austin-texas-6-9-01
Title: austin-texas-6-9-01
Author: Jacob "Armaedes" Taylor
Date: Jun 9, 2001
The computers are down at Junior’s, so we have to fill out cards for our differential and stuff. I start walking around to meet people, and I’m amazed at how open they are about what they’re playing. Of course, they could be lying to try to get my to change my deck, but they at least gave the illusion of being nice. Anyway, the tournament starts an hour late (as I’ve heard they do), and I am so nervous my hands are shaking, but finally the matchups are read and I sit down to play my first sanctioned game.
Game 1, my RalOps vs. Aaron Pawlik’s Hidden Base
My first sanctioned tournament game, and what a nerve-wracker it was. I knew going in that my dark deck was going to have some trouble with Hidden Base, and so of course that is the first deck I go against. He started Strike Planning and Squadron Assignments, so I stuck with my original gameplan and pulled a docking bay and put an AT-ST Pilot down there for generation. Got my Ralltiir site and drew up. His turn he goes for the first-turn Falcon by pulling General Calrissian with Strike Planning, and then Gold Squadron 1 with Squadron Assignments. I pull my other docking bay, one more random Ralltiir Site, and put a biker scout trooper on the docking bay for a lot more generation. I draw up and get Zuckuss in Mist Hunter and Boba Fett in Slave 1. I’ve only got 4 ships in the deck, so pulling two of them this early is great. His turn (his second, I might add) he throws down Cloud City: Downtown Plaza and Qui-Gon with his lightsaber for what would be an uncontested drain of 3 until I flipped my objective (then it would just be an uncontested drain of 2). I decide if I don’t do something soon, I’m going to get too slow of a start and will go down in flames. My turn I generate a gazillion force (one thing Hidden Base does give you is plenty of force) and look for a Ralltiir site. Turns out I activated the two I have left in those gazillion force, and he gets to verify my substantial reserve deck on the third turn of the game, which isn’t cool. I put Fett in Slave 1 and ZiMH at Endor to battle his Gold Squad. 1. He hyper escapes away, and I follow him. His turn he brings down Wedge, RSL in his ship and Dash in his ship to different systems, and then draws. I flip my objective now, and it stays flipped for the rest of the game. I battle Gold Squad. 1 again, and once again he hyper escapes away (I knew I should have left in the Ghhk combo card). His turn he draws some more, and now has 4 systems on the table. On my turn I drain him, and two systems go off the top of his reserve deck and into the lost pile. That rules, unless he’s packing too many systems, he won’t be able to flip. We drain some more, battle a little, and I bring up Thrawn on the Chimaera. Suddenly, here comes Home 1, Nien Nunb to Gold Squad. 1, and Ackbar to Home 1, and he clears me out in space. When Home One hit the table, I softly say "Look at the size of that thing," and I hear Adam, 5 rows down, say "Cut the chatter, Red 2." I don’t know if the people laughing were laughing at us or with us. We are such dorks. I figure he’s coming to Ralltiir, so I start fortifying down there. Sure enough, Jedi Luke makes an appearance vs. my biker scout on a speeder. I try to react away, but he tells me I can’t, so I forfeit everything at the site and he moves Jedi Luke over to my AT-ST with pilot. I’ve got You Cannot Hide Forever on the table, and trample in my hand, but I’m so stressed out because of this being my first sanctioned game that I can’t remember if I had tracked my masterful move to the top of the deck, or if it was one card down (turns out it was one card down, so it’s a good thing I didn’t try to trample). We battle, he smoke screens with Luke for a 6 destiny, and I draw some obscene battle destiny, he loses Luke and I lose an AT-ST pilot. I keep thinking he’s going to come back and do something to me, but he doesn’t, instead he decides to drain me to death, and since I have been cleared out of space I have no chance of holding down decree, and his drain is too much for me and I lose by 14.
FL 0 (-14)
good stuff: this guy’s deck was better than mine, I totally deserved to lose.
bad stuff: but it still sucked to lose.
