Florida Trip – ChampionClix Open 2024

Another adventure has come and gone. It felt like it came really quickly – I feel like I barely saw January! This is a long blog post friends, so strap in! Talking about my Florida trip. The social stuff, self care stuff and of course the tournaments! Apples and Oranges, 300 Modern and 3×3 Sealed Teams. 

This year I decided to go a day early for some self care, relaxation and alone time to recharge for just 1 night. This is me being brave again and stepping out of my comfort zone again by starting my adventure alone. I had let Jay know that I wanted him to join me the next day instead of travelling together.

Unfortunately, the night before I was to travel, he let me know that he was no longer able to join me at all for the trip. This caused a spike in anxiety and a scramble to find new teammates for the events, borrowing a figure I was going to get from him and attempt to find a roommate to help with the cost of the room, like I had budgeted for.

I messaged a few people right away to get the ball rolling on putting the pieces back in order and was able to borrow the figure easy enough. One piece in place right away before going to bed.

Wednesday morning my dad picked me up and took me to the airport. I was super grateful for that because it was pretty icy out. I got through security and customs super easy and had plenty of time to sit and grab breakfast. My flight was direct and had zero issues. It was my first time flying Porter and I would definitely fly with them again. The cost wasn’t bad at all and the ticket I got included a checked bag and choosing my seat (only window and isle seats on their planes, never middle seats). As always, I chose the window. I never get up during the flight and don’t want to, so I choose window so if the person next to me gets up, I don’t have to get up to let them out. This airline also offers free beer/wine and has free wi-fi on the plane! The person sitting next to me was nice and we had a good chat for some of the flight.

Arrived at the hotel just after 4, checked in and met up with Az, his partner and his mom to go out for dinner. They graciously waited for me to get there so I could join them. They wanted to go for Korean BBQ and hot pot – none of us had ever done hot pot so it was a new experience for all of us. I loved that I could get tons of veggies and the workers were kind enough to cut me some chicken that wasn’t spicy. When we got back, we ran in to Sam in the lobby and I mentioned to her about needing a partner for the Friday event. She mentioned it to Dan back in the room and he messaged me right away letting me know that Khari was looking for a partner still. Next piece of the puzzle now in place! Khari was happy to partner with me when I messaged him. Matthew and I had also been chatting about finding our new 3rd for the Sunday event and he mentioned that Eric would like to join us – I remembered him from hanging out a bunch last year and said absolutely! Another piece figured out! Only thing left was to try and see if anyone wanted to share the room to help save some costs. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find anyone needing to share. A few people told me I should post in the groups that I was had room, if someone needed, but I didn’t feel comfortable doing that as a woman. I was just leaving it open by mentioning it to friends that if they heard of anyone and was watching for anyone posting looking – so I could make the choice if they were someone I felt comfortable with to reach out to them myself. 

It’s funny though. My plan going in was needing some quiet alone time and planning 1 day of it into my schedule for my trip. I think the universe was saying to me, nope, not enough Emily. You need 5 days of it. As one of my friends said to me – this weekend isn’t “with Emily”, it’s “just Emily”.

Thursday I had my planned spa day. I’ve never gone for a full spa day like this before and have only ever had a massage when I went away many years ago to Dominican and Cuba – so this was a new experience for me. I booked the deluxe package at Allora Day Spa, about a 15 minute Uber ride from the hotel. This included a 90 minute aroma massage, 1 hour facial with a 20 minute scalp massage added on, 1 hour mud wrap and 1 hour hand and foot pampering. I had 3 different people work on me over the various treatments and they were all super sweet and I felt very comfortable the whole time. I think my favorite part was the beginning of the facial where she asked if I wanted peppermint or lavender. I chose peppermint – I don’t do floral scents, they make me cough. She started by tapping her hands, full of peppermint, on my shoulders/upper chest and then turned on the steam for the facial. The mix of feeling of the cool of the peppermint on my skin and the warm of the steam was such a interesting feeling. I also loved the sound of the wave machine that they played in the rooms on top of the light music. The last room didn’t have the waves on when I went in and I asked her if she could turn it on because I enjoyed it so much. And let me just say that all the meditation I’ve been doing has done an incredible thing that I didn’t realize was doing much of an impact day to day until I was there. I’ve been doing a practice that labels intrusive thoughts and acknowledging them and just saying the word “thinking” in my head, to clear out whatever thoughts are coming in. Well I was able to use it in the massage and quiet times of the other treatments to really clear my head and be present in the moment to just enjoy what was happening.

