boca-raton-florida-11-21-99
Title: boca-raton-florida-11-21-99
Author: Andrew "Gadget" Ledwith
Date: Nov 23, 1999
On Saturday, the day I had planned to spend tweaking my decks, I got a terrible migraine headache, which pretty much trashed the rest of my day (those of you who have had them know what I mean). So the next day I'm feeling good, that is, my body. My confidence level... let's just say it could be better.
My Decks:
LS - MWYHL Test 2 Deck
DS - Imperial Decree 3rd-5th Marker Deck
Game 1 - My DS vs. Daniel Blackford's Tosche Tech Deck
I hadn't been able to playtest, and had forgotten about this deck type. But I don't think he used the game text on the Station that much. Not that he forgot, just that he never had anyone there. Anyways, I set up a reasonable mass at the 3rd marker and begin to drain. I soon am able to pull out Endor and Kashyyyk and drain like mad. He deploys some lone character (I think Twass Khaa). I throw down Blizzard Scout 1, a pilot for it, and Darth Vader. I battle and win pretty well, and lose the pilot for attrition. Then it's ouch time. He throws down EPP Luke, EPP Han, and EPP Leia. That's bad enough. Then when he battles he slashes Vader and plays 2 interrupts. What interrupts you ask? How about I Know and Don't Get Cocky! That's a total of 7 destiny. AFTER losing Vader and the walker I have to lose 20! Twenty!! Of course, two of the cards that I left out were Wounded Wookie and Ghhhk. That's what decided the game. I'm able to get in good drains which save me from being slaughtered. I lose by 15.
Record: 0 (-15)
Highlights: None really. I guess setting up Imperial Decree and getting in good drains.
Lowlights: Forgeting a basic card like Ghhhk.
Okay, now after my game I witness the end of a game between Lee Edwards and Richard Becker. Lee is playing Hunt Down and Richard is playing Hidden Base with Y-wings (yes, Y-wings). Now it looks as though Richard is going to win. He has 2 force left, Lee has 1. Lee has drained at all of his usual locations. But then he does something that I would have missed. He drains for one at the Executer: Holotheatre (he had PotF there), thus putting his objective out of play. But now both players have 1 force, and they have to lose to Visage. Well, what happens? Do they both lose? There was a half hour debate on how this was to be scored. Eventually they said that Lee gets a full win by one, because it's his card and he should get to choose who loses first. I'm open to your opinions (or if you know of some kind of ruling) on this, so post them up or send them to me.
Game 2 - My LS vs. Andrew Echnoz 29 ISB Docking Bay Blitz Deck
UGH! I lost to this deck once before with my Tosche Tech deck, and knew that I couldn't do much to it this time either (no Frozen Assets). On his first turn he pulls out Coruscant Docking Bay (IAO) and throws down Sunsdown on the Coruscant system and 5 ISBs. Flip. Uh... what now? Well, it take me 3 turns to complete Test 1, so his modifiers are dead quick. I also take over the Coruscant system with Tantive IV, Falcon, and Cap Han. I then have the problem of tracking down his ISBs. I throw down Obi and beat up a Probe Droid. Ghhhk. Ok, that's not going to work. I draw up and get Draw Their Fire. Heh. This should be good for a beatdown if he draws up all his force. And his next turn he does. I throw down DTF, EPP Luke, and 3 Eloms at the same site as Lt. Pol. Battle. Slash him and make him lose 20 something. Now that he's seen DTF he leaves enough force every turn to Ghhhk if he needs to. I run around blocking drains for the rest of the game. I end up losing by 16.
Record: 0 (-31)
Highlights: Not having to deal with Failure At The Cave along with everything else.
Lowlights: Losing to Andrew again (almost every tournament it happens at least once).
