viper-is-bitter-vegas-dpc-4-28-01
Title: viper-is-bitter-vegas-dpc-4-28-01
Author: Steve "BlackViper" Marshall
Date: May 6, 2001
Wow... is everyone writing one of these things? Anyway, this will be the longest TR in the history of all TRs. If you don’t know the story, I wrote my first TR a long, long time ago. It kinda sucked, and everyone said I should put a lot more detail into it, add what happened before the tournament, what else was going on, and all that crap. I’ve taken it to an extreme since then and people seem to like it, but this will be the end-all, hands down longest TR of all time. If you just don’t care, skip down to where the tournament starts. I’ll put a lot of extra spaces so you don’t miss it. ;-)
So I wake up Friday morning and decide I don’t like my LS. I’m using the 1 hit kill WYS. It works, but it’s boring. This is a game, and it’s supposed to be fun. So I ditch it and go decide to bring Mains & Toys. I’ve got to decide on Profit, Obi’s Hutt, HB fake, or MWYHL fake. I eventually decide on Profit because it’s unexpected, beats Hunt Down, Master Luke and Ben destroy MKOS by themselves, and direct damage is cool. I build it, but I need to borrow a Ben from Shaner. That’s cool. I completely avoid space - I could put in just the Home One, but everyone and their mother is playing Lateral Damage and that is gonna suck, so I’ll keep the extra card slot. I decide against Narrow Escape / Order To Engage in favor of several Out Of Commissions. I wanted more character options than WYS was giving me, so now Blount, Kenobi, Tawss, Oreo, and the crew can make an appearance again. My DS is still the boring old Hunt Down. Okay, it’s a fun deck, but I’m not going to play it after May 30 (the release of Tatooine) because it just won’t hold up. Come on, Maul’s coolest ability puts my objective out of play, Mara is power 1, Jedi will run rampant, and EVERYONE will have duelling enhancements. I’ve got to play as much of this as I can before the set is released because it’s just too much fun.
So I’ve got a completely untested LS deck. I burn a CD for Jeff because he wants one, and I drop it off along with Conker because that game rules. Drunk squirrels are cool. :-) He called me up last night and asked if I could go to a flying expo this weekend - um, no. I make it to Shaner’s store about 30 minutes later than what I wanted, but it’s still early and we’re good to go. They load their crap in my car and decide on last minute card changes. Well, most of us - Mike was building decks from scratch. By the way, the crew today consists of:
Steve Marshall (me) @ 1728
Charles Hickey @ 1856
Chris Shaner @ 1948
Brian Choongphol @ 1661
Mike Jolicoeur @ 1511 (hasn’t played in a year, so the rating was gone)
Shaner is looking for cards. Let me repeat that. SHANER IS LOOKING FOR CARDS. Shaner doesn’t have the cards he needs to finish his deck.
Let me repeat that. SHANER DOESN’T HAVE THE CARDS HE NEEDS TO FINISH HIS DECK. Shaner, the guy who has more cards than God doesn’t have the cards he needs to finish his scout deck. Okay, I’ve got a Blount in here somewhere... As for his other card, screw Cracken (or whoever it was he wanted to include). Use Wicket With Lightsaber (my card creation). No? Well how about Wicket? He’s a scout and excludes characters from battle. You KNOW someone’s going to pick him up to see what he does. Well, I didn’t think it would be Brian Hunter in the final round. We were discussing Shaner’s singing debut. This guy is completely monotone, and it seems he’s that way singing as well. We mention specific songs, but Shaner denies it all. It was funny. Mike gets a call as we’re piling in the car and says he might not be able to go. Here’s what we hear: "No, I’m going to Vegas." "Um, in about 10 seconds." "Wanna come?" Now keep in mind, I’ve got a Honda Accord, and I only suggested 4 people. Shaner wanted 5, and I’m in the front seat no matter what, so I don’t care. Now we’re taking an extra person? And also remember that I’m taking 4 BIG guys... it’s not like we’d have room anyway. Brian might be tied to the bottom of the car as it is. So V doesn’t come, and Mike decides to go even though his friend from out of town made the surprise visit to see him. Well, SURPRISE! ;-) We leave.
