cedar-grove-nj-9-sep-00
Title: cedar-grove-nj-9-sep-00
Author: Doug "Phrim" Faust
Date: Sep 14, 2000
Well, I decided to make the 2-hour trip up to Cedar Grove, despite the fact that no one wanted to go up with me, because Rich Haman always runs a great tourney. I think we had 26 people for the day, big names included John Lolli, Scott Lingrell, Chris Gogolen, Mike Dalton, as well as Pat Ziagos and Frank Walsh from all the way out in Scranton. I get there, and Andy Parks is there, a friend of mine I haven’t seen in a while. He’s a very good player, but hasn’t played in a tournament since States, so I didn’t know if he’d do that well. So I chat with him, Tom H-K, and Mike Dalton for a little bit, and then we start.
I’ve barely changed my decks at all since my last tournament two weeks ago, still using the HB/Strike Planning for Light, and Dark Deal with Big Ugly Imperials for Dark. Check out my last report for a description of them.
Game 1: My Dark vs. Alex Meseguer’s (1504) Quiet Mining Colony
This is certainly and interesting matchup, but one I think I can win, because my deck is very good at fighting. He gets out the Bespin system, and puts Wedge on his ship there. I get the Emperor down at the Cloud City Docking Bay to get myself some more Force. He tries to Nar Shaddaa Wind Chimes, but I Sense it (I always Sense that, so that it can’t be used for retrieval later). Then he plays Signal and fetches a Bargaining Table. I drain for a bit, but he’s throwing Eloms into his table, and I’m having a hard time drawing characters or Alters. So I’m fearing the Elom beatdown, and I back up the Emperor with Blizzard 2. He’s got a Z-95 Bespin Defense Fighter or whatever down at his cloud alone, so he’s paying 6 to drain for 2, while I’m paying 3 to let him put an Elom on his Table. I put Obsidian 8 down at the Cloud to lure his Barrier, he has no response, so I put Fett in Slave 1 down, and he Barriers that (drat, too smart for me :-P), and I have no Sense. He comes back with a bunch of ships next turn and takes them out. He puts 2 Eloms, a Gas Miner, and ECC Chewie down at my Carbonite Chamber, and spreads out to B:CC too. I’m really getting leery because I’m still not drawing any Vaders or Alters or anything, and my deck’s doing nothing in the meantime. I have a YAB in my hand, and I come down with Mara and her Saber, but she gets Barriered. I deploy EJP Dengar to back her up. He SATMs Dengar with Chewie, though, and deploys more Eloms to fight Mara. I YAB Chewie, and hit an Elom, but I draw lousy battle destiny, and his guys are immune to attrition because he flipped his objective, so I lose Mara and he loses an Elom. I finally start drawing some characters, so I go chase Eloms around with Vader, but they run away. Meanwhile, he’s draining me for 5 in space and the Clouds, and there’s very little I can do about it. And I still can’t draw an Alter for his Bargaining Table. I manage to get some late drains in despite his Table, but he’s draining for more. I’m about to run out of Force, and I finally draw my Alter, so I Alter his Table out of spite, then he drains me out. FL-24, 0(-24)
Highlights: Urf
Lowlights: Not drawing my Sense/Alter when it would have been crucial. Losing a game against someone rated almost 200 points below me is not how I wanted to start my day...
