wv-states-5-12-01
Title: wv-states-5-12-01
Author: John "Artoo-Detoo" Tatta
Date: May 14, 2001
Well, it was finally time. Saturday, May 12th, was the day for the West Virginia State Championship. For bigger states, the championships are different than that of WV. Around here we have about 20 players who play and make each other better each and every tournament. Of course, some are better than others, but for the most part everyone is even with the exception of the top two. See, in California, you might see 40 people at states, here in WV you’re lucky to see 20. This year would be the most fun of states, much better than last year.
With that said, my preparation for the tournament started back March when myself and Dean Richmond started to play in tournaments every week in Grove City. All through March and April I played nearly every Saturday in a tournament destinied to repeat as WV State Champion. I think I practiced every possible LS deck in these two months trying to find the perfect one. But even after all the playtesting and all the advice of my fellow players, I found that Profit was the best choice for me. There has never been a better deck to fit my playing style than Profit. I played my Profit so many times, it’s like I could predict my starting hand 9 times out of 10 card for card.
Ah, but one thing was missing. The power to compete in space. After considering many different options, I found that Landing Claws with the Rebel Leader ships were best when combined with Yoxgit. So that’s exactly what I did. The average destiny of the deck was insane. And when that’s combined with Fallen Portals, Master Luke, Lando, and other tricks, the deck is nearly unbeatable.
DS was a little bit different. I had been playing TIEs for the LONGEST time and needed something new as everyone knew I’d be playing them. Since I was the guy to beat this year, I also knew everyone would be meta-ed against TIEs. Therefore, I won’t play TIEs. So what did I play? The one thing NOBODY expected me to play: Court. Not just any Court, though. The night before the tournament I threw together what looked like a pile of cards. Imperial Commands, Walkers and Tramples, Emperor and Force Lightning. LOTS of Imperials with few Aliens. In fact, Xizor and Mara were the only two aliens. The deck had every DS Admiral you could think of as well as 3 Imperial Commands for Space Domination.
So finally, I was ready. Two decks I was fairly comfortable with. May 12th came and I was off on a sort of mission. Repeat as WV state champion.
*****Decks*****
LS: Profit2K1 (on my page) with Yoxgit, 2 Claws, and 2 Ships added
DS: Imperial Command Over The Court (posted on my page as "WV DS Champion"
*****Tourny*****
As you know, WV isn’t a big state so the people weren’t flying in as you’d expect anywhere else. We have 4 people that came up from down South, 4 from around here, and 4 from up north. The rest I guess couldn’t make it for some reason or another. The thing is though, as I said before, EVERYONE is at least 1600. A few are 1700 and I’m up there in the 1800’s.
The big talk before is a bounty on me. Everyone’s gunning for me as I expected. LOTS of pressure. I honestly thought my head was going to explode many times troughout the day. And admitingly, I was scared out of my mind because so much was expected of me.
On to the games:
Round 1 -- Game 1
My DS Court vs. AJ Clemans (1634) EBO
My God. So the top two players pair off against each other ... FIRST ROUND! But if you’re going to lose, losing early is definitely the way to go. I start with Mob. Points, TINT/OE, and YCHF to his A New Secret Base. First turn I deploy the DS2 Docking Bay and hold off on Carida. Instead I take the Executor into my hand from my deck and deploy Mara and Saber to the AC. I also scrap YCHF for Search and Destroy. I drew up my remaining cards and waited to see what he was doing.
His turn was typical EBO stuff. Search for a few sites, signal for Incom, draw up remaining force. He lost 1 to Court. My next turn I got a walker and pilot to the Sarlaac Pit after draining and then set up Search And Destroy. Drew a few and set up a mini space fleet in my hand with an Imp Command just in case. He lost to S/D and I ended my turn. The next few turns were basically the same. Me draining and him losing to Court and S/D. He got set up in space, but the Chimaera with Thrawn and Chiraneau chased him around the galaxy. BH Ships made an appearance thanks to my Objective and cut his drains to 3 a turn. He got around S/D and Court but I didn’t risk coming after him because I had a drain of 2 in the AC and space domination.
He came back a little by using some retrieval, but it was a little too late. He was down too many cards thanks to the early Direct Damage and I took a win that took nearly the entire hour.
FW +15
Overall: 2(+15)
Highs: My deck countering EBO like it’s supposed to
Lows: Not drawing many Imperial Commands
Ugly: Him losing 15 cards to S/D and Court
Round 1 -- Game 2
My LS Profit2K1 vs. Kimberly Hughes (1468) EV9D9 droid drain
Well, she started Court and I had no idea what to expect from her. She didn’t start 2 aliens which was weird but I didn’t think anything of it. I drew my opening hand and it’s exactly what I expected. Luke, Lando, someone else, and some interrupts. On her first turn, she dropped an effect and lost 1 to her objective. Still, I had no idea what was going on. My turn, I dropped Master Luke to the AC by himself and set Han free. I was holding a Narrow Escape, so Luke and Han were ok by themselves. I saved 2 force and ended my turn.
