Dont know what heroclix is? I go into it a little in my first post about heroclix, here.
This year, Canadian Nationals was held in Gatineau, QC. Because that’s only about a 4-5 hour drive from where I live in Toronto, I carpooled there with some local friends Aden, Jason and Amber. Jason and Amber have a YouTube channel called Married With Clix where they share content about the game and was one of the main places I learned about the game when I was first getting started.
On the way there and back while driving, Jason filmed content for the channel, having all of us answer viewer questions and that sure helped the time pass for the ride. It’s up on their YouTube channel under Move and Attack.
We arrived Friday evening and made it in time to go to a local store to play in a pre-release of the new Batman animated set. A great way to get some figures early before the set is released and play a few fun games before all of the competitive games of the weekend.
Saturday was grinding day. There were 4 chances to play to get a seat to play in the big day. Each grinder was 3 rounds and the top 1/4 got a seat. If someone already had a seat and was playing for fun/practice, the seat gets passed down to the next one without a seat. Each grinder was 3 rounds of Swiss seating. 2 were constructed tournaments, where you bring your team from home and 2 were sealed tournaments, where they give you 2 packs and you build your team on the spot from only what is in those 2 packs. I knew going into this that I could end up playing up to 12 rounds of heroclix today to try and get into the main event. It’s long and very mentally exhausting. It was fantastic having Jason there with us, who was already qualified and playing in battle royals all day, able to grab food or drinks or bring things up to the room so we didn’t have to carry it all around with us. Thanks Jason!
First grinder, sealed. I really should have taken some notes because I don’t remember what my team was that I made, but I know I didn’t get amazing pulls.
1st round was against Robert, a new opponent for me, and I lost with half points.
2nd round was against Brent, another new to me opponent, and I lost again with high points.
3rd round was against Amber and I won because her dice failed her and she couldn’t hit any attacks, but we both knew neither of us was getting a seat going into it because we were both 0-2 at that point. I stuck around to play the 3rd round even tho I knew I wouldn’t be getting in on this grinder because I love the game and love playing and I also knew that if I dropped then I wouldn’t be eligible for prizing – and I wanted the convention exclusive ID cards that would be prizes for the bottom half.
Second grinder, constructed. I felt more confidant going into this grinder because I really like my team. I’m comfortable with it, I’ve won with it and I know it inside out.
1st round was against Shereef, a local Toronto player and we’ve both faced each other with similar built teams at local tournaments. I knew what I needed to do to beat his team and I was successful, winning with full points.
2nd round I was against Scott. His team scared me and he’s a good player and known in the community. I had no idea what I was going to do against it and just tried my hardest. I ended up losing, but scoring 75 points. I knew I needed to win my next game to have a shot at earning a seat.
3rd round I was facing Ed. Another really good player. We really battled this one out. We played until time was called and he ended up winning by 50 points. He did compliment my team tho, which made me feel really good. There are a lot of versions of similar teams, but no one plays the version that I created. Because I lost and ended 1-2, I didn’t get a seat so it was time to keep playing.
Third grinder, sealed. Again, I really should have taken notes because I can’t remember what I pulled or played.
1st round was against Daniel. I remember he built a really good team because I only scored 20 points from him. I remember he had a ton of perplex and beefed up his big guy to a constant 20 defense and tied me up with 0 point pogs.
2nd round was against Aden, who I traveled here with. I was able to position myself to ping off his pieces one at a time and won the match with full points. Ok, going into round 3 with 1-1, so if I win, I have a good chance of getting a seat. The pairings go up and once again,
I’m paired with Amber for the 3rd round. She’s also coming in 1-1. This is the worst feeling ever. When you’re facing a friend and knowing that if you win, that means that you’re knocking them out. Crazy thing is, the gentlemen sitting next to me had the exact number of points that Amber did. If only the computer had paired us differently so it was me facing him instead, we both would have had a chance to make it in during this grinder. This game played out similar to our facing each other in the first grinder. My dice couldn’t fail any attack rolls and her dice couldn’t hit any attack rolls. So I won the match and got my seat into the main event.
Instead of having to play in the last grinder, we went out for a late dinner with friends. We went to the same place that we went the day before (I got breakfast for dinner the first night, with salad instead of the home fries because I wasn’t all that hungry and didn’t want anything too heavy). Yesterday, half the table got chicken and waffles and they looked amazing. Both Amber and I wanted the chicken and waffles so we decided to split an order. I’m so glad we did! It was delicious and there’s no way I could have finished a full portion so it was perfect for sharing.
