berlin-germany-05-12-01aka-the-return
Title: berlin-germany-05-12-01aka-the-return
Author: Alexander "Black Leader" Schwarz
Date: May 17, 2001
Nationals, i was really hot on some more action .... Luckily, i heard about another local tournament taking place on may, 12th, so i decided to go, provided i can find
a decent dark Deck for me. For Light i was already set - Hidden Mains - which i learned to use quite well .... I even aquired new tracking skills in the process ....
In the end, i decided to stick to Mike Raveling´s DPC Tie swarm - seeing it was good vs. WYS, heck good vs. every ground-drainer - and our meta is heavy on
M&T. For this tournament, i even went so far to enlist the Power of the Brownie ... and quite opposite to Denny´s (at least from what i hear people talk about), the
Brownie served at Dunkin´Dougnuts acutally tastes good.
I arrive about thirty minutes early at the store, where the tourney is held, we talk a bit about Tattoine - which the majority of the players is not so fond of, as they
kinda refuse to play E1 - cards, i trade a little, and when our eight player shows up, we are ready to begin ......
Game 1 : My Hidden Mains vs. BHBM (1500)
From the start, i can tell, this is a Scrub - yeah, i am one, too - but i have 51 tournament games under my belt, whereas this guy (who actually looks like eleven
years - something), clearly has not had a tourney before.
So, he starts the usual - DII DB, puts Palpy there - but he forgot to fetch Rendili, so his activation is cut. He draws the rest. I get a decent hand - i have Capt. Han, Obis Saber, and Melas + Leia and some red, including OTE.
I get out my locations as usual, but decide not to deploy early on.... For this tourney i had dropped Kal Fal, anyway, replacing him with Major Haash, cosz
everyone and their mother here, play Lateral Damage.
Eventually, he gets Vader out to drain at the Endor DB. I come with EPP Obi, Melas, Orrimarko, Leia and deploy OTE - having Fallen Portal in Hand.
He battles, after adding Dr.E and Iggy to his location, but i have a tracked six, and POOF ! Suddenly Vader is alone. I swing at Vader, but miss. He hits Ben, and draws high, while i draw low, so i have to forfeit Obi and Leia.
Somewhat later, while i try to gather my hand, i get Mirax on Home One at Corulag, to start my retrieval. He gets Bossk in Hounds Tooth with Xizor as Passenger , battles, but despite his high destiny, i am immune.
In my turn, i follow up with Spiral and Chewie - as i cannot seem to draw the Falcon, and retrieve with On the Edge. He elects to retreat to Dagobah (WTF, its a
non-battleground, anyway!) - and due to my force-drains in space, and at the Cloud City DB, which is now taken by a load of characters, he loses force like
there is nothing else ... I see a pair of Xizors, two Lord Vaders, and other stuff, including the dreaded ZIMH to hit the Lost Pile .
He finally manages to get Choke Vader with saber out (his last one!), and with the help of POTF, he finally does some damage. I retrieve for five, almost every
turn, drain for three - while he drains for three and does not retrieve. On top of that,
he loses one force extra, because Luke is now with his father ...
Eventually, the time is called and we count our respective life-forces :
Me : 16 Him : 11 . Timed Win 1 (+16).
Game 2: Raveling´s Ties vs. Ralf Blobelt´s (1828) TRM w/ Harvest + Tripler-combo
I always enjoy playing Ralf; he is an excellent player, who makes few mistakes...
And, i never seem to be able to beat him, the closest i got, was losing with - 3 to
him in a Special Edition Sealed Tourney, some good years ago.
So, i draw my hand, and it is really bad, even moreso : its real crap. So, i am
forced to deploy the Warroom, because i am already force-choked, and i don´t
get the Commander to fetch my systems, nor do i have a Twilek for Dreaded Imperial Starfleet or Sienar. In his turn, he drops about four twix sites, kinda letting
me know, that i already lost the activation war, and hence a good start of the game.
I finally manage to get a single Interceptor with a weapon to Sullust and Main
Course in hand. He comes at me with Home One piloted by EPP Chewie, and i have
no Relentless Pursuit ! (Later he tells me, he had the ship in his starting hand).
