Well, last week's article was a rousing success, so building on that, let's see what kind of discussions this week's can get going.
If you aren't familiar, this is our time to give you two minis with some synergy and then ask you to roundo ut the warband by suggesting a third.  We will suggest ABCs, but your design is only limited by your imagination, or in some people's cases, the ability for them to bring water and crabs to other players.

With Realms coming up, some people are looking right at Warriors, especially with Amalar being so powerful ont he map, not being able to be ticked up and not being able to be moved.  But, what do you do if you don't want to be the Meta, but rather you want to beat the meta?

Today's team is goign to give you the building blocks for moving that immovable object, and breaking through to the top 8, pun intendid.

I'm happy to announce we have a second round of the Battle of the Boards, set up for Vassal this week!

Participants: Isgee v. Ohmsford
When: Thursday October 29th
Time: 8:00 PM EST
Where: VASSAL
Note: You will need the latest WOW Minis mods for Vassal to be able to view it correctly. You can download those here after you install the main engine



There is ventrillo info if you would like to listen to the game as well. Please email me at Steelwing73@gmail.com if you would like that information.


Also, please note that we are trying to keep these matches as professional as possible, so if you join us in vent, or on vassal, please do not talk during the match. Vent is provided for listening purposes only, and we should respect both players as if a regular match was taking place in a tournament in person.


I will make log files and upload them to the http://www.critshappen.comCritshappen.com web site as well, so if you are unable to join us, you can watch the "replay".


Now, as far as the match up, here's what you'll see:


Isgee's Zoorific Team:

Lady Jaina Proudmoore
Vindicator Kaustron
Vindicator Kaustron



ABCs:

Old Bones x 2
Fury x 2
Spellsteal
Battlecast Pants
Polymorph
Ice Block
Summon Greater Water Elemental


Ohmsford's Walltastic Team:

Savin Lightguard
Graccus
Prophet Velen



ABCs:

Bulwark of Azzinoth
Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros
Wrath of Air Totem
Grounding Totem
Chain Heal
Avenger's Shield
Crusader Aura
Flash of Light x 2

Good luck to both, and thank you all for participating and making this a fun event for the community!



PS - Round III is set for Siggie vs Baptist Designs, just need Siggster to email me so I can set things up for a time and match up. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge.

That's right, it's Sandbox Saturday again kids... get your free loot and tell 'em you got it at Critshappen.com!

Sandbox Tiger Loot Code: 7752033583976607491280988

This is a live code from the Blood of Gladiators expansion. Go to www.wowtcg.com/loot for information on how to redeem the code.

If you are the lucky winner and redeem the code, please be courteous and post that you have done so, so others know. Good luck and when they ask you where you got it, be sure to tell 'em Critshappen.com!

This week instead of a warband, you have two... going at it live... well, kinda live...


It was an Epic battle, (literally, with Jain on the board), but as said, in the end, Two men enter, and one man leaves!  So here we are, after much anticipation, Jez, Jaina, and Savin are about to throw down with Triple Amalar. How did we get here though? Well quite simple really, with all the talk of the Meta for Realms, the topic of discussion was around Triple Amalar and it's ability, or perceived ability to auto-loose to Jezbella, Jaina, and Savin. So finally, two great warriors shuffled to the arena, and they threw it to the ground!


If you want to see the party make up, go here and you can check things out here:  http://www.critshappen.com/2009/10/ali-vs-frazier-vassal-battle-of-boards.html


Match I: 
First, I have a whole new respect for Will Brinkman and what he does.  I am sticking on the path of trying to design games instead of writing about matchups.  Will, that's all yours.

French!? Wait, all of a sudden I'm getting "Blue Savin moves En dehors du plateau... " oh freetranslation.com where art thou!?

That's somewhat cool that Vassal is available in French though... now if only we can get the dice to show the Critshappen.com logo on the 10 side... hmmm.... Tillman... project for you!

But seriously, on to the matchup...  Wulfgar wins the roll 8 to 1 and we're off!  ( I planned on screencaps, but like an idiot, I didn't do them correctly in the haste of keeping up, so I apologize... match II is MUCH better for visuals.)

Wulf opens with all Amalars sporting Hand of Rags while Savin is sporting the Bulwark for Blackbloc. Whew, no equipment issues :-)   Amalars opened with all three stepping up as did BlackBloc, with a water elemental coming in. Water Elemental came in and scored two hits on Green Amalar...

