dwarf-invasion-belle-mead-nj-4-29
Title: dwarf-invasion-belle-mead-nj-4-29
Author: Greg "TychoCelchu" Shaw
Date: May 1, 2001
Note: The title of this TR is from a song called Dwarf Invasion by Common Denominator. If you haven’t heard this song yet, it’s funny as heII. Lines such as "You are not my friend, you are my foe!" and the background grunting keeping you laughing for hours.
Just a little preface: I’m only 14 years old, this is my fourth tourney ever, and I live in the Coruscant region. Result: wins for me are few and far between (with the exception of my last tourney where I went 5-1 and came in first, due to the lack of competition). Right now, I’m rated at 1470, but that should go up to about 1550 when/if big D ever updates things. For LS I’m playing a crappy WYS with 1 Harvest, Tat. Cel., and some Edges. For DS, I have a basic MKOS with Abyssins (no swarm, just 3 of ’em).
Anyhoo... this tourney is gonna suck, I have to leave early because my confirmation class is having some "important meeting" (read: bullsh!t that deprives me of a full, six game tourney). My goal is to win three out of the four games that I’m staying for, because the same people that showed up last time (even worse scrubs than me) are going to be there this time. So, at 11:45, me and my three fellow scrubs set out for Belle Mead, NJ. We get there, and there’s only one other guy there plus Nathan Brown, the TD. We fill out Command Cards, play a little, and then some more people start to show up. First, it’s just two of the same newbies that were there last time, so I up my goal to 4-0. Then, Pete Flamini and Ghetto Leader show up and I decide 2-2 is more realistic. We started around 1:10, not too bad.
Game 1 - Am I Playing Myself? (Non-Interactive)
My DS vs. Scott Matthews (Not rated, second tourney) MWYHL
This is good. I played Scott at the last tourney I went to and it was a fairly easy match for me. Because he’s new on the tournament scene (newer than me), he doesn’t have much in the way of Meta, and I’m pretty sure that this will be an easy win.
I set up with the normal Scum stuff, Jabba, Mosep, and Boelo to the AC, Elephant Man and Bib to the Lower Pass, and some other characters spread out on Tatooine. I know I can spread out thin, because an early game verification told me that he wasn’t packing many characters. It took him quite a few turns to get set up, and he didn’t even complete Test 1 until some time around turn 4. Before that I had gotten out Gailid for a few turns of high, reserve deck only drains (Mosep is god). About mid game, he sent Home One and Ackbar into space. I dropped Fett in ship with Guri on board (don’t ask why, I’m still not sure) and initiated. I lost Guri to cover attrition and landed Fett in ship at the Desert Heart (while holding a Ghhhk) to try and lure him on to ground. On his turn he asks if he can battle landed starships. I tell him he can and smile inwardly, because I’m holding a bazillion and one characters in my hand. He drops Obi and Daughter with Anakin’s Saber and initiates. He can’t retrieve with First Strike because he can’t pay for Secret Plans. He draws low, I draw a 6 +2 from my Obj. and he loses Daughter. My turn I drop Mara with her vibrator and the rest of the gang, initiate, I don’t think I sliced Obi, but I can’t remember. Anyway, he loses Obi and then some.
My drains and S + D damage were too much for him and by the time Test 5 was completed, he only had like 4 force left, so no retrieval. I drain for the win.
FW +23
Cumulative 2(+23)
The Good: I won my first game, and I’m in first place so far! :-)
The Bad: Not getting any experience that game
The Ugly: Secret Plans stopping his late game retrieval, very non-interactive
Game 2 – Thank You Sir, Strike Up Another!
My LS vs. Pete Flamini (1862) Pile of Court
Flamini, eh? I’ve heard that name before, in back streets and alleyways, so he must be good enough to beat me.
He starts some weird stuff, Mob Points, Crush, and some other card, so I had a feeling he wasn’t going to be using S & V. I was right; he got Vader and his glow stick to the Cantina where he drained for 3 the whole game. I got Kessel in my hand, pulled the CC DB (which I never used for Edge-ing the entire game), lost 1 to Court, and drew some. I soaked his drain of 3 for a few turns, while I built up in space and started Celebrating with only one site. Some of the details in this game are a little blurry, but I remember that I used Dash and It’s A Trap more times than I can count, and he couldn’t find a grabber for either one. These cards helped deal with the drain of 3 for while. After I was confident with my space fleet holding Tatooine, I moved Dash and a RFC in the Outrider over to a previously deployed Kessel and started draining for three. I also dropped ITTL to get some more drainage at Tatooine’s generic DB.
Next turn, he decided that he couldn’t deal with the drain of 3, so he came to space with the Executer and Thrawn (somebody else?). I drew decent, he drew low, so the Outrider stayed and Thrawn abandoned ship. Next turn the Executer dies and I regain my drain of three.
