birmingham-grand-slam-10-28-00
Title: birmingham-grand-slam-10-28-00
Author: Jody "lordbeow" Rodd
Date: Oct 30, 2000
Ok, I finally decided to go to the Grand Slam the Monday before. I didn’t have a clue as to what to take, so I started to look for ideas. I came up with a Harvestrom type deck and a Dark Deal troopers. I hooked up with Charlie Herren and Clay Ramey for some playtesting Friday night. My decks got wrecked bad. So I figure for dark I would take a Court/Scum deck I had been playing recently that was good, but light side I was stuck. So Charlie hands me this Throne Room Mains deck that starts Insurrection/Staging Area/Wise Advice. I play it and it works very well, so I go home and throw together a slightly modified version. Saturday morning we head out for Birmingham. Its Charlie, Clay, and Mike Kessling in my Jeep. Kessling and Clay are in the back watching Matrix on Clay’s laptop while Charlie and I discuss various decks and ideas. We get to the hotel that the GS is at and sit down to play a game. I squeak out a win against Charlie’s Test to 6 deck with Scum. During the game Clint Hays and Stephen Lewis show up. Charlie has been debating about whether he’s going to play or go "mack the poon" as he calls it. He ends up playing when there are 25 players, just so no one gets a bye. Charlie eventually drops at three games when his friend from high school shows up, and he heads out with her for a while. On to the games .
Decks:
Light Side - Throne Room Mains starts Insurrection/Staging Areas/Wise Advise
Dark Side - Court/ Scum Starts Mob Points/Oppressive/Power of the Hutt (man that card rocks!)
Game 1 LS vs ????? (Can’t remember his name) Endor Ops/Perimeter Patrol
Ok, so we sit down to start playing, and this guy starts in playing all confident like. He’s trying to pull off that he’s a great player with out saying it. He starts Mob Points, Power of the Hut, and YCHF. I draw my hand 6 red cards, H1:DB and H1 so I activate, drop H1:DB, go get Hoth:DB from reserve and draw up looking for charcters. I get Harc Seff and a revo. Not to shabby. He activates, pulls the big E from reserve, also grabs Ephant Mon and puts him at the Bunker. He also sacks YCHF for PP. I activate, go looking for my last docking bay, and its not there. So second turn of the game he gets to verify my deck. No big deal, a throne room deck is either 2 things, Mains or Numbers he sees the beatings that are in store for him. What he doesn’t see are any starships, since Home One is in my hand. So I just draw this turn, and pull up Jerome Webb and EPP Obi. So on his turn he drops Navy Trooper Fenson to the bunker and Choke Vader to an exterior Endor drain 2 site. My turn, I’m activating like 16. So I revo his bunker, drop Harc and Obi, he plays trooper assault, I catch and sense, he senses my sense, so I sense his sense, and he senses my sense. WTF? Good thing I started WA. So I clear the site and lose Harc. So now his whole strategy is gone to @#$%. On his turn, he is visibly shaken by how this game has already gotten bad. He tries to drop 3 biker scouts to the bunker, but I remind him that he has no icons and no presence. So he drops two Tie Interceptors to Endor (thinking I have no ships, since he didn’t see them in my reserve) and 4 biker scouts to a drain 2 site, saving 1 force. So at this point in the game I have finally found some characters and I’ve dropped some twix sites, so I’m good. I activate a ton of force (around 19 I think) and I tunnel Vision, grabbing anakin’s saber. Down to the 4 biker scouts goes Jedi Luke with his daddy’s stick, EPP Han, Lando with Vibro Axe, and Lt Blount. I battle, and he tries to Trooper Assault, but he can’t with only one force. He’s upset about this, claiming that I didn’t tell him that that was how Push worked, but my view on this is that you don’t come to a major tournament without knowing how common cards like those work. I miss the exclude, so he gets destiny, but after all the weapons and forfeiting, I loose Blount, and he looses all 4 bikers and 22 battle damage. So on his turn, he drains for 4 (2 at Endor, 2 from Vader) and draws to try to get something going. On my turn, I activate a ton again, drop Home One and Ackbar on the 2 Interceptors, and proceed to beat the snot out of him there. So now its my drain of 4 to his 2. He drains and drops 2 biker scouts to the landing platform, along with an Elite Storm Trooper. My turn, I drop the game ender, Order to Engage. He reads the card and says "But we don’t have presence together anywhere." My reply, "Oh, we will we will." I move the crew over in front of Vader, leaving the landing platform guys alone. He drops the Emperor to the site next to Vader, doesn’t battle, loses three and moves Vader over to the Emperor. I drain and move the crew in front of Vader and the Emperor. He’s down to about 5 force now, with 2 3’s in his reserve. So he decides he has to battle this turn and does so. Since everyone is ability 3 or above, Choke Vader just jerks off. Lando decides to become a punk @#$% and excludes Vader (I drew a 6 to his three gotta love Jedi Luke’s) and Luke smacks the Emperor with the saber. Battle damage finishes him off. FW by 17.
