claydoh-at-the-vegas-dpc
Title: claydoh-at-the-vegas-dpc
Author: Clayton "TheDohMan" Atkin
Date: May 3, 2001
The story actually begins a few days before the DPC in Normal. Kevin Shannon is over my house playtesting for hours. I’m jealous as hell that he gets to go....and I can’t because I just started a new job and couldn’t get the time off. It was at that time that I decided for sure that I would be doing Vegas. I was working on a RalOps deck with biker scouts that wasn’t bothered by Ounee Ta. At the time....the powerhouse light decks were WYS palace raiders and HB mains. Both decks were easily handled by my RalOps. So I spent the next few weeks playtesting it and making a few revisions. The final version of the deck was very nasty. It could win without a single force drain with the much despised Resp.of Command/Much Anger in Him combo with a little Relentless Tracking thrown in. Then something happened. WYS got a hell of a lot stronger with the beggar/Han beatdown. My Ralops couldn’t compete with it. Lost everytime in testing. I wasn’t about to drive over 600 miles to get my arse handed to me on a silver platter. So, 2 days before the DPC, I did what everyone already knew what I was gonna do. I rebuilt the CCT skrilling deck with some minor changes. Most significantly was the addition of 2 Set for Stuns and 2 Monnoks so I could have some control over my opponent. I say everybody already knew what I was gonna play because when I got there, at least 3 people told me that they almost brought my dark deck because it handles the Han beatdown wys so well. Damn......I’m famous for a deck. Thats too cool.
For light I was set. I’d been playing a version of Alfred Dong’s TIGIH scouts turn Vader deck for the past few months. Destiny 5’s and 6’s up the yang....and it’s very fun to play. I knew that I probobly wouldn’t get to turn Vader as MKOS was prevelant....so I teched it out a little for Scum and Villiany by adding Bo Shuda and Ounee Ta. It’s easy. Use Madine to grab an arcona and just sit his butt at the AC and let your opponent lose to Order to Engage until they decide to leave.
I’d been corisponding with Alfred over AIM and the phone working out the plans to Vegas. We waited too long to get any good rates flying, so he has his mother rent a car through AVIS over the weekend. Everything was set......except one small problem. To list me as a driver, I had to be there with a Credit Card and my licence. It doesn’t sound like a big deal......but I live 2 hours away from Alfred. I hate AVIS. (For more stories on AVIS...see my GenCon report...they have it out for me) So, the original plan was for me to just drive up to Alfreds, get the rental, and stay the night up there so we could leave early in the morning. That was the original plan. Melissa (my fiance) didn’t want to go an extra day without me (aint that so sweet?) So, I call Alfred and let him know that I’m bringing Melissa with me. The 2 of us were gonna do some bar hopping and have a night in Frisco after we all went and got the rental. Party all night, then I was gonna follow her part of the way home in the morning so she wouldn’t get lost. Good plan right...? It was, until she started getting sick at AVIS (gawd, I hate that place) She was in bad shape and really wanted to just go home. So, at 1:00am, after we got the rental, I drove back to Stockton with Melissa and we went to bed at 3:00am. I set the alarm for 5:00am and I was back on the road towards Frisco at 6:00am.
So, I’m on 2 hours sleep driving through commuter trafic....thats how Road Rage happens. So now, I’m thinking that I’m gonna get to Alfreds, we’ll go pick up Mike Mendoza and Ohmy F. (you try spelling it) and Ohmy can drive for the first leg of the trip. No hangups in town but there is one problem. Ohmy only got 1 hour of sleep. Damn. Looks like I’m driving by default. I reach into my pocket and to my surprise, I find a bottle of Metaba-life. For those of you who don’t know.......Metaba-life is legal crack. It increases your heart rate and makes it impossible for you to sleep. Kinda like No-Doze. Pure Caffine. The pills belong to Melissa and she must have inadvertantly left them in my jacket pocket. (What is it with women that make them think they’re fat? Melissa is 6ft 1in tall, and is only about 170lbs.....the woman isn’t even close to being fat....Oh well) So I pop a couple of pills and we leave the city at 10:00am.
