merritt-island-florida-03-04-00-pt-ii
Title: merritt-island-florida-03-04-00-pt-ii
Author: Leonard "Master Yoda" Mitchell
Date: Mar 8, 2000
The game ends and I get up to stretch and realize we only have about 15 minutes left, so I go outside and get some fresh air because my head was starting to get fuzzy. I'm told that Matt Lush lost and I see that he changed back into jeans, so I guess he had enough of my 'lucky' shorts. I come back just in time to hear my name being paired against Mike Fitzgerald. I wish all of my friends luck and get some of my own because I know I'm going to need it.
Game 4: My Tatooine Rumble vs. Mike Fitzgeralds DS Court Musicians
I'm excited about this game for two reasons. The first is that I get to rumble with Mike, and the second is because I'm playing a Court deck. I have no idea what sort of Court deck it is, but it doesn't matter. The strategy is simple: convert the AC, drop Ben and his stick, move into the AC and begin to pound. Unfortunately for me, the game didn't go that way. The game starts off with him playing Surface Defense and getting all 3 effects out. I Careful Plan for the AC and things start just as they should. I draw my opening hand and I'm a little disappointed. I keep going through my cards over and over, hoping a Ben or an EPP Luke might suddenly materialize from them, but no dice. Instead I see the Jundland Wastes, Taws Khaa, and 6 interrupts. SIX! Ugh. Anyway, he activates, pulls the Executor DB from the reserve deck with the objective, deploys another one from hand, and draws up. He loses a Hutt Smooch to his objective and he's done. I activate on my turn and quickly drop Tawss to my Jundland Wastes to satisfy the objective and get some quick drains in. I draw a few cards and get more interrupts and Jeroen Webb. His next couple of turns he doesn't do much except deploy docking bays, lose to his objective, and draw. I get a drain in, and he loses from his reserve deck. I see a ship go and some radom.musician. I sit there and think, hmmm. I ask how many cards are in his hand (about 13), and then count up the number of icons he gets on his turn. He only gets about 7, so I don't really fear the beatdown quite yet, so I don't bother moving Tawss over to Obi's Hut until I can get reinforcements. I know I need Force, so I deploy Mos Eisley, and I draw more and hope to get some good stuff. No luck. The only character I get is Harc Seff. Don't get me wrong...that little Ishi Tib rocks steady, but he's not what I was hoping for. So it's his turn and he gets 8 Force now. I see him deploy Skinny Jabba (from SE), Greeata, Scum and Villany (one of the absolutely smoothest card in the game) and then a whole freaking bunch of musicians (Lyn Me, Umpass Stay, Dodo Bodonawieedo, Ak-Rev, etc.). All of these guys have this crazy game text and what-not, so he manages to empty his whole hand for about 4 Force. Woah. I'm now thanking the SW:CCG powers that be for having Mike deploy to the AC and not the JW. He looks through his cards a couple of times, and then draws. I drain again and see him lose Jabba's Space Cruiser from hand (it looks like he's giving up on space) and Rystall off the top. Now I don't know much about musicians, but seeing as though he just deployed a bunch and lost two to drains, I really can't think of too many more he could do damage with. Therefore I know he needs to Elis if he has any hopes of killing me. I look down into my hand and see that I have a Sense, a Nabrun, and a catch card to combat his Elis, so I feel good. At least something in my huge hand was useful. I deploy Harc Seff to the JW and draw more. My hand is getting huge. Actually, it was ridiculous. I'm to the point now where I am hoping for Mike to Monnok me so that I can put all of this crap back into my deck and start fresh. No luck, so I draw and I still get no Ben. Of course by this time it was practically too late. I do get an EPP Luke and a ship or two, so I'm somewhat happy. And here is where the game gets interesting. I need to save two Force for Harc Seff and three for WAYTTPOU. That makes five and that means I can only draw a couple per turn, and sometimes none if I want to deploy stuff. We continue to trade drains for a while (his are cancelled by Harc), and he gets out First Strike (this won him the game, without a doubt) and Broken Concentration. Wonderful; now I need to save at least 6 Force a turn if I don't plan to save more for an emergency Nabrun. Mike eventually gets tired of trading drains so he drops Mara Jade to the JW with EPP Luke, Tawss, and Harc. She gets Barriered. He then goes for the Elis of Musicians to the JW too. He pays his Force and promptly gets his Elis caught and Sensed (I'll gladly lose to TiNT for that.) He smiles like he knew it was coming, so he plays another Elis. It stacks and he pays his two Force in addition to his destiny draw. 