Sunday! Time for the main event. There were 42 players who ended up getting seats, so they did 5 rounds of Swiss seating and cut to top 8. Based on the numbers, we knew that 4-1 would make it in and 1 really high point 3-2 would make it in. So wins mattered.
1st round was against Warner, a local Ottawa player. We had a fun round. After my turn alpha strike he basically looked at me and said that he knew he wasn’t going to win this match up and he was just hoping to score a few points and just wanted to enjoy playing. I did end up winning and he did take some points.
2nd round I was paired with Tom, a really good local Toronto player. He was playing a team that I didn’t realize could get me in my starting area, and that’s just what he did. I thought I was safe for a round to be able to set up, but he got me. A lot of times when facing Tom, I lose to him, but there have been a few times that I was able to get him. Today was not one of those times. I knew I could still make it with a loss and would be happy if I took points, which I did. So now it’s do or die. I need to win the next 3 in a row to make the top 8 cuts.
3rd round pairings go up and again, facing a local Toronto player and friend, Jason, who I came with. We’re both 1-1 and we both need this win to put us in a good spot. It’s a terrible feeling to have again. Really wanting the win myself, yet really not wanting to take away the chances of a friend. It’s so much easier to want to beat an opponent that you’re not a good friend with! Jason was playing his unique monster team and he did a really good job of blocking off his main players with the use of walls and 0 point pogs making it really difficult to reach him safely and knowing that as soon as I make an attack, he’ll be able to retaliate against me. He did a lot of good work against my call-ins, killing most of them successfully for extra points. Right at the end of the round, at the beginning of his turn, he stopped to do a point check, because it was so close. While he was in the middle of counting points, time was called, so this would be it. I had killed 240 of his team and when he finished counting what he’d killed of my team it was 214. So I squeaked out the win. It really was so close.
4th round I’m with Nick. He’s playing a unique team, unlike any others being played. He puts us on a map that is difficult to place. He’s playing a figure that -1 off my move and range, so I break immunity to move halfway up the map to set up. He does some positioning and calls out crabs with devil dinosaur and the one that he puts in the face of my team ends up rolling a crit miss and kills itself. My turn, I fly over his team to the other side and take out both retaliators with a shredder sidestep, which now gives me a clear shot to his other colossal. I’m almost positive that she’s only 4 clicks, so I call in cyclops to take it out with a range combat expert attack. I keep chipping at his team and end up taking it all out, he ends up taking out 1/3 of my team. I’m now 3-1.
5th round I’m facing Scott again. As soon as I see his name paired with mine, I don’t think I can beat his team, the one he killed me with yesterday in the qualifiers. I sit across from him and see that he’s playing a different team! Eureka! I have a chance! I honestly don’t remember the back and forth of the battle, but we were SO close the whole game. Looking at the side at what was killed, I thought I was in the lead slightly. Time gets called and we both start adding up what each other got. There were so many 3, 5, 8 point things that I pulled out my phone for my calculator so I’d be sure I was doing the math correctly. He’d taken 181 from me. He was doing the same thing and when we compared numbers, OMG, a 181 TIE! We triple checked the numbers, making sure we hadn’t missed anything and nope, we were right. 181 point tie. That means roll off. I rolled my dice and I got a decently high number. I think it was an 8 or a 9. He rolled his dice and he rolls low. It was a 3 or a 4. This means I’m now 4-1 and I’ve gotten into the top 8.
This is my first time making the cut at a nationals event! I’m so stoked! I have massive butterflies in my stomach. This is now single elimination. Fun fact, a Canadian has never won Canadian Nationals. So we look at the top 8 and 1/2 of us are Canadian! We have a shot! I’m 6th going into the top 8, which means I’m facing the 3rd place spot, which is Patricia. That means a Canadian is definitely getting into top 4. Patricia is playing a team style similar to mine, carry up as a group and fight! She moves right up, I move up and try and get my alpha strike off. I think I did, killing a piece. It was a slug fest, exactly what both our teams are made to do. We were so close, neck and neck up until the last 5 minutes, we were only about 6 points apart, in her favor. In the last minute, she takes out a big piece of mine that I can’t recover from and time is called. Patricia moves on and I’m knocked out. All the other Canadians are also knocked out, so it’s all riding on Patricia. Unfortunately she loses in top 4, so it’s once again going to be a US player winning again. Congrats to PJ who took it all!
One thing I didn’t realize, was that based on number of players, top 6 gets their seat at World Championships! I was already planning on going to Worlds in December, but this cements my going, because I was one of the people who got a seat! This means no grinding for a qualification at Worlds! I can relax and have fun playing battle royals!
Until next time! xoxo