vipers-day-1-i-10-cup-1-20-01
Title: vipers-day-1-i-10-cup-1-20-01
Author: Steve "BlackViper" Marshall
Date: Jan 24, 2001
Quote of the day: "The Force is strong with this one." (Vader’s thoughts: "It wasn’t because Luke was BETTER than me, the Force just liked Luke better. Yeah, that’s the ticket!")
So the night before this big event I grab a damn brownie with Jeff, Ryan, Greyson, Levi, and Matt. First off, we’ve got 2 waitresses (waitressi?), and the supposed trainee hasn’t looked in a mirror for a year or two, I swear! This was bad! Shouldn’t someone stop you from going out in public like that? Or from going out in public at all? Hair is all over the place, and no less than 4 full bottles of hairspray got it there. 2 gallons of mousse, and you’ve got yourself the ultimate - well, I guess you’ve got a Denny’s employee. Go figure.
This is a big weekend, and although I don’t plan on winning, I want to do well. My list of good Phoenix players I have yet to beat is slowly dwindling down. :-) In high respect to those who respect the damn brownie in all its glory, I did indeed fufill all rules in conjunction with the damn brownie. Yes, ALL the rules. Yes, that includes those extra 2. I wasn’t planning on it - it just kinda happened. btw, PROPS to Clint "Gamemaster" Hays for the discovery of such an incredible and successful ritual. Every time I need to do decently, I know I have that extra edge. Screw it all, I’m gonna win.
So now you know what goes through my head as I get @#$%y for a tournament! Isn’t that scary? I built a fairly untested Watch Your Step deck just for the event, and I’m bringing BHBM ViperTech for DS. I’ve searched my room over and under, but I can’t find my Falcons! This sucks! I stick 2 shiny Gold Squadron 1s in the deck for now, and I’m going to get a couple from Scot Vales in Casa Grande (on the way to Tucson). As it turns out, we’re going to be later than expected, and Scot’s mobile phone isn’t answering. "The person you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Please try again later." I must have heard that damn operator 50 times as I tried over and over to reach him. So we finally arrive at the coffee shop, but big shock, he left 20 minutes ago. Drat! Now I’m stuck with a couple crappy Falcons that don’t work in the deck. I’ll just have to play my I’ll Take The Leader smart to make this work. Sorry to Doug, Andy, and David for making the useless sidetrip.
We arrive at Kards 4 You as the YJ is ending. Ah, yes. I remember why I don’t play this game. Justin Beal has just won the tournament, even though he’s never played in one before. Nothing against Justin, he’s a great guy and a really good SW player, but if you have NO idea how to play a game, get a couple decks from good players, and win a tournament with them, what does that say about game strategy? It’s all in the deckbuilding. I can be the worst player in the game, copy the World’s deck, and win with it even though I don’t know what these little red dots are. I host YJ because local players want to play (and I have a set of commons decks just in case we’ve only got 7 players), but I think I’ll stick to playing SW. ;-) Target fries suck, and I apologize for ever offering Mike Girard one of them. I can’t imagine the horrors he experienced he ate that thing. That was just nasty. Anyway, on to the games! This will be part 1 of a part 2 series: Day 2 will be posted soon.
GAME 1: LS vs. Patrick Hug’s Skum Abyssians
Okay brownie, don’t fail me now. I worked really hard to finally beat Pat’s Profit deck. That’s the only win I’ve got under my belt against him. He loads up his Audience Chamber on the first turn. Fine - whatever. I don’t really care. Han and the Falcon take Tatooine on turn 1, but as Squadron Assignments searches for Han, I find no Kessel. Drat. He drops down an abyssian at the Palace for the flip, and Bib moves over to help him out. Oops for him. Jedi Luke gets the great None Shall Pass, but ECC Lando and a Raltiir Freighter Captain get through. On top of the beatings he has coming, I draw a 6 for destiny and forget to add my 2nd. Oops for me. His guys give their final farewells. He drops an Outer Rim Scout against Lando and RFC and battles, retrieves Bib, and Ghhhks the damage. DRAT! Another Outer Rim Scout joins Zuckuss and Bossk to take on Wedge and RFC in the Pulsar Skate. I die. I leave the Pulsar Skate there because I’ve got Mirax in hand, and you just never know. A couple turns later, I get to return the space hate with Dash and another RFC against Fett, this time I’ve got I’ll Take The Leader on the table. Fett goes away and takes several other cards down with him. Dash isn’t done yet. A pair of turns later, Cappy Han joins them to take on Zuckuss and Bossk. Dash takes the Bus down to power 0, and I’ll Take The Leader brings Zuckuss down to 2. I draw 3 insanely high destinies. Unfortunately for me, Bossk had taken several Abyssians as forfeit fodder. Space continued, and eventually Dash and Zuckuss were the last pilots in the sky. We continue to battle, but it turns out to be an eternal stalemate at power 6 to power 6 (I don’t get a destiny, he tracks the same damn card), and with my AO, I’m immune. Scum gave him his entire lost pile back again and again, what can ya do. He drains me out on the ground as Dash gives Zuckuss the finger. Despite the loss, this was a good, fun game.
