seattle-wa-3-10-01
Title: seattle-wa-3-10-01
Author: Douglas "Douglas" Harvilla
Date: Mar 11, 2001
The Iron Giant - Hunt Down with a solid space complement and the best of the DS characters, plus some deck manipulation (Operational as Planned, Janus, etc) and lots of 5+ destiny cards.
Watch This - Watch Your Step with a huge destiny average, added another X-Wing Laser Cannon and Power Pivot to handle the TIE decks.
About 20 players show up for this three-rounder, run by Charles Hickey at Broken Games in Seattle. Coolest CCG shop around, totally in the trenches for this game. Pairings are announced, we wish each other well and set about pummeling our respective opponents.
Game One - DS vs Kyle Krueger’s Anoat Operatives
Kyle groans when he sees my objective, it means I’m definitely packing No Escape. I start with it and get a dirt-cheap Vader. Next turn after he draws some cards I nail his hand with a Monnok/Evader and he loses a few operatives and scouts.
He gets out Goo Nee Tay, but Tempest 1 and Igar still deploy cheap with the -3 from No Escape. When he goes to space, the bounty hunter ships pounce and the battle damage just about does him in. I recirculate some cards with Janus and Operational As Planned before he draws up.
Win by +31
2(+31)
Highs: Having the counter, getting stuff down at "it fell off a truck" prices.
Lows: Seeing operatives brings back bad memories. At least they’re crap box liner now.
Game Two - LS vs Sean Estes’ TDIGWATT
While I get my docking bays and systems, he gets the prison and Lando, setting up for Sabacc. I get smugglers out to flip and Jedi Luke to the Cantina for the drain. He backs up Lando with Lobot and a couple bounty hunters.
Rogue 1 and a couple smuggler pilots make their move at the Casino, hitting Lando and his pals. In two flips, I get 9 attrition against him and clear the site out except for Lando. I lose one of the smugglers, no force to move the other guy away, but I’ve got enough power and forfeit to avoid losing anything extra.
Sean hits back and I have to lose the remaining pilot, but he doesn’t replace Lobot. He retrieves with Cloud City Sabacc a couple times and gets Zuckuss In Mist Hunter & Dengar In Punishing One out. My freighters are already draining at other systems, so I send in Theron Nett in Red 10 with X-Wing Laser Cannons to take care of them. Easily gun down Zuckuss, draw a 7 for his flip to power, Sean loses Dengar’s ship and 3 more cards.
Soon I’m able to replace Lando with ECC Lando, backing him up with ECC Chewie. Move them both over to the Carbonite Chamber. He drops Vader with his saber and Tarkin, battles, hits Chewie, plays Sniper/Dark Strike to remove him from the battle, and beats up Lando, making me lose a few cards along with Billy Dee.
Not much to tell after that, Control/TV canceled a couple drains while I ran through his life force from space.
Win by 15
4(+46)
Highs: Lando’s change of heart when the deal got even worse.
Lows: Losing Leebo twice in Sabacc, once early on, once after I retrieved him w/DTF.
Game Three - DS versus Joe Olson’s Speeder Agents
His start said it all. Desert Heart and JP: Entrance Cavern. Draw Their Fire in his trio of effects, Momaw is his rep.
Dropped Vader at Docking Bay 327 with his saber for the flip, Joe puts Rebel Snowspeeders at his docking bays for extra force from Staging Areas. I hit a pair of them with Mara, Iggy, Djas Puhr, and Janus (fodder), he loses some force, and a battle for the Echo Docking Bay ensues as he tries to pound the snot out of my characters.
I had been setting up high-destiny pockets in my deck for a couple turns with Operational As Planned and some high-destiny cards, and it paid off. He was hitting back with a lot of power and good flips. I lost Mara, used No Escape to get her back, deployed her again with Tempest 1 and Sim Aloo, and 11 attrition in battle forced him off the site. He put Ithorians on the speeders and moved away to docking bays on Tatooine and Endor.
My characters gave chase, Sim Aloo knocking potential high-destiny flips off Joe’s deck to to protect them. Jabba and Sim were lost but cleared their own sites on the way out with tracked 6 destiny flips. Vader and Tempest 1 blocked the remaining drains and in a couple turns, my own ran the Light Side out of force.
Win by 25
6(+71)
Highs: Taking out a lot of speeders.
Lows: Passing up a great drain location to avoid Sandwhirl. I could pack Controls, but against decks like this I’d rather leave the Desert Heart to the walkers and keep Vader "safe."
