parker-co-3-17-01
Title: parker-co-3-17-01
Author: Chris "Artwo" Fanchi
Date: Mar 18, 2001
It started about 2 weeks ago in Parker, the last tournament I had attended. I had a poor showing of 3-3 with a weak HD dueler that died and a MWYHL mains deck with no Jedi tests. The LS went 2-1, pretty good considering my LS usually goes 1-2. The main thing was my brothers performance with a RalOps deck I built (although many seem to think I stole it, but whatever) that he had never used before. He went 2-1 with the only loss coming because of 1 mistake. So this week I decide the Raltiir’s mine, and I experiment with a few LS decks.
Well, Saturday rolls around when I get a call from Brian Hunter saying he needs a ride so I figure that’s fine, since it’s on the way, and then I realize I still have no LS deck. Crap. So I throw together a HB mains deck similar to some I’ve used before (the good ol’ Our Most Desperate Hour engine) and head off.
As we pull into the parking lot, Brian informs me that there are supposed to be some out-of-towners here today, so I think maybe they’ll shake things up a bit, but I shrug it off and enter the store, ready to play.
By the way, I apologize for the numbers not being exact and not knowing some things. I didn’t initally intend to write a TR for this one.
Away We Go-
Game 1 - Raltiir Operations vs. Corey’s (1500) EBOX.
This kid is a newbie, so I feel ready to give my Rops a go, but I feel bad having to beat up on a new player. I’m starting Rops with Prepared Defenses for You Cannot Hide Forever, IAO, and Mobilization Points. He does the usual A New Secret Base start. First turn goes the usual, I pull Charida, DSII: DB and a Raltiir site, the Jungle. I plop a named biker to the DB and draw the last one. He goes and starts working for the EBO thing. He deploys Han Solo (Premiere) to the Hoth: DB, and a couple systems. Second turn I get the Spaceport DB and Swamp, play a couple bikers and flip, and that’s essentially game over. Over the next couple turns we each do our thing, him trying to set up EBO (with a little trouble getting all the necessary cards) and I’m setting up the Palpatine Overseeing It Personally drain while abusing In The Hands Of The Empire to get a small fleet of BH ships. He finally gets EBO going around the fifth turn and plops 2 X-Wings to a system (Kashyyyk, I believe). I respond on the following turn with Zuckess In Mist Hinter and Dengar In Punishing One and take care of the x-wings plus a little overflow despite an Organized Attack (I drew high and Rops added 3). The next turn he comes at me with 4 x-wings and a Correllian Corvette. Fortunately, Zuckess prevents any damage from the destiny and I draw high, but he still manages to clear me off with his organized attack. My next turn I simply grab another ship with Rops and wait. He sees this as his chance to spread and drain, assuming that his success has permanently forced me out of space. This lets him put the Tantive IV at Kessel alone for the drain of 4 on his next turn. Not quite. My turn down comes IG-88 in IG-2000 and Boba in Slave I and destroy the Tantive plus 10-15 overflow and that’s enough to finish him off after 1 more turn of draining.
FW +27
2 (+27)
Props: Rops Is God. LS space fell apart.
Slops: Having to beat a new player and seeing his deck struggle on top of the bad matchup.
