18-03-2000-bochum-germany

Title: 18-03-2000-bochum-germany
Author: Jeroen "S.T.oma" van den Bosch
Date: Mar 21, 2000

This was our second time in Germany. The previous occasion was also in Bochum. That tournament had been a grand slam what had attracted many players. This time it was a regular tournament but nevertheless a good many people showed up. I didn't had that much time to prepare decks with work and all thus settled with only one new deck, rather then bringing two new decks to the tournament. I did take three evenings to playtest though.

For light I played SpeederOps on Ralltiir with I had modified somewhat since I last played it. I included some SAC-protection and a few 2/0 sites for much-needed extra force activation to get around battle order. For a surprise I added 'don't underestimate our chances'. I recently got smoked by that card in a sealed deck and I thought It would be a nice addition to the deck. I know I could have added a more worthwhile card but cards like that keeps playing the (very straightforward) deck interesting.

For dark I played a Ralltiir Operations. Almost the deck you know from decktech. I had stuck too long with hunt down and needed to try something new. People I know are already retiring the deck because it's been around a while and fairly well know. But I'm always a bit behind with stuff like that so I decided to play it a few tournaments (just two or three) before moving on.

I did find some time to play before the tournament although this didn't leave me with the time to actually build a whole lot of new decks. But I felt confident that I would do better than last time in Bochum where I only won two games.

So Saturday came and I went via Eindhoven to pick up Willem en Maarten and the three of us headed to Bochum. Martijn and Jan-Willem went also by car and Johan and Koen went to Bochum the day before and stayed with some local players.
We arrived after (a ride of 1:45 hours) at the same time as Koen and Markus Wuest.
As we walk in we are welcomed by Winfried Sommerfeld and his wife. They were very pleased to see that we had come all the way from Holland to germany to play. Well, we were pleased to be there. The competition is very good and everything was arranged perfectly. The Command cards were already filled out when we entered and everything went so smoothly. They really have a good thing going in Bochum. We will certainly return some time soon! Via this way I want to thank them again for a wonderful tournament.

Soon all the Dutch players were present and some time afterwards Winfried held his opening talk in which a few dates were announced and some rules explained/clarified. Then the pairings were announced.

Game 1 - LS:
He starts 'Court of the vile gangster' and deploys scum and villainy as his starting effect. Not a bad choice ofcourse but no battle order! So now I drain for free. He hasn't got that much force activation. He maybe deployed one site the whole game! With that (and the fact that bounty hunters aren't well known for cheap deploy he's got a though match ahead. I deploy a few speeders and an operative on the farm, deploy a 2/0 site and give the turn to him. Some turns later he deploys IG-88 and a thermal detonator! I look at what's lying on table and see that he has two destiny three characters and three destiny one characters, I look at my destinies at that site (the only site were I have presence). Three's and one's (speeders and a operative). He flips his first card as a destiny... a five.... Second is a two.... And.... A five. Phew, if it worked that would have set me back cause he would have cleared the site and I had not much cards in hand. But he doesn't and he can't deploy enough to stop the speedermadness. He never draws Galid so his drains are minimised. I drain for free and battle the few bountyhunters that come to my planet to death. FW.

HL: relaxed game, nice person, thermal detonator destinies, the anticipation and the relief.
He was a nice person and we chatted throughout the match and afterwards I talked to him some more.
LL: none, I made no mistakes and it was an interesting game although it was obvious soon that I'd win.

Game 2 -Ds:

