ithor-madrid-08-sept-01

Title: ithor-madrid-08-sept-01
Author: Heraclio "Morgoth" Sanchez
Date: Sep 10, 2001

Pre-tourney stuff.

Pre-tourney begins about a month ago. I got my two Coruscant boxes and headed for my holidays with no time for testing my new cards. I didn´t like Coruscant at first sight. I was expecting boring and non-interactive new decks. This and Decipher´s speed launching new expansions turned my thoughts into quitting the game.

I came back from my needed rest and Miguel *Big Tarkin* Tarin told me about a tourney at Nacho´s Bar. I had just played one game since I was back and it was vs Watto. I got ripped off by it so I needed a new LS deck urgently. I didn´t feel like any deck I could imagine and finally remembered about RST/Podracing which I hadn´t tested yet. The night before I was at my girlfriend´s with a bunch of cards and no internet access so I built my own version and went to bed.

I won that tourney with RST and my old TIE deck. There were plenty of non-interactive decks but my TIEs destroyed them all so I was happy again. As days passed by new ideas came to my mind to build new decks and my thoughts about quitting became weak.

New tourney and new challenges. I was pretty sure I would face lots of Watto decks for dark and WYS for light. My decks were RST/Podracing Ithor style and TIEs full of tricks.


Tournament

I got there pretty soon and and met Miguel. I was happy to see him because he´s the number one player in Madrid and a great guy too so every game vs him is a good challenge. He told me he was not playing and I just couldn´t believe it. It seems he´s quite unhappy too about the game. Too bad about it.

We waited for a while and got only 9 players. That s_u_c_k_s. Angel, Victor and Peri were the big gunners. Angel and Victor had came back from the UK Open so I was talking to them for a while. We payed the fee and pairings were announced.

Game One
My DS vs Angel´s WYS racing.

OK, my first game and the worst pairing possible. Angel was the biggest threat and I had to play him first game. My TIE deck packs Brangus and Angel has been playing Brangus engine for a long time so he knows how to face it. I start Battle Order/First Strike, YCHF/Mob. Points and TINT/OE that I´ll always do. He starts Insurrection/Aim High.

First turn he begins the race. He´s drawing low. I have a bad hand and need a while to set up. No signal and no SFS. At least I´ve got my Proton Bombs and a Scimtar TIE. I deploy them with a Dreadnut to Tatooine for a fast drain and putting pressure on him (he know´s I´ll be collapsing every interior site).

He´s building his hand and deploying some effects like Squad Assig. The race is going slow but so is going my deck. I cannot find anything so I just ping him 2 at Tatooine while failing to collpase the Cantina. He sends a task force to my DS: docinkg bay so I cannot satisfy Battle Order (I had to shuttle Brangus to a Dreadnut). Without my SFS or Maul I have to pay for every drain. I finally get Naboo and deploy more ships there so I´ve got a drain of four to his one.

He finally wins the race and makes his move deploying Han and Wedge to Tatooine. I hold some ships for a comeback so I was happy. We battled and he had to loose ten (Wedge) and I lost peanuts. He moved to Wakeelmui to increase TIE´s deployment. From then the game was pretty uneventful. He had DS:dbay, Wakeelmui and the generic dbay on Tatooine (which I could not collpase). I was holding Naboo and Tatooine. We both had to pay for our drains but I was draining bigger than him. I was holding Darth Maul in hand waiting for Melas to deploy. He moved Falcon to Death Star for big drains. Then the director told us it was our last turn. I counted my force, 11 to his 10. I was about moving my Naboo strike force to lower parsecs and then blocking Death Star drains while deploying Maul to satisfy BO but I had no time. Should had I done this two turns before I´m pretty sure I would had gotten a FW. Next turn he would drain me for 4 and get a timed win. Angel is a great guy so I conceded. FL –10

Overall: 0 (-10)

The Good: playing Angel again. It´s nice to have him back.
The Bad: loosing a game I could have won.
The Ugly: no signal or SFS until late game.

I´m pretty upset about this game but I don´t discuss the result. Well I´ll play someone easy this time.

Game Two
My LS vs Nestares´ Imperial Court

Nestares is a newbie and a fine guy but he´ll never become a good player. He plays for fun and gets it no matter the results so props to him. We playtest a lot and his deck is teched agaisnt mine. He starts IAO/Secret Palns, All Wrapped Out and YCHF. I start Strike Planning.

My blood still boils from previous game so I guess Nestares will have to pay for it. We begin the race and he stalls me with Sebulba, draws a destiny and it´s a 7! His deck has been always a low destiny one so I was impressed. He deploys the Lars Farm and the docking bay and draws taking one damage from Court.

I got a god hand vs Court with The Camp, Qui Gon, EPP Ben, EPP Luke and some random cards. I prepare to blow the Bunker and take one from Court. I was drawing like mad looking for a Step Backwards (I pack 4) but no luck for me.

His second turn we race, he draws a 5 and I keep a 7 and a 5 so he leads by 6. Deploys Lord Vader and P-59 to the Lars Farm and draws. I decide to make a run on him. Qui Gon, Ben and Luke pay a visit to Vader and his droid. I battle and slash both of them. He shoots Luke but misses so he takes some heavy damage while I loose Luke. I draw some more and we what I need to blow the Bunker and a Podrace Prep so his last hopes about winning the race are over.

From here the game was pretty fast. He never battled my Jedi´s on Tatooine (had to loose 4 to AFA), I won the race and blowed up the bunker next turn. A couple of drains and it was done. FW +37

Overall: 2 (+27)

The Good: submarine tech working fine
The Bad: winning him so big. He doesn´t deserve such a loss but he´s a good-hearted guy so we just made fun about it and tried to help him telling him his mistakes
The Ugly: Vader and P-59 taking so much heavy damage on second turn.

