greensboro-north-carolina-01-16-00
Title: greensboro-north-carolina-01-16-00
Author: Leonard "Master Yoda" Mitchell
Date: Jan 19, 2000
So the tournament was run by Vann Daugherty (thanks!) and he did a wonderful job. Unfortunately the store forgot to advertise the tournament (the owner thought it was supposed to be *last* Sunday), so less people showed up than normal. Undaunted, we started at 1:00, right on time.
Game 1: My LS vs. Bill Pittman's DS Tatooine BH deck
Excellent. A BH deck on Tatooine. But at first I didn't know what he was doing because he started the Tatooine system and Any Methods Necessary. I started Obi's Hut and Careful Planned for Mos Eisley. When we started, he showed me Boba Fett in Slave I and started to draw his six cards. I thought something didn't seem right, so I asked to see AMN and then told him he needed to at least get a prison and a BH as well. He didn't believe me so he called the TD over. Whatever. He's told that he's playing it incorrectly, so he decides to not play it at all because he doesn't have a Boba Fett in his deck (?) and he really wanted to play BF in Slave I. So we start and he draws first turn. I draw first turn, getting the Cantina and the Audience Chamber, along with a Ben Kenobi. On his turn he deploys the Audience Chamber and draws a few more. I then convert his AC, but hold off deploying the Cantina to see what else he was going to do. I drop Ben and his saber and EPP Han, then move them over to Mos Eisley. On his turn he just saves up Force. So I get a drain of two in, then drop EPP Luke and a swoop (tech) to Mos Eisley with Han and Ben, and draw. He saves another turn, then deploys Djas Puhr, Dr. E, ECC 4-LOM (Barriered), Ree-Yees, Ephant Mon, and Danz Borin, then battles. After saber swings and shooting, all he has left was Danz Borin, Ephant Mon, and 4-LOM. Unfortunately for him, he only has one Force to move away, so everybody stays. On my turn I activate, Disarm 4-LOM, Sorry About the Mess Ephant Mon, and then set up a very lopsided battle against Danz Borin and a useless 4-LOM. Sabers' swing, guns fire, and 4 battle destinies later (Gift of the Mentor plus EPP Han/Luke) he was out a lot of Force. After that he kept drawing to start some sort of resistance on Tatooine, but my constant Force draining and swoops/SATM just made life hard for him. A bounty was put out on Ben, and another ECC 4-LOM came out, but in the end it was a win for me by 34.
Score: 2 (+34)
Highlights: Everything went according to plan.
Lowlights: It's kind of too bad my opponent had to learn the hard way about AMN.
Game 2: My DS vs. Scott Alcon's LS Ewok Madness
I start my normal start of Tatooine and he starts Yoda's Hut. I get Combat Ready and deploy T:JP because he isn't playing on Tatooine. He doesn't play a starting interrupt. So right now I'm totally clueless. If it's M&T, then why no MWHYL? Anyway, I activate, deploy the Audience Chamber from the Reserve deck, but instead of deploying Mara first turn like normal, I decide to SCrew. In his hand I find two Endor sites, a Daughter of Skywalker, a couple of interrupts, and ewoks. Uh-oh. At this point I started getting worried. I fear ewoks. These decks can be nasty, so I knew I had to watch my step. So I put DOS in his used pile and elect to draw because I know Mara will be better off on Endor than Tatooine. On his turn he deploys the two Endor sites and draws again. I decide to get Vader out right away, so I set him down to the newly deployed Lars' Moisture Farm. I didn't want to go to Endor until I had backup because I've read horror stories of how Vader always gets destroyed by the fuzzballs on Endor. I draw and get Tarkin, Igar, Tempest I, and Cantina. On his turn he activates and drops a whole bunch of ewoks to one site, along with Chewie Of Kashyyyk. He ends his turn because he doesn't have any Force left to draw. I activate, drain, and deploy the Cantina and then Igar on Tempest 1 to the Hidden Forest Trail. His ewoks were at the Dense Forest, but unfortunately ATATs can't go there. So I settle for a drain of two instead of battling. I then draw, getting Bubo and a SCrew. I play the SCrew to find two DOS, so it didn't do too much good. But I did also find an Alter. On his turn he deploys DOS, a jedi lightsaber, then uses Chewie's gt to search for Lumat or Wuta. Neither were in there, so I got to verify his deck and breathe a HUGE sigh of relief. I feverishly scanned through his deck searching for starships (I had seen none to this point and none were in his hand), ewok spears, Ithorians, Nabrun Leids, or Kazaks and luckily found that none were in there. So he just finishes deploying more ewoks and draws. I activate, drain, and deploy Tarkin to Vader's site and Mara to the Cantina (got her stick). On his turn activates, drains, then drops more ewoks. Then he plays Nabrun Leids. WTF?! All of those guys to Igar/Tempest 1. I have one Sense in hand right now, but I know he has an Alter in his hand from the last SCrew. I've got no hope, but I play Sense anyway to see if he'll forget. No dice. So the ewoks go crazy and beat up everything. I lose Igar/Tempest 1 and still have to lose a few more. What's worse is that I drew pitiful destiny and one of those ewoks can forfeit to cover all of it. So now I'm a bit worried because I have a lot of stuff on the table and he just beat me for Force loss. He then moves a few guys over and now will have drains at both sites. On my turn I decide I have to go for it, so I drop Jabba to the AC, a lone walker to the Jundland Wastes and set up Occupation. I hold off on Bubo just in case he has TK-422 or something. I then draw to either get more Senses or an Elis Helrot. I finally get both and I stop. So the game goes on and with us draining back and forth and him losing lots to Occupation. He tracks his Nabrun and tries to play it again, but this time my Sense goes through. That was his last hope (even though the Ewoks would have been powerless on Tatooine), and I went on to win by 22.
