parker-co-12-23-00-the-next-chapter

Title: parker-co-12-23-00-the-next-chapter
Author: Brian "HuntaWarya" Hunter
Date: Dec 24, 2000

After having not played much Star Wars for a little while, I decide to go for some intensive playtesting on Friday night, to make up for not having played a single game in over a week. So Mike and I play about 7 games, and feel like we are ready. I sleep about 45 minutes, so I’m good to go on Saturday morning. The "Littleton crew" will just be the two of us today. Turnout is pretty high today, we have 24 players.

decks:
I am using Hidden Mains done RIGHT, and my version of Scum 2k.
Mike is using Hidden Mains also, and dueling Hunt Down.


Game One: Hidden Mains done RIGHT vs. Jordan Duffy
Jordan brings out Court of the vile Gangster on me. And as one of his 3 effects, he chooses All Wrapped Up. I might have considered starting YISYW, to get Honor, so that I could set up slow, and arrive when ready, but he also started no escape, so...We each lose a force to his objective on our respective first turns. He gets JP in opening draw, and uses it to get the lower passage. He then deploys en masse to the audience chamber on his second turn, and on my second turn, I bring Jedi Luke to the Great Pit, holding anakin’s saber, and walk him over to the Palace. Dengar and 4-Lom show up, and they are joined by a character or two from the audience chamber. Luke gets backed up by Ben kenobi and KFC, and the fun begins. the initial battles go poorly for Jordan, and I chase him into the audience chamber. Since Ben has revived Jedi Luke a time or two, the lightsaber is long gone. So I use Epp Han and Lando w/ Axe to supply more firepower. iggy w/ riot gun joins the fray, and the combination of his weapon and the all wrapped up effect is making Ben’s text rather useless. same goes for my bacta tank. Jedi Luke gets offed for good, but i substitute epp luke. But epp luke gets captured by jodo kast, and lando gets captured by iggy. luke falls through the trap door to hang out with the rancor. some good destiny draws enable Ben and Han to free Lando, and retake control of the chamber. Luke kills the Rancor, and Home One dominates in space. Win by 28.

2: (+28) Currently 6th place.

Game Two: My Scum 2k vs. Chris Compton’s EBO
Chris is one of several players that came all the way from Thornton to play in the tourney today. My deck gets off to a ridiculously fast start in this game, and Chris’ does not. By the time EBO is set up, I already have a drain of 6 established. He has a good complement of mains in his deck, but no bargain/none shall pass keeps them from pestering me too much. Mara Jade runs in under the shield with her saber, and gets pounced on by jedi luke, wielding anakin’s lightsaber. But I use projective telepathy to cancel the battle, which will allow ME to initiate the fight on my turn, so I can retrieve with S&V. I add first strike to the equation, to up my retrieval. Luke and Jade hit each other with their respective sabers. I send up the Hound’s Tooth, Punishing One, and Mist Hunter to deal with his space fleet, and it is good enough to keep his drains to a reasonable amount while my Gailid/Mosep drain polishes him off. Win by 27.

4: (+55) Currently 3rd place.

For lunch, I once again go with pizza, and I have root beer to drink with it. Meanwhile, Mike goes to Carl’s Jr.

Game Three: My Scum 2k vs. Alex Stine’s TIGIH
Well this should be interesting. Only one imperial persona that I can capture luke with, and no vaders in my deck at all. I thought scum decks would be relatively safe to use, since TIGIH is not very popular (since it kinda sucks), but oh well, here it is. Strategy sections for any scum-based decks always say "vs. TIGIH-dont deploy mara jade no matter what" But I only slept 45 minutes, right? So I put mara jade at the endor docking bay on turn one to cancel his drain, and limit his turn one activation. Luke moves out to the docking bay and gets captured. On my next turn, jade drains for 1, grabs her saber from reserve deck, and runs into chief chirpa’s hut. I also made my initial audience chamber deployment on that turn, with S&V and Mighty Jabba, but I don’t have Gailid yet. I lose 2 to his objective. General Solo, General Madine, and another character show up to put a hurt on Jade. I lose one to DTF, and he retrieves one. I hit Solo with the saber, and the third character dies to attrition. I lose Jade plus two more, and then stack a card on Conflict. Luke has been freed, and is standing in the hut with Madine. On my next turn, I deploy Jade to the Hut and capture luke again. I follow in with ejp dengar. I put down first strike and initiate. I retrieve 4, he loses 2. Dengar caps Madine, and Alex has to lose the General plus 7 more. I lose 2 to his objective. General Solo comes off the bacta tank, and tries to lead some scouts into Jabba’s Palace, but he is not allowed to pass. I lose 2 force to Alex’s objective every turn for the rest of the game, but Jade is draining back for 2 a turn in the hut, and I am draining a few more at my own locations as well. I keep myself on the right end of the Draw Their fire/First Strike situation by barriering his characters when they come down, so that I can be the one to initiate, and retrieve 4. I also initiated a battle against JPSD Lando, attacking with just Mosep. After retrieving 4, and making him lose 2, I canceled the battle with projective telepathy. mwahaha! Steady drains plus direct damage eventually seals the deal. I win by 26.

