revised-meriden-ct-9-8-01-cpa-apology
Title: revised-meriden-ct-9-8-01-cpa-apology
Author: Keith "Tessek-CPA" Henderson
Date: Sep 15, 2001
I apologize for my jingoistic diatribe at the end of the report. This should not be the forum for those thoughts. Even though they were intended against the individuals who committed the terrible acts, my words were meanful and not meant to be an assault on a group or race of people. Again I apologize and hope that you can be assured I am truly sorry.
This is a report of our 6 game monthly tournament that is held at DJ*s Comics in Meriden, CT. This month it was run by John Mullarkey.
This tournament was run the weekend before the 911 terrorist attacks and I just couldn*t get my mind into writing this report sooner.
My dark deck was a Endor Imperial Speeder Swarm deck loosely based on the Legend of the Speeder deck by Jazz .
My light deck was a Rebel Strike Team using The Shield is down, Strike Planning, and Squadron Assignments. It had my usual jank retrieval setup with ASP droids and Ewok catapults.
My son Brian had a Babe Ruth ballgame to play in southern CT the morning of the tournament. We didn*t know the time of the game until the night before. So I had planned to come to Meriden alone, assuming his game would be in the afternoon. But, they called and said the game would be at 9:30,which meant we could both go but not arrive until noon or so with the tournament starting at 11:30 AM. I sent an e-mail to John Mullarkey letting him know we were both coming and would be late.
Brian*s team played a great game with his pitcher having a no hitter going into the 6th inning. They ended winning the game 7-1 and we were off to the races flying up the parkway to Meriden as fast as my two feet could pedal. We arrived at 12:15 and John said that they had a late start and we could play a quick game in the 25 minutes that were remaining.
Game One: my LS against Brian Henderson playing his DS Hidden Base FLOPS.
So once again, Brian and I play a game in the tournament. Brian just doesn*t want to change his deck so I know what to expect. We are rushing and this is not fun. I have not had a chance to test this RST deck yet and I can*t seem to concentrate. Brian has a great start to his game and has Vader at the Bunker with Endor controlled by his FLOPS Executor by turn 3.
It seems like 3 or 4 turns later, I battle my way into the bunker but now time is running out and if we were to play a full 60 minutes, I know that Brian would have won the game with the start he had. So, I draw up my cards to give him a full win. (God, I hate timed games).
FL (-22)
Props: To Brian for a great start and knowing how to shut me down from the get go.
Game Two: my DS against Michael Mosher and his LS QMC.
This is my first game with Michael so I don*t know what to expect. On the first turn I am able to deploy a speeder bike and biker scout to each of my two Endor sites. This let me drain for 4 on turn two and from there it was a drain race.
Michael seemed content to load up in one interior site with mains. I don*t think he realized that my deck was an Endor draining and battling deck. He could have spread out over all of the sites and drained me after his flip. But, he seemed to be holding back waiting for me to come down with a mains smackdown. The only system he has is Bespin and he is hoping that he can slow my drains with Menace Fades by controlling Bespin and a battleground site.
I am lucky in that I pull Zuckuss/Mist Hunter and a Dreadnaught that I deploy to Bespin with some unique Biker scout as forfeit fodder. I battle his two starships and only have to lose a biker scout to attrition. He loses one of his ships.
From that turn on, he tries to battle me at the system to knock me out of space. But I keep in there by adding more fodder and after one turn of losing a Dreadnaught I pull another one that I deploy.
The game ends with one final drain.
FW +18
Props: To Michael for a fun game. It was the most interactive game I have played in a long time.
Game Three: my DS against Jeremy Dellaire and his LS EBO.
I haven*t played Jeremy in what seems over a year. I know he is a serious minded player that is a great student of the game. So this should be fun.
I am able to get both of my sites occupied on the first turn. Jeremy his effects to get his deck going. I drain for 4 on turn two and he says that this is going to be a long game.
For a few turns, I cannot find another site or a Nemoidian Advisor. I finally do get a third site to deploy another single speeder bike and biker scout. Jeremy is feeling aggressive and drops EPP Obi and Chewbacca Protector on one of the bikers. I react with my other two and drop Sneak Attack and High Speed Tactics along with a scout blaster. I shoot Chewie and with my added destinies he loses Obi as well. That was the last time he had a chance to deploy anyone on Endor. I get my drains going and use Resistance to hold his EBO drains to two a system. I also use Strategic Reserves to cancel a few of his drains as well.
