake took down everything in the fashion that ragedrakes tend to do, there weren't enough blades to allow for some naughtiness with the Scarab Warcharm. Sam used a double shift to get his big fighting party of Noble Dragon, Basts Handmaid and Clawclan Scout over away from the Ragedrake, and a little closer to the five, and remained 2-1 down as the turn ended
The following turn, some high rolls brought a Ragedrake out for Black. Stormwatch Siren proved to be pivotal this turn. It's lure set up for an even bigger Ragedrake attack.  'That one blade thing you did. Try that again. That worked well!' Ian didn't seem convinced, and rolled 23 dice for a total of 'a tonne' of damage (20), and five blades. The Ragedrake lured it's twin in, then used Skirmish and Advance to zip over to where Noble Dragon was sat. There would be no Ragedrake for the deathblow when Sam's Ragedrage got sucked in, instead it had to settle with taking down a Hunter Killer. Sam settled with a wry smile. Ragedrake's second attack was not quite so hot, but it did kill another dragon, before skirmishing out of danger, such that only Clawclan Scout was taken down on the deathblow. Next up, the Ragedrake took down Basts Handmaid and disrupted a Clawclan Scout. From nowhere, Sam was in an unwinnable position. He had lost most of his key beaters in a single devastating set of strikes, and his Angel would now not be able to gambit if it got to come in, as Black was down too far on turn points. After an unspectacular spawn roll, Black extended his hand. The Hunter Killer combo had never had to get into action, and for a short while Ian's Ragedrake might have approached sated. Ian Stickland wins!
Saturday, June 23: 2:29 p.m. - Round 4: Stefan Will vs. Nicolas Pilartz
 | Nicolas Pilartz |
Nicolas Pilartz is arguably the best European Dreamblade player. If you choose to make an argument of it, somebody will quickly point out that he has won two Dreamblade $10ks already. At this point, the argument gets a little tricky, and tends to boil down to 'Could you beat him?' The European looking to do so this round is Stefan Will, the German owner of a games store who has already shown himself to have game at various US $10k events, who would certainly love to take home the first trophy in Europe. The game started with a full mirror - turn one spawn 7 Redcap Cannibal Pariah for both sides. Turn 2's spawn was 11, bringing Stefan Lady of the Manor and Blademiller, to Bloodhawk Barag and another Cannibal Pariah for the Frenchman Double shift was the play from Stefan, putting Redcap in the centre, Lady and the Miller in the 1 spot, Pariah back left. Nicolas moved to tie the turn, putting Barak Centre back with Pariah, Pariah in the one, and his Redcap centre also. A nine spawn saw Heartsblood Temple from Nicolas, and a Scarab Wartotem behind Barag. The centre got a little busier as Blademiller made it to the centre from it's ability, before it powered Stormwatch Siren's Lure ability to move Barag away from any fighting, in Nicolas' back right scoring cell. Nicolas elected to double shift, only holding the right 1 cell uncontested. Stefan, meanwhile, had a profitable shift and strike, taking out the Redcap in Nicolas' centre, and Cannibal Pariah from Nicolas' 3 cell. Stefan 1 - 0 Nicolas A big 10 spawn roll made for some interesting decisions for Stefan, the owner of a games shop, Ultra Comics in Nürnberg Germany. He played Yazrael, Dreadfiend and a Scarab Warcharm of his own, before using Blademiller to power a Lure on Barag, bringing him into range of Stormwatch Siren and Cannibal Pariah.  | Stefan Will |
