viper-is-cool-tucson-i-10-cup-4-7-01

Title: viper-is-cool-tucson-i-10-cup-4-7-01
Author: Steve "BlackViper" Marshall
Date: Apr 10, 2001

Viper Is Cool - Tucson I-10 Cup 4/7/01, Day 1

What is the I-10 cup, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. If you didn’t ask, I’ll tell you anyway. This is a 2-day sanctioned event. Day 1 is in Tucson and includes 2 rounds (4 games) as normal. Day 2 is in Phoenix (well, Chandler actually) and also has 2 rounds (4 games). The top 2 scores, combined from both days, compete in the final confrontation. First place gets glass, and his name is engraved on a trophy, which is sent to the store of his choice for display until the next season. Wash, rinse, and repeat. This is the second I-10 cup ever, and I’ll report on just Day 1 with this TR. Watch for Day 2!

So I decide I want my name on the cup. It sat in Chandler the past season courtesy of Mike Girard. I want it in Phoenix at The Outer Rim. The second place player would have sent the thing to Tucson, so I guess it worked out for the best. ;-) Anyway, Girard won’t be there this time, so the trophy is up for grabs without a returning champion. I want glass. The best way to get glass is to enlist help! So I head off to Denny’s the night before to ask the Brownie gods for a little assistance. No regurgitation this time - that didn’t work out so well for me last I-10. I don’t know how Sokol did it, but it doesn’t work for me. I must admit that I didn’t actually get to finish the brownie, but here’s why: our waitress (who didn’t have 2 teeth of the same height) asked for my ID, being 12:20 in the morning. Well, being 21, I was okay. My friends, on the other hand, were 16 and 12. Arizona has this dumb curfew law about midnight and minors, and I didn’t feel like getting arrested, so we split. I had most of it - the brownie was gone, but some of the ice cream and the nuts remained. I guess that’s okay; I’m not much for eating nuts anyway.

We get to bed around 2:00 in the morning (hey Grayson - NO MORE COKES!) and I wake up at 8:00. I let the others sleep until 8:45 and then throw pillows until they get up. We pile in the car and go. I’m getting a ride from Doug Roan in Mesa, and we’re also getting a few others. We pick up David Teeters and Andy Marcantel, and Scot Vales lives halfway to Tucson. This is a seriously packed car, and I’m glad I forced Andy in the middle because I wanted the window seat! We arrive in plenty of time. Several Phoenix players are hungry, so we head off to Subway. We make sure to get Enrique (the TD) something, ensuring that he won’t start without us. Our party consists of Chris Shaner, Jared Arthur, myself, Doug, Andy, and David, so I don’t think it will happen. Local notables in attendance include Jared, Shaner, Brett Kitani, Patrick Gimber (I-10 cup runner up last season), Mike Sinclair, and many others that I can’t remember right now - sorry! There are 20 people total. We get back and start first round pairings. Here’s what I’m playing:

LS - WYS w/ Enhanced Blasters & No Questions Asked
DS - Non-duelling Hunt Down w/out the 10 card anti-Dash tech

Yes, I just stated a 10 card anti-Dash combo. And even better, I’ve pulled it off 4 times since I constructed it. WYS crumbles. It’s funny. No, I won’t post it or my decks just yet because I plan to use them at AZ States on the 14th of this month. I’ll post them after. My rating going into this tournament is 1644. Watch out world.

GAME 1: DS vs. Kale Arndt’s (1378) Hidden Base / X-Wing swarm

He drew up the first few turns as I set up Lord Vader and Tarkin at the Death Star DB. Palpy, both cronies, and Guri hit the Cloud City DB soon after, and I decided it was time to Twi’lek for Search & Destroy. After losing Force a few turns, he decides he doesn’t like doing so and puts out Honor. The very turn he does so, Janus finds No Escape for me. SWEET! He cancelled a few drains with Rebel Fleet, but the Direct Damage continues. I decided I didn’t like him cancelling my drains, so I Monnok him and get 3 chicken wings. He looked at his Hidden Base marker, then searched his deck for a system and pulled out Ord Mantell. Gee, what do I think his Base might be? Cappy Han and Chewie take the Falcon for a test flight at Kessel, and 3 wings take Ord Mantell. I didn’t like the drain of 3, so I decided to take out the Falcon first. It gets damaged, and Thrawn comes down in his Chimaera. Fett hears the good news about his favorite smuggler and joins the fun as well. I had 2 Lord Vaders in hand and didn’t want to get Grimtassh’d away, so I probed Kessel with one of them. Guess what? Kessel is the base. His objective goes away. I battle and Imperial Command keeps him at 1 destiny. It’s a 5; Han killed Fett instead of calling Thrawn’s mama. At least Han did something good with Fett, because that’s where his fun ended. You see, I drew a blind 5 and 6. He crashed his little forfeit 0 ship into the planet, killing both himself and his little wookiee friend. The Falcon crashed directly on top of his deck, causing 10 other cards to burn away in the aftermath.

