ProQuest Results

Just reporting back in with how I did at ProQuest Canterbury.

If you recall from my preparations, I was taking Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity to Canterbury last weekend to bring endless winter to all!

I was, in fact, the only Oldhim player.

There were less Prisms in the field than I had thought. Fortunately, I did end up deciding that I want to spec more into my matchup with Viserai than Prism. I removed 2 Zealous Belting in favour of 2 blue Break Ground, because I still wanted to pull of the Exposed to the Elements play. In hindsight, Zealous might have been better. But, what's done is done.

So, how did Oldhim do?

Honestly? Better than expected 😊. The expectaion was I either go to time with most games, or lose all my games. Neither happened.

Round 1 - Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light

My first round was against Arian Sultani, playing Prism. Arian is an excellent player, I know this as we play against each other often at Armouries. I don't even think its an understatement to say that Arian is one of the top players in the country, as he did qualify for Nationals last year.

On turn 1, Prism already managed to put down 2 Auras on the arena. I knew I was in trouble. I did not get a hand that would allow me to play aggressively. So, for most of the game, I tried to control the Auras and swing when I can. Unfortunately, none of my bigger attacks even hit as Spectral Shields were set up in place before damage could resolve. It was definitely my toughest match of the day. But, it was not surprising. Arian played extremely well and had more practise than I did for sure. Well done Arian!

Round 2 - Viserai, Rune Blood

My second game was against Shahmir Samee, another player I encounter often at my local Armouries! The event was more London-dominant than I realised.

Shahmir was playing Viserai, a hero I have had some practise against and was very eager to beat. I was able to start my turns off very aggressively, playing out my Rouse the Ancients and Spinal Crush. In fact, I forced Shamir to block with Bloodsheath Skelata, putting it at a vulnerable position to be destroyed with Exposed to the Elements. This would have been a blow to Viserai as they cannot combo Skelata off Sonata Arcanix and kill Oldhim in one turn. I actually had an Exposed in hand on that turn as well, and stopped the game whilst I have priority to figure out if I could have destroyed Skelata. I suddenly realised my mistake on the previous turn. For some reason, I pitched one of my few Earth cards on the previous turn, which I needed to fuse. I should have known to hold onto to that Earth card if I was planning to play Exposed at some point, as I didn't have that many Earth cards in the deck. It would have been such a meme achievment to have pulled off an Exposed, even if I didn't win the match.

With the Exposed in hand, I then proceeded to make the mistake of holding onto it, hoping another Earth card would show up. I probably should have kept the pressure up instead, as I was doing that reasonably well before too.
Unfortunately, I was unable to take the win in this match. Shahmir is, yet again, another excellent player from my local scene, so it was no surprise that one mistake from my part was all it took.

Round 3 - Lexi, Livewire

My third round was against a hero I've always had trouble with, Lexi, played by Gavin White. I think Lexi is a strong hero, being able to consistently give the opponents Frostbite with her ability, yet still come in with high damage arrows that has on-hit effects. For Oldhim, the Frostbite is a bit annoying. Unlike other heroes, I can't just block with cards in hand and keep one blue Ice card to use Winter's Wail, because Frostbite makes it cost 4. I had to be really careful if I was to win, especially as I haven't had many chance to play against Gavin.

There were two things I did throughout the whole game.

First thing I did was knowing which arrows to take, and when. If an elemental arrow wasn't fused, and keeping my hand means I can swing for tempo, or at least establish more board control (Frostbite, Channel Lake Frigid), I am willing to take the damage. Some arrows I will just take damage, such as Fatigue Shot.

The reason I will take damage from Fatigue Shot is because playing attack action cards isn't a necessity for Oldhim. I'm happy to just swing with Winter's Wail and arsenal my attack action for next turn, especially against Lexi who I think Oldhim would play the fatigue game and let them run out of red arrows. I'm more unwilling to take arrows that fuses to give me Frostbite on-hit, or make things cost more for me to play, so I would usually block them out. I would also not take 'free-damage' cards like Endless Arrow, especially if it has go-again from Voltaire, Strike Twice.

The other thing I did was watching if there was a single Ice card in Gavin's hand. I would Oldhim Ice React to take the single Ice card out of his hand if this was the case. This would mean that Gavin can't give me a Frostbite next turn by arsenal-ing the card. I would also Ice React if I knew that arsenal-ing an arrow card would give Gavin more tempo next turn.

My brain really had to work the whole time. I was able to keep my life total fairly high for most of the game. By the time my life had dropped down to the teens and single-digits, I believe Lexi have also ran out of stronger red arrows, whilst I still have a good chunk of my library. I just kept swinging Winter's Wail, forcing Lexi to block and not able to take tempo, even as we both dropped down to 1 life. My winning swing was a Winter's Wail into a Pummel, when Lexi had no defence reaction to play.

I am fairly proud of myself to have been able to take a win at a ProQuest event. The event was packed full of very high level players, Gavin was definitely no exception as he did end up with a higher standing than I did at the end of the event. My win was proof that my practise has paid off. What's more important is that, even though it was extremely close, I did not go to time on a fatigue game with Oldhim.

Round 4 - Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire

I got paired up for my 4th match. I played against another familiar face, Steve Charlick, running Dash. It was a matchup that I actually don't have too much experience in. I remember the only time I played against Dash as Oldhim, also against Steve at a local armoury, was also the first time I found out about how Dash breaking the combat chain, by loading her pistol, allows me to buff up my Rampart of the Ram's Head with each new chain.

I was clearly fond of that memory, because that is essentially all I did for this game. I thought that I could have fatigued Dash the same way I did other heroes. However, what I had not realised was that Dash would build up an engine, via Induction Chamber and Plasma Purifier, that would allow her to only pitch one blue and come in for 10 to 15 damage each turn. Once the engine was assembled, all I did was prolonging the inevitable.

I did end up losing the game. But, I learnt a lot of valueable lessons. Per Steve's advice, I actually should be trying to out-aggro Dash as Oldhim. Once the engine is up, fatigue is not an effective strategy against Dash. Furthermore, the new card from Everfest, Steadfast, is quite a fun card to play against Teklo Plasma Pistol, as it prevents damage from the source for the whole turn.

I will be applying both advice against Mechanologist matchups in Blitz, as I do find Mechanologist to be one of my weaker matchups at the moment.

Round 5 - Viserai, Rune Blood (second game)

My last game of the day was against Dan Tripp, another familiar face at local armouries and another top player to boot, Dan is 95th on the global XP leaderboard. Dan was running Viserai as well, so it was going to be a tough game. But, one where I'll have fun either way.

For this game, I was going in full-aggro. I played out my Rouse the Ancients, pummeled my Frost Fangs and Command and Conquer to disrupt Dan's hand as much as possible. However, I did not do enough to prevent Viserai from building up about 20 runechants, enough for the OTK. Once Dan popped the OTK, the game was pretty much over. I did manage to get Viserai's life down to the teens though, so I did not feel like it was an impossible game. The difference was obviously in experience and the draw of the cards.

Roundup

I had an extremely fun day playing Flesh and Blood, as always. I'm super happy to have won one game fair and square, and not go to time on any of my games as Oldhim. It shows how far I have come. I just need to repeat this in the upcoming Skirmish season to solidify the evidence of my improvements.

I was also able to learn something from my defeats as well. So, it was all in all a worthwhile experience.

I think ProQuest did also show me how I measured up against the players playing at the highest level. I may continue to attend these events in the future, so that I can track my progress and see how far I've come.

If you had attend a ProQuest event this season, well done! I hope you had some fun. Whether or not you won, your battles will be etched into the annals of Flesh and Blood history.