colorado-springs-a-howwible-day-8-19-01

Title: colorado-springs-a-howwible-day-8-19-01
Author: Patrick "Pappy" Napier
Date: Aug 20, 2001

There comes a time in every Star Wars players life when he or she must decide whether they are cut out to play this game competitively, or if they should retire from the game entirely. Now is that time for me. This past Sunday I hosted a local constructed event to give some of the Colorado Springs players another chance to play Star Wars before Tacticon. The night before I decided I should build some decks just in case I need to play in the event. I decided to play a new version of Marilyn Maul and the Spooky Kids, a Desert Landing Site mains deck, with more space to carry out surgical strikes against EBO or HB. For Light Side I decided to dust off the old RST Fakeout deck that I had used a few events before. It turned in a poor performance at the Denver World Qualifier, but I figured it would do the trick in a local, especially against RalOps, which seems to be rearing its ugly head in Colorado Springs again ( see the last report – A Dark Comeback ). I was up until 4:30 am rebuilding and tuning these decks. The next morning, I was awake by 8:00 am. The lack of sleep was surely going to get to me, especially if I played in the event.
I arrived at Hobby Town a few minutes early, and there are only a few players waiting outside. With me in the mix, we have enough to be sanctioned. Then Josh Bader shows up, coming down from Denver to get some more playing in before Tacticon. We get set up, and by the time we are ready to play, we have thirteen players. I decide to jump in to avoid the bye. With fourteen players, we are definitely sanctioned and ready to play Star Wars.

GAME ONE

Marilyn Maul vs. Joe Schlagheck ( 1395 ) RST Podracing

Joe is a regular at the Colorado Springs locals, and now matter how well or poorly he does, he always comes back for more, and always has fun. When the pairings are announced, he is not too happy to play me, probably because I am one of the oldest local players. Joe starts the podrace, and Sebulba flashes Anakin to get the jump, drawing a 5 for a total of 8. On the next turn, Mara shows up in the AC with her lightsaber. Then the Emperor deploys to Endor, waiting for the Bunker to get deployed. On turn 4, Sebulba draws to win the race, with Anakin hot on his tail. Joe plays A Step Backward, and the race is still on. The next turn, Joe draws 3 destinies, two of which are 6s. Joe ends up winning the race, and he retrieves 6 while I lose 6. By now, Maul has made his way to Jabbas Palace. The rest of the Spooky Kids have invaded Endor, and Joe will never get into the bunker. Joe decides to try to invade the AC with Obi-Wan, his lightsaber, AND his journal. Mara seems a little nervous, but when Obi-Wan swings, he misses horribly. Mara misses as well. When Obi goes to draw battle destiny, he draws a zero. Mara draws low as well, and Joe loses a couple cards. On my turn, the Spooky Kid crew on Endor hitch a ride with Elis Helrot to the AC, and now Obi-Wan is the one looking nervous. The battle ensues, I retrieve from First Strike, and Obi-Wan dies, along with a lot more cards. I spend the rest of the game draining out Joe. Full win by 23.

So I start the day off at 2 ( + 23 ) , not a bad start, but everyone else is winning huge, including Josh Bader. I am now somewhere in the middle rankings. Not a great start when my first opponent is rated so much lower than I am, but as we will soon see, my rating was not going to remain high at all. . .

GAME TWO

RST Fakeout vs. Michael Schiermeyer ( 1465 ) HDADTJ Podracing

Okay, so now I get to play someone rated about 300 points below me. The only way I am going to go up in rating during this event is to play either Josh or Pueblos Dante Montoya. Mike is a young kid, he can barely say his Rs correctly. One the first turn he starts the race, flashes and draws huge. I can see this race is out of my hands, but in my opening draw I have It Could Be Worse. I set up my Endor sites with the Scrub Scout Brigade, made up of General Combover Madine, Chewbacca of Kashyyyk, and Wuta. On the next turn, Dr. E and his pal Ponda Baba come to Endor in combo form carrying Dr. Es Blaster and itching to pick a fight. In the battle, Dr E fires at Crix, operates, and laughs. He cant seem to hit Chewie, but the battle destiny is enough to kill him. I leave Wuta out so I can set up my last Endor sites, and move him to Chirpas Hut, waiting to hitch a ride up to Home One. I cancel Visage with TT. After a few turns, Mike is poised to win the race, but I have saved 11 Force for ICBW. Before the race has its result, Mike deploys Keder the Black to Chirpas Hut, breaks cover, and waves in Darth Maul, Young Apprentice. Wuta screams in fear, but Home One has never made it to Endor to pick him up. Thae battle starts, and Mike draws a huge battle destiny. I lose Wuta and 14. I decide to play ICBW to reduce that damage by 11, but Mike says no, Its Woose ( no Rs ) and spends 8 Force to make me lose 22 instead. Oh yeah, Its Woose alright. On his move phase the race damage hits, and in those 11 cards flying off of my reserve deck is every possible retrieval card I have. Mike giggles with glee, and I lose hard. Full loss by 33.

