newcastle-united-kingdom-8-22-99
Title: newcastle-united-kingdom-8-22-99
Author: Alex "Greedo" Tennet
Date: Aug 24, 1999
This was the final qualifier in the UK, alongside Bruce Savins down in Bisley. I, however, was there for the tournament itself having already qualified in June. Still, Mike Burgess - SM and TD - had told me that I could play, and I made the decision the previous night that I would. My main aim was to get one of my 'padawans' to the regional however, and thus he had the pick of my collection first. I made do with what I could that was left over. I wasnt too happy with either my Light Side or Dark Side, but it was so late that I decided to just use a few old ideas - Hunt Down with High Destinies and good space presence [DS] and M&T Beatdown with destiny adders [LS].
Game 1 - BYE
Bah, not what I wanted. I do not like byes, but never mind. Wandered round, talked to various people and refined my decks marginally. The usual.
Game 2 - Vs. Chris Arthurs
My Hunt Down And Destroy The Jedi deck
Vs.
His MWYHL deck
He started Wise Advice, and after a little mental debate, I plumped for POTF. A wise choice as it turned out. Visage did the damage for several turns before I could find Vader (I hate getting Vader-screwed, so to speak). With my early strategy a little damaged, I went for the space element. He counters a drain of 2 at Endor with RLIR1 and Landing Claw (yes, I remembered right before this game started that I had forgotten to put a Those Rebels Wont Escape Us in the deck, how ironic). Nevertheless I continued my hold on space with more planets and starships. Due to the intensiveness of MWYHL, Visage was proving a thorn in his side, and I had Barquin providing retrieval for me every turn. A well-placed Monnok took out 4 Counter Assaults, and although I was now in the lead, he was very close to finishing his training of DOS. With the On the Edges and Counter Assaults I knew that he had, plus the immediate 10 force retrieval for a flipped objective, I had to work fast before he could finish JT 5 and get that 7 set destiny. Knowing I had two turns to play with, I fished for a Twilek with Unexpected Interruption. Bingo. Twilek then fetches CHYBC. He makes a last ditch attempt to get two battlegrounds occupied by throwing down Han and Red 5 to Corulag (in addition to the RLIR1 attached with Landing Claw at Endor). A Lateral Damage and a couple of Dreadnaughts take care of that threat however, and his retrieval for the flipped objective is cancelled. Its my game from then on.
Final Score: 2 (+ 33)
Game 3 - Vs. Paul Pattison
My Hunt Down and Destroy the Jedi deck
Vs.
His Endor Mains with Kazak/Ithorians
Paul started Chirpas Hut and used Careful planning to get the Landing site. I got Vader in my starting hand and he was down first turn. The space fleet rolled in and I put out Battle Order. Now he had only one drain of 3 at the Landing Site, although there were lots of characters there, and he was having to pay 3 for it every time. Then comes a Nabrun. The sense attempt fails and it looks like Vader is in big trouble. Then I pull out Elis, draw a one and move Vader straight back to the Landing site with a sigh of relief. With CHYBC in effect, hes not getting any drains on the Executor after I alter my POTF. Visage is cancelled however. It looks like lockdown after I fish for a sense with Unexpected Interruption, hes not going to use his Nabrun for sure. However, next turn he deploys Lieutenant Greeve to the landing site. Debating what it could be that he intends to do, I decide better safe than sorry and Imperial Barrier him. Nodding, he deploys a concussion grenade and ends his turn. Hmm. After weighing it up in my mind, I battle him, slice Greeve with the saber, and indeed he draws a CoK for the grenades destiny. Vader dies and Greeve is subsequently lost. Next its his turn, and he deploys Farmboy Luke and another small character to the landing site, probably gambling on the fact that I wouldnt have a Vader or that his attempt to Nabrun would pass. I always have a Vader. Nabrun fails. I deploy Vader, initiate the Epic Duel and Luke is chosen to be lost. That finishes him off.
Final Score: 2 (+20something)
Game 4 - Vs. Paul Pattison
My M&T Beatdown
Vs.
