the-norm-report-1-6-01-st-louis-mo
Title: the-norm-report-1-6-01-st-louis-mo
Author: Norman "Norman" Horn
Date: Jan 10, 2001
Norman Horn
After lots of playtesting, toil, and sweat, I chose my decks. I decided to play BHBM and my MWYHL Test 2 deck, which is posted and is called "Cogito Ergo Supero." The BHBM deck is similar to Yannick’s and Dominic’s decks with some meta modifications. I figured that I’d like to try it out before it died after R2. The tournament was at All-American Collectibles in St. Louis, MO, at 4:30. I believe we had 14 people in attendance, five people being from my crew (that includes myself). Probably the most interesting pre-tournament happening was our conversation in the car on why Janus Greejatus is the most incredible card. We were thinking up incredibly crazy Janus slogans and all sorts of reasons Janus rocked. By the way, this was our last tournament before the release of Reflections 2. But anyway, on to the games!
Game 1: My BHBM vs. Peter’s Agents in the Court Mains
This game is the most sketchy in my mind, apologies to Peter, I’ll tell it the best I can. He reveals Shasa Tiel as his rep and starts Hutt Trade Route, Jabba’s Palace, Insurrection, Wise Advice, and Staging Areas. I start Throne Room, IAO, MP, and YCHF. In my starting hand I have a Janus, Mara, Vader’s Saber, 2 Senses, Alter, Projective Telepathy, and Battle Order. On the first turn, I deploy Rendili, the D*2 Docking Bay from reserve, and Palpatine from reserve to the Hutt Trade Route with Janus Greejatus. I pull Force Lightning. During his turn he deploys Tatooine DB and draws. Next turn I drain and make him lose a Lando with Boo-Ya Ax. I deploy Endor Docking Bay and Vader with his Saber to the Tat DB. His turn, he deploys EPP Luke to Trade Route. I barrier. He deploys Ben Kenobi and Lando with Boo-Ya Ax to the Trade Route. I tell him to pause for a second, then I decide to Force Lightning Lando. Bzzzzt! Goodbye Lando! (Lando now regrets his decision on Cloud City!) He deploys Tawss and stays. My turn, I deploy Mara to Trade Route, deploy her Saber on her, then move Vader, capturing Luke. He moves over to the Tatooine Docking Bay. After a hefty drain of 5, I deploy Sim Aloo and then move Mara and Vader to JP for more drain power. I don’t know why I didn’t move the Emperor and his crew, but oh well. He then deploys the Tatooine system with Home One and a Menace Fades. I am not happy, so Vader and Mara decide to go play with Ben at the docking bay. I also draw a card and get a Executor, so I save force. On his turn deploys EPP Han and draws a few. My turn I deploy Executor and Zuckuss in Mist Hunter to Tatooine and battle. He loses the Home One and puts a card on Insignifigant Rebellion. I move to the DB. He deploys one more guy and ends his turn. I deploy Iggy with Riot Gun and battle. He plays Fallen Portal. I Sense it. He Alters. I Sense. He Alters. I Sense. He gives up. Ouch, three cards down the drain! I miss Han with Iggy, I miss Ben, but Tawss gets whacked, and I lose Iggy because he draws a 3 for destiny. He revives Han but the rest of his people are forfeited. Now I just drain him while he’s running, and the game ends on a battle he initiates for the fun of it. Win by 21.
Score: 2(+21)
Highs: Seeing my deck work beautifully.
Lows: None.
