surprise-phoenix-az-1-6-01
Title: surprise-phoenix-az-1-6-01
Author: Steve "BlackViper" Marshall
Date: Jan 6, 2001
LS - EBO using X-Wing swarms
DS - BHBM with untested Tech
GAME 1: LS vs. Scot Vales Traditional Asteroids (no SYCFA)
I soon realize that my deck is missing All Wings and Rebel Fleet. Um, yeah. This could be bad. I set up EBO on turn 4 and cautiously went to space. He had some asteroids around Wakeelmui and was draining at the Big One for 3 a turn. I ate the drain and managed to draw my Tantive. I also had 3 X-Wings in hand. Talking about Luke and all sorts of new strategies before the tournament, I pumped myself up and was feeling @#$%y as ever, so I revealed the Tantive to him. "That TIE is going away next turn!" He backed it up with the Avenger - sure. Why not. I dropped 2 X-Wings at Hoth and Tantive and the other xwing to wakeelmui to make his TIEs deploy lots. Since he’s deploying systems for me, I use A New Secret Base to grab a system and lose it to get 3 TIEs with Organized Attack. He drops an asteroid field at Hoth and drops a TIE there, cancelling my drain. I don’t like that very much, so I move to Kashyyyk. I eventually get Menace Fades down with Obi and Jedi Luke on the ground at Hoth, reducing every drain he has on the table to, say... zero. After that, the game is mine. Now I’m draining for LOTS against his drain of 1. On top of that, he forgot to cancel my drains a couple times.
FW by 16
2 (+16)
The Good - I won without All Wings or Rebel Fleet. That’s just cool.
The Bad - I didn’t like eating the drain of 3 twice.
The Ugly - Remember the drain of 1? I ended the game with 3 X-Wings against his lone TIE. Yeah, that was pretty much game.
GAME 2: DS vs. Patrick Hug’s beast of a Profit deck
Okay, this is gonna get ugly. The closest that I’ve ever come to beating this deck was the time I only lost by 15. I started Secret Plans so he can’t retrieve when he rescues Han. Not that he cares about retrieval, but just to stop him anyway. I also started Mighty Jabba and Mara. Problem #1 - Mara’s saber isn’t in the reserve deck after activating only 5 Force. That’s bad for me. I drop Palpy and Janus to the DS2 DB and pray he doesn’t kill my guys for another turn as I draw Vader. Well, Master Luke and EPP Leia pay a visit, Someone Who Loves You frees EPP Han, and he initiates. I was lucky that Master Luke failed to bounce Jabba, but Mara got hit by a blaster. When the battlefield cleared, Luke was gone, and I suddenly had 12 cards in my lost pile. Keep in mind - this is TURN ONE. I know the deck is Speed Profit, but still! That’s the quickest I’ve ever seen a beatdown army of that magnitude drop down. And the game went from there. He plays Out Of Commission (the card that I KNOW will kill me, just from past experience) and gets... Search And Destroy. That could have been a LOT worse, considering Palpy and Vader were in there.
I dropped Vader at the CC: Docking Bay, and he gave me Luke. I drained and used Rise My Friend to get rid of Luke and flip my objective. I dropped Vader again, forcing him to waste turns to pay 8 for Luke again and again. With my early losses, though, I couldn’t keep up. He was giving me a Direct Damage of 1 at the Audience Chamber along with the drain, and I was only giving the drain. I also ran out of Rise My Friend over time. I decided to duel Luke, so I left Tarkin at the CC:DB and dropped Fett in space to satisfy Battle Order (and Battle Plan - he didn’t have any ways of getting his cards back into his deck, so he was toying with me instead) and brought Luke to the Emperor. I knew Ben hadn’t hit the table yet, but he doesn’t play any other Kenobi, and his other mains (except Chewie, but I don’t think he’s in the deck) were all accounted for. I would have felt better if I knew where Moment was, but it didn’t matter anymore. I dueled Luke, letting Luke win. I failed to turn him. After all, I didn’t have any cards in my deck. Even though he beat me in the duel 11 - 0, he decided to play Courage Of A Skywalker anyway. GRRR! When I started to duel, he spread his forces out for a huge Direct Damage and Drain, and there was no way I could keep up. I won a duel or 2 before he delivered a horrible, horrible death.