I must play against Martin Schumacher! I played him once already and won that time (Antwerp Open - Teamchallenge). So I was confident in that I could do it again. I know he is a good player and I dedicated myself to play flawless. He started Profit with Jedi pack Han as frozen prisoner. Then the droids came and then the insert. I activated everything and the insert didn't show. I deployed two at-st pilots and a walker. I had destiny 6 and he had 11. Next time I activated five cause I had Navy trooper Vesden (ads 3...) in my hand. But I didn't have a scomp link (or so I thought), I had looked at the at-st's for a scomp link but saw too late that the symbol was on the left side of the card, not the right). So I deployed Vesden at the at-st (and scomp link) and flipped soon afterwards. He had before deployed a Bothan and when the insert finally rised he had to lose three. That concluded the inserts. Now only Anger Fear Aggression came but that didn't hurt me that bad. I couldn't drain much on Ralltiir because of the undercovers. My trample was grappled the first time I played it. But I got rid of one spy (activated everything but two, took a card and knew it would work). Then he deployed a holosite with Projection. Then the mains came and he freed Han and retrieved ten. I send down Vader and some imps and choked Han flipping the objective. I cleared the site and went outside so I could forcedrain but my forcedrain was stopped by an undercover. Then he deployed another Projection (+1 the holosite). He got out Kessel. He dropped a lot of ships there, the turn after also at the death star and Ralltiir. He was low on cards in hand and I hoped he had no more ships. I had Kashyyk in hand from turn one but an early Monnok revealed many ships so I didn't play it early in the game. The Monnok also revealed a familiar decktype. Jan-Willem Sipkes had made a similar deck (in fact he invented it and Martin had it from him I think) so I knew what to expect because I'm lucky enough to playtest against really good players. All his ships were at Kessel except gold leader at the death star and Tantive IV at ralltiir. I wasn't afraid of the Tantive cause she couldn't drain there (-1). I took care of gold leader with zuckus. I got out kashyyk and he had to come over to stop my drain cause now I was draining for more. He had grappled my masterful move which I searched via the objective to stop his drain at the holotable every turn. He drained for 2 on Kessel and 1 on the holosite and I could drain for 3 on Ralltiir and two on kashyyk as I deployed the system and bossk. So he had to come over. He never found his were doomed and I took control of the table. It went timed but had it lasted any longer I think I would have won. TW

HL: Beating a very good player and him being relaxed about it and all, it was a very close and interesting game.
LL: Him saying the holosite worked for Battleplan and I didn't check.

Game 3 - DS:

He played a Hidden Base deck with our most desperate hours. He came to Ralltiir and I made some mistakes like drawing all my force so I couldn't react. He took advantage of that but not enough to hurt me really bad. He came too soon with his characters and they got battled to death. He deployed Luke for instance without backup to battle a lone AT-ST. He drew a 2 for destiny so I could manage to forfeit the walker and not lose anything else. I waited a few turns and then deployed some (moderate) beatdown on Luke. Then he deployed some space but only retrieved once with our most desperate hour because I was on to him, killing his characters and ships with high attrition. His deck had a chance but not the way he played it (not that he played bad, just not the right way). I made some mistakes but still played a good game I think. It looked like it would go timed but with two minutes left he drawed his two remaining force up. I thanked him for that cause he could have waited two minutes ('think' the turn out) so I couldn't drain him to death. But it was very obvious that I would win the game if I could have another turn. FW

Game 4 - LS:

I had to play against a Dutch player, Willem Sterk who had won the previous tournament against the same deck. But then he played a different deck. Now he was playing Ralltiir Operations. I had playtested this match-up a lot against Maarten Rousso who knows Ralltiir Operations through and through. That had gave me a lot of tips (I can't thank him enough for playtesting). In my starting I had hand two 2/0 site's and after I drew I had three rebel snowspeeders and three operatives. I flipped the turn after. Beatdown did came but I only lost an operative and battled him the turn after. Willem had never played this match-up what gave me a definite advantage. For example he got his diamond sites out first so I could convert them. We had many sites out so he couldn't cover them all and I could flip easily.
I had plenty of force so I could drain (he had started Battle Order) and deploy plenty. A real luxury if you're playing with a deck like this. He altered a manoeuvring flap because I waited a turn to deploy Luke but it went to my used pile and he had to lose the alter and two. Every time a character or vehicle went to the lost pile I felt more confident because if I had to forfeit a speeder or operative and he a character I knew I had gained an advantage because I have more than he has. Soon I had control over the board. Had he know how to play the match-up better (mind you, he is a good player) he could have had a chance. Now he hadn't. FW

HL: beating a deck because I know how to play my deck. Making the right choice to take Ralltiir as the renegade planet.
LL: Beating a fellow Dutch player.