'Any actions?' Does get-the-hell-out-of-there count? I Nabrun away and breathe a sigh of relief. Mike looks impressed and tells me I was lucky this time. We trade another drain or two, but I'm starting to hurt now because Harc can't cancel drains when he's way out at Mos Eisley. Thankfully Boussh comes down to stop the AC drain and I setup Tatooine Celebration with some ships and Jereon Webb as forfeit fodder. Unfortunately I'm running really low on Force due to my huge hand. Things are getting worse for me now because he has Battle Order out and with Secret Plans, I need to make sure I drain for free in order to afford my retrieval. I see him lose BFiS1 to a drain, so that means he probably only has ZiMH left (unless Dengar was there too), so I feel safe. On his turn he deploys ZiMH w/ and ORS pilot and Rappertunie as a forfeit bait. He battles and retrieves 3 (one of which happens to be BFiS1) and I lose one. He has to sac Rappertunie, but his huge forfeit covers it. On my turn I look down at my hand to see what options I had. Sadly, I don't like what I see. I have one character in hand (Melas), but he needs to go to the Cantina to drain. I quickly do a scan of the board and figure out that the only way I can win is if Mike makes a mistake. His battle retrieval of 3 has been keeping him in this game so much that it was starting to wear me down. I need a miracle, so I Signal for Order to Engage, break Leia's cover, give her a Gimer stick, reinforce the system with another ship, and walk Leia to Jabba's site and say go. I know the space battle isn't going as good as it should, so I needed to get Leia outside so that I could shuttle her up as a high ability pilot to help against ZiMH. Looking back, I probably could have won the game had I battled at the system that turn. My power would have knocked out ZiMH and would have got me one Force, made him lose one, and he would have had to start paying for drains. Wow. I can't believe I didn't do that. Oh, well. Sometime I guess I just rely on OTE too much. Anyway, he give ZiMH more forfeit fodder, iniates a battle (retrieves 3 while I lose 1), forfeits all his guys, then lands the ship to where Jabba and crew were. He loses to OTE and ends his turn. I drain and feel as though I need to get more Force back in order to last, so I shuttle Jeroen Webb down to retrieve with. On his turn he does something I just didn't plan on. He deploys BFiS1 from the reserve with his obj. Ouch. He hits me with a draw of 5, but I return the favor so we each lose a ship. He then flys ZiMH back up with an ORS, Jabba/Boelo, and 4-LOM. Things are not looking good. Again I need my ability to be six up there, and now that he's drawing two destinies, I need serious forfeit fodder. I try to manuever my guys around but once the system slips from my control, it seals the game. FL by 8.
4 (+17)
Highlights: Playing a completely awesome game against an excellent player. This was by far my best game of the tournament and the most fun one in a very long time. After the game we barely had time to check our decks in before the next game began. Mike summed up my exact thoughts when he said he needed to change his shirt from all the sweat. S&V sucked.
Lowlights: Losing always sucks. Oh yeah, and how about the fact that I never saw Ben ONCE all game except when he was on his way to my lost pile via Force drains?
Ahhhh! So I lose and 5-1 is out of the question. Time to come with the damage control and leave 4-2 with my head held high. I take a quick moment to collect my wits after the awesomely intense game I just had, and then get ready for the next round to begin.
