las-vegas-nv-4-8-00-state-tournament
Title: las-vegas-nv-4-8-00-state-tournament
Author: Danny "Skuff D" Rider
Date: Apr 9, 2000
Anyhow the tournament is all set to run and I realize that there is just barely 20 people here! I was really hoping to see around 30 or so and I am really disappointed in anyone from Reno who didn't get their asses down here to play. You know who you are and if you don't play competitive games, then how do you expect to get better!?
Anyhow the games begin
Game 1: Vs. Kris Lavigne (1898)
Mark Hamill Part 1 Vs. Raltiir Ops.
My opening hand is possibly the best one I could have against this deck. I deploy two 2/0 sites, wise advice, uh-oh and Bo Shuda. Several turns later, right after Kris flips, I deploy Ben Kenobi, Luke and Beezer to Obi's Hut and attempt to Nabrun them to Raltiir. He cancels it with those rebels won't escape us and I use the second Nabrun in min my hand. He can't do anything and I move over to battle an AT-ST. I put out First Strike and battle, using Gift of the Mentor. This battle hurts him a lot and I am forced to lose an Elom that I had deployed to Raltiir before the battle. The next turn he puts out the Death Star and Coruscant, a walker and tramples Beezer. Then he deploys Mara Jade and sits out, waiting for me to battle. I have no other characters to deploy in my hand but I put out Order to Engage, which he alters. I should have grabbed that but I didn't. I battle and he reacts with 4-Lom and a scrub. I clash 4-Lom and use Gift of the Mentor again. I clear out his site and we bth loose everyone. The rest of the game relies on him getting out Fett in Slave 1 to Kashhyk and 2 drains at sites. I can't pull a beatdown crew till later when as a last ditch effort I mechanical failure a walker and Nabrun Han w/ blaster and Chewie. My 2 destinies don't do much damage and I can't get anything else out to stop his drains.
I lose by 19 in a great game. After this game I am shocked to learn that several of our top players got their butts handed to them by scrubs. It's gonna be a long day...
The Good: Playing Ral Ops to almost a standstill. Gift of the Mentor had him grimacing.
The Bad: Not grabbing the alter. He gt a couple of my effects with that.
The Ugly: Not that this game was pretty but there was nothing obscene that I could pull from it.
Game 2: Vs. Chris Hood (1664)
Raltiir Ops Vs. LS Raltiir Ops
Right after he Pulls out the system, I know what he's trying to do. I made a deck similar to this and this game will rely on waiting. I start battle Order and He forgets to start out with a system and a site so he deploys the farm from reserve on turn three. We both know any sites we deploy the other will convert so we just draw and deploy effects and I deploy some systems and Bossk in Bus and Dengar in P1 to Raltiir. The system is under my control for the rest of the game. Finally I break the lack of play. I deploy the forest, knowing full well that losing this site is the only one that won't hurt me. Sure enough, he converts and puts out 2 other sites along with nightfall and free bothan spies, Boushh, ral ops and he flips. Right where I want him. See, when I played this deck I came across the realization that whoever makes the first move, loses. I put out bright Center of the universe and a rather large beatdown force including DLots, 2 walkers and a scrub. I battle, choke his op and draw 2 destiny. (Watts and Marquand in TS2 rock!) I use main course and reduce his attrition to 0 (he drew a 1) and draw a 11 in destiny. He clears out his site and loses some from reserve. I move to his next site ready to battle. he doesn't have enough power to beat me and he makes a mistake and runs in the wrong direction, flipping his objective back. I pull off some drains, spread out and flip my objective. I deploy Executor to Coruscant for an extra drain and begin to build a beatdown force in my hand. He decides it's time to fight and puts out some eloms and talz with the Lars' family speeder for a react and deploys an alien to the swamp. Of course he didn't see the swamps GT that he can't react to or from. I issue a severe beatdown on his scrub and the game is mine.
I win by about 28 or so.
The Good: Knowing this deck the moment I saw the Operative Planet. And beating a decent ranked player. My rating should go up.