The drive is pretty uneventful. I’m wired for sound, while everyone else is dozing off. Somewhere along the way Alfred throws in the new Janet Jackson CD and we listen to that about 3 times. Pretty cool CD. I make it to Bakersfield in about 3 1/2 hours and my body tells me that its had enough. We pull into a gas station and Ohmy takes over from there. Alfred throws in another CD. A homemade one that he burned. Pretty good music. R&B mixed with some alternative...my kinda stuff. As I was dozing in and out, I started to hear the same songs over and over and over again. I love Third Eye Blind, but If I hear Superman again I think I’m gonna go insane.
Now, I drive pretty fast. I average about 80 on the freeway...and sometimes I’ll even hit 90 for a stretch.....but Ohmy blew me away. The man can drive. His average must have been around 90 because we pulled into Vegas at 6:00pm on the nose. Frisco to Vegas in 8 hours with 2 fuel stops......now thats fast. Ends up that Ohmy popped a couple of my pills too. He was wired for sound, hadn’t eaten all day, but wasn’t hungry at all. Now thats some good stuff.
Instead of going to get a room, we head straight for the warm up tournament, and we pull into the parking lot at ten after six. We walk up and Girard tells us that we can’t play because were late. Mike and I go back a ways, in fact, I stayed at his place for the MegaSlam in Phoenix last year. I looked at him and said, "we just drove 8 hours straight..we don’t have our room yet, and alls we want to do is play." I think my eyes must have said "POSTAL" or something. He smiled at me....checked with the store owner, came back out and told us we could play if we didn’t mind playing on the floor. Sounds good to me. So I grabbed my jacket and wadded it up into a pillow and played all my games except one, on the floor. Damn, that was comfortable.
Editors note: Do you guys really care about the preliminary tournament? I went 2-2 playing fun decks. Lost to Alfred and KC (from Utah) and beat 2 guys who liked to talk a lot. During my last game, I was doing more trading and buying cards from Kyle Craft then I was paying attention to the game. I had a blast just kickin it on the floor. Ohmy swears that Metaba-life enhanced his playing ability. He went 4-0 and says that he caught everything. He was pulling game texts out of his arse that nobody would have even seen. (Thats how you hook em...give them a free sample, and wait until they come back for more. Read on for more tips on "How to be a Drug Dealer")
There were a lot of familiar faces at the warm up. Tim Guzman shaved off his mustache.....I didn’t recognize him until game 2. Eric Bruen brought his crew from SoCal (John Patchell, Dan Lujan, and Jason Makahon) Brian Hunter, Kyle Craft, and Tim McKnight (I hope I got your last name right) show up after game 2 and just hang out and SCOUT EVERYONES DECKS (just kidding guys) Eric envited us to stay in one of their 2 rooms at the Best Western. Too Cool. I’m a cheapskate. Any way to save money, I’ll do it. So, we get into the rental and start to follow the SoCal guys back to the hotel. They made one pit-stop. It was a porn shop. Mike’s telling me that John Patchell is a contisoure of porn. So, I wait outside with Ohmy and Alfred while the SoCal group gets lost inside. They’re in there for about a half an hour and I’m really starting to get tired. So we go inside and yank them out of the movie theatre and proceed to the hotel. (not really, but it sounds good)
Once we get into the room, I throw my stuff on the ground and sit on the bed. Everyone is talking decks and what to expect. John says he wants pickup game with me. I’ve never played him before...and I’m getting the feeling that he wants to test my reputation. I told him I’ve got a light that is fun to play. So he pulls out his Agents deck to play against my TIGIH. It was a good game. Not much interaction on my part though. I just waited him out and demolished some people in JP when he spread to thin. At the end of the game, I got off 2 On the Edges to win by 20something with 4 stacked on I feel the Conflict. It was a good experience that showed me that Bo Shuda was definately worth the card slot.
