dredlox-s-anthology-in-tampa-6-19-00
Title: dredlox-s-anthology-in-tampa-6-19-00
Author: Neal "Dredlox" Razi
Date: Jun 19, 2000
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Better than the usual local tournament, the winner gets a box of anthology. Also, State Champ Walter Cowart and his brother Louis driving in to play. New Expansion was just released, so who knows what to expect!
The Superfluous Details
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(feel free to skip) My car, the beloved Falcon is at my rogue tech Jose's getting some special mods, so getting to the tourney might be a problem. My mom comes to the rescue with her behemoth vehicle. Cardmaster cracks, "since the Falcon's out of commision, you brought the Executor". Also, David had whipped my butt so many times with his new dark manipulator, I want to bring something fun. As Mike Fitzgerald once said, if you play with a boring deck and lose, you feel like you wasted your whole time.
The Decks
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Ls is a false start ( Gabe Alonso had once talked about false starts with me ) using A New Secret Base. I assume everyone will assume i'm playing some crazy space deck as i usually do, but i'm playing just a splash of space with kiffex (comes from reserve) and NO EBO! My hope is to draw them into "The Roach Motel" (you can get in one way but can't get out), then crush them. Mains, SAC, nabrun, blaster proficiency, bacta tank, savrip, clash, you get the deal. Also, a touch of force choke with those echo sites and a quick signal for goo nee tay.
Ds once again is monster blue. I love this deck, start death star/imperial arrest order. LOTS of locations to get huge force gen also lots of vehicles and starships. destinies are absolutely horrible, so sense and alter naturally. last minute change is re-adding search and destroy, figure it'll be good against ebo, numbers, etc.
Game 1 vs. Louis Cowart's balanced blue hunt down
or "Go on, Melas, you fly her, she's the fastest ship in the fleet...".
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I've never played Louis before, but I imagine if he's Walter brother, he's pretty good. He turns out to be a skilled opponent and a really nice guy. Anyhow, he starts hunt down, and I start power generators. My false start trick works and he twileks for imperial decree as I get ANSB.
This game starts off oddly. I pull my echo locations, and grab goo nee tay. This chokes louis off early, and vader ends up not coming down for a long while. He gets the death star down and after pitching to visage three times (three alters for me), i pull a little wild move. I put down boussh and break her cover to cancel visage. Louis looks a little angry, surprised and dismayed. He can't figure out why i'd risk such huge battle damage as he has been saving force, so he figures i have a houjix. I don't, but i do have one of those swell barriers, and a quite a merc. with goo nee tay, i know the worst that can come down is either vader with either tarkin or mara. I was hoping he'd come down, then try to elis out of there, and i'd kill some characters. Anyhow, i have an on the edge just in case of trouble, I'll send leia jumping off some ledge. This gamble pays off as visage never gets redeployed. So he drops Come here big coward+imperial arrest order, and decides to go to space, deploying Zuck and i think ozzel at kashyyk, he still believes i'm playing EBO. I go and I draw, and i draw both of my han's back to back. Of course, my opponent picks this time to monnok me, which sucks cause i have the falcon and melas, i lose both hans. Well, i control his drain and he draws. I go and put melas and master luke on the falcon at kiffex, since vader hasn't showed up yet. he activates, i control his drain again at kash, and he just basically saves. we trade a couples drains, he cancels my tank, but i get savrip down. He comes after me with the devastator, no prob, i just lose to savrip and knock out a pilot, and next turn knock out the devastator. we keep trading drains, but i get out figrin on the falcon, so now i need to occupy another battleground, so obi comes down to the north ridge. he deploys ig-88, i barrier, and he backs up with blizzard 2. we end up skirmishing once or twice, i knock out ig-88, also, i got to blaster proficency tarkin, and i just lose to savrip. meanwhile i keep draining him for 2 and retrieving one with figrin dan(figgy is great), HOWEVER i do make a mistake and forget about boush being able to drain where she still is at the holotheater. I just started overlooking it with CHYBC out.
