flatwoods-ky-4-14-01
Title: flatwoods-ky-4-14-01
Author: John "Artoo-Detoo" Tatta
Date: Apr 15, 2001
So it’s the morning before Easter. I went out the night before with my girlfriend and got home around midnight so I was a little tired. If I had any hope to make it to the tourny on time, I’d have to be prepared to leave my house by 7:30 AM. Well, after some debating on what to play, I brought 2 decks for each side and would decide what to play down there.
LS -- AITC with Speeders / H’nmeths and Sandwhirls, Profit2K1 V2.0
DS -- SYCFA w/ TIEs and Cannons, MKOS w/ Entrance Cavern Tech
It was REAL hard to make these decks to where I liked them. Today I would travel 3 hours south to the Huntington / Kentucky area to where I’m used to traveling 2 hours north to Pennsylvania. Grove City and Pittsburgh to be exact. People up north are high on WYS and ISB and at the time, I had NO IDEA as to what the people down south played. To my knowledge, however, there were a lot of good players. So I built my decks as well rounded as they could possibly be at left the house to pick up Chad.
The trip down was uneventful as I’m renaming this Tournament Report, "Bird Sh1t on my car." More on this later. Nonetheless, I made it to the Go-Mart to meet the TD at around the time I said I’d be there. I was even a few minutes early as I FLEW down the interstate using my trusty radar detector. We head off another 1/2 hour to the card shop and set up to begin.
We were slow to start because a LOT of the regulars were busy for the Easter weekend and a LOT of the others were half hour late. Anyways, an hour later we started with 8 people, just enough. It looks like there are some good players here, but I had no idea. This was the first time I made it down south. But I had to represent my WV State Championship from last year, being the winner. And I was heckled to no end. Here we go ...
***END PRE-TOURNY***
I decide to go with my Profit2K1 V2.0 for LS and my MKOS for DS. Good choices in the end.
Round 1 -- Game 1
My Profit vs. Chris McNeils Hunt Down w/ Dueling
ACK! I hate playing Hunt Down with my Profit deck because I have to think a whole lot to win. The guy starts the normal Hunt Down stuff and I start my normal Profit stuff with EPP Han in the AC ready for the first turn flip. He activates, deploys a DB, then just draws up as we both lose to Visage ... VADER! He loses a Vader from his hand cause I guess he drew a few up. I look in my hand and see an OOC / TT so I play it having a 50 / 50 chance to get Vader. NO! He plays Holonet Transmission to cancel it. I later find out that the was LAST card he drew on his turn. Doh. So I lose a card and go.
I activate, free Han with Mirax while holding on to a Narrow Escape and an extra Han in my hand just in case. I figure if Vader does come down, I’ll just Narrow Escape away and eventually hit him with a Tracked destiny on a Fallen Portal. I also drop the Tatooine DB and the CC DB. My hand was pretty good, so I was comfortable. I lose more to Visage and end my turn.
On his turn, instead of going after Han in the AC, he deployed Vader and his stick to the CC DB and just drew up. I lose to Visage ... again. The guy NEVER forgot which impressed me. Nonetheless, I was going to lose if I couldn’t cancel Visage. On my turn I made him lose some force, then deployed a few more guys for more force loss. I had 2 On The Edges and an Off The Edge in my hand, but needed to start tracking. I drew up looking for my 6’s and bam! I drew a Fall Of The Legend and a Throw Me Another Charge. I played the FOTL and started tracking. It’d take 2 turns to track. No problem.
The game was kinda boring from there. Me losing to Visage and getting drained while I NEVER deployed Luke or Ben. Partly because I never needed them. What killed him was that he didn’t play any grabbers, just secret plans. So I started playing my Edges and I SWEAR, I retrieved 35 cards this game. My drains and direct damage for 4-5 per turn and his drains and Visage for the same couldn’t finish me off because of my retrieval. So, in a drawn out game, I won by 28.
FW +28
Overall -- 2(+28)
Highs: Retrieving SO much force and never having Han even attacked.
Lows: Losing to Visage ALL game because he cancelled one of my two TT’s.
Ugly: The retrieval. My God.
That was a long game so I don’t have a whole lot of time to chill before game two. Pairings are called, and I get the TD, Kimberly Hughes.
Round 1 -- Game 2
My MKOS vs. Kimberly Hughes’ AITC Jawa’s
Okay, she’s playing a AITC Jawa deck which simply amazes me. Anyone who knows me, knows two things. I’m a Jawa freak and an Artoo-Detto freak. I own HUNDREDS of Jawas and around 50 Artoo-Detoo’s of all kinds. Amazing, eh? Anyways, I start normal MKOS stuff showing Pote as my Rep. It’s not a Skirlling deck, but Pote makes everyone thinks it is. I just play 2 Skirllings for the easy flip. Anyways ... I get a slow start because I’m activating A.S.S amounts of force. Eventually, like 5th turn, I’m finally activating force and have cards on the table. So does she.
