belle-mead-new-jersey-03-31-01
Title: belle-mead-new-jersey-03-31-01
Author: Greg "TychoCelchu" Shaw
Date: Apr 1, 2001
At 11:30, my friends and I left for Belle Mead to find the card shop. After an hour of driving and a few minutes of searching, we found the store and headed inside. There was a pretty good turnout, 10 people. This was only my third tourney ever, so I was looking for more experience than wins. A few practice games and jokes about the Magic players went by, and then we started.
For DS, I’m playing MKOS/Scum with Abyssins (not swarms, just 3 or 4) with a Prepared Defenses start to get PotH, First Strike, and Secret Plans. For LS, I’m playing a horrid WYS deck (I don’t have any Palace Raiders or Harvests) with Noble Sacrifices, On The Edges, and Celebration to retrieve. This deck starts HFTMF to get Menace Fades, Insurrection, and Squad. Assignments.
Before the tourney I was rated 1470.
Game 1 LS vs. Kim Caton, ISB/Scum (1771)
Now this really sucks. I’ve played her twice before at my first and second tourneys, and both games I got massacred.
Nothing big happened this game, just a trading of drains. Her gigantic space crew chased my Dash and Mara in their ships the whole game, so not much happened there. I never got any steady retrieval going (come to think of it, I didn’t retrieve at all that game, except for the occasional First Strike). This game was really horrible, but I stayed in for as long as I could.
FL –21
0(-21)
Highlights: See below the Lowlights.
Lowlights: Losing my first game.
At this point, I think its gonna be a repeat of my last two tourneys where I go 1-5 or 0-6. Then, I see hope. One of my friends, Bill, won a game. Now to me, this is amazing because if Bill won, then I have a dam good chance of winning! Then the pairings are called….
Game 2 DS vs. Kim Caton, MWYHL (1771)
Again?!?!? Awww, crap!! I’m thinking that there’s no chance in heII that I’ll win, so I’ll just try to keep my differential as close to zero as possible. I play as usual, getting the Audience Chamber and Lower Passages out, Boelo, Bib, Ephant, Jabba, Gailid, Mosep, and Scum. For the first few turns, I get my drain bonuses with Gailid, but then Test 1 stops me dead in my tracks. When Anger, Fear Aggression made its debut, I just suicided the Stinger to Kessel where she had a few ships and Ghhk’d, retrieving three force in the process. She started Battle Plan, which hindered my drains for a while. When my drains did go through, they where usually stopped by It Could Be Worse. Eventually, I grabbed ICBW, knowing that Kim played a lot of them. A few turns later, I drew my It’s Worse, thinking that this card could save my sorry behind. Unfortunately, Kim either saw me draw the It’s Worse or didn’t want her ICBWs getting grabbed, so she stopped playing them and I never got to play It’s Worse.
Sometime in this game, I got out Search And Destroy. This card proved helpful for a while, until she dropped Artoo In Red 5 and played We’re Doomed. Then everything started to fall apart. Finally, We’re Doomed made its way to the top of her Reserve Deck and Mosep at the AC got that card outta there! She had to start losing actual force, and I finally had the advantage. A few turns later, I drained for the win, my first ever win against someone in a tourney that wasn’t one of my friends.
FW +7
2(-14)
Highlights: Winning my first game against somebody I don’t play everyday
Lowlights: Not getting to retrieve much with Scum
Now winning this game boosted my self-confidence beyond normal (which is quite low). I had achieved one of my two goals for that day, beating someone over 1700 (In your face, To Do List!!). Now all I had to do was successfully track for the rest if the tourney and my day would be complete.
Game 3 DS vs. Travis Zukowsky, EBOX (1500)
This was quite possibly on of my best games in the whole tourney. I had a pretty good hand and had everything set up in 2-3 turns. Travis, on the other hand, took quite a few turns to get his EBO operational and only had 1 or 2 turns of big drains. I just drained like crazy and Search And Destroy did its magic to give me the win.
FW +15
4(+1)
Highlights: Totally destroying an EBOX deck, the deck that I usually have trouble with
Lowlights: This game, like the rest of my games from this point on, were against 1st time tourney players. Because of this, I didn’t get much experience and felt a little sorry for the Travis, and the next two people
Well, at this point I had brought myself in the positives and felt like celebrating (this being my first time ever in a tourney where I was in the positives). So, I scavenged through the store’s Reflections 1 box were non-foils were going for 4 for a dollar. I thought I’d indulge myself and spent a few dollars, picking up many Fallen Portals, Grabbers, and even some helpful rares for only a couple dollars.
Game 4 LS vs. Scott Matthews, Big Blue (1500)
I had no clue how this game was going to go. I had never played a TRUE Big Blue deck, without any objective, using my WYS deck. In my starting, I had Dash, Wedge, and a few other pilots, as well as Tatooine Celebration. I figured I would hold Tatooine early and fortify it, along with Celebration. I would spread on the ground and Fallen Portal or Houjix away my troubles at the DBs.
So he started by pulling Executer with Mob Points and getting it t Fondor along with Fel in ship. My turn, I dropped a few Freighter Capn’s to my two DBs (Tat:DB94 and a <> DB) with a Fallen Portal and drew. As planned, I drew one of my matching ships. His turn, he drops some guys to my Kessel and some more to Fondor. My turn, I dropped Mirax and Han in their ships and Tat Celebration to Tatooine. Lando, Wedge and Chewie to the DBs, Luke to the Cantina.
