naboo-regional-2000-into-the-fire
Title: naboo-regional-2000-into-the-fire
Author: Alex "Greedo" Tennet
Date: Jun 9, 2000
We start our journey right here. All feedback appreciated whether you liked or disliked it. Please read and above all, enjoy!
Friday April 14th 2000
Roughly 2 months before the regional, but I'm starting my report early. Obviously I don't know how this will end (hopefully with honour and glory :) so this should serve as a diary of how it all goes up till the big day. Be prepared to sit back and read this when you're relaxed, as it's going to be quite long. Here's what we have so far:
Pete DiBiasio has scheduled the regional for 4th June. It's being held somewhere near London; I suspect quite close to his home. He's missing the chance to play so I suppose he gets a few perks, like a lie-in.
Gary Carman (that's the current World Champion of course) can play, and the word on the street is that he will. Naturally he'll have to yield the qualifying spot to second place if he wins. Still, extra competition is always healthy.
Death star II will NOT be out by the regional. Third Anthology, on the other hand, will be. We've seen MBO and it's been universally slated. I've said nothing because I think it's got potential. Maybe not now, but in the future. Like QMC. Potentially broken is that objective. Anyway, I'm not going to plan my LS deck too heavily yet because I want to wait and see what the other 4 LS cards in TA bring. Prisoner 2187 could be strong with an engine to go alongside her but I'm not putting much faith in TA to change the environment. If RTP actually emerges as viable I can easily slip some anti-tech into my DS deck...
...which just so happens to be sitting beside me. That foil DLOTS sure looks nice. Anyway, it's a Hunt Down deck. Over half of it is destiny 4+ and that's AFTER I take out the starting IAO, Twi'lek and Visage. My own design too. Made some mods last night after chatting with Bill and Marc (WGP and OCF as they're otherwise known. Not highly rated or famous players of course, but they're nice guys and I value their opinion. Looking forward to meeting them at DecipherCon). In went First Strike, Shocking Rev and a swoop. Out goes Put All Sections, Jabba's Through with You and a Counter Assault.
Looking at taking this to the regional right now. It's nice. Could potentially be screwed by Barrier though. With any luck people will have dropped barrier due to all the anti-tech around in the UK nowadays. Throne Room? Bring it on.
So, I've been playtesting with this deck. 4 games now against different opponents and I've won 'em all. Highlight was probably battling Ben Kenobi (with stick), ECC Lando, Orry and KFC with DLOTS and a couple of walkers. Duel Ben, pulling a couple of tracked 6s, play I Have You Now then Trample Orry with another tracked 6, choke Lando with a random 5 and all of a sudden Kal Fal looks a little scared as I pull a 6 and a 4 for destiny. Ouchos. If I can pull that off in 2 months time I'll be a happy man.
That's all for today. Off to add Set For Stun to my DS deck. How did I miss that one?
Monday April 17th 2000
Won again with the Hunt Down yesterday against my own LS deck, the Spin Dokta (cheers to Gareth for helping me test). Not a bad performance. I had Boba in Slave 1 sitting at Tatooine and he gets jumped by Falcon, EPP Han and Leia. Played Res'luk Rauuf to get 3 battle destinies (Vader sitting at Med Chamber applying ability) and pulled a 6, 5 and 6. He pulls a 5 and a 3, so I knock 2 off each of those thanks to flipped Hunt Down text; he loses everything and I lose nothing. Note to self: do not remove that card.
Having thoughts today about RTP numbers. Potentially very strong. Battle Plan, WNMOG, 8D8, Artoo, etc etc. Probably best to wait for the official Prisoner 2187 spoiler before deciding. Could be a nice high destiny deck though; shove a few Surprise Assaults in there, Droid Shutdown, We're Doomed, all the usual stuff. We will see. MBO might've been a nice platform for numbers too; unfortunately it gives them a system and site for Battle Plan right off the bat.
Have noticed that Bruce Savin is running a tournament in Birmingham this weekend. That should be a crowd puller, hopefully with plenty of top players there. Thinking about going to that one. It's a 2-3 hour journey though, and I'd need a new light deck (not playing the Dokta again at any major tourney, everyone's seen it now). Maybe a chance to test that RTP thing. At this point in time I don't care about showing potential regional decks, I'd rather have the practice and hope everyone forgets about me :)
Monday April 24th 2000
I didn't bother with the tourney in the end. Trip down was too much hassle and I had other things to do. Got new prospects now however. Assembled is a Throne Room numbers/mains deck. Fresh from the states too. It's...won. 3 games in fact. But I don't like it. Not my thing. I have been playing around with numbers ideas a lot though, so maybe they'll turn up in another deck I build. Going to put that one on the back burner for now though.
Sitting in rough design form is a cool X-wing deck however. Pulled it out of my hat in a flash of insight. Without doubt it's more my style. MWYHL start, pulls sites and Yoda, swarms with X-Wings. Plays 4 Transmission Terminated, Boussh and TK-422, Projections, Furrry and all that. Hell, it's not original, but what decks are these days? I already did one original deck this year anyway. And the Spin Dokta isn't going to Regionals, of that I am sure.
