montreal-dpc-from-the-overall-1st-place
Title: montreal-dpc-from-the-overall-1st-place
Author: Chris "CGogolen" Gogolen
Date: Sep 15, 2001
Traveling up to the DPC:
I went up with Greg Hodur, it was about a 6 hour drive with some traffic. We get to Montreal around midnight, meet up with Chu, Clint, and Maxim Briand(our gracious host for the weekend) and get to Maxim’s house at around 1am. A little last minute deck-teching between Clint, Chu, Greg and I and everyone is set to go. We get up at 7am, everyone quickly showers and gets ready to go. We go outside, and discover that Greg’s window has been smashed, his cd player stolen, and his binder of 100 CD’s taken. They also took his little travel clock(since his radio doesn’t have a clock), and our Canadian road map. That sucked donkey balls! So now we all pile into Chu’s car, greg drops his car off at Maxim’s dad’s garage(he owns a body shop, but they can’t find a window on short notice to replace it), and we go to the tournament.
For LS I am playing WYS-available for review on my page
For DS I am playing Da Mutha’ Fu$kin’ Bombers-also available for review on my page.
I was rated 1869 at the start of this event(has not been updated yet)
Game 1 DS vs Tiulu Anfossi’s Dagobah Podrace(1808)
She starts the race, I know I will lose it so I don’t bother to stack any destinies. I deploy Baron in Saber 1 to Endor to start draining. Daughter is in her force pile and so is yoda, so she has to draw. I neimodian for a system and matchup another pilot to get a 2nd drain going. She deploys Qui-gon and saber to my Endor DB. I always thinking him next turn. On my turn, I deploy Scimitar 2/Jonus/Bombs to Endor. She wins the race and retrieves six, i lose six cards from hand that mean nothing in this game. She deploys Young Obi and his saber to endor to search for qui-gon. I collapse the site with the bombers and kill them both-eliminating the sabers. Then she redeploys Qui-gon to Podrace arena and is draining for 1. I have Naboo out and Jendon/onyx 1 there, so I am draining for six. I use first strike/suicidal Epp vader twice for a little extra damage and the game is mine.
FW +18 2(+18)
Game 2 LS vs Justin Desai’s Huntdown/Duel/Race (1889)
He goes, starts the race, I have no racer so he doesn’t use sebulba. He draws 5, I draw a 6. He can’t find Vader so he draws for a few turns. I set up Dash at Kessel and Mirax at Tatooine so I’m flipped. I’ve got Theron Nett and Red 10 in hand, plus the hyper escape if he comes to space. He still can’t get vader out, so Visage hurts us both. I’ve been stacking some high destiny for the podrace(6,5,5,4,4) so I’m at 24. I keep using my A step Backwards to remove his race destiny, but mine stay.
I keep draining, he comes to battle in space and loses some force, then he loses the podrace. He loses the 11 he has down(he started the box) so I won’t be able to return my race destinies to my used pile to up my dif.
FW + 13 4(+31)
Game 3 LS vs Stephen McNamara’s YMSYL(1636)
Very boring game. I start Don’t do that again so he can’t fish for executor. he looks for docking bays that aren’t there, and the executor is hiding in his reserve deck. I’ve got Capt Han at Kessel, Dash at Hoth, and Wedge at Tatooine, so I’ve got space drains. Then Jedi Luke and saber get into the cantina. he sets up slow on hoth, I’ve got menace fades out so his drains are minor, I on the edge back the cards I use for YMSYL. Executor finally shows up with ozzel, but there is nothing it can do. Melas joins Dash, now I get 12 destiny and my power is greater than his. Game over
FW +24 6(+55)
Game 4 vs Serge Lizotte’s RST podrace(1646)
Another boring game. He starts the race, i don’t bother with race destinies. I get Scimitar 2 set up at Endor with bombs and wait, Baron and saber 1 join them shortly. He gets his troops out on the ground and pulls all the sites. I use EPP vader on suicide runs to slow him down a bit. I’ve got 3 drains in space now, he is about to win the race. He deploys Deactivate, charges, and moves everyone into the bunker. I collapse the bunker making them all lost, he wins the race, but can’t retrieve because I deployed secret plans. After that all he can do is drain for 1 on the ground at 2 sites while I outdrain him in space. Then I use Maul to eliminate 1 of those drains, and Tarkin’s Order to cancel the other one, which I can easily cycle to thanks to I did It.
