ithor-madrid-06-02-01

Title: ithor-madrid-06-02-01
Author: Heraclio "Morgoth" Sanchez
Date: Jun 4, 2001

Pre-tourney stuff

As everyboy else I was waiting for Tatooine to come here to Spain. Surprisingly I could get my two boxes on wednesday. I got almost anything I wanted and I just miss some alternatives for completing the collection.

I had been thinking about new decks since the spoiler was released so I just needed to put the cards together and playtest. I would try a HD with Podraces/numbers/surprise assault for dark and RST for light.

I was a bit anxious for playtesting my new decks so I payed a visit to Gen X on Thursday evening. Rafa was there and he agreed to playtest a bit (he was quite happy since got a Qui-Gon-Jin buying just two packs). I wasn´t too confident with my dark deck so I decided to playtest it.

We played two games and I just smacked him out. He was playing RTP (which was a difficult match-up since I just packed Vader, Palpy and Tech Mor). His high destinies (lots of 6) and Anakin Podracer gave me a little problem but I won every game over 20 diff. This was a good test for me because Rafa is one of the most talented players I´ve ever met and he can turn a pile of junk into a machine.

Nacho got there too and played Rafa after me. He was to hold our next tourney. I wasn´t quite sure if I could play with my brand new decks and he said it would depend on how many people could get the new cards.

Decks:
DS: HD “extra cheese pizza” (Podraces/Inserts/Surprise Assaults)
LS: RST “this thing blows”

Now on the tourney

I arrived too early but the Tarin bros were already there. Those guys are cool and undoubtely two of the best players here. We were chilling waiting for the others to come. Nacho got really soon too and we all talked about the new cars and strategies. They complained about how fast was Tatooine sold. They tried to buy some packs on friday but there were just a couple of packs left. Twelve boxes sold in two days was not bad.

Juanfra, Victor and the others came so we headed to the *bar* were the tourney was held. Angel arrived late as usual. Not too many players but no scrubs at all. This is going to be difficult. Pairings are called and I know I won´t get an easy one:

Game 1
My DS vs Juanfra´s TIGIH fuzzballs

Great. I had to play Juanfra. He just gave me my worst loss in tournamet on the last one beating me by 28 (then I recovered and got third) so this could be some revenge. He plays TIGIH with ewoks and inserts. He´s been playing this deck for a while and it works amazingly well.

I start the podrace interrupt (start your engines) and Watto´s Box. He starts Goo Nee Tay and no podracer. Good, I know it won´t be hard winning the race. Inserts can be a problem. He sets up faster than me (unless a good hand) but on the mid and later game I could get higher destinies.

First two turns we draw to set up. I get a Lord Vader and Palpy plus some good cards to kill those ewoks (I have you now, Lone Warrior, Ghhk). Vader joins his son but I can´t deploy Palpy thanks to Goo Nee Tay. He deploys some fuzzballs to Chirpa´s Hut and inserts. He´s got 8 for my 1. If I can deploy Palpy next turn it won´t hurt. I activate and boom, the Odds. Loose seven. Finally I deploy Palpy to Executor and draw for Tech Mor (now will be my turn for inserts).

He´s avoiding Vader and deploying some more ewoks. He´s just fortified Chirpa´s Hut so I will keep Vader to the landing platform. The race sucks. I´m getting low destinies so it´s taking me longer than it should. On the 5th turn I´m pretty confident since I will win the race and have a lot of cards to fight with Vader but then came something that woul be key. I drained for one with Vader and he played Lost in the Wilderness. WTF!! I was screwed. My only character left was Tech Mor and he could never find the dark jedi! Juanfra made his move and deployed the Back Door, DoS and hordes of Ithorians and Ewoks. He was in a better position now and I had to change my strategy. He drained for some turns and I deployed Tech Mor with Palpy. We were taking heavy loses from Visage but I won the race and made the 22 cards swing (it´s sick).

His drains were killing me fast. I was tracking some destinies while looking for Surprise Assault. I got one but he cancelled with It´s a Hit. He tried to set up his drains so Surprise wouldn´t hurt. I got the second one and my 3720 to 1 which I inserted. We both were quite low on cards but he was on the lead. His turn he deployed a new location and Chewie Protector there, just one card in hand and nothing to draw. My turn, I played Limited Resources which I had kept in hand since the beginning of the game. When loosing from LR the inserts appeared and had to loose 8 more. Visage damage and game over. FW +9.

The Good: winning first game with Vader missing. Revenge.
The Bad: low diff. and tense game
The Ugly: Missing Vader!

Overall: 2(+9)

Ours was one of the fastest games so we waited for the others. Juanfra was a bit upset about my deck. I totally agree with him. It´s pure cheese and takes you to non-interactive games. Podracing makes it much worse.

Games finished with low differentials. Every game was really close and we had no scrubs. Everybody know now about my deck so it won´t take anyone by surprise now.

Game 2:
My LS vs Victor HD Old Skool.

OK, this will be my first game with this deck. I could not playtested it but I´m sure it will do fine. He starts IAO, Mob Points and Crush the Rebellion. I start The Shield is Down, Strike Planning and Don´t do that Again. I got a god hand with OOC/TT so I waited first turn after his deploy phase and canceled Visage. I guess he was just packing one because never deployed a second. We all took our first turns to set up and he deployed Lord Vader to Back Door to put pressure on me. Some scouts and tricky interrupts (Insertion Planning and Take the Initiative) took care of the Dark Jedi and then invaded the Bunker.