The Bad: Boushh deploying for free instead of 10 force! Stupid Nighttime Conditions!
The Ugly: Eloms. Seriously have you ever seen them? They look like the offspring of a chicken and Wookiee prospectively. (Bad image of Chewie Screwing a chicken...AHH!)
Game 3: Vs. Garrett ??? (Can't find his rating)
Ral Ops Vs. Unknown Type
Garret lost his deck with 6 Obi-Wan's in it before the tournament. What's he doing with 6 Obi-wan's in a deck? that's way too many! Anyhow we played against each other with similar decks and we know what the outcome will be. I flip and he regrets not Nabruning to a site earlier on. He probably could have held it with Ben, Lando and some scrubs but he waited to late in the game. we fight, I win he loses...repeatedly. Game Over.
I win by 19
The Good: Winning. By this time in the tournament I'll need to start racking up victory points.
The Bad: We didn't finish quick enough to get prizes for the fastest game. Kris Lavigne finished quicker and got a Executor Foil.
The Ugly: A conversation about anal probing that ensued after the game. My ass hurts just thinking about it...
Game 4: Vs. Matt Berta (1739)
Mark Hamill Vs. Hunt Down
Oh yes, it's a game I've been waiting for with this deck. everything seems to go well. I cancel his visage with TT first turn, set up my Figrin/Bo Shuda/Chasm combo and he puts out Vader to a POTF'd Obi's Hut. I know from a few nights ago that he's not dueling a I deploy Luke w/ saber, Obi-wan w/ Saber and battle, use gift of the Mentor and he uses Vader's Eye and I have you now. He draws a duplicate Vader, loses 2 force, immunity to attrition and a destiny card. We clear out the site for both sides. I draw looking for characters but can't find any. He deploys DLots to the Hut and drains for 4 a turn. I lose, Lando, Luke and a starship in that drain. I am still looking for characters and cycle Out of Commission. I swear I used the force and was guided to place Vader out of play. Now all I have to do Is get rid of DLots and the game will be mine. We both know this but I can't find any characters and I have a Gift of the Mentor in hand! I lose my last Luke and obi-wan off the top and the chance to pummel Vader along with them in a force drain. I get out Han and Chewie and figure this is it, but nooo! I draw a site and 2 respectively. I beat him in power but DLots is immune and I lose both guys to his destiny and watch my chances of winning slip away.
I lose by 30 or so.
The Good: Placing Vader out of play and Chasm.
The Bad: I have 15 5 destinies in this deck and can't draw them to knock off a Sith Lord. Wassup wit' dat!
The Ugly: Our opening hands. Mostly red and few characters.
Game 5: Vs. Noah Singer (1609)
Mark Hamill Vs. Hunt Down...again.
This deck I played last week when Matt Berta was using it to duel. Lots of high destinies and interrupts. My opening hand was never so perfect for this game. Transmission terminated, Mos Eisley, Cantina, Chasm, Uh-Oh, Ben Kenobi, Luke w/saber and Out of Commision. I deploy the sites and he thinks I'm using Monks, but he has yet to comprehend the power of Mark Hamill. I decide to save the out of commision in my hand for a turn. He uses POTF on the hut and deploys Vader w/ saber and Tarkin. I send down Ben and Luke and battle. We both clear out the site from attrition and hitting characters and then I play Out of Commision. The force guides my hand and Vader is placed out of play. This should be the game but remember it's only 3rd turn, there's still a lot more to go. He puts Fett w/ rifle and tarkin in the cantina and I deploy Obi-wan and Herc seff to the hutt and move them to Mos eisley. I put out battle order and next turn he deploys kiffex and Zuckuss in mist hunter. I have super falcon in my hand but know that I don't have enough force to deploy it all and battle. So instead I put out chewie and Han w/ blaster in the cantina and make the mistake of not moving Obi-wan and herc there during my control phase. I battle and we both lose everyone. I know if I would have moved those guys to the cantina, the game would have been won. We spend the rest of the time draininf each other down and he uses POTF on Kiffex to increase his drains. Finally he gets me to low on force for me to drain at every location and he drains me out.