Game 2: Cogito Ergo Supero vs. Todd Vandewalker’s Hunt Down No Dueling
I realized after this game that I picked the wrong deck. Light Side ground just stinks. He starts IAO, MP, and Secret Plans. I start Insurrection, Staging Areas, and Wise Advice. On his first turn, he deploys Palpatine and Janus to the Holotheatre. On my turn, Home One DB, Yoda, and the Hut are deployed. His turn, he draws some and ends. My turn, deploy Training Area and Cloud City DB. His turn, Vader makes his first appearance and he draws. It’s downhill from here. We basically build up our respective forces, his at the Cloud City DB, mine at the Tatooine DB. Eventually I realize I’m going to lose. He has this great big force of Vader, Tarkin, 4Lom, Iggy, Evazen, and Mara Jade. I, however, have Ben Kenobi, Jedi Luke (Ani’s Saber attached), Wedge, EPP Han, and Tawss. Even though I’ve completed Test 1, I’ve got enough stuff in my lost pile already from his quick start that I know I’m not going to last in a drain race. I also can’t get any retrieval going since Come Here You Big Coward is on the table plus Secret Plans. Since I’ve recognized my predicament, I decide to go out with a bang and battle him. I move to the CC: DB. He initiates battle, I play Fallen Portal targeting Tarkin, it completes, so he cancels the destiny. He uses Weapon Levitation on my Saber (grr ) and I try my own Weapon Levitation, forgetting that it is unique. He mentions that to me and I "grr" again. Oh well, it’s just a game. He 4Lom’s Ben’s text and misses Wedge with Iggy. He hits Han with a saber but misses Ben. I end up losing Han and Luke to attrition. My turn, I deploy a Luke w/Saber and move away. I end up deploying Ben’s Saber, a few more guys, and then moving again. He doesn’t want to Fallen Portalled away, so he ends his turn. I Clash of Sabers Vader away and battle. After intense fighting from between Luke and his future wife, Ben and Iggy, and Wedge and 4Lom, I clear the site, leaving Luke and Ben with Vader. I have to stay because he’ll force drain with the lone Vader otherwise. He deploys some scrubs to Tatooine Docking Bay and ends his turn. Vader still can’t be battled, so I stick around and hope against hope. I’m down to about 6 force, and he has 17. There’s one minute left, so I do the honorable thing and draw up so he gets the full win.
Score: 2(+4)
Highs: Clearing the site after a good battle.
Lows: Finally admitting to myself that Light side ground is trash. It just won’t work.
Game 3: Cogito Ergo Supero vs. ????? BHBM Ties
Well, at least I’ve been partially prophetic in all this. I built my MWYHL deck to work against the Hunt Downs and BHBM’s. I’ve already lost to one of those, so I’m not particularly optimistic. He starts IAO, MP, and Battle Order. I start the usual Insurrection, Staging Areas, and WA. His turn, he takes Wakeelmui and Emp’s Power before activating and then deploys the system, D*2 DB and Emperor to the DB. My turn H1 DB, Yoda’s Hut, and the Muppet himself hit the table. His turn, he deploys Sullust and a Spaceport DB to Wakeelmui. Janus and Commander Merejk are now with Palpatine. My turn, I deploy Training Area, Tatooine DB, and Daughter with JT1 to the Hut. His turn, he deploys Mara Jade and her saber to the Spaceport DB. I respond by completing JT1 and deploy Ben Kenobi, Tawss, and Jedi Luke to the Tatooine DB (well actually Luke was deployed to H1 DB and then moved, but you know what I mean). Next turn he deploys the Endor system with a Dreadnaught and four TIE Interceptors, plus a Sim Aloo to back up Mara. I deploy the Home One with Wedge and Melas to Sullust to make sure I don’t pay for Battle Order. I also deploy Ben’s Saber and OTE. I move to the Spaceport DB. It looks tempting to him, but he doesn’t buy the bait. He loses the three force and moves to Tatooine. I deploy Han and Lando with Boo-Ya Ax and follow him. He deploys Vader to capture Luke and Alters my OTE. Obviously, he’s not going to battle. He also moves over his TIE Squad to Sullust. Well, if he won’t battle me on the ground, I certainly won’t in space! My turn, I track the OTE and after shuffling all my guys around, deploy it. We play chase for one more turn, and after OTE hits the table again he decides to battle on the ground. I Fallen Portal Sim, Clash Vader, hit Mara, and make him lose the scrub he’s deployed to attrition. He loses a good number of force. I lose nothing. Basically I drain him out and retrieve enough to survive. My big mistake in this game was not remembering that he was supposed to lose force to Bring. It’s obvious I’m going to win, but when the one minute mark hits he has 5 force but he doesn’t just draw up to give me the full win. When he has two force left we time out. Timed win by 13.
