netherlands-helmond-16-04-2000

Title: netherlands-helmond-16-04-2000
Author: Jeroen "S.T.oma" van den Bosch
Date: Apr 18, 2000

It's been three weeks and one tournament later than the last time I reported (TR Bochum, 18-03-2000) and I'm gearing up once more to play. The last tournament (a local) went okay but nowhere near as good as the Grand Slam in Bochum where I had finished 4th. After that tournament I had taken a break from tournaments for two weeks because of exams and 'quality time' with my girlfriend. This week had been a busy week for me with 3 concerts and I was kinda exhausted but when I woke up Sunday I was feeling bruised and all but not that bad.

I had a new light deck. It's a Throne Room mains deck with some sense and alters and everything you expect from a deck like such. For dark I still play Ralltiir Operations. Not a bad deck but everyone knows it by now. Still, I hadn't had the time to make another deck so this would have to do.

The tournament was in Helmond (Holland) and when I arrived at the scene (conference room of a hotel) already there were quite a few people. In the end 32 people came, also some from Belgium. That was as much as the regional last year and this was just a local tournament! It was a sunny day, and after the marvellous week I had, I really felt like playing some interesting games.

Since Ryloth is a small SW community, ratings are less than in some other (bigger) regions so I also included rankings beside ratings because that will tell you a bit more then just the ratings. By the way: I’m 11th in Ryloth with a rating of 1681. This report got somehow a bit longer then I initially planned but I hope it’s worth your time.

Game 1: Jan-Willem Sipkes (1883 - 1th in Ryloth)

We playtest together often but we hadn't play this match-up ever before. I had my new light deck and he had a musicians deck build around the objective 'Charbon Freezing Chamber'. I know Musicians are very strong. I had considered playing them myself. I was preparing for a tough match-up. I gave him Wedge as prisoner (glad I put him in). I generated quite some force with my Throne Room start. I also drew a twix-site first turn so I didn't need to worry about force. JW, on the other hand was a bit short on force. I had the lower corridor in my hand after a turn in which JW had not done that much except deploying some musicians to the audience chamber which he had searched via the objective. Musicians are weak apart but strong together so you need a lot of them on one site and the Audience chamber plays a major role. So he needed to secure that location first. I deployed the lower corridor with EPP Luke. I knew that I would be relatively safe because he would need to set things up. Then I realised I already had a location where I could drain for two (Charbon Chamber) so I could have deployed Luke there without giving away two dark force icons. But too late, now I gave him force which he needed so dearly. Later the deployment of the lower corridor proved to be not a bad move after all but I'll come to that. He has some ‘Elis Helrots’ (I think three) in his deck and some ‘Tarkin's Orders’ so he can cancel my 'Nabrun Leids'. After some drains at the lower corridor I saw that he lost quite a bit of force already while setting stuff up. By now he had some key-musicians, Jaba and ‘Scum&Villainy’ at the Audience Chamber. I had Han and Leia with Luke at the Lower Corridor. He finally deployed some characters on Cloud City but no 'Elis' (pheww). So he couldn't get all the musicians together. He moved a group of musicians to my site and called his turn. I initiated a battle in which he lost some musicians to my weapons (I made sure I shot the key-characters, the ones that let 'm search for a musician, give them power and forfeit bonuses, etc.) and attrition. I lost only Luke. By now I had Mantellian Savrip and the Bacta Tank out so I was pretty safe and had some card advantage. I moved away to the Carbonite Chamber and continued to drain there. He followed. I saw Elis as destiny and now I was really sure he hadn't one. I nabrund to the audience chamber and he tried to cancel it with Tarkin's Orders but I sensed (and lost the sense and two due to ‘do or do not’) so I got to go to the audience chamber after all. Then I deployed chewie to the Audience Chamber so I had 3 destinies (Han, Chewie, Leia and Obi were there with their build in weapons). I initiated a battle, leaving some force behind for a possible 'projective telepathy' (great card, if you can’t use it on your opponent you can use it with scum&Villainy to initiate a battle and retrieve two force, after which you cancel your own battle). I chopped Jabba so l could alter Scum&Villainy. There was already one in his lost pile due to a force drain so it was pretty much game there and then. He couldn't cope with my recurring mains (from tank and hand) and he had to abandon the Audience chamber.

