minneapolis-1-13-01
Title: minneapolis-1-13-01
Author: Jim "Stimmed Jim" Li
Date: Jan 13, 2001
Decks
LS: I had been trying to find a LS deck that could beat Scum, BHBM and Hunt Down. I was playing around with the Chu x-wing deck and found it pretty good, and i was comparing it with the deck Sokol played at worlds, the x-wing package in the two decks were almost identical, the difference being about 12 cards, where the Chu deck had forest, spies and under covers, and a couple EPP mains, and the sokol deck had droids and inserts. even tho’ playing mains would be more versatile, i just couldn’t turn my eye to the quick damage and the devastating effect when combined with HB the droid insert deck offered. I figured the mains version would beat BHBM, be pretty even against Hunt Down, and would probably lose to Scum, where as the insert version would beat BHBM, still be pretty even against hunt down, and also be pretty even against Scum, but the problem is if they get YCHFE you lose the versatility you would gain with mains, but i decided to take a risk and play the insert version
DS: well i had been playing the Machine for a while, but everyone was saying how BHBM would take a hit when Ref 2 came out with do or do not/wise advice, and the new luke, i decided to change it just a little bit, adding more power in tempest one, igar, another ship, and a couple more characters, in return i took the SAC package down to 3/1, this turned out to be a mistake. also in a fit of stupidity right before the tournament started i figured since no one on LS would be playing SAC i would change my alter for alter and collateral damage.
Game 1, DS vs Josh Kohman (1969)
Kohman starts with throne room and wise, insurrection and staging areas. I start YCHFE, IAO and Mob points as usual. he got a pretty good hand, dropping a twix and Myra to his home one db, my turn i drop the empy to the D*2 db. his turn he just draws, my turn i drop Janus with Empy, Mara with Myra, get her saber, battle. He tries to fallen portal, i sense, he alters, I sense, he senses the sense, i look at the alter+collateral damage i had in my hand and crap in my pants. He draws for the sense with Myra as his only character on the table and he gets a 1, then he draws for the fallen portal and gets a 5, buby Mara. my scream of "bull@#$%" could be heard all around the room :-) I move the empy and janus over to the CC db and save a force to fake a barrier. his turn he drops EPP luke with Emperor and janus, i don’t barrier so he drops Han there too, clash of sabers Emperor, and battle janus, he hits janus, and draws a 1 and a 0 for destiny (whew), i draw a 1 so i’m down janus and 7, he loses han, one of the 7 cards i lost was CHYBC. my turn Lord Vader comes down to pick up Luke, and i sit on a drain of 1. in a couple turns i have Vader and his saber and Empy and the CC DB, and Jabba and 4lom and blizzard 2 at the Endor DB, while he has Blount and Obi w/ saber at the Throne room to take advantage of my lost CHYBC, we’re doing equal damage but he got a huge start on me early in the game. janus, being the god that he is, lets me stack some destiny so i go battle at the throne room with Iggy, capture obi with a stacked 6 and draw a stacked 6 for destiny so he loses blount and 2 and stacks 1. so now he occupies no sites except his H1 db with myra, and next turn i drop search and destroy. well his turn he drops Epp Leia and a scrub at his Obi’s hut, and then he revolves, it. then he starts moving the rest of his guys around to one of my DBs to stop the S+D damage. I battle him at a the docking bay and eventually we clear each others characters from that site, so now my S+D is canceled and i’m taking 4 damage a turn and he’s taking 2, i don’t have any more characters to battle him at the Obi’s Hut with, he wins by 2. 0(-2)
Game 2, LS vs Ken Holtman (1599)
Ken starts with Bespin system and security precautions. he doesn’t deploy any sites for a long time, so i’m content just dropping x-wings and moving them to endor, eventually i move them over to Bespin. he drops the Stalker down, and then a couple sites at bespin, and some probe droids. I’m happy he threw down some sites so that i can deploy my droids and insert. the insert pops for like 12 damage and i pop in another one. he gets out Executor and dengar at Bespin, i lose quite a few x-wings but soon i kill both of those ships, I all wings 10 force back and let my inserts kill him, won by 26. 2(+24)
