Years ago, I met Steve Resk through a mutual friend. Steve created SRG and the pro wrestling card game, The Supershow. Every convention I went to, I’d tell him that I would play in a Supershow event, and I never did. I would always have other events going on or be too exhausted after a full day of convention. A few months back I reviewed The Supershow and bought in to the most recent Kickstarter. I had a fresh batch of cards and no other competitive games on my schedule for Origins 2019. I decided to play in my first ever Supershow event. Here’s how it went.
I don’t have any close friends who play the game. So while at Origins, I just walked up to the SRG booth, and asked what days the different events were. I was going in blind. Luckily, the woman I talked to was the most helpful, upbeat, and friendly person I’ve ever met in my life: Ms. Terious. She got me all the info I needed. I was originally hoping to play in the big Heavyweight Championship Tournament on Saturday, but that conflicted with other stuff I had going on. The Underworld Championship Tournament was starting in just a few hours though. I went and paid for my registration in to the LFF Underworld Championship Tournament.
It was about time for the event to start. I went over to where the competitors were checking in, and gave my name to this guy, the General Manager, John Calace. I also had to tell him what character I was using. I chose Rising Sun. He was one of the original characters when the game launched, and one of the two competitors in the first set I bought a few years ago at Origins. I do have some newer characters thanks to the most recent Kickstarter, but opted to go with Rising Sun. I did modify his deck a bit with the newer cards. Especially when it came to cards that let me search my deck or discard for a Submission. Rising Sun’s Submission finisher, Circle of the Sun, is unique. It doesn’t grant any stat bonuses, but only allows your opponent a single breakout roll. If they fail that kick out, you win. My selection of Rising Sun drew some attention because he is one of the older characters. To my knowledge, I was the only person in the entire tournament using him.
I ran in to a few people I knew while waiting for things to start. One was a former Dice Masters player named Ben. We caught up and chatted about Dice Masters and Supershow. I then ran in to two guys I knew from my pro wrestling training years ago. About 6 years ago I did pro wrestling training for about 6 months. It was a blast. Ultimately, it just wasn’t for me. I was never officially a wrestler, never having a real match, but it was a big part of my life for a while. And it was crazy to run in to these guys. We talked about some wrestling stuff and other board games we were interested in at the convention. Small world.
The time to stand around and talk was done. The LFF Underworld Championship Tournament was about to begin. Here’s the format. Each player would play in 5 bullet round matches. In these 5 bullet rounds you would get paired up against a random opponent and play a best of 1. When your match is over, report back to GM Calace. You would immediately get paired up with a new opponent as soon as someone was available. At the end of 5 rounds, anyone with a winning record would advance to the top cut. Only one of any character could advance in to the cut. So, if multiple people were using the same wrestler, the one with the better record would advance. We had 40 players enter the event.
All I was hoping for was to get a win. I didn’t expect to do well being my first time playing against other competitive players. The pairings were announced, and my first opponent would be… Ms. Terious! Yes, the woman who helped me earlier was my first opponent. I had a few small rules questions as the match went on. But then it happened. I hit my Grapple finisher, Sunset Suplex. Ms. Terious failed all three of her kick out rolls. I won. I won my first match! 1-0, baby! But for real, Ms. Terious was a huge blessing. Not only did she help me earlier in that day when I realized the event I wanted to do wouldn’t work out, but she made my first match fun. Win or lose, it would have been a blast. Even better getting that first win.
Mission accomplished. I wanted to get at least one win, and I did it. My next bullet round match was over quickly. After a few back and forth rolls, I played my ace, Circle of the Sun. My opponent missed the single kick out. 2-0! I now had 3 more matches to get a single victory to make the cut, advancing to the next round.
Here, I took my first loss. I made a pretty bad lapse in judgement during this match. I had an opportunity to play my Circle of the Sun finisher, but I didn’t. I went with a different finisher instead. My opponent had a full hand of cards, so I was hoping to bait out some of their counters before using my go-to. I should have just played it and forced them to counter it. Then worry about getting it back to my hand. I ended the game with Circle of the Sun still in my hand. That was a bad feeling. 2-1.
That last match was a learning experience. It wasn’t going to happen again. I’d play Circle of the Sun as early and often as possible. Lo and behold, my chance at redemption came. I played it at my first opportunity in my 4th match, and it got countered. I was able to play cards that let me pull back from my discard and got it back in my hand. I would not be denied a second time. Circle of the Sun for the win. 3-1 and officially making the cut!
My last round match was not very exciting. I was 3-1 and advancing. My opponent was 1-3 and not advancing. I ended up losing (very quickly, actually) and finished the bullet rounds 3-2. Out of 40 players, 20 had winning records. Two of those 20 were using the same character, so the one with the weaker record was eliminated. 19 players made the cut, and on to a single elimination tournament.
A special announcement was made that all of the matches in this round would be table matches. These use different cards to track the crowd meter, and make Grapple finishers more powerful. Pairings were announced, and I sat across from Bobby Ohio.
Bobby was using Scarlett Graves. This match was a knock down, drag out, war. We both countered multiple finishers. I eventually hit my Strike finisher, but Bobby kicked out. Bobby hit Graves’ Strike finisher, Scarlett Fever, but it couldn’t keep Rising Sun down. I actually drew all the cards in my deck, and was flirting with losing via count-out (no cards in deck or hand). I was able to put some cards from my discard pile back in to my deck, including 2 finishers. I was just trying to survive long enough to see them come to my hand. Then Bobby played Scarlett Graves’ Grapple finisher,
The Scarlett Letter and I didn’t have any counters. Do you remember what I said about table matches earlier? The increased the strength of Grapple finishers. 1. 2. 3. Scarlett Graves put Rising Sun through a table with the Scarlett Letter to get the win. Bobby Ohio advanced, and my debut tournament came to an end. Bobby and I both took a deep breath after it was over. What a match. So many finishers got countered, and it ended in epic fashion. It was an exciting match and we both had a great time.
I had a good showing for my first tournament. It definitely won’t be my last. Bobby ended up going on to claim runner-up for the whole tournament. No shame in losing to him. All of the players, and tournament organizers were friendly. It reminded me of the competitive Dice Masters scene years ago. The way everyone was mingling around in between matches, laughing and having a good time. This player base is a tight community. It was very welcoming to an outsider.
Now, I normally don’t name drop people in articles like I have above, but this game has so many people playing characters who are running the events, I need to mention a few by name. Loudmouth Leo, announcer and general hype man, kept the tournament area lively. GM John Calace kept everything running smooth. Ms. Terious was so helpful and friendly to everyone she interacted with. And it’s always nice to catch up with Steve Resk. He’s created a fun game with a healthy community of players around it. Supershow is so influenced by pro wrestling, that it even carries through to the people behind the scenes trying to act out these characters and put on a show for the players. That causes many of the players themselves to interact with the event staff as if they are also just playing roles in this crazy pro wrestling world. Players will cut promos and have online personas that they keep up while playing in these events. The Supershow community stands apart even while at a convention full of people playing games. The game’s tagline is “a spectacle so grand” and that is the honest truth. The staff, players, and overall community for this game are an amazing spectacle to take in. Do yourself a favor and the next time you’re at a convention with a Supershow tournament, just sign up and see what all of this is about. Become a part of the Supershow.
Special thanks to SRG and James Hand Productions for photographs of the event.
Be the first to comment