FW +14 8(+69)
I’m 4-0 at this point, and now I’ll be at the top table. Chu and Clint are 3-1, Greg is 2-2. I’ve got my homie on my side watching my back, so I feel pretty good right now.
Game 5 LS vs Alex Klammrodt’s HD(1965)
I really wanted this matchup to be the other sides(my bombers against his QMC), but WYS vs Huntdown is always interesting. Once again I get lucky and Vader is a no-show for a few turns. I’ve got space drains set up, and Luke and Melas are waiting to make an appearance. He gets Vader out, I deploy Luke away from him. We are both losing to Visage and that is fine with me. I’ve got more force than him, and I’m tracking for on the edge. Luke does the away from vader shuffle. We battle in space a few times, he keeps drawing low, so he loses a force or 2. Luke gets caught by Maul for some serious damage. I on the edge capt han to get a few back, redeploy luke, and just let visage do the damage. This was a very close game, on the edge saved me.
FW +4 10(+73)
5-0, ok all I really need is 1 more win and I’ve got a shot at top 4.
Game 6 Ds vs Yannick Lapointe’s Podprofit(2049)
Not the matchup that I wanted-nothing I can bomb on exterior tatooine, and I took the system out because I didn’t expect to see profit. Well, let’s see what happens.
He starts DODN/Wise advice. I spread out quickly in space, use merrejk to pull my systems. I have to outdrain him before he gets rolling or I’m in trouble. He stacks battle plan as his race destiny, so I’ve got a few turns of draining. Han is out, running around tatooine-use Dodge to stay alive from Vader. I use u-3po to block a drain, finally get han with vader to buy myself some more time. He wins the race, things aren’t looking to good. he starts tracking for battle plan with threepio, but Yannick makes a rare mistake and misstracks it. I get those drains off and just manage to edge him out because there is no battle plan out. Great game all around.
FW +2 12(+75)
OK, now I’m 6-0. Not sure how it happened-certainly has been a long day. I’ve been at the top table for a while and I’ll be staying there for the rest of the day. I’m the only undefeated at this point, some good names are in the top 8.
Game 7 LS vs Martin Paquette’s Brangus(1929)
I know this deck very well, and WYS usually beats it. I wish i had kept the bith shuffle in, but that’s what the OOC is going to have to do. I follow my usual game plan of getting a space drain at kessel quickly. I don’t see Coward, so I go to his Death Star with Mirax. Can’t seem to find my podrace interrupts so he is going to win the race. He deploys Bossk in HT and Maul as a passenger to the DS to block the drain there. Fett and Zuckuss show up next turn at Kessel. I give him kessel and move to tatooine so I can rebuild my hand. Luke is on the ground on tatooine and melas is dead. I deploy Phylo Gandish(for 10 force) as a passenger on Pulsar Skate, a freighter captain to pilot with mirax, and now i can battle Bossk. Draw their fire is out, I draw 5’s for destiny, maul doesn’t cover so he loses everthing. I’ve got the drain back, and I use on the edge to get some cards back. Dash is running back and forth from fett/zuckuss. Theron Nett/red 10/cannon goes down, i’ll take the leader, battle shoot zuckuss, add destiny 5 to total power, draw 5,5 for battle destiny and he loses fett and everything he has left.
FW +15 14(+90)
7-0. I’m in the finals no matter what-my heart is beating so fast because i’m real excited that it feels like it is about to jump out of my chest. I calm myself down, one more game to go.
