phoenix-mega-tournament-11-4-00
Title: phoenix-mega-tournament-11-4-00
Author: Steve "BlackViper" Marshall
Date: Nov 5, 2000
at times.
So I set the alarm for 7:00am and go to bed at around 4:00. I wake up to
Batman Beyond and Pokemon, then I drag myself out of bed, nuke a couple
Pop Tarts, count my decks again and again, and head off to the
tournament. This isn’t actually the Grand Slam; this is the 8-game Mega-Tourney, part of the Grand Slam weekend. I’ve been hyping myself up all week, telling myself I’m
gonna win it all and all that. I was ready to go! I had a new EBO deck
that has the potential to be a killer if I get it set up right, and I
have been working on my old PalpyOps from long ago for DS. As a note to
all my readers: Diamond sites are NOT dead unless you’re playing the
LS card! Same goes with numbers; it’s not retired unless you play the
card. I get to AZ Gamer and realize that my pop tarts are still in the
microwave. Oops. I see Andy Marcantel, David Teeters, and a couple other
buddies and fill out the decklist and command card. Brandon Allen
informs me that I put my email addy above my player ID and I need to
change it before he can put it on the command card. The lady next to me
rolls her eyes and just writes the information down. I tell Brett that I’m gonna win, and he encourages me instead of the laughter I was expecting. Cool! We finally get
settled for our first pairings.
GAME 1: PalpyOps vs. Matthew’s Hoth w/ elom reacts (not EBO)
I haven’t seen this guy before, so I don’t know what to think. There are
a lot of out-of-state players, but there are also newbies from AZ. I
decide before the game starts that I’m gonna open a can. I present to
you, ladies and gentlemen, God’s starting hand: Lord Vader, Palpy, Mara,
Mara’s Stick, Royal Guard x 2, Abyssian Ornament, and the Exec DB. I
pull the Prefect’s Office and the Coruscant DB from my deck, drop the
EDB, and a Royal Guard at each DB. He drew his Force into his hand. I
still don’t know what to think of him. I couldn’t set up Ralltiir
because I activated my Forest and Spaceport DB in my God-like generation
next turn. He deploys AFA in the deck after I deploy everybody, DRAT! I
have Fett in S1 in my hand, and I pop AFA in the generation. I activate
2 and use it to search for ghhhk. I’m gonna deploy Fett on the ground
with his little "army" and soak the damage. IT’S NOT THERE! So I pull
U3PO instead and take the 4 damage. He tries to give someone a jedi
lightsaber to drain with, but Weapon Of The Ingrate takes care of that.
Davod Jon an appearance and overpowered his army of 4, taking out
everything except a droid and sacrificing himself to the 3 attrition.
DRAT! I had a drain of 9 going to his 0, and there was nothing he could
do. I didn’t have enough Guards to make Abyssian work, but I should have
used Weapon Of The Ingrate to put the sabers and Pikes back in the deck.
Too bad.
FW by 19
2(+19)
PROS: I’m getting settled in. I’m not used to a tournament this big, but I’m getting relaxed now.
CONS: None, really. I kinda wish I had used my Weapon of Ingrate to add to my dif.
In the middle of my Game 1, the large ominous shadow of Michael Girard
hovers over me and asks for my LS deck. I had counted this deck 10 times
over and over again; I know it’s 60 cards! I was worried sick about it.
Turns out I forgot to add the "x 2" to my YT-1300s, giving me a warning.
I take my deck back with a thousand apologies, feeling very glad we
didn’t abide by DecipherCon rules. Thanks again, Mike!
GAME 2: EBO Capitals vs. Jonny’s BHBM
As we’re setting up our starting cards, Clint Hays beside me tells his
opponent not to stack his effects. If he does it again, it’s a game
warning! A couple jokes about the rules and penalties broke out, then we
started the game. As I’m typing this, it just doesn’t have the same
impact it did at the time. It was funny when it happened; I guess you
had to be there. Anyways...
So my hand consists of Strikeforce (you need it in EBO!), Chasm (a
painfully powerful card), Honor, and Menace Fades for effects, 2
capitals, Endor, and a Signal. Nothing to help get EBO going at all. I
deployed my effects, and he nearly choked when he read Chasm. "So, how
many Vaders are you playing with today?" It’s just awesome. He put IG88
w/, Dr. E, and Mara with her stick at a drain 3 location, so I signaled
for Undercover instead of Squad Assign and dropped my newly drawn
Cracken. I couldn’t stop pulling Signals, and it was kinda annoying.
Squadron Assign didn’t help at all because I couldn’t get a pilot or a
ship. I lost too much blue to drains, too. Cappy Han, Home 1, and the
Independence made quick work of Ozzel in the Exec, but allowed Zuckuss
to escape to Kiffex. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t get any more blue the
entire game. I gave him Luke JK from my lost pile as soon as Lord Vader
hit Endor to give him a little Direct Damage. Here’s where I’m a bad
player. He’s draining for 3 at each of 3 Endor sites; 1 icon, a +1, and
a saber. I have Menace Fades on the Table, Hoth belongs to me and Kiffex
I’m working on, and Obi is holding the 4th Marker. I didn’t cancel his
drain modifiers the entire game, and it killed me. I’m a bad player. I
don’t know what my cards do. Palpatine left his home on the DS2 for some
reason, I don’t know why. I would have won this game if I had known why
I put the cards in my deck that I did. Keep count; this is game 1 that I
should have won.
