syracuse-ny-11-4-00
Title: syracuse-ny-11-4-00
Author: Mike "Mikey P" Panayotou
Date: Nov 5, 2000
This is an 8 game tourney, so the report is pretty long (you have been warned!!! ;)
6:30AM - Roll out of bed and get ready to meet my crew to go from Albany to Syracuse for CCW2. We had been playtesting for a while and for once, I felt like I built me decks pretty well. So, half-asleep, I get into my car and drive to Dunkin’ Donuts for a coffee and bagel. I drove away after getting my change and my coffee, and I forgot my bagel at the window! Wow. Anyway, I was running late, so I just went to meet the rest of the guys at our local mall. We took off a little late, only to get pulled over by one cop (we were driving in two cars) and both ticketed for speeding. I think the cop was upset about his purple tie that he had to wear . . . Anyway, we treked on and made it to Syracuse by 11AM for the tourney.
We get in and chill for a little bit before the tourney starts. We’re all hungry, so we decide we’ll order pizza later on. Pairings are made and I am paired with Dan Sokol (Matt’s brother) . . .
Game #1 -- My Hunt Down vs. his New Age Throne Room
Interesting game. I get Vader out early. Dan avoids Vader and drops to the Executer via. Revolution, after I Hutt Smooched Lt. Blount. He has a solid drain there and also drops Kessel. I am draining, but not for enough. I spread out and maintain for a while, using Control to ease his large drains. He then drops Luke Skywalker, JK and clears a site and runs to Home One DB. I chase him with Mara and have three 5s tracked. He Weapon Levitates Mara’s Saber, so I only manage to cause him to forfeit Luke. In the end, S+D and Visage brought him down, but he pulled of the win by 5. Great game.
Game #2 -- My New Age Throneroom vs. BHBM
I was feeling pretty good after that great game. I was also confident playing BHBM. I dropped Farm Boy (for 1) to activate 4 at Home One: DB. He drops Mara and stick down, but misses. I sack Luke. Then, I re-deploy him with some buds and wreck Mara. I spread out and drain. He drops Vader down at Endor: DB. I pull Honor and move Luke to Tatooine DB:94. I drop Obi to Vader’s site, hoping to roll him (I had a stick and a Smoke Screen in hand). He Circles. Sense. Alter. Sense. Alter. Control. I win the SAC war and draw for Sense; it works. Then, he Circles again! Oops, I think as I have another Control in my hand. I should have saved the other Sense. Oh well. Obi dies. No matter. I continue to drain and I give Baby Luke to Vader. Super Home One went to Kessel (Thanespi and Ackbar). Drain for 3. Drain for 3. I pull it off by 9. (2, +4)
Game #3 -- My Hunt Down vs. Hidden Base
I get Vader out ASAP. I drain, use Visage and S + D to wear him down. I hold my ships until he flips. I lose Security Precautions to a drain of the top of my deck (damn). He flips. I drop Zuckuss at Endor and probe. First try, sends HB away. I am stranded though. I drop Bubble Boy down so he doesn’t smack me down. I continue to use S+D (he gets rid of Visage). The game is very close. He drops EPP Lukey and friends to clear Emperor and friends. He clears some, but not all. Lukey stays. I DB transit Vader over to say hi. Obsession. Focused. I throw DV’s Stick to add 1 to each. He Glances. I had tracked and I win the duel. I wind up winning by one card. (4, +5)
Game #4 -- My Throne Room vs. Big Blue
Ouch, I thought as I heard my name paired with Brad Kippel. I know what he’s playing because we drove together and it’s gonna be Big Blue. Standard stuff. I get DBs, get peeps down to generate. I drop LS, JK with stick and Obi w/Saber to start draining at DBs. He U3P0s. I Sorry About the Mess him and continue Draining. I take out some peeps at the DS:DB 327 but he loses no force because of SYCFA. I also drop Tycho and Falcon at Death Star:DB and have Leia, Wedge and Han jump in. I go up to the system and proceed to drain for 3 all game there. Brad had a problem finding Imperial Commands and I tied them down fast. I couldn’t compete in space though. Admiral Force Drain (Chiranu) was kicking my butt and I dropped Liberty with a Mon Cal to stop drains for 2 turns. In the end, he drained me out and won by 8. (4, -3)
Pizza came. Papa John’s. I hadn’t ordered with them, so I bought 2 pieces off of one guy. Pete ate a whole pie by himself. I talked with Mike D’Amboise and Dan Sokol and wanted to order some more pizza. Papa John’s wouldn’t deliver anymore because of the Orangemen game. @$$es. Anyway, we continued.
