trench-runners-mi-state-champs-tr-4-28
Title: trench-runners-mi-state-champs-tr-4-28
Author: Jason "TrenchRunner" Aubry
Date: Apr 30, 2001
So here I am sitting on my floor in my small 14 by 14 room, and my two decks are in front of me in thier deck boxes. Suddenly I get a really weird feeling. I look down at the boxes and say to myself, "Something isn’t right here..." So I open up my Dark side box and pull out my DS CC Frozen Han deck and run through it. I swear I must be force sensitive cause I get this really bad feeling about playing this deck in the tournament...well its that or I had gas... or maybe I just knew that most of my decks suck my ass. Anyway I decide to scrap the deck and go with a tried and true warrior, the deck I took to the DPC a montha nd a half earlier. At the DPC it did ok and that was good enough for me... just ok.
Then I look at my Lightside deck... there is that pesky feeling again. so I pull out my gaming case (that black carrying case I drag along with me everywhere I go) and pull out my other lightside deck. I didn’t know why I hadn’t taken it apart yet since I hadn’t played it n a real tournament yet, but I had a good feeling about it. so I modify the two new decks slightly not really worrying about teching them out too much cause at this point it is 3 am and I don’t know what I am doing I am so tired. A short time later I set aside my decks and crawl back into bed leaving the light on (If I shut off my light, I will hit snooze on my alarm so many times you would wonder why I bothered to set the damn thing in the first place and I would have missed the tourny...)
So the alarm goes off and I wake up. My stomach is killing me cause I haven’t eaten in forever (well since the day before), I jump in the shower and then dress quickly. Grab my decks and throw them all in the car. Time to shave? No, its 7:30 and I have an hour and a half drive ahead of me, screw it. So off I go... along the way I think of a movie I saw the day before, Driven, and how its moral is semi universal. Its about doing something for the love of doing it, not just to win.
For a long time now I have always played games to win. If I won I was happy, if I lost I was pissed at myself. And I am sure it effected my game play. Ogden and Casey always sai it did, they say you can tell by my bodylanguage how my game was going at all times. Anyway I think about the movie and the fact that this may be my last big tournament for a long time since I am going to be going to school soon and won’t have a whole lot of time to play (Five days a week 8 - 1, plus work to pay off the loans, and yes I am getting rid of that piece of trash I call a car soon so I have to pay for a new car as well). Going into Garden City I tell myself no matter what happens today I am going to play for the love of the game. For the pure fun of it.
Pre-Tourney Madness:
Ogden and Casey show up and smile...hey I didn’t know if I was even coming to this until the day before (work bulls.hit) and they didn’t expect to see me there. Anyway Casey asks to borrow a few cards and I say sure then run to the shop to see if they have singles. THis is where the gaming gods smile upon me....
The shop no longer carries Singles. So that shuts down one of my two lightside decks right there because its not finished and I didn’t bring any trade stuff so I am SOL. Looks like I have to use my untested deck anyway. But thats ok, I am playing for the love of the game...
GAME ONE: My BHBM vs David something’s EBO
Ok this kid is from Grand Rapids and seems like a nice guy when we sit down. HE asks how long I have played blah blah blah I find out he is like 1490’s and I think to myself ok scrub first round cool. I haven’t played since the DPC and I need a warm up round. Then I see he is playing EBO. I am playing for fun right? right, so I play the game not overly concerned about it. Even though anyone who plays EBO against me usually wins (I think my record against that deck is 1 to 99999999 at this point) I take things in stride. He never gives me Luke and the Obj damage coupled with the two drains of two kills him. His EBO goes off, but a ZIMH and 4-LOM with EMP in the throne room gets me three battle destiny draws and you can kiss Home One goodbye as I draw 6,6,2. Only mistake I made that game was losing 4-Lom to attrition... his destiny was zero because of Zuckuss and I missed it... oh well I am a little rusty yet.