So that's what I have in designed form. What else am I working on? Right now I'm messing around with some recycling 5s and 6s. It's a bummer that the only free destiny 6 recyclers for LS are Throw Me Another Charge and Fall Of The Legend. A Few Manoeuvres is obviously useful, but it still requires a target. Thinking MWYHL Test 2 right now, with EPP smackdown/Draw Their Fire/Bacta Tank and some destiny 5 and 6. Little intensive unfortunately. Will probably end up converting that to Throne Room and get smacked around by everyone who's thought up clever tricks to beat it. Maybe I'm trying too hard. I should mellow and build my decks 5 minutes before the Regional as per the last few years. Maybe that's what'll happen. But for now, I'm still going to try and build my deck beforehand and learn it inside out. If it all fails then next year we can go back to the tried and tested formula of leaving it to the last minute. Hey, works with everything else in life!
As for an update on the Dark Side of things, the Hunt Down is still there. Not tested it since last update, but I'm not too concerned about finding a more solid DS deck. Much easier to construct they are (the quick and easy path). I'm pretty sure I know what's going to happen. I'll test with this sound deck for the next month and win consistently, tweaking as necessary. Then I'll wimp out at the last minute and play something completely off the wall with no practice. Oh well, we shall see.
Monday 1st May 2000
Prisoner 2187 has been shown on site. Not that impressed myself, but it adds something to RTP which will make it easier to play. STILL won't use it of course, but for those people who like that sort of thing...well anyway. Not worthy of tech to specifically combat the strategy IMO. No doubt my overconfidence will prove to be my weakness.
I got tired of having no definite LS deck and built one of these Throne Room numbers jobbies that are quite popular in the USA (well, substantially modified my original anyway – see last update). Draw Their Fire, Bacta Tank, EPPs etc etc. Beaten a Dark Deal deck and my Hunt Down dueller. Sadly that's ALL it's beaten. Not enough good players for me to test against here and tourneys in Newcastle have slowed for the time being. This basically means I have no idea whether what I'm playing is any good, or indeed, whether I'm playing it any good. Thing is, I can afford one loss and one loss only (or one timed win). I tend to be quite good at pulling high diff wins out of the bag just through my playstyle, so I reckon I can make the final with 6-0 or 5-1 and rely on my diff. But to get these nice large amounts of wins, knowing my strengths is a requirement and knowing my weaknesses a necessity. Playing a couple different decktypes is not going to glean me that knowledge. Time to hunt for a tournament somewhere close methinks.
Wednesday 10th May 2000
Total turnaround today. Have set aside the Hunt Down dueller and all my LS decks. Here's the thing: Have been observing the current lack of LS commitment to space. Now, sadly this is not the USA where decks are able to be predicted with a fair degree of accuracy. In the UK, surprises wait around every corner. But in this instance, I think it's worth basing a whole deck around a couple of suppositions. Thus, the Death Star start. With the popularity of Throne Room doubling on a daily basis, this is ideal. It's immune to revo so I'm always guaranteed force, the loss of first turn is not a problem and CHYBC is great defence. So, the deck I have designed is a Dark Side space deck.
Basic outline of this deck: plenty of systems, 6 Dreadnaughts, BH Ships, IAO and loads of the 2/2 imps. Packing 2 Lateral Damages to smack the decks packing a Falcon, Tantive and Spiral as their only space. 3 Tortures for numbers defence. I even have a couple spies and undercovers in there. Figure those will be useful in a pinch. U-3P0 is there too, of course. The more I think about it, the more I like it. 2 TRWEU for Landing Claw and Hyper Escape. What WOULD be nice would be a couple of barriers. Maybe a second DIPO too. I have Dark Manoeuvres for a trackable 6 to remove the Falcon, but primarily for defence against those Xwing cannons. Zuckuss no like cannons. Anyway, it's gone up against my Throne Room numbers (once, before that was changed too). Beat the thing by 38. Discovered that surviving off my own generation, even with the very respectable amounts in there, was hard if they were running both Battle Plan and force choke. Still did it mind you, but if there had been opposing space to factor in it could have been harder. We will see. I like this deck anyway; it's now my front runner for regionals. I SHOULD take the Hunt Down really. It's a proven winner. Realise that I am under no illusions about where my talents lie; I am a player first and a deckbuilder second. Thus, this deck that I have constructed in a flash of insight will no doubt fall apart against the skills of Mr. Carman and Co..
Do I care? Yes.
Will this quite obvious flaw in my plan to win bother me in the slightest? No.
Why? Because I'm stubborn, slightly stupid and quite mad.
On that note, I will review briefly the other matters of significance. Firstly, LS deck. It's a quite blatant rip-off of Dan Bajunglingdawunski's deck (hope that's how you spell the chap's name...) that performed rather well at the Virginia states. Not a card changed. It was exactly what I was planning on myself. So I built it to try out. Great deck! Slow though, as with most retrieval-intensive decks. Too much mindpower for me to play it fast as well. This could lead to timed games and that I do not want. Fallen short of two major finals due to timed games now. It ain't happening again. If I can't get into a faster play mode with it (yes, I will be timing games to see how close to an hour we finish) then it's being ditched. I'm determined not to time out. It pisses people off and I'd just scream if I ended up on 9 points with huge diff again. Rather take the full loss. That way I keep my hair, you see.