Evazan and Tempest 1 were at DS: docking bay (with Presence of the Force) and Zuckuss in boat in Rendili. He deployed Battle Order (ouch!) but next turn I blowed up the bunker and I got in better position. From there he drained me for three while I drained him for five (paying 6) and retrieving one scout per turn. Pressure was on him and AFA didn´t help. He sent two beatdown squads agaisnt my scouts but with terrible loses for DS. I reinforced a bit my locations and waited until outdrained him. FW +19

The Good: winning again.
The Bad: nothing really
The Ugly: The Shield is Down: 16 cards swing AND no hand for opponent.

Overall: 4 (+27)

Miguel and I were the only undefeated players with 4 points so we were to play next. He´s number 1 player in Ithor (has won last four or five tourneys in Madrid in a row) and a cool guy. The hardest pairing but I know I´m one of the few that can beat him. We discussed about our preferences and it seems he prefers facing my dark deck and I agree with him.

Game 3:
My LS vs Miguel *Tarkin* Tarin Hunt Down

Well, just the opposite we wanted. My hand is not good at all and I know he usually puts heavy pressure on the opponent and gets full advantage of any mistake he makes. I try to build my hand but got a bit discouraged when lost my two Jedi Lukes and two Throw me another charge due to Visage damage and drains at the Back Door (with a lonely Vader).

I was getting what I needed but made a mistake and got 13 cards. He monnoked used so I had to start again. OOC/TT canceled Visage and another one came down inmeditely. Two more turns and a pile of scouts fas facing Vader and Palpy at the Backdoor. He was blocked there since I was holding the Landing Site and he did not control to be allowd to move over the Bunker. He battled me and I played Fallen Portal over Premier Vader. I pack lots of 6 but could not track yet. I drawed destiny and it was a 6. Blind luck and Vader over. At last I cleaned up Endor and proceeded to blow bunker. Lord Vader came back to Back Door and Mara cleaned the Landing Site leaving just Cracken (she was lost too). I moved Cracken to face Lord Vader with Fallen Portal and a 6 tracked (just hoping he wouldn´t get his saber). He battled with no saber and the portal hit him for the second time (no blind luck this time).

Next turn I blowed up the Bunker and spread to drain him as fast as possible but afraid of a come-back. It never happened and finally outdrained him. FW +19.

The Good: playing and winning Miguel.
The Bad: my stupid mistake.
The Ugly: Fallen Portal over Vader, twice.

Overall: 6 (+47)

As usual we finish quite early and have to wait for the others. We keep talking about tech. Miguel has a very creative mind and mine´s sick so we talk about weird decks and how killing Podrace. Games end and we wait for the results. I´m the only six point player and differentials are all quite low. Miguel is still second and needs to beat me by 23 (I think) to win. That´s the good news. Bads news is Miguel can win me by this amount.

Game 4
My DS vs Miguel´s New Age Profit

Now I realise why he wanted to face my DS deck. He´s packing inserts protection and it´s basically a mains and toys deck. He knows he can retrieve 10 cards so Podrace won´t hurt him that much. I start as usual and he deploys no podracer.

This was a tense game and looked no good for me: no inserts and surprise assault will be difficult to play vs so many powerful characters. My hand is quite good (Secret Plans that would hurt him badly) but I don´t get any Masterful Move. He just drawed the first turns and saved force. I deployed Vader to Jabba´s Palace and drained a few while he canceled my Visage. All game long it was a funny battle for Visage. I pack 5 and he packs lots of OOC/TT so he canceled it many times but a new one always came back.

When he was set he made his move. Qui-Gon to face Vader. He played Smoke Screen and I played Lone Warrior so I lost Vader and he lost some cards. I was waiting to win the race because I had lost just a few cards.

Some more battles vs Jedi came and they were killing each other. That was funny too. Just like the old times. IMHO this is the best Tatooine has brought. At the end Qui-Gon and Ben Kenobi were chasing Vader over Tatooine but I deployed Fanfare so I knew I would´t get any damage from OTE (which he never deployed). Finally I decided to win the race and next turn he rescued Han with EPP Leia. There was my chance. He drained me with those two and I played Surprise Assault, making him loose a few.

Vader was finally trapped in Tatooine with Jedis everywhere so I payed four and took him into my hand. Next turn I deployed DLOTS to Audience Chamber, choked Han and killed Leia flipping his objective back. Palpy and Tech Mor were at Jabba´s Palace not to face Qui-Gon and Ben. This was quite a mistake. He deployed EPP Han and flipped back. Lando with Axe and Leia visited the Executor and canceled my Visage. Things looked bad for me, it was my drain of 1 on the Holotable vs his drains of 3 and direct damage. I asked Miguel how many cards he had left and told me that less than 20. I could have drawn or suicide myself in battle but that’s not my style and Miguel is not worth of that too.

I decided to go on and tried to make my best. I was holding a Surprise Assault (but no tracked destinies) and Limited Resources. Played Surp. Ass. vs Lando and Leia but drawed a 6 and a 1 (my only Vader left). He battled me to finish early but I was holdin two Ghhks so no harm for me. We drained each others and I played Limited Resources but he finally outdrained me. FL –6

The Good: loosing with low diff. Playing Miguel.
The Bad: not being able to beat him (I guess twice over the same tourney is too much).
The Ugly: Qui-Gon with Smoke Screen!

Overall: 6 (+41)

Again we´re the first ones to end our game so we wait until the others finish. At the end Mario Tarin wins again and gets second position. I get first, Mario second and Miguel third. This has been the podium for the last three tourneys (swithcing positions). We opened the packs for prize support and got S.HIT (the prize support was good Nacho, no offense with this, we just had bad luck).

Props
To Nacho for running a great tourney.
To Nacho´s bar.
To everyone who came (no Cheater this time, just cool guys)
To Tarin bros for been so hard to beat.
To Fallen Portal for hitting Vader twice

Slops
To Peri and Rafa for not coming
To Podraces. They´ll bring us a new era of non-interactive games :-(

I hope you enjoyed.