phoenix-grand-slam-mega-weekend-day-two
Title: phoenix-grand-slam-mega-weekend-day-two
Author: Brian "HuntaWarya" Hunter
Date: Nov 7, 2000
Saturday-Day Two.
After one hour of sleep on Thursday night, and 4 hours of sleep Friday night, I am not feeling too good. We arrive, and I start to work on my decklists. The words I am writing down all start to look alike, and I can’t really see too well, since my eyes keep watering up, and then closing. Considering how difficult it was to see what I was writing, I probably should have double-checked the lists a time or two, to ensure that they were accurate. However, I was too tired to think of that at the time. After finishing the decklists, I rub my eyes, and walk around for awhile, to try and wake myself up a bit. Mike gets the tournament started pretty close to on-time again, just like the night before.
Game 1: EBO vs. Casey Barson’s Bunker Deck
I am not sure how many differences there are between this deck and the original Raveling version. But I never thought the Bunker deck was much good. Casey’s rating is 1777, and he plays a pretty solid game. He uses IAO to get out the exec. db and the dsII db, and controls them both, to get big activation off mob. points, without giving up a single icon. I start setting up my ebo, and he puts out an endor site to drain at, with arden there, and someone in the bunker to get perimeter patrol going. I put projection on his site to eliminate that drain. He gets another site out to drain at, but rebel fleet is keeping things under control. I start to get some ships up to systems, while he deploys guys to the 4th marker, and marches some of them to the MPG. He controls those 2 locations, but does not have decree down, so the drains at the systems are hurting him pretty bad. I utilize Arcona/OTE under the shield to make him lose some force. He comes to space for a while, but that doesn’t work out at all. So he deploys more stuff to the north ridge, and ultimately occupies all 5 hoth sites and CANCELS MY EBO. I put jedi luke on endor, and lose 1 to perimeter patrol. But the only ds character there is mosep, and order to engage is on table...My drains in space are far less potent with ebo cancelled, but they are still enough to get me the "W". Full win by 26.
2: (+26)
Game 2:My Kind of Scum vs. Aaron Hanten’s Asteroid Sanctuary
Aaron’s rating is a bit better than Casey’s. He has 1821. When he starts Anoat, I can be pretty sure this is an asteroid sanctuary deck. And I have never lost a game to asteroid sanctuary. However, I usually beat the deck using alters, imperial decree, or both. Neither of those are in my Abyssin deck, so this is not good. My lack of concentration, due to sleep deprivation, makes its first appearance in this game, as I forget to start well guarded. I set up a drain in the audience chamber, with Jabba and Gailid and friends, but he drops an undercover bothan to block it. So I deploy ig-88 with riot gun there and wait for my next turn. On my turn, I play the sniper. But I draw Fett in Slave I for destiny, and iggy misses. My blood runs cold, because I don’t have Bubo in my hand, and if the bothan stays in the chamber for the rest of the game, it is going to make a difference of 16-20 cards. I put a character at the entrance cavern, and another at jabba’s palace, to try and do some quick damage. But he puts projection on the cavern, and puts out rebel fleet to cancel the drain at JP. So I have to deploy more aliens to those sites, to get Hutt Influence into effect. So he just deploys a second bothan, this one to JP. Meanwhile, he has deployed some asteroids to Anoat, and has an a-wing at the system. I bring zuckuss in mist hunter, but the a-wing reacts into the asteroids. Clearly, zuckuss does not wish to follow. He also deploys kiffex, and puts an a-wing there too. I deploy bossk in hound’s tooth, but get barriered. The a-wing goes into the asteroids. I control both his systems, but cannot drain there, because of the text on the asteroid sectors. He puts the big one at anoat, with another a-wing, and sets up his sanctuary. I put mara jade down at the desert heart with her lightsaber, but Aaron deploys TK-422 to block that drain as well. I keep cancelling the drain at the big one with the den of thieves, and when I lose cards to the sanctuary every turn, I make sure one is an abyssin, so I can retrieve it with my objective. I deploy search & destroy, and get the cantina out. Bubo finally makes an appearance at the desert heart, and eats TK-422. I move Bubo over to JP, and his game text prevents the bothan from running away, so Bubo eats it as well. I am now draining 8 a turn, and making him lose force to search & destroy. I am retrieving with my objective every turn. I am cancelling drains with den of thieves, and cancelling drains by putting myo on my objective. And I am using carefully tracked destiny draws to repeatedly strike his a-wings with asteroids, even though they have high maneuver. But it just isn’t good enough, and I lose by 12.
