3-11-00-cedar-grove-nj
Title: 3-11-00-cedar-grove-nj
Author: Michael "faramir" Dalton
Date: Mar 12, 2000
Well this is the only tournament in our area of Coruscant today, and we managed to draw plenty of out-of-town players which was cool. Unfortunately some of the top local competition were on Spring Break (I'm sure if Chris and Jason had known what a nice tournament we'd have they would've postponed their trip to Jamaica). A large Philly contingent showed up to play consisting of Greg Hodur (Ghetto Leader himself), Joe Young, Ted P., Kim Caton, Pete Flamini and Nathan Brown. From other parts of PA we had SM Pat Ziagos and Frank Walsh, New Jersey's own Scott Lingrell (RamapoCon organizer extraordinaire) brought along Wojtek Jankowski to play so there was plenty of competition. There were even more people I didn't recognize, lots of new people to the store, the locals were certainly outnumbered.
For decks I've got 2 for each side right now. DS is either At-St/RallOps or Hunt Down w/ Dueling. However a friend took 2 of the Maras from my Hunt Down deck and I didn't get them back in time for the tournament so it would be RallOps for me. Kind of wanted to play Hunt Down, but oh well, next time. For LS I made a new deck, Throne Room Mains, it had playtested well and it was all ready to go. Also had my MWYHL/Falcon deck, I took both decks w/ me intent on deciding which to play when I got there. So after watching Duke win their semi-final game of the ACC tournament I rush out to the tournament, it's running a few minutes late so I got plenty of time to chat/decide on my deck. Talk to Scott a little and he convinces me that the Throne Room Mains I have isn't that ready and I know my Falcon deck will do well against the competition there so I decide to go w/ that. On to the games:
1st game - LS vs. Pete Flamini's TDIGWATT
He starts Surface Defense. I'm not really sure what was going on w/ his deck, he started the objective but never deployed anything from it, weird. I think he was going for just force choke and setup a little drain on CC and beatdown elsewhere. I start Battle Plan as always. I setup Yoda and Luke to test on Dagobah and he drops 2/0 locations and draws. He sets up Ozzel on Blizzard 2 to drain at the exterior CC site he started with. I get my test done, he backs up Ozzel w/ Jodo Kast and pays to drain some times. I draw to get my Falcon setup and drop Capt. Han on the Falcon w/ BoShek at Kessel to drain for 3. He Reactor Terminals some destinies and I get in a round of drain as he sets up to come battle me. He drops Executor and I Barrier it, and he follows w/ like 3 2/2 pilots on board (IAO is not out). I activate all but 5, check my destinies to see good stuff, drop EPP Leia as a passenger, R2-D2 on the Falcon as well, battle, I Know, 5 destinies clear out the system and I drop Legendary Starfighter on the Falcon. He comes to space again, drops a ship w/ Tarkin on board and moves to Dagobah. Next turn another ship w/ Vader and Mara and moves the ship from Dagobah back. I contemplate battling but I decide I like Mara and Vader in space. So I just run to Dagobah. I get Uncontrollably Fury on Vader, drop EPP Obi w/ Yoda's Gimmer stick at his CC site and Order to Engage. So know I've got no drain, he's got a drain of 1 at Kessel, but he's losing 7 in direct damage w/ Fury, Legendary and Order to Engage. He drops more in space including EPP Fett and some guys and goes to Dagobah w/ Vader and Tarkin to block BoShek and Han on the Falcon. I just run back to Kessel. I get in some On the Edges to retrieve some force. He battles at Kessel and I play Punch It to draw 4 and he loses a bunch in attrition. The direct damage is too much, win by 31.
Highlights: beating what looked like a pretty good deck by a lot.
Lowlights: totally cheesing my way to victory.
