2-17-01-rise-of-the-phoenix

Title: 2-17-01-rise-of-the-phoenix
Author: Brian "HuntaWarya" Hunter
Date: Mar 16, 2001

Mike and I get to the Con from Parker in surprisingly little time, manage to find a nice illegal parking space, and head inside. Time to see if I can get a second shiny Vader for the day (this report is a continuation from "Fall of the Legend", if you have not read that already) We obviously had no time to switch decks in between tournaments, so I am still using Retardosaurus Rex ISB and Hidden Mains done RIGHT. Mike continues using dueling Hunt Down and Hidden Mains. Mike and I went a combined 10-2 in Parker, and add Van to the ranks of the Littleton Crew for tonight’s tourney. Van is using big blue ISB and Hidden mains. I guess we like our mains in Littleton.

Game One: Hidden Mains done RIGHT vs. Mike McConnell
Well, we played each other in Parker with our opposite decks, so now Mike gets to play dark against me. I get the Honor in my opening draw, which is just TOO cool. So he deploys No Escape on his first turn, and pulls his starting interrupt back to his hand. great. He gets Vader down right away (as Hunt Down decks are prone to do) and so I start taking early Visage damage, (first card to go? Honor, maybe? Yeah) plus the drain from his docking bay. I have a lot of trouble finding a Luke or Obi-wan (even though there are a total of 6 in the deck) and it seems to take me forever to flip him back. I’ve already lost over 10 cards before I get Luke out to a battleground and flip him back to the zero side. But his ground forces are impressive enough that he doesn’t mind chasing me around, continuing to drain me while I cannot. I get the falcon in the air, establishing Menace Fades, and continue running away. I finally get Ben Kenobi out, and I split my ground forces. He chases one group around, allowing the other to drain him for one a turn. But his group is still draining one a turn also. We are both draining for one a turn in space now, at seperate systems. So now the damage being done is even, but I still have to make up for the sizable jumpstart he got. And that won’t be easy, because his fleet is starting to build up, and pretty soon he’ll be chasing me around in space, blocking that drain every turn too. He lost the Circle off the top of his deck, and I have Run Luke Run in my hand, so I don’t feel too vulnerable to duels right now. My lack of life force makes for easy tracking, and I start retrieving with my edge cards. Mike started Secret Plans, but that isn’t slowing my retrieval much. I get Mirax down, and set up an "every other turn" retrieval loop. So he drains me for 2, and then 2 more, and then I retrieve 5, and we repeat. Meanwhile, he is now chasing me in space, so I am only draining 1 a turn myself. But he isn’t retrieving at all, so it’s okay. I finally get a couple guys onto the Executor (Corran and a pal), cancel the Visage, and prepare to start up some drains that matter. But Mike was holding a good array of characters in his hand, including Sim Aloo and 4-Lom with concussion rifle, and some others, and he makes short work of my invasion force. The "mop-up crew" comes off the Executor, and starts chasing my secondary group, so that I won’t be able to drain at all anymore. So I decide to stand my ground at one of the docking bays this time, and when he battles me, I catch Ozzel and 4-lom with a fallen portal. 4-Lom’s rifle was going to be important to the battle, and losing 5 power and 9 forfeit real quick like that didn’t help Mike any either. I slash Sim Aloo during that battle, and draw destiny high enough to clear the site entirely. So now Mike is back down to just Vader’s group on the ground, meaning that one of my groups will be able to drain again. And since Mike’s drain isn’t enough to keep up with my retrieval, he can see that the game has slipped away. So he draws up before the differential gets any worse, and I win by 19.

2: (+19)

