by Charlotte Malone
Happy Leap Day everybody!
On Leap Day 2016, someone on my work team said something astute. (To be fair, it could have been Workman. Sometimes he can wise.) We were in stand-up and whoever it was said “You get an extra day once every four years. You should do something memorable.” That day, we went out for sushi. And I remember it. (I had this thing called a 007 Roll, which I thought might legally kill me, but it was pretty innocuous really.)
So now Leap Day has rolled around again, and again, I did something memorable.
Yeah. I said it.
Ashes draft.
You will recall that we last drafted in June. And it was just me, the Hubz, Leon and Munch that day. Because Workman can't calendar. This time around, I reserved the date in early January, and picked February the 29th and made a big deal about it being Leap Day, hoping it would help everyone remember. Either it worked, or I just got lucky but everyone showed up. Boo-yah.
Workman started the poor-mouthing early. "I don't even remember how to play." Spoiler alert: he absolutely remembers how to play.
We used the same 108-card cube we used last time. It worked well, no need to fix the unbroke. I drew Coal and Harold. So basically, I drew Harold. I managed to stay in purple and green for most of the draft, but then went stark raving mad and got into black and pink before it was all over. Four colors. Yikes.
Old Weird HaroldMeanwhile, Mark drafted the unfortunate-looking Fiona, Munch took perennial draft-favorite Orrick, Leon took the unassuming Rimea and Workman took 100% That Bitch Lulu.
Workman "I'm taking the first bye round. I need a refresher on the rules."
Me: "No, you just want to scope out everyone's deck. I'll take the first bye."
Mark: "Just do the first player app and whoever it picks sits out."
We did the app. It picked Workman. I hate the app.
Ma dice poolI played Leon first. He drafted Expand Energy. I don't think I've ever played a game of Ashes with him when he didn't have Expand Energy. I can't see Expand Energy and not think of Leon.
Rimea has the Ancestral Army. I hate the Ancestral Army. But she didn't have much else. Not at first anyway. We slogged along. My Living Doll did considerable damage to Leon, but he stayed alive. And then late game, his deck totally switched gears and started exhausting me left and right. I finally got enough damage on him to win, but our game took a while.
Long enough for Mark and Munch to play and for Workman and Munch to get in a good half a game.
And speaking of the Mark/Munch match-up, Workman ran his mouth the whole game about how OP Munch's deck was. "I think Munch's going 4-0 today. I don't see anybody beating the deck he's put together." And then Mark won and we all wondered if this was all part of Workman's plan for total psychological domination.
Then Workman beat Munch and we knew it was all part of Workman's plan for total psychological domination.
Then Workman beat me. Handily. Harold has a solid battlefield that just gets bigger, but that bitch Lulu wouldn't let me get anything out. It wasn't even close. (Don't remember how to play my ass.)
While Workman swept the floor with me, Mark took down Leon. If you're keeping score, Mark and Workman were both 2-0, Leon and Munch 0-2, and I was 1-1.
Mixing it up.Next up was the battle of the winless, and the battle of the lossless. Munch laid out a big battlefield that Leon just exhausted and exhausted and exhausted. And then he beat Munch's face in. Leon was 1-2, Munch was 0-3. ("I don't know how anybody's going to beat the deck he put together." Hate. Him. So. Much.)
Then I played Munch and he took a page from Workman's playbook and wouldn't let me build any semblance of a battlefield. Stupid Gobi Sunsheilds. Munch won and went to 1-3. I was 1-2.
If you're wondering what happened to the battle of the lossless, it was still happening. It was super-tense. And then Workman won. Because of course he did. He doesn't even remember how to play.
Finally, I played Mark and Workman played Leon. I switched up my starting five and took only allies and my one ready spell. I was going to get my battlefield out come hell or high water.
Ma battlefieldI did get my battlefield out. But so did Mark. Fiona had 15 health, but Mark had drafted so much healing, it didn't matter how much I hit him, he just took it off. And unfortunately, I got Harold's health to 24, so our game took forever.
Workman beat Leon, and they all just stood around and watched our match. And watched. And watched. And ate pie. And watched. I said they could go home if they needed to, but they said no, they wanted to see how it turned out. Mark and I kept playing.
Then Leon finally said he had to leave. Mark and I kept playing.
I had an eight battlefield and Mark had six. But I couldn't get around his units. Not without leaving myself open to damage. I don't play well in that scenario. (It didn't help having everyone standing around watching. And let's be honest, judging.)
Mark just waited me out and I finally decked myself and drew into enough damage to kill myself. Game over.
What a day. GGs all around.
The view from my side of the table X4.Final tally:
Workman 4-0
Mark 3-1
Me, Munch, and Leon 1-3
Despite Workman's complete domination, both psychological and tactical, it was a good draft and a good day. If you play Ashes and you don't draft, you are leaving so much fun times on the table. Drafting is the BEST way to play Ashes.
And that is how we spent our extra day this year. It was definitely memorable. I mean if I remember that 007 roll, I'm definitely remembering this.
We'll be back to our regularly scheduled weeknight Game Night next week, so please be on the lookout. In the mean time, thanks for reading and happy gaming!