2( +17)
Game2 DS vs Ben "@#$% Tits" Matthews Hidden Base/X-Wing Swarm
Ok, so I learn about this guy from Charlie. He was Charlie’s opponent in the Regional Final. But they say that he stinks, and that I have to beat him. Well, I can’t let everyone down. To top it off, he’s a friend of the guy I wrecked game one. When we sit down, the guy from game one points to me and says "That’s him." He starts HB and signals for Honor when he sees Court. Ok, that was the game ender right there. Who signals for Honor? That is a death sentence. That is the lamest start I have ever seen. I played a newbie girl a week earlier who played better than that already. So I know I own this guy. I draw my hand, and there is a Twilek. So I set up Mighty Jabba in the AC, saving two force. He drops Dantooine from reserve and draws. So I activate one, TA for No Escape, and continue activating. I drain for one at the AC, and he loses an X-wing. Ok, so his whole strategy is out on the table now. I start setting up on the ground and fortifying my position, plus I set up Search and Destroy. I also get out Security Precautions. He’s deploying systems and drawing. I’ve got two sites set up for a measly drain of 2, but he’s not doing anything yet. So he decides that I’m not coming to space, and sets up one X-wing apiece at 4 systems. WTF? This guy made it to my regional’s final game? This is pretty lame. I drop IG88 in IG2000 from reserve and make him lose an Xwing, then draw for more of my ships. He drops 2 more systems, and flips. He also fortifies some. My turn, I drop EPP Boba to IG probe, nope. Drop DiPO from reserve, probe, no. Zuckuss from hand. Probe, no. I drop Bossk in Bus to Zuckuss and reck some X-wings, then move Dengar over with Zuckuss and Bossk. I know that his Hidden Base is Dantooine at this point. His turn, he drains some and drops a load on IG with Boba aboard. He battles, and I lose IG and Boba, but nothing else. I love Sec Precautions against HB. So on my turn, I move Dengar, Bossk, and Zuckuss to Dantooine, so I can go back to draining. At the end of my turn he Organized lost twice to get 6 X-Wings. His turn he drains and goes to drop all the X-Wings down at once. But I tell him to do it one at a time so I can have actions. He then says " Oh, I guess I should activate first." That’s right he drained and tried to deploy without activating. He asks if I’ll let him, and I say no. Not after force draining and holding beatings in your hand. I probe Dantooine correct, and he loses 8 to Sec Prec. Then he loses to Court and S&D and I go. Drain, move everyone over to Kessel. He’s down to less than 10 force now, and so he tries to spread and drain to cause damage. My turn, drain, and down comes Boba in Slave 1 from reserve to battle a lone X-Wing and win the game. FW by 20.
4(+37)
Game 3 LS vs Clay Ramey’s Court
Ok, so this sucks. We are both playing the same decks, give or take 5 cards in each deck. I start YISYW instead of WA. I drop Farmboy to the H1:DB, get Honor, and start setting up. He starts stacking the AC. After a few turns of just drawing for both of us, he finally comes up with No Escape. On my turn, I drop Tawass, Han, and Leia to the Tat:DB, give Luke his daddy’s stick, and transit him to the group. He’s still just got the AC, and he’s not getting characters, so he’s still drawing. I drop Luke’s Saber to him, and give Leia Anakin’s. After a few turns of my drain of 3 to his drain of 1, he decides to do something about it. He activates everything and drops Mara w Stick, Djas, Dengar w BC, and 4-Lom down against my mains, saving 1. My go, I drop Lando with VA, Barrier, Sense, Control. Ok, so no Lando. I drop EPP Ben and Wedge to soak some damage. He plays Weapon Lev used. Damn, now I can’t grab Mara’s saber (it’s unique). So I battle anyway. His main goal here was to get rid of my sabers. Well, he misses every attempt to hit Luke or Leia. I hit just about all his guys. I clear the site, plus a few, only loosing Wedge. Now that I’ve seen most of his crew, I spread a bit to get some more drains going. He starts to spread some to get try and make me lose more, knowing that this game is pretty over. I drop Orrimarko and Jerome Webb to battle a new Mara. He draws a 1, I draw a 4. I lose nothing (Webb with a Rebel Leader) and he loses Mara and 2. He then drops IG with Gun and Bane against Orri and Webb. Scan and Capture Webb, I lose Orri, he loses Bane. He then proceeds to make IG a sneak attack machine, walking him across Tattooine and snipering people. But it was still too late. I drain him out for the win. FW by 11.