FW +17
Props: easy first round to get my game face on
Slops: being a little rusty
GAME TWO: My Profit vs David Lankton’s SYCFA
I hear his name and smile. Two reasons for the smile, first I have only played David twice before both times in the same tournament and both time I beat him by less than five force. The second reason was because at this point I am sure I am going to lose. I mean it’s David Lankton right? 1950+ David Lankton is going to kick my ass, and I know it. But I don’t get mad, I am playing for the love of the game right? right. So we start, first turn he seraches for a system (here is were the gaming gods smile upon me again) and he doesn’t find one...time to verify! hmmmm no real dangerous ground forces... excellent! At this point David and I know its going to be a drain race so I spread thin...real thin... like stupid thin... I’m talking Chewie alone at the D* doc bay thin.... He tries to take out Han and succeeds, next turn Han is back from out of my hand... All in all, even though he is draining me for 9 a turn, he can’t keep up with my 5 in damage, 6 in force drian, and four in retrieval with Harvest repeatedly. A copule of last ditch battles don’t do a whole lot and I end up winning, but only by four. Well the pattern stays with another win by less than five force, and I am sure David is seriously going to kick my @#$% next time we face eachother... Otherwise its just not fair for him...
FW +4
Props: Hey I beat David Lankton...cool. And I have gone 2 and 0 .... that never happens at a big tourny for me... supper cool.
Slops: Being an idiot. If David would have put his Thrawn and back up agaisnt Chewie alone instead of Lando with Axe the game may have been his. Next time David...next time you will win.
GAME THREE: My BHBM vs Nick Glazer’s WYS
Okay, truth be known I never play against this deck. Well not never, just seldom. And I get schooled like a @#$%. Nick played an outstanding game and set me up something feirce. His set up worked perfectly and I lost mostly because of it. But hey, I am playing for the love of the game today... so I don’t let it get me down.
FL -28 (yes my @#$% hurts...shut up)
Props: To Nick, cool guy and it was the first time I ever played him.
Slops: my first loss oh well. I played stupid for the second game in a row... But I am having fun!
GAME FOUR: my Profit vs Dustin Starbucks Hunt Down
Hunt Down...great, I love hunt down...not. I draw my opening hand and see my OOC/TT and smile. I knew I ran three of those for a reason (cough cough Bryan Harris cough cough). So I cancel Visage and he deploys a docing bay he can’t deploy. I call over whats his name and ask for a ruling. We get it all straightened out, and it doesn’t screw Dustin over too bad, but it still hurts him a little (Luckily he had a way to get the Executor). Anyway the game progresses and it turns out he isn’t playing real hunt down but Tie retrieval hunt down with that dumb squadron high destiny bull@#$% (which I disagree on, it should be ruled that each tie card gets plus 2 to the destiny not each tie itself. Same with the retreival. But I don’t ever get what I want so it doesn’t really matter). Again I spread out and he can’t handle the damage from Profit, my force drains and my retrieval with Harvest and eventually he goes down.
FW +20
Props: another good match up for me
Slops: TD changed his ruling in the middle of the tourny on my opponent and that sucks a fat one. ANyone else think that the TD’s should actually know the rules besides me? How about you Paul?
GAME FIVE: My Profit vs Nick Glazer’s Court
Muuuuhahahahaha. Nick sees my start and just closes his eyes. Nicks DS deck has now faced all three decks that can just wreck him. But hey, its me he is facing so thats a plus right? He beat me once already, and by 28 so he has nothing to fear.... or does he? He starts Mighty J and Xizor in the Chamber and first turn saves up not doing anything special. I think to myself great....now what. I have Ben and his stick in my hand and Chewie with gun and that’s it. Ok... lets get some generation going... Ben and stick to the generic Doc bay alone. Yeah that will work besides I am playing for the love of the game right? right. Nick then says to me "should I kill Obi or leave him?" HE leaves him and that is what costs him the game. Instead of beating him down with 4Lom and Djas Phur he puts 4-lom and Fett with un into the AC for support. I’m like...ok... So I fortify with Chewie and draw a few. I think he has none shall pass so I burn a tunnel vision to grab my grabber and proceed to play Leia with gun to the AC... he barriers...ok...I deploy Lando with Axe...nothing... Someone who loves you Han free...retreive my four lost cards and say go with four left activated. He looks at me and smiles. Deploys Guri and some one else I think and