boulder-co-10-29-00-business-as-usual

Title: boulder-co-10-29-00-business-as-usual
Author: Brian "HuntaWarya" Hunter
Date: Oct 30, 2000

Well, we have kept up our playtesting regimen, and Van and I feel pretty good about our chances in Boulder this week. We prepare to once again represent Littleton’s glory, but Team Littleton changes a bit this week. I still go, and Randy still goes, but this time, Mike McConnell stays home, and we sub in Van. I am up until about 5am Sunday morning and I get up at around 9:30am to get ready for the tourney. Transportation to the tournament today is provided by "Van’s Jeep", rather than "Randy’s Cutlass". On the way to the tournament, randy calculates that if John Arendt shows up today, he could earn over 150 rating points in a single tournament. All he has to do is beat me twice, beat Van twice, and beat John twice. The drive to Boulder is about 45 minutes, so I think that Van and I are finished laughing before we arrive. John Arendt DOES make an appearance today, and he brought all 2120 of his rating points with him. He is also wielding his matching weapon, "John Arendt’s Ponytail", so he is ready to play. And since John won the D-con Wild card last year, and qualified for Day 2 again this year, he is widely regarded as one of Tatooine’s elite. (reinforced by the fact that he is #3 in the region, trailing only Kyle Craft and myself.) However, he mentions that he has barely played at all since Decipher Con, so it is hard to tell where his confidence level stands today. John flips a few coins, to decide which decks to use in the tourney, and we are ready to play.

Decks: I continue my trend of changing both my decks every week. This week I switch from ralltiir done RIGHT, to hunt down done RIGHT. Last week, I played an ebo/baragwin/ishi-tib/super falcon/home one deck of silliness. That was lots of fun, so I decide to stick with ebo, but I have switched it to an x-wing swarm version.

Game 1: My ebo x-wings vs. Van Melancon’s Hunt Down.
Van’s Hunt Down deck is about half a dozen cards different from mine, so I know it is solid. I use the transmission terminated in my opening draw to cancel the visage, and that is the only good thing that would happen for me during the early game. He sets up vader at a docking bay early. With his lightsaber, and presence of the force. All I can do is use rebel fleet to keep myself alive. I utilize EBG to help me set up EBO. He deploys a walker to another docking bay, with ozzel and evax aboard, and sets up search & destroy. So I get the ebo set up and get a couple of x-wings to hoth. He comes down with Boba Fett and I let it slide. follows with the Chimaera. too much power, so I barrier. But Bossk in HT comes next, and I get pasted in the first space battle. So I put a couple of x-wings at another system, but wouldn’t you just know it? Zuckuss in Mist Hunter on the following turn, and I get pasted in the second space battle. Rebel Fleet keeps cancelling the big drain at vader’s site, but the drain at the other docking bay, combined with the search & destroy, are just eating me up. When I have 6 x-wings on table, I use the "once per game" portion of all wings report in, to retrieve six, BUT NO! I draw Jedi Luke for destiny, the only card in my life force that would fail the draw. at about that time, I have finally established a significant space presence, with some help from incom corporation. However, I can see that van has more than double my life force (over 25, when I had 11), so things look extremely bad. And it occurs to me that there is a VERY good chance I will lose this game. So once again I am forced to convert into "Hunter is about to die" mode. Must...win....game. Must...not...lose at....STAR WARS. Van can’t seem to find an alter, so the rebel fleet is allowing me to hang on by a thread. In desperation, I deploy Commander Luke Skywalker (holy cow!) to the north ridge, to stop the search & destroy damage, and use the hoth docking bay to send zev and hobbie in front of the walker. Van deploys Mara Jade with her saber, but the one barrier in the deck has cycled back to my hand, so I survive the turn. I don’t manage to destroy van’s space fleet, but there were enough systems out that I could spread out for the win, since he was unable to get his imperial decree going. Full win by 7. Making me:
2 (+7)
Highs: Somehow winning this game, when ANYONE watching would have said I was dead for sure.
Lows: Traveling to another city to play in a tournament, and getting paired against my playtest partner in game 1.