Adam’s BHBM goes down to a TIGIH deck, and he loses by 27. Of course, he has only been playing the game for a few weeks, so it’s all good.
Game 2, my WYS vs. Aaron Pawlik’s This Deal Is Getting Worse All The Time
I draw the same guy for game 2. I’m feeling bad that I lost the first game, so I’m a little intimidated that he’s going to kill me this time around too. He starts I’m Sorry to get some generation. I get a god hand (2 raiders, 2 patrol crafts, Luke, Han, RFC, and Don’t Get @#$%y), flip the first turn with the raiders and RFC, and his turn he immediately dives down to Tatooine to beat my off my docking bays with Darth Vader and Tarkin. I fallen portal Tarkin, react my raider to his site, draw my 3 destiny’s (two 5’s and a 4) and Vader is toast. His turn he draws some and doesn’t deploy anything. I fortify the cantina with Luke and Han holding Don’t Get @#$%y in my hand, and move my raider back to the site with my RFC. Dash in his ship comes up, followed closely by Chewie, Protector in the Falcon, and then Menace Fades, Battle Plan, I’ll Take The Leader, and Tatooine Celebration come out via a signal and two tunnel visions, one played out of play. He spends almost the entire rest of the game trying to beat me off of Tatooine, and I spend the entire rest of the game playing Fallen Portal on his guys, tracking 5’s for destinys, draining +1 with ITTL and retrieving 3 with Celebration. Finally he puts down dark deal and some guys in space, including ZiMH, which sucks because I only have a 6 ability there. We battle at the Tatooine system 3 times, with me drawing no destiny (and still matching him in power thanks to the outrider and some high-forfeit RFCs) before I finally get Melas up there to cancel Zuckuss text. He is now draining me for 9 a turn, and I haven’t been able to do a thing about it since the only system I can use for Menace Fades is Tatooine, which he keeps fortifying. Celebration saves me ultimately, and I beat him off of the Tatooine system. It comes down to the wire, but I barely pull it off by 6 cards.
FW 2 (-8)
good stuff: my first win!
bad stuff: it should have been by more than 6, but i just couldn’t get 7 ability at the system.
Adam’s RST loses by 27 (again!) to a Walker Garrison deck. He’s now at -54, but not feeling to bad about it, which is good.
Game 3, my WYS vs. Carl Thompson’s ISB Trooper Beatdown.
This guy literally does nothing but deploy docking bays, draw up cards, and take my drains for about the first 5 turns. I flip first turn, and start setting up I’ll Take The Leader to get my drains going. All of a sudden, he drops like 20 troopers at the executor docking bay, moves them to Docking Bay 94 (for free), and then plays that card that makes it to where you can’t move any of your stuff (sorry, I forgot the name, but it’s horrible). I think he copied this deck card for card from one I saw on decktech, but that doesn’t help me any as he plays trooper assault (after I dropped Mara Jade off with a Fallen Portal) against my two Palace Raiders on Patrol Crafts. My power is 12 with destiny, and his is like 50 or something crazy. I lose the raiders, the crafts, and 16 more cards. Then he moves his guys over to the next docking bay to repeat the process. I’m in a lock, because I can’t move anything, and I seem to be drawing nothing but interrupts, so he kills me again for all the stuff at the site plus 15 more, and then he drains me out and I lose by 12.
FL 2 (-20)
good stuff: it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, if he had stopped my early drains he could have beat me by a lot more
bad stuff: this deck should be banned from tournament play
Adam loses by only 21 this time, his BHBM vs. Rescue the Princess. Disgraceful to lose to RTP, but he’s learning to ropes. Maybe he’ll get a win today.
Game 4, my RalOps vs. Jeff Ermis’ Dantooine Base Operations.
