provo-utah-1-29-2000
Title: provo-utah-1-29-2000
Author: Matthew "MattJ" Jensen
Date: Jan 31, 2000
January 29, 2000
By: Matthew Jensen. a.k.a. TrekkerMJ
The tournament scene in Salt Lake City was looking dead for the weekend so three of us decided to load up and head down for the hour drive to Provo for some action at Image Nation. We had never played down in Provo before and we were looking forward to seeing how the action was down there. It was to be the first sanctioned tournament in Provo in over 18 months and 13 people showed up to get things started again. Kudos to Jared Jensen (no known relation) and Image Nation for getting things going again. Also, I was finally able to meet Daeyel from the BBS and Listserve and really enjoyed talking with him!
A quick note on the decks the three of us were using. My LS deck consisted of a LS Mains Beatdown altered from the Vaporium deck I found at Trandosite. Check it out. The site and deck are both amazing! My DS deck was a TDIGWATT deck with Secret Plans, exterior CC sites and AT-AT/AT-ST covering the ground. Jack Fuller used two other decks of mine - a LS YCEPBT and a DS TIE Defender SFS deck.
The third of us was what I was most excited about. My friend DaRell Frehner started collecting SWCCG cards just a month ago after YJCCG got him interested. He put together a LS Cloud City deck and a DS Tusken Raider deck. Neither depended on an objective and the number of rares were limited. He didn't want to borrow any of my cards and was excited to go at it on his own. In fact his fiancé helped put his LS together the night before.... She asked how she could help and he had her pull any character that had to deal with Cloud City together and she did so. Maybe a wedded couple is coming into SWCCG? Anyway..... On to the Tournament.
Game 1 - LS against Jake Fuller's TIE Defender SFS deck.
What pairing! We drive and hour and I end up playing my playtest partner to start things off. I was worried at first because of the retrieval and drain spread potential that I knew his decks had. My deck relied mainly on beatdowns on ground so I knew I had to work something out quick. He starts Kashyyk to prevent 1st turn revo potential and I start Tat: Mos Eisley and the Farm. I quickly set up Spaceport Speeders for generation, drains in space and Lando in Falcon with Wedge in space. Unfortunately, Jake couldn't get much going. Systems weren't coming out for him and when he battled the Falcon, I was able to Sense his All Power To Weapons and his destiny draw was 0. Combined drains of 8 on Tatooine and Battle Plan holding his drains up to a minimum led to a fairly quick demise. FW by 27.
Results: 2 (27)
The Good: Setting up my generation system and getting a strong space presence going to goof up his plans.
The Bad: Facing Jake in the first game and big differential.
Game 2 - DS against Aaron Hill's X-Wing Swarm deck.
Aaron just came from destroying his last opponent by 41. A bit happy and duly so. He starts Hoth with Haven.... No Objective and my first response is to look for an EBO deck. I start standard TDIGWATT w/ Imperial Arrest Order. He smiles when he sees his opening hand. I'm able to get three CC sites down the first turn and am holding Cloud City and OS-72 in hand for once I get Dark Deal set up. I find out why he was smiling when he throws down 3 systems and starts spreading single X-Wings out to each. I figure he must be planning on using Hyper Escape to prevent beatdown so I'm bracing for big force loss and concentrate on setting up Dark Deal. Fortunately I manage to get Dark Deal set up by my fourth turn (Including Mara Jade and her sabre). In that time he hits me for drains of 8 and 9. After that it was all me though. 2 turns of 14+ drains quickly wipes out his Hyper Escape plans and then Bossk in Bus beats down on a lone X-Wing at Kessel for the win. Full Win by 20
Results: 4 (47)
The Good: Getting Dark Deal up and running quick enough to counter his spread and drain.
The Bad: Forgetting to add 1 to my force drain for Mara Jade and her sabre for 3-4 turns.
Break: Image Nation gave a couple Premier Unlimited packs out to the 1st and 2nd place contenders at that time. I get 2 for being in first. Nothing good from the packs but nice move on Image Nation's part!