6(+ 48)
Game 4 DS vs Andy McClure’s Agents/Palace Raider’s
Ok, Andy’s in first at this point by differential. There were 3 (there were 4, but Charlie dropped after the third game) undefeated’s left, Andy, Brian Rippetoe, and me. Andy’s deck is basically battling with Palace Raiders on Patrol Craft (a very under-rated card) and using drain 2 tattooine sites. I get a horrible draw, and have trouble getting any thing going. A couple of big early battles kept it close, but Andy edged me out. FL by 13.
6(+ 35)
Game 5 DS vs Clay Ramey’s Throne Room Beats
Ok, basically this is Game 3 all over again. Needless to say, Court loses to Throne Room. Highlight of this game was at the end, when it was obvious that Clay would win, I drop Evazen across from Jedi Luke, and move Iggy with gun over. I disarm and operate on Luke during his control phase. That made the third game for Clay where his Jedi Luke got disarmed and operated on. FL by 14.
6(+ 21)
Game 6 LS vs Brian Rippetoe’s SYCFA/Walker Beats
Ok, so Brian and I both went from being 3-0 to being 3-2. We both needed this win to secure a spot in the top 6. He starts Mob Points, Oppressive, and IAO. I drop a docking bay first turn, but I don’t want to commit anyone to it just yet, so I draw. He Imp Command’s for Ozzel, activates, and puts him at the DS:DB. My turn, I drop another DB and a twix site, and drop Orrimarko on Ozzel. He takes no battle damage, but does have to take the 2 force loss from Orri + Ozzel. So, he activates and just draws some. I drain at his DB, then decide to move Orri out, since Brian has force saved and a big hand. He drops a walker + guy to the DS Docking bay and ends his turn. I’m waiting him out, and building a hand since he’s not doing anything to me. He drops Bossk in Bus, Dreadnaught, and guy to Rendilli. I put EPP Ben and Lando w/Vibro Ax to the Tat docking bay to match his drain. He then drops Tattooine with a dreadnaught and 2 guys. I have Home One and Ackbar in hand. I activate all but 3, Tunnel Vision for Thaneespi. I drop Wedge to the H1:WR, H1, Ackbar, Thaneespi, Jedi Luke, and proceed to unload on him. That was the game turning point. Tattoine was to far from Rendili for his forces to get there, so I had an uncontested drain of 2 there the rest of the game. Jedi Luke shuttles down, and Wedge gets in a pilot seat. He puts out JP and Desert Heart (wonderful tech for his deck, that site requires characters to have +1 landspeed.) He puts a walker and guy at both of them. I decide to be ballsy and drop Han, Leia, and Blount to Desert Heart, knowing I couldn’t leave, but the drain 2 would be nice. I don’t play the I Know in hand and kill the pilot (drew low). His turn, he can only drop Tempest 1 there to give him ability 4 (Order to Engage was out). He battled, I played I Know. I drew 20 in BD, he drew a zero. He lost the two walkers and a bunch of force. He then moves his JP crew over (Walker and two pilots). My turn, I drain for 4 (2 at the system and 2 at the docking bay - Jedi Luke had found his stick) and move Luke over to the desert heart. He drops Vader and a scrub and battles. I play Skywalkers and Glancing Blow and he decides to lose his battle damage first from reserve to end the game. FW by 20
8(+ 41)
Standings:
1. Andy McClure
2. Stephen Lewis
3. Clint Hayes
4. Jody Rodd (me)
5. Clay Ramey
6. ?????
I take 4th and that’s cool with me. Charlie has shown back up during the 6th game so we collect our prizes and head out. We stop at Roasters for dinner, then drive back to Atlanta. Mike and Clay watch Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me on the way back.
Props -
Charlie for giving us a wonderful saying in "Mackin’ the POON"
Dr E for mackin’ the poon on Jedi Luke all day
Mike Kessling for playing 5 Emperors in his Hunt Down
Jim Coulson and Matt Reed for hosting the thing and being cool tournament directors
Slops -
Mike Kessling’s Ass Mike just let’s them rip when he feels like it, and they are rank.
Burger King for having about 100 ppl in line 20 mins before the tournament started.
The 14 ppl who dropped
Jody Rodd