A Look Back at the 2014 North Kai Championship

Hello Z fighters! Chris Smith here with my look back at this year’s North Kai Championship. I’ll be giving you all a brief tournament report and other thoughts I had during this spectacular weekend. Well enough staring down at each other for a few episodes and let’s get to it.

Tournament Report: Retro Frieza MBS Free

I had to decided to play one of three decks I had the Monday before the tournament after play testing with a few buddies (Rick Crissip – who played Retro Frieza TS Red, and Tim Ludwig- Raging Saiyan MBS Free). My choices were Trunks MBS Freesword, Goku MBS Orange OVA/DB, or Retro Frieza MBS Free Triple Vic. The sword and Frieza deck were very fun to play, and even though the OVA deck is solid and great pick, the thing gives me a migraine. I was going to roll a six sided die to choose but the night before the tournament I was having a lot of fun with Frieza and decided to roll with that.  Even though the other two decks I had (not to mention Baba Black CS I had from gencon) were a much safer play to possibly make top cut, I went with Frieza.  Now here’s the deck.

Personalities:

Frieza Lv1

Frieza, Cold Blooded

Frieza, the Collector

Frieza, From Hell

Frieza, the Emperor

Freestyle Mastery (MBS)

Sensei Deck:

West Kai

Black Scout Maneuver x 2

Majin Buu’s Fury

Frieza’s Daunting Bombardment

Frieza’s Irritation Grows

Gohan Spots the Impostor Drill

Huh???

Energy Combat: (18)

Frieza’s Aura Shot x 3

Frieza’s Anger Blast x 4

Frieza’s Daunting Bombardment x 3

Android 19’s Energy Burst x 3

Double Whammy x 3

Nappa’s Energy Aura

Frieza’s Force Bubble

Physical Combats: (12)

Frieza’s Irritation Grows x 3

Majin Buu’s Fury x 2

Goku’s Flight x 3

Pikkon’s Leg Catch x 2

Vegeta’s Physical Stance

Nappa’s Physical Resistance

Combat: (21)

Frieza Smiles x 4

HAT x 3

TES x 3

Android 18’s Staredown x 3

Aura Clash x 2

Pan’s Victory x 2

TIAWT

The Power of the Dragon

Android 17 Smirks

Battle Pausing

Non-Combat (Drill): (10)

Frieza’s Glory Drill x 3

Vegeta’s Quickness Drill

Android 20’s Absorbing Drill

Victorious Drill

Breakthrough Drill

Goku’s Capturing Drill x 2

Broly’s Evil Drill

Non-Combat (Setup): (2)

Frieza Is Ready

Fatherly Advice

Allies: (5)

Chilled

Zanya

Kogu

Bido

Guldo Level 1

Dragonballs: (7)

Nameks : Alt 1, Alt 2, Alt 3, 4, 5, Alt 6 Alt 7

Battleground/Location: (3)

Tree of Might x 3

Round 1: Darryl Fisher- Retro Tien MBS Freestyle West Kai Sensei

After Darryl opens up with a Straining Mafuba and discards, three triple whammys, Z-warriors and another non-combat, I’m able to make a small come back, because Darryl kept forggeting the Retro Chiaotzu can block for Tien whenever, but in the end a single common card made the difference. In the final combat, we are both down to under ten life or so, I have a TIAWT and some focused attacks that could end the game, but Darryl opens combat with Gohan’s Kick and lays into me with his allies and takes a close fought game. (0-1)

Round 2: Didier Greenleaf- Meta-Cooler MBS Blue West Kai Sensei

So I get to face another friend of mine, given that I’m friends with over have the field makes it kind of hard to battle someone I don’t know, and I know what his deck does and how powerful it can be. He gets out Winter Countryside first or second turn on me and I struggle to level. But Winter actually helps me out by keeping me on my level one and all my energy attacks are focused due to my MP power and can’t be prevented by Didier’s mastery. As the game goes on I keep on getting milled before and during combat so I need to make a play soon. Unfortunetly it comes down to myself having three dragonballs left in my deck and I end up drawing them out and taking another hard fought loss. (0-2) **also was recorded so look for it soon**

