rochester-ny-9-16-2000
Title: rochester-ny-9-16-2000
Author: R. "Voice of Law" Smith
Date: Sep 20, 2000
So it’s Friday night and I don’t have a light deck. At least not one I want to play. I have a turboprofit and a test to 5/6 built, but I really dont like the Profit and I’ve played the MWYHL too much lately. Plus I have this thing with early activation, I like to get as much as possible without giving too much away. MWYHL and Profit dont really jive with that, seeing as how they both give the DS TWO force first turn (blah).
I go see Gladiator on campus for $2 with my roomy (I hadnt seen it before actually, good movie), then get out of there around 3 AM and head back to the pad to build a deck.
My roomy is tired and ready to hit the sack, and right before he does I have a revelation. "Gimme all your Kessel Runs," I tell him. He obliges, then heads off for dreamland. I sit down and throw together a really goofy HB Kessel Run deck with matching pilots, Ralltiir Freighter Captains, and some anti-TIEs and BHBM (I hope). MY DS deck had long since been decided (TIEs, I’ve been playing them for years), so I sleeve up the cards and head to bed around 4-something.
Get up at 10-something, hit the showers, ride over to the store, and make my roommate help me "playtest" the deck I had just built. We play one game, his BHBM against my Kessel Runs.
Pre-tourney warm-up.
My 4 AM deck vs. Nick the roomy’s BHBM that I helped him build.
He schools me. I dont know what I’m doing with the deck and he’s just draining me, Your Destinying me, yadda yadda. I’m not having fun. Over comes Charles Clarkson, a 1900+ rated local who’s always good competition (because he scouts and cheats). He starts watching our game and I consider telling him to get lost cuz I dont want him to see my deck but who cares. He sees how badly I am getting crushed and mocks, "You aren’t playing THAT in the tournament are you?" He sounded kind of like Leia in New Hope when she’s like "You came in THAT thing?" So I give Chucky a ridiculous look and lie through my teeth, "Of course not!" Heh Chuck’s funny. He doesn’t really cheat either, but everyone says he does ;)
So we’re halfway through the game and it’s time to start the real deal. We pack it up, pay our dues, and wait for the pairings .....
Round 1, game 1.
My 4 AM deck vs. Jason "Ears" Stewart (1900+) TIEs.
Well Stewart’s not a bad player, and fun to play against, so I am cool with this matchup. I like to mess with him so I ask to count the cards in his deck. He asks to count mine. So we count, and whaddya know I have 61. Grrrr...friggin 4 AM deck. So Zander comes over and picks 5 cards out of my deck and tells me to choose which one to go without. They were all essential except a grabber, so I have to get rid of that (I have one more).
We get underway ... He starts the SYCFA mess and some useless effects like Mob Points and Combat Response. Maybe YCHForever was the third, yeah that was it. So I start HB stuff with Squad Arseignments, Wise Advise and Insight. He goes and pulls Milwaukee, and loses YCHF to get Precautions. I know it’s gonna be a loooong game, I had played this same matchup in a fun game against Chris Janiak the week before except Janiak was playing matching pilots w/o KRuns and I was the one with the TIEs. After like an hour and a half we gave up (our life forces were about even).
I’m hoping my knowledge of the TIE deck archetype and the boost from my KRuns will help me to pull this one off though. Soo, he goes, pulls the Death Star Assault Squad first turn w/SYCFA. Deploys Milwaukee, Twileks for Sienar Fleet. Standard TIE stuff.
I get set up too, Aquaris with DSII Wedge there for activation. I draw Kessel so I’m not gonna deploy it till I absolutely need it. No need to give him any more activation than what he’s already getting.
I guess he thinks I’m playing Alters with my Wedge or something cuz he sends Baron Fel on Saber 1 to Milwaukee. I figger it’d prolly be best to leave Wedge at Aquaris for a while to cause problems with his Dreadnaughts (which I found out later he was playing 7 of - yikes). So I draw for one of my spy pilots/ships, and get Colonel Crackhead.
He however reinforces at Milwaukee with some non-unique TIEs (retrieving what little I had drained him for) and I have to draw for a little more to add to my beatdown crew. I know that taking over Milwaukee and adding to his TIEs’ deploy cost will be essential to winning the game ...Meanwhile the DSAS is still in his hand.
Eventually I drop some ships to Milwaukee and battle, he All Powers (of course) and I grab it with my only grabber. It’s on now =) We square off and each lose something to attrition ( he had a Dread there so he tossed a couple TIEs even though they were immune). I draw and pick up a card that I know is gonna come in handy - I’ll Take The Leader.
He goes, drops some more chumps at Milwaukee, and we rumble again (no All Power this time). He loses the Dread, I toss a YT-1300 I believe. He draws, saves one force. Meanwhile the DSAS is still in his hand.