Next turn, he drops No Escape and two walkers with Xizor piloting to the generic DB where Wedge and Lando with gun had a formerly uncontested drain of 2. Battle, First Strike kicks in, Wedge dies with a forfeit of a million. I’m not sure what happened on ground for the rest of the game, except that his drains at the Cantina weren’t getting through with It Could Be Worse, C&TV, and the ability to play them from my lost pile on my side. Eventually, he was down to 4 and I was down to 7 without any drain defense left. Mara and some others were with Wedge and Lando. He forgets to activate and drains; now I’m down to 3. He goes to initiate the game winning battle (First Strike), but he doesn’t have the force and that’s game. My turn, I retrieve 1 with Tat. Cel and drain him out.
FW +4
Cumulative 4(+27)
The Good: Play and beating someone in the 1800s, I got some much needed experience and rating points
The Bad: I won from his mistake
The Ugly: Vader draining for 3 at the Cantina the whole game, Talon Karrde Dash-ing from the beatdown crew at the Cantina – man does that old guy have quick feat!
Now my friend Ryan, who got unbelievably good matchups is in first, because he had just beaten one of my other not-so-skilled friends by some insane amount (like 40 something)
Game 3 – The Tradition Continues (See "The Ugly" after this game)
My LS vs. Ryan Lynch (1447) COTVG
Great, I come to a tourney and only get to play in four of the six games, and now I have to play somebody who I play almost every day.
I don’t remember anything at all in this game, except that he came down early with Snoova with Axe, Dengar with gun, and one other guy to put some whoopin’ on Melas and a RFC. He drops First Strike, initiates, captures Melas with Snoova and shoots the RFC with Dengar. I have 15 battle damage, but I Houjix my troubles away. (BIG mistake right here, we both forgot that First Strike was out and I should’ve paid 1 for the Houjix, but I didn’t have any force left). Next turn, I dropped Talon by himself to flip again and satisfy Court damage (He had Melas captured, but not at a JP site). He beatdown on Talon, but he went for a swim in the Bacta Tank and I played the Houjix out of my lost pile (this time I remembered to pay 1).
I had to shuttle my forces of the ground a lot, when I didn’t have any Dashes or It’s A Traps, because he had around 30 characters. I did a little Celebrating here and there, a late game Harvest two turns in a row (once form lost pile) let me whittle him down a little before he claimed victory. I established a small ground force consisting of Boushh (I dropped Nightfall before), Lando with gun, and Owen + Beru. They drained for a little, but then a small beatdown crew started chasing them. My drains at Kessel and Tatooine weren’t enough, and he drained me out at the end.
FL –12
Cumulative 4(+15)
The Good: Houjix, It’s A Trap, and Dash saved many lives
The Bad: Forgetting to pay 1 for Houjix
The Ugly: I ALWAYS beat Ryan when we play at my house, but he always seems to win in tournaments.
Game 4 – Back for more, eh?
My DS vs. Pete Flamini (1862) WYS
This game was horrible, first turn I can’t find any JP sites, so he gets to look through my deck. I drew. His turn, he can’t find a DB so I get to look through everything. We were both set back a turn, but he eventually got going, whereas I was talking longer to set up than it takes Decipher to update players’ ratings. I eventually did get set up, though, with Mara and Bib at the LP and Gailid, Boelo, and Jabba at the AC. I had some pretty nice sized drains, but I had to pay for Battle Plan. Now I had to use JP Jabba’s text to its fullest in order to do anything during my turn.
He got Jedi Luke and his posse to the Cantina and drained there the whole game. I only battled twice in space with Zuckuss, who had to be Ghhhk’d when Wedge in RS1 backed up Thereon Nett. His drains and my lack of retrieval wore me down and my own Desert Heart did me in, as I lost the Sail Barge a while ago and nobody could get past the desert. I had a few Control Combos, which let me drain a few more turns, but then he set up Celebration when I didn’t have enough force to pay for my drains so I drew up.
FL –9
Cumulative 4(+6)
The Good: Nice drains at my JP sites
The Bad: His nice-er drains everywhere
The Ugly: Desert Heart and no Sail Barge to cross it
Sorry, I didn’t get the final standings
And now...
The highly anticipated...
...(drum roll)...
PROPS AND SLOPS!!!!
Props:
-Me for having to leave early and not finishing in last, for beating someone in the 1800s, and for going 2-2 like I planned
-The Only Game In Town for having food, drink, and lots of playing space
-Nathan Brown for being a good TD
-That kid who "Forgot his pockets"
-The Only Game In Town for having God pulls in their packs (You should’ve seen this, one of my friends pulled a crappy Emperor, a Jedi Luke Foil, and Rare Threepio Foil as one of his randomized cards in ONE pack! There were also Palpy’s, Luke’s, Janus’s, a Foil Palpy, and they were getting pulled left and right)
-To the good competition that showed up
-To the Dwarf Invasion song for being funny all heII
Slops:
-Stupid religion for scheduling itself during a SW: CCG tourney
-To me for not pulling anything special out of the God packs
-To Decipher for never updating ratings
-To me for not having a good memory of my games, next time I’ll take notes
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!
Greg