wotc-is-good-for-something-va
Title: wotc-is-good-for-something-va
Author: Michael "choker" Sorrell
Date: Aug 1, 2001
Well, it was one of those typical Saturdays in July where being a high school student can actually get boring. No tournaments had been posted on Decipher’s web site for any of the typical locations in North Yavin IV in either Maryland of Virginia. With nothing to do and little to think of I was just going to consider this saturday one of those "Off-Days" for Star Wars CCG. I couldn’t complain, though, since our local TDs had been running a tourney just about every week for the past several months. Anyway...I decided to check Decipher’s site again just to make sure I wasn’t missing anything, thinking there might have been a late post or a tourney that wasn’t really local but was within a reasonable driving distance (perhaps an hour or two away). I believe it or not, I actually was in for a surprise cause there was a tournament posted for the Spriengfield Mall in the Wizards of the Coast store. At first I was like, "what the heck?" The tourney was being run by some guy I’d never heard of, but I decided to call my friend Mike Ganley and gather up the rest of my crew. So enough of the crap...here’s the TR.
The tourney started at 5:30, and the store was supposedly planning to close at 9:30 (which meant we had to hurry with this one). The TD wanted to play 40 minute rounds to guarantee an early finish, but I told the guy there has to be one hour rounds for the thing to be sanctioned. So the concensus was to play FAST!
MY DECKS
For the LS I was running my favorite, WYS, but with a twist. For the longest time I played this heavy space WYS with Menace fades and Battle Plan, and I had a lot of success with it...but I thought I’d go with something different. Instead, I played a WYS Harvester with a lot of tunnel visions to set up the harvesting engine. I’d never played it before, so I had no clue what to expect. For the DS I was playing a BHBM deck with destiny 7s, a staple for the DS with me. This deck is unbelievable when its clicking, so I felt fairly confident on with the DS. I was not podracing with any of the decks because frankly, PODRACING IS GAY. Decipher must have been drunk when they made such a stupid sequence in Episode 1 an SW:CCG game mechanism that can actually make or break a game’s outcome. But that’s a whole other story entirely!
GAME 1
BHBM 7s Vs. Seth Albright’s WYS (1500 something)
Well, right off the bat I could tell this guy was new to the game (or the tourney scene) cause he used the signal to start Sq. Assignments. This game was over before it started. First turn, the Emperor finds a place on his Tatooine DB. On his first turn he draws up. On my subsequent turns Maul and Vader found their way to the Cantina and the Chimaera (w/Thrawn and Chiraneau) came out of hyperspeed at the Tatooine system. He came down with Luke one time against the Emp., only to have the Emperor draw three destiny with I Have You Now. He stacked a card under Inignificant Rebellion and took about 10 extra damage when I drew three 7s for destiny (LUCKY!). He forgot to deploy Luke to Vader’s site for capture a couple of turns only to lose 3 force to Your Destiny, and I pretty much drained him for about 7 a turn the rest of the way. This wasn’t even a game because all he pretty much did the entire game was draw. Oh well...I’ll take the early win. After all, with the competition at this tourney (7 players over 1900) I knew Ws would be hard to come by.
FW by 35 (2 +35)
GAME 2
My WYS Harvester Vs. Yan (guy from Maryland crew) (1800 something)
I knew this game would be tough from the minute I saw BHBM Podracing. It pretty much hinged on me being able to find my It Could Be Worse. First turn he deploys the Emperor to the DS II:DB, which kinda of surprised me, and draws a couple. He forgot to start the podrace! That gave me one more turn to find It Could Be Worse. On my first turn I draw one card after taking kessel from reserve, and it’s the tunnel vision combo card. Perfect! I stop drawing and wait for a bigger force pile next turn. On Yan’s turn he starts the race, deploys Vader to the cantina and moves the Emperor over to the Tat:DB. So I deploy Scout luke from my reserve, and force him to bumb his Vader to the Throne Room, hoping that this will lurer the Emperor back onto the Death Star. Luckily my strat works cause he deploys the Chimaera with Admiral Thrawn to Tatooine and moves the Emperor back to the DS II:DB. In response, I come down on the Chimaera with the Falcon w/ Capt. Han and Melas, with two freighter Capts. at the Cantina to flip. I initiate with the Falcon, praying that he doesn’t have any Imperial Commands, which luckily he doesn’t, and I draw insane battle destiny to his destiny draw of one. He forfeits thrawn and the chimaera, and I’m immune. To add insult to injury I slap Legendary Starfighter on the Falcon to pretty much end the game. I’m glad I decided not to tunnel this turn cause I find It Could Be Worse in my reserve deck when I use Sq. Assignments to look for Capt. Han. On the following turns I manage to get out Kessel with Dash Rendar draining alone (I hold a barrier in my hand in case he decides to put up a fight in space) and fortify the Cantina. He wins the podrace on about the 5th turn, and I use It Could Be Worse to reduce the damage by 6. I lose some crappy interrupts from my hand (that I know I can play from my lost pile) for the rest. The rest of the game is like this...I lose three each turn to dueling, while he loses two during my move phase for Leg. Starfighter and one for his objective at the end of his turn. Then I drain for 5. I win this game. With retrospect, this game was won with the first battle (Falcon vs. Chimaera). I never set up harvest though cause he Monnoked both my Owens & Berus (Ouch!). That’s what kept this game relatively close.