So i am losing this battle, the Tie, plus weapon and 11 more cards, because he drew a six. I finally manage to get Merrejik to my DS:DB to get more systems, but
he deploys OTE, and transits Jedi Luke over, so i have to battle him, killing my character in the process, to avoid losing three force a turn. With Luke and now,
Lando with Axe at the Docking Bay and Warroom i lose a good couple of cards, including Endor. I get Kashyykk out with another Tie, but my drains are nothing, cosz he retrieves with Harvest every turn. (I didn´t notice, but he tracked his Harvest to the reserve-top, only to draw it as the last card activated, every turn).
So, i do virtually no damage, and he drains me for five a turn, retrieving allmost his entire lostpile in the process ... In the end, i have nothing to answer anymore,
as i have no Ties, nor a shortrange-fighters to lessen the damage.
I lose by 39, which is the largest amount i have lost to, ever.
FL -38 / (1) (-22)
Game 3: Hidden Mains vs. Mathias Knoll´s BHBM (1770)
Mathias is the other player, i haven´t been able to beat so far. I came close at one occasion, or two but well .... He playes the version with Emperors Power; starts
with Crush, plus the usual suspects (Mob.Pts./IAO), gets Carida, drops the Emperor at the DB, moving him over to the Throneroom , draws.
I get my systems out, plus DB´s , draw ...
He gets Lord Vader with Saber to the Endor DB, to establish a drain of two. I respond to that, by deploying Jedi Luke to Vader, flipping the objective, draw...
He starts to drain me for two every turn, losing one to his objective. I finally manage to get Han, Leia and the Falcon up at Corulag. I draw for retrieval, and recyle one
of my used sixes ... He comes to Corulag with Chimera and Zuckuss, after having deployed Blast Door Controls (i had no barrier, anyway) - then he realizes, he should
have better deployed BIHT, but oh, well .... He battles me, and draws high, i have no Punch It, so he loses both ships due to my three destinies, while i lose Leia to the now deployed tank.
Seeing, that his drain is slowly taking his toll, i get EPP Obi and Mirax at the Tattoine DB, together with Lando w/Axe, and Melas, edging Obi for five.
He gets down : Iggy, MightyJabba, 4-Lom. He says, he knows, i have Fallen Portal, but decides to battle anyway. I have no tracked card, and i know, i have to take
out 4Lom, or else he will get three destinies, so i let the Portal Fall on 4Lom, and slash at Iggy with Obi, but miss. He captures Lando, but draws low, so i just lose
Melas to Attrition, and run with Obi and Mirax next turn.
Meanwhile, he has Vader and Luke at the Throneroom to start dueling. He has already stacked two cards on Insignificant Rebellion, but i decide to play smart,and not let him cross the Jedi.
I win the first duel, we tie the second and third time, but after that, he wins two times in a row, and makes me lose force. So, time is announced and we only
have five minutes ... I get my characters to the CC.DB, edge Obi with On and Off the Edge, and then, time runs out .... So i get a timed win with 18 cards left in my
lifeforce, compared to his 16 cards.
TW 1 (+18) / 2 (-4)
Game 3: Raveling´s Ties vs. Mathias Knoll´s (1770) WYS
So, Mathias gets a rematch, and i finally get the matchup i have been waiting for.
I get a good hand, with Sullust (again), some Ties, the Commander, a cannon ,Main Course, and some red. I deploy the Tie with weapon to Tattoine, after getting
out Milwaukee, however, i am smart this time, not to deploy the warroom.
After i drain him for two turns, where he just gets Wedge on Skate up to Milwaukee, he gets one RFC to the Cantina, which is now victim of Dark Waters, plus another
RFC and Jedi Luke with Stick to the DB. He then inserts on me...
I am like : Doah !!! (Cosz i didn´t expect him to play that crap, i was much more worried about Beatdown WYS with tripler, so i traded the YCHF for the Ghhhk -
combocard). Anyway, it wouldn´t have mattered, because i wouldn´t have started it anyway, and (at least in theory) lost it to an early drain. So, while he hangs at
Milwaukee, looking dumb, cosz that didn´t do him any good, he doesn´t drain me at the DB, because i just asked him about the DB. being interior and exterior, so
even after i finally lost my only copy of Always thinking with your stomach, he refused to drain there, because , i could have had more ....
