ramapotatocon-triple-tr
Title: ramapotatocon-triple-tr
Author: Hayes "Hayes" Hunter
Date: Jun 14, 2001
A prelude to RamapoCon
The date is Sunday, June 3rd, 2001. Yesterday I picked up Bastian Winkelhaus from the airport and playtested late into the night. Now it was time to see how our playtesting paid off. I had already done a lot of Tatooine playtesting with the cards (see my "A Weekend With Kyle Craft" TR that is coming soon) and with cut out proxies, but so had the people who were in attendance today, namely the Twiggs and Jonathan Chu, though not so much Chu. Anyway, for light I was playing a pile (see "Hayes’ Brilliant Pile") with all 10 twixes and mains and stuff; that was easy to come up with. Dark, on the other hand, was not such a simple matter. In playing the night before I was thoroughly disappointed in every deck I tried, so at 2am, as I did with light, I went back to basics: I decided to play old Skool ROPS. There were literally 0 Tatooine cards in the deck (except for maybe the desert-landing site). It was At-Sts and pilots with grabbers and alters. It was like a flashback to Worlds 2000. Bastian had his WYS beats, but was also at a loss for Dark so he went with TDIGWATT. Morning comes and I drive my bro, Bastian, and Mike Pistone (who also stayed with us the night before) to Fitchburg for the 6 gamer. My rating was 2204 going into the tourney, but that’s excluding my 3-3 from 2 weeks prior (that performance will be in the Kyle Craft Weekend TR). Paul Laudenbach is running the show and we get started relatively on time. Here we go.
Game One
ROPS Vs Martin Terwilliger’s (1771) Shmi’s Hut/ Tatooine Outskirts start pile
He starts Careful Planning for the Outskirts, which I am glad for since it let’s my Mob Points do it’s thing. I pull Rendili, drop a guy to the Ex: DB and a twix, pull a site and say go. He gets out Ben and 2 twixes then moves Ben to Shmi’s pad. I just draw on my next turn, preparing for the 3rd turn solid flip. He searches for Shmi, but discovers there is not one in the deck (or his force pile) at all, so he can’t get out Threepio w/ parts showing, so his deck is slowed down considerably. I flip and fortify then start draining while he is at a loss as to what to do. He just draws, and eventually he is able to Nabrun a bunch of guys to Ralltiir. Unfortunately they all decide to regroup at the desert, so on my next turn Palp takes one for the Empire as he goes lost in the Desert, taking a hoard of main characters with him. Chalk one up for the Bad Guys.
FW +28
2(+28)
Highs: Playing Mr. T. He’s a wicked cool guy, but I’d never played him before.
Lows: No Shmi!
Game Two
Light Pile Vs Steve "Stevie B" Baroni’s (1947) COTVG Mains
Steve informs me he got his deck from Twigg the night prior, which I am relieved to hear, since I saw the COTVG contraptions the Twiggs were coming up with a week ago (my Tatooine less Hidden Mains deck was able to overcome the version they set Kyle up with- see my Kyle Craft Weekend TR). He Starts YCHF to grab Mob Points, Power of the Hutt, and something else not too important, so I grab The Camp (Mara is +1 or +2) Uh-Oh (+3 or +4 now) and Don’t Do That Again. I get a good start, laying down twixes and Goo Nee Tay (now Mara costs 10 or 11). We have a couple SAC battles, but since I started DDTA I get a Grabber and grab my own Sense, allowing me a crucial Nabrun that eliminates some of his key characters. Revo hits his landing site so he’s only activating 7-8 force so I am able to beat up everything he puts out while doing a little draining here and there.
FW +17
4(+45)
Highs: The pile worked as planned against a good player.
Lows: Steve trying to throw cards into his deck once he knew we were paired up.
Game Three
ROPS Vs Mike "Deck" Gemme’s (1717) QMC
This game started off like any other. He started keeping the empire out, battle plan, and Squass, I did the regular TINT/Opp Enforcement w/ IAO and Mob Points. I flip, he flips, but I have decree and he doesn’t have menace out for my Janus/Palp drain, so I’m draining for more, but he is retrieving as well, with CC Celeb. I didn’t go anywhere near Bespin because he had like 4 starfighters each with matching pilot and a weapon, so I woulda been reduced and power pivoted and shot down like there’s no tomorrow. Anyway, the -1 from my objective only works against his drains on Bespin locations where he doesn’t have an alien, so his forces are sorta thin and I’ve seen him lose a bunch of Paths off the top. He starts chasing me around in space so Decree is flickering on and off, as is my ability to drain for free (Battle Plan). EPP Vader comes down to the Incinerator, where I can only drain for 0, in front of Melas. On his next turn, instead of running and giving me the drain of 0, he lets Melas stay- perhaps for the celebration, I’m not sure. So, with everyone watching, I battle. He can’t play Run Luke Run since Luke is 2 sites over, instead he plays Narrow Escape. Nope, Mike, you can’t do that. Melas and 10 please. That was basically game because he had almost met my drain total, and I wasn’t retrieving. On his next turn time is called. He has 4 in the reserve, none in hand- I have 9 in reserve, and 1 in hand. So he finishes activating, pays 3 to retrieve with Celebration, and drains, leaving only 1 force remaining in his force pile. I play Projective Telepathy, to cancel one drain, and to put a force back into my Life Force. In the end he has 7, I have 8. After the game everyone yells at him "Why didn’t you drain with Dash?!" who is an alien that was sitting at the Bespin system for the entire game. He just takes out his gun and shoots himself in the foot right there in the store.
TW +8
5(+53)
Highs: It was one hell of a game!
Lows: Mike had me beat, but lost because of a mental error on his part.
Game Four
Pile Vs Chris "LittleTwigg" Terwilliger’s (2133) COTVG mains
I had already beat Steebo’s version of this deck, but I knew that the Twiggs changed it up since giving the list to him, so I wasn’t completely confident going into this game. He doesn’t do much on his turn except deploy a DB. Things start off well for me- I get out a Goo Nee Tay and drop a monk at his AC, giving me one more force and canceling his game text. I figure that with the camp and uh oh out my monk will live, since he’s only activating 9 plus he made some remark about not being able to do anything. My bad. Maul comes out and lives up to his namesake, but fortunately only causes a couple extra damage. I lick my wounds and get out more locations, preparing for my retaliation. He supports maul I think, I’m not sure. I get a couple guys out and attempt to Nabrun over. I win the minor SAC war we have because I grab my own sense and he’s out of force. I clear his guys off the board, and cause some run over. Now I’m in the position I like. I’m activating about double what he is and all his stuff costs at least 3 force extra. My drains are able to whittle him down and another late game Nabrun does him in.
FW +19
7(+72)
Highs: Playing Chris for the first time ever and winning.
Lows: Not much, my deck really is clicking for me.
