pleasanton-ca-12-16-00
Title: pleasanton-ca-12-16-00
Author: Nick "JediBrain" Stefanko
Date: Dec 17, 2000
Super Saturday returns for December, but revamped and made better! With some maneuvering by Kevin Shannon, a 6-game tournament was arranged to be held by Mike Guertin at everyone’s favorite spot: KK’s Komics Kards & Kollectibles in beautiful Pleasanton, CA. The variety of places people came from to play in the tournament reflect how KK’s has become what Neutral Ground was back in the day: a crux for Silicon Valley players. After the tournament, the party was supposed to wrap in San Jose at Comics & Fantasies, helmed by myself, but more on that later
The Tournament:
My decks:
LS - Why Ewoks Care About Hansicles v2.1 - Profit Ewoks, with monster drains
DS - The Emperor’s TIE Interceptor Hell v2.1 - BHBM TIE Interceptors
Both decks are posted here on DeckTech.
Game 1:
LS v. Michael Mendoza’s Court
He starts fast. Neither Lando, Tawss, nor Daughter Of Skywalker never hit the table, but served to shaft me destiny-wise. I also was hurting bad for sites, and vicariously through that, Force generation. When I finally did get set up, he dropped massive squads to block. I was aching for him to battle me, so Fallen Portal and Sound The Attack would pain him, but he didn’t take the bait. I lost my Order To Engage off the top early on; its lost doomed me. The blocked drains, combined with early Court damage (Jedi Luke hit Tatooine and staved off death) and Occupation ripped into me.
Result: FL -14
Standing: 0(-14)
Good Things: I did quite a bit of damage.
Bad Things: Mains I stock to combat Tatooine decks didn’t come to my aid.
Compliment of opponent: He is a pretty good player. Evidently, he played a lot a long while ago, then left the tournament scene for a bit, and has recently returned.
Game 2:
DS v. Peter Nordstrom’s EBO
As he was setting up EBO, I got some big drains set up at Kiffex, Kashyyyk, and his Hoth. Home One (and later the Independence) came down to play, but got Lateral Damaged and soon went away. I won three battles in space, despite Draw Their Fire + Frozen Assets. My Sienar retrieval kept me in the game. In the end, I turned Luke with a tracked Force Lightning (destiny 5 for those who don’t know).
Result: FW +19
Standing: 2(+5)
Good Things: The first time I turned Luke!
Bad Things: None really.
Compliment of opponent: Peter is a good player. Very paced and involved during his turns. I don’t know if it’s a psychological mind trick, or just standard demeanor; I wasn’t hazed by it ;)
Game 3:
DS v. Andrew Meewis’ Profit
He played straight Profit, using Han Solo for the 10 retrieval. Ben Kenobi came to his rescue first turn. So, while taking constant damage from Or Be Destroyed and drains (couldn’t find my Dreaded Imp Starfleet or Always Thinking With Your Stomachs), I got all 4 systems out with TIEs draining fast. Sienar got Altered twice, but thanks to Oppressive Enforcement, kept coming back. Lord Vader came down to Tatooine to cap Luke, and lived forever. Lategame, EPP Leia went missing, and damage got minimized more and more. In the end, The Emperor’s Sword and 2 Interceptors went to the D*II DB for some SFS retrieval, and then I drained him out next turn.
Result: FW +8
Standing: 4(+13)
Good Things: Fast startup.
Bad Things: No drain combatants until late.
Compliment of opponent: It was a great game; had it not been for my constant retrieval, I would have succumbed early.
Game 4:
LS v. Andrew Meewis’ MKOS Abyssins
The first Abyssin matchup of the day for me. He started Mighty Jabba, Chall Bekan, and Tatooine: Jabba’s Palace, which caught me off guard. After he showed me why he did this (I’ll let the intelligent players reading this guess what he did and those new to the game to puzzle it over)I got Bargaining Table early, and was able to save me some Force before Hutt Influence came out. Bo Shuda + Tessek ran OTE pretty much all game. We didn’t battle much, which surprised me. I had expected full-blown battling, but was spared somehow. My huge drains took their toll, and freeing Han near endgame gave my differential a large boost.
