seattle-wa-10-10-99
Title: seattle-wa-10-10-99
Author: Douglas "Douglas" Harvilla
Date: Nov 17, 1999
When: October 10, 1999
Eleven players arrived for the 'noonish' start of local TD Martin
Norris' latest tournament. One of the last tune-ups before the Seattle Open, this event drew in some top-notch competition.
For my dark deck, I stuck with Hunt Down. For the Light Side, a wierd take on Mind What You Have Learned mains and toys.
Game 1 - DS versus Michael Erskine's Bothawui Ops
He sees Hunt Down and groans. Apparently it isn't his favorite deck to play against. Oh well, I'm not thrilled to be playing against ops in game 1, and know this could easily go either way.
Michael deploys Nightfall, I get out Bad Feeling Have I. Vader hits the Farm on turn 1, flipping Hunt Down. He draws up some cards, and I deploy Bossk In Hound's Tooth to Bothawui. I grab a Monnok from the deck with Masterful Move. Decision time. It might hurt him a little if I play the card now before draining, but if I hold it back and drain first, he might forfeit good cards on his own to get rid of doubles.
I drain, and sure enough, Michael loses an operative. Nice. As it happens, this little standoff made a big impact on the game. If Michael deployed Ops too early, they'd be beaten down. If he held onto them, they'd be blasted away by Monnok. Keeping one Op in his hand at a time is good for avoiding Monnok, but really doesn't make flipping easy.
The Forest comes out and a Bothan Spy holds the place down with an operative. However, since the objective isn't flipped, this duo doesn't get a battle destiny, and I deploy Bane Malar there for a battle. Copying the op's text, I draw a 1 and outpower the pair of aliens only by a hair. He forfeits the operative, and I move Bane away.
Next turn, Michael makes sure the site is secure, with a pair of spies and an operative. Bubo and Tarkin deploy to the Forest, a spy is munched, and Tarkin battles the remaining aliens, winning by 1. Vader moves over and the Forest is now an Imperial stronghold. Bubo eats the remaining spy during my opponent's battle phase.
Now I play the Monnok to check for good characters. Obi-Wan With Lightsaber. He lacked the force to deploy the old man, battle, and still get a destiny. So I spread out thin. Drains and Visage run through his life force pretty quick, and the game is over.
Win by 35.
2(+35)
Highs: Taking over Bothawui.
Lows: I'll probably have to play Walter, a really good player.
Game 2 - LS versus Garey Ellis' Hunt Down And Destroy The Jedi
Whew! I'm not playing Walter, and this comforts me greatly. He starts with Bad Feeling, and I start with Goo Nee Tay. Always nice to slow the early game down to a crawl, eh?
Garey activates and draws, I deploy some Dagobah sites. He drops the Cloud City: Upper Plaza Corridor with EPP Vader and Lobot. Obi-Wan takes the place over with his lightsaber. Swing at Lobot, got him, draw a 4, and clear the site. Obi survives to set up a nice drain.
So U-3PO shows up.
Oh, great. Well, at least he didn't leave force to move the blasted thing. Obi-Wan moves to the Upper Walkway or Upper Plaza Walkway or Under Over Willy Wonka Plaza Walkway or whatever. God, how many walkways can one movie set have?
Garey drops Darth Vader with a lightsaber and a 2-power little alien to deal with Obi-Wan, but doesn't have the force to start a battle. During my control phase, Sorry About The Mess targeting Vader. 2, 5. Now the little alien guy is alone. Ouch. Deploy Han w/Heavy Blaster Pistol, Chewbacca, and Tawss Khaa. Battle, predict I'll win. Shoot the little alien guy. Hit. Draw a pair of 5s for battle destiny. Total power is 29 to his 2, and he doesn't have Ghhhk. I retrieve a force with Tawss Khaa, he loses just about everything and then draws up next turn. Well, that was over quick.
Win by 23.
4(+58)
Highs: Breathing a sigh of relief when U-3PO is unable to follow Obi.
Lows: Seeing someone lose for not drawing Ghhhk.
Game 3 - LS versus Walter Zylowski's Hunt Down Manipulator
I'm playing Walter. Great. This guy is a very dangerous opponent. He deploys Broken Concentration, and I deploy Goo Nee Tay.
He activate, deploys the Jundland Wastes, and draws some, we lose force. I skip deploying a site to Dagobah, and play The Signal to go get Obi-Wan's Apparition. Then I draw a card and turn things over to Walter. Vader shows up at the 'wastes. Ouch. I deploy Obi-Wan's Apparition to the Executor:Meditation Chamber, turning off his force generation at those sites. Then I deploy some Dagobah sites and Battle Plan.
Only generating 4 force, he nevertheless decides to force drain. This wipes out most of the force in his pile. Next turn, I deploy Yoda to the Hut from the Reserve Deck and Obi-Wan With Lightsaber to the Jundland Wastes. Battle for free. Tempest Scout 6 deploys as a 'react.' Play Glancing Blow to make Vader power=0. I swing at Vader and hit him, then flip a 4. Walter flips a 1, and Yoda reduces the attrition to zero. Obi takes control.
