comicon-2001-scrub-report
Title: comicon-2001-scrub-report
Author: Alan "DrObiwannabe" Jern
Date: Jul 22, 2001
My dark deck was a pretty standard HD podracing dueling pile of crap that I made myself. For light I used a nearly identical version of Serpents Ramapo LS deck. I only made a few minor changes in the character department.
I was not expected to do well at this tournament at all. The year before, I went only 3-3 with a really low differential and I never really had the oppurtunity to play any of the top players, which was disappointing. However, this allowed me to come this year with the attitude that I probably wasnt going to do well, but it didnt matter to me. I made my decks about three weeks in advance and played them at a local tournament where they both performed pretty well. So after making a few minor adjustments, I headed to San Diego in hopes of at least winning half my games.
When I got there, I found out we would be playing eight games, which seemed like a lot, but I figured this would probably give me a better oppurtunity to possibly placing. They called out the pairings and it seemed I would be playing dark side first.
Game 1 vs. AJ Neilsens WYS
This would not be the first WYS deck I would have to face. Several things happened this game which eventually resulted in a loss. First, I guess I was pretty nervous because I kept thinking ahead and making minor mistakes that would have brought down the diff. Besides that, I got a really bad draw and had to wait about three turns before I pulled a Vader and another location. He started with Anakins podracer and I was getting horrible pod racing destinies, plus a well-timed grimtaash used on his part placed three podracer collisions into my used pile. Needless to say, I lost the podrace and things went pretty much downhill from there. One choice battle I recall involved my EPP vader against his EPP han, Chewie and Life Debt allowing him to draw 5 destinies. I lost about 17 force right there. Loss by 20.
Highs: I never drew over 12 cards for the rest of the tournament.
Lows: Lots of things went bad this game and I probably should have won
Game 2 vs. some kids Echo Base Garrison
Im sorry I dont remember his name. As I expected, I lost be enough in the first game to get myself paired up against a pretty easy opponent. One thing that annoyed me about this game is all of his hoth locations were Japanese and everytime I asked him what the text was, he had to search through his whole collection to find the English version. Anyway, I had early control of this game with a few choice revolutions on his hoth locations. Threepio dominated and I was able to draw nearly all my good characters. I deployed over Hoth for drains. He eventually came down with a few walkers and I won several battles. It was pretty obvious that his strategy had been diverted because he seemed pretty depressed throughout most of the game and he barely ever said anything. Win by 15.
2(-5)
Highs: Winning, having my deck work very smoothly
Lows: Winning so easily, he never really got a chance to react.
Game 3 vs. other kids first turn flip Agents of the Black Sun
I apologize again for not remembering the names. It was a long day. I checked his command card before the game started and it showed that he had lost by 39 with this deck in his last game. He told me that the guy before had been using Panics to deploy loads of guys against him for free. Therefore, I figured the trick to beating him would be to attack relentlessly. I got kind of a bad draw to start out with two epp obis and two epp leias, so he got the early jump on me while i drew for cards. I was steadily losing two each turn for a drain and for his objective, but all he ever did was deploy guys to the Imperial City with POTF. Finally, I got a nice handful of EPPs and a few utility chars and I went after him there. It took a few battles before I took control, but he kept losing his scrub chars and I just kept redeploying mains that I had been drawing up with threepio. Eventually, I took control and pretty much held that location for the rest of the game. I think we had a few minor battles on Tatooine later on, but he never could keep his objective flipped or make me lose much more force. I retrieved a little with Harvest late game. Win by 25 I think.
4(+20)
Highs: the deck worked great, I am gaining confidence in it
Lows: none really, except for the bad draws at the beginning
Game 4 vs. Dan Mochozukis WYS
I was not too excited when I saw another WYS, but thankfully his was a lot more like what I would expect than before. He didnt start with a podracer, so I automatically won the race. For most of the game, the only system he put out was Tatooine which he fortified with several ships. I generally ignored what was going on in space and focused on draining on Tatooine and getting some damage in with Visage. If I remember correctly, he only cancelled Visage once and I had another in hand. Most of the battles happened at the cantina. I got really great draws and was able to fend off his weak smugglers with Vader, Mara, and the crew. Finally, he pretty much conceded ground and deployed Kessel to get some drains in. He moved Pulsar skate and the outrider there, leaving Tatooine clear for me to drop Zuckuss and Bossk. It was too late in the game for it to be efficient for him to move over and battle my guys, so in the end it was just a matter of him losing more force than me each turn. It was very close though. Win by 5.
6(+25)
Highs: I beat a WYS and I was also gaining more confidence in my DS
Lows: Not having enough space force to ever really go after him.
Game 5 vs. some guys HB flip
When I first saw his start, I almost was positive it would be a guaranteed loss for me. My DS has very little space, so if he was playing swarm, all he had to do was spread out and I could never match his drains. So many things happened, almost miraculously in my favor this game. First, he started with Anis podracer and was getting incredible podrace destinies, while I was getting crap. I got a few Podracer Collisions off, but I kept getting his lower destinies. Finally, on the last turn of the podrace, he drew a 2 and a 3 while I drew an untracked 6 which brought my total to 29 while his was only 28. That was a turning point in the game. It turned out he wasnt playing HB swarm after all, and focused mainly on a few unique ships and he had some ground power as well. We were both draining eachother on our respective battlefields for a while, when he made a crucial mistake. He dropped about three random pilots to the cantina opposite my Mighty Jabba, then he broke Boushhs cover and tried to battle, having not known about the Skywalker part of HD. He didnt have enough force to move them away, so the next turn, I dropped Mara with her Saber and I think one other guy and cleaned house. Finally, the straw that broke the camels back for him was when he finally flipped HB relatively late in the game. I had dropped Bossk and Zuckass to Ralltiir the turn before, and during his deploy phase I probed, not thinking it was really his base. Unfortunately for him, it was. I lost my ships there in a battle, but he never got the benefits of HB that whole game. The rest was just a drain race mainly. Win by 16 I think.