Game Five
ROPS Vs Jonathan "jonnychu" Chu’s (2211) HB Flip Pile
Since I wasn’t at the bounty tourney I had no idea what this deck was. All I knew was that it was TJ’s concoction. He starts Strike Planning and Don’t Do That Again only, which slows me down some but not much. I get out 2 At-St pilots, on Tempest Scout 1, to ralltiir sites and plop down S+D. Boushh comes down for 8, breaks cover and initiates against the lone pilot and battles, forgetting TS1 reacts for free. S+D is canceled and attrit leaves a lone TS1 and pilot at the site. That was basically game, ’cause had I been more patient and set up S+D more securely he woulda been eating it all game, but whatever. He flips fast, and I’m desperately trying to keep up with his damage. An AFA forces my @#$%ship E down to the Ralltiir system, which he had replaced, for a fight, but he barriers. I eventually get to initiate against him, but I had forgotten the light side Ralltiir’s text that allowed him to move all of his forces in front of mine (mostly because he placed his ships at the system on top of that exact text) so my guys died. A lot. At least I didn’t lose the E so he couldn’t Legendary, and I was able to run around probing incorrectly, giving him some time to retrieve with the single On the Edge of the deck.
FL -20
7(+52)
Highs: Playing Chu for the first time in sanctioned play. He is the man, and my pick for worlds. Despite the margin of victory the game was actually really close and a lot of fun at the beginning.
Lows: None!
Game Six
Pile Vs Jonathan "jonnychu" Chu’s (2211) High Destiny HDADTJ w/ #s, Dueling, and Racing
That’s a long deck title. Time for redemption. He just started Watto’s Box, so I started YISYW, DDTA (to get that grabber) and something else insignificant. I grin as I look at my opening hand, seeing it contains a twix or two and a Revo AND a Goo Nee Tay. Of course he draws the single location of the deck, and deploys the Death Star turn one, but whatever. On my turn I drop the sites, revo the med chamber, and throw down the Goo and draw. I knew better than to ditch YISYW for Honor, so he started losing Tech Mor and #s to Visage. He wins the race pretty quickly so I can’t ICBW the damage. So it’s like 5th turn, and though he’s force choked I have a lost pile of about 17, and he has 0. The only battleground on the table is the pod race arena now, so I quickly take it over, along with the Holo theatre to cancel Visage and for the drain. I just drain for a long time, wishing I had a Grimtaash in the deck to eliminate his entire hand, which is about 25 cards at this time. Then he starts saving, so I use my beggar to deplete him once. Finally Vader comes out and kills some guys of mine. I dunno, there is much tracking of both players decks, a lot of senses and Elises. All we had on the board was an emperor at my Y4 Massassi HQ at one point. Obi loses a duel, but I ICBW the damage. Anyway it ends up with qui Gon sitting at the pod race arena draining for one, the emperor still stranded draining for 0 thanks to honor on Y4, and Choke Vader chasing a couple random mofos around on the executor. He attempts to counter assault my drain (for a second time, the first time I sensed it) after I kill off his Ponda & Dr. E combo but he draws the two remaining ones in the deck and I drain him out shortly thereafter.
FW +10
9(+62)
Highs: It was a helluva game. Chu is the man.
Lows: None.
The tourney finishes at about 6:30 with my brother in first place over Team Albany for the second week in a row, so he gets the box of Tatooine, Chu’s 5-1 is good enough for 2nd and the Imp Decree foil, and I grab 3rd and another Dark Sense foil (see the KC Weekend TR!). Next we all pile into our cars and head to Ponderosa which is this janky sorta stake buffet place. Anyway, the food sucks so of course we must find another means of entertainment, and that’s where Mike Gemme comes in. Mike is a ladies man. He has stories and stories about pickin’ up chicks and stuff; you remember the elevator story from the NYC tourney 2 years ago? Well that was he. Anyway, Twigg keeps pushing him to go pick up this cute waitress so finally he does and we’re all making an @#$% out of him by laughing and @#$%, but he’s cool and gets the digits then proceeds to document Jedi Testing Women. If you haven’t read his TR I strongly suggest you do so ’cause I’m not going to get into all that now. Dinner ends and we head home. Mike Pistone’s Dad picks him up and Bastian and I continue brainstorming ideas.
The next week is a blur. Little sleep and much playtesting with all sorts of different people occurs. About Wednesday we REALLY give up on dark side so I call Chu and he totally agrees. He tells me that he is thinking ROPS is the way to go, despite the fact it gets bent over by Ou Nee Ta. Based off of my own tendencies and from what I saw at the tourney I decided light space was pretty weak, outside of WYS, so I feel like doing something involving dark space, but I am hesitant. I dunno. Ramapo should be interesting, to say the least. Even though I am done with school I need like .00005 of a credit to officially graduate so I am stuck going to this math class for retards at night. I don’t do any of the homework and still get 100s on all the tests its re@#$%ulous (as opposed to re-@#$%-ulous). Thursday comes and Bastian and me pick up Justin Desai at the Train station. We head home and playtest some, but I have to go to class cause the teacher is really @#$%y about attendance. I get home at 10 to find that I’ve missed Mike Gemme’s sister and her hot @#$% friends. The good thing was that the class gave me a lot of time to think about decks (like Clint I don’t playtest all that much, I just spend a lot of time thinking about things). So I skip dinner to build my decks. Now, with less than 12 hours I am faced with 4 possible decks: the old Skool ROPS cause Chu talked me into ’em again, and ISB Space like Hunter’s for dark; then Bastian’s WYS which was absolutely wrecking everything, and my pile for light. People start to go to bed at 11pm, but me and Mike and Justin decide to stay up and play more cause we can’t sleep. We end up doing cart wheels and @#$% on my driveway making all these foot prints from the wet grass since there is nothing else to do in the town of Boxborough at 2 am. I proceed to lose a lot of games at the hands of Mike and Justin using the WYS and ROPS since I can’t play WYS if my life depended on it, and ’cause Ou Nee Ta totally rapes. Finally, by process of elimination, at 5am my decks are made and we go to sleep.
The DPC
We awake at 7ish, and most of us shower, then we pile into the car. My dad driving, Bastian up front with him, me and Justin in the middle and Eric and Mike in the back. After reading a lot of other people’s reports everyone has their moment of humor with Bastian. First, I gotta say that staying with the guy for a week made for more than just a couple side busters, but this one has got to take the cake. We’re taking a pit stop at some hotel and me, Bastian and Justin are sitting outside waiting for people. After doing the Big Pimpin’ chorus (the theme song of the week) together, Bastian gets in touch with his rapper-self and does Eminem’s entire "Stan" rap- in his German accent of course. Justin and I just sit there gawking at his 6’6" white @#$% German frame, in total awe of the spectacle we just witnessed. Mike comes out, pissed that he missed it so he couldn’t put that on his list of Bastianisms, and we take off. We arrive shortly after 12, say hi to a bunch of people and get signed up then get our stuff into our room. Next it’s off to the races. We madly fill out deck lists for the 1pm deadline and we’re good. Now we’ve got some time to kill so sit down w/ the Quebecers and meet Bob. Bob is a black Ken doll, with a very large penis and plenty of body hair. I give Bob some drugs, which we attach to his hand with a dunkin’ donut’s sticker.
