ca-state-championship-5-5-01
Title: ca-state-championship-5-5-01
Author: Nick "JediBrain" Stefanko
Date: May 6, 2001
I hadn’t played a game of Star Wars: CCG since Steve Daniel’s tournament two weeks ago, at which I reeked hard. So, I wasn’t really into working on decks that first week, even though I knew States were on the horizon. The week before States, I had to bust my @#$% studying for midterms, the last of which was Friday afternoon. Ok, so time wasn’t on my side. I began drudging through my old DeckMaker files, looking for some more possibilities for decks. I found one that I though had potential to work well at States: my old Profit Ewoks deck; so I reworked and built it. I also did some small maintenance to my CPI and RTP decks. Friday evening, Steve Daniel came down to UC Santa Cruz to pick me up. After dropping me off at my parent’s house in Los Gatos, he went to Daly City to pick up Alfred Dong. After getting back, we all stayed the night playtesting and sleeping. Saturday morning, we woke up at 6 am, and got on the road half an hour later. As we are pulling out, I notice that the digital speedometer shows that we are going 0 mph, but we are moving. Hmm. On the way, we stopped by Pleasanton to pick up Mike Mendoza and Andrew Meewis. After that, onwards all the way to Sacramento.
After a grueling 2.5 hour drive, we show up at about 9 am, an hour before the scheduled start time. Some more people show, including some SoCal players, with whom we chat for awhile. A little after 10, Mike Hardy shows up and hands out command cards and goes to make copies of decklists. Having filled one out the previous night, my carmates and I sat down and waited. An hour and a half later, the tournament began.
The Tournament:
My decks:
LS - All For Her v1.3 - RTP with mad destiny
DS - CPI Navy v4.3 - Blows away systems, manipulates opponent’s hand
There is not enough space at A-1 Comics for us to all play in, so a few of us have to spread outside. I have to play on a display case.
Game 1: DS v. Gibson Yim’s WYS
I get a very slow start, not seeing a Superlaser or Gunner until turn 4. Gibson, having started Nightfall on Tatooine, got to work fast. His start made me fear spies, so I had to hold my sites until I got enough spy protection. Once I got the Superlaser and a Gunner, I started moving towards Hoth. I got out a 2nd Gunner, and then finally moved into position. I CPI it, and draw a 0, missing by 1. He laughs, I almost punch through the display case. Next turn, I deploy another Gunner, and a turn later dissolve Hoth w/ A Day Long Remembered. During all this, he had his forces spread on Tatooine doing all sorts of damage to me, most of which I could not cancel thanks to Underworld contacts. Lategame, I finally moved into orbit of Tatooine, making a last-ditch effort to at least blow away Tatooine. After he drained, I found I was 1 card short, and couldn’t do anything. If I had been able to, I would have blown Tatooine away, and would have set up Come Here You Big Coward! to stop his drain at the Death Star and Ability, Ability, Ability to win.
Result: FL -22
Standing: 0(-22)
Good Things: It was fun at the end, with me just trying to stay alive.
Bad Things: No Gunners until late.
Game 2: LS v. Elijah Smith’s SYCFA
He looks rather young, so I predict random cards will be hitting the table, and sure enough, he did not disappoint. I freed Leia 1st turn, and flipped 3rd turn. He dropped Retwin, and kept saving force so as to keep him alive and Battle Order satisfied. His space fleet was a motley mix of Star Destroyers and TIEs. I dropped my mains around to maximize drains. Arica came down to block Prisoner 2187’s drain, but next turn I gave her Mercenary Armor and Double Agent-ed Arica. He was out-draining me by 2, but I had mad retrieval going. Overall, I On The Edge-d twice for 5, and completed Death Star Plans twice for 16 and 12, paying for all of it thanks to Secret Plans.
Result: FW +25
Standing: 2(+3)
Good Things: Beating a space deck with minimal drains and no space forces of my own.
Bad Things: He played SO slow. He had to keep reading my cards to find out what they did.
Game 3: LS v. Jon Garcia’s Court
Jon is a local Pleasanton player, so I’ve seen him a few times. He’s a decent player, but when I had seen him play, had had bad decks. I couldn’t free Leia until something like 10th turn thanks to drawing all the 3’s in my deck. He, meanwhile, set up at the AC and on Yavin 4. I had started Seeking An Audience, and had A Gift-ed Artoo 1st turn. Also 1st turn, he grabbed my Lift Tube Escape (wtf!?!?!?). Once Leia was free, I began the trek to Yavin. I replaced her with Daughter Of Skywalker, gave her Mercenary Armor and Leia’s Blaster Rifle, and after flipping, moved to Yavin 4 DB, where Dr. Evazan & Ponda Baba and Dengar W/ Carbine waits. He Disarmed-s DOS and battles, I Fallen Portal Dr. E & PB, and play Warrior’s Courage to draw a total of 4 battle destinies. I draw them, and they suck, so he doesn’t take much overflow. After that, we played tag on Yavin 4. Snoova recaptured DOS, and drained me out.
Result: FL -18
Standing: 2(-15)
Good Things: Playing a good game against a Pleasanton regular
Bad Things: Not freeing Leia early.
Game 4: DS v. Wayne Waitman’s TIGIH Scouts
This game was total ass; I’m not going to go into details. Here, though, is the key equation for the game: bad hand + no gunners or sites + him draining big + I Hope She’s Alright = dead me.
Result: FL -26
Standing: 2(-41)
Good Things: None.
Bad Things: Everything. I was so pissed off at myself. I apologized three times to Wayne for not being able to give him a good game.