FL by 13
2(+6)
PROS: Definitely the starting hand! Seeing his face when he read Chasm.
CONS: Gee, there’s so many to list! I won’t forget Menace Fades again. I wish I remembered how to use spies.
GAME 3: PalpyOps vs. Mike’s HB w/out flip
This was by far the most fun game I played all day. Wedge RSL and Gen
Cal showed up in their respective ships at Tatooine, but I flipped, so
he didn’t have a drain. He pulled Dagobah and the Hutt, Tatooine, and
Alderaan, but that was it. I flipped turn 2. He tried to bring his EPP
army against my Royal Guards. I wouldn’t have minded being that I had
the ghhhk in my hand, but I decided to tell him that all his guys were
+2. He pulled back and waited a little. We battled all over space and on
the ground. Putting Palpy or LVader at the Prefect’s Office creates a
beast! My power 4, Def Value 4 Royal Guards were kicking all kinds of
butt. And Goo Nee Tay can’t touch em! He won our Sense/Alter war,
putting all my cancellers in my lost pile because I didn’t get out
Oppressive Enforcement in time, and he used Our Most Desparate Hour 3
times to retrieve 6 or 7 Force each time. He had to work for it because
CHYBC was on the table, but he managed. I flipped that objective back
and forth more times than I can remember. Fett in S1 and Bossk in Bus
took on Wedge and the Falcon, leaving Calrissian all alone against
Bossk. He deployed Nien Nunb and battled me, I played Res Luk, but he
Sensed it! That is the best use of that card; in space with the perm
pilots! They don’t count as bounty hunters, but the OR works with Bossk
and Fett. Anyway, that single battle probably lost me the game with the
amount of cards I lost. Time was called, and after a battle, I played
Abyssian Ornament, knowing full well that I only had 3 guards on the
table and my destiny was a 3. I just wanted the 5 in the deck and on the
top! Now, had I actually used it during that battle before I lost my 4th
royal guard, it would have been much better! Time was called on my
deploy phase, otherwise I would have grabbed Weapon of the Ingrate and
pulled 4 pikes and 2 sabers back in the deck. We counted; I had 11 cards
in the deck, and he had 12. :-( Still counting? This is game #2 that I
should have won but didn’t because I’m a bad player. But this was a
completely awesome game. He had me sign his Sense in memory of our
little war.
TL by 12
2(-6)
PROS: This was a fantastic game. I played my strategy very well against him.
CONS: Having time called just after my control phase ended. Timing out in the first place.
Okay, okay... I came into this not wanting to suck as bad as I did at
Pat’s tourney. At least I won a game today!
GAME 4: EBO Capitals vs. Mike Sinclair’s Hunt Down w/ Please-Rape-Me
Duels
I hate playing Mike. He always beats me, even though it’s never by a
lot. But I’ve never won a game against him. Before the game, I get all
@#$%y with him in fun. I’ve got 5 characters, 4 of them pilots, and 2 of
them spies. How cool is that! He didn’t start No Escape, so I signaled
for Honor instead of cancelling Visage. Vader came to play on Hoth, and
I lured him under the shield as I deployed Obi to his CC to flip him.
Igar in Tempest 1 make short work of hero and Vader comes out of the
base to flip again. Jedi Luke wants to see if he can survive longer than
his mentor, so he visits the city in the sky next. All the while, EBO is
set up, but I’m only draining at Hoth because Zuckuss, IG88 w/, and 4LOM
w/ took control of Kiffex too early, and I’m not going anywhere near
that little combo. He eventually gets Bossk out to Hoth and moves the
Z-crew over. I know the true power of bounty hunter ships and realize
that he is getting 4 destinies, but for some reason I stay there. I was
hoping in those destinies he would get a dupe and lose it to Chasm, the
little effect hiding on the corner of the table. BUT NO! I draw a 3 and
a 2, and he draws 3 destiny 6 cards!!!!! And they’re all interrupts, so
Chasm doesn’t touch them! I got royally screwed, and there was nothing I
could do about it. He lost his droids, I lost nearly everything. I can’t
do much against attrition of 20! I’m not immune to that. He pulled
destiny 6 every time, and it was painful. Luke held his ground on CC the
entire game until I knew I was gonna lose, so I left him alone with
Igar. He pulls a couple destiny 6 cards again to my 5. It was fun, but
painful!
FL by 13
2(-19)
PROS: Not losing by more
CONS: Playing Mike
Remember when I said I didn’t want to screw up like I did in Pat’s
tourney? Well, it’s not looking good for our hero today.
