kohman-does-gen-con-and-likes-it
Title: kohman-does-gen-con-and-likes-it
Author: Josh-e-poo "supaposhjosh" Kohman
Date: Aug 6, 2001
I start deciding what decks I want to play a couple weeks before gen con, and as you’d know it, the sunday we’re sposed to drive down I still am lacking two decks. I was testing various decks till I tried the brangus deck. After the first time I played it, I didn’t take Viagra for a week. Rather then using the Bastian version, I dropped the barriers and visage, and decided to kill my opponent with the Responsibility Of Command and Much Anger In Him combo. I figured people would be running a lot of anti-visage anyways, and I don’t want to burn docking bays getting visage back every turn so I can lose 2 more force to let my opponent cancel it. In addition, I added a fourth Death Star Docking bay, because OOC was hotter then Britney Spears in the Valley Of Death. I don’t know how many times my opponent OOC my first Death Star Docking bay and I just giggled... it was definately worth it. For a light deck I was still in a tizzy. I played WYS, but for some reason, it just doesn’t... click with me. I can play it and all, but I feel SO insecure playing it when I do. We start off for Gen Con on tuesday. I go down with Zach Stenerson, Brian Herold, Mike Raveling and Jim Li. Graham decides to drive down the next day with Justin Alfs. Their car gets into an accident on the way down, but everyone is ok. Graham has to be the luckiest bastard EVER, as that is his second car accident in 3 months that he walked away from OK. Anyways, Jim builds a version of Brian Hunter’s HB Flip deck, and I play it and it wins. I change it to fit my style, take that to day 1. As it turns out, I pull 7th place out of my @#$% and qualify for day 2. While I was playing in Day 1, Mike Raveling decides to go ahead an win the Jedi Knights continentals. WAY TO GO MIKE!!! 5 people from MN of 30 show up for Day 2: Me, Mike Raveling (2nd place at states), Graham Neal, Jonathon Swenson and Jim Li. The Brangus deck goes undefeated winning usually by around mid to upper 20’s and 30’s. I decide that is definately the deck to play day 2. I was thinking about switching over to WYS, but I decided it would be a lot of work to build it, and the HB deck only lost to a MKOs deck (which I knew would happen) and a Maul deck (because I played like a scrub multiplied by another scrub... that’s really scrubby). I tech out my HB deck hardcore the night before so I can rip brangus a new @#$% (One Grimtaash/Shocker, more It’s A Hit, It Could Be Worse, another On The Edge and around 4 TT/OOC). Let’s get to the games.
Game 1: Dark vs. Lingrell’s RST played by the man himself!
I get to play someone with a reputation first game, so that’s cool. I get Retwin in my opening hand and start grinning. Unfortunately, I’m a big fan of drawing, and he is running 3 Grimtaash/Shocks. I draw up to 13 cards, he grims me, and I lose Retwin. I grab it, win the race and see another Grim/Shocker go off the top. I figure "who plays with 3," and in that respect, I drop Vader for the beatdown. Had I drawn a 1 or a 5 for battle destiny I would have been fine. He didn’t draw battle destiny so he could rip vader a new @#$%. I draw a 2. We tie at 8 power, and still both have presence at the bunker (because his guys were all forfeit 4 and I didn’t lose the battle). Fortunately I have a Masterful Move, so I can yank a Ghhhk out of my ass. Unfortunately, he Grimtaashes it away. FUC|c. Next turn he beats the sh!t out of vader for him and 17, blows the bunker and despite my (valiant?) last ditch efforts I still lose. Lousy Grimtaash, I don’t know if I would’ve won had I been the one with the luck, but it would’ve certainly been a completely different game all in my favor. Scott is a super nice guy though, and I have some fun regardless of:
FL -31.
Game 2: Light vs. Brian Bender’s Construct the Death Star
He was a nice guy, however a little chatty ;-). He has to switch sleeves in his deck because one is broken, and when all is said and done we start 7 minutes late. I already know this game is going to time out, because this appeared it was his first time playing the deck. He fails to find a card first turn, and I get to search to confirm it’s not in there. I see a bunch of star destroyers and whatnot... but no monnok. I draw all but about 10-15 cards so I can set up in space like a champion. I take the endor landing platform with veangence and start to take over space making him lose to Order To Engage. Then I send Luke in Gold Squad 1 into the Death Star to blow it up. Unfortunately, the game ends in a timed win for me before I can blow up the death star and make him lose 10 force. I would have easily gotten the full win that game though, as the 10 force, my It Could Be Worses and Order To Engage would’ve killed him. Instead, I get:
TW +4 record: 1(-27)
Game 3 Brangus vs Jonathon Swenson’s WYS
This is the WYS deck that Clint used to win Origins and the Atlanta DPC. It rapes Brangus, as it uses TCFC, ASB and Neck And Neck. There isn’t much to say... it doesn’t seem like Swenson’s played the deck against brangus too much. For example he plays Neck And Neck on MY turn AFTER my control phase. I point out the giant mistake he made and let him take it back, because I’m all love baby, and I know I can’t make it into the finals unless I’m 5-1 without a TW. Besides, I don’t want to be a prick to such a good friend. He also lays Theron Nett to the cantina (who he can’t On The Edge), so I lay Responsibilty Of Command and Much Anger In Him to make him lose 4 force. I also lay Lateral Damage on Dash at one point, and he drains at Kessel with Dash and Mirax figuring I’m setting up for a beatdown. I Suprise Assault him and make him lose 8 cards courtesy of 2 tracked 6’s. Despite all that, I still lose the podrace and lose the game by:
FL -13 record: 1(-40)
I consider dropping, but I stick in there figuring that it won’t be every day I can play such quality players. My choice proves to be a good one, as next game I get paired up against TJ Holman.
