travs-first-con
Title: travs-first-con
Author: Travis "Com Igar" Rumans
Date: Aug 7, 2001
Pre-Tourney
While my friend Nate and I had been planning to go to GenCon for like a month, and even though Nate doesn’t play SWCCG there’s so much rolelpaying stuff there we can easily find plenty of stuff to do.
Now, I live in Billings, Montana, so its not very easy to get to Milwaukee. We look at plane prices but they are expensive, so we make the mistake of trading money for time and buy bus tickets.
Its about a 24 hour bus ride from Billings to Milwaukee. And a bus ride is not fun...Nate and I believe it was designed for someone’s special torment, because things don’t get to be that bad by mistake. You’re cramped in a square yard of space (yes, I do believe my TR is a literary work equal to Crime and Punishment, I can use the square yard of space reference, yay for me) and bouncing all around because the shocks on a bus suck and the people in front of you are leaning back so you can’t really reach anything and at night the lights on our bus don’t work so we can’t read but because the ride is so bumpy and we’re cramped we can’t really sleep. By the time you manage to doze off, their making one of their periodic stops by a bowling alley, gas station, or (if you’re lucky) a fast food restaurant where they will turn on all the bus lights and wake you up and inform you you have ten minutes to get food. And the bus ride is utterly interminable. You think you can handle it at first, but it just goes on and on and on (kind of like this TR will end up...)
Anyway, there were some oddities on the way there. We vistited the Ukrainian Cultural Institute in @#$%inson, North Dakota which was across from the bowling alley we stopped at. @#$%inson was pretty much the last place we expected a cultural center of any kind. North Dakota was strangely muggy whenever we got out.At Minneapolis we take our stuff with us to get off because Nate things we need to change buses but he is wrong so we just wonder around hauling our luggage in the Greyhound station for half an hour because we are mofos.
Around this time we have the following conversation:
Me: You know, Nate, if we would’ve taken the plane...
Nate: Yes, Travis, we’d be there by now.
Me: No, Nate, if we’d taken a plane we could be in Tokyo by now.
This whole time we’ve been living on cheese and ritz crackers and beef jerky so when we finally get to Milwaukee we are pleased to find a Dunkin Donuts. The clerks immediately recognize us as GenCon people. Now, I’ve gotten used to Dunkin Donuts at Boston, but there are none in Billings so I am glad to once again partake of a bagel. Then we take a local bus to our hotel and I talk about how the Boston subway (the T) absolutely owns any bus system in existance.
Our hotel has the stupidest name in existance: The Knickerbocker on the Lake Hotel. Fortunately, its only a mile or two away from the convention center so we’re within walking distance. But the setup is strnage; the K-O-T-L hotel is a "condominium hotel’. There’s no central manager or organization which makes a profit renting the rooms; each room has its own owner who rents out hte room for profit. The owner of our room kicks us out for Friday because he needs to bang his msitress or something. Even though we’ll be at GenCon I’m irritated because we’re paying for the room and we should be able to use it. Anyway, we get there a day early so we have an entire day to just crash before the Con.
Anyway, we get to GenCon, and I pick up the badges and Generic tickets that I ordered online. The generic tickets turned out to be almost useless...Continentals were the only even either of us needed them for the whole time. We wandered around the vendor’s floor and bought some really huge Mage Knights dragons (fragging 400+ pointers) and a pile of GURPS books. We take a cab back because I don’t want to haul our stuff back, then we eat at the hotel’s restaurant. I have shrimp and pasta, and Nate rebels by having a plain hamburger. He asks for Mustard (which our waitress slurs a bit because she’s kinda drunk, but she was cute so its all good) and all the restaurant has is dijon mustard. Nate says to warn everyon that dijon mustard on a hamburger is really bad. We have a keylime desert that’s really good. No Denny’s in site so I can’t try the brownie, not sure where to find the waffle, and I don’t know where one finds strippers in Milwaukee so I need to realy on the stuff my friends and I have written on my cards for luck. (Sample: Lando has an afro drawn on him, and has the caption "Disco Stud")
The next day I get to the tournament fine and check my decks without problems even though they have stuff written on them (not covering gamtext tho) and I have the sleeves that cover forfeit value. I help a couple of people fill out their deck lists in time and sell a few of my generic tickets because this is all they are needed for.
LS I am playing WYS. I had a solid QMC but I feared sense. Title of the deck: Scrublers!
DS is an ISB Space deck. Peter loaned me a bunch of ORS and the chance to play a deck with 8 ORS is too good to pass up. Of the 8 in my deck, 7 are named after the 7 dwarves, with number 8 being Gangly the Mutant Dwarf. I also have 3 Overwhelmed because I think it will be huge against Outrider or Superfalcon but I end up not using Overwhelmed the whole day. Deck title is An ISB Space Odyssey.
