pleasanton-ca-2-10-01
Title: pleasanton-ca-2-10-01
Author: Nick "JediBrain" Stefanko
Date: Feb 12, 2001
It was the first time I had to rely upon Greyhound to get me back to civilization. After buying my ticket, I was pressed for time to get back up to campus, get my things, and return downtown to the depot. I made the bus right before the rain got bad, and was on my way home. When I got off the bus in Los Gatos, I realized that I HAD LEFT MY CDs ON THE BUS. I lost 12 CDs, 10 of the Star Wars ones (all the films + Shadows Of The Empire). That got me down. My goal was to feel better for running a large tournament at Warmasters in Pleasanton, but was disappointed by the absence of the Modesto and San Francisco crews. We had 10, so I got to play.
The Tournament:
My decks:
LS - Why Ewoks Care About Hansicles v4.0 - Profit Ewoks, with monster drains and heavy mains
DS - Cloud City In The Hands Of The Empire - TDIGWATT running AT-STs and Imperial Commands
Game 1: LS v. Jon Garcia’s Old School Ralltiir Operations
I see Ralltiir and start Ounee Ta. That sealed the game. My opening hand had 2 Lando w/ Vibros and Chewie Protector He drops DVDLOTS and some scrubs to flip. I drop Lando and Chewie to beat the scrubs down. DVDLOTS went missing after draining, and Palpatine came down to find him. I got my Ewoks set up on Endor and Tessek at the AC. He Death Marked Chewie, which was the only damage he did to me all game. EPPs Obi and Leia, with Artoo & Threepio and Tawss respectively as support, cleared his other two sites, and that was that. I drained him out for the win.
Result: FW +31
Standing: 2(+31)
Good Things: Perfect work by my favorite deck.
Bad Things: None
Compliment of opponent: He played his deck well, but Ounee Ta just kills that deck. I run it in my deck for the retrieval into hand and as anti-None Shall Pass v. Scum decks.
Game 2: DS v. Michael Mendoza’s EBO X-wings
This was a pure drain race. We both got a slow start; I was set up by turn 5 and he by turn 7. I got Thrawn and Chiraneau on Executor at Bespin, got Dark Deal set up, and consolidated my forces to stave off his Rogue Squadron beatdowns. I got in 2 drains before he cancelled Dark Deal. Then, he began massing 7 X-wings at Bespin. I dropped Zuckuss, Bossk, and Dengar in ships and battled. His cannons missed Dengar, I played Imperial Command to add a battle destiny, and after 4 battle destiny, I won the battle by 12, wiping out some X-wings. After that, he dropped more systems and we played tag. His EBO-enhanced drains won out against my Occupation-We’re In Attack Position Now damage.
Result: FL -23
Standing: 2(+8)
Good Things: I got Bespin locked down.
Bad Things: My walkers didn’t show up very much, and when they did, I had nowhere to go with them.
Compliment of opponent: He played well. That damn Ice Storm made some guys go away, and those near-invincible Rogues are annoying.
Game 3: DS v. Alex Stefanko’s HB mains
Great. One of the reasons why I had moved my tournaments to Pleasanton was so that I wouldn’t have to play against my brother, but with the lackluster turnout, it was inevitable. So, we both start off very slow. I got Occupation and We’re In Attack Position Now going, but he locked down the Cloud City sector, so no Dark Deal possible. His mains came down, and we had some stalemated battles. He got Scout Luke, EPP Han, EPP Leia, and Chewie Protector all together at the CC DB v. Igar in Tempest 1 and Veers in Blizzard Scout 1. He eventually cleared me off the site (I love Imperial Command!), then time ran out (he is notorious for timing out A LOT; all his opponents always come close to yelling at him to move faster). We counted up; he had 16, I had 17! Hurray!
Result: TW +17
Standing: 3(+25)
Good Things: I won out v. HB mains.
Bad Things: Timing out.
Compliment of opponent: None. He plays very slowly and smells. He was also suffering from a cold, so I feared infection.
Game 4: LS v. Alex Stefanko’s BHBM TIE Bombers
@#$%&%^&@$*%^@$(%@(!$^$@%&^#$%&#@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not only had we had to play again, but we had played this exact same matchup last month at Warmasters at Mike Hardy’s tourney. Since my deck runs no space, and has to set up extremely fast to get in as much damage before the Bombers destroy everything, I wished for a god hand and was disappointed. He’s whooping and laughing as he draws, so I know I’m in trouble. I finally draw a site and set up a drain. He plays a Bombing Run there and moves a Scimitar armed with Proton Bombs and 3 more TIE Bombers there. Crap. Not wishing for him to deploy more, I drop Lando w/ Vibro to add some variety to my character destiny numbers, and battle. He draws a 3 for his Proton Bombs, wiping out all my Ewoks, leaving Lando and an Ithorian. After forfeiting them plus 14 more, I was pretty much dead. On his turn, he collapsed the Landing Platform, so Endor became a deathtrap. DVDLOTS came down to prevent Luke from freeing Han, leaving me with nothing real to do. Lando With Vibro and Owen & Beru went up to the D*II, wrestled with Major Rhymer, then with Palpy, but his drains mounted up and I was toast.
Result: FL -27
Standing: 3(-2)
Good Things: I Out Of Commissioned everything that hit his lost pile, preventing him from retrieving more.
Bad Things: The game.
Compliment of opponent: See Game 3
Results:
I had planned for the tournament to run 6 games, but had anticipated a much larger turnout. After talking with everyone, I cut the day short so that everyone could play for fun. Well, I tanked. Out of 11 players, Kevin Shannon went undefeated and won the General Veers T-shirt, with Michael Mendoza and John Monroe finishing behind him in that order. I placed 8th, donated my CC packs to a newbie, and pulled Zuckuss In Hunter FOIL and crap EU and combo. I had brought a new DS deck to playtest, and got some help on it from Kevin. Some other highlights of the day were trading for an Emperor Palpatine FOIL and meeting two new players that I had recently traded online with. The rain had let up by this time, so I collected my brother and we left.
Thanks for reading!