It’s time for one of my all-time favorite events of the year recap! Last weekend I went to Florida for the CCO again and had an absolute blast! Devin was my travel buddy this time and with no other locals coming this year, we splurged and did the hotel room just us 2, instead of finding 2 others to join us to further split the cost. I won’t complain about having my own bed for a trip instead of sharing! This blog is getting out a little later than I’d like, but I came home with a head cold – so all my after work time went to resting to recuperate and getting caught up on that weeks school assignments.
I wanted to build another spa day into this trip like I did last time, which means early flights to get there early enough to fit everything in before going into clix time (as much as I drive my travel mates crazy with my early travel times!). Grateful that the hotel this year had a spa on site and I didn’t need to travel off property to accomplish my goal. I booked my massage for 3 with the flight landing just after 10am to allow plenty of wiggle room. Unfortunately, 2 days before we left, the spa called that the scheduled masseuse was unwell and they needed to reschedule me. The only time slot that potentially worked was 11:30 – and that would be cutting it close, but they were willing to work with me to try and make it happen by being flexible and cutting it to a 1h massage vs 1.5h if I couldn’t arrive until closer to noon. Unfortunately that morning, we ended up having an almost hour delay leaving and upon arrival, it took a very long time for our baggage to reach the carrousel so I ended up having to cancel – but asked to be put on a waiting list in case someone else cancelled that day. Eureka, around 1, I got a call that they ended up having a slot open at 2 and they got me in! I’m SO glad they did as it was amazing and exactly what I was looking for. 
It ended with perfect timing as battle royals were just starting, so I headed over to join friends and play some games and get myself a little more familiar with pieces to prepare for team sealed on Sunday. Drafted a few super rares, box LE’s and legacy cards. This was definitely a slower and more casual day of just hanging out. A group of us went out for dinner at hot pot after the games and it was great just getting to hang out.
Friday was the Alphabet event. This was a 400 silver with no floor 2×2 event where each team had to pick a letter of the alphabet and everything on both your teams had to start with the same letter and also be highlander between both players with nothing over 200. No ban list, but anything on the ban list was now restricted instead. We knew the most popular letter was going to be S, so we decided to not build S and instead went with C. I was excited to play ultra chase Collector with prime Colossus and support. Devin played a big drop off team with Col James Rhodes, legacy Cap, Carnage Silver Surfer and a bunch of other stuff. All the full teams are up on hcunits. They did 5 rounds with cut to top 8. We went 4-1 as a team going into the cut, only losing to Isaac and Ed and then meeting them again in the finals where they beat us again, so we came in 2nd. Love that we did so well in the first event – got all the new prizing, including the new Bifrost set and all the box LE’s – most of which I had not won previously, so were actually needed for my collection.
Saturday was 300 modern. For this event, I was practicing a few different teams (usual Colossus variations and a UC Collector build) and ultimately decided on a tweaked version of similar things I’ve been playing for the last year. The latest tweak of it was breaking theme to get a 2nd Daredevil with Trick Arrows on it – so taking off the Timebreaker pog and putting a single Timebreaker instead. I just felt that Trick Arrows were too important to not have them on the team. The full team was Colossus with Motorcycle (always on Charge/Senses), Butterfly, Death Metal Wonder Woman with free +1 Longsword, Legacy Chair Panther with Universal Weapon, Daredevil with Bloodstone, Daredevil with Trick Arrow and a Timebreaker. My sideline was Rivalry One Shot, Betelgeuse, Caveman Wally West, Major Logan, Mimic and LE Wonder Woman (the one with the 3 attack Flurry). Terrain was the Barrel, Phone Booth and Vibranium. Maps were Bloodstone Maze, Major Brock’s Bunker and Monster Island.
In writing this, I’m realizing I needed to take a few notes – specifically about who we Panther’d and what I Butterflied into. Trying to write this a week later is making me remember how much of a sieve my brain can be. I do appreciate the full teams, pairings, scores and who went first information on hcunits – so I don’t have to take pictures of build sheets anymore, so that did help jog some memory. As always, if you were one of my opponents and can fill in holes in the recollection, let me know and I’ll update!
Round 1 was against Patrick who played Caveman Wally with Longsword, Zala, Pegasus Cap, Chair Panther with Dream Ruby, Green Man with Khonshu, Vigilante with Trick Arrow, Goose pog, Weasel pog and 3 Timebreakers. Pat went 1st and I put us on the Bunker. We both were setting up very defensive, with me body blocking with Daredevils and him putting up Barrier with Green Man for most of the game. I think I Chair Panther’d his Rivalry and Ares and I think he took away Caveman and Betelgeuse, but I could be misremembering and Butterflied into Wonder Woman. He sent out a Timebreaker on turn 1 to get a Betelgeuse out in front of my team to take out my Barrel and then poofed him off. I took out the Timebreaker, making the points even and then had Colossus try to pick up the Phone Booth to bring it to the back line and he got Mimic out. I KO’d Mimic, putting me 20-5. He again brought up Timebreakers to get Betelgeuse out to get 10pts off a Daredevil, 20-15. I took out another Timebreaker. 25-15. I also figured out a way to get a Butterfly pog to his back row, using Timebreakers to get it into position, but only to be able to reach his Pegasus Cap, needing a 9 or 10 to hit I think and missed. He took out one of my Timebreakers and another 10 points off the other Daredevil by bringing out Betelgeuse again. 25-30. I tried to take out another Timebreaker to even it up, but don’t I crit miss?! Time gets called and he wins by 5 points, 0-1.