As aforementioned, I have the (soon to be posted) uber-pile for light and a lightly modified version of Hunter’s ISB space. The light has a bunch of counter effects so it starts HFTMF but now I start Shmi’s Hut instead of Obi’s Hut so I can abuse the Naked Droid. I just refined it from last week, taking out stuff that didn’t work throwing in stuff I thought I’d need to win, pretty basic changes outside of the Scrambled Transmission and Shock/Grim I added, which proved to be a killer combo throughout the weekend. The ISB is a cool Meta call in my opinion. The deck actually uses not a single Tatooine card, it just relies on people getting to caught up in the current meta. To effectively counter WYS and QMC that I thought I’d see plenty of, I added 2 Interceptors and 2 cannons, but other than that the deck remains basically unchanged from the one on Hunter’s page. Bastian is also playing the ISB, but sticks to his guns with the WYS.
At 2:10 the pairings start getting called, and I’m called second. Here we go again.
Game One
Light Pile Vs Scott Diehl’s (1996) CCT @#$%
Scott seems really nervous. I’m not happy to see CCT cause it’s a janky deck that is a pain to play cause they take out Han. Sure enough Jabba’s Prize hits the table, and he chooses Mob Points and I think the anti SAC effect, and Crush. I go for YISYW, DDTA and ST, which I would start on all my games. I get a sorta slow start, with only one twix, but Goo is in my opening hand. Shmi and Threepio come out and I abuse the droid for a bit until Mara comes down. She hits on guy and the other dies to attrition, but I don’t take any battle damage. My turn Mara meets her maker in the form of an angry Qui Gon with saber. I move to the AC and start draining for three while he just sits there looking at Goo and counting how little force he can activate. I beggar all his force away at one point, preventing him from making any sort of comeback, so the game finishes with me draining for a couple a turn while a second Mara plinks me at the CC DB.
FW +33
2(+33)
Highs: I’m off to a good start, and Scott was a really cool guy.
Lows: Scott beat himself. Just because you’re rating isn’t as high as someone’s it doesn’t (necessarily) mean you can’t beat them.
After finishing I see Greg Hodur with a bunch of people and I walk over to see what’s going on. I come to see he has this crate of porn (Dom’s apparently) that he is selling or whatever. I tell him I have no money, but he decides to give me a mag for free cause I’m cool like that. It’s a Gent with some mad hairy bush in it, but whatever, free porn is free porn no matter how you cut it. Of course, walking around w/ a porn mag in the middle of a tournament whose participants are all guys ages 13-30 isn’t exactly the brightest thing to do, so I roll it up and stick it into my cargo pocket for later. This would lead to some interesting situations as you might imagine, so read on.
Game Two
ISB Space Vs Andres Szmulewicz’s (1840) HB Revolver
Again I am called in the second pairing, but Andres reaches the table first so I don’t get the same seat. He flips HB and I don’t know whether to expect #s or Hidden mains. I think I just opt for YCHF as my 3rd effect (my other two are always IAO / Mob Points). He does the anti sac effect, which relieves me, YISYW, and Battle Plan (I think). I just get Piett to the Ex: DB and deploy Kashyyyk from hand and say go. His turn he pulls Clackdor, drops a twix, and I know he is playing Revo before he even deploys one on my Coruscant. Uh oh. Fortunately Decree was in my hand. Unfortunately, getting control of anything, much less 2 systems and a site when you’re only activating like 5 force is not fun. On my turn all I can do is drop Merrejek and pull another system. I keep saving and pulling locations as he revolves more locations and draws. Finally with 3 of my locations revolved, and Piett and Merrejek dead thanks to a beat down I get Ozzel and an ORS to the Hoth War Room, an Interceptor to Kashyyyk and Zuckuss in MH to Sullust to get Decree working. I am relieved when he is not able to break the decree in space against my lone TIE, but I suspected he had little space in the deck. So down comes EPP Leia. She shoots, but misses Shnozzel. Leia draws battle destiny, and I decline to. Shnozzel dies, and Leia is left facing the ORS. Since she has suspended my Decree there is not much I can do, so I only drain once, then drop EPP Vader on Leia’s ass, initiate, hit her, then draw my 2 battle destiny, thanks to the dark side text of the location. Leia and 11 please. I watch him flip a Gold Squadron 1 off the top, which reaffirms my assumption about the amount of space he has. I lose my guys. So although Decree isn’t working, he’s actually lost more force than me, I just have nothing on the board. At least I know he has no space in hand. So I keep draining in space, paying 6 and then drawing. We fight over the war room some more but in the end qui Gon wins out. Eventually the super falcon comes down on my TIE. Lucky for me he only draws a total of 5 for battle destiny, so I only lose the TIE and a couple force. My turn I drop another TIE in front of the Falcon, fearing Barrier. He sees no threat in a TIE so he lets it go. Then comes down the Cannon. I initiate. I pay 3 to fire, it’s a 2, and I miss. He plays I know. I pay 3 to fire again, it’s an Imperial Command I was tracking, HIT! Wait he says- as he pays 2- redraw it. Oh @#$%! Of course I realized Cap’n Han’s text the moment I initiated, I was just hoping he wouldn’t. I flip the destiny and breath a sigh of relief as I watch the green laser fire pierce the @#$%pit and remove most of Han’s torso. From there he has no more space so I am free to out-drain him 5 force at a time. I never flipped.
FW +16
4(+49)
Highs: Winning a damned tough match up against an excellent player, and the cannons paying off. Big time.
Lows: None.
Game Three
ISB Space Vs David "david.irvine" Irvine’s (2106) Shmi’s Hut/Lars Farm HDWGITM Harvest deck
Still at the top table, in fact, in the same chair, I get to play David Irvine. He starts Shmi’s Hut, and when we reveal starting interrupts I breath a sigh of relief as he shows Careful Planning. I start Decree as my third, fearing a bunch of sabers, and then he shows me the Lars’ Farm. Crap. Lots and lots of retrieval like with Harvest can sometimes spell trouble for the agents of the empire. Anyway, I think it’s this game that I get the best start of the day. I have Merrejek and an Imp Command in hand AND a docking bay. So I get Shnozzel, pull a DB and drop the 2 mofos to ’em and pull another system. I then draw my last force- SSPFT. Boo Yah. He drops a twix or two, gets the Lars to their farm and Shmi and Naked Threepio to the Hut then moves them all over to the farm. I start to set up in space and he is forced to use all of his Harvests very early on. He gets out Underworld Contacts, but never has 2 aliens at the Farm, which is now filled with Jedi and Obi’s Journal (but fortunately no sabers as of yet). So I opt for an undercover spy there, instead of flipping and dropping an agent. In the meanwhile he keeps Messing and using Threepio to get a lot of what he needs, except for the sabers, of course. At one point I get to verify his deck and see no space, so I deploy sparingly in space. It was a really non interactive game, and he wasn’t able to drain me for more than one until the very end of the game when he did the new Shmi’s Hut/ Mos Espa Shuffle to get around my UC spies. Harvests run out and my drains don’t. I win.