Okay, Britney Spears is awesome. My TV just revealed her Pepsi commercial. I think I need to meet her. Anyway, the damage was more than he could handle after all the DD and drains I had given him earlier, and I win.

FW by 25
2 (+25)

The Good: Setting up S&D against a HB deck early. This is always key.
The Bad: I don’t like beating up a lower-ranked player because of a mistake (like 3 wings alone), so I went after Han. That didn’t turn out so well, either.
The Ugly: The Super Falcon and 10 more cards. I used 2 ships. That’s a beating. Bring on the WYS madness!!!!!
Props To Opponent: He was a fun player, he’s just new. He’s got a lot to learn, but I hope he keeps with it!

Scot and Andy also won their games, and David had a timed win. He was being drained for 8 each turn and retrieving 10 each turn! It was a modified win by around 30, I think. 1 turn Kessel Runs rule. Doug lost to Mike Sinclair, sort of a bad matchup. Not too bad.

GAME 2: LS vs. David Teeters (1417) playing Andy’s Endor Ops w/ AT-STs

Cool - a fun game! My starting hand only has 1 character - a Raltiir Freighter Captain. Great. We set up on our own planets, but I had the advantage with drains at the Cantina, Kessel, and No Questions asked letting my smugglers steal an extra drain each turn on Tatooine. Menace Fades hit the table early on, too. Control popped in and out of the Lost pile 3 times. That’s a beating! I managed to take Dr. E and Major Marquand Out Of Play during random intervals in the game. I didn’t think he had any retrieval, but if he did, I’m glad the characters were gone. Zuckuss took on Luke in Red5 at Kessel, but Luke outpowered the bounty hunter who isn’t really a bounty hunter. I was also immune to his attrition because now I’ll Take The Leader was on the table, and he was 2 power short of mine because of my Admiral’s Order. Lando got tired draining and hit the Noble Sack, giving me 7 Force back. I drained him out.

FW by 20
4 (+45)

The Good: Everything in this game was good for me.
The Bad: Except for that stupid opening hand!
The Ugly: Zuckuss took on Luke and lost. And then lost again. And then lost again. And then...
Props To Opponent: David is fun. He was playing Andy’s deck, and the two have very different playing styles, so it didn’t work too well for him.

Scot won his last game and is now the forerunner, followed by Jared and then myself. Andy pulled off a timed win because he was also playing a Kessel Run deck. David lost to me, and Doug lost again, this time to Kitani. Another poor matchup for him. DOH! So I’m in third, but there are a TON of undefeateds out there. 1 opponent at a time, and I’ll be okay. No one here is unbeatable.

GAME 3: LS vs. Justin Beal’s (1577) Agents Of The Dark Sun

Okay, I’m not looking forward to this. Justin is a much better player than he gives himself credit for, and this is gonna be a great game. I’ve never played an Agents deck before, so I check out his objective. Okay, kill Xizor and keep Luke at a docking bay. Easy enough. Out Of Commission could come in handy if I get lucky. Luke and his little droid, too gave up a drain of 3 at Kessel until he could move the Dark Prince to a battleground. Luke landed at Kessel’s Spaceport DB for his flip back. Dash & Wedge replaced Luke up in the air. He came down at Luke with a bunch of bounty hunters and captured him! Um, I didn’t see that one coming. Now he’s flipped, and there’s such a HUGE army escorting Luke, I probably won’t get him back. He also captured Han and a Raltiir Freighter Captain before he was done, stealing 2 destiny draws away from both battles in the process. I ran around space and my sites to keep Menace Fades in effect and eventually Noble Sacked Luke (I checked the card in my hand 3 times - it works on captives! SWEET!!!) for 7 Force. After that, he didn’t deploy any more characters for the second retrieval. Time was called, and I get to finish my turn. I’ll Take The Leader is on the table - if No Questions Asked was on the table, that RFC against Fett could have moved into the Cantina for a drain of 2, killing him off. Drat. After drains, I’ve got him down to 1 Force. ONE FORCE!!! I had no destiny against Fett and tied him in power, so my only chance at both victory points is a battle against IG-88 and a Vigo. I have Mirax there along with a Raltiir Freighter Captain. He MUST miss with that Riot gun, because I’ve got a destiny 5 and 6 coming, edging out his power and forfeit. I initiate, but he captures Mirax. DOH! I lose the RFC and a hand card to the damage.

