ahh-ya-time-for-a-beer
Title: ahh-ya-time-for-a-beer
Author: Hayes "Hayes" Hunter
Date: Sep 4, 2001
I was pissed I couldnt go to GenCon or the Atlanta DPC ’cause of my run in with the law in Connecticut the month prior. But it was prolly a good thing ’cause I had no idea what to do for dark. Without Coruscant I was stuck using Bastian’s Brangus, and though its an incredible deck, its fairly easy to beat if you are expecting it, but whatever. So GenCon comes and goes (MAD Props to Chu for doing so well, btw) and Coruscant is out. Talking tech with the Twiggs and Chu was confusing. First we thought WYS would still kick ass, and so would senators, so I just modified my version of Bottomly’s WYS, and kept tweaking this Maul Senator deck everyone else seemed to have. After some playtesting and more long distance phone calls Chu has lost faith in WYS and we are all against Senators. Too many cards are involved for the senate, and the benefits just arent that great, but whatever. I’m not convinced WYS is ass, and I’m working and getting prepped for the move across the country, so I dont change it. In fact I dont change anything until I reach Arizona. I just spend a lot of time actively thinking about things on the plane. The day I arrive I know I need to start playing, since I only played a couple games with my bro before I left and the Cup was only a week away. So Enrique comes over that first night and we play a bunch but he doesnt have any Coruscant in his decks. The next week is a blur. I bought @#$% for college, played a ton of games with Enrique (MAD Props, man) and then moved in.
Lemme just take a quick paragraph here to inform you all of the college / girl situation here. A lot of people only know about ASU. Thats Arizona State University. It’s located in Tempe, which is closer to Phoenix. I’m going to UA, thats the University of Arizona. The whole time I am telling people this everyone is like, "that sucks, ASU is the good one; they were ranked like 3rd overall in Playboy for having the hottest chicks." The thing is thats not true at all. Its UA that was ranked in the top 5, but whatever. All I know is that in Arizona the weather is hot and the women are hotter. Like damn. So yeah, wish you were here.
Anyway, moving on, and moving in, for that matter, I got into my dorm on Wednesday then got stuck doing orientation crap for 2 more days, until the tourney. This left very little time for SW, especially given the dramatic increase in MAD hot chicks in my immediate area. Basically, as I tend to do whenever new cards come out, I went back to basics for decks, more or less. For Light I was using a SOLID WYS, again very similar to Bottomly’s awesome creation, and dark is a SOLID HDADTJ, a lot like what was popular just before DDTA came out (i.e. Imp Commands and Mob Points and Mains). Rating going into the weekend was 2183 with 413 games played.
And about the title: the last night, Friday, before the tournament I was over at Enrique’s house just playtesting some more and he happened to have this beer bottle opener on the table. I’m like, "Whats the deal?" and he shows me. When pressure is applied to the inside of the circular opening a circuit is completed and this voice that can only be described as belonging to some beer bellied fat @#$% says, "Ahh Ya! Time for a beer!" as if its the most important thing in the world. The guy sounds so happy I decide I must have him with me for the tournament and whenever I draw a good destiny or whatever I get to play the recording.
Day 1:
Today the tournament is to be held in Kards 4 You, a store in Tucson. We had, I think, 19 people.
Game One
WYS Vs John Marion’s (1607) Junkyard SBDs
John is using the new Watto objective with pod racing, Inconsequential Losses being his SE. I opt for the usual start: Insurrection & Aim High, SquAss, and then YISYW & Staging Areas, and I also start Anakin’s Pod. We start racing, he flashes his vents and flips a Battle Droid Rifle (destiny 6). He also drops a Security Battle Droid to Mos Espa and Watto to his home and pulls the cube. I lose 2 force to the bluff and its my turn. Go through the motions, taking Kessel into hand, pulling a DB, and I think I just drew into ASB, which I promptly played, netting me 3 draws on his control phase. We race again and I draw well and he gets a 1 or 0. He bluffs again and reinforces Mos Espa. I flip but in doing so use all my force so he bluffs me again. Quite a few battles take place at Mos Espa, and eventually I kick him off it. I own space and my drains are steady. The race total is in my favor for a while, until I get some bad draws and he starts tracking his Imperial Artillerys. I ASB a 9 for the third time when he is at 27, and then I was able to win on the next turn. Then I get in a couple Edges to boost my dif.
