greensboro-north-carolina-12-05-99
Title: greensboro-north-carolina-12-05-99
Author: Leonard "Master Yoda" Mitchell
Date: Dec 6, 1999
Fast-forward to Sunday. I haven't played but 8 games since the Regional nearly 2 and 1/2 months ago, and two of them have been on CardTable ( I was trying to playtest my LS deck for Sunday, and I ended up losing both times. You'd think I would have learned something...like don't play it!). CardTable rocks! For those of you who don't have it, you don't know what you're missing. CT is simply awesome! Chris Gregg, you are so much the man for developing this. Thank you! So anyway, I'm currently out of season until indoor track starts in about a month, so I figure I may as well go to a tournament to shake some of the rust off. I take a 'weak' Hidden Base/Bespin Cloud City Celebration deck for LS, and a smooth AT-ST Raltiir Ops deck for DS. I really hadn't been keeping up recently w/ the meta, so I just wanted to take fun stuff. Besides, I had been reading all of this Listserv mail about how ROps sucks, so I wanted to see for myself. I like the DS, but my LS got pounded by both Mike Dalton (faramir) and Ivan Kanner (Zippy) over CT. I didn't want to make a new deck, so I just changed it and brought it anyway. Not the wisest decision.
So I take off Sunday morning and get over to Craig's Cards and Collectables expecting to see a huge crowd. All sorts of people had been emailing me and telling me they were going to come, and Paul Vass told me that Sean Smallman was going to show up. A Decipher rep, huh? Smooth. Vann Daugherty was the TD, and we were on our way. Unfortunately half the people who told me they were going to make it didn't, so we ended up with 14.
Game 1: My LS vs. Ben Ritner's DS CPI deck
He's a young kid, and I hadn't seen him there before. Actually, over half the people there were new faces to me! Who said that SW:CCG is dying? Not here. Anyway, the game starts off with me playing Hidden Base/Rendezvous Point/Goo Nee Tay and him starting the DS with no starting effect. I go first and deploy Dagobah/Yoda's Hut from reserve, along with the CC:Quest Quarters. I then draw up. On his turn he deploys the DS:War Room and draws up. I activate and deploy Bespin from Reserve deck, but because I still have way too much red in my hand, I draw some more. I felt like I was playing old school again. I still hadn't deployed after my second turn? I also kind of wanted to see what he was playing. Anyway, he drops another DS site and a couple of stormtroopers to each one. Ok...? He draws and then ends his turn. Lots of troopers alerted my Grimtaash sensor, so I activate and use HB to look for a system. It wasn't there of course, but I did see that both of my Grimtaashes were there, so that sucked. I Signal for Insurrection, deploy it and get the CC:Docking Bay, drop Biggs to the Guest Quarters, Pucumir to the DB, the Spiral with Wedge to Bespin, and then play CC Celebration. I have both a Path Of Least Resistance and a Rebel Barrier in hand, so I'm not to worried about beatdown. Plus, all of his big characters are deploy +3 to CC (+2 to Goo Nee Tay and +1 to Bespin GT), so I felt I was straight. On his turn he just drops more stormtroopers at more DS sites. I then begin to wonder if he knows that he can't Elis them out of there with Insurrection out. He draws a few more, but saves a ton. I drain for 5, retrieve with Celebration, then fortify Bespin with the Falcon, EPP Han, EPP Leia, and the Bacta Tank. On his turn he deploys the Death Star Assault Squadron to Bespin, but it gets Barriered. He then follows with Bossk in Bus for good measure. Wisely he decides not to battle. He also tried to use a DS Gunner to search for a Superlaser, but I told him it had to be on the table first. So he deployed that too. Anyway, I drain and battle, so he loses BinB. On his turn he searches and finds the Superlaser and deploys the Conquest (which is also Barriered.) He then tries to have the DSAS load onto the Conquest, but I remind him that the Conquest can't go anywhere, so he takes it back. On my turn we battle again, I draw my tracked 5 and 4, and he loses both to attrition. I then move the Falcon over to the DS to drain him out. Win by 28.
Score: 2(+28)
Highlights: Getting to battle in space. Not worrying about Dark Jedi Presence when the DSAS came down. Getting a win with my 'weak' LS.
Lowlights: None.