Game 3, LS vs Graham Neal (1918)
well Graham has been playing my MKOS deck ever since i posted it on decktech and hasn’t lost in a tournament with it, i know he’s pretty @#$%y with that deck, he starts no bargain, power of the hutt, and oppressive/there is no try, while i start wise/do or do not, Strike planning, and YISYW. his first turn he gets out all the JP sites and jabba the hutt at the audience chamber. I get a awsome opening hand, and on my first turn I drop droid, droid, droid, and insert, my total is now 13 to his 1. my insert helps limit his activation a lot and my battle plan pretty much prevents him from draining at all. his second turn he gets out Ephant mon and Bib at Jabba’s Place and drops search and destory, but it doesn’t bother me that much because search and destroy is the ONLY damage he’s doing to me because he’s afarid to activate with an insert in his deck and therefore has no foce to pay for battle plan. i start getting x-wings at endor. the insert pops with in 3 or 4 turns and he loses 9, while i finally pull out all my systems and flip. he drops bossk at one of my systems to satisfy battle plan, hoping that all my x-wings are out on the table so he can just take the 3 from order to engage but be able to drain freely, but luckily i get 2 xwings down, and spiral as well and take out Bossk, also dropping legendary on one of the x-wings. the next turn i insert him again, he drains sporadically and keeps looking in his deck for something to shuffle the insert, but in verifying i keep seeing degar in ship in his reserve decks which relives me greatly. i think eventally he drops Fett in ship and probes kessel, which he knows to be my HB, but it doesn’t really matter, i all wings some back and he takes my drains until the insert pops which kills him, win by 18. 4(+42)
Game 4, DS vs Anthony Lawrence
Anthony is trying to get better by learning from some of the better players in the area, but he’s not quite there yet. he starts with just Rendevous point and Squassin, Insurrection, and i forget what the last effect was. well i get empy first turn and janus second turn down to CC db. then i drop lord vader with saber to endor db, and pull search and destroy from reserve, but he deploys cracken with under cover with emperor and Boussh with vader, so the only damage i was doing was with search and destroy. he piles the SE matching pilots at the Rendevous point until he draws their planets. I didn’t want to rush killing his spies until i could track the destiny, otherwise i could get unlucky and not manage to kill them. well things work out pretty well, he gets out Clakdor and Sullust, moving the pilot who adds 1 to drains at clak dor to there and about 4 ships to sullust, including gray squadron one (who’s pilot lets him add 1 to drains). well next turn i finally managed to activate to the destinies i’m tracking, so i force lighting Cracken, sniper leia and drain him for 4. i then drop bossk at sullust, he barriers but i sense, i drop a Dreadnaugt with Ozzel at his kashyyyk, and CHYBC, i then battle at Sullust, retrive the sniper, and then projective telepathy to cancel, then moving the bossk over to Kashyyyk too. so his turn he drains me for 2 at sullust, but his drain at clakdor is canceled, he gets out momaw with undercover at the emperor’s site, drops the raltiir pilot and his ship to his raltiir, and then moves his ship at clakdor over to raltiir. my turn i drain for 4 again, janus the sniper back to my hand, drop mara with saber to emperor’s site, pop some forfeit fodder on the Dreadnaught and move the dreadnaugt and bossk over to raltiir. his turn he gets out hobbie in his ship and battles me at raltiir, he gets a couple of destiny draws to power and i get 2 destinys, he doesn’t outpower me by much and i just lose ozzel, and he leaves on ship at the system. i forget that his raltiir lets him react with his ships, but oh well. I activate, sniper momaw with Mara, and battle at raltiir, getting the sniper back and ready for his next spy :-) well he reacts with the couple guys he had left which surprised me but i sense to prevent Wedge from coming over, again he out powers me gut not really by much so i lose iggy from the dreadnaught, and then move everyone back over to kashyyyk, by this time my drains on the ground and search and destroy was catching up to him and i just lose to his drains from hand to preserve the diff, win by 25. 6(+67)