FW +35
2(+35)
Highs: Johnnys a cool guy and I really look forward to playing him again.
Lows: Winning by 35, though I was trying to rise as far above the sea as possible.
Game Two
HDADTJ Vs Andres Lopez’s (1678) WYS SOLID
Andres is one of the Tucson locals who I had the pleasure of meeting prior to the I-10 cup. He had told me he hadn’t been playing much lately, so I didnt know what to expect, as he could be out of the Meta loop I had been attempting to interpret. Anyway, I start the same 2 effects I always do: IAO & Secret Plans and Mob Points, then I chose Allegation of Corruption, I believe, as my third to stop his Control & TVs. He tells me he was meaning to add DDTA, but had forgotten to do so. I get a virtual god draw: I deploy Carida, the Executor DB, Accelerate my plans for the Bridge, and Math Vader and Stick hit the Cantina right off the bat. He loses one to Visage. He, on the other hand, got an awful 8 and is forced to draw up and then lose another force. I activate uber force and drain for 3, drop the Coruscant DB with Maul to it, then put Thrawn on his ship at Tatooine, and move Maul over to DB 94. He loses another force. He’s still having his troubles... I am almost sure he still doesn’t do anything. On my next turn when I drain with Maul Lost in the Wilderness makes him go missing. So instead of trying to rescue him immediately, I Imp Command for Thrawn and deploy him with the Chimaera to Tatooine, holding Zuckuss (still from my opening draw) and pick up an IHYN. Andres is forced to deploy Kessel for force, and then deploys some ships there, to attempt to even out the damage, though Visage is still eating him. I have Visage canceled at one point, but then I just redeployed it on my turn. Umm... the end of the game was kinda dull. My fast damage made him lose a lot of critical components necessary for him to mount any kind of come back, though through my hesitation to draw (and thus reduce my differential) he was able to whittle me down to 20 force.
FW +20
4(+55)
Highs: Such a great start for me, and WYS for being the best comeback deck out there (read on!).
Lows: Such a bad start for him didnt make it much of a game.
Game Three
WYS Vs Chris Shaner’s (1903) TDIGWATT
I had heard a lot about Shaner through the grape vine. I knew he had beaten Hunter and it was obvious to me that the local players have a lot of respect for the guy. It was cool cause he has all these decks built and was totally cool about lending them to whoever wanted to use them. Anyway, the first thing I ask him upon seeing his objective is, "you know I have the gun, why give me the bullets?" and he just kinda shrugs. He starts the Downtown Plaza over the West Gallery for whatever reason and does IAO/SP via his purple, and then I’m Sorry, Crush, and TINT/OE. I do my regular. He gets sites and draws, saving 4. On my turn he searches for crush and discovers the Admiral he wants is in his force pile so he spends 4 on a lost Monnok, getting absolutely nothing. Since I activated like 12 force it was easy to flip with Han at the Carbonite Chamber and Talon Karrde at the Cantina. I was holding a Barrier, a Dodge, AND an On the Edge (to kill Han, if need be) so I was set. He just flips me back with Maul to the Cantina. My turn I drain, and Tunnel Vision for something. I smack Maul with Melas and Chewbacca and maybe another guy (in addition to Talon). So I am flipped still. I get out Goo Nee Tay real early, and manage to draw into both my Beggars surprisingly early.
WRITERS NOTE 9/2/01: All that you have read up to this point and all the ratings / Highs & Lows / game match ups in the entire thing I wrote up within the first week since the actual tournament. Since then, things have gotten INCREDIBLY busy. I’ve moved on from Heather to Katie, classes have been set in stone, bills paid, etc. Anyway, my point is I dont have nearly as much time to put into doing these reports, and as such, their quality will suffer somewhat. I will certainly put the effort into detail when I can, but for the most part my TRs won’t be the same. That said, on with the game...
