las-vegas-baby-yeah
Title: las-vegas-baby-yeah
Author: Brian "bgkenobi" Garrison
Date: May 11, 2000
Intro -
I get off work around 12:30am and decide to go shoot some pool with my buddy who is driving me up to Vegas the next day. He doesnt play SWCCG, his parents live up there and it is a free ride up to town. So we play pool until 4am, and I am smokin him left and right. I go home and finish the last paper I must write for this semester and I go to sleep, with my alarm set to wake me at 0930hrs.
At 1030hrs I wake up and start getting really nervous because I am already supposed to have turned in the paper and been leaving for Vegas now. I get my buddy Wes on the phone and tell him I still have to turn the paper in, so he says call him when I get it done. So I drop the paper off around 1100hrs and we leave around 1200hrs getting to his parents place in Vegas around 1730hrs.
I try calling my friend Jay Webb on his cell phone and find out what the deal with our rooms are, but I get his gay answering voice mail, 'You have reached Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith. I am currently out right now hunting down and destroying the last remaining Jedi. Please leave a message.' So I say 'ok @#$%, call me!' Wes and I go outside and start lookin at his dad's James Bond BMW when my cell rings...'Its Jay, we haven't seen Girard in 5 hours and we got @#$%ed on our reservations.' I promptly inform Jay to not call me back unless his information has greatly improved. Girard calls me back ten minutes later telling me we are staying at the Maxim and that the hotel is expensive and sucks. I tell him that we are going to eat and I will meet him later.
We finish eating and I call Jay again and he says to meet them at the Treasure Island. So I get dropped off there and we find Girard, Josh Martin, DJ, Jay, Kyle Craft, and Matt Riecks all just inhaling the buffet food at Treasure Island. We talk abit and then Jay Wes and I drag my @#$% down to the Maxim. Talk about a ghost town. The place lost its liquior licenseand its gaming license, so it was empty. Wes and I head out and hit some of the Casino's and the other guys either play test or sleep. I win $17.00 in roulette and decide to stop when I see this huge guy with an eye patch start dropping $100.00 checks all around the table.
We get back to the hotel and I feel like @#$%, so Jay and I drive Wes home and then get back to the hotel, when I decide, 'To hell with having 12 guys in one room without AC, I am getting my own damn room!' Jay pitches in for the room and we each get a bed in a room with very cold AC.
Tournament Day -
We all get up and I put on my 'Cuban Pimp Shirt' and we head on over to the Vaction Village. We find the room that is holding the tournament and sign in. The YJ tournament is still going on and I say hello to the two very beautiful Jens from Az who are playing YJ then go eat in the Denny's that is inside the joint.
After much screwing around, we start the tournament. I was playing Throne Room Mains for LS and RalOps for DS. Here we go...
Game #1 LS vs. Keith Emlese Death Star Start DS
He sits down and says that he doesn't expect to win this game. I had a steady drain of 3 going at the Death Star going from turn 3. Oola and Civil Disorder shut him down. There wasn't very much he could do.
FW +27
2(+27)
Game #2 DS vs. John Sadora's LS HB deck.
He said he started with 6 or so systems in his opening hand. He didn't deploy one of them until turn 3. I flipped around turn 3 and then just sent the Bounty Hunters in ships after his Squadron X-Wings and Y-Wings. The Devestator did some very good damage for me. He flipped and I started probing and got it. I drained him out.
FW +28
4(+55)
Game #3 DS vs. Ryan Scheller's LS TRM
I was woried about this type of match up. I have seen about 99% of these match ups going to the LS, so I played a little too careful in this one. My openning hand had 3 twix sites, Security Precautions and Courscant in it. I was activating 14 Force on turn 3. He deployed Obi and Melas and Twass Kaa on my planet. So I drop Igar in Tempest 1 in front of them, and a pilot/AT-ST at the other three sites, flipping my objective. He moves the guys away from Tempest 1 and next turn I deploy EPP Vader and battle. He loses Obi and he drew a site, so I lose no one. Next trun he drops EPP Luke against Ozzel in Tempest Scout 2 and battles. I react with Tempest Scout 6 and Tempest Scout 5. I win the battle and he loses Luke and 3 Force. We keep battling all over the system, and he deploys Draw Their Fire. I took advantage of that card. I pitched my Search and Destroy earlier and then retrieved it when I battled him. In that last battle, I knocked him off my planet. Next turn, I went and grabbed Search & Destroy and dropped it, along with the Devestator and Bossk in the Bus on the Tantive and Chewie at Ralltiir. I beat Chewie and the Tantive up and he lost to S&D. I drained him out.
