dagobah-regionals-29-july-00

Title: dagobah-regionals-29-july-00
Author: James "jamesandkris" Barrett
Date: Aug 2, 2000

OK we leave on Friday to make the trip to Jacksonville. The Augusta crew consists of Art Rhodes, Tony Zamberlan, Clay Cushman, Jeff Hartle (not playing) and myself. On the way down I am trying to figure out if I am going to stick with the light deck that I had been playtesting all week or not so I pretty much had my game face on as I didn't want another poor showing at a big tourney (2-4 @ GA States and DragonCon). We arrive at the Pink Pussycat (Villager Lodge) at around 8 PM, we unload, check in and then head out to find a place to eat. We drive around for what seems like forever (I was starving) and around the downtown area at a stop light we see some dude sucking water out of the sewer so we do what any sane person would do: we run the red light to get away from that psycho and end up stopping at a decent looking place called AIX. As soon as we walk in I know we just stepped into my equivalent of the twilight zone as everyone is old as dirt and all dressed up so we look like scum so of course we stay. We have steak all around and end up dropping like $160 in food and left a $60 tip (we always take care of our waitresses). So after food it's back to the Pussycat for more playtesting. At 2 AM I change my light deck from local uprising endor/strike planning start to Profit and playtest it once against Clay and then it's off to sleep. On to the games:

Game 1: LS vs. Art Rhodes RallOps
Well this sucks we both ride together for 5 hours and pay $7.50 to play each other in the first game. This game can be summed up in turn 2 when he drops Emperor and Sim Aloo to the Audience Chamber. The next turn I come down and hack Sim Aloo but can't seem to get rid of the Emperor. I keep coming and coming and coming with wave after wave of characters but can't get rid of Emperor until I finally track a 6 and 3 to hack him but it's way too little way too late and he ends up draining me out. FL -14.
0 (-14)
Highs: Hacking the Emperor?
Lows: Playing a friend game 1

Game 2: DS vs. Daniel Blackford's Hidden Base
His first turn he deploys clouds to Ralltiir so I know I'm in trouble because I may not be able to flip, but I got a good draw and so early i throw out dsII docking bay, spaceport docking bay, swamp and forest. I drop at-st pilots to spaceport db and swamp and Tarkin to forest to flip. He deploys a ship and pilot (B-Wing matching?) to Cloud and so I search with flipped objective and get the desert out and deploy Janus. Next turn I get Lord Vader with Lightsaber to dsII db. He then deploys to the other cloud sector he managed to put out to flip me back, plays 2 projections and flips his objective. Resistance helps with his force drain at kessel only allowing me to lose two instead of 3. He puts a matching pilot/ship to kiffex and I come back with Chimeara, Ozzel, and vehicle for forfeit. We just keep going at each other here with me always adding to Chimeara and I eventually get out the Executor to seal the game. FW +10
2 (-4)
Highs: Winning a game I really thought I should have lost.
Lows: Still being at negative diff.

Game 3: DS vs. Spencer Bridges There Is Good In Him
Pretty uneventful game. I deployed docking bays early to help with mobilization points and so he ended up moving Luke via db's to Ralltiir but not before I flipped and had Emperor Palpatine waiting for him but he flipped. My next turn I searched with the objective and got my Lord Vader out and transferred Luke so I wouldn't have to lose 2 each turn to his objective. He won one battle the whole game and I got out overseeing it personally making it a pretty quick game. FW +24
4 (+20)
Highs: Luke being escorted by Vader and Emperor
Lows: Losing a battle.

Game 4: LS vs. Chris Kuebler's RallOps
I felt confident that my Profit deck wouldn't lose 2 straight to RallOps but of course anything is possible. To start the game he put Mara at the Audience Chamber. I waited a while to deploy and then dropped Master Luke and others to clear the Audience Chamber and free Han. I dropped Boushh undercoverto the swamp and moved Luke to Jabba's Palace with Tawss Khaa the same turn I deployed Ben to the A.C. at this point I was draining for 2 and hitting him for 3 from the objective and he just couldn't keep up. FW +16
6 (+36)
Highs: Winning 3 straight.
Lows: Deploying Lando in Falcon to Rendezvous Point stranding him there.

Game 5: DS vs. Rob Ronnlund's Test To 5
I knew this game was trouble as I had playtested and lost to Tony Zamberlan's test to 5 the night before and didn't really have an answer as to how to beat it now that it is so fast. I flipped quick and tried to drain as fast as I could while he tested Daughter. During my control phases I was getting stuff to hit Dagobah i.e. Bossk in Bus, Lord Vader with Stick, Mara with Stick, and Tarkin. After getting all of that I pulled Kashyyyk and deployed moved to Dagobah and next turn landed preventing him from pulling off test 5. He on the edged twice to retrieve 6 each time with the 7's he was tracking. He also had Home One with friends now set up at Kashyyyk so seeing how this was going I ended up drawing out when I could to save diff. FL -25
6 (+11)
Highs: Keeping him from test 5.
Lows: Having no answer for this deck type.

Game 6: LS vs. Joseph Mathews ISB
His deck was an ISB docking bay deck with Mobilization Points. He dropped Mara and Chall to the Audience Chamber to start the game and ended up dropping Fozec during his turn, I guess he felt confident with this as he didn't secure the site any further. I waited a while then dropped Master Luke with Luke's Stick, Boushh with Anakin's Stick, Taws Khaa, and Melas to the A.C. bounced Fozec back to his hand hacked Chall and hacked Mara but Boushh got hacked so I lost Melas to attrition and freed Han. Next turn deployed Ben With Stick to Jabba's Palace, moved Luke, Han, and Tawss over and Nabruned all to Coruscant Docking Bay. He dropped several jabronis and an AT-AT then moved other reinforcements from two of his other docking bays. I deployed Boushh to one of his db's undercover and initiated a battle against his jabroni squad. I hacked 2 of them shot another and then played gift of the mentor, he had no reply to this. I then played courage to add Luke's ability to power, he had no reply to this. I then played Jedi Presence, he had no reply to this, can you say power 22 Luke? I drew a 5,5, and 3 for battle destiny clearing the site plus he had to lose like 8 force, he did have IAO out. I move Han and Tawss to Imperial Square and drain out with force drains plus objective. FW +21
8 (+32)
Highs: Pulling off the gift, courage, presence move.
Lows: None really.

I'm sure you all know by now that Charlie Herran won, but the Augusta crew didn't do bad, Art got 3rd, I finished 16th, Clay finished 18th, and Tony 19th out of 60 participants.

Props: Clay, Tony, and Art for all the playtesting and making me a better player.
Jeff for being yourself
The TD for a well run tourney
HEAVEN
AIX

Slops: The Pink Pussycat
Having to play a friend so early in the tourney.