Game #5 -- My Hunt Down vs. TIGIH
Revenge! I was paired with Brad again. I kinda felt bad because we had played this matchup twice the night before . . . :) Anyway, I proceeded to do what HD does best -- drain, duel and S+D/Visage damage. He TTed Visage twice during the game, but I pulled off a duel with Ben and won. I continued to wear him down by draining at some of his sites. It was close, but I made sure I didn’t lose too many battles and I won by 7. (6, +4)
Game #6 -- My Throne Room vs. ISB
Next game was against Kim, who also was eating her lunch during the game. Chinese food. Mmm. Reminded me of the fact that Papa John’s wouldn’t deliver anymore. D’oh. Anyway, ISB on Hoth with walkers, sunsdown, Ice Storm, etc. The works. I drain at DBs. I drop Kessel and Home One. She drops the Spaceport DB and that annoying Spy Droid (5d6(?)). I keep searching for DBs until I notice that Lt. Blount is in my force pile. I draw up until I get him. I then drop Blount, Lukey JK and 2 EPPs to hold off a possible Vader/Tarkin beat down. I play them at the Imperial Square on Coruscant to Flip Empire’s Sinister Agents. I drain there, Kessel and Hoth (with Super Falcon). She Drops an Outer Rim, undercovers him and plays Nevar Yalnal. I sense it ;) I Sorry about the Mess him. I keep draining. She drops another Outer Rim and Nevar Yalnal’s AGAIN. I stare at my cards and think, ’oh crap.’ It works, Blount eats it and she flips. She holds out and wins by 2. (6, +2).
Game #7 -- My HD vs. EBO
I played Brett Kingery. Standard Ishi Tib EBO. I flip, he puts out EBO. I try to tackle him in Space, I eat it to Spiral (wow, I am an idiot). I drain and he plays Obi at the North Ridge to make me flip. I pick up Vader to chase Obi to duel him. He Out of Commissions. He had done this 5 times already and missed Vader every time, even when it was a 1 in 3 chance. Now in a 1 in 25 chance, he gets him. I am stuck. I drain, but get drained out. I lose by 4. (6, -2)
Game #8 -- My Throne Room vs. RalOps
I take Ral Ops head on. I drop mad combo characters (like Farm Boy and Wedge, RSL with Han and Leia) and try to prevent him from flipping. He slows down, but flips. I drop Kessel with Super Home One and move Leia and Han to the DB and move Super Falcon to Raltiir system. I keep making him flip back and he keeps flipping. I teched him by stealing Vader’s Stick and preventing EPP Vader from hitting after Vader was forfeited. It didn’t matter. Battle damage killed me and I lost, yet another good game. (6, -13)
Congratulations to all who played and to Team Albany (Team Twigg) who placed 1st and 3rd (Brian Twigg won and Chris Twigg was 3rd by one differential). Great job. Thanks guys for making my first Team Albany tourney trip a great one.
What I learned:
8 game tourneys are tiring!
8 game tourney reports are equally tiring!
The Spaghetti Warehouse has some nice looking women working there. They tend to laugh at dumb jokes, too.
Don’t order Papa John’s -- Brad K. and Grand Admiral Scrub got sick from it.
Pete Srodoski can eat a whole pie of Papa John’s and not get sick, while one of us eats 3 slices and gets extremely sick.
Random Prizes rule!!! I have an autographed pic of Mara Jade. She is so hot ;)
Anyway, thanks for reading my report. Sorry for the length, but I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did living it!