Game 2: My Light vs. John Terkovich’s (1540) Hunt Down Dueler
I certainly didn’t expect to see any of these here, but I think I can manage to pull out a win. First turn, he deploys Tarkin at the Executor: Docking Bay to activate more from Mob Points. I’ve got lots of spies in my deck, so I’m looking for a beatdown, but he reinforces with Ozzel second turn. I come down to battle with Lt. Blount and EPP Luke anyway, and take out both of them, losing only Blount. I move over to Med Chamber, on my way to the Holotheatre to cancel Visage. However, he catches me halfway, and deploys EPP Vader there and duels (without Focused). He draws a 1 and a 6, and I draw a 4 then a 1, so he wins, I cross Luke and take 5. He gets Sim down at the Coruscant Docking Bay for more activation, and marches Vader and Luke over to the Exec Docking Bay. He gets out his Death Star: Docking Bay, and moves Vader and Luke over there, so Visage is going to start being painful, and I can’t find my Honor. I deploy General Lando and the Falcon at Kessel, with General Madine in the back seat, to drain some. I want to fetch Colonel Cracken with Madine so I can come and cancel Visage, but when I look for my system I notice he’s not there. So I draw him up, and come down to the Holotheatre with Cracken and EPP Obi next turn. He comes down with Mara and her Saber there, YABs Obi, and beats the crap out of Cracken. Ouchies. Then he comes at the Falcon with Fett in Slave 1 and Bossk in the Bus, and battles, but I play Punch It! and only lose Madine to battle damage, while he has to lose both ships. I’m starting to run low on Force, so I’m scared of Vader coming back over and dueling Obi, cause losing 9 Force is bad and stuff. But he has a POSOA in his hand (he almost used it earlier but took it back), so I don’t want to just battle Mara to get it over with, cause that would hurt a lot if she hit me. So I move Obi over to the Med Chamber, where the Emperor happens to be hanging out. He deploys someone else with the Emperor, and kicks Obi’s butt, which I’m fine with. I finally find my Honor, and deploy it, and he deploys M’iiyoom Onith at the Coruscant Docking Bay with Sim. I get my Hidden Base flipped, and decide to take a chance and attack Sim and M’iiyoom with Boussh, but I only manage to kill Sim. So I look at my hand, and I notice that Wedge is the only male, so I put him on the Falcon with Lando. He’s redeployed Visage, but with Honor out, I’m not taking any damage from it, and I’m canceling his one Force drain, so I just don’t draw any more and sit there draining for 3 at Kessel. He used Mob Points to pull the Executor from his Reserve Deck, but then he realized he only had 14 Force left (doh). So I just did nothing for the rest of the game except sit there draining at Kessel, and he tried to M’iiyoom me a couple times, until he realized I wasn’t drawing. FW+10, 2(-14)
Game 3: My Light vs. Tom Hermley-Keen’s (1666) Ralltiir Ops
Well, Tom’s a good player, and he’s playing ROps, and good players using ROps can be hard to beat whatever the occasion. He’s not using Walkers though, which is good, because Trample is not my friend. So I pull General Lando with Strike Planning, and get the Falcon with Squad @#$%ignments, and deploy both of them at Endor and move both of them over to Ralltiir. He puts down the Emperor at one of his Ralltiir sites, accompanied by some Royal Guards. I back up Lando with Wedge in his ship, and Elhyk Rue in Red 7, so I’m feeling pretty secure. He puts down Commander Igar and a Royal Guard down at the Forest, so I put down Draw Their Fire and attack them with EPP Luke. I swing and hit a Guard, but I didn’t take anything else out due to his immunity, but it was still good for me. He finally gets stuff at the third Ralltiir site, the Desert, but he still can’t flip because I’m at the system. He gets out Janus with the Emperor, but I put TK-422 there. He puts Fett in Slave 1 at my Kiffex, so I move the Falcon (with Lando and Blount aboard) there. He deploys the Emperor’s Shuttle at Ralltiir and flips, then moves it over to Kiffex to reinforce the Falcon. I battle at Kiffex, he loses the shuttle, and I lose Blount to attrition. I deploy EPP Luke and EPP Obi at the Desert and battle there, killing his two Royal Guards, forcing him to flip back, but Luke dies in the process. He deploys some guys to the Desert and makes short work of Obi, and moves Fett over to Ralltiir to flip RallOps over again. I battle at Ralltiir, and cancel his destiny with Wedge, so I take no damage. He deploys Overseeing It Personally, but I flip Hidden Base, so between that and TK-422, I’m canceling all his drains. He doesn’t seem to have any ships left (Zuckuss went off the top, thank goodness), so I was draining (albeit -1 with his RallOps flipped), and he was not, so I came out with the win. FW+18, 4(+4)
Highlights: Keeping ROps on the side I like better for most of the game.
Lowlights: Bugging Tom about the time (we were the last game finished).