battles, I narrow escape away and he is in shock. I think to myself cool it worked. I run out of the palace as I set up Owen and Beru at the farm with Obi and Chewie, at this point I am being drined for five a turn and hitting him for 2 in damage and 3 in drains. He chases me with guri Fett and Xizor. After I move to Tat JP he deploys Djas Phur and moves his crew over. Next turn I move Han Leia and Lando to the farm and Obi and Chewie to the Generic Doc Bay. His turn he follows to the farm, now I have been retrieving with Harvest for two turns now and he has lost Secret plans and his grabber off the top to drains. On my turn I have a huge force pile with three left in my reserve. I tunnel vision twice grab a harvest and a Master Luke. I deploy Luke and his stick that was in my hand as well as Corran Horn. Site now looks like this... Han Leia Lando Master Luke Corran Horn and Owen/Beru against Xizor Guri Fett and Djas Phur. I play Harvest just incase he hits Owen/Beru and retreive my four, then I initiate. He Weapon levs my saber and I return Phur to his hand, then I place Fett out of the battle with Lando (I draw a 4 he draws a 1) and proceed to lay the beatdown. Some how he ends up with just Guri and Fett there and I lose Leia (I have another in my hand as well as another Lando). His turn he drops Jodo and initiates, I have no action and he tries to Hidden Weapons Master Luke but draws a 1, I place Fett out of the battle again (I draw a 4 and he draws a 1 again) and proceed to beat him down again. This time only Fett survives. I lose no one cause he has no destiny Draw. After the battle he moves Fett away to Tat JP and says go. I have two cards in hand, both are characters Lando and Leia. I activate drain damage retrieve blah blah blah, deploy Leia start a fight, shoot Fett, Fett shots Leia, I draw he doesn’t sight is cleared. The game pretty much is over at this point as he can’t keep up with my retreival though he did eventually grab the Harvest.
FW +14
Props: Turning the game around when it looked like I was dead.
Slops: Nick for not taking Ben out when he could. Ben was influential in being an escourt to Owen/Beru and Chewie even if he nevr saw battle.
At this point I am 4-1 and I have a real possibility of making the finals (or so we thought) if I win my next game. So we are outside, the Eastsidaz and we are talking about why I am playing today. They don’t believe me that i am playing purely for the fun of the game and laugh at me. Hey not everyone is gonna believe me right? Anyway, Casey is unhappy with his showing of 3-2 at theis point and Ogden is unhappy in his last game loss to Jigga and an earlier time victory. Casey makes the comment that it would be funny if I had to play Ogden next round....real funny guy that Casey Galvan...
GAME SIX: My BHBM vs Jason Ogdens TRM
I have never never never never beaten Ogden in a tournament before, so this sucks kind of. It would really suck if I wasn’t playing for the love of the game. We both know eachothers decks, Jason has seen me play this numerous times many of them against him in "fun" games, and I put his deck in order earlier so he could get his deck list done. So we were on even ground there. So we start, first turn Jay deploys Blissex to home one. I deploy my standard starting stuff (Emp to Doc Bay, Emps power, and Rendili. Next turn he deploys Jedi Luke to Home one and moves him to D*II Doc bay (Note niether of us caught that till after my next turn). Now I am thinking to myself....ok.... I deploy Sim Aloo and Battle, I draw a 6 and a 4 he draws a 2, I lose nothing he losses Luke and stacks. Next turn he deploys Luke and moves him to Endor doc bay. I deploy Janus to Emps site. next turn he deploys Leia and Mirax to Tat DB and Hoth DB respectively trying to get some generation going. I drop Mara on Mirax and beat her down. I take the drains and he moves Luke to Mara’s site. Next turn I drop Xizor to Leia site beat her up and Kill Luke off again he draws too low to get rid of Mara. With Three stacked cards already, it went down hill from there for Jay. A short time later the game was over.
FW +31
Props: I beat Ogden in a tournament!
Slops: I beat my best friend... that sucks.
Well I landed in third place with a differential of 10(+58) or something like that. I missed second place by like 40 points or something. Oh well no biggie. I came to play for the love of the game today, and I was rewarded by the gaming gods for sticking to that attitude.
Congrats to Jigga (though I can’t see how someone who lives in New York should be able to win a Michigan State championship just because he goes to school out here, again oh well) and to Ed. I had fun and that is something I rarely do with this game. I think it is going to be my new attitude from now on. It is just a game after all....
Jason Aubry