vipers-i-10-cup-day-2-01-21-01-phx
Title: vipers-i-10-cup-day-2-01-21-01-phx
Author: Steve "BlackViper" Marshall
Date: Jan 25, 2001
After the horrible, horrible losses to Skum the previous day, I took the time to construct a totally new LS deck. Anti-skum. I’m playing Agents (with Japanese Chewbacca as my rep) and Mains & Toys. Against Skum, I start Uh-oh, drop Bo Shuda, and give the Chamber to one of 2 wookiees, Tawss Khaa, Chewbacca, Melas, Lando, whatever. Order To Engage is my first Signal fodder. Get out of my Audience Chamber!
As for DS, I decided that BHBM was getting a little old, and I have been wanting to play This Deal with my new R2 toys since before the set came out. I built the deck and added a little tech here and there (start Abyss, bring in Lateral Damage aka Dash Damage, 3 Catch cards, and the list goes on. I know some people *cough* BRIAN CHOONGPHOL *cough* are playing Artoo / Bad Feeling decks, and I remember some card that cancels opponent’s cards with "Bad Feeling" in the title. I don’t remember what it is, and I didn’t add my anti-Brian tech last time, so I won’t look for it. Magic bullets and huge destinies round out the deck.
GAME 1: DS vs. Brian Choongphol’s Watch Your Step
Brian’s DS deck is skum, so I really wish I could have played that instead. Whatever. Okay, here we go. No anti-Brian tech. I still say the two of us take the #1 and #2 spots for the I-10 cup after our less-than-desirable finish the day before! He reads Abyss, and his 1st turn drops Dash at the Tatooine system. We (and Girard next to us) start talking about how Lateral Damage is the only way to stop the beast. I decide to take this time to Twi’lek for Lateral Damage. The look on Brian’s face was worth money. All my sites are in the deck! Drat. He plays an early Out Of Commission, but I catch that and cancel it with This Is Some Rescue. Catch #1. Dengar and Bossk go up against Dash and a pair of RFCs in a Medium Bulk Freighter, but Bossk gets Barriered. I’m beginning to hate barriers. Catch #2 comes into play. The Outrider gets damaged anyway. Artoo has a Bad Feeling, and it keeps me from drawing my pair of battle destinies. I lose Dengar, he moves RFCs to Kessel and Dash to Bespin to fix his damaged ship. He draws a 3, but it’s Artoo & Threepio. ABYSS!!! Sweet! No power for you! I use No Escape to get Dengar back. I didn’t want to lose Dengar to attrition before I even got a draw, so I didn’t battle. I did manage to get him to Bespin and move Bossk over for the next turn battle and to get Occupation started. This was a mistake. He cancels Lat Damage on my move phase and is back in business. I went after Dash and Artoo’s drain of 2 (in an Artoo deck) instead of a pair of RFCs at Kessel and a drain of 3. Somebody smack me. Thanks, Pat. DUH!!! He wipes me out of space and drops Legendary. Great. I have been having trouble getting my sites AND my characters, so he has no problem wiping me off the ground, too. Fett finally kills off Dash at a cloud sector, but it’s way too late for that. He loses Dash, but deploys a Medium Bulk Freighter on his next turn. I think he wanted to give me a way to kill off the Legendary (yet empty) Outrider out of pity.
FL by 24
0 (-24) ---> today
4 (-34) ---> 2 day total
The Good: My start was much better than his...
The Bad: But I played dumb. You don’t go after Artoo in an Artoo deck when there are weaker targets giving a higher drain!
The Ugly: When the dust settled, our entire game board was littered with catch cards, both his and mine. I had 3 in play; I don’t remember how many he had on the table.
Props to Opponent: Brian is a fun player and a good winner. He says he’s not that good, he just beats the good players at the worst possible times. Cool! He was a good sport about this game.
So much for winning the thing. I’m really depressed already. I’ve got to remember not to play on such little sleep. I’ve also got to remember not to build decks on such little sleep. As long as I get my 4 victory points today, I’ll be happy.