Eric Hunter swings by and says hi and comments on how similiar my decks seem to the ones I was playing just before I left Mass. My space package for dark is pretty similiar to the EOps, and my LS just has some different WYS tricks. In between, though, I played different decks (honest). ISB is a good space platform because you get lots of activation early without giving any away (although any DS space deck must ultimately give up lots of icons) and it totally locks out all damage. My U-3P0 seemed redundant in most of my games, but I guess you’ll see about that in a minute.
I know lots of players who give reports of these big events say,"I’m just a scrub who played a lot of other scrubs, you don’t care about my games", but I’m going to assume if you’ve bothered to read this far you have at least a fleeting interest in all my games and if you don’t you can just scroll down to my Post-Tourney Tidbits. I also didn’t get most of the players last names because I’m just used to writing local TRs, but the game is what’s important, right?
Game 1: My WYS vs TJ Holman’s Brangus
Well, I geuss half the reason I came was so I owuld have the opportunity to get stomped by world-class players like TJ. He’s podracing but he doesn’t start the box. Brangus doesn’t show up for awhile but he’s Janusing like a mdman so I suddenly realize the power of Janus like never before and I start to Mirax a lot. I use Lost in the Wilderness to make Janus and Palpy missing. He got an early beat for around 7, killing Melas. He inserts and I signal, but Insight is nowhere to be found so I draw for it and get it out. At one point I think I’m set up ok, controlling two Tat DBs, the system, and I have Celebration and I’ll Take the Leader. Then Maul shows up on the Bus to Tat and cancels celebration and I start to limp to the Death Star. Brangus finally shows up and he does all the recursion things he wants; I know now why Brangus is a beast. When I move to the Death Star instead of sacing that force for tricks he nails me on the ground good and that’s pretty much game. He perfect sabbacs me a lot and he just drains me out.
FL -23
Highs: Well, it was a straight up loss, one I won’t be kicking myself for a dumb move or a bad metachoice. I was simply outplayed. Besides, TJ was number one at the end of day one so I don’t feel too bad about losing to him...someone had to play the sacrificial goat.
Palpy and Janus got lost
I now truly understand the power of Janus and Mirax
Lows: Well, I did lose. And I could’ve activated more to have a force to move and save for tricks, but that wouldn’t have changed things too much.
Game 2 ISB Space vs. Dave’s HB
This is without a doubt the worst game of Star Wars I have ever played.
Its one thing when you’re just dominated by a superior player, or even when you go against a lockup deck and end up in stalemate. This...this game got nasty on a personal level.
He started the game by saying "Let’s just have fun" but the following was anything but. He was very very slow, the slowest player I have ever seen. I realized this when the MWYHL guy playing near me was completing test 5 and I was just grabbing my second docking bay on my second turn. I think he might be doing hidden mains because he signals for Insurrection and the first system he gets is Dagobah (which, of course, gets the Hut). He puts down to star cruisers and puts a lot of pilots on one. I lat damage the one with pilots and come down but he just loses one pilot, and I think that can’t be right, my power is over 20 and he had 6, then I found out he had his pilots adding their power even though the ship was lat damaged. Now, that was frustrating but understandable...but the next thing was just silly.
Its my turn and I have Chiraneau set up at like Sullust so I say "I drain you for three." And he says, "I don’t think you drain me at all." And I just give him this incredulous look and he says "Honor". The first time I say that Honor doesn’t help against force drains from battlegrouns he doesn’t believe me and then I enunciate more forcibly and the game just goes downhill from there.
With like 10 minutes left in the round he says that he’ll just sit back and read all the cards on the table and contemplate things before he draws another, so I ask a nearby player what the rule is if I think my opponent is stalling so I get a judge. I end up getting Bojo himself, and the first thing my opponent does when Bojo sits down to watch is argue with Bojo! He demands to see a written rule saying that he has to make a move, and Bojo goes and digs something out the gist of which is that things fall to the discretion of the TR, then my opponent says that he works in law and could get Decipher in a lot of trouble but Bojo says that its his call to make because he’s head of all Decipher tournaments.
During all this another five minutes (at least) have passed and it is still his draw phase. I want to get on with draining him for nine a turn so I can win (he’s pinging me for a mere two). When it’s finally my turn, he starts using We’re Doomed and ICBW to reduce the damage so I only net one. Eventually I realize he’s only got two ICBWs so I spread a bit and I’m netting two but time is still called so for my final turn to make sure I win I drain then pile ships in front of one of his systems.
