i-can-topdeck-anything-al-states-4-29
Title: i-can-topdeck-anything-al-states-4-29
Author: Rob "Darth_Cheese" Ronnlund
Date: Apr 29, 2000
Birmingham AL
Lion and the Unicorn
4/29/00
14 players
Highest Rated Player 1983 (me)
Well I had been looking forward to this event for a long time and I had set out with the goal to bring my rating over the elusive 2000 mark which I have been pushing for since I started playing seriously. I had won the last two tournaments in Mobile using throne room mains and heavy SA and Court and RallOps for LS and DS respectively. I was a little unsure about dark and I had planned to do some extensive building in the two weeks that came in between the last tournament and States but, Chinese tradition true to form, women, the evil, caused me to put it off and off and off till I really didn’t have much of any time. I decided that a RallOps deck would be my deck of choice since I am very familiar with its mechanics and it is solid against any deck that I expected (or anything for that matter). I simply changed a card or two here and there from the deck that I had been using for the past couple of months off and on and was set. For LS I had decided on my TR mains but I removed the SA for added high destinies and a lot of cool tech to totally kill the meta that I was expectant of. The ride up was a fairly easy one only taking about 4 hrs. including a nice dinner break at a Subway out in the boonies with some inbred workers who were incredibly slow. I was working on some decks for my traveling partner, Brandon Deakle, a fellow Mobilian and unpcoming player. We built a fairly good Harvest/Profit deck that as unstoppable once the Harvests got out (which was cake with 5 Tunnel Visions). For his DS we were kind of unsure but we ended up with a solid HDADTJ which ran a TON of high destinies (15+ of 6 or higher) along with 6, yes 6, choke Vaders and everybody who added a destiny. It was nearly flawless and I almost considered playing a carbon copy myself but decided to stick with my tried true deck. For LS though, I became a little uneasy and built a speed TR insert deck that looked to be wuite lethal and I was really pleased. It was a little shaky at first but I got the hang of it after some games in the room and made a few slight mods adding in one more Artoo and 8D8 to get inserts rolling (at the cost of surprise assaults which I later regretted a lot as you will see since I expected HD and RallOps). We got to the Holiday Inn about 8:30 and tested a little with our tournament decks and then went out and chilled for about two hours in a really nice 102 degree hot tub which let me sleep like a baby. After a refreshing 9 hours of sleep, I woke up around 8:30 and got a shower, shaved and packed up to go. We went to Waffle House for the traditional pig-sacrificing breakfast of ham, bacon and any other pork products on the menu chased by some waffles and set out for the Lion and the Unicorn where the tournament was to be held. I was out on a quest to break 2000 and win in the process if I could.
We got to the shop early and proceeded to put new sleeves on our decks and look around for where we were going to eat and such and then settled in to quietly meditate and let the hype wear off before the games started. People started to show up in greater numbers and soon there was quite a buzz in the store (which was quite stocked with warhammer games in all levels of completion I guess). A lot of players started to ask where was Rob Ronnlund and I was kind of flattered I guess since I really didn’t expect anyone to even know who I was. I finally just kind of got there attention and they figured it out. We filled out decklists and got started with a disappointing 14 players (we were thinking about 30 but the ST tournament was at the same time—WTF—so attendance was a bit thin. I will list my decks at the bottom. Now on to the games.
Game One
RallOps vs Michael “Mitch” Durham’s MWYHL/Space/Freaky weapons and interrupts (1533)
This was a fairly good game with his ships keeping a good presence in space even against my pumped up destinies. I was confident until I put out BfinS1 against his lone RlinR1 at Kiffex and battled with a tracked 6 (plus 3 added) when he played Rapid Fire to get a Cannon and then Steady Aim and blasts it out of the sky. I also stupidly deployed the D* but oh well. We fought in space a great deal with him losing ships and me keeping my capitals in harms way with forfeit fodder and my starfighters keeping his stray drains at bay. I wished that I had First Strike this game but I still managed to pull it off thanks to Search and Destroy which is now a staple card in my decks after the win it gave me a couple of weeks ago against Chris Jenkins HBX. It was a good game but Battle Order plus high destinies and the aforementioned S&D were too much.
