glenside-pa-01-08-00-1st-grand-slam

Title: glenside-pa-01-08-00-1st-grand-slam
Author: Scott "elminstr" Anderson
Date: Jan 13, 2000

Well Leonard Mitchell, Dan and I head off to Philly for the first grand slam ever. From Raleigh it’s going to take a while, seven hours, but with my job, always keeping me on the road, I’ve got nothing else to do all weekend. When Leonard and Dan get in the car Dan mentions that he has a hook up for a place to stay. Sweet, this trip just became VERY cheap. As it turns out the place we are staying at, campus of Villanova, is one whole mile out of the way. When we arrive we head out to John Harvard’s, like Leonard said ‘I want to eat somewhere I can’t eat at in Raleigh.’ After we get some grub, and I spill my WHOLE cup of Starbuck’s Cappucino over this girl’s dorm room, Leonard and I tech it up until about 3:30am.

We wake up at 9:00am to shower (thank god that most SW players do this), and get headed out the door. On the way to RPG Outpost we grab a doughnut, Dan “the big eater” gets two, and walk over. The place is down in a basement, which seems a little tight. Once we got playing though there was plenty of room for everyone. The number of players with high ratings was staggering.

2 Clint Hays 2127, with 349 games played
7 Brian Terwilliger 2057, with 233 games played
8 Chris Terwilliger 2039, with 278 games played
16 Wojciech Jankowski 2013, with 260 games played
18 Matt Sokol 2009, with 282 games played
25 Steve Brentson 1998, with 472 games played
26 Michael Dalton 1995, with 356 games played
30 Ray Bordier 1994, with 418 games played
45 Dan Sokol 1969, with 124 games played
48 Marco Habert 1966, with 180 games played
95 Johnathan Chu 1926, with 230 games played
129 Andy Talaga 1903, with 346 games played
151 Scott Lingrell 1893, with 325 games played
226 Aaron Kingery 1860, with 236 games played
235 John Lolli 1856, with 432 games played
326 Leonard Mitchell 1829, with 96 games played
514 Patrick Ziago 1786, with 48 games played
563 Kim Caton 1778, 288 games played
Greg Hudor 1763, with 165 games played
Livio Dalessio 1753, with 287 games played
Michael Vitarelli 1750, with 115 games played
Pete Srdowski 1731, with 210 games played
Doug Faust 1712, with 78 games played
Scott Anderson 1708, with 94 games played
Nathan Brown 1697, with 357 games played

The ratings listed above have since been updated by Decipher to reflect the results of the Grand Slam

I enjoy a good statistic or two, and with the understanding that ratings aren’t everything, the attendance list was quite impressive:
3 world qualifiers
3 of the top 10 players in the world
8 of the top 30 players in the world
Out of the 43 that showed up to play, over half were ‘veterans.’
25 players, we will spot Mr. Brown 3 points, with a rating of 1700 or more, averaging 1884 per person
Over 6200 tournament games are represented above, almost 250 games per person!
So it was no surprise that all but one of my games, again the illustrious Mr. Brown, were against players with ratings above 1700 and all had played 100+ games.
To sum it up, the competition was very strong, onto the games!



Game 1 vs Nathan Brown 1697 games 357
The details of this game are sketchy. The significant moment was during the middle of the game. I’ve got a Lateral Damage, Vaders Personal Shuttle, Vader, Death Squadron Star Destroyer, and a huge amount of force. I had just picked Vader up to deal with a wandering Obi. When Nathan starts dropping to Kessel. The first X-Wing comes down, and I’m kind of dejected, as the Lateral Damage won’t help very much. He than drops two more X-wing’s, replaces the group with an X-Wing Assault Squadron, uhm YUMMY, and one more X-wing. So down comes Lateral Damage on the X-Wing Squadron, Vader, his Shuttle, and DSSD. Game swings decidedly in my favor.

As they announce the pairings they call me for DS again, I react in surprise, and explain that I just played DS. Turns out Nathan and I were supposed to play opposite sides. The TD tells me that I’ll just have to play DS again, well twist my arm.

