gen-con-milwaukee-wi-8-7-99
Title: gen-con-milwaukee-wi-8-7-99
Author: Mike "Iceman" Fitzgerald
Date: Aug 20, 1999
I get on the plan at ATL to go to Milwaukee and aside from noticing
the number of hot females traveling there my dad nudjes me. I look up
and he points to this guy that is two rows up from me. He asks me if
I know who it is. At first I say no and he tells me to think of where we
are going. Then it snaps into place. It is Robin Yount , Milwaukee Brewer baseball player and now Hall of Famer. I felt the twinge that
this trip was lining up to be truly special. We got off and saw a few
Miller Company people who were obviously waiting for him and my dad
guessed that he'd be honored at tommorow night's game , which we
later find out that he was right. I have no problem finding the Hyatt Hotel and
start looking for Steven Turner or anybody playing SWCCG in the hotel but
find no one. I go and get my badge ( one of the register chicks was hot enough
for me to get a pic ;). I start walking around and notice the various games ,
many of which I've never even heard of. Check out as many things as I can before
I come back to the hotel and later meet Steven Turner and Joe Golowka ( think Jim Carrey ) . I start playtesting v. Steve and he smacks both my decks ; LS by
a bunch and then DS by enough. I use the Markley test deck and beat him with
it. So I pen in my decks :
LS - 'Hope You Learned Something' a never tested MWYHL that is sound in theory
DS- a version of Markley's deck.
Saturday morning , I feel confident about my decks , listen to some Godsmack , and then I go to the Exhibit Hall on the 3rd floor to register for the tournament. I ask the guy if that is where the SW thing is and he says yes so I wait. I look around but there isn't really people there that I would call ' Star Wars players'. Sailor Moon costume here , something else there , etc.etc. When they finally open it I run into the Decipher booth to tell Kevin Reitzel I've got 4 more ORS for him ( brings his total up to 85-90ish range ). I ask him where the Open is and he says downstairs so I hussle downstairs to fill in a command card and throw my decklists at Marcus Certa and go meet some people. Good thing for me big Cons don't start on time ;)
Game 1 : My untested MWYHL v. Bill Sweeney's DS HDADTJ
For some reason his name looks familiar and his CCard says he's from Texas. I can't remember reading a post of his though ( thought he was from listserv).
Well the game starts off normal. Me cursing Visage and waiting for him to do something. He puts down LMFarm and EPP Vader on like turn 3 I think. I get Yodie and DoS out and test quickly. I also stick a Bothan Spy and Tawss Khaa to cancel Visage. He has CBHYBC out but Elises Vader into the Holotheatre anyway--might've had something to do with PoaSkywalker on LMF and Great Warrior in effect ;) EPP Vader takes out the Op but Yodie saves Tawss. Next turn he drops Tarkin and a normal Vader for a ton of force ( Goo Nee Tay is now out ) and battles. I lose Tawss and It Could Be Worse about 9 damage. Next turn I pump out Insurrection. Drop CChamber w/ Orrimarko , Wedge , and Beezer there to start the pain. I hit him for a couple of force drains before he eventually starts bringing out his JP Alien theme of Jabba , Mosep , Boelo , Chell Bekan , and a few others. I reply with EPP Luke , Han , Obi , and Tawss. I basically pummel anything he throws out via Yodie , Clash of Sabers , and JT # 2. Win by 17. Record : 2 ( +17 )
Highlights : Winning
Lowlights : Playing LS first.
Game 2 : My HDADTJ v. Ryan Fojtik's MWYHL deck
Well this is major lister number one of the weekend that I have to play against. The game turns ugly right away. Clashes the PotF I had on the Med Chamber. Well that basically turns the game into a bleeder of who can do any damage. He hits up a few DTFs and On The Edges which I don't have Secret Plans up for ( got it turn after ). He wins the gruesome game. Mental Note : HDADTJ deck that has trouble flipping will die. Loss by 21 . Record : 2 ( -4 )
Highlights : Playing against someone I've never played against.
Lowlights : Playing a wussy deck that couldn't even win this game.