It takes 2 people to give me specific directions on how to find Brian’s place, and we make a couple circles getting there. As it turns out, he lives 1/2 a mile from my school and I could have made it on my own. Whatever. tee hee. We already voted, and he’s got the middle seat. We asked him about Shaner’s singing history, and he names every song we were talking about without any clues or coaxing whatsoever. So much for that whole denial thing. We’re driving up the 101 and are stopped in traffic. Turns out a car is flipped and is on its side hanging off the edge of the freeway. Gee, that looks like a fun ride.
I’m opening packs of Jedi Knights (yes, while driving) and we eventually decide that we’re gonna do a karayoke bar sometime this weekend. That will be fun, though Shaner’s part scares me. We also learn that we seem to use last names - if we say Hunter or Craft, everyone knows who we’re talking about. I’m Marshall, and I’m driving with Hickey, Shaner, Choongie, and this other guy. We’ve also got Girard, Garrison, Vales, Deese, Sinclair, McCormack, Jared... okay, so it doesn’t always happen. But you get the idea. We’re really weird. Anyway, we get ourselves pumped up about the tournament and after a few stops, we arrive in Vegas. Mike, the tallest of us all at 6 foot something, is glad to get out of the middle seat.
After waiting an hour in line, we get the room. Now come on... it’s 1:00 in the morning. How many idiots can possibly be just checking in??? We get up there and after a quick game, I decide to dump Jedi Luke for a third Master Luke. It just works better that way. We get something to eat - while waiting, Hickey puts a quarter into a slot machine and wins $10. Okay, and now I hate him. We eat and get back, and I play my Carbon Chamber Testing (60 Random Cards I Threw Together) against Mike’s Dagobah 7s. We figure the game will last 30-45 minutes and we’ll go to bed.
THE GAME LASTS 4 AND A HALF HOURS.
Early on, Tawss Khaa estabilshes herself as the Son Of God. Our very first battle, Tawss went up against my crew just hoping to take out someone with a destiny draw. Initiate. Gee, I think Tawss is gonna lose. Tawss does indeed lose and does indeed take out Mara #1. As it turns out, in the 15 cards in his Lost Pile, Tawss Khaa is the random card retrieved. Yeah, that’s Christlike. After 4 hours went by, I still had 25 Force left and he had 30. These are some intense decks. The game winning turn was when I retrieved Jabba, a Ghhhk, and Mara in that order. He was slowly taking my Audience Chamber away from me, but the Hansickle remains, so power 6, defense 7 Jabba is still a beating. I drop another Jabba from hand down and don’t battle, so he’ll give it to me. I draw up my tracked characters and leave 2 Force before recirculating. After his first action, I Masterful Move. GHHHK ISN’T THERE. I’m so tired I just assume I miscounted. He beats the crap out of Jabba and gives me a loss of 18 more cards, giving him the game. I check after the game is over, and Ghhhk is back. I don’t know where it went, but it’s back now. Whatever. Our practice game took longer than 2 full ROUNDS of a sanctioned tournament! I think he can handle whatever gets thrown his way tomorrow.
EVEN BETTER was the commentary by a sleeping Brian Choongphol during the game. I tell him I’m going to Masterful Move for my Ghhhk. "That’s not a character!" We look at each other for a couple minutes (it was late, and we didn’t realize who said it). I finally speak up and tell him it’s a dejarik. "How do you spell that?" Okay, now I’m spelling dejarik for him. Mike was even better. He tells me that he’s going to drop Obi-Wan to kill my guys. "Not if I deploy Sub-Zero first!" And it went on and on for hours. This was a funny game, but it was probably because we were sleep deprived and just wanted it to end.