Purple Amalar steeped into the fray, to meet up with Savin.  Savin then said, "By the Light..." and swung with a powerful 6 out of 7 dice hit on purple Amalar, striking for 4 damage and putting the pain on, but taking two back from the Hand of Rag. BlackBloc then brought out his Greater Water Elemental again and used his blessing of wisdom for a quick AOE, but only hit for 2 dice. This left Purple Amalar at 3 health, clinging to life. Meanwhile Red and Green Amalar's stepped into the mix as well. Jez then hit with Blessing of Wisdom as well, and amazingly hit for only 2 dice, leaving Purple Amalar at 1 life. Finally, the GWE came in and finished off Purple putting the match at 4 to 0 with Blackbloc scoring first blood.

Green Amalar came across and swung at Jaina with Sulfurous, only to be hit with a Blessing of Protection from Savin, pushing the mighty paladin to tick 1, but saving Jaina for the moment. Jez attacked Green Amalar with BOW again in play, finally hitting for more than 2, succeeding on 5, with a crit, pushing Greenie to 3 life but leaving herself at 1 life now after all the take back damage from Hand. With the Crit she teleported to the hill and it was Red Amalar's turn. Another Water Elemental later, and Jaina fired at Red Amalar pushing him to 8 and Jaina down to 5. GWE came in with a big 3 dice roll off the hill and slapped Red down to 4 health.

Red Amalar Attacked Savin with Sulfuras for a big 7, with a crit, and Savin saved 3, taking 5 damage. The Crit attack hit all 3 and Savin missed all three killing him, making the score 4-4 and pushing him to tick 3. Bye bye paladin and blessing of wisdom for quite some time now. Another GWE and Jaina attacked Red and got him down to two health, teetering on the hill... GWE came up next, and finished off the prey, making it 8-4 BlackBloc.

On tick 5 Purple Amalar came back in, moved up, and sat around watching Jezbella take the hill. That chick looks a lot like Tinker in Vassal doesn't she? But wait, she' not just taking the hill, she's striking with FLAMESTRIKE! 6 hits and a crit! One save and it's a 7 quick damage, killing Jezz with the Sulfuras damage, making it 8 a piece in a close match up so far. Who said this was an auto-loss?

Purple Amalar came in and Mortal Struck Jaina, putting her down to 1 life... oh the Epic humanity! Not attacking though, leaving her clinging to 1 life and passing the turn. Jaina came onto the hill and summoned the GWE, attacking the Green Amalar to get him to 1 life as well.

The first KOTH point was scored and we moved to tick 7.... making it 9-8 BlackBloc.

Green then mocking blew away and killed Jaina, making a big jump to take the lead, 16 to 9, and clearing the hill for Purple to take control of.

Starting 9, it was 18-9 Wulfgar, with a few points for sitting on the hill, reminiscing of Thunderbluff when he was a child... but I digress...

Jaina came back in and of course, summoned away. In fact, unless you hear differently, assume she's doing that ALL the time. AOE for Jaina hits both Amalars and kills both, making her own little "legendary" score kill, and making it 18-17 with Wulfgar hanging onto the lead, but BlackBloc closing in!

Red Amalar came in next, ticking up by 1, awaiting the impending GWE attack. It does, and it's 3 hits to 0 successes for 4 damage. Pet DPS FTW! Jez comes in and ticks up one as well and we're ending 10, readying cards and moving on with the score still 18-17 Wulfgar and 32 minutes to play in the 60 minute match up.
Everyone shifts in during tick one, and GWE attacks again, hitting and pushing Red Amalar down to 2. Red ducked away behind some cover, and Jez came up to position for some high ground toward the bottom hill.

GWE stepped up after some positioning and took out Red Amalar, you can run Wulf, but you can't hide! GWE is MVPing himself into the record book tonight as he pushes the score to 21-18 Blackbloc. A Jez flamestrike on Green and we started seeing rolls like the beginning again for BB as he hit for only 3 and Amalar resisted one, leaving him at a healthy and manageable 6 health, and allowing him to take the hill to attack Jaina, only to be met by Mr. Ice Block!  Who'dathunkit!?

Another KOTH point for Wulfgar pushed him up to 21-19 but still in favor of Blackbloc at the start of turn tick 4. Finally, Savin comes back into the mix and amazingly swings 7 dice, hits 4 and Amalar resisted all of them denying the snoozing little dwarf!

21 to 20 now, Blackblock still holding the lead.

