things-for-thinkers-tucson-arizona-7-31-99

Title: things-for-thinkers-tucson-arizona-7-31-99
Author: Josh "Momaw Nadon" Latneau
Date: Aug 11, 1999

Yet another tournament I attended this past weekend, I decided to go with ISB Operations for my Dark Side deck and the Alderaan T-47 Ops for my Light side deck, both can be seen on the Decks Page.

When I arrived at the tournament (it didn't start until 12:00, but I got there around 11:15) Mike Girard and Brian Garrison were already there, along with a couple of the other "regulars". I was still deciding if I should play T-47 Ops or Mains and Toy's for my light side, deck, but I went with the Ops at the last minute. In a little while a few other friends showed up and I got yet another box of Endor :-)

I didn't pull that many good cards, but I did get a lot of trades going since a lot of people wanted what I did pull. In the end I ended up with Main Course, Speeder Biker and Ewok and Roll (all Foils). Tempest Scout 1,2,4,5, and Tempest 1. Chewie's AT-ST, Logray (have 2 now..), 2 Tyderiums, the Rebel Landing Site and the Dark Side Endor objective. So that was cool. I also finished my Ability 4 aliens for both sides (getting Jabba The Hutt, Brangus Glee and Tawss Khaa).

Anyways, lets get onto the tournament! Game 1, my LS ops versus Jon Franke's DS Troopers
Ok, put it this way, the game was over the second he deployed a comlink on an ability 3 Imperial. I knew he must have a ton of Troopers in the deck, so if I drained him, I was a goner, and if I battled him, I was a goner too. I made him deploy as much as I could, but making the mistake of not picking up cost me a 12 point differential (he only had 18 cards in life force, but then played Ornament to get a total of 30). So oh well, I'm down, way down, only good thing is I get to play someone who lost as well..only bad thing is..I'm down there :-(
Lose by 30 0(-30)

Game 2 - My DS Drop and Drain ISB versus Derek's LS Mains & Toys
Alright, first thing you should know, not a lot of people have lots of mains to do the mains and toys deck, but they play it anyways. So I get out a ton of sites, (like 5-7) and drain him til the end. Not a very interactive game, although I did get Jedi Pack Tarkin and Darth together =)
Win by 33 2(+3)

Ok, so now I'm back into the dog race and have a chance at the win (unlikely, but I have a chance). So I figure if I play my best, I can do it. Pairings are set and I have to play Frank ???.

Game 3 - DS Drop and Drain Versus Frank's *real* Mains & Toys Deck
Alright, he's one of the few players who can actually have enough mains and stuff to win all his games, I figure my only chance is Ghhking the big battles, and draining him for as much as he can, after all, he can't have *that* many mains on the table at the same time =)
Well, another tribute to my bad draws, getting only 2 ISB agents and 6 sites..this wasn't going to help. I deploy a few of the sites and draw..no ISB Agents! Next turn, Activate, draw, finally got ISB Agents..every single card I drew was one! He hasn't deployed anything yet, waiting for me to make the first move. I knew he had just about everything he needed to win in his hand, but I figured if I could just win the mind game, then I could win the real game. I deploy some ISB Agent and Darth to Obi's Hut (his start) to try and lure out as many mains as I could there. Unfortunately he only deploys 2,Han and Obi. But they both had their respective guns..this was going to be interesting. So he battles, slices, misses, shoots, and misses! :-) Gotta love those sites when the opponent draws them for destiny!
So I start the running race, but he's got his mains spread out very well, and he can stop most of my drains. I knew he would win, it was just by how much. I finally wittled him down to 24, which was pretty good for the opening draw of this deck (it can usually flip 1st turn). So now I'm back to the negative side of the Force :-(
2(-21)

So now I get to go and beat up on newbies again..I really hate that! I wish, oh never mind, it's my own fault it happened anyway :-( so I have to play Michael (think thats who it was) who has only played in one tournament prior to this.

Game 4 - My T-47 Drain versus his capture/freeze 'em deck
Ya gotta give the kid credit for trying to make the deck..but it's not going to work, and I knew that right off. I get the Objective flipped 2nd turn (finally drawing some good cards, 4 operatives in the opening hand!)
He plays a few guys to the Carbon Freezing site (his start) and picks up. I go, flip the objective, and then draw a few, enough to get 3 speeders and 3 T-47 Formations. He gets out the sith lord himself, but couldn't choke the operative since it was in a speeder :-) He battles, and loses a few from hand while I forfeit operative from site, I then deploy another op, retrieve the old one, and battle him, we do this for like 3-5 turns (the whole time I would be doing T-47 Formation if I could) until he finally lost Darth. So he only has like 10 Force left, and he can't drain me (he only got out 1 site the whole game..his SL). So I pick up as little as possible and get another Formation. Next 2 turns, it's game. Win by 30
4 (+9)

So I come out positive, you can't ask for more then that. I get 1 pack of Endor for my effort and pull some wack ewok that I traded right off. Now all I need to do is make some better decks and try my chance at winning again, until next time..

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