boxboro-ma-7-22-2000
Title: boxboro-ma-7-22-2000
Author: Michael "rayc" Hawley
Date: Jul 31, 2000
On the good side, my daughter Elizabeth (who seldom plays and never builds decks) agreed to go along and play. So I passed on the pain pills, grabbed a couple of decks for me, a couple for her and headed for the tournament.
There was a pretty good crowd (63 players). Most of the better players were there. I popped a few Tylenol ("the ones that mother gives you don't do anything at all..."), bought some packs, said a few hellos, made a few trades and the tourney was under way.
I was playing a SYCFA balanced deck for the dark side with no flip. And an EBO Baragwin deck for the light side.
1. Jeremy ? Hoth Start (I think) vs. my EBO Baragwins.
This guy apparently had no idea what to expect. I don't remember what he started. I started the MPG and North Ridge. I used the Signal to start A New Secret Base. His deck seemed to be random mains and toys. If it had a cohesive theme, I did not see it. He seemed surprised at the EBO drain bonuses and the multiple sevens for destiny. He gave me plenty of time to get set up and once I did, I pretty much did whatever I wanted. Full win +>30.
Highs: Well I'm off to a good start
Lows: This was too easy. I couldn't really think straight. I knew I had not tracked my destinies all that well and I won big in spite of it. The next game will not be so easy.
2. Steve Brentson Profit vs. my SYCFA Balanced
This is where I continued my tradition of scrubbing out at the Regionals. Steve started all the Profit stuff with Premier Han as the Frozen captive. I used the new starting interrupt to deploy Oppressive Enforcement, There Is No Try, and Secret Plans. I also put Jabba and Ephont Mon at the Audience Chamber. Big mistake. Steve used the Signal to deploy Bargaining Table. First Turn I deployed an Imperial character to the audience chamber. Steve just drew. Next turn I hit him with a monnok lost and sent 5 or 6 red cards to the lost pile. I also saw that he had Master Luke, Ben, a few Eloms and general beatdown stuff. Here is my genius move. I forgot that Master Luke a. Deploys for free to the audience chamber with Profit and b. bounces aliens. So, thinking that I was safe because Ephont Mon sucks up all the damage when he is with Jabba, I stayed put. Next turn: Here comes the Hit squad. Jabba got bounced. Ozzel got sliced. I lost everyone + lots of force. Steve controlled the AC but waited 'til there were 10 force in his lost pile (and 10 in his force pile for Secret Plans) before he freed Han. Well to cap it off, I got IG w/gun and decided to try to some capturing. I played a Masterful move to recycle the 6 destiny and activated until it was my top card. I then deployed IG, Boba and an Imperial to go after Luke. I initiated, targeted Luke with IG and triumphantly drew the destiny. It was a Monnok. I had miscounted. The Masterful Move was one of my battle destinies. Steve drained, Profit Damaged and retrieved w/ On the edge. Full loss by 38.
Highs: To his credit, Steve never actually said I was an idiot.
Lows: I felt like one.
3. Johnny Rivera SYCFA - Balanced
I believe Johnny started a three effects with the new starting interrupt. I started the usual EBO stuff. Then we both sat there for a couple of minutes and I asked him if he was going to activate. He told me that one of the judges had ruled that the light side went first against SYCFA because the DS was one of the starting locations. I told him that the judge was wrong and that the DS went first. We discussed it a little and agreed that he should go first despite the earlier ruling. Well two things happened in this game. I got pretty weak draws and had a hard time finding my aliens and I got very, very cautious. I decided I was not thinking straight and did not want to make a stupid mistake. Johnny knew about EBO Baragwins was not going to just roll over. Of course, he also knew that his deck had problems against EBO Baragwins and he played very slowly and cautiously too. Still we had a fun and friendly game. I was in control most of the game and had a good lead when time was called. Timed Win +>20 I think.
Highs: Fun Game.