Once again, she drew up apparently looking for something in particular. She lost to Court and it was my turn. I spread some and increased the damage holding onto a Narrow Escape and Fallen Portals just in case. It turned out that I didn’t need them. She eventually threw down the workshop and EV9D9 but it was way too late. Profit damage was in full effect and I was spread a lot. I On The Edged for pretty much everything back late game and took a full win by 34, I think.
FW +34
Overall: 4(+49)
I took a little break and checked up on AJ. I guess he won his 2nd game big time. Right now, there are 3 undefeateds left, I play one of them. Mike Adams.
Round 2 -- Game 1
My DS Court vs. Mike Adams (1610) TIGIH Speederholics
He starts with Insurrection, Staging, and I think Draw Their Fire so right away I expected something like Speeders or X-Wings. My opening hand has some good stuff and I was off to a quick start with Mara and stick to the AC. I had Lord and stick in my hand ready to come down next turn. His turn he drained in the Hut and signaled for Incom. So right away, I knew what was going on. Speederholics.
Right then I knew what I had to do. He lost to court and sure enough, there goes an X-Wing. I drained for 2 on my turn, and there went a Speeder. Bingo. I dropped Lord Vader to the Endor: DB to capture Luke, then went into the Hut for protection and a drain of 3. Sim Aloo would later back up Vader in case of a beatdown and with Sim, I’d make sure that both of their immunities stayed intact. I caused as much Court damage as I could, but Obi and 4 Speeders took over the Jundland Wastes that I stupidly deployed.
He had the solid drain of, uh, 1 and I had the drain of 2 in the AC plus the one for 3 in the Hut. This continued for a while until he dropped Boushh with Vader. I deployed Executor with Thrawn to Carida and slapped down Battle Order to hinder him even more and tossed Vader to the DB since he didn’t have any force to move Boushh with him. I saw he was setting up for the beatdown a few turns later, so Vader ran back inside away from the Speeders with Boushh. Turned out I would’ve gotten DESTROYED next turn by 5 power 6 speeders. The drains eventually did him in. The game was pretty cool as I trampled 2 speeders. :)
FW +something
Overall: 6(+60 or so)
So I was still in first and 2 undefeateds were left. I couldn’t play him cause we were due the same side, so I played Mike again somehow with opposite sides.
Round 2 -- Game 2
My LS Profit vs. Mike Adams (1610) Bantha drain/Numbers/Frostbite/Weird @#$% deck
He started the Defensive Perimeter along with 3 effects that were completely irrelevant. Honestly, I had no clue as to what in the hell he was doing until like the 5th turn. I set Han free on the first turn with Lando or somebody and set up carefully in the AC. He dropped 3 droids in 3 different places on the 2nd turn ... the droids that let troopers react there if you drain at an adjacent site. Whatever, you know what I mean. So I deployed the Back Door and dropped Tawss Khaa and Boushh there. Before he even knew it he was losing 5 a turn and I wasn’t losing anything.
It scared the daylights out of me when I saw him deploy 2 Bantha’s to the Defensive Perimeter and then inserted. I knew right then what he was doing. I remember seeing this deck on DechTech a while ago. It’s a GREAT deck if you get it working right. Unfortunately for him, I deployed a Rebel Leader ship to Hoth system to get around his Battle Order so I didn’t have toa ctivate the rest of the game. In a long game, I pulled it out by about 20 again.
FW +20
Overall: 8(+80?)
Another break in between rounds and there is only 1 undefeated now, me. The other one lost last round to Chris Warder. As it goes, I play AJ Clemans again. I figure it out that if I win this game, I’ll be in the finals no matter what cause of my differential. Here goes:
Round 3 -- Game 1
My LS Profit vs. AJ Clemans (1634) Agents Of The Black Sun/Scum
A.J. had a REALLY good deck here. It was actually such a good game that I couldn’t really memorize the details because I was thinking about what I was going to do next so much. I do remember that he took over the AC real quick and flipped on the 3rd turn while I couldn’t find a Luke to save my life.
Anyways, I lost about 10 cards before I found a Luke and I even deployed him to the CC Docking Bay. I ended my turn and drew some. I didn’t mention this, but he converted my JP sites so I was only activating about 7 a turn and I couldn’t find an Underworld Contacts ANYWHERE (must’ve been hiding with Luke). Finally, I lured him over away from the AC somehow. I don’t remember how, but he fell for it and moved out of the AC. My turn, I freed Han and I was back in the game after I retrieved 5 from my Obj and then 5 more with On The Edge and a tracked 6. His turn he bountied one of my guys and ended his turn.
