Fantasy Fight, a long forgotten virtual card game rediscovered during the Unicorn Trials has also reached Phoenix space, becoming popular among the courtiers and engineers of the clan. Current state of the metagame is discussed openly online and several journals actively follow the local scene. Somewhat controversially, most tournaments hold on Phoenix worlds allow the Phoenix made expansion ‘Signs and Portents’, a set of cards most players have never seen. This expansion adds several hard counters against some of the most prevalent strategies of the core game, including ‘Gift of Peace’ that effectively kills the two most common rush decks.

Fan organized tournaments have become commonplace around the Empire, and the Phoenix are no different. If a character doesn’t have the basic set of Fantasy Fight, they may acquire it by paying 2 zeni.

This event will be closed 24 hours after it goes online to ensure that the Finals can be resolved in a timely manner. Once the thread is closed, Characters that passed the Qualifiers roll are set into brackets that will be seeded with NPCs accordingly.

Magic: Magic is not allowed unless character rolls contested Agility / Stealth (Spellcasting) against the crowds and officials. Emphasis is needed to make the roll and only that spells that last at least an hour can be employed. Needless to say, getting caught has consequences.

Qualifiers
To pass the qualifiers, the characters have to pass Games: Fantasy Fight (Signs and Portents) / Intelligence roll against TN 20. Please post your Qualifier rolls to this thread.

Finals
Characters that passed the Qualifiers roll are set into brackets that will be seeded with NPCs accordingly. Each of the games are played as best of three using opposed Games: Fantasy Fight (Signs and Portents) / Intelligence Rolls. NPCs are considered to be Status 1 Phoenix samurai for the purposes of Techniques and Advantages. If you are paired with a PC, please PM them to resolve your match. If you are paired with NPC, please contact a GM to roll for the NPC.

Outcome
Winner and character placing second gain 2 points and 1 point of Glory respectively. Additionally both finalists gain 2 rare full art promotional cards for Fantasy Fight.

The following four cards are available, the winner gets to pick two and the character who lost the finals gets the remaining two.

'Serene Ningyo'
'Ancient Orochi'
'Temple of Eternal Fire'
'Wrathful Yuki no Onna'

Having picked up a few basics of the game and acquiring a moderately useful deck, Geppu decided to enter into the tournament. After all, how bad could it go?

He had chosen a more mid-range deck focused on being able to take on all comers, leveraging the card advantage from 'Two Hands, Two Blades' in combination with 'Elegant Deflection' to defeat his qualifier opponents.

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Qualifier Roll: 24

Joo sat down, drew his cards out!!!!!

And his lack of knowledge of the game was obvious.

"I summon Hungering Troll! Orochi, Spawn of Chaos! Katana and Trenchoat!"

"Iuchi-san, none of those are in the set. What other cards do you have on you?"

"Hm...Starving Peasant and...Backfire.... is that good?"

"Nope."

And a sad Joo took his leave.

OOC:
D8 LE Games: Fantasy Fight/Int, untrained, tn 20: 3d10 11

Asako Mal-Chin decides he should represent the Phoenix in this event. He pays the 2 zeni and brings his basic of basic decks to the table, still reviewing the rules before his qualifying match begins.

Setting his densai aside, he starts his game.

Hmm. "I play my roadside shrine."

Unbeknownst to him, he fell into an old tactic of never giving the opponent a full Temple to target and so stifled his opponents by leaving them with a bunch of pointless manipulation cards while managing to accumulate Faith successfully!

D8 LE: Games: Fantasy Fight (Signs and Portents) / Intelligence TN 20: 4d10k4 23

The world might be ending in two days, but he'd be damned if he wasn't finally going to get to play some cards.

He was a bit concerned his deck wasn't the best suited for tournament play. Themed around Jurojin, it took a long time to get going. Quick decks were his bane, but if his sturdy defenders could ward off their attackers, the life would slowly leech out of the opponent, rendering them too weak to fight, and eventually succumbing without any hope of escape.

The cards were in his favor at least for the qualifier, and he moved on to the brackets.