I fall to 2: (+14)
So the inevitable finally happens. for the first time since GenCon back in august, I lose a sanctioned game of STAR WARS. I turn red from embarrassment, and begin lamenting my woes to anyone close enough to hear me. Amazingly, Tim Guzman, who is playing his game right next to me, somehow refrains from telling me to shut up. After I’ve complained for a little while, I stare at the table-top and do some thinking. 6-2 is not good enough. I will have to go 7-1 to make the final. There are just TOO MANY players today. 65 or so. and 6-2 just won’t cut it. I have 6 games to go, and cannot afford to lose any of them. The loss is draining, and I nearly fall asleep, but then Mike Girard tells me I need to leave the playing area, since my game is over. One by one, people walk over to ask "Hey Hunter, you win?" and I get to watch the shock on their faces when I reply with "no".
Game 3: EBO vs. Mike Ganley’s BHBM
Mike’s deck looks to be modeled after the David Irvine "Deploy and Die" deck. Mike comes in with a rating of 1817. On his first turn, Mike activates one, and then uses Mob. Points to pull a system. He then deploys the system, along with the DSII db. At this point, I comment that I probably would have activated more than one force before deploying, if I were him. He looks at the one card in his force pile, realizing that failing to activate enough force to put the emperor at the db will cost him 3 more activation on turn 2, and in all likelihood, will also cost him his chance of beating the #1 player in the world. He gets the emperor out on the second turn, and soon has guys at his other docking bays, so he can set up search & destroy. Additionally, mara jade, saber in hand, deploys to the north ridge. But I barrier her, and she gets hit with an ice storm. After the storm dissipates, I take charge of the north ridge to satisfy S&D. I also use an undercover spy to block one of the drains at the docking bays. Meanwhile, in space, he loads up a star destroyer with biker scouts, including barich. And barich actually adds power to starships also. and since he is in battle with other bikers, his gametext works too. But barich draws low, so the Out of Nowhere forces a good amount of attrition. zuckuss in mist hunter gets hit with an x-wing cannon, and pretty soon, Mike is having to run away from me in space. which is bad, because OTE is on the table. My drains get up to 10, and that is just way too much. Full win by 21.
So I am now at 4: (+35)
Game 4: My Kind of Scum vs. Chris Shaner’s EBO x-wings.
Chris has a rating of 1884 and a deck that is very similar to my own ls ebo. I forget to start well guarded AGAIN. Worse yet, I forget to start Resistance. I deploy mosep to my audience chamber on turn one, and deploy gailid there from reserve deck. With a 2 point drain off top deck, I figure I might be able to put him away early, if I make him lose a key card to the drain, like an echo site or the ebo itself. But on his first turn, he puts a bothan spy at the AC, and goes undercover. The bothan would remain there for the remainder of the game. This gives him enough time to set up EBO before I can start draining off reserve at the adjacent sites. Chris is unable to get his other undercover spies out, and since he can’t find his x-wing cannons, my bounty hunter ships actually hold their own in space, using abyssins as passengers for forfeit. Search & destroy helps my cause, and his life force dwindles rather quickly. Chris played pretty well, and did the best he could with the cards he got, but just didn’t have the cards he needed most. Full win by 16.
I improve to 6: (+51)
Game 5: EBO vs. Eric Olson’s Tie Interceptor Swarm.