Round 2 I played with Steven who ran HG Captain Marvel with Universal Weapon, Colossus with Motorcycle, King Arthur with Longsword, Daredevil with Tawaret and a Timebreaker. I Panther’d away his Ares and Betelgeuse. He went 1st and I put us on the Bunker. I went into Major Logan for this match, wanting to make Marvel’s rollouts harder to get. He sent Marvel in, with only Daredevils as options to attack and got 10 points. He also tried to pick up the Phone Booth with Colossus and I Mimic’d it away. I sunk everything I had into Marvel and with Logan’s help, was able to have him miss all the rollouts to KO her. He took out Mimic. I stayed back defensive, being up on points and made him come to me. I had a Daredevil pick up his Universal Weapon. When he made his way in with King Arthur, I was able to get all my senses rolls with the Daredevils with it being a 3-6 between Logan and wildcarding WW TA. I had the Daredevil use the Universal Weapon in an attack for the 10 points and shortly after time got called and I won 110-25, 1-1.
Round 3 opponent was Jakob. He played Colossus, Ghost Rider with Bucky’s Arm, Man-Thing with Gaea, Jennifer Kale with Tawaret, Chair Panther with Dream Ruby. He went first and I put us on Bunker. I can’t remember what he took away with Panther from me. I took away his Betelgeuse and Mimic. He got into position around Ghost Rider and tried to get his Phone Booth that I Mimic’d away, which he KO’d. He’d put me on the elevation 1 side, so I busted a bunch of the walls with Daredevils Quaking to block the steps and be by the barrel. He came over with Man-Thing to try and punch a Daredevil and I got a successful senses and then he moved up the rest of the team around Ghost Rider, around the bottom of the stairs, behind the wall. I went a little risky with having WW carry my Panther into place to outwit his Man-Things reflexes to try and make him easier to Mind Control with Colossus but missed. He was successful in getting 10pts off a Daredevil this turn on his follow-up. I tried again to Mind Control and was successful this time and had him go punch Kale to take her out. I had WW bring Panther back away behind the Daredevils to protect him and time got called. I ended up winning 45-25, 2-1.
Round 4 was with Daniel who played Legacy Odin with Trick Arrows, Death Metal Wonder Woman with Longsword, Black Panther (43a – giving the team stealth and Vibranium) with Khonshu and Shuri with Atum. He went 1st and I put us on Bunker. I Panther’d his Ares and Rivalry and went into Major Logan for Butterfly. I had Colossus try and get the Phone Booth and he Mimic’d it away and then got Daredevils into defensive position protecting the team. He TK’d Odin up to Trick Arrow USB to take Trick Arrows off my Daredevil, 0-10. I had Colossus take out Mimic and Charged with Daredevils to try and take out his pogs, unsuccessfully, 15-10. He got 10pts off a Daredevil by using the Power Gem card so I couldn’t roll senses, 25-20. I try for a whole lot of turns to have either WW hit his Black Panther or have Butterfly pogs hit for Mind Control, only for him to get the 6 on senses that he needed EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. He goes in for a hit on the other Daredevil right at the end of the game and doesn’t he crit hit so I don’t get to roll my 3-6 senses (wildcarding WW TA and Major Logan). He wins right at last action 25-30, 2-2.
Round 5 was against Kenny. He played Juggernaut with Crimson Gem, Ghost Rider with Bucky’s Arm, John Constantine with Trick Arrows, Death Metal Wonder Woman with Longsword and Loki. I went first and he put us on Vibranium Mines. I Panther’d away his Rivalry and Mind Gem. I Butterfly into Major Logan. We’re both 2-2 with low points so we’re really just playing for fun this round. I reposition a bit, putting the Daredevils out and get 2 Betelgeuse tokens loaded. He voops Constantine forward and then brings out his own Betelgeuse. I’m able to get Colossus over to Constantine to try and hit him and knock him off elevated, but he rolls out. He goes over with Juggernaut to pick up his phone booth on the way to try and hit Colossus and I Mimic it away, stopping him in place. I try again with Colossus and fail, then bring in a Daredevil and also fail. Juggernaut takes out Mimic and sometime in there he gets the 10pts off both Daredevils, putting him at 0-35. As it’s nearing the end of the game, Kenny decides YOLO and has Constantine hit the Daredevil that’s adjacent to him and decides to Too Dangerous, which does damage to Daredevil, Colossus, my WW, his Ghost Rider and HIMSELF! Then he has to take the mystics from WW and GR and ends up taking himself out. He revives with WW (healing 1 less from my Bloodstone, keeping him on Regen clicks) and next turn I finish him off with Colossus, giving me the 50 points and time gets called with me winning 50-35, 3-2. For a game that didn’t matter at all, I’m glad it was so fun. We laughed so much and just had a blast.