Game 5 - LS

He started Hunt Down. But he had no Battle Order (I couldn't believe it), he was prepared for mains but not for speeders! Hunt Down in general can be a hard match-up, especially since Ralltiir give's him a force for a first turn Vader, but without battle order it was a great deal easier. Vader came indeed in turn one at the farm but I had four speeders in my opening hand and a droid (vehicles deploy -1) and delivered the beatdown. We bothed lost to Visage after that. I flip easily the next couple of turns and he get's smashed of my planet. Then he deploys backdoor and Vader with saber and presence of the force. Had he drawn his Cantina I would have had a problem. Speeders can't get indoors but the backdoor was no problem. speeders engaged and I had another nice drain spot. A stupid move was to play Transmission Terminated after Vader dropped again. He sensed ofcourse. But I was thinking: 'If it hurts him, it's not hurting me'. I know better now. But the turn after Vader was gone anyway, smashed to pulp by speeders. He had only Mara draining for two at Chief Chirpa's Hut and couldn't do much. We both lost to Visage and I won with 3. That looks closer than it actually was, I had control all the time. FW

HL: Smashing Vader (and my opponents dreams) at the backdoor
LL: none I can think of.

Game 6 - DS (final)

So this is it. This is the final! Martin went to sit at ' tische 1' after his first game and stayed there the remainder of the tournament. I had managed to stay away from the him by winning one game timed but now it was my turn. Falke had already slaughtered two Dutch players (Jan-Willem Sipkes and Martijn Peeters) which are both very good players. Everybody was full on advice beforehand what I should do and not do. I was very nervous and I
think that that influenced my gameplay. I didn't play like I normally do, like I expected him to play with different cards than we all play. That attitude doesn't help you win either. Well, he started hidden base/Battle Order. I started bad feeling. I got an awful hand with a lot of red and almost no characters and no 2/0 locations (good force activation is vital in the deck I play). But anyway, he got wedge an captain Han on the falcon (deployed them at kashyyk because of the minus 2) and moved them to ralltiir. I dropped a walker, an imp and Vader on three Ralltiir sites. Then I deployed zuckus in mist hunter and flipped. No rebel barrier! I had feared that because of the two force he had left over. So I had a imperial barrier so he wouldn't be able to supply beatdown on ralltiir and my first thought was to get zuckus on ralltiir but instead I looked at my +3 destiny and decided to battle. He reacted with the spiral. Now he had two destiny! He drew a 6 and a 5. and I a 6 with the objective's bonus.
My power was 11 to his power 20. So I had to lose some cards and Zuckes while he only had to forfeit Wedge. Then I made a second dumb move (and not the last). I drew my last force in hand so I couldn't play imperial barrier in his turn. Orrimarko came down to beat up an at-st-pilot and I couldn't react or draw destiny. I lost 10 cards, most of them coming of top of reserve deck. In those cards were Bossk in hounds Tooth and Boba fett in slave I. So far for my space presence. I tried to fortify Ralltiir but he had already flipped my objective and was slowly killing me off with drains. I helped him some more with additional faults, it got that worse that he began giving me advice! I tried to play Omnibox to stop the sixes for destiny and he sensed and I failed to realise that alters have a different use that just cancelling effects. I think I would have lost to much worse players than falke the way I played. Anyway, I knew I'd lost but then he flipped his objective and the real agony began. He had like 5 cards in lost pile and a really big hand. So he began to make use of the gametext of Tibrin. And with Figiran he retrieved them all. He also pointed that he could have even more differential by (deliberately) missing off/on the edge on Luke to get him in the lost pile and retrieving him. But he spared me from that maybe because he had already won the tournament and it was the last game. FL (with more than 30!)

HL: playing a 2000+ player at a regular tournament. Seeing his deck into action.
LL: Being impressed to a point where I didn't play like I always do.

I still got fourth. This was the first time I managed to pull off five wins so I was mighty pleased. I got some reflections as my prize. All Dutch players ended up in the top 18 (and one of them - Maarten Rossou - even
played an ewock-deck! He has posted it on deck-tech so keep in mind that it has won some pretty good games against really good players if you are going to review it!) We thanked Winfried and his wife for an excellent
tournament and promised we will be back some time soon. The drive back went smooth and the seven of us met at JW's house we're we played some friendly games and talked some more but I had to leave early (obligations at home). So all in all a very good day. Next week it's going to be a 'local' tournament with ofcourse a lot less players but I'm still looking forward to it. Only I promised not to play speederops so I have to come up with
something new. Maybe I'll try to play Martin's deck, after all, I have seen what it can do when played right.

Jeroen van den Bosch
Jvdbosch@plex.nl