2(+9)
2(+9)
Highs- Consistent play and a solid deck that works against anything.
Lows- Having to be a jerk when I didn’t let him play organized attack after we had both drawn destiny (that cost him 2 ships and a cannon—quite possibly the game) but you have to win.
Game 2
My Y4 Not So Speedy Odds vs. Chris Bentley’s I don’t give a damn about tracking before I duel HDADTJ/Space/Dueling/CA’s
Well here is the match that everyone wanted to see and now they got it. This was a cool game with a lot of large force swings in both players favor. I got a decent hand with Obi and Luke along with an Artoo and he also had a great hand from my view with a POTF (which he debated starting but went with CtR instead) along with Vader, Endor and a DSSD. The first card he lost to Visage was a Torture (heh) but after I discarded an Artoo he wanted to take that back (hell no, I may be a nice guy but I am not going to let piety interfere with winning. By the third turn I had out Artoo, 8D8 and a R3-T2 and an insert in his deck. After I cancel visage on both my second turn and again on his, I decided that 4 per turn was too much to lose (placed Obj. out of play and POTF on Endor). I decided to throw down on Vader with Obi and DTF to get back a terminated but he blind dueled before the battle and won 20-18 with a Focused (damn that would have been sweetness to win). So there goes that and 9 but the odds popped for 14 on the next turn and they did for the same 2 more times. I went to space and knocked him off and when he came down with Mara to the TR in an attempt to CA my droids (I guess) it was too late.
2(+11)
4(+20) Hell Yea!
Highs (how appropriate)- Winning against the next highest rated player there, shutting him down pretty well
Lows- losing the duel, him walking out of the store cussing his head off (I hate people who cant take it as a game).
Game 3
My LS Y4 Odds vs. Andrew Mudd’s TDIGWATT/Drain Canceling/Troopers. (1478)
This was a fairly easy game with my EPP’s dominating on CC and my space pretty much going uncontested although he had out Strategic Reserves and Bargaining Table to cancel a lot of them. He made a few tactical errors which cost him quite a few troopers to multiple destinies and EPP weapons along with DTF limiting his trooper assaults to few/none. I had quite a few cards in hand (wish I had Tunnel Visions in here but such is life).
2(+17)
6(+37)
Highs- winning a few games of random sabbac that he played as a change of pace, deck working flawlessly
Lows- a lot of cards in hand and a few dumb plays with who goes to the tank that cost me a good odds total once
Game 4
My DS Where are my YAB’s vs. Andy Mclures’s Profit/Shuffle (1903)
He seemed to be a decent guy before the game and we ended up talking quite a bit over the course of the tournament. I didn’t start anyone as any self-respecting person knows and he flipped second turn (or something). I threw down Vader to EPP Obi and EPP Han and YAB Obi and then battled Han who narrowly escaped (where have I seen this deck before???). He then slapped Fury on Vader and my 2nd YAB was nowhere to be found (lost it off the top late in the game). I flipped with only 4 cards on Rallatiir and then sent out Igar and Tempest 1 to help vader fight the entire rebellion hanging at JP. A clashed Vader and a Jedi Presence and GotM left me with 6 overflow after drawing 9 total for destiny (thank God for Barrier or Chewie would have added 12 damage only adding only more insult to injury). We continued a few more skirmished but I cleared off tattooine with IG 88’s help who captured Chewie and left Han to take a 4 card overflow (could have taken Han but that overflow was the game for all intents and purposes). He came back with bobo Han and Massa to Shuffle once but a drain of 7 along with a Limited Resources was game. Excellent game even though I lost about 22 cards to Fury. Without that he would have lost hard but I learned that EPP Vader was meant only to live for 1 turn in that deck and that was why he was EPP.
2(+3)
8(+40)
Highs- solid decks win 90% of the time. IG 88 kicking butt and taking names (and mains).