My turn I did the Profit damage and drained for some. His turn I lost in the Wildernessed Xizor away so he was hurting. But he did something I COMPLETELY forgot about. During his control phase, he moved all his Bounty Hunters to a site where he had a Bounty. AH! Lucky for me I had a Fallen Portal and a Tracked 5 so I got rid of Snoova I think. He battled and after all was done, he had like 3 guys left and I had none. Luke was captured (he was there) and so was Lando I think.
I don’t know how I got back into it after that but I hung in there. The Profit damage kept adding up a few here and there and my retrieval was saving my butt. Before I knew it he was REALLY low on force and I was still retrieving. He lost his Scum so I squeaked it out in the long run. Aim high kept him from retrieving with a Bounty on Luke on the next to last turn.
FW +30
Overall: 10(+110?)
Wow. As it is now, there’s only me undefeated and 1 guy is 4-1. So no matter what, I’m in the finals. I breathe a HUGE breath and walk around a bit. Pairings are announced and it’s like this. If AJ wins his game by a good bit and I beat Chris Warder, then it’s me and AJ in the finals to play two MORE times.
Round 3 -- Game 3
My DS Court vs. Chris Warders (1630) WYS Euro Style
I knew Chris was playing Euro WYS because we’re playing buddies and we were talking about it earlier. I started off by stealing a DB from my deck and Imperial Commanding for Admiral Ozzel. Mara came out to the AC with her saber and so did Carida. A great start for my deck. I ended my turn. His turn he dropped a Freighter Cap and a random smuggler to the Cantina and deployed Kessel from his deck and the Home One: DB. I knew he was luring me in with the smugglers, so I ate the drain of 2 because I knew I could keep up with him. The Chimaera with Thrawn took ever Carida and chased around a ship of his until he found a Landing Claw. My AC drain was eating him up as he never contested it until late in the game. I also had walkers and AT-ST Pilots and THREE sites pecking away at him.
We finally got into a few battles, but the reacting AT-ST’s came through for me. I cleared his side a few times as I just lost a few AT-ST pilots and found viable replacements for them. I was now losing 2 a turn from his Cantina drain and he was losing 5 because of my little peck drains. Really, he couldn’t keep up. Luke came in to take out Mara in the AC and successfully chopped up on her. Mara missed her slice, but drew a 5 for destiny and Luke goes buh-bye. Site was cleared but I was still outdraining him. He had no retrieval, so I win by some. I didn’t pay attention to how much I won by because it didn’t matter. I think it was 20some.
FW +20
Overall: 12(+ alot)
Well, I win the swiss portion of the tourny and advance to the finals. AJ won his game by 15 which was enough and advanced as well. So he’s 4-2 with a HUGE differential and I’m 6-0. So we play 2 more times. :)
We take a break for prize support and a little chat about our previous 2 games and what we could’ve done differently and then promptly start around 6:00 PM.
Finals Game 1
My DS Court vs. His EBO
I knew I could prolly win this game so I picked DS first to take some pressure of on me. As it turned out, I got one of the best starts ever with this deck. 2 Imperial Commands early on got me some good characterss quickly and again, like the first game we played, S/D and Court ate him alive. He was losing LOTS of cards from direct damage and HAD to lose from his hand because he didn’t have EBO set up yet. So, his hand size was low the entire game. That’s what hurt him real bad.
But he didn’t give up. He got EBO set up and took over 3 systems for a drain I couldn’t ignore. My ships took to the air and stooped a few drains and ate a drain of 3 for a turn. He was losing a lot of X-Wings to drains and the early forc elost saw a few more go as well. He simply ran low on ships and O.Attacks. More or less, he couldn’t keep up with the damage and peck drains.
FW +28
Overall: 2(+28)
Finals Game 2
My LS Profit vs. His AOTBS
I knew with my retrieval that I wouldn’t lose by more than 28 so I played very conservatively. If you want details on this game, read my previous game with AJ cause it was exactly the same scenario. I had to free Han late game with Leia/SWLY combo. Then Narrow Escape my way to safety. It was a risk to do that, but it had to be done. In the end, I pulled it out.
FW +20
Overall: 4(+48 or so)
So there it is. History in the books, I guess. I defend as state champ successfully. And that’s my story. I hope you enjoyed it as I couldn’t remember all my games perfectly as they happened. Here’s how it ended:
1.)John Tatta (me) 12(+120)
2.)A.J. Clemans 8(+80)
3.)Emerson Sklar 8(+35)
4.)Mike Adams 8(+14)
5.)Chris Warder 6(+12)
That’s all I remember. Thanks for reading! Congrats to A.J. on a well played tournament.
- John Tatta
2000 and 2001 WV State Champ. See you at Decipher Con!