Well, our wake up call is at 7:30, and it’s 7:18. I can get 12 minutes of sleep, but everyone is too loud so I fail. No sleep before the 8 game DPC - great. We get there to make sure we know where it is. There are like 30 cars going into the place, so I can’t make my left turn! A break in "traffic" (it’s a university parking lot!) finally happens, and Shaner gets all animated "Go! Now! Turn! GO GO GO GO GO!!!!!" I have NEVER NEVER NEVER seen Shaner put that much emotion into ANYTHING before in all the time I’ve ever known him. Anyway, we park and check out the building. There are DPC signs pointing to the left, so we go there. After making a full circle around the building, we arrive. We could have gone the other direction and been there in 30 seconds. Whatever. We say hi to people, check out who’s there, but he won’t let us register because it’s only 8:45. Okay. We hit McWaaaanald’s to get our Waaaamburgers and French Cries (thanks DJ - cause you KNOW the Waaaaambulance wasn’t annoying enough!) and return in time to fill out decklists. I see Kitani, Dunn, and a bunch of other Phoenix players sitting down and join them to write my decks out. Kitani tells me that the hotel Bible is his good luck charm today, and I tell him that’s all cool, but what happens when the Bible goes up against Jesus (referring to Hunter)? "Hey, I’ve read the Bible. Jesus dies." I knew then and there that this was the quote of the weekend. Out of everything that has happened already, and of everything that will happen in the upcoming 11 games, and of everything that will ever be said on the way home, NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING and I mean NOTHING can beat that one. I was rolling. We remember the whole Son Of God thing (which I guess should be Daughter of God... whatever). Those of us who drove up together decide on the name Team Signal (and do the whole hand signal thing on the card), because it’s the best we could come up with.
DON’T GET ME WRONG - I respect religion and believe in God, but I also have a sense of humor about the surrounding environments He has put me in. Tawss didn’t REPLACE Jesus - the two are tight. And Hunter, being 200 points above 2nd place, with the stature EXACTLY like any portrait of Jesus Christ himself, really does bear a frightening resemblance. Nothing against God here.
We finally begin our first round pairings. My rating going in is 1728. My decks are:
LS - Profit Mains
DS - Hunt Down w/out duelling
*** END PRE-TOURNEY HERE ***
GAME 1: DS vs. John Patchell’s TIGIH Mains (2011)
Wow - what a phenominal way to start the DPC. This would actually be the best, most though-provoking strategy game I would have all day long. Very first turn I don’t have enough to deploy Vader. I think about dropping Tarkin alone to his Endor DB so he only gets 2 Force, but I fear the free speeder beatdown. I wait. I drop CHYBC on turn 1 to stop his drain because that card rules. Right, Kitani? ;-) As we go along, he had a couple early battles on me, but I was draining him down. Vader had taken Luke to the DS DB, and Palpatine played BlackJack with Janus on Cloud City. Obi and Artoo & Threepio were pinging me for 2 at the Back Door, almost evening out the Force loss. I drop Mara down to the Executor DB to kill his spy who cancelled Visage, and he’s got 4 cards in hand. I really don’t like being beat up, especially when he’s activating a whole bunch of Force and has some saved already. I Monnok his hand and find he’s only got EPP Leia. Mara with a lightsaber and a power bonus can take Leia, so I move her to a lone Docking Bay. She comes down and misses Mara, but the Emperor’s Hand has much better training and slices the poor Skywalker to pieces. I draw a 1 for destiny and she gets a 5, so I stack a card.
I haven’t seen ANY space come up in draws, Force loss, systems, the Monnok, or anything, so I figure I’m safe with Zuckuss at Carida. NEXT TURN Dash and the Outrider drop on him from hand and EPP Leia on board for revenge to destroy the bounty hunter who isn’t really a bounty hunter. Ouch... stack. Obi and Artoo are draining, and I really don’t like it. He’s keeping me on the 0 side, and it’s bothering me. I know I’m not going to get my destinies if I go down there. I’m going to Set For Stun the droids, but I apparently miscounted my Force and don’t have enough to battle if I go down. Either that, or I don’t get my draw and the Jedi lives. DOH!!! I hate miscounting my cards. I count like 4 times to check - yeah, I’m just a scrub. At this point, I’ve got a drain of 4 vs. his drain of 3, but he’s got 28 Force and I’ve only got 15. I need this to change.