I reinforce with another matching pilot/ship and drop I’ll Take The Leader. I initiate, he goes to play All Power, I say no sirree bob, I grabbed it and you only have one force saved. He has to fight without it, and the only ship he has there that isn’t malaffected by Take the Leader is the Baron. So he gets beat pretty bad and has to toss some TIEs and I believe the Baron. I’m pretty happy and I draw (still looking for Order To Engage and the rest of the stuff I need to get KRuns going). I pick up the Spiral and save 2 force for it. I also get Uncontrollable Fury so I’m praying he deploys the DSAS. But for now it stays in his hand.
He goes and throws down some more insignificant ships at me (Saber 3 and pilot, some non-uniques chumpos). We battle, he gets to play APTW this time, I react with the Spiral (sure he saw it coming). He wins the battle and is immune to attrition so I dump the Spiral and that’s that. Meanwhile the DSAS is still in his hand.
Eventually I beat him off of Milwaukee (with some help from the SuperFalcon) and he decides to go to Kiffex or somewhere where he can drain for two. I still haven’t flipped because I dont want him leaving a single TIE at every system with a probe card (Sec Precs). I havent Run to Kessel yet either because I have been devoting my resources to fighting at Milwaukee. He does still have the DSAS in hand, tho =)
I follow him out to Kiffex or wherever with some of my guys, leaving some behind to guard Milwaukee. He then proceeds to beat on the guys I moved to Kiffex, totally wiping them out (I lost the Liberty to used, the Falcon, Captain Han, and Hobbie/RS4 and still had 3 or 4 leftover damage). He had like both Emperor’s Squads, a couple Dreadnaughts, Bossk in Bus, and a few non-unique guys, along with APTW, his total power was in the 60s (each squad was power 10, and each non-unique was power 5, even with I’ll Take the Leader!). So I uhh decided to let him have that system ... and retrieved all the damage with a fun little Kessel Run =)
Thus the game drags on, and the time limit approaches. I am acutely aware of this and am trying to keep every possible card in my life force. He gets me for a couple a turn in drains, and I him. Finally time is called on my turn, and since I as light side went first I count our respective life forces, look around the table for anything I could do to add to my differential, and end my turn. I have 23 in my life force, and he has ..... 22. Good game Stewart.
TW by 23
1 (+23)
The good: Well it was a fun game with lots of interaction. And beating Ears is always fun.
The bad: I kinda knew we were gonna time out. When two decks are so evenly matched that tends to happen. Oh well.
The ugly: He never did get to deploy that DSAS (it would be deploy 18 when I controlled Milwaukee). Imagine if he hadn’t taken it into hand ...
Round 1, game 2
My TIEs vs. John Ford’s (1500s?) HB S-Foils.
Well that’s what he starts: HB stuff and S-Foils. I start SYCFA with Mob Points, Oppressive Enforcement, and YCHF.
I can figure by his start what he’s playing, and I really don’t want to be the first to deploy to space ... but apparently neither does he. We both draw for two turns (besides me getting Milwaukee and deploying a TIE to the DS Docking Bay for activation). Then I pick up Ability, Ability, Ability and a Barrier. Just what I need. Next turn I drop a couple TIEs to Kiffex then deploy Ability x3 and save one. He goes, activates the ol’ S-Foils, and bombs on my poor TIEs with a motley crew of ships - an XWing, a new BWing, an old BWing ... whatever. I Barrier the 4th ship to keep him from drawing BD, and he doesnt have anything left to deploy more, so we battle anyway and I have to scrap both my TIEs (and Ability x3). No big deal though cuz now he’s out and about and I can start saving for the beatdown.
And that’s what I do. I deploy Dreaded Imperial Fleet to cut out his stupid drain at Kiffex, and get my hand ready to drop the bomb on him. I draw carelessly because I’m underestimating him and I don’t think he’ll be playing Grimtaash. Needless to say I was wrong, one turn he Grims me lost and I lose 4 Interceptors. Grr.
I still come back though, with a little help from All Power. We battle back in forth in space, he sends EPP Obi-Wan to clear me from the docking bay, I send Chief Retwin (super-tech) down there to hide from Obi-Wan while still blocking drains and giving me extra activation.
Then he flips. Well I had drawn Sec Precs much earlier and opted to keep it in hand just to screw with him =) Right after he flips, I deploy Sec Precs and spread like a madman, one Interceptor at each of my systems, ready to probe should he come there. I don’t know what his base is so I dont leave anyone unprotected, but I am still able to spread out pretty well and drain him for 3-4 a turn even with the HB drain cancelling.
Him flipping was pretty much game. No battle damage is just huge. I gradually took over space and drained him out. Believe it or not, he deployed Logistical Delay halfway through the game. I was like "....Whaaaaat???" But it didnt hurt me any, I was activating enough. Anyway I drained him out and retrieved a whole bunch with Short Range Fighters.
FW by 23/24ish
3 (+46ish)
The good: Chief Retwin running aroung the Death Star Docking Bay form ObiWan. Muhuhahahaaaa. Good thing he wasn’t playing Draw Their Fire, we would’ve really had some fun =)
The bad: Sheesh this game took a long time. I thought it was gonna time out too. ’Twas fun though, two space decks against each other.
The ugly: Logistical Delay?? Come on.....
Round 2, game 1.