Lows: I'm out of it now. The best I can hope for is a 9 and nobody wins a regional with a 9 and lousy differential.
4. Alex Schulman Profit vs. my SYCFA balanced
This was a repeat of the Brentson Game. I decided that, since I was already out of it, I would see if I could make almost exactly the same plays (no Monnok this time) against Alex as I did against Steve and control the Audience Chamber. I had been playing Crush as my starting effect for so long that I forgot about the power of Clash of Sabers. Alex bounced Jabba, Clashed Mara, beat up Ephant Mon.
He Drained, Profited and I was destroyed. Full loss by 37.
Highs: At least I did not screw up any attempts to capture Luke.
Lows: um....
5. Louie Gagne BHBM vs. my EBO Baragwin
Well this is the first time I've seen the new DS objective in action. This was one of those "Can I check out that card? What does that card do? kind of games" He had the Emperor and all the new Guard Guys and council members. I did not get any aliens or Wind Chimes in my opening hand or first draw. He really did not have a good grasp of the Hoth Shield rules and he put the Emperor and pals down at the North Ridge. He was not playing any Elis Helrots and he did not realize that he could not use the Hoth Docking bay without blowing up the Shield Generators. So when he deployed Vader to a docking bay somewhere else, I just gave him Luke to satisfy the force loss. Even at that it was a pretty close game. I was afraid to go after the Emperor and his friends and he was able to get some massive drains going. However, my drains were equally massive and I had the Baragwin retrieval thing going for me. Louie could have let this one time out and did not. Full win by not too much.
Highs: I got to see an entirely new deck type
Lows: Too much "what does this card do?" stuff. I definitely was not adequately prepared for this tourney.
6. Jimmy Scheimer HB with weapons vs. my SYCFA balanced
I think Jimmy started Yarna. I started Oppressive Enforcement, Secret Plans and Imperial Arrest Order. I opted not to use There is No Try since I expected a swarm deck. We both drew up for a few turns. After Jimmy deployed some ships (B-Wings and X-wings) with weapons and one with the new Wedge, I tried a monnok lost on my next turn. He had no characters so I set up a ground drain on Endor, a lone imperial at the death star docking bay and deployed Search and destroy. I was out-draining him until he flipped. I waited patiently until he had a bunch of stuff deployed and had flipped his objective. I did not get out Security Precautions but flipped successfully on my first try. A lot of his weapons were Intruder Missiles, which target capitals only. So I brought Zuckuss in MH (w/4-LOM as Passenger and EPP Boba Fett as co-pilot), and Dengar in Punishing one down at one of his more heavily defended systems (4 ships - 6 ability). The three destinies plus 4 for Dengar's bonus did the job nicely. Sure, he nailed Dengar with an X-wing laser cannon the next turn. But By then I had achieved parity in space and had superiority on the ground. Full win by a reasonable margin.
Highs: Beating a focussed deck with a Balanced deck. Working around the weapons. Beating a worthy opponent
Lows: None.
So, Brentson won the whole thing
Eric Hunter takes second
Hayes Hunter was third, I believe.
Well I had as good a time as I could have had with the pain and the temporary (I hope) stupidity. Most everyone seemed cool. It is hard to make any generalizations about the impact of DS 2 based on this tournament. A lot of the new cards saw play. None of them appeared to be game breakers except that I did not see or hear of any straight Odds or Operatives decks. So the new effects apparently worked their magic indirectly.
Props to:
Elizabeth, for coming along and winning only one game and being a good sport about it.
Andy Klema for doing very well and being cool himself. I am going to head down to CT one of these days so that we can actually play.
Kris and co. for running the tournament.
Steve Brentson for winning and only saying "you saw what I had."
Louie for not stalling on game 5
David Akers for EBO Baragwins
Slops to:
Me for not preparing properly. Man I wish we could do this again next week.
Decipher for letting the regional take place 3 days after the release of the cards.
Thanks for reading
rayc