When I got back, I was super hungry so I went down to the Applebee’s that’s attached to the hotel and was just going to eat alone. Just as I order, don’t I see Eric walk in alone too – so he joined me for dinner and we got to have a great conversation and catch up. Afterwards I went to my room and had a 45 minute nap before getting together with a whole bunch of friends – some of who just arrived and needed dinner, so I grabbed a drink and dessert as I joined them. As the night went on, more and more people arrived and a bunch of us were just hanging out chatting. Feeling tired, I dipped out just before midnight to go back to the room to shower and bed.

Friday morning I went down for breakfast alone and walked in to see Matt Donham sitting alone so I joined him to chat and catch up and then 2 more of his team came and joined us too. It was getting to be time to register for Apples and Oranges, so went over to the hall to meet up with Khari to get situated. I had built Oranges so Khari played the Apples side. Oranges = Pulp team – only using commons, uncommons and rares and building a 400 point team. Apples = Theme team – everything needing a printed shared keyword, including sideline and building a 400 point team. My team was Poison Ivy, Blue Marvel, Blackheart, Orb, Red Widow, Mister Sinister, Nekron, Beast Boy and Aunt May. Basically what I was feeling strongest, just kinda mashed together. 

Round 1 was against Matthew Ventura, one of my partners for team sealed. He was playing Zarathos, Nekron, Poison Ivy, Blackheart, Harley Quinn and Black Manta Goon. Matt won initiative roll and chose to pick map and put us on Daily Bugle. I kept 1st turn immunity and he moved up almost half the map. I saw a way that I could take out his Zarathos and did exactly that. He was surprised that I could get through him that quick and wasn’t expecting to lose him so easily. I also used Blue Marvel’s outwit in his Ivy’s attack so she couldn’t make vines. He tried to hit me off the outwit but missed. I used my vine to take out his Nekron and Red Widow to take out his Ivy. He did manage to take out my Nekron and Orb but in the end I got his team. 395-85 and we won the round overall 445-245. 

Round 2 was with Matt Donham. His team was Black Adam, Blackout, Blackheart, Orb and Mindful One. Matt won initiative roll and put us on the Critical Clix map. I split up my crew, having Beast Boy bring up Red Widow, Ivy and Blue Marvel up one side of the elevated and Blackheart bringing Nekron and Orb up the other side of the elevated, while keeping Sinister and May back. I was doing my best to try and avoid his Black Adam and take out the little guys. I ended up taking out his Blackheart, Orb and Mindful One. He ended up only getting my Orb and Blackheart. My stealth and tying up his Black Adam so he couldn’t get to my Sinister easily definitely helped with this win of 120-95, up by just 25 points. Funny enough, Khari lost his game with the exact opposite points of 95-120, making it a tied game. They had all 4 of us roll-off to break the tie. Matt and his teammate rolled pretty high. Khari did his job and rolled a crit hit but I failed us with a roll of 4, making our total 16 and not enough to beat them, so we lost the roll-off.  

Round 3 I played Diego who was playing Mr. Freeze, Blackheart, Blue Marvel, Orb, Mister Sinister, Red Widow, Nekron, Dr. Strange and Frenchie. Diego won initiative roll and put us on Injustice Gang. It was at this point that my notes aren’t as good. Sorry Diego! I must have gotten distracted after our game. I didn’t write down anything that happened in this game aside from the final score of me winning 315-170 and our team winning with 330-295 combined. 