26 vs. 20, Pass

Izumi was well up for this. He had his carefully crafted 'Fox Rush' deck ready. A bit of an affection but also effective. The qualifiers were a breeze. He even managed the oft sought 'Triple Bearjimbo' Finisher with the Brown, Black and Polar 'Mori Kuma' cards.

Now he was ready for sterner opposition.


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D8 FOXEH FANTASY FIGHT! Qualifiers VP for +1k1, Tourney Deck, TN 20: 6d10o10k4+1 29 Qualified.

Hyeon-ju was an absolute beginner at the game, having learned to play only this past week. So it was no surprise she lost.

But it was a good time nonetheless and it was fun to play something so low stake and silly.


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D8 EVENT LE: Fantasy Fight qualifier. +1 Winning Deck. Untrained Games/Intelligence. TN 20: 2d10+1 13

Hyeon-ju does not qualify.

Ishiyo was still rather disappointed in herself from the morning. Looking for some escapism she purchased a starter deck and gave the game a whirl.

She didn't qualify but did well enough for a complete amateur.

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Fantasy Flight Qualifier. Untrained Intelligence. TN 20: 3d10 16

Nishdia was strolling around with Akechi when he saw the crowd in front of a store.

A tournament?

He sensed a potential profit and grabbed a starter deck.

He, actually, didn't knew what he was doing, but he have heard a bit about this card game and exploiting the crap out of rules and finding holes in them was his second nature, so, more to his suprise than anyone else, he made it through the qualify.

[D8:LE] Games: Fantasy Fight (Signs and Portents)/Intelligence unskilled TN 20: 3d10 21

"Remind me why I should enter the nerd tournament Kyoko?"
"Well, according to the data Hida-sama collected, at least one of the players is a very good marriage candidate for Hida-sama. So might as well try their hobby."
"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiine. Did you prepare a deck for me?"
"Yes, I downloaded a list that made it to top 8 last time and prepared accordingly."
"Why not copy the winner's deck?"
"I took the first deck I could actually explain to Hida-sama in the time Hida-sama deemed enough for such a task."
"... Did I book a slot for that today? I don't remember."
"Exactly."

Kyoko gave Akemi her deck.

"Aggro swarm. Summon the priciest creature you can summon from your hand each turn, attack with all creatures, and play Loyalty Beyond Death to summon from your GY when you're out of monsters in your hand."
"GY?"
"Graveyard. They've started abbreviated it systemically as, with power creep, the text of the cards was becoming too long to keep all the common words in full."
"Power creep?"
"... The... Not important. The matches are starting. Good luck Hida-sama!"


First opponent: That super expert that somehow always fight a total beginner on the first round

"No Crab-sama, you cannot put a second shrine in play during the same turn, they both have the Limited keyword."
"Your creature cannot attack this turn Crab-sama, my Languor of Yume-do forces them into waiting one full turn before acting."
"You cannot play that card now Crab-sama, there is no window of opportunity during that phase."
"Your Wrath of the Wolf and my Honor Above All interact in a non-intuitive way actually. Let's call a judge, they'll explain it better than me."
"Fangs of Heaven has the Spell keyword even though it has the Equipment type, so it can actually be countered by Denial of the Spirits."
"Thanks for the game Crab-sama. If I may, for your next matches, you might want to wait before your opponent is down to 1 or less Dream Energy before playing your Loyalty Beyond Death, cause you're pretty much doomed if it gets canceled."

Score: 0/1

Second opponent: That one person who is absolutely certain to have mastered the game

"You seriously play this garbage? This is a tier 3 deck at best. The meta right now is Higher Realms or die."
"Wait I might have a reaction. Read every card in hand. No you're good. Wait, now... No actually. You good. For now."
"Where is my damn Blessing of Tengoku?! I play 4 copies of that cards, and of course, they're never in my hand."
"Immune to effects while you control a Moon card? No seriously, if such a card existed, I would know of it. JUDGE!"
"Garbage game. All luck, no skill."

Score: 1/1

Third opponent: The (absurd) combo player

"Damn. So close. So, the idea behind this. There is technically an infinite loop between The Sun Shall Rise and A New Dawn because the timing of both cards is weird. So, if I manage to have both on the field, as well a Servant of Amateratsu and a Temple of the Jade Sun on the field, at the start of my Draw Phase, I can immediately score an infinity of points.