FL by 25
0 (-25)
The Good: Very interactive, with MAJOR wins and losses to both players.
The Bad: The stalemate for supremacy in space kinda sucked. I could tell Dash was really upset about that one.
The Ugly: I hate playing Scum decks. I have never beat one, and my opponent always retrieves his entire lost pile.
Props to Opponent: Pat is always fun to play. He brings a good attitude to the game, and he has really helped me with my game recently.
GAME 2: DS vs. Doug Roan’s Bothawui
Um, WTF? Who starts this? What do I start? How do I play? I can’t decide, so I shuffle up Oppressive Enforcement, Secret Plans, and Battle Order and let him pick his own poison. Oppressive Enforcement it is - catch card fodder! A couple turns reveals his deck of Awing asteroids. I should have known. My starting hand consists of Darth Vader, Lord Vader, Tarkin, Sim, Janus, Guri, Search and Destoy, and Mara’s stick SWEET! I’m not losing this game. Props to the damn brownie gods for this one.
This was unbelievably non-interactive. I’m talking not a single battle. After I realized what he was playing and he drew at least 10 cards in his hand, I lost Monnok. Several sectors, Awings, A Few Manuevers, and Sanctuaries. Cool. That’s all I wanted to get rid of. This won me the game more than anything else. I take his Big One drain until he can’t afford to drain me anymore (Battle Order is pimp). Bossk hit Carida to fill my part of Batte Order, he couldn’t find his spies for me. Too bad - I had Nevar Yarnal in my hand just waiting! I drained him out.
FW by 18
2 (-7)
The Good: I could use a starting hand like that more often!
The Bad: No interaction at all.
The Ugly: I hated eating those Big One drains, but I don’t play Fett, so asteroids are gonna kill my slow ships quick.
Props to Opponent: Doug is a good friend who hasn’t played in a long time. It’s REALLY nice to see him in a game again. Here’s a guy who knows the game was meant for fun.
Okay, I can bounce back from this. I’ll play a scrub to bounce my rating back a bit (but not so much as to play Girard or whoever), and my last game will be against a relatively low player and catapult me into first. I can handle this!
GAME 3: LS vs. Justin Beal’s Skum Court
My starting hand includes Outrider, Dash, Falcon, Han, Wedge, I Know, Legendary Starfighter, and a Rally Cappy. SWEET! Wait, he’s playing Court, and I’ve got NO ground crew whatsoever. I deploy to his DB and fly up the first few turns to avoid the damage, but this only lasts so long. I eventually have to lose my Force. I finally draw up Jedi Luke, but he drops Bad Feeling the same turn. I’m generating 9 Force, and Luke costs me 10 now. That sucks. I knew I should have tested this deck for such flaws (everyone else deploys for 3 and 4). No surprise that I beat up his space real good. Lando and my RFC take the DB and hold it for the rest of the game. I’ll Take The Leader turns it into a drain of 2 when he doesn’t want to battle me (and draw 0 after 0 after unholy 0 for destiny!). IG88 tried to take away my RFC, but he draws a 1. Props to the brownie gods! It works, I tell ya! I chase his last ship around the galaxy over and over again, then I finally get half a brain cell and put Cappy Han at Tatooine and Dash at Kessel. DUH. Gailid keeps me low on Force, and barriers along with Projective Telepathy ensure that he retrieves Force in every battle. He drains me out, but not before I play every damn interrupt in my lost pile! :-)
FL by 23
2 (-30)
The Good: God hand against every deck except Court.
The Bad: Playing with this hand against Court.