Now Walter is only generating 3 force. He deploys Tusken Canyon and tries to deploy Djas Puhr to the Holotheatre using some saved-up force. No dice, Goo Nee Tay is out. He instead draws some cards.
To avoid a Vader surprise, I play The Signal to go grab Frozen Assets and deploy it on his force pile. Soon he actually gets Djas to the Executor to restore some of his force generation. Leia deploys to the canyon and gets transported by Nabrun. Chewbacca deploys with her and I battle. Miss Djas, but flip a 5. He gets a 3, and loses the battle by 8. Djas and 4 cards. Forfeit Chewbacca.
Obi and Leia start draining like mad, while Walter puts out the Cantina for generation and drops Vader at the Jundland Wastes. I put back a 6, 5, and 4 with Traffic Control and move Obi to the Cantina. He deploys Jabba The Hutt and battles. I swing. 6, 5. Destiny of 4. The big gangster is lost, along with a few cards. I decide not to reduce the attrition, and forfeit Obi-Wan.
Activating all but the last 3 cards, I deploy Obi-Wan With Lightsaber to the Jundland Wastes with Tawss Khaa and Orrimarko. Deploy Draw Their Fire. Battle for free. Retrieve one, he loses one. Swing, hit Vader. He tries to choke Orrimarko, misses. Swing, hit Vader, draw a 6 for battle destiny. He gets a 7. Ouch. But my total power is 18 to his 13. I retrieve one force now with Tawss Khaa while he loses 2 to Orrimarko, now that the winner of the battle has been determined. Then we continue and he forfeits Vader and loses 5 more cards.
He deploys an AT-ST to the 'wastes with his last 3 cards, and waits for me to battle. For kicks and the 1 retrieval, I battle. He plays Trample and draws that 7. D'oh! Anyway, Leia drains him out at the Holotheatre for the win. Very entertaining game.
Win by 22.
6(+80)
Highs: Lots of battles. Stepping on Vader.
Lows: Letting Obi-Wan get stepped on.
Game 4 - DS versus Eric Wilson's MWYHL
Every pair of players who came down here together ended up playing each other in the last game. Strange. Anyway, we get the usual, dull Bad Feeling/Goo Nee tay start and begin the game.
Hmm...no Vader. Draw a couple cards, there's Dark Lord Of The Sith. Draw a couple more, and turn it over. He deploys Dagobah sites, and I get Vader to Endor: Dark Forest. Obi-Wan deploys, and I have a tough decision to make. Obviously if I want to duel him with The Circle Is Now Complete (then in my hand), I'd have to do it before the lightsaber deploys on him.
I could count on drawing a high destiny to take him out, but this is the only Vader in my hand, so I'd better make him count. So it is just a question of whether to go Epic and take a big risk or go non-Epic and place Hunt Down out of play. I opt for a non-Epic duel.
Mercifully, he didn't have Courage Of A Skywalker in his hand, and Obi-Wan's fire went out of the universe. Next turn I deployed Zuckuss to the Dark Forest and drew cards to find out what I would've drawn if I initiated the Epic duel. I'd have drawn a 6 and a 1, and he'd have beaten me with a pair of 5s. Whew!
Leia With Blaster Rifle, Melas, and Corporal Beezer show up to pound on Vader a little. I pointed out the text on Their Fire Has Gone Out Of the Universe only to be reminded that it had been placed out of play. D'oh! He battled, and I missed the choke draw on Leia. I draw a 3, he outpowers me so I forfeit Vader. He forfeits Beezer.
I deploy Vader With Lightsaber and Tarkin, then battle, missing Leia but drawing a battle destiny of 6 to clear the site. Eric deploys Jeroen Webb and Orrimarko to the Executor to cancel Visage and drain. Then he deploys the Cantina. I converted it and deployed Djas Puhr there, then spread out on Endor for a drain at the Back Door. EPP Vader is replaced by DVDLOTS with the real saber.
Eric drains me for 2 and spreads on the Executor, I drain him out for the 7 remaining cards.
Win by 21
8(+101)
Highs: Pretty involving game.
Lows: Agonizing over the duel. Never underestimate my cowardice when it comes to duels. I want guarantees.
Anyway, I got a Game Wizard t-shirt and a pack of Special Edition for first place. Kind of light on the prize support, but that's not Martin's fault. For some reason, Decipher didn't get him the prizes. Oh well, it could have been all crummy pulls.
I managed to beat my old personal record of 8 (+100) in a 2-round tournament, barely. And without retrieval, my Light deck matched my Hidden Base deck on differential. Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes.
Thanks to Martin Norris for running the tournament, Game Wizard for hosting it, the great local players for showing up, and to Decipher for not burdening us with all that prize support.
And thanks again to Martin for giving me a lift home. We survived the trip, despite the best efforts of the University's greek system and their driving habits.
Douglas Harvilla