Game 2: My Hunt Down vs. Josh Bader’s Ewoks.
Josh used to be a strong player in our area, but he took a LOT of time off from the game, and just got back in a few weeks ago (much like Jon Cassidy) His rating sits at about 1900 or so, and I’m a bit surprised to see a Chief Chirpa’s Hut/Rebel Landing Site start from him. he gets chief chirpa in opening draw, drops him in the hut, and starts deploying ewok sentries from reserve deck for free. We both lose damage to the visage for a little while, before I finally put down Vader/Tarkin at the rebel landing site, and flip. By this time, there are about 6 ewok sentries in the hut. He deploys a unique ewok, with an ewok bow, to the rebel landing site, and moves Chief Chirpa out in front of me. I put down Ig-88 with riot gun, and battle. His 6 ewok sentries react to the battle for free, and he deploys a 7th one from hand as a react as well. Iggy captures the ewok with the bow, to keep him from shooting tarkin. Vader whacks Chirpa with his saber, tarkin cancels Josh’s battle destiny, attrition kills a third ewok, and I only have to lose one card to battle damage. He comes down with another ewok, with another bow, and battles me back. tarkin gets shot with the bow, iggy captures another ewok (vader escorts), vader whacks another ewok, I cancel his battle destiny with tarkin, and tarkin’s forfeit covers the battle damage. On my turn, I drop ephant mon into the holotheatre, to protect the visage that is slowly devouring Josh’s life force. I also drop dengar with carbine at the rebel landing site, and battle again. Dengar pops off a couple more ewoks, iggy misses the capture. Josh flips ewok catapult for battle destiny, and lord vader bites the dust. On Josh’s turn, my objective is back on the zero side, so he brings the Daughter of Skywalker to polish off dengar and iggy, with some help from the last two remaining ewoks, but I barrier her. On my turn, I deploy epp vader to the landing site, re-flip, play you are beaten on the Daughter. Initiate against the two ewoks. Capture one with iggy, shoot the other with dengar. The battle damage is HUGE. couple turns later I put sarkli into the hut to limit Josh’s activation, and the visage does him in. Full win by 30. So I am 4 (+37)
Highs: Fighting ewoks!! that is SO much fun!
Lows: Drawing 6 1’s in a row for weapon/battle destiny.

After game 2, it is time for McDonald’s. Randy rides with Van, and I go with Josh, then we meet up at the Golden Arches. Today I go with a Cajun McChicken, a double cheeseburger with no pickle, and some Mr. Pibb to drink.

Game 3: My Hunt Down vs. John Arendt’s EBO
John is playing TJ Holman’s EBGhettO deck, or something quite similar. He has made a few adjustments to the deck, to make the transition to the "post-JPSD" environment. But Ishi-tibs, home one with the mon calamari crew, obi and jedi luke, and all that neat stuff are still there. John cancels my visage before I even get a good look at my opening hand. okay. I use vader at a docking bay, with his saber, to flip. John puts TK-422 there. okay. I use Janus Greejatus at another docking bay. He puts Bousch there. okay. I back up Janus with Sim Aloo, just in case, and put ephant mon in the holotheatre. I deploy no escape to take my visage back into hand, and put it back down. John has all 3 ishi-tibs out pretty quick, along with yoxgit and ebo, and is just cycling through to assemble what he wants. We are both doing a whole lot of nothing, but he is losing force bit by bit to the visage. He doesn’t try to play transmission terminated again, since he saw me use masterful move to get holonet transmission. Obi-Wan comes to the north ridge to flip me back. I deploy Blizzard 2 with tarkin piloting, followed by mara jade, and kill obi-wan to get back on my 7 side. Obi goes to the bacta tank, but I alter it. Lord Vader misses TK-422 with a sniper. Mara Jade gets her saber and takes over the MPG, while tarkin drains at the north ridge. The Independence deploys to a system, with all 3 of its mon calamari crewmen aboard. I battle it with Bossk, Zuckuss (with sarkli aboard), and Boba Fett, but that does not work out, so my bounty hunter ships must flee to carida. I eat the drain of 3 at his system, because although I control two rebel base sites, I have not seen my decree. But I’m draining for 4 back, and the visage is taking its toll. Jedi Luke comes down with anakin’s lightsaber to flip me back to the zero side. Vader transits to the other docking bay to disarm luke, which forces luke to keep running away from me. Eventually the visage gets it done. Full win by 13. I am now 6 (+50)
Highs: Winning a game with visage damage, against a deck with 3 transmission terminated, plus honor of the jedi.
Lows: Failing to take down that silly mon calamari cruiser, after bringing the majority of my ships against it.

