Mystic Madness 2019

[Cody Lewis]

It's time for March Madness, which means it's also time for Mystic Madness! This year, Scarlet and I decided that we're going to document our 2nd annual Mystic Vale leaders tournament more closely than we did last year. Here's a quick recap of what happened in our previous tournament:

• Glorus, who we both thought was great, was ousted from the tournament by...
• Algeni, who won the whole thing, although we didn't find out until the finals that we had been playing her wrong.
• GinGan, who we both thought was terrible, made a miraculous trip to the Final Four.
• We both got really salty whenever we lost a match.

This year, we've sworn off the salt. We also have eight new leaders in the tournament from the most recent expansion, Twilight Garden. The newbies had to prove their mettle in a play-in round against last year's first round losers. A few interesting things from the play-ins:

• Glorus, who we both still think is great, narrowly escaped another first round KO by defeating Kojen & Khan, 58-55.
• Le Que scored a grand total of -83 points, but still managed to beat Yaquei by completing his win condition: having 20 or more cards in his field.
• Althena and Truffta from Twilight Garden both won their matches and look poised to make a run at the championship.

Let the madness begin!

[Cody Lewis]

Game 1: Algeni vs Kirath

The opening match of the tournament featured Algeni Fierce Heart taking on Kirath The Feral. Despite a solid showing against Boeglebee in the play-ins, expectations were low for Kirath going against the defending champion. Some early vale plays and a deck stacked with mana made it seem like Kirath stood a fighting chance. Unfortunately, she could not compete with Algeni's special ability, which gave her points for blank cards. Kirath's lack of VP generation also made it impossible for her to pay what we called "the tax," a pair of Deepwood Veterans, which require the opponent to cough up a point or gain two curse tokens.

Final Score: Algeni 48, Kirath 26

[Cody Lewis]

Game 2: Nepeto vs Glorus

It's been a busy couple of days in the Lewis-Leslie household, but we finally got around to playing our second match. Nepeto The Gardener plants extra Fertile Soil so he hits his mid-game power spike in just a handful of turns, while Glorus The Dawnbringer dominates the Vales and earns points for each Animal Spirit in their costs. Glorus started the match with a favorable amulet, Sun Blessing, which gave her an extra Sky Spirit for some added Vale-collecting firepower. Nepeto opted to play the Guardian game, collecting a bunch that synergized perfectly before hoarding a large majority of the VP (including 12 during his final turn) to end the game. 

Final Score: Nepeto 87, Glorus 66

The issue with Glorus right now is that ALL of her matches go the distance because she's too focused on Vales over VP. She needs to play someone who struggles to get to the mid-to-late game -- or maybe we need to rethink the way we play her in the future.

[Cody Lewis]

Game 3: GinGan vs Dione

Last year's dark horse, GinGan, struggled heavily in the opening round and could not manage to flip his leader card. The cards fell perfectly for his opponent, Dione, who used a Guildmark University to turn cards into mana, then a Druid Preceptor to turn mana into VP.

Final Score: GinGan 26, Dione 48

[Cody Lewis]

Game 4: Morlok vs Althena

Game 4 was battle of the box art as Morlok The Manaweaver took on Althena, Queen of the Fey. Morlok came into the match with a game plan: load up on Fertile Soil, keep his blank cards blank, and unleash the mana storm. His plans were cut short as the new kid on the block used her special ability, which allows her to retain a Cursed Land card each turn, to gain heaps of VP. Althena is looking incredibly strong so far -- perhaps strong enough to give Algeni a run for her money?

Final Score: Morlok 28, Althena 54

[Cody Lewis]

Game 5: Ashae vs Le Que

Prior to the match, it was discovered that Ashae had gone missing. We thought, for a moment, that she had wound up with the recycling, but we eventually found last year's runner-up hidden among our many instruction booklets. I'm sure it was just a coincidence that she had gone into hiding just before her match against Le Que, who has quickly gained a reputation for being "unfair and unfun" to play against.