Round 3: Tim Ludwig- Vegeta, Ragin’ Saiyan MBS Freestyle North Kai Sensei

So, I sat at 0-2 and needing to win out to have a slight chance of making top 8 and this game starts out from bad to worse. Tim and I play tested earlier in the week so I knew how his deck ran and what to look out for. But that can’t help the bad draw I started out with and  Tim entered first turn and proceeded to get to Vegeta, Settled down by way of Vegeta’s Gutter Wallops x 3 and prevent me from using over a quarter of my deck. While he was beating me down, I managed to get to level 2 at least but then was thrown back down to level one by Cell’s Threatening Position.  Dropping back down to level one was the nail in the coffin, and I had sensei’d out a dragonball at the start of the game so I couldn’t win by that victory at all. Vegeta finally got his revenge for Frieza blowing up his home world. (0-3)

So after three rounds I was sitting at second from the bottom, but for some reason I was ok with it. I, other than the exception of round three, hadn’t played that bad and I had some hard fought games against some of the best in the community. After the lunch break I decided to push on through and try to break even.

Round 4: Arik Macolm- Retro Tien WGS Red North Kai Sensei

Arik was 0-3 as well and wanted to test out his new Tien deck, since he doesn’t get to playtest much. He gave me the win and we played. He got some early beats on with some red energy attacks and free ones from Retro Tien’s CCP, but the mighty Frieza proved to be too much for the warrior and beat him by MPPV. (1-3)

Round 5: Chris Baker- Krillin MBS Freestyle Master Roshi Sensei

A few things that I can remember about this game:

1. Chris is a great player to play against; we bantered back and forth.

2. I think we both hit every double whammy in our decks.

3. I got to take a unstoppable 5 life card and 22 power stage attack to the face.

4. Once I was able to hit my level three with FIG and the tide turned quickly and                                       pulled out the win. (2-3)

Round 6: Andrew Vansickle- Goku MBS Freestyle Beats North Kai Sensei (I think)

We both started out even getting drills and some shots in. Andrew was saying that his decks a buit slow to set up but I knew when he would be ready to swing it would probably end the game so I tried to keep up the pressure by entering and doing some modest damage. But the turning point in the game was when I laid down Alt. Namek 7 and Namek 4 on the same turn and swept his non-combats. That and my level one CCP making all my energy attacks focused helped burn right through those Goku’s Flights. I was able to secure the victory and break even at 3-3.

Even though I went 3-3, I was very happy with myself that I stuck it through (it was my own tournament) and ended on my own terms. Once top cut was called, I sat down to judge top cuts and watch Joel Glasser take down Ryan Lewis 2-1 in finals. Luckly, Didier brought his whole camera setup so all the top four matches and all of finals will be posted when it can.

Some Thoughts:

• Our attendance almost doubled last years, 35 from 19 the previous year.
• I believe the most used cards that were in the majority of players decks were: HAT and   Double Whammy.
• Double Whammy is one hell of a card, Thanks Nick Glaser for letting the secret out of     the bag!
• Using a computer pairing program, even though basic, helped speed the tournament      along and making the pairings for top 8 a breeze.
• I believe Red TS will be making a come back this year, not just anger victory too.
• The tournament did not have a single Black Style deck or a Broly deck at all, that’s got to            be a first.
• Frieza is probably the most balanced personality set the Retro crew has come up with.
• Namekian had a nice showing with Retro Future Gohan WGS, and Cell, A20’s Legacy        making top four.
• Ally could be the strongest deck type at the moment with Double Whammy and easy       peesy axcess to Z-Warriors Gather.
• Some cards that people had concerns about: Goten, of the Ring, and Namekian    Punisher.
• Congrats to Joel Glasser for taking down a tough field.
• I want to thank: Everyone who attended, AK Comics for hosting , Didier Greenleaf for bringing his camera setup, Didier, Darryl Fisher, and Nick Glaser for helping     judge when I couldn’t answer the question and Josh Merckle for making the prize cards.

In closing, I hope everyone had a great time and enjoyed playing some high quality opponents. Keep a look out for dates for next year’s North Kai Tournament, here and at the Facebook page. I’ll keep you all posted. Thanks for reading!

**You can contact me on the Facebook page or email at brodiewan@gmail.com*