Game 2 DS vs Greg Hudor’s CC Celebration 1763 with 165 games played
Greg starts CC: Guest Corridor and CC: West Gallery, while I start the usual HD with IAO. Upon seeing his start I think to myself, thanks for the 2 force, I also note that he is probably doing the Path of Least Resistance, CC Celebration thing. Opening hand I pull EPP Vader and down he goes to the Endor: Docking Bay, I also drop the Endor system because I have ships in my hand. Greg loses a force, on his turn he activates and drops Obi and his stick to the West Gallery, and flip goes the Objective. We stand some Visage loss, and I notice he loses Pucumir off the top *whew*, that guy can hurt. He also deploys the Bespin system by third or fourth turn. I set up a drain in space on Endor, and looking back it would have been wiser to just set up at Bespin. At this point I know, or I believe with 99% certainty, at some point he is going to Cloud City Celebrate. Greg drops a third site and sets up a drain with SoS, and a random ability guy in the middle site. As I’m drawing I just can’t seem to find my Senses, I get one the whole game, and it got Sensed in response. My intent was to pick Vader up at some point, drop against the random ability guy, sense his PoLR, and establish control of the game. The problem was about midway through the game he plays Out Of Commission. My lost pile was about 20-25, with 2, maybe 3 Vaders and BAM, I become one of the six or seven people you hear about. Well, the pick up and drop maneuver is now out of the question. Since he OOC’d him on my turn, I shuttle EPP Vader up to Endor for protection.

Amusing Note inserted:
After the game he said I was ‘lucky’ that I shuttled Vader up because Han and Chewie were going to come down and blow him up. I responded with the fact that I was ‘unlucky’ than, because the You Are Beaten I was holding in my hand would have caused havoc, what if *shrug*.

His ships start coming down and I’ve lost both my Lateral Damages from Reserve, grrr. I initiate a battle with Tarkin, Vader, Bossk in Bus, Death Squadron Star Destroyer, and random ability 2 pilot against Lando in Falcon, Chewie, and Redemption, he plays Punch it and draws 3 very nice destiny, 5, 5 and 6. I draw a 1, and 1. After this battle I head to Bespin, he comes over and sets up Celebration, I can’t stop it and have to move to Endor. He has 3 turns of Celebration for 3. I lose by 10


Game 3 vs Pete Srdowski 1731 with 210 games played (Dagobah deck)
Pete starts the Dagobah system, and Wise Advice. EPP Vader comes down first turn, and he starts losing to VoTE, he mentions that he has trouble beating this deck. He pulls Yoda’s Hut first turn, and loses a force. I just start building my forces up, and drawing to 12. He keeps losing force, and telling me how much he hates his deck, and that it sucks. I’m still guarded though, he’s with the Albany crew, and I figure he knows how to play. He drops the <> swamp to Endor, and than drops Twass. I move over, he drops another ability 2 character and I play Imperial Barrier. My first inclination was interaction, but I decide to play more tentative, as I got a drain set up at the Endor system w/ two ships, and he’s down a lot. So I move Vader back to the Docking Bay. He drops Obi Wan, Daughter, and Chewie in front of EPP Vader, than moves the two characters over. I switch back to interaction, what the heck I need to get rid of Obi anyway, and drop Tarkin, an ability two guy, and initiate battle. Play You Are Beaten on Obi, slice Chewie, and his ability two guy dies to attrition. I lose 3 force from damage but my stack stays. He activates, drops Lando w/ gun, and draws. I activate, another Tarkin is in my hand so I’m not to worried about attrition, or getting shot, initiate battle and everyone but the YAB Obi is left, I lose Tarkin. Obi comes back to run away but the game ends shortly thereafter.
4(+16 or so)