Score: 4 (+56)
Highlights: I don't know. Being able to set up an undefended Occupation was cool. Him not having a more well-thought out deck was definitely a bonus.
Lowlights: Getting Igar/Tempest I beat up really sucked.
So we get done with a few minutes to spare and my girlfriend brings me lunch from Boston Market. Sweet! Brain food. Most of us sit around and eat and talk about how weak the LS is yadda, yadda, yadda while the last game finishes up. I find out that my next opponent is a young kid, but I'm wary because he beat '96 World Finalist Gary Mohnsen with the same LS deck that I now have to play against. And he didn't just win...he won by 35.
Game 3: DS vs. Zach Pomer's LS Snivvian Nightfall deck.
The game starts out with both of us pulling Tatooine as our starting location. Wow, it's been along time since that happened. I look up at Zach while I get my next location and see that he has this look of pure dread on his face. I ask him what was up and he said 'You just screwed me.' I didn't quite know what he was talking about yet, but we went ahead and again bounced locations when we both picked Mos Eisley. Two in a row! Cool. So we finally get it on the third try with my Cantina and his Jundland Wastes. I use my Starting Interrupt to pull Mos Eisley, and he uses his to get the Bargaining Table. My opening hand is nice with a DLOTS, his stick, a Sense, an Alter, T:JP, and other stuff. I deploy T:JP, search my reserve deck for the AC while I scan for Mara Jade. She's not in there, so I decide to just draw. I get her and a SCrew, but I don't want to play it until I get somebody out to Sense the Shock (lesson learned from the Grand Slam). He just activates and draws. I then activate, deploy DLOTS with his stick to the Cantina, play a SCrew (he's playing Snivvians! No wonder he was mad. No system means no Nightfall. Hehe. And boy is he playing a lot of Snivvians. I think it was all Snivvians except for a Signal, a night-time droid, and a Talz.), Alter the Table, and save Force. On his turn he just draws again. On my turn I activate, drain, use the JP gt to search for a site (really a Monnok or a Masterful Move), find a MM is in my Force pile, then draw for it. Unfortunately I don't have enough Force to pull a Monnok and play it, so I hold off for next turn. Again on his turn he activates, plays the Signal (Sense), and draws just a couple until his face lights up (turned out he got his system and a Nightfall). He then smiles and says its my turn. Before I activate I MM for a Monnok, then activate enough Force to play it. BOOM! Just like that, 13 cards go to the lost pile. Two night-time droids, two talzes, and a *whole* bunch of Snivvians. I finish activating and then drain for 3. The game goes on with him trying to re-establish his hand size, but the drains of three really added up. At one point I deployed Jabba and Mara w/saber to the AC. On his next turn he deployed Nightfall on the system, followed by a tooex and a talz to the AC. At that point I asked him to wait and I Altered the Nightfall. He just about gave up hope at that point, but he then deployed EPP Leia to help out, only to have her Barriered. Unable to move his guys away, Zach just drew and awaited his death. I drain, Sniper Leia, and beatdown on his lone Talz. After a turn or two, Zach drew up. Win by 35.
Score: 6 (+91)
Highlights: Monnoking for 13 cards was fun. Bouncing locations twice was interesting.
Lowlights: none.
Game 4: My LS vs. Kristian Heugh's DS ROps.