With quite a few spawn points already the Frenchman who has already won two $10k events chose to use his Barag gambit ability, going up to 20, allowing a Stormwatch Siren, who lured Scarab Warcharm away from the action, and an Unsated Ragedrake, who was no doubt eager to get some. When it came to actions, Barag was disrupted away to the far corner (just), as was Cannibal Pariah on the other side of the field. Finally, Bloodthirsty Redcap and Blademiller had a go at Nicolas' Scarab Warcharm. They were unsuccessful though, and Stefan tossed away his Redcap in disgust. Even though all he did was a double shift (bringing Ragedrake to the party) it was Nicolas' turn. Stefan 2 - 1 Nicolas With a spawn roll of 6 (boosted to 8 for both players by their respective temples), it was Stefan who took the lead. Stefan used a freshly spawned Thunder Sultan to expel Bloodthirsty Ragedrake back a cell, but it was soon joined by Lady of the Moon, thanks to some Luring by Nicolas, who recruited a second Scarab Warcharm for the turn. While Stefan was looking a little dejected with his position, suddenly the Frenchman's eyes were bright. The German was now a little on the defensive. He used his turn to shift back a little, securing the higher scoring cells on his side of the board, and protecting himself from Ragedrake's fearsome trample. Nicolas struck. He had two blades to allow for a Skirmish Advance with is Drake, along with a killing blow on Lady of the Moon. The drake then killed Thunder Sultan and disrupted Cannibal Pariah on the following attack. Stefan 2 - 2 Nicolas The spawn roll was 7 to Stefan, who had quite a few extra points to spend after the carnage of the previous turn. He faced an uphill battle though, with a Ragedrake sat in scoring position in the five cell. He played Voodoo Marauder and scared Ragedrake into the center, before playing his second Temple of the game. Nicolas just had a Heart Thief before passing. Stefan shifted before striking in a big way with Stormwatch Siren, Cannibal Pariah and Scarab Warchief, with a good roll allowing Cannibal Pariah into the 5 cell to score. The Ragedrake killed and disrupted all it could (killing Blademiller, and disrupting Yazrael. The Scarab's and Barag then fought a small fight, getting the blades they needed to send Barag to dirupt Cannibal Pariah, ensuring Nicolas again took the turn. Stefan 2 - 3 Nicolas With a lot of spawn points and the initiative the following turn, Stefan had to launch a big counterattack. He used Voodoo Manipulator to scare Barag out of the way, and played his Hunter Killer, and the final Warcharm. For Nicolas it was Infernal Gothic who got the not. After some thought, Stefan had an unexciting set of shifts, which did not allow for much in the way of fighting.  The same could not be said for Nicolas. He shifted his two Scarab Wartotems into the centre, making his Ragedrake very scary. In the ensuing attacks, it got to Skirmish, allowing for some trample to take down Stefan's Scarab Warcharm and Hunter Killer. Stefan 2 - 4 Nicolas With the initiative again, Stefan had little in the way of recruits, while Nicolas had the Boogeyman, to take everyone out of combat. Subsequent shifts on both sides meant for an easy win of the turn for the Frenchman. Stefan 2 - 5 Nicolas While Stefan had a mountain of spawn points to use, he had an even bigger mountain to climb against a formidable quantity of pieces on the other side of the board. Whirlwind Dervish came down for Nicolas, to a Ragedrake that seemed too little too late for Stefan. With a Lure on Stefan's Ragedrake, Nicolas was keen to finish things up. He had a total of 22 dice to roll against a lone Scarab Warcharm. Between Skirmish, Advance and Trample, that one attack was enough. Nicolas Pilartz wins!
