austin-tx-7-29-00
Title: austin-tx-7-29-00
Author: Justin "hoostino" Warren
Date: Jul 30, 2000
As usual, I didn't get the greatest amount of sleep the night prior, but I stiffed it out and made the hour-long journey along with a Killeen newcomer, Kenton Christensen.
I had been working with a There Is Good In Him/Elom/EPP beatdown deck for the light (it's been posted), and a solid enhanced ROps for the dark. Both had worked extremely well in playtesting.
Anyway, on to the games.
Game 1
My ROps vs. Mark Leahy's (?) EBO
I start off with my Mobilization Points, IAO, and Decree. He attempts to start both the Signal for ANSB and Heading For The Medical Frigate for three more effects. I kindly inform him that only one starting interrupt may be played by either player, and he wisely opts to go with ANSB. First turn, I drop a 1/0 Docking Bay and a cheap Imp to get some good activation going. Next turn, I do the same and drop an ability 4 Imp at the Spaceport Docking Bay. I am now activating like 13 or 14, and I get an easy flip the following turn. He @#$%ed around on Hoth for a bit, I set up Search And Destroy, Overseeing It Personally, and an Admiral's Order that causes 1 Force loss for each of my Ralltiir sites controlled by my Commander or General, within the next 2 turns. He never has the nerve to put up a fight on Ralltiir, and I caused massive damage over the next few turns, giving me a quick win.
FW by 28
The Good: Winning ain't so bad.
The Bad: Nothing really.
Game 2
My TIGIH beats vs. Jeremy Losee's solid ROps
Jeremy is a fellow Killeenite whom I don't get to see much of, but he seems like a cool guy. In testing, my light had obliterated ROps decks, so I went in a fair amount of confidence. He had the same basic strategy I do, use IAO and MP to cure the activation dilemma of ROps, guaranteed, and get some boosted drains on Ralltiir. He deployed an AT-ST Pilot at a docking bay first turn. I activate my seven and drain for one. Move Luke to the Landing Platform and draw. He drops a chicken with the AT-ST, Blizzard 2 in front of Luke and goes and captures him. Here, I forget to flip my card, and start making him lose 2 Force a turn, but it turned out I wouldn't need it. I took control of Ralltiir early with EPPs, Eloms and a H'Nemthe. Next turn, I drop the Tantive and a backup ship (the Liberty, I think) to Ralltiir to stifle his flip. And stifle it I did. He never flipped, I freed Luke with a beatdown, and chased him all over Ralltiir and just drained him out gradually. I got a few good battles, in, too, as did he, but I fortified Ralltiir enough to keep him from taking control. He tried to use Overseeing It Personally, but he found out that he had to control the Emperor's site for it to be in effect, and I chased that old bastard every turn, keeping his drains to a minimum.
FW by 15 or so
The Good: Making Ralltiir my pad.
The Bad: Forgetting to flip and make him lose 2 a turn. Doh!
Game 3
My TIGIH beats vs. Reid Wilder's (?) TIE Interceptor Swarm
This deck looked awfully familiar (check my decks), and I had beaten it in testing, so again I was confident with my light. He starts Kashyyyk, I start the usual Insurrection and Staging Areas, but held Wise Advice. Damn did I wish I had just one Grimtaash this game. I knew he was playing TIE Swarm after he got Wakeelmui with MP first turn, so I drew for ships and sites. He deployed an early Dreaded Imperial Starfleet much to my chagrin, as I knew I had no counter for it, and draining was my only way to win this matchup. He draws up for the next few turns, to bring his hand to over 15 cards at least, yet I had no Grimtaash. Oh well, I dropped three big ships (Tantive, Liberty, and Lando In Falcon) at Wakeelmui at once after activating practically my whole deck in three turns, along with Bargaining Table to stop his drain at Kashyyyk. Next turn, I drained and fortified Wakeelmui with EPP Han, Chewie, and Leia. I know that TIE deck, and believe me, it can have some unholy power. I had to avoid the beatdown at all costs. Well, I almost @#$%ed myself the following turn by moving the Tantive along with the EPPs to Kiffex, thinking, how much power can he possibly deploy on me with only seven cards in hand? He deploys a Dreadnaught, and 2 Interceptors, one armed with an SFS Cannon, drops Lateral Damage on the Liberty, and has three left to shoot down Lando. I look at Lando's maneuver and am horrified. It's 3. THREE. This is the Falcon we are talking about, it is maneuverable. It should be a higher maneuver, dammit. So, all he has to do is draw a one, and it's game over. He targets, draws, I have the nerve to open my eyes and look...it's a system! Woohoooo!! I'm not dead! I get battle destiny and forfeit! I draw a 5, and lose Lando, the Liberty to the Used Pile, and a few cards. Man, if I believed in God, I would have been on my knees thanking for that. Had he drawn at least a 1, I would have been power and forfeit zero with no destiny staring at his power 22. Game over. Afterwards, I spread out on Endor with some Ithorians to get massive drains, and kept the Tantive away from him. It became a chess match as we exchanged drains, he retrieved, I eventually retrieved, and the time limit reached less than one minute. I had a drain of ten to his six, but both were essentially seven and four due to Dreaded Imp. Starfleet and Bargaining Table. He quickly finished his turn after draining and drawing, I activated, the time was at 10 seconds left, and started to initiate Force drains like a mad man, and I drained him out right as time was called to get the full win. Whew. I needed a damn cigarette after this game more than I ever had in my life. I had now played this kid twice, and he gave me a challenge both games. I must congratulate him. Don't underestimate some kids in this game, they know more than you think. Hats off to you, Reid. Keep it up.
FW by 4
The Good: That oh so lucky destiny.