Tournament practice? There's one in Newcastle on the 29th. That's the weekend before the regional. I'd take my decks that (at that time) I was going to use. If I suffered one loss I'd need to rethink my choices. With Marcus Wood directing, that also removes one stiff element of vital competition. Annoying to say the least. It's the only one within distance however, so I'll take what I can get.
Finally, deck worries at this stage. For LS, it's ROps and to a lesser extent, Hunt Down. ROps I just don't have enough practice against. Beaten it in the past, but usually on time, which I'm trying to avoid. I can either hope that I don't face it (unlikely, it's very popular right now) or I can try and practice. Whatever happens, I mustn't deploy to the Desert. Remember that. Put nothing at the desert.
Hunt Down, I'm most wary of duel. Dunno what to do there. More as we progress. I'll probably end up using Hidden Base at the regional anyway. LS space can still work and I intend to explore my HB options before it's too late. But in the end, it'll be a toss-up between that and Throne Room I'm sure.
Friday 19th May 2000
The regional draws ever closer. Two weeks this Sunday I will be sitting, somewhere near London, competing with the best of the best for a trip to the world finals at DecipherCon 2000. Daunting prospect. Well, if I'm going in, I'm going in full throttle! I get the feeling that anyone reading this is probably getting more than a little tired of my waffle, so I will attempt to be brief.
Though I was able to compete well with my Death Star space deck locally, after a couple of bad games against overseas players I decided to retire it. Post-having my arse handed to me by Frank Lamantia's Hidden Base, we got talking about my deck and I stressed my problems with it. He offered to show me his Hunt Down that had been doing rather well for him, and I gladly accepted. On first glance it appears odd as it as only 3 Vaders. Then I got thinking about this, and the more I did, the more I liked it. The deck itself is pretty solid mains stuff with a good mix of power space and ground. Extremely like the sort of deck I played myself at the 99 Naboo Regional but starting Hunt Down instead. It does lack a few things, such as You Are Beaten, but with only 3 Vaders the Fury damage can be controlled. In any case, I can just pick Vader up if Hunt Down is flipped back and it goes away. I like the deck even if I'm sceptical about its chances in my hands. But more on that after I review the Light Side.
What was I playing last time? Well, I know I made a statement earlier that I wasn't playing my Spin Dokta again. That's kinda changed. I really didn't want to play Revo at all but I do so love the things. And this rather tempting deck is sitting here. Ahh, I'm going to play it. Seven revos (I never use them in small amounts and that’s the same number as my Spin Dokta) with SAC and mains and all the rest of it. I'm quite fond of the deck already, even if the start is a rather obvious one (Throne Room again). So I'm now quite positive I will use this deck. Shall be testing with it and adding more duelling protection if necessary. I do fear that Revolution protection will be out in force come June 4th, but I'd rather use something I'm familiar with and can play well than something that's supposed to be good and I can't play at all (though I like to think I'm quite versatile). So the Light deck is now all but set, barring minor modifications.
There’s a tournament in Newcastle this weekend, not on the 29th as I previously thought. It'll be my last chance for real practice. Going to take both these decks and shoot for the win. If I can go 6-0 then I'll take it as a good sign and play both decks for the big one. We’ll see how it goes.
Tuesday 23rd May
6-0 it was and both decks performed admirably. Dark deck had one game go close to time but it was a toughie and space drain pulled me through in the end. Thanks also go to my Lateral Damage. Anyway, the decks which I beat were the following: Throne Room mains, Obi's Hut Mains, MWYHL Insurrection with On/Off The Edge, Ewok catapults and Fallen Portal. For LS, victories over Ominous Rumours, Hunt Down and Dark Deal. Didn't see a single Evader all tourney though. Now, I know Newcastle isn't the centre of top UK players, but you would have expected at least one. This means I've got no way to judge my performance against say, a Crush and two Evaders.
Have got the plan for what to do if I face one though: I have Seven Revolutions plus two Effective Repairs. That equates to nine revos if some are cancelled and I have three signals to grab the things. All good so far. If they don't have Crush and are just playing Evader, I push the card first if they’re using Oppressive Enforcement or Hunt Down and then sense. If they have Crush, I push the card and take the damage. Then I go get them back with Repairs and revo again. Reckon the deck can handle up to three Evaders and I seriously doubt anyone will be playing three, let alone four. Two is probable though. And really, while the only two twix sites are Yoda's Hut and the Rendezvous Point, the deck can survive on its own as a mains deck anyway without the generation boost/denial.
In other news, no other Third Anthology cards have been broadcast. No release date has been set, or if it has, we don't know about it. It won't be out tomorrow obviously, so that leaves me with one week of grace. If they announce it's coming out next Wednesday then that's going to cause hell for last-minute changes for the regional. I don't think it will come out in time though, thus will not plan for any anti-RTP or MBO ideas. Quite glad really. While the surprise might have affected everyone just as much as myself, I want to play with what I know.
That’s all for now. Still set on these two decks, though I have added U-3P0 to the dark deck in light of last weekend's tourney. Hope I don't face too many X-Wing swarms...