I drop Mara to Obi’s Hutt for the drain of 3 to even the score up. Now I’ve got the advantage, and the ball is in his court. He drops EPP Han and a Palace Raider in a craft to the Hut to get rid of Mara. He initiates, but Han misses Mara. Somebody upstairs likes me. Wait, he plays Slight Weapons Malfunction. DOH! I Set For Stun the Pansy Raider, stealing 2 of his 3 destinies away. He draws low - wow. He loses a Force off the top of his deck (for tracking purposes, I suppose) and then loses the Craft to attrition. I don’t care what you guys want to say - attrition and battle damage are satisfied at the same time. This was a legal move for him! Here’s the part that gave me the game: He nabrums Obi and Artoo over to Mara’s site and moves Han away for the drain of 1 next door.
I flip.
Leia can’t drain. He pings me for 1 with Han. Obi tries to take out Mara, but he’s getting too old and can’t initiate anymore. I didn’t block Han’s drain with Mara because I really need her alive and can’t take chances right now. I get my free drain of 4 in. Han and Obi switch places, but this time he’s got his destinies ready. I drain 4 again. He battles Mara, hits her, Slight Weapons Malfunction, I lose and have to stack card #4. He has 8 to my 7. I get a drain of 4, he gets 3. I am actually going to win this game. He drains 3, I drain 4. He has no idea where his cards are - there is NOTHING tracked. He activates all his Force except 1 and drains me for 3. I have 1 card left, and he’s out of ways to damage me. He’s going to turn Vader! He needs at least a 3. He flips...
...
He gets his damn destiny 3. Vader turns and I lose my Life Force. DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH!!!!! I could have moved Palpatine over to reduce the draw by 6, but I Janus would only have a drain of 1 and couldn’t beat him next turn. We looked at his deck, and he had a 1, 1, 3, and 6 left - A blind 50/50 chance. This was an AWESOME game.
FL by 4
0 (-4)
The Good: What a great game. I don’t think either of us made mistakes save the Obi Nabrum, making for a solid 45 minute performance.
The Bad: Mara getting beat up by Han to stack the 4th card.
The Ugly: What a Catch 22! I move and I DO lose by 1, or I don’t move and I MIGHT lose by 4. Nabrum for the flip was cool.
Props To Opponent: He was really cool and offered me a couple suggestions. Nice guy.
So, this is what upper tier players are like. Every game is an epic. Please realize that I just grew out of the 1500s (not a typo - the 1500s), and the highest tournament I’ve played at is AZ States. Shaner was the only one from Team Signal to win (that’s another story, and this is long enough as it is).
GAME 2: LS vs. Sumdom Keed’s MKOS Skrillings
This game set the mood for the rest of the tournament and prompted the title for the TR. What a pile. He stalled me out all game. I had him out-played, out-tracked, out-drained, and overpowered through EVERY SINGLE THING he did. Battle, exclude w/ Lando, shoot with someone, bounce with Master Luke, and draw 2 destinies. Take 3 Direct Damage and drains. He kills Han, I’d bring him back. When time was called, I had 22 Force against his 2. This was a load of crap. Nothing happened except him looking at the game board, deploying some Skrillings, and dying in battles. That was really it.
TW by 22
1 (+18)
The Good: I won?
The Bad: This game was crap, and I’m bitter for the rest of the day.
The Ugly: Did I mention I was upset?
Props To Opponent: None.
I’ve never written that in a TR before, and I hope I never do again. But it was the entire game. It really sucked that badly.
I headed towards the Judge’s table and paid Girard a dollar for one of Hunter’s kidneys... I don’t know why he had all these internal organs, but I figure the guy IS Jesus, and he DOES have 2 of ’em, so why not? Hunter walks by, and Girard says he’s charging to let people "touch" them. Yeah, they weren’t for sale, just the experience... that’s the ticket...