After that game, Alfred pulled me aside and asked about getting another room for us because he and Ohmy thought it was too crowded. 70 bucks my share for 2 nights was well within the budget, so we ended up getting the room next door.
It was about 1am, and Alfred and I were starving. So we grabbed Ohmy and started to the car to find some grub. As we were leaving the hotel, we ran into Jason Makahon who had just come from the airport where he was supposed to pick up Paul Todd Feldman, but his flight was delayed for whatever reason. Then Adam Montgomery pulled up and we all talked for a few minutes before my stomach said "FEED ME SEYMORE!" We found a Carrows that was about a mile away from the hotel. Mike aparently didn’t want to go. (more on Mikes eating habits later) If you have read my TR’s before, you know how hard I am on crack-ho waitress’s. But DAMNIT, the service was excellent. Our drinks were on the table inside of a minute, our cups were re-filled before we were even done, and the food was ready to eat inside of 10 minutes. What the Frack?? I had nothing to Biatch about. So Alfred and I finish our meals....while Ohmy just stares at his (metaba-life at work) and he ends up getting a to-go container. I think he took one bite out of his sandwich. We go back to our room, make the last changes to our decks, and fall asleep around 4am.
I wake up at around 7:30am and take a quick shower. When I got out, I woke up Ohmy and Alfred and told them we’ve got about a half an hour to get over for registration. We needed to be there a little early because none of us had filled out decklists yet. They stumbled around for a bit, but both were ready in plenty of time. We drive over to the Thomas and Mack center and after looking for the correct entrance for 15 minutes, make our way inside. Ohmy’s asking for some pills. (haha...got him hooked)
This is one of the more fun parts. Seeing people that you haven’t seen in over a year. Meeting people that you talk to online. Stuff like that. I’m filling out my decklists when I hear "hey you, I got your bag." Its Nick Burke (don’t you know who he is?) Nick is one of my absolute favorite players in the game. We had a helluva good time at GenCon (do yourself a favor...if you haven’t read that report..DO IT) I accidentally left my 1999 world finalist bag in our room at GenCon (he really stole it) and he’s been holding it for ransom. As usual he was accompanied by AJ and Alan....the other 2 pieces to the Canadian Triad. We sat and talked about our decks that we were playing as I was finishing my decklist. (were tight...and predictable that way. Anyone who knows Nick knows for a fact that he would be playing ISB Scum, just like everyone and their sister knew I would play CCT Skrillings) When I finished with my decklists, one thought popped in..."Don’t pull a Lewis...don’t pull a Lewis." So me, being the paranoid freak that I am, I counted my decklists about 3 times each before turning it in. As things start to settle in, and it’s apparent that the time is getting close, Girard starts rambling on about rules and raffles and stuff like that.....and then the pairing begin......
Game 1: CCT Skrillings vs Scott Anderson (1895) Profit
I got an absolute GOD draw in this game. Pote, Scum, 4 skrillings an insert,and Vader, but Scott put the fear of the devil into me because he started with that effect that lets you pull the Shocking Info/Grimmy combo. My first turn I go get Rendili with Mob Points, drop the DS II docking bay with IAO, and then I drop the AC with my objective. Knowing I didn’t want to show my hand already, I drew up to 12 which gave me the other scum and 2 more skrillings. I was shaking like a leaf, but he didn’t notice. I pointed out that Han was sitting there all alone for the taking if he wanted him. Just trying to distract him from using that Grimmy that he was going to pull. He activated for 5, pulled a shocking/grimmy....thought about it for a minute....then drew. OH MY GOD!!! That was the game right there. I drop Pote, Scum, 3 Skrillings and insert. He played cautiously to no avail. Inserts hit him hard. I got to verify his deck early on, and the only space I noticed was Super-Falcon. So with Han frozen in the Audience Chamber I put Zuckuss up at Rendili so that Battle Order would dictate the game. Full win by 18
Score: 2 (+18)
The Good: Scott played a great game. He actually freed Han late to make things interesting...but he had no insert protection. After this game, I won the first raffle of the day for the Foil Alter.