I had never seen Kristian before, but he told me he goes to Duke and he lives out in California where some big names play. Anway, he starts ROps w/ Bad Feeling, while I start my normal start. My opening hand shows me an EPP Leia and a Nabrun, but no Ben. As a matter of fact, everything is red except for Leia. Ugh. I know the key to stopping the ROps flip is disruption on Raltiir, but I can't do that with only one character and no attrition fodder. On his turn he deploys the Swamp, grabs the Forest, deploys a Biker Scout to the Swamp, then grabs a bike. I activate and draw, hoping to get a Ben. No dice. I have no doubles in my hand, so I continue to draw all of my Force. He asks how many I have in hand and I say 15. I'm thinking, 'Go ahead and Monnok me, lost or used. Either way, it definitely won't hurt me.' Well, he doesn't play a Monnok, but he does deploy another biker/bike to the Forest, the Jungle, and draws. I activate and deploy Leia to the Hut (so that I can Nabrun Ben and her over a lot sooner). As it is, I still hadn't had any other locations come up (even though I did lose one to a FD), so I had to deploy Ben to the Hut If I wanted any chance of Nabrunning over in the same turn (Bad Feeling sucks). Anyway, I draw and get not one, but two Bens. Great. Now what? What if he Monnoks? *gulp* I decide to just act cool and say it's his turn. He activates and drains (leading me to believe no Monnok), so I decide to not lose either Ben in hopes that I won't tip him off my strategy (of course, it really didn't matter because he saw me play a game with this deck before the tournament started. Doh.) He then deploys Tarkin to the Jungle, flips his Objective, and then deploys ECC IG-88 to the Forest and There Is No Try. Wait? What just happened? Oh that's right, he just flipped without me doing a thing to stop him. Yeah, good work Leonard. You're the man. So anyway, it's my turn and I have a dilemma. I STILL have no other characters in my hand besides the Bens, so I really can't go and try to flip back Raltiir without him. Thankfully, the destiny adding stuff won't do much with my 'reviving' mains always coming back. I do have a couple starships in my hand, but I have no way to get them to Raltiir. And without a way to search my deck until Wedge is out, I have no idea where my Tantive is. So I need to stop Raltiir, and I need to do it quickly. The other thing was that he would next turn use the search text for whatever he wanted, and it would more than likely be Nabrun defense, so the way I saw it I had to go now. I deploy Ben, hold off on his saber just in case he gets captured or whatever, and decide to Nabrun Ben and Leia over to Raltiir. I had three sites to go to, but none of them were any good. The Jungle was empty, but that drain -1 sucks. The Swamp has Takin and a biker/bike, but it's 4 Force to battle there. Not going to happen because the destiny in my deck is high and I only have a few Force left to work with after deploying Ben. That leaves the Forest where he doesn't have abiltiy 4, but he does have immunity to attrition. Oh, and did I mention he has 2 Force saved? Yeah, I saw it there, but I couldn't be sure if it was for Oota Goota or for speeder reacts. I had Senses for the reacts so I wasn't worried, but an Oota Goota would suck. So I tell myself I really don't have any other hope so I chance a Nabrun to the Forest. And guess what? Yep. Oota Goota. *sigh* Not good. So IG-88 gets Ben and biker gets Leia. Now looking back I probably should have gone with the Nabrun to the Jungle. Why? Because even if he did play Oota Goota, my Rebels would just go to the used pile. I had another Ben in hand, so all that I needed to draw for was another Nabrun. Oh, well. With nothing to do, I draw a few cards getting EPP Luke and Han. He drains on his turn and fortifies. I save Force so that I can deploy all of my ultra-expensive stuff on Raltiir. He activates, drains, and fortifies some more. I activate, deploy Battle Plan to stop the draining for a while, drop EPP Luke, EPP Han, and a swoop to the Forest, and battle. I naturally miss both chances to hit IG-88, and since his characters are immune to attrition, everybody stays and he just loses a Force or two. On his turn he searches his reserve deck for a card (a battleground system), deploys Endor with Boba Fett in Slave I, and drops Vader to the Forest, but I Barrier. He decides to move IG-88 over to his highly fortified Swamp, but I follow on my swoop. On my control phase I SATM IG-88 and hit, so I get back Ben. Things are now looking up! I decide not to battle because he has huge power there, so I run back over to Vader. I also hold back from deploying GLiG1 because I want to be able to track my SATM destiny to take out BFiS1. He drains and moves people over to Vader's site for a fight. I'm getting super low on Force now and I can only activate eight Force if I want my 5 destiny. If I can just take out Boba Fett I might be all right because he isn't generating much Force so he might not be able to drain and do stuff. That would probably give me the time I needed. So I deploy GLiG1 for 6 (stupid Endor), initiate a battle, and draw my...4. AHHHHHH! I still don't know what happenend, but somehow I screwed up my tracking. Well, that was game. There is no way I could win now because I have no idea where my destinies are any more and I don't know if I can even find a ship in time. And plus I have all of one Force left so I can't even move away from the fight. Why does it have to be like this? Well, I do have GOTM in hand, so I'll get four destinies in the battle, so maybe my power might not be so bad. So he drains, battles, chokes Han (of course), thereby removing a battle destiny, and then plays Boring Conversation Anyway to cancel GOTM. Whatever. It just wasn't my game. I don't even bother to Sense because it's hopeless now. So I lose the battle by more than I planned and that was pretty much game. Loss by 28.
Score: 6 (+63)
Highlights: Uh...none, really. Well, I do have to give Kristian props for seemingly having an answer for everything I did.
Lowlights: Let's see. Oota Goota, mistracking destiny, Boring Conversation Anyway, etc.
So I go from 1st to 3rd. Kristian ends up winning the tournament and Ray Franks takes second. Prize support was nice with third getting 4 packs of Premiere, and one pack each of JP, SE, and Endor. Everybody gave away their Premeire packs to the two new people so that was good. I know everybody says this, but it's too true. Decipher, can you please see if the TDs could be sent stuff other than Premeire as prize support? I know that it's great for getting people into the game and all, but I think SE could do just the same!!! Please, please, please.
Ok then, thanks for reading! If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback, please let me know. Later!
--Master Yoda out. <(-_-)>