winnipeg-manitoba-5-20-00
Title: winnipeg-manitoba-5-20-00
Author: Robert "The Tick" Dean
Date: May 28, 2000
Location: University of Manitoba
Date May 20, 2000
Director: Matt Vosper
My first crack at this. I hope my memory serves me well.
During the weeks prior to this event I learned that my nemesis and future brother-in-law, Scott, wouldn't be attending. He and my sister are going to be out at the lake because it is Victoria Day long weekend. 'You better win it all if I'm not there,' he told me Thursday night at our poker game. I am heading out as well to the opposite side of the same lake after the provincials are over with my girlfriend, Michelle, for a weekend getaway.
It turns out a few other players won't be in attendance so I know the field will be good but somewhat more narrow. I figure this will increase my chances. My objective is total victory now. After winning a poorly attended tourney the week before and coming very close on several in the prior months, I wanted this to be the time to come up huge.
The night before I was with Michelle until around 10 PM with my LS deck sitting at home in need of tuning and a DS deck that still needed to be built. I had looked at many decks on DeckTech the two weeks prior to this event and had narrowed down the choices for my template. I was drinking tea with her and chatting. I felt like I had a final exam the next day and I hadn't studied yet. I said, 'I should get going soon, my dark side deck isn't ready.'
'What do you mean your dark side deck isn't ready?' she responded.
'I mean I have to decide what I want to play, and then build it.'
'Why are you here? Go get it done!' She is wonderfully supportive of my involvement in this game.
I went home and tuned up my Throne Room Mains. I made some choices regarding the decks I would be facing. I knew my buddy Errol would be there and he is a Hunt Down player. Not too many worries here. I am certain I will face him tomorrow and because he loves his Dark Path. I remove my Out Of Commission and replace it with a single Bith Shuffle. I also make some other adjustments such as adding a Kessel and Grimtaash. In recent weeks the players here were making decks that went ground or space but not both. I believed my standard space complement for the LS would benefit nicely from this choice.
For the dark side I decided upon Hak Soo Kim's Anti-Profit for my template. I adjusted some things about it that I didn't like. I liked the way it used Tatooine and Palace at the start. I had used this before and I really like it. I added Monnoks and an extra 4-LOM. He is so awesome with Vader and Circle in a brawl. At around 3AM I did the final counts of the decks and created my deck listings before sleep.
I arrived at the U of M at almost 10AM - the tourney starting time. Stupid train delayed me. Waiting on the road for a mile long train is so boring.
As I trotted across the campus I ran into Matty, the director. We walk in together and I meet and greet the usual suspects. There are over 20 players in total. Three rounds are scheduled for today's contest so that means six games. I like these tourneys best. After a delay of one hour we begin play.
Game 1
Me: DS
Opponent: Corey Keller.
His deck: Profit with SA and Mains. Goo Nee Tay start.
I began with Audience Chamber in hand and I placed Jabba and Mara there prior to the start of the game. I made my decision to hold the Chamber and prevent flip with superior firepower and sense for the Someone Who Loves You. Luke and Ben showed up and both wound up getting disarmed and killed by Dr. E, whom I searched for with my Chamber text. Jabba, Dr. E, and, Mara with her saber, held off most of the onslaught and a timely Monnok caught two EPP Hans. I got 4LOM and EPP Vader to the Palace and began draining there. Obi got circled in a run against Vader and 4LOM. Master Luke came to the chamber with Leia. Han was freed up by Someone Who Loves You. After an SA war that I lost But CHYBC prevented retrieval. Master Luke and Mara were continually Clashed and YABbed out of battle. Han was eventually killed and that pretty much sealed the game. I got out BIHT and Vader shuttle and Tat Occ. Eventually drained and occupied him to death. FW (+25)
Highlights: Seeing how a profit deck gets canned against my deck.
Lowlights: Somehow losing an SA war.
Game 2
Me: LS
Opponent: Ryan Mason
His Deck: This Deal Is Getting Worse All The Time with Troopers, Trooper Assaults and Numbers. Port Town District and Expand the Empire on it. Secret Plans as well.
