look-ma-no-notes-roche-ny-4-22
Title: look-ma-no-notes-roche-ny-4-22
Author: R. "Voice of Law" Smith
Date: Apr 23, 2000
So for various reasons I didnt take notes on this one, 'twas a good tourney however and should make a good read.
I get to the store early and am still trying to decide which deck I wanna play for LS. I got my I Love Clint Hays deck that I won last week's tourney with, or my EPP Yoda Test-to-5 deck. I'm leaning towards EPP Yoda but go with the speeder ops at the last minute. For DS I'm playin The Notorious T.I.E., my well-known TIE/ln deck. I play with it in ...
Round 1, game 1.
Notorious T.I.E. vs. Dan Pratt (mid-1400s)'s Profit with inserts and Eloms.
He starts Profit junk with alien Han and Signal for Bargain Table, I go Death Star and Oppressive Enforcement. We draw our hands and I sit for 30 seconds before kicking him in the shins underneath the table and telling him he gets to go first ;-)
The game starts off on a bad note - I'm to activate 6 on my first turn, and since he started Bargain Table and drew up his first turn, I'm thinkin I should Monnok him. I've got a Masterful Move in hand and I know my only Monnok is obviously in my deck. First thing on my first turn I activate one and pay the one for Masterful Move, look for my Monnok ... it's not there. It's the ONE FRIGGIN CARD I had activated for MMove. So Pratt gets to see my whole deck. Lovely.
Anyway, he starts droppin a bunch of Eloms and ChadraFans to the two Profit locations, but he doesn't free Han right away so he's not draining. I'm having problems finding Milwaukee and Sienar Fleet Systems early on, but I get them both out around 4th turn with the help of a Twilek. He's using Chadra game text to scope my hand, but other than that not doing much. I get a couple effects out (like Secret Plans, key and Crush the Rebellion) and set up for a drain at Kashyyyk with a Dread and 3 TIEs. First drain I try he Surprise Assaults. Grr, I dont have a Tarkin's Orders in hand and I lose 9. No biggie, I had a large hand and needed to get some cards recycled back into my deck w/SFS retrieval ;-)
So he's got all these high-destiny aliens running around doing nothin, I'm thinkin where the heck's the inserts? Meantime I'm lookin for a Torture cuz I haven't drawn one yet. He finally gives me a Never Tell Me The Odds and I'm a little worried cuz I still haven't found a Torture. I activate a few, don't drain at Kashyyyk cuz he has an active force, and draw. What do I get? Torture and Tarkin's Orders! Yeah baby. U3PO too, which would come in handy when he flipped later on.
He's still doing nothing but ChadraFanning my hand and waiting for inserts to pop, so I'm activating a couple each turn, draining (turns out the one force left was a bluff), and drawing. Meanwhile I 'search' for an Evader using Crush about once a turn so I can shuffle. I figger he's already seen my whole freakin deck, why not?
So I get him up to over ten cards in lost pile, and at the start of one of his turns he says 'OK, I'll free Han.' I say 'OK, now?' and he says 'Yeah' and takes Han from under the site and puts him with the little aliens there. Reaches for his lost pile to retrieve 10 and I say 'Nopers - Secret Plans is out.' It's the start of his turn and he has no force active. He pleads with me but I'm disgruntled from playing a geeky insert deck and I say tough luck. I mean, I had even asked him to double-check that he wanted to free him for sure. So Han comes out and he retrieves zip, but now he can drain me.
'Salright, though, cuz U3PO comes down next turn along with Dreaded Imperial Starfleet to cancel both drains. Inserts are popping here and there, but I'm well-armed with trackable Tortures, and I never take any numbers damage. He's also using Anger Fear Aggressions, but that's only 4 in damage and I can retrieve to cover that. I spread to drain at Endor as well w/Vengeance and some TIEs, but forget to dock the TIEs there and at Kashyyyk so he Surprise Assaults me next turn. Ha! I still have that Tarkin's Orders in hand, so much for that. The TIEs get docked next turn and I dont have to worry about SAssault again. My drains in space finish him while I dodge inserts and get my hand constantly scanned by Chadras and Leesub Sirloin (sp on purpose ;-).
Full win by 20
2 (20)
The good: I love Tortures.
The bad: Getting such a rotten first-game pairing. I had to think a lot for this game, to avoid the inserts and such. I don't like to think a lot in my first game.
The ugly: His deck was pure cheese. Also, we were the last game to finish because the inserts slowed the game so much, so no sooner were we done than next game's pairings were announced. Hence I didnt take notes.
Round 1, game 2.
I Love Clint Hays speeder ops vs. SM Rich Buckner (low 1500s)'s CCT start/alien beatdown w/Scum.
Well I am excited about this pairing. After playing under Rich's direction all year, I finally get to beat him ...er, uh, *play* him I mean ;-)
I give him Zev (Flaps protection) for his objective, he Twileks for All Wrapped Up. I get Clakdor and Farm, Signal for Yarna. Zev stays at the Prison all game.