Game 5. My LS against Dan Blackford's DS M&T Big Blue
Well, I certainly didn't think I would get to play Dan again so soon, but that's the way things work out. Our game was even more fun this time because we sort of knew each other and we could pick up on our joking where we left off. I start standard and he starts the Death Star with Imperial Arrest Order. I get an opening hand very similar to last game. Only one character, but this time it was EPP Luke. I activate, deploy a couple locations, and draw. He does the same. I deploy Luke and Jeroen (he saw some serious play time today) to the Cantina, and save Force because I've got LiMF and a Tantive IV with Wedge waiting to go down to to the Death Star next turn. On his turn he activates, Monnoks (nets two Obi's sabers), deploys CHYBC and just saves up Force. I shuffle, drain, and drop the invasion Force to the Death Star. Now he has to protect that fat drain of 3 because the Shuffle shuts CHYBC down cold. We battle over the system for awhile with Han coming down and helping the Tantive and LiMF whoop up on some Dreadnaughts. All the while I'm draining for three on Tatooine he's trying to set up a Hoth drain at the Defensive Perimeter. He secures it with Igar in Tempest 1, but it's only a turn or two before my girl Boussh comes down and takes care of that annoyance. We keep battling more over the DS, but it becomes apparent that I'm winning the war of attrition because fewer and fewer guys are coming to the Empire's aid. Eventually it got to be empty TIE fighter's coming down to help out. Dan does get an ATST down on Tatooine over to Obi's Hut, but Harc Seff gets out and takes care of that drain too. So with the shuffle being the only method to drain, I managed a full win by 20.
6 (+37)
Highlights: Shuffling all game long. Seeing Vader up in a TIE fighter at the DS. Maximizing Harc's gt; it if could have caught on fire, it would have.
Lowlights: Never get Celebration set up.
It's coming up on the last game and it's becoming evident that everyone is tired. It's getting really late, but the tournament is still running very smoothly, so people aren't getting too testy. I talk to everybody and found out who won and who lost. Charlie is still undefeated, but if he loses, Matt's diff. will put him in first if he wins his last game.
Game 6. My DS Tatooine B/O vs. $cott Anderson's LS HBX
WTF? $cott? Nah. Given the day he was having, the pairings shouldn't have been that way. Besides, he's been telling me about this killer HB tech deck that he's running and I've come to give it some respect. Honestly, I don't want to play homey. So I quickly glance at the players' cards around me and find that we really are paired together. Well, I think to myself, let's get it on! I know he's playing HB, so I start with T:JP and the Cantina. He Signals for Wise Advice. My opening hand looks pretty good with a PotF, Ozzel, Vader, two ships, and other stuff. I know that $cott's deck will tear me up if I have to go to space, so I need to create as much damage as possbile before I setup the Occupation. I figure that if I dogpile everything at Tatooine, it should be enough for me to hold the system long enough to get quite a few rounds of Occupation in. Given the need for quick damage, I dropped Ozzel by himself to the Cantina, deployed the AC, and drew for backup. Balsy? Yes. Foolhardy? Perhaps. My playstyle? On occassion. So he just gets out systems on his first turn and draws. I drain but he ICBWs it and I smile. So much for quick damage. I drew Mara last turn, so I sent her to the AC to drain. I look for her saber, but it's not there. $cott verifies, but there are no secrets between us, so he sees no surprises in my deck. I drop the PotF to the AC, back up Ozzel with Tarkin, and draw. On his turn he deploys another system and drops an X-wing to each of the 3. His reasoning: 'If it's going to be this kind of game, then I'm going to do that too.' He saves some Force for the Barrier or Hyper Escape or whatever, but it's not like Sense won't stop it. He draws. I get in a drain of 4, drop Vader and his saber to T:JP and save Force to deploy ships. On his turn he gets out more systems and drops a single X-wing to each one. Hmmm. I'm now faced with a drain of 6, but my drain of six will beat his because I've gotten to him for more beforehand. He Signals for Rebel Fleet, then contemplates playing Dagobah and TPTIFF targeting his Tatooine, but decides against it (I wonder how much his earlier game influenced that decision...). I Alter Rebel Fleet (He catches my Alter), drain, but only get two in because of It's a Hit and ICBW. We trade drains a few more turns and each of us is getting quite low on Force. $cott came down with EPP Luke and took over a site, so he'll be draining for a quite a bit next turn unless I do something about it. I decide it's time to stop screwing around, so I play Battle Order, drop two 2/2 dudes to fight Luke, and drop ZiMH to the lone X-wing at Tatooine, hoping to draw out his Barrier. It worked and now I could hammer with BFiS1. Boba comes down and beats an X-wing, but I can't draw destiny because I need it for the battle with EPP Luke. We battle there and I lose both guys but Luke dies too. Now $cott has to pay for drains, so he decides to only drain for two and uses Tibrin's gt to bring Luke back and then he uses the Lost function of Organized Attack to get out a whopping one X-wing from his reserve deck to battle me at Tatooine. He drops two there and one has a Laser Cannon, so he battles and caps ZiMH. Luke comes down to battle Mara Jade (?) and takes her out too, so now I only have Vader left on Tatooine, but he has nobody so he'll have to pay for drains again next turn. As he draws, he flips Hidden Base. I activate 3, Twi'lek, but can't find my Tat. Occ! Ah, that's not good. Crap. I end up getting something else and finish activating. I drain, but I hold off deploying guys for the Occupation until I can actually use it. Instead I play BiHT to a lone X-Wing at Tibrin and a Dreadnaught to a lone X-wing at Kessel. We battle at both places and $cott loses X-wings both times and a few more cards. On his turn he AGAIN Tibrins for Luke because he knows that he needs to drain for free if he has any hope to stay alive, so he puts Luke down to an empty site. I activate and drain at the site and systems, and deploy a couple more guys to take out EPP Luke for the final time. Now $cott had to pay for his drains again, and in a turn or two there was nothing he could do but watch me count my cards. Full win by 13.
