glasgow-uk-8-21-99-and-newcastle-uk-8-22-99
Title: glasgow-uk-8-21-99-and-newcastle-uk-8-22-99
Author: Iain "Corpboy" Reid
Date: Aug 25, 1999
This weeks decks: LS Xwings and S-foils cheese DS Super-Vader!
...SATURDAY 21st, Aberdeen, NE Scotland...
Tourney 1: Glasgow Qualifier.
The five of us leave to go to Glasgow around 7 am and the fun begins when our car runs out of petrol on the duel-carriageway. Fortunately there was a petrol station 300 yards up the road so Hamish and Neil peg it up to the station while I wonder about slipping a second Hidden Base in my deck.
We get going again but lose Calum and Seth on the Motorway and they don't know where the card store is in Glasgow. We arrive at the cardstore and we're thinking Calum and Seth are going to miss the tournament after driving for three hours. So we go down to BurgerKing for some late breakfast and Calum is sitting there finishing off his second super-meal and were 'ehhhh' and he's 'uhhhh!' but at least we found them so that's cool.
So we go back to the cardstore, pcik up a Ben Kenobi for 8quid, DoS and a few other funky dudes, Calum borrows a few more Ewoks, and were ready to roll.
Short Note: Due to various cockups, Glasgow only got one preliminary and there were five of us there who wanted to qualify (me, Hamish, Neil, Seth and Alex) so it was gonna be a tough fight.
Game One: I've had five hours sleep and I've been driving for three hours so I'm barely awake. I forget my starting effect and don't even realise till halfway through the game, I bugger up the Kessel Run and basically play like a total shmuck. The game times out and I lose by about 4 force to a very well conceived Raltiir operations. Not a good start.
Game Two: I'm kidding myself thinking - right that first game'll be a swiss gambit right (something magic players do - deliberately lose their first game so they can get easier opponents for the next five and come from behind) so I'm flexing my deck, beating my chest sorta thing at the bottom table when Alex sits down next to me. I'm 'WTF?' and he's says that all the lightside players just lost so I get to play him. Great, anyways its a really tough game and it times out again. Here how it is - Alex: Drain for 1. Me: OK. Alex: I'll now Traffic Control for tw- TD: Hands down. Alex: Can't I traffic control for two? TD: No - count up. Alex: 19. Me: 20. Ouch - bad taste.
Game Three: Me vs Calum's ewoks. Calum - the guys with the ewoks and Tuscan raiders had never even seen his deck before that tournament let alone played with it. And guess who built it. Err, anyway Vader goes mental, lots of ewoks fly (vader killed 11 ewoks with his own hands) and Calum loses by around 40ish. Calum was actually unlucky a number of times. e.g. I had vader with stick on his own vs Obi-Wan and an ewok, vader draws a 5 and obi draws a 0.
we take a quick break, me and Calum go back to Burger King for another meal. Have a look at the scores and Hamish is winning, Neil is losing and I can still come 2nd if I win the last three games.
Game Four: Me vs Stewart Marshalls ISB. Very very very close game. Drainrace but I retrieve twenty through Kessel runs and five with All-wings and win by one drain.
Game Five: Me vs Seth's EBO. Seth gets a really bad draw and vader smacks him around and I win. At one point I had J'Quile on his own at one site and vader w/stick on his own at another, both on Hoth. Seth drops down Chewie, Elom and Ortulian and makes vader eat dirt. But look again - Chewie Elom and Ortulian vs J'Quile on his own and J'Quile could have had those three for breakfast, however Vader with his saber has no hope. Go figure.
Game Six: So I'm sitting on 7 points and I can come second if I win this last game. It's Alex again - great. It turns out to be the closest game that ever existed. I'm sweating so much some guy's like - you ok iain? Anyhow, i'll admit it - I stuffed up. The game went right to the very wire, its Alex's turn and I think ive got him. He's on about 4 or so force and i'm draining for five so even with his ISB retrieval I win. But then he plays First Strike and retrieves two force for battling + 1 from the ISB and hes won. So its my turn I drain for four and then pick up the remaing two I have. Alex's like 'are your sure you want to do that'. So now I'm feeling really paranoid that there is something I can do to win. Alex asks again - 'are you sure'. But muggins here can't see it so I draw up and die. If ONLY I had read First Strike I would have realised it affects both players - I could have started two suicide battles and won. But I didn't. Anyhow, that loss by two put me in 4th place instead of second and made me sick as a parrot for a long time. Damn first strike, its been out for 8 months and I never realised it affected both players. So thats it. Everyone calms down and we finish on time for once.
Hamish goes 5-1 and wins, Neil takes second after losing games 2 and 3 ('he came from behind argghj'). Alex 3rd and me 4th. That leaves Me, Alex and Seth all wanting to qualify so what do we do. We all know that Mike Burgess is holding a tourney in Newcastle the next day but thats Newcastle and it is considerably far away. We are all short on money. I wanna go for it but can't afford the trip on my own, Seth wimps out and goes back to Aberdeen with Calum and Alex mumbles something about his girlfriend and Antwerp, also not going. Fortunately Hamish and Neil are up for it so Newcastle it is.