But, well, your Butterfly of Forewarning could just force my Servant back to my hand every turn so it didn't work. But on paper the idea is solid!"

Score: 2/1

Fourth opponent: The nice yet unbearable stun player

"Draw. Pass. End of turn."
"No."
"What do you think of our beautiful planet Crab-sama?"
"No."
"Nope, cannot do that ever."
"You like to dance? Did you try the Kayama yet?"
"Yes, your Energy doesn't refill as long as Celestial Doom is attached to it. No, there is no limit on how many turns it can stay attached."
"No."
"You're going to deck out in 16 turns and, now that I've seen your hand, I know you have no out to that. Want to concede and that we hit the vending machine while the others end their games?"

Score: 2/2

Fifth opponent: Drop

Score: 3/2

Last opponent: That other player who's just here for fun at this point and speaks more than they play.

"So, first tournament eh? Honestly, not that bad a run for a first timer. There are real pro here today. Knew my chances were doomed as soon as I saw the pairing. Glad I've brought my loyal Spirits of Meido deck instead of that boring meta deck, even if they're clearly outclassed. At least, I lost while having fun instead of making both my life and that of my opponent miserable. Also, managed to trade a promo with another player. Let me show you..."

Score: 3½/2½ (timeout)
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D8 LE | Fantasy Fight Tournament | Qualifier | Games: Fantasy Fight (Signs and Portents) / Intelligence | Unskilled: 2d10 10 -> Failed

Akodo Akihiko, feeling the effects of a long day, failed to be as prepared for the tournament as he'd planned. Disaster? No, but certainly a black mark on an otherwise good day for the pilot. The Sparkling Ki-rin strategy had never really come together in a game and he scrubs out after loss number three.

Now the great question: Is there time for a drink before he takes some well deserved shut eye?

Shizuku wasn't confident in how the rest of the tournament was going to go. This, she played it safe, bringing out one of the most stable, if somewhat boring, strategies in the meta. She wins her qualifying rounds when her fifth opponent actually falls asleep in the middle of the game.

Fantasy Fight Qualifier, Games: Fantasy Fight/Int TN 20: 4d10o10k3 20

Tetsu plays with a pretty straightforward style, playing with heavy buffs and artifacts. However, he balances his currency well and isn't afraid to send low level summons in, letting him create a few crazy strong fighters.

D8 LE-Fantasy Fight Qualifier-Games/Intelligence untrained-TN 20: 4d10 27

Satoru was no master player of Fantasy Fight but his deck was a very solid one that required one to have a deep knowledge of the game and complex rules interactions.

During the qualifying match it looked like he was going to lose but at the last second he assembled his combo that locked the board down and trapped his opponent in an infinite loop. Satoru demonstrated the combo a couple of times to show his opponent the web he had weaved . His opponent could of course sit there and watch Satoru cycle through the combo for 20 minutes to kill him but he instead conceded with a rather sour expression on his face.

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D8 fantasy flight qualifiers tn 20: 4d10o10k3 10
D8 fantasy flight qualifiers +1 from winning deck tn 20 DPK sac .5 honor reroll +5: 4d10o10k3+6 29

The qualifiers are over!

The top eight are (in no particular order)

Kuchiki Satoru
Fundai Tetsu
Daidoji Shizuku
Yasuki Nishida
Kitsune Izumi
Kuchiki Tsugiharu
Asako Mal-Chin
Susumu Geppu

Quarterfinals are as follows.

Asako Mal-Chin v.s. Susumu Geppu
Kitsune Izumi v.s. Kuchiki Tsugiharu
Daidoji Shizuku v.s. Yasuki Nishida
Kuchiki Satoru v.s. Fundai Tetsu

Each of the games are played as best of three using opposed Games: Fantasy Fight (Signs and Portents) / Intelligence Rolls. Please PM them to resolve your match - we recommend you both make three rolls and compared them in order the results come out and see who gets the highest score twice. In case there is a tie, re-roll that particular game.