8 (+50)
Highlights: Even though I didn't want to, it was cool to play my buddy $cott. It's always fun to play with friends. Going 4-2. Never having to probe his HB.
Lowlights: I just added to $cott's bad day.
So the tournament ends and I'm pretty pleased with my 4-2. Twelfth was not exactly what I was hoping for, but I can't complain. After the tournament about 20 of us go over to Denny's and we take the place over. $cott and I get a table with Gabe and I get to really talk to him for the first time. Dude, if you've never met this guy, you really ought to. He's not the Diplomat for nothing. :) So he tells us all kinds of crazy stories about one-turn wins in Magic to how his wife got started in SW:CCG to what really happened to HiddenBase.com to whatever else he felt like talking about. We were originally going to hang around with Mike Fitzgerald and his crew, but $cott and Clint kind of wanted to get home, so we left Merritt Island at 1 AM and drove straight through. The car ride was awesome because I got Clint to tell us about all of these cool things he done with SW:CCG, and then we started to discuss deck ideas, and then eventually how we got started in SW:CCG. Probably the funniest thing we talked about was the way we used to play the game before we fully understood the rules. As the sun starts to rise we begin to feel the 24+ hours we've been awake, so we make up 'happy SW:CCG lyrics' to Limp Bizkit. It wasn't funny in the least but we all laughed because we were all so dead tired. We get into Charlotte around 10 AM, and we drop Clint off at Heroes. $cott and I had planned waaaaaaaaaaay back when to play in this tournament after the Grand Slam, but I told him I couldn't because I really needed to study for a Monday morning test (what is that?!?!). I told him I'd just stay in the car as he played, but I guess he was feeling tired too, so we left. I got back to my dorm and went to bed about 1 PM, planning on waking up around midnight and just staying up and studying until my 9 AM test. Unfortunately I didn't wake up until my alarm went off at 7 AM (I have an 8 AM class). BTW, have any of you ever had an 8 AM? If not, never get one. They suck. Hard. Anyway, do you know how long I slept for? 18 hours. Wow. I must say that I impressed even myself. I got up once at 10 something, but then I fell right back to sleep. But by sleeping so much I couldn't study, so consequently I bombed my test. I just got it back today. A nice fat 72. How you doin'? But I'm not too upset because my weekend was 110% worth it.
I just wanted to one more time thank Chuck and Mitch for running a great tournament and for everyone being such good sports. Each person I met was super awesome, especially Neal, John, Matt, Charlie, and David. And $cott's the man for arranging it so that I would have a ride back. In the end, Charlie Herren goes undefeated and wins it all. The following are the top 15 or so (thanks to CommieBoy for the data):
1. Charlie Herren 12(+126)
2. David Irvine 10(+124)
3. Gabriel Alonso 10(+91)
4. Mike Fitzgerald 10(+70)
5. Matthew Clark 10(+50)
6. Michael Faughn 8(+93)
7. Walter Cowart 8(+82)
8. John Arendt 8(+80)
Other notables: Matt Lush 9th, Leonard Mitchell (me dammit!) 11th, Clint Hays 12th, Neal Razi 13th, David Akers 14th, Andrew Marchand 15th.
Ok, that's enough from me. Thanks for reading. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to let me know. Later!
--Master Yoda out. <(-_-)>