san-jose-ca-1-13-01
Title: san-jose-ca-1-13-01
Author: Nick "JediBrain" Stefanko
Date: Jan 15, 2001
I hadn’t played since mid-December, so I was aching for some action. My tournament was scheduled for the day before my birthday, and thanks to Decipher, I could play in it, so I was super-psyched! I come home, hang out with my friend Steve, play a little Age Of Empires ECG (the next best card game to SW!), and then off we go to the cold environment around Comics & Fantasies in San Jose. They were having some antique show there, and hadn’t torn down yet, so we had to wait for 30 minutes before we could start.
The Tournament:
My decks:
LS - Why Ewoks Care About Hansicles v3.1 - Profit Ewoks, with monster drains and semi-heavy mains
DS - Cloud City In The Hands Of The Empire - TDIGWATT running AT-STs and Imperial Commands
LS v. Alfred Dong’s MKOS
I got a very slow start. He starts Mighty Jabba and Chall Bekan w/ Profit, and does the CC Engineer trick. I pull out the Endor DB, but no other sites show up for a few turns. He sets up Gailid and everyone else (I later learned he only runs 2 Abyssins!), and starts the draining. I’m able to Signal for Bo Shuda, and plant Tawss Khaa at the AC so Order To Engage starts hurting him. I had both of my EPP Obis in my opening hand, and every time he came down to play on Tatooine, he got None Shall Pass-ed. I got some drains working on Endor, but w/o retrieval from Nar Shaddaa and/or freeing Han, I couldn’t hang in there.
Result: FL -13
Standing: 0(-13)
Good Things: I whittled him down to 13.
Bad Things: I couldn’t get anything solid running, and couldn’t find my Ounee Ta for the life of me.
Compliment of opponent: Alfred is a supreme player, and is a gracious winner.
DS v. Alfred Dong’s Watch Your Step
I looked forward to playing against the new LS objective. He starts Menace Fades among his 3; this kills me. He flips quite fast, w/ Captain Han on the Falcon at Bespin and Talon Karrde + Chewie Protector at Tatooine DB. In his drains, I lost Executor, which doomed my space forces. Igar in Tempest 1 came to Tatooine DB, but bad destinies on my part and high ones on his made my guys all die and only Chewie die. Zuckuss In Hunter and Dengar In PO made Han go away, but then Dash in Outrider, ECC Lando, and ECC Chewie came in for revenge; Ghhhk helped here. I had some meager drains going, but not enough of a hurt. He made a Kessel Run lategame to retrieve 7.
Result: FL -20
Standing: 0(-33)
Good Things: It was another great game.
Bad Things: SO many mistakes on my part.
Compliment of opponent: Another great game.
LS v. Joe Canalin’s Endor Ops/Build D*II
As soon as I see his objective, I smile. I only start Uh-Oh! and Do, Or Do Not, saving Insurrection for destiny. 1st turn DOS + Spearman comes to his Endor DB. He comes and battles; DOS survives. He finishes the D*II, and moves over to Kashyyyk. A few turns later, Jedi Luke with Anakin’s Saber comes down, as does a few Ithorians and Ewoks. His next turn, I play Beggar, use all 12 of his saved Force, and Jedi Luke goes to meet Moff Jerjerrod. Mara and Iggy come to help Jerjerrod, but Mara’s Saber is nowhere to be found, a Fallen Portal smashes Jerjerrod, Mara gets sliced, and he draws a 1 for battle destiny whereas I draw a 5. Lando w/ Vibro goes to free Han. I shuffle my guys around to make for maximum damage, but leave Tawss alone at the Bunker. Joe’s last move was to battle Tawss with Xizor and a scrub, but draws low destiny, so I don’t lose too much. From there, I drain him out.
Result: FW -31
Standing: 2(-2)
Good Things: Another wonderful performance by my deck.
Bad Things: Leaving Tawss alone.
Compliment of opponent: He played very well, but just couldn’t deal with my strong ground presence. I was expecting some ATWYSs to show up and make my mains go missing, but I lucked out.
DS v. Philip Green’s HB mains
He starts DTF, DODN&WA, and Strike Planning. He gets a fast start, digging Jedi Luke and General Solo at my Port Town District. I got Chiraneau aboard Executor at Bespin, and drained for 2 there all game. As his mains took Cloud City over, I couldn’t find any characters. I finally started dropping walkers and characters, and we traded off some expensive battles at the DB and Downtown Plaza. Lategame, I finally get Dark Deal up. To end the game, having 4 cards in hand, deploy DVDLOTS and General Tagge to block his Port Town District drain. On his turn, he initiates battle. I react with Tempest Scout 6, he misses the saber swing on Vader, I Trample Han, choke Oola, play Imperial Command to add a battle destiny, and I draw high, he draws low. Next turn, I drained him out.
Result: FW +13
Standing: 4(+11)
Good Things: I finally got the deck to work (sort of).
Bad Things: I couldn’t keep his mains from invading CC.
Compliment of opponent: It was a tight, close game. I feared losing halfway through it, and was lucky to pull off the win.
So, out of 13 people, Matt Smith went undefeated for 1st, Alfred got 2nd, Nghia Nyugen came in 3rd, and I ended 6th. What I learned: Reflections II kicked my @#$% (I had none; all my opponents had the good ones), and that I still suck as a player.
C&F didn’t have any Reflections II, so after polling everyone, it was decided that this was to be a free tournament, so I kept the CC garbage for my next tournament, which will hopefully be in Pleasanton and draw a very large audience. The major highlight I had for the evening was trading for a Lord Vader FOIL.
Thanks for reading!