Preparing for my first Skirmish

A Skirmish is a type of Organised Play that is a bit more competitive than your weekly Armoury, with slightly more spicy prizes.

We are going into the third season of Skirmish, and this will be my first time participating! I am planning to only do the Rule Zero's Blitz Skirmish, which is this weekend on 27/11. So, I've been preparing for it. How, you ask?

Practise, practise, practise

I know exactly which hero I'll be playing: Oldhim of course, given I have the most experience playing ol' Santa. For pretty much all of November, I've just been practicing Oldhim at weekly Armouries. I have become more used to Oldhim's general strategy and learnt where my deck needs improvements. Slowly but surely, I've improved my deck and learnt it enough to formulate a game plan.
The only regret I have is not being able to practise more! I still need to learn my matchups, as I rarely play against any heroes other than Lexi, and even then I rarely win if at all. But, at least I can tell that with each game, my skills were improving.

Improving my deck

Not going to lie, went on a bit of a spending spree this November to get cards I wanted. I definitely shilled on equipments: Winter's Wail, Tectonic Plating, Crater Fist.

They're all straight up upgrades from the common equipments I had (Titan's fist, Goliath Gauntlet etc.), so not much to say there.
The only equipment I haven't quite pulled the wallet out for was Crown of Seeds, but it is what it is.

I also got some interesting cards that previously were not in the deck: Pulse of Isenloft, Awakening, Oaken Old, Spinal Crush and Blizzard. I didn't really want to spend on CnC or E-strike at the moment, given Everfest speculation.

Pulse of Isenloft is definitely the most useful card in the lot. It's just super versatile for Oldhim. I can pitch it for Winter's Wail. I can pitch it to activate both of Oldhim's defense reaction effects. I can also fuse it with both Earth or Ice fusion cards.

Oaken Old and Awakening were cards I didn't expect to add, but found it fun to play! The idea is to "flip the script" with Awakening on a turn where I don't defend well (intentionally or not), and fetch out something big like Endless Winter, Oaken Old or even Spinal Crush. With Pulse of Isenloft in hand, I could fuse Oaken Old no problem. If I have pitched Pulse already, I could fetch something else instead of Oaken Old, and use the shuffle effect to hopefully bring Pulse up the deck and draw it out earlier, especially if its near the bottom anyway.
The alternative to Awakening is of course to just defend better and not lose life for the gamble.

Blizzard is primarily to annoy Lexi and Briar players with their go again. It has worked out alright so far, but possibly could be replaced with a Guardian staple like Cranial Crush. However, I was coming from a pure Ice Oldhim, and want to still keep some of that around.

I probably can do some more tweaks. Maybe put in a Tear Asunder instead of playing 2 Awakening like a madman. I've been correctly advised that Awakening is much better in CC anyway.

Remember, it's still good fun

Yes, Skirmish is technically more competitive. But, even as a more casual player, I don't at all feel like it's not for me. This is partly thanks to the welcoming community of London FaB players, who have been patient with my rather unskilled plays. They have made me feel welcomed enough to participate in the event, regardless of my prediction that I'll end up in the bottom 8.
I really look forward to this Saturday, it's going to be really fun!