european-continental-2001-i-am-not-in
Title: european-continental-2001-i-am-not-in
Author: Julien "Dark Padawan" Riviere
Date: Aug 28, 2001
HISTORY
It started last year, during european continental 2000. I had been qualified for day2 by winning french championship. Before that tournament, i hadnt met the best european players, i had only read some stuff about them on decktech but i had never seen their faces. I came in belgium with a friend, Jimmy Faelens. He showed me the best players: Martin Akesson, Bastian Winkelhaus, Martin Falke, Peter Di Biasio,... were there.
Continental were preceeded by belgium grand slam, and i had played well until i played against Matt Alen and i was seating next to Martin Akesson. I thought i would played against him if i won that game... But my "late game sputidity" showed up and i didnt save the force to react with an arcona. Vader and Mara beatdown that scrub and i lost... Sure enough Matt Alen got paired against Martin Akesson the next 2 games. I was disappointed. Martin won the uncut sheet being undefeated in the tournament.
I hadnt had to play in day1 so i played some games against who wanted it. I played a few with David Destephanis then Martin Akesson showed up. We played against and i won the first game (i was playing TIGIH speeders/maneuvring flaps against his BHBM SAC) Cool :) After the game i told him i made that deck to beat ralltiir ops... So he offered me to play against the legendary Martin/Marteen ralltiir ops. Cool :) Sure enough I got wrecked... I then played with my own ralltiir ops against his EBO x-wing swarm and lost again. After the tournament, me and my friends all went to Pizza Pai and i copied the dark deck of the other french guy who was qualified.
I won my first game by 30 or so and got paired against...Martin Falke, cool :) I was playing TIE deck without sac protection (i remind you i copied it) and Martin Falke showed me the power of tracking. In one turn he was tracking like 4 destinies: he activated, played On The Edge, activated, deployed, battled, sensed all my stuff, drew his 2 tracked battle destinies, then played a second On The Edge. Wow! For someone who didnt even know the ability of tracking (me) it was incredible. My next darkside game was against...Peter Di Biasio. Cool :) I remind you i was playing a copied deck without odds protection (yes the same which was without sac protection) and sure enough Peter was playing a speeders/never tell me the odds deck. I finished 1-5 in the tournament :( Martin Akesson had beaten everybody and got paired against Marteen Rossou in the final confrontation. He won and i was really impressed by that guy who always plays in sockets.
So Martin Akesson is the guy who gave me the wish to progress, Martin Falke is the guy who showed me how tracking is lethal and Peter Di Biasio is the guy who showed me that you always have to play odds protection. At that time my dream was to play in the final confrontation of european continental 2001.
During this year, i went to some big european tournaments like belgiam decipher week-end in Brugge or belgiam open in Antwerp. And i met the beast, aka Bastian Winkelhaus. We played in Brugge and i beat him (time win) to win the tournament being 6-0 (you can read the report on my member page). We played in Antwerp and i beat him once (time win) even if my "late game stupidity" showed up (you can read my report on my member page). He then beat me to win the tournament, me being 7-1. I decided to take my revenge on him (we were 1/1 with me winning brugge and him winning antwerp) during european continental 2001. So here we go...
PRE-TOURNEY STUFF
I am student so i cant go to deciphercon more than a few days due to school and i cant pay the trip only to stay a few days (it is expensive to stay only 2 days). So if i want to go to deciphercon i have to win the trip. To prepare this tournament, i couldnt playtest much since my french playtest partner (Jimmy Faelens) just settled in UK and my belgian playtest partners (Fabien Jacques and Christophe Vandalem) were in vacations. However I discovered Cardtable (the way to play SWCCG online), and played against Bastian. I was playing WYS against his Wattos deck. He won by 5 but it wasnt so bad since it was my first online game (it is harder to be concentrated) and my first game against watto. Then i talked a lot about strategy with Jonathan Chu, Brian Hunter, Hayes Hunter, Jimmy Faelens and Fabien Jacques. They all helpt me a lot (go read your names in props section ;) For day1, i was expecting a lot of darkside main&toys (hunt down, maul deck and senate main) so i chose to play hidden base flip. But i realised that hidden base get beat against wattos (i expected that all the german guys would play this deck) I talked more with Jonathan and Hayes, they both adviced me to play wys. So i chose wys for day1. For day2, i thought about the non interactive dagobah podracing we built with Jimmy since it beats wattos deck. Darkside is harder but i finally chose Dark Surgeon for day1 (i was 4-0 with it in antwerp and coruscant expansion reinforced it) since it beats all kinds of ground decks (wys, qmc and rst) despite dont do that again. I didnt know about darkside for day2.
