Ani-Mayhem Online


Report from GenCon

by Tod Harrick

Gen Con marked the first Ani-Mayhem Constructed Deck Masters. Dragon Ball Z cards were not allowed in the Masters.

We saw our usual complement of Ranma 1/2 and Bubblegum Crisis theme decks.

An early favorite was the two-card combo trick Dr. Tofu and Armitage, however, it quickly became clear that this combo was too susceptible to Dr. Tofu's early departure to be effective.

As the tournament progressed, the most powerful strategy used the special Location, The Citadel, a Location that uses a combination of cards from the series El Hazard that can be turned into a Haven. The Haven gives its owner three Wrath of the Eye of God effects, each of which can destroy any card in play. The combination is difficult to put together quickly, but a fast, light deck using this combination proved able to set up the special Haven in one or two turns, making it difficult to stop.

In fact, of the top four finishers, three decks used the Citadel. Stonekeep Emerson, Scott Peterson and Fred Voelttner all counted on it. Unfortunately, Fred came up against a handful of Yohko No Taiso, Step Ones (each turns an attack back upon its attacker) which devastated his Characters and left him unable to Scavenge for too long to take a win.

The biggest challenge to the Citadel decks was made by Tom DiSessa, who played the final game against Scott Peterson. Tom used primarily difficult to Scavenge, Dimensional Locations for his own Field, and loaded up on Characters with Dimensional Abilities and lots of skills. He then made a creative use of the Disaster One World, which prevented Scott from Scavenging any of his own Locations. Tom's deck didn't have a lot of fighting ability, however, so he had to store most of his Items in his Haven. Eventually, Scott was able to use his Assault with Intent to Kill in order to invade Tom's Haven and get just enough Items to win.

A final strength of Scott's deck, a carefully planned Combat Deck. The combination of Deceptions and Hammers with Gas Attacks, gave Scott an edge in combat with Disasters that gave him much more freedom of movement, especially when there were a lot of Disasters roaming about.

Scott Peterson's Deck, winner, Ani-Mayhem Masters, 1997 Gen Con

Starting Characters

Powers, Extra Characters & Havens

Extra Characters

Enhancements

Equipment

Flash Effects

Global Effects

Haven

Items

Locations

Major Disasters

Minor Disasters

Combat Cards

Scrye Volume 4.4 November 1997 [page 31]