Blessing of Wisdom back in play and it's Magic time boys! Jez fires 6 dice at Green Amalar killing him and leaving her at 1 again, but pushing the score to an almost certain win for BlackBloc, 25 to 20. But, being left at 1, means you are only a Mortal Strike away from CERTAIN DEATH! And that's what happened, making it 35 to 24 BB still leading.

Purple Amalar then crit on Savin with a normal attack, and with the 4th defense roll, Savin saved all the damage. Red Amalar meanwhile stepped onto the hill... attacking Savin, with the Hand of Rag, and Savin used Blessing of Protection to negate it. To get some damage through though, a Mortal Strike was laid down on Savin for 2 damage.

Jez then came in attacking Purple Amalar, putting the pressure on for the last needed kill, hitting for 4 total damage and a critical teleport. Purple Amalar was now reeling at 3 health after a Jaina AOE... and...

The GWE came in with 3 successes killing Purple Amalar and solidifying the win for BlackBloc 29 to 25!



Whew, I'm exhausted after writing that... so...

Match II: 
With suggestion from the Wild Pozsgay, we have a log file for you to peruse of the next match... download the file, open vassal and load the logfile.  You can then click the play button to go move by move and watch the game as it happened... and if you are smart, not seeing a match III should key you in on something... :-)

Congrats to BlackBloc, and thanks Wulfgar and all who watched tonight, it was a lot of fun! 

If anyone is interested in a Battle of the Boards II, hit me up and we can see if  BlackBloc wants to defend his title he earned tonight, or if two other combatants want to throw down!

If you have any issues with the logfile, just let me know and I'll try and help, should be fairly easy though.

In case you don't peruse the blogs for WOW Minis at the main UDE site, I highly suggest checking this out...

Realms is coming up and everyone is teeming, and teaming, with anticipation and ideas.  The map and scenario are very simple, and yet complex to offer many options to many different types of teams.

In today's article, we're going to do our traditional warband building of providing you two minis and asking what third you would use.  As the norm, we won't provide specific ABCs to use but will suggest some, so get as creative as you want and let us know how you would use these two misfits to pilot yourself to the top 8 and eventual Realms Championship trophy.

First up, we have everyone's favrotie misfit, that wee lil' gal who inflicts, and afflicts, a lot of pain:

Dizzy is one of my favorite minis who seems grossly underused.  She's a warlock, so you know she has to have some punch under those cloth robes and pigtails of hers.  She is sporting a measly 1/2 stat bar, but does have 8 life, and a whopping way to get it back.  Her main attack offers an average 3 ticks for 5 dice, but like Daxin on the Horde Side, she can syphon life back to herself with a crit.  Maybe not as fast or as much as Daxin, but depending on the damage dealt, perhaps faster sometimes!  Additionally, her attack has a huge 4 range, which on the Realms map, will keep her out of the way of most opponents.

Finally, she gets the "Grim Reach" ability, allowing her to Corrupt and Curse from father away than anyone else, and also Death Coil from afar as well.  All great options, and wonderful ways to wreak havoc on the field of battle.

So what can go well with our pint size little friend here?  Well, someone to boost her could do well, a 3 for 6 attack isn't shabby with that crit.  Someone to protect her wouldn't be bad either, ensuring she doesn't need to crit for big numbers to heal herself.

What about this route though?

Janky Band Jam – Episode 3
Author: Digs

Round 1:
Cairne Bloodhoof – Morova of the Sands – Illiana Sunshield

Total Honor: 24

Cairne is already a tricky fig to work around, especially since he can easily punt 2 of the figs I am playing. The match started fairly good, getting rid of Morova early, this made it a bit more difficult for Cairne to punt my figs. I spent most of the game dancing around Cairne, but Daxin and Wilton got the ye ol boot. Daelas was huge for me, rolling 10 damage before blocking and 11 damage after. This one went to the wire and I managed to sneak by with the win at time…only cause I was closer to my honor total…HAH!

WINNER: 19 – 20, game went to time.


Round 2:
Prince Kael’thas Sunstrider – 2 x Enraged Fire Spirits

Total Honor: 26

This was the team that I beat in Worlds to secure my place in the money…(Hiya Shaggy!)  Going into this match, I needed to make sure that I was not clumped up and ticked up….duh….so I did not eat a 8 dice smack to the junk. Luckily, this team has very little synergy and each fig can work independently. Flamestrike was the name of the game…and surviving 2 back to back without losing a fig was huge. That pretty much spelled the end as Daelas brought the thunder to the tune of 11 damage again….effectively ending one of the EFS’s Oh…on a side note, I decided to play the Soulseeker on Daelas this go around. To be honest, my opponent rolled pretty bad in this one and did not get key kills when he should have. Once I had both of the EFS’s gone, Kael was dead meat, with Wilton and his mighty 3 dice delivering the final blow. It was not a rout by any means, both Wilton and Daxin bit it before the end. Somehow, I knew that Daelas luck would end soon….and ooooh did it…..