I ended up in 32nd place in the end and stuck around to watch Devin’s top cut games. A relaxed evening after that, going out for dinner with Dan, Danylal and Devin, where Devin joked that it was the most even gendered clix dinner ever. I played in 2 more Battle Royals after we got back and got great prizing when choosing the sealed boosters as prizing in drafting. One of them had chase Captain Universe with prime Kraven in it! Around midnight I headed to bed in preparation to lose an hour of sleep to daylight savings.
Sunday is team sealed. I haven’t mentioned it before now, but every morning we did the breakfast buffet at the hotel. I was happy to be able to get eggs, fruit and yogurt every morning to help keep me going until dinner in the evening. It was a pleasant surprise on check-in that they gave us some food vouchers, so we used those the 1st 2 mornings. On the last morning, our great waitress who had served us each day, ended up pixie dusting us some Mickey waffles – and knew exactly what we wanted and didn’t need to ask us by that 3rd day and just automatically brought Devin a coffee and me a green tea. She was great.
My teammates for this year are Devin and Jackson. The set this time is Spider-Verse and we get the full 12 booster brick to build with. Devin had the Spider Punk team, Jackson had the chase Spidey with the D8 and I had prime Spider Ham. I definitely struggled with the building part and deferred to the guys to build the teams. So much of what we pulled were things I hadn’t yet seen or used so it was overwhelming for my brain and unlike other years, there wasn’t a big beefy thing I was hoping to pull and build around to pilot. Getting down to the wire of trying to get everything written on build sheets was stressful, as time to start the event felt like it was coming so fast. They did 3 rounds of Swiss with cut to top 16. We were trying our hardest to go as far as possible in this event because Devin was in the running for the overall winner of the weekend. All 2-1’s would make cut and thankfully, as a team, we won the first 2 rounds so we knew we were definitely making it to the cut going into round 3. I feel like I keep seeing Morlun’s in the B slot as I faced it in over half my matches. Top 8 was when we got knocked out. The boys were 1-1 so it came down to me and I’d lost that game by 5pts. Maybe if another Goon had been generated vs a low roll that I could have picked off, maybe it could have been different. So close! Also, so close for Devin who ended up 2nd for the overall weekend winner. Devin and Jackson talk about their teams and a bit about matches on the JSA podcast if you want to hear more about their games.
We ended the night going out for a walk to dinner with another group of friends – PJ, Isaac, Lucas, Jackson and us. The weather was fantastic for walking, the perfect temperature of warm without being humid and felt good to move after being in a ballroom all weekend. Honestly, getting to hang out with friends all these evenings and between events is always the best part of these trips. When we got back we headed up to the room to get our bags packed to be ready before heading back down to the lobby for more last minute hanging out before having to leave in the morning. I think I’ve expressed these feelings before, but I LOVE the group hangouts. I feel like everyone accepts me for me and don’t care if I’m quiet and just existing with them. I don’t feel like I have to be a certain way or act a certain way and still feel included just by being there mostly listening if I don’t have anything specific to add to the conversation. As someone who’s felt like they don’t fit in and feel out of place, it’s such a fantastic feeling and a big reason I keep using my vacay time on these trips. So thank you, friends. Appreciate ya’ll.
The flight home was on time and easy and all my transit from the airport to home connected quickly. It wasn’t long before I started the whole feeling run down and decided to nap away the afternoon and went to bed early after dinner. I always seem to come home from these trips with a little something, but it feels worth it for the enjoyment of the vacation. I can’t wait for the next one, even though I’m not sure anymore what the next one is going to be. Initially my plan for the year was wanting to do either ROC Cup or Origins (once finding out US Nats was going to be there) and then Worlds, but I think the world needs to calm down some before deciding more US travel. Maybe this is the year I do my bucket list trip of Mexico instead and time it with Mexican Nats? Hoping that someone or a group of someones would be interested in joining me for a trip like this! Fingers crossed for finding out dates for Nats in other countries with enough time to plan travel and request time off work if I decide to go this route this year!
Until next time, xoxo
Loved reading your recap! Makes me wish a little bit that I’d gone instead of staying home.
I would have loved to see you there! Hopefully at another event. Thanks for reading, friend!