I drain her, she cancels. I get out the Sail Barge and Deck to a site where she has a Skiff and a Jawa. I don’t have enough for anything else, so I save everything I have left and end my turn. Saving Skum for next turn. Well, my next turn does come around, I drop Fett, Bane, Snoova, Merc Pilot, Scum, Flip my Obj, and battle. Retrieve my lost pile, and win the battle. She loses it all +10 or so force. She takes a while to count the number of cards on the table, then picks up her deck. The game lasted about 8 long turns but the battle damage was more than she could handle.
1 thing I failed to mention earlier, was that my Bubo ate up her Rep almost TWICE in the Bo Shuda’ed Audience Chamber. Woo!
FW + 34
Overall -- 4(+62)
Highs: My differential at this point. The entire game.
Lows: Having to play a Jawa deck.
Ugly: Jawa slaughter and the Bubo. *Munch Munch*
So that was a pretty quick game. I watch Mike Adams play a game and he has a WEIRD WYS deck that uses Asteroids and all the funny effects that work with it. It’s a very strange deck that actually works. Great job, Mike!
Round 2 -- Game 1
My Profit vs. Jeffrey’s Hunt Down w/o dueling
Ugh. Another Hunt Down deck against my Profit? Geeze. This game was REALLY weird, but more the most part, I was in complete control of the game. From what I saw, the kid was playig a bunch of Lando’s, CC Sabaacs, and the Casino. He played A Real Hero first turn to grab Lobot and I started to get really worried as he fortified the Casino REAL early with Vader and company. But still ... no Lando yet. I got set up quickly cause I had to and luckily had a Grimtaash in my hand when he had 20+ cards in hand. So ... naturally, I played it lost. I got 2 Lando’s, 2 Sabaacs, and I think something else. But it didn’t matter. He lost the main point of his deck and no way to retrieve it.
He moved to the CC DB for a Janus and saber enhanced drain of 4 while I was causing about 4 as well every turn. Big factor here, was that I was retrieving MAD force because I was tracking my 6’s. Later in the game, I started doing weird things to up my diff. I kept deploying Ability 3 and 4 guys to the CC DB and making him battle with OTE out. I’d always Fallen Portal someone, then Narrow Escape. I repeated that same thing like 5 times. All the time, I was retrieving like a mad man.
It was a fun game, sorta. Lots of interaction. But He couldn’t keep up with the beast that is Profit.
FW +30 something
Overall -- 6(Really High)
Highs: Profit winning like it always does
Lows: Playing a 2nd Hunt Down
Ugly: Corran Horn staring at Vader, Emperor, Janus, Mara, Fett ... door falls on Vader, Horn Escapes
So the final game’s called and I get Jeffrey again cause he’s in 2nd still. 3rd and 4th both have timed wins, so he’s ahead of them. Anyways ...
Round 2 -- Game 2
My MKOS vs. Jeffrey’s Jedi Testing to 6
Oh great. I knew I was in for a long game cause MKOS is REALLY hurt by Test 1 and 2. Fortnately, Jeff was slow to set up. I took a quick start by dumping like everything on the first three turns. Gallid, Mosep, Jabba, Bib, etc. So I had decent drains despite his Testing. Gallid was out just in case he ever picked up Luke or failed his test for a turn.
So, slowly I whiddled him down. I was losing 0 force and he was losing 3 from his deck every turn. This went on FOREVER it seemed like because I couldn’t find my damn Search and Destroy. Well, the game was boring until he flipped, then it rocked. He was brave and picked up Luke. He was low on force so he just ended his turn. I got a turn of Galid enhanced drains, which helped a lot. I Grabbed his On The Edhe and by the end of the game, he had 3 of them on the Grabber. Luke came down the next turn and got NSP’ed. Woo! Another turn of Gallid enhanced drains!
Down comes Luke ... same thing. More Gallid enhanced drains! Finally, he gives up and puts Luke back on Dagobah with Yoda. Obi tries to get in the AC, but gets NSP’ed. I was nice and let Chewbacca w/ through. :) I beat him up for HUGE battle damage and that was the game.
FW +20something
Overall -- 8(+115)
Highs: My differential is MASSIVE
Lows: My differential is TOO massive
Ugly: Him stacking a 7 on test 5 and retrieving like CRAZY despite me having Secret Plans out. Me not find S&V. Ever.
So I win the tournament and Chad takes 2nd. Here are the final standings.
1st -- John Tatta (me)
2nd -- Chad Reedy
3rd -- Mike Adams
4th -- Jeffrey
5th -- Kimberly Hughes
6th -- Dave Wells
7th -- Chris McNeil
8th -- Doug Middleton (had to leave early for work)
All in all, I had a BLAST! Can’t wait to see you guys again at states!
Props
Me, for the HUGE differential
Chad, for getting 2nd
Mike and Kim, for being awesome as usual
Everyone, for showing on Easter Weekend
Slops
Me, for the HUGE differential
A.J. Clemans for going camping. He’s scared of me :)
Kentucky, for being a LONG @#$% DRIVE
And finally ...
MAJOR slops to the bireds of West Virginia for leaving 5 different types of bird sh1t on my car windshield. Thanks!
- John Tatta
2000 WV State Champion