Game 4: My ebo vs. John Arendt’s Hunt Down.
Okay, rematch time. This time I get to play ebo, but of course, mine’s a bit different than John’s, since I am playing x-wing swarm rather than Holman-style. John comes out swinging. Vader comes to a docking bay for a turn 2 flip, and the visage starts to take its toll early, as I do not have a transmission terminated of my own. Vader starts to drain me for one. I don’t have "rebel fleet" in my hand to stop the drain. No Bousch or Tk-422 to stop the drain. No Lt. Blount to stop the visage. no TT to stop the visage. not good. Soon, John puts the emperor at another docking bay, followed by Janus Greejatus. This is getting real bad, real fast. I’m getting drained for 3 a turn, plus visage damage, and I’m doing nothing to stop any of it. Better yet, I am mounting no offense of my own whatsoever. Must....not....lose....game. I finally get the EBO on table, along with incom corporation, and desperate to do some damage, I put one x-wing alone at hoth. John had very few cards in his hand, so I figured I would chance it. He deploys Bossk in Hound’s Tooth. grrr. I burn my barrier. He follows with Zuckuss in Mist Hunter. Aggh! Must...win...game! He battles the lone x-wing with Zuckuss, and I play organized attack. John draws a 2 for destiny, Zuckuss loses the battle by 2, and the x-wing is immune. John loses 2 cards to battle damage, and bossk and zuckuss wait to see what my x-wing will do. I deploy another x-wing, and Lando in the Falcon. Then I put an x-wing cannon on the x-wing that survived the initial battle. I figure I can shoot down zuckuss, draw destiny to kill bossk, put legendary starfighter on the falcon, and I’ve got a good shot at winning this game. I battle, shoot down zuckuss. draw destiny to kill bossk. BUT, John top decks a 6 for destiny. If I lose both x-wings to cover the attrition, then lando doesn’t draw destiny by himself. So I have to lose the falcon for six, and put legendary starfighter on one of the x-wings instead. Not cool. John Deploys Search & Destroy, and puts Jabba the Hutt and EPP Fett at the north ridge to prevent me from using the ridge to satisfy S & D. The 3 point drain + visage + search & destroy is just pulverizing me. Must....win....game. Ice storm clears fett and jabba off the ridge. Finally I cancel the visage with TT!. I finally get bousch and tk-422 down to stop the drains at his sites, but Force Lighting quickly eradicates Bousch. After the ice storm moves away from the ridge, I put epp obi-wan down to satisfy Search & Destroy. I spread in space to drain him out, after retrieving 7 with all wings report in. Full win by 11. I am now 8 (+61)
Highs: Ummm, shooting down zuckuss with the x-wing cannon.
Lows: Never getting rebel fleet out the entire game, even though I use 2 of them, and 2 signals to go get them.

Game 5: My ebo vs. Josh Bader’s Hunt Down/sabaac deck.
Okay, so I play 3 games with my ebo, and all 3 are against Hunt Down. Keen. But Josh’s deck is different enough from the other two to be considered a different deck altogether. I cancel the visage with TT pretty quick. He plays a few fears, trying to make me lose key deck elements off top deck (like ebo, or the echo war room, or my systems) He gets Kiffex that way, but I can survive that. An early monnok kills a couple of my x-wings. grrr. He drops the Casino, and puts vader there to start draining. I use rebel fleet to cancel his drains. Tarkin joins vader, so my mains don’t wanna go there. Seeing the casino, I play the signal to go get my grabber. Since his visage is canceled anyway, he uses scanning crew against me, placing his objective out of play. The scanning crews make it a bit more difficult for EBG to set up the EBO, but eventually I get the job done, and rebel fleet is keeping his drain at the casino under control. The scanning crews keep letting him see my hand, and he monnoks my x-wings AGAIN. I am tempted to grab the scanning crew, since he is clearly playing several, but I decide I HAVE to wait for the sabaac, since his lando hits the table (at the casino) before I can get my Lando in Falcon down. Seeing that I will not use my grabber for anything but the sabaac, and seeing that I will not draw above 12 cards to let him try to play a used monnok to pull it out of my hand, he finally starts to play sabaac. He puts a total of 4 of them on the grabber, and wins all 4 games, to retrieve 12 force. He also wins an x-wing in stakes. Worse yet, he kills both of my "all wings report in" by forcing me to lose them in sabaac. no retrieval for me. I put Luke at the north ridge, Lt. blount leads obi into the meditation chamber, and my ships control 3 systems. The drain for 12 is more than he can handle, and I ultimately get the full win by 11. I am now 10 (+72)
Highs: Having the TT early. Draining for 12.
Lows: Losing both all wings in sabaac. Losing all 4 games of sabaac. Getting my x-wings monnoked more than once.