FL by 26
2 (-10)
The Good - At least I knew what he was playing, so I didn’t fear putting a lone scrub in space for Battle Order.
The Bad - How about that 1st turn destruction?
The Ugly - Okay, here’s the secret to Pat’s deck. Since he only plays Ben Kenobi, Monnok hurts. When he had 12 cards in hand, I used it. I got a couple interrupts, but no Ben. Not a single copy. That sucked. I also pack Bith Shuffle SPECIFICALLY for him since he tracks like a beast. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it all game. It didn’t matter, all of his cards turned out to be 5 anyway. I also couldn’t find ANY ability characters other than Janus and Vader all game. Wow, that’s a lot of Ugly!
Okay, in all seriousness, Pat is fun to play. He’s a nice guy who I feel comfortable joking around with. I hope you realize that, Pat! I may have lost by leaps and bounds, but it was a fun game. That’s what it’s all about.
So I’m not feeling quite as hyped up as I was before that match, but no matter! I’m still gonna beat everyone else up. ;-)
GAME 3: LS vs. Stephen Nobles MKOS Gamorreans
Yes, I said Gamorreans. Ortug is his rep. I helped Scot Vales playtest this deck, and I have yet to lose to it. It’s still in the testing phase and technically isn’t ready competitively, so give credit where credit is due. I also remembered to put All Wings and Rebel Fleet back in this time, as I kinda like playing with 60 useful cards in a deck. I used The Signal for Menace Fades 1st turn, because I happen to know it is the single card that rips the deck a new one. I set up EBO quickly with Figrin, Blount, and an X-wing at the Docking Bay (which was in my starting hand). I dropped Projection at his sites with LS icons, knowing that his 0 icon sites would be a waste of the card. I’m working on my in-game patience - good for me! I held Menace Fades with Jedi Luke on Marker 4. He tried to kill him, but he failed the first attempt and lost Garindan. On my next deploy phase, he realizes that my attrition is reduced by 2 and tries to put Garindan back. Um, I don’t think so. Maybe next time you’ll read your own cards. His second attempt managed to kill Luke at the cost of Enhanced Dengar. I dropped down EPP Obi with a Houjix in my hand just to keep his drains under control another turn. He killed Obi with a vengeance (I drew a 1 and 2 for the swing) and drew a 4 for destiny, taking out another character. I kept his drains at 2 a turn to my 13, and you just can’t keep that up. Next turn, I lost a Figrin wager (with a 1, 1, and 2!), retrieved with All Wings, and I drained him out. He didn’t get any big numbers on me.
FW by 20
4 (+10)
The Good - I played incredibly well this game, I thought. My patience and logic with Projection worked well.
The Bad - I lost my own wager twice!
The Ugly - Okay, here’s the deal. If you remember your own card’s game text 4 phases and 1 turn later, you can NOT have it back anymore! He works at the place we were playing at, and he kept leaving to help customers. The game actually lasted nearly 100 minutes as the TD (rightfully so) stopped our game time while Stephen was working.
GAME 4: DS vs. Stephen Nobles um, EBO? I think?
I am a genius. I tested this deck heavily against EBO to the point where I could actually win consistantly. I know how to beat this deck now. I started Imp Decree and knew I had to rely on his 4th and 1st markers instead of my own Docking Bays. He set up EBO quickly and took everyone to the Hoth system. Soon after, I had Palpy and Janus at the Throne Room with Presence Of The Force. EPP Vader and Tarkin took to the 4th marker, and Mighty Jabba and 4-LOM w/ canceller controlled the CC:DB. That’s the tightest Search And Destroy I have ever set up (or even seen) in my entire life. After 4 turns, neither of us had done any damage whatsoever (only lost cards were Signal and Prep Defenses), so this evened it out. It also took me 2 turns to get my DS2:DB since it was activated turn 1.