GAME 3: DS vs. Mike Jolicoeur’s POS Dagobah 7s courtesy of Charles Hickey MWYHL to 6 (1511 - lost old record, only 4 recorded games)
This was just funny. Mike tells me that the deck is an absolute pile and he could be playing Asheron’s Call instead of this. He starts training Luke because he wants to, even though I’ve got Hunt Down in play. Turns out Xizor gets a battle destiny even though Test 2 is in effect (I did NOT say no!). We battled, and the Dark Prince took out Lando and the entire Lars Family. I lose nothing to his draw of 1. I thought this deck had a lot of 7s in it? Maybe instead of Dagobah 7s, this is the Dagobah 1s variant.
I was draining at Carida with Thrawn in his destroyer, Zuckuss, and Fett, Mara, Xizor, and Guri held off Cloud City, and Vader, Tarkin, Palpatine, and Janus were playing multi-player Jedi Knights on the Death Star. Search And Destroy along with Visage were eating him alive, and I had CHYBC and Secret Plans on the table and the Catch card in hand. He really thought he could have won the game, and by the tech in the 4.5 hour game earlier, I didn’t doubt him, but he really wanted to give me a chance at the ratings, so he drew up for me. That was a classy sacrifice.
FW by 23
3 (+41)
The Good: I am really impressed and humbled that someone like Mike would do that for me. No pressure, of course...
The Bad: I NEVER SAID XIZOR DIDN’T GET A DESTINY! Silence doesn’t mean "no"!
The Ugly: That was a lot of Force loss he was taking.
Props To Opponent: Very class-act.
GAME 4: LS vs. Michael Mendoza’s Hunt Down w/ TIEs (1884)
He shows me Hunt Down and starts Squadron Assignments (the DS version), so I have no idea what he’s planning on doing at all. Turns out it doesn’t matter because I won’t draw any characters until turn 4. TURN 4!!!!! That’s insane! And Luke (I play 3) doesn’t show up until turn 6. Visage is a pain. If you hadn’t predicted yet, yeah - I lost this one.
I finally get some characters on the ground and free Han as soon as I can (he left the Chamber to drain next door). We exchange drains and Direct Damage, but he’s got an uncontested drain of 4 in space at Kashyyyk and Sullust. One of the cards in my starting hand was Courage Of A Skywalker, so I tried to play mind games since it would be my only chance at winning. I knew he had the Obsession in hand... I could tell by the look in his eyes. I kept pushing him to duel and save himself some Force, it would make it that much quicker for me. Without the knowledge of Courage in my hand, he had the clear duel advantage. He’s got high destinies in the deck, and he knows I haven’t circulated anything yet, so I can’t possibly be tracking.
Yeah, right. ;-)
Turns out he decided not to duel and lost Obsession. As soon as he did so, I lost Courage my next turn to a drain. I was tracking my retrieved 5, 6, and 5 destinies to the top of my deck at all times (through the Force Pile and all). Yeah, I read my articles. That was my only hope of winning this game since I decided not to play until turn 5. In desparation, I dropped Tawss Khaa in front of Palpatine and Master Luke in front of Choke Vader to stop his drains and get an extra 5 damage in next turn, but Visage eats away my last Force at the end of his turn. DOH!
FL by 12
3 (+29)
The Good: This was a really fun game, despite the loss. I still gave him a run for his money and would have won the game if he had just duelled Luke.
The Bad: He decided not to.
The Ugly: Not getting ANY characters until turn 4? HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?????
Props To Opponent: Mike is a really cool guy, and I wish him well through the rest of the tournament. This was fun.
So much for getting into the top spots and all... maybe if I didn’t play a bad player in game 2 and had the full win I’d still have a chance if I win the rest of my games with decent dif, but now all hopes are gone. I don’t drop because that wouldn’t be any fun (and I’m driving so many people to hotels anyway), so now it’s just for fun. With the level of players here, my rating really can’t go down - only up. I cling to Hunter’s kidney in my pocket for luck. Here we go!
