vancouver-bc-canada-9-2-00
Title: vancouver-bc-canada-9-2-00
Author: Ryan "Cradossk" Mathison
Date: Sep 6, 2000
All right, Ill give all of you a warning; this is a pretty long TR. I thought for my second TR, that I would go for more of a "play by play" format. I find that I like lots of detail, when reading Trs. So I hope you all enjoy this.
So the tourney is on Saturday Sept 2/00 - this will be my first tourney in almost 2 months. I have been playing around with a whole bunch of decks, trying a bunch off decktech. But I just couldnt find one that I liked, also I wanted something completely original; something that other people in my area hadnt seen. I hated playing the Set your course.. manipulator, because everyone knew it was coming. Dont get me wrong, there are some awesome decks out there; its just that if you start "There is good in him" and then throw down some speeders - everyone goes, oh thats the speederholics deck. And they have that edge on you right away. So after reading Steven Lewiss article "To build or not to build", I decided to go and build my own decks. So I took some of my old decks and tuned them up a bit, with the new DS2 cards.
I wanted to make a dark deck based on my old hunt down, that had the power; and interrupts to RIP Shit UP. So I made a Set your course deck, that had all the hunt down potential; with out having to lose cards to visage. Which we all know hurts us, more then the LS. So after some rigorous play testing, especially with my good bud Nicholas burke. I decided to drop the Epic dual part, and just go for the 10-15 card swing; that a well tracked Vaders obsession can do!! So with the addition of the Emperor and Sim aloo, along with the almighty Lord Vader and his matching Saber; I knew it had potential!
For the Light side, I really liked my old Hidden base deck. It was pretty much a x-wing swarm deck, except I only use 8 x-wings. I use two Red squadron x-wings and 6 normal x-wings. But I also use 3 x-wing squadrons, Home 1, Lando in falcon and the Spiral.
I just used some great interrupts and effects. The DS2 cards that helped where the Home 1 and the Starting interrupt, not to mention Jedi Luke. I didnt really change much in my HB deck, the power came in starting 3 effects; instead of just 1.
Well enough chit chat, time to get on with the games!!!
Game 1
My DS vs. Some guys Harvest Deck (cant remember his name, sorry)
So I deploy my starting stuff, and see him start with Bens hut and then careful planning for Lars Farm. He then takes a few minutes to read my objective (so Im thinking, this is gonna be easy). Is he playing a harvest deck? - Havent seen one of these in awhile. So I draw my starting 8cards - I then use mob points text to grab Rendili, (before I activate). I activate and deploy from reserve deck the DS war room and I deploy the Emperor to DS docking Bay (from hand), and then drop Rendili. He just draws his first turn. My next turn Im activating 13 force - I drop Dengar in Push 1 to rendili and drop sim aloo along with the emperor. I masterful move (grab a ghhk) I then weapon levitation my reserve - I look at the two cards in my reserve - 1) masterful move 2) alter and now 3) weapon lev - So I got a 6,4 and 4 in my reserve deck; time to start tracking. His 2nd turn he drops Ben and his saber to Ben's hut - and drops Own Lars to the farm along with Wedge and taws khaa - he draws. My 3rd turn I drain for one at rendili - I then drop Kashhyk and Bossk in Bus - I drop Mara and her stick to the farm - use sims game text to look at his top card (its a two) I "you are beaten" wedge - I hack down Taws khaa, and draw a 4 for destiny - he draws his 2. So I got power 10 to his power 6-7 he loses everyone - Next turn he drains me at the hut - drops farm boy, General Han and Chewbacca. I look at his top card (sims game text) its a 5 - Thats going to the bottom! - So I slash Chewbacca - draw a 6 for destiny - he then draws a 5 for destiny WTF! So I loose Mara he looses Chewbacca and Han. My next turn, this is the turn I have been waiting for - I drain for 3 and then lost monnok his hand. - He has a few characters and some other crap - (no barrier, no Run Luke run, and no sense alter) So I drop the cantina throw down Lord Vader with his matching stick. Move Vader to the farm - look at his top card (sim, once again) - I then start Vaders obsession - I draw the 6 and the 4, and then focused attack for the other 4 - I throw my lightsaber to add one to each destiny draw - He draws a 2 and a 4. So his total power is 9 - My Total power is 24 *He looses 15 force, I retrieve 15 force* he trys to use Savrip, and I remind him that savrip is for battle damage - not dual damage - So that took a lot of wind out of sails, I was draining him for 7 a turn after that - and hes running from Vader and my other Mara, for the rest of the game.