FW +23 (2 +23)
HL: Winning from the number 1! Playing a good, fun and interesting game.
LL: Beating a friend


Game 2: Jeroen Kassenberg (1509 - 60th in Ryloth)

I played dark and he played with the ECC objective 'Quit Mining Colony'. Well, it was short and nasty. He forgot a lot of things (reacts etc) and describing this game wouldn't be really interesting. No lessons to be learned here except don't let characters or vehicles of ability one alone at a location if you can’t react or back 'm up.

FW +19 (4 +42)
HL: Winning
LL: No challenge

Game 3: Paul van Hoorne (1603 - 21th in Ryloth)

I had to play light. Since I lost to Paul in the final round last time we played here (and because of that he won the tournament) I was eager to get my revanche. He played the ECC objective ‘This Deal Is Getting Worse All The Time’ deploying Bespin first. From what I knew he might be playing with a lot of troopers since he played a deck like that before. I deploy a nudj first turn and draw. He deploys an interior Cloud City site via the objective and one from hand. Next turn I deploy Luke and Oola there. He hasn’t got many cards in hand so I Oola every turn but he draws more and more and I must use my force every turn for Oola so nothing happens except for me draining for two. He gets to see my deck since there is no Nudj when I make use of the gametext of the swamp and he sees that I don’t have many characters except for the mains. He Deploys Mara on Yavin but I hit her of while I’m draining for two and one on Cloud City now while he’s draining for one on Bespin. I have the upper hand. Two Dark Deals go to the lost pile since he has no hope in controlling the cloud city sites. But I realise I made a big mistake when he drops Vader to the Yavin 4 Swamp. I haven’t deployed my second Nudj, once I couldn’t find it, I haven’t tried again. Now Yavin 4 gets crawled with Imperials! I use Orrimaarko, Chewie, Wedge and Lando to my best ability since the rest is out on Cloud City and Leia is nowhere to be seen all game. ‘Imperial Arrest Order’ is out so no Nabrun. But the other characters not on Cloud City stop forcedrains, react away from battles with Narrow Escape and Orrimaarko sometimes make him lose force. I Savrip damage but the Bacta tank is getting very expensive with chewie on it and he has a lot of characters. I can ‘It could be worse’ some force drains when I draw my ‘sense’ since I saw ‘It’s Worse’ as destiny. He indead play's it's Worse for 16 force but gets sensed. But I’m still draining for three to his six (Mara in Throne Room, Vader and his saber on a twix-site and on Bespin) so I can drain it out easily in two turns since I have much more life-force. But then U-3po (undercover spy) makes an appearance and he’s got his drain of six and my drain is only one from then on. In the end he wins by one force, the Boba Fett I scanned out of his hand in the beginning of the game with Oola! So not deploying the nudj when I had the chance costs me the game. Lack of experience with the deck I guess. Still it was an intense and interesting game.

Fl -1 (4 +41)
HL: Interesting game
LL: Losing because of an error on my part


Game 4 - Johan van der Meer (Mr. White) (1770 - 6th in Ryloth)

