colorado-springs-a-dark-comeback-8-11-01

Title: colorado-springs-a-dark-comeback-8-11-01
Author: Patrick "Pappy" Napier
Date: Aug 16, 2001

Tacticon is coming up at the end of this month, so I want to play in as many local events as I can to get ready for the big event. I was happy with the Light Side deck I went undefeated with at the last local, so I tuned it up a bit with a few Coruscant cards. I figured a flipping Hidden Base using unique starfighters and their matching pilots did well before, it would do the job Saturday. I did not have a Dark Side deck made since the last local, when it was a dark time for the Dark Side, so Friday night I sat in my Star Wars room and brainstormed decks. Nothing was coming to me, so I decided to try a little motivational music. I popped in Marilyn Mansons Portrait of an American Family, and it came to me. I would build a Maul mains deck using the Desert Landing Site and Jabbas Palace, and go to the opponent. There is something intimidating about a man in black clothes wearing makeup. So I sat down and built my dark deck, and by the time I was done, it was 4:15 am. The deck was strictly ground based to counter local favorites like Profit and RST racing, and it was stacked with high destiny utility cards. The next morning I grabbed a big bottle of Mountain Dew and headed for Hobby Town to play some Star Wars. When I arrived I noticed that most of the players I could expect a challenge from were missing, but Ian Monteith had showed up, and I was not one to count out the other younger players either. There was an unknown variable in a visitor from Washington, so I would keep my eye on him. On to the games.

GAME ONE

Flipping HB vs. Alex Twist ( 1575 ) BHBM Beatdown

When I sat down across from Alex, he seemed none to pleased to be paired up against me. I am by no means a great player, but for some reason a few of the local players hate playing against me. I use this intimidation factor to my advantage, unwarranted as it is. Alex started with IAO and Mob Points, so his deck will try to set up big at docking bays. I start deploying systems and pulling ships and pilots with Squadron Assignments. On one of Alexs turns he goes for a docking bay and comes up empty, and when I verify his deck I notice a distinct lack of blue cards. With free license to spread thin in space, I do so quickly, flipping HB and canceling most if not all of Alexs drains, while all of mine get through. Vader comes out to play too late in the game, and Alex cannot keep up with the drains in space. I retrieve a time or two using On The Edge and a well tracked A Few Maneuvers to seal a big victory. Full win by 28.

That puts me at 2 ( + 28 ) , and I am off to a much better start than last time. However, almost every Light Side player won big this game, so I am not in first place by a long shot, and I will be paired against someone who lost their last game.

GAME TWO

Marilyn Maul vs. Alex Twist ( now lower than 1575 ) EBO pods

Now Alex is REALLY not happy to be paired up against me. He sets up the Podrace Arena, and Sebulba pulls up to the starting line. I get the AC in my opening hand, so all of my sites are out the first turn. Maul lands in the Desert for free, his lightsaber in hand, while Mara Jade shows up in the AC with hers. Maul moves out to the Palace grounds to set up a drain of four for next turn. Alex deploys an Echo site and EBG from his reserve deck, but it promptly gets Altered. Now Alex will have to dig for those characters to set up the big drain. Meanwhile, back at the Podrace Arena, Sebulba has flashed Anakin and pulls into a big lead with a 5 destiny, starting the race with 8. Alex is not too happy. After a few turns I win the podrace with the big destinies in the deck, and Alex loses 6 Force and I retrieve my entire lost pile. By this time Gailid is in the AC with Mara, and I am draining at every site at the Palace. Alex sets up at a few systems, but by the time he gets EBO set up, I have invaded Hoth with Janus, Vader and Dengar toting his big bad gun. The Spooky Kids invade Hoth and drain away at the Rebel base while retrieving here and there with First Strike, while Tatooine remains uncontested. Full win by 17.

So now I am at 4 ( + 45 ) , but still out of differential range of first place. I was a little worried going up against a space deck, but somehow I pulled it out. I figured now things were going to get interesting, because now the so far undefeated players were getting paired off against each other.