A few turns later, he drops Vader and Tarkin to a DB and battles. I forget to use the Fallen Portal (I’m an @ss), but I have enough power and my 2 BDs even things out. My turn, I deploy Dash to my Coruscant to get some more drainage going and don’t battle because I couldn’t have activated enough force AND used a tracked 6 as a BD. So I figured I’d use the Fallen Portal.
His turn, he deploys some 1/2 scrub and I Noble Sac a RF Cap’n at an adjacent site for 5 (whoa, never thought I’d actually use that card). Anyway, he battles and I forget to use the Fallen Portal AGAIN. He clears the site minus Chewie, but I rid him of the scrub and Tarkin.
My turn, I drop Melas and battle; I clear the site and lose Chewie in the process. His turn, he drains his measly drains and knows that my win is inevitable, but he doesn’t draw up. My turn, I blindly try to On The Edge Han for a little differential boost, but I draw a 1 L. I drain him out for the win.
FW +25
6(+26)
Highlights: Getting mad bonuses from ITTL and draining for like 10 near the end of the game
Lowlights: Forgetting to use Fallen Portal 2 dam times!!
Well, now I’m doing pretty well, and there’s a good chance that I can place at least 4th, as long as I don’t make any mistakes, which is a habit of mine.
Game 5 LS vs. Joe Kwiatek, COTVG (1500)
This game was pretty much in my advantage, as I was playing on Tatooine and didn’t have to pay for his direct damage from the Objective. I got Nightfall early and had Boushh in my starting hand, which helped greatly. She just followed Mara with Saber the whole game. At one point when he was verifying that I had no DBs, he happened to spot one of my 4 It Could Be Worse and muttered “Yes, It Could Be Worse!” Thank you, now I have four fodder cards, because I will not let you play It’s Worse (which could ruin any game).
We had quite a few battles on the ground, but he never got out Scum so he didn’t have any strong retrieval.
Highpoint of battling: Fallen Portal-ing his Bossk which left him with Iggy and Niado Duegad. I cleared the site with my 2 BDs and he lost some force.
Near the end of the game, I finally got out Tatooine Celebration, but he drew up before I could retrieve much with it.
FW +23
8(+49)
Highlights: Getting somebody to draw up, and using Noble Sacrifice twice in one game
Lowlights: not getting any retrieval with Celebration
Now at this point, I have a fairly good chance of coming in first, it all depends on the last game. Bob Caton, who currently held first, just got a timed win so he had 9 win points. If he lost the last game and I won, I would take first. It all depended on the match-ups.
Fortunately, the last game was the same for everybody, same match-ups just different sides. Even better, Bob had to play Kim again, which put the odds somewhat in my favor.
Game 6 DS vs. Joe Kwiatek, EBOX (1500)
This game started out bad for me, I had a horrible hand and he set up WAY too fast for my liking. It took me quite a few turns to set up, but slowly the game turned in my favor. When he drained, I cancelled his biggest drains with Control combos. When I drained, he tried to cancel with Rebel Fleet, but I got out Hutt Influence soon enough and the hurt started raining on him. Search And Destroy made its return and I was just eating his drains while my retrieval and drains and direct damage slowly whittled him away. At one point, when I had no drain defense in my hand, he had a full drain of 11 that came in. This hurt a lot, but I still had the upper hand. Eventually, he was down to eight life force at the beginning of my turn. I drained for 7, but that wasn’t enough. A quick glance at my hand, and I found the perfect way to end the day. Fett in ship appeared at Tatooine, I initiated, retrieved 3 with Scum and First Strike, and he lost his last one.
FW +21
10(+70)
Highlights: Winning in style
Lowlights: Having to pound another new player (newer than me) and feeling a little sorry for him
Now all that had to happen was that Bob had to lose to Kim. I couldn’t watch the game, it was just too nerve wrecking. After a few minutes of watching Bill’s EBOX put some beat down on a TIEs deck, I again found myself watching Kim and Bob’s game. It took a lot of patience, but I eventually watched Kim win. I couldn’t believe it, I had came in first, and it only took three tourneys to do it!! I had a choice of $50 store credit or a FOIL, so I took the store credit and got some nice pulls.
The final standings were:
1st – Greg Shaw (Me)
2nd – Kim Caton
3rd – Bob Caton
I probably shouldn’t have won this tourney, it should’ve been Kim or Bob, but I got unbelievably lucky match-ups (aside from the first one). Oh well, I can’t really complain.
Props:
Nathan Brown for running a nice tourney
Myself for coming in first in only my third tourney
My friend Jon for winning by using Its Worse, his first tourney, and his first win
To myself for having some above average tracking that day
The Only Game In Town for having good service, hot food, cold drinks, and for hosting the tourney, thanks and I’ll be back!
The mediocre skill level of the players gave me some nice wins and should boost my Decipher rating
Slops:
The mediocre skill level didn’t give me much game play experience
To myself for having to beat some newbies (well, only returning the favor)
The Only Game In Town for running out of Reflections II
My friend Ryan, for not coming to the tourney (he put school before his hobbies, tschh! what a loser :-P)
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!
Greg