rochester-ny-10-21-2000
Title: rochester-ny-10-21-2000
Author: R. "Voice of Law" Smith
Date: Oct 25, 2000
12 participants.
Director Chris Janiak - his first tourney.
Well I get to Millennium around 1130 and chat briefly with a few of the other early arrivals. Trade a Test 6 for a Scum and V cuz I know another guy that wants the Scum and he told me he was gonna be there .... but he never showed up >=0 Sit down for a quick last-minute playtest with my roomy Nick, using my light deck, a goofy mains deck with high recyclable destiny and Edges for retrieval...
Pre-tourney playtest
my light vs. Nick’s Dark Deal.
I start MWYHL w/blacked out Insurrection, Staging Areas, and Insight. He throws down some junk and we get started.
He drops Mara to the CC Dockbay early and I go after her with Tawss, battle, predict I win, draw a 1 to his 5, get crushed =(
I get SOS out there with 18 lightsabers and a Proficiency, he drops some walkers and guys to duke it out but I Fallen Portal/Narrow Escape around so Luke stays alive. He splits his forces and I go after the weaker with Luke, while dropping ECC Lando and Bob (one of my named Eloms) on the other, shoot a scrub, draw two battle destiny (both 5s), forfeit the Elom.
Let him drain for 1 at a CC site somewhere.
Get Ben to Tat Dockbay and zip him over to aid the cause on Cloud City. Drop Fred the King Elom with Lando, which is game (when Fred hits the table there’s no stopping him). Ben joins the party and I’m lookin healthy.
Nick puts out goofy Fett in Slave to Bespin and drops Battle Deployment so I cant draw 2 BDs, then goes for a walker and gets Blizz 2, bah. Battle and we each lose some. Ben revives Lando.
Next turn I’m examining the site and Nick politely reminds me that I can’t draw more than one battle destiny there and I say "Yeah not for long!" and drop the SuperFalcon w/Cap’n and Leia to kill Fett w/overflow of 4 or 5. Then I battle down below, shoot a scrub and draw my two BD for lots of damage. Luke has also caught up with Vader and Tarkin Downtown and they fight and even with a destiny cancel he causes some damage.
By now we’ve attracted quite a crowd and I was planning on using this deck in the tournament, plus Janiak is getting fidgety and wants to actually start on time for once (what were you thinking dude? ;-) So I decide it’s time to pack up the cards and go register.
After doing so I sit back down and I’m really not happy with my stupid light deck or the fact that I gave everyone a sneak preview of it. So at the last minute as the pairings are called I decide to switch decks and play my HB matching pilot/Kessel Run deck for light instead.
Round 1, game 1.
My light (KRuns now) vs. Dan Pratt (1400s) playing BHBM.
Well Pratt’s always fun to play against. Before we start I hand him my deck for counting, and take his as well. He has 59 cards. I tell him to go put a card in his deck and he frickin puts Fett in Slave. Eh well.
He starts the standard BHBM crap w/IAO, MPoints and Oppressive, I go with HB, Wise Advice, Squassin and Strike Planning.
He goes and deploys Palpy to the Throne Room, then drops the DS2 Dockbay and makes some comment about how he should’ve put the Emp there. I’m like "then do it" and he does. He drops Secret Plans (bleh), Rendili, Emp’s Power, and the Tat Dockbay and ends it. I get General Calrissian on his turn w/Strike Planning.
I get Endor and pull the Mini-Falcon w/Nien Nunb (drew him). They go to Endor and Gen Cal hops aboard from hand. That’s my turn.
He goes and drops the frickin Cantina from hand (blahhh) and a Vader there. Junk.
I go, pull Crix w/SPlanning, drain at Endor, drop Crix as passenger on Mini-Falcon, search for something that’s not there (I forget) and Pratt gets to rummage through my deck. Whatever. I Signal for HotJedi (quite possibly the last tourney I’ll ever use that card) and drop it so I dont have to deal with Your Destiny too much. Get a system and draw a few. His turn.
I lose 1 to YD, he drains, drops some scrubs to Tat Dockbay, ends it.
I go, drain, get a system, use Crix to pull Blunt, drop Blunt to the DS2 Dockbay, get EPP Luke from RD w/BHBM, drop him there too, battle, slice at the old man and cut him good with a KRun and a Signal as destiny. I know that’s Pratt’s only Palpy (and even if I didn’t know the look on his face would’ve told me ;-) Draw BD and he loses the Emp and 4 or 5, Blunt eats it and Luke moves in to the Throne Room to drain for a while. I noticed when looking through my deck that the rest of my systems were activated so I draw and get one - musta used the other. He goes.
Drains, drops some more guys, Mara w/Saber so the drains are stacking up. Yuck. My turn.