GAME THREE

Flipping HB vs. Ian Monteith ( 1609 ) Senate Podracing

Ian is a good player who has recently come back to the tournament scene. His decks are original and well thought out. When he started with the Senate objective from Coruscant, I was not very worried, but he also started the usual podrace cards, including Wattos Box. I figured against the Senate I could go for a fast flip and block his few drains, while draining and retrieving in space. Ian had other things in mind. He starts the podrace and deploys some senators to the Galactic Senate, and I pull systems, ships and pilots. Nothing eventful has taken place yet, and I deploy Boussh to the Senate to block his Force drain there. Ian forgets that his objective cancels the gametext of non-Republic characters, and I have no clue what his card says, except he can flip when he has a couple senators there. Finally Ian wins the Podrace, and I lose 11 Force from my hand and Used Pile. My hand gets down to two cards. Ian plays Limited Resources, and now I remember why I hate playing against Ian. Ian continues manipulating his deck and my hand, so I have to maintain at least 6 cards in hand at all times. Meanwhile, I keep draining away at his Force, and now I’m canceling all of his drains. Then IG-88 in his ship pops up in space, and Ian probes my Hidden Base on the first try. I found out after the game that Ian guessed it was Kashyyyk because it was the last system I deployed before flipping. Yeah, that will do it. I’ll have to watch that next time. Ian starts draining again, but by now my drains have done enough damage to pull it out. Ian should have won this game, because one of his senators would have caused direct damage of one per turn for each Naboo location he controlled, but Ian forgot all about this little three-eyed freak, so I squeak by. Full win by 4.

After that close call I am now sitting at 6 ( + 49 ), and there are still some undefeated players left. It was only going to get harder.

GAME FOUR

Marilyn Maul vs. Thomas Harris ( 1421 ) RST Boomracer

Thomas is really making a showing today after scrubbing out a few times before, so his confidence is high. Then he gets paired against me and for some reason it all goes out the door. Thomas sets up the Podrace Arena and the Rebel Landing Site, but to my surprise his starting effect is The Shield Is Down, so he wont be getting any Generals out any time soon. That works for me just fine. Thomas starts the podrace, I flash him and draw a 4, jumping off the starting line. Meanwhile, the Jabbas Palace locations get set up, and Thomas deploys the Back Door and the Bunker, giving me a load of Force activation. Maul lands in the desert and moves over for a drain, and Mara gets deployed from Reserve to the AC, with her saber, of course. Soon the Bunker is overrun by the Spooky Kids, including DLOTS with his saber, Tarkin, Dengar and a few others. Thomas is starting to get really quiet, and I have to tell him to repeat everything he says just so I know what he plans on doing. Thomas tries to play a few interrupts to damage my podracer and make me remove a race destiny, both of which get Sensed. On turn 4, I draw Emperor Palpatine to win the race big, and I retrieve my entire Lost Pile, and Thomas loses 6 Force. He makes a few runs at the bunker with some scouts, Chewbacca of Kashyyyk and Jedi Knight Luke, but they are promptly beaten back out. The rest of the game is spent killing random Rebels, backwards masking the latest Marilyn Manson album with Satanic messages to smoke banana peels and shoot chickens with Super Soakers, and draining away at Thomas. Full win by 37.

( so nobody gets upset, neither Marilyn Manson nor I worship Satan. Get a life )

This is exactly why I hate Podracing. Thomas used a ton of card slots to try to force a big Force swing his way, and I still won the race and handily defeated him. Maybe next time nobody will try to race. Yeah, right. Now I am the only undefeated player left, at 8 ( + 86 ). It looks like the Dark Side has made a comeback for me today, so the Dark Times are apparently over, but there are still two games left . . .