DAY 1 (74 players show up so we will play 8 games)
Note: The room is very hot so i use Martin Akesson tech: i play in sockets without my shoes...
Decks: Light WYS
Dark Dark Surgeon
Game#1 Light against Pierre Nicolas Stebe (AOBS)
Pierre Nicolas is a young french newbie who plays AOBS with all the bounty hunters and hidden weapon/vibro ax things. He starts deploying a lot of guys on D* DB and CC DB which is a mistake. I bunker up tatooine system to avoid him to prevent battle plan and menace fades and i satisfy my stuff with JediLuke+saber and 2 random smugglers on one of the 2 tatooine DB (DB 94 or Mos Espa DB). He kills my 3 guys with weapons and hidden weapon but i deploy another JediLuke+saber and start retrieving all my loss with an on the edge cycle (mirax). There is a lot of battlegrounds on ground for me to flee and he has ever deployed all his guys. I win with no cards in lost pile... Congrats to Pierre Nicolas for knowing well his deck and his objective (AOBS is not the easiest deck to play for a newbie).
FW 2(+ 32)
Game#2 Dark against Marcin Korczynski (WYS podracing)
Marcin starts podracing but i stall him and draw high. I start deploying on his site (Xizor+Guri on DB 94 and p-59 on cantina) and drain like a mad man while he loses force from my objective. He tries to kill p-59 with Jedi Luke (without stick) but the droid hits him (lukes defense value was minus one), makes Marcin lose 2 forces while he draws low and doesnt kill the destroyer droid. I reinforce p-59 with Palpy and add search&destroy. His loss pile his growing while the podrace is mine. He makes a mistake: he plays Neck&Neck on my turn so i dont draw race destiny next control phase which is his own control phase !?! So my next turn i draw race destiny :) I add insult to injury
while we get the same race total and i stall him again to win the podrace ! I spread on the podrace arena and he deploys dash+outrider on kessel. Boba in S1 come in front of outrider which gets lateral damaged. He loses dash and i drain him out for a 2nd confortable win.
FW 2(+ 34)
4(+ 66)
Game#3 Light against Marcus Wuest (Wattos deck like bastian one)
At that time, i have never played against Marcus Wuest or Martin Schumacher. So I am happy to get paired against Marcus. He applies the first turn flip with televan korey and watto (all of these for free !) and he does the bluff. I dont remember if i deploy honor but i know i have battle plan first turn (dont remember if i pull it off with yisyw). I set up on tatooine and keep a step backward for his turn (to still draw 3 race detinies). He doesnt drain but deploys all the drain adder guys (palpy+janus and mara+stick) on the cantina. I do a mistake with the podrace by keeping the 2 highest race destinies without counting his race total so he can stall me again and win the podrace. I take some drains of 4 in the cantina before deploying menace fade and a ground force on one of the tatooine DB (jediluke+stick and 2 random smugglers). I retrieve the podrace damage with 2 on the edge and spread on Kessel. He deploys Chimarea + Zuckuss on kessel and i battle them on my turn. He loses chimaera but can drain for free one turn. I then battle zuckuss but he plays ghhhk. We both drain each other and time is annonced. I finish my turn and we count. I have 16 cards while he only has 15...After the game, Marcus realised he could have play force lihtning on janus and have 16 cards like me. I am sorry for you Marcus.