FW +18
6(+67)
Highs: Playing very well against another strong player.
Lows: He didn’t get his sabers out fast, and the game was kinda non-interactive.
Like most players I have little habits or whatever you want to call them, that one does while playing. Like I constantly flip through my hand in a very specific way, and my leg bounces on the ball of my foot a lot. So while doing the leg shaking the Gent falls out and Janiak, who has just arrived, is there to pick it up and starts laughing his @#$% off. Irvine gets a look at the thing and just kinda rolls his eyes, wondering, I’m sure, just where the hell I got it from.
Game Four
Pile Vs John Hawkin’s (1963) TDIGWATT Speed Dark Deal deck
I get bumped up a slot now, and I’m in 4th place I believe. In playing David I was only able to catch a glimpse of his light deck, and I just figured he was some sort of lucky scrub because he was playing A Disturbance In The Force (or whatever the light one is called) and I didn’t know he was playing/beating Jamie Abel. So he starts TDIGWATT and my incorrect assumption he is a scrub is solidified in my head. He start Secret Plans, IAO, YCHF, and I’m Sorry, I start DDTA, thinking he might ditch YCHF for Mob Points, YISYW thinking possible #s, and ST. He dives for the 2 sites and deploys them, before activating. He asks if he can take it back so, still assuming he is a scrub, I let him. He pulls Bespin, S+D, 3 Troopers with Tactical Support then Imperial Supply’s, drops 2 troopers to two of the 3 sites, S+D and CC Occ, then inserts A Tremor In The Force. He tells me to lose one and that he just got a slow start. ... ... ... Wow. So I say I’m going to activate it all and it pops with one force to go. I check my deck w/ ST and choose not to go for Shmi and Threepio off the bat cause there were 2 twixes in my force pile. So I drop my twix, draw, and lose a force. His turn he hits me for 4 total damage, deploys the third trooper then saves a bunch. I lose another to S+D. I activate all this time, get out Shmi and Threepio, pull the grabber, and then drop EPP Luke on a trooper. KISS. I grab and Sense. He Control/SFSs. I Sense again, and of course, he plays the second copy of C/SFS in the deck. Great. Luke Bounces and I lose another force. His turn I take 6 damage. He keep searching his deck with IAO to see if the sector is there so he can set up dark deal. He drops Vader’s Personal Shuttle, I take another damage to S+D and it’s my turn, after he saves even more force. I attempt to deploy Luke again, but he is bounced yet again. So all I can do is drop Jar Jar to prevent the S+D damage and to block a drain for a turn. He deploys a second trooper to battle against Jar Jar and I try to do the Jar Jar bomb but he draws a 3 and I draw a one, so Jar Jar lives, but not very long as I have to lose him and couple force from the battle. I get to take another S+D point of damage. The whole time we’re actually having a really good conversation about the deck and how no one has ever heard of him and stuff. He commends me on my ability to actually remember S+D every turn, instead of forcing him to remind me and I applaud his deck’s genius. Finally Luke gets through the kisses, only to become telepathic so he avoids yet another battle. Now he sets up Dark Deal and even flips so there is really nothing I can do.
FL -23
6(+44)
Highs: He totally owned me. Though he claims a slow start he manipulated me just like his deck is supposed to. John is a wicked cool guy.
Lows: I was totally unprepared and I didn’t really draw anything that could really effectively counter his strategy (I.E. Beggar or more Senses).
Despite the fact that I lost, I walked away from that game feeling slightly exhilarated.
You see, my relationship with Star Wars (the game) mimics the relationship one might have with drugs. Like when I started playing cards I was just using simple butts: I was just happy to be using something at all. Playing with the cards was fun enough for me, and I didn’t care about winning or losing, I was just playing for the sake of it. Then I started to get my high from learning and improving and always placing higher and higher. From there I started winning, and I couldn’t get enough of it. More recently in my card playing career, though, I feel like I am playing only to satisfy an addiction- to ward off withdrawal symptoms. Its not about playing a game anymore, it’s not even about winning: it’s about NOT losing. To me a win is nothing, I don’t get anxious before tournaments anymore, I don’t care about coming in first; I just try my best not to lose. Trying to not lose has become the dominant force driving me, and because of that I think I don’t enjoy the game as much as I used to (but the enjoyment I receive hanging out with all the SW people more than makes up for it).
So they say junkies are always trying to live up to that first high that was so good. Well I think I came pretty close in that game with John. Thanks man.
Game Five
Pile Vs Joe "Jigga" (Starfish) Giannetti’s (1997) AOBS w/ ROC/MAIH and SAC
I AM STARFISH, HEAR ME ROAR! So yeah, I really wanted this game, so they let us sit at the judges table (there was always one featured match of the round). You see, about 3 weeks ago I went up to Albany with Kyle Craft (the TR is coming soon!) and split with Starfish, and it pissed me off cause no one likes to lose to Starfish. So now it was revenge time, or something. He starts Mob Points, IAO, and Crush, I get ST, YISYW, and DDTA. He just pulls a DB and drops one from hand, I think, and moves over. I get Shmi and Threepio out, drop a twix then draw. He deploys Palp to the D* DB and moves Xizor over for the flip, then checks the top card of his deck. I ask him what he was doing and he said using the objective. Clearly he thought the objective look at the top card whenever, but I pointed out that it could only be checked during HIS battle phase. He apologized but I didn’t know what to do so I called the judge. I didn’t want him to shuffle cause I thought he might WANT to shuffle because the card on top might be one he didn’t want, but at the same time I didn’t want him knowing what the top card was. They gave him a warning (WTF?) and just left things as is. After the game I was like "Cool, if all you get is a warning for that now I’ll throw down DVDLOTS, check my destiny then choke!" But whatever. I get out Goo but he alters, so I know he is playing a bunch of SAC. So we keep playing and he isn’t giving me another DB for Luke, so what do you do when you can’t fight Palp, Guri, Xizor, and like 5 other guys at the D* DB? You make your own battleground silly. So I drop a Monk to the Quarters, along with Luke and Qui gon to flip him back. Then I hit him with a lost Grimtaash (immune to sense!) and clean out a lot of his hand so I can drop Goo. The Camp makes an appearance and all of a sudden Luke is untouchable on Tatooine as I sit and drain there for 3 a turn. He eventually spreads to a second DB, the CC DB so we fight and Obi comes out on top. Then IG comes down and captures Obi. Leia and Jar Jar come down, but he manages to get the ROC combo with Dengar on Leia and I don’t have a SATM or Alter in hand for it so I have to eat the loss once. Then he drops Snoova and battles. I Jar Jar Bomb IG so Obi comes back, I hit both his guys and he loses a couple from the battle. From there I just drain him out.
