milwaukee-wisconsion-5-6-2000
Title: milwaukee-wisconsion-5-6-2000
Author: Steve "Crazy Hermit" Kuperman
Date: May 6, 2000
The Time: Supposedly around 1:15 P.M., I didn't really check to make sure.
First, a quick little intro. On Friday night, I'm sitting at home working on my latest literary masterpiece when a bolt of inspiration hits me. I pick myself up off the floor and give my SW:CCG arch-nemesis Al Schaefer a call, checking to see if he's continuing with his plans to go to Milwaukee for some tournament. I leave a message, and so I don't talk to him until Saturday morning. He's rather surprised that I can make it to the tournament, as he was under the impression that I had to work virtually the entire weekend. He agrees to pick me up for the 90 minuteish drive (we're in Northern Illinois), as he has to pick up Brian Monday (Gold 42 himself) and I'm, for better or for worse, on the way. So, I work on my decks a little, deciding to stick what I've got, and soon enough I'm on my merry way.
The ride there was pretty usual, Brian uses me for cheap joke fodder and I make smart-ass comments about Schaefer's playing ability. Oh, and Al got off the highway too early and sent us on a 30 minute tour of the highlights of Milwaukee. Truly breathtaking, I must say.
We find this little place, and we walk in, and the Illinois invasion is on. We sign up, and it costs a buck fifty for entry fee, not bad considering there's prizes, supposedly. I stand around and start into my barrage of anti-Wisconsion resident comments. I also get pissed off at this one dude who thinks he's hot stuff 'cause he's got a 1700 + rating. Who gives a crap about the rating, I have a strong feeling that this guy isn't anywhere near what he says he is. Then, pairings are called, and the fun begins. Oh, and my decks:
LS: Throne Room Mains, with a powerful attack anywhere I feel like it.
DS: RallOps, starting IAO to facilitate early activation. Pretty standerd, otherwise.
Game 1: LS vs. David Henderson (1720)'s RallOps. Sorry for this one, I was kind of bored out by it and don't remember much.
This rules, since this is the guy who got real smart with me before the tournament. I get real mad when people start moving in on my territory of 'Official Tournament Moron'. He starts IAO, and I figure he'll probably start Bad Feeling, being a sissy afraid of a little fight. My opening draw is pretty damn good, Obi, Savrip, couple of Captain Hans . . .and an Alter. He's gonna be pissed. I draw for a couple of turns, and amass some all right stuff in my hand. I deployed the Nudjs down, but Bubo decides to divert my attention. I don't really give a damn about Bubo, since he can't Force Drain, so I deploy Obi w/stick onto Ralltiir,, drop the Savrip and make Bad Feeling go bye-bye. He brings Vader w/saber and Tarkin, battles. He misses, I draw OOC on Tark, and he doesn't cancel, I draw a four for the other one. My canceled draw is a 1, he's got something pretty worthwhile and I have to lose something to Savrip. He's still got Vader, so I drop Tawss on my turn, battle, play Glancing Blow, hit Vader, and make him lose the bum and 12. That smoked him for the most part, except that he then put something that disinterested me from the Swamp, and so Obi met up with Jade and Veers. He still doesn't hit anything, but he's got some decent power and I lose something more. He deploys Avenger to Coruscant and a Presence goes on it, Tempest 1 and somebody came over to the Yavin farm. Boushh blocks his drain at the Forest, U-3PO does likewise to Obi. Eventually, I just wear him out of cards, do some damage. I don't know, I think I cared more about beating him than making it look good. I don't remember a whole lot.