Game 3 - My DS vs. Some Dude's Hoth EBO deck
Whoa, EBO? Well he throws down the 1st marker and I'm trying to remember my Energy Shield Rules. I deploy the 5th marker as my starting site, but instead of the 3rd marker I deploy the 7th marker. I now have a sort of force choke on him (he gets 2 force per turn, I get 5). I deploy a couple of walkers and beat up some freak he stuck on the planet early. He then gets this idea that Hoth is 'bad' and doesn't deploy there again for the rest of the game. Ok, well that's the end of EBO. I deploy a system, Coruscant. You should have seen the look on his face when he found out he wasn't getting any icons from it. So I draw up until I get some space stuff and a couple of systems (Endor and Kessel). I deploy them both, so now he's overjoyed (3 icons, wow!). I deploy a butt load of ships to Endor but none to Kessel, mostly because I don't know what he's packing in space. He deploys Falcon, Cap Han, and Lando to Endor. I'm not sure why he did this, so I battle (we'd both get 2 destiny since one of my ships was the Bus). Then he plays Punch It. Haven't seen that in a while, but I think it might be seeing some time in the near future. So he gets 4 destiny and immunity to attrition. I have to lose a Dread and 1 pilot. I then decide to do a little running until I get a chance to rebuild my forfeit in space. He never once force drained me while I was running. He starts to put back all but a couple of his cards. So this time right before I battle I Monnok-lost him. I see nothing but trouble. Another Punch It, I Know, and Life Debt (he had gotten Chewie and Leia there). So this could have been an 8 destiny battle for him. So instead I choose to continue to run. He then throws down the Tatooine system, moves there, and begins to drain. Huh? He could have had a drain of 2 at Kessel, but chose instead to have a drain of 1 at Tatooine. Well, I don't say anything and spead out between Kessel and Endor. I have a drain of 2 at the Hoth Echo Med Lab too, so the game ends quickly after that. I win by 31.
Record: 2 (-1)
Highlights: Winning big with a deck I hadn't put a lot of thought into.
Lowlights: Taking so long to do it (I'm a 'patient player').
Game 4 - My LS vs. Brian Fein's ISB-less ISB deck
I'm thinking, 'Two ISB decks in the same day?!' Well, I soon found out that the answer to that was no. Not a single ISB in the whole deck. He started with the objective and Coruscant system, with PotF on Coruscant. He deploys the Med Chamber his first turn. Now I'm royally confused. I train quickly and by turn 5 I have Tests 1-2 done. He puts a Dread and the Bus at Coruscant. I play Tantive IV, Cap Han on Falcon, and Red Leader In Red 1. Battle and he draws really bad destiny (2 and 1 I think). I get a 5 and a 4 for my destiny. He has to lose both ships and I only have RL/R1. That's all the space action I'd see this game. I play Nar Shadda to get a Bothan Spy so I can go to the Med Chamber. Along with the spy I play Obi-wan and EPP Luke. He comes down on many occasions trying to kill me off with cards like Vader (3 of them), Tarkin (2 of them), and Zuckuss. I was pretty much able to slash them up (and twice I got to play Glancing Blow to reduce Vader's power to 0). He set up a drain at the 3rd Marker that I just left alone (it was only 1 after Test 1). I drained him out after that. Win by 27.
Record 4 (+26)
Highlights: Winning big and securing my first tournament with a positive differential in the last 6 tries (3 of those were at 0).
Lowlights: None really, although that deck I played was kinda weird.
So in the end, this was a good tournament for me. I finished in 5th, but with such a bad start that's not so bad. One plus is that I finished higher than both of the people who beat me. My prizes were terrible, and almost everyone else pulled a main. My best card was either a Bothan Spy (I know it's not rare, but the other stuff I got shouldn't be either) or an X-wing Assault Squadron (my 6th). The winner, David Irvine, was playing LS Speeder Ops and some kind of ISB (didn't get a good look at it). All in all, I'd say it was a good tournament. The next one will probably be at the beginning on December so it will be a while before you see another report. Until then I'll steal a line from PowerAde...
KEEP PLAYING