viper-meets-tatooine-phoenix-6-1-01
Title: viper-meets-tatooine-phoenix-6-1-01
Author: Steve "BlackViper" Marshall
Date: Jun 6, 2001
I watch the master teach my padawan how to play the deck, but I’ve got other concerns. Tatoo-AntiViper-ine is out this time, and I’ve got to be careful. My LS deck is QMC New-Skool, and it relies heavily on tracking for Edges - pulling 2 edge cards each turn, one on yours and one on your opponent’s, is just too cool to let go. Imagine this - The power of RalOps for LS, except it’s easier to flip, doesn’t get flipped back, is free to get cards, you do it twice as often, and no one cares what phase you do it. Big D built Ounee Ta specifically to cripple RalOps - I’m going to milk Keeping The Empire Out Forever until it gets an errata or a silver bullet. It’s REALLY broken. It basically took the place of 30 Tunnel Visions in my deck. ;-) Anyway, I was having trouble building my DS (also cloud city), so I didn’t have the chance to refine the LS deck as much as I had wanted. Hopefully it will work for me, but we’ll see. If you want to see how it works, check it out in a few days as I’m planning on posting it if it does well this Friday night. QMC is a beating... who would have imagined?
LS: QMC New Skool
DS: This Deck Is Getting Beat All The Time
* Props to Choongie for letting me use the DS title.
My rating going into the tournament is 1757.
GAME 1: LS vs. DJ Andrew’s Walker Garrison (1993)
Well, just the matchup I wanted. I knew he was playing this deck - he’s been bragging about it since the effect was revealed. Now I get to be the first sanctioned player against it. Yippee. I’m undefeated against DJ so far (1 win). ;-) Anyway, I get Qui-Gon, the Lars Family, and the Home One in my starting hand. That’s a flip - I think I’ll save Force. I search for the Downtown Plaza, as it’s the only CC site left in the deck. No Downtown Plaza. Sure, DJ. You don’t know what I’m playing? Well let me show you every card I’ve got in the deck. I get my flip and ping him for 1, 1, and 1 for several turns (Leia’s Hutt, the other CC site, and the system). Menace Fades is in effect, as I started it (duh).
He’s setting up his walkers, but he can’t play Garrison yet because of Menace Fades. I don’t like the direct damage, so Jedi Luke with his saber and EPP Obi drop down and battle a walker. Smoke screen for destiny, making it a 6. (Destiny of 6: #1) He draws a 0... SWEET! Obi lives to see another day! He doesn’t like my Jedi on his planet, so he drops some stuff and battles again. He draws a 1 to kill Kenobi, I draw a blind 6. (Destiny of 6: #2 in a row) We ping each other with meaningless drains a couple more turns, and I really don’t like Vader and Piett (piloting Tempest 1) draining for lots and doing direct damage all at the same time. I move Luke, he battles, Luke lives and I lose 4 cards, I think. I On The Edge Owen & Beru during his turn, killing them intentionally. I activate a TON and search my Force Pile - sweet! Full Of Surprises is there. Drop EPP Obi again, battle, Jedi Presence, Full Of Surprises. I draw a 1, he draws a 4 and 5.
I win.
Vader goes away, and I draw another blind 6 for destiny (Destiny of 6: #3 in a row). He loses Piett, Obi goes away again. Chewie went to help his Jedi friend after awhile, and Jedi Presence hits the scene again making him a power 12 Wookiee. Not as good as a power 30 duelling Jedi, but just as effective. Smoke Screen makes my destiny a 6. (Destiny of 6: #4 in a row) I am in complete control of the game, and I’ve been that way up until now. He moves the Flagship Executor and Ozzel to my Home One. I search my Force Pile and find the Outrider and the Falcon. I’ve got Squadron Assignments out, and I decide that Dash in the Outrider is a better choice than EPP Han in the Falcon. I pull it, get my drains in, and then remember that I lost Dash early on to a drain off the top. That was my only mistake of the game, and it would cost me the game. I drop the Outrider aboard the Home One for forfeit, and he drops Thrawn and a Death Squadron Star Destroyer to join the fun. He battles, I draw a blind 6 (Destiny of 6: #5 in a row), and the Home One and Outrider cover exactly enough. I find Qui-Gon’s saber for the drain of 2 instead of 1, but he knocked Menace Fades out of effect. Turns out it’s hard to recover from 3 Walker Garrisons. He drains me out.