Thursday 1st June
Chatted to Geert Van Slambrouck yesterday about deck ideas. He's got some Balanced Attack possibilities to be combined with EBO. Sounds a bit intensive. However he did advise me against Revolution, emphasising that protection would be common. I've given this a lot of thought though, and "I'm confident we can overcome it." Besides which, in less than three days I will be competing in the regional itself and I promised myself I'd actually know what was in my deck this year. So I've spent some time memorising what's there. Later today I'll see whether I can write the whole thing out from memory.
Worried about the Dark deck. It's solid but I fear it could be beaten by any deck with enough meat to stand up to it. Force denial could also be a problem if I get screwed by revo early on. I don't know, maybe it's paranoia about a deck I had no hand in building (which is actually probably a good thing :) or maybe it's just the recollection that it had a few problems winning convincingly against Throne Room the other weekend. Later on I'm going to build a Hunt Down dueller and test that out. I wasn't totally happy with the last one's design, but I was quite comfortable with it play-wise. Maybe it's time to try that out again.
Friday 2nd June 2000
Built the Hunt Down last night and have tweaked it since. Beaten a Throne Room deck with it already by 27 force, so that's all good. It lost to my revolver in practice but only by a few force. I've been either bold or stupid and put in NO revo protection at all. My reasoning is that I'm always going to get at least three force even if all my locations are revolved (2 docking bays, IAO start) and I'm playing three Mara Jade so she can be dropped to kill Nudjs which equals more force. A game against revo will be tough and I know it, but with duelling in the right place I could carry the day. Win or lose, I refuse to devote three card slots (Crush and two Evaders) to beating a strategy I may not even face and could well lose to even if I do. So no revo protection. Zip. Zero. I’ll rely on my playskill thanks.
The deck is also lacking Ops protection. The most popular LS ops is speeder ops and that's not played much in the UK. I don’t think I'll face it, and if I do, no Battle Order or racing swoop is going to save me. Just go down gracefully doing as much damage as I can. I might have a slim chance if the player isn't so hot but if anyone’s going to play a deck like that it’s going to be the experienced players. Don’t get me wrong, I'll try my best. Game plan will be to get Vader and the gang on their planet, Boba and Zuckuss in space if possible (no DSSD, landing claw is bad) and just run amok. Visage will put the hurt on, Dengar can shoot speeders and if they're packing Obi or Luke...well, it'll be their big mistake if they play either of them. So, no revo protection and no ops protection. This may prove to be my downfall. "We will see."
So, the decks are built and I'm ready to rumble. I've avoided all the really top-level players in past regional's first games, but I'll bet I get one this year. I can just hear it now: "...and then we have Alex Tennet versus Gary Carman." Joy. Though traditionally that's the Game 5 matchup where he knocks me out of the tournament.
Anyway, there remains only one small snag in my plan. Cards. I'm missing a Visage and a Focused Attack. Went into town today and found none on sale. However there is a nice little story here, as there was a box of reflections sitting there. Bought two packs to start with. Mediocre until I hit the 3 Dagobah cards in the pack. What do you know? All rares! (Crappy ones mind, but anyway). So my mind flashes to a story I'd read about some box in Arizona where this had happened with the CC section. Next booster...again, all rares in the Dagobah section. So I buy one more for a final test. Yup, all rares again (and a Son of Skywalker this time). Dump contents of wallet on the counter and walk away with 20 boosters to shred. The trend continues and by the end of it I've got a full set of Dagobah light side. Not bad at all. Counted up my overall total and out of 20 boosters I’d got 105 rares!!! I can live with that. Bunch of good stuff too. Jabba the Hutt (foil and normal), two SoS, Yoda, Lando, Captain Han, Vader’s Custom TIE foil, Tantive foil, Anakin's saber foil...quite pleasing to say the least. Got a deal on the boosters too and I'm many foils closer to my set. The bad side was that I got no Visage and no Focused Attack out of all this. Hoping to borrow a Visage from someone nearby and I'm sure there will be people with Focused Attacks to trade on Sunday. Just need to get there early with my decks filled out beforehand. However, if I can't play EXACTLY the deck I want to (I won't compromise on this) then I’ll use the other Hunt Down instead. Rather play with a deck that I know is solid than lose effectiveness on another one because of lack of cards. Always my policy.
I’ll update tomorrow morning and then it’s off to the Regional. Being held somewhere near London so it's a looooooong drive. Easier to stay the night near the place I figure, means I can get a good night's sleep for once. Wow, this year really is going to be different :)
Saturday 3rd June 2000
It's 11am. Exactly 24 hours from now, the Naboo Regional 2000 is due to commence playing. It won't start on time of course, these things never do, but that just gives me extra time to find that Focused Attack. Everyone who's anyone will be there. Expecting the entire UK Top 10 (with maybe the exception of Stuart Jaap...there's a tournament being held in Rhyll the same day. Curious that). Should be fun but very competitive also.
Have had no response to my email to Pete DiBiasio about accommodation in Hatfield. Nevermind, I'm sure I’ll find something. It's so far down that the Scots (that would be players from Scotland) will probably have to camp overnight as well. Or not go. It IS a rather long way this year after all. Maybe next year Mike Burgess can be put in charge of it all and we can have a Northern Regional. May suggest that one to Marcus Sheppard.