The Bad: To me. I had full board control and I let him back into it by freeing Han.
The Ugly: No insert protection makes for a very ugly game.
Game 2: TIGIH vs John Patchell (2030) Agents of the DP Scum
Well well well. The same game that we played from the night before. He admitted to me that he’d made a couple of changes to his deck to combat mine...but alas, I made a couple also. I do my usual start by getting Madine to the Home One docking bay, then I pull out Chewie. I was eyeballing that pimp daddy sitting all by himself on Coruscant and debated on grabbing Blount...but I figured it would be better to let him set up and waste him from there. On my first turn, I usually move Luke over to the DB for a drain of 2 and the extra force activation...but something told me to stay put for another turn as he was activating for 8. He activates, counts his force and says "DAMN....1 more force and I would have had the Beatdown." I don’t know if staying at the hut made that big a difference....but it gave me a turn to keep Luke around. Next turn I grab Kensarric and deploy him to the DB and I move Luke and Madine over. (I’ve got a Fallen Portal in my hand....No Fear) I drain for 2 for a couple of turns, while he’s drawing like a madman. Eventually here comes the fun. 4-Lom, Joda Cast...then Iggy. He did this all so fast that I didn’t notice that he wasn’t paying the additional 2 from Kensarric until he was paying for Iggy. We got a ruling, and the first 2 got in free, but he’d have to pay the extra for Iggy.....he didn’t have enough force to do that and battle. I believe he took Iggy back and just sat there hoping that Hidden Weapons would bring him salvation. Next turn I come down with General Solo, Chewie, and Obi with Stick. He missed on HW targeting Luke, and I cleared the site plus about 15 overflow. Pretty much game over from there. I canceled Scum with Bo Shuda and an Arcona and he just picked up before I could start doing any retrieval at all. Full win by 27
Score 4 (+45)
The Good: The deck worked exactly as it was supposed to. Wait for your opponent and then beat them down. To John. It was cool to get to know you over the weekend. I can’t wait for the Open in San Diego so we can do it again.
The Ugly: Overlooking Kensarric’s gametext for that brief instant almost cost me dearly.
Game 3: TIGIH vs John Borders (1767) Tennet’s Agents
I didn’t give this deck nearly enough credit in testing. John was able to choke me rather easily by comming down to the Home One DB 2nd turn with Presence of the force and IGGY. He cleared out Madine and took away my scout machine for the entire game. He was out activating me about 15 to 5 for the first 4 turns or so, and he totally dominated the DB on Endor. He was draining me for 2 a turn, while he was losing to the flip side of my objective....so despite the force advantage, things were even for the first half of the game......Until Luke got zapped by Force Lightning. It was an uphill battle...and without being able to pull my characters out with Madines text, I was just trying to keep it close. Well, close turned to time before we knew it. We counted it up.....he had 20, while I only had 12. Timed loss by 20
Score: 4(+25)
The Good: Playing John yet again. We end up playing eachother in every major that we attend. Don’t let his rating fool you...he devotes most of his time as the top Tournament Director in SoCal. The man is a rules Guru.
The Bad: Madine biting the dust before my seat was even warm.
The Ugly: Timed games suck....but as you read on, you’ll see that it was the theme of the day for me.