FW +16
8(+60)
Highs: Revenge on the Starfish! The pile works!
Lows: That warning they gave him.
Game Six
ISB Space Vs Don "Chef" Kitzman’s (1827) WYS @#$%
I had my moment in the sun so they kicked me off the judges’ table to let the current #1 and 2 duke it out up there. I get paired up against Don, who I know to be friend w/ John Hawkins, so this time my guard was up. I start YCHF as a safety measure and he does the pod race, making Squass his effect (I believe). I get a good start throwing down Piett and Merrejek out along with a system. He just draws first turn. I get out another DB and system and split my mofos since he’s not playing any spies. He flips and he saves force. EPP Vader wants to dine w/ Melas in the Cantina, but they lost his reservation so he has to wait. He fortifies and then I get out my last locations and Vader, with the help of a couple agents takes out his Cantina force flipping him back. I get a good amount of force for the last time and head for space. I quickly get Chinreau out and establish a fast drain in space. He wins the podrace very quickly and plays I did it! and is draining for a few on the ground, so we’re kinda even in force until I set up decree and get some ORS and some walkers down to Tatooine. He is forced to confront me in space so Dash in Outrider with Talon Karrde and a Medium Bulk Freighter. He attacks the Executor at Tatooine that has Thrawn and Chinreau aboard. He reduces, I play Imp Command to limit his destiny and I win the battle. He loses Talon and runs to an empty system to get Menace Fades working. My hand is only 6 cards, so I guess he figures Dash is safe. My turn I drain, then deploy an Interceptor, he has no action, so I deploy Zuckuss in MH, and act like I am about to spend a lot of force on something so he takes no action again, after all my power is still only 3 to his 9 right now... I drop and ORS on Zuck for 1, then the cannon on the interceptor, lateral damage the freighter and battle. I shoot down the Outrider (soo easy) and cause 14 battle damage. I drain him out shortly thereafter.
FW +14
10(+74)
Highs: Beating the eventual DPC winner, and once again, those CANNONS!
Lows: None, it was a very good game and Don was a pleasure to play.
After reporting my score, still on the stage, my Dad came up to me to find out how I was doing. I look down to my right at my Dad and catch a glimpse of the bright pink lettering "Home of the Double D" from the top of the Gent and quickly change my position so the words are no longer eye level with him. He seems suspicious at my funny stance but I steer the conversation towards his day of golf. Safe.
Game Seven
ISB Space Vs John Lolli’s (1854) RST Podracing Deck
I was confident going into this game. Bastian and I had ditched the idea of RST once we discovered ISB space totally shut it down. Unfortunately we didn’t test against RST Podracing. Not only is this deck type the absolute worst match up for the ISB Space deck (a 24 force swing I can’t do a thing about, AND the fact that they can retrieve 4 more and then equal my agent retrieval is too much) but I get a bad draw. I have the worst trouble trying to set up and everything goes right for John. He blows the bunker on turn 4, I believe, then wins the race the next turn, and I was unable to get any of my undercover spies out before I had to put down my hand. I also couldn’t find Chinreau so though I was draining in space it wasn’t very much. He saves I Did It! till the end and I go down in a flaming ball of flames (yes, a flaming ball of flames).
FL -31
10(+43)
Highs: Playing John for the first time. He’s a cool guy, and his/Scott’s deck is really tight.
Lows: Losing by so much. I mean, I did do SOME damage... he just retrieved it all :-)
Game Eight
Pile Vs Brian Cieszynski’s (1743) HDADTJ Dueling Racing Deck w/ SAC
That last game knocked me down from the top table, so now I was sitting midway down the first row, meaning my chances of getting into the top 4 were slim. Anyway Brian is a cool dude, and a member of a very exclusive club: the official "Beat Hayes Twice In One Tournament Club" He and my bro are the only 2 members, and so they were wearing these shirts that were edited versions of "Down With The Empire" that said "Down With Hayes". It’s this cool effect that lets you over-rule me and prevents me from talking about myself in the 3rd person if you just won your second game against me in a tourney. So we sit down to play and is doing a HDADTJ dueler similar to Chu’s except he’s not running any #s and instead is using Maul and SAC. He goes Watto’s Box, I do ST, YISYW, and DDTA. He starts the race and just drops Palp to the Ex: Holo theatre and lets me go. My pile loves me. A lot. I throw down Goo AND the single Revo left in the deck on his Med Chamber, cause I know he doesn’t have Evader/Monnok in the deck. I pull and deploy Honor, cause I also know Bri-Gon would never play numbers. Shmi and Naked Threepio come out along with a ton of twixes and soon I Nabrun over and kick the Emperor’s ass. Maul Elises over and we fight some more. He has been sitting at 24 for a long time and finally wins it once his lost pile is 11 cards. I just ICBW the 9 damage. After some more tactical maneuvering I manage to kill off his guys so at one point he is only activating 3 (1 from the Holo theatre, and one from the Arena) AND goo nee Tay is out so I’m free to drain and drain and drain while he can’t do anything. Eventually Vader comes out again, but Qui Gon is the only Jedi he finds and I am able to out drain him for the win.
FW +22
12(+65)
Highs: Playing only a single person that lives within 3 hours of me on the day.
Lows: My dif!
8 games finish in about 10 hours, which is very good. Well I managed to get away with 6th place, just 30 or so differential behind Dan, but what can I expect not playing any retrieval? Bastian takes the top 5-3 spot I believe, just a place behind me. Now my Dad wants to see me, and I don’t want to get stuck in the same position as before so I discretely slip the Gent to Bastian for safe keeping, not knowing what he’d do with it. (No, not that! Get your mind out of the gutter!)
It’s about 12 by the time we all mosey on over to the dorm for the finals to start. First I go back to room and when I go for a drink I find the Gent in the fridge. I’m like WTF? And Bastian explains that it’s a good hiding place. Whatever. I throw it in my pocket and go to watch the finals. As you know Chu and TJ get paired up and TJ wins, then John Hawkins loses to his pal Don, and then TJ loses in the final to Don. The details are all posted over on the DPC Ramapo Message Board. Of course, thanks to all the rulings and stuff it took a long time to finish so by the time all is said and done it’s close to 4:30am. In the middle of all that though, Ray Bordier snatched the Gent from me and plastered a particularly hardcore shot up against the glass wall separating us from the finalists. Aaron and Scott were not pleased =O) At this point I realize I can rack my sleepless brain for new decks (since they both lost a game) or I can go to sleep and figure out what to change in the morning. My body is screaming for sleep so I choose B. Now last year at Dcon people accused me of snoring, and I was sure I didn’t cause I thought Kyle was the one doing it, well this time I am told Bastian was forced to get up, walk across the room and physically shake me because I was snoring so loudly. Of course I remember none of this, but since all 3 of my roommates tell me I was keeping them up I must concede the point. Oh well. Sue me.