I'm going to sign off now...aha. Just got a call from one of the locals who's going down. He has a spare Focused Attack and Visage of the Emperor. And what's this...an email from Pete with accommodation listings sitting in my mailbox. Not bad for two minute's work. Woohoo :)
Everything's just falling into place. Destiny? I’ll try not to think about that. As the current World Champion will tell you, he’s a great believer in fate. If things are destined to be then they will find a way to realise themselves...
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NABOO REGIONAL 2000: INTO THE FIRE
Prelude:
Well, Pete's accommodation suggestions were all booked up except for the hotel (expensive option). How much for a room? £90??? Yes, you heard that right. Not a particularly classy job either. Ninety pounds...that's around $150 if you're an American. So can they give it to me any cheaper, because I’d rather sleep in the car? Well in the end it turns out to be £45 for the night, which is ridiculous but I will at least get a shower and all. They won't provide breakfast with that, so I casually enquire how much extra for breakfast. "Well sir, that'll be £45 I'm afraid." Well sir, I think I might just eat in the pub then.
So I check into my room and go to scout out the Harrier pub where the regional is being held. Turns out to be just round the corner, which is nice. Have a beer and scoot back to get a relatively early night (relative to previous years anyway). Probably not a good idea as I end up waking up at 7:30 the next morning. Head off to the venue a couple of hours later and I'm the only one around, save the guy who's there to sell cards. We decide to set the tables up so that an early start can be made. Players slowly trickle in as we do so.
The Event:
Around 40 people showed up. Notable absences were former worlds qualifier John Shields, Nick Rice, Rod Latham and Matt Smith. Alan Rimmel and Kevin Jaap not present either. Gary Carman's there as predicted and he looks a little knackered. Not fooling anyone Gary ;)
To recap for anyone who missed my preamble, I'm playing Throne Room with extreme revo and Hunt Down duelling.
I go into the tournament knowing my true strengths (Light Side against ISB and Hunt Down, Dark Side against anything with Mains) and my real weaknesses (LS against dedicated space and DS against Operatives and Xwing swarm). Remember those, they'll be important later on.
I'm the second-highest rated player present, being Naboo #3 (behind Gary, and Pete who's running the thing). I get drawn against Leonard Smith first game, not exactly setting off on an easy footing.
Game 1 DS Vs. Leonard Smith (Xwing Swarm)
Oh yeah, joy! He starts Hidden Base/Rebel Fleet and I cringe inwardly. I know I can possibly pull this off if my drain-blocking technique with Security Precautions holds, then I can probe possible bases late game and finish him off. Not going to be easy though. I start Imperial Arrest Order and grab all three docking bays (Death Star, Cloud City and Executor) in sequence. I'm not going to risk an early EPP beatdown so Vader doesn't set down until turn three or four, by which time I've drawn protection and duelling cards. I Twi'lek for Security Precautions early on and pull a Monnok with Masterful Move when he has 12 or so cards in hand, then play it. Not a single duplicate! Typical luck there.
Undaunted, I get out Mara with her saber to the CC Dbay and leave Tarkin to back her up, saving a Tempest Scout 6 to react with. I have Put All Sections in hand should he attempt to hit Vader at the Death Star, and a Trample for my reacting walker to have fun with. Play Search and Destroy and Leonard grins, noting that my deck looks rather similar to his thus far. I was probably a bit paranoid about EPPs this game really - turns out there were none in his deck anyway. Visage and S&D put the hurt on for two every turn but he It Could Be Worses a few of them. Leonard is dealing me damage from piddly one-point drains though (being the idiot I am, I went and removed Battle Order when taking out Ops protection, handily forgetting that it's useful against more than Ops!). Eventually he flips and I still haven't drawn a single ship.
Fortunately I manage to pick a couple up (Fett in Slave 1 and a Death Squadron Star Destroyer) and lay Fett down at Kessel. Probe. It's not the base, and I'm relieved. That's a drain of 3 blocked. Next turn the DSSD goes to Kiffex and probes; not the base either. Now all he has are his 4 drains of one at Tibrin, Yavin 4 (with Haven on), Kashyyyk and Tatooine. Through checking my deck with IAO and counting my force, I suss that Zuckuss In Mist Hunter is the bottom card of my force pile, so I maneouvre my "pay-one-to-draw-one" so I can draw him up.
Leonard uses All Wings Report In and retrieves 10 or so force. He battles my ships but can't beat the immunity, so they stay. Unfortunately he tracks a five from his retrieval and takes out my DSSD next turn (Boba had managed to beat off the Kessel X-wings and Tantive by pulling a 7 for destiny). I drop ZIMH to where the DSSD had been to block the drain. He piles on red leader, gold leader and some xwings though, so Zuckuss runs away. At this point I'm low on force and he's still cancelling my drains on the ground, so I move my ships to probe. Go for Y4 with Boba and it's not the base. Zuckuss tries Tatooine and fails, then gets blown out of the sky by some X-Wing cannons next turn. Fett flies to Tibrin in a last-ditch effort to cause force loss...and it's not the base! Leonard drains me out and wins by 12.
Score: 0 (-12)
Well, Kashyyyk was indeed the base. The one system I didn't go for. Not a good start to the day, but I know I can still do it with five solid wins. What are the odds I'll face another swarm deck?