GAME 5: LS vs. Matt Berta’s Hunt Down (1771)
This was a horrible, horrible game. We had some serious battles back and forth, most notably the first one for Han in the Audience Chamber. He had Mara with her stick, Dr. E & Ponda Baba, 4LOM w/ canceller, and some other scrub. I dropped down Master Luke, who was Beaten upon entry, Ben Kenobi, Chewie Protector, Lando w/ dildo, and Tawss Khaa down. I battled anyway and kicked some alien butt. I lost Tawss Khaa to his draw, and he asks why I didn’t revive her with Ben. I told him it was because I’m a bad player. We would battle over and over again; Lando found a couple destiny 5s in my deck that he liked and used to exclude Tarkin over and over again (it was cancelled, making Tarkin nothing more than forfeit fodder. I would get extra destinies that he can’t cancel anymore, and Ben brings someone back. We battled 5-6 times, and once I was so tired I think he had to wake me up in the middle of a battle.
From across the room, we hear DJ Andrews and Hunter in an interesting argument about the Bantha Droid and Lateral Damage. I’ve read Hunter’s TR and won’t give away too many details about what happened, but Girard ruled that the droid cancels Lateral Damage. Period. I thought this was the wrong ruling, but then I looked it up in the CRD. The card was given an errata (actually, Big D didn’t want to call it an erratta so they call it a "clarification"), and the "clarified" version states much more clearly that this droid may cancel Lateral Damage anywhere. The "unclarified" version is deceptive, and I really don’t like the fact that cards don’t actually say what they say.
Eventually, I guess I forgot about my own articles and didn’t realize what he was doing to his destinies. The last battle, he choked Han and finally, FINALLY, broke Ben’s immunity with a tracked 6. I knew it was there, I was just too tired to pay attention. Sucks to be me as we both flip our big purple cards. I’ve got Visage damage to deal with, and Leia, Han, and the Lars family don’t do enough damage in time (Leia can’t drain, but she still causes DD with Profit flipped). He drains me out.
FL by 13
3 (+16)
The Good: Well, at least I’m still in positive standings.
The Bad: I have never fallen asleep in a game before, and I hope I don’t repeat that one.
The Ugly: I should have known he was tracking the 6 and ran away, giving him the drain openly.
Props To Opponent: Berta is cool. Thanks for waking me up.
I guess that wasn’t too bad. I haven’t played ANYONE with a rating lower than my own yet, so I don’t care about Decipher’s page. I don’t usually pay it attention anyway, but having the 1700 to back up my playing is a nice confidence booster. We sit and talk, and little Danny (I’m tired of using last names now... this TR is too long as it is) sits down. We chat about how our days are going. I mention that my playing style is all screwed up... I can beat some of the best players, but I’ll lose to the 1500 scrub. Vegas players are cool. We’re all laughing at Danny’s Jesus Christ action figure he got Hunter to sign - who makes a Jesus action figure, anyway? That was amusing, even more than usual because we’re all tired. I run out to my car and down a pair of frappacinos (sp?) that I brought for just such occassions. On the walk back to the main room, I realize that I just insulted Matt to his face with the 1500 remark and apologize upon return. I wasn’t even thinking about it. The next round is soon called, and I know I’m going to be negative now because now I’ve got to face up with Hunter’s ride.
GAME 6: DS vs. Tim McKnight’s Hidden Mains (1844)
Yeah, whatever. I thought this guy was 2000+ when I went into the game, so I played my absolute best. I lost a close one to a 2000+ player already today, and it was mostly to luck of the draw (literally). I’m not going to let that happen again.
I flip early (2nd turn, actually) and get Vader and Pimp Tarkin to a Docking Bay. Xizor and Mara head to the other docking bay and are soon joined by Palpy and Janus. We had an awesome battle in space. Well, I thought it was cool. I used a blind Set For Stun on Dash and send him back to the hand, then drop Fett in his ship, Damage the Outrider (with BoShek piloting), and battle. No reducing power, no immunity, and it was just cool. BoShek isn’t immune to the attrition this time. Nothing remains in space, so Fett stays right where he is. I doubt he’s got another Outrider in hand. Dash returns anyway; he was given a lift by Captain Han in the Falcon. He was heard commenting how old the bird looked compared to his own, but Han "politely" pointed out that the Falcon may not look like much, but at least it’s still alive. Han is cool. Lucky for me, he only draws a 1 and a 3, so Fett lives and I lose 2 Force. Bad Han - No Legendary. Thrawn comes down in the Chimaera and draws a 10 to clear the site and leave the Falcon floating in space.