Eric’s rating is 2015, so it’s time to start paying some attention to what I’m doing. I’ve already made more mistakes in the first few games than I sometimes make in entire tournaments. I don’t particularly like to play my x-wings against interceptors. After all, the interceptors have higher power if there is an x-wing present, and the SFS cannon can be bad news for me, in the right situation. Furthermore, Eric starts Combat Response, which means I can expect to see the baron this game. Eric starts Kuat and pulls Wakeelmui with Mob. Points, for good early activation. Within a couple of turns, the Baron is aboard Saber 1 at Kiffex, with another interceptor present. If I go there to fight, I’ll be up against 10 power (more if he plays all power to weapons), two battle destiny, and then the baron will add 2 to the total battle destiny. no good. Saber 1 would continue to control Kiffex for the remainder of the game. I use rebel fleet to cancel the kiffex drain while I work on setting up ebo. He puts out SFS and retrieves his lost pile, deploying a couple more interceptors to Kiffex. I get EBO on table, and use ANSB to get my other systems, but do not deploy them. Eric puts out another system. I’m not sure which one, but it might have been Rendili. Commander Luke, carrying anakin’s saber, takes over the north ridge, backed up by a couple of scrubs. But Eric has dreaded imperial starfleet out, so my drain does not concern him. I use rebel fleet to cancel the kiffex drain for 9 consecutive turns. eric has stopped activating force at all, and has no lost pile. And then...it happens. I deploy Kashyyyk, Hoth, and Corulag. I deploy Lando in Falcon to Corulag. I deploy 2 x-wings to Kashyyyk, I deploy 4 x-wings to Corulag, and I deploy 2 x-wings to his Rendili (or whatever it was) The two x-wings at the hoth docking bay take off to the system, and lando moves to wakeelmui from corulag, bringing two of the 4 x-wings along with him. In a single turn, I establish a drain of 15 in space, and luke is still at the ridge, where he can drain for 2. The fact that I control Wakeelmui is going to make the ties difficult to deploy, and the baron has no hyperdrive to get to me. The battles get underway, but I grab his all power to weapons, while my organized attacks go through. The spiral makes an appearance, along with out of nowhere. I also use rebel barrier with OTE. The conflict is short-lived, and very ugly. Full win by 25.
I make it to 8: (+76)
I ask Kyle how he is doing. He says he is 4-1, with a diff of 77. He asks how I am doing. I say I am 4-1, with a diff of 76. Kyle just played dark. I just played light. hmmmmmm.
Game 6: My Kind of Scum vs. Kyle Craft’s Hidden Mains.
Kyle (rating: 2142) has a rather interesting deck today. Starts with hidden base, insurrection, and staging areas. His objective pulls corulag and dagobah, dagobah pulls the hut, insurrection pulls the docking bays. Good activation. then he puts some guys at his docking bays for staging areas. even MORE activation. Then, Kyle plays A WHOLE LOT of 6’s in his deck. Multiple "throw me another charge" and "fall of the legend", as well as a few Jedi Lukes. His primary use for all this high destiny:
His epps always hit everything. And when they draw destiny, it is generally high also, especially if the epps come in sets, and start adding destiny draws. He then utilizes destiny adders like Skywalkers, Gift of the Mentor, and I Know, and even plays Jedi Presence! Kyle can certainly win a game in a single battle. But his high destiny cards have other uses as well. He plays the cc db for off the edge, and plenty of mains for on the edge. He also uses fallen portal (the cheese that goes CRUNCH) and surprise assualt. I finally manage to remember to start Well Guarded this time. I start to set up in Jabba’s palace, and kyle gets some guys to his docking bays for activation. soon, orrimaarko is on Cloud city, and he can be used for either "edge" card. I dare not go fight orrimaarko. Most of my characters need to be on tatooine, I mostly use abyssins for off-world strikes. But fallen portal would surely kill off my abyssins two at a time, so that is no fun. I flip my objective, and use None shall pass/Imperial Barrier to keep the mains off of me for a bit. Since he doesn’t have order to engage, I can run around a little bit, make him chase me, so we fight on my terms. This allows me to retrieve with scum & villainy. Every time I run, he drains me, but I have the den of thieves out, so I am only losing force to the cc db drain. And my objective is helping me with that one. I use sniper and the disarmed/Dr. Evazan combo to help me kill off some mains, but they just keep coming back. I put some guys in the cantina, and the mains can’t cross the desert, so he has to put up with that one. After epp han dies, Kyle puts Captain Solo on the Falcon at Corulag, but Bossk in HT (with abyssins for forfeit) flies out to block that drain. I regenerate some abyssins when they get shot, and the secret plans helps a little against his retrieval. I barely survive his surprise assault, but the "once per game" version of abyssin ornament gets me back up to a decent amount of life force before Kyle succumbs to the cantina drain. Full win by 16.