Full win by 28
2 (+28)
Highs: winning my first game, quite easily.
Lows: playing a newbie first game -
Game 2
My LS vs. Joseph .s (1500-1600) - BHBM Deck
He starts insurrection, mob points and Oppressive E - Well, this may be a tougher game - first turn he deploys Endor Docking bay, drops the emperor there - and draws. My first turn - I have Han w/ blaster and Obi w/stick in my starting 8 - so first turn I drop Hoth from my hand and Yavin 4 from reserve deck. His next turn he drops Ex docking bay, Strategic reserves, overseeing it personally and a biker scout and bike to the emperors site; but doesnt move the Emp (big mistake!). My next turn I drop Endor from reserve deck and then drop Obi w/stick to the Emperors site. I hack the Emperor down and drew a 5 for destiny - he draws a 2. Bye-Bye Emperor, you should have seen the look of fear in his face; turns out that was his only Emperor - I then move a few X-wings to Endor from Rendezvous point. So a few turns go by, we both are draining each other for a couple. He then deploys a few Endor sites and some biker scouts - he searches for a bike, cant find one - I get to look through his deck, and guess what? not one Starship; so I start spreading all the x-wings out. I got one at Kiffex, Kessel, coruscant, and the other systems. I flip my Obj. Hes spreading biker scouts all over endor and drops Search and Destroy. So hes blocking one of my drains and is making me loose to S&D, so i signal for rebel fleet; i then grab a docking bay from my reserve deck - I drop Han w/blaster to the docking bay and drop Boushh to an endor site. So I am blocking 4 of his drains and not losing to S&D, meanwhile hes losing 11 to my force drains. And that was pretty much game.
full win by 22 (roughly)
4 (+50)
Highs: Taking down the emp, second turn
Lows: Not much - pretty boring game.
Game 3
My DS vs. Tomas Klco (1584) Mind what you have learned...
His starting effects were - wise advise, insurrection and staging areas
So once he sees me deploy my starting stuff - he knows what Im playing - he watched me play test the other day, so hes very cautious about deploying Luke anywhere. So I start my usual starting effects - I get Zuckuss in MH down on Rendili first turn and throw the Emperor down second turn. He gets most of his training stuff down first turn - and he deploys an ASP droid to the Endor docking bay (on his second turn) - So I get the Thunderflare and Dengar/in push 1 down at Kashhyk. I get Mara/stick down on the endor docking bay, and Sim aloo joins his master at the DS docking bay. He gets some more training stuff down - and waits a turn. I drain for 3 in space, and try to drain at the Endor Docking bay. He plays Lost in the wilderness, I try to sense; no luck!. *I cant get S&D for the life of me*. Running out of options, I deploy Vader/stick to the cantina. and draw. Next turn he drops luke, chewie and Orrimarko to the DS docking bay. I barrier the first two - he decides not to battle "wise decision" .I use "Unexpected interruption" to grab a sense *he grabs* the Unex interruption. I then Masterful move, trying to set up some destiny, *he grabs* that one as well. So Im thinking "great, there goes my masterful move" - But now I am free to Sense and Alter, as well as Weapon lev for the rest of the game. (Next turn) I drain for 6 and drop Gm tarkin and 4-Lom to the DS docking bay. Time to BATTLE- I target orrimarrko. After all the smoke clears -he loses chewie I lose Tarkin. Next turn he drops chewie w/blaster, he battles again- I cancel Orrimarrkos text; he shoots sim aloo ( I forgot to look at the top card, it wouldnt have mattered though; he was getting low on life force and had high destiny in his deck- for his training). He loses Orrimarko I lose all but the Emp. Next turn I drain for 6 again, and move the Emp to endor docking bay. His next turn he doesnt think he can drain on the DS, I didnt say anything. he moves Luke and Chewie over to Endor - I drain again, and move the emp back; to the DS - in all the commotion of battling, hes been forgetting to Train. So he moves to the DS again - this time I leave the empror there. He battles I lose the Emp. Next turn I drain for 6 again, and drop the Emp from my hand to the Endor docking bay; he kinda chuckles and says "another one"! This time he reads my objective and says "hey i can drain on the Ds" I said oh yeah - hes a little mad, I told him "pay three and Ill lose from the previous force drain, so he does. He was happy about my sportsmanship (seeing as how that drain was 2-3 turns ago) So I drain him out . Game over.