Ryan is the only player here rated higher than me so I know to be careful. I cautiously deployed Obi and his sword to the Port Town district. He is accumulating cards in his hand and searching his deck for the cards it allows. He deploys Bespin and Cloud City as soon as he finds them for force generation. He also deploys Raithal for Generation. My generation is fine as I have the nudjs going for me as well as Yoda's Hut and Rendezvous Point. I check that planet again (Raithal) and realize the deck I am facing. On my next draw phase I spend the force to Grimtaash him, lost. I get about 10 cards including Trooper Assaults, Numbers and CC Troopers. That should just about seal it up for me. I fortify Obi a bit and wait with plenty of backup in my hand. I have only one ship in my hand and the rest of my EPP's. I am certain I can sense a Trooper Assault. I want to take Raithal with Tantive and pilot but that would mean using Luke on board for 7 ability or both Han and Leia. I wait for his hand to recover and keep draining. Sooner than expected he actually gets three troopers down and inserts me. It hits fast enough and I take the higher force loss. I had out Wedge so that removed some sting. Still no Torture in hand. I decide to expend Luke and Tantive to Raithal for drain and to cut down the trooper destiny bonus. Obi takes a mini-beatdown after I sense a Trooper Assault but he produced another one. Han and Leia come down eventually as well. Zuckuss pays Tantive a visit and gets nuked as Ryan didn't quite realize I had seven ability there and my destiny would count. After more suicide trooper runs with not enough ability for destiny and plenty of shot bad guys I ended the game by not activating any more force (Insert in reserve and Troopers on CC) and simply draining him out. FW(+51)
Highlights: Major payoff on the Grimtaash choice last night
Lowlights: None, other than ALMOST feeling bad when Ryan described the game winning Grimtaash as 'very disappointing.' I hate numbers.
Game 3
Me: LS
Opponent: Errol Anderson-
His Deck: Hunt Down with dueling. PotF on my Farm to Start.
Real cat and mouse game. I get Obi and his laser-sword to my farm early. He gets Vader and scimitar to the downtown plaza early. I don't find a Trans Term for Visage and we both endure damage. Errol knows I love my duel cards for the LS so he likes to ensure he has what amounts to a mortal lock on the duel before he tries one against me. I started with both Glancing Blow and Courage of a Skywalker in my hand to start. I am in a situation where if I duel him I will get trashed. All of the high destiny is in my hand. He will use Dark Path to get me as well as Tarkin when he tries it. I have little chance of winning. On the flip side. All my @#$% destiny is in my reserve and I am aware that any Sense or Alter I try has a great chance to go through. Around seventh turn he has his Dark Path down and Reactor Terminal. He Elis's over. I don't try to sense, yet. I want to save that for Circle if everything else goes wrong. I can bump off Tarkin (who is coming right away) if I sense the Circle. The Elis is successful and Tarkin is deployed right after. I employ my first line of defense. I play my Nabrun and try to teleport back to the Plaza that he just came from. I draw a one for my destiny. Exactly the amount in my force pile. Excellent! And not unexpected. I leave both Vader and Errol shaking their fists. Next turn EPP Luke along with Webb and another 2 ability wad arrive at the Holotheatre to cancel Visage. He puts out Holotable with Image of The Dark Lord for some extra drain. I catch a Transmission Terminated. I consider using it to blow up the Holotable (cuz that's funny as hell to me) but given the trash destiny in my deck it would almost certainly fail. I instead cancel the Image with it. I also sneak in Alters on the Dark Path and Reactor Terminal. Low destiny kicks ass sometimes. As the game winds down the score is pretty even. We are draining each other pretty hard. He tries to deploy Back Door with Ardan. I respond with Orrimaarko and EPP Han. I win and the two force loss from Orr does not go over well with my opponent, as he knows it's pretty important this late and the card count so low. The extra few cards due to power difference does not go over well either. He gets another Helrot and tries to visit Ben but sense takes care of that. Another 1 for destiny. Another couple of 'nothing but drain' turns and I drain him out. Only seven cards left in my life force! FW(+58)
Highlights: Defeating HD.
Lowlights: Looking somewhat lucky for the miracle low destiny draws. Had it been the other way around I would have just won the duel.
******** Intermission ********
I feel pretty good but the TD has announced a lunch break. Dammit! This will cut into my start time for getting to the cabin. Oh well. Errol, Ed, Dwayne and me get into my car and pick up Wendy's. I used to work there and despite that I still like their food. We brought our lunch back to the University to eat. After refueling with a burger and some sick jokes it's back to business.
Game 4
Me: DS
Opponent: Ronald (cannot recall last name - apologies)-
His Deck: Hidden Base with X wings. He starts with Insurrection, if memory serves.