I´m feeling a bit better now. If I win big my games and Angel looses one I can make it. He won Peri this game by 15.

Game Three
My LS vs Jorge´s Slow Deal

Jorge has been playing this game for ages and we´ve faced each other many times. He plays really slow and I was fearing a timed win. I knew it was not Speed Deal because it doesn´t fit his style so I was less worried. He starts I´m sorry, Secret Plans and YCHF. I start as usual.

His first turn he activates and tries to forget about control phase (even when I ask him about his first action for it). I start the race and he doesn´t draw. Deploys Fondor, his two interior sites and Rendili so lots of force for my first turn.

I start building my hand to blow the Bunker. I have Home one and Artoo in R5 in hand but no pilot. Because of so many systems I expected Big Blue so I would not take the risk of a lonely H1. His second turn he deploys Dr. E and Ponda with a high forfeit pilot to a site and Xizor with Chiraneau to other (don´t ask me why). So my next turn I get all the cards I need to blow the Bunker and EPP Ben makes a suicidal run vs Xizor and Chiraneau. I must try to slow him down from deployng Dark Deal.

His turn he searches for Occupation and I verify, Mains and Big Blue. He finally makes the Deal with Janus, Sim Aloo, Guri, 4-Lom and Osidian TIE. I have lots of guys in hand but they´re too expensive. My turn I draw a bit and save force. His next turn I win the race and take a drain of 10, ouch! He deploys Decree and Dengar with Zuckuss on boats to Bespin system. I retrieve my six which gives me a break.

My turn and I make my move. Saving some guys to blow the bunker I´m ready to cancel Dark Deal. EPP Leia, Protector, EPP Ben and Corran make it possible. Leia and Chewie remained together whiler Corran chilled out with the Old Man. I had no force left so the Bunker would wait.

I feared a big comeback but he just deployed Executor to Fondor and Merrejk with Dr. E facing Ben and Corran. I could not believe it. I was happy about that so Jedi Luke, Gen. Solo, Madine and Midge headed to the Bunker to blow it up. Qui Gon went to CC with Ben and Battled killing everyone and moving in front of the droids (that were draining at the incinerator with the Jabba´s Palace droid. From now on he just kept drawing looking for cards (can´t guess what). I finally blowed up the Bunker and finished him off. FW +20

Overall: 4 (+47)

The Good: Beating the Deal.
The Bad: it toook me sooo much time (Jorge stalls all the time).
The Ugly: DDD (Dark Deal Drains).

The submarine tech seemed working fine but Angel won Victor so I had to wait for his loss. Final pairings were announced.

Game Four
My DS vs Jorge´s HB

He was quite pleased with the match up but so was I. I ask him if he´s ready and he tries to start, wtf!? I tell him I go first and he says no way since I started Death Star. I tell him I started SYCFA, which deploys DStar so I begin. He seems quite unpleased but there´s nothing he can do. He started Menace Fades, Squad. Assig. and Honor ofJ. I tell him he cannot start Honor he asks me why and I tell him that it´s not inmune to Alter so he searches for a third effect but finds none. I start as usual.

I deploy first turn Brangus and try to set up my SFS. He depolys three systems (two from hand, lucky guy), Corran to Brangus and initiates, I POSOA which he has to read twice and I kill the pesky spy saving Brangus a_s_s.

The game was pretty uneventful so sorry for the lack of details about it. He tried to keep control of the Death Star dbay with some mains as it was the only battleground site but 2 Mauls with Brangus makes the deal (deploy Maul, battle kill some of his guys, loose Maul, change it for a dbay, retrieve the dbay with a TIE, look for it, repeat proccess) so I kill his mains and take definitive control.

Space was pretty boring. I took early control of Aquaris and ping him for 1. He saved force for several turns while I was holding Palpy´s Shield in hand. He made his move deploying Falcon with EPP Han, Wedge in ship with cannon and Hobbie in ship with cannon. He initiates and I react with the Sield and APTW. He had to loose Falcon and Han and I lost 2 TIEs (one to reserve). He moved to Wakeelmui but I was activating a lot so I could take him out of there. He moved both pilots to Death Star. I moved my forces there. He reinforced with some more X-Wings and we battled for two turns. I split my forces to drain to Kiffex and Aquaris. He flipped he´s objective to drain for three but Dreaded Imperial Starfleet saved me.

I was draining for three and cancelling his drains. At this point he was running out of cards in hand so I decided to make my move. I deployed a TIE to every system retrieving a lot and probing so I discovered his base and took my cards back to used pile. There was not much he could do now. He moved his forces to Kashyyk (where I had a lone Interceptor) and drawed some cards. I drained him for 5 and concentrated my forces on Kashyyk. He decided to commit seppuku and deployed Farmboy Luke to Artoo in R5 but had no force to battle or move. Next turn I killed him off. FW +29

Overall: 6 (+76)

The Good: winning big.
The Bad: again a game too long.
The Ugly: stalling!

Angel beats Victor again so goes undefeated and takes the tourney. My submarine tech works fine but Angel does not fail so I just take second place. Peri takes third:

1 Angel San Jose 8(+46)
2 Heraclio Sanchez (me) 6(+76)
3 Peri 4(+23)

I take a Sith Infiltrator as prize and it´s OK for I needed a second one.

Props
To Angel for winning the tourney with 4 solid games.
To Nestares for being happy after a 37 loss.
To Santi for running a smooth tourney (you´re improving man).
To everyone who attented AND played.

Slops
To Angel for winning our game ;-D
To Miguel for not playing.
To Jorge for playing soooo slooow and weird rulings.

That´s all folks. I hope you enjoyed.