Game 2 - HB Piece of shizat vs. Brian Hunter’s (2328) Retardosaurus Rex ISB
Hooray! This’ll teach me to win my first game by 27. Damn. I’ve seen this deck in action and as far as I can tell, it’s invulnerable. Put on top of that the fact that I’ve never played with my LS deck before, and you’ve got a bad combination. I start HB with Corulag indicator and Heading for the Medical Frigate for Insurrection, Staging Areas and Insight. He starts ISB, Coruscant system, Preped for IAO, Mobilization Points and Secret Plans. First turn he grabs Admiral Piett with Imperial Command and Executor with Mobilization Points. He drops Piett to the Executor: DB for 2, apparently this is the first time that he’s noticed the text “Deploys -2 aboard Executor”, so I’m continuously feeling better and better about this matchup (NOT). He of course used Piett to get Merrejk and it’s my turn. I do the usual Hidden mains stuff, Dagobah, Hut, Home One DB and say go. He starts pulling systems and at this point he’s got 3-4 out already and he Imp. Commands for Chirneau because apparently he already got Thrawn. FUBAR. I decide that space isn’t exactly in my best interests and put Ben and Chewbacca, Protector to the Tatooine DB figuring they’ll be safe. Yeah, right. Down comes DVDLOTS and Tarkin and Lightsaber and, well, that’s it. He battles, chokes Chewie, slashes Ben, and cancels the 6 that I draw for destiny. Damn. All this and I start to cry as I look at the Bacta Tank in my hand, laughing at me. So Ben dies and I lose like 5-10 in overflow. My next turn I start setting up ability 3 and 4 characters at the Home One DB hoping it’ll be enough to get me back into the game with a well-timed OMDH. And it works. I get Wedge, RSL on ship and make the run for enough to get back everything down to my starting interrupt. But at this point he sees that I may put something together so Piett, Chirneau and the Executor decide to set up shop at Tatooine there goes any possibility of further OMDH. I finally move out a force to take on Vader, Tarkin, a Walker (Tarkin piloting, of course) and a scrub ORS or 2. Unfortunately, I have been unable to get my OTE so he simply runs away while hitting me for 3 at Tatooine and 2 at Kashyyyk (no SD). Time’s running out (figuratively speaking) and I’ve lost all mean of retrieving (I was stupid and am only running 1 On The Edge and 2 OMDHs). I keep chasing him and finally make a suicide run late with the semi-super Falcon (EPP Han and EPP Leia), but this it to no avail. In the end he drains me out and I get off very few force drains.
FL -23
2 (+4)
Props: Still having a positive differential.
Slops: See summary above.
Game 3: HB P.O.S. vs. Ryan Kaulback’s (1551) SYCFA Big Blue
This matchup looked to be as bad as the last. We both start off doing our separate things, me with the Dagobah/DB activation engine and him grabbing the DS War Room and setting Ozzel at the DB. I manage to get Orrimaarko quickly so I know I can make him at least lose SOMETHING when I battle him on the DS. I bring the wrath of Orrimaarko and Tawss Khaa on Ozzel and take care of that plus 2 for Orry. I wait to move inside because, for one, I have a Portal rigged to fall at any time and two, I’m a fool and a scrub and forget. I get an early verification and see that he’s packing some decent ground power, specifically Snoova and Happy stick. And despite this, I do eventually move to the war room and he decides that Orry and Tawss don’t want to live anymore and comes at them with Vader w/ and Tarkin. Big fun. I die and inflict minimal damage. While all this is happening, he has set up the happy drain with Piett and Chirneau on the Executor and Avenger. I on the other hand, have traveled to the Death Star to drain with the semi-super Falcon (see above) and Wedge in RS1 after making a quick retrieval run with OMDH. I’ve got Ben with his stick on Tatooine and a scrub friend and decide to visit Vader and pal on the Executor and take care of that threat. Meanwhile, he comes down on the Falcon (with recently acquired Corran Horn for cancelling purposes) with Lateral Damage and a pair of BH ships. He battles, Leia dies, and the BH ships die along with her. At this point it’s pretty even, so I see the need to stop Chirneau from killing me because I have yet to find Menace Fades and I already spent Insight on Squassin. I move out to Kashyyk and meet Piett on Executor with my new Leia. He battles, I Punch It!, cancel his destiny, and Piett stays. I then make a stupid move and head over to Tatooine with the Falconn after it finally repairs its lateral damage, and move Wedge, alone, to the DS (with the help of A Few Maneuvers). His fleet has dwindled, though, and Menace Fades finally comes into effect. I make a final run with OMDH and pull off the win.
FW + about 10
4 (+14)
Props: Excellent game. Won despite the matchup being in his favor.