Round 4 was against Alex Mader who played Deathstroke, Blue Marvel, Blackheart, Orb, Red Widow, Nekron, Dr. Strange and Manifold. I actually won initiative roll and chose to go 1st. He put us on Chemical Plant. He moved up and had great defenses with his positioning and hidden behind the elevated that I couldn’t quite reach him. I moved up a bit to be in a better position next turn – splitting up the crew to make him make decisions of which way to go, as he could reach me regardless where I went, so best to be in a better position to fight back. He got a good hit in with some knockback, getting Blackheart away from Nekron and Orb and then took out Nekron. I got in with Red Widow to take out his Blue Marvel. I think he took out my Orb next. I got in with a great pulsewave with Blue Marvel that knocked everyone out of position and off the elevated. I don’t remember the exact pieces that got KO’d from here, but the game ended with Alex winning 180-100 and our team losing with a combined 305-250. We’re now 2-2 with not a great amount of points. With it being cut to top 8, I knew from here that we wouldn’t make cut. We kept playing of course though!  

Round 5 was against Kris who had Magneto, Dr. Strange, Ka-Zar, Raven, Blackheart, Orb, Nekron and The Brain. I wrote zero notes on this game. I can’t remember what map we played on or how the turns went. I only remember him baiting me to go after Raven, who I was completely ignoring because I didn’t want Red Widow to come out. I lost this game 160-215. I didn’t write down combined scores for this game either, but I think Khari won his game.

I love team events and super glad I got to play in it. Thanks again to Khari for being my last minute partner! I missed getting a pic of us together to share – next time! I loved the Pulp team I played and was really familiar with the pieces, with it being a tweaked version of the 300 point Pulp team I played in November locally and came 2nd with. The winners ended up being Clay and George – congrats guys!

The evening was spent with Steve and Aja. Dinner at Applebees for a great salad, played a battle royal with the 3 of us and Nick (didn’t we pull both a chase Superman and the ultra chase Zod Ursa Non! I didn’t walk away with either of them, but I did come home with a bunch more various goons and one of the not yet released OP figures), then got ourselves ready for modern tomorrow (I always get my bag packed the night before – I’m so not a morning person and I know I’d forget something if I tried to do it in the morning) before hanging out in the hot tub for a while. The perfect way to end the night.

Saturday is 300 modern! Started the morning with breakfast and randomly running into Matt, Diego and Asael and joining them again. I was loving the omelet filled with veggies. It kept me full all day and started me with something fresh. 

For modern I was playing a new team. I decided to do something different than prime Spidey this time. I had a Monster team of CSS x2, Blackheart, Black Skull with Black Symbiote, Nekron, Scott Porter white shirt with Indigo Ring, Daredevil legacy with 1 token and Hulk with the Motorcycle. On the sideline I had Killmonger, Iron Inquisitor, Doom Supreme, Kid Thanos, Scrappy and Chthon. Tarot deck of Hypersonic, Shape Change, Willpower, Steal Energy and my friend The Star. On HCunits I called my team 735 – and I needed to explain the title to most people. I found it comical. It means that if I played everything on my starting main force at full points and paid for the free equipment, my team would cost me 735 points. So if I manage to heal everyone that can heal to full, it’s pretty insane.  

I think I was doing things just a little bit different than other people playing Monsters. 1st, I was choosing the Motorcycle over the Hellcycle. I really liked the Free move 1, improved movement characters and reflexes. Getting to autobreak to charge and grab a piece of barrier or something was fantastic. 2nd, I had Black Symbiote on Black Skull and not on a CSS. My first turn was always swapping into another MOE (it ended up being always Killmonger, but I had a Inquisitor set up practiced too) so he’d drop the Black Symbiote and I’d have Nekron sidestep onto it and equip it, giving him Stealth at low dial. Great protection against opposing CSS who could easily just snipe him. 3rd, the Indigo Ring on Scott to heal Nekron turn 1. Everyone talks about Scott owning the Yellow Ring, but I felt the Indigo better for this team (I did pack both and debated which I was going to use and I’m glad with my decision of Indigo). 4th, was Chthon. I initially was putting him on Daredevil, but after a conversation with Dan, I switched and was putting him on Blackheart. Much better decision for the further reach. 

