viper-tells-all-phoenix-az-8-19-01
Title: viper-tells-all-phoenix-az-8-19-01
Author: Steve "BlackViper" Marshall
Date: Aug 27, 2001
Wow, I haven’t done this for awhile. I hope I remember how to tell a story. My old Dark deck was a Dark Deal deck that set up first turn 99% of the time (except against Girard). It was cool, but it only won because of the element of surprise. Now people know about it, so I’m not playing it anymore. Going into Sunday’s tournament, I see that I made a wise choice, as several players were using Surruptitious (sp?) Glance and I might have had a little trouble. Anyway, now I’m stuck without a dark deck. I don’t have my Coruscant yet because I’m poor. I picked up 4 packs Friday night and then played in a draft - I was LS in the draft, and my 4 packs had 3 LS rares, so it still sucked for me. I decided to scrap the RST because I don’t like Maul very much and wanted to know what to build. I remember seeing Pat Hug’s LS Watto deck, and it was built around a really idea, so I copied it to the best of my ability. 4 Qui-Gons and 4 Obis later, the deck was pretty much done. Completely untested and there were some things I needed to work on, but the tournament is in a couple hours, so I’m stuck with it. For DS, I’m using Shaner’s Closed Environment deck. He’s playing Watto’s objective, and this thing has more rares than my Hunt Down did. I tested Jared Arthur’s LS against it, and I fell in love with the deck. He brought it for me on Sunday. My rating going into the games today is 1731.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention. Hayes Hunter lives in Tucson now, so I doubt I’m gonna win today. Or ever again. ;-) 17K vs. 22K - I think he’s got the edge.
GAME 1: DS vs. Grayson Graves - WYS w/ spies (1433)
Okay, so now I get to play against my padawan again. I haven’t had a tournament where I didn’t play against him. I built the deck (and took out both of his Landos for my deck), so I know how to win anyway. Darth Maul takes his position at the Desert Landing Site, Watto goes to work, and Graga heads to Mos Espa for the flip. I drop The Phantom Menace on the table, then stack another one face down. He has to lose 2 Force. Maul moves to Graga’s spot to hold the fort, and Watto is set. He doesn’t get battle destinies, and I’m only in trouble if he’s got Nightfall, Boushh, and several high power smugglers in hand. I’m not too worried. Turns out he doesn’t have a God hand, so I get to stay there. Maul gets his stick and starts draining for 2, he keeps losing 2 to my recycling 7s, and Watto gets his Neimodian backup from the Reserve deck. I’m pretty much set.
He soon drops down Boushh to stop Maul’s drain of 2, and I can’t do anything about it because it’s an Ep 1 only deck. No Sniper. I can’t move away because I don’t feel like flipping back. He starts saving 2, so I start deploying droids for free and beating the crap out of his ground wrecking crews. I take the Cantina with hate, and after awhile, he starts to lose 2 again. He gets Honor Of The Jedi out, but I’ve heavily fortified 3 battlegrounds already. He tries to take Watto away with power once with Tallon Karde and a couple friends; I missed Tallon with my droid, but he doesn’t get a destiny so I win. He dies and never comes back again now that he realizes my true power there. I’ve got some cards in hand, so I just eat his drains at Kessel while draining him out.
FW by 22
2 (+22)
THE GOOD: This was a good test round for me. I know more about the deck now.
THE BAD: Boushh blocking my drain, and me without my spy protection! DOH!
THE UGLY: My army was just evil. He couldn’t touch me all game.
PROPS TO OPPONENT: I have to give him props AGAIN? Both his game and his concentration are getting better.
I try not to take him by more than 25 if I can help it. I walk around aimlessly, hoping that I get to play Hunter and trying to figure out the best way to maximize my gameplay and take him.