The Ugly: Not saving my 1 Force to get Luke down, chasing his space down instead of splitting my forces, playing another freakin’ Skum deck, and the list goes on!
Props to Opponent: You may have read in Bubba Jo’s TR, I own Justin. This was back in the day when he played Rally Ops and left a lone Stormtrooper without a Ghhhk in hand. He has improved by leaps and bounds every game, and he always surprises me with how much better he is than last time. Another fun game.
Maybe I’m not destined to win this game. It’s not that I’m a bad player - The Force is strong with this one. :-)
GAME 4: DS vs. Kale Arndt’s HB Xwings
I swear, if I don’t win this game, I’m never playing again. And I refuse to play against another Skum deck as long as I live!
Okay, that aside, this was a rather non-interactive deck with a few key plays. Palpy hit his personal mobile system, and Vader, Tarkin, and Guri followed. Vader and Tarkin transit over to the CC: DB, Dr E. & takes Endor with Xizor and Guri, Palpy and Janus have tea at the Throne Room with Presence Of The Force, and Search and Destroy hits the table and stays there for the rest of the game. I love that card! I slaughter his xwings with Dengar and Zuckuss, but next turn an xwing cannon brings Zuckuss to his knees, and Dengar drew a destiny with Emp’s Power. He only had 3 xwings there with no Incom yet, so I didn’t bother to lose him. Instead, I chose to lose the pair of 1 destinies in my Used Pile. He flips, I probe Kessel, he loses his objective. I lose Dengar in the next battle and let him have space the rest of the game. I got what I came for. He couldn’t pay to drain me because he was eating my ground drains of 6, 3 because he didn’t have Luke, and 2 for Search and Destroy on each round of turns. I win, and I’m allowed to continue playing SW.
FW by 20
4 (-10)
The Good: Winning my last game to bring me to 2-2.
The Bad: Beating a scrub in order to do it.
The Ugly: I wasn’t expecting that xwing cannon... I would have dropped Bossk. Or the Chimaera + Thrawn. Or the Executor (all of which were in my hand). I was trying to be nice.
Props to Opponent: I asked him if this was his first tourney. He said no, and we had actually played before. He gets a prop because he didn’t smack me for asking the question.
So I go 2-2, not great, but it could have been a lot worse. I again give beatings with BHBM. I play all fun people - that doesn’t happen too often. It’s nice to play against people who realize that this is a game. It’s fun. You lost - get over it. I lost - I got over it. It’s still a game, the sun will still rise, Pat will still beat me next time we play. ;-) I do NOT resent the damn brownie gods for allowing such a poor outcome: they gave me the cards and starting hands, but Skum is powerful and I didn’t test my LS. Come on, BHBM won every game - the brownie did its job!
We head up to Eva’s for a Mexican Food dinner (traditional finish to Tucson tournaments for our team) and have the dirtiest conversation that I think we’ve ever had before. David and Andy are young players, so I think (I hope) most of it went over their heads, although I have a sinking feeling that they picked up a bit. I have a couple buddies who want to go to day 2, but I can’t get in touch with any of them. DRAT! Well, if they really want to come, they’ll call me before I leave tomorrow. And that’s the bottom line! I manage to finish a poor 12 of 19. Here are your standings for day 1:
1: Patrick Gimber @ 8 (+65)
2: Patrick Hug @ 6 (+47)
3: Brian Garrison @ 6 (+44)
4: Michael Girard
5: Robert Seymour
PROPS:
* Kards 4 You for hosting us
* Enrique and Brandon for running a GREAT day 1
* Tucson players for being so cool
* Patrick Hug and Justin for showing good sportsmanship as they led me to slaughter
* ViperTech for making BHBM work
* Doug for driving
* Doug, David, and Andy for wasting a sidetrip to try and get my cards
* Scot for waiting an extra 15 minutes after the time we agreed to meet, even though we never actually did so
* Jared for trading me Djas Purr
* Andy for trading me Gift Of The Mentor
* Clint Hays and the brownie gods for doing what they could from afar
SLOPS:
* Me for playing an untested Watch Your Step deck
* Me for forgetting about Kale
* Skum for being rediculously powerful
* Brian Choongphol for only placing 1 point ahead of me. You’re better than that! Tomorrow, we’ll take this I-10 cup 1st and 2nd place. You and me. :-)
Thanks for reading! Check out day 2.
-Steve