After the game we talk and I tell him how to improve his deck. I try to tell him about my Speed CPI deck, but you know how it is when other people think their idea is the best? Yeah, that's what it was like. While we were talking one of his little buddies came over and told him not to feel bad because he lost to me. 'He always wins!' It's nice to know that I still get some respect. Still, I wish that were so. :)
Game 2: My DS vs. Josiah Ritner's LS Tat. Celebration/alien drain deck
Josiah is another new face, so this is cool. I start normal start of Raltiir and Bad Feeling Have I. He starts Tatooine and Careful Plans for Lars' Moisture Farm. I look at my opening hand and get one of the worse hands a ROps deck can get. I have 12 locations in this deck, and not one was in my opening hand. So I just deploy the Jungle from the reserve deck and draw, getting misc. stuff and the Forest. I did get Bubo however. Anyway, he just draws on his first turn too. I again deployed a site from my reserve deck, and I saw that a couple 2/0 sites were in my Force pile, so I just deploy the Forest from hand, and draw a few in order to save Force to get the flip. I drew until I got 2 'twix' sites, but that didn't leave me with enough force saved, unless he deployed a location for me. On his turn he drops Beru, Figrin D'an, and Neb Dulo w/ Tat. Utility Belt (I saw lots of these) to LMF. I deploy to Raltiir, but don't have enough to flip this turn, so I save more after deploying the Wampa and Dagobah Caves. On his turn he doesn't drain (I deployed Battle Order sometime) because he wanted to deploy Luke to his newly deployed Jabba's Palace. Now, this isn't Farmboy Luke. Oh no. This is generic Luke! Yep, that dude got out 2-player Luke on me. I was shocked. Wow. :) So anyway, he deploys 2-player Luke for 5 Force and a Tat. Utility Belt (what's up with these? Sure, I remember back in the day when I used to play these to add to power, and I know they are a good way to make the LS think twice about dueling, but he had what seemed like 30 in his deck!) and ends his turn. Finally I have enough Force to flip, so I do and then deploy Arnet in Tempest Scout 1 and Bubo to LMF. First I Trample Neb Dulo, then Bubo gets Figrin D'an. Suddenly Beru is facing the ATST all alone, and she goes down to 13 power (6 + destiny draw of 4 + 3 Raltiir sites). After that little piece of action, the rest of the game was spent with him running away from ATSTs on Tatooine and me draining at the Tatooine system. I saw him lose some corvettes off the top, along with a Tat. Celebration, so that was apparently what he was trying to set up. At one point a Vaporator came down on the LS Jundland Wastes to give him a potential drain of 3, but Choke Vader and Tarkin came down and battled a hapless crew of motley rebels and aliens. Through choking and the big destiny draws, the site was cleared and I just continued to drain. Full win by 31.
Score: 4(+59)
Highlights: I really enjoy this deck, and that's enough to keep me playing it for a while. The lopsided battle against Beru early on was lots of fun. Tramples rule...until they get 'grabbed.' Josiah was another cool opponent. He played 2-player Luke on me! In fact, Jason Bailey was so impressed that he *gave* him a Farmboy Luke so Josiah would never need sucky Luke again.
Lowlights: Not getting Force activation early on really, really sucks with this deck. Bad.
So right now I'm sitting in first place with differential, but we still have 4 undefeated because all of us played LS the first game and won. I'd rather play LS in game 3 because it's my weaker deck, but I don't want to play against Ivan because he waxed me earlier over CT. Scott Anderson is playing a HDADTJ deck, and that looked like fun, so I wouldn't have minded that, and then Jason Bailey had some sort of funky Hoth Weather deck with Troopers. But, as luck would have it, I do get to be light, but it's against Ivan.
Game 3: My LS vs. Ivan Kanner's DS ROps.