TW 1(+ 16)
5(+ 82)
Game#4 Dark against Bertrand Gorse (RST)
Bertrand is a cool french player who plays RST which blows up the bunker but without podracing. First turn, Palpy goes on the rebel landing site. On his turn he deploys madine+kensaric on back door and battle plan/DTF. My turn i pay to drain, deploy zuckuss on endor and move xizor. I drain a few while he deploys a horde of scouts on back door along with Luke JK. I reinforce a few on endor system and move xizor to add to drain. He surprises me by deploying home one early with akbar+hashn. The end of the game consists of me adding bounty hunters on my ships to stay in space and drain for free and him shuttling scouts on home one as forfeit units and battling me. I always track 2 big destinies to kill a few scouts each time. He never attempts to blow up the bunker and i drain him out.
FW 2(+ 24)
7(+106)
Game#5 Light against Angelo Consoli (Senate main)
Angelo is a very cool guy but this game is uneventful, him setting up in the senate with lott dod and tikkes and me setting up in space. He drains a few and once with the political effect which adds 2 to drain. But i set up battle the plan/menace fades lock with Jedi Luke and 2 random smugglers on one of the 2 tatooine DB. I then spread out on kessel with Strike Force which surprises Angelo (props to Jonathan Chu and Hayes Hunter ;) He cant cancel my drains in space so he tries to come in space but i destroy his small space fleet and the game is long, us draining each others. I retrieve a few with On the Edge but he grabs. I eventually drain him out...
FW 2(+ 17)
9(+123)
Game#6 Dark against Alex Tennet (WYS)
It is the 2nd time i play against Alex and it is the 2nd time i use Dark Surgeon against him. The first time was in antwerp and i won. However, this time he has Dont Do That Again as starting effect. First turn, I deploy Palpy on Cantina and move Xizor. I dont remember what he did on his turn. My turn i drain, deploy Bad Feeling Have I and move to flip. I think he then tries to flip me back by transiting Luke on spaceport db. Some bounty hunters kill him with the help of No Escape (deploy minus 3 is cool). In my attack i use Batlle Order/First Strike so my drains are costing me some forces. I think he came a second time on the ground and set up in space but i clean the ground and drain him out. It is the 2nd time i beat alex with my dark surgeon and even if he started Dont Do That Again.
FW 2(+ 28)
11(+151)
Game#7 Light against Bruce Savin (AOBS)
First, let me say this guy is the coolest guy to play. He starts invading my sites and flips while i set up on tatooine system. But i got a good starting hand with Luke JK+Saber+Dodge. So he flips back immediatly. Battle Plan is annoying him so he comes in space with Zuckuss + Guri in Stinger. I first try to deploy X-wing Laser Cannon on Red 10 but he plays Kiss a Wookie. So i deploy Kessel, flee there and eat his free drains a few. On my next turn, i try to re-deploy my cannon on Red 10 but i have to deploy it on the same location so it is lost. Now his space fleet consists of Zuckuss+4-lom, Bossk in HT and Guri+Stinger. I just move in front of them. On his turn he tries to fight Luke but i dodge and when he tries to battle me in space i hyperescape my ships. However he grabs. I try to play A Few Maneuver to use On the Edge but he plays Tentacle to grab A Few Maneuver. At this time i need Artoo&C-3PO (i have Atoo, i have a bad feeling in hand) to fight his space fleet (he has 4 battle destinies in space) and Mirax to re-circulate a 6 and be able to play On the Edge. And i havent ever draw a single Tunnel Vision. I draw this 2 things before dying and i just chase his space fleet while he flees and i do an On the Edge cycle to retrieve 5 per turn while he drains me for 4 each turn (so i retrieve the 4 loss and the last On the Edge each turn and re-draw it with Mirax). He doesnt make me lose force anymore while I drain him a few while he flees in space. So when the time is annonced he gives me the full win. Thank you Bruce...