Game 2 – LS Vs. Extremely friendly person's ISB Ops (Sorry about this mate, don't recall your name)
He starts the Imperial Square/Bad Feeling Have I and I'm feeling confident. First turn I revo the square and throw down two Nudjs. Good start for me! Unfortunately he's got a great hand with two unrevolvable locations (Holotable and Downtown Plaza) and also the Jundland Wastes. So those come out and he's generating a fair bit. I decide to get stuck in straight away and drop Obi to the DTP. He draws a bit and takes my drain for several turns, playing the Forest Clearing in the meantime (which I revolve and deploy EPP Leia and Orrimaarko to). I convert the Wastes with mine as I'm missing a revo at that point, then drop Master Luke with Anakin's saber there.
After this he decides to go for his flip. 4 Probe Droids are deployed: one to the Swamp, one to the Farm and two to the Throne Room. ISB Ops flips. A Ghhhk is also deployed to the Holotable. I give Obi his lightsaber and Nabrun him to the Throne Room, then drop Tawss Khaa to the swamp. Battle and kill the probe droids at both locations, retrieving with Tawss too. My characters move together to confront the droid at the farm, which moves away quite hurriedly! I play Mantellian Savrip as he has quite a large hand and also deploy Traffic Control to recycle some good destinies. After taking the burn of my drains for several turns, he drops ECC IG-88 and Bane Malar to face off against Luke. I miss Bane and pull a zero for destiny, so lose the Falcon from hand to Savrip. Next turn I Nabrun Obi to the Wastes and he and Luke deal some serious damage after I Smoke Screen for a 6 destiny.
By this point my opponent is low on cards, so I recycle much of my hand. Obi returns to the DTP and Tawss destroys the probe droid, flipping back ISB Ops. He gets one last drain in with the Ghhhk before I drain him out, winning by some 35 differential.
Score: 2 (+23)
The game was quite quick so we get a friendly in with our fun decks. Chatted a bit about how the tourney was going and about opaque sleeves being banned from play (I showed him why this was the case). Very nice guy anyway, with an excellent attitude.
Get called against someone else I've never met before for game 3, but who was also very pleasant (usually goes without saying in our region, everyone's pretty much friendly to everyone else). We'd traded a little before the tourney began anyway. Here's how it went. Please note his deck strategy.
Game 3 - DS Vs. The chap in the red shirt with his Xwing Swarm deck
No, I don't even want to hear the odds. Was not pleased to see the Hidden Base/Rebel Fleet start. Not pleased at all. But I'd already flunked once against this decktype and was determined not to do so again. Straight off I got Vader down to the Death Star and Mara to Cloud City soon after. He Terminates Visage but I deploy another the following turn. Played Search and Destroy and got Security Precautions out too. Reinforced Mara with Dengar and Tarkin, saving a Put All Sections for Vader. A Monnok removes 2 Xwings from his hand and I get to see an EPP Luke in the process. Aha! Come to daddy...
Pretty usual stuff from him at this stage. He flips rather quickly, holding systems with one Xwing apiece. I drop ZIMH against Lando in Falcon at Coruscant. Clear him out of there with a 6 destiny. Visage and S&D are doing him damage all the while but my drains are being cancelled with Hidden Base and ICBW is being thrown around a fair bit. Boba in Slave 1 blocks the drain at Kessel thanks to Sec Precs and a probe card. It's in my favour, so he decides to make a bold move.
On his next turn, he drops Luke EPP and Obi EPP to the CC DBay (obviously not wanting to face Vader). I decide to duel outside of battle, because I know he'll run away with Obi instead of battling once Luke is gone (won't want to face his own Luke with Mara, Dengar and Tarkin to back him up). That means I can duel away with Vader and there's no chance of Obi or Luke coming back to flip my objective. So Mara duels Luke with Focused Attack (can't leave anything to chance at this stage) and he turns to the Dark Side. Obi runs to the Death Star and I Twi'lek for Reactor Terminal. In case he draws up, I Put All Sections on Obi to get a card back, then duel him with Focused Attack again. Obi dies and he's left with only a few force, which he wisely draws up before I can return my hand. Win by some 28 force.
Score: 4 (+51)
Was very happy to beat a deck that I knew I was weak against. In the end I may have won without the duelling, as my hand was quite large, but it would have been a much smaller victory. Gary Carmen and Mike Kessling are the front runners right now, so they'll face off next game. Thanks to every other player except Mat Allen losing at least one game by this stage, I'm top of the players on 4 points who are to play Light. So it's Mat and I in a replica of last year's regional Game 4, only different sides this time. I hoped that the result would be the same as last year too...
Game 4 LS Vs. Mat Allen (Yavin 4 Occupation)
So anyway, I don't know what this trend of getting faced against decks that are designed to beat mine is all about. I hope it ends soon though. His eyes light up when he sees the Throne Room start, but I used Y4 Occupation to aid in going 5-1 at the Grand Slam, so I know how it works. He starts with Jungle as his <> site and IAO as starting effect. I draw no Revolutions OR signals in my opening hand (what are the chances...7 revos and 3 signals). I'm immediately thinking card economy. He'll obviously convert my swamp first turn and grab Bubo if I have a Nudj there. That's standard. Otherwise he just converts and he's got an extra destiny 4 card in his deck. I decide to grab a Nudj, but there's none there so he gets a free look at my deck, woohoo. Great start!