Game 4 - DS againt Grant Jensen's Hidden Base X,Y,B-Wing Swarm.
Grant was attending his first constructed tournament and was doing quite well for himself. His brother was the TD for the tournament so he checked in quite often to see how things were going. I started Security Precautions against his S-Foils. He has to read Security Precautions and said, 'Gee, this kind of messes up my deck.' I told him I hoped so! My deck set up quickly with the extra force generation he gave me and Dark Deal came into effect quickly. Unfortunately he was able to cancel each of the 3 drains I had with the Dark Deal bonus through his HB set up. He set up force drains at Kessel, Coruscant and Yavin. After I unsuccessfully probed his Bespin I set up Cloud City Occupation to even out his drains to mine. Our decks were just countering each other. We both knew it was just whoever got the right break would win. I decided to risk things and probe again at Yavin. BANG! There goes Hidden Base and Dark Deal kicks in and quickly does the damage. As he is drained out 2 turns later its over. As soon as he gets drained out he jumps up, shakes my hand and we both start talking about how good of a game it was. Full Win by 17.
Results: 6 (64)
The Good: For some reason this was the best game of the day for me. Grant was a great player (as were the others) and I enjoyed playing with him immensely. Probing his base on the second try cinched the game for me too!
The Bad: Nothing. Good game and we were both into it mentally and emotionally.
By this time, only 2 players were undefeated at that time. Unfortunately, we had both just played DS. We wouldn't get to play each other and I had a 20-some-odd advantage on differential. So pairings were announced and we went on for the final game.
Game 4 - LS against Tom Ercambrack's TDIGWATT deck
Of course, I knew the potential of this deck.... He starts Any Methods Necessary and pulls Boba Fett and BF in Slave 1. I draw for several turns setting up my Spaceport Speeders generation cycle. I'm expecting a long drawn out game when I see my chance. He puts Lando, Lobot, Tempest 6, and Tempest 1 at one site and Boba w/ gun and 4-LOM w/ gun at another. I sell a droid and get 10 extra force to set up a beatdown of EPP Han, EPP Leia, and C-3PO down against the Lando site. Lando gets shot and I end up drawing a 6 and 4 for my destiny. That clears his site and all I have to lose is C-3PO. He deploys Bane Malor, Zuckuss and then moves over Boba and 4-LOM setting up for a good battle next turn. Spaceport Speeders pay off again for an additional 13 force that sets up EPP Luke, EPP Han, ECC Chewie to come down and lay down a major smacking. Put That Down eliminates 4-LOM's targeting while Boba Fett misses as well. Cool thing was that Bane scanned Han and got an extra destiny for being present with Luke! He also played an interrupt (can't remember which one) that adds a destiny if a BH just targeted a character (I had a sense in hand but forgot to use it! DOH!). I manage to hit every one of his characters in response. Even then, he gets 4 destinys to my get 3. He draws a 2,1,1, and 4. I draw a 6, 4, and 3. I end up slamming him for something like 15 force and all I had to lose was EPP Obi. After that his Dark Deal set up was hashed and he went for damage control on Tatooine. I drain him out with another minor beatdown to finish things off. Full Win by 23.
Results: 8 (87)
The Good: LS Beatdown was incredible with the force activation I was getting.
The Bad: LS Beatdown. Enhanced characters are still very abusive..... After the first beatdown it seemed to just dampen the spirit of the game. The second one killed it altogether.
With that win I end up the only undefeated player in the tournament. Prize support was given out to the top 5 and the bottom 3 participants. Some good stuff for me taking the tournament, but most of it goes to DaRell's collection to keep him coming. Jake Fuller ended the day 2-2 with some very tight games. DaRell ended up 0-3 with a bye but had the time of his life playing his own decks. He is so hooked on SW now and I am excited to see him get out and have fun. His decks were never blown out and were competitive enough to impress his competition, especially with the card selection he had. Though he does need to take out the Old Ben cards from his Cloud City deck!
Thanks for listening to my prolonged ramblings...... Great tournament action was experienced and I hope you could get a taste of it from my report!
Thanks again...
Matthew Jensen
TrekkerMJ