GAME 5: PalpyOps vs. Andy Marcantel’s MWYHL to 6
My starting hand had 3 docking bays in it. That’s not normal! I like
playing Andy; he knows how to have fun. I easily set up Ralltiir, but it
takes him 3 turns to begin training. Overseeing It Personally comes out
a turn too late, so I don’t get to double my drains. Fett blocks his
B-Wings at the system to flip me over, and he lands amidst the army. I
soon realize he’s playing a version of Chris Shaner’s MWYHL that I lost
to long ago before I really knew how to play. He’s holding Coruscant
with 7 B-Wings and S-Foils! When I finally get Bossk, Zuckuss, and 4LOM,
I take the trip to the center of the Old Republic. I also held onto a
ghhhk. We battled over and over again, but my recurring bounty hunter
ships and cool use of Res Luk was too much for him. He got beat off the
planet, and Fett held control for the rest of the game. He couldn’t draw
his test 5 destiny because he didn’t have a reserve deck (he was low on
cards), and he couldn’t retrieve his 10 because of CHYBC. Too bad! I
drained him out after a few turns. He’s always fun to play, and we
chatted with the guys beside us. My losing streak brought me to the fun
table!
FW by 16
4(-3)
PROS: I like Andy. He’s fun. And PalpyOps does it again. He was a couple places higher than me in round 3, so I’m glad I took it to him. Beating down the B-Wings
CONS: Letting him control Ralltiir with his b-wings for a turn.
GAME 6: EBO Capitals vs. John Towner
He decided to concede the match to me before we started to go play Trek.
I still think leaving StarWars for Trek is blasphemy or something, but
hey, I’ve got 30 points and an even record at 3-3.
FW by 30
6(+27)
PROS: Hey, it’s 30 points!
CONS: Leaving SW for Trek? Come on!
Yes folks, we’re still going! Our 4 round / 8 game tournament continues.
This is fun! We should do it more often.
GAME 7: PalpyOps vs. Joel’s Profit M+T
I just finished playing his brother Mike in game 3, and it was fun. I
decide not to put Mara in the Aud Chamber. I set up quick, and he
battled against 5 of my power 4, defense 4 royal guards and lost over
and over again! I LOVE THE PREFECT’S OFFICE!!! He failed a Fallen Portal
draw against a single royal guard at one point. Like before, there was a
lot of battles on the ground, but neither of us took to space. He was
unfortunately killing all of my characters, leaving me with fewer and
fewer cards. DVDLOTS got lost cruising around DB 94, and I never
bothered to find him. The constant killing and Profit DD did me in. This
was another really fun game, and there was no way I could have won this
game by doing it differently. I even tried to abyssian ornament for 5
with just a couple cards left in the deck, but I drew Palpy! DRAT! This
was fun.
FL by 11
6(+16)
PROS: Another fantastic game. Putting the Prefect’s Office in the deck.
CONS: I should have killed Han earlier.
GAME 8: EBO Capitals vs. Van’s ISB with ORS
Finally; and out-of-state player! This game was just ugly. I have never
played against an ISB deck, so I already knew that this could suck for
me. I don’t know how to play against it. On top of that, I got set up
too late. He set up his drains big and fast on me. I was draining for
10, but he cancelled the 4 @ Kiffex with the Den Of Theives. I couldn’t
find Strike Planning to stop him from cancelling drains, and he couldn’t
find a trample to get rid of my undercover spies. I took out Bossk and
Fett at the expense of the Spiral (it deploys as a react for 1 with EBO
in effect!), and he never tried space again. He won the drain race
because he beat me off the 4th marker, cancelling Menace Fades’ effect.
It was a fun game, he was a good guy, and I’m glad I finally got to play
against this deck type.
FL by 5
6(+11)
PROS: Finally playing an ISB deck.
CONS: Losing to an ISB deck.
So I almost scrubbed out. I guess it was borderline. I came 32nd out of
56, so I was right there in the middle again. My prize support of 1 CC
and 2 DS2 packs along with a "grab pack" with Vaper Crall and DS2
commons (just what I needed) worked out great; I pulled a Jedi Luke!
That was worth the $15. Thanks a lot to AZG for hosting us on this late
event, Mike Girard, Brandon Allen, and Jay Webb for running an amazing
tournament, and everyone else that helped out for doing so. I wish I
could have recorded the top 10 scores, but I didn’t get them all. Brett
Kitani took 6th place overall. I stayed after for the final
confrontation, and after the dust settled, Kevin Shannon beat Brian Hunter to
take sole possession of 1st place and the entire BB StarWars set. They
agreed before the match to give 2nd place the set of Reflections and 1st
place everything else. I’m pretty sure that was the arrangement; we
couldn’t hear what they were saying over everyone talking! j/k. Thanks a
lot for a great time!
The Good:
* Arizona Gamer for hosting the event
* Michael Girard (Gold 120) for running a HUGE yet flawless tournament
* Kevin Shannon for winning the thing
* Brett Kitani for placing 6th overall
* All the out of towners that made the trip, especially Clint Hays, Kevin Shannon, and Brian Hunter.
* Everyone who stayed at AZGamer from 8am til 9:30pm for the whole shbang.
The Bad and The Ugly:
* Me for scrubbing hard
* P.H. for placing lower than me - When he said he was having a Steve day, he meant it!
* Mike Sinclair for constantly saying penis throughout the day ;-)
* The traffic on I-17 for making me late (8:45)
Thanks for reading.