My typical first turn was always the same, so I’ll just describe it here before we start talking about each round. I had to be very careful with my actions because Black Skull was my leadership – so when I swapped him out, I didn’t have leadership on the board. Turn 1 would always be Hulk doing his Free move 1 to bust a terrain and heal, hoping for not a 1 or 2 so I’d be up to Charge to heal 2 more times (going through a piece and and breaking another with the destroy action). He would end his move next to where Killmonger was going to end up. Blackheart would voop, bringing Black Skull and 1 CSS into position. Black Skull would swap out to Killmonger, dropping the Black Symbiote. Killmonger would sidestep into place to be in the middle of where everyone would end up and next to the other CSS that stayed in place. Nekron sidestepped onto the dropped Black Symbiote to equip it, carrying Daredevil into place and finally, Scott would heal Nekron (sometimes sidestepping if he needed to get into place too). So in front were Blackheart and Nekron who were stealthy and on the grave marker/fire smoke marker they make, everyone adjacent to Killmonger for the rollout and both Hulk and Nekron healed.

Round 1 against Steven, of course paired with one of the only other Canadians 1st round. He played Witch Queen Le Fay with Billy Clubs, Lilith prime with Indigo Ring, Blackheart with Pumpkin Bombs, Iron Inquisitor and Mephisto. Steven won initiative roll and chose Daily Bugle. I did my 1st turn and he came up with Witch Queen but I Killmonger’d out of it then brought over Lilith. I hit Witch Queen off her mind control and I think took out Blackheart. He got CSS off senses with poison from Lilith and did an EE with Ghost Goblin on my crew, getting Daredevil token. I took out Ghost Goblin. He took out a CSS and Scott. I can’t remember exactly who KO’d who through the game, but I know that the reason I won the game was a super important super senses on Black Skull. Right at last action, I got a successful senses that kept me winning at 100-85. If I missed those senses, Steven would have won. Super close and great fought game.

Round 2 was with Eric, my other partner for team sealed. He played prime Wonder Woman with the Utility Belt and Green Ring, Ghost Rider with Motorcycle, Kid Thanos, Jennifer Kale, Mephisto, Scott Porter with Yellow Ring and Scott Cramton pog. I won initiative roll and chose to go first. He put us on Morlock Tunnels. As we were waiting for the round to start, I was telling him that I was hoping I’d flip the Star turn 2 and he was willing it to be turn 1 when I couldn’t use it. When I flipped that first card, Eric got his wish with a turn 1 Star flip. I did my usual 1st turn, well protected behind the wall. He moved up almost halfway, along the edge of the map, in a very protective position with some barrier. I healed Nekron some more and had Blackheart voop him and Hulk into a position that I could have Hulk bust through some barrier to attack and then give a line of fire for Nekron to shoot. I managed to hit Ghost Rider (I really should have hit Wonder Woman instead, in hindsight) but missed with the Nekron follow-up. I switched back into Black Skull for the leadership and had a CSS carry the other CSS around the wall so they’d be in position to get in the fight next turn. He moved into the middle, still in a defensive position and took a shot at a CSS with WW but I got my shape change. He had no other target from the stealth. I vooped Blackheart to the other side, with squishier targets, taking Nekron with him. I moved Scott so he’d have sight for prob and hyper’d in with a CSS to take a shot at his Scott and Cramton. I hit and he masterminded to Inquisitor, taking damage. My follow-up attack also hit, but he imperv’d with Inquisitor. I brought in the other CSS to also take a shot and also hit. This time he didn’t imperv and put him on his regen clicks. Nekron took his shot and finished him off. My dice were on fire that turn. He came in with WW and hit a CSS and then finished CSS off with Ghost Rider. I charged in with Hulk, going after Kale and missed. Time got called and we were tied 50-50. My choice of going after Kale was the completely wrong choice. Cramton was right there too and I should have just taken him out for the 4 points. Instead, we roll off. First we both rolled a 6 and had to roll again and then Eric won the roll-off. I’m now 1-1. 