His Endor Ops
I guessed that maybe he was trying to set up Decree and Ominous Rumors, but turns out I was wrong. I fetch a Nudj with the swamp and get another in my hand - good start. I also get Yodas Hut and the Hoth: War Room; very good start. Im now activating more than twice what he is, and he deploys Cabbel to the Bunker on his turn. Then he begins drawing, just waiting to use those counter cards on the revolutions that he think are coming. Youll be waiting a while, Paul. After a few turns he gets the idea, deploys Blizzard 2 to the Landing Platform with Vader as a pilot, then the Forest Clearing comes down. Cabbel moves to the platform and boards the walker, which then moves to the Clearing. Hmm, a drain of 2. (Note - the real annoyance is that I had been searching for one of my spies to beatdown on Cabbel and had finally drawn one the previous turn. So this could have been over far quicker...never mind). Anyway, I activate a large amount, leaving just enough for the multiple destinies. Deploy EPP Obi, Luke, Leia and Han plus DTF (he has no cards in his force pile). Play I Know, Skywalkers and Dont Get Cocky. I use Smoke Screen to get an automatic 6, and leave the rest to chance. I get a good draw and he loses a nice amount, plus the characters and AT-AT. I drop Obi to attrition as I have another in my hand. Next turn he reels from this blow and draws. I take the initiative and get some space presence at Endor with RLIR1 and GLIG1, wiping out the Star Destroyer he has there. Leaving multiple-destiny-drawing combos together, I spread out a little to get the drains in. He saves force and I keep my destiny adders and Nabrun handy. The Executor comes down to Endor, and is Rebel Barriered. Seemingly a little surprised, he deploys a Death Squadron Star Destroyer as well and ends his turn. Looking at my hand, I have nothing to make it worth taking that on, and plenty to lose to a few force drains there. So on my turn, I continue my draining and land both ships to use as extra fodder if necessary in a ground battle. I also, as he is getting low on force, decide to move away the Nudjes and prepare to Nabrun - which I do on my next turn, with Obi and Luke. They separate on Yavin 4 and begin draining. He gets a few ships ready and puts down Kessel, but Im not worried. He makes a final attack on Obi at the farm with Tarkin - who I Rebel Barrier - and Dyer. Knowing the game is mine now, I initiate battle against them next turn after deploying Orrimaarko, play Clash of Sabers on Tarkin and thats the game over right there.
Final Score 2 (+ around 15)
Game 5 - Vs. Iain Reid
My Hunt Down and Destroy The Jedi deck
Vs.
His Hidden Base deck
Iain is ranked one spot above me in the UK, and is an excellent player. I knew this would be a tough match, as we were the only undefeated players at this point. He was also there to qualify after his details had failed to be entered from his last qualifier. Well, I kicked things off by saying he bore a striking resemblance to Wedge Antilles (the Jack Klaff one) - he didnt agree, and I compared him to the card. I swear, the resemblance is uncanny. Still, after that slight interruption, we began.
Vader hit the POTF battleground and I had my flipped objective. He started fetching systems and deploying nothing as yet. Visage was damaging him, and although he had managed to cancel it once with a spy, Vader had dealt with that threat and I had deployed another Visage to replace it. I also Twilek-ed for a Security Precautions and deployed it on the Holotheatre. He finally gets out a few X-Wings and Corvettes to the Rendezvous point, and moves them all to Kessel in his move phase, and Farmboy Luke hits the Meditation Chamber to flip back my objective. On my turn, I decide to go for it and deploy 2 Dreadnaughts to Kiffex for a drain, then move Vader over and Epic Duel Luke. Vader wins the duel by a huge amount and Luke is mine. Objective flips back again. I Alter his S-Foils to cut down on any beatdown he might be planning. He deploys RLIR1 against my 2 Dreadnaughts and I Imperial Barrier him. He decides to deploy a couple of X-Wings as backup and ends his turn. More than five systems on the table now, but still no flip of Hidden Base. I take a chance and battle the X-Wings at Kiffex with my Dreadnaughts, draw a 6 for my destiny and he gets a 2, which I reduce to 0 using the objectives text. I have power 18 against his 11, and he loses the two basic X-Wings. Next turn he deploys yet more systems and STILL no flip. I think the deck was built to give Security Precautions a tough time.....anyway, he gets a corvette out with Theron Nett piloting at the Rendezvous Point and deploys Kessel Run. After moving RLIR1 to Raltiir, he moves the corvette to Kessel to do the run and my draw is a 6 - hes fine. Nett moves into another corvette and I attempt to Alter Kessel Run. Its successful, and KR is lost. Next turn, I throw down Bossk in the Bus and a Dreadnaught against RLIR1 and he Houjixes the damage. I move to Hoth with both ships for an increased drain. On his turn he deploys more systems and, running out of options, spreads out with a few X-Wings for more drain. Hidden Base flips. My drains at Kiffex and Hoth on the subsequent turn are cancelled with HB and I probe both systems. No result. Keeping a clear head, I move the two Dreadnaughts from Kiffex to Raltiir, and BIHT with Dreadnaught to Tatooine. In his deploy phase I probe Raltiir first - no result - and then Tatooine - got it! With 9 systems out its only a force loss of 6, but due to his waning life force and me retrieving every control phase with Barquin, its enough to take him low enough that he has to draw up with 3 cards in my hand.