I wake up at 8 to the knock of my dad who has brought donuts for breakfast. Someone neglected to put the Gent back in it’s hiding spot so my Dad has this look on his face when he sees it on the counter. I shower and search through some piles for stuff I need for the decks to more effectively counter a lot of the stuff I saw (like adding that second beggar for when they save all that force for the Kiss, and Battle Plan so they can’t drain AS quickly, etc.). We drag Mike outta bed and do deck lists then head over to the play room. I get squared away and now must wait for the decks to be checked. For the first hour I talked a lot with the Quebecers and taught Bastian the art of Hard Core Young Jedi Demo. Then I got called into the room to explain my deck list and what I meant by "9 twixes- all but the Y4 Ruins" and so now Rich Haman knows =O) Now I don’t want to play anymore. No sleep is any fun, but then they announce the pairings are set, so I figure I have no choice. Onward.
RamapoCon World Championship Qualifier
Game One
Light Pile Vs Kim "Leia" Caton’s (1736) ISB 5th Marker You May Start Your Landing deck
I get called towards the top of the pack and I find my decks sitting across from Kim Caton, at the end of the top table’s row. Kim is another person whom I’ve never had the pleasure to play, so this should be fun. Anyway, I start of regularly, if not a bit slower than usual, mostly because I’m still half asleep. Kim puts out the fifth marker then Twi’leks for YMSYL to get the third and a Garrison. She’s not doing much damage because I keep fighting her, and I’m not doing much damage because her objective is flipped. Eventually she throws down an ice storm which he walkers can hide in while my mains hide in the war room (she wasn’t playing the DB, smart move). So that allowed her to catch up, along with the fact that I was sensing and altering some stuff so I had to lose to TINT (no escape was out). I dunno how but we were both down to less than 10 cards with 10 minutes left. Obi was sitting at the Revved Imperial Square, but since decree was in effect from her covering 2 Hoth sites he couldn’t always drain. The lone spiral was at Hoth, and a slew of mains were at the third marker, in front of a walker. I also had my Monk and Shmi draining for 2 at the quarters. We were both doing the same amount of damage, and for a turn or two it looked like I was going to come out on top, but then she kept retrieving agents and canceling with Den of Thieves. She attempted her once per game and missed! Which was HUGE. In the end I manage to kill the pilots of one of her walkers, preventing it from occupying, so the direct damage from YMSYL was one short of what she needed. I pulled it out of my ass. Good game Kim- you had me and lost me.
FW +1
2(+1)
Highs: It was a helluva game.
Lows: Helluva games off the bat on 4 hours sleep.
Game Two
ISB Space Vs Antonio Vigliotti’s (1746) HBX
Now even though I won and she lost she actually put at a higher table. She was on the second row of tables and I was on the third (of 4). Everyone saw our game going on, and they all thought I had lost! Anyway, on with the game. Antonio had just lost to my friend Justin and was telling me about how he has been slipping since he went to college. I start the same old same old and YCHF, not know what he might run off of HB. He starts DODN/Wise, which makes me glad, Strike planning, and the operative killer. I actually have to read the card to try to figure out why he’s playing it (I never do figure that out). Of course, as soon as I realize it’s HBX I wonder why on earth I took out Battle Deployment, but I figure I’ll be all right. Well I set up and actually flip this game relatively early and put battle order out. Of course, to do that I had to leave the Executor alone with Piett on board. Next thing I know it’s power pivoted and I’m out a DB. At least I didn’t take any battle damage. then he actually out EPPs me at the docking bay. Things are not looking good. I’m paying for my drains and now have only a minimal space force out, and his are all free. He lands a bunch of X-Wings for forfeit fodder for EPP Luke. I deploy an interceptor and cannon to clear him off of one system, and BiHT gets another, and Thrawn on some ship takes another. Then Zuck gets show down, as he retaliates and pretty soon all I have left in space is the Chimaera. I can’t draw my other ships, so he flips with like 4 force left. I have 20 and have managed to get control of my Endor docking bay thanks to the help of 2 walkers, Guri and some tracked destiny. So I think I’ve won, and there is like 15 minutes left. Cool. Well I can’t probe for @#$%. He all wings to get back a lot of force and is able to keep running from me and canceling my drains. I am just pooping along, 3 parsecs at a time to probe, not wanting to draw more than I have to since my dif sucks. Well time is called and I probe successfully, but it’s his turn and he still has force left. In the greatest act of sportsmanship bestowed upon me all weekend he admits I woulda had him and draws his remaining force. After almost forgetting to count my probe cards, I finally report my score.
FW +8
4(+9)
Highs: I have to give Antonio MAD PROPS here. He coulda given me the timed win, but was a damned cool sport and drew up to give me the full win. I’ll never forget- after the game he told me, "Make it count," and I just looked at him and said, "Don’t worry- I will." Thanks Antonio.
Lows: I hate to give a guy like that a loss.
Game Three
ISB Space Vs Joseph "witeazznigga" Gagliardi’s (1976) HBX
Finally I make it back to the top row, but I’m all the way down at the end, but I get to sit next to Bastian, who also had low dif. So I start my 2 regular effects, but use battle order as my third cause I knew Joe was running HBX. I get a really good start getting Merrejek down from hand, I pull a system and deploy another from hand. He just deploys Mirax in her ship to his Kashyyyk that replaced mine. That one less force prevented me from getting the second turn Executor, but I didn’t mind. I just threw another mofo at another DB and drew some. On his turn he pays to drain then moves Mirax and an X-Wing to my Fondor to prevent my Executor (that I had pulled into hand) from coming down. I simply deployed an interceptor to Fondor first, added a cannon, later damaged the wing, and dropped the Executor. I battle for free, shoot Mirax down and he has 14 battle damage. That’s a good third turn. So he loses some systems so flipping is now impossible for him. I am unable to flip, but establish a solid drain in space and on the ground for the easy win. He can’t do anything.
FW +30
6(+39)
Highs: Beating his punk @#$% down ;O)
Lows: None! I finished in half an hour- NAP TIME!
Finally, I finished my first game before they started calling time so I went over to an unoccupied table and laid down only to be rudely awakened by Scott Lingrell’s fiancée. She informs that I can’t lie on the table unless I buy a shirt to help pay for her engagement ring. I show her I am wearing a shirt (but I don’t tell her I got it for free ;) so she’s like, "Buy another- it’s for a good cause." Well I hate to disappoint the ladies, and I really wanted to sleep so I bought another shirt, which I toted around for the remainder of the day/night/next morning through the tourney. Then I got to sleep till my next game.
