tucson-az-04-29-00
Title: tucson-az-04-29-00
Author: Enrique "Max of Tat" Huerta
Date: May 1, 2000
Tatooine Region (Tucson)
04.29.00
Real Life: Enrique Huerta
BBS Handle: Max Rebo of Tatooine
AIM: xaP Trav
Hello All!
Well, I haven't played in over a month and a half. I mean it, no tournaments, no going through my cards, no checking out the BBS. I did however read my listserv mail. (You have to or your e-mail will crash after a few days with all those messages.) So I was very unsure about my chances at this tournament.
Tuesday night I played against Josh Latneau and Jon Franke. I had to get used to playing with my cards again. The rest of the week I spend deciding on which decks to play, and making improvements to them. A lot of my decks needed to have ECC and EJP improvements made to them. But as always, Saturday morning came and I still wasn't sure what I was going to play when I arrived to the tournament. Josh was the director and was already starting to fill out the command cards when I got there. We all did a little trading, and I was deciding on my decks.
LS - Tosche Station Mains with Harvest
DS - 'Dreaded Rumors'
As Michael Girard will say, Arizona is blessed with diversity. Rarely does one or two or even three deck-types dominate the tournament scene here. You always have to go in expecting to see anything and be prepared. So I had picked the decks I though would give me my best all around chances. (Solid decks with lots of flexibility.)
Game 1 DS vs. Ryan Gurnett's Hoth Deck
Ryan started with Hoth, and played Careful Planning for the 3rd Marker. I started with my Endor Operations, and Imperial Decree. I was expecting it to be Hoth Clouds deck so I wanted to cut down on those drain bonuses.
The extra 2 Force was actually very helpful and when I pulled my Forest Clearing, I decided I was actually going to flip my objective. Usually I don't flip my objective, opting for the space drains instead. I used Tactical Support at the end of his 2nd turn, and pulled three of the unique Biker Scouts. I was able to get Boba Fett in Slave I to Hoth, and flip my objective by turn 3. He was playing with Speeders, Grans, and Anger, Fear, Aggressions. His insert hit me so I deployed Tempest Scout 6 to battle at Hoth. I Trampled Geezum and battled. I should have paid more attention and Trampled the Gran instead so he couldn't retrieve Force. I sacrificed the TS6 for battle damage and then it became a drain race. My uncontested drains on Endor, and my boosted drains at Hoth, Endor and Kashyyyk were to much for him. Projected Telepathy took care of the any future AFA inserts. Full win by 22. 2 (+22)
Game 2 LS vs. Patrick Gary's Raithal Occupation Deck
I wasn't exactly sure how my deck was going to do against an Operatives deck. I knew I could generate a lot of Force, but I was worried about dealing with his drains. My only hope was to invade his planet and prevent him from flipping.
He started with Raithal and the Spaceport Street. (Den of Thieves) I started with Obi-Wan's Hut and played careful planning for Tosche Station. I was lucky enough to draw two personas of Obi-wan and his lightsaber in my opening hand. I decided to go with Ben Kenobi since I expected to do a lot of battling and would be reviving my characters. After generating a lot of Force, I played Nabrun Leids to get Ben, Leia with Blaster Rifle, and Harc Seff to his swamp. (I had forgotten to replace Harc Seff with some more space protection before the tournament.) After the battle, there wasn't much to the rest of the game. Harc Seff was taking care of the drains, and I was draining on Tatooine just fine. He was able to flip, but at that point I already had Harvest set up and going. He ended up drawing up his Force after I played Harvest a few times. Full win by 30. 4 (+52)
Game 3 LS vs. Kenyon Ellefson's Ralltiir Operations Deck
I expected my strategy for this game to be the same as my last one. I would have to invade his planet, and keep him from flipping his objective.
He started with Ralltiir and I started with Obi Wan's Hut and Tosche Station. The game started well for me. I had Luke with Lightsaber at Tosche Station first turn. By the second turn, I had him at the Cantina, and Obi Wan with Lightsaber to Tosche Station. Nabrun got Luke, Han with Heavy Blaster and Chewbacca with Blaster to Ralltiir. Red Leader in Red 1 was also at Ralltiir via Kiffex. I was doing well, and thought the game was going my way. But a Blizzard 2 and an AT-ST came to start knocking off my characters. Conquest deployed to Raltiir and he flipped his objective. After that, it was all down hill. I was never able to flip his objective back. Harc Seff again saved me for a few drains, but I just ran out of characters to battle with. I held out for as long as I could, but it wasn't enough. Full lose by 10. 4 (+42)
Game 4 DS vs. Kenyon Ellefson's Mind What You Have Learned Deck.
As it turned out, I wasn't supposed to play Kenyon again this round, but it did provide me a chance to make up for my previous lost. So I accepted it happily. That was until I saw him playing MWYHL and I remembered that I took Broken Concentration out of my deck this week during my deck tweaking. My only hope was that he doesn't pass the first test quickly, and I'm able to get a few drains in.
He started with the objective and Wise Advice. I stated with Endor Operations and Oppressive Enforcement. In my starting hand I had two unique Biker Scouts, and Forest Clearing again. (Would I be able to actually flip my objective twice?) I deployed Ominous Rumors to Endor and Forest Clearing. During his first turn, he was unable to find anything with his objective search, so I was able to verify his deck. (No spies, a little space, and a couple of red cards.)
Just when I finally gotten a Dreadnaught to Endor, and my Biker Scouts to the Forest Clearing, he passed A Great Warrior with Daughter of Skywalker. (I completely missed that DOS had to be deployed from Reserve Deck. Oh well… next time I hope to remember.) So my drains aren't as effective and I decided to high tail it to the Bunker for safety's sake. I was able to flip my objective with my Biker Scouts, Tempest Scout 6, and Blizzard Scout 4 so I wouldn't have to worry about Surprise Assaults canceling my drains or anything. But he was happily continuing with his Jedi Testing. That was until I put DV,DLOTS and Grand Moff Tarkin on Bossk in Hound Tooth and I was at Dagobah. I had just used a Masterful Move, and was getting read to battle with the six on top of my Reserve Deck. But soon he realized that if he played Jedi Test #5, he'd be done for. He tried to avoid me, but I was still draining him for 7 a turn. When he tried to draw up, I hit him with a Monnok, used. That gave me a chance to dump my hand with Reactor Terminal. Full win by 32. 6 (+74)
Well, my final game was enough to get me second place. There's nothing you can do about the perfect scores. For my effort, I got a foil Death Squadron Star Destroyer, some rares and a couple of WB packs. I also handed out a few WB packs of my own to the other players. (One even pulled an Obi Wan Kenobi!) And for the player that successfully deployed the PB Luke during his first round game, I gave him a WB Luke Skywalker.
All in all I was pleased with the tournament. I would have liked to have done better on my third game, but sometimes things just don't work out. I'd like to thank Josh for running a great tournament, all the players for showing up, and all my opponents for giving me a good game. I look forward to seeing everyone at the next one.
Max of Tat