at the end of my game i’m looking over to the people sitting next to us, the game was between Mike Bergum and Josh Grace, and it was coming down to an exciting finish. both had about 15 force left, but Josh had flipped his MWYHL with a 7 on test 5. Josh comes down with EPP luke on Emperor and Sim Aloo’s site, the CC db, which was PotF’d, and kills them both, and josh slaps an Advantage on Luke, while josh also had Leg. Starfighter on the Falcon at Cardia. Mike had Vader and Tarkin sitting somewhere inside on CC, and Mara with saber in his hand. The only chance Mike has to pull out this game is to slash Luke up and get rid of the Advantage. So he Twileks, gets a YCHFE, drops Mara with saber with Luke and the YCHFE, he battles, swings at Luke, draws 2 5’s (the Twilek and a Limited Resources which was a blind draw), and draws a 5 for battle destiny, so its Josh’s power 15 to Mike’s power 9, and Mara’s hit because of the destiny on JT 5. so Mike loses mara and 6, and then db transits Janus over to the CC db. now Josh saw the Limited Resources and draws up to three cards in hand, losing 2 for ability x3. Mike activates to the LR, gets it with janus, and then drains for 3 total, which Josh lost from his reserve because he didn’t want to get below 3 cards in hand. well at this point Mike Miyooms Josh, and gets EPP obi and Lando w/ ax in his hand, which brings him down to 1 card in hand, and then plays the limited resources for 4 damage, winning him the game, that was just an awsome ending to watch!
Game 5, LS vs Mike Bergum (1962)
I was pretty excited about this matchup because i’ve never played Mike before and i know he is a good player. His rating of 1962 is from about 2 years ago when 2000 ratings were still extremely rare. He starts with SYCFA and i get my ususal HB start. he’s playing a lot of monnoks but its not really a problem once i get my x-wings out. his first turn he pulls Ephant Mon and the Executor DB and get both of them out. I Organized attack and get about 5 x-wings down first turn to endor. his second turn he monnoks me lost and gets 3 xwings, and sees a droid in my hand so he knows inserts is part of my strategy. at the end of the turn i organized attack again and get out a bunch more x-wings at endor. He eventually deploys mara with PotF at the CC db and a couple random aliens at the D* DB and puts down search and destroy. i pull honor with YISYW and drop that, drop kessel, move all my ships there and flip. but he gets out the anti-numbers and it stays out so my numbers are killed for the rest of the game. he wants to probe kessel because he has a pretty good idea that that was my HB but he couldn’t avoid the barrier/beatdown that i would give out the next turn, so he drops Fett in slave 1 at his death star and waits a turn so he can give it backup before venturing out to where all the x-wings are :-) well the next turn he gets the executor out at bothuawi, probes (not it), and move the executor and fett out to yavin 4, and now his search and destroy is hitting me again. some where in between all of this i retrived 10 with all wings one turn when i had nothing else to do with the force than to pay for the secret plans. so my turn i move all my x-wings (10 of them) over to yavin 4. he tries to move his ships over to kessel, but i point out that the executor can’t make the jump, and since there were no other parsecs between 4 and 8 he couldn’t get over there, so he moves both his ships over to corulag, losing 3 to order to engage. my turn i follow him to corulag, his turn he drops bossk to kessel, probes correctly, and then moves all of his ships to yavin 4 again, losing 3. my turn 8 of my ships go to yavin 4 and 2 go to his death star. his turn he drains me at CC db but i just cancel with rebel fleet, then he moves bossk over to death star, executor over to bothuwai and fett over to corulag, again losing 3 to order to engage. my turn i drop spiral to death star and beat up on bossk for 2 overflow damage, i lose the spiral but i leg. starfighter one of the x-wings, I then move 4 of my x-wings from yavin to bothuwai, his turn he drains me for 3 total and i have no more x-wings to toss to rebel fleet so i lose the three, then he moves the executor over to death star to block the drain. my turn he has three force left, i activate s-foils (first time all game :-) deploy what x-wings i had left on rebel fleet to the death star, battle and organized attack, i ended up outpowering him by 18, which was the executor +3 force, and that ended the game, win by 13 8(+80)
