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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.

Shadowfist player, Simon Strange, shares with you his card-by-card commentary on the Empire of Evil booster set. Have fun reading and share your thoughts at Shadowfist_forum@yahoogroups.com.

My rating system explained:

1.0 - Totally lame card which I expect will never see play.
2.0 - A reasonable card in some cases, but in general there are better options.
3.0 - A solid card with a good variety of applications.
4.0 - Over the curve. Expect to see these cards early and often.
5.0 - Use it now before it gets nerfed.

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Architect:
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Abomination Serum

This card has great art, and fits the Shadowfist universe really well, but unfortunately it comes to as us as more of a novelty than a workhorse-type card. On its own it's a high-resourced 3 for +3 fighting state. If you have a scientist in play it sort of acts like a Unique Shadowy Mentor - but it's fragile because it requires that the scientist be maintained. For the same power investment I could probably just play CHAR, and in most cases I probably would.

Do you want to add a little extra challenge to your Shadowfist games?

Do you have the mad skillz to show off?

Want to win cool promo cards and get your name up in lights?

Then follow Shadowfist_CCG on Twitter or join the Shadowfist group on Facebook to get the details on our monthly contests.

The first contest, "Ultimate Unturning" just wrapped up and was won by Matthew Woolley with Tye Boynton as runner-up.

The second contest, "Where's the Beef!?" has just been announced.

Check it out! Demonstrate your might! Win prizes! Have fun. :)

Card of the Week: Shaolin Hoedown

By Michael Stadermann

Shaolin Hoedown

Event
Cost: [Han] [Han] [Chi] 0
Toast It :: Every player, starting with you and going clockwise, may choose a Character he or she controls. All chosen Characters are taken control of by the player to the left. Each player who gave away a Character gains Power equal to its cost.

I’m going to break my rhythm a bit this week and talk about a card that is very obviously good. I believe Shaolin Hoedown may become the signature card of the set, surpassing even Potlatch in how often you see it played. The only two things I dislike are its name and its rarity; if you find that you have no use for your Hoedowns, please send them to me.

* Xin Ji Yang unites her father, Xin Kai Sheng and the Centre of the Lotus, Gao Zhang in a plot to launch worldwide attacks in the ancient juncture. The key to her plan is an alliance by marriage to the Alabaster King, an underworld Demon King.

* The Lotus combines the Imperial Chinese army, an army of undead, sorcerers, and millions of demons into one unprecedented infernal army. Xin Ji Yang also solicits some aid from the Queen of the Darkness Pagoda in exchange for underworld-related favours.

* The King of the Thunder Pagoda finds out and sends forces to fight his sister... on principle.

By Robin Parmar

Robin used his deck, Double Dragon, to win the online Thunder Arena Proving Ground League’s Comrades in Arms tournament.

People know me as a Dragon player, though I was also one of the first to take to the Purists and developed a deck after Dark Future that I had to retire in my old playgroup -- people thought it was just too good. So for the Online League Comrades in Arms tournament I put together a Purist and a Dragon deck, and tested both.

The Purist deck revolves around Glimpse of Brief Eternity, which I personally believe is far more broken than Discerning Fire in this format. It costs nothing, almost always smokes a card, screws up some deck manipulation engines and gives you the advantage of seeing into an opponent's deck. Furthermore it does not target, and so is proof against Festival Circle and the like. As if that isn't enough, it cannot be stopped by Got My Mojo Working and Who's the Monkey Now?, since it is only when it resolves that a card is smoked.

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).