Both competitors got off to hot starts: Ashae collected VP from the box, while Le Que snatched a couple of her blank cards to add to his own deck. Unfortunately for Ashae, collecting points from the box does not help to end the game, which gave Le Que time to gain Growth. "I need a Grovetender," he mentioned early in the match, already holding a card with three Guardian symbols. And when the Grovetender popped up several turns later, it was game over.

Final Score: Ashae 44, Le Que -87*

*Le Que is worth -100 points, but his opponents automatically lose if he has 20 or more cards in his field.

[Cody Lewis]

Game 6: Cyrilla vs Old Barkarb

Both Cyrilla and Old Barkarb are leaders that can be very hit or miss. Cyrilla capitalizes on Guardian cards and cards with special abilities, while Old Barkarb's ability to hoard and build top tier advancements for free can sometimes take too long to get going. With no Guardian symbols in sight, Old Barkarb was able to build his super card and score enough points right at the end to snag the victory.

Final Score: Cyrilla 33, Old Barkarb 39

[Prof. Scarlet Leslie-Lewis]

Game 7: Xanos vs Hectoro

"Flip management" was key in this game. Both Xanos The Cold Heart and Hectoro The Hunter cost next to nothing to activate, but ending up on the negative side when the match is over will give you -40 or -25 VP, respectively.

Hectoro was extra intimidating by nabbing the Wildfire Ember amulet that can add two Guardian symbols to any card. It became a bigger threat when an early Grovetender was available, even though it didn't mesh well with his ability to automatically add seven cards to his field. Hectoro only used the Wildfire Ember/Grovetender combination once, but it was enough to scare Xanos into spending her mana on advancements with Guardian symbols that she was unable to utilize. 

Xanos triggered the end of the game by taking the last VP. Both leaders were on their good sides and Hectoro continues his hunt for the Mystic Madness title.

Final Score: Xanos 19, Hectoro 27

[Cody Lewis]

Game 8: Guilduin vs Truffta

The eighth and final match of the first round was a doozy. After getting blown out by Ashae in the second round of last year's tournament, expectations were low for Guilduin The Warrior, even when matched up against a rookie -- although the Mushroom King proved in the play-ins that he's got his sights set on the championship.

Truffta is great at ending the game early by scoring VP on his starting side, but becomes a real late-game terror once he unlocks his special ability and starts doubling his mana. In response, Guilduin used his strong early game to collect as many Guardian advancements as possible, some of which would help him keep up in VP. The two leaders exchanged blows, but once Truffta started producing double-digit mana each turn, it seemed like the game was won. However, on Guilduin's final turn, he managed to score 9 points from VP, 4 points from advancements, and 7 points from an Eye of Gaia vale card. When the dust settled, Guilduin had outscored Truffta 40-39.

But the score was so close, we both agreed to a recount.

To both of our amazement, we found an extra point hidden in Truffta's deck! The score was now tied at 40. Having never tied before in our numerous Mystic Vale exhibitions, we had to check the rule book for the proper tie-breaking protocol.

In the end, Truffta won due to having seven combined level 3 advancements and level 2 vale cards to Guilduin's two.

Final Score: Guilduin 40, Truffta 40*

*See above.

[Prof. Scarlet Leslie-Lewis]

Game 9: Algeni vs Nepeto (Quarterfinals)

After an exciting finish to the Sweet Sixteen round, we were eager to play the first Elite Eight match. Unfortunately, it paled in comparison to our previous game.

With Algeni trying to keep her cards blank for her special ability and Nepeto gaining additional Fertile Soils, the space for advancements on each card became limited very quickly. Although Algeni was able to upgrade by her second turn, she only received two points from the box the entire game for having blank cards in her field when she appeared. Nepeto never even got to use his special ability, because he upgraded on his last turn.

Nepeto did give the reigning champion's Fierce Heart a scare by obtaining the Medusa Grotto vale on his final turn. Even though it cost him 14 VP, it allowed Nepeto the double the VP values of all his advancements at the end of the game. It was not quite enough to oust last year's winner, so Algeni advances to the next round. 

