dpc-warmup-in-ca-4-21-01

Title: dpc-warmup-in-ca-4-21-01
Author: Michael "Longshot" Mendoza
Date: Apr 22, 2001

For most players here in Northern CA, it was just a regular tourney,
but for me it was the last chance for me to practice for the Vegas
DPC. Once again, I don’t get a decent night’s sleep before the
tourney since a bunch of us college students had decided to have
an "almost-end-of-the-school-year" party Friday night. Yeah, we’ll
find just about any reason to waste time and kill brain cells (kind
of like SWCCG, heheh).

For DS, I’m using a Hunt Down duelling using Saber and Onix TIE
pilots and ships for space dominance (along with their awesome
TIE cannons). The SFS retrieval helps a little too. I start IAO,
Mob Pts, and Combat Response. LS is my tried and true EBOX w/Rogue
speeders. I wanted to playtest my EBO without playing Heading for
the Medical Frigate, so I took HFTMF out and made a few other minor
changes. Its still basically the same as it is on Decktech though.

So I get to Warmasters for Steve Daniel’s tourney, and Paul McKelvey
is there and wants to play me. I tell you this because this is great
info for those of you playing EBO. I play my EBO vs. his MKOS, and
just get destroyed without my 3 effect start. Maybe I’m a scrub, but
just starting ANSB is dumb when the MKOS player will just put 1 alien
at each JP site and pull Gailid 1st turn (maybe even Mosep too). I
lost Menace Fades off the top, and that was game. Sure, my space
drains hurt him, but Resistance would lock the game up for the MKOS
player. Just my thoughts. So I put HFTMF back in before the tourney
starts. Now I can start Battle Plan, Menace Fades, and something
else against MKOS. Ok, now on to the games.

Game 1: LS v Paul Green’s Hunt Down (IAO, Mob Pts, Decree)

I start Insight, Battle Plan, and Wise Advice. He draws up, I lose
Insight to get Honor. I Signal for ANSB & get some Echo stuff. Now
he drops Vader to his DS DBay, deploys Exec DB & CC DB. I get EBO out
turn 2, and he drops Blizzard 2 w/Veers aboard to the North Ridge.
Commander Luke and Hobbie hop in Rogue 4 at Hoth DBay, I save 1 force.
He pays to drain me, I react w/Rogue 4 to cancel it and flip him back.
He drops Emperor & Janus to CC DB, moves Blizzard 2 to the MPG. I
know he’s looking to get Decree going. My turn I deploy Bacta Tank,
Rebel Fleet, and another system (Hoth, Sullust, Kiffex, and Rendili
out now), and 3 xwings at Hoth which I replace w/a squadron. Then I
move my xwing at the Hoth DB to Hoth.

Executor comes down next turn w/Chirneau to Hoth, but I barrier. So
he drains for free now, and I deploy Boushh to block Janus’s drain.
I battle Executor, play Org Attack, and he plays Imp Command and just
loses 2 or 3 force rather than Chirneau. I draw up Spiral and Hyper
Escape, so I save a few force. His turn, he drops Zuckuss, battles,
so I react w/Spiral, then Hyper Escape away each ship to a different
system. Then he drew up and said "oops, i forgot to move my ships."
But he had already drawn his cards, so that was that. I drain for 11,
and he lost a lot of good stuff. After that, he split his fleet up
and I killed Zuckuss, but he managed to keep the Executor around
until the end of the game, when I drained him out. Decree never got
going cuz Rogue squadron showed up and covered my base. Win by 30.
2 (+30).

Best: Honor protecting for a large part of the game.
Worst: Couldn’t kill the Executor.

Game 2: DS v Kody Doherty’s HB mains (Insurr, Staging, Squassin)

I play Imp Command to get Piett to my Exec DB, pull Wakeelmui &
Merrejk. He pulls Tatooine, Tat DB , and deploys a generic DB to
Tat. Darth Vader goes to Tat DB, Emperor goes to generic DB. He
TT’s Visage, then draws some on his turn. I activate a ton, drop
Kashyyk, SFS, Saber 1 to Tatooine, and Saber 3 to Kashyyk. Then I
deploy another Visage, Fighters Coming In, and Vader’s saber and
draw. He drops Corran & EPP Luke to the Holotheater to kill Visage.
I drain for lot (thanks to my Admiral’s Order), then move Piett &
Merrejk from Exec DB to my Endor DB. Luke can’t drain, so he drops
Capt Han in Falcon & Dash in Outrider vs. Saber 1, but the Baron
calls for backup and Saber 4 deploys as a react for free with
DS-181-4 from my hand. I draw my 2 destiny and draw high, killing
Han and Dash, but I lose Saber 4 & pilot. Falcon and Outrider
are empty now, and he moves Luke to the Med Chamber so Corran can
drain. So its just a drain race that I’m winning (draining for
10), and that’s game. Win by 28. 4 (+58)

Game 3: LS v Paul McKelvey’s ISB (IAO, Mob Pts, Decree)