FW +20
6(+75)
I had a feeling that I was pretty high in the standings and thought that I might have to play Eric Bruen in Game 4, but decided to go eat some lunch at Denny's to get my mind off him. I come back and I am on table 1 playing Eric. Here we go again....
Game #4 LS vs. Eric Bruen's DS TIE Scout Deck.
I was doing so very well. I Revo'd his Endor and had Lando in Falcon with ECC Chewie on board draining him for 2 and a well placed Grimmtash lost nabbed 4 Scout TIES, 2 Short range fighters and 2 All Power to Weapons. I was doing very well for only having 4 ships in my deck. Then I got greedy. I revo'd Coruscant and deployed EPP Han and EPP Leia in the Spirla there and moved them to the Death Star, where he had a small fleet. I wasstupid and it cost me 31 Force. I lost the ship, Han, Leia, Beezer from hand, EPP Luke from Hand, and two cards. The really bad thing was that I lost one of my four ships, and he just spread out and drained me and retrieved by deploying TIES. He capitaized on my stupid move.
FL -14
6(+61)
Game #5 LS vs. Kyle Craft's DS Endor Ops no Drain.
I went into this feeling pretty confident, and I played it very well, but the lack of ships and his having about 15 Star Destroyers just was too much. A well placed Monnock lost nabbed two Bossk in The Buss's, and 2 Masterful moves. I kept battling him in space with what small fleet I had, but he drained me out.
FL -12
6(+49)
Game #6 DS vs. Kyle Craft's LS TRM
God Damnit! I got to play him again? This was pretty uneventful. I flipped and spread out to drain. I was out activating him by turn 5 and that was with him revo'ing two of my twix sites. Super Falcon stayed at teh Death Star and that pissed me off. He out battled me and I lost to a very good player.
FL -27
6(+21)
I finished 21st out of 52. I guess that was ok. Considering who I played and who I beat, I didn't do that badly. Congrates to those who won sheets and stuff.
Eplogue -
After the tournament, John Borders Girard and I started playing Blackjack outside the game room. I got 21 three straight hands and walked away with another $17.00.
So Girad, Josh, John Lind, and Derrick and I try to find a place to eat. After searching 4 casino's, we end up eating at In & Out Burger, which wasn't that bad might I say. We get back to the hotel and Jay and Riecks are asleep in the room. Jay woke up and asked what we did and we chatted for a while. I decide I want to go gamble some more and I leave for Ceasar's.
I start playing Roulette again and after going down $40,00 I hit rather big and won $70.00 in one turn, $30.00 in a second, and $30.00 in a last turn. I stop playing when I notice a guy crying next to me and muttering...'I can't believe I just lost $300.00 in three rolls...' I decide that i will not end up like that and cash out.
The next morning we all check out and DJ and Jay and I eat lunch. My ride is on their way over to pick me up and Jay walks outside the Maxim and says, 'I really hate Las Vegas!' I ask what he is talking about and he says that Mike Sinclair, who left with Girard 30 minutes ago, has his Car keys. I stopped laughing after 5 minutes. I left with my ride and we stopped in Kingman where Girad was to meet Jay but Girard and Sinclair realized that they had Jays keys and they had already turned around and gone back to Vegas.
I got home and slept.
Props -
Chris Hines for running a damn good tournament.
Girard for pulling things together and getting a room.
Wes for driving me up.
Sinclair for taking Jays keys.
Josh for being a very cool guy.
John Borders for laughing at Girard when he lost his money in Blackjack.
Caesars Palace for letting me win $130 for the trip.
Slops -
Maxim Hotel/Casino for being a pit.
Vacation Village for losing Girards reservation.
Me for making a stupid mistake against Eric.
Jay for losing his keys to Sinclair.
Thanks to all who were there. I cannot wait until Regionals is up there....gonna go back and win more money...maybe a game of Star Wars too!