GAME 2: LS vs. Jonni Marion - This Deal Is Getting Worse All The Time w/ mains (1632)
Now I’m glad I put Surruptitious Glance and Endor Celebration in the deck. He gets his battlegrounds, activates, and drops Palpatine at Watto’s place. Fine, I’ll let him have it for now. I drop a site and pull Qui-Gon from reserve, and wait a turn. Big surprise, Palpatine drains for 1. Lost In The Wilderness. I get him, and he is never found for the rest of the game. SWEET! He pulls an I Have You Now, but it’s not gonna touch me this game. I appreciate that he took a destiny 5 out of his deck. We battle 2 Watto’s place, I win, I’m immune to ALL attrition, and I stack a card. Next turn I activate 3 and Signal for I Feel The Conflict. I stack heavily at Watto’s place, forcing him to battle or take the drain of 3 (Obi’s saber and Qui-Gon’s saber). I’m searching for Secure Route to make it a drain of 5, but I can’t find it. He doesn’t like losing 3 cards, so he takes the battle to me. I win, stack a card on Credits and on Conflict. Battle, stack 2. Battle, stack 2. He moves away, I drain 3 stack 1. There’s no real way for him to win here! Maul and the not-so-good Doctor take on Qui-Gon, but Maul misses me. I miss him back but I win. Lose Dr. E and stack 2. Obi and Melas drop down next and beat the living snot out of the Dark Lord. He uses Maul Strikes to add a few destinies, but his draws include a 1, 1, and 1. Someone hasn’t been reading his articles. ;-) Lose Maul, 4 damage, and stack 2. I drop Melas.
Now we’re down to the drain race. Obi moves over, but it turns out he can’t draw against Xizor. He’s unarmed this time, so he goes away. My drains and stacking are too much for him. By the end of this game, I’ve got 13 cards stacked, 1 caught, and 10 out of play. That’s nearly half his deck! I like this deck now.
FW by 9
4 (+31)
THE GOOD: This deck worked like I had hoped it would. I know of some changes I’m definitely going to make, but it’s a solid design.
THE BAD: I don’t know why the flip side logically says anything about Senators, but I threw them in for mini-profit damage. They’re not worth it to me.
THE UGLY: 1, 1, and a 1? Come on! That hurts me.
PROPS TO OPPONENT: He knows how to make a game competitive. He does as much damage in battles as he can, and he’s still got stuff left to win late game drain races. I managed to get him this time.
Alright, 2-0 so far. This is nice. It looks like I get my matchup next game. I get Girard to sign 3 copies of his card for me (panoramic-style, ya know?), and I watch the Counter Strike games that are going on. This tournament is actually day 2 of the I-10 cup (day 1 is in Tucson, day 2 is in Chandler, you need to drive the I-10 to get between them), but I didn’t make it to Saturday’s game, so I’m not eligible for the 2 day prize pool. I don’t really care so much about who takes it since I’m not even in the running. It would be cool to have Shaner win, but I have the feeling the trophy is headed down to Tucson with Hunter this time around. At the last minute, Shaner slides a place ahead of me, so he tackles Hayes this game.
GAME 3: DS vs. Brian Garrison - WYS (1744)
This was a REALLY tight game. I flip on turn 1 with Watto at home at Graga next door and force him to lose 7 by putting TPM back in my deck. I don’t have any backup for either of them, so I move Graga over to flip back. He decides to wait a turn, and I draw for Maul. He drops EPP Han with a Palace Raider at Most Espa, and I drop my Sith Lord in front of them to flip back. I tried to battle, but he pointed out that he doesn’t have presence there. DOH! I forgot about that one. Luke drops next turn and picks a fight with Maul. Maul dies, but so do both of his smugglers (I wanted Luke to live so I actually had someone to battle - this would turn out to be a mistake upon retrospect). We exchange drains, and seeing that he has no cards in hand, I drop a destroyer droid into the Cantina to steal the drain of 2. I get it for a turn, but next turn I pay for my greed. He gets beat up real bad and takes a few of my cards down with him. When the Cantina clears out and he’s down to 0 cards in hand, I try again with P-60, but I get the same result next turn. I’ve gotta try to win this game, though.
It gets down to 9 cards left vs. 9 cards left. I’m doing 2 damage through drains, and he’s doing 3. I’m flipped, so I have the possibility to do another pair of damage. He saves the Force, so I try to drop free characters. It gets to my 6 vs. his 7. I drain 2, but in order to win, I’m forced to move Watto and Graga in front of Mirax and a Palace Raider in a craft, and I drop the droid into the Cantina for free. I don’t battle so he can’t drain. In the battles that follow, he beats the crap out of my characters, so I lose Watto, Graga, and 4 more cards. Down to 2 left, and my battle droid just isn’t going to cover the damage he’s gonna take. I’ve got a 5 in my deck (and 1 Force saved), so I take a shot at Tallon Karde to make him lose another pair of cards before he kills me off. The overflow damage is more than I can handle.
FL by 3
4 (+28)
THE GOOD: This was a fun game. I might have been able to pull it off if I had played a little smarter.
THE BAD: I caught his Control & TV, but it was his last copy, so it didn’t do much.