I’m sucking hard, and know I’m in Scrubville.
Game 5: LS v. Marc Tassano’s Agents Of Black Sun
I freed Leia 1st turn, and moved her to Yavin 4 DB 2nd turn. He drops a beatdown squad, but I play Fall Back! to move Leia to the War Room, flipping. He builds up and I set up Prisoner 2187 w/ Merc Armor, EPP Han w/ Merc Armor, and EPP Obi at the Y4 DB in front of his crew. He battles, I Fallen Portal Bossk W/ Mortar Gun, and then Blast The Door, Kid! to cancel the battle. My turn, I drop EPP Luke and battle. I hit most of his guys, he misses ECC Iggy’s capture, and he clears the site, including Xizor, who’s now out of play along with most of his bounty hunters. I drain, retrieve with Death Star Plans, and after a few smaller battles which I win, the game is over.
Result: FW +37
Standing: 4(-4)
Good Things: By my 3rd turn, I had all 3 of my EPP Obis in hand. My draws were godly.
Bad Things: Beating the hell out of a scrub.
Game 6: DS v. Paul Green’s EBOX
Paul is another Pleasanton local, and is also from the Los Gatos-San Jose area. I get another slow start, and meander the Death Star to Hoth slowly. He forgot to drain me a lot, and when he did, I cancelled 2 of them. I got a partial setup, but not enough to blow anything away. Boushh broke into the Death Star past a Force Lightning, and was followed by Jedi Luke. With no hope of killing Hoth, I was doomed. His drains took their toll.
Result: FL -31
Standing: 4(-35)
Good Things: None.
Bad Things: My dark deck, which had been doing well for the past month, is sucking hard. WTF is wrong with me.
At this point, I replace Kyle Ishimaru as Alderaan’s #1 Scrub and am anointed the position of Mayor of Scrubville.
Game 7: LS v. Brandon Bale’s BHBM
Brandon’s sucking as much as I am, but his excuse is his overbearing girlfriend. This game was loads of fun, since both of us were pretty much out of everything. I exploited his objective and brought EPP Luke out to play almost every turn. I flipped thanks to Fall Back! (I love this card now), and our mains clashed with each other. He kept Sense-ing my Fallen Portals (who the hell plays SAC anymore?), and used Alter & Collateral Damage against a mess of EPPs to make me lose one of them. He flipped me back, but later on I reflipped. He had DVDLOTS escorting EPP Luke at the Yavin 4 DB, so I tracked a 6 and dropped EPP Han there. He drops a walker and battles; I shoot Vader. I lose Han and a bunch, and he places Vader out of play. From here on, I have the advantage. I got in some pathetic retrieval with On The Edge and Death Star Plans, and I barely drained him out.
Result: FW +3
Standing: 6(-32)
Good Things: Playing an awesome game.
Bad Things: None.
Game 8: DS v. Timothy Green’s Throne Room mains
Once Tim sees the matchup, he pretty much gives up everything. He deploys his mains en masse for no reason, and I systematically blow away Yavin 4, Bespin, and Kessel. He’s got nothing else, and Ability, Ability, Ability works him off.
Result: FW +35
Standing: 8(+3)
Good Things: Intimidation.
Bad Things: Beating Tim, who’s a good kid and an unfortunate scrub.
Well, I suck as a SWCCG player, but reach my minimum goal of going 4-4 and ending with + differential. Out of 63 people starting, 10 dropped, and I got 23rd place, which amounted to a $6 gift certificate. My brother Alex pulled 8th. Mike Mendoza gave me his $6 certificate as payment for gas money, so I took that and bought 4 packs of Death Star II, hoping for an UR. I pulled crap, and in the last pack got a Lord Vader, so I was happy; I had traded my other one earlier in a deal for a Jedi Luke.
The Final Confrontation:
The top two players were Alfred Dong and Paul Todd Feldman. Alfred had the highest differential, and called the coin toss. Game 1 was his Hunt Down deck vs. Feldman’s WYS. Alfred had Lord Vader w/ Saber and Mara w/ Saber out by turn 3, but his drains kept getting Control & Tunnel Vision-ed. The last turn was tense, with Alfred trying to make up his mind. In the end, Feldman squeaked by with a win by 2. Game 2 saw Alfred’s Throne Room mains vs. Feldman’s SYCFA. Feldman led two huge beatdowns on Melas at the Home One: War Room and then on a Lateral Damage-d Home One at Kashyyyk.
So, Feldman wins the title of State Champion and Alfred pulls in as the runner-up. On the car ride home, Alfred kept trying to figure out how Feldman beat him in Game 1, but couldn’t. The drive home went speedily, as it was early A.M. and there wasn’t much traffic. After dropping Mendoza and Meewis at Pleasanton, and my brother at my parent’s house, Steve and Alfred accompanied me back to UCSC, where I came back to my roommate and friends watching A New Hope. I watched with them, and drifted off to sleep.
MAJOR PROPS:
Mike Hardy for running a great tournament without the horrible TD software.
Mike Mendoza for giving me some circus animal cookies loaded with sugar.
Baja Grill next door for some good food.
Brandon Bale for that fun Game 7.
Philip Green for trading me his Jedi Luke.
MAJOR SLOPS:
Baja Grill for complaining about everyone loitering outside. Everyone bought food from them, what right do they have to complain?
Baja Grill for their nasty tortilla chips.
A-1 Comics for @#$%ing about how late the tournament was running.
People who don’t know how to drive in the fast lane.
Me for being a scrub.
Thanks for reading!