I drain, I’ve got some guys at Aquaris by now so I’m activating humongo stuff. Drop a system from hand, another from RD, and flip cuz I’m sick of the drains and there’s no SecPrecs around. Now Janiak shows up and starts pointing to Tibrin telling Pratt to go there. I’m like Janiak shut the heck up but I guess he thinks he’s using reverse psychology and trying to keep Pratt away from Tibrin or something (Janiak knows Tibrin’s my base). Anyway I set up for a KRun but cant pull it off this turn thanks to Secret Plans. I fly to Kessel anyway and he draws 4LOM so my RFC is good to go. His turn.
Your Destiny, drains (cancel w/HB), drop Vader’s Saber on him. My turn.
Drain (I’m set up at Kessel and draining for 3 there now, 2 at the Throne Room, 1 at Aquaris), decide Luke’s gonna have to face his father eventually, move him to the Dockbay. Complete KRun, pay 10 to retrieve 10. His turn.
YD, drain (cancel). Drop Fett in Slave (aka card 60) to Tibrin (thanks Janiak), probe, that’s it for HB. No SecPrecs tho. I go.
Drain, drop Order To Engage, fly the loaded Mini-Falcon over to Tibrin, start looking to set up another KRun. Luke transits to Tatooine for 8 (ew). He has a walker and Mara there so I know he’s gonna get creamed but who cares.
Pratt goes, drains at the Cantina, fights me at the Dockbay (Luke hits Mara but she misses), I lose Luke he loses Mara and I toss a card on Rebellion. He loses to OTE and Fett runs away. My turn.
Drain (Pratt’s life force is lookin kinda skimpy), set up another KRun, resurrect Luke and give him to Vader. Fly to Kessel, he draws a Tarkin. Don’t have an extra ship to fly back. Follow Fett w/MiniFalcon, his turn.
He activates all, drains, loses to OTE, realizes he has 4 cards left and I’m poised to complete KRun .... and draws up.
Full win by 12.
The good: Pratt put up more of a fight than usual. Keep it up, dude.
The bad: His poor Palpy biting the dust.
The ugly: The card I let him put in was the only ship I saw all game! AND Janiak being a goof.
So Janiak has been going around counting people’s decks so no more mishaps occur. Runnin a tight ship, thattaboy ;-)
Round 1, game 2.
My Dark (SYCFA Interceptors w/mad tech) vs. Ken Rose (1700-ish) new school Throne Room.
I start SYCFA w/MobPoints, Oppressive, and YCHForever. He gets Throne Room, HFTMFrigate for Insurrection, Staging, and Insight (?).
First turn he pulls Homo One Dockbay, Thaneespi there.
I get no systems in hand, but a couple TIEs, and one goes to DS Dockbay for activation. Pulled Milwaukee on his turn.
He keeps pulling docking bays (Hoth, Tatooine...). Jedi Luke goes to the Homo One DBay w/Ani’s Saber but I drop CHYBC to settle that.
Finally I get a system (and a Sienar Fleet) and drop it (Kashyyyk) along with some TIEs. Before I drop the TIEs I Monnok lost (so I can retrieve the Monnok). Hohoho Santa Claus has come to town. I get 3 Tunnel Visions and 2 or 3 other red cards which I can’t remember for the life of me. Over half his hand. Notice he has no ships. Ease up on the deployment to Kashyyyk, but save force for Barriers and reacting w/Emperor’s Shield. Deploy Ability Ability Ability and Dreaded Imperial Starfleet.
He sets up a drain at a BG Dockbay somewhere (probly Tatooine) and moves Luke there to add. Loses two to Ability^3 and one of them is Honor of the Jedi (frown). I realize during his draw phase and try to bring it up tactfully (heck I’d let him get it) but he shrugs it off.
I drain at Kashyyyk and look for a card w/Death Star in title to see if I have a system activated. Draw and get Endor.
He goes, drains (cancel w/DIS), and transfers Luke/Thaneespi back to the Homo DockBay. I have Lateral Damage in my hand and am awaiting the battle (muhuhahahaaa). He loses to A^3 again.
I drain at Kashyyyk and decide not to drop Endor just yet. Drop a Dread to reinforce the handful of Interceptors I had there. His turn.
Down comes Homo One, I Barrier. Sense. Goes to used. I dont have a grabber. Barrier again - Sense. Oh well. Then he starts having some indecision about whether to put the Homo One at Kashyyyk or at Alderaan (I have a lone Interceptor at Wakeelmui). Those are the only systems on table (besides Death Star) so if he deploys to Kash he may be stuck. He stays there though, and Ackbar drops down to pilot along with Major Hash (darn). We fight, I All Power (no Sense but grab) and react with the Shield. I over power him and he dumps some cards from hand. His destiny was good and I lose two Interceptors (one to used). Even though they’re immune I had a Dreadnaught there which I wished to keep operational.
My turn I go, deploy Return To Base, and drop some more ships on him, overpowering him again. This time he loses Ackbar and Hash (uh oh). I lose a TIE to R2B and one to used.
He goes and reinforces with some guys on the Homo One, transfers Thaneespi over to pilot.