Saturday, June 23: 5:17 p.m. - Round 6: Chris Pymm vs. Francesco Criscione
 | Chris Pymm |
Here at the Manchester Dreamblade $10k, it almost feels like the summer of 2006. Not in such a fashion that it feels like Dreamblade was just released, but simply because there are an awful lot of cheery Italians around wearing football shirts and winning a lot. This weekend there are 10 players here sporting the trademark blue shirt with four stars on, each playing the powerful Hunter-Killer warband that broke out at the last big Dreamblade event, and is now showing itself not to be a flash in the pan. In speaking with Boka, the spokesman of the group and designer of their warband, it turned out that there is only a single difference between the Italian Hunter-Killer build and that of the Redcap Council - one extra Pearlthorn Castle, in the space of Basts Handmaid. One way or another this made Boka pretty happy. Going into round 6 at 3-2, he could take solace in the fact that his build was pretty much bang on. Parallel evolution strikes again! In this matchup, Francesco Criscione, one of the Italians on 4-1 going into the round, faced off against Chris Pymm, an Englishman whose Fear build had delivered him a single loss thus far. After a turn one Scarab Warcharm and Zungar Blademaster for Chris, and a Warcharm plus Lady of the Manor from Francesco, a no-spawn allowed Chris to take the second turn. The Lady got in on the next turn, taking down Warcharm with a rage strike, netting one point from controlling the centre, before another turn without Blind Envoy, Scarab Warcharm and Clawclan Scout came down for the Englishman on the first big spawn of the game, compared with 'just' Bloodhawk Barag, though this was more than enough given the board advantage that Criscione already had to take the score to 2-2.  | Francesco Criscione |
A gambit the following turn brought Infernal Gothic and another Warcharm for Criscione, while Chris had a Ropestrung Scarecrow. The Italian continued to control the centre of the board, and when Chris rolled a one for yet another no spawn, things looked very bad for him. Francesco's dominating position in the centre of the board continued, and with a big fight, Criscione lured in Pymm's figures only for them to be offed. With just a Clawclan Scout and the scarecrow on the board at the start of the turn, there was not much that Criscione needed to do to take his 4 points up to the 6 needed to win the game. Chris put a Carrion Hulk into play, but as his pieces continued to be removed or disrupted he could build no significant board presence to win any turns. Criscione had a Temple to add to his spawn points by this time, which allowed him to drop Hunter-Killer, immediately killing off the Hulk. Pymm played an Eater of Hope, but his hope was fading fast, with Criscione taking another turn. In his hour of need, Pymm desparately hoped for 'a roll above a two'. It was not to be the Englishman's day though, with another one virtually securing Francesco's victory. Some powerful rolls in the final combat from Criscione left Chris with just a single figure. Not quire a flawless victory, but not far off. Francesco Criscione wins!
Saturday, June 23: 8:08 p.m. - Win and In!
 | Christophe Tutier |
Round eight is the final round of the swiss portion of the Manchester Dreamblade $10k competition, and there is still a lot to play for. Only 3 players came into the round with the 6 wins that seem a virtual lock to get them playing on Sunday. Nicolas Pilartz and Ian Stickland have a history of playing in the Swiss (where Ian tends to win) then again in top eights, which currently favour the Frenchman. It could well happen that this streak is either lengthened or broken on Sunday. Christophe Tutier of France rounded out those who were safe. The remaining five slots were still in contested territory. With 13 players on 5 wins (on of who had to play Ian on table 2) the top eight tables were full of high hopes, though just under half would actually make it. There would be one or two players who would win, but not make the cut on tiebreakers. Ben Stoll, one of the Redcap Council members who flew across from the USA to play, proudly commented "If I make top 8, I will win this $10k!" (The exclamation point was particularly clearly pronounced). He is one of five warbands in the race running the Hunter-Killer / Blademiller combo that has been highly represented in the tournament. With Stickland also running the deck, there could be a lot of missiles flying on Sunday. Three of the others with the deck are from the strong Italian contingent, meaning that in all likelihood there will be a strong international flavour to proceedings. Sam Black is one of the players with a new concoction trying to shake things up. Just one win away against Francesco Criscione, he got to play his Angel of Sunrise amongst others, and as I passed his table he shot a small smile - with the Italian down to just a few pieces, he looked in good shape.  | Oscar Malisiewicz |
For the home team of English players, the flavour seemed to be Fear. Nathan Hook had a pretty standard looking Well of Misfortune build, while next to him on table three, Jeremy Maiden was content to go with the 'Big Man' plan with Carrion Hulks and such. Chris Pymm had something of a mix of the two. The English were showing no fear. When the dust settled, there were a few happy faces, a few less so. Sam Black's Happy Dance™ was a sight to see, and one that if it is repeated on Sunday, will probably appear on the internet in some form or other. Oscar Malisiewicz was seen looking pretty pleased with himself. Nathan Hook, who had beaten Ian Stickland in the final round, could be seen working out if he could make it to Indianapolis after winning. Ben Stoll's $10k Dream was at an end for now. Stefan Will and Ben both missed by the narrowest of margins, giving us our top eight. Tune in tomorrow for full warband information, and the final rounds which will determine who walks away the Manchester $10k Dreamblade Champion!