Full win by 16-17
6 (+67)
Highs: Winning, against someone who knew my deck!!
Lows: not being able to Dual Luke
Game 4
My LS vs. David Chows (1664) Set your course...
Now dont let the Davids rating fool you, he is a very good player; we have had some tight games in the past. So The game starts - He deploys Wise advice, Something special planned for them and I think Mob points (cant remember) - So I m thinking Ties; this should be a good game. So he starts his turn and drops 3-4 DS sites and drops a DS gunner from hand and reserve deck. I thought wow he is gonna flip the objective. He moves the D* to parsec 1 and draws. My turn I just get out a Kessel and drop a few X-wings to Kessel. I was trying to feel him out, see what he was playing. If he was going to flip the objective, i knew he had Star destroyers in his deck. His next turn - He drops another DS gunner from reserve deck, throws the super laser on the death star. He laughs and says "All i need to do is pull a 1, to blow up Alderaan". He then moves the D* to Alderaan. So i throw Obi w/stick and Dutch down on the D* docking bay. and dropped Hoth from reserve and Endor from hand. I move some X-wings over to Endor and felt pretty safe cause I had some barriers in my hand. I wanted to move Obi, over one site - but David didnt really let on, if he was space heavy or ground heavy. His next turn he draws for CPI its a 6 (blows up Alderaan, no problem) so I think great, now comes the pain. Sure enough he drops the Avenger (I barrier) and a whole wad of characters to kessel. He then drops another Star destroyer to Endor (i barrier) and a whole crew of scrubs -he converts my Endor and lastly he drops U-3p0 to D* docking bay. My next turn I signal for order to engage (deploy it)- I play Organized attack lost and drop 3 X-wings to Kessel ( I then replace, with a X-wing squad) I drop Boushh to the D* war room and Drop another lone X-wing to the Death star. I move my other X-wing to the Rendezvous point and draw - I feel pretty safe I have 2 hyper escapes in my hand and a organized attack, barrier as well as the spiral. ( I forgot to mention I had dropped Docking and repair facility, last turn). So on his turn he drains me for four at Endor (ouch!) and then converts my Kessel. He drops The conquest to the D*. I barrier he drops the Chimera or Visage to Kessel, along with Dengar in push1. He starts a battle at kessel I hyper escape to Endor (he didnt grab my Hyper escape, hmmmm). I remind him to lose 3 force to Order to engage. My next turn I break bousshs cover and drain for 2 at the war room. David had to check with the TD, to see if I could break cover at any time (of course, this was legal). I drop a Haven on Yavin and drop about 3 X-wings there. I move Ben over one site, I now have 3 characters covering 3 D* sites I move my X-wing from the D* over to Kiffex. David moves U-3po over to Bens site. His turn he drains for 3 at Kessel, starts a battle at Endor; I hyper escape over to Kessel (he loses 3 to OTE, again). He then moves the conquest over to Kiffex. Next turn I drain for 4 - it goes about 2-3 more turns (me hyper escaping and doing OTE damage, and some drains) and that was pretty much game. We did have a nice battle at Endor - I played organized attack, and he just lost some characters. We talked after the game and he told me, that it was OTE that really killed him. I asked if he had a grabber, he didnt. He was playing with some Tractor beams, but didnt have that card "In range" (the one that cancels Hyper escape). I told him that those two cards are a must, especially for his kind of a deck.