anyhow, here is where my opponent makes a tactical mistake, I feel. He deploys the defensive perimeter and puts tempest 1 there, which he can't do. so he moves everyone over to the perimeter, thinking i can have that crap at the north ridge, and he'll drain for 2 with those 2 big walkers. my turn, i put down harc seff in a speeder at the ridge, and tantive 4 at the death star that's about it for him, and i finally realize boush can drain. he has to keep tracking me down on hoth or i'll outdrain him, all i have to do is keep moving around, and occupying two battlegrounds and that'll be it for him. we fight a couple times in space, but zuck is no match for the weird melas falcon backed up by savrip. in desparation he splits up to go into the roach motel wih all his walkers and mara+saber. this is what i was hoping for, there's nothing but crap drains and death there. marrko makes short work of one walker. then on the end of his next turn, i "attempt" to alter savrip to track a four, but i actually do it by drawing a one. i should have altered goo nee tay to be safe, but i screwed up. anyway, i use the four to send the mighty Tawss after mara (mike fitz and lush are right, she's the best). I draw a four, he draws a two, mara and saber go, tawss stays. He picks up his last couple.
FW by 18
Highlights - Taking out Mara with Tawss. Savrip/Falcon matches DS space even with no Han. Pulling a gutsy move with boush and having it pay off. Beating hunt down.
Lowlights - Altering my own savrip, that was dumb. Forgetting to drain with boush for a few turns.
Game 2 vs. Ryan "Cardmaster" Christian's You ain't activating jack
or Damn, my big blue finally loses to throne room.
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Ryan and I are old adversaries and friends, as he is one the best players in the bay area, and a master of card games. We play each other nearly every tournament, and we have a lot of respect for each other, so it's always enjoyable. He starts throne room, i start Death star/IAO. i feel greatly advantaged as this deck has never lost to throne room. however, that is about to change. My plan of course is to just kick back on my space fleet and relax. Ryan goes first and drop 3 twix sites and 2 nudjs. ok, that sucked. i go, deploy coruscant docking bay from reserve and drop CHYBC to get it out of my hand and draw. big mistake and this cost me the game. he's activating a bunch. he drops obi+obi's stick on entrance cavern, and puts a damn nudj at the corus docking bay. that sucks. he draws and tries to alter CHYBC, i cancel with a sense, he cancels with an alter, i cancel with a sense, he senses my sense. dammit, i lose chybc and two senses, and he's set up for a nasty drain of three. this is a crappy start.
Well, usually 9 times out of 10 when something like this happens, my hero U-3p0 is sitting in my hand to save the day. He's nowhere to be found. I drop kiffex and endor and save. He drains for three and puts out proficiency!!! Ughh. I put out ice plains and a star destroyer and pilot at endor. he goes drains for 4(!) and out down master luke and revos endor and ice plains. Man, this is just getting better and better. I start "deploying" a docking bay every turn to find 3p0. Every turn he's still in my reserve deck. I got him out only finally way too late. I'm still draining him for one at least and I set up a trap. I put a SD with tempest scout 1 as forfeit at kiffex, knowing he can't resist. Earlier he had grabbed an alter in a "war" (i lost 4 sense/alter in it), so i'm hoping to use that to my advantage. He comes up to kiffex with a leader and attacks and draws a 4, not enough to get the SD, and leaves the leader. He picks up everything, presumably looking for savrip i guess. Mistake. Now is the time to strike. HOWEVER his luck holds out, rather than having anything good to deploy on leader all i have is stupid mara, deploy for 5 add 2 power, big whoop. So here it is, the lateral damage beat down with first strike. He ends up losing the leader and about 9 cards and i retrieve one. If i had had another SD would have been huge (kiffex is +2 don't forget). Oh well, at least i can drain for 2. We do this for a bit, I keep looking for 3p0, but i'm way down, as Luke has finally received his Father's Saber. I finally find 3-p0 and get him down. He has to nabrun after a turn in his move phase, so 3p0 saved me a good bit. But he alters the revo on the ice plains, and goes there for more drains of 5, plus puts gold leader up on kiffex and runs to the DS, but now the almighty mist hunter is up there. He keeps running to the DS forcing me to chase him, making me miss some drains. See why CHYBC would have saved my butt? He wouldn't have had crap for drains, but you live and learn. I save up the best force I can to go against ben and luke (walkers) and first strike, but it's spitting in the wind, especially with me chasing gold leader around to the DS. I send ds 61-2 on a kamikaze run to go out in style before he drains me out (made him lose 1 more force through strike)
FL by 8
Highlights - Bah, just being able to keep it close with those huge drains. Well, also, giving out my favorite punishment, the lat damage beatdown.