Game 4: CCT Skrillings vs Danny Rider (1706) EBO fake Mains
He starts with the MPG and the 4th Marker and I’m thinking, "oh frack....I didn’t put in resistance." But as I’m looking at his starting effects, Insight wasn’t one of them. He started with Strike Planning and pulled Madine and stuck him at the Hoth DB. With no insert protection, I just went for the quick win. Activate for 5, drop Rendili, DSII DB, and AC all from reserve and I draw up to 12. His first turn, he pulls Madine....but activates for the Hoth DB, so he pulls the Spaceport DB and puts it on Tatooine. Drops Madine there, some random scout, and Mirrax. He saves one force for the obvious barrier, but I go ahead and try to make him force his hand. I drop Vader with Stick all by himself who promptly gets barriered. I grab the barrier and contemplate backing him up. But he’s only activating for about 7....so I take my chances and leave the Dark Lord by himself. I didn’t want to show off the deck just yet. His turn, he drops someone insignificant and battles. I hit Madine and drew a 5 for attrition. He loses 2 scrubs and transits Mirrax to the Hoth DB which he got earlier in the turn. I drop Vader into the lost pile. Next turn is when it gets Ugly. Pote, Scum, and 4 skrills to the AC accompanied by an insert. There was a total look of shock on his face. He then tells me how until just last week, he’d always started Insight...but took it out of the deck in favor of something that really wasn’t going to help him at all. Inserts did their damage in full, and I had some good retrieval going on with Scum and the late game Ornament. Full win by 29
Score 6 (+54)
The Good: The deck worked exactly as it should have. Props to Danny for taking it so graciously. He wasn’t mad at me....I think he was mad at himself for taking Insight out.
The Bad: Mirrax is a pain in the arse. I was going to Set for Stun her, but he never threatened to come down with anything that he could use those stacked destinies with.
The Ugly: This deck. It’s now 29-3 and it still works.
Game 5: TIGIH vs Jason Ayre (1875) Court/Scum
I don’t remember too much about this game. I think that the Metaba-life was starting to wear off. I do remember that he didn’t have scum going for long because of Bo Shuda, OTE, and an arcona. There were a few tussles on Endor and he kept killing off Lando w/Vibrator to the Bacta Tank with Dr.E and Disarms. There were no real force losses in battles and we duked it out for the entire hour. He was starting to get the drain advantage when time was called. Timed win by 10
Score 7(+64)
The Good: Don’t remember much. Jason was cool but visably disappointed that we didn’t finish on time. I’m pretty sure if we had another 10 minutes that he would have come out on top.
The Bad: Timed games suck
The Ugly: I’m 4-1, but only sitting with 7 pts.
Game 6: CCT Skrilling vs Chris Shaner (1948) TIGIH
Chris’s deck is a replica of mine with the exception that he runs Rebel Leaderships, so I knew what to expect. Inserts hit him hard early, then he found Resistance and spread out. His Bonus’s on Endor with Midge were really starting to get to be a pain in the side. I made one huge mistake by comming down to endor with a bunch of skrillings and getting stuck there. I was able to work my way out without any real damage...but his comeback was complete. I had total control of the board early and he was able to widdle his way back. The only thing that saved me was my retrieval with the ornament. There were some good battles and once again, the hour time limit came into effect. At the end of it all, I had 3, and he only had 1. Timed win by 3
Score: 8 (+67)
The Good: Beating a very quality opponent.
The Bad: Getting stuck on Endor in the middle of nowhhere and my only hope was to work my way back to the docking bay. That Sucked!!
The Ugly: I’m 5-1 with only 8pts. If I win my last 2 games I’ll be in great shape. CCT Skrills are now 30-3
Game 7: CCT Skrillings vs Caleb (didn’t get last name)Profit
I know I need a full win and no more of this timed shiet so I go for the throat early. First turn I get out all my stuff. 2nd turn, Monnok lost and I get 2 Obi’s with Sticks and 2 Intruder Missles. His next turn, he free’s han to get those cards back into his deck. He’s sitting in the AC with a Baragwin and alien Han with Uh Oh and Bo Shuda out, but no OTE. So I go for it and try to hit him for some insert damage. I drop Pote, Scum, and 2 skrillings and insert. He activates for full, and it doesn’t pop up. He Signals for OTE and runs me out of the AC. The inserts do eventually pop and hit him hard, but I’m being hit pretty hard by force drains with Jedi Luke at my Carbonite Chamber and EPP Leia at the CC docking bay with the Profit direct damage also going on. He keeps activating and saving...letting the inserts hit, but that didn’t seem to bother him. I saw an opening to thrash epp Leia, so I tried to take it. I came down with Dr E/Ponda Baba and 4 skrillings and initiated battle. Caleb reacted with Out of Somewhere and found epp Obi sitting in his reserve. Dr E/Ponda immediately got told that they couldn’t play in this party. Run Luke Run and all of a sudden, I was in deep doo-doo. After the smoke cleared, I lost all the skrillings plus 6 overflow. OUCH!!! Dr E/Ponda stayed for a turn to block the drain and then got the hell out of Dodge. Time was called during my turn, so I drained him for 6 and let him go. Caleb drained me for 3 and hit me with 2 direct damage. We counted...he had 6 to my 5. DAMN....I’m officially out. Timed Loss by 6
Score 8 (+61)
The Good: It was a very fun game. Caleb set a great trap and I fell for it. Han got Set for Stun twice.