FW 2(+ 14)
13(+165)
Game#8 Dark against Bruce Savin (TIGIH)
Now i am the lone undefeated guy and i have to play against Bruce again. He is playing a TIGIH podracing deck with Goo Nee Tay as starting effect so i cant deploy Palpy first turn on endor DB. I pull all my locations quickly and take the edge in podrace but a couple of A Step Backward help him to win the race. We have a few skirmishes on Endor DB but since it was the last game and i was ever qualified for day2, i played like a scrub and i dont remember well. I know that IG-88 x2, 4-lom x2, Dengar x2 and Aurra Sing died in the battles without killing Luke. I remember that in a battle i capture Luke with IG but instead of sending him in the used i seizured him, and IG got hit by Qui-Gon so Luke came back on Endor DB (so i couldnt have move on Palpy). When i finally kill Luke with P-59, Palpy moves on endor but i have ever lost my 2 Force Lightning (from reserve deck) and Bruce deploys another Luke and i lose 2 forces per turn. He adds insult to injurry by deploying Tk-422 in front of Palpy and i dont drain anymore. Whatever, I am qualified for day2...
FL 2(- 12)
13(+153)
So i finish 3rd, Angelo Consoli get 2nd and Bruce get 1st. My time win prevents me again from being 1st but whatever, Brian Hunter told me that wys does time win...
I am too tired to play so i decide to keep dark surgeon (with some changes) for day2 and take non interactive dagobah podracing for lightside.
DAY 2 (26 players show up)
Deck: Light non interactive dagobah podrace
Dark dark surgeon
Game#1 Light against Mickeal Rogers (HD)
Mickeal is using an old school HD which sets up on jabbas palace and audience chamber pulled off by Neimodien Advisor. First turn, he draws and we lose from visage. My turn i look at my reserve deck but no Transmission Terminated (i am playing 4) is in my used pile. I think i deployed Yoda but i dont remember well. His turn, he deploys Jabbas Palace and Audience Chamber. He puts Vader DLOTS and i am unhappy because i dont play Uncontrolable Fury (i was thinking that day2 players wouldnt be crazy enough to deploy a non Lord Darth Vader against a dagobah non interactive). Whatever, i do my stuff (AFA, Visored Vvision which gets grabbed, Battle Plan, Projection of Skywalker), cancel visage and win the race. When i cancel his second visage, he plays We Must Accelerate Our Plans to get No Escape so i immediatly play Visored Vision to bury his Visage. He doesnt deploy No Escape, but deploy Search&Destroy. He doenst keep force due to I Did It so i deploy DTF and Obi epp in front of Palpy+Janus and battle. I swing at Janus and hit him. He activates one force with Wipe them out, all of them, and plays I have you now. I lose Obi and a couple cards but he loses S+D. On his turn, he actives AFA but play Projective Telepathy. I decide not to play Visored Vision now even if i knew he has No Escape in hand and Mickeal takes back S+D. He deploys it again by adding Drth Maul with Palpy. I should have play Visored Vision to bury his S+D like i made with his 2nd Visage but i am dumb. Now i havent any epp in hand and my "late game stupidity" shows up. Since i lost Kessel in the beginning of the game (from reserve deck) and since i saw that Mickeal has lost a few ships. I lost from hand my falcon ! Immediatly, Mickeal deploys Endor system and Bossk in HT. So he doesnt activate anymore and only drains on Endor and makes me lose from S+D. Sure enough i get an epp when i have only 5 forces left so i dye like a scrub...