The Bad: Not getting my drains set up quickly, that early Dreaded Imperial Starfleet.
Game 4
My ROps vs. Reid Wilder's EBO
I had to play this kid again? Damn. He starts EBO, so maybe this one won't exhaust as many brain cells. Again, I used the quick, abundant activation to get a fast flip. I set up on Ralltiir with Overseeing It Personally again, this time I had it in effect on four sites and I had Janus with the Emperor, giving me a drain of 10 on Ralltiir. It was sick. I didn't bother with the Admiral's Order, it would have been overkill. He used Incom Corp. to boost some non-unique X-Wings and Y-Wings, and drained for bit with EBO, but I drained for too much too fast. Sorry, bud.
FW by 25
The Good: playing EBO again.
The Bad: He got some good drains in.
Game 5
My TIGIH beats vs. Martin "Odi-Wan" Boehm's SYC Big Blue/Mains
Martin is the Texas State Champion and is a pretty good tourney friend, plus he is always a threat and hard to beat, but I knew his deck was ground-based, thus my chances were good. First turn, he drops Mara with Stick to the Landing Platform to kill my drain and generation. I used Insurrection and few docking bays to boost it a bit, but I still don't have enough to lay the smackdown. I moved Luke over and he captured him. I bided my time and took the hit until the time was right, and I laid the smackdown on Mara with some Eloms and Tawss Khaa and freed my beloved Jedi. However, he made a good play by moving Mara over to the Death Star docking bay, thus he took no damage due to SYC, but I drew a five. Love that high destiny, don't you? He fought back with Lord Vader and another Jade, and I retreated into the Death Star to drain with the aliens. He set up Come Here You Big Coward! to force me to come out and play, so I dropped some EPPs, wiped out some characters and took Coward out of effect. He deployed Battle Order to stifle me, but Bargaining Table canceled almost all of his drains all game. For the first time, I was unable to overpower the dark side with this deck, as he deployed an insane amount of walkers and forfeit fodder to force me to start running away between the docking bays (at a high cost due to his conversion of my Endor: Landing Platform). I kept away from his big guns for most of the game until I was ready, and my drains started to wear him thin. After winning two early battles, never again was I able to overpower him, as he kept multiple walkers and mains to keep me at bay. Vader had captured Luke earlier, but it proved rather meaningless, as I dropped the Tantive at the Death Star after seeing him lose the Death Star Tractor Beam. I was activating enough pay that outrageous transit cost and get three Battle Order-dampened drains in a turn, and it proved to be too much for him.
FW by 20
The Good: Beating Martin, making somewhat of a comeback (should have compared lost piles after the fourth turn.)
The Bad: He actually forced my deck to run away on the ground. Impressive.
The Ugly: Martin (j/k) :)
Game 6
My ROps vs. Martin "Odi-Wan" Boehm's Endor M&T
Martin is a very well-known Mains and SAC player (as I once was), and DSII didn't divert his tradition. He starts out Chirpa's Hut and Careful Plans for the Rebel Landing Site. I get the quick, mega activation going again, and hold off on deploying any Ralltiir sites until I am ready to flip. First turn, he drops Jedi Luke and his Saber to the Landing Site. What the hell, how could anyone get enough Jedi Lukes to play this type of deck? Oh well. After drawing for a turn or two, I finally go for the gold and flip. He drops Obi-Wan on top of my Lord Vader, but I Barriered. He Senses, I grab (for free via Oppressive Enforcement) and Alter. He decides not to attempt to Sense again, he instead deploys Savrip and draws. Mistake, mistake. I have another Alter in hand, and Tempest 1 and Igar. Control phase, use 2 to get any card, pick Tarkin, drain, deploy him and the walker (didn't have enough for Igar), Alter Savrip, and battle. I drew a five after the destiny bonus to have a power of 22. He Smokes, loses Obi and a few cards. Damn Smoke Screen. I should have saw it coming. Anyway, that kept him off of Ralltiir for a bit, giving me some drains and all the right cards via the flipped objective. He dropped Daughter with Anakin's, OTE and Nabruned her and Jedi Luke over to Ralltiir during the move phase. I weighed some options, and decided to fight the siblings with Tempest Scout 1 piloted by an AT-ST Pilot and DS-61-2, and another chicken piloted by Igar. I drew high enough to kill Daughter and his attrition of 1 was reduced by the Jungle's text. Later, I activated all but 2, used the get any card text to see my destinies, one was a Shock, so I battled and drew that 5 (make that a nine with the objective) and wiped his Luke out. I set up Overseeing It Personally once again and commenced the draining. He had a constant drain of one with Tawss Khaa down on Endor, and at my Kashyyyk with Home One and General Solo, but I had a drain of 10 or so, so that didn't last too long.
FW by 10
The Good: Smacking him around on Ralltiir.
The Bad: Again he got a quick start (first turn Jedi Luke with his Saber).
Well, I win the tournament going undefeated and sweeping Martin, which is always fun :). Looks like I'm going to like DSII. This is the first tournament I have won in some time. After being ranked in the upper-1900s for quite a while (number one in Dantooine at one time), I had a horrible losing string that lasted for over five tournaments, costing me almost 200 rating points. In those six or so tourneys, I never did better than 4-2 and did as bad as 2-4 (the worst performance of my career at the Tulsa Grand Slam.) I am back, dammit. So Chris, do not forget to send these results to Decipher, I want my rating back! If you made it this far, thanks for reading and have a good one.
Oh yeah, and please review my new light entitled "It's My Destiny Dammit," it's the one I won this with.
"Can't wait for Indiana Jones And The Comfortable Bed"
Darwin bless. Hoostino out.