I think I said 'Like a chump!' more often then I'd like to admit in this game. I started my normal start of HB/RPoint/Goo Nee Tay, and he started ROps/Raltiir/Imperial Arrest Order. He was going to start Security Precautions, but he knew it was the same deck that I played earlier (because I told him--DOH!). Anyway, he goes first and deploys a site from his hand (Hoth Defensive Perimeter), along with both the generic Docking Bay and the Swamp. He then draws. I go ahead and deploy Bespin and Insurrection from hand, and then get out Dagobah/Yoda's Hut and the CC:Docking Bay from reserve deck. Again I have one character in my opening hand, because my deck just doesn't have enough characters in it, so I draw for a few more. I've got to change that up. I was hoping the Bacta Tank would help with the lack of characters because each one would stick around longer, but it just didn't seem to work that way. Anyway, he deploys yet more sites (JP and Cantina) and deploys a Stormtrooper cadet from his reserve deck to the swamp. He draws a few, then ends his turn. So I activate about 15 Force on the second turn, and that rocks. I could seriously pancake that scrub cadet, but I look down and see that I have only three characters in my hand: EPP Han, Wedge, and Pucumir Thryss. As I mentioned earlier, I got totally crushed by Ivan over CT with these same decks because I ignored Raltiir while I tried to setup my thing. So this time I decided to not make the same mistake. I deployed everybody to the Swamp initiated a battle, but he Ghhked it off. He can activate a ton, but I figure my forfeit can handle it. So on his turn he goes ahead and searches for a site/dude, but doesn't get it, allowing me to look at his deck. So I start flipping through it and I see dude, dude, dude, walker, dude, interrupt, dude, dude, dreadnaught, dude, dude, dude, etc. My eyes open wide and Ivan thinks it's because I see all of his beatdown coming. He says, 'You see what's in there? Now, can you imagine what's in my hand?' (It either means more guys, or it just means that all of your guys are stuck in your deck). But really I was just hoping that he wouldn't remember to pull that Bubo out of his deck, because that would screw me good. So I put the deck down and shuffle it real quick and give it back to him, hoping he'll move on. Unfortunately he gets this glimmer in his eye and then uses the Swamp's GT to pull Bubo. Not good. He oddly doesn't deploy anything else, which furthers my suspicion that he has a hand full of stuff he couldn't use at the moment. Well, Bubo of course eats Wedge, leaving Pucumir's miserable three forfeit to cover any attack against EPP Han. On my turn I decide to setup CC Celebration instead of reinforcing my group on Raltiir. Looking back, I totally should have gone after Raltiir, because that would have made it a much better game. So I'm mad at myself, but I just file it away for next time. I deploy the West Gallery and set up Celebration with a lone dude at each site (holding a Barrier and a Path). I deploy RLR1 and a Red Squadron Xwing to RPoint, and I deploy the Spiral with a pilot on it at Bespin. Bubo eats Pucumir, and Han just awaits his death. I moved the Xwings from the RPoint over to Bespin to back up the Spiral because I didn't see Lateral Damage when I was 'verifying' his deck. On his turn he deploys enough guys to flip ROps, but I Barrier Ozzel so that he can't just move away from Han. Ivan catches it and deploys an ATST and another chump to battle and wipe out Han. The game goes on with him alternating paying and not paying to drain with Battle Plan. At one point Choke Vader/Tarkin came down against a lone Rebel scrub, but he Pathed out of the way. We were each draining each other down (I deployed Pucimir to CC this time), but I was retrieving with Celebration. I stupidly tried to attack Vader/Tarkin with EPP Luke/Momaw Nadon. I played Glancing Blow (which was sweet), but Ivan said he was going to choke Momaw. He in fact contemplated choking Luke, but he went with the 'sure' thing. So he ends up drawing a Masterful Move, so Momaw's gone. Ivan's kicking himself because he could have taken out Luke. Anyway, I target Tarkin and miss, so he just cancels my destiny draw. I lost three cards and a Force (one for the Glancing Blow) while he lost zero. I really should have thought that out before I tried to battle. You see, this is the kind of rust I'm talking about. So Ivan can now track his six destiny and it crushes me in space. We did have some fun though, because I used Pucimir to pull out an Incom Engineer (tech). With him chilling anywhere on CC I now get a sweet +2 to attrition in battles at Bespin. The only thing it really did this game though was just negate IAO. The final play game down to a 50/50 decision. I'm tracking a 5, but I've got to battle in two places. He has a couple ships at Bespin harassing me, but I just deployed Tantive/Harc Seff to his lone Lambda shuttle at Raltiir. I chose to not waste the 5 on the Lambda just in case he has a Ghhhk. Unfortunately for me, when I battle him and draw a three, he doesn't have a Ghhhk, so he loses the shuttle and some Force. I'll explain the 'unfortunately' in my lowlights. Anyway, the Executor comes down next turn against my lone RLR1 and that's game. Loss by 16.
Score: 4(+43)
Highlights: Putting up a good fight and having lots of fun trading 'smack' back and forth with my opponent.