FL 0(- 5)
Game#2 Dark Surgeon against Richard Andichon (the same deck than me since i slept to his house this night)
Day 2 starts bad for me since i lost my first game. Now i have to win all my remaining games. Sure enough i play against the guy with who i made my deck last night. If i lose this game i will drop... I will only give you the way i use to beat his deck. Xizor+Guri+Vigo are on Death Star DB while Palpy+IG are on his Podrace Arena. I drain by paying and canceling his AFA with Projective Telepathy (i redraw them easily since i see my force pile) and i started with Allegation of Corruption to grab Visored Vision. So he loses 6 a turn and have to come. He tries once on Death Star DB with Luke but i Put all section on alert him and i lose nothing. He tries a second time with Obi Epp on arena (i force lightning him used) and tries to swing at IG (to cancel S+D) but since i have one force left (Wipe them out, all of them) i play Oh switch of and capture Obi... I won because i know exactly what to do (it was my lightside deck). Winning against his friend is boring, sorry Richard.
FW 2(+24)
2(+19)
Game#3 Dark against Alex Tennet (the same WYS as day1 i think)
It is the 3rd time i play Alex in my life, it is the 3rd time i play dark against him and it is the 3rd time i play dark surgeon :) He is exhausted to play against my Dark Surgeon. Alex uses a different way to play in this game and deploys all his smugglers along with Luke on the ground. In first battles, i got unlucky and miss my weapons even if i target some ability 2 smugglers. I have to pay for drainning, he hasnt and drains me on Kessel. His cannon kill my Zuckuss in MH so i have to eat the drain. i eventually clean the ground and flip. So we both pay to drain and i make him lose forces. I eventually win the drain race...
FW 2(+ 4)
4(+21)
Game#4 Light against Bart Ouwehand (TIEs swarm)
I have to play the worst matchup for my light deck. He starts deploying system (Kashyyyk, Sullust and Endor) and putting a lone TIE on them, protected by Mind Trick Dont Works On Me. I do my stuff (Battle Plan, JT#1, AFA, Visored Vision). He always pay 3 to drain and eat the forces loss from AFA. I win the race and prepare my attack (MF, Capt Han, Luke Epp, Dont Get @#$%y, DTF, I Did it/Beggar, Legendary Starfighter). I apply it on a lone TIE and he starts losing forces from Legendary Startfighter. He retrieves a few with his ties but i win this tigh and uneventful game.
FW 2(+ 7)
6(+28)
Game#5 Dark against Mickeal Rogers (EBO podracing)
Here are what i do: Xizor+Guri+Vigo on D* DB, Palpy+Vigo+Dengar+POTF on exe DB and Search&Destroy. So i drain like a mad man and he loses a lot of forces. But i am a scrub, there are 2 battlegrounds where he can deploy to satisfy S+D: North Ridge and Podrace Arena. I should have waited he finishes the race then deploy Palpy+Vigo+Dengar on arena. I also deploy Boba Fett in S1 on Hoth system to force him to deploy (i have Ghhk in hand and Wipe them all out, all of them on table). An early Mnnok got 2 Epp Luke which is cool. He deploys Lando in ship+X-wings x3 on Boba and battle. He has 2 force left so i play Projective Telepathy to prevent him from having force my turn. So he pays 2 and he has no force left. He beats Boba but i Ghhhk. My turn i deploy Zuckuss in MH+4-lom+IG+Lateral Damage on Lando+First Strike and battle. I draw my tracked 6,3,6 to force 17 to attrition, enough to kill his 4 ships. But on his turn he deploys Red Leader in R1 with canon and kill Zckuss in MH. He then deploy Obi epp on north ridge to satisfy S+D and I Did It. I have no character to send him so i draw. he drains me and retrieve luke epp with i did it. My turn i deploy Aurra Sing + 4-lom in front of Obi epp and battle. He draws 3 so i lose 4-lom while he loses Obi. Then he deploys Luke Epp on arena to flip me back and satisfy Searc&destroy. P-59 comes in front of him but i havent enough forces
to battle. On his turn he drains me and battle P-59. Luke and the droid both died so i flip back and he lost from S+D, my objectif and my drains...