Round 3 was with Nick Belew who played CSS, Blackheart, Lilith prime, BL Batman with Bucky’s Arm, Nekron, Genesis with Warlock and Scott Porter with Yellow Ring. He won initiative roll and chose to go first. I put us on Avengers Tower. He flips his tarot card and its the one that gives no improved movement, completely screwing my Hulk from doing his first turn healing of going through my blocking. I did the rest of my 1st turn though and just kind of left Hulk in place behind the blocking. He vooped Blackheart to bring Nekron up to shoot my Blackheart. It just did 1 damage after reducer and he kicked himself because he meant to have Lilith hop over first for the Enhancement so it would have taken me off of stealth. He took a minute to decide what to do next and struggled because of my placement. He couldn’t see past the stealth of Blackheart and Nekron and the ones in back that he could see, were too far out of range for CSS with the hyper. He had Nekron make a grave marker by my force and sent BL Batman in and I think finished off Blackheart. I took out his Batman with Hulk and Nekron with a CSS. I struggle to remember the rest of the match, but I was picking off things. He took something else out too and the score ended up being 220-100, my win. 2-1 now.  

Round 4 was against George Massu. He played prime Wonder Woman with Utility Belt and Green Ring, CSS, Black Skull with Black Symbiote, Genesis with Soul Sword, Mephisto, Scott Porter with Yellow Ring and 3 Daredevils, one with Billy Clubs and Traffic Barrel. I can’t remember who won initiative roll but we were playing on Daily Bugle, which means I went first. I did my usual 1st turn. He moved up into a defensive position with the 3 Daredevils in the front, blocking everyone else off behind walls and had CSS pick up the Traffic Barrel to take away my improved movement within 4 of him. I healed Nekron again and vooped over Blackheart with Nekron and Hulk. I had Hulk charge in to punch his Scott and then Nekron finished him off and then went in with a CSS to shoot at a Daredevil to take a token off one of them. He flipped a great tarot card for him, the poison after placement, and left the fully healed Nekron and Hulk to come into the rest of my crew. All his Daredevils were on poison, so he was able to put in a bunch of passive damage by bringing them over with Genesis and Kid Thanos, also doing passive damage. He got my Black Skull and Scott. Between Hulk and Nekron I was able to get out his Kid Thanos. Here’s where George’s dice went cold. He couldn’t hit anything he was trying to get. Time got called and I thought we were tied – both having taken each other Scott’s and MOE’s. Until I realized that I had those 10 points from that Daredevil in the beginning. So I ended up with the win 85-75. 3-1 now. I don’t have a ton of points tho, so I know I need to win next round to make cut. 

Round 5 was with Ryan Rebman. He was playing Arachknight with Red Symbiote, Brother Voodoo prime, Mephisto, Madame Web with Web Shooters, Daredevil with Red Ring, Scott Porter, legacy Green Lantern with Green Ring. He put us on the Racer Motors map – I’ve never played on this map before. I did my usual 1st turn. He made a bunch of barrier that he broke to get tokens on his Ammut’s Tomb mystery card. I moved up to the middle of the map, behind blocking, to be a little protected. He smashed more blocking to get more tokens on the mystery card. This was a great map choice for him. His positioning was such that I had such terrible targets. I vooped up Blackheart with Nekron and Hulk and had Hulk charge in to bust some barrier but I missed the attack. I now had a line for Nekron to try an attack and he missed too. He got enough attacks in to take out my Hulk. Everything was protected that I couldn’t get any good lines in with the CSS’s so I just moved them up to be in a better position for next turn. Nekron missed again. I think this is where he took out my Blackheart. I made some attacks with CSS’s and missed. My options for targets were terrible against his positioning and the barrier protection. He took out Nekron. I finally landed an attack, taking out Mephisto as time was called. I lost 130-30 (he got 10 extra points for each piece KO’d from the mystery card). This puts me at 3-2 and not enough points for the cut. 