Result: Full Win by 8. Total: 2(+8)
Game 2: DS vs. Al Schaefer (1812) aka Buttmunch the Ewok's Falke Hidden Base
Al's annoyed, because he had to play Brian in game 1 and now meets up with the other guy he came up with in game 2. That Illinois invasion sure is menacing the fair gamers of Wisconsion. Anyway, Schafer's a damn good player, especially with his Hidden Base. I start IAO, he starts Battle Plan after debating for a couple of minutes. Fortunately for me, he doesn't know how Ralltiir works for the most part. My opening hand consists of a scout walker, Ozzel, Death Star, and 2-3 generic locations, a true ode to shuffling. I warily decide to deploy the Death Star, hoping I keep him too busy in space for him to go over there. First few turns, I deploy a few locations and draw for Imperials, he deploys systems. I've only found two Imperials, but I've got an extra scout walker, and 3 sites in hand, so I decide to get a AT-ST pilot out of my deck and flip. My turn, deploy Swamp, Docking Bay and Desert, deploy Ozzel, AT-ST Pilot, Vesden, a scout walker at each site, flip, deploy Search And Destroy, and leave one card remaining. Schaefer then begins what undoubtedly has to have been the longest turn I've ever seen. He sits there, at first pissed because I flipped, then he realizes he doesn't really know each and everything I can do. He looks at objective, looks at each site, asks me what my power is at each site, looks at game text for each site, looks through his hand, I go watch a baseball game, he looks at objective again, I go watch some other games in progress, finally he decides to do something. He deploys EPP Obi for 9 Force (I deployed BFHI), Gimer Stick, and Orrimaarko, I think, to Ozzel's site. He battles me (Yes, I forgot the Gimer Stick), I react over with the AT-ST Pilot and Tempest Scout Whatever. I draw some stupid destiny, he loses whoever else he had with Obi, I lose Vesden. My turn, go search for Vader w/saber, put him aboard a vacant scout walker there, drop 4-LOM, and battle. I don't draw enough to make him lose Obi, since he draws a five and our power is pretty close. I wanted to keep Vader safe in case OTE came down, but I really needed that swing. I lose 4-LOM and Ozzel, I think. Doesn't really matter much, since I just keep a walker w/pilot at Obi's site all game to block a drain and keep everybody else at other sites. That was a huge mistake on his part. At one point, he deployed Tantive to Ralltiir, Luke and Tawss to Obi's site, and attempted to initiate battle only to be reminded that the Gimer Stick's text applied to him. He shuttles Luke aboard Tantive and it runs to the D*. The game's going poorly for him as I deploy Zuckuss In Mist Hunter and Bossk In Bus to Tatooine and satisfy Battle Plan. At last, I can afford to drain. He tries to deploy OTE, I Alter, he doesn't have the one grabber in his deck. So he's doing absolutely nothing to me, I'm doing 4 a turn, and the end looks like it's in sight shortly. He then Captain Solo, Jeroen Webb and Falcon to Kashyyyk, has a YT-1300 deploy to Tatooine, and the Falcon moves to Tatooine to block my drain. I'm completely thinking that he's going to play I Know to surprise me with Leia onto the Falcon, so he can draw massive destiny. After all, he's got to have some sort of plan, he can't draw with Zuck around. I drain for 2, then search my deck and pull Dengar In Punishing One. I deploy it, then battle. He reacts not with I Know, but Spiral. I Barrier it, and he doesn't have one of his cards that cancels Barrier (Desperate Reach?!). I draw a total of 6-7 for destiny, so he loses the YT-1300 and Jeroen. He's totally sunk by this point, as his last offensive has failed. He flips his objective, deploys a couple of ships to other systems, I Alter an attempted OMDH, moves away from Tatooine. I pull Precautions on my next turn, and hunt down his Hidden Base, and proceed to drain him out. A real tough game for Al strategy-wise, he had never played a real strong RallOps before and was learning on the go. It's happened to us all as of late, concerning Ralltiir.
Result: Full Win by 28 Total: 2(+36)
At this point, the Illinois invasion crew is meeting with mixed results. I'm one of the two undefeateds (Unless you count the late-arriving Tony Maravola), Al's 1-1, and Brian, due to bad luck, is at 0-2.
Game 3: DS vs. Aaron Cummings' (1587) Speeder M&T
I start IAO, he starts Obi's Hut and Careful Planning for the Lars Moisture Farm. I'm completely expecting Harvest, and my opening hand is equipped with a grabber. Yay. I spend some time dropping locations, he just draws a bunch and threw down some twix sites of his own. I go ahead and flip, don't really give too much of a damn about what he's doing, although I do notice that he Signaled for Maneuvering Flaps. So, I set up a scout walker at each site, one sitting with DLOTS. He's deploying a ton of effects: Insurrection, Flaps, Bacta Tank, 2 Projections on Ralltiir sites. First thing I grab with Ralltiir is Oppresive Enforcement, and I attempt to Alter Bacta Tank. He Senses, I grab it. This goes on for a couple of turns until I temporarily exhaust his supply of Senses (permanently as it turned out, he lost another 1-2 off top of his deck later). Finally, he does something, which makes me annoyed that I forgot to put Monnok in, despite it's power with Ralltiir flipped. He activates Flaps, and to face a AT-ST and Pilot at the desert, he deploys a Rebel Snowspeeder, puts an ASP droid on it. He then deployed about 7-8 different vehicles down at the site and battles. I react with Vader, but I still have to lose 19 in battle damage. I lose Vader and a scout, then lose 6 more. Unfortunately for him, he had temporarily exhausted his fighting options, and it would be a while before he seriously was able to oppose me again in a situation where he wouldn't get blown out. I search for Jade using objective, deploy her and her saber to Obi's Hut to face Luke and Lando (now you know why I didn't try to cancel Flaps). You Are Beaten Luke, battle Lando. I hit him and draw a 6, 8 with objective. He loses 9, sends Lando to the Tank. I move away to Mos Eisley, and on Tatooine that was strictly the story of the game, Luke and a deployed Orrimaarko chased Jade around. I deploy Zuck to Kashyyyk, and move Fett from Kashyyyk over to Ralltiir to protect the system. Doesn't matter, he didn't seem to give a crap about space. He moves his speeders into positions where I can't avoid battle, so I just deploy a stream of stuff and continously battle him when necessary, run when not. I ended up Altering everything I could, and he runs out of steam a fairly good distance ahead of me, as I have some cards left in hand.