He gets out a few systems and I commit to getting out some characters and draining early. I am quite certain he has few if any heavy ground hitters and I have Imperial Barrier if he does. An early Monnok knocks out three Organized Attacks and a couple of X-Wings. Excellent. He gets out around 7 planets before he flips. I find myself using a Loaded Zuckuss in MH and Vader's Shuttle with Vader to do my probing. Security Precautions was found prior to HB flip and probing. He is draining me in space and I am only getting one drain through per turn. I manage to probe every planet but one over a period of about four turns. His X-Wings are spreading to avoid me. The one planet left unprobed is the planet where the base is! Geez. I do probe it and administer 7 cards worth of damage from Sec Prec. It's all downhill from there for him. All my drains now connect every turn. Win by 13 cards. FW(+71) Ed Upton and I are the only undefeated players left to my knowledge.
Highlights: Well - HBX can be defeated by my deck. Monnok choice pays off again.
Lowlights: Had to probe every eligible system to find out.
Game 5
Me: DS
Opponent: Ed Upton
His Deck: Throne Room Mains, just like mine.
This one was over quick. He caught all of his twix locations early and I got none of mine. I still put up a good fight. He had EPP Luke with scrub backup early. He disarmed Mara early after I used my Chamber text to get her. He took over Tatooine with Tantive and scrub. I engaged with Vader and saber as well as Dr. E. He Weapon Leved my saber away to EPP Leia's hands. I got in a lick at Tatooine with Zuckuss in MH. He tried to deploy Spiral as expected and got Barriered. Eventually he wiped the system clean and got tot laugh at me because I had two EPP Vader's trapped in my hand because he had my saber. I made a final run at Leia with regular Vader and Weapon Leved my saber back! Got fried by a five destiny draw after killing her. Argh! I lost by only 16. FL(+55)
Highlights: Getting in lots of shots and only losing by 16 despite never really having control of the game.
Lowlights: Seeing how powerful Force advantage is as he found his Disarmeds before I found mine, his Weapon Levs before I found mine and his Clashs before I found my You Are Beatens. Just because he was getting cards in his hands faster. A valuable reminder.
Game 6
Me: LS
Opponent: Ed Upton
His Deck: Tatooine and Combat Readiness for Palace, also just like mine.
I needed the win here by about 15 force or so to get the championship on differential. This means I can be somewhat conservative. As long as I get a reasonable early jump and maintain a good drain he will have to come after me. I can probably duck his forces and just drain around him and get a win for enough force this way. Or so I figure.
When we reveal our starting locations I laugh. Ed says: 'My deck is a little different than yours though.'
'Okay, should be interesting.'
I deployed into the palace Audience Chamber as quickly as I could with Obi and Pole Arm. He deployed Dr. E on Blizzard 2 to my Swamp as I had not found my second nudj. He was stuck in the force pile at the wrong time. EPP Luke with weapon followed next turn. After an attempted bounce of Luke with None Shall Pass and it being grabbed. I deployed Luke again next turn. I was pretty certain that grabbing the Non Shall Pass would be huge and I was right. It was at this point he revealed his deck. He deployed Chall to the chamber and Scum. He deployed First Strike. He came after me with Boba Fett and Boelo. He retrieved three force for starting the fight. Has anyone noticed the problem here? I didn't right away but I did next turn. Blizzard 2 suspends Scum! Gift of the Mentor helped out but I let Obi go as I had a second one in hand and a ton of other backups. Plus, I also held EPP Leia, Boussh and Skywalkers so I wanted to squeeze off that interrupt next turn. Obi got captured and brought to the dungeon thanks to AWU. Oops. I then pointed out the problem with Scum. He didn't even realize it and said that the deck would have to have Blizzard 2 taken out for his next tourney. I was amazed no one noticed this all day. After EPP Leia deployed I cleaned the chamber and spent 4 to cancel Scum. I also deployed Kessel and Tantive with Webb. Joined soon after by the Spiral. (Why wait to get barriered on the react? He's going to come to stop me even if Spiral is there.) This was the drain that won me the game. He was never able to do anything about it until late in the game. I took some drains at another site. I eventually freed Obi up with a spy plus a scrub to kill EPP Fett with attrition. Bossk in HT made a final run at the corvettes. I drained him out to win by 25. FW (+80)
Highlights: Using Bith Shuffle at one point after a fight on my turn to put all my trash destiny, which was on the top of the deck. The zero was moved away and I drew a four on his turn. He was surprised as he only attacked because he knew I'd draw zero.
Lowlights: Not noticing the problem with Scum and Blizzard 2 instantly.
It was enough to win. Ryan Mason came second. Yeah - the guy with the trooper numbers I played in the second game. Prize support was the usual Wb Premiere and CC. No big deal. I left them unopened and threw them in my bag as I always do.
Thanks to Matty for running a great tourney and thanks to you for reading!