2nd game - DS vs. Luis Rodriguez's Tatooine Mains
He starts Mos Eisley and Cantina for some quick shuffle action. I start IAO as always and pull the 1/0 DBs. I'm getting plenty of force and setup for an early flip. He drops Ben and EPP Luke to the Cantina, next turn I drop some guys on Ralltiir to flip and cut his drain to 1. I spread out to 3 Ralltiir sites and soon setup at Kashyyyk w/ Zuckuss in Mist Hunter, Vader's Shuttle and a pilot. He drops Melas and later Nabruns over to my Prefects Office to face off against an At-St. I just run away and drop Fett in Slave 1 to hold Ralltiir to prevent him flipping me back. He moves his guys from Prefect's Office to the Desert. I use RallOps to search my deck, drain, and drop my Sandwhirl and his mains are missing and I resume my spread and drain on Ralltiir. I drop EPP Vader to drain at Mos Eisley to speed things up, he comes down Han and Lando and everyone dies. Vader gets Evadered. Vader goes back down to drain on Tatooine and he sets up Tawss Khaa at the Cantina to do some draining. I drop Mara and she gets Barriered. He comes to Kashyyyk w/ Tantive, Han, Kal Fal and Red Leader in Red 1, but my bonus destiny is too much. Tawss battles Mara but he doesn't draw enough to take her out. I drop Bossk in Bus and battle at Kashyyyk and he's left w/ only RL in R1 there. Next turn Orrimaarco and Han go to take out Vader, we tie the battle and everyone dies, RL in R1 runs to Ralltiir. Fett takes out his ship and I drain him out. Win by 21.
Highlights: getting to use my Sandwhirl :)
Lowlights: he just didn't seem familiar w/ RallOps so he wasn't prepared to beat it.
3rd game - DS vs. Pat Ziagos's Harvest
He goes Obi's Hut and Lar's Farm. He gets Ben w/ Obi's Saber and Proficiency and drops Owen at Lar's Farm and moves Obi over. I setup for my flip but find all 3 of my At-St Pilots are activated so I have to settle for dropping Mara to flip. He has C-3P0 also at Lar's Farm and played a HDWGITM. I know I need Decree to handle his drain cause his Harvests will win him any drain race, so I try to set that up while fortifying Ralltiir at the same time. He gets off A Gift to drop Maras drain to 0, I get a Sandwhirl to make the Artoo he dropped at my desert missing and put Blizzard Scout 1 alone there to drain. I get 4 Ralltiir sites setup. I setup at Kashyyyk w/ Zuckuss in Mist Hunter and Vader's Shuttle, a Dreadnaught at Ralltiir and shuttle up a pilot. He drops Lando in Falcon w/ EPP Luke at Kashyyyk and by now he has Beru and EPP Leia at Lar's Farm. He doesn't battle, and I fear battling as he has a ton of stacked destinies thanks to OOCs and Shocking Infos and a Punch It would clear the system. So I just move my ships around, shuttle up some more forfeit from Ralltiir and switch Vader's Shuttle w/ the Dreadnaught and search for my Coruscant to have a 3rd system so I can do Decree. He's getting in a drain of 2 now at Lar's Farm and he drops Order to Engage and I'm losing to that as well. He moves Lando in Falcon to face off against Mara in Vader's Shuttle at Ralltiir. I get out Coruscant and lose to Order to Engage and run Mara to Coruscant. I try to Alter OTE but he senses and my Alter goes used. I make a mistake and leave an unoccupied Ralltiir site and he drops Wedge and EPP Han there to flip my objective back. Then moves the Falcon to Coruscant. I get in my drains, block his control of a site, flip back and run Vader's shuttle to Ralltiir losing to OTE. He Harvests and brings back like all 6 destinies and I grab the Harvest. I get another Alter in my hand and finally my other Grabber so I try to alter OTE, he senses and I grab. We end up running out of time soon after this, he's got like 14 and I've got like 8. I think I might've won as my Alter on OTE would've gone through eventually and that was his only damage at the time. He would've been force to come up w/ something, dunno what he might've had though. Oh well. Timed Loss by 14.