Lowlights: Having the final smack put down on me. If I had just battled that lone shuttle with my 5 destiny, Ivan would have ended up with only 14 Force left and he couldn't have deployed the Executor. I know his TR said he won by 17, but the email I got from the TD said 16. If it was 17, then this is a moot point. Either way, it was a great game and I can't wait to play such a fun game again. :) Giving up on Raltiir was also a lowlight.
So I move on to my last game, hoping to go 3-1.
Game 4: My DS vs. $cott Anderson's LS Throne Room/Nudj/Mains and Toys
I was originally going to start BFHI, but I figured Scott would just Alter it, so I decided to go with Imp. Arrest Order. Besides, IAO will help me get a DB if he's playing Revolutions, and it helps against Nabruns. So he goes first and does his Nudj thing and draws. I do my thing by deploying the Jungle from the reserve deck and Coruscant and the Kashyyyk from hand. I draw and he deploys Ben Kenobi to the newly-deployed Cantina. I again deploy more sites to get my Force activation up, play Battle Order, and draw for characters to flip. Scott takes a look at the size of my hand, then plays lost Grimtaash, netting nothing. He sees my EPP Fett and Vader, so he backs up Obi with his saber and EPP Han after he pays to drain. I still don't know why I didn't go after them then, but I went to flip instead. So I flip and deploy Imp. Decree. He pays to drain again, then draws to back him up for what he thinks is the beatdown coming from my hand. Again I don't know why I didn't go after him. Of all the times, this would have been it. With my +3 to battle destiny draws, I would have wiped out both while probably only losing Fett. I don't know though; Scott could have probably hit Vader because he had high destiny. But alas I had other things in mind and played ships to satisfy Imp. Decree. Now Scott could only drain for one, but he went ahead and paid, then dropped Chewie, Harc Seff, Joreon Webb, and EPP Luke against a ATST pilot and Brangus Glee. You see, I'm just playing sloppy. Why in the world did I not back them up with ATSTs? At the very least, I should have saved Force to react. He told me he would have Sensed them, but I had Alters. Man, I was just out in left field this game. Anyway, he wipes the floor with my dudes and I suffer a nice 10 Force loss after forfeiting. He only loses the Webb. We fight it out when I deploy Vader and his saber, but I stupidly target Luke instead of Harc Seff. Again, don't be an idiot and do that. :) EPP Luke will die from attrition, trust me. So I lose Vader to his big draw (he has to lose both Chewie and Luke to attrition) and now Harc Seff is left running around with me not having enough stuff left to do anything to him. My drains in space were starting to get through and he would have lost the drain race until he flipped my objective next turn. How? Because my ROps deficient-self left Raltiir unoccupied, so he just deployed RLR1 to Tatooine and moved it over to Raltiir. He now controlled two locations and he flipped me. Wow. I really should have stopped playing then because I was making myself look bad. Note to self: Don't be a chump and leave Raltiir undefended. Thanks. So he ends up winning the game because I didn't have a way to stop Harc Seff anymore. Nobody ask me why I didn't target Seff with Vader's saber. I'm telling you man, I feel like a newbie again. I'm going to get a bumper sticker to put on my car: 'Honk if you're like me and have been waxed by Harc Seff.' Full loss by 17.
Score: 4(+26)
Highlights: Learning that I need to start playing smarter again.
Lowlights: Learning my highlight the hard way. :)
So I go 2-2 for the first time in forever. What's worse is that Sean Smallman finally shows up and gives out ECC to the top four players and I'm stuck chilling in fifth. Scott beat out Ivan with differential, and Ray Franks came in third. I get lots of stuff in my packs I don't need, so I give it all away except for Obi's Saber and a Gift Of The Mentor. If you guys don't give away your prize support and you don't need it, please reconsider. It just made that little girl's day to have all of those cards.
So we trade a bit and I try to weasel an ECC pack out of Sean, but he won't have any of it. Despite that, we invite him to dinner with us and we discuss SW and Austin Powers ('Tell me about this Austin Powers game. Now whose idea was THAT?!'). Sean, was cool to chat with and I hope he stops by again soon. Thanks again for giving the players the extra prize support.
Well, that's it for me because I've got some finals to study for. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to email me. I hope you enjoyed it. Maybe I'll get another one of these out again sometime.
Later!
--Master Yoda out. <(-_-)>
lfmitche@uncg.edu