Game Two: R. Rex ISB vs. the Mystery Player’s Hidden Base
I don’t know this guy’s name. Before writing this report, I asked 3 other people who played in the tournament that night if they knew his name, and they say no. So he’s the Mystery Player. He’s playing a flipping Hidden Base deck, which is built to be "anti big blue". It is based around Nebulon Frigates who use Heavy Turbolaser Batteries. He gets out the effect (weapons display) that makes ships with two weapons have additional power, and then deploys the "taking them with us" Admiral’s Order. It lets capital starships armed with weapons subtract 4 from the defense value of starships they target, and also lets them draw battle destiny if not able to otherwise. AND he has superficial damage out, which lets him forfeit his weapons to used pile for 3 forfeit apiece. So he starts putting his frigates out, one at each system, with 2 weapons apiece. So, each ship is power 6, draws battle destiny, has two weapons to forfeit, and will shoot down anything I throw at it. neat. because of his multiple copies of the admiral’s order, and because of his many starship weapons, the destiny in his deck is very high. So the only capital ship in my deck that has ANY prayer of surving the lasers is the Executor. But Fondor was the first system he took control of, preventing me from deploying the largest ship in the galaxy at all. the lasers have more trouble hitting starfighters than capitals, but the only starfighters I get out early are Zuckuss in Mist Hunter, and Vader’s Personal Shuttle, which have maneuver of 3 and 2, respectively, so they can be shot down too. Besides, neither of them have any immunity to attrition, and all his ships draw destiny. The Mist Hunter’s game text might have helped me for at least one battle, but of course it was barriered. So basically I am completely helpless in space, and his Nebulon Frigates chase around my Star Destroyers like as if they were a bunch of little butterflies. (and for all intents and purposes, they may as well be) Even my Chimaera (with Thrawn at the helm) wants no part of a battle in space. He uses a spy, followed by epp luke and epp obi, to ambush Merrejk at my Executor docking bay. Luke says "somebody better call my momma, to come pick me up, cuz I’m ’bout to KILL somebody up in here!" He battles me, hits Merrejk with the saber, and draws good battle destiny. But unbeknownst to Luke and Obi, Merrejk had successfully called Luke’s momma. She was outside in the car, honking her horn. So while Luke is distracted by his Momma, who had come to pick him up, I ghhhk all the battle damage, and then retrieve Merrejk with my objective. :) Then I get Vader, an outer rim scout, and a blizzard walker (with tarkin piloting) to the only battleground site on the table (my endor docking bay), and just sit there to drain for 2, since I can’t really drain in space. He could transit his mains over to block my drain, but going from my executor docking bay to my endor docking bay would cost him 16 (yikes!) so they are pretty much stuck there. I put U-3PO in the executor docking bay to stop that drain, and then I use den of thieves and my objective to cancel drains in space/retrieve some force, and just keep on draining 2 a turn at that endor site, waiting for my opponent to die (some year) He flips his objective, but since I’m being chased all over the universe, I manage to probe a lot of systems in not very much time. His Hidden Base turns out to be the very last system I got around to probing, but it’s all good, because the drain at that ONE site is back in full effect. so Vader, the rim scout, and my walker just stand around and drain for 2, waiting for something to happen.

Outer Rim Scout (to Vader): So wazzup, V?
Vader: Draining for 2, havin’ a Bud.
Outer Rim Scout: True, true.
Vader (to Walker): Whazzzzzzup?
(voice from inside walker): Whazzzzzzzzzzzup?
Outer Rim Scout (to Vader): Yo, who’s that?
Vader (to Walker): Yo, Tarkin! Pick up the Comlink!
Tarkin (over the Comlink): Tarkin here.
Vader: Whazzzup?
Tarkin: Whazzzzzzzzzzzuuuup?
Outer Rim Scout: Whaaazzzzzzuup?
Vader: Aaaaaaaaaa
Tarkin: Aaaaaaaa
Outer Rim Scout: Ooooooo!
Tarkin (clicks off his comlink)
Outer Rim Scout: So wazzup, V?
Vader: Draining for 2, havin’ a Bud.
Outer Rim Scout: True, true.

Then finally, something happens. After my Chimaera and Slave I ran to Kessel, the mystery player follows it with just two Frigates, only one of which is armed. He saves two force, presumably to Hyper Escape with if needed. I deploy a ship to Fondor, keeping my opponent from controlling it any longer. That enables me to deploy the Executor. So I put the Executor at Kessel, right alongside the Chimaera (which still has Thrawn aboard, of course) then I add a couple pilots, lateral damage one frigate, and battle. He plays his Hyper Escape, and pays his two to move away, but then I point out the "Something Special Planned" that he had forgotten about (since I hadn’t been enforcing it until now. hehe) and he doesn’t look too happy about what’s going to be next. I play Imperial Command to draw a 3rd battle destiny, and this battle turns out to be a lethal blow, from which he does not recover. Full win by 20.