Sunday, June 24: 12:01 p.m. - Viva Spain!
Viva Espana!  This weekend at Game07 here in Manchester there has been a very cosmopolitan feel to proceedings. With the American contingent coming over, along with a bevy of Italians and French players joining in the fun, there was definitely an air of international mystery to things, in spite of Britain's best efforts to beat them out of the top eight. One country whose star is still in the ascendancy when it comes to Dreamblade is Spain. The game is still relatively young in Spain, but this did not stop one team of Spanish players, dubbed 'La Armada' from travelling over with their warbands to compete. Looking sharp in their team shirts, the Spaniards also had some pretty sharp looking figures, with a few custom repaints that really shone when lined up against an opponent. Based out of Madrid, the team hopes that the success of $10k Manchester will lead to more big tournaments in Europe. They found that they learned a great deal from having the chance to play against the best in the world, and were looking forward to putting some ideas they had seen into practice at the next big event they could.
Sunday, June 24: 12:34 p.m. - Quarterfinals: Nathan Hook vs. Sam Black
 | Sam Black |
Sam Black has seen a welcome return to $10k form after a somewhat patchy performance (by his own standards) in $10ks, redeemed by stellar $1k performances. Playing a variation on an Ortiz warband, sporting Angel of Sunrise as a pretty effective foil to the popular Hunter-Killer builds, and using a spawn curve that is pretty unassailably consistent. His opponent, Nathan Hook, is a local English player, who is one of three Englishmen to choose the Fear route, with powerful large Carrion monsters backed up by the ever-present Scarab Warcharm. Nathan was playing the Unwishing Wells that can really dominate the board, with Crypt Worms whose gambit ability could ensure that there is something good to fall in them. Infernal Screamer came from Nathan to begin, to which Sam had Clawclan Scout and Rainforest Shaman. A 10 roll to Nathan the following turn brought Crypt Worm and Cannibal Pariah for Nathan - pretty much his ideal start, while Sam settled for Infernal Gothic and Bloodthirsty Redcap. Off the initiative, he was able to manoeuvre his Rainforest Shaman into scoring position on the three cell with a double shift, taking the turn, and setting up something big when an 11 spawn roll in his favour came the very next turn. After a lot of pondering Sam quietly remarked on the power of Crypt Worm. With 12 spawn points to play with, he just decided to 'Go Powerful' with Bloodhawk Barag and Scarab Warcharm in the centre column. This forced a gambit from Nathan's Crypt Worm, bringing Bloodthirsty Redcap to get eaten, after which he looked to his spawns. He had a Blademiller, and after briefly remarking that he wasn't quite sure why Demonic Dandy was still in his warband Nathan put Ekkyon Wayfarer down in the centre column next to his Blademiller. For his first shift, Sam moved up Barag, Warcharm and the Gothic, before putting Rainforest Shaman into the 4 cell, which was contested by Cannibal Pariah. Scarab Warcharm moved up to contest the centre, with Sam threatening four points from uncontested 3 cells and the rightmost one cell. Sam's moves had put Nathan to a pretty interesting decision. He had an obvious shift and strike to fight for better position in the long game, which after some deliberation he took. Unfortunately for Nathan, his Crypt Worm spectacularly failed to off the Redcap, and Rainforest Shaman was only disrupted by the combined might of Cannibal Pariah, Blademiller and Ekkyon Wayfarer. Scarab Warcharm was also disrupted from the centre, but Sam really didn't mind - he was 3 points up, and in great position to Barag for a big recruit the following turn. The spawn roll of a 3 on both sides was not going to allow anything too naughty from Black, but he was still in good shape on the board, and protecting his high scoring cells well from any potentially awkward situations involving Unwishing Well. Sam played a Heartsblood Temple in the leftmost 1 cell to him, and a Clawclan Scout in the centre row. For Nathan it was another Crypt Worm, and a pass. Sam quickly moved his Bloodhaw Barag and Voodoo Gothic to the centre to battle Infernal Screamer and Blademiller. Some fortunate rolls saw the