We just spend the rest of the game exchanging drains.
FW +21
Props: To Jeremy for a well played EBO.
Game Four: my LS against Tom Hollingworth and his DS SYCFA with (uggh) Podracing.
It has been a while since I have played Tom. It seems that every month, I play his brother Brian. I know that his decks are tight with his playing Brian all of the time.
On turn one, Tom starts his podrace, but I tell him that I won*t bother drawing since I know he is going to win. I figure that I want to get my setup going and I don*t want to chance losing cards for racing destinies.
I do get a good start with my RST and for the first few turns I get my set up going. Luckily I pull a It Could Be Worse, so I wait for him to win his dang race while I load up on force. The Star War gods were on my side when he wins the race. I drop the It Could Be Worse with 11 cards in my force pile. He looks for his It*s Worse put he does not have it. (He pulls it on his next draw! Whew!) He also did not have a sense card so I pay off the race and keep on going with my setting up to blow the bunker. I can’t find an explosive charge and every time I drop a Throw Me Another Charge he is able to sense it.
A few turns later I am able to get my ASP/Catapult set up to blow the bunker without a charge. But after losing his force and dropping his hand into the used pile, I am faced with having only 3 Endor sites to drain at. The problem is that he has Keder and U-3PO down to block two of my only three possible drains.
He loads up at systems with double Big Blue Destroyers with Admirals. And, I am sure he is loaded with Imperial Commands. This keeps me out of space for the most part. I am running out of time so I deploy DOS and Orrimaarko at the Death Start DB for a measly drain. He drops Arica at the final Endor site, so the game ends with my having a drain of one to his 7.
FL (-6)
Props: To Tom for a well-played game. Those spies were key for his win or I would have been able to outdrain him.
Props also to It Could Be Worse, it was fun pulling that off for probably the only time.
Game Five: my LS against Andrew Snelling and his DS Endor Ops.
Andrew comes every month with Patrick Gstell. They play each other all month, so they are always ready for the tournament.
When I see that he is starting with Endor Ops, I know that this is going to be a tough game.
After two turns, Andrew has Piett and Merrejk at the bunker and the Flagship Executor at Endor. He adds another Destroyer to Endor and pulls Piett and Merrejk up to them.
I set up, but once again can*t seem to find an explosive quick enough. He drops Janus to the bunker, so I am setting up to move into the bunker for a fight. He surprises me by pulling Janus out and up to a SD and then splits them up by sending one over to Sullust to drain me.
I use my squadron assignments and pull Red 7 and pilot and drop them along with Calrissian on the Gold Squadron 1 to battle him at Sullust. He loses the SD along with Merrejk. Now he can*t pull systems to drain me with.
I finally get my chance to blow the bunker and hit him for the 8 force. Then I spread out to drain and retrieve with On the Edges.
We do battle a few times in space but the game ends with my final drain.
FW +6
Props: To Andrew for a fun game. I still think if you had stayed in the bunker you would have won out.
Game Six: my DS against Paul Maholick and his LS WYS deck.
This is turning into a monthly ritual with Paul showing me how the game is meant to be played.
The game goes quickly. I get my quick draining start, but he has the answer: Battle Plan and Menace fades. He controls space effectively and I can not find my few ships to let me drain without paying.
I decide to pay for a few turns to drain, but because of that I am not able to pull cards to stage an assault on Tatooine against his ground forces.
With his retrieving and using the flipped WYS tunnel vision to find ways to nullify my pitiful drains he wins by draining me out.
FL (12)
Props: To Paul for yet again a fun learing session.
So I end up 3-3 (+5) in Meriden that day. I finished up 8 out of 16 and my son ended up 2-4 to finish 14th.
I did not get the final standings but Tom Hollingworth won the day*s tournament.
Props:
To Kevin Hall ( the former owner of DJ*s Comics). He is a registered nurse and when I called him on the afternoon of the terrorist attacks, he was already in his car and in New York City to volunteer his services. He has been there since day one helping out.
To John Mullarkey for running the show and letting us have our fun.
To Mike Cote (the new owner of DJ*s Comics) for renting the hall we play in.