I move up to 10: (+92)
After I finish my game with Kyle, I sit down and wait for the next round to start, and literally fall asleep. I wake up a few minutes later, and the next round will start soon thereafter. A few of my cards have gotten mixed up, and I am looking at my light side deck, trying to figure out which cards are actually supposed to be in the deck and which ones aren’t. I work on this for a minute or two, and things look pretty much accurate. But Melas is not in the deck right then, and I thought that maybe he is supposed to be. There are two transmission terminated, and I think maybe one of them is supposed to be Melas instead. I know I used two TT on Friday night, but I’m extremely fatigued and cannot remember if I took one out for Melas today or not. I leave the deck the way it was, with two TT and no melas. I check my decklist later, and that is the way the deck the deck was listed. After 6 games, Kevin Shannon is the only 6-0. I have the highest differential of the 5-1 players, so I will play him in game 7. Clint Hays and Steven Lewis are in spots 3 and 4, and are both 5-1 as well. However, when Mike pairs them in game 7, they have already played that matchup. rather than switching their allegiances, Mike Girard instead changes their opponents. So they play down to the players in the 5th and 6th spots respectively. This gives both clint and steve a shot at being 6-1 after this game. I have that shot too, if I can repeat my performance from last night, and defeat Kevin.
Game 7: EBO vs. Kevin Shannon’s My Kind of Scum w/ Abyssins
Kevin (2033) starts to set up in Jabba’s Palace, while I start to set up on hoth. Only problem is, he can drain while he sets up, and I can’t. He is very careful to keep multiple aliens at each site, so that I cannot use rebel fleet or projection to stop his drains. He twileks for scum & villainy early, and gets jabba to the chamber from reserve deck. Mosep comes down, and makes me start losing force off the top, but there is no gailid yet. I finish establishing EBO, and make the move to space. He finally gets Gailid into the chamber, and puts out the cantina with an abyssin there. And deploys Search & destroy. That is too much to bear. So I take the bait, and deploy obi-wan to the cantina. I kill the abyssin, and stop the drain there. I also satisfy S&D at the same time. On his next turn, he brings mara jade first, and I barrier. He follows her in with a horde of other aliens, and obi-wan goes down, so I start to lose force for S&D again. Obi-wan’s death also means that I have to pay to drain, because of battle order. But I make short work of Kevin’s bounty hunter ships, so he has to pay for battle order as well. Since he never gets resistance out, my drains are bigger than his, and I eventually outlast him. Full win by 15.
I make it to 12: (+107)
Well, since I just knocked off Kevin, there are no more undefeated players. Nobody is 7-0. Clint and Steven both won their games, so they are 6-1, just like Kevin and myself. It is anyone’s tournament. I will play Clint in game 8, but Steven will not play Kevin. So there may be more than 2 7-1 players at the end of the swiss style. Meaning: I have to beat Clint by a decent amount, if I want to INSURE myself a spot in the final.