Highlights: a close game against a good player.
Lowlights: getting sick of my RallOps deck, timing out, 1 of the players Pat brought w/ him was interrupting our game at the end, annoying.
4th game - LS vs. don't remember his name's Raithal Ops
Well, I have to play the kid who was interrupting my last game. I won't go into how this kid acted during our game, I'll just say that when I quit this game it will be because of kids like him. So on to our game. 1st turn he Twi'leks for an insert and draws. I get Luke at Yoda's Hut but an opening hand Yoda means I can't play them both 1st turn. 2nd turn he drops Vader's Shuttle, Elite Squad Trooper, 2 Trooper Cadets and an insert. I activate, drop Luke, and test 1, and draw a few to lose to his drain (none of the cards I need are in active). I lose to his drains, he draws some. He plays Trooper Sabbac and I lose an ICBW but no insert hits. I activate and hit the insert and DFTD it. Then I draw for some things I need and get Capt. Han and EPP Leia as well as the Spiral and Melas. He drains, I Surprise Assault for a little damage and he spreads to the Jungle w/ 3 more troopers. I activate and mess up as I Tunnel Vision w/out 1st searching my reserve pile and there's no Falcon in my active pile so I can't go take over Raithal yet. He goes and drains but no insert. Next turn I activate all but 1 and draw for the Falcon. He can't insert so he just drains. I drop Falcon, Capt. Han and BoShek, Spiral but I only have 1 destiny to draw, doesn't matter as he just Ghhks. He gets out Ability Ability Ability. I've got EPP Leia, BoShek, Capt. Han, Yoda and Luke and he's got 6 troopers. I drop Melas and EPP Obi at 1 of his sites and cancel it. He gets out the Executor w/ like an ORS as a pilot at Raithal but doesn't battle, next turn I take it out w/ 5 destinies. He gets out Strategic Reserve so he's canceling my drain for 2 at Raithal. He's draining a little, and I'm trying to setup some real damage and keeping his at a minimum w/ We're Doomed (R2-D2 on the Falcon), ICBW, and retrieving some w/ On the Edge (which gets grabbed). He swarms Obi and Melas w/ like 5 or 6 troopers and Trooper Assault but their forfeit covers it. I know I need to do more damage so I land the Falcon after playing Order to Engage and start drawing for my Yoda's Gimmer Stick and find it. He drops Fett in Slave 1 at Raithal. I drop Yoda's Gimmer Stick on BoShek and the Falcon goes back to the air and BoShek moves in front of some troopers. He leaves Fett in front of the Falcon and loses to OTE. I blast him w/ I Know but he's got a Ghhhk so no damage. He eventually flips w/ 3 operatives but it doesn't matter, just takes my drain down to 1 at Raithal, the damage from OTE is enough to win the game. We're Doomed keeps his drains minimal. Win by 7 as we're running out of time and I forget to drop my hand.
Highlights: um, winning I guess.
Lowlights: playing an annoying and rather rude little kid. Not playing my deck very well.