Slops: LATERAL DAMN-AGE from the Death Star to Dagobah.
Game 4: Rops vs. Mike McConnell’s (1775) How Did We Get Into This Mess mains.
Mike is a good player, but over the last 2 tournaments, I’ve played his LS twice and both times it seemed weak. So we start the normal, him with the Massassi War Room and Seeking an Audience. I get a rather slow start and can flip second turn because I somehow activated my Swamp and Spaceport Prefects Office, leaving only 2 sites for Raltiir. I draw until I get one and get the 3rd turn flip with Palpatine at the Prefects office and bikes at the adjacent sites. His turn he comes down with OTE and EPP Obi pays Palpy a visit. He doesn’t battle fearing (I assume) the reaction of my bikes. So on my turn I decide to just chill, I forget about OTE and the fact that Palpatine has to be at a site I control for OIP and so I drain for 1 and 1 and lose 3 to OTE. His turn EPP Leia joins Obi and he battles. I react with a couple scouts leaving 1 at the adjacent sites for the destiny bonus. He swings at Palpy and misses, fires and misses, I decide what the hell and try a lost Force Lightning on Leia and fail. He clashes Palpy and I play High Speed Tactics to add a destiny since I wouldn’t get one otherwise and he has to lose Leia while I lose a bike because he drew low (I guess that was the theme of his deck or something, because I saw lots of 1s and 2s). He move Obi to the DB. I play 2 scouts and 2 bikes to join my lone scout and bike and battle, forgetting completely a little card called FALLEN PORTAL. D’OH! So we spent like five minutes with him asking Brian Hunter and Josh Bader next to us if Fallen Portal can target an un-enclosed vehicle, and they mis-understand a few minutes later they say yes and 2 of my 3 scouts die. I play High Speed Tactics to allow for a destiny draw, he hits my last biker, and I draw a 6 (The Circle Is Now Complete, ironically) and Obi finally dies. The next couple turns I re-fortify and drain while he frantically draws to get something he can use to launch an assault. Finally an Ob-Wan Kenobi (Premiere) comes down to the Jungle and he waits to force me to lose to OTE (since all I have is one scout on a bike). I activate all but 3 and search for a Force Lightning and see a 5, a 6, and Darth Vader Japanese Foil. Yeah! I use Rops to get Vader, Deploy him, battle Obi-Wan, play High Speed Tactics (AGAIN!) and draw a 5 (6) and a 6 (7, thanks a ton Vader!) and I add 3 on top of that and this finishes Mike off. He draws up on the next turn.
FW +15 or so
6 (+29ish)
Props: Vader for kicking Obi-Wan’s @$$ in Japanese. Beating a good player.
Slops: Becoming Mike’s “archnemesis” (Mike doesn’t take kindly to losing to me).
At this point, Van Melancon decides that he wants to leave, and thus forces (to an extent) Mike McConnell and Randy Scott to leave too, dropping the # of players, but eliminating the bye.
Game 5: HB Piece vs. Seth Van Winkle’s (1857) SYCFA TIE Interceptor Swarm
When we sit down and prepare to play, I overhear Brain Hunter, who is playing DS at the table next to us, comment to Seth not to lose for fear of my Rops, so I hope that I can win this game because Hunter is the largest source of ratings points in the world. Well, for this game let’s refer to my statement at the beginning, “there are supposed to be some out-of-towners here today, so I think maybe they’ll shake things up a bit.” Well, Seth, one of the out-of-town players did just that. TIE swarm is NOT part of our local meta, so my deck has Zero tech to counter it. The closest I’ve played against is Kyle Craft’s ridiculous BHBM TIEs, and my thoughts when playing that are simply, bend over. This game really didn’t have much happen. I set up a drain on the ground with Ben with stick only to get it cancelled by U-3PO and so I move to the Death Star and, after a few battles and revivals of Dash, I hit the Emperor. In space, I do what I can with a limited fleet of the Falcon (Lateral Damaged, of course) and Wedge in RS1 (I never saw Spiral). The climax of the game comes when my Falcon and RS1 decide to hang at Tatooine only to be joined by 7 TIE interceptors, and that did me in. I put up a very limited fight, and, to Brian Hunter’s relief, lose.