FL by 6
0 (-6)
The Good: Owning DJ most of the game - that just doesn’t happen. Putting Vader out of play was sweet.
The Bad: After the space battle, I actually drew a destiny of 1. Once.
The Ugly: Losing Menace Fades and allowing EXTREME drains to do me in.
Props To Opponent: DJ was really cool about this game. I think I just earned a degree of respect from the State Champ.
If he had waited a single turn to move his ships over, or if I had been semi-intelligent and selected the right starship, I could have won that game. Whatever - life goes on.
GAME 2: DS vs. Johnny Marion
Okay, this game I should be able to win and bounce my score back up.
Wait a minute, the pairings were done wrong. Turns out it affected my game, too. Instead, how about this:
GAME 2: DS vs. DJ Andrew’s Tatoo-AntiViper-ine Jedi mains (1993)
Yeah, this is nice. "Can’t we just leave the pairings the way they were?" This was the worst game of StarWars I have ever lost since I lost the scrub status. I’m doing fairly well, but I haven’t managed to get Dark Deal out yet. Qui-Gon takes on Xizor, but Xizor somehow dodges the lightsaber blow to live another turn. Qui-Gon’s immune. Mara joins the fun, misses with her saber, he hits Xizor, I get a draw of 1, and I lose everything. He lives, Advantage. Great. Occupation is still going for 1 a turn.
At this point, I’ve got more Force than he does, and I’ve got the opportunity to get Dark Deal in 2 turns.
Maul went to the City Outskirts for a drain of 2. Obi’s Hutt is right next door; he can’t deploy a Jedi from his deck there, and it’s a drain of 3 instead of 2, so Maul gets greedy and goes for it. EPP Han comes down, he searches for Jedi Luke, Battle despite his bad feelings, Run Luke Run, and to top it off, Han hits the Dark Jedi. I search for I Have You Now, hoping to dig myself out of this hole. I draw a 5, 4, and 1. He draws more, and I lose Maul and 24 cards. Game over. I feel violated.
FL by 37
0 (-43)
The Good: Well, at least I’ve got the Quote of the day. "I feel violated." I’ve never used my own quote before... I don’t know if this is good or bad. ;-)
The Bad: Advantage was starting to be a thorn in my side - put that on an ability-7 immune to ALL attrition ALL the time with a lightsaber. Ouch.
The Ugly: Losing a battle and 24 cards because Maul got greedy. My deck got raped.
Props To Opponent: I built this deck with DJ’s Dark Deal in mind, as it was the only one I had ever seen work before. He checked it out and made some suggestions on how to improve it - very cool.
Ouch. I would have really preferred to play Johnny. Grayson (my buddy) is faring about the same - he played Pat Hug (my mentor) first game, and he got some help as he played. He lost the game, but it wasn’t too bad. You live, lose, and learn, right? I watch some of his second game, and try to help him out with little newbie mistakes after it was over. He’s got good decks - he just needs experience with them.
GAME 3: LS vs. Choongie’s BHBM / Queen Capture / High Destiny Mains / Screwball deck (1691)
Brian’s always got different decks, so I don’t know exactly what to expect. He’s owning me pretty well, and Vader stole one of my 3 Jedi (and my duelling). We exchange meaningless battles a few times, and I’ve flipped fairly early. I have to deploy Padme to flip, even though I didn’t want to. Without the Desert Landing Site, there’s no reason for me to deploy her. I drop EPP Obi by her side to protect her from the evils that are Darth Maul (on Endor), ad Tawss Khaa joins the fun for the extra power. He drops a Sith Probe Droid, but I don’t move because I’ve got a drain of 2 going and I’m a bad player. Here’s a tip for those of you who haven’t played against Maul decks - STAY AWAY FROM PROBE DROIDS!!!!! He tries to swap the droid with Maul’s saber and his electrobinocs, but that’s cheating (no Maul), so I didn’t let him do it. Instead, he swaps Maul this time with the droid, duels Obi, wins, captures the queen, and drops Mara and her stick. Tawss dies in a horrible, horrible battle. I lose many cards. I don’t like this game anymore. ;-)
I find Boushh and drop her to block the drain. I’ve got and On The Edge and Off The Edge in hand, and there’s another On Edge in the Force pile for next turn. I can still come back and win this game, and my Undercover spy is going to do it. How cool is that? Well, apparently Choongie doesn’t like spies, so he uses Nevar Yarnal and kills her. DOH! I’ve got Qui-Gon in my hand, but he’s not a Rebel. He’s using 2 Force to use Maul’s Electrobinocs, and I’m trying not to laugh at him out loud.