Screamer perish, and the Blademiller disrupted. Clawclan Scout disrupted Cannibal Pariah, and Sam passed without attacking with a slightly wary Redcap. On the swings back, Nathan took down the Redcap, and had his Scout disrupted back to the rearmost centre column. With a shift into scoring position, Nathan won his first turn of the match to take scores to 3-1 for Sam. Shortly after Nathan had declared that he really needed to win the initiative, he clearly rolled a 2, while Sam had a 5 for a total of 11 Spawn points. Barag's gambit took it to 15, allowing a Pearlthorn Castle in the centre (bringing Clawclan Scout to the party in the middle) and a Noble Dragon into play on Sam's left. Nathan thought out loud for a bit about his options, but none of them seemed too strong. He had 9 points of his own, and was very tempted to move in with a Toxic Sludger. He then used his Toxic Worm Gambit once more to break up the power block that Sam had built up in the two cell. Barag was thrown back to the back row, Infernal Gothic joined a Toxic Worm, and Clawclan Scout was also sent home. Suddenly the centre belonged to Nathan again. Most of Sam's shifts were pretty straightforward - as his team ran back towards the action following Nathan's gambit. The tricky one was Scarab Warcharm. It could join Noble Dragon and come in to allow for some potentially ridiculous attacks in the following turn, but that would leave a one turn window where it might get taken down in a fight before being able to lead one, which could prove awkward. In the end Sam shifted forwards, forcing Nathan to go out of his way to get to the Warcharm if he wanted it. After shifting, Sam tried a strike with his Infernal Gothic, to no effect. Nathan's turn had not been made much tougher by Sam's play this turn, though it seemed as Hook mused to himself that there were still a great many options. He was tempted for a greedy run of the four cell and some attacks which would make a great position for an Unwishing Well, if Nathan got really lucky on his rolls. Ekkyon Wayfarer went for it, but before he got a chance to strike Infernal Gothic was taken down in a less important fight. Nathan shook his dice hopefully, praying for a total of seven. He got there, and Barag went down. For the first time Nathan won the initiative, and with a total spawn of 9, and 2 dead pieces, Sam would be able to get out his Unsated Ragedrake. Before that though, there were some spawns for Nathan to deal with. He strongly considered using his Gambit again, which would put Sam just one point away from winning. Pearlthorn Castle meant that Hook could not jam up Sam's Spawn points too effectively, but it still might be the play. He eventually settled on an Unwishing Well in the 4 scoring zone, and a Clawclan Scout at the back of the field on the right. Sam simply played his Ragedrake in the centre, looking to start doing the do with dragons. The Unwishing Well proved to be slightly awkward to work around, sat as it was right in front of the Ragedrake, and Sam had to ponder a little as to how best to deal with it. A way soon came though, as Nathan played a Toxic Sludger - who got attacked and disrupted by Noble Dragon, putting the piece in the 5 cell, which would make winning turns tough, but cleared a path for the Ragedrake to get into the action. At this point Sam had to be very wary of a set of moves allowing a gambit from Nathan to put Dragons in Wells. The Englishman was slowly but surely rebuilding board position as Sam rallied back against the big Well. Some lucky rolls from Nathan were not helping Sam, who was having to fight to beat the 5 extra points Nathan was scoring from his Sludger, while avoiding losing the dragons that were his best out to win. This was not helped by not keeping the initiative, and Nathan finding large threats to bolster his side. On what turned out to be the final turn of the game, there was what looked to possibly be a mistake by Sam, who attacked and killed Ekkyan Wayfarer rather than disrupting him, allowing the deathblow to kill his Rainforest Shaman - ultimately meaning his Drake was going to fall in a well. Shortly after Sam extended his hand, but after reconstructing the game, it became clear that even with a disrupt there, Sam was due to succumb the following turn regardless. Nathan Hook, who after taking such a scalp has been dubbed 'The Captain', wins!