Game 6: My Hunt Down vs. Randy’s Hidden Base.
Randy is playing Johnny Chu’s X-wing swarm. We thought this deck would be good for the meta, because some people here like BHBM, and several others like Hunt Down, and x-wing swarm is good against both. Even though I knew Randy would be playing this "Hunt down Bane", I played Hunt Down today anyway. Better yet, I didn’t even put security precautions in my deck. I get Vader out nice and quick, but Randy has Honor down on his first turn, so he isn’t losing anything to my visage. Vader’s drain is immediately handled by an undercover spy. Randy starts deploying systems from reserve, and dropping x-wings for free at the rend. point, which in turn, move to endor for free. He drains for one, I drain for nothing. But I put down no escape, and he starts losing to the visage. Ephant Mon goes to defend the visage for me. I put out some goodies at my other docking bay, to try and drain him back. But rebel fleet takes care of that idea in a hurry. I deploy Bossk and Fett to Carida, and they would soon be joined by zuckuss. I put down search & destroy, and although I am not draining for more than the one at carida, the direct damage from visage and S&D is wearing him down quick. He can’t get to his non-unique forest, and he knows he doesn’t want to put obi or luke at one of my docking bays, cause they’ll just get dueled. The x-wings pile up, and he is draining me at two systems now, but I’ve got cards to lose. The executor shows up at carida also, and the x-wing swarm has no interest in going there. Secret Plans keeps Randy from retrieving force with "all wings" off his 12 x-wings, and the visage/S&D combo puts the nail in the coffin before he can even manage to flip. Full win by 20. So I finish at 12 (+92)
Highs: Using No Escape to override Honor.
Lows: Total non-interaction in this matchup, and I am a huge fan of battling.

Well, 6-0 today. As the title says, that is "Business as Usual". There were no 5-1 players. John Arendt, 4-2, losing only to me, took second. Randy and Van both finish at 3-3, so Team Littleton once again ends up with a combined 12-6, same as last week. grrr. I get nothing of interest in the prize packs. That is also "Business as Usual" for me.

Props:
Van, for driving.
Van again, for controlling his rage, and not trying to kill anyone, after going 3-3.
Josh, for somehow beating Van with that Ewok deck. hehe.
Josh again, for having a car that must weigh 10,000 lbs., is like 50 feet long, and takes about 5 minutes to complete a U-Turn. *lol*
Vader, for still being the best character in the game.
John Arendt, for arguably being the nicest guy in the entire Colorado SWCCG community. This is nothing new, but it bears repeating. You would be hard-pressed to find a more dignified opponent. And as you can tell from his rating, he has excellent skills as well. In the two games that we played, I can only recall him making ONE play mistake, and that was really a minor error, which had no impact on the result of the game whatsoever.
Randy, for using some form of profanity or another, approximately every 10 seconds, during our game. :)

Slops:
Van, for somehow losing to that Ewok deck. hehe.
Randy, for STILL having yellow hair. :)
Imperial Decree, for being so completely useless against ebo. I played it in my deck to stop ebo, and the decree was of no help. And when someone tried to use it against my ebo, it didn’t work either.
Me, for opening packs of prize support, when I know I never pull anything good. Oh well. :)


Until next time,

Brian Hunter