baycon-2000-5-27
Title: baycon-2000-5-27
Author: Clayton "TheDohMan" Atkin
Date: Jun 4, 2000
I honestly hadn*t planned on playing in this event either. The night before was spent partying at one of my friends *Going away* party. (we*re still friends, we just don*t work together anymore. = ) So, I crawl in the door at 4am with no thoughts of anything but sleep. Too bad my wife and children had no idea when I got home. So, to make a longer story shorter, I ended up with about 3 hours sleep. I take the family out to breakfast (Grand Slams at Denny*s are heaven sent) and my wife (Kim) informs me that Todd called the night before. *He said something about the guys from Chico being down for some tournament,* she said. That would be Jason Makahon, the best deckbuilder I know. So, now i*m feeling somewhat obligated to play, and she knows it. It just wouldn*t be right for Jason to drive 3+ hours for a tournament, and to have me skip out on it. So, we get home from breakfast at 9:30ish, and I decide to call Todd.
He finally returns my call at 10:30ish. It appears that they stayed up all night just playing pick up games. After some mumbling back and forth, we decide to meet at our rendezvou point at Toys-R-Us at 11:30. Closer to 12:30, they finally pull into the parking lot, I jump into the mini van with Jason and Brett Nottingham. Todd, and Eric Fields ride with Brad Rowell. Its an hour and a half drive, and we drive right through Livermore, so we go by Kevin Shannon*s house and pick him up.
Everyone is starving (or hung over = ) so we stop off at In and Out Burger in Pleasanton. While were there, Kevin and Eric rip off a couple of the hats that the employee*s wear. (The paper ones that say In and Out on the sides of them)
BayCon is a huge Sci-Fi convention that was being held at the DoubleTree Hotel in San Jose. We were greeted at the front door by Satan. Once inside, the people were getting a little more strange. Klingons, Romulans, fat versions of Number One, Aliens, wizards, dwarfs, and even a couple of dragons were walking around. I was feeling a little overdressed for the occasion with my button down shirt/shorts/and flip flops on my feet. Kevin and Eric fit right in, and even got some compliments with their In and Out hats. I*m wondering.......Is this what heaven would be like for all the LARPS? (live action role players)
So after meandering around for about 10 minutes, we finally find the gaming room. The tournament starts about a half an hour later with 20 people in attendance. Not to shabby for a tourney that wasn*t even hyped until the week prior.
Decks: For light I went with the same Yavin Mains deck that I*ve been doing well with. Its not a force choke, but a force deprivation. I give them nothing.
For dark: My version of Kevin Shannon*s TieBo. *nuff said*
Game 1: Yavin Mains vs Mario*s Vile Gangster
Mario was getting force screwed Hard Core. I got some of my locations out early and was activating upwards of 12 to his 5 for most of the game. Every time he saved up and deployed something, I deployed more and spanked him. I took over both of his Jabba*s palace sites and put out Civil Disorder. He just couldn*t save up enough force to do me any kind of damage. Full Win by 39 2(+39)
The Good: Not showing any signs of ring rust
The Bad: Winning by too much early...I like to be in the middle of the pack and work my way up.
The Ugly: My headache. I*m popping Ibuprofen like there*s no tomorrow.
Game 2: TieBo vs Eric Fields Profit
First turn, I drop Presence of the Force on Kaskyyyk and a lone tie. (Hard Core) In my first draw, I get Kiffex and it goes out next turn with a single tie. In my hand I*ve got a ghyyk and an imperial barrier, so I*ve got no fear at all. Eric flips his Profit as soon as he can, but has to waste a turn paying for his retrieval. (secret plans) He spreads out and is hitting me for about 7 a turn. 3 from drains, and 4 from the objective. I*ve got U-3PO blocking a drain for 2, and I*m losing a tie to the Dreaded Imperial Starfleet for one of the other drains. I*m draining him for 9 a turn, and with my mass retreival going on he can*t keep up. Full Win by 25 4 (+64)
The Good: TieBo is still unbeaten.
The Bad: Ummm........where?
The Ugly: Still got the headache. I*ve graduated from Ibuprofen and am now looking for extra strength Tylonol.
Game 3: TieBo vs Brett Nottingham*s Profit
I have Endor in my opening hand this time, so I place a lone tie at Kaskyyyk and at Endor. (Hard Core Baby!!) Brett activates and picks up, leaving 2 force. I activate, anounce my first drain........Surprise assault. I lose 2. I announce my 2nd drain......Surprise assault. I lose 3 more. Well, that was productive. I have to drain to win, so I don*t shy away at all. Ends up that those were his only SA*s in the deck. He retrieved them when he finally flipped, but by the time he got to play them, I had both of my Tarkins Orders in hand. Right after he flipped he left Epp Obi and Premier Han alone at a site with no saved force. ( he had to use it all to retrieve his 10 force with Secret Plans out) I took advantage of the situation. EPP Vader comes down...I hit Solo, and took out EPP Obi with attrition. I*m now draining for between 4-6 early to his 0. It took about 4 turns for another Han to hit the table, by that time it was far too late. Full win by 29. 6 (+93)
The Good: TieBo straight up rocks.
The Bad: Nobody had any extra strength Tylonol
The Ugly: The Magic players were starting to get rowdy, and with my headache (hangover) still running amuck, they were starting to really annoy me.
