bespin-regional-report-omaha-7-29-00
Title: bespin-regional-report-omaha-7-29-00
Author: Travis "Timber" Keshav
Date: Jul 31, 2000
Omaha, Nebraska, 7-29-2000
Another nice three hour drive to play. Getting up at 4am so I can play in the YJ regional as well. In YJ, I nearly pull out top two, but a loss in Game 5 to Joshua Smith ends this. This is going to become a pattern, as we will see. An annoying fact was that I had to play 3 of the 12 of 35+ YJ players from our area. I end up 3-3, frustrated by game 5 and not caring about the final game, making silly mistakes. So, I get ready for the Star Wars tournament. Current rating : 1800-1851, depending on 13 games being updated.
Decks are...
LS : Turbo MWYHL to 6 with Luke, making an incredibly quick time. Luke because I can't find a Daughter of Skywalker and because Luke's Lightsaber is nice.
DS : Bring Him Before Me powerhouse force loss inflictor. Docking Bay to find Luke and get him to the Emperor.
On to the games. There are 81 players, 12 of which are from our Kansas City area.
Game 1 : My MWYHL vs. Edward(1584) Endor drains.
As I slowly test to 5, Edward deploys tons of Biker Scouts and AT-ST's to two Endor sites(Landing Platform and the Vehicle Forest). After trying to stop the drain with Leia, Han and Colonel Cracken, I realize there's just too much power there. I decide to take a drain of 2 for a few turns, and flip with Artoo-Detoo in Red 5 on Test 5. Leia, Han and Chewie reenter the scene to clear out about 20 characters, and their drains with Luke's coming to Endor with a Lightsaber and JT6 not being satisfied(Vader already dead) quickly finished the job. Win by 20.
Highs : Clearing so many sites. JT5 is amazing.
Lows : Fear of big losses. I saw all the speeders and when I had battled, I thought it could end the game.
Game 2 : My Bring Him vs. Mark's(1556) Profit.
I start with Fett and Dengar, but he ignores Tatooine. In two turns, he puts Lando in Falcon, Tantive IV and Gold Leader at Kessel. Vader is inflicting loss with a first turn Alter of Honor of the Jedi by the Emperor. Eventually, I save enough force to deploy the Executor with Dr. Evazen. With Emperor's Power, I outpower him and am immune to attrition. He gives me Luke, and Luke keeps getting dueled and losing, so he ends up with 6 cards on Insignificant Rebellion. But, he runs out of force. Win by 19. 4(+39).
Highs : Vader beating Luke up.
Lows : Luke not turning, I mean it would have made so much sense.
Ugly : Losing 4 destiny 6's off the top in a row with Emperor's Power.
Game 3 : My MWYHL vs. Joshua Smith's(1952) Bring Him Before Me.
Wow. The one and really only decktype that can beat my deck. Okay, maybe not, but at least against most other stuff I can put up a good fight. Emperor goes to Tatooine : Docking Bay, following Emperor and others. Luke trains, but with Honor of the Jedi in the deck after twice being Altered, I don't know what to do. A strike force runs into bad destiny and a big loss for me of Obi, Chewie, Tawss Khaa and 6 force. Leia is You Are Beaten'ed at the site. I get to Test 5, and finish it, but Secret Plans = no retrieval with 3 force left. Drain out next turn. Loss by 22. 4(+17).
Highs : ... no, this wasn't a good game
Lows : Everything, including the fact Josh has destroyed my hopes of Deciphercon twice in a row. But, that's life, so you keep playing.
Game 4 : My Bring Him vs. John's(1620) mains.
Well, Emperor and Vader go to a docking bay quickly, and Luke goes to CC. I can't get there, and with Fett/Evazen and Dengar/Evazen strike teams drawing all 1's and 2's, it isn't working. There's no drain race possibility. Luke Nabrums over, he's captured, but Vader dies and Luke returns to the Light Side. This same situation keeps occurring over and over again. I finally get to the throne room. 3 cards on Insignificant Rebellion. I can't win a duel, I can't draw a 4 to cross Luke. I keep losing that 1 force and getting drained. It was as simple as that. Loss by 26. 4(-9)
Highs : Almost turning Luke.
Lows : This guy hadn't played in so long, I had to pretty much tell him what I was, had, and was going to do in a way to be fair.
Game 5 : My Bring Him vs. KS State Champion Frank's(1928) EBO.
I don't like Frank's style of gameplay. He's obnoxious, rude, annoying and profane. I also didn't give a darn how I did now considiering I couldn't get top 5. So, being tired and uncaring, I don't do the correct stuff like making him lose to Your Destiny a couple times(Frank is a rules lawyer), and I make a couple idiotic battles causing enough force loss to me to cause a loss. If I had not allowed him to battle me a couple times where I know I shouldn't have, and remembered the loss for Your Destiny, I would have won, but I didn't care. Pretty much EBO was a drain out and Zuckuss shouldn't have been left alone, although next turn he would have been moved. Loss by 16. 4(-25)
Highs : If I had tried harder I would have won.
Lows : Playing Frank. I wanted just to quit rather than playing this game.
Game 6 : My MWYHL vs. Missouri State Champion Matt's(1713) Bring Him Before Me.
Why this? Why have I played two top players game 5 and 6 in the losers bracket? Matt is a lot better player than his ranking. Oh well... it's an easy win for him, but I don't give up. I drop Cracken, Leia and Obi to beat up and him the Emperor for about 15 force. Other than that, he's hitting me with Your Destiny and drains, a race he wins. I don't even try to test, it's just not happening. Luckily, for my own dignity, I keep the loss low. Luke deploys to Cloud City instead of Dagobah, but my luck holds so I draw a 1 for destiny and use this to end the game. Loss by 20, ironically being the same as the first win. 4(-45).
Highs : Hmmm... this is my 399th rated game, so not losing the 400th, I guess. Playing someone cool like Matt.
Lows : Playing Bring Him Before Me.
Ugly : Both tournaments, thrice playing someone I knew.
So, I don't hang around at what, 10:10 pm with a 3 hour drive to see who wins. Joshua Smith, a player I played as I said from my area takes 1st, but loses in the finals, because, in my opinion he makes a newbie mistake. You don't deploy the Emperor by hisself. Not good. I didn't do so well, but my decks are and were very good, even if they didn't show it(after all, my DS deck is the same as Josh's). Not a good showing, but I had fun and was thankful to just get out of there.
General Props :
-KC crew for coming
-Josh for loaning me some cards
-Hotel for being so good
-Matt, Game 1, Game 2 opponents for being cool.
-YJ for being mindless
-Josh for doing so well
General Slops :
-Tournament for starting at 9am
-Omaha being three hours away
-Josh for playing me with the side that would have won twice(other way around, I would have won)
-KC crew for not doing too well
-Frank for being annoying and profane.
-Josh for making Eric, Nathan and Brian stay and then having him lose.
Major Slops :
-Technology. Tournament was so poorly run compared with last year. Using the computer and then copying it to the cards added 1+ hour to each tournament.
Well, it was fun, but I'll be happy just to play in normal tournaments now. My ratings will apparently drop below 1800, and with the other tournament updated, I'll be down to about 1750-1775. That's all....
Travis K.