Luke has an uncontested drain at the diamond Desert on Kirdo III, but I let him have it because Sandwhirl is a beating and I don’t have enough characters left in the deck to search for a missing Vader. They would be lost anyway because it doesn’t move, and I don’t have any vehicles. He can have the damn drain. He jumps onboard the Executor to cancel Visage and drain for a few (he’s got 2 battlegrounds for CHYBC), but Mara and Xizor move onboard to stop the drain. His remaining Life Force was lost in a battle of the Spiral and Lando w/ dildo piloting the Falcon against Guri and Thrawn in the Chimaera with Fett at the point. End game.
FW by 8
5 (+24)
The Good: Great Day for UP! Viper’s rating goes UP!
The Bad: He was just having a bad day overall, and I think the mentality of the day was getting to him.
The Ugly: I am SO glad I put Set For Stun in my deck this morning... I’m putting that in EVERY deck from now on.
Props To Opponent: Tim is a fun player and put up a good fight. I don’t know if he had a Sandwhirl in the deck or was just using the threat, but it was nice. Good, close game.
Okay, there’s a confidence booster. We chat a little about stuff, and soon after the next round pairings are called. Maybe I can go 4-4 today, even 5-3!
GAME 7: DS vs. Scott Anderson’s Profit (1928)
DISCLAIMER: This is the DIRTIEST game of Star Wars I have ever played in my entire life. I have NEVER even HEARD of a game being this one-sided in the history of the game.
In playtesting against my own Profit, I know that Mara and Xizor are the best aliens to start in the Chamber. That’s just that. Choke Vader dropped to Jabba’s Palace turn 1 for the flip, and Search And Destroy hits the table. This starting hand is from the almighty Lord God himself. He hand delivered it in person and everything to make sure it was perfect. So now he’s losing to Visage and Search And Destroy, and it’s only turn 1. That, my friends, is a beating. He gets Honor down a turn or 2 later, so I drop Carida and secure it with Zuckuss, Fett, and the Chimaera with Admiral Cheerio aboard for the extra drain. 3 - count ’em, THREE - battlegrounds. Search And Destroy and Visage again. He’s only generating 6 Force a turn because I won’t give him an icon except Carida. About 6 turns later, he can finally deploy Ben and Jedi Luke to the Chamber to stop the madness, but he doesn’t have the Force left to battle. I do so. Mara hits Ben, Luke lives and Xizor dies. He loses to Search And Destroy because Luke is a destiny 6 - tee hee. That’s twice the high destiny has hurt! The first was an unfortunate game-deciding Alter with Leia. Anyway, Jedi Luke moves outside and hires Nabrun to escape to my Cloud City DB, but he’s still losing to both S&D and Visage.
Boushh drops in front of Palpy and Vader, but the Dark Jedi sense the evil presence and zap her away with a tracked 5 for Force Lightning. I was planning on using that for destiny later, but whatever. I’ve got other cards tracked. I lose Blast Door Controls off the top of my deck to Visage - this would hurt a little. He drops Order To Engage, and Ben Narrow Escapes away from my battles, forcing my next door forces to lose 3. Janus doesn’t like that very much, so he uses his mind tricks to bring a 7 to the top of my deck and I use Set For Stun to stop the Direct Damage and still drain 3 over him. I feel ashamed of this win - it was too dirty.
FW by 19
7 (+43)
The Good: The Lord God Himself shows up in all his glory, pays no attention to his Son who has lost 2 games so far today, and picks my starting hand for me. I had the guy under my thumb the entire day, and it was ugly.
The Bad: Losing Blast Door Controls just before the OTE / Narrow Escape maneuvers kinda sucked in timing.
The Ugly: EVERYTHING that I did was bad for him. If I was him, I would have reached across the table and slugged me.
Props To Opponent: He was really put out from this game. We shook hands, and I tried not to be the guy’s enemy, but I don’t think he’ll ever talk to me again after how this game went. He got a bad hand, and I got a great one. It happens. He seemed like a nice enough guy...
The game took all of 20 minutes. I feel happy that