Game 4: Yavin Mains vs Paul Todd Feldman*s Vile Gangster
We each played the waiting game for a few turns, getting our hands set up for what we wanted to do. He used monnok*d me early, then came down to the AC with his alien hit squad to get the fun started. He put down just a little too much for me, so instead of going to play in the AC I put Premier Obi and his stick at my <> Farm on Yavin. (His hit squad consisted of Jabba, 4lom, Iggy, and Evasion....thats why I didn*t go to him) I*m just trying to stay even on the force loss for right now. I*m draining him for 2, while he*s draining me for 1 plus the 1 I*ve got to lose from the objective. He then puts out the Death Star and Battle Order. Were both activating for enough, so this is just a minor annoyance at the moment. Next turn, I deploy the Tantive with Melas and a Hymneth to the DS. He deploys Kashyyyk and counters my assault on the Death Star with Boba in Slave 1 and Zuckuss in Mist Hunter. I draw a 5 (bybye Boba) and he draws a 3....so I lose the Hymneth. He moves the DS to parsect 1, and moves the Mist Hunter to Kashyyyk. So, I*ve got a nice drain going on.....but I*m having to play for it. I put Orimaarko and EPP Leia at an unoccupied Tatooine site to stop the loss from his objective. His drains are now free, so he spends a few turns getting his hand built up and setting up his destiny draws. Eventually Obi bites it, and Orimaarko and Leia die a grizzley death. The only drain I*ve got going on is at the Death Star, while he*s hitting me for 4 plus 1 from the objective. I can*t get anything going and he drains me out. Full Loss by 5 6 (+88)
The Good: It was a very fun game to play. Todd and I usually argue like cats and dogs when we play.......but this game was actually peaceful. A nice change.
The Bad: My light deck has lost a total of 3 times out of 15 games. 2 of those losses are to Todd. The man has my number.
The Ugly: By this time, my headache is so bad, I*m asking around for some Cyonide to releave the pain. = ) Todds the only undeafeated player, but has a timed win over Kevin. This would come into play later.
Game 5: Yavin Mains vs Kevin Shannon*s Abyssin Dark Deal Objective
Force deprivation would not work against this because he can pull all the stuff out he needs with the objective. Traffic Control is in my opening hand, so I*m able to build my hand and just wait for him to do something. On about the 3rd turn or so, he deploys the Bespin system and just drops Zuckuss there. I go Tantive, Melas, Jerron Webb and battle. He loses the ship and a few cards. No big deal, but it opens up the game. Next turn, he decides to go hard core. Bossk at Cloud City, and an Abyssin to 3 different CC sites.......Dark Deal. Luckilly, my deck is very character rich. Bron Burs to one site, Obi wan to a 2nd, and 2 bothans to the 3rd. I clear him off the table. I leave Obi by himself and put the bothans with Bron. I get a couple of good drains in before he starts his comback. Myo in the AC with a hit-squad, Scum and Villiany, and First Strike. I*m draining him for between 6-8 per turn, but he just drops Abyssins at 3 different locations and battles at each of them to retreive 9. This goes on for a few turns, then I notice his hand is down to 1 card. I deploy a few more characters to his open sites and I win by draining him out before he can do any more retreiving. Full Win by 9. 8 (+97)
The Good: 2 wins in a row over Kevin (yay!!) The headache is starting to subside.
The Bad: Kevins deck was great, but sucked to play against. Its like playing my 60 card deck against his 110. Thats honestly how much retrieval he had going.
The Ugly: Kevin and Eric were still wearing those Gawd awful hats, but they still looked more *normal* than 3/4 of the people there.
Game 6: TieBo vs Kevin Shannon*s HB Stuff
Kevin got a Gawd draw, and thus was able to hold off TieBo for quite some time. He got Super Falcon out early and made life misserable for my lil ole Ties. The whole game was a cat and mouse affair with us picking our spots. Drains were at a minimum. He pulled an early OMDH retreiving 9, but never saw it again. He flipped shortly after, but I probed his HB within 2 turns. This game would take all night, as I*m retreiving a ton with Sinear Fleet Systems. As we reach the one minute mark, Kev counts his cards and says he has 16 left. I count mine, and I have 19. I draw 3 cards......and time is called. I knew that Feldman had lost and everyone else had 2 losses. My differential was so much higher then everyone elses, that it really didn*t matter to me if I got the points for winning the game. All I needed was a timed win or a true tie to come out on top. True Tie +/- 0. 9 (+97)
The Good: Kevin and I ended up finishing the game on our own time anyways. 40 minutes later I won by 16. Its all about Pride of the Empire BABY!!!!!
The Bad: Its 10:00pm and I*ve had 3 hours sleep over the last 2 days. We still have about 2 hours to go before I can crawl in my front door.
The Ugly: My headache is finally totally gone, but I*m too tired to care.
So, I end up taking BayCon 200, and Feldman gets 2nd.
Props:
Kevin and Eric for the Hats
Todd for the non-argumentative game
Jason for comming down and doing all the driving
Slops:
Fat Trekkies....if you got the belly, you gotta be a Klingon. Nothing against tubby people.......I*m one of you.
The bartender at Ridgeways. When I say *another pitcher for the table* your supposed to tell me NO.