Final Score: 2 (+ 35)
Game 6 - Vs. Iain Reid
My M&T Beatdown deck
Vs.
His Hunt Down and Destroy the Jedi deck
Here we go again. This game started badly when I looked for a Nudj and found none...he got a look through my deck before we even began. He gave me my deck back to shuffle and about 10 seconds later, after thinking about it, said 'Hang on a minute, where are the revolutions?' I grinned and said nothing. After throwing down the two 2/0 locations in my hand, I drew up my force pile to get the Nudjes and the last card was a Transmission Terminated - phew! I cancelled Visage before it was able to damage me, and he looked a little peeved (though to Iains credit, he was very good throughout our two games at not showing his emotion when anything went wrong - this kept me guessing). On his first turn he got out Yavin 4, drew a little and saved some force. I continued to draw for an EPP Han. Then he pulls out Kuat and Kuat Drive Yards - which was a shock, to say the least. He gets a Star Destroyer from his reserve deck and ends his turn. On my turn, I deploy the Tantive IV to Kuat alongside GLIG1 and battle the Star Destroyer, killing it off with a battle destiny of 4. It seemed that I had the advantage now, as most of his starships would be deploy 11. However, he was activating a fair amount now after the deployment of his Fondor and Kiffex, and next turn he deployed the Avenger from his reserve deck to Kuat (with DS-61-2 as pilot) and moved it to Kiffex for a drain. I responded by deploying BoShek as an extra pilot in GLIG1 and attempted to Alter Kuat Drive Yards. I drew a 4 - theres that down the pan. Still, I wasnt too distraught, as a Lost Grimtaash was able to take out 3 Undercovers. However, I did make a big mistake at this point. I got greedy. Had I just deployed that spy Id had in my hand for ages to the Executor and got a nice force drain there, I could well have pulled this off. Instead, I moved my Nudj away from the Farm to try and entice Vader to deploy so that I could beat him down. I should have realised that with Iain already getting a look at my deck, he would never have done anything so silly. I attempted to beat off his space force at Kiffex and ended up losing BoShek for my trouble. The Tantive IV and GLIG1 moved to Yavin and I let them be battled so that I could lose the capital ship and land the starfighter at the Massassi Headquarters. However, with Star Destroyers now in orbit, it was a simple matter for Vader to be dropped to the Farm and shuttled up after flipping the objective. Most of my starships were gone now, and I resorted to something I should have done far earlier - dropping a spy to the Executor. Unfortunately I then made my worst mistake all day and put Obi and Luke at the sites to drain - completely forgetting that the flipside of HDADTJ did not allow Jedi or Skywalkers to force drain. That lapse in concentration was to cost me dear. On his turn he deployed Imperial Arrest Order and, although I did not know it then, that was game over right there. I had Han and Chewie on Yavin 4 alongside Leia and the landed GLIG1 now that the Nudjes had moved away, and he chose to shuttle Vader down to Leias site in his move phase. I began my turn and attempted to drain, this was when he reminded me of the text of Their Fire Has Gone Out of the Universe. I sort of stared at the card for a few seconds (Im sure this was terribly amusing :-) and I very nearly thumped my head on the table. Well, with Obi and Luke - the only people able to flip back HDADTJ - unable to Nabrun off the Executor due to IAO, he had a perfect lock on me. We played a little cat-and-mouse with Vader against Han, Chewie and Leia, but it was only a few turns before I realised that there was nothing I could do to break the lock, bar getting in a few petty 1-point drains with Smuggler and Wookie against his 5 in space. Vader could just keep avoiding any threats and Leia couldnt initiate battle at all. We had only about 5 minutes left, and Iain deserved a full win, so I drew up.
Final and Total score: 10 (+83)
My conclusions, comments and the result.....
The final placings were very close. In the end my differential saw me through against Iain, who was also on 10 points but only 74 diff. However, he got the qualifying spot that he wanted, and so I think he was just as happy as me. My own 'padawan' took the second qualifying place, and this made me feel quite proud - hes really come a long way.
So, a tournament win under my belt - still no T-shirt though, seems as if Im never going to get to wear something other than old R2. (Note to decipher: 'Thats 3 you owe me, junior' :-)
13 players wasnt the biggest tourney in history, but the competition was good and the atmosphere friendly as always. I think a big round of applause must go out to Squadron Member Mike Burgess for coming straight to run the tournament after getting back from his holiday at 2:00am that same morning. Whatever complaints there have been about lazy SMs recently, you can in no way apply them to Mike. He does more than enough already by producing the local SWCCG newsletter and running all the events that he does. Thanks Mike, we all appreciate it.
My fingers are sore, so Ill leave it there. Have a nice day.
Cheers,
Alex Tennet