My TIEs vs. Adam Nobles’ (mid-1500s) dont ask me what deck
Well I dont want to just blow through this game, but ... that’s pretty much what happened. It was quick and painless. He started Obi’s Hut, Insurrection, Staging Areas, and Insight I believe. He got out the Tatooine DBay, and tossed some mains down there, but I ignored that with U3PO. Then I Monnoked him to see what kind of craziness he had in his hand, and holy crap he had like 19 ships in there. LiMF, Red Squad XWing, couple unique Mon Cals, couple NON-unique Mon Cals, Masanya, etc. It was crazy. But I didnt care, I set up for a drain at Kiffex. He wasnt activating much anyway.
So he brought LiMF to me next turn (I had a Barrier in hand but decided to wait and see what else he’d drop). Then he tried to deploy a non-unique Mon Cal, and I was like "Sorry Charlie LiMF is an independent ship and Staging Areas only lets you deploy to same system as REBEL ships." So he was in trouble because he didnt have enough for a unique Mon Cal. He dropped a Red Squad X-Wing (yay more power for my Interceptors) and it got Barriered. He drew and it was my turn.
Bang Lateral Damage the Falcon, drop some more ships, BATTLE, All Power to Weapons. He took some nice battle damage there.
That was about it for that game. He came back to space with some of his other 900 ships, but I killed them all too. His ground drains weren’t so hot with my U3PO and Dreaded Fleet. I drained him out in space ...
FW by about 23/24 again
5 (+70something)
The good: Space battles.
The bad: Nothing.
The ugly: Red Squad X-Wing with like 5 Interceptors present. Ouch.
So I figger what the heck, maybe I’ll win this tournament.
Round 2, game 2.
My LS 4 AM deck against Charles Clarkson’s (1900s) standard BHBM.
Well it’s the deck he was making fun of before the tournament. When I was playing Ears with it in the first game he had seen me and acted like he was mad at me for lying to him. Oh well. Tough luck =)
He played BHBM like everyone else is doing, pulling Rendili and the docking bays, etc. I tossed Insight for Honor as soon as Vader appeared, and I occupied Aquaris so I didnt have to worry about an Alter.
He got Mara to CC Docking Bay w/Saber, and Vader to Endor DBay where he drained for two all game (nuts! Lost In The Wilderness was card 62 in this deck! grrrr).
I set up some drains at two systems in space, then lost Kashyyyk off the top to a drain. Yeesh now I can’t flip. I’m hoping, however, that my KRuns will save me as I really dont need to flip to win, and if I retrieve Kashyyyk I can still flip anyway.
So I send EPP Luke from reserve to Cloud City to square off with Mara, she gets sliced and Luke dies to attrition. His battle destiny sucked and mine rocked, though, so no card was lost to Rebellion. I deploy I Feel The Conflict not too far into the game (it’s actually a good card to have in any deck). He comes to space with Zuckuss (I Barrier, he Senses, it goes to used) and a deploy+3 Dreadnaught. We skirmish, and I dont draw BD, so I lose the battle and a card to Rebellion. Now he’s on 3 BGs so Luke comes back from the dead and surrenders to dear old dad. Chucky never takes him a-dueling, however, so he chills at the Endor DBay for the rest of the game.
We fight some more in space, he has the Emperor adding BD from the Throne Room, but he only manages to win one more battle and stack one more card. He’s draining me for four a turn at the two docking bays, though, and I can’t draw a Projection so that’s problematic. I finally set up a KRun and he Alters it (figures) to used. I’m getting drains off here and there and his weak ships are running away from me (where’s my freakin Order To Engage when I need it?) because I have 7 ability everywhere and will easily crush him and stack a card on Conflict if he sticks around to fight.
The drains on the ground are killing me though, and when I do finally pull off a KRun my Kashyyyk is totally buried. We run around in space some more, and he drops the stoopid Dagobah Executor with Veers as a pilot but he still can’t win a battle in space. I drain for a little in space, he drains for a lot on the ground ... and that’s how it ends up.
FL by 9
5 (+63)
The good: Well it was a decent game even though I couldnt draw what I needed when I needed it.
The bad: Woulda been nice to beat Chucky with the deck he had been making fun of.
The ugly: Grrr Lost in the Wilderness could’ve won this game for me, it’s going in all my decks from now on.
So nobody goes undefeated, unusual for four games. Chucky had lost his game before me, and since he beat me by so little he takes second to Tom Colarocco, a new guy (new to me at least) with a 1900+ rating. I intro’ed myself to him before the tourney, seems like a cool guy, congrats Tom.
I take *cough*sixthplace*cough* but I have the HIGHEST DIFFERENTIAL in the tourney by like 20 or 30 over the nearest competitor. Crazy four game tournies, they’re harsh. I get one phat pack of DSII (and 2 CC packs), I open the DSII pack first and get....<<<drumroll>>>...Merrejk. Eh well. On our way out my roomy Nick buys 3 packs of DSII, and he opens them on the drive home. The third one is a Jedi Luke. I crawl over into the backseat, take the Luke, open the door, and kick Nick out onto the highway >=) Well not really but he’s a lucky SOB.