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The 6th annual Smackdown in Jacktown is on Saturday, November 7th, 2009.

We'll be forming up registration at 11 a.m. to throw it down at high noon. Meet us at da Vinci primary school at 559 Murphy Dr. in Jackson, Michigan (49202 for the mapquesters).

Bring $5, your meanest Battlematic, most devastating technique, and most powerful fu to face off against the reigning world champion, John Merrill, and the reigning World Dueling Champion, James Deto. There will be a Final Brawl tourney and a Who's the Big Man, Now? tourney.

Do you got what it takes to walk away a champion?

The use of Non-Feng Shui Sites varies between metagames from being rarely played to being ubiquitous Feng Shui shields. Some are critical to theme decks, such as vehicles, Pledged, Face Offs, Manchu, and others. With approximately 85 Non-Feng Shui Sites in print there are many options for deck design. So look beyond the Family Estate, Bandit Hideout, and Secret Headquarters and find that perfect finishing touch for your new deck!

I have sorted Sites by the three key printed variables: Cost, Body, and Power Generated. Looking at the complete list of Sites in this manner was eye-opening for me.

The Modern Ex-Commando

By Michael Stadermann

Ex-Commando
Dangerous Vet
Cost: Dra Dra 3
Generates: Dra
Fighting: 3
Ex-Commando unturns when a Weapon or State is played on him.

This week, we’ll take a look at a good old friend and see how his work environment changed over the years. Instead of trying to provide a complete overview, I will provide a more in-depth view for a specific deck type and explain which cards fit into it well and which ones are less useful.

The Ex-Commando has been around for a long, long time. In fact, he’s been with Shadowfist longer than I have. I guess everybody who plays Dragons has played him at some point, found that he fit into a very state-heavy deck that rocked every once in a while, but mostly sucked, and put him back into the binder. The Ex-Commando’s job wasn’t easy when he came out. There was really only one free state that unturned him, Both Guns Blazing (BGB), and it was that same state that was necessary to pump his fighting. Unpumped, the Commando is a fragile little thing that can dish out a lot of damage, but can get eaten easily by interceptors. So you had to find those Both Guns in your deck to make it work alright, and maybe toss in a few Slo-Mo Vengeance for those rare cases where Both Guns get smoked and the Commando doesn’t to make the combo a bit more robust. Even if you did all that, you still have a very elementary problem: you have a deck full of states that all cost power, and you are very likely to stall because you’re sitting on a handful of guns.

By Brian Bankler

Fermat’s Last Stand
Event
[Pur] [Pur] 1
All Characters you control gain +1 Fighting until they leave play, then take one damage.

When I opened up my Shurikens & Six Guns cards, I stared at this. Then I banished it to the back of the box. With so many good cards, why bother? Later I recognized the amazing potential.

This gives one fighting per character. But you suffer one damage per character, so it’s a wash. If you can’t avoid the damage, it’s slow. Many characters ignore the damage, though.

• Any character with Toughness is safe, which includes Void, Twisted Horror (if you have an edge) and Morphic Spirit (if you have a second faction).

By Braz King

Although pod drafting is becoming more popular, it is still important to know what foundation cards and Feng Shui Sites are available in the sets that you are drafting from. It will let you know what you might have access to when making draft decisions and what cards you may be facing in the tournament.

The article would also be useful for new players to see what sets to look for to help build their collections.

This document provides a detailed breakdown of Feng Shui Sites and foundations cards for each booster set printed during the Z-Man era.

# of FSS and Foundations by Set

Title: 36-Legged Horror!
Subtitle: Spirit of Persistence
Cost: Pur Mag 3
Provides: Pur
Fighting: 4
Text: Mobility. +2 damage to Characters. Cannot be prevented from
intercepting. (This overrides 'cannot intercept' and 'ceases
intercepting' effects.) Not affected by other Character's Stealth
or Superleap.
Tag:
Artist: Angga Satriohadi
Faction: Purists
Set: Empire of Evil
Rarity: U

Title: Abomination Serum
Subtitle: State
Cost: Arch Arch Mag Tech 3
Text: Unique. Subject Character gains +3 Fighting and the designator
*Abomination*. Turn and maintain a *Scientist* Character you

By Michael Stadermann

Revenge on the Patent Office!
Event
Cost: Jam 1
Inflict 2 damage on target Character and 2 damage on the front-row Site at its location.

Revenge on the Patent Office (RotPO) is a card from the new set that has a “done” feel to it, since its effect or method of use is very similar to Disco Inferno and Close Call, two outstanding events. Given that it has to compete with both of these for deck space, what does RotPO bring to the table that the other two don’t?

First off, RotPO is the only direct damage zap event that the Jammers have that has no targeting limitations. Let me repeat that, because it’s so important. You can zap anything, anywhere, anytime. You don’t have to wait for the opponent to zap you first, you don’t have to be attacking or be attacked, and the target doesn’t have to be damaged. As soon as the opponent plays The Emperor, when he drops an Amulet on that annoying Chaos Spirit, when he plays the Tommy Gun on his Hacker and is about to mow down your weenie horde, or when he turns Father of Chaos to heal, you can show him how things are done at the Patent Office! Sure, the damage is only minor, but there is a surprising number of annoying characters with 2 or less fighting that this event smokes outright, and you’ll be surprised how often you will use RotPO in this fashion.

Icebergs.

By Braz King.

Julia Saberhagen is soaked with sweat. In silent darkness she takes in a slow deep breath, sending it down her back and into her legs to relieve the strain of stillness. She has been in the narrow air duct above the main gallery room of the McMichael Art Gallery for eight hours now and has barely moved. Only twice, when the pain became excruciating, did she roll slowly onto her side to shift the weight to different muscles and let the blood circulate to the aching places. She arrived at the Gallery yesterday, blending into the small crowd of art lovers, then hid in the basement store room at closing time. At 8 p.m. she picked a precise route into the duct over the entry way.

By Daniel Griego

Playing in the Sand...

My introduction to Shadowfist came about began back in the Daedalus days at a local San Antonio gaming convention. Peter “Red” Trudell presented me with the game and gave me my first deck, featuring the Architects, during his demo. Later during the con, I played in my first Shadowfist tournament and I knew right away I’d found a great game. I kept it up for a while but dropped off after the Daedalus fallout. After dusting off my collection several years later, I made an active attempt to see what had come of the game and to find a new group. As luck would have it right around the first printing of Red Wedding I came upon Red and his group and they eagerly welcomed me back into the game.. I’ve avidly enjoyed the game ever since.

By Clint Oldridge and Andy Holt.

There were two UK National Championship tourneys this year, 3- and 4-player. The 3-player event was held in September and the 4-player in July.

Sam Roads (Cardiff Cartel) is the 3-player champ, Clint Oldridge (Cardiff Cartel) is the 4-player champ.

First, some highlights, or series of random memories, of the 3-Player championship tournament as reported by Andy Holt:

* The shop having taken the trouble to use some Chinese Lanterns for decoration.

* A total of 21 players including Happy - he recruited Clint, Ron, and myself as extra judges so that there was always one judge outside a game.