That's what I'm naming Tom's run of eleven back to back wins at Ashes against me.

Oh let me back up a little so you have a clue to what I'm talking about.

Last Thursday Tom and I met up at The Angel to play some pre-tournament Ashes. While Tom played a couple of decks, I played mainly a Dimona deck I had built and then “tweaked” between our games.

I like to at least play a couple of games with a deck I've built to get a feel for what works and what doesn't before making changes. It's how I roll in Netrunner. And I don't see a reason to change that with Ashes or even Epic (if I was constructing a deck in that also).

I got my butt handed to me that evening. My attempt at creating big creatures to swing in and do lots of damage didn't really work.

I have to admit my relative inexperience at the game does come through. I haven't nearly played enough games or know the cards well enough. Luckily this is an easier task to achieve than it is in Netrunner. But now I have a regular playing partner this will improve. Sadly, spoiler alert for the rest of the post, not quick enough for the tournament.

Tom and I both had friends that had planned to come to today's Ashes tournament. But due to illness and such were not going to be able to make it. That left just Tom and myself playing in the tournament. A replay of Thursday evening then, at least we were guaranteed one of the prizes!

So I was playing Brennen. I'd created two deck lists before hand. Both around the same idea but with different implementations. I had created these lists on the official PlaidHat Ashes deckbuilder. Which was a pleasant experience. I liked that once you have built your deck it will suggest the dice to use with it. Tom had said he found that it wasn't perfect and for him just off. Which very well may be the case, but it makes a starting point to work from.

I started off with the following deck:

Ready Spells

x2 Chant of Revenge

x3 Chant of the Dead

x2 Hypnotize

x2 Summon Blood Puppet

Blood Puppet

x1 Summon Butterfly Monk

Butterfly Monk

Other Spells

x2 Final Cry

x2 Hidden Power

x2 Poison

x2 Redirect

Allies

x3 Blackcloud Ninja

x2 Blood Archer

x1 Crimson Bomber

x2 Fire Archer

x1 Hammer Knight

x2 Leech Warrior

Dice

x6 Ceremonial

x2 Charm

x1 Illusion

x1 Natural

I found the Hypnotise wasn't used, and was swapped out. Can't remember what with. Yes this was a very casual tournament. Just an extension of last Thursday's match up really.

After four loses I declared Tom the worthy winner of our “tournament” and let him choose between the prizes. As the photo above shows, he chose the beautiful looking playmat. A wise choice. So my second place prize was the alt art Phoenixborn cards for Brennen and Rin. Then we split the alt art mist spirits between the two of us.

My other Brennen deck I played with for the remainder of the event was the following:

Ready Spells

x2 Chant of Revenge

x1 Chant of the Dead

x1 Hypnotize

x1 Summon Butterfly Monk

Butterfly Monk

x1 Summon Gilder

Gilder

x1 Summon Mist Spirit

Mist Spirit

Other Spells

x2 Deep Freeze

x2 Final Cry

x2 Hidden Power

x3 Ice Trap

x2 Massive Growth

x2 Molten Gold

x1 Sympathy Pain

Allies

x1 Anchornaut

x2 Blackcloud Ninja

x1 Crimson Bomber

x2 Fire Archer

x2 Leech Warrior

Dice

x4 Ceremonial

x1 Charm

x1 Illusion

x4 Natural

Oh boy did we laugh when I went to play the Hidden Power card and I realised there was only one charm die! Which was fine playing the summon gilder card. But useless for Hidden Power. How could the Ashes deck builder suggest only one die, when two were needed? Oops think there is a bug there. It was so funny it bought tears to my eyes. Obviously the first tweak between games was to replace the Hidden Power card. Can't remember what I went with instead.

At best I think Tom found these decks annoying, and delayed the inevitable. In the first deck the blood puppets were being used to try and keep his battlefield clogged up, which can be irksome. That worked to some extent. It was cool when I got a combo to work such as when an ally died and triggered two or three things, or/and allowed me to play Final Cry. I love Brennen's ability but his three slot Spellboard was a bit of a handicap. I'd love it to be five. But then that might make him a bit overpowered.

So that's eleven and oh for Tom at the moment. I think that sort of record in a CCG/LCG game deserves to be given the same awe and respect as The Undertakers winning streak at Wrestlemania. So hence why I'm just calling it The Streak.

It's great to have found someone localish to play against. I'm learning a lot from playing against Tom. It really shows that this is his main CCG/LCG, while this is my secondary one. But it's about having fun for me. When the game stops being fun then I'm out. So yes Tom currently has his Streak, which I'm sure I will break sooner than later (I hope). I just hope in the meantime Tom doesn't get bored with winning.

We also need to grow our local meta, ie find/attract more players. I thought having a tournament might do that. However I can honestly say that failed this time. I promoted the event on the major online Ashes communities (Facebook,Reddit, and BGG), plus the event was listed on the PlaidHat events system. Before I crack open the second OP kit I have for a tournament, I need to have grown the local Ashes community first. I'm open to ideas. I have plenty of the promo Dimona and Lulu Phoenixborn to give away to new players! Maybe I should use these as part of some sort of “learn Ashes” event.

Finally unrelated to Ashes, Chris has finished assembling, painting and adding decals (something I don't have the skill set to do) my tanks in the base set of Tanks.

Chris has done an amazing job on the models.

I'm looking forward to getting some games in now.