6: (+81) Currently second place.

Game Four: Hidden Mains done RIGHT vs. Matt Riecks.
Matt starts ISB and the coruscant system. Matt has lots of experience playing ISB, so this might be a good one. Today he brings a version that uses walkers and ships, with outer rim scouts to pilot them, backed up with Lord Vaders & Mara Jade on the ground, and admirals & imperial commands in space. The deck is endor based, so the drain potential is massive, which causes me to start menace fades. Lord Vader comes to the endor docking bay on turn 2, saber at the ready. I eat that drain for a turn or two, while I wait for my hand to come together. Then he puts down the dark forest, and mara jade there. So now he has a drain of 4 going, and I have not deployed a card with ability yet. Time to do something. I put ben kenobi, with his saber, at the tatooine docking bay, and captain han on the falcon at corulag. this puts menace fades into effect, knocking his drain down to 2, while mine will be 3. Matt deploys the Executor to Corulag, but I barrier it. Captain Jonus (who is an isb agent) is piloting. I drop EPP Leia and Melas onto the falcon, and battle the executor. But since he has We’re in Attack Position Now on the table, I dont draw enough attrition to blow up the big ship. Jonus dies to cover battle damage. Matt answers with ZIMH, and a rim scout on the executor, but does not battle me. Mara Jade gets joined by a blizzard walker, and Lord vader transits over in front of Ben. At this point, Ben makes some comment about how somebody had better call his momma, to come pick him up, cuz he’s bout to KILL somebody up in here! I deploy the bacta tank, and then put epp luke alongside Ben, and Kalfal. I initiate, and swipe vader’s glowstick with weapon levitation. Luke misses with his saber, but Ben does not. I draw a 5 for battle destiny, and KFC reduces Matt’s destiny to zero. Matt forfeits Lord Vader and has to lose 9 more. I leave the falcon sitting in front of the executor and the mist hunter. Matt is sick of my falcon, so here he comes. Piett joins the rim scout on the executor, and matt also puts a rim scout on the mist hunter. He then deploys Bossk in Hound’s Tooth, and battles me. He has 31 power to my 8. I grit my teeth, play Punch It, and wait to see if he has an Imperial Command in his hand or not. He does not. Matt draws two destiny, which total 10, giving him 41 power. I draw 5 destiny, totalling 23, which gives me 31 power. I lose by 10, forfeiting leia to the bacta tank, and tossing melas into the lost pile. the 23 attrition drops the Executor, and both of its pilots (total forfeit=24), leaving ZIMH (with a rim scout piloting), and bossk in hounds tooth, against capn han on the falcon. On my turn, I bring Leia back from the tank, put Blount on the falcon, and battle. I draw a 6 and a 5 for my two destiny, which is enough to finally clear Matt off the system. I invade Endor to chase down Mara Jade, who would eventually become the victim of a Fallen Portal. the Bacta Tank + my retrieval, allow me to outlast his forces, and I win by 21.

8: (+102) I finally slide into the lead.