So yeah, he just kinda saves force for my beggar, and I keep Luke away from the people that can play I Have You Now. I just own him this game, killing whatever he puts down. He draws up before I can start tracking any destinies to Edge with.
FW +18
6(+73)
Highs: I had the gun...
Lows: He gave me the bullets.
Game Four
HDADTJ Vs Jared Arthur’s (1839) Senator @#$% Deck
He was playing light senators. Thats bad. It gets even worse when he loses Honor and the drain canceller effect within the first 3 turns. Math Vader and stick hit the Cantina turn one and I just deal tons of damage extremely quickly, killing whatever force he plops down wherever they may be.
FW +21
8(+94)
Highs: Not having to deal with the drain canceling PE.
Lows: Him losing the PE and Honor REALLY quickly.
Game Five
WYS Vs Patrick Hugs’ (1931) Junkyard Control
Cool idea. Kinda. He does the Watto thing and puts the pod race arena in between the two sites the puts Expand on it, so when the race is going on the arena isn’t a BG, but the adjacent sites are, despite the fact that you can’t fight or drain at them. He flips first turn and deals the damage to me. I get behind in the race and the damage race, not realizing how I could just deploy the Mos Espa DB to stop the Expand from hitting one of his 2 sites until it was too late. Deciding turn of the game: he deploys EPP Vader to where Melas is draining for 2 at the Tat: DB via I’ll Take the Leader, but I Barrier from the lost pile. I pull the race out of my ass, as WYS is incapable of losing a race ever, getting back force to actually deploy stuff, and now I know my destinies. So next turn Chewbacca Protector comes down to where Melas is, I battle, Run Luke Run, hit Vader, and draw 2 6s for battle destiny. He flips a 6, but with my ships at the system he is forced to lose Vader and like 15 force, leaving him with not nearly enough to combat my drains.
FW +12
10(+106)
Highs: The whole ETE thing and a game winning battle.
Lows: I didnt take advantage of the Mos Espa DB.
Game Six
HDADTJ Vs Patrick Hugs’ (1931) Senate Bluff Luke Duel Deck
I got Vader out to some DB and started draining while Visage did its thing. In the meanwhile hes not activating all that much and just kinda draws a lot, using the nekkid droid to keep his hand double free (as I found out with a Monnok). Sooner than later Jedi Luke comes to where Vader and Janus are jerking off. He battles, but I weapon levitate his saber, and he is unable to grab mine. I shoulda just YABed Luke, ending any chance that a duel could go through, but instead I shoot at Luke and he Blaster Deflections it. He plays Glancing Blow (though he couldn’t have, as he didnt have a saber, I realized on the ride home) and then initiates the duel. He courages to add a destiny so he draws 2 and I draw 2, but my power is 0. He wins the duel handedly so Vader goes bye bye (my objective doesn’t, amusingly enough) and Janus covers the battle damage. Next turn I activate a ton, Coruscant Maul, Dr. E & Ponda, and my favorite, Admiral Shnozzel come down and beat the piss outta Luke. I Have You Now, Maul Strikes, hit Luke, and then 16 battle damage.
FW +20
12(+126)
Highs: Having Vader being POOPed and yet another game winning battle.
Lows: None, it was a great game!
For coming in first I got an IAO foil, 3 packs of Coruscant containing Mace, the Queen, and Sabe, and a Tatooine pack, which held a Qui-Gon.
A bunch of the Phoenix peeps drove me to Subway and we ate, then Jared and Pat dropped me off and I gave them a couple Jap cards they needed for a set or something. Sleep.
Sunday, 19th
I wake up and shower etc. Enrique picks me up and we grab some quick food and were off. I just kinda tweak my decks, I don’t recall how, and I am without the beer opener. Ah well. Metallica and Star Wars cards were discussed at length on the trip up.
Day 2:
Now were in Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix, at Girard’s store place thing, the Gamer’s Edge. Around 16 or so people showed up.
Game One
WYS Vs Ryan Hamre’s (1664) Junkyard Mains
I don’t really remember what happened. I think I just took over Mos Espa... he left Vader or someone alone, and with the help of Beggar, Luke, RLR, Chewbacca, EPP Han, and maybe a couple other mofos I dealt 26 battle damage... Watto just isn’t that strong and WYS is just too good.