WINNER: 21 – 14



Round 3:
3 x Amalar Ironhoof

Total Honor: 31

We wont discuss this match….lets just say…horrible decision on ABC’s added to the fact that I rolled about 50%. 2 Rag hammers to the face and flying Mortal Strikes of doom goosed my poor Jank team…..no more…gonna let that nightmare end….

LOSS: 0-31….uugg



Round 4:
ZOOOOOOOOOO…crap. Lady Jaina Proudmoore – 2 x Vindicator Kaustron

Total Honor: 26

Again…I will save you the gruesome details of this one. You don’t have to be Nostradamus to figure out how this one was gonna fair. Pet kill casters….Wilton eats arrows and AoE equal a convincing loss. On the bright side….I did get some VPs in this one….NO GOOSE HAH!

LOSS: 7-26…and Kaustron just summoned another pet….


** Summary **

This team went 2-2… .500 baby! Bet the Pirates would like to have that record!

I am not surprised that I was able to get at least 2 wins with this team. With 2 figs able to one shot almost every fig in the game each time they attacked, I could quickly turn the game in my favor. That being said, it was extremely susceptible to hunters and any strong melee types, if, they survived the initial volley. It was a fun team to play and lots of dice to throw. Let’s go to the scoreboard on this one…..

(I am going to a new rating system going forward. Instead of grades, will be giving a 1-10 rating expect for difficulty)


Difficulty:  Medium (Positioning is key)
Competitive Casual:  4
Competitive Tournament:  2
Fun to play:  6 (MORE DICE MORE DICE!)

Until next week…..Keep it Jank!

You can check out the post here. 

Had a heck of a time finding my deluxe rules book :-)

Rules are:

• Any non-pet mini on the center hill at the end of each tick of the clock scores 1 VP for their team
• Destroying an opposing character (non-pet) awards 4 PV, 8 VP if Legendary
• There are no VP points that trigger on end of ticks 5 and 10 as with normal maps
• First team at or over their honor wins
• Normal end of match procedures apply for matches that go to time

Janky Band Jam – Episode 3
Author: Digs

*** PREVIEW ***

I have decided to change up the format a little for this quirky article and give a preview of the Jank that I will be playing at the BG on Friday night. I wanted to get a little more crowd participation with my article and by posting a preview, maybe I could get some good feedback on potential ABC's.

It's been a while since my last article, so I will refresh everyone on how I end up with the team's I play. The method is simple, I first roll a dice to determine faction, then another to get page and yet another for the slot on the page. Whatever card is in that slot, is the card that gets put into the team. I do have a mulligan clause however. If I feel that the three selections are just way to, for a lack of a better word, Janky, then I reserve the right to mulligan one, and only one selection. The mulligan is selected the same way the other three were determined, by random dice roll. The only thing that is not random about this process, is the ABC's. While I am sure it would be hysterical to random my ABC's, I would still like to remain somewhat competitive. Now, on the the preview!

The three random figs are.....

I like Wilton and don't have to much of a problem with Daelas...but I have never been much of a fan of Sidian, so I will definitely use my mulligan....annnnnnd we get..


...nice dice!

The map is yet to be finalized on (shocker) and the scenario for this weeks BG is King of the Hill, just like Realms!

I have yet to choose ABC's because I would like to get some reader input. So post your thoughts and come Friday, we shall see how Janky this team is.

If you haven't seen this, it's now in our Critical Links section... http://sourceforge.net/projects/wowminiscalcula/  Check it out, it's solid!

While I think most people are immediately running to Foreman's Reinforced Helm, and for good reason, I also

think people are going to start packing hate around things just like that. Breakthrough got a lot better because of that.

Warriors, ironically, may be a big played class here. I say ironically as most warriors don't see the board at all unless it's sealed and you HAVE to play them. True, there are some good ones, but most are collecting dust in our cases.

This week, I give you a... well... an interesting team to say the least:

while judging at the WOW Minis world Championships this past weekend in Austin, I had the unique opportunity to meet and talk with John Fiorillo, the lead game designed for WOW Minis.

