portland-grand-slam-6-10-00
Title: portland-grand-slam-6-10-00
Author: Joe "arebelspy" Olson
Date: Jun 20, 2000
Portland Grand Slam. It’s here. Charles Hickey (WA State Chump) and Mike Mikaelian (who has crazy ideas, but they work…) are taking me, Joe Olson, and Tom Thomas (the pimpinist scrub in Endor) down from the Seattle area to play. My DS was RallOps. It’s getting old, and I think people are starting to build anti- decks, so I’m not totally pleased with it, but I figure it can at least go 2-1. Named by Mike Mikaelian, it was called “It’s Just Another Stupid Ralltiir Ops Deck!” For LS I took the latest teched-out version of my profit that is on DeckTech, “Insane In The Membrane”. The newest version (the one that I took) will be up on DT shortly. Basically it’s Profit w/ HDWGITM? and Narrow Escapes, and Harvests.
So after a long car ride down (after getting up at 5AM), and talking tech the whole time, and talking about the 3rd Anthology Cards that were released to the viewing public yesterday, and about regionals (which is in exactly 3 weeks), we get there. We see a lot of new faces (Oregon players) and some familiar faces. There were 9 total Washingtonians that made the trip (that number is including the 4 in our car). A total of 58 people showed up! (The current Grand Slam record is like 60 I think). So I’m feeling apprehensive and nervous, but Mike Mikaelian and Charles Hickey (who work for WotC) show us this new CCG that WotC is releasing. Wrestling. It was fun. So then we start the tourney.
Game 1: LS Insane In The Membrane vs. Timmy Mekee’s Dark Deal
This was some little kid from Endor. Easy win, I think. Not so. He starts TDIGWATT. D’OH!!! The 1 deck (besides Hunt Down- a little) that my LS has a problem w/. I have Ben, Han, Masta Luke, Owen and Beru all confined to Tatooine. Only Boussh and Orrimarrko can go stop their drains. Plus he starts Secret Plans, so I have to play 10 to retrieve when I free Han, and 4 for each Harvest, etc. Luckily he deploys Jabba and Boelo to Audience Chamber at the start of game. Got a droid (Threepio?) set up 1st turn, but never got 1 HDWGITM? All game… So I get Master, Ben, and Beru and Owen set up at A Chamber. Battle, bounce Jabba. Harvest for 2 extra destinies. Lose Boelo and 18 force please (and I didn’t even get a weapon to hit him…). Then I free Han, pay 10 to retrieve 9, start Harvesting, etc. He sets up Lando at Casino, I grab CC Sabacc the 1`st time he played it. It was only played 2 times whole game- I won the 1st time, lost the 2nd time. He starts getting in drains for 12+ and I’m like crap. So I do profit damage, drain, Harvest. Win by 36.
Result: FW +36
Cumulative: 2 (+36)
Highs: I won. Good start.
Lows: I could have lost this game EASILY…If he hadn’t deployed 2 aliens…
Game 2: DS RallOps vs. Tom Thomas’s Revo.
Last time I played this deck I beat it by 28…Then I helped him tweak it the whole week before the Slam (through talking in DeckTech). I also rode down w/ him, and was lending him like 8 cards that were in this deck…
The deck is messed. Starts HB, pulls Tat and Alderaan, does OMDH. Mains, SAC, etc. Plus 5 Revolutions…
On the car ride down I said “well I have no Revo protection in my DS deck, but I don’t care, I bet I wont play any Revo decks”. Well Shit!
So this was a bad game. I got the 5hi77i357 (@#$%tiest) draw! So I’m scrambling, doing stuff, he’s preventing me from controlling 2 systems for decree (so I couldn’t stop revo). He activates like 17 to my 8. He senses all my alters. He’s got super falcon (what I told him to use) at Ralltiir system, and EPP obi and Luke at a Revo’d forest, preventing the flip. I’m f***ed. So I do some stuff, maneuver around, and cut down my loss to 13.
Result: FL +13
Cumulative: 2 (+23)
Highs: Almost none. Cutting the loss down, I guess.
Lows: I could have won this game EASILY. I got a k-rappy draw. Whatever. Tom played good, he deserved that win.
Game 3: LS Insane In The Membrane vs. John Davis’s RallOps
After playing this game I realized he must have printed the deck straight off DeckTech. Total net deck, not even his own changes. So RallOps is hard to beat, this will be challenging. I flip 2nd turn (during control phase), do damage. He flips his 3rd turn, and only fortifies 2 sites. He has the spaceport docking bay out, so I don’t need mine. That was the site he didn’t fortify. I drop LiMF to Kashyyyk. Move LiMF to Ralltiir, transit Masta to the DB. Flip, bucko. He starts getting crabby b/c RallOps doesn’t lose and he was and so he was pissed. Well suck it up, my deck bends RallOps decks over (normally). Boussh blocks one of his drains. Do damage, a little harvest (he grabs Harvest BTW) and out damage him. I win by 23.
Result: FW +23
Cumulative: 4 (+46)
At this point the parings get majorly screwed up. About ½ are wrong. So we break for lunch. Charles car – Mike, + Jeremy Lamere follow Walter Zylowski to Subway. Yum. Charles gets some Super Meatball Stickers.
Game 4: DS RallOps vs. Randy Schley’s MWYHL and sh*t (no testing, d’oh)
I set up, he gets EPP Obi down, controls my Sandwhirl, etc. But I have Bad feeling out, and also Ability x3 and Search and destroy. Kill off his characters. He’s losing a bunch to direct damage. He gets Boussh down to block a drain of 1. He saves up a bunch so I get Vader/Tarkin ready w/ Tempest Scout 2, react when he battles me, kills off guys, etc. I win by a lot. Pretty good game for me.