Sunday, June 24: 1:56 p.m. - Semifinals Roundup
 | Chris Pymm |
After a tempestuous first round, where Englishmen Chris Pymm had knocked out number one seed Christophe Tutier, Nathan Hook had taken down Sam Black, and Jeremy Maiden had despatched Ian Stickland, there was only one player not from English soil in the top four. Nicolas Pilartz is one of the best Dreamblade players around, with two $10k wins under his belt already, and he would be up against Nathan 'The Captain' Hook, while Chris and Jeremy fought things out in the match where there would be a guaranteed English victor. As an English reporter doing coverage, I had a tough time picking out one match to cover, but conveniently enough, they ended in quick and brutal enough fashion that the key stories from each could be pulled out. Jeremy had played against Chris Pymm in the swiss rounds, and garnered a devastating 6-0 victory. Understandably this left Chris rocked, and he wasn't looking forward to the matchup. It turned out that this was not without due cause. While each warband was based around Fear monsters and big Carrion effects, the matchup was dominated by two things - the combination of lots of Scarab Warcharms and lots of blades being rolled in combat. Things started going badly for Chris when a lone Scarab Warcharm rolled 2 blades in a fight to allow an early Carrion Hulk to get into the fray. From there, more blades quickly turned things into a rout. While the match wasn't as decisive as the match in the swiss - this time Chris did get some points on the board, the final result was determined early, as a series of big attacks, followed by a no spawn in Jeremy's favour left Chris with little shot of bringing it back. That we would have one Englishman in the final was always assured… the big question was, would there be two?  | Nicolas Pilartz |
Nicolas Pilartz had to face Captain Hook in the semi-finals, and the Frenchman's cool calm exterior was not ruffled by the fact that the Englishman had already beaten Sam Black in the top eight. The double Unwishing Well from Hook was a different kind of beast to the Unsated Ragedrake and Angel of Sunrise to come from Black's deck, and if anything, was perhaps more of a worry. The big story of this match was a singularly unspectacular Dreadmorph Ogre. As a threat it came down early, and found itself stood between two Unwishing Wells in relatively short order. Somehow or other it dodged the wells in a series of fights, but it also spectacularly failed to do a great deal of expelling to push Nathan's figures in there, or indeed as much killing as an Ogre is generally wont to do. A combination of these truly unfortunate rolls from the Frenchman, along with some good ones from Nathan certainly helped things, and eventually Nathan managed to pull it around, giving the finals our second English player, and the Captain his second big scalp in the top eight.
Sunday, June 24: 4:04 p.m. - Finals: Nathan 'Captain' Hook vs. Jeremy Maiden
 | Jeremy Maiden |
The finals of $10k Manchester features two Englishmen, Jeremy Maiden, who defeated Ian Stickland and Chris Pymm to get to the finals, and the Captain, who got through Sam Black and Nicolas Pilartz to secure his finals slot. The two are friends, with Nathan having been introduced to the game by Jeremy. When asked if they were on a team together Jeremy replied 'He is… I'm not'. The entire finals kicked off with a fairly jovial tone. Both players were happy to be there, and ready to play just one more game for the final prize. On the first turn each player had a Scarab Warcharm, and with the initiative on a six spawn for the second, Jeremy played a Blind Envoy and Clawclan Scout, to Zombie Enforcer and Cannibal Pariah from Nathan. Nathan advanced aggressively with his Warcharm in order to tie the turn. With a big 9 spawn and the initiative, Jeremy put out a Carrion Hulk, to Infernal Screamer from Hook, and started attacking, albeit to no avail. Nathan looked at the strike with Warcharm on Jeremy's Elephant and Scout, and while he couldn't get the kill, he did advance his Screamer, allowing for an attack to disrupt Jeremy's lone Warcharm. Jeremy's Blind Envoy in the 3 cell won the turn, and play carried on with Jeremy 1 turn up, but down on the initiative following a 9 spawn roll. Hook had a Crypt Worm, wasting a point, and passed things back. Throughout the top eight Nathan had shown an interesting habit of talking through his options before making plays, but at this early stage he was surprisingly quiet. Maiden brought out the Butcher, and waited to see what his fate was. Screamer, Enforcer