Final Score: Algeni 39, Nepeto 34

[Cody Lewis]

Game 10: Dione vs Althena (Quarterfinals)

Both leaders changed up their strategies from the first round in this Quarterfinal match-up. Dione, who had played mana-heavy in her match against GinGan, went Spirit-heavy instead. Althena bought some Spirit advancements as well, which helped her upgrade quickly, but landed her in a bind as she could not make full use of her special ability if she got both VP and points from vale cards. Still, she was absolutely rolling through her deck and looked to be running away with the match until Dione got her hands on a Medusa Grotto. In the end, Dione's heaps of End of Game points trumped Althena's massive pile of VP.

Final Score: Dione 57, Althena 53

[Prof. Scarlet Leslie-Lewis]

Game 11: Le Que vs Old Barkarb (Quarterfinals)

Knowing he had to keep Growth advancements away from Le Que, Old Barkarb pounced on them and kept them in his Workshop. This forced Le Que to abandon his "unfair and unfun" side and collect Spirit/VP instead. Despite Le Que's efforts to end the game early, Old Barkarb managed to score enough points to claim the victory.

Final Score: Le Que 26, Old Barkarb 42

[Cody Lewis]

Game 12: Hectoro vs Truffta (Quarterfinals)

In his past matches, Truffta seemed almost unbeatable once he collects 9 mana to flip his card. Hectoro's one and only goal was to end the game quickly by collecting all the VP before Truffta could get rolling. Unfortunately, he ended the game too quickly. Hectoro miscalculated his "flip management" and ended up scoring 10 points to end the game, but was forced to flip his card, causing him to lose 25 points. Truffta won the game almost by default with a whopping 8 points.

Final Score: Hectoro -4, Truffta 8

[Cody Lewis]

Game 13: Algeni vs Dione (Semifinals)

In the first of our Semifinal matches, the defending champion took on this year's Cinderella story, Dione. Algeni claimed a few Spirit symbols early, but could not keep up with Dione Spirit Whisperer, who more than lived up to her name. Dione also took Grasslands and an Ent Speaker which allowed her to fly through her deck. Algeni had only taken two VP using her special ability when Dione ended the game with an eight-point Woodland Warden play.

Final Score: Algeni 19, Dione 50

Algeni's six-game Mystic Madness winning streak comes to an unfortunate end, but Dione's Cinderella story continues. Stay tuned to see who will face her in the finals!

[Cody Lewis]

Game 14: Old Barkarb vs Truffta (Semifinals)

Old Barkarb had a good match-up in the quarterfinals as his ability to reserve cards proved to be a hard counter for Le Que. Going against Truffta is an entirely different beast, so naturally, Old Barkarb The Crafter was seen as the underdog. He opted for a low-mana/high-Spirit build, so he had a hard time securing some of the stronger cards, while Truffta collected as much mana as possible in order to flip his card quickly. Soon after Truffta's flip, however, Old Barkarb managed to assemble his supercard, which would later help produce a 15-point play to end the game before Mushroom King could really get going.

Final Score: Old Barkarb 45, Truffta 15

It looks like we'll have two play-in round underdogs in the Finals: Dione Spirit Whisperer versus Old Barkarb The Crafter!

[Prof. Scarlet Leslie-Lewis]

Game 15: Dione vs Old Barkarb (Finals)

Even before the first fields were planted, this match was already looking to be more vale-dependent as Old Barkarb elected to take the Sun Blessing amulet and deny its power from the Spirit Whisperer. Decay became the key to Old Barkarb's game as he put a Sacrificial Altar advancement with three Decay symbols into his Workshop. Dione was greedily adding to her vale collection each turn, but she left an important one for Old Barkarb -- Haunted Hollow. The Haunted Hollow vale, coupled with the Gaia's Outcast advancement, gives the owner an additional 13 points at the end of game if that player has the most Decay in his deck. With the help of Lore Keeper, the Sacrificial Altar appeared without spoiling, allowing Old Barkarb to get 10 points on his final turn to secure the championship. 

Final Score: Dione 56, Old Barkarb 62

[Cody Lewis]

Congratulations, Old Barkarb! A well deserved victory (even though neither of us wanted to play you)!

Final Bracket

See you next year for Mystic Madness 2020!