John was kind enough to do a short interview with us and here is the result, I hope you like.... oh, and yes, I realized after the first question and first interruption, I forgot to get the second part of it answered... there's always next time right?

Thanks so much for sitting down with us John!

World is done, and lo and behold Rogues looked good! Really good! 3 of the top 8 team were triple Zomm! Hans Joachim Hoh, Michael Pozsgay, and Pierre Malherbaud all piloted the stealthy trio to success, even if barely coming up short. In honor of their push with Rogues, I wanted to take this week’s 2 out of 3, and look at a group of brigands I love so much, but are often not played. As always, we’ll give you two characters and ask you to round out the team with your creativity.

Since Realms is only a month away and the scenario is already announced to be a King of the Hill format, even without a map, we can start looking ahead. The obvious choice for King of the Hill is someone who can’t be moved, kinda like a Savin with a Foreman’s Reinforced Helmet. That friends, isn’t where we are going. No, we’re going where you beat that type of team at it’s own game. You can’t be moved? Ok. No problem. Sure, yes. Take that hill. Ok, my turn? I’m starting with this… and mind you, no this isn't the team you'll win with, but it's a start to discussing the King of the Hill topic, and getting the juices flowing...

So first, we have our own immoveable object in the team, as Amalar’s innate ability allows him to avoid polymorph’s and movment effects from opponents. Additionally we get the joy of dealing 2 damage back when someone attacks him, and if he takes the hill first, that will be an automatic almost. What if we don’t take that hill first though? Well, if someone is packing an immoveable object of their own, Breakthrough gets through them, teleports them, and pushes them off the hill completely, opening it up for us to land on or Zomm to jump on as well if needed. Finally, if you don’t want to add the honor, you can remove the hand and go with a sunder armor to compliment the exposing Zomm is planning on. Speaking of…

Zomm will be acting every turn, as he does, and exposing armor to ensure that those hammer shots are as bountiful as possible, along with his own little attacks to widdle down opponents. Distracts can be used if someone isn’t packing the Helmet and sap can slow people down once they are removed from said hill. Additionally, the Nightmare Blade’s offer rerolls and some good movement of opponents as well.

So we’re look at 15 to 21 honor, depending on your equipment choices here. That’s a lot for two guys, but these two are pretty fearsome already as it is. What’s our third play here then? Healing and support? More overpowering tactics from DPS or tanks? Taunting friends? Anyway you dice it, these two will lower your opponent’s defenses and do some quick return damage in the process… how would you handle this if these two were handed to you and the Realms were in your sight?

Well, well, well.  I've been hearing, for months now, bad Rogues are.  I've been trying, for months now, to quell those comments, as I think Rogues are, while not as powerful as I'd hope them to be at the moment, still playable.  My Ji'lan, Sha'do, Thangal team is a blast.  If you haven't tried it, I highly suggest it for a fun time.

That said, have you see the top 8 warbands?  If not, look here and see if you can spot those stealthy little guys.

Two guys, Pozsgay and Hans Joachim Hoh, both piloted the Triple Zomm Hopeslayer team to a sapping top 8.


Now I know, you're going to say "but it's the scenario that makes them good."  And yes, you are right.  But that doesn't stop the fact that Zomm is a solid figure, and the Rogues making top 8 for once is a happy sight to those of us who have liked them so much.

On the side, myself and John Fiorillo have discussed the merits of potentially turning that team into a Double Zomm and Thrall (with Snowsong) team, as it seems good, but feel free to chime in with your thoughts as well on that.

One of the more interesting parties I see in the top 8, and got to watch being played before I had to start judging DMF, was Slander's (Mike Ayars) team of Double Amalar Ironhoof and Ona Skyshot.  This is by far the most unique team in the mix, and one that didn't seem get much attention.  There was a Double Amalar Kaleytha team in the world's Tournament as well, but this one seemed to add some more speed as needed, with a bit of range to mix it up.  Mike's a great player and it shows in his creative party building and ability to make things work other think may not be top tier.

So onto the DMF.  DMF started with 70 players, wowsa!  Then, it got hit with another curveball, with Head Judge John Fiorillo announcing to all that players were registering and passing minis and cards, to then shock everyone by allowing them to play with what was opened!  Judges spot checked players throughout the DMF to ensure accuracy, and with two boxes of spoils under their belts, players went about party building and started the sealed event.