FL (-21)
6 (+8ish)
Props: Dash for being continually reincarnated.
Slops: TIE swarm. It came out of nowhere.
Game 6: Rops vs. Josh Bader’s (1872) HB Matching pilots.
This game was lost in the first 2 turns by Josh. My draw is unbelievable: Vader, saber, 2 Biker Scout Troopers (the non-unique ones) and a High Speed Tactics. First turn a play a biker to the DSII DB and grab him a bike. His first turn he makes the mistake. Instead of converting Raltiir and deploying Wedge RSL there with Squassin, he plays Ord Mantel, Wedge to Rendezvous Point, and moves to Ord Mantel expecting to prevent a 3rd turn Rops flip. My second turn I deploy the Spaceport DB and Swamp (to go with the Jungle), I play Vader and his stick to the middle site, biker to the far site, grab a bike from deck, transit the second biker over for free, and flip. Game Over. I draw the last card in yy Force pile and, to add insult to injury, it’s Palpatine. He realizes that it’s over and starts moving Wedge towards Coruscant and works on preping to flip HB. Third turn I set up the Emperor and OIP (pulled with You Cannot Hide Forever) and I set up some reinforcements on Raltiir while looking for ships to go probing. I play Search and Destroy and, like a scrub, I only make him lose to it once and that’s on the turn I deploy it. His third turn he comes down to the Spaceport DB with General Calrissian and Nien Nunb and battles. I react over with the Biker Scout Trooper and have 2 of them on bikes. I play High Speed Tactics and, with Vader at one site and Palpy at another, draw a 6 which becomes an 8 and clears him off while I simply lose 1 scout and 2 bikes. That would be the only time that he tries to assault me on the ground. He then flips and I start marauding around the galaxy with my BH ships looking for that damned elusive HB. I probe 5 systems (including my own Raltiir) and still no HB, so I know that it’s Kessel, but the only ship that has survived is Dengar and he’s at Raltiir, out of range of Kessel. I know that in order to win, I have to eliminate that objective, so I draw trying to get a ship and the only one that comes up is IG-88 in IG-2000 (there was also a Bossk in there somewhere). I deploy Iggy to Kessel and realize that I can’t probe because I don’t occupy the system. Sh1t! Then a lightbulb turns on, and I play a biker scout on the IG-2000 as a passenger, probe, hit the HB, and then battle his lone Red Squad pilot (with no destiny) and draw a tracked Force Lightning (which = a 9 BD). He plays Organized Attack a lives but loses a couple Force. This is where I’m an idiot and I don’t run away. His next turn, he squassins for Cap’n Han on Falcon and battles. My 5 is still on top, so I’m good, right? Wrong. I don’t GET a destiny. Crap. He draws high and I draw nothing so Iggy, the scout and 9 Force die. Fortunately, it’s too late and my drains are too much for him plus the S and D damage which I remembered once he played Honor (with no effects). I pull out a slim victory.
FW +5
8 (+13ih)
Props: Josh played well. Rops performed well and I got a second turn flip.
Slops: The last battle. Forgetting S and D. Duh!
So I go 4-2 but my differential is pretty low so I’m still seventh out of around 20. The outsiders made quite an impact with one defeating Hunter in game 6. That’s about it.
PROPS:
Scott Gaeta for running smooth tourneys.
Vader for whipping out so kung fu on Obi.
Brian for killing me.
Josh for making a mistake and underestimating the speed of Rops.
Imperial Decree Foil for looking cool.
SLOPS:
Seth for playing TIEs.
Decipher for its crappy prize support (or lack thereof).
Brian for losing (what’s up wit dat, man?).
That’s all.
Chris “Artwo” Fanchi