Johan deploys the djark hologameboard so I'm left in the dark with what he is gonna play. Numbers, x-wing swarm, mains? Since I rely for number protection on Vesden and my non-unique At-ST pilots (destiny 3) I deploy 'Bad feeling have I' because I think he might be playing mains. But if I had ‘Resistance’ in my deck I think I would have gone for that.
I have no locations in my opening hand and after I draw up I still haven't. We both draw for a few turns and I'm really low on force (only Ralltiir and four generic sites) while Johan is activating tons after the deployment of Obi's Hut, Chirpa's Hut and some time later Rendevouz point. Sometimes the sites are cluttered together and once I have experienced drawing a very large part of my deck without drawing a site although I have ten in my deck. But I think the best strategy in such a case is just drawing till you get them. He deploys Luke and after some thought I deploy premiere Vader in front of Luke. I have 6 force activated and used it all to deploy Vader but I have Battle Order in hand and deploy it to battle for free. I have Vader’s saber and I deploy it too although I had doubts. I knew Vader would be relatively safe from attrition but if he got hit by Luke's saber I would have to lose two cards to his one. But I was hoping that Vader would survive and to drain next turn for two but that was wrong thinking on my
part. Not only had I deployed battle plan (so I would have to pay half of my activation to drain next turn), he also hit Vader quite easily and I had to forfeit him. He also had to lose Luke but I got the worse deal here. Especially since I had used all my force and couldn’t draw any card to my hand.

He gets Premiere Obi out. I deploy some Walkers and imperials to different sites and then he deploys Luke in front of two imperials. He nabruns Obi to the same site. I don't have 'Imperial Arrest Order' out so I push Nabrun
because that card can seriously wreck my deck. He initiates and I react but that also means I lose control of over yet another site. We both forfeit but I more than he. In the end Luke and an empty walker is all what's left. From then on I set up things slowly and manage to flip.

With battle plan out and Kasshyyk and Zuckus in Mist Hunter in hand I deployed the system knowing that I was taking a risk. Most games I lose with this deck is because of low activation or my opponent taking control of Kasshyyk. But I deployed Kasshykk with Zuckus knowing I could get spaceships with the objective (2 force to search a card). If he would retaliate I could search for ships to put on a fight. Johan responded by deploying Han with Blaster in the Redemption. Next turn I deploy Vader for power and forfeit to the Mist Hunter. I know that there is something to it, Johan plays to well to make a mistake. But I feel safe enough with Vader and he has no force left and I initiate a fight. He reacts by playing 'Life Debt' (deploy chewie for free to a battle Han is defending alone). I respond by saying he can't because Han is not alone (The redemption being a ship with a permanent pilot and all). He says ok and plays 'I Know' (If Han is in a battle, deploy Leia for free from reserve). Shit, there is the ability >6 he needs. He draws two battle destiny totalling 10! So I have to lose all while he has to forfeit Leia. This is not good. By this time he flips me back with the Tantive to Ralltiir (He already had Obi and Melas on Ralltiir controlling a site). I deploy Vesden in front of them (he has no force so I'm not afraid for 'rebel barrier', deploy Boba Fett in his ship. Battle the Tantive, and thus take control of Ralltiir again, land on the docking bay and flip my objective. I move Vesden afterwards.

We battle hence and forth and Johan makes very good use of first strike. He eventually flips me back and and his drains hurt. Then I look in my deck (using the 0-side of the objective) for the only non-unique at-st pilot remaining, deploy that in front of him, move some stuff, flip and move the At-St pilot away. Well, actually I did it the other way around (moving the AT-ST pilot first) but Johan is a real cool guy and he let me take my move back. Otherwise I couldn't have flipped.

Now he is only draining at the holosite for one with 'Projection of a Skywalker' out and another on table and for one at kasshyyk. But I don't drain for that much with Boush out and him controlling one site. I drain for two and he also drains for two but he has more life-force. I have to stop a drain of him and move Boba in his ship to Kasshyyk and deploy some forfeit fodder. His destiny draws do me and he has more forfeit than I. I eventually have to lose the ship (and the battleground system) and must pay for my drains with my limited life-force. I manage to battle him of Ralltiir in the last turns but he drains it out.

