wheaton-illinois-5-28-2000
Title: wheaton-illinois-5-28-2000
Author: Paul "Vollerian" Motz
Date: May 29, 2000
JC Comics
Wheaton, Illinois
TD: James Snell
Well, I decided to come back with a vengeance this weekend, yesterday in Joliet and today at my normal store in Wheaton. I did not know who to expect this weekend; namely since I havent played in a tourney there since March so this would be an adventure.
THE DECKS
The decks stayed exactly the same as yesterday. LS was Olson Throne Room Revo Deck and DS was my Corellia ROPS deck (both can be found on Decktech.) I am pretty confident in these decks; they showed what power they contain yesterday and hopefully today they will be able to the same thing.
THE PRE-TOURNAMENT
I got to JC Comics around 1:20 and I was the first there. We were expecting the regular tournament goers today since there is a major tournament up in Orland Park today. However, these regulars were sparse with only Jon Grubb showing up. We had a bunch of first timers in the store today and thats cool. This tournament was shaping up nicely 11 people decided to make the trek out today; bigger than yesterdays in Joliet. Jeff Swim made his reappearance to sanctioned tournament play today as well (after a 2 year break) it was great to have Jeff back in the swing of things.
STARTING HERE
ROUND ONE DS
My first pairing of the day is against one of my favorite opponents: Mr. Jonathan (on his Decipher rating it is Jonathon) Grubb. We have sparred many times together and I realize this is not going to be an easy day. Jon is playing Hidden Base, not my favorite deck to face with my DS deck since they tend not to interact. The game starts in its usual slow demeanor with Jon getting his ships out and me controlling Ralltiir. I am able to flip rather quickly and I start to bring the fight to Jon. Zuckuss in the Mist Hunter (The D****) and the Bus bring the fight to Yavin. It is not the most glorious battle around but I win and start to spread out trying to find his Hidden Base (Yavin was not it) He has 7 systems on the table and if I can get to the HB in time the 8 force loss to Security Precautions would be really nice this late in the game (SP was my Starting Effect) Bossk and Zuckuss split up and start probing, they find it! The game turned in my favor from this point and I was able to win this game.
Comments: Unlike my games yesterday, this was not a blowouta truly invigorating game of Star Wars
Full Win By 14
DAMNATION SMITHERS!
ROUND ONE LS
I love low differential games not. I get to play Jon again. Oh goodie, the odds of me beating Jon again are slim to none, but I have not given up hope yet. He is fielding a Hunt Down deck against my Revo deck. This is going to be another one of those good games blast. The game starts quickly lots of force for menot that much for him. We skirmish here and there but I win most of them (thank you Ben Kenobi!) A carefully played Clash of Sabers catches him off guard and causes a big loss for him. The game goes quickly without much fanfare. I am able to drain him out at the Meditation Chamber and JP: Entrance Cavern.
Comments: Phew, I caught a break here. Good destiny for me, bad for him. This game could have turned out much differently. Jon is an outstanding player and I am glad that I could come out on top both times today; the great news is that I will not have to face him again today!
Full Win By About 20
THE SAGA CONTINUES
ROUND TWO DS
Well again the pairing say that Jon Grubb and I are playing Just kidding! I get to play Adam Gotway. This game went rather quick, my Ralltiir Ops deck went through its normal quick setup against his Hidden Base deck. Once he flipped, I was able to deploy the probe crew and found his hidden base pretty fast making him lose to Security precautions. I continued the draining on Ralltiir and the game went pretty fast from there.
Comments: Despite my inherent lack of details about this game, it was fun. I am getting more and more practice against this Hidden Base deck type and it doesnt seem to phase ROPS.
Full Win By About 30
TROUBLE ON THE HOMEFRONT
ROUND TWO LS
Well, the guy I seem to never be able to beat I get to play. Matthew Schlesinger is sporting a wicked ECC Objective Deck, more or less like ROPS for CC, interesting concept and a solid deck. This time, I start out rather fast and start the drains going. And he starts rolling with the Dark Deal fun. We skirmish here and there. I get good results, but his drains are too much. My fatal error in this game was that I was paranoid about seeing walkers come to Tatooine where I had my force drain +1 sites. Matt and I continune to trade victories and today the ball was in his court. Oh well.
Comments: An extremely fun game, even though I lost. Matt is an outstanding player and I dont mind (as much) losing to him.
Full Loss By 7
THE FIRE HAS NOT GONE OUT OF THE UNIVERSE
ROUND THREE LS
Well, I was mad now. I wanted to get my rating over 1800 and I wouldnt be able to that unless I went undefeated. Time to bring the beat back. The game with Matt lasted the full time period so pairing were quickly coming. I shuffled my LS deck and was mentally focusing myself. My opponent is Jeff Kolb, someone I had never played against before so I didnt know what to expect. He is playing Hunt Down against my Revo deck (my favorite thing to play against) I bring the fight to him rather quickly and get a good choke hold on the game. The game is quick.
Comments: I dont remember much about this game, but I was mad about losing in round two. Jeff got the brunt of that anger.
Full Win By About 30
EARTH TO PAUL: DO YOU HAVE A BRAIN?
ROUND THREE DS
This is the championship game. Aaron Gotway and I both have 4 wins and a loss (He just beat Matthew Schlesinger to get here.) He is sporting a standard Training Deck with Anger Fear, Agression Inserts. Training should be no problem for my ROPS deck at least that is what I thought. I start Come Here You Big Coward to effectively shut down everything he will try and do and I am able to flip the objective 2nd turn. The trouble begins. He plops Projection of a Skywalker down at 2 Ralltiir sites, plays Battle Plan, Uncontrollable Fury, and shoves an AFA into my deck. I think, great, what am I gonna do about the UF, I dont run You Are Beaten. The answer is staring me in the face the whole time. But I do nothing about it cuz I dont realize what it is. I start losing 2 a turn whilst inflicting only 2 a turn in damage. I start to lose my shipsDevastator, Zuckuss, Bossk, Fett. The AFA pops up I lose 6 that turn. I cant keep up. I still am searching for a card every turn when it dawns on me. Sitting in my reserve deck was the answer to my problem: Kashyyyk. I was totally braindead. I was not a happy camper when I realized this error. I could have moved Vader, Tarkin, IG-88 w/Gun, and a few others and whomped on Yodas and DOS butts. But I didnt. I was dumb and didnt think about this whatsoever. I lose
Comments: I am so so so so so so so so so DUMB
Full Loss by 14
THE RECAP
The top three were
1) Aaron Gotway
2) Matthew Schlesinger
3) Paul Motz
So, I finished in the top threewhopee! I feel like a complete doofus for the idiotic move that I pulled in my last game. A close friend of mind, Scott Wyngarden, was observing the game and was wondering why I didnt do it from the beginning. Oh well, I am dumb and deserved what happened. Fun tournament, newbie mistakes. Congrats to Aaron and Matthew. And as for me, I deserve a swift kick to the head. This is Paul Motz, signing off.