THE UGLY: The battles in the Cantina killed me. If I hadn’t gone for the greedy drains, I might have won this. And if Luke died and the smugglers remained, he would have flipped back and it might have been different again. I know for next time, I guess.
PROPS TO OPPONENT: This was a fun game that went down to the wire, and that’s always fun. Garrison was a good sport about the win, and that’s always cool.
Well, here we go! The moment you’ve all been waiting for in true dramatic fashion. I’m currently the top LS player of the day, so that means
GAME 4: LS vs. Hayes Hunter - Hunt Down And Destroy The Viper mains (2210)
Hunt Down? That’s my objective! I feel so betrayed by the card... tee hee. I get a phenominal opening hand, and it winds up costing me any chance I had of winning this game. I’ve got Qui-Gon, Obi, Lando, Panaka, Double Agent, Lost In The Wilderness, Obi’s stick, and some other random card. I leave Vader to himself when he drops to Watto’s shop, and the Dark Lord gets lost next turn. He drops Maul, Dr. E, and Ozzel to find him. R I I I I I I I G H T. At least I caught his Imperial Command. Okay, I suppose I can challenge that. I check across the board and realize that he’s giving me 1 LS icon. I miss Hunt Down. I think I’m going to build it again.
Anyway, I decide to drop Obi-Wan down in front of the crew. In true fearless Jedi genius, he battles. Hit Maul, and draw high enough to kill off Dr. E. DOH! I missed one! I lose Obi and a couple. Ozzel finds Vader next turn. Drat. With my super cool hand, I lose the drain off the top of the deck. There goes a site. Visage is hurting me and I can’t find my 2 Transmission Terminated, but I’ve got Lando in hand. He’s leaving his forces pretty buff, so I’m hoping I can pull a surprise Double Agent and wipe out what’s left. Turns out she never hits the table, and I’m left with no choice but to cancel Visage with him. Thrawn tries to kill him off, but he gets excluded.
Tawss Khaa drops in front of Thrawn, but he sees me coming and closes a Barrier in his path. Lando moves over for the extra drain, knowing that Tawss will kill Thrawn. I can’t draw a 0 because I’ve lost them all off the top. Doesn’t matter - I didn’t want to generate any Force AT ALL this game anyway. I drop Obi to Watto’s shop (and he flips - no complaints), but Janus and Tarkin block him. His reserve deck has a 1 on top and a 4 under it, although he claims not to know the order. He battles Obi, who lives through the ordeal and kills off Tarkin in the process. HE DOESN’T BATTLE AGAINST TAWSS KHAA!!! Sweet! He still gets the 4, but I don’t know what my destinies are. I know they’re poor, so I don’t predict. I wind up winning the battle, but we both die. Lando stays on the ship next door to drain 2. He drains me pretty badly next turn, and I can’t possibly do anything.
FL by 21
4 (+7)
THE GOOD: The starting hand was good, ...
THE BAD: ... but it forced me to lose off the top of the deck, robbing me of any activation.
THE UGLY: The destinies in this deck suck. I need to work on that. Mara never came down. No TT. Sucking in general.
PROPS TO OPPONENT: I really enjoyed this game - Hayes is the best player I’ve had a game against. He was a good sport and made the game fun.
Well, I don’t consider it a scrub out: I consider it 2-1, then I played Hunter. That’s not too bad. ;-) I had fun, and I’m glad I decided to make the 45-minute drive to get here. Shaner plays in the I-10 Finals with Hunter, but Hunter takes him both games. The trophy indeed returns to Tucson for the first time since the introduction of the cup. Well, the Outer Rim has been the runner up twice now (Shaner this time, myself the time before). I don’t know who finished 2nd the first time, but I remember that Girard took first. Anyway, it was fun. My rating drops a pair of points to 1729, not too shabby. I didn’t snag the top 5, so sorry about that.
PROPS:
* Gamerz Edge and Enrique for hosting the tournament
* Hayes Hunter for winning the trophy.
* Grayson for being able to come.
* Pat for the cool LS idea - I’ll keep working on it
* Shaner for placing 2nd and letting me use his DS
SLOPS:
* Me for allowing a beatdown twice in game 3 that would wind up costing me the game
* Coruscant for being released WAY too soon after Tatooine - we’re looking at 5 sets this year alone, did you realize that? Reflections 2, Tatooine, Coruscant, Theed Palace, and Reflections 3. Can you say "money-game"?
* BoShek for not being able to Weapon Lev Vader’s Saber away (I looked it up in 4 places - it’s vague, but it’s correct).
Thanks for reading!
-Steve