Normally I start ANSB vs. ISB, but I’ve played Paul’s ISB deck
before and I start Battle Plan, Menace Fades, and Wise Advice. His
deck is just too fast to start with anything less. He gets an ORS
to his Y4 DB, draws. I get ANSB in my opening hand, so I get to
draw some as well. He drops his Tat DB, Chall, pulls an ORS using
Chall, then deploys 2 ORS to flip. He also pulls Executor w/Mob
Pts. I get EBO out, and drop xwings at Sullust & Hoth, then move
1 to Coruscant. Luke and Zev get in Rogue 1 and head for the Ridge.
He deploys the Flagship Executor, I barrier. He doesn’t deploy
any pilots aboard, so I could’ve killed it if I had some xwings in
hand, but I had none. Damn. So I drain for 5, he drops EPP Vader
and an ORS on the Executor, battles, I Hyper Escape away. He also
dropped 2 ATSTs with 2 ORS to battle Rogue 1, so I lose Luke to
the Bacta Tank. Zev had goten out to drain at the 3rd marker
which Paul had deployed.

Meanwhile, I had deployed Boushh to block his Tat DB drain, but he
transitted them away, so I had Boushh break cover to establish
Menace Fades again. He had drains at Endor DB and Y4 DB. I
drain with Zev, but he went off thinking with his stomach &
went missing. So I get Luke from Bacta Tank, and deploy Hobbie in
Rogue 2 to the 3rd marker (Rogue 2 adds 2 to search destiny). I
have another Hyper Escape in hand, so I move an xwing in front of
Executor. He drains, battles, and plays Ghhhk combo to kill my
Escape. That’s game right there (I have no Houjix in hand).
Dumb, I know, but it was just out of habit I did that. So the
xwing takes it up the thrusters and says thank you sir may I
please have another (he draws a 6, I lose like 15 force).
I block a few more drains and drain a bit in space, but he gets
Decree going and I’m low on life force to be able to use Bacta
Tank to its fullest. Not pretty at all. Lose by 16. 4 (+42).

Best: None really.
Worst: Ghhhk combo, of course!

Game 4: DS v Kyle Ishimaru’s WYS (Staging, Squassin, ????)

DLOTS hits the Tat DB 1st turn, he plays Tunnel Vision, then drops
EPP Han to Cantina. Vader moves over, I draw some. Wedge goes to
the Tat DB to flip WYS, then 2 RFCs hit the Cantina to battle
Vader. I choke one, kill the other RFC w/attrition, lose Vader.
Now I couldn’t draw another Vader for the life of me, so Mara
hits the Cantina w/saber to kill Han, but he plays Slight Weapons
Malfunction to get a destiny and kills Mara. He draws, I deploy
Emperor to Endor DB and Saber 1 w/Piett and SFS cannons to Endor.
He drops ECC Lando, RFC, & Gold Squad 1 to Endor DB, battles,
plays the bad feeling card that doubles battle damage, and hits
the Emp by playing Blaster Prof combo, so I lose 4, doubled to
make it 8 damage. But after that Vader hit the Cantina, I
dropped some TIEs to Tatooine (Saber 2 and 3 w/pilots), and it
was looking good for me.

I made a mistake by landing several TIEs and
pilots at the Endor DB to block the drain by ECC Lando and the
RFC, but he drew 3 destinies and killed a bunch of stuff so I
let him have the drain of 1. He moves EPP Luke to the Cantina
to block Vader’s drain, and I consider duelling but I remember
he has Run Luke Run in lost pile so forget it. So I battle
instead, Luke misses the swing and draws low so Vader lives and
the drains and Visage finish off Kyle. Win by 6. 6 (+48).

Best: Controlling space, he never deployed to space. Too busy
beating up my ground troops I guess.
Worst: Being dumb and landing my weak pilots and TIEs vs the
smugglers. At least since he didn’t deploy to space I didn’t
need all those ships anyways. I deployed a lot in this game.

I get to watch one of the coolest games I’ve ever seen after I
beat Kyle. Tim Green was playing CPI (not SYCFA) and was getting
worked by a good WYS deck, poor Tim only had 7 force to the other
guy’s 28 or so. But Tim had the DS orbitting Tatooine, plays CPI
and bye-bye Tatooine & all this guy’s locations are off the table.
But he’s still got ships at the DS draining, so Tim locks it down
by playing CHYBC, and then Ability, Ability, Ability. Thats game
even though the other guy still has 28 force cuz he only activates
1 force now (from himself), and dies to AAA. What a game.

Game 5: LS v Philip Green’s Hunt Down (IAO, Mob Pts, Decree)

Phil had just come off a big win over Ohmy Fasudhani, the 2nd
highest rated player in Alderaan (behind only Kevin Shannon), & I
had never played Phil before so I knew it’d be a good game. I
start Insight, Wise Advice, & Battle Plan. He activates and plays
a lost Monnok on me 1st turn, getting nothing at all, but then
plays No Escape to pick it back up. So I won’t be fetching Honor
this game. I signal for ANSB and do my thing, he just draws like
a madman (looking for Vader, I presume). He draws up to 17 and
stops so I Grimtaash him back down to 8. Vader, Tarkin, & Blizzard
2 hit the North Ridge (Vader outside). EBO is up and running now
so I deploy some xwings around the systems (he had deployed Rendili)
and draw. He deploys Dr. E/Ponda combo aboard Blizzard 2 and moves
them all to the MPG. I realize he’s going straight for my throat,
he wants to cancel EBO! Vader & Tarkin move to the DB to satisfy
Decree. Zev in Rogue 2 deploys to Blizzard 2 and kills Dr. E, but
he draws a 6 so Zev and Rogue 2 die (Zev to Tank). I also drop
Boushh to the Holotheater to cancel Visage and move her to Exec DB.
I also deploy Yarna.