I’m really proud of how I played today and really, that game 2 roll-off could have gone either way and I could have potentially been 4-1 to make the cut. I feel like I made good choices overall – I’ve pointed out where I know I could have improved and I enjoyed the team I played. The winner of the event ended up being Alex Mader – congrats!! 

While the top cut played, they did a Chess Clock experiment and had battle royals. I decided to just watch some of the chess clock games for a bit then just chatted with friends a while. I didn’t feel up to playing in either and just felt like being social a bit. After that was the Charity Dinner. They had some entertaining games for us to play, including speed clix at the end. The dinner was great and and they made a bunch of money for the various charities they were supporting. I bid on a lot and ended up the winner. I outbid Kalder and it turns out the thing in the lot that he wanted was the thing in the lot I didn’t want, so I gave him the sketch Devil Dino and came home with a prime Micron and some other goodies. After the charity dinner was the Drunken Clix Championship. I had no desire to play in it, but I hung around and watched – sitting with the Earthbound and Down guys and keeping score for them. Congrats Kenny on your win! 

This morning I went down to breakfast and for the first morning, I ate alone as I didn’t see anyone there to join. I finished and met up with Matthew and Eric to register. Matt asked if we’d be allowed to mulligan if we didn’t like our brick and the answer ended up being no. We were talking it over and trying to figure out what we should call ourselves as a team name and bounced a few ideas over and ended up settling on No Mulligans. Turns out we wouldn’t have wanted to mulligan, even if we were allowed to. We had an amazing brick. I’d told the guys that I was really hoping to play Chthon. Just like last year and wanting Hulk, the first booster we opened had exactly what I wanted, Chthon! As we kept opening, we got more an more excited as out comes a Blackheart, then a Zarathos and a Headless Horseman, a Motorcycle, Frenchie, Ghost Rider 44 and finally a Capwolf!  We seriously couldn’t have asked for a better brick. 

I got my dream of playing Chthon. I put Wakanda on my build sheet and chose it every time I picked map. With Chthon having improved targeting hindering and blocking, it was the perfect map for me. I could see the whole map as soon as I running shot out and had the bonus of no elevated for opposing Orb. I also chose to play 2 blocking and 1 object for my terrain. Eric played Capwolf with Nightmare pilot, Blackheart, Elektra, Headless Horseman with Motorcycle and Blackout pilot. Matt played Ghost Rider with Ghost Rider pilot and Frenchie, full point Zarathos, Iron Fist, Zombie and Robbie Reyes.

Round 1 was against Aja, again, the only other Canadian I hadn’t yet faced. Isn’t it always the case when you travel to a big tournament, you end up playing against your team. She played Elektra, Elsa Bloodstone with Hellcycle, Orb, Zarathos at little, Blackheart and Werewolf. She thought she didn’t have a team that could stand up to my OMA but she got way closer than either of us thought she would. I had some pretty bad dice at some points, but I’d made sure to hit her Elsa off the special attack power. I managed to take out Zarathos, Werewolf and Orb in the end for 90 points. She hit me down past my 3rd stop click but I managed to steal energy up off it when time got called. With more time, I think she could have gotten through me. Matthew and Eric also won their games so we’re 3-0 to start. 

Round 2 was with Scott Johnson who played Frenchie, Ghost Rider 48, Werewolf By Night, Night Nurse, Blade with Hellcycle. This was the most fun game ever. I swear we had at least 50 or 65 or 80 turns, easily, with just as many laughs. I quickly took out Night Nurse, then Werewolf By Night and then went to work on Blade and Ghost Rider. Blade finally failed shape change and I hit him way down his dial. I only managed to get through his 3-6 super senses because I managed to crit hit him! Down to only Ghost Rider. This got to the point that he never attacked and just kept regenning every turn to try and prevent me from getting those points (totally the correct play here). It was a constant me hitting him and taking 3 clicks and him using regen to heal 3 clicks. I missed the occasional big boy willpower and had to rest and he had the occasional low regen roll. Eventually I managed to get through him to take the team. Again, Matt and Eric won their matches too and we’re now 6-0. 