When I saw his objective come out, I thought it was going to be a cool game. DBO is one of my favorite objectives. Unfortunately, this guy was playing DBO with no squadrons at all. He had no starting interrupt. He had a lot of useless cards that he couldn’t even play. I start by deploying my usual stuff, and I quickly realize when, 4 or 5 turns into the game he has only deployed locations and Melas, that he has no idea what’s going on. I start conserving my cards to get a high differential. I drop Lord of the Sith, a couple of AT-STs with pilots, and some forfeit fodder, and the only thing I deploy for the rest of the game (which was about 4 turns) is First Strike so I can get some cards back. I track a 2 with Janus (I have tons of cards left, but am activating an obscene amount of force), play trample on boshek (who is the only character at the site) so I will miss on purpose and put the card back in my deck. Then I battle BoShek, play a couple of more interrupts that have no chance of doing anything but going back in my deck, draw my destiny +6 (objective plus two AT-ST pilots), and he loses like 20 cards. Then I move over to Melas, put some more cards back in my deck, battle again to retrieve with First Strike, and he loses 20 more cards. In the end, all he had deployed the whole game was his starting location and objective, 4 dantooine sites, Melas, BoShek, and Red Leader in Red 9 (??). I win by 29.
FW 4 (+9)
good stuff: i needed the differential boost, and it was cool to help a new guy learn how to play.
bad stuff: he complained that his deck was something he just threw together to play to the tournament (I believe it, I think he threw his cards into a pile and grabbed 60 at random) and that he was getting his "good deck" later this week.
Adam gets a bye because he’s in last place. He smokes half a pack of cigarettes and gets some burgers at McDonald’s. Without me. The punk.
Game 5, my RalOps vs. Conor Brace’s EBO-X
This is the most fun game I play all day, and it’s CLOSE. Towards the end, we were playing so carefully that sometimes all we would do in a turn is drain and move, and it would still take 5 minutes. I decide not to start decree and instead keep TINT/OE so I can grab All Wings and/or Organized Attack when it comes. Organized Attack never comes, but I grab All Wings the first turn (the only card I would grab all game). Turns out that was a good move, too, because he loses his other All Wings to a drain later on. This deck of his is the real deal EBO, speeders, power harpoons, ice storms, the whole deal - even Commander Luke made an appearance. We both get off to a slow start, but that’s fine, because I get my drains set up faster, along with Search and Destroy, and he can’t do anything about it because he’s got his 3 echo guys inside to do EBO and he put an ice storm out, so he loses to Search and Destroy for about 3 turns before he can move out on a speeder and do something about it. I am totally obliterating this guy, playing Monnok like a fool to get some Power Pivots and cannons (he does a good job of not holding x-wings in his hand). All of a sudden, I make a crucial error. I deploy Fett in Slave 1 all alone to Sullust to satisfy decree, put down secret plans, and suddenly realize I FORGOT TO FORCE DRAIN FOR 6!!!!! I don’t care at this point, because I’m up by a lot of cards, but it turns out forgetting that drain is what killed me in the end. Next turn he throws down a crapload of x-wings, puts some cannons on them, puts Haven out, plays power pivot, plays a card to add his weapon destiny to his power, draws his two destiny, and I draw ADMIRAL OZZEL for destiny. My power is 4 to his 30-something. I lose Fett and a lot of cards. I never recover. Thrawn on the Chimaera is all that’s left in space, and I spend the rest of the game battling his x-wings, and unsuccesfully trying to stop his massive drains. In the end, his drains do me in, and I lose by 4 stinking cards.
FL 4 (+5)
good stuff: the most fun game i played at the tourney
bad stuff: the sorriest reason to lose (forgetting to drain once) at the tourney
Adam’s RST goes down to a TIE swarm, but only by 15, so he’s getting a little better. His differential is now at -90, and he’s started telling people how easy his sister is. I don’t what that’s all about, maybe he wants to break some concentration of people. I pretend like I don’t know him.