Game Four
Pile Vs Paul Maholick’s (1612) Desert Landing Site/ JP start
Now I’m back in the saddle, sitting at the top table. Next to me is Blair Franklin, who I met at GenCon and he’s playing my bud from Kashyyyk, Ross. If you haven’t read Ross’ report it’s kinda a cool story. You see he managed to get a ride and a place to stay for Ramapo, except his parents weren’t cool with him going off alone so I called his mom up and put mine on the phone and all of a sudden he can go! Even better, he’s only a 1490 rated player and is at the top table! On the other side of me is Brentson, another Kashyyykian, and across from me is Paul Maholick- the nicest guy in Star Wars, and also from Kashyyyk. Paul does his DLS combat readiness start and I do my standard three effects (ST, YISYW, and DDTA). He has trouble finding a Maul so Goo comes out, but he alters and I don’t have the defense for it. I attempt to kill his lone Maul, but fail and he starts fortifying his drain of 2 at the palace. My naked droid helps me get out a bunch of locations and grab a Nabrun. He moves a lot of his guys in front of Shmi and Threepio, so I proceed to drop a couple mains and Nabrun the whole lot of them in front of his lone Palp who couldn’t move over. He has to lose the Emperor and some force (I didn’t hit him) and we’re back on even terms, as far as force loss is concerned (I am, however, out activating him by a lot). We have a couple good fights, except I keep winning by like 4 or 5 force, so instead of losing his Maul or Vader or whatever he often chose to take the damage. If he had lost the character (of which his supply was dwindling) he woulda had a tough time paying for another copy since I Revved his DLS. Either way he was in a tough spot. Eventually my force got low enough that I could track about 8 or 9 different cards, which enabled me to use the Nabrun repeatedly on Maul, so I won.
FW +15
8(+54)
Highs: My pile is kicking ass.
Lows: Having to play someone I playtested with.
Unfortunately Scott’s fiancée isn’t working at the same table so I lose my spot and have to move to a different table to sleep. NAP TIME!
Game Five
ISB Space Vs Peter Srodoski’s (1942) RST Pile
I’m in second place now, so I get to sit up at the Judges table for this game against Pete. Last time we played was back at the Kashyyyk grand slam which Twigg and Sokol were co winners of (I got third). Since then his game has improved steadily and he was even runner up at his states (against Twigg) last week or whenever it was. So he starts RST and I am not confident because RST was the only thing my dark lost to yesterday. I do my regular 2 and battle order as my third (I think), he does Strike Planning, The Shield is down and Insurrection. I know I have to go to space fast in order to win so I just get Piett and Merrejek to the DB and get a system and let him go. He deploys a DB and draws I think. I activate, pull another system and drop a ship. He drops the Naked Droid to the landing site and starts abusing him and I just keep throwing out ships, often without any pilots aboard out to space. It becomes clear after a couple of turns that he doesn’t intend to blow the bunker. When he draws over 12, and I ask how many cards he has he plays a TMAC to get out of range for the Monnok so I get to see just what the deck is made of. He apparently was using the platform for activation for his mains and that was about it. Shortly after verifying and seeing he has only 2 ships in the deck he Rev’s and rapes Merrejek for 25 force- exactly the amount I have left in my deck. I count it up and just sit there. Staring at the table in awe. I keep counting my piles and shaking my head. Of course then I play the Ghhhk and he practically @#$%s himself. It was damned good. I must have spent like 2 minutes doing nothing but getting his hopes up. Oh well, it was all in good fun. Now that he depleted his hand I was even more confident about the game. Of course he gets his 2 ships into hand within the next 2 turns and some of my guys die and I take some battle damage, but I lateral damage and cannon my way through his stuff for the easy win. He does some last ditch effort on and off the edges, but SSPFT keeps a lid on them and I soon drain him out.
FW +20
10(+74)
Highs: CANNONS GO BOOM!
Lows: My deck was the direct counter to his, lots of space and nowhere for him to beat me up on the ground.
NAP TIME!
Game Six
Pile Vs Ross "Ahnold" Littauer’s (1490) Emergency Deployment Pile
Again I am at the feature table, and now I get to play my little friend from Kashyyyk who just managed to beat Steve Lewis. Damn. I really don’t know what to expect and none of my friends would tell me cause they all wanted to see him win. So he starts the Kashyyyk system and I immediately think TIEs. He starts S Plans, SSPFT, and TINT/ Opp which is weird, to say the least. I switch things up and go Battle Plan to slow the early drain cause I only play 2 ships, DTF for the eventual game winning beat down, and ST. He just deploys a lot of locations and draws. I drop a twix or two and get Shmi and the Droid out I think. He puts out even more locations, most of which are giving me at least one force, and then the Dominator at Kashyyyk with a presence of the force. I Revo one of his 1/0 DBs and eat the drain until I can get some space. He fortifies the victory class with DiPO, but at last the naked droid comes through and I pull the falcon. I deploy beggar, use all of his force to drop it with Chewie P and EPP Han piloting, with Corran sitting there to die, and fight. My ship is teched out, as it actually has a Wookie aboard, so my base power is 11 to his. We draw and he has to lose all while Corran doesn’t know what hit him. I save force hoping he’ll drop Zuckuss letting me react with the Spiral so I can draw my 2 battle destiny. Unfortunately my lack of icons for him and his own shortage of force prevent that and he is unable to do more than drop a ship at a time which, of course, I can handle with ease. The monk comes out and I start draining for 3 with Qui Gon’s saber at the quarters and 3 in space. The game ends quickly.
FW +22
12(+86)
Highs: It was great that Ross could come and it was a really fun game.
Lows: He had really bad luck and wasn’t prepared to play me.
MORE SLEEP!
Game Seven
Pile Vs Peter Srodoski’s (1942) Desert Landing Site JP start w/ Screws and SAC
Still in first I am once more at the top table to face Pete again. Now I have an audience in the form of Rich Haman. This game was similar to the one I played against Paul in game 4, except he was able to get the Nabrun beat down first, which dramatically slowed me down. It was pretty funny, the first comment he made about my deck upon seeing the start was something along the lines of "Hate scanning crew much?" It wasn’t till later that I realized he was actually playing Screw, and I had a good laugh about it. He just kept drawing and my Grimtaash netted 2 mauls sabers and 3 senses, which was really key. The lack of sleep was kicking in and I made some bad decisions. Towards the middle of the game he really started taking advantage of my own DTF. I dunno, it wasn’t that much different than any other mains and toys match up I had faced except he actually hit Qui Gon and stuff so it took longer. At the end, again, I was just able to track literally every card in my deck so I was hitting and Nabruning at will he couldn’t keep up and I got the win.
FW +9
14(+105)
Highs: None. It was a good game for both of us.
Lows: It’s getting late and 7 hours of sleep in the past 2 days is starting to take it’s toll on me (incase you hadn’t noticed).
ZZZZZZZ.....