Round 3 was against Clay Wood. This one is on stream if you want to watch how the game went. He played Blackheart, Ghost Rider 48, Ghost Rider 44, Ghost Rider 34 and Orb. The stream can attest that my rolls were terrible (missing big boys and attack rolls) and combine that with all his mystics and healing, well it wasn’t a good outcome for me!  I did get points from him tho, 180-300. My first loss, but Eric and Matt won their games, putting us at 8-1.  

Round 4 was with Aaron Morgan. He played Headless Horseman with Hellcycle, Moonknight, Daimon Hellstorm, Ghost Rider 34 and Werewolf By Night. I started with a one shot on Ghost Rider to take out the exploit weakness. Then multi targeted and did damage as I could on those who didn’t roll shape change. I picked off the pieces until it was down to just Headless Horseman. He took a while to take down, only taking 1 click at a time, but I eventually got through him. I was quite damaged by the end, but took his team before he could get me. Matthew also won his game but Eric lost his, putting us at 10-2 and top seed going into the cut. 

Top 8 was against Noah in a mirror match of Chthon. Crit Miss initiative roll for both of us. He won initiative on the next roll and chose to go first. I felt like I potentially had the upper hand here because I had an object and he didn’t. I noticed that if I could hit him to his first stop click, that if I used my object then, it would take him right to his second stop click and save me an attack. Unfortunately, when I hit him there and went to use the object, I missed the attack and wasted the object. It was a good plan though! We traded hits back and forth and he was more successful with his attack rolls/shape changes than I was and he took my Chthon down. Thankfully both Eric and Matt won their games, so on to top 4 we go. 

Top 4 was with Scott Cramton. He played Zarathos at big, Orb, Night Nurse, Blade and Slepnir. I won initiative and chose 2nd to put us on Wakanda against his Orb. He passed both his 1st and 2nd turn. I came out and targeted Orb, Night Nurse and Slepnir. I hit with doubles so did 3 and 3 to Orb and Night Nurse, knocking her back to KO her. He came up and psychic blasted with Zarathos and also got the free attack for my KOing Night Nurse. I missed my shape change. I think I finished off Orb next to prevent his chance at crits. More missing rollouts for me and going more down my dial. I failed my big boy willpower and he got to keep going on me while I had to rest. His dice were completely fire, rolling 9’s, 10’s, 11’s back to back to easily take me out with his penetrating damage. His team was the perfect team to eat through a Chthon. Eric won his game against Ed who was also playing a Chthon but unfortunately Matt lost as well against Isaac. It all came down to him attacking when he shouldn’t have as it ended up taking away his STOP and Isaac was able to take out his Zarathos. That ends our run and we ended up in 3rd overall.  Congrats Scott, Isaac and Ed! They ended up winning it all in the end! 

The guys wanted to go out to dinner but I’d already talked with Steve and Aja about just wanting to stay in earlier so we, ordered in. We had the potential for joining them for drinks after they got back from going out, but no one was up for it. Around 9 I went up to my room, declining joining Steve and Aja at the hot tub. I didn’t want to pack a soaking wet bathing suit and needed to get my bags packed and ready to wake at 4am to head to the airport.

Early morning check out was quick, it was super easy at the airport. I was surprised, after hearing everyone talk about how insane the airport is. Maybe because I was in terminal C and going international? I dunno, but I’ll take it! Being there so early, I had plenty of time to grab breakfast. Found my luggage easy enough then off to the subway to head home. It was nice getting home in the afternoon and having the rest of the day to rest up – including a nap – which definitely helped with being refreshed for work the next morning. 

Thanks Dial H friends for taking pics of match pairings, they helped spice up this blog with more pics than I personally took! David and Chris, great event as always. Lucas, PJ and Anthony, thanks for being our judges. Miss everyone there so much already and wish more locals could have joined – next time! Hopefully see even more of you in a few months at the ROC Cup/Heroclix for Huntingtons event in May! 

Until next time, xoxo