coruscant-civil-war-6-nov-99-syracuse-ny
Title: coruscant-civil-war-6-nov-99-syracuse-ny
Author: Doug "Phrim" Faust
Date: Nov 7, 1999
6 Nov 99, Syracuse NY
Well, it's been a long while since I've written a tourney report, mainly
because this was my first constructed tournament since August. I'd like
to think I'm not out of practice, though, since I play online a lot. In
any case, this was one of the 'big' tourneys in Coruscant, where people
from all over the region came. We ended up with 26 people, with 4 2000+
people there: TJ Holman, Wojtek Jankowski, and Brian and Chris
Terwilliger.
Here's a brief summary of my decks. My Light deck is a MWYHL/MnT deck
that trains some 4-ability alien to Test 2 (Melas, Tawss, or Orrimaarko,
whichever I draw first). Luke and Leia are much too important to be
stuck on Dagobah. :-) My deck has I believe 13 cards that are destiny 5
and above, meaning Jedi Testing is usually not a problem, and works good
with EPPs, naturally. I've got a nice complement of anti-Hunt Down
cards as well. The deck works pretty well, but it has a history of
problems versus Space decks and Endor Ops. As for my Dark deck, I was
playing a Hunt Down variant that I got from Mike Dalton who got it from
John Arendt. It starts IAO, pulls Docking Bays, duels, and has 3
Visages to make sure one's always out (who uses 3 Terminateds?). It was
fairly untested for me, but seems to work well enough.
Anyway, me and my friend Spencer got there, and everyone is pretty much
set into teams, so we end up on 'Team Leftovers'. :-) It ends up being
me, Spencer, Bart Robinson, and Tony Vigliotti. Anyway, Ted P. goes
through the pairings, and after some time gets to me. I'm playing
Wojtek. I actually looked forward to playing him, mighty though he may
be, it's good to give my decks a good trial by fire once in a while.
Plus, I've never played him before. So I look around for Wojtek, and
don't see him anywhere. After a few minutes, I find he's on the ground
near TJ still building his deck. :-) Anyway, by the time he gets done,
there's like no seats left, we end up sitting next to a Magic
tournament. (This store's amazing, they were simultaneously running
Star Wars, Magic, and Pokemon tournaments!) On with the games...
Game 1: My Dark vs. Wojtek Jankowski's [2012] CC Celebration
Wojtek was playing the deck that like all the good Philly players play
nowadays. He started Hidden Base, I started my normal stuff. He gets
out Tatooine and Bespin, I get out Executor and Endor Docking Bays. I
deploy EPP Vader at the Endor Docking Bay and flip. He deploys Daughter
there. I know he's probably going to deploy Obi or Luke there next turn
and beat Vader into a bloody pulp next turn, so I fight Leia, chop her
in half, and cause some Force loss, and lose Vader to attrition. He
deploys Jeroen and Wioslea to cancel Visage, then moves Wioslea over to
the Meditation Chamber. I deploy CHYBC, then deploy Zuckuss to beat on
Wioslea, but Wioslea POLRs away. He deploys the Tantive with some pilot
to Bespin. I deploy the Bus and a Dreadnaught and go fight it. He
loses the pilot, I lose the Dread. He then deploys a Bacta Tank and
some other pilot on the Tantive, and battles the Bus. Bus is lost, his
pilot goes to the Tank. I deploy the Devastator with Evax and take out
the Tantive easily. Meanwhile, he's deployed a ton of stuff on the
Executor, where's he's not draining. Melas comes and and sits in front
of Zuckuss, Zuckuss doesn't care, he deploys some guys and kill Zuckuss
+ 3. He has 2 Cloud City sites out, and deploys Son at one and Pucumir
at the other. I decline to go beat up Pucumir because POLR could make
that bad for my health. I finally get Vader and all his dueling
equipment. He has 2 battleground sites now, so he can drain at the
Executor sites. I deploy Vader to Son's site, but Vader's apparently a
lot more patient than I am, and decides It Can Wait. I have Bane or
someone go beat up Pucumir eventually, he takes some damage from it. He
tries to Docking Bay Transit EPP Han from the Executor to Endor to get
his second battleground, but then realizes that would cost 16 Force.