Full loss -10 (4 +31)
HL: Interesting game
LL: Losing


Game 5 - Marc Castellani (1618 - 29th in Tierfon)

I’m tired after losing yet another intense game and when I see his objective (Profit) and starting effect (Uh-Oh) I know there is no rest. I suspect Bo Shuda, inserts and maybe a strong x-wing fleet on Kessel with a lot of cheese. Well, I turns I was right about the cheese. But no spacepresence. I choose not to deploy aliens. I set up my operations at Ralltiir and he deploys Bo Shuda and some aliens and Artoo to the Audience chamber. With Figirin Dan there he starts retrievin’. I’m loosing force of Anger, Fear, Agression and sabbac (he’s got also Lando at the audience chamber). He has ‘Visored Vision’ to take out interrupts after sabbac and I must drain very carefully after losing six force of a ‘Surprise Assault’ (which I grappled) but I put everybody in Walkers so I can drain without fear. Two ‘Projection of a Skywalker’ minimise my drains and I go to Tatooine: Jabba’s Palace to drain for two and deploy Kasshyyk with Zuckus in Mist Hunter for another drain of two. I fear a space fleet but he apparently has none. With battle plan out I drain there for two for the rest of the game. He plays Sabbac a lot and with Lando he can add or subtract 1 and he’s winning all the time. I have already a lot in my lost pile but he frees Han and has none. I didn’t deploy or move to the audience chamber fearing ‘Order to engage’ while I couldn’t battle but when he frees Han, he’s got some EPP mains on tatooine. I look at my (rather large) lost pile and his almost empty lost pile. This ain’t looking good. I manage to catch a sabbac and with two drains of two (Tat: JP and Kasshyyk) and one of one (Ralltiir) I do more damage then he can retrieve with Figiran and Sabbac. I don’t fear numbers anymore and with rebels on Tatooine I can initiate a battle in the Audience chamber. I have IG-88 with Gun and activate everything except 3. I pick out the destiny 1, leaving two destinies of 4. I deploy Iggy to the audience chamber, initiate a battle and capture Lando, leaving only two aliens of ability one and draw a 7 (4+3) for destiny. That clears things up. I trample Han next turn and beat his mains to mainsheaven. I have only 8 force left or so, and he retrieves all the time but I manage to get complete control of the table. His last effort is deploying Red Leader in Red 1 and to initiate battle. He had two X-wing laser cannons (saw them as destiny) in there for Zuckus but he had a black-out I think because no cannon was deployed and he wanted to draw battle destiny against Zuckus but when I pointed to the card he realised he had screwed up really bad. He lost six force and I maintained my spacepresence and drain of two. He couldn’t do much for the rest, I drained it out.

FW +6 (6 +40)

HL: Winning after things looked very bleak.
LL: Again a very intense game and I’m hoping for an easy game in the end.

Game 6 - ? (he’s been playing for a while but has been out of it for a while. Had mostly pre-special edition cards)

He plays ‘Hunt Down’. Well, I haven’t really prepared for Hunt Down but he has no duelling and I draw ‘Transmission Terminated’ in my first hand. Visage doesn’t make a return all game long. We both refuse to deploy as first but when I got a large pile of force I Deploy Oola and Obi to the Swamp (this time protected by Nudjs). He has started ‘Imperial Arrest Order’ to deploy a Yavin docking bay. Lot’s of big characters and big blue follow but he can’t activate that much and what he can deploy every turn is limited. I have the tank and Savrip out in no time and with ‘Order to engage’ I force him to battle every time against the full EPP squad or lose three force. My losses go to the tank and his go to the lost pile. But we take long to think our turns out and time is called with 26 life force for me left opposing his 10.

TW +26 (7 +66)
HL: Nice and relaxt game
LL: Timed, especially with a lot of players timed is as good as a loss.

We play our game out anyway. I revo the holotheatre and drain there for two while Vader is draining on Yavin 4. When he is really low on force I deploy Obi with the lower corridor and then I drain for four against his two. I win but I’m reminded again that a flipped hunt down can be devastating. Everything I do is sensed and altered. But you can’t sense drains so I win anyway.

Well I finish 11th out of 32 and Patrick Monsigneur wins the tournament. I played some pretty good players and I was glad I won against Jan-Willem although I could have had five wins. I was close but there will be other tournaments and I will continue to practise and get better at this game. So till next time.