Full win by 13
8 (+79)
Highs: winning a game against a good player. And also winning with out flipping my objective.
Lows: Taking a drain of 4 at Endor - when I could have deployed Rebel fleet.
So after the four games there are 3 undefeated players, two sitting at +79(me included) and 1 at +80. So I know the next two games are gonna be tough. I was looking forward to playing the newest player to join are local tourney scene, Alan "Serpent" Sagen. Turns out we were on the same side of the force - hence it was not to be. Anyway on to the Games!!
Game 5
My LS vs. Ryan Yees (1643) RalOps
Now once again, dont let his rating fool you; this guy can play. So I was a little worried about this match up (HB vs. RalOps). So he starts Oppressive E, Something special planned and Insurrection. He deploys a site and draws. I am thinking how can I stop his flipping right away. I have 2 organized attacks, a X-wing squad, Han w/blaster, Yavin 4, rebel barrier, X-wing and a All wings report in (this was my starting 8). So not wanting to give away too many DS icons I deploy Hoth from reserve deck, and draw. I draw Couruscant a Signal (yes!), Boussh and another all wings report in. His next turn he drops another site a T Scout and an at-st pilot; and draws all but 2. I play all wings report in; and grab a red squadron x-wing (at the end of his turn). My turn-I activate only 3 and signal, grab Haven. I finished activating, I play one of my OrgAttacks (lost) and grab 3 X-wings - I also play All wings report in (he grabs it this time). I drop Yavin4, Haven and all of my X-wings. I then replace the 3 X-wings with the Squad. I pull Endor from reserve and fly all of the x-wings over to Raltir (except 2). I draw up a bit more; I get OTE 3 more X-wings, hyper escape, X-wing squad, docking and repair facility and Kessel. His next turn he drops and controls all 3 of his Raltir sites, he flips his objective; I point at Raltir and say "cant do that". So now hes kind of stuck - he drops Fett in slave 1 and then flips - he then moves Fett down to the SP docking bay. My turn I cant do much - so I decide to drop all my systems and x-wings and spread out - I also drop OTE and D&R facility, I draw up and get a barrier, signal, home1, ackbar and also Obi w/stick. So I have a squad and a x-wing at coruscant and I have a lone x-wing at kessel a few at Raltir and a couple at Yavin4. On his turn he searches for a card of his choice (which turns out to be Search and destroy), and then drains for one (I flipped my objective, while he was draining). So he drops the chimera or some other star destroyer (cant remember) to coruscant (I decide not to barrier) he then drops like 10 guys on the star destroyer (should have used the barrier) he then drops Zuckuss in MH, (I barrier this time, so I can draw destiny). He then drops Bossk in Bus to kessel. He then drops S&D. He starts a battle at Coruscant, I hyper escape - he tells me that I have to pay an extra two force per starship (if I use the hyper escape, I cant get away from the fight at kessel) so I decide to fight it out at coruscant - I play organized attack - I draw a 5 for battle destiny he draws a 6 - in the end he has to lose a couple guys - I forfeit the Squadron to the D&R facility. - I hyper escape from the battle at Kessel - down to kiffex -He moves the SD to Kiffex (I lose one to S&D). On my turn I drain for one -drop Home 1 and ackbar to Kessel- drop Han and Ben to Raltir. I battle at kessel I draw a 5 he draws a 5 - Im immune he loses bossk. I move my other X-wings to Coruscant -I move the Home1 over to Raltir and Draw. His turn he drains for 2 and kind of looks at me and says " I should have grabbed the Hyper escape" - with OTE in full effect he has to battle me everywhere or lose 3 force - so he loses 3 force for a few turns and gets a few drains in on me - but eventually, OTE and my hyper escapes; not to mention the sheer power of my space fleet turned out to be too much for him.
