pleasonton-2-17-01
Title: pleasonton-2-17-01
Author: Alfred "ThaBraHmaBuL" Dong
Date: Feb 22, 2001
Another TR from Pleasonton....BrahmaBuL style.
PRELUDE
Amidst all the tension and unpleasantness that recently swept north Alderaan, I really wasnt in a mood to play SW(If you dont know, believe me, you dont want to), but then again I was in the mood to shove a boot up someones @$$. What better way to do it than crunch it out SW style? (And besides, Mr Atkin and Mr Shannon wouldnt NOT let me play....damn you! ; ))
So Im in the heat for a LS, and I cant seem to find one I’ll have fun playing. I have my trusty TIGIH, but everyones asking for it, and everyones been playing it, and quite frankly Im a bit sick of it. I talk to the great Hayes Hunter from Kashyyyk and I get a brilliant stroke of genius and decide to go with a AITC Harvest mains. Dont get me wrong....Hayes isnt at fault, Im just thinking about other things(obviously) and I didnt realize my mistake. Why do I do Harvest? Its simple....Owen combo card, and Harvest, made one of my favorite decks a little better. AITC is Tatooine based, but not restrictive like WYS or Profit. In all, it seemed like a good idea at the moment.
So I hook up with John Monroe, a local player, who hooks it up with the ride on Saturday, which is cool because I dont have to BART. Im going on 5 hours of sleep only, seeing as how I spent the night before up playtesting the AITC. Seems to be a trend with me, I should sleep for more than an hour and see how my tourneys go.....maybe its just bad kharma. We get to Warmasters and theres 22 people in this Mike Hardy event. I really didnt expect this many people, but hell, the more, the merrier. Lets throw down.
THE DECKS
LS: AITC Harvest Mains......AITC + Harvest + Mains. Do the math.
DS: Hunt Down Hardcore Dueler......4 Obsessions for wussy Lukes who like to run from Vader. Blind duels hardcore style and theres no losing here.
THE GAME
Game 1: DS vs some random scrubs LS MBO I dont know what Im doing
Okay so I play my DS first, always a pleasure. This kid sits down in front of me and starts shaking.....I guess it was really cold. He pulls out MBO and I know its going to be slaughter. He struggles for force so I help him out with some Dbays. Lord Vader w/ stick to Yavin second turn to flip and Visage eats him all game. Emporer and Mara populate Yavin and Im getting monster drains. I set up Decree and now he cant even drain for more than 1 anywhere. He tries throwing a few pilots and Han in front of Emporer, but he doesnt battle. I drop Dr. E combo, Dengar, and Fett and destroy a pilot for massive loss. From there its smooth sailing. Win by 27.
Cumalative Score: 2(+27)
Highs: Easy start
Lows: Crushing a scrub
Game 2: LS vs. Brandon Bales DS BHBM TIE Interceptors
So me and Brandon are at the top table and Im wondering how I got up this far. Turns out the kid reported my win at 47. I talk it over with Clayton and Brandon, who decide its no big deal, and we just play it anyways. Brandon with Emporer to JP first turn and Janus as well. I struggle for force and I cant find my sites. Emporer gets Sim 3rd turn and now I dont want to mess with him, which leads to him draining there the whole game. He sets up matching pilots at systems and drains me for about 7 a turn. I cant find a footing to step on, so I fall. Loss by 22.
Cumalative Score: 2(+25, since I had 47 after round 1)
Highs: Brandons a cool guy and good player.....after I crush him so often, getting him some revenge was cool
Lows: I suck ballz.....what was I smoking when I made the deck?
So I talk to Kevin and Clayton and it turns out they have modified versions of my TIGIH and theyre killing with them(at least Kevin was).....so Im just about ready to jump off a bridge. I wanted something fun....but there aint nothing fun about you struggling for force and getting dominated on, and turns out my original deck wouldve wrecked the whole tourney.
Game 3: DS vs. Mike Mendozas LS EBO Garrison
This game I probably should have lost, but one card saved my life. I started Decree instead of Crush this game and went at it. We both get a stroke of misfortune and we cant find our cards we need the first few turns. I finally get DLOTS and stick out to the 4th Marker and start moving in. Visage hits him for a turn and then Commander Luke on a speeder comes out to flip me back. I dont want to get Vader stormed, so I just leave it on the zero side the whole game. I drop a few more guys and I start marching all over Echo Base. He finally gets set up after losing half his deck to Visage and drains. I manuever my guys around on Hoth as he sets up in space. Decree never fails me, and Visage keeps hitting him, in combo with First Strike, I took this one. Win by 17.