Anyway, we get going and Bubo ends up eating a Nudj at one point. Mat gets the Forest and Desert out from his deck (I make a mental note to go nowhere near the desert, just in case. Never know when those damn Sandwhirls will come out of nowhere). He saves force and all and I pull Yoda's Hut out of my bag of tricks (Y4 Occupation is typically low on generation unless it packs lots of 2/0 locations and Mat seemed to be having trouble finding them). Mara decides to sit at the swamp where it's supposedly safe (hellooo revolution) and she is backed up by Tempest Scout 1 and a couple of pilots. Mat pulls her saber too. I wade straight in there with Obi and Master Luke (with Anakin's saber). Barrier! Sense! Alter! Sense! I win :)
I battle there for 4 force, not wanting to use a Revo. Mara misses Obi, Luke hits Mara and I pull a destiny of 3 to Mat's 2. So I'm safe and he loses a pilot and Mara. Next turn Vader is dropped with another pilot to go on the scout walker. Luke misses the Dark Lord and is lost himself due to attrition; Mat loses a pilot from the walker. I play Orrimaarko to the site and give Obi his saber; battle. Vader misses the choke and is struck down by Obi-Wan, who also Smoke Screens for a 6 destiny. Mat dumps both pilots and has to lose 2 to Orry as well. I'm immune to the attrition and the site is clear except for that empty AT-ST.
After a drain of 2 with Obi I play the Rendezvous Point, Savrip (would have been down earlier but I didn't have the SAC to protect it) and Traffic Control. Draw a few and conserve some force. I've been holding the Falcon, Captain Han and EPP Leia for a while now, but Mat's wisely not playing anything to space after seeing my deck early on. Still going to hang onto them just in case. He drops EPP Vader to the Farm and I respond by playing Tawss, who battles. Vader tries to Alter Savrip. Sense! Sense! Alter! Sense! Alter! I win again. :) She takes out Vader, (Mat once again learns the problems inherent in low destiny decks...you tend to pull a lot of low destinies).
Another couple of 2/2 pilots are dropped to Tempest Scout 1 at the swamp but it runs away to the Farm rather than face Obi and Orry. Mat gets out the Meditation Chamber and Coruscant but I revolve both to deny him the force. I throw down Mechanical Failure on the desert which is four sites away (hey, I did put something there in the end) and target his TS1. Play Master Luke to the Farm and battle. He's only power 2 (his destiny) so loses both pilots. Vader and Ozzel hit the Farm next (Ozzel in the walker to keep him safe apparently) and I have to lose Master Luke; he forfeits Ozzel. In my turn I play Order to Engage and Nabrun Obi and Orry over. Mat deploy Blizzard 2 with Arnet inside, puts Needa in the poor, tired AT-ST and battles. Obi hits Vader (again). Down goes Orry and Mat has to lose Needa because of his text, also deciding to lose TS1 at the same time. Mechanical Failure hits the lost pile.
By this point we know it's my game and the next action confirms it, so I'll be brief. I Effective Repairs and get back my Mechanical Failure. Deploy it on the Desert again and target Blizzard 2. Gotta love that. We battle some more and he's down to a few force, so can track around an Imperial Decree for destiny. He goes for a blind Trample on Tawss but it misses. Obi is left holding the fort on his own after a while but he can handle it with a Savrip. Tempest 1 is the last thing Mat deploys to the ground and Blizzard 2 eventually moves away. Order to Engage hits him for a few. I've dumped most of my hand for fear of Mat drawing up. Leia in Falcon at Yavin 4 is confronted by Boba in Slave 1 late game. I feel silly for Savripping those Hans but I know the game's in the bag anyway so it's not a problem. Because we're close to time I throw down the Jundland Wastes and Nabrun Obi over to drain for 3 right at the end. Was not going to time out after all that! Win by 24.
Score: 6 (+75)
I know I'm still in with a shot of winning this thing. Mike Kessling managed to pull the game with Gary out of the bag and won with a last-turn duel. Now, to recap. It's Game 5. In the 1998 Blackpool regional, Gary Carman knocked me out of contention for the title in Game 5. In the 1999 Birmingham regional, Gary Carman also knocked me out of contention for the title in Game 5. So I was more than a little apprehensive when our names were called together for the 2000 Hatfield regional...Game 5.
Game 5 DS Vs. Gary Carman (Bothawui operatives and Y-Wings)
This isn't funny. Gary is laughing his head off, but I'm most definitely not. Three bloody swarm decks in one day AND this one uses operatives as well. The World Champion gives me a nice confidence boost by warning me that this is the stronger of his two decks. Joy. Off we go then. As we're shuffling and chatting he tells me that if I can beat him, then I know that all my efforts have paid off and I deserve to go. If I can’t, then I just need to wait and try some more. I know I'll do my best here but I also know that this is the worst matchup for my Hunt Down.
He starts Bothawui, Yarna and the Docking Bay to prevent a first turn Vader. No such luck, as I just throw him down to the Death Star DBay and transit over for free. Objective flips and I've lost none from Visage. Looking good thus far. His turn he plays two Organised Attacks, fetches 6 Y-Wings, drops 8 of them to the Docking Bay and moves up to Bothawui with them for free. Okay. I'm no longer shocked by what this man pulls out of his hat. I'm sure he'll be playing with Shistevanen Wolfmen next.