There were 8 and a half cases opened.  Do the math and that's a minimum of 16, potentially 20ish Epics, and they did not fail.  One person even had Zoo!  Jaina, Rhyno, and Kaustron!  Several Velen's and Vashjs were out there, but none of the Vashj's seemed as productive or as scary as my daughter's own personal creation of Vashj, Morova, and Hulok!  (She went 4-2 and finished 20th, I was very proud of her!)

In the end, we got through to the top 16, and the draft starts tomorrow promptly at 8:00, which according to Yong Tek from Singapore, is "Damn early!"

Day 3 photographs are located here: http://s515.photobucket.com/albums/t351/Steelwing73/2009%20WOW%20Worlds/Day%203/

Oh, and also, for all of you who liked the repaints from Nicolas, our friend from France, here are a few more.  Tremendous Work!  (These were taken in haste, so they aren't the best quality.  If I can catch Nicolas tomorrow and have time, I'll try and get some better pics, but they are beautiful works!)

Day two, literally, is done... well, almost.  Let me explain.  We started the day with a player meeting, and then warband turn in, and then we had 4 rounds of qualifying to get into worlds, for anyone not on the invite.  anyone 4-0 or 3-2 got in, and I was very happy to see of the top 3 teams in that set up, 2 were the Kiala team I put together and posted about recently!

Additionally to that, the top team was a Double Azarak and Daxin Firesworn team which was both creative and powerfully, with Master Tactician and Soulseeker.

Another favorite of ours also made it into Worlds, double Enraged Fire Spirit and Prince Kael'Thas Sunstrider, by none other than Lousiana's own "Shaggy".

After that, there was a short 1 hour break, and then it was off to "day two" or the draft portion of the World Championships.

Most interesting, this was one of the PODs... seriously, it was:

Well, day one is underway with side events galore, and both mount tournaments took center stage on the day!  In the morning tournament (what time was that 11 AM meeting scheduled for again?) which got started a touch late, the tables we strewn with Mortimers!  Not only in triple format, but several folks brought Amalar along for the ride!

Yes, 3 people played double Mortimer and Amalar!  In the end, the might of Triple Morts won out though, as Big Ben took home the prize, piloting his triple demon lovers to victory in convincing fashion and riding hom on his new Chicken Mount!

The afternoon/evening mount tournament was sealed two pack and was FILLED with epics.  Two Jainas, a Cairne, a Vashj, and a Velen were opened!  Not only that, but Cairne was opened with healers, both Jainas were opened with one having a Ryno and one having a Daxin coutner part, Velen got more DPS with him, and Vashj, get this, got a Soulseeker!  Even with all that though, the top 4 teams only had one epic in them!

Chad (Wulfgar5150) took home the late night chicken with Jaina, Magistrix Enaria, and Daxin Firesworn, dominating everyone who he ran up against.  Jain only gives +1 to alliance you say?  Bah says Wulfgar, or more to the point, "cluck you"

Pictures from today's events are located here:  http://s515.photobucket.com/albums/t351/Steelwing73/2009%20WOW%20Worlds/

Oh, and after a bit of hemming an hawing, we were treated to a special surprise by John Fiorillo... we got to see this guy.... enjoy and see you tomorrow!

So it's finally here!  The World Championships of WOW Minis!  If you aren't able to make it to Austin this week, keep checking back here as I'll be trying to get as much coverage up as I can, in between the judging responsibilities.  If you are here, or are coming here, best of luck to everyone!

So, the big question on everyone's mind is what is the META going to be?  Well, instead of giving you a single team to work with this week, I wanted to look at giving you several teams that I think personally, are going to see the most play, and why.

First, let's look how things have evolved a bit.  Everyone was clamoring about what was going to happen with Worlds.  Would Souls of Vengeance be out by then (which we now know unfortunately no), would there be a special map, why even bother anyway as Mortimers will run the gamut... just what was going on?  Then we found out that it WAS going to be a scenario and got the first glimpse at a map that looked amazingly fun with it's "No Morts" rulings in play!

Then the playtesting started.  In my local group it's been a bit of all over the place.  We started with some base teams and tried some new ideas, and for a while, this was the team that a few of us were messing with:

Midnight Beatings:
Goblin Shredder
Rethilgore
Felguard Legionnaire

The basic idea here was to use Lycanthropy on the shredder, and pack Swiftness Potion and Fog of War with the mecha-monster to speed up flag captures.The Felguard was packing an X-52 Rocket Helm to keep him in the mix of things, and the Dark Portal, to allow for even faster flag captures. The Goblin Ingenuity allows you to keep readying the Swiftness Potion or the Fog of War as situationally needed, and should, with Lycanthropy, allow you to move fast once capturing the flag.  At 19 honor (18 + 1 for the Helm) it moved very fast and was fairly successful, even beating Vashj Teams. 