Game 8: My Kind of Scum vs. Clint Hays’ Agents in the Court
Well, here it is. #1 with a rating of 2313 vs. #2, and his rating of 2166. I start the desert heart and jabba’s palace, and he puts out the Trade Route, and the entrance cavern. He also starts insurrection and staging areas. I remember to start Well Guarded again. yay! On turn one, I deploy mara jade to the trade route so I can use the text on JP. I get the entrance cavern from Reserve, and convert his entrance cavern with it. I also deploy the AC from hand, move jade to jabba’s palace, and draw. On my second turn, my focus reaches a new low, and I FORGET TO FORCE DRAIN at JP with mara jade. I’m so tired I don’t even notice for a while. when I do finally notice, I look up at Clint. He manages to keep his bemused grin subtle, and says nothing. I use Power of the Hutt to go get Hutt Influence, and notice that the lower passage is not in there. So I may not need to deploy more guys to the hutt trade route. If I don’t spend it when I pay for what I deploy this turn, I can just draw it. and that is what happens. clint, meanwhile, starts setting up speeders at his docking bays for activation, signals for maneuvering flaps, and deploys it. I put out the lower passage from hand, and deploy an abyssin to it, and flip. I get gailid out, and deploy ephant mon to the entrance cavern. Mara Jade uses the lower passage text to move there from jabba’s palace. I now have 3 sites to drain at, that none of his speeders can get to. He takes over Jabba’s Palace, but Den of Thieves takes care of the drain. He puts out the endor docking bay, and puts an ithorian on some speeders there. The den continues to cancel the drain at JP, and I use some myos to cancel drains at endor. He overtakes the Hutt Trade Route as well, along with the Desert Heart. He is draining for a decent amount now, but I am still draining for more. I get the saber on mara jade, but TK-422 blocks the drain. Bubo comes down and eats TK, then moves to the AC. Boussh replaces TK-422 at the lower passage, so Bubo moves there again. On his next turn, Clint neglects to save a force for Boussh to draw destiny, and Bubo eats her as well. The drain inside is just too much for him to handle, so I retrieve with abyssin ornament, and finish him off. Full win by 24.
I finish the swiss style at 14: (+131)
Kevin wins in game 8, and makes it to 7-1. Steven Lewis loses his last game, and drops to 6-2. Clint just lost to me, so he finishes at 6-2 as well. Kevin and I are the only 7-1 players, so the final confrontation is set. I’ve only played against Clint twice. Once was in Game 6 at GenCon, when he was 5-0. Winning that game was enough to keep him out of the final confrontation, and we both finished that tournament 5-1. I passed him in differential, but Yannick and Steven Lewis (both also 5-1) edged me out in differential. In Arizona, we once again met in the final game of the swiss. But this time when I kept him out of the final confrontation, I actually got to play in it myself. I finish the 8 games of swiss in first place. I had a win against Kevin on Friday night, and a win against him in game 7, so I am 2-0 against him, and he is hungry for revenge. I made him settle for second place on Friday, and oddly enough, we would take the top 2 spots again on Saturday. The only thing in question was: who would be made to settle for second THIS time?
Final Confrontation, Game One: My Kind of Scum vs. Kevin’s Agents in the Court with speeders.
Well, hey, I just won this matchup against Clint, right? So should be no problem, right? But then something happens. When I start the desert heart and JP, he starts the trade route and....JP. My deck is now officially doomed. I can’t get my interior sites from reserve deck, and if I try to contend with him outdoors, I will get mauled by his enormous supply of speeders. I decide this would be a good time to do some negotiating. So I ask Kevin how he wants to split the sets up between 1st and 2nd. Originally, 1st place was just going to get them all, and the second place prize was something else. But we work out a deal where second place will still get the second place prize, but also the set of Reflections foils. And 1st place will get all the other sets. With my safety net in place, I am now ready to lose to some speeders. I get the AC in opening draw, so I put Gailid in there with Mosep. He deploys some docking bays, and incom corporation, and then deploys some speeders to the tatooine sites. Early on, he deploys luke to try and kill either mosep or gailid, but luke is not allowed to pass. I reinforce the chamber, and luke does not return. Kevin has speeders all over tatooine now, and plays the T-47 formation. the den of thieves helps a little, but the pain is still pretty bad. He puts out the downtown plaza, and a couple of speeders there as well. I drop down with dengar and some abyssins, and beat the hell out of his speeders. But he survives the battle damage, and endures the drain of 2 at the plaza. He plays the T-47 formation two more times, and it is more than I can stand. So I lose by 11, I think.