and Warcharm tried their luck against the Carrion Hulk, killing it and surviving the deathblow Jeremy's attacks back following a shift included the Butcher, who duly despatched Infernal Screamer. Maiden went up to 2 - 0 in turns. With a low spawn of four, plus a kill on each side, there were a couple of Scouts from Hook, and a Blademaster and Scout from Maiden. With the initiative Maiden killed off Hook's Scarab Warcharm, and advanced his Blademaster sufficiently to get in scoring position to win another turn. The spawn rolls continued to be low, and against Nathan in terms of Initaitive. Each player just recruited another Scarab Warcharm. Jeremy then bundled forward, and launched an abortive attack with his Blind Envoy, in the hope of disrupting a Cannibal Pariah, which was doomed to failure. The Captain tried for an attack with 2 Clawclan Scouts on Jeremy's 2 Scouts, Warcharm and Butcher. He didn't get any blades, but with 9 damage, killed one Scout and disrupted the other. In the centre, the Envoy got smashed, netting the first points on the board for Hook, with the turn count going to 3-1 in Maiden's favour. A 9 spawn roll was about the highest of the match at that point, and was in Nathan's favour on initiative. After some thought, he played an Infernal Screamer, while Jeremy had a Boogeyman to clear the centre of the board. Hook rumbled in with his figures creating a line of monsters, but there was nobody in the centre to attack. Jeremy did not find this a problem after his first shift, and when Boogeyman, Warcharm and Boogeyman went up against Infernal Screamer, they got to expel Toxic Wurm and kill a piece. With an 8 initiative in his favour and a piece having died last turn, Nathan was able to drop double Unwishing Well, to immediately take down a Scarab Warcharm and a Zungar Blademaster. Nathan moved up and killed a Boogeyman in a lucky set of attacks with Infernal Screamer and Cannibal Pariah. Across the other side of the board, his Scarab Warcharm, Toxic Wurm and Clawclan Scouts took down a Scarab Warcharm, and moved Toxic Wurm into a fight with a fresh Carrion Hulk. A final blade skirmished Infernal Screamer back a space away from the Unwishing Well it was stood next to. The Crypt Worm failed to kill the big zombie elephant, leaving it open to strike back for a colossal Crit ability. Off four dice, a single blade plus three more easily put the Worm back in the ground. 'That was a bit of an unnecessary risk' remarked Captain Hook on reflection. Yes. Yes it was. Sam Black was sitting next to me, and a cursory nod confirmed it. Then he did the math and realised that it was a little worse than that. I believe the word is unnecessarier. Nathan was suddenly in a pretty bad spot. The match was rapidly turning into a rout, with Jeremy up 5 turn points to 1, and having 8 spawn points and the initiative in his favour. He was all out of Warcharms, but had a Toxic Sludger to turn off some Wells, and some hefty beaters in good position on the board. Blademiller came out for Nathan, along with an Ekkyon Wayfarer, who languished a little far from the action for the turn. After successful strikes cleared things, the best that Nathan could do to not lose that turn was double shift and hope for a no spawn. The spawn roll was a 7 though, and Jeremy put down sufficient monsters for some big combat in the centre of the field. In the centre, the Wayfarer got smashed, but there was still a clear path for a Scout from Nathan to run into scoring position and win a turn. The following turn looked likely to be the end. A hopeful Nathan put his Crypt Worm in the fight, without any success. Infernal Screamer did kill Clawclan Scout, and Nathan elected to strike again. He disrupted the Carrion Hulk, and passed, without there being an automatic win for Jeremy on the board. Carrion Spiker took down Infernal Screamer, but again Nathan had the turn, as Crypt Worm survived.  The problem came that now there were no scoring positions that Nathan could get into that Jeremy couldn't attack. He had the initiative on a no spawn, but perilously few pieces, with just a Clawclan Scout, Crypt Worm and Toxic Sludger to attack with. Nathan started looking for the 'Ridiculous luck so that I don't lose' options. He found one, which was a shift strike where his Crypt Worm needed to virtually max out on its rolls to take out both its opponents. When this didn't come, he extended his hand. Congratulations to Jeremy Maiden $10k Manchester Champion!
Sunday, June 24: 4:22 p.m. - Warbands: The Top 8 Warbands
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