Game Eight
ISB Space Vs Scott "CRingwell" Lingrell’s (1899) RST Podracing
Before this game I knew I was the only undefeated but I wanted to see what could happen if I lost so I examined the command cards. I was the only undefeated, then Scott and a guy from AZ both had one loss, then Bastian had 2 but dif of like 130. So if I won and Bastian won we’d both be in the final. If Bastian won, I’d be in regardless of what happens in my game. If Bastian lost... well Bastian was playing his WYS beats (that lost only a single game in it’s time in America, to Chu’s HDADTJ cheese only because he wasn’t playing YISYW) so he wasn’t going to lose and I didn’t need to think about it. I just knew I had to win. Too bad I knew that Scott was the co creator of the deck that beat me yesterday by 31. Oh well. He starts his podrace jank and Strike planning and I go for Crush. I set up and start draining in space. Scott is damned tired and making a lot of mistakes. He draws past 13, so I Monnok him used, which was key since it made him rebuild his hand with the Bunker and Epic event and stuff to blow the bunker. I didn’t play it lost since he hadn’t won the podrace yet, so any double I got woulda just come back. Anyway he wins the race, retrieving his whole force pile, but forgets to take I did It into hand before, and then loses that off the top to a drain. My drains in space are huge, and he’s not doing anything yet. He finally gets some guys into the bunker to blow it, so I drop both undercover spies at the landing site and realize he didn’t deploy the back door. Well he blows the bunker, I lose a lot and he kills all his guys at the bunker only to retrieve them. It’s like a freaking reset button. You lose all that force and you just get it all back. I dunno. I Monnok him lost at one point, but get nothing amazingly, and from there he is able to draw up all he wants (another Monnok/Evader was the sixty first card of the deck). He has battle plan out so I’m proceeding kinda slowly, whereas he now has Midge and Corran and some Big Scout sitting at the back door, and he has like a quarter of the lost pile I do. So I stupidly break Arica’s Cover and drop a couple agents to flip and to satisfy battle plan but he just comes down w/ a whole mess of EPPs and takes them all out and causes like 8 battle damage. The destiny in that deck is absolutely insane. So with that battle I lose the game. I don’t think I was going to win that won, even had I not broken cover, but whatever, it was a good game on his part he was able to come back for the win to get himself a spot in the final.
FL -15
14(+90)
Highs: Doing much better against the single deck type the ISB Space lost to all weekend.
Lows: Not going 8-0
After 8 I finish in second, about 15 differential behind Scott so we’re in the final, and is Bastian right on my heels again (going 12+150 something). Art Wright comes along selling raffle tickets now so I dump my remaining $16 into it, and get set for my last 2 games. The final standings are called and everyone gets their foil barrier and pack of Tatooine then the raffle begins as we start to play our first game of the final.
FINALS GAME ONE
THE BRILLIANT PILE VS SCOTT LINGRELL’S YMSYL
So we sit down, still at the feature table, and Tom HK and Rich Haman are nice enough to keep everyone away from our game, but the raffle is going on. So I’m like looking at my raffle tickets as I start to play Scott so Rich takes them and tells Bastian to claim my prizes. I’m only half paying attention to the game, now as the whole room is really getting into the raffle thing. Mike Gemme keeps running up claiming he’s a winner, but never is, then all of a sudden my tickets turn into gold. Bastian is doing his "Price is Right" impression as it seems every other ticket that is called out is mine! I win 3 DVDs, a foil @#$%ship, and an Anakin’s stick (I still need my other one back KYLE CRAFT) signed by Shannon that reads "My stick is bigger than yours" or something to that effect. Cool. So we continue playing. He started Mob Points, IAO, and YMSYL with the fifth marker being his SL. I do my standard 3. He just activates and drops Piett and the third marker then fishes for Merrejek. I pull shock, get out some twixes and the Naked droid and let him go. After he activates and deploys Merrejek I shock the DB preventing him from using Merrejek from getting a system and the game is mine. All he can do is deploy docking bays. I Revo the fifth and the monk comes out to drain. I then do a Corran/EPP Han/EPP Leia/Chewie P beat down on Merrejek and Piett so he has to lose like 10 force cause my destiny draws were @#$% and I missed Piett. I just keep draining and he’s not getting any force. He eventually brings EPP Vader and Ozzel to confront the Monk and Lando w/ Axe. I exclude Shnozzel, and Vader dies to attrit. Shnozzel runs like a little school girl to the hut from the slave quarters. A Qui Gon, a saber, and a tracked 5 later he loses his last life force giving me the win.
FW +29
Highs: My pile finishes on a high note.
Lows: Scott’s prolly going to end up paying $2000 for a second place trophy =O)
We actually started that game at a decent hour, but it was 11:15 all of a sudden and Scott needed to clear out the big room so he wouldn’t be charged. So we put the final on hold and spent the next 45 minutes moving every single table in that room to the U-Haul down stairs and putting away all the chairs. A day’s work is never done :) So we finish and no one wants to watch our game now so we sit down at the cafeteria to play the last match up with Rich as witness.
FINALS GAME TWO
ISB SPACE VS SCOTT LINGRELL’S RST PODRACING
Same deal as before. ISB Space can handle anything EXCEPT for loads of retrieval AND loads of direct damage. Scott’s deck does both, very well. This time around he made less mistakes, but so did I. He prolly could have won the game by more, but not by 30, so his heart wasn’t really in this one, plus he was totally and completely exhausted. I lose the game, but win the final.
FL –15
Highs: I am now the RamapoCon Champion.
Lows: Scott isn’t.
So I win RamapoCon 3. I got some cool glass, a plane ticket from Arizona to VA for the worlds, and Steve Lewis and Scott get their byes to Day 2. Because I already won my states the bye I received would normally go to third place, but since Bastian had already won his Nationals, it goes to 4th place, so for once Steve Lewis managed to win something despite coming in second :-)
I wander back to the dorm with Scott and no one knows I won, which is pretty funny. Looking at the message boards on DeckTech no one was even sure I won until like 2 days later! Anyway (I use that word way to much) I watch some games from the team tourney, grab a slice of pizza from Starfish and chill with Clint and the rest of Team Shhhhh….. Grandma. The team tourney ends at like 5 and I go to my bed, making sure to put the Gent in the fridge. Sleep comes. We all wake up at 10 to find donuts and stuff. I say my good byes and the week is over.
This TR is too @#$%ing long so I’m not going to do Props and Slops. Honestly, I don’t think there were any slops at all- I had a great time seeing a lot of you again. It was really cool to play games against people I knew but never had the chance to play, and I had blast. What more can I say? You guys are the best. Seeya at Origins! (and GenCon and DecipherCon, of course)
P.S. Sorry if there are those @#$% things, I had to manually edit all of them out after I pasted the TR to DT
-Hayes "Hayes" Hunter
Massachusetts State Champion
RamapoCon 3 Champion