Excellent, now I am at 2 ( -10 ) , and my rating has taken such a nose dive, I might as well change my name and start over. Mike meanwhile is dancing around saying I destwoyed Pat !
Mr. Wodgers would be so proud. Oh well, there are still four games left in which to redeem myself.

GAME THREE

Marilyn Maul vs. Chris Latta ( 1633 ) Hidden Base

Chris has driven all the way out from Kansas to do some things here with his wife, and decided to stop by and play some Star Wars. He starts of with the normal Flipping HB stuff, looking very much like Hunters Flipping HB. I draw Maul and his saber in my opening draw, along with Emperor Palpatine. On my first turn, Maul lands at his site with his saber in hand and moves out to the Palace. On his turn, Chris deploys Gold Squad 1 and Lando to Endor, and then tries to play the new combo All Wings Report In to pull a ship. It gets Sensed, and Chris realizes he has no SAC protection in his deck. Meanwhile, back at the Palace, Palpatine has set up shop with Janus in the Lower Passage, and Gailid is partying with Mara, who is carrying her lightsaber, in the AC. The Force drains are flying now. Zuckuss heads up into space to probe once Chris flips his objective. Zuckuss battles against a couple X-Wings and kills them off, then flies around probing like mad. Chris attempts a Kessel Run, and it gets Altered. He tries to deploy Rebel Fleet, and it gets Altered. Vader shows up at the Palace with his saber, and Maul moves back to the Landing Site to drain even more. Zuckuss finally finds the Hidden Base at Endor, the first system Chris deploys, and the last to be probed. Zuckus has flown from one end of the galaxy to the other and back again, and he is pissed. Chris cannot stop the drains. I pull it out against a space deck again, full win by 27.

Now I am in the black again, at 4 ( +17 ). Maybe I can make up for that howwible loss earlier.

GAME FOUR

RST Fakeout vs. Danny Hummel ( 1648 ) High Destiny RalOps

Well, last week I lost to Dannys RalOps, but this week would be different. I start the normal RST stuff, with Ounee Ta as my third effect. On my first turn I have all of the Endor locations out, thanks to drawing Chirpas Hut in my opening hand. The rest of the game I am able to activate up to 19 Force. The battles go back and forth on Ralltiir, with Danny moving away from my forces to hit me with drains. What I would have given for and Order To Engage ! Danny comes out swinging in space against Red Leader in Red One, Spiral, and Dash in the Outrider. With his huge destiny draws, the battle for Carida is over in a few turns, with Danny as the survivor. My drains on Ralltiir pull me through, along with a couple On The Edge retrievals. Full win by 6.

So now I am climbing my way back up, with a total of 6 ( + 23 ) . However, that would be as far as I would go on this howwible, howwible day.

GAME FIVE

RST Fakeout vs. Robert Schiermeyer ( 1622 ) Dark Licensed Practical Nurse

Robert is little Mike’s older brother, but he is a lot less annoying to play against and he can actually pronounce his Rs properly. He is pplaying a version of Dark Surgeon that does not use the real Emperor, and Robert doesn’t track very well, hence the name. I spend a few turns trying to kill off Xizor and put him out of play, but nothing worked as well as planned. I would kill a few of his characters, and he would respond in kind. I finally just put Luke on Endor to keep his objective flipped on the 0 side, and I keep sending Qui-Gon and others against him, only to be beaten back out of the docking bays. His Force drains outweigh my Force drains, and the Dark LPN takes my temperature with an anal thermometer. Full loss by 10.

Great, my hopes of making a comeback and saving some semblance of my rating are now dashed, and I am at 6 ( +13 ) . But there is still one game left. . .

GAME SIX

Marilyn Maul vs. Caleb Schnarr ( 1641 ) Flipping HB

Caleb is plying an almost exact copy of Hunters Flipping HB, and this is the deck I know I will have a hard time overcoming this one. Caleb sets up the fast flip by the fouth turn, and my drains at the Palace are cancelled, and TK 422 is blocking the third. Mara tries to sniper the pesky stormtrooper wannabe, but misses. Qui-Gon and EPP Luke come down to put the hurting on Mighty Jabba and Gailid at the AC, causing a few cards in battle damage. I end up probing calebs HB on the third try, but the drains at Coruscant, Kessel and Kiffex do the job, driving the nail in the coffin. Full loss by 19.

So this howwible day ends with me at 6 ( -6 ) , with Josh Bader winning the whole show.
Maybe its time for me to finally retire. Who am I kidding, Ill see you all at Tacticon.

Speaking of Tacticon, I will be hosting the Episode I sealed deck event Saturday night from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., right after the DPC. I hope to see you there

PROPS

To Mike Schiermeyer, for kicking my teeth in and not being afraid to do it. Good job, kid, but don’t get used to it.

To Chris Latta, for playing Star Wars with us here in Tatooine, and having a great attitude.

To Josh Bader, for coming down from Denver to play Star Wars.

SLOPS

To me, for losing to a kid who cant even say his Rs.

To me, for not retiring when I should.