Game 4: LS vs TJ’s Brangus
I’m liking this matchup, because this is the one I prepared for. I get a TT/OOC in my opening hand. HUGE! First turn I draw some cards... he monnoks lost and gets nothing. Then he exchanges a Docking Bay for the monnok, and I place his docking bay out of play. Then he plays his Monnok used, and I grab it, because I know I’ll need a good portion of my deck in my hand to win. He delays the Race until he has cards in his lost pile, which allows me to construct the It’s A Hit/It Could Be Worse combo. Finally I flip and drain him for 5 cards (kiffex/kessel). He finishes the race and I play It Could Be Worse. He doesn’t have It’s Worse, so I didn’t even need It’s A Hit. I make sure not to lay a character that isn’t an Alien or that I can’t On The Edge to avoid the Command/Anger combo. I’m draining him for 8 a turn (kiffex, death star and kessel), but he lays to probe and my scrubbish instincts kicks in, as I forget about Order To Engage. He gets fanfare down a turn or two later, but I still could have damage him for around 6 which would have helped. My scrubbish instincts kick in even more as I forget that my pilot at Tatooine has responsibility of command, and I try to drain. Never the less though, he plays like a champ and deals 2 damage a turn with his tracked Perfect Sabbac. Looking back, I prolly should’ve either TRIED to stack a perfect sabbac, or I should have tried to find a spy to whack Brangus. Moral of the game: I play like a scrub and still manage to pull a victory out of my @#$% by:
FW +13 3(-27).
Game 5: LS vs sorry-I-forgot-your-name’s ROPs
This game doesn’t have much to it. I lay down to Ralltiir to cancel his drains with TK-422, Boush and a Projection after I observe that he lost Bubo. Late game I set up the Forest with Obi and Mirax to stop the S&D damage. I then flip and he goes to two systems. That is more or less game right there, because I lay Order To Engage and hyper escape between the two systems every turn to make him lose 3 force. The one drain he does get is usually cancelled by It Could Be Worse. All this is done with 1 Hyper Escape and 1 It Could Be Worse courtesy of Mirax. Order To Engage does LITTERALLY over 90 percent of the damage that game. For some reason he never congregates all his ships at one system. I think he either lost Fanfare early or wasn’t playing an anti-Order card, regardless I win by:
FW +13 5(-14)
Game 6: DS vs Graham Neal’s WYS
Thank God he wasn’t playing the same WYS that Swenson was. This is a real layed back game, because we both know we can’t win. I just set up, win the race, make hits on the cantina and win. There really wasn’t any super-tech moves. It was all just a solid clean cut standard brangus game.
I forgot what I won by, but I finish 4-2 which isn’t too shabby. I finish in 12th place. The final Confrontation is Johnny Chu vs Scott Liehl
I’m starving, so Brad Gregg and I walk down to Pizza Hut and we get our munching on. When we get back, it looks Chu is winning the first game with his Brangus deck vs Scotts RST Racing. One big turning point of that game is when Chu monnoked out all of Scott’s Explosive Charges. Chu wins that game and the next one to win it all. Here comes the props and the slops:
Props:
To Mike Raveling for trying (in vain?) to introduce the concept of "inner-monologue" to me
To Mike for Winning JK Continentals
To Graham for surviving yet another car accident
To Graham for teaching me Raw Deal and Justin Alfs for playing my first game with me!
To Jim for building the skeleton of a HB deck which helped me get into Day 2
To Stenerson for driving
To Brian Herold for being nice and saying the least amount of mean things to me of those who I stayed with ;-)
To Scott Lingrell for the fun game and for packing 3 Grim/Shockers (I didn’t know that was possible!!!)
To Brad Gregg for letting me hitch rides with him back to the hotel and making sure I got shotgun
To Stebbins for being another scrawny pale guy... You know, us scrawny pale guys gotta stick together!
To the rest of the iowans for not lynching Jim yet...
To Brian Hunter for listening to me debate about what decks to play day 1 for hours and hours and hours on AIM
To Grandmaster Flash and his White Lines.
To mini donuts for giving me the energy I need to be 12th from best
To The Club
All the girls that decided to go down the escalator when I was going up the escalator... especially the ones that didn’t wear bras...
In advance to Andy Newton... because one of these days he is going to show up to a tournament drunk off his ass. This is props in case I don’t get around to writing a TR when he does!
Slops:
To Wizards for moving Gen Con out of the midwest... now there are damn near no big opens around here.
To Perkins for giving me cold nasty over done food the morning of day 1. Now what am I sposed to blame my luck on, "the over done hashbrown and raw eggs?"
I hope that was entertaining for ya’ll.
-Josh Kohman
Why can’t we all... just... get along?