I drop a mess of ships on him and Damage the Homo One, making it an evil power 5 (his battle destiny). Battle damage ends the game and Kashyyyk is miiiiiine!!!
Full win by 32.
The good: Playing Ken, I hadnt seen him in 4 or 5 months and he had come in for Janiak’s tourney. Thanks for a great game!
The bad: I didnt get to whip out any of my tech on him =(
The ugly: Honor of the Jedi coulda saved him a few rounds of A^3 loss.
Now I’m at 4(44) and sittin pretty. Next game ...
My light vs. Jason "Ears" Stewart (1852)’s BHBM (I think)
I honestly don’t remember what little Stewy was playing this game. Alls I know is I set up at Aquaris early on as usual, while he tried to drain me on the ground. I couldnt draw an Undercover this game or last (with Pratt) TK and Boussh were hiding in my deck all tournament doing nasty things to each other.
Anyway he came to space with some Dreads (deploy -2 at Ralltiir, yucky) and Fett, and I chased him around for a while with the Mini-Falcon and SupaWedge/Tycho the Psycho to cancel his draws. No Order To Engage out though so all he did was run around. Eventually his drains on the ground started to take their toll so I decided to flip (Sec Precs wasnt out). The turn after I flip he drops Sec Precs on the Rendezvous Point (bad move) and starts a-probin. I’m settin up a Kessel Run and draining for four (3 @ Kessel, 1 @ Ralltiir) in the meantime. Finally he gets to Tibrin and probes, I lose 8 force to Sec Precs, then retrieve it all the next turn with a KRun. By this time I’ve also gotten rid of some of his space force and worn his life force down through drainage. I cant cancel his ground drains anymore though so he gets to drain me down there a few more turns while I retrieve/drain him out in space. He doesnt have enough space power left to fight me, especially without SecPrecs to help, so he has to run away from me instead. I eventually get Order out and it causes maybe one turn of damage before he draws up to keep me from KRunning again.
Full win by 20
The good: Playing and beating Ears, he’s a fun guy.
The bad: Forgetting most of the game =/
The ugly: Ralltiir is such a crappy system.
So I’m 6 (64) and the only undefeated so far. Thanks to mismatches with light and dark side, I end up playing Ears again.
Round 2, game 2.
My TIEs vs. Ears’ Profit.
Drain race time. He starts Insurrection/Staging Areas/Insight, I get my usual. I start off with a TIE to the DS Dockbay for force gen, and draw looking for a system. None. He rescues Han and retrieves his Medical Frigate. Huge. I draw for a system and get two. He drains me and I lose one to Profit. I get my two systems out (Kashyyyk and Endor) and drop some guys to each. Barrier in hand. He drains/Profit. I drain and draw for another system. He drains/Profit/expands to the Tat Dockbay. Battle Order’s in my hand and I decide to go ahead and drop it since I’m on a site and system and he aint. Drain for 4 and set up another drain at Sullust. Drop BO and he has to pay for next turn’s drains. I drain for free and go looking through my deck to see my last system (Kiffex) is still there. U3PO comes out to stop a drain of 2 somewhere. He goes and pays for drains, then kills my TIE at the dockbay with Tawss Khaa - he retrieves one >=0
That’s about it, now we’re both paying for drains and I cant find my Dreaded Imperial Starfleet to stop his drainage. Plus I’m losing freakin 5 a turn to Profit. I deploy a bunch of TIEs and the Emp’s squads to retrieve, but it’s not enough. I cant locate a Short Range Fighters to once-per-game my Interceptors either. I lose the drain race horribly.
Full loss by 22
The good: Well I played Ears twice in the same tourney. Hooray.
The bad: Drain race, blah.
The ugly: Still didnt get to whip out any TIE tech!
So I come in second outta 12, a few differential points under Charles Clarkson, whom I didnt even get to play. 4 game tournies are wack yo. But I should get a decent ratings boost nonetheless. Janiak had some kick-arse prize support and I come away with a BB Yoda, Hutt Influence, and 3 packs of DSII. Rumor had it a Mighty Jabba, Darth Vader, and Obi-Wan were given away as well. It was a great time.
Afterwards I play Janiak 3 times with my No Escape Hunt Down and his "Machine Killa" with three Jedi Lukes, three Bens, and a zillion recycling destinies like Fall of a Legend and Throw Me Another Charge. I win one, lose one, and lose another because of a terrible mental error. Basically I left Palpy and Janus alone at a site to get smashed by Ben, Luke, and Lando Wax (excluded Janus, so Palpy had to face all those guys by himself). I just forgot to move em away. Had I remembered ....
Then I play Mike "I have bad luck every time I play against Reid" Van Zander with my cheap Machine Killa (SOS instead of Jedi Luke) and he gets pissed when I draw a high destiny for Fallen Portal or something and quits. Even though he knows that about 2/3 of my deck is destiny 4 and above ;-) It’s ok Zander.
Oh well. Tourney this Saturday at Millennium, I’m directing, it’ll be a great time. If you’re in the Rochester area, stop in.