Game 4 vs DS Ray Bordier 1994 with 418 games played (Tatooine Occupation)
Ray starts the Tatooine system, and I start the Hut. Time to think, I could play Tatooine: JP which would convert what Ray is probably going to start, or I can take a gamble and chance that he is going to change his start. I decide to chance him changing his start, and get Mos Eisley, he reveals Tatooine: JP, so much for the gamble. His opening hand was atrocious anyway. He activates, grins widely, and shows the guy next to him his HUGE hand. If this was someone I didn’t know I would have been irritated, but I’ve talked to Ray a few times and he is an extremely nice person. I ask if I can see what is so great about his hand, he says I’ll see it soon anyway. Down comes the Death Star, okay pretty good, converts Mos Eisley, suck, and he plays Bad Feeling Have I. What do you put in your deck to counter that start?!?!? He than proceeds to get Jabba’s Audience Chamber and puts Senor Jabba in his humble abode. My opening hand has Ben, Tantive, GlinG1, and a Shock. Due to the conversion AND BFHI I don’t have enough to drop Ben AND beat up Jabba. So instead I drop GlinG1 to Tatooine for a nice drain of 2. If I were to take a look back at the game the proper maneuver would have been to drop Ben, but in this particular game the proper move would have been the bad move, his hand is stocked with ground characters and no ships. Draw my two cards, and give Ray the thumbs up to proceed. He activates and plays a Scanning Crew, I Shock, he Senses, well that’s dandy. Ben walks dejectedly to the used pile. Now he plays Imperial Supply lost and activates 4. I assume he is trying to get the ships to blow up my Leader buddy. I activate, and think about my next action. The Tantive can go to the Death Star, or can give the Gold Leader someone to Lead. Well I had already done my one rushed move for the game, so now, I felt, it was time to fortify. Pay 5 force for Tantive to Tatooine, and draw 2, hey Spiral, hey Lando in Falcon. If I had known that the SW gods had intended those two cards for my hand perhaps I would have dropped to the DS. Ray activates, drains, draws, and again plays Imperial Supply for 4, what’s the matter pal? No ships? So now he has a HUGE hand, and of course my two Grimtaash’s were taken out to find room for the Disarmed’s. So I activate, and draw, finally getting some characters, EPP Han, EPP Leia, and Wedge. He sets up ability 4 aliens at the Mos Eisley, and Tatooine: JPsites, and Papa Vader goes by his old mentor’s Hut for a drink, problem is he is drinking by himself, as Ben is stuck in my reserve deck playing hide and seek. Of course down comes another Screw, so Leia tucks her skirt and joins Ben. Well I need characters on the table so I drop the two rebels, Wedge and Han for those not paying attention at home, against Djas Puhr at Mos Eisley. This maneuver gets me nowhere. I move over to the Hut to confront Mr. Vader, I'm getting desperate here, and wait for the beat down. He drops Boba Fett, Lynn Me, and J'Quille. Game, Set match…

Game 5 vs Michael Vitarelli 1750 with 115 games played (Seinar Fleet System)
He starts Wakeelmui and I start Obi’s Hut, use Careful Planning and get Mos Eisley. He drops the Dejarik Hologameboard and a Monnok for free. I look at him incredulously and ask him to pay two force. He explains to me that the Monnok drops for free and he has always played this way. So we spend about 30 seconds discussing this. I finally realize he is serious and ask a judge to come over. After he pays his two force for the Monnok, I go. Activate, and draw a few looking for some ships, I am rewarded with GliG1. He activates and deploys Tatooine, I drop GliG1 with Wedge to Tatooine. He deploys a Tie Fighter, plays Dark Maneuvers and Tallon Rolls GliG1. This is the point of the game that it just absolutely doesn’t go his way. I draw a 1, cringe, and he draws a site. Tallon Roll total 8 GliG1 – 7 Tie, bye bye Tie. He tries to Tallon Roll GliG1 perhaps 4 other times through out the game, and on the fifth try is finally successful. I slowly amass my forces at Kiffex, get Ben down to Mos Eisley, control Wakeelmui, and whittle him down. After a few turns, I get my one Alter in my deck, and Alter SFS. With Order To Engage on the Table it isn’t long before the game ends.

Game 6 vs Scott Lingrell 1893 with 325 games played
Scott starts the popular CC interior site start, me w/ my IAO. First turn Vader down to Endor Docking Bay. No kidding here, his first 4 losses, Visage end of my turn, Visage end of his turn, Drain, Visage end of my turn, were 4 ships. Looks like my Big Blue deck shall be flying high. He makes a mistake early on and brings Obi down to confront Vader, who gets Barriered. Give Vader some back, draw a 5, and the loss of Visage continues. In addition a drain with some ships gets set at Endor. Through all the struggles Scott plods through, the end came, a lot quicker than it should have, with a heinous Grimmtaash. I’ve got absolute control, lots of force active, and just kind of cruising. I’m holding a Monnok, and decide to investigate the 6 cards in his hand, as I’m thinking about dropping and battling on CC, VIOLA! Of the six cards, he reveals them one by one in dramatic fashion with a smile, EPP Han x2, Daughter of Skywalker x 2, Spiral, and a location. OUCH, game set, match

So the tournament ends and I place 11th with a 4-2 positive differential. I can’t tell you what it was because I don’t play for differential. Everyone helped put up the tables and chairs and than headed upstairs for the handout of the prizes. Jill Curcio, a cute little girl with a cute little comment to one of the TD’s, got stocked up with everyone’s unwanted WB prize support, hint Decipher, in addition to two boxes of ECC from some very gracious players.

Hey Leonard,
This TR has Ended!

$cott