Cumalative Score: 4(+42)
Highs: Mikes a decent guy....just took a crappy light here(sounds familiar)
Lows: Nothing much
Game 4: LS vs John Monroes DS Hunt Down Dueler
As a rule, I must play my ride, or someone in my car, 90% of the time without fail....the only person to avoid that is Steve Daniel thus far. So were down and I start talking like a dork and I cant stop. I had a feeling my LS would burn like it did last game. Turns out that wasnt true. Lord Vader and stick to JP first turn and I get Ben w/ stick to Hutt Trade Route. We both hesitate to move over or drain, and he backs up Vader with Mara and Emppy. I support Ben with JPSD Lando and just sit back. He drops Tarkin and 4-LOM then decides to move Vader over. I Sorry, but I miss Vader, though he gets Clashed anyways and now Tarkin is in trouble. Down comes Corran who gets Barriered, and Wedge to smack on Tarkin for 16. He spends the next card looking for duels so I move Ben and crew over to the Emppy. He wasnt satisfied with his draw, so he starts drawing again, leaving Emppy and Mara in front of Ben and crew. Down comes Luke and some scrubs and I knock on Emppy for 29 for the game. Win by 22.
Cumalative Score: 6(+64)
Highs: Okay, so my LS doesnt COMPLETELY suck
Lows: Playing my ride, once again, regardless of who....
I look around the store but they dont have anything too interesting, so I sit and talk with Shawn Ely. Im not doing too badly, better than I thought Id be at this point anyways with that LS. Unfortunately, I have 2 more games.
Game 5: DS vs. Kevin Shannons LS TIGIH version of the Stolen Alfred deck
Damn it. I knew this would happen to play against a good TIGIH, and I knew the game was his. He canceled Visage early and kept it canceled for the whole game. Vader came down and kept Hunt Down flipped for nearly the whole game. I couldnt draw anything I needed for the life of me, and he started to populate the Executor. I kept Vader close with some other characters to ensure hed have to pay to win his battles, but he spread and drained instead. I took over a few Endor sites and set up there, and got my CHYBC like 30th turn, but he already held 2 BGs without trouble. He cut me down to a few force, and i left Vader and Tarkin in front of a slew of Rebels, and he got beat down to give him the game. Loss by 12.
Cumalative Score: 6(+42)
Highs: Eh....he had this game from the start, Im not even certain how I held on that long.
Lows: Hunt Down just bends over to a good TIGIH, especially since you cant duel.
Game 6: LS vs. Paul McKelveys DS ISB ORS Hell
Oh, this is great.....an ISB. He totally wrecks me this whole game, out-did me in activation, in power, in drains, and control. I was struggling just to keep up with him, my 2 Tatooine sites were like eye candy to him in the early game. He simply out-manuevered me with guys to Hoth, Yavin, and Tatooine, and I just ran out of mains to catch him. A final battle clinched it when I had a few mains vs. 2 walkers, a few ORS, and Snoova, and he Stunning Leaders to leave Harc Seff vs that crew.....oh yeah....it was just that bad. Loss by 22.
Final Score: 6(+20)
Highs: ABSOLUTELY nothing....
Lows: ABSOLUTELY everything....
So I go into another portion of the store and play some L5R with the owner and beat him down a few times....got to win something when youre burning out in SW....Mike Hardy rounds everyone up to get prizes and I somehow clinched 9th out of 22 besides going 3-3 the whole day. I get one pack of Reflections 2, seeing as how everything else went to 1st and 2nd, and I pulled a Jap Commander Luke, not too shabby for a half-@$$ed SW performance.
Shawn Ely comes in with his box of leftover cards from his case of Flections and scrubs start ransacking it for dopey Seekers and Hoth Jap cards. Shawn finds a WB Premiere pack, and throws it in....I snatch it out, pulled a WB Obi....thats insane. Shawn gave me a WB Farmboy Luke for doing that too, at least I got that for my day. John and I head out afterwards and take home for Taco Bell, because I havent eaten the whole day.
Alfred Dong
The Brahma Bull
The Stone Crab
I AM THE GAME