colorado-springs-a-dark-time-7-22-01
Title: colorado-springs-a-dark-time-7-22-01
Author: Patrick "Pappy" Napier
Date: Jul 25, 2001
We arrive just in time to see that there are only six people. Thats not good. Derek and I head outside to strategize on how to defeat the players we see so far. The ones to watch out for are Star Wars veterans Dante Montoya from Pueblo and Ian Monteith. Dante ALWAYS plays Profit and BHBM, so we have an idea of how to handle him. Ian loves to make suprising loopdy decks, so we shrug our shoulders and get ready to play some Star Wars. Apparently other people want to play Star Wars as well, because we now have twelve players. Its a sanctioned event, and we are ready to go.
GAME ONE
Flipping HB vs. Josh Gilliom Hunt Down Podracing
Well, this is the deck that this Light Side deck was designed to beat, so Im pretty sure I have this one in the bag. Josh starts the podrace, and I don’t even bother to draw race destiny during the whole game. Josh is stacking 7s and 5s, so he wins the race right away. By this time I have set up enough systems to flip HB, and I do so, to stop his meager ground drains. After losing the 11 Force to the race, I start tracking and retrieving to get back some of those cards that I had lost. I use Kirdo III to grab a desert so I have a battleground to deploy Obi Wan to in order to stop Visage damage. He picks up Vader to bring the duel hatred against the old man, and I save 9 Force to play It Could Be Worse to cancel the damage from Obi Wan being lost. When he deploys Vader the next turn and duels, the duel ends in a tie. Josh battles and we kill each other off. A Transmission Terminated kills the Visage and I drain him out in space. Full win by 11.
This game is exactly why I don’t like podracing. You have to either ignore it or devote several card slots to insure a win, and even if you win the race, you can still lose the game. It just seems like a waste of time to me.
So I start off at 2 ( +11 ) . Not as strong of a finish as I would have liked, but I’ll take it for now. Derek wins his game as well, so we are both feeling pretty good going into the next game.
GAME TWO
ISB Space vs. Mike Minillo RST Podracing
Excellent, another podracing deck. I intend to show yet another person that podracing is a waste of card slots. Mike starts the race during my control phase. I let him go and don’t even bother to draw. I don’t get the cards I need to set up Merrejk as the Human Hidden Base, but I draw a system in my opening hand. I play Den Of Thieves to help cancel his ground based drains on Endor for now. Mike gets ready to blow up the bunker after a few turns, but by now I have Lord Vader, his lightsaber, Tarkin and Arica in hand. Mike will not blow the bunker this time. I deploy the Bunker Defense Squad and kill a few of his scrubby scouts, including the one that is carrying the portable scanner. He’ll have to dig for those charges now. Mike keeps forgetting to draw race destiny, which suits me fine. I chase around his scouts on Endor and finally set up a decent drain in space. Now Mike remembers why he used up a boat load of his card slots for podracing, and he draws to win the race. I lose some cards, he gets some back, the same old story at the end of a race. I spend a few turns retrieving ISB agents I lost to the race, and drain Mike away.
After all of that, I only win by 10 Force.
That puts me at 4 (+21). I was hoping to have at least double that in differential to insure winning the tournament. I guess the other players had other plans for me, however. Derek also wins with his Speed Deal, and his differential is huge.
GAME THREE
ISB Space vs. Ian Monteith QMC
I never did like QMC. Its definitely a valid platform for the Light Side, one of many of the valid platforms for Light Side right now. It seems it is a dark time for the Dark Side, and many Dark Side strategies are going the way of the dinosaur. Retardasaurus Rex is a dinosaur, and its time had come. Once again I do not get the cards I need to set up Merrejk as the Human Hidden Base, so my systems come out slow. Ian sets up a bunch of mains on cloud city and flips QMC.
I send 5D6 to Cloud City to monitor those drains. Then Ian deploys Squadron Assignments and Wedge and Mirax comes flying out to fight in space. By this time I have a strong presence at Bespin, so Ian wont be doing any celebrating any time soon, at least not on Cloud City. He plays an Admirals Order to make my bounty hunter ships lame, and then starts battling. Ian had said that he had stacked his deck with several high destinies, and now they were coming out for massive battle damage and attrition. We go back in forth in space, and he ends up knocking out the Chimaera with Thrawn aboard, losing one of his ships in the carnage. Out of Commission puts Thrawn, um, out of commission. Ian spreads his mains thin on Cloud City after breaking cover on my undercover spies, and the drains are too much to handle while trying to fight him off in space. Full loss by 14.
That puts me at 4 ( +7 ) I was a little surprised that the Retardasaurus Rex deck lost. I played it like I always had in playtesting, but it just could not give Ian a game once he broke cover on my spies and he stood toe to toe with the Imperial Fleet in space. I think the original designer of the deck would have pulled it out, though. This game is evidence that its not decks that win Star Wars, its players.