The Fox and the Spider faced off. Fox Rush versus Jurijin's Yawn . . . .

First game.
Both started slow, but the slowly increasing avalanche of small forest creature cards overwhelmed the Spider defenses before they could really get going and toppled the Temples for victory.

Second game.
A fast Fox start with the predictably slow Jurojin's defense. The rush deck breeding as intended and soon the dreaded TRIPLE BEARJIMBO FINISHER rampaged through for victory.

Third game.
The result was known but they played the dead rubber anyway and the overcited Fox made mistakes that allowed the Spider to salvage some pride.

Izumi 2 - 1 Tsuhigaru.



--

Tsugiharu = Fantasy Fight Quarterfinals vs. HyperFox, Int/Games: Fantasy Fight: 3#5d10o10k4 24 18 22

Izumi = D8 FOXEH FANTASY FIGHT! ROUND ONE! Tourney Deck: 3#5d10o10k3+1 26 30 16

Foxeh wins 2-1.
Vulpine Excitement Level is raised to 3.

Tetsu cracks his knuckles as he sets down at the table.

A Spider huh? The rivalry was real

The first game quickly goes in Tetsu's favor. The Spider is trying to run a complex control strategy...while Tetsu manages to rush out a slew of cheap frontliners to overwhelm it.

The next match is a lot closer. Satoru manages to slow him and Tetsu falls into the web.

The deciding match is neck and neck. Tetsu is able to field fast this time, but starts slapping upgrades, working a combo that lets him counter some of the Spider's spells. It comes down to the wire, but Tetsu manages to finally overwhelm his opponens defenses for the win.

_____
OOC
Tetsu wins 2-1
Fantasy Fight Event, vs Kuchiki Story, quarterfinals, Games/Intelligence untrained: 3#4d10 27 32 24

D8 FF vs Fudai 3 rolls +1 from deck: 3#4d10o10k3+1 11 29 29

Neither of them were great masters of the game, with Shizuku only recently learning the mechanics and Nishida even more recently doing so. Despite that, they both leverage their native intelligence to sort out a strategy and play an entertaining set of matches.

The first match is close, but the slight edge of skill quickly turns the games to Shizuku's favor as she leverages an Iron Fortress defense against her opponent.

Shizuku 2 - 1 Nishida

~~

Daidoji Shizuku: Games: Fantasy Fight/Intelligence, 3 games v Yasuki Nishida: 3#4d10o10k3 26 29 22

Yasuki Nishda: [D8:LE] Games: Fantasy Fight (Signs and Portents)/Intelligence unskilled: 3#3d10 29 12 13

Asako Mal-Chin sat down across from the masked Susumu Geppu. After bows, Mal-Chin repeated the tactics that had won him a spot in the qualifiers.

"I play a Roadside Shrine."

"I play a Roadside Shrine. I bow my other Roadside Shrine to generate Faith."

Giving Geppu no targets to attack, turn after turn, kept Mal-Chin from having to face most of the Spider's deck. It was an exploit of the system, largely based on his very basic deck not having any of the flashier cards. Roadside Shrine spam was powerful...

But not unbeatable. The second game the Susumu just laid into him. Every shrine was Cursed by Misfortune, every Miko was Distracted by Sin. It really opened Mal-Chin's eyes to the dangers of the game.

The third game he'd changed his play entirely. A Temple to the Seven turn one. An array of monks to protect it.

He took the third game. There could really be something to this!

*********
D8 Side Event! Top 8! Games: FF/Intelligence, +3 OM (Rerolled with correct syntax.): 3#4d10o10k2+3 15 37 17
D8, LE: Fantasy Fight Tournament: 3 Rounds v Susumu Geppu Games/Int: 3#4d10k4 20 17 26
= Game 1: Mal-Chin, Game 2: Geppu, Game 3: Mal-Chin

Semifinals!

Kitsune Izumi v.s. Asako Mal-Chin

Fundai Tetsu v.s. Daidoji Shizuku

Please make three rolls as before and PM them to your opponent. The person who gets to roll second (and figures out who wins and who loses) should PM me so I can set up the finals in a timely manner!