Game 6, my WYS vs. some guy who’s name I shouldn’t mention’s Jabba’s Palace start with Expand the Empire
By the end of the game, I wanted to kill this guy. I literally wanted to reach across the table and cut off his air supply until he passed away. This could have been the most arrogant person I have ever met. Before the game even starts, I he starts deploying his location and effect, and I put out my effects. He says "Can you at least wait until I’m done deploying my stuff before you start going at it?" I didn’t know we were supposed to take turns putting out our starting stuff, so I’m just like "You can do whatever you want, dude." He pulls about 5 cards out of his deck and sets them off to the side, then draws his opening hand and activates (I still haven’t deployed my starting locations when he does this). I don’t know what the deal is with that pile of cards, but I find out soon enough, because he lays down 5 Jabba’s Palace locations and says "I can deploy those using expand the empire." I’m pretty sure those locations have to be IN HIS DECK when he uses the text of Jabba’s Palace, but I am starting to see spots because I’m so pissed off, so I just let him do what he wants. I flip first turn, and he comes after me with a vengeance. He reads my objective at least every other turn, yet still tries to play sense and alter. It looks like his deck consists of a lot of old premiere cards that used to be good, and a lot of new tatooine cards that don’t go together at all. I put Luke at the cantina with two smugglers, and he puts Much Anger in Him (of whatever that card is where you have to battle or lose 4) on Luke, after dropping premiere Vader and Jade with saber. He then plays You Are Beaten on Luke and initiates a battle. I have an RFC and a raider at the cantina, so my power is 4 there (cantina adds 1 to each alien, I have to tell him), and 3 more from my 3 ships at Tatooine. I draw my two tracked 4’s (I couldn’t get any 5’s for some reason) and Vader goes down. He destiny is 0, so I lose nothing. On my turn, I don’t deploy or activate anything (because I have two more 4’s sitting on top of the deck), and instead battle him with the same two smugglers. He targets the RFC . . . . and draws two 1’s. I want to laugh in his face, but instead I draw my 8 for battle destiny, he draws a good destiny, and I lose the two smugglers. I move Luke over to docking bay 94, because I am going to need some generation for the Chewie, P and Lando with Gun in my hand. His turn he puts Maul at the cantina, Jabba and Mosep at the Audience Chamber and puts presence of the force on it to get a drain of 2. There is no way I’m letting him get away with that kind of thing (the audience chamber is like 5 sites away from where I am). My turn I activate a lot, play tunnel vision, pull Bargaining Table, play another tunnel vision, pull a raider, play tunnel vision out of play, get another RFC, and drop both of them to Maul’s site. Thanks to my ships still orbiting (which weren’t battled the whole game, I think he only had one ship in his deck) and the text of the cantina, I match him in power and get my two destiny (tracked 5’s, this time). Maul bites the dust, as does my RFC, but by then he’s about dead, so I drain him for a lot using I’ll Take The Leader and cancel his drain at the audience chamber by either putting an alien on Bargaining Table, or playing Control from lost pile. I end up winning by 19.
FW 6 (+24)
good stuff: beating that smug attitude right out of him.
badd stuff: the guy was a punk, and if i’d lost it would have ruined my day.
Adam wins against the guy I played earlier with the DBO by 32, bringing his total score to 2 (-58). He also pulls a Qui-Gon out of his tatooine pack he got for playing, and gets the Clash of Sabers foil that was given away to a random person. Funny, but it rules, and it makes him feel better about losing all day.
So out of the 27 participants, I finish 7th amazingly, Adam finishes 26th, and some guy who’s name is also Jacob wins the whole thing (a vader case topper and some tatooine packs) with a differential of +136. The last place player had -129, if that gives you some idea of the different level of players there were. I get my packs of tatooine (my first ever) and a pack of jedi knights and pull a silver foil "The guns . . . they’ve stopped" from JK and two Qui-Gon’s and a Watto from Tatooine. A pretty successful day, I’d say, since no one played the new Tatooine cards that kill my decks, and NO ONE knew how to play vs. WYS - 3 of my 6 opponents had to read my objective because they had never played with or against it, which is unbelievable to me. I’ll post the decks I used later this week, so you can look at them and say "How in God’s name did you win at all with those?" Until next time, peace out my brothers!