This is the funniest ending to a losing game EVER. I drop Corran Horn (because I don’t have enough for Qui-Gon and retrieve 5. He activates 1 and duels Luke, but he wins and can’t turn him. He tries to drain, but he doesn’t have space and only has 1 Force activated. I’m glad I put Battle Plan in the deck. tee hee. I drain for 2 and retrieve a few more. He drains me this time, and I’ve got 1 card left. I drain again, but I’m out of Edges. He drains me out, but not before I do 4 more damage than I should have.
FL by 15
0 (-lots)
The Good: I did extra damage. cool. ;-)
The Bad: Tawss Khaa’s losing battle really kinda sucked. Next time, we’re avoiding Sith Probe Droids.
The Ugly: If nothing else, the Nevar Yarnal lost me the game. I could have retrieved 15 cards just in the next 2 turns if it wasn’t for that card.
Props To Opponent: That was a fun game despite the loss, and Brian is always a fun player.
My my my, that really sucked. I can’t even explain what happened or how he won the game. The deck didn’t seem that good, just a bunch of high destinies. Somehow, Choongie always finds a way. :-)
GAME 4: DS vs. Anthony Alfieri’s Hidden Mains (????)
I couldn’t find his rating, so I don’t know where he’s at. I don’t really know Anthony enough to trash talk him like I did, and I’m sure he feels like I’m an idiot now. Oops.
He draws up his first turn, I save my first 2 turns. I drop Mara, Palpy, OS-71-1 (or whatever) at the DB, Zuckuss in MH, Occupation (don’t have to control yet), and Dark Deal all on the same turn. Move Zuckuss up to the system to protect Occupation, and move my TIE up for the drain with Tallon Roll in my hand. I back Zuckuss up with the Chimaera next turn, and he never challenges me at Bespin. Qui-Gon and Oreo (Orrimaarko) are getting a weak drain of 2 at some random Jabba’s Palace site - whatever. I don’t care. Mara gets her drain at the Carbonite Chamber, and EPP Leia with Ani’s Saber tries to take her on. The Skywalker misses, and I hit her. I don’t want to lose Mara, so I play You Are Beaten to end the battle and still kill the hit Leia. I’m flipped and could have played All Too Easy, but I’m a bad player and decided not to. He gets the Tatooine system out to satisfy Menace Fades, but he retrieves with Our Most Desparate Hour, I jump all over the lone Spiral (no battle damage), and when he moves back he doesn’t control the system, so I get my Dark Deal drains. I drain him with the bonus 3 times in all, ending the game.
FW by 23
2 (-36)
The Good: This deck isn’t bending over tables for anyone else ever again.
The Bad: He got Menace Fades 2 turns, limiting my drains. Waaaa.
The Ugly: There was nothing bad about this game for me.
Props To Opponent: He put up with my trash talk the entire game while I owned his deck. I really should get to know these people better before doing that...
So I come in 8th of 10 people. Not too bad considering this set was designed to hurt me. ;-) tee hee. Grayson comes in last with 0 (-108), not too bad for someone who had only seen these cards 3 days ago. Here are your top 5:
1: DJ Andrews @ 6 (+52)
2: Brian Choongphol @ 6 (+43)
3: Pat Hug @ 6 (+42)
4: Johnny Marion
5: Chris Shaner
PROPS:
* Jared Arthur for hosting and Outer Rim for holding the event
* Jared again for letting Grayson use his LS deck
* Shaner for revealing the Qui-Gon tech I plan to steal in my next version of the deck. ;-)
* Grayson for tagging along
* Brian for letting me borrow his deck title
SLOPS:
* Me for giving my ratings points away to anyone who wanted them
* Pat for not letting Grayson win game 1. ;-)
* Everyone who didn’t show up and said they were going to - this is a free tournament!
Thanks for reading, and I hope to see everyone this Friday night at 7:00. I’ll post my LS soon.
-Steve