Game 8 DS vs Martin Paquette’s WYS(1929)
We match up again, Chu, Yannick, Raphael, Justin Desai are all very high up there. Clint dropped. The game doesn’t get started right away, because he is looking for something to blow his nose with, settles on his winter gloves. this eats about 3 minutes, which as it turns out would bite me in the @#$% later. I get my drain at tatooine set up. He deploys Wedge/xwing cannon to battle Jendon, same power, misses with gun, same destiny, nothing happens. Then I drop Baron, saber 1, and the cannon. Decision time. I have in my hand LAteral damage and I can’t shake him, and Dark manuevers. Here’s my only mistake of the day. I decide to battle and shoot wedge to get rid of him and take tatooine so I can bomb stuff. I don’t want him to shoot down one of my ships with his x-wing cannon(which I later calculated was impossible with the Dark Manuevers). I should have smacked the sh$t out of him, but I decided to play it safe, since I was already in the finals. after this the game isn’t very eventful. I bomb the cantina and the db, he goes to the spaceport DB and moved between kessel and tatooine to get around battle plan. I can’t find vader. we drain, we battle a little bit, and then time is called. We both have 9 cards left down(I would drain for 4 next turn-but just as he is about to recycle time is called-since he didn’t recycle it is stil his turn and the game is about to end), 1 card in hand. So it comes down to who has a smaller lost pile. Gee, I wonder who that is, since Out of Play cards don’t count. Yep, the WYS deck. This rule needs to be changed and I have been lobbying for it for a few weeks now. So I lose the True Tie
TT Loss -1 14(+90)
I still get in the finals, and I’m still the #1 seed. I play Yannick Lapointe. I decide to play my WYS deck, i have no idea what his DS is, but I don’t think I can beat his profit deck again, since he will just start battle plan and rely on direct damage and the race to beat me. Turns out he is playing the senator deck, which i hadn’t seen before at that point.
Playoff Ls vs Yannick Lapointe’s Senator/Maul deck(2049)
He flips first turn with Lott dodd and some other dude. I put Luke in the cantina with Saber. well, he has just enough force, so down comes Maul with saber, battle, maul strikes, and I have you now. Hits luke, draws 4 high destiny and I lose luke and like 15 before the game even gets started. Not much you can do after that. Damn Lott Dodd. I manage to drain a bit in space- but it doesn’t matter. late game he deploys podrace arena, sebulba’s pod, the box, and boonta eve. I draw up before the race gets going.
FL -16
Chu beats Raphael, Chu and Yannick play. 3rd and 4th are the same prize, so I opt not to play Raphael and to watch the finals. After the tournament, a group of us go to the Peel Pub. There are so many hot girls in Montreal, if you have the time, go on up for a weekend, or better yet just go to college there. But don’t drive, because they will smash your window if you have USA plates on your car. Yannick picks up the check since he was the big winner. We offered to split it with him, give him some cash, but he refused. After that, Greg, Chu, Clint, Maxim, and I took in some of the nightlife at a random nudie bar. Chu looked a bit out of place and wasn’t too excited to be there, but it was fun. Next morning we drove back to NJ, it started raining and it sucked that the window that was broken was the passenger side. I held a piece of plastic in place so I didn’t get wet, but it didn’t rain for that long.
Props-
Greg Hodur for driving the whole way and for the homie
Maxim Briand for letting us stay at his house and for running the DPC
Jon Chu & Clint Hays-for all the encouragement throughout the day.
Montreal for having hot chicks all over the place
The Nudie bars for being so cheap
Yannick for picking up the check
Slops-
Damn Canadians for busting Greg’s window
Nudie bars for making you have a drink at all times($6 a piece)
Anyone who was badmouthing me while I was sitting at the top table.
Pete Flamini for bailing out and not going.
Look for my DragonCon report sometime soon.