This game was slooooow. Rich was somehow unfamiliar with the deck, and I had to keep calling Zander the director over to explain simple things to him, like how operatives add to force drains even if they're passengers on a speeder. I'm like 'Rich, what the heck?' But oh well.
He took about 5 minutes for each of his turns, just sitting there thinking, while on my turns I would go, get a site or two, drop an operative/speeder at a site, and be done in under a minute. Finally he comes and beats away my op/speeder at the Farm with SE Jabba, Boelo, and ECC 4LOM. He draws crappy BD and all I lose is the speeder/op, no spillover damage. I get set up at two other sites and am looking for a third operative to flip with. Draw Lost in the Wilderness and play it at the Farm when he tries to drain me there. I really only wanted to cancel the drain of two and lose one card, but I get super lucky and blindly draw a Nar Shaddaa. Jabba gets his fat @$$ lost in the Farm somewhere and Rich is pissed. He drops EJP Dengar (uh-oh, speeder killer) and ECC IG to the Forest where I have a speeder/op, battles but doesn't shoot with Dengar. I'm like 'huh?' but don't say anything. His BD sucks again and I somehow get away with only losing the op. But now I need two ops to flip and I only got one in hand. I activate, drain for two (no Battle Order, yippee!), move the speeder from the Forest and draw the rest - two ops baby, I'm flippin next turn.
He activates and pays 4 for a Monnok, but I'm under 12. I lay out my 2 ops, 3 Sandspeeders, 2 Rebel Snowspeeders, and various red cards. I'm like 'ok, these guys are immune,' and he's 'no they're not.' I point to Yarna and he's like 'that only works if you occupy two battlegrounds.' I'm like 'Rich are you on drugs?' Except I dont really say that of course ;-) I just give him the card and he rereads it and gets it right. He's not very happy at all though, especially when he searches for Jabba and draws EPP Fett. He drains, drops Zuckuss (a scout) and Mara w/Saber at the Farm and I go.
I drop my two ops/speeders and flip so he'll be draining for like zip, draw and get a ASP droid and some speeders. I already had some speeders so I'm lookin to drop the smackdown.
He goes and drains for 1 at the Farm, searches for Jabba yet again, and draws the Cantina (youch). Even with Zuckuss and three other guys Jabba is still missing. Musta fallen in a really big hole or something =P Anyway this was one of those turns where he just sat there for like 5 minutes doing absolutely nothing and I seriously thought he wanted to time out. I didn't say anything though, and finally he drew and it was my turn.
I activate, drain for 6, drop an ASP Droid at the farm, follow it up with like 4 Rebel Speeders and 5 Snowspeeders, and operative, and Draw Their Fire. No Maneuvering Flaps =( cuz I couldnt find it but I still smack everyone off the site and only lose a speeder myself. Looks like Jabba is *really* lost now!
That's pretty much it for this game, he starts moving Dengar/IG across the planet to get to the Farm and try to find Jabba, but they never make it as I am draining for 8-10 a turn. He had deployed the Audience Chamber and Scum at some point but it never really made a difference.
Full win by 18
4 (38)
The good: Fat ol' Jabba gettin lost at the Farm! And beating Rich the SM.
The bad: He had like no idea how a speeder ops deck worked ...
The ugly: Another slooooooow game, we were the next-to-last done. Bah.
Round 2, game 1.
Notorious T.I.E. vs. Rob Zambito (upper-1500s)'s Profit w/Deserts and Skiffs.
It never fails ... *every* tourney that Rob and I both go to at Millennium, we always end up playing my TIEs vs. whatever light deck he has. Check past TRs of mine and I'm sure you'll see this ...
So he pretty much knows my deck as well as anyone could, and I have no idea what he's playing. He starts Profit stuff with a foily Han Solo Signal for Ultimatum (?), I go Star and Opp Enforce as usual. I make fun of him for Signalling for an effect that he could use Dont Tread on Me to get, but he sez he doesn't like Tread so tha's fine.
It doesn't matter cuz he frees Han first turn w/EPP Leia and retrieves his Signal. Deploys a Tatooine Desert (I make fun of him for that also ;-) and it's my turn.
I get a system out (Kashyyyk again I think) and Milwaukee system, then draw to find an SFS. Not there, bah. He goes and I lose one to his drain and one to the objective. He draws, I go, activate, and Monnok. Get a couple worthless cards, but more importantly, I see no ships (or Surprise Assaults, or Tunnel Visions) in his hand. I deploy Endor, a lone TIE there and at Kashyyyk (he's not happy). I've got a Dread in hand so I can scoop up the TIEs next turn (after draining). However, I don't need to because on his next turn he activates, drains/I lose to objective and deploys a couple mains (Chewie, Lando) to Tatooine, along with a Skiff. That took all his force so he doesn't draw and I know he still doesn't have any ships. I go and drain at each system with my lowly TIEs, deploy a Dread to Milwaukee cuz I'm pretty sure he's playin S/A, then deploy SFS which I had drawn last turn. Drop some TIEs to join the others at the drain systems, retrieve some stuff, deploy U3PO to Jabba's Palace (EPP Leia is there by herself by now) and end my turn.