GAME 2: LS vs. Jared Arthur’s Skum Abyssians
Sweet! I will win this game. My starting hand has Tawss Khaa and Order To Engage, and he can’t convert my Audience Chamber! Just in case, I’ve got a Signal! I couldn’t ask for a better starting hand! This is cool! For those of you who wonder what went wrong, read on.
First turn, he drops Skum out of his hand and deploys Xizor at my Desert. He converts my Audience Chamber and deploys Jabba as his once per game alien, then grabs Bib with Power Of The Hutt. That wasn’t nice. I’ll still Signal for Bo Shuda and get my game going. I activate 3 Force and Signal. BO SHUDA’S NOT THERE! I activated it. DRAT! I continue and obviously don’t deploy Tawss Khaa yet, so I wait a turn. I pull my DB and draw up. I draw Kiffex, and I wonder if he’s playing ships. He asks me if I’m playing with space, and I ask him if I really need to and smile. He flashes me the 3 bounty hunter ships in his hand and smiles back, and I lose Kiffex to his next drain. A couple turns later, I Signal for Bo Shuda again - NOT THERE AGAIN! And this time my Signal is caught. I flip with Lando w/ problems, Tawss Khaa, and a wookiee in his Lower Passages. I finally draw up Bo Shuda, but by this time it’s turn 15 and I’ve already got half my cards in my lost pile. I drop it, Order To Engage that I’ve been holding (I fear Point Man), and move the Wookiee in front of Jabba and company. He loses his Force and moves out. He battles and Ghhhks a few times, and I (like an idiot) don’t cancel Skum for a couple turns. He retrieves his lost pile in traditional skum style and drains me out.
FL by 26
0 (-50)
4 (-60)
The Good: The best part of the game ended before the game started. My starting hand was cool.
The Bad: His first turn won the game for him. Hands down. I can’t compete with that type of a start, no matter how good my hand is.
The Ugly: I need to know what these card things do. Cancel Skum? What does that mean?
Props to Opponent: Jared is yet another good guy, and another good winner. I tried to hold back the fact that I’m extremely pissed off, but I think he saw through me. The game still ended with a handshake and good sportsmanship.
I begin to wonder why I play this game. Judging by my own reaction so far today, it’s not really fun anymore. If a game isn’t fun (whether you’re up or down), is it really worth playing? I’ll let the tourney continue, but if I don’t go 2-2, I’m going to slow down and maybe play 1 tournament every other weekend, if that often until I get my priorities straight.
As we continue the matchups, I look at Brandon Allen (the TD) and ask him "I’m at the loser table now, aren’t I?" He looks at me with a really ugly smile (ugly meaning he’s trying really hard not to laugh it up in my face, not that it was actually physically ugly) and simply answers "No, Steve - you’re not." I’ve got the bye. I suppose I should have expected this one, after all I am 50 points down today without a single win. So now I’m 2 (-50). That’s nice.
I go outside to clear my head. I get some Pizza Hut crap and sit outside. I really need to cool off and collect myself for game 4. I WILL win that last game, I don’t care if I have to beat Girard to do it. I really ponder this game and realize I’m not having any fun anymore. I decide that if I lose this game, I will quit the game. That’s just that. When a game brings me to this kind of frustration and anger, you just have to walk away. I finally regain my composure and head back for the last game. I’m ready for this. If I could start the day again as mentally prepared as I am now, I wouldn’t have lost any games.