Final confrontation, Game 2: EBO vs. Kevin’s Abyssins.
Well, I already won this matchup earlier in the tournament, but this time around Kevin gets the God hand. He puts out Jabba, followed by scum and villainy. Chall bekan follows, and his aliens deploy for nothing. free gailid, boelo for one, free abyssins, myo for one, it’s absurd. He has control of his 3 JP battleground sites almost immediately, and flips. Within the next turn or two, the search & destroy is running, and he has resistance in effect. Too much too soon, and there is no way for me to recover. Kevin says he thinks the ebo deck will win this matchup about 6 games out of 10. I would tend to agree with him. EBO has only a slight edge over the abyssins. But in this one, well, he got the goods, and I did not. So I lose again.
I break my all-time record for worst tournament performance. For the first time EVER, I lose 3 games of STAR WARS in the same day. Kevin evens his record against me at 2-2. However, the final confrontation games don’t count for rating points, so at least I won the 2 games that DO count. Kevin also levels the weekend, at one tournament apiece. We await Sunday’s Grand Slam to see if we will have a tie-breaker in either category. The weekend isn’t going too bad so far. Since the final confrontation doesn’t count for points, I am a total of 13-1. Hunt Down is 3-0, the abyssins are 3-1, and the ebo is 7-0. For second place, I get: A dark lord of the sith t-shirt, a pack of black-border premiere, a pack of black-border new hope, a pack of cloud city, a pack of reflections, 3 packs of DS II, a pack of the fixed cards from the original OTSD, an oversized Mara Jade card signed by Shannon Baksa, an oversized Hunt Down card (that does it, I’m switching back from abyssins to Hunt Down on Day 3), a card-carrying box, and a little "grab bag" of cards, which includes only a couple of rares, like 8d8 and Strikeforce. However, due to the safety net, I also get the complete set of Reflections foils.
So far on the weekend, I’ve got a 1st place, and a 2nd place
So far on the weekend, Kev has a 2nd place, and a 1st place
What will happen on Day 3? Will either of us make the final of the grand slam? Neither? Both? Stay tuned. :)
Day 2 Props:
To Kevin Shannon, for winning a set of everything but Reflections.
To Steven and Clint, for actually playing in all the games of the tournament this time.
To Mike Girard, for running another tournament with high participation, and no major problems.
To Aaron Hanten, for being the only scrub on Earth that I just can’t seem to get a win against.
To Mike Ganley, for the nifty hat.
To Eric Olson, for being a great guy to play STAR WARS against. He has a very pleasant demeanor.
To the OTHER female YJ player, for winning the YJ GrandSlam. Those two girls swept the weekend. Great work.
And although this is a little unrelated, props AGAIN to van, for driving to Arizona.
Day 2 slops:
To Kevin Shannon, for being the last game to finish, almost EVERY round. :)
To IG-88 with Riot Gun, for missing that Bothan Spy, and costing me 32 rating points.
And now, a couple of special ones:
To Clint Hays, for giving my tournament reports lousy reviews, and talking trash about me non-stop, saying my rating is inflated, even after I beat him at Gen Con. Clint said "Bring your a$$ to Phoenix and get f**ked up." Well, i brought my a$$ to Phoenix, and look who got f**ked up. Happy now?
To Paul "lbmyers1" Myers, for systematically going through my tournament reports, and giving them all 1 or 2 stars, for the same reason as Clint. Just because you dislike me, and just because you don’t think there is anyone who deserves a rating as high as mine, is no justification to give all those bad reviews on good reports. Paul said "as clint said, bring it to Phoenix. Make a TR for that, saying you beat clint, and I’ll be impressed" Happy now?
the TR for Day 3 is right around the corner. Until then...
Brian Hunter