Full win by 20.
10 (+99)
Highs: Beating a good RalOps deck - using all my interrupts and effects to their full benefits.
Lows: Not much here - I played how I should have,
So after 5 games there are still 2 undefeated players, David Houle and myself. - It basically comes down to this next game, for the tourney.
Game 6
My Ds vs. Kevin Wans (1895) Profit.
This is a match-up, I feel; is in my favor. All though Kevin is a real good player, who always has unique strategies and tech! He starts Insurrection, mob points and I think Wise advice (cant remember) So for the first few turns, we are just setting things up - I get the emperor and sim down on the Docking bay -He gets Master Luke down to the Tat DB - and drops Ben and Chewie w/gun down to the audience chamber (frees Han). He doesnt retrieve, and moves them all over to Jabbas palace I drop Zuckuss down to Rendili, I drop Kashyyk and throw Bossk and the thunderflare down. I then look through my reserve deck for some DS stuff (nothing in there, I knew that anyway; I was looking for Maras stick - and it was in there) so I throw down Mara get her stick - and play You are beaten on Ben -I use sims game text, see a 2 on top of Kevins reserve deck - I battle hack Chewie and draw a 6 he draws a 5(dam) -he loses Chewie and revives Han with Bens game text. I ask him if he can do that (I dont know for sure, it has always been something I have been a little sketchy about!) so he says ok and forfeits Han and loses a couple - his next turn he drops Han w/gun over to Luke's site and flips his Objective, and tries to retrieve; I tell him he cant do that - cause on the objective it says immediately. So we call the TD - and he says that you cant choose when to retrieve. So a turn goes by - I drain for 3 in space - and by now my destinies have come around - so I drop the cantina, Lord Vader, and his matching stick - I move them over to Lukes site and start the Non-Epic Dual - I draw a 6,1 (WTF, I miss counted) and 6 (Oh well, that six helped things out) - I then threw my light saber to add one to each of my destiny draws. I cant remember his draws - but he had power 15 as opposed to my power 23 **He looses 9,and Luke; I retrieve 9 *** - his next turn he drops another Master Luke to the same site, as well as leia with gun (I barrier leia) so he mops the floor with the Saberless Vader (but I had something in store for him) he loses Luke (scared of another Dual, I guess). On my next turn, I drain and prepare the beat down - I use unexpected interruption, I grab You are beaten (and I see Maras saber in my reserve deck, amongst a bunch of 4s and 5s) I deploy Lord Vader And Mara (she was my second Mara, that was in my hand since the start) Maras saber from reserve deck (I retrieved from the dual) I then use Weapon lev and grab Vader's saber - I play You are beaten on Leia, and Kevin just goes "OUCH" that was pretty much game - I drained for 5 on Tat and 3 in space for the last couple of turns.
Full win by 19
12 (+118)
Highs: I think that was my first time beating Kevin -
Lows: None - the game couldnt have gone smoother.
So in the end I take the tourney home. But I have to give crazy Props to David "Taz" Houle; he too went undefeated; just had a lower differential then I.
Also have to give props to Steven "Sir Yoda" Lewis, after reading his article "to build or not to build". I really went back to my routes and built both of the decks, I used in this tourney.
Props also go to Nicholas "Olas" Burke, who helped me play test my dark deck; to perfection.
Slops have to go to Alan "Serpent" Sagan, he gave me a bad review on my dark deck, only to have my dark deck win the tourney; in which he played in. His first tourney since moving down here. :) (wasnt really a bad review, Im just picking his ass!!
Cant really remember how the order went, I was playing a fun-Final Dual with David.
But I think it was something like this.
1st - Ryan Mathison
2nd- David Houle
3rd- Tomas Klco
4th - Kevin Wan or Alan Sagan
Cant remember the rest, and I dont want to offend anyone.
Thanx for reviewing, hope you enjoyed it. -