GAME 4: DS vs. Dan McGrath’s Agents Mains
I like Dan. He’s a good player. At least I get to leave today knowing I played all fun players throughout the entire I-10 cup. He signals on turn 1, and I catch it. Sweet. We waste a couple turns drawing until I toss down mara with her saber, Bespin, and CC. He puts Ben at Tosche Station for the activation. Fine. I’ve been saving a couple turns (with the exception of Mara) and drop 2 sites, Thrawn, Janus, Fett @ Bespin: CC, Dark Deal, and Occupation. Quite a turn! Fett moves over to protect my Occupation, and I’m holding my 2nd copy in my hand. 2 of his Star Cruisers come down to battle the Fettster, but they’re no match. He draws a 3, and I draw a 5. He loses a ship, I lose 6 cards out of my Life Force. I’m not losing Occupation. He loses 3 to Occupation and 12 in drains. Sweet! I drop Dengar and Bossk next turn and rip his Star Cruiser into little tiny to pieces. I’ve got the Chimaera and Executor in my hand just in case anything else comes to play. I let Bossk and Zuckuss control the Bespin system as Fett heads into the clouds. Flip.
Boushh visits Mara to block my drain of 5 - sure. Whatever. I can’t find my Nevar, but it doesn’t bother me right now. He’s still eating a HUGE loss of cards. Dash and RFC visit Thrawn, but he doesn’t have the Force to battle. Drain 1, 1, and 3, then lose 3 to Occupation. Mara and Thrawn play musical chairs, and Mara gets backed by Sim Aloo and Dr. E and his combo buddy. He battles, I hit Dash with a saber but Dr. E was drunk and not fit to operate. Well, one of us wasn’t thinking straight, anyway. Sim allows his destiny 1 to go through and I draw my tracked Ommni Box (destiny 5 - read the tracking articles, they work). His guys all die, I lose the not-so-good drunk doctor. I use Janus to get a Signal and use it even though I know there aren’t any effects in the deck (that’s a 5 stacked on a 5 on top of my reserve deck - read the articles!). Next turn I can’t activate to my Ommni Box or Twi’lek. Drat. He dies somewhere between my heavy drains and Occupation damage. I win with 1 card in hand - Reactor Terminal.
FW by 22
4 (-28)
8 (-38)
The Good: Everything about this game went right.
The Bad: I couldn’t find Nevar to kill Boushh - like it mattered.
The Ugly: Just about everything that could have gone right did so for me.
Props to Opponent: He took the loss with dignity, as I hope I managed to do with my other games. Dan is a really cool guy.
With how quick this game was over, we play a fun game with my LS vs. his DS. I beat him in the end, but it was a VERY fun, close, interactive game. It was a really fun game, and I remember why I play this game. Even if I had lost the fun game, it would have been fun. Maybe I just need to lower my rating a little to have fun again...
So it’s over. I come 10 out of 13 on the day, 9 of 10 for both days (only 10 players played BOTH days). Not the top finish I was looking for. I took a big piece of that humble pie, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing from time to time. I have 2 options: stop playing (or at least slow down), or play more to make up for it. If I slow down, my playing ability will drop and I may not get back to where I am. I may find that the game isn’t worth playing anymore. If I get help and play more often, my playing ability will eventually go up, I will do better in tournaments, and I will probably start having fun again. I decide to phone a friend and keep going. Watch out - I might miss a few tournaments, but I’m coming back with a vengeance! Girard squares off against Patrick Gimber for the I-10 title in the final confrontation. Here are your finals:
Day 2:
1: Mike Girard @ 8 (+85)
2: Aaron McCormack @ 6 (+46)
3: Brian Choongphol @ 6 (+34)
4: Jared Arthur
5: Patrick Gimber
I-10 Cup Final Standings:
1: Mike Girard @ 14 (+122)
2: Patrick Gimber @ 12 (+80)
3: Jared Arthur @ 11 (+88)
4: Patrick Hug
5: Brian Garrison
PROPS:
* Brandon Allen and Enrique Huerta for hosting a flawless 2-day event like this
* Gamer’s Edge for having us
* Everyone I played for being a good winner or loser
* Gamer’s Edge for having Gauntlet
* Abyss for being tech
SLOPS:
* Me for being me
* Skum for proving just how broken it really is by beating an anti-skum deck
* Levi and James for not calling me for the road trip!
Thanks for reading! Until next time.
-Steve