Result: FW +36
Cumulative: 6(+82)
Game 5: LS Insane In The Membrane vs. Eric Wilson’s RallOps Net Deck.
Well all right. I get a bad draw, he gets some Twix, he starts opposing me w/ IG w/ gun, Vader, and 4-lom at Lars’s Farm. I’ve got Boussh and Masta on Ralltiir and they’re narrow escaping/OTE damaging. He’s draining me for like 7. His last turn of the game he drains me then he deploys Ability x3 (he has 6 cards left, I have 3 in reserve deck, 1 in hand). He battles Masta, I use the card in hand and Narrowly Escape away. He’s down to 3 cards. I will lose next turn. I profit damage for 3, and spend 3 force to drain for 1 (Obi’s Saber). I win. He’s all like “D’OH! If I would have remembered ONE turn earlier to deploy the Ability x3…” (He apparently had it in hard for awhile). I remind him that if he hadn’t deployed it at all he could have lost it then drained me out. He would have won. Ah well. I win by 4.
Result: FW +4
Cumulative: 8(+86)
Game 6: DS RallOps vs. Walter Zylowski’s messed deck
This guy ALWAYS win the local tourneys (that have like 30 people), except when Hickey is playing (but Hickey runs a lot now-a-days). I’m about 1-3 against him, my only win against him was when it counted, at states. He always plays weird decks (Baragwin Operatives, Kessel Run, etc.) and he WINS! So this time he’s playing Throne Room Mains. But it’s weird. I get to verify 1st turn when there is no Nudj in the deck. I don’t really want to see the stuff, so I just have him hold it and skim through for creatures. None. He plays w/ Tat. Sites, and Ben Kenobi, Encampment, and some other weird interrupts, etc. that I have never seen before. Weird. So I get a god draw: Coruscant, Sandwhirl, Cabbel (or some other 2/2 scrub), 2 or 3 AT-STs, etc. Sweet. So I pull the desert 1st turn start draining there w/ an AT-ST w/ scrub onboard. We fight over space and I have like 3 ships there, deployed TONS of fodder, Igar, scrubs, Vesden, etc. lose Igar, dep. Tempest 1 on the Bus as fodder, etc. So I take it over (it’s Endor I think). So I’ve got space, and he’s battling me on the ground (after controlling my Sandwhirl). So I use Mara and some Blizzard Scouts to take over Mos Eisley and only BS 1 survives when he attacks me. So I dep. Ability x3 and now time is almost up. So his last turn he does some stuff, then draws up to give me the full win. Charles Hickey pointed out that I could have just made him lose to Ability x3 and then drain him out, but I thought it was nice of him to do that. I win by 19!
Result: FW +19
Cumulative: 10(+105)
Ok, so Peter Sundholm is the only undefeated, and I am the highest 5-1 player. I don’t want to play the finals because my headache has been building since the second game. But Mike Mikaelian provides me w/ some Excedrin Migraine and the guys in my car convince me to play. Plus we both want the LS rare sheet, and if I forfeit I have to take the DS one. So we play.
Final Game 1: LS Insane In The Membrane vs. Peter Sundholm’s Huntdown deck
He gets a bunch of guys in the Chamber (IG, Djas, Bane, etc.), about 6 in all. My only damage is coming to him through Narrow Escape/OTE. I lose both my Owens (through a Monnok, I think). I forget to deploy Wise Advice for like 3 turns in a row. So he Alters my OTE. The turn after I deploy Wise Advice. I haven’t flipped. He deploys a 2/1 Endor location that he gets drain +1 at. He takes it over w/ Brangus Glee. I LitW him. He takes it over w/ Prophetess. I play Harvest (w/ Beru on table) to retrieve my Owen. He makes me lose the Harvest (CHYBC was out and all I occupied was the Lars Farm). I kill Prophetess w/ Orrimaarko. I then crush the guys on Tatooine and free Han. He has Vader kill Orrimaarko. So I’m doing a few (about 5) damage on Tat, he’s draining 2 on Endor. I play Harvest once to retrieve 4, he draws up. So w/ the extra 10 for freeing Han, and the 4 for Harvest I win by 25.
Highs: Winning, and by so much. My DS might lose next game, but if it does, it probably won’t lose by 26 or more.
Lows: Playing Harvest w/ only having 1 BG occupied.
Final Game 2: DS RallOps vs. Peter Sundholm’s Profit deck
So I get set up on Ralltiir and he sets up w/ Boussh and Anakin’s saber to drain for 3 at the Med. Chamber (no CHYBC- it’s in my deck now:) He controls my Sandwhirl. He’s SACing stuff, and he keeps battling me. He’d play beggar, use my 2 or 3 force I had saved to react and kick the crap out of me. This happened like 3 times. When he got down to 18 cards I drew up.
Result: FL –18
Cumulative: 2(+7)
I win!!
We play it out for fun and Vader and Tarkin take over the A Chamber, he never flips, but the drain of 3 (2 sometimes if I kept flipped for a turn or 2) hurt. He never freed Han, and he won by 9.
So I took the Portland Grand Slam. The only 2 Tourneys I have won are the ones that count: WA State Championship and Portland Grand Slam Championship! Boo-yah! Now, as Charles ‘Teacher’ Hickey puts it I have to “do the hat trick” and win regionals (Endor region). That is in 12 days (less then 2 weeks). Even now I am working on decks.
Thanks for reading,
Joe