5th game: LS vs. Kim Caton's ISB/Tatooine/Sandwhirl
Wow, never would've thought Kim would play this deck :). She starts Broken Concentration (which is something she didn't do in previous versions of this matchup) but I'm well prepared for that. She drops some Tatooine sites and draws. I get out Yoda, next turn Luke w/ Great Warrior and At Peace. She drops Ozzel on a Walker and the next turn Luke is ready to train and he passes w/ a 5 and 4 sites out. I deploy to space w/ Capt. Han and Melas in the Falcon at Kiffex and we're both paying to drain for a little. She grabs my ICBW. She deploys more ISB guys, gets another site setup, drops a Desert to Kiffex w/ 5d6 to -1 my drain there. She also drops Search and Destroy and a Sandwhirl at 1 of her Tatooine sites. I know that card is very bad for me, so I after consulting w/ Rich on the battleground rules I drop EPP Obi w/ Yoda's Gimmer stick at the site she has guys at but doesn't have a Sandwhirl. She doesn't have anyone of ability 4 or more there so it's not a battleground and since she doesn't occupy 2 battlegrounds w/ characters anymore, Search and Destroy is canceled. Obi then proceeds to dive into the Sandwhirl next door. I drop Kessel and move the Falcon over there. She's got CHYBC out and Secret Plans so I need another battleground to retrieve so I get Holotable w/ a Projection there. She deploys to space w/ the Executor at Kessel w/ plans to move it to Dagobah and drop reinforcement next turn but I Barrier it. Drop EPP Leia, check destinies, play I Know and my 5 take out the Executor 27-12, but it's forfeit covers. I play Legendary Starfighter. She's getting in some drains on Tatooine and I draw up to less than 14 life force so I can play We're Doomed. She goes to Kiffex w/ Bossk in Hound's Tooth, a Star Destroyer and a pilot. The Falcon goes over there and I retrieve some w/ On the Edge getting my I Know back. She fortifies a little, next turn I activate, Tunnel for my I Know, battle and clear the system w/ 21 attrition. She draws up while I've got a big hand still and before I get much retrieving in so I win by 14.
Highlights: deck working just as it should, suicide Obi taking out Search and Destroy
Lowlights: none
6th game: DS vs. Nathan Brown's MWYHL/X-Wings/Bothans
I'm pretty confident this game as I played his deck last tournament and I'm much better prepared to beat this w/ RallOps than I was w/ Hunt Down. He starts Yarna. He curses his opening had w/ no system as he knows he needs to get to Ralltiir quick to prevent my flip. I get a good hand w/ a generic site, pull another site and a DB and get the characters I need to flip. Nathan goes and draws. I drop 4 2/2 guys, and move them to have 2 at each. I totally forget to flip my objective (it's been a long day). Nathan reaches over and flips it for me, what a guy, he could've dropped an X-Wing at Tatooine and moved over to Ralltiir which would've change the game as I would've needed to fetch a ship to flip, but he didn't. This matchup is just really bad for his deck, as he can't drain at many of his systems and I've got a 3 drain at Ralltiir and get out Search and Destroy. He amasses X-Wings at Tatoooine and moves them to Ralltiir. Then he gets out Coruscant and moves those X-Wings over. I use RallOps to search and convert his Coruscant so he still has no drain. So his X-Wings make their way back towards Tatooine. He gets out Kessel and moves X-Wings there. I use my searching to setup Decree at Tatooine and Ralltiir. He moves over to Tatooine and we battle some, I've got big destinies, he's got lots of X-Wings. I have plenty of forfeit fodder though. It's pretty much a stand off in space but my ground drains and Search and Destroy are too much. He drains some at Kessel but that's about it. Win by 24 or so.
There ends up w/ no undefeateds. Scott Lingrell wins playing his high destiny Hunt Down and Throne Room/Mains/Inserts (his 1 loss to Kim's MWYHL/Bothans/X-Wings?). Wojtek takes 2nd playing Endor Ops and LS Mains/Obi's Hut w/ CP start (his 1 loss to Pat's Harvest Deck). I get 3rd, Pat takes 4th cause of the timed win, he had Kashyyyk/Manip/Ops and Harvest (his 1 loss to Wojtek's Mains). Scott won the Obi shirt I donated for prize, which will hopefully add to the impressive list of prizes for RamapoCon II (http://orion.ramapo.edu/~slingrel/). Scott gave me a look at the impressive collection of cards he had to give out for the tournament including a full set of Endor foils, very cool. Much of the WB prize support was given to Scott as well, including the Falcon I pulled. Rich Haman ran a great tournament as always and gave us each a pack of Reflections for our entry fee which was most generous of him. Thanks to everyone who traveled a great distance to play we had a really good tournament. Getting ready for NJ State Championships on April 8th! - Mike Dalton