GAME FOUR
Flipping HB vs. Mike Shumaker I Don’t Know What The Hell This Deck Is With Sabaac
Mike is a great guy and I enjoy playing Star Wars with him. He has come buy the house for some playtesting and he loves to make original decks. This was definitely one of them. Mike started with a Cloud City location and Any Methods Necessary to pull Boba Fett With Blaster Rifle and Slave I along with the Cloud City Security Tower. Interesting. I get General Calrissian in my opening hand, so the Falcon Junior will come out early. However, Mike starts out by playing Fear, and I nervously lose off of the top of my reserve deck. Nothing important gets popped, like my Hidden Base system, so I breathe a sigh of relief. Then Mike plays Scanning Crew and General Calrissian goes to the used pile. On my turn I pull the General back into hand using Strike Planning and deploy him in Gold Squadron 1. Wedge joins him in Red Squadron 1 and they take control of Endor. More systems come out and more ships come out thanks to Squadron Assignments, and soon I have a strong space fleet spread throughout the galaxy. Mike tries deploy Lando, but he forgot that Lando had long since left behind his days of debauchery, betrayal and Colt .45 for a life in the Rebel Alliance. Dejected, mike deploys some TIEs to try to Tallon Roll Wedge at Kiffex and Tycho in Green Squadron 3 at Coruscant. Mike didn’t remember that Wedge was an ace, so he decides not to Tallon Roll Wedge, but he does go after Tycho. His TIE is power –2 thanks to my Admirals Order, so the Tallon Roll ends up in a tie. Poor Imperial conscript pilots :( On my turn battles ensue at Kiffex and Coruscant, and both TIEs go down. Mike tries playing Sabaac, but he forgot that Lando is on my side and has given up gambling. Mike cant draw up because of Hidden Base, and I try retrieving my whole lost pile. Mike is down to one card in hand and one card in his Life Force. I am set up to retrieve a few more cards, but I Force drain for one first. Bad, Pat, bad. Mike loses his one card in his Life Force and ends the game before I can make the differentail higher. Mental note : retreive BEFORE draining. Full win by 21.
That makes me 6 ( +21 ) and I am in contention again, being that by now everyone has lost a game except Derek, who is undefeated and about 30 differential above everyone else. Brian, the TD, announced at the start of the tournament we would go three rounds. Technically it should have been only two rounds with twelve players. If the tournament would have ended here, Derek would have won and I would have taken second. But, like my Dad says, if my aunt had a d][ck, she would be my uncle. So, on to round three.
GAME FIVE
Flipping HB vs. Ian Monteith Carbon Chamber Testing
Well, I had lost to Ian earlier, and it was time for revenge. Ian is a decent player, and he comes in and out of retirement to play in tournaments. Ian starts the CCT stuff, with Jabba’s Prize as his prisoner. That takes TK-422 out of blocking drains for now. I pull systems, ships and pilots and set up the flip quick. Ian goes through his reserve deck for the Audience Chamber or one of the cards his objective pulls, but he cant find anything. When I verify his deck I notice a distinct lack of starships. Time to spread across the galaxy and drain like mad. Ian’s drains get cancelled, so he spreads thin at his ground sites to try to sneak some through the Hidden Base cancellations and the Projection modifier. This leaves him ripe for an EPP hit squad, and Obi Wan comes out to play. The battle clears the site, and now Ian cant drain. I retrieve a few cards with On The Edge, but mistrack my second attempt, making one of my pilots fall asleep at the wheel ( or helm, I guess ) and they hit the ejection seat control on their ship. Oh well, on the next turn I drain out Ian. Full win by 21.
Now I sit at 8 ( +42 ). Ian and I talk about decks and what went wrong for me in our earlier matchup. Ian agrees that it is a dark time for the Dark Side right now, so we sit for awhile and brainstorm some deck ideas for the future. I wonder what Coruscant has in store . . .
GAME SIX
ISB Space vs. Dante Montoya Profit Madness
Hmmm, look at that, Dante is playing Profit. I start with Arica in the Audience Chamber undercover, so I can try to block a drain early on. I actually set up my systems this time with the Human Hidden Base, Commander Merrejk. The Executor deploys at Fondor with an Outer Rim Scout aboard. On his turn, Dante uses his started effect to grab Artoo & Threepio, and deploys them to Tatooine with A Gift. Now, wherever I have an alien my Force drains are minus one and battle destinies minus two. Not good. I deploy 5D6 to Tatooine to hold off the impending drains.
Artoo&Threepio throw a hydrospanner in that plan, by allowing all droids anywhere to be battled.
Artoo shoots a raspberry at 5D6, and Threepio tells him to mind his manners. Leia comes down in front of 5D6 and battles him, shooting him with her Blaster Rifle. Aricas cover gets broken by Corran Horn, and on the next turn, she gets a major beatdown. Good thing I was holding the Ghhhk. I set up my drains in space, and Dante frees Han and retrieves 10. Now the game is actually starting. By this time Derek has won his game. I’m wondering why I didn’t bring Speed Deal by now, as Dante spreads all over Tatooine for drains and direct damage. My drains in space aren’t keeping up, and Den of Thieves only stops one drain a turn. Time to go to Tatooine with Vader and pals. They promptly get killed off by lightsaber wielding Jedi. Its too much to handle, and Dante pulls it out. Full loss by 19.
I end the tournament at 8 ( + 23 ) , which is poor enough to knock me into 4th place, with Derek winning the whole thing. My prize support was two whole packs of Tatooine, and I pull a Maul’s Lightsaber and I Will Find Them Quickly Master. Wow, now I can finally build that hunt down Amidala deck Ive been dying to try out. Derek opens his seven packs to find a Qui-Gon Jinn. Nice. Now its time to go home and think about what the Dark Side can do about this pesky, insignificant Rebellion.
PROPS
To Derek Mower, for borrowing my cards for his Speed Deal and winning with them.
To Brian Montez, for a smooth event, even though it should only have been two rounds ;)
To Mike Shumaker, for making original decks and being a great guy to play Star Wars with.
To Ian Montieth, for brainstorming and good sportsmanship.
To Dante Montoya, for making Retardasaurus Rex extinct.
SLOPS
To me, for making Retardasaurus Rex extinct.
To the Dark Side, for not being able to crush the Rebellion.
To Podracing, for winning races and losing games. What a waste of time and cards.