Result: Full Win by 16. Total: 6(+52)
Game 4: LS vs. Aaron Cummings' Southtown Court deck
Prior to the game, he mentions that his deck is as of yet undefeated, at a record of 6-0. Interesting, as my Throne Room deck hasn't lost either. So, the question is, who was going to say 'uncle', first? I start the given and he starts Crossfire (this is kind of eerie, I've never even seen this card used in tournament play). My first turn, deploy a Nudj, deploy a couple of twix sites, lose something that didn't matter to me out of my hand, and draw. His turn, deploys 4-LOM w/Concussion Rifle to the Audience Chamber, loses Tark off top of his deck to Court. He gets promptly placed Out Of Commission. I look at my hand and realize I've got 4 Senses in my hand. I deploy Savrip and Tawss Khaa to the Cantina he deployed, figuring that I can Sense any attempt at a Elis beatdown and Savrip will do the rest. I draw, more twix locations and an Obi. He doesn't do anything for a turn, and lets me drain. but then he starts amassing a force in the chamber, including Jabba, Boelo, Vader w/saber. During this time, I Signal to find Bacta Tank, and find something even better. So, I deploy Uncontrollable Fury on Vader. Yep, definitely looking for an Elis beatdown. I figure, how much SAC can he be playing with a Court start. Nonetheless, I deploy Obi (no saber, unfortunately) and Orrimaarko to the Cantina, and await his move. He drains for one, then plays the inevitable Elis. I Sense, he Senses, I Alter, he Senses, I Sense his. He loses the SAC war, his stuff stays and he loses 2 to Fury. I then proceed to drain for a couple, and this continues for a couple of turns until I defeat him in another SAC war, despite the fact that he made me waste all of it on stopping him. I deploy Captain Han and Jeroen Webb in the Falcon to a Kashyyyk that I deploy, to ekk a little more force out, as well to provide a guaranteed loss to Fury once I draw Luke or Leia and provided I lose the inevitable battle for the Cantina. Finally, he successfully Elises, I decide not to bother to Nabrun away, as it doesn't look absolutely horrible and he's got spare force for Oo-ta Goo-ta. He initiates, tries to hit Obi and misses, Obi hits Boelo, my draw is canceled, he ends up beating me by about 11 or so. Ouch. I lose Obi from hand to Savrip, forfeit Tawss from site. I run, as I've got no better option and if he can't get rid of Fury, he'll be dead soon enough. He can't get rid of it, and despite another attempt at Elis beatdown (with Leia on my side now), he's running low fast. He proceeds to Alter both Savrip and the newly deployed Bacta Tank, though, which does make me take some damage out of my slightly large hand (got to love the recyclers). It just isn't enough, though, and I drain him out.
Result: Full Win by 22 Total 8(+74)
A decent tournament, I met some nice players in Milwaukee, and one of them (Aaron Cummings) impressed me with his game play. He was playing some decent, innovative decks. The only major gripe I had was with prize support. For the low entry fee, as this was the director's first tournament, we got no Decipher prize support and I was the only one who walked away with anything (a Light Side Special Edition starter).
Oh, and of course, the results of the Illinois invasion crew: I came in first, but both Brian and Al ended up 2-2. Brian's was partially because he lost to his own decks, Al's was primarily because his Hidden Base couldn't get the job done against RallOps. However, this tournament was initially entered in Decipher's records as a Sealed Deck tournament. So, if it gets updated at all, it'll only enhance my Sealed Deck rating. I guess I'm all right with it, though, as I had a good time.
Thanks go to:
The People at Mapquest, for telling people which way to go.
Al Schaefer, for agreeing on short notice to transport me to the tournament.
Brian Monday, for handing over a giant box of YJ commons and being his usual smartass self.
My opponents, for making my games enjoyable.
Out Of Commission, for taking down both Vader and Tarkin in one tournament.
Obi-Wan, for knowing exactly what time to take a flight to Ralltiir.
Mantellian Savrip, the man, the myth, the legend. Probably the most game-breaking card in a battle-heavy enviroment.
Imperial Atrocity (one of my prize support rares), for providing me with firewood.
Egomania, in Milwaukee, for running the tournament.
And obviously, people who read tournament reports.