Game Five: Hidden Mains done RIGHT vs. William Diniega
William is one of two players that actually came from Hawaii to play in the tourney today. He is using SYCFA, but his starting effects have me confused, and I cannot tell for sure what he is playing. His effects are not conducive to Scum 2k or Prodigy, nor would they be good for a SYCFA manipulator. So this is either a tie swarm deck, or a flipping version. I decide it must be the first one, and play accordingly. He gets the Emperor down at the ds docking bay on turn one. within a turn or two, I put Jedi Luke at the home one docking bay, with anakin’s lightsaber. I deploy order to engage, and transit in front of the Emperor. William deploys Sullust, and a mass of ships that I would not want to tangle with. He loses 3 to OTE, rather than battling Luke. On my turn, I battle the Emperor and kill him. the drain is 2 to 2. Then I deploy EPP obi-wan to the CC docking bay, to get a 3-2 ratio going. I also deploy the Spiral to a vacant system (Kiffex), and I put on Blount, Kalfal, and Melas as the 3 pilots. On his turn, he deploys a dreadnought, two interceptors, and the DEATH STAR ASSAULT SQUADRON to Kiffex. He plays All power to Weapons, and the battle damage is SO bad that I lose KFC for 5, melas for 4, blount for 6, the spiral for 7, and then lose 5 or 6 more cards for battle damage. So now he has Sullust and Kiffex, and is draining 4 to my 3, after just delivering me that severe battle damage. I am way behind, so I start using my on/off the edge to stay in the game. I have to track an on the edge, and an off the edge, and two 6’s to use with them, but I manage to maintain my focus, and get the loop going. He drains four every turn, and I retrieve 5 every turn. I drain back for three every turn. Then he spreads out to a 3rd system, so he can drain 6 a turn. I decide that there will never be a good opening for my falcon, so I go ahead and deploy it. The super falcon takes down 3 bounty hunter ships in the first battle, but the ties are immune. Battle damage is bad enough that I have to lose han to the tank, and lose leia to the lost pile. He drains me for 6 again, and breaks the retrieval loop. I bring Han back from the tank, and put him back on the falcon. I deploy the second epp leia from hand, and the struggle continues. William plays All Power to Weapons in every single battle. A total of SEVEN times. Leia hops in and out of the tank repeatedly to soak the battle damage, and I use a few last ditch edge cards to give me enough force to bring Leia back, redeploy her, and also put out Home One, which finally becomes too much for him to handle. Faced with OTE death, or death in battle, he chooses the latter. win by 22

10: (+124)

Game Six: My Scum 2k vs. Chris Fanchi
Chris is playing Agents in the Court. He gets Bo shuda to the chamber from reserve deck, and of course started Uh-Oh, so it cannot be canceled. I deploy JP, and use bane malar at the trade route so I can deploy my palace locations from reserve. he puts an alien in the chamber to put bo shuda into effect, but I deploy bubo and eat the alien. I then take over the chamber with Jabba, Ephant Mon, epp fett, and gailid. Meanwhile, chris takes over space. He uses squadron assignments to get the farmboy on R2 in Red 5. And that ship (armed with an x-wing cannon), takes over the death star. Additionally, wedge in red squadron 1 takes over another system, with Hobbie as his destiny cancelling wingman. Wedge is also armed with an x-wing cannon, so there is nothing that the Mist Hunter and Punishing One I am holding can do about it. I put mara jade down at the trade route, with her saber, while bane moves over to Jabba’s Palace. I eventually spread out to the other 2 sites as well, and I am draining him for 10 a turn on the ground, while he drains me for 4 a turn in space. The game is very non-interactive, and uneventful. My grip on the ground sites is so airtight that he never even gets his foot in the door. I use a little bit of S&V/First Strike/Projective telepathy chicanery in space to get a few cards back, and use a ghhhk to survive the counterstrike. He is unable to challenge me on the ground, and the drain just eats him alive. Win by 17.

I finish at 12: (+141)

Joe Helfrich manages to place second. Mike had a nightmarish day, and finished at 3-3. But he pulled a Dark Lord of the sith out of his special edition packs, so he was still happy. I did not open my SE packs, nor my cc packs. But I did open a couple of DSII packs, and yep, you guessed it, nothing but Admirals orders. Approximately 85% of the dsII packs I open contain an Admirals order. But anyway.....



Props:
To Mike, for driving.
To the pizza, for never disappointing.
To all the people who come in from out of state to play in the Parker tournaments: It’s different people from different states all the time, but they sure keep things interesting.
To me, for only using the "somebody better call my momma" phrase ONCE this time. :)
To Alex, for starting Draw their Fire against me. heh-heh.
To Projective Telepathy, for being so annoying. :)
To Mara Jade, for having the guts to capture Jedi Luke against TIGIH, even though she is not supposed to.
To None Shall Pass, for being so annoying. :)
To William, for playing APTW against me SEVEN times in the same game, even though there are only 5 in his deck.
To Bubo, for making Bo shuda so useless.


Slops:
To the Rancor, for thinking he could eat luke. Didn’t the Rancor ever see Return of the Jedi? :)
To Vader, for not calling Ben Kenobi’s momma.
To Matt’s deck, for not giving him an Imperial command when he desperately needed one.
To me, for not playing the f&^%@ng grabber in my deck today, with which I could have stopped the APTW madness.

Happy Holidays everyone. See you next time.

Brian Hunter