:-) So he deploys someone there, and also gets out a 3rd CC Site. I deploy Vader, he POLRs Luke over
to the third CC site. I get out Vader's Stick, he kills Bane somehow (I
forget), Vader starts walking over to Luke. All the while, I'm still
draining for 2 at Bespin. I swallow another turn of drains because I
didn't get rid of Luke and I have no one to drop on the guy at Endor.
He, surprisingly enough, moves Luke right in front of Vader. I deploy
Tarkin, but he also decides that It Can Wait. At this point, I know it
has to be a set up. But I have confidence in my destiny, as I have at
least 12 cards that are 6+, and lots more if you count 5's. And if I
don't deal with Luke, I'm facing more drains on the Executor. I Epic
Obsession, he draws 5,5, which I was somewhat expecting. I draw a
3,2,1. Argh! I probably should have looked for a Docking Bay with IAO
to make sure the chances of that happening were relatively low. Anyway, I
lose Vader and 9, he drains for lots on the Executor, I keep draining
for 2 at Bespin, he ends up winning by 4. After the game he points out
that he forgot to pay for Battle Order one turn, might've cost me the
game, maybe not. My thoughts are Vader losing the duel completely cost
me the game. :-) FL-4, 0(-4)
Highlights: I almost beat Wojtek!
Lowlights: I could've beat Wojtek and I didn't. Blah.
Game 2: My Light vs. Wojtek Jankowski's [2012] Ominous Rumors
Well, apparently I didn't have enough fun the first time, because now I
get to play Wojtek again! I was somewhat disappointed at this, as after
one loses against a good person, one generally wants to beat on some
not-so-good person to get one's ego back up. Anyway, as I mentioned
earlier, my Light deck has problems against Space and Endor Ops decks,
and Ominous Rumors is both, so this game is somewhat ugly for me. I get
both my tests done relatively early, which hinders his effectiveness
quite a bit. And he deploys Broken Concentration the next turn and
curses himself. :-) Anyway, I start out with a Jeroen Webb and a
Revolution in my hand, two great ways to invade the Bunker.
Unfortunately, I can't seem to draw my EPPs early enough, and Ephant Mon
comes down before I can make a mess of things. I get the Redemption in
my hand and a Bacta Tank out, so I decide to try to contest him in
space. He deploys a bunch of crap on the ground and flips Endor Ops. I
deploy my Redemption at Endor, with Chewie, Han, and Jeroen. I battle,
forgetting that the flipped Endor Ops affects everywhere, so I only get
one destiny. He loses something, I lose Jeroen. Anyway, some stuff I
don't remember happens, Chewie ends up in the Bacta Tank, the Redemption
is Lateral Damaged, and I deploy Gold Leader with Harc Seff and beat up
some Dreadnaught at Nal Hutta. He chases the Redemption, leaving but a
single Dreadnaught at Endor. I take a chance and send the Redemption
back to Endor instead of going to Nal Hutta to get rid of Lateral (Gold
Leader can't get to Endor). Anyway, he deploys more stuff and beats up
the Redemption, and eventually drains me out. FL-21, 0(-25)
Highlights: Umm...
Lowlights: This is definitely *not* how I wanted to start my day.