8(+41)
Highs: I won a game that I probably should have lost
Lows: That guy just had the worst luck in the world. By the end of the game we were both laughing about it.
Game 6 vs Nick Bolls JP EV-9D9 Droid Draining cheese with podracing
I was really excited this game as it was the first time I was actually at the top table. My excitement wore off pretty quickly when I realized what he was using. First of all, I dont use a podracer so I was looking at a 12 force swing right off the bat. Then, he got EV-9D9 out on his second turn I believe while I was still drawing. He had used the JP/ETE combo to get mega force activation and he drew a lot of cards and activated a lot of force early while I was still looking for locations. I was able to deploy HOTJ, but it only decresed his droid drains by 2 every turn, and by the end of the game he had about 9 droids there. I almost deployed Tamtel to the workshop on about my 4th turn, but he had his force pile and reserve deck in opposite places than is normally done and I thought he had a load of force activated so I changed my mind, which probably was a mistake. He eventually deployed Jabba and EPP Vader to the AC for some drains. I dropped one guy after the next and watched them get None Shall Passd and Imperial Barrierd. I wish I had read Ounee Ta earlier in the game. I realized very quickly that there was not much I could do once he started deploying !!timer mines!! to the droid workshop, so I just spread out my guys to get some drains in and pull down his differential. Not once in this game did I really have a chance. At least he apologized for playing cheese when we finished. Loss by 14.
8(+27)
Highs: he apologized. I didnt read Ounee Ta
Lows: see game synopsis
Game 7 vs. Brian ?Quam?s COTVG
I dont know if this guy was just tired, or if he normally plays the way he did in this game, but it was really kind of comical how many mistakes he made. First turn he deployed Jabba to the AC from reserve and drew. My first turn, I just deployed Shmi and got out threepio like normal. I got HOTJ in my hand first turn so I didnt have to lose to COTVG. I drew. His next turn, he drew some more which surprised me since he only had Jabba at the AC. I was assuming he had like 5 none shall passs or something, but sure enough I deployed both Luke and Qui-Gon and he had no responses. I hit Jabba and he ended up losing about 10 force. He got U-3PO out right away so I couldnt drain and he put the Emperor on the other side of Tatooine at the docking bay to drain. I responded with Luke and Obi and hit the Emperor, causing Brian to lose some more force. He didnt do anything for a while and I just drained. Then, he does the ROC/Much Anger in Him combo on Obi and drops two guys in front of Obi. Now, mind you, Obi was at the Tatooine docking bay when this happened and I had the echo base docking bay on the table. He must not have seen it because if he had, I think he would have ROCd Qui Gon which was accross Tatooine. Anyway, I transitted Obi away next turn and sent Leia and Han after the guys at the tat db (I cant remember who). Finally, I got Obi to the war room. As a last effort for him, he got the Emperor, Sim and Janus at the Lars farm. I moved my guys in from both sides to the farm. I guess he figured he had nothing to lose, so he battled me which pretty much ended the game after that. Win by 24.
10(+64?) -- I must have made a mistake in one of the earlier games because I know I was in the 60s after this game
Highs: winning, it was a pretty laid back game and the guy was pretty cool about it the whole time
Lows: ROC/MAIH. that combo is killer, except it didnt do anything this game
Game 8 vs. Tim Guzmans WYS
I was back at the top table again, and I realized if I won this game, I would at least be in the top 8 and I would get one of those cool little trophies. He didnt have a podracer, which was nice for me, and he played extremely conservative the whole game. I dont know why I did it, but I persona changed EPP Vader into Lord Vader at the cantina on about my third or 4th turn. I only had 2 cards in my lost pile. He OOCd and Vader went out of play. He took control of Tatooine system very early which I expected him to do, and then started to deploy his smugglers to the ground. At first, I mainly had control over ground with Vader, Mara, and Jabba all on the table draining. He deployed Yotts to flip and to block a drain, but Dodged him away when I battled. He used his objective to play his OOC/TT from lost and cancel Visage. It stayed cancelled for quite a while afterward. He kept commenting how I had way more characters than he had expected and accordingly placed his guys very strategically and out of my reach. We had a few battles with Jabba, Mara, and Xizor but my destinies were really bad, and it ended up causing me to lose more than him. For most of the game, I had more force than him, but finally once he started getting rid of my guys one by one and he got Tat Celebration out, he started his slow comeback. I was only able to drain for 2 at the most each turn and he would retrieve one or two each turn, so he really was not losing any force, but I was. Slowly, but surely he spread out and took control of Tatooine and ended up draining me to death. Loss by 14.
10(+50)
Highs: A pretty close game. I really didnt make any mistakes at all other than the Vader replacement thing
Lows: The little trophy was so close yet so far away.
Well I think I ended up about 18th place if I counted correctly when they called out the names, which isnt great, but it was definitely quite a bit better than I had expected to do so I was very pleased. I got the oppurtunity to play against several very good players and I met some cool people. I will definitely be back next year, and I plan to do even better.