Lowlights - The master protocol droid u-3p0 fails me for once. Taking drains of 5 at one site. Lowest of low, losing Come Here You Big Coward
Game 3 vs. Scott Bacon
or "Commence Primary Igni... Rebels are loose on the Death Star, I repeat Rebels are loose..Aaaahh"
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Scott is a kid who plays with us, but a creative one. Unfortunately for him, he goes into every game against me by saying "great now i'm going to lose". I always tell him not to do this but he always says it, and it has to adversely affect his play. Anyhow, he starts "Ultimate Power" and I know he's looking to blow me away. I start Power Generators, ANSB
Scott goes first and deploys a superlaser. Well, immediately i'm having visions of what Joz said, you know, get beaten by a player you should win against because he blows away Hoth and you lose a bazillion force. So I'm not sure if I should even deploy too many sites. I mean I can lose 4 force or 6 even but 14? I don't know. So I just deploy the command center on my turn and leave some. He starts throwing down gunners. He foolishly put one at the Docking Bay, and on my turn han shoots him. Han is soon backed up by Obi w/ stick and luke. We start skirmishing, and i keep slashing and shooting people and playing weapon stuff, but i don't have savrip out yet. After wasting a bunch of his guys including vaders and maras and weird guys like Seargant Torrent w/ Death Star Troopers, I'm down to just luke with saber. I have made it into the Conference Room which is my goal along with killing as many gunners as I can get my hands on. So at this point (and i had drawn an echo location for a weapon destiny) i figure i'm invincible on the DS. He had lost CHYBC on an early drain and i just proceed to throw down my remaining locations and just rule the DS with obi, luke, melas, Boshek and Chewie w/ gun. I put out savrip and that's all she wrote. At one point I controlled 4 DS locations, and i just kept shooting people and playing Slight weapons malfunction and all kinds of stuff. He finally gets over to hoth, play CPI and draws a 5. Unfortunately for him, i subtracted 6 from his total! Not much to tell he was so disgusted he drew up, but the destiny of 5 is in there. So I go to drain him out, and look through the deck and see a bunch of 4's and 5's as well as 1's so as a last action, I play an On The Edge and just blindly guess 3, and I draw a 5. That was cool...
FW by 31
Highlights : Just ruling the Death Star. Playing my weapon interrupts. Doing that final On the Edge
Lowlights : Getting scared of having Hoth blown away and losing a sure win.
game 4 vs. Walter "Walter" Cowart
or Lando and Luke - Hung Over?
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Well, I've moved into second now with my big win, and am facing down Walter who's undefeated so far. He starts MWYHL and I immediately feel good. I've been playing against Dagobah Turtle decks for years now, and it always boils down to this. Can the best cards in my deck beat the best cards in your deck? I feel certain they can, as I pack crazy stuff for almost every situation.
He starts battle plan and I immediately think TJ Holman. Tj is a master of deck design, and I remember a anger fear testing deck of his i saw, and it turns out to be very similar. Anyhow, Walter starts setting up really quick. I have a crap draw (no locations) and just draw a couple turns (going over 12 by a mile). i finally get what i need in the form of some 2-0s and kashyyk. walter has already passed Jedi test one without the training area(!) and is wizzing through the rest so kash is not the one i want but oh well. it'll have to do. I set up a large fleet, but i don't want it TOO large! Why? Cause i have it, the god card Lateral damage and a barrier. I put down zuckuss, and the avenger and a pilot, but i'm sitting on the devastator, more pilots and slave one. He tests to three and starts giving me AFAs. I keep "deploying" a docking bay when i feel it's getting close to mix things up, and i just keep draining for one. This actually is pretty succesful in keeping AFA off my back.