However, it lacked something.  We tried switching out some characters like Felguard out and Grimdron in.  All that did was solidify our hatred of Grimdron.  He's nice, but can't pack a punch at all.  We put in a Frostsaber Prowler instead of Felguard too, and this build, while a bit faster, still lacked something in the mix so we started looking elsewhere:

Jaina Zoo:
Lady Jaina Proudmoore
Vindicator Kaustron
Vindicator Kaustron

This team has been written about so many times, it's crazy.  Still, it has it's merits on this map.  It has 4 range on two of the fastest hunters in the game.  Sure a 3 tick attack isn't fast, but until you have played with Kaustron, and see the tricks he can pull with his furry friends, you have no clue how fast he really is. 

For example, in one of our games, Kaustron is on tick 8, and tickes to tick 1 to attack.  He crits and lowers his Fury from tick 9 to tick 8.  Both attack on tick 8 now and are at tick 1.  End of Tick 10 happens and Kaustron readies his ABCs.  On Tick one, Fury attacks someone.  Then on Kaustron's Tick one he summons Fury again as it's ready, and since it's an instant, Fury is now on tick 1 again, and can attack again!  Plus, Kaustron can attack!

I won't even get into how Jaina can abuse this with the Greater Water Elemental when it readies on tick 10, but it's just like, WOW, you CAN do that!

This team is high honor at 26, but packs a significant punch and can bring a ton of pets to make it very viable, not for capturing the flag, but for destroying your opponent outright!

Next we switched to the old faithful:

Dark Water Shammies:
Lady Vashj
Crushridge Ogre
Rethilgore


Corle loves this team and has posted on it's merits so I won't go into it to much here.  I will say this, I do think that Vashj will be played by a good majority of mid tier players.  I think several folks have seen her power of the last several months and her good showing at Nationals, and will look to capitalize on that.  She is powerful, and she is a good team, however, there are things that wreak havoc with her an she is not unbeatable.

The biggest problem with Vashj, is you have a lot of things all over the board and not a lot of synergy to keep your people together.  I think a lot of people are going to be playing "pack" type teams (think Thangal) and if Vashj gets separated from her friends, it can turn ugly if she's by herself with no one block LOS.  I think Vashj success will be had by those MOST familiar with her and her strategies and not just by someone thinking, I'll use her as she's super powerful.  Being powerful is one thing, knowing how to use that power is another.

So what comes next?  I was listening and reading and saw some Cairne builds, which seem good, but not all powerful and unstoppable.  Saw some ideas around Morova as well.  I love the idea of Morova with Mana Pot, that seems like a cheaper Tinker combination and a lot of fun with Moonkin on the table.

No, next we saw an old friend, with some new, well, old, friends... or should I say, Pfriends?

Retribution's Light:
Highlord Bolvar Fordragon
Phadalus the Enlightened
Phadalus the Enlightened

Again, this is a team I've written about a bit myself.  Pojo brought this to our weekly battleground and pretty much wrecked face with it!  It's got massive damage output, healing galore, and the ability to capture multiple flags when played right.  This could be a solid team at Worlds and wouldn't surprise me at all to see it in the top 8.

Finally, in all this, we came to my personal favorite:

For the Horde!:
Magistrix Kiala
Thangal
Haruka Skycaller

This was last week's WWW and has seen some growing popularity.  It's tremendously versatile, and over two weeks now of testing, I wanted to shed some more insight on it.  First, find a way to work in Curse of Agony.  While this team is compeitive already, and can stop flag capturing teams in their tracks completely, it has a hard time against Zoo or Epic teams with healing (ie Bolvar or a Velen build).  The Corruption, Curse of Agony, and Lacerate altogether will pretty much wipe out any of those pesky epics though.  It's a tough call to not put Piztog in when he's so valuable in this build, but trust me, work in COA and you won't be disappointed in those match ups.

Secondly, playtest this team if you are thinking of playing it.  You really have to learn how to maximize Pixtogs potential as a flag blocker and a terrain blocker, as well as learn when to curse, attack, and/or Fear with Kiala.