Game 4: My Dark vs. Frank Walsh’s (1923) Hidden Base/OMDH
I really don’t like playing against HB decks, because Probing is not my forte, but he deploys Alderaan on his first turn and Dagobah on his second turn, so it looks like flipping isn’t his first priority. He gets out Tatooine too, so I figure out he’s doing OMDH. I get out the Emperor fairly quickly, but his Battle Plan is hampering my draining power. I’m scared of his characters, so I reinforce the Emperor with Mara and her Saber. He comes down with EPP Obi and EPP Luke and battles, he hits Mara, I play I Have You Now, so everything dies. He replaces EPP Obi and Luke over at the Docking Bay, and I likewise get out another Emperor and Mara with her Saber, as well as Lord Vader with his Saber. He gets Lando with Strike Planning and puts him on the Falcon, and goes and completes a OMDH; I have an Alter, but I’m an idiot so I forget to use it. Eventually, Vader and Mara are at one site, and the Emperor and Sim are at the middle site, and Luke and Obi are at the Docking Bay at the end. He moves Luke and Obi over in front of the Emperor and Sim, so I move Mara over to reinforce the Emperor, and leave Vader where he is (he’s got Menace Fades out, so just chasing him isn’t going to get me far). He deploys EPP Han, EPP Leia, and Orrimaarko and battles. I YAB Obi, and he hits Mara, and I play I Have You Know, and he misses everyone else. Thanks to my Crush, he can’t draw more than 2 destinies, and he had extra adders in his hand, too. So I draw a 0,1,6,0 for destiny (lovely), and he draws a 6 and a 7. So he wins the battle, and I take 2 for Orrimaarko, and I only manage to kill Orrimaarko (who I hit) and Luke, while on my side everything dies but the Emperor. He moves EPP Han and Leia over in front of Vader, and of course leaves the YAB’ed Obi where he is. So I Sniper Leia and beat the stuffing out of Han, then move over and Circle Obi. The Emperor goes and gets reinforced by Janus, so I’ve got Janus and the Emperor at one site, and Lord Vader with his Saber at the other. He deploys Jedi Luke and battles Vader with a 6 he tracked, killing him, while I miss Luke. So he moves Luke over to the Emperor’s site, and I deploy Kitik Keed’kak there and battle him, so he loses Luke to battle damage, while I have to lose Kitik and Janus. So I have the Emperor left and he has some guys at Tatooine. I deploy the Downtown Plaza and move the Emperor there, to drain and retrieve my sites. He deploys Chandrila and starts draining there the Tantive and some pilots, but I deploy Fett in Slave 1 at Endor so I can get past his battle plan. The Falcon goes and chases Fett around (I’m not going to battle him, because he’s got amazing destiny left), so he still gets in his drain of 2 for 6 Force, while I’m draining for 2 at the Downtown Plaza for free, and retrieving sites. However, he deploys Tawss Khaa at my Carbonite Chamber, and the Emperor can’t do a thing about it cause he’s a wuss. So it comes down to the very end, but he ends up winning the final drain race, by 2 cards. FL-2, 4(+2)
Highlights: A very close game, with lots and lots of battling!
Lowlights: If I had Altered the first OMDH, I probably would have won. :-(
Game 5: My Light vs. Alex Meseguer’s (1504) Dark Deal
So I have a chance for a little revenge for my big loss earlier. How much of an effect a Dark Deal deck would have on my deck would depend on the number of starships: if he had little, I was all set, if he had many, I was in trouble. However, he started Combat Response, so I knew problems might result. He starts out by doing something that I’d never do against a Hidden Base deck: he deploys Bespin: Cloud City first turn. I stupidly forget to look for General Lando before I activate, and when I do he’s in my Force Pile. Fortunately, I have Wedge in my hand, so I get his ship, and deploy them to Bespin: Cloud City along with an X-wing Laser Cannon. And I have exactly 3 Force left too, so it’s all good. He takes a chance and deploys Baron Fel on his ship there and battles me. I fire my weapon and miss, and we both draw a 2 for destiny, so it’s all tied up, and no one loses anything. I can handle that. Next turn, I fetch General Lando and his ship and deploy them at Bespin: Cloud City along with Lt. Blount and battle, I don’t have the Force to shoot, so I deploy Draw Their Fire and beat up Fel without a problem, losing nothing. He starts getting sites out on the ground, exterior sites where he can put Walkers. He’s got a Walker with Cabbel on board at the Downtown Plaza with Presense Of The Force, I don’t like being drained for so much, so I Signal for my Mech Failure and put it on his other exterior site, and come down with EPP Luke and battle. I Smoke for destiny, so he has to lose Cabbel plus a few more, but he doesn’t bother losing the Walker. I lose Luke to attrition. He puts Veers on the Walker, and puts Vader at the site next door, and then moves the Walker over, but fails the destiny draw for Mech Failure. So I come down with EPP Obi, Clash Vader, and again beat down on his MF’ed Walker, two beatdowns for the price of one, I guess. I lose Obi in the fray, and he loses the Walker, Veers, and then some. He makes some more attempts at taking back Bespin: Cloud City, with OS-61-1 and DS-181-3 in his ship, and my Falcon gets Laterally Damaged and loses all its pilots, but Wedge stands strong. Eventually I get some ships at one of my systems and flip Hidden Base, and it went all downhill for him from there. It ends as I come down to beat down on his Vader and Septoid droid with EPP Luke and EPP Vader. FW+15, 6(+17)
Highlights: Seemed like my entire deck worked perfectly!