Game 3 : My MWYHL v. Ronald Maier's *- aliens deck
He starts JP ETE. Drops Death* first turn and Monnoks first turn also. Well I don't think he hits anything but he gets to see my hand which kinda takes surprise away. I draw up and get out the Training Area to get out both tests ASAP. He goes and gets Mi'oom Onith from Reserve with AChamber gtext. I'm sitting there and thinking to myself that I probably had a counter somewhere in my deck because that is card is too powerful to ignore. On my turn I activate 3 and Signal for my Goo Nee Tay. That takes care of M'ooom and should slow him down some. I also throw a Projection of a Skywalker on the AChamber for good measure. On his turn he tries to use Mi'oom Onith but I remind him about Goo Nee Tay :) So he Monnoks me -- I'm thinking he has 2 because he's just done it the first two turns but that's all he had. I get training set up ASAP. He puts out Imperial Arrest Order so I can toss my Insurrections. I get Battle Plan out to help training and I also look for a Dagobah Site but it isn't there so whatever he didn't see from the Monnoks he now sees . I set up Training ASAP and then line up my drains at CCity. I also throw out Tantive 4 to his death star. On his turn he deploys Executor to Death Star and battles my Tantive 4. I react with Spiral and draw enough destiny to keep it even in power. Next turn I drop EPP Luke and EPP Han there with Bacta Tank out and start lighting up the Executor for more battle damage then I'd have done from draining there ( saves me the 3 force for Battle Plan also). He has Mosep out at the JPalace and hits me for 1 from reserve for a few turns before he draws up on me. I have about 6-8 cards in hand. Win by 13 . Record : 4 ( +9 )
Highlights : Having the answer to every problem that came up.
Lowlights : Getting drawn up on again.
Game 4 : HDADTJ v. Jim Li's All Around deck
Big Listserver game # 2 . Well I start with PotF on his Obi's Hut and drop a First turn Vader to his Hut. I basically kill anything he does early with Vader and Bubo. He cancels Visage with a spy ( you wouldn't believe how often this happens ). Somehow and as a testament to Jim's Skills. Before I know it I'm down to a clip of like 5 force before I can finish him off. He ripped off 6-8 force a turn even taking the 4 drain at Hut and Visage for quite some time. Win by 5. Record : 6 ( +14 )
Highlights : Beating a really good listserver.
Lowlights : Having a really low diff on the day.
Game 5 : My LS v. Cincy Guy's Old School M & T
He starts 5th marker and grabs Broken Concentration for my JTesting. He also drops like Kashyyyk , CC:DTP , and Kessel or something like that. He draws and is done. I try to get my JTesting up ASAP and spit out Goo Nee Tay to slow him down. He Deploys EPP Vader and Tarkin for a load of force and tries to Alter Goo Nee Tay like 3 times failing everytime . I set up Yodie and DoS and draw one of my 6s to train her while It Could Be Worsing his CC drains , this is when I learn he is tossing around major amounts of SAC. He also sets up Bus at Kashyyyk and like Vengeance at Kessel. Here I come. I drop EPP Luke out , Clash Vader ( grapple the Sense ) , battle Tarkin and hit him for 4. Recycle the Clash because of DTFire. Next turn I drop EPP Han and Obi I think and smack away Vader , Marquand , DS-61-2 , and someone else. I lose Luke. Then he chucks out LMF with Evax and Arnet. I deploy EPP Luke and Orrimarko to LMF . Clash Evax and pound on Arnet for Arnet then 9 in Battle damage , and then 2 more from Orrimarko. Recycle the Clash. He then draws up the rest. Win by 10. Record : 8 ( +24 )
Highlights : Winning after surviving early drains. Clashing him around despite mass
SAC.
Lowlights : Getting drawn up on again.
Game 6 : HDADTJ v. a guy's EBO deck.
Hmm. I see the start of Rebel Fleet , MPG , and 4th Marker. That's odd. Then he starts talking to Ray Bordier , whose sitting right next to me , how people expected him to get rocked off the table playing EBO . I get a first turn Flip of Vader to the Med Chamber and let Visage do its work. I don't think he knew HDADTJ very well , he said he hadn't played against one today and it showed. Visage probably hit about 30 cards worth of damage. He played Recoil in Fear and gave me a better hand then I had before. I Counter Assault a few of his big drains and hit him for like 4 extra. I battle him and grapple Hyper Escape. I then start sending my lone Dreadnaughts out to pick off an X-Wing at a time ( using Vader's MedChamber text ). He draws up on me when I have 9 in hand. Win by 23. Record : 10 ( +47 )
Highlights : Winning biggest on the day.
Lowlights : Another person drawing up fairly quickly.
Well I'm 5-1 but with a really low diff so I come up 15 out of 152 which isn't bad at all.
I watch the three games of the Finals intently but don't see any special deck. I do however have a word about Nick Reisch's Lightside. The deck isn't really spectacular. It is a decent deck , he won because he is a good player. The deck is built to annoy the opponent into mistakes and to knock them out of their plan. I highly doubt that people will be able to copy the deck and start using it to any great success. During the 3rd game he drove Joe Mornout nuts because he just had Harc Seff and a bunch of characters running around on the ground and he wouldn't flip Hidden Base until Mornout was done. I'm also surprised at Mornout's DS deck. He left Brangus , Zuckuss , and other ability 4s all alone at a site. I was really surprised that no one put a one site smackdown on him and that would/should've been a loss , then again its all about schedule ;) Ah well. I'll touch up on the Team Tournament and wrap up on all the other stuff in my next email.
Pavlik