FW 2(+ 2)
8(+30)
Game#6 Light against Andreas Petz (Wattos deck like bastian one)
I have to win the last game but the last game is against Wattos deck so its good. Andreas cant flip first turn which is bad for him. He starts the podrace and draw his race destiny. He then plays We Must Accelerate Our Plans to get Hit Racer, so i play We Wish You To Board At Once to get Too Close For Comfort. I do my usual stuff (AFA, VV, Battle Plan). He sets up S+D with watto on his house and P-59 on mos Espa. He does his bluff and i lose 2 (i lose Beggar). My turn, i play Effective Repairs to get back Beggar, deploy it, use his forces to deploy Obi Epp in front of P-59. I battle and hit the droid. Andreas doesnt shoot and doesnt draw battle destiny. He uses Ghhhk instead. On his turn i made the same mistake as against Marcus Wuest, i deploy my race destinies without counting my opponents race total. So Andreas can stall me again next turn. He deploys Vader Epp and a random guy in front of Obi then battles. He tries to swing but i play Too Close For Comfort to cancel the targeting. I only lose Obi (i dont remember if i hit someone). I won the race with the help of A Step Bacward and use 6 forces to retrieve. Now the game is mine since S+D is out. Andreas never grabs my VV and always lose from AFA but one (Projective Telepathy which i Viored Vision lost). I retrieve 4 more with I Did It but never find my Projections Of Skywalker before the end so he always drains me. I eventually deploy MF+Capt Han+Luke on Kessel and drain him out...
FW 2(+13)
10(+43)
Now i have to wait that the game between Alex Tennet (dark surgeon) and Peter Di Biasio (HB Flip) ends. If Peter Di Biasio wins, he is in the final confrontation with Bastian, if he loses, I am in the final confrontation. I cant look their game but everybody tell me that the time is coming and they both have 20 cards remaining. So i feel happy since my lightside deck beats Wattos deck (which Bastian is using) and since my darkside deck beats WYS (which Bastian is using). I won against the WYS of Bastian in Antwerp with my dark surgeon and i beat 3 WYS this week end (2 of the 3 were the WYS of Alex Tennet who starts DDTA). I feel pretty confident untill someone tells me that time is annonced and that Alex Tennet drew all his remaining cards (he hadnt probe the hidden base of Peter so he should have paid to draw and Peter should have won a Time Win not a Full Win.
You all know the result: IM NOT IN THE FINAL CONFRONTATION AND I CANT GO TO DECIPHER CON ANYMORE...
The next instant i wanted to dye and stopped to play SWCCG. Anyway i wanted to look the final confrontation to see if Peter deserves to be in the final instead of me or not. And instead of winning against Watto as I would have won, he lost by 38. Yes 38...in a final confrontation of continental. At that time i was totally angry against Peter... The second game, Bastian won by whatever.
But now the angry is gone down and i know that Peter is a very good player and he lost because he was nervous. He hadnt the good deck against Bastian contrary to me.
Now, for all of those who asked me if i will go to worlds championship, i answer NO i wont, my lone way to go to is far...
To end this long report, the legendary P&S
PROPS TO
Bastian Winkelhaus for being the beast
Martin Falke for showing me how to track
Martin Falke for always annoying french judges, it was so funny
Martin Akesson for giving me the wish to progress
Martin Akesson for showing me the way to play well AKA you have to play in sockets
Peter Di Biasio for being a good player anyway
Marc Thery, Benoit Morel, Frederic Dijoux and Thierry Guegen for leading a good tournament
All the french guys for supporting me
Alex Tennet for creating Dark Surgeon and losing 3 times against mine
Jonnathan Chu for talking so much with me
Hayes Hunter for advicing me to play WYS in day 1
Fabien Jacques for always being online to talk
Jimmy Faelens for not paying phone and always phoning me to help me
Brian Hunter for telling me his thoughts (wys does time win)
All my opponents (Bruce, Mickeal, Bertrand, Angelo, Marcus...) for being cool to play
For all of those i forget
SLOPS TO
Me for doing time win (by playing WYS)
My differential for sucking in day2
"My late game stupidity" for costing me important games
Decipher for not offering the plane ticket during opens
Thanx for reading, DONT see you at Decipher Con...