Result: FW +25
Standing: 6(+38)
Good Things: The deck worked wonderfully.
Bad Things: I didn’t pull Lando AGAIN, but fortunately didn’t have to.
Compliment of opponent: It was a great game. I found your deck to run a lot more tech than the generic MKOS Abyssins decks I’ve seen, which was refreshing to see. Take my advice on sacking Mighty Jabba for SE Jabba; your Abyssins will reap the benefits.
Game 5:
DS v. Alfred Dong’s HB fakeout mains
Alfred cuts my deck 6 times, then tops it off by cutting the bottom card to the top. That card: Emperor Palpatine. Great So, that and a hand of interrupts gives me a rather slow start. He sets up EPP Obi at the CC: Lower Corridor. Mara comes down and makes him go away, dying along with him. Obi returns next turn, and meets Lord Vader. Vader later loses ground, so he’s secured a drain of 2 for the rest of the game. Everything red I played got either Sensed or Altered, which hurt. Later on, I got to see his remaining cards in deck (about 7 or so), and they were ALL Senses. Home One and the Falcon got Lateral Damaged a few times, which helped me win battles. By the end of the game, I had about 7 cards stacked on Insignificant Rebellion. I finally did get SFS out without it falling to an Alter, and retrieved a good amount to keep me alive a few more turns. The final hurrah was a battle at Kiffex I initiated with 2 Interceptors w/o All Power To Weapons vs. a Lateral Damaged Home One packing a few pilots (including Jedi Luke). He had to stack one, but I had to lose 1 TIE. Next turn, he Alters Lateral Damage, then battles the lone TIE.
Result: FL -8
Standing: 6(+30)
Good Things: A good game.
Bad Things: I wish I hadn’t cut the SAC out of my deck.
Compliment of opponent: It had been a while since I had played you last, and as they’d been before, another great game.
Game 6:
LS v. Dan Mochizuki playing Kevin Shannon’s MKOS Abyssins
I start as normal, he starts standard v. Profit. I got some bit drains set up early, which got rid of some good cards. Unfortunately, Lando chose not to show up once again, which is insanely irritating. OTE came out when Bo Shuda + Tessek hit table, but Bubo soon put an end to that. Occupation and Mosep combined to knock Force away from me fast. The Abyssins didn’t do much attacking on Endor (hehehehehe), thereby keeping him retrieval rather low. He had to Abyssin Ornament to retrieve 5 halfway through the game. Lategame, Jedi Luke and DOS invaded Tatooine on separate turns, but fell to the crushing might of those annoying Abyssins.
Result: FL -10
Standing: 6(+20)
Good Things: I got the AC set up just as if it hadn’t been converted first turn.
Bad Things: No early mains.
Compliment of opponent: Dan is a great player, and played Kevin’s deck well, and most likely would have thwocked (a word of my own invention; my definition: whipped, creamed, pureed, and beat black-and-blue until devoid of life) me by a lot more if he had been playing his ISB deck.
Out of 16 people (I think; cannot remember exact #), Alfred Dong went undefeated for 1st, and I ended 7th. Prizes sucked; I got 1 pack of Death Star II, and pulled a Bring Him Before Me (lucky me ) I bought the Celts starter deck for the new Age Of Empires CCG, which looks quite interesting, and KK’s is the only store I’ve seen it sold in. I was talking with the store employee on duty, and he told me how KK’s was the only local carrier he’d seen, and that the store had already sold 2 boxes’ worth of booster packs, and almost 3 boxes’ worth of starter decks. It looks like a fun game; if you’re interested in more information, D-mail me, and I’ll e-mail you some links.
Anyway, people are talking about how San Jose is too far for them the drive to, then back home, so after game 5, I make some calls and get my tournament in SJ cancelled so I can hold it at KK’s instead. This change got me a sanctioned tournament with 9 players. Paul Feldman ran the gauntlet and went undefeated. Since I didn’t charge an entry fee, and everyone wasn’t pro-prizes after paying for the last tournament.
All in all, I had fun, and that’s what counts and matters most.