It turns out he didn’t like that very much, so he sent EPP Obi and EPP Luke to Jabba and 4-LOM and battles. Then he takes it back, goes back to his deploy phase, gives Obi a Stun Blaster, and returns to his battle phase (which he tries to initiate for free). He shoots the stun blaster at Jabba to take away my destiny draws. He makes it - Jabba goes to my hand, battle over. He was expecting Luke and Obi to slaughter 4-LOM. "JUDGE!" When all presence is gone, battle over. Period. He then decides that he still gets to finish his weapons segment. "JUDGE!" When all presence is gone, battle over. Period. No, you don’t get your weapons. Period. No, you can’t redo the entire battle phase over again. Battle over. Period.
Well, that went over like a snoball in hell. He was upset. No, I mean it - he was REALLY UPSET. Next turn I drain, drop Jabba and Mara, and battle again. I cancel Luke’s game text, and he uses Obi’s lightsaber instead of the stun blaster, even though he can afford it. He forfeits the game before the battle ends.
Okay, here’s the real deal. Imp Decree would have worked next turn, as Mara and Davod Jon would have gone to the 1st marker with Vader/Tarkin at the 4th. I was going to draw 3 or 4 destinies everywhere on the table, and I had the Executor and Fett in Slave1 (and was generating the Force to afford them both) to take out his loosely scattered fleet. All that said, he would NOT have lost that battle that badly. Obi and Luke would have died, and maybe a couple more cards. MAYBE. But the forfeit is not the part I have a problem with. I’ll always take the points, even though I was only going to win by about 20 anyway.
He stands up and starts swearing up a storm. He’s swearing at me because he didn’t know the rules. Now comes the bad part. I am holding a YJ tournament after this SW tournament, and 3 NEW players are sitting behind him. So now, he’s giving this crap as a 1st impression to a 9 year old, a 14 year old, and their dad. All of this, I’m sure is going on my reputation since they contacted me personally for this event. We even exchanged several friendly emails back and forth beforehand, and I made sure to represent the Phoenix area as being friendly. Dude, this is just bad sportsmanship. I realize you’re frustrated with how everything went, but keep it under control. These are kids. Young kids. You’re an adult. Is this what you would want YOUR kids exposed to?
FW by 35 (forfeit)
6 (+45)
The Good - Search And Destroy, baby!
The Bad - Eating the drain at the Hoth system a couple times
The Ugly - Don’t get me wrong! I’ll take the points, but this isn’t the way I want to win.
So even though my tournament ends on a bad note, I take 2nd place overall. I don’t have a big problem with minor language, but don’t take my reputation into your own hands and stomp it into the ground like that. You work here - you can’t be saying that anyway. In my prize support of Special Edition, 2 Cloud City (and the traditional Pez dispenser), I pulled Umpass-Stay, Forced Landing, and Boba Fett. I have pulled Fett at Scot’s last 2 tournaments now. I could get used to this! Here are your final standings:
1st: Patrick Hug @ 8 (+73)
2nd: Steve Marshall @ 6 (+45)
3rd: Scot Vales @ 4(+25)
4th: Chris Shaner
5th: Justin Beal (Happy Birthday)
Props:
* Aosis for hosting us
* Pony for making me a little less confused about the schedule
* Scot for running a great tournament
* Pat for being cool
* Justin Beal for coming all the way from Tucson to get us sanctioned
Slops:
* First off, to me for forgetting my cards!
* Me for leaving my trades at home
* Pat for beating me so badly on turn 1! Ouch!
* Jared for choosing sleep over StarWars
* No, I’m not going to put it here. It’s not even worth it.
Thanks for reading! Scot had me report the results, and I have already posted to Decipher. The ratings should be updated soon. Make sure you check out the new Year-To-Date ratings!
-Steve