Revolution "No Mercy Sealed" Tournament Report
by Matthew Hatcher

I played in my 1st Revolution tourney & got my hands on my 1st bit of product yesterday.

We played on old school No Mercy sealed deck tournament.

8 people, 2 of each superstar.

We paid our cost and got started. I reached blindly into the bag of starter decks and pulled out Batista (I was pretty happy as I either wanted Rey or Batista). So that was easy enough. Not long after I started opening my packs. Got pretty strong pulls in the prematch and midmatch (easy to pull a full deck with this set, I really like that) plus more hybrid cores to add to my deck. Given it was sealed, I went for lots of core reversals, recovery and hand advantage.

So I was feeling pretty good about my chances.

Round 1 Andy playing Cena
Well this is where my prematch paid off: Ring Psychology Throw, Gone Not Forgotten, & Climbing the Ladder. The Climbing the Ladder was very instrumental. I knew Batista had a lot of hand advantage going, so when I can play a mean throw, draw 3 (from Climbing the Ladder and RP:T) and make them lose 1 (my ability) it would be huge. Most sealed games come down to hand advantage. This one was no different. Hitting Fall Away Suplex from midmatch is huge.

1-0

Round 2 Manny playing HHH
I was worried about this one. Without a doubt, in play testing, Batista vs. HHH was probably a game I played the most against Kevin Fish and it was usually a .500 winning percentage. Luckily I kept getting a good draw and was able to drop my ideal prematch (without having to use 'A New Plan to get a better hand). Once again, playing being is SSV paid off. Key Cards: DDT & The Animalistic Clothesline - both provided timely board removal. Usually, I hit both of these, they have no hand, now minimal ring areas - game over. Tight game until I hit that Clothesline and took control.

2-0

Round 3 Dave playing HHH
OK, I should have hit a Mysterio at this point, but myself and the 'other' HHH were the only undefeated's. So I got HHH back to back. Dave had a different pre-match than Manny, choosing to only drop Previously Unannounced Match. Which really hurt me, as I had 2 midmatch means I wanted to use to bait out reversals and let my Animalistic Clothesline stick and provide me with board control. I hit 3 0F cores on my 1st turn, hitting his soft spot. Problem was that they were not Throws, so I gained no hand advantage, just a lot of F. When I went for my midmatch means - he had the answers with 2 0F 7D cores that reverse means. So he jumped to 14F off 2 reversals really quick, locked the game down and drew it out. Which is how HHH should win. I expected him to painfully reverse one of the means, not both! Good game, and the lack of having midmatch really hurt me.

2-1 end of Swiss

We went ahead and cut to the top of each superstar for a Top 4. It was sealed, and even though everyone was more than ready to finally get their hands on product, for the cost, we wanted to extend play as long as we logically could.

Top 4
Dave (HHH) 3-0
Me (Batista) 2-1
Chris (Cena) 2-1
Fernandez (Mysterio) 2-1

Top 4 match Chris playing Cena
I was a little worried, as I had to drop New Plan (1st time all day). But the beauty was I put 9 cards on the bottom of my deck, and drew up 9 0F hybrid cores. Game over. Eventually nuked his Hardcore Hell from ring area before he could gain any benefit from it, and went to town. He kept overturning and swinging, but I had the head start and the answers before he could burn through my defenses.

Finals match Fernandez playing Mysterio
We didn't play out the finals as we started buying product to see what other cards we could pull so that we could all get in more side games amongst the rest of the group.

Out of the box we opened, got three UR's: The Evolved Spinebuster, The Untouchable FU, and Ten Time World Champion. I traded for a King of Kings Pedigree and I was on my way to my set of Revo cards.

All in all, was positively received. It is a little different with our play group, a smaller group of about 14 guys if we get them all to show up the same day. So even though there were some minor skepticism around Revo before this event, it quickly went away as we played throughout the day. We had hoped it would be solid, we can build on it, and grow our play group. Everyone talked about what Kevin and I had discovered in play testing:

* Faster play style
* Cannot wait for things to happen, much more of a pro-active aggressive game than a passive, control style that is classic RD.
* The card design is solid, and the game has a real solid foundation. Loved how the cards were laid out and worded - especially hybrids
* The superstar cards are gorgeous
* The starter decks are really solid with the addition of Backlash cards to teach new players from the get go the total game.
* Combo boxes are a solid idea, buy my set of starters and get some more packs (chance for an additional 3 UR's) - great way to get started with a set

The style of play and the game design really impressed the players here in the AZ, and as we wondered what kind of tournaments we would be running in the future, everyone was really chomping at the bit to get some more product and play in a constructed Revo tournament as soon as possible. The store old out of product, and we are ready to get some more!

It was very satisfying for me personally to see the set in action outside of play testing (it means so much more when you have the physical card in front of you instead of a PDF version). To see the game play out like we had thought it would - and it be enjoyable to the people playing, was incredibly satisfying for me. For people not question a single card or combo - to see everything as good but not broke, and to see that the field has so much potential and an Andre is not going to just dominate, gave everyone a feeling they have not had since Mania (save RTC of course). It is going to be a competitive environment.

Viva La Revolution!

Come check us out the first Sunday of every month (we're increasing that now with the increase in attendance due to Revolution) here at:

Game Depot
3136 S McClintock Dr
Tempe, AZ 85282
(480) 966 4727

Fore more info: Matthew Hatcher: bdadhat@yahoo.com

Viva La Revolution!
Viva La Revolution!
Viva La Revolution!
Viva La Revolution!
Viva La Revolution!
Viva La Revolution!