I've got to draw on my turn to get stuff to throw at him. That's my only chance. He plays three ops to his Y-wings and lands 3 of them. Uprising flips and I'm grinding my teeth at only having a couple of walkers in my hand. His mainstay is that space fleet now, so I've either got to wear him down on the ground or draw ships to beat up the Y-Wings. Deciding that I need to stop this before it starts, I play Blizzard 2 to the Farm and slip Tarkin on to pilot. Battle. He pulls a 5 and I get a 1. Bye bye operative, bye bye Tarkin. I move Vader to one of the sites he's pulled out (he's pulled quite a few) to block an operative drain, some of which are going to deal me damage every turn.
He gets more ships to his Docking Bay and times his All Wings Report In to retrieve his entire lost pile. Another Operative and Obi-Wan is deployed against Blizzard 2. Hunt Down flips back and my only source of damage, Visage, now affects me too. The walker crashes to its doom and Obi gets in the Y-Wing (big surprise there). Okay, no duel for me. Vader walks around the sites but Gary's moving operatives up and down in separate Y-Wings so it's all moot. I make an attempt to go for his core of ships with Zuckuss in Mist Hunter and Boba in Slave 1 when he only has 6 Y-Wings there, but he just plays Organised Attack. I still lose force even after a destiny of 6. Next turn he piles on more Y-Wings, plays Organised Attack and hits me for 17 cards (drew 1 for destiny to his 5). That's pretty much game but we knew the score soon after it started anyway. Odds are inserted, but Tortured when they pop up, and he does his operative retrieval before the game's end. Loss by some 23 cards.
Score: 6 (+52)
So much for third time lucky. How many more times can this happen? Mr. Carman is without doubt my bane at this game. He gets his hat-trick against me anyway. Didn't some teen pop star sing a song about this? "Oops, I did it again" or something along those lines. Gary isn't quite drunk sadly so there's no chance of getting him singing it. We will say nothing more. But be rest assured, I sure as hell won't stop trying until I've got that title in my grasp.
Game 6 LS Vs. Christian Lapidge
Christian's a very nice guy and a good player too. I didn't really put my heart into this game and my memories of it are VERY sketchy (probably because I lost). I really felt like offering him a full win and going to sleep for an hour, but that wouldn't be fair on everyone else and as a rule I never do things like that anyway. So I played on. He starts Death Star and Oppressive Enforcement. Ever get the feeling that someone doesn't like your decks? That's my Revo AND S/A negated from the beginning. Oh well, today was definitely my day for bad matchups - in the end all you can do is laugh really.
He got the Ice Plains first turn; I had once more drawn no revos. The Back Door and some walkers get out and are assaulted by Obi and Luke (I ended up throwing Luke against Vader and 2 walkers just for fun a couple of times). Mara and friends end up on Yavin 4, I give up on revolutions as he gets Crush in the first few turns and really I just play around with my cards, having little desire to win. Try to save up for a Super Falcon to surprise him at the end but I'm a few cards short. Ahh well, I just wanted some food and sleep really.
I'm not knocking Christian's win here in the slightest please realise. He played excellently and I didn't, but it had been a long day and another 3-4 hours journey up North was facing me. I've promised him a rematch at Tauntaun VII and we'll definitely have some fun next time. Cheers to him for lending me the mobile phone as well. Top bloke.
Score: 6 (+30something)
Mike Kessling and Mike Riboulet are the finalists. I head next door for a pub meal. Mat Allen comes in and chats for a bit then we go back to the games area, where Mike Kessling is just counting his differential win (it was 21). Then he gets up and begins to work out (!) while the rest of us look on with interest and/or amusement. We get treated to a display of exercises that Mr. Motivator would have been proud of (ask someone British, they'll explain). Gary points out that seeing as everyone mentioned his mother calling him at the Nationals, we all have to talk about Mike's Jane Fonda impression in our reports. Fair enough then.
Anyway, eventually Mike dusts himself off (dirty floor and all) and sits down to play game 2. Unfortunately this one doesn't go his way. Mike Riboulet hits him with an early Lateral Damage on a loaded Spiral. Mike K messes up his forfeiting and Geert (Van Slambrouck - Red 44) points this out after the turn is over. Mike K offers to take it back and Mike R says it's ok. This showed extremely good sportsmanship on behalf of both players, as the effect of the resulting battle damage would have been hugely important to the game's resolution. Good play guys. The end result is a win by 25 for Mike Riboulet and he becomes Naboo Regional Champion for the third time. Congratulations!
As for me, I headed off back up to the barren wastes of Northern England. Seeing as the Scots didn't make the trip down it turns out I'd travelled the furthest of all that day. Fine by me, I always have fun at these things and it really was a great day. Best of the regionals I'd say (not just because it was held in a pub either :)
So, what next? There's the European Open in August. I'll be there to compete for that place at Worlds (though it'll be tough and I'll need more than a little luck). If not, well, we just learned that DecipherCon is in Florida this year. Should all else fail, you can bet I'll be there for that last-minute entry as player No.38 of the Wildcard...see you in Orlando!
Alex Tennet