Game 6, DS vs Mike Raveling (2034)
Mike always manage to make some new decks right after a new set comes out, and i believe he’s never lost a game in the tournament right after a new set comes out, but he did lose last game to Kohman, plus Raveling somehow always manage to get bad luck and make some mistakes when playing against me. He starts with the new LS objective and wise/do or do not, insurrection and staging area. i think his deck had some tatooine sites and quite a few palace raiders and transport vehicals, so he’d get 3 destinies whenever somebody battled him because of regular destiny + palace raiders + the new objective. well first turn i get Empy, Janus and Ozzel to his Cantina. His turn he gets EPP luke to cantina, melas to tatooine DB, and counting on his high destinies, battles me, he misses at empy with the chop and i just lose Ozzel to cover the attrition, while he stacks a card and loses luke. my turn i drop Lord vader at endor db and move him over to the tatooine db. his turn he drops epp luke again with the emperor and janus and battles, he swings at emperor and draws 7 total, and he draws a bd of 1, so he loses luke again and stacks one, while i’m immune. plus now he doesn’t have enough force to move melas away from vader, so my turn he loses 3 from your destiny, 3 from my drain, I janus to try to draw vader’s saber but no luck so i battle anyways, he tries to fallen portal vader but i sense, i kill melas and he has to stack a card. His turn he drops EPP Luke yet again at the cantina to try to kill empy and janus, he battles and draws 7 again for emperor :-) and he draws 5 for bd so this time he desn’t have to stack a card just lose luke, while i decide to lose Emperor. my turn i pull the other emperor from my reserve to the tatooine DB where Vader was and i move janus over, i realize i forgot to make him lost to your destiny but oh well. his turn he drops JK luke to endor db and some random smugler, and Chewie and a Palace raider to the cantina, flipping his objective. my turn mara with saber comes down to the cantina, i battle and hit chewie, and draw a pretty good destiny but he gets 2 destinies for 9 total so i lose mara and a few cards while he uses the same old ben twice to get both his guys back, pretty neat. i move my vader and blizzard 2 over to endor. his turn he drops EPP obi but i barrier him, then he moves chewie and palace raider over to tatooine DB where i had emperor and janus. my turn i drop bobba fett at endor db, iggy at tatooine DB, zuckuss and dengar to his tatooine system, and battle him at endor, i hit his little scrub smuggler and he loses everything while i lose Fett, then i battle him at tatooine db but he plays a fallen portal from his lost and trashes iggy, he draws low and i just lose janus, i’m not sure if he lost just one of both of his guys, but i move my guys from endor back over to tatooine he runs back into the cantina but i sit on my drains of 4 and soon take him out, win by 23. 10(+103)
going into the last game Kohman was the last undefeated, my diff was much higher than everyone else, Kohman was playing hunt down against ebo and managed to get his zuckuss shot down and dengar beaten on, he loses by 1, so i win the tournament. i get about 10 packs, one of which was reflections 2 and one of which was DSII, so i open those two and save the rest, i also got a EPP han foil as prize. overall it was both a happy day and a sad day, it was very cool to see some guys i hadn’t seen in quite a long time and play in a competitive tournament but it was sad to see chris quitting his gig as a Squadron memeber, i guess at least it means we’ll see him play more.
well, its 12:00 now and i have a 7:30 flight tomorrow morning to go back to pittsburgh, so i’ll cut this tournament report off now, geez i can’t believe i’ve spent like 2 hours writing this thing... hope you enjoy it.