Game 3: My Dark vs. Spencer Hamblen's [1555] Droids/Odds/AFA/SAssaults
Well, this is another game I'd rather not have happened, as Spencer and
I already playtested the matchup last night. Anyway, I know exactly
what's in his deck, and he knows exactly what's in mine, but it turns
out that's a lot better for me than him. I get Vader out at the Cloud
City docking bay, flip Hunt Down, and start draining. He gets 8D8
down. At this point, he's playing ICBW many, many times so I draw and
get my Hell To Pay. I deploy Snugglebear and DS-61-2 at the Endor
Docking Bay, giving me a total of 6 for Odds. I deploy Search And
Destroy, which basically works like another Visage against people who
don't occupy battleground sites. He gets out Battle Plan and Wars Not
Make One Great, and inserts AFA and Odds, even though he's losing at
Odds at the moment. He cancels Visage with Transmission Terminated. I
use Masterful Move to grab another one and deploy it. I activate a lot
hoping his Odds come up but they don't. I Grab his ICBW, he deploys
more droids so he's actually winning at Odds. Anyway, things go on, he
Blue Milks me a lot so I have to activate, I make him lose Force for
Visage and S+D. Odds pops once, I Torture it. AFA pops a few times, I
lose my Force. And he, of course, deploys more. At one point, I have
19 cards in my hand (I also know he's not playing Grim), he plays Recoil
In Fear, shuffles my I draw a new hand out of the about 40 Force I have
left, and nothing pops. :-) He cancels Visage again, I deploy it
again. In the end, I'm dealing 4 damage to him every turn even if I
don't drain, he loses vital cards for his We're Doomed combo, and I end
up winning by 36. FW+36, 2(+11)
Highlights: Losing my 3rd game in a row would have been excruciatingly
bad.
Lowlights: I had to play Spencer, when we came together and we knew each
other's decks.
Game 4: My Light vs. Greg Hodur's [1619] ISB Operations
I've actually played my MWYHL Mains deck vs. Greg Hodur's ISB deck
before at the last tourney I was at, and I ended up losing by 1. I'd
consider my deck to be better now than it was then, so I think I have a
good chance at this. He drops some Endor sites, I'm drawing some
looking for a suitable apprentice. He Monnok Losts me, I lose a couple
EPP Lukes, and a couple Shocks (nowhere to Shock yet), I'd prefer not to
see the Lukes, but stuff happens. I get Orrimaarko I think through the
tests, and he deploys a bunch of stuff at Kiffex. I deploy a Bacta
Tank, then Redemption with Han, Leia, and Chewie at Kiffex and battle.
My destiny is 1,1,1, ugh, worst possible destiny draws. Leia goes to
the Bacta Tank, but Redemption think its buff and stays at Kiffex. His
turn, he deploys Lateral Damage on Dagobah, I inform him that you can't
deploy Utinni Effects on Dagobah so he deploys it on Coruscant instead.
He drops at bunch of stuff at Kiffex, battles me, and I lose everything
+11. I deploy Obi and Tawss Khaa at one of the Endor sites, he deploys
U-3P0 there. He deploys Endor, I deploy the Tantive there with a pilot,
he deploys the Avenger there with a pilot, I prove more mighty because
of my high destiny and my Bacta. Anyway, I got Leia back, deployed her
at the other Endor site, and moved Tawss over. He deploys 5D6-RA-7 so I
can only drain for one there. Meanwhile, he's deployed the Defense
Perimeter and dropped some guys there. I'm draining for a very little
bit, he's draining at Kiffex and the Defense Perimeter, I lose by 26.
FL-26, 2(-15)
Highlights: Again, I'm drawing a blank...
Lowlights: I crashed, and I crashed hard. At this point, I was
beginning to doubt my chances at going 3-3... :-(
Game 4: My Light vs. Chris Ruddy's [1521] CC Sabacc/Dark Deal/Occupation
I didn't know or know of Chris before, so I wasn't quite sure what to
expect. He starts Cloud City and Combat Readinesses for some exterior
CC site, I start Battle Plan thinking he's going for big drains. I get
my tests off fairly fast, and he deploys 2 more exterior CC sites and
some guys to one of them with POTF. I deploy EPP Luke, EPP Leia, and
Harc Seff to that site, and beat his guys up, losing Harc. He gets a
couple Obsidian Squad TIEs to Cloud City. I'm fairly happy draining for
3 at the CC site. He deploys EPP Vader there, misses Leia, Luke hits
him, and I lose Leia to attrition. I deploy Obi's Hut with Ben there,
Nabrun Ben in to Luke's site, then deploy his Lightsaber. He deploys
Bespin, and some stuff at the Downtown Plaza, two sites away. I deploy
Han and Chewie there and beat up all his stuff, and Chewie goes to the
Bacta Tank. I move everyone over to the central site. He deploys more
guys at the site with the POTF. I deploy Chewie at the Downtown Plaza,
and deploy a Swoop (Swoops on Cloud City, gotta love exterior sites).