FW +23
14(+149)
Highs: 26 battle damage.
Lows: 26 battle damage.
Game Two
HDADTJ Vs Patrick Hugs’ (1931) MWYHL Turtle
The trick against these sorta decks is to go fast. I simply spread out to maximize my drains and let Visage do it’s thing. He won the race with ease, but it was like, "So what?" The 6 from the race was all the damage he did to me, basically. I still had plenty of force, and now had all 3 battleground locations on the table plastered with characters and ships. He just didnt have enough direct damage and allowed me too long to set up to get my appropriate battle interrupts into hand.
FW +11
16(+160)
Highs: Beating a deck I wasn’t sure I could.
Lows: Racing is dumb.
Game Three
WYS Vs Chris Shaner’s (1931) ISB Scum
He starts POTH and stuff like that, so I know to switch in Battle Plan / DTF for YISYW / SA for my third SE. I very quickly get out Strikeforce and then Menace Fades. In an attempt to at least send Strikeforce to the used pile he comes at me in space, but was never able to draw above a total destiny of 4, even with multiple draws on several different occasions. He couldnt do anything- I just beat him up in space and on the ground. He picked up before I could Edge.
FW +20
18(+180)
Highs: Strikeforce is TECH!
Lows: His continually assy destiny draws that prevented the momentum from shifting.
Game Four
HDADTJ Vs Steve Marshall’s 1731 E1 Environment Deck, Slightly Modified
The Hyperdrive objective might be good in the E1 environment, but certainly not for regular constructed... especially when you are still using mostly E1 legal cards. He wasnt able to get any locations, and I certainly wasn’t giving him many icons, so Vader and Maul were free to come out and do plenty of damage early with the aid of Visage. Not much happened (that I can recall).
FW +21
20(+201)
Highs: Steve was a cool and fun opponent- it was cool to finally meet him.
Lows: His deck didnt really stand a chance.
So again I finish on top. As it turns out Shaner has the second best combined score, so he gets to play me for the cup. On to the final.
Final- Game One
WYS Vs Chris Shaner’s ISB Scum
Didnt we just leave this party? Same thing happened as before, except this time he played worse cause he didn’t think he could win the game.
FW +22
Highs: I’m almost done.
Lows: He beat himself.
Final- Game Two
HDADTJ Vs Chris Shaner’s HB Flip
Flipping HB is a bad deck, but it’s late now, and this report is late, and I want to sleep, so I’m not going to get into it. I start Battle Order / First Strike to prevent him from spreading and draining too quickly and forcing him to come to the ground at some point (can you see why it’s weak yet?) Basically I get Vader draining and Visage eating. He cancels and flips putting Captain Han on the Falcon at Kessel and saves a force. I activate 13. Zuckuss in MH comes down to Kessel. Realizing that leaves me with only 7 force, not enough to really deploy anything, he just Barriers. I cancel with They’re Still Coming Through. Then comes down Shnozzel allowing Bossk in Bus to deploy. I am about to battle when he says What? No Lateral Damage? I just say Oh yeah, and deploy it. He scoops right then and there.
Highs: Shnozzel Tech for winning me the game!
Lows: None- I’m the I-10 Cup Champion!
So for my efforts today I received a small glass trophy, my name on the Cup itself (which will be staying in Kards 4 You for quite a long while), an ICBW foil, and 3 packs of Coruscant netting me a Lott Dod, which I gave to John Dunn, P-59 which I gave to Enrique, and some other @#$% rare. I forget what happens next. We just drive home and all is well in the world. Or something.
MAD PROPS to:
Enrique for being a really good TR, for the excellent prize support, for the rides, and most importantly, for the essential playtesting!
Props to:
All that attended
My opponents for excellent games, it was great getting to meet all of you
Beer guy!
Umm... see slops.
Slops:
Me for not doing this TR earlier and forgetting half the stuff that went on.
Denver DPC TR coming soon. Sorry for this TR sucking, but thanks for reading.
-Hayes "Hayes" Hunter