Hange Zoë at StarkDark
By Richard Bernard
Howdy gamers!
Coming off the recent StarkDark event in Jacksonville, FL, I wanted to take some time to dive into the day, sharing how the rounds felt and my personal analysis on each match. I played Hangë Zoe 1 on Life (the deck I talked about in my recent Tech Decks article) which you can check out here.
The event was a great proving ground for the deck I poured so much love and analysis into, granting me a horizon beyond just my local scene.
Here is the round-by-round breakdown:
Round 1: Chris Bromley on Death Mikasa 4 (2-1; Win)
Man, what a match. This was one of those sets I thought I knew what I was getting into— a character I’ve practiced against, but piloted by a player I’ve heard tall-tales about.
The trickiest part of the matchup was staying locked into my gameplan: “Keep their board small, then Titanpile to the moon.” The constant threat of Timely Counterattack made it hard to line up my triple string of 5-difficulty attacks, Unyielding Destruction, Beast Titan’s Rock Barrage, and Titanpile. Chris was also running Koenma’s Task and Sweeping Daggers, which he used to great effect to target my Harness Undeath— I had to stay hyper aware of it to avoid losing to my own move.
I lost a game in the set to a brutal string of three Timely Counterattacks after I’d spent all my resources. (Ouch.) Still, I was able to claw my way through the set by punishing every possible opening while keeping my guard up.
Round 2: Chris Minor on Void Rodan (2-0; Win)
This was the match I feared going into the most. Void as a symbol has so many answers that shut down my deck’s gameplan and make it an absolute nightmare to fight against. Still, I stuck to my guns and hoped for the best: “Keep their board small, then Titanpile to the moon.”
The constant threat I had to keep in mind was where Chris’s copies of Barrier Shield, Violent Animus Shot, and Filled with Doubt were at any point. Barrier Shield made my Titanpiles blockable even if his board was committed, Animus threatened my Nine Titans, and Filled with Doubt shut down my ability to clear his stage with Unyielding Destruction.
Thanks to the massive amount of damage reduction (DR) in my deck, I made it hard for Chris to push damage and build momentum. I just had to keep sculpting my hand and wait for my moment in both games. While Void still scares me and proves to be my hardest opponent, I left this set feeling way more confident about the matchup.
Round 3: Xzeavier M on Chaos Reiner 2 (2-0, Win)
This was a total wild card for me—I’d never played into Reiner 2 before, so I had to tread carefully. I chose to build up in situations where I could’ve swung just to stay extra safe behind my wall of DR.
He was in a similar boat and had no idea what my deck was trying to do, which worked really well in my favor. He was running a 4-check tribal list with cards like Female Titan Attacks, Knockdown Blow, and Titan Capture. That made my DR plan a little awkward, so I had to be more frugal with my resources.
The trickiest part of the matchup was Reiner 2’s dual health pool. One Titanpile wasn’t going to get the job done. Patience was king here. I just had to keep building up my stage and I would eventually eke it out. This match reminded me that King Ghidorah is still a character I need to keep in mind, given the similar multiple-health-pool situation. I’ll need to practice that matchup in the future.
Round 4: Tam Cardwell on Air Pony (0-2, Loss)
This was my rude awakening—but also one of the most fun matches of the day. I might’ve gone in a little overconfident, thinking Pony was a good matchup for me. That might still be true (though I admit I’m not positive), but every step of this match was a struggle.
Even with sideboard answers like Kaya’s Compassion, I couldn’t survive the constant barrage of attacks. The biggest problem was Vast Hybrid Chimera Kraken hitting my key defensive foundations. And I wonder—if Tam hadn’t found them (in Pony? Yeah, right)--would the match have gone differently?
Either way, there’s no point dwelling on what-ifs. I learned that even when I think a matchup is in my favor, I still need to plan for the worst and play on top of my A-game. That said, I’m going to need to test more extensively into Pony and other string-heavy characters.
Round 5: Colin C on Death Pieck Finger (2-0, Win)
Whelp. It was bound to happen: Pieck. Universus. The colloquially known “best deck in the room” and the supposed boogeyman of the current meta. I’d had zero testing into this deck—no one in my local scene really touches the character—but I had a gut feeling that this was a good matchup for me.
Pieck keeps a relatively small stage since so many of her effects involve sacrificing foundations for stats. That worked in my favor—what she gained in stat pumping by sacking a foundation, I was stripping away just as fast with commit effects on my backups and foundations. It turned into a war of attrition, and that’s a game I win through insane amounts of efficient damage reduction and strong speed hates for when DR isn’t wise.
Order Pieck may give me more trouble in the future thanks to Violent Animus Shot, but hey—we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
Round 6: Josh Moore on Air Pony (0-0, Intentional Draw)
We ID’d and played some sick retro games.
Conclusion: 4-1-1, 3rd Place in Swiss
Overall, the event was an absolute blast. I played a lot of great matches and got to spend the day with people I’d love to hang out with again at future events. It reminded me how great our community is, how awesome the people in it are, and exemplified my pride in being a part of it.
Huge shoutout to the StarkDark team and Counterspell Games for running a smooth event. I’m already looking forward to the next one.
Thanks for reading, and as always: Keep Coping!