Thus starts the drain race. He never comes to space, I never go to ground. I get DIS out to help U3PO in the drain stoppage, and retrieve quite a bit with SFS. I lose 3-5 a turn constantly to the objective, but I also get Ability Ability Ability out and it deals two a turn to him after he gets all his mains out. I find my Tat system and Bright Center it after he drops a couple sabers to add to drains. I finally find Battle Order and that severely hampers his drains, as he is spread out over Tatooine and draining for 1 at 5 different sites (mostly deserts), and my drains are more consolidated (Endor and Kashyyyk, with a small drain at Tat). Towards the end of the game I Short-Range Fighters for 10 and replace 3 TIEs on table w/a Squadron to boost my diff ....
Full Win by 18
6 (54)
The good: It's tradition, I always have to play Rob with my TIEs. Good game Rob, but you shoulda known that a deck with Deserts in it was gonna get smashed =P
The bad: Not much, it was a good game.
The ugly: Bah, drain race.
Round 2, game 2.
I Love Clint Hays vs. Chris Janiak (lower 1900s)'s RalOps.
Well it was a typical speeder ops deck versus a typical RalOps deck. He started Battle Order (dernit), I went with the usual Yarna.
He was playing a couple Alters, and used them to take out all my effects (even Yarna, although he wasnt playing Monnok). I tried to set up and flip fast, but he kept harassing me with walkers and such, and I couldn't find the ops fast enough. After he flipped (3rd turn or so) he went to get Kashyyyk and Zuckuss so he could fulfill Battle Order and get drains of 1 across Ralltiir for free.
By the time I had flipped he had already gotten some decent drains off, and I was low on cards. I had been saving speeders to drop on him, but I wasn't able to keep Flaps on the table with his Alters/searching and no Zev. So I finally just threw down all my speeders at a Clakdor site against Mara and some chump, Draw Their Fire too, and cleared em out. He took a couple speeders out with his Ral-enhanced destiny. He came back next turn with Vader and some walker, plus he had a steady drain of 1 at Kashyyyk that I couldn't stop. My own Draw Their Fire became a liability as he started to initiate more battles than me ... when it became apparent that I wasnt going to cause much more drain damage (Battle Order/RalOps text) I began dropping suicide speeders on DTF battles to make him lose force. The battle damage from the last of those battles (a Rebel Speeder vs. Mara and IG) ended the game.
Full loss by 20
6 (34)
The good: Umm ...
The bad: Draw Their Fire hurt me more than him in the long run.
The ugly: This was actually the first well-constructed, well-played RalOps deck I had ever played against. So I didn't quite know what to expect. Now I have a better idea ...
Round 3, game 1.
Clint Hays is a sexy b!tch vs. Ben Rich (1500+)'s Hunt Down and Get Crushed By the Ops deck.
He starts IAO, gets Vader to the Farm pretty quick but he just gets Lost In The Wilderness. He's using IAO to get 1/0 DBays but one turn there's not one there and I get to see about 40 cards of his deck. He's playing minimal S/A and nothing that could really hurt me, just a buncha useless high destiny crap. I drop ops, flip, and drain. He never finds Vader, tho I do Terminate Visage because I don't wanna lower my diff any more than I have to. I just drain, drain, drain ...
Full win by 16
8 (50)
The good: Easy win. Relieving after the last game.
The bad: I put more on table than I should have, and didnt Terminate Visage right away, so my diff coulda been bigger, but that didnt matter.
The ugly: That Farm must be pretty tricky, both Jabba and Vader got lost out there!
Round 3, game 2.
Notorious T.I.E. vs. Ben Rich again, playin RtPrincess
Well thanks to some crappy pairings (Janiak and I played same sides first game, otherwise we woulda played this game - next was Zambito, but I had played him with my DS already) I get to play Ben again.
This game was a joke. I set up with a Dread and some TIEs at a PotF-enhanced Kashyyyk for a drain of 3, got Ability^3 workin too. He never rescued the ho', just drew for like his first six or seven turns. I guess he couldn't find the cards he needed, I dunno. At one point he had about half his deck in his hand, I Monnoked him lost and got about 12 cards.
That, the drain at Kash, and Ability^3 finished him off. He gave up on Leia and tried to set up a drain at my Death Star w/the Tantive, but I let him because he had started Battle Plan and was paying for it, plus he was low on cards in life force thanks to his overdrawing. Plus the Death Star drain let me lose some cards from hand and retrieve em back into my deck.
Full win by 37
final score: 10 (87)
The good: The Monnok for 12 cards was sweet.
The bad: All he did was draw, I felt like I was playing a test game.
The ugly: Janiak beat Zambito and went undefeated, bah. I woulda liked a second chance at Janiak, but I guess I blew it the first time.
So I take second place outta 14, not too bad I guess. Only loss was to a 1900+ player (congrats on the tourney Chris) so my 1713 rating oughta take a nice trip upwards. I'm now 16-2 in my last 3 tournies. Got store credit for prizes and bought some much-needed card sleeves with it (heck, the store's out of Reflections and Mara EJP packs). Almost got some of that new baseball CCG, but .... nahhh.
Thanks fer readin ...