He’s activating a lot, so he pays to drain me and moves Vader &
Tarkin to the War room. I realize he can cancel EBO next turn, so
I Signal for Ice Storm and play it, hoping he has no more vehicles.
He doesn’t, so he can’t get guys under the Shield to occupy that 4th
and 5th site, and I’m safe, although Decree is still in effect. He
drops Zuckuss on a lone xwing, draws a 6 but the xwing covers since
it is power 6, forfeit 4. I then kill Zuckuss later on and move
Boushh to his CC DB, all the while cancelling his drains w/Rebel
Fleet. Although Decree stays in effect the whole game, he can’t seem
to find any ships and loses to my measly drains. Win by 14.
8 (+62).

Best: The Grimtaash early on sent his Bossk in bus, Chimaera, & Adm.
Thrawn to his used pile, and he couldn’t draw them until too late.
Worst: I should have gotten Honor out anyway to stop those drains
under the shield. Dumb. Oh well, Rebel Fleet took care of most of
them anyway.

Game 6: DS v Chris Green’s HB mains (Insur, Squassin, Strike Plan)

I get a janky opening hand and just deploy Wakeelmui and Exec DB and
draw. He pulls Dagobah, Yoda’s Pad, & CC DB. I deploy Lord Vader &
Chirneau to Exec DB, transit Vader to CC DB. EPP Obi hits CC DB and
battles, we kill each other. He also deploys Endor. I deploy DLOTS
to CC DB, deploy Sullust, and draw. He draws, & I deploy Saber 3
w/pilot to Sullust, and the Emp’s Sword with it (SFS on table). Now
he drops the Back Door w/General Kenobi there, so I have to go pull
my Endor DB (which I haven’t pulled yet cuz I know Chris plays it)
and transit Vader there. I also deploy Jendon in Onix 1 to Endor,
Emperor to the CC DB, and save 5 force. He drops Falcon, Capt. Han,
& EPP Leia to Endor, plays Frozen Assets & DTF, and battles. He
plays I Know, draws 5 good destiny and I lose Onix 1 plus 11 more.
Then he plays Legendary Starfighter. Crap. Oh yeah, and he
converted my Endor DB.

Ok, I deploy Dominator and Onix 2 w/Capt. Yorr to Sullust and move
them over to Endor (picking up Saber 3), move Vader to block Obi’s
drain, and move Piett and Chirneau from Exec DB to Endor DB. Now he
deploys Dash in Outrider and battles, plays I know and I lose
everyone but Yorr & Onix 2. He loses Dash. HOWEVER, he only has 1
destiny in reserve (after drawing 5 against me), so I duel Obi (he
draws a 1, I draw 6 & 3), he loses 9, and I flip back (Visage still
on table). I deploy SFS cannons on Onix 2, and deploy Emp’s Shield
to back him up. I consider battling, because I look through my
reserve and see a 6 & 3, but I’ll miss the shot if I draw a 3 and
take a buttload of damage so I don’t battle (I forgot that Leia
couldn’t drain so I could’ve landed Onix 2). Well, I lose the 3
to Legendary Fighter so I know a 6 is on top of my reserve. But he
battles me anyway, (I TOLD you I forgot Leia can’t battle), I blow
away the Falcon to end the battle and he has no characters on the
table and I drain him out.
Win by 14. 10 (+76).

Best: Completing the Circle with Obi.
Worst: Super Falcon beat down poor Jendon in Onix 1.

My differential is low, so Kyle gets 1st with like 90 diff pts. I
end up in 2nd, and Kody, Ohmy, and Philip round out the top 5 in
that order. No tourney foils though, just packs for prizes. I
get a R2 pack, JP, and WB Premiere. I needed a Virago which I
pulled in the R2 pack, so that was good. Thanks for reading.

Props to:
Steve Daniel for yet another good tourney. Get foils next time.
Kyle Ishimaru for winning the thing, just like he wished for.
Paul McKelvey for beating me, just like he wished for.
Tim Green for blowing away Tatooine! You are my hero!
Phil Green for beating Ohmy. You’ve got some skills Phil.
Chris Green for yet another good game. You’ll get your day just
like Paul and Kyle had their day against me.
Andrew Meewis for the ride to the train station.
Everyone who read this, and liked it.
The weather man, he was right about it not raining this weekend!

Slops to:
The guy playing WYS against Tim Green, he tried to stall his
inevitable loss by losing his force to AAA very slowly since
there were only 5 minutes left. Plus he was acting like he
actually had something to do with his 1 force per turn. But
everyone there told him to hurry his @$$ up.