TW+10
Highs: I guess I won
Lows: Everything. Even the game with the Wyoming player a month or two ago who was playing the annoying lockdown deck was better than this because we got along ok. This game actually had some personal venom. And I’d never met dave before. This game felt so bad I wondered if I wanted to continue on, despite my pledge to go all 8 games no matter how badly I did.
Game 3 WYS vs. Malcom’s Build the DSII
Now, I thought this would be an easy matchup. Everyone knows Build DSII is a card intensive monstrosity. Malcom just uses it as a platform for a more typical mains and toys thing. I set up the tripler (which would only have been a doubler) and Run Luke Run, but I forget to play the tripler and add the +2 power which defeats the whole point. TTO is meanwhile grinding me down, and I’m beating him on the ground but not bad enough, and I only have Red 10 for ships so I send him to space and clear Tat, but I give up because I forget TTO only hurts me when he occupies the system.
FL-10
Highs: Well, at least this was a cordial game, and it was relatively fun with a fair amount of battling (even though TTO was wearing me down...he got that set up faster than he had a right to). He did remind me of my TTO error after the game.
Lows: Well, I made some scrubby mistakes without which I might’ve won this game. But who hasn’t had a game like that?
Game 4 ISB Space vs. Andrew’s Bothan Operatives
Now, we’re both doing pretty badly at this point, so we have a good sense of humor about this game. It was a pretty fun game, although it may not sound like it.
I had a hard time getting guys so I had to draw quite a bit, and he set up a bit faster than I did but once I get decree up and deploy the vampire droid (free because of his nightfall) he really can’t do anything. He gets a Bothan spy and Chewie to Executor DB and is draining me for 1 a turn, and at some point a bunch of Bothans try to clear out Piett, Merrejk, and the ORS holding down the Coruscant DB for Decree but by then I have total space domination so I am draining him for a lot even with the -1 so I win.
FW+25
Highs: Well, it was pretty fun, believe it or not. And the ISB deck did eactly what it was supposed to do. I also set up Abyssin for 6.
Lows: Operatives?
Game 5 ISB Space vs. Malcom’s QMC/Generals
Well he starts strike planning and he Balanced Attacks for Ackbar right away so I know I am dealing with a QMC Generals variant. I know the key is going to be to control the system to kill celebration. I set up and start draining but I have plenty of ships in hand so I save force for a turn to attack his Super Home One. I drop like Executor, Piett, Zuckuss, and an ORS and attack but I just kill Liberty so I run away. The vampire droid is on Bespin, and he has no way to kill him, no aliens to make his drains unmodifiable, or even a site with two ds icons. With decree in effect, he can’t drain me at all. He knows he has to fight me in space so he moves Super Home One to a system I am weak at, but this leaves one of his big cruisers vulnerable (his space was built around big capitals). I come with Vengeance and Devastator and kill the capital, a couple more, and celebration. I also play Homing Beacon on Home One, effectively negating it because he’ll have to deal with all my ships on table if he battle with it. Its just blocking one of my drains. He gets out Menace Fades late but because of my Homing Beacon tech he can’t get it going. He asks if the Homing Beacon is rare, and how many games my dark has one so far, and I’m pleased he seems so impressed with it (and I realize my dark will be 3-0 after this). To finish it, instead of letting me drain him out, he battles just to see how big my fleet really is. I have like 66 power and he has to take like 30 damage so he loses his one force.
FW +24
Highs: My deck laid down the smack. ISB space rules. I need to get me some of my own ORS...
Lows: I had so many ships in my hand, a deck that’s only half concerned with space would have no chance
Game 6 WYS vs. Rich’s Court Mains
His start is awesome. He podraces, and gets Mara w/Saber to the Cantina. I amass my hand for a turn but then he reinforces with Dr. E combo so I know i need at least three guys to take her them out. He sets up at the AC with Jabba and 4-LOM, and I have a good beat crew in hand and I think I can do more damage to them then the Cantina crew so I attack and I beat him down for a fair amount but then he wins the podrace to retrieve it all and I lost both celebrations to the podrace. I never got any ships. Maul showed up but i drew for Luke and beat him up. I think I had put down Yotts Orren alon to flip me because he had battled away lots of my other locations and I didn’t save to move but between Yotts’ forfeit and the Run Luke Run in my hand I felt safe. He tries to decide where to drop EPP Vader, and he goes for Yotts. I RLR and then he hits Luke and plays Join Me. This puts me in a bad position, because Rich has decided to bust out a good and obscure card on me. I knoww that Yotts forfeit is safe and that I need characters so Luke goes to the used. He manages to clear me out on the gournd and the podrace damage and the drain of three all game just tear me apart.
FL-32
Highs: Well, it was a pretty good game and his deck was very solid. And seeing Join Me was cool.
Lows: Should’ve hit the cantina instead of the AC...and I lost both celebrations to the podrace. And I didn’t get any ships all game.