I lose by 11.
The Good: Once again placing Vader out of play.
The Bad: Forgetting to move my guys to the cantina. This cost me the game and will be the play that haunts me for the rest of the day.
The Ugly: Garindan. What's up with that nose anyways?
Game 6: Vs. Keegan Heilman
Raltiir Ops Vs. Hidden Base X-wings.
Keegan gets a lot of smack talked about him and is seriously treated like a little @#$%. But he's a cool guy and I'm glad I get to play him. He's one of those players who you can have a non-aggressive game with. Anyhow he starts off with rebel fleet and I make a comment about me having 2 monnoks in my deck. (this is a lie. I know I should have them in it though.) I flip my deck and thanks to the massive amount of force activation given to me keep a good defense on the sites just in case he's packing mains. He deploys TK-422 and I spend a couple of turns trying o trample him and finally succeed. He flips in hopes to stop me from draining him but I have security precautions out and the executor and Dengar in P1 in my hand. I deploy Executor to roche, convert his coruscant (he can now drain me for 1 at Kiffex) and make a mistake of drawing about 4 too many cards. This is my last game and every card I will need. I don't need a reactor terminal with Ral ops so by drawing i was Reducing my differntial. Keegan drops 5 x-wings to roche and doesn't have enough force to battle. I Probe roche just to ensure battle damage safety as I have security precautions out and next turn deploy Vader's shuttle, dengar in P1 and a scrub. I battle and draw a total 11 destiny due to raltiir an DDengar bonus. He loses all but an x-wing and I lose the scrub. He has no cards in hand and I spread out my forces to probe. I probe another system before getting his HB and at least this way cycle 3 cards from my hand back into my differntial. He loses five force and I don't draw any more cards and drain him out.
I win by 28 which is just enough to put me at 6+ 3.
The Good: Keegan's attitude. He took losing well. Sometimes I just worry he's going to go postal on all of us for taking so much crap though...
The Bad: Me drawing those cards late in the game. It didn't hurt me but it could have.
The Ugly: My only battle destiny draw. 11 battle destiny is just hideous...in a good way.
At this point the tournement is over. the store is closing and the final confrontation will be held at another location. I couldn't attend but Matt Berta won in a showdown against Dan Christy. Congrats to both of those guys, they're goodd players and I'd much rather see them up there than anyone from Reno. (Is Reno even a city?) There was also some great prizes handed out and anyone in Nevada who didn't attend missed out. I won an oversized MWYHL obj for most creative deck title (Mark Hamill Part 1) and also several packs of cards. My goal was achieved as I came in the top 10 in the tournament. (rank 8) There was some sweet looking shirts as well and I was already thinking of the day I would win one. In my packs I pulled a Vader and danced the dance of joy. I gave some cards to some folks who showed up and talked a little with some scrubs as the time wound down. Eventually the store had to close and I was kicked out, despite having no place to go. It took me several days to type this report as I wanted to make sure I had all the details and it was accurate and as I look back on it I must put in some final notes:
Overall---
The Good: Prizes, Deck Variety, Tim 'Info Broker' Guzman as our TD. He managed a very well put together state tournament and I enjoyed every minute of it.
The Bad: No lunch break for 6 games. The low turnout when I know of at least 10 other players in Vegas alone who should've showed up. Oh well, more prizes for those of us who did. Not having a girlfriend to have sex with before the tournament started or after to celebrate.
The Ugly: Anyone from Reno. If you can't show up to a decent tournament and instead hide behind wins against scrubs then you shouldn't have a ranking higher than 1600. It's a shame that some people let fear drive their lives. Also I must say that old men and fat women who wear spandex or speedos are to disgusting to even begin to describe. They all know that the world hates them for wearing out fits that highlight thier aged and excessive features yet they continue to do this. Why, God? Why?
And that's all there is to say about that.