Anyhow, his testing is done, he's got the effects on the table like bacta tank, but nowhere to go. I've gotten out a reactor terminal and am cycling the high stuff back, but i'm sitting on a huge hand, of all nasties including the afore mentioned ships, plus igar, tempest 1, blizzard two another non unique walker, pilots, you name it. I see walter getting itchy, and he's getting sick of the drain for one. I've monnok used him already, and that annoyed him. So he kind of starts to deploy and rethinks it. i activate just a few ( by the way, he told me the new crd states you must declare how much force you will activate BEFORE activating when an insert is in your deck. while this is true, he was incorrect in the statement that when the insert pops, you cannot activate more. you can!) I drain him again, and I can feel it, he's coming up. Sure enough, he activates and puts down Lando in Falcon. Lando meets with a big fat barrier. Dude, my heart is pounding, I love it, but I don't want to give it away. He smells something cooking and puts down melas and obi wan with stick for forfeit. He draws. Ok, i'm just about all excited now, but i go slowly i activate all (unfortunately, no AFA pops), and drop devastator + 2 pilots + Slave 1. Lateral damage. I look at walter, he doesn't crack, i'm impressed. I battle and he reacts with spiral. Here i make a poor tactical call. I could have cancelled with Those Rebels Won't Escape Us, but I didn't want a landing claw popping up later. Wrong decision in retrospect, it would have been 12 more cards. Anyhow, i beat him down for 26 damage. He loses everything, It could be worses a couple force and loses a bunch more. I was impressed Walter took it without any whining, and didn't get hurt TOO bad.
Anyhow, though, now the pressure is definitely on. He wisely runs lando over to dagobah and sinks him for later. I keep up the one drains, still "deploying" docking bays. Kiffex and Endor are never in there. I see him throw out a Clash, and i give up on them, and just deploy Presence of the Force. Walter is feeling the heat, he draws over 12. I say, "Hey you've got quite a hand there Chief" and he says "Yeah, it's over twelve, do you want an action?". i say "no, i'll wait" figuring he'll assume i don't have a monnok (i do) and draw next turn, and he doesn't look overly thrilled about the cards in his hand, he sounded a little TOO eager for a used monnok. So, i go and drain again. He activates, draws, and this times cracks just a TEENY smile. I hit him with the monnok used, and he scowls. I keep up the drain of two, he's hanging on with It Could Be Worse (read lowlights please). he keeps drawing stuff and FINALLY commits, puts down obi and some back up on the Carbonite Chamber. They are promptly met with the master Protocol Droid himself, u-3p0. Now it's time for the knockout blow. Since he can't nabrun smack me due to IAO, I drop the defensive perimeter and blizzard 2 without any backup. Walter sees his one chance for a come back, and deploys Luke W/ lightsaber. Luke immediatly runs into a wall or some other kind of imperial barrier. Next turn, tempest 1 + Igar. My power of 22 + to his 10, he takes spillover and just ends it.
FW by 19.
Highlights - setting up the trap twice. giving him the "lat damage beatdown". God, I love lateral damage (except when played on me). Not getting drained even once. Beating a skilled player like Walter.
Lowlights - losing about 20 force to Anger, Fear, Aggressions. Inserts annoy me. NEVER having Endor or Kashyyyk in my force pile. Twileking THREE TIMES for a There'll be Hell to Pay and not getting it.
The wrap up
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So I win the tournament and the Anthology Box(it was almost total crap). I was pretty happy, i thought Walter may have won on differential, but i edged him out. I was happy to win, I felt there was some very skilled competition with David and his new nasty decks, cardmaster, and walter and his brother and Michael Faugh who dropped in from out of town. It was also fun, I have to say.
The style of play seems to be changing again to me. Drains are becoming nasty again, along with direct damage from effects, and i saw less and less battling, especially with the new hoth stuff. this is a trend i hadn't expected with the scene the way it was since endor, all the battling and stuff. Sense and Alter however were playing really strongly, which always makes me happy. I guess that will change in DS II, but for now it's still good. Oh and check out the new CRD, there are a few changes to aware of. Anyhow, thanks for reading, sorry if this was too long!