Lowlights: Running right to the time limit for the 5th consecutive game...
Game 6: My Dark vs. John Terkovich’s (1540) Throne Room Mains
Well, Mr. Terkovich seems to be a big fan of decks that everyone though were yesterday’s news, first with his Hunt Down and now with Throne Room Mains. In any case, he gets a huge jump on me right away. Before I even have a turn, EPP Luke and Kal Fal were hanging out at the Carbonite Chamber, my starting location. So I can’t do anything with the 3 Force he’s giving me, so I pull my Bespin: Cloud City from reserve, for activation purposes. So he puts Gold Leader in Gold 1 there, and before I have a single character on the table, he’s draining for 4, all at my sites! Well, I have Lord Vader, Mara’s Saber, and a YAB in my hand, and I’m eyeing up Kal Fal for the beatdown. I can’t seem to draw Vader’s Saber or Mara though, but I draw a Fett In Slave 1. Once I have the Force I come down to Bespin: Cloud City and blow up Gold Leader. I get out my two non-battleground Docking Bays and then the Cloud City Docking Bay, and he puts EPP Han and Leia down over there. I finally draw my Mara, and YAB Luke to beat on Kal Fal, he loses a good bit of Force. I deploy the Lower Corridor. I keep drawing more Lord Vaders in my hand, but no Sabers, and he deploys Goo, making Mr. Vader especially expensive. I deploy the Emperor and congregate with him and Mara at the Lower Corridor. I finally get Vader’s Saber in my hand, but by this time I have 3 Lord Vaders, so I naturally lose one to a drain. He plays Out Of Commision; I have a Sense in my hand, but I figure he’s not going to get anything worthwhile, best save it for something more important. We all know how this is gonna turn out: he gets the Vader with OOC. Fate is just not with me today. So I spend my next few turns ditching the 2 Vaders, 1 Saber, and 1 The Circle Is Now Complete from my hand. Meanwhile, he doesn’t slow down at all, I keep deploying more people with the Emperor, and he keeps killing them. The game ends rather quickly, as I can’t get what few remaining characters I have out on the table fast enough, due to him giving me no Force and Goo, while he has all the Force and characters in the world. FL-19, 6(-2)
Highlights: Well, I did get to spank the chicken around...
Lowlights: Getting Vader placed OOP against incredible odds just upsets me. Blah!
Not a great performance today by me, I gotta stop losing against people rated over 100 points under me. Cause that’s no good and stuff. My Dark Deck went 0-3 today, but I’m still convinced it’s a good deck, just got bad luck. My Light Deck was strong, going 3-0, but it didn’t get to play against the best because of my Dark Deck’s dismal performance. Anyway, I finally finish a game early, and I go over to watch how Andy Parks is doing. Turns out Andy’s not rusty at all, and is the only undefeated in the entire tournament, earning wins against players like Scott Lingrell and Chris Gogolen. He was playing his EBO against Pete Flamini, and after some maneuvering, finished him off too to win the tournament by a landslide. Simply amazing that he hasn’t even been to a tourney since months before Death Star comes out, and then come to a tournament and go undefeated against lots of 1900’s and 2000’s players. Anyway, I had a good time, despite my losses, good practice for DecipherCon, even though I won’t be playing in the Worlds circuit (SM duties call). Until next time...