Game 7 ISB Space vs Adam’s Profit/Racing
I know that Profit vs any kind of space is a really bad matchup for the Profit Player. Especially ISB space, because if he wants to maximize retrieval he’ll have to wait for me to get set up. Anyway, between the race and freeing Han he retrieves 20. So even whent he Vampire droid shows up and he’s doing 2 direct damage to me to my drains of 9/turn in space I wonder if he’ll just outlast me, especially when he spreads to get an extra direct damage and he landing claws me. Now, I think it was Mike ’Deck’ Gemme who pioneered this, but when your opponent has I Did It you can activate everything and draw up to what you need and then cycle it all, and this is what I do to get the Homing Beacon to kill the claw. Any system he runs to I already totally own. I drop Thunderflare for good measure and smack him in space for 17, which was pretty much game.
FW+16
Highs: My dark deck is undefeated! It did exactly what it was supposed to in almost every game.
Lows: Well, Profit’s kind of a dull, non-interactive matchup. I tried twice because it looked enat, but I could never build a good Profit deck. Maybe turboprofit is where it’s at, or maybe I should just use the new LS objective (which is Profit meets TIGIH meets WYS).
Game 8 vs Eric’s HD/P
I’m feeling laid back because my dark is undefeated and I’ve already gone even at best, which is as good as a lot of people expected me to do. But he’s playing HD/P, and I’ve played a lot of HD/P so I know what will happen. He will beat me up a lot early on and then I will slow down the game and start retrieving and just wear him out. He has more space trhan I expect (which is to say, he has ships) so Bossk and Zuckuss are fighitng me at the system. he has little power but he gets good destiny. He got a ruling on lat damage and only one system and the ruling is that I get an immediate attempt to fix it, which outrider does. He said later he started playing for diff which was a mistake (never count out a deck which uses its lost pile as its hand). I get none of my usual lockdown stuff that I usually want in this matchup, like Goo Nee Tay or BO, but I do get my AO and some decent drains and I have celebration for a few turns but it get canceled when he wipes me off of the system. I kill Vader a few times, and I beat up Palpy at the Cantina before Maul moves in and takes over. A fair chunk of battle damage lets me catch up from the podrace loss. Visage got canceled a fair amount, but eventually it stayed dead. Late game I’m just parking forfeit in front of his drains.
FW+2
Highs: A very close game, and it was pretty fun
Lows: THat early game hurts...and most HD/P decks win with early pressure, but if you can cancel Visage and survive their early push you’re set.
So I end up 5-3 (+17).
Random Post-Tourney Tidbits
I find a place to buy some ultra rares so I finally get some Jedi Lukes (2) and another Palpy. I get lucky in the packs I bought for the overisized card and get a Foil Palpy.
We got some autographs in lieu of the Coruscant sealed.
At one point Nate and I went to eat at Hooters and there’s no one to seat us (you seat yourself) so Nate and I just stand around and stare at a bunch of hot chicks in small clothes like the undersexed gaming mofos that we are.
I told my brother that I would get Michael Stackpole’s sig on a battletech book but then I realized I can’t recognize Michael Stackpole from the Corran Horn card.
This Con rocked. I need to find people (preferably from Mass, I’ll be back at Tufts) to hook up with for DCon.
The bus ride home is worse because we stop in more drekky towns and drive around in parking lots there (we don’t actually stop the bus or get out or anything, we just get off the highway, go in, and drive around...) AND one of our drivers keeps taking these ten minute breaks for ’a quick smoke.’
Around 2 AM in Fargo I decide that babies cry because their Will to Power is being frustrated and they have yet to be brainwashed (like the rest of us) into believing that being an ineffectual speck is ok.
There was a place where I could buy a scoop of dice on the third floor. That was cool. I also got a D34. The search for the D7, however, continues.
Anyway...
Props
ISB, for oppressing the Bothans, the Bespinites, and the crew of mines set out to free Han. I’m awfully happy with my undeafeated Dark deck
Nate, for coming to GenCon with me
Bojo, for running a smooth tournament and making sure my second round opponent didn’t stall too much
Dunkin Donuts, because they are good
Year of the Comet, one of the coolest SR sourcebooks ever
Hayes, who gave me words of encouragement before the Con
Eric, who popped in to say hi
The guy with the foil Paploos covering his badge and hat
Peter, for loaning me a bunch of ORS and making my undefeated dark deck possible
My brother and Cody, for fulfilling my need for playtesting
Gemme, because he write cool TRs and had the I Did It! tech
Anyone who got the square yard of space or will to power references
Anyone whose bothered to read all this
Slops
Greyhound Bus Lines
The Knickerbocker on the Lake Hotel
The concept of the owner kicking us out