The Bad: I played like a scrub. I should have transit DrE and a skrilling back to the CC Docking bay to block that drain.
The Ugly: I’m out. Bummed. I’m officially a scrub. (Don’t you know who I am??)
Game 8: TIGIH vs Ted Hansen (1804) ISB Space
Ted knew what was going on and started Imperial Decree. An early verification on his part and he saw no ships in my deck. He promptly pulled Piette and Marijek to get his systems out. He sat at Yavin IV and Hoth the entire game. With Battle order out, and the occasional R7 droid stopping my drains entirely....he had complete control of the game. Even though I eventually got Blount out to the <> docking bay at Coruscant...his drains in space became too much to overtake. A very non-interactive game...but he didn’t need to as his drains in space were plenty to win him the game. Full Loss by 14
Score 8 (+47)
The Good: Nothing good about the game, but afterwards I won the foil Battle Plan in the raffle. (cool beans) Ted played a very smart game.
The Bad: Going 5-3 when I was in position to do much better.
The Ugly: I’m a scrub.
By now everyone already knows that Brian Hunter beat up on Johnny Chu and Chris Shaner to win the Vegas DPC. Congratulations to Brian for finally winning a major event.
After all the smoke cleared, Alfred, Ohmy and I went back to Carrows for some grub. Once again, the service was excellent. (DAMNIT) Nothing to complain about. But once again....No Mike Mendoza. Alfred and I stuffed ourselves while Ohmy ordered and stared at his food again. He obviously popped some more Metaba-life. We went back to the hotel and slept until morning. I woke up first....got everyone else up and we proceeded on our way back to Northern California by 8am.
As Mike was sleeping, and I was driving, Alfred, Ohmy and I talked Comics for the better part of 5 hours. Ends up were all one time comic collecters. "oh yeah, well Wolverine would biatch slap Captain America into oblivion." I stopped buying Comics about 2 years ago, so they filled me in on the current retardations at Marvel. Cyclops is Dead??? WTF?? Now thats why I read mostly DC and independant titles....cause the writers at Marvel just don’t know what the hell they are doing.
When Mike finally wakes up...he reaches into his bag for some of those little Ritz Bitz crackers. Ohmy notices that that was the first thing that any of us saw him eat all weekend. So now were all convinced that he’s either on crack, or has been dipping into my diet pills. He wouldn’t admit either...but c’mon bro, admitting your problem is the first step to recovery. How else do you go an entire weekend on Ritz Bitz and Chex Mix??
All in all, despite my poor finish, I had an excellent weekend. Major props go to:
Brian Hunter for finally winning a big one, despite being sicker than a dog
Alfred Dong and Ohmy: I had a blast
Mike Mendoza: For keeping the food budget under control
Nick Burke: Just for being you
James Lafferty: Ditto
Todd Feldman: Just because your presence makes a tournament a helluva lot more fun
Mike Girard: As usual...you run a great tournament.
The Waitresses at Carrows
Metaba-Life
Major Slops go to:
Mike Mendoza: for not kicking down some of your drugs to your partners. That just aint right.
The Biatch in that Hick town who told us there would be a music store in Baker.
Hope you all enjoyed the read. Until next time...Peace out
Clayton Atkin