Score: 3(+17) >> I think, I can’t remember what happens when you get the timed win.
Highs: Beating a deck I built my deck to beat.
Lows: Forgetting to make him lose the force to his objective.
Game 4: My BHBM vs. Dustin Horn’s EBO Ishi Tibs
Well, I guess I should have known this would happen. I have to play my brother once again. For those of you who don’t know I hate to play my brother in tournaments because I tend to win these games. I play him so much anyway that it really isn’t fair to him. Grr. I start IAO, MP, and Resistance. He starts MPG, North Ridge, and ANSB. I have no Vader in my starting hand (bummer). On my turn I deploy Rendili and the Emperor to the D*2 DB. I draw and get YCHF. Cute. His turn, he deploys a few sites and draws. He tries playing a Chimes. I sense. He alters. I sense. He alters. I sense. He gives up. I draw the destiny (ironically, it was a sense) and he loses the three cards. I deploy Janus and YCHF, move to the Endor DB, and draw. Still no Vader. He deploys Farmboy Luke to the Hoth DB and an Ishi Tib to the War Room and calls it good. During his turn I lose the YCHF to take S&D into hand. I deploy Mara and her Saber to the North Ridge, then draw, FINALLY getting a Vader. His turn, he deploys Ice Storm to the Ridge. CRUD! As I vent frustration, Mara decides to walk into a sinkhole of snow and Dustin laughs at me. Then I start laughing and now we’re actually having fun. I deploy Lord Vader and his Saber to the Cloud City DB. Then Search and Destroy comes out. His turn, he gets out EBO, then drops Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Saber to the Endor DB and battles Janus and Palpatine. He hits Janus and I lose a force AND the Search and Destroy. Good grief, this isn’t going good. He transits Luke to Big Daddy’s site and is immediately captured. I deploy Sim Aloo and another Janus to battle out Ben. This time I seize the day and beat Ben into submission, I still have to lose Sim, but that’s ok because he’s going to go rescue Mara. His turn he deploys some systems and draws a little. My turn, I drain and draw, pulling an Executor. I save the rest after that. He deploys Home One War Room with Ackbar, then Home One to Mon Calamari with Major Haash’n. Ackbar moves to the bridge. I deploy Sim and Iggy to the North Ridge for a search party. His turn, he deploys Red Leader in Red 1 to Sullust. I deploy a Dreadnaught and Dengar in Punishing One to Sullust but I don’t battle. I save my last 2 force for Barriers. His turn he deploys Independence to Mon Calamari, Gold Leader in Gold 1 to Sullust (I barrier), then he moves Home One and Independence to Sullust. I deploy the Executor to Mon Calamari where Red Leader is alone and battle, making him lose 1 more force and stacking another card on Insignifigant Rebellion. I move my two other starships to Mon Cal. He moves away. I drain for a good bit and end my turn. His turn, he deploys TK-422 to Vader’s drain-2 site. I Sniper him and drain anyway. With resistance and Battle Order, he’s paying for everything. I never rescue Mara, but I win by 23.
Score: 5(+40)
Highs: Interesting game, if anything.
Lows: Playing my brother in the final game. Not a great way to end a tournament.
Ironically enough, I still finish in third place. This might be because I was award two victory points on that timed win, but I don’t know.
The meta is still as strange as ever. Dark side was dominated by Hunt Down and BHBM, with a dash of Court, MKOS, and space. Light side was anything goes, decks included AITC Mains, MWYHL, Profit, AITC Speeders, Asteroids, Rebel Strike Team, and EBO.
I learned some good things at this tournament. I found some flaws in my MWYHL deck, for sure. Reflections 2 will make it a much better deck, so be on the lookout for it. We’ll see Corran, Chewie, and combo cards introduced, plus I have some good ideas for revamping it. Be on the lookout for "Cogito Ergo Supero Version 2!"
Thanks for reading, and God bless,
~Norman