(Quick Geography Lesson for 'Americans and other aliens': Aberdeen is 180 miles NE of glasgow which in turn is 200 miles NW away from Newcastle. Aberdeen is 330 miles due north of newcastle.)
.... Part 2 Newcastle:
Its 6:30pm, the tourney in Newcastle isn't till the next day but there's no way we can go back to aberdeen. We think we've got it sorted though as I've got a flat in edinbugh we can buzz past and stay the night. Trouble is I don't have the keys. So I phone my flatmate but he's at the pub, so I phone some more friends in edinburgh but they're all at the pub too, I phone some mobiles and they're all switched off so were kinda stuck. We all figure what the hell and just drive to Newcastle that night anyway - we'll just sleep in the car or something.
So were driving along about three miles out of glasgow (Hamish is driving not me this time), and were all discussing Tech when Hamish screams 'The brakes aren't working!' He's pushing the breaks and nothings happening. So were 'WTF!' and he's 'aggggg' so we just keep driving trying to work out what were going to do. Hamish starts freakin out then Neil's 'what's that flashing!' pointing at the dash (although none of us noticed the accidental reference until later) and it turns out that Hamish has been driving with the handbrake on ever since we left Glasgow and the brakepads have melted! All the garages are shut so we just carry on driving praying for a miracle. Fortunately after about 50 more miles the brakes cooled down (the handrake was off by now) and we were able to slow down. Just lucky there wasn't any turns until edinburgh - praise the M8.
After a stop at a ye olde english roadside pub for dinner we get to newcastle and sleep in the car we had a couple of blankets and a s/bag but it was still very cold. I get the good seat as I gotta be on fire for tommorow. We camp right between the motorway and the Newcastle nightclub zone. Waking up to find somebody had blown silly faces with their lips on the car concluded that this was not the best place to park.
Anyway Sunday in Newcastle turns out to be dead. Nothing is open except McDonalds so we go for a Big McBreakfast with extra coffee and head off to the cafe for the tourney. We meet up with Mike Burgess the local squadron member and he's a really sound guy with a filing cabinet (sortof) full of his 'collection'.
...
Game 1: me vs Colin Simmons TIE deck. Turns out he wasn't stoking Ghhhkkk so S-foils and a fleet of x-wings pile down on poor Bossk. He was unlucky in his card draws too and the asteroid retrieval engine never really got going. Win.
Game 2: me vs Hamish It always happens. You go to a foreign tourney and play your own team. We both have play tested this match up before and we both know that my deck has the edge. He got off to a good start with some heavy drains thanks to revolution but the vader comes down and kicks his bony ass. Win.
Game 3: me vs Neil Eh, again I must play one of our kind. I cancelled Visage on his first turn and send his starships home in a body bag. Note to observers, the executor will not always cover your battle damage when fighting s-foils.
little break while me and Neil go to MacDonalds for another meal. God those things taste horrible but nothing else is open on a sunday.
Game 4: me vs Neil - WTF, the third game against my own team? Anyway, I play him Its very close and Chewie, Han and Lando put da burn on my little tarkin for an 8 point beat down. Neil thinks he has it till I reactor terminal and Epic Duel Obi. Visage kicks in and I win by a very small margin.
so I'm looking good but Alex Tennant is also on 10 points. I predict a double duel final.
Game 5: me vs Alex What can I say. I got the kicking of my life here -35 or something like that. Alex's deck appeared to be completely anti-HB. My X-wings just got licked. I made a gable early on that he didn't have Vaders Obsession in his first 10 cards. I lost. Battle plan kicked in and there was no way I was fighting vader. Visage forced me to take the initiative giving alex complete control and security precautions finished me off. Nasty. Still I probably deserved it for playing such a cheesy deck.
Game 6: me vs Alex So he starts this time with the Yavin Throne room and I'm thinking Revolutions but on his second turn he goes for a nudge and fails! I get to see his entire deck (just to verify there is no nudjes there of course- yeah right). Anyhow manage memorise 2/3 of his deck in two quick passes: lots of EPPs, heavy SAC but NO REVOLUTIONS, only 4 ships too. His drain potential was low too so I figure he's going for the beatdown on my sites. Answer - deploy no ground sites. He gets frustrated with nowhere to drain so he deploys Bothan Spy, EPP Obi+Luke to the Executor. Heres where it gets messy. My turn I shuttle Vader+Tarkin to YavinIV vs Leia and play Imperial Arrest Order = LOCKDOWN. Leia can't fight vader and Luke+Obi can't drain or ever leave the executor. Nasty so I just, retreat a bit take his max drain of 1 and out drain in a grisly manner. Win by +24 or something. Oh and jack klaff?, Jack Klaff!? I ask you :-)
So I go 5-1 (+70something) and pick up second place. Alex comes first on differential but seing as he has already qualified the invite goes to someone lower down the ladder.
Then we look at the clock and - arrggh the car park has shut. After picking up our prizes (the first sanctioned tournament I have been in since January where the prizes have actually arrives - Decipher we are not impressed) we peg it back to the car. But the car park attendant is just shutting up and refuses to let us out. After a very rude argument we slip him a fiver and escape. Then a boring five hour drive home.
For those of you that are still reading, sorry about the length but it was an epic weekend. So three out of our five qualified for the regional, just enough for an ad-hoc team.