4: (+39)

Game Three: Hidden Mains done RIGHT vs. Van Melancon
Well, Van’s ISB deck isn’t too much different from my own, so I know it is solid. Furthermore, Big Blue with Imperial Commands is exactly what my Mains deck lost to earlier in the day, at the other tournament, so that ain’t cool. He gets his systems out fast, and we’re both activating like crazy, but I don’t have my ships yet, and he does. So he starts putting ships up in space, while I start putting mains on the ground. But he gets his den of thieves down. Along with U-3PO. And I don’t know where my sorry about the mess is yet, so U-3PO is a considerable annoyance. So, as usual, I am getting drained, and am not able to drain back. I fall WAY behind in the game. I finally get the falcon to space, to set up menace fades, just in time to stop the Chiraneau bonus from ripping me apart. Van has now come to ground, with Vader, a walker or two, and a small army of pilots. But a Clash of Sabers against vader gives me an unfair advantage in that arena, and I take control of the ground without too much difficulty. I finally use Sorry About the Mess to kill U-3PO, but he is replaced by Arica. So I spread out across the ground as much as possible, even taking over his Executor docking bay for the extra drain of one. But I get lateral damaged and kicked around in space pretty bad. The Menace Fades is flickering in and out of effect, so Chiraneau is twisting the knife between my ribs every now and then, while the drains at Endor and Sullust remain a constant. Just like the game against Mike, I am retrieving like mad with my edge cards, just to try and keep my head above water. But I am quickly running out of forfeit fodder in the air, and I can’t take those drains of 2 at sullust and endor much longer. Since he used an admiral or two on the ground, he can’t keep them at every system in space. I avoid Guri, and slip between the Admirals to a system where he has 2 bounty hunter ships. He adds a dreadnought to the mix, and since he knows his battle destinies (with Bossk adding one) will be more than good enough to crack my immunity and kill both of my pilots, he battles my falcon. But, since there is no threat of Imperial command, I play the Punch It. He does in fact draw high enough to kill both Han and Leia, but the Punch It makes me completely immune to his attrition, so I lose nothing. Bossk, Zuckuss, and the dreadnought are all 5 forfeit, so when I force 14 attrition, it clears him off the system. That battle would end up buying me enough time to retrieve a few extra cards, and drain him out at the docking bays for the victory. Full win by 4.

6: (+43)

Game Four: R. Rex ISB vs. Scott Gaeta’s Hidden Mains
We both set up on the ground before going to space, but I am careful to avoid him in the early going, to avoid a quick mains beatdown. To my surprise, Epp Han joins his ground forces, so I suddenly feel confident about going to space with less caution than usual, knowing that the falcon will be only a minor threat with Han occupied on the ground. So I start plopping down ships at my systems and get my drains started up. He starts chasing me around on the ground, but fortunately does not have Order to Engage out yet. Wedge ends up on Red Squadron 1 while Dash pilots the Outrider, but neither of those is really a substitute for the super falcon. I think Melas ends up on the Falcon, since I am careful to never kill that EPP Han. Scott’s ships put up more of a fight than I might have expected, but the Imperial Navy would not be denied. I keep him from controlling any systems, so he can’t stop the Chiraneau bonus. the drains in space get up to about 8 a turn, and the rebels quickly expire, and I win by about a million.

8: (+1,000,043)


We stop after 4 games, and I am the only 4-0 player. So I win my second shiny Vader for the day, go to 33-1 for the year, and start to feel better about losing a game of STAR WARS earlier.

Props:
To Mike, for driving
To Mike, for clearing me out of his Executor sites as fast as anyone ever has. (one battle and I was DONE. *lol*)
To the Mystery Player, for making a deck that chases around big blue in space.
To Vader, for bringing beer in Game 2.
To Commander Merrejk, for being the first character to ever successfully call someone’s momma (if you’ve read my other tournament reports, then you know all previous attempts have failed.)

Slops:
To me, for not being able to keep Hunt Down on the 0-side with my MAINS DECK.
To Mike, for having that No Escape in his opening draw, making my Honor useless, when I had never gotten Honor in opening draw against Hunt Down before then. Grrrr.
To me, for ruining a perfectly good game against Mike with that timely Fallen portal. oops! :)
To Vader, for not sharing the beer with the outer rim scout.

thanks for reading. See you next time.

Brian Hunter