GAME FIVE

Marilyn Maul vs. Danny Hummel ( 1648 ) Profit Podracing
Danny is a sleeper in these Colorado Springs locals. Hes a good player who has his bad days and his good days, his good decks and his bad decks. I like playing Danny, he gets a little intimidated when he gets paired against me ( again, I do not understand why, maybe it’s the age thing. To these guys I am probably an old man or something. ), but Danny never backs down. I start by putting Mara and Xizor in the AC, and get ready to set up a big defense there. Danny starts the podrace right away, I flash, I draw. I think this time I start off with a 5, which gives me a total of 8. Not bad. I set up my sites to convert Dannys Profit start, but then Danny plays Underworld Contacts to convert them back. That is not good. I soon realize Danny is playing a lot of Jedi with their sabers, and Jedi Resilience to keep them alive. A couple turns into the race, Danny plays a step backwards, which I Sense. But wait ! Danny has a few tricks up his sleeve, and tries to Sense my Sense. What is this, a classic SAC war ? Hardly. I play a second Sense and it ends there, with Danny losing two cards along the way. A few turns later he does it again, but this one sneaks by. He ends up winning the race, and now its time to play Star Wars. Danny deploys a few Jedi to the AC, and the first one to show up gets Barriered. ( Is that a word ? My computer says its not ) We slug it out back and forth for the AC, while Maul and his saber sits out at the Palace with a few of the Spooky Kids, draining away at Danny. His characters cant get rid of my characters, and Han never leaves the confines of is prison. Full win by 11.

Alright, Im still undefeated, and only one other player has lost only one game, and that is Bill Prather, another sleeper. If I win the next game, I win period. If I lose the next game, then I have to rely on Caleb Schnarr’s Speed Deal to knock out Prather for me to take the tourney. The problem is, Caleb apparently cant play Speed Deal to save his life. I hate to rely on other people, but I kindly ask Caleb to try to win anyway.

GAME SIX

Flipping HB vs. Danny Hummel ( now less than 1648 ) Ralltiir Operations

Huh, did I read that right ? Ral Ops ? Hmmmmm, and I forgot my Ounee Ta today. Danny sets up his locations while my ships fly out of the Rendezvous Point with their matching pilots aboard, setting up drains quick. After a few turns, Danny sets up Expand The Empire on the Spaceport site that is Force drain +1, which does not make me happy. I dig for my EPP Lukes and Obis to kill his measly ground forces, but they never seem to show up. I dig for my Forest to set up Menace Fades, but it never seems to show up. What does show up is Bossk In Hounds Tooth and Zuckuss In Mist Hunter in front of Green Leader in Green 1 and Ric Olie in The Queens Royal 1971 Dodge Dart. Danny plays Lateral Damage on Green 1, because he is not able to on the Queens Hotrod, and battles. Danny then proceeds to draw not one, but TWO 7s for destiny. Neat. I lose all of my ships and 22 Force. NOW my Forest and Jedi Knights show up as I flip them off of the top of my Reserve Deck. And we had fun, fun, fun til Zuckuss took her T-Bird away. Then Danny decides its time to probe for my Hidden Base, and he finds it on the third try. Now that Danny can drain again, he plays Overseeing It Personally to add insult to injury. I spend the rest of the game draining him at whatever system I can control, and trying to retrieve that nasty damage from the first battle. Its too little too late, and the drains on Ralltiir, that’s right Ralltiir, are too much to handle. Full loss by 20.

After that game, I look over to see how Caleb is doing with Speed Deal. Apparently its not so Speedy after all, Caleb said it took him about four or five turns just to get set up, and by that time it was too late. So Prather ends up winning the tournament, his first win ever. Its good for me to see local guys who have never won finally get a win under their belt, so I was not too let down. I end up in second place due to differential. So the Dark Time had finally past, but now I had to wonder what kind of decks to bring next week . . .

PROPS

To Brian Montez for running a smooth event without hogging up a table with his desktop computer. ;)

To Danny Hummel, for giving me a couple of good games.

To Ian Monteith, for being original and a good sport when we figured out he should have won.

To Bill Prather, for finally winning an event. Good job and good luck next time.

SLOPS

To Podracing, you know why.

To me for assuming that Ral Ops was dead.

To Caleb Schnarr, who played Speed Deal like it was Weed Deal, slow and stupid. ( Dont worry Caleb, bad draws happen to all of us )