Game Four - Martin Norris’ Hunt Down
Martin’s on a roll today, 3-0 so far. He gets the same trio of effects I use out, IAO, Mob. Points, Crush The Rebellion. Vader takes over Docking Bay 94 on the first turn for the flip. I ignore him and go to space, where the Executor comes up to challenge me. With Han and a Ralltir Freighter Captain in the Falcon and Theron Nett in Red 10 with X-Wing Laser Cannons, I take on the Big E with Commander Igar on the bridge.
Power Pivot takes the Executor down to power=zilch, Theron adds a destiny to power, and my flips bring my total to 23 power, Martin has 6 (his draw). Lose Han, he has to lose either Igar and 12 more or the Executor. He ditches the Big E, and the sites go away. After exchanging drains for another turn, I deploy Rogue 1 at DB94 and land the Falcon to offload pilots into it. Vader moves to the Cantina, I go after him with a couple smugglers, one surviving the battle.
Vader tries to beat up the scrub in the Cantina, Run Luke Run moves Luke over, and a 6 destiny takes out Vader, but I Have You Now has Vader getting three flips and adding 1 to each, so the Cantina is cleared. At this point, my reserve of characters is wearing thin, and when he beats the snot out of the Pulsar Skate, taking out its pilots, I have to wait a turn before hitting back.
He has Xizor in his fighter, plus Stinger and Devastator. I deploy Red 6 with a RFC and X-Wing Laser Cannons, plus a couple guys to run the Skate. Battle, easily gun down Xizor’s ship, leaving him with only 3 ability. I flip a 5, he forfeits the Devastator and Stinger to cover the loss, and space once again belongs to the scoundrels. Drain for a couple turns to end it.
Win by 12
8(+83)
Highs: Loads of battling. Gunning down Xizor.
Lows: Martin played really well, so for a couple turns, it felt like I was losing the game, getting too low on the blue and the gray to take the table back.
Game Five - DS vs Zach Jones’ Watch Your Step
Vader takes over the Cantina with his saber on the first turn, and I pay for Battle Plan gladly to deal a lot of early damage there. Zach plays Cantina Brawl, neither of us flip the needed 6, and he inserts Anger, Fear Aggression.
Kessel comes out, and Zach gets Captain Han and the Falcon down there for the drain. Zuckuss In Mist Hunter and Bossk In Hound’s Tooth overpower the Falcon and make him lose Han. I Know would’ve sucked, but he only had a couple cards in hand, and besides, Leia would’ve interfered with his draining at Kessel against my flipped Hunt Down, and I had more ships anyway.
He gets Lando down to replace Han, and moves the Falcon to Tatooine. AFA comes up, but I battle the Falcon with the empty Executor, losing the battle by 1 power when he adds two flips with Punch It. So I lose 1 instead of 4, and move Zuckuss and Bossk over. He has to avoid that kind of power running to Corellia, and my drains in space and on the ground soon end the game.
Win by 29
10(+112)
Highs: My differential, as long as I don’t get completely steamrolled in the next game, I win the tournament.
Lows: Not a lot of action on the ground.
Game Six - LS vs Steven Harpster’s Bring Him TIEs
He gets Wakeelmui with Mob. Points and starts dropping TIEs, I get Jedi Luke out cheaply and get my smugglers down for the flip. At Kashyyyk, the X-Wing Lasers strike again as Red 10 and the Outrider with matching pilots gun down a TIE Interceptor and beat the heck out of the remaining Dreadnaught and TIE.
A couple more TIEs are dropped at Tatooine and the Pulsar Skate with pilots and a Rug Hug for 4 extra power (rebel & alien together) beats them down savagely. As drains at Kessel and Kashyyyk gobble up his life force, Steve gets Lord Vader down to the Cantina where Luke is blowing the frost off a cold one.
He wants to battle instead of capturing Luke like his objective demands. What the heck, it won’t affect the outcome, and I like battles, let’s do it. Vader gets smacked upside the head by The Force Is Strong With This One from the Lost Pile. Pretty soon, the drains have ended the game.
Win by 24
12(+136)
Highs: X-Wing Laser Cannons, they rock.
Lows: All Power To Weapons, it sucks.
For prizes, in addition to the randomly-awarded box and case topper foils, Charles has opened a box of Reflections II and spread all the rares, foils, and Japanese cards out on a table. It’s a heckuva box, I draft a foil Jedi Luke and spend a while trading for the cool Japanese Blizzard Walker and other gems.
A great tournament, hope to see everyone at the next one, and at States.