TW by 8
5 (+53)

The Good: This was a fantastic game. The last 4 turns, we took a lot of time studying every move, every battle, every deploy... every single Force either of us used could end the game. What an awesome brain burner.
The Bad: Capturing Luke in the first battle! DOH!
The Ugly: Noble Sacking a captive Luke for what would be a game-deciding 7 Force.
Props To Opponent: I hold NO lost respect for Justin from this game. We both played a great game, and he had just as much of a chance to win going into the last turn as I did. If you have a chance to win, you don’t draw up.

Well, I’m still one of 4 undefeated players, despite the modified win. Everyone else in my crew lost their games, most notably Andy fell to Shaner. I get a high-ranked player next.

GAME 4: DS vs. Mike Sinclair’s (1753) EBO

This is a game that will live in infamy forever and ever. His deck requires 8 cards to set up EBO - his hand includes all 8 of those cards. Visage of the Emperor is taken from the top of the deck - EBO!!! SWEET! Vader and Tarkin hit the DS: DB turn 2, and Palpy and company hit Cloud City next to set up Search & Destroy. Between that and Visage, I buried EBO so deep he would never be able to retrieve it back. The Chimaera, Thrawn, and Fett bent a lone chicken wing over the table, but he Houjixed his way out. Fett joined Zuckuss at Kashyyyk as Thrawn set up at Sullust. 5 wings took on the bounty hunters that aren’t actually bounty hunters. Draw Their Fire and Frozen Assets went down, too. I just circulated my Operational As Planned! I wanted to stack it, but now it would hurt me. It would have been more, but he didn’t have EBO to lower his deploy cost. Zuckuss got shot down, leaving Fett to fend for himself. Fortunately, he gets a destiny if not able to otherwise and took down 2 wings with him. I lost 12 from that one. I damaged one of his wings just because I can and chased it around awhile, but my drains on the ground and S&D did him in.

FW by 12
7 (+65)

The Good: Everything in this game was good.
The Bad: Except for that whole Fett thing. Have I said that already?
The Ugly: Yeah, EBO off the top kinda sucked for him.
Props To Opponent: Mike is a fun player, even though I’ve never beat him before. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING went well for him. And I still only won by 12...

So I manage to get 2nd place behind Jay Webb. My prize support includes a pack of DS2, Reflections2, and a shiny EPP Obi. Jay took the shiny Signal. Tomorrow, Jay starts with 8 points to my 7, so I have to win 1 more game than he does. I actually have a chance of bringing the cup home. SWEET! As for my crew last round, everybody took wins their last game except Doug, who lost to David, so that’s not bad. He got bad matchups all day, but he plays for fun, so it’s all good.

This was a really fun day for everyone. We went to Eva’s Mexican Food on our way home as per tradition. Last time we were here, they told us to wait 30 minutes and seated us after 5. Nice. Scot didn’t spill water all over the place, Andy didn’t lose a tooth in his food, no one squirted Sprite through the nose, and as for the waiter, "Are you gonna get a tip? NO!!!" Okay, you had to be there. Here are your top 5:

1) Jay Webb @ 8(+80)
2) Steve Marshall (me) @ 7(+65)
3) Scot Vales @ 6(+53)
4) Chris Shaner
5) Jared Arthur

Props:
* Kards 4 You for having us
* Enrique Huerta for holding a smooth & successful 1st day
* Justin Beal for the greatest game I’ve ever played
* The Brownie Gods for hearing my call
* Doug for driving
* Andy for not forgetting his foils this time
* Noble Sacrifice for being awesome
* How about Something Special Planned For Them? That card replaced my catch card because it gets rid of Harvest (a catchable card), Sabacc (ditto), All Wings (ditto), Wind Chimes (ditto), Kessel Run, and Our Most Desparate Hour. It’s a destiny 5. You don’t escape my Chimaera. And the beatings go on...
* EBO for being on the top of Mike’s deck
* Blast Door Controls for cancelling Barrier

Slops:
* The waitress at Denny’s for having crooked teeth. And not a couple of ’em - EVERY SINGLE ONE!
* Me for having the wrong AO on the table and losing a good game because of it. I told you - every card played! should have, could have, would have...
* The Shiny Signal for not going home with me
* Yarna for not letting me get 7 of Mike’s chicken wings with my Monnok (wait - I don’t want to draw that last Force!)
* Mayor Skip Rimza for letting a dumb curfew law pass through our legal system

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for Day 2. Read Justin "Bubba Joe" Beal’s TR for more info on Day 1.

-Steve
A PBS mind in an MTV world