FW by 15 (4 +50)
GAME 3
My WYS Harvester Vs. Aaron Moore’s BHBM w/ Royal Guards and Force Pikes (2073)
Well, Aaron is a great player, so I go into this one expecting to lose. He gets an early start with the Emp. on Tatooine (at my DB) and Vader at the Cantina. Deja vu from last game. I again use Scout Luke to bump Vader to the throne room. I’m happy that he drains with the Emperor at the DB cause I have Lost in the Wilderness in hand, but much to my dismay, I draw a one for destiny. Luckily, on my second turn I get a drain going with Dash at Kessel and I hold down the Cantina with ECC Lando and a RFC. I hold a barrier in hand and a Hyper Escape in case he comes at me at either of these sites. With Menace Fades and Battle Plan satisfied, I’m pretty happy at this point. Unfortunately he sticks Maul at the Cantina to negate my presence and moves the Emperor over to the DS II DB to beghin dueling. So for the next couple of turns I lose 3 to dueling while I drain for three at kessel. Finally, I’m able to tunnel for Melas, and I drop him on Maul along with Chewie (which he barriers) and Talon Karde. I initiate battle and knock out Maul along with a couple extra in breakthrough battle damage. I start spreading out in space to drain at Tatooine, Kessel, and Kashyyyk, while fortifying the Cantina. I stick Lar’s Moisture Farm out only to have him Monnok both my Owens AGAIN! That sucked, but i stuck to my game plan. I knew that if my deck was clicking I didn’t need the Harvests. I was able to activate Leg. Starfighter on the Pulsar Skate aginast Tarkin in a dreadnaught when he tried to stop a drain at Kessel. It wasn’t to the next to last turn of the game that I saw his tie/Talon Roll package. Unfortunately for him it was too late.
FW by 7 (I needed those Harvests) (6 +57)
GAME 4
BHBM 7s Vs. Aaron Moore’s QMC (2073)
Ouch...I had to play the 5th rated player in my region again. I just knew my luck had run out! But I have confidence in my DS deck, so the game begins like this. First turn I stick out the CC:DB with the Emperor to it. On my second turn I stick Vader to a drain 2 (for me) CC site that also allows me to cancel a force drain on CC during my control phase for two force. Cool! Oh. I forgot to mention that he came down with EPP Luke on his first turn and missed with his swing. I used I have You Now to draw three destiny, which all sucked. On his next turn he does the exact same thing, except I now have Janus at the site with Palpy. He missed Janus, and I again draw three destiny, which this time are two 7s and a 5. He loses Luke and takes 8 extra battle damage off his reserve. I my next turns I stuck Maul to Leia’s Quest Quarters and the Chimaera to Bespin. I was now draining for about 8 uncontested. Things just weren’t going for Aaron in terms of destiny and saber swings, so on his turn he activated and drew all his force. I though that was strange, but I continued playing. Then on his next turn he activated the 7 cards left in his reserve and drew up. I was surprised, but I could understand where he was coming from. It just wasn’t his day. I told him I was soory things didn’t going any better for him and then I reported the score.
FW by 25 (8 +82)
Well...I won the tourney being the only undefeated player. My good friend Mike Ganley went 3-1, and so did the VA state runner-up, Corey Gorgon. I had a great time, and it was fun seeing that I actually can play this game every now and then. I knew my 1916 rating would go up a little bit, but what really mattered was I had fun.
Props
-Mike Ganley for getting off work
-The Emperor for being that damn good
-Yan for not having an Imperial Command in Game 2 against my Falcon
-Darth Maul for being the pain in the @#$% that he is for WYS players
-to the destiny 7
-to Crush the Rebellion and I Have You Now for making the destiny 7 so good
-for there being a tournament on what I thought to be one of those evetless Saturdays
-to life
-to my parents for driving all the way to Spriengfield to pick my sorry @#$% up (got to get my license!)
Slops
-to the Wizards of the Coast store for almost forcing me to leave the store when i brought back Chinese food
-to Monnok for robbing me off my Owens and Berus (in both games)
-to Darth Maul for the reasons stated in the Props section
-to WoTC for charging outrageous prices for Reflections II
-to WoTC for being so insistent on closing at 9:30
-to all those who played podracing
-for the bad luck of Aaron (we would of had some better games had he had just a little more luck)
Later. Until the next tournament on Saturday.
Michael "The Spider Monkey" Sorrell