I get my spies down, and he pretty much doesn´t drain me for anything...
However, the inserts pop up, thrice, and he uses Harvest for retrieval, so i lose.
FL -26 / 2 (-30)
Game 5: Raveling´s Ties vs. Martin Siedow´s (1500) MBO.
Truth told, this guy doesn´t really no, what he is doing anyway. For at least eight turns, he just activates, and draws... My U3PO pretty much kept, him from draining me at all on the ground, as the DB was his only Battleground.
I have a lone Tie at Kashyykk draining away, when he deploys Independece. OOPS! I realize, that this is just the start, and play All Power Lost to grab three Interceptors
from the deck. He plays Defiance, and initiates. However, instead of panicking, cosz i have no Ghhhk, i hold my breath, play Relentless Pursuit (the Tie had a
weapon), to cut his power in half, play All Power, to add two to my Ties power,and instead of losing 11+ cards, i only lose like seven, and the Tie, which goes to the
lost pile. (cosz i am a scrub, and this time is the only time, i forget Sienars GT).
In my turn, i deploy those three Interceptors, to the now three capitals (he moved Home One over, from Yavin ), add two Squadrons, and that funky Tie Bomber,
retrieving lotsa force ... I then play Short Range Fighters, to retrieve even more, getting everything in my lostpile back. I initiate, play another All Power, draw high,and he elects to lose Ackbar, who piloted the Home One.
Time is called yet again (I suck - timed wins suck even more, but this time, the guy played so slow, i could have let my snail walk by ). I get a TW with +34.
Score : 3 (+4)
Game 6: Hidden Mains vs. Martin Siedow´s (1500) AOBS
So, finally a good objective, however, Martin doesn´t know who to play that, as well... I soon find out, he is playing the Scum variant, but instead of using Mob Pts. and IAO , he uses Elis Helrot to move arround (he even had IAO in there, too - what a jank !). He piles half a dozen characters at the imperial city with Xizor, telling me, he lost to another guy (my pal, Timo), who beat his lone Xizor for a FL of -39. So he wants to be careful, ok. I get Home One with the fully loaded Falcon (Chewie, Han, but no Leia) up on Courlag, to get Menace into effect, after
i deployed to the Tat. DB. He deploys some more Tat. Sites, including the cantina,and moves over with Elis. He never flipped the Objective the whole game.
I get up on Coruscant, with Lando and Corran Horn, to where he only has Jodo Kast, Dr.E and an empty Blizzard walker, inititate, exclude Dr.E, and make him lose a
buch of force, this goes on for some more turns, as he deploys more guys there,and loses to OTE. I finally get some retrieval going, but then he Helrots everyone
back to Coruscant, after moving some guys to the Cantina, with no place to run for me. I grit my teeth, and in the following battle, just like a miracle, i manage to
exclude Boba with weapon, and he misses his other draw, so i can savely lose both of my characters for overflow. I get Jedi Luke with friends to the Cantina, to drain some more, retrieve and finally make him lose the last force.
FW : 2 (+16)
So i finish the tournament at 5 (+20). The TD had two Alter Foils, a Decree Foil, and a Sense foil up for grabs, but since he won´t take any of his stuff, as he won
(Its Ralf, btw.) - the foils go to places two to five. Since i manage to take fifth place,with 4-2, i get an Alter Foil, and needless to say, i am very much happy.
Props :
- To Ralf, and Mathias for good games
- To the Brownie, for tasting good, and making me finish at 4-2
- To my tracking, for working as it should
- To everyone, for all the fun
- To Timo, for listening to my advice, and beating Martin´s AOBS by 39.
Slops :
- to Martin, for stalling me in two games, and almost preventing a full win in game 6.
- to me, for never getting my grabbers, despite in my game vs. Mathias, in which he still retrieved twelve force.
- to me, for taking so long in the first three games, that i only got timed wins - as even the top two got eight victory points, i could have finished third.
Hope, you enjoyed the report -as always !
Later,
Black Leader