These are just a smattering of the teams waiting for you at Worlds.  There will be many others.  Before leaving, I'd like to leave you with some random thoughts about the upcoming tournament:

• Just because teleporting isn't allowed, doesn't mean Irana and people with those type of abilities won't see the board.  
• If you think Kiala is good, what makes you think people won't try to use Mortimer?  Sure he doesnt' teleport, but he is a solid character at 6 honor, and can bring the Jhuroons!
• Don't get hung up on capturing the flag, remember, this is war, and sometimes, that means you have to kill someone too!
• Keep moving.  Literally, don't sit on one place on this map.  Furthermore, don't use minis that tick up an insane amount of times, ie Savin.  Sitting still kills you on this map in my opinion and I think teams that play Savin will be in for a sad day if they don't utilize him well and not tick him up a lot
• Healing wins this thing.  Well timed, well packed heals, will win this entire event in my opinion.  Who knows, maybe the Silk Bandage will become the MVP here?

However this week turns out for you, we hope you have a lot of fun in Austin (as it is my hometown) and again, if you can't make it, check back here for pics and updates!

PS - Thank you UDE!  This is a tremendously fun scenario and something that brings a fresh perspective to the competition.  Great job!

Ben Drago, one of the cooler folks you can have a chance to meet at Worlds from UDE, asked for some help from local Texans on the blogs this week... yours truly submitted a write up and it was used!

Enjoy:  http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/wow/community/blogs/organized_play__marketing_blog/archive/2009/10/02/1839770.aspx

Well, new site, new look, and only a few more days until worlds.  I've seen everything rolling across the boards, from monsters, to Vashj, to Jaina, to people still saying they may play Mortimers.  Some people have latched onto the Kiala team I posted about last week (I still think that's gonna have an impact in some form, if not just the strategy), and others are trying to find new possibilities still.

So, in the spirit of new and adventurous realms, this week's installment of 2 out of 3, will be using two minis, you may NEVER have used before.  Or, at least you may not have used more than once.  As always, we look for your input on what you'd put with them as a third.  Another new thing we're doing this week, is not talking ABCs.  Some feedback we got was that ABCs left you making choices specific to those ABC to compliment them, and while that's fun, we want creativity, so feel free to let your hair down and go wild.  Pick that 3rd for tuility, for resourcefulness, or just plain hilarity, but don't let anything stop you for your reasons why...

With that... mini numero uno....

That's right, D-man, Delyn Darksun.  First, he's a good value for his 5 low honor.  He's a 2/2/6, but he has the ability to knock out two armor if used with Expose Armor and his main attack crit!  What's wrong with that?  Nothing!  I know, I said no ABC talk, but he does sort of beg it.  In reality, you have to look at all the ABCs open to him and while Expose Armor is the most obvious, he can also get the un-stealthy option of the Felsteel Boomstick and the set up cards like Blind, Sap, and Distract.  See, were not setting up a party list, just giving out the ideas.  :-)

Ok, so we have a stealthy, 2/2/6 that can throw out some damage and lower the opponents armor, softening them up for someone else altogether or positioning them for ripe future attacks... from who though?


That's it!  Yes, let's look at all the synergy here:

• Ona allows you to move the defender one space when she crits on her main attack, setting pu a stealth shot by Delyn, and potentially lowering that armor by more!
• Ona allows you to speed up Delyn with exhausting cards, and remember, things like Expose Armor do recharge, this is a nice option
• Ona also brings protectors to the table, and kittens who have claws that take advantage of the already lowered armor!

Not to mention, she is rolling 6 dice at an opponent who will more than likely have their armor lowered by our first miniature friend!  yes, Ona is a very good compliment to Delyn and at only a combined 13 honor, could make a formidable 2v2 team...

However, this is 2 out of 3 Aint Bad, so help us fill out this party.  What would be your third choice for a 3v3 team using these two brigands?  What ABCs would you use and why?  Would you go Thrall for higher Damage output or move towards a healer to keep these two tag teaming the other players on the board?  Let your imagination run wild and give yourself a much needed break from all that World's playtesting that's been keeping you all up all night... wait, I am writing this at like 1 am... hmm....

Some of you have written in to discuss the java script that was running the photo slider we previously used, and as such, we listened... since it was causing some issues with folks seeing the page and we don't want that at all, we're happy to unveil the newest look of Crits Happen. Let us know what you think and we hope everyone enjoys (and is able to see) the content we're providing.

If anyone is looking for a pen and paper Score Sheet to use, I've uploaded my personal concoction to the web for your use. This is what I use when I am keeping track with pen and paper and it works quite fine.

Hope you enjoy, whether you use it for Worlds or anything else :-)

Where are my Souls of Vengeance Minis?

Read this... http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/wow/community/forums/thread/1838600.aspx