:-) Han joins Chewie, and Ben with Saber and EPP Luke hop on the Swoop
and go over to the site with POTF. His guys run away, the Swoop follows
them. I don't bother SATMing any of his guys, cause he has 3 guys with
3 ability each, so I can't get rid of his destiny draw. I battle, he
loses a lot, Ben revives Luke. At Bespin, I deploy the Tantive and the
Spiral, he responds with some Dreads and pilots. I use Yoda to avoid
having to lose either, and put some fodder aboard. I'm killing Dreads
to attrition, but he deploys the Executor. It turns out I still have
enough power (including destiny) to withstand, so that's pretty much
stalemated. I drain him out at his sites and win by 20. FW+20, 4(+5)
Highlights: I beat up lots of stuff. :-)
Lowlights: There was no CC Occupation, Dark Deal, or CC Sabacc played,
even though that seemed to be the theme of his deck...
Game 6: My Dark vs. Jamie Beck's [1491] Tatooine (?) Deck
Jamie was another unknown to me, and he was 3-2 so far for the day, so I
was somewhat cautious. He started Jabba's Palace and Careful
Planning'ed for for the Audience Chamber. He then proceeded to deploy
lots and lots of Tatooine sites, I had no clue what he was going to do
with that many Tatooine sites. Anyway, I drop Vader and Tarkin at
Jabba's Palace, and flip, noting he has no Force saved for Clashing and
beating down Tarkin. He does nothing but draw, I Monnok Used him. I
deploy Tempest 1 for Tarkin to hide on. Again, he does nothing but
draw, so I Monnok Used him again. I get out Vader's Lightsaber, he
Terminates my Visage, but I have another in my hand. He drops EPP Obi,
Chewbacca, and Farmboy down at the Audience Chamber. I drain him for 3
at Jabba's Palace, he drops Imperial Atrocity on me, I don't care. I'm
still somewhat cautious, so I throw my Visage and 2 5-destiny things to
the Reactor Terminal. I activate all but the 3 cards I Terminaled. I
deploy EPP Fett to give Tarkin some company, and Vader marches into the
Audience Chamber. Epic Circle on Obi, I play Focused Attack, and draw
5,7,5. He draws something less than that and loses Obi and 9. During
his activate phase, I Epic Obsession Farmboy too, draw my 5 and 7 again,
Farmboy crosses and he loses 4. He's left with Chewie there with no
place to run, either face Father and Son in the AC or move outside and
get beat upon by EPP Fett and Tarkin on Tempest 1. He opts to stick
around, I put my entire hand into the Terminal. I battle Chewie, chop
him with the Saber, and he loses like all but 1 Force, which he draws up
on his turn, and I win by 39 (!). FW+39, 6(+44)
Highlights: Dueling, dueling, dueling... :-)
Lowlights: I still don't know what the point of his deck is...
Anyway, I finished out 10th, the highest amongst the 3-3 players, which
wasn't too bad. Chris Terwilliger got first, edging out Jon Schultz on
differential. As for teams, my team (which Bart later renamed 'Team
Spanky-Monkey' or something :-)) finished in 4th out of the 6 teams.
Team Twigg, consisting of 3 Terwilligers and a Talbot, was the best
team, and Team Britney, consisting of Syracuse's finest, placed second.
Anyway, Ted had awesome prize support, at least 4 packs for every player
(and admission was only $5), I pulled a WB Han, which is nice I
suppose. Now I've got to figure out if my decks are worthy for D-con or
not. Dark did pretty good, winning 2 games with huge differential, and
losing once against Woj by 4. Light, on other other hand, did rather
stinkily, mainly because there was too much space. Anyway, I'm sure
you're tired of hearing my rambling now, so until next time...
--
Doug Faust
dlf14@cornell.edu
Star Wars TD, based in Ithaca, NY