Lows- God damn fury pisses me to hell and back. What is so good about Profit anyways?
Game 5
My DS “Deck that induces poor play” (or so every person who lost to it said) vs. Stephen Lanza’s Test 5 MWYHL/Insane 7’s
Stephen is a part of our crew despite not living in Mobile anymore and is pretty cool sans when he loses which makes Clint Hays’ little Detroit GS tantrum look weak. I set up on my four Rallatiir sites and Kashyyyk along with S&D (kick ass card) and he was hurting. He made some tactical mistake and I took Obi and 5 from him as well as the fact that he forgot to move a JT and go a few other small things. This infuriated him to no end and despite a few SA’s for chump cards and one good OTE he never got going. He proceeded to blame his mistakes and that he should have won (mistakes are what separate the men from the boys anyways). He then threw his deck around a little and cuss. Oh well a win is a win.
2(+18)
10(+58)
Game 6
My LS Fall Apart in the Clutch deck vs. Andy Mclure’s ISB/ORS/JP/Galid/Mosep/Scum deck (1903)
Well I looked at my hand this game and almost cried/ I had Artoo, Luke and crap like all three Trans. Terminateds and both Pver Pivots. I shuffled and I cant see how they were so clumped. I couldn’t draw an Odds, a system, a grabber, another EPP, an high destiny character, anything to save my life. He monnoks used which takes a lot of crap from my hand but also the Artoo, 8D8 and Wedge that I had for odds. That was game. He had incredible luck getting out all his key characters early and had a None Shall Pass in hand every time I thought about killing his key mofo’s. I was also force choked to the max only getting 7 a turn. I thought that this might be a problem but I didn’t expect to see a lot of these decks but there were at least 5 ORS decks there (who expects a full 1/3 of the field to use that crap). I couldn’t get anything going at all and only had 1 numbers pop up for any amount worth mentioning. When you play cards you just have times when the cards don’t fall in your favor and you will lose (but it really sucks when it is against a deck that you are not really prepared for—who plays @#$%ing 7 None Shall Pass anyways?). I don’t push the game to the limit as I want this guy to win over Lanza after the fit after I beat him so I just give it to him at 20 even though I am pretty sure I could have knocked him down to about 7-9 in a pinch but I didn’t have the diff. To win anyways.
0(-20)
10(+38)
Highs- a good guy won the tournament and I glad that is was him if was not me
Lows- @#$% happens and esp. against a deck that I am not really that used to playing or prepared for. Given a rematch I could probably take him but he won and that was the way fate would have it.
Congrats to Andy on his victory and I ended up 3rd behing Lanza who won his last game by 29 with his TIE deck.. I was fairly pleased with my performance though my light deck needs 2-3 2/0’s and some Tunnel Visions to adapt in an orderly fashion. Still not bad for a deck that we built on the way up. Brandon ended up 4-2 and 6th after losing the first 2 games and we were both pleased with how well not only ourselves but the overall quality of the field and the efficiency with which the tournament was run. Everything went well and we about an hour earlier in finishing than I expected. After a little time talking to the rest if the Mobile crew and a four hour ride home, I sat down and wrote this and now the props and slops:
Props:
-Me fir breaking 2000 with that performance going to 2005!!! YES I DID IT!!! HELL YEA!!!
-All of my opponents who were at least somewhat amiable (and you know who you are)
-Matt Reed for diffusing a possibly bad situation when I miscounted my deck after game 4 by doing a deck check to verify both of them.
-Brandon for the extra Artoo
-Mitch for the Anakin’s Saber Foil
-David for his humous renditions of the characters in the Battle of Hoth with heavy sexual connotations (which he read from the script which was a prize he got)
Slops
-Me for losing all of my luck before the tournament
-Me for playing cheese
-Brandon for being annoying the whole way home
-The idiots at the bumpkinville gas stations we stopped at on the way back
-The guy at Hardee’s who only had two fingers who almost gave me heart attack when he handed me my cup (freaked me out hard)