enduro-iii-9-29-01

Title: enduro-iii-9-29-01
Author: Nick "JediBrain" Stefanko
Date: Sep 30, 2001

Before:
I knew that most people going to the Enduro would be bringing 2-3 decks per side, and that everyone would know everyone else’s deck by the Second Quarter, but I didn’t care. For Light, I brought my Hyperdrive deck, which was great fun to play and went undefeated last week in Pleasanton. For Dark, I took the Rabbit out back and shot it, removing the podracing and Palpatine. I threw in some more proactive battling cards, and was done with it. My Dark deck had become a large disappointment in the last few weeks; I’ll probably scrap it next week sometime. So, I wake up at 6:15am, prepare to leave, and drive myself and my brother to Steve Daniel’s house. We arrive, and 5 minutes later leave his house for Sacramento. Steve drives 80+ all the way there, and we get there an hour early. Once the store opens, we bring our cooler and snacks inside, and play fun games until Mike Hardy starts the First Quarter. A disappointing 23 people show up, 2 of them being late.

The 1st Quarter:

My decks:
LS - Junkyard Party - The Hyperdrive Generator’s Gone with armed mains (Qui-Gon, Obi Padawan, Lando With Ax, Chewbacca) and utility interrupts
DS - Psychos With Sabers - MKOS start (for activation), armed Dark Jedi battling

Game 1: LS v. no one
I get the bye. Hurray for me. I bust out my laptop, start writing this first TR, and listen to MP3s until everyone finishes.
Result: BYE
Standing: 2(0)
Positive: None.
Negative: Getting the hated Bye.

Game 2: DS v. Jason Taylor’s LS Senate
He was a little kid, and I knew I had the game in the bag. My opening hand contained J’Quille, EPP Vader, Tarkin, and interrupts. He deployed Depa to the Jedi Council Chamber, dropped Meditation on her, and flipped his objective with Palpatine and Horox while I just drew a few and saved Force. When ready, I use We Must Accelerate Our Plans to pull First Strike. I dropped J’Quille, EPP Vader, and Tarkin to the JCC, Altered Meditation, and battled. I missed the saber swing, but won the battle, making him lose Depa and 6. I held the JCC for the rest of the game. His next move was to deploy General Calrissian and Daughter Of Skywalker to the JP Lower Passages. I dropped Maul, ECC Iggy, and ECC 4-LOM, battled, captured Cal, played I Have You Now, and won the battle, making him lose DOS and 5, while I lose 4-LOM to his destiny of 3. I use the Audience Chamber text to get Mara and her saber for some drains. He drops Scramble (wish I had saved the second Alter I drew; I Altered his Bacta Tank the turn before), Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Scout Luke to the Lower Passages and battles; I play I Have You Now and Maul Strikes, drawing a 1, 6, 4, while he draws a 1; I lose Iggy (Cal goes to his Used Pile by his request) while he clears. On the side and in between these, I moved Vader to the Senate to get beat down by his senators, but of the three times I did that, I only had to lose Vader and 1 more. I drained him out after all that.
Result: FW +27
Standing: 4(+37)
Positive: A swift, decisive victory for my Dark deck.
Negative: Beating down a scrub

Game 3: LS v. Paul Feldman’s SYCFA
Feldman’s been playing this deck for years (it seems), and I knew it pretty well. He has no idea what my objective does, so he spends a few good minutes studying it and the rest of my start. I hold back first turn, drawing Obi’s Hut and some more characters. He draws too. I get going with Qui-Gon and saber from Reserve to the City Outskirts, moving to the Junkyard. He gets M’iiyoom Onith to the Death Star War Room. Jar Jar and Panaka with his blaster wipe her out. Next turn, I drop Obi for 1 to his Hut and Caldera Righim to the Junkyard, and move Obi over. He drops EJP Dengar, P-59, ECC 4-LOM, Commander Nemet, and Ozzel and battles. After the smoke clears, I’m wiped out and Dengar, 4-LOM, and Ozzel survive; I play A Jedi’s Resilience to bring Qui-Gon to my hand. Next, I drop Lando With Ax, Chewbacca, and Senator Palpatine, battle, exclude Dengar, and force him to burn a Ghhhk. I draw, and play Wookiee Strangle to kill off Dengar. At this point, I’ve got 3 cards stacked on Credits Will Do Fine. He drops Dreadnaughts to Kashyyyk and Naboo. I drain, flipping, hit him with 1 direct damage (Palpatine at the Junkyard), and begin to spread out a little. He drops Maul to the City Outskirts, and the drain race is on. I deploy Talon to the Outskirts and move Qui-Gon there. He drains and draws. I drain and battle Maul away. He drains and drops a TIE Interceptor to the Death Star Docking Bay. I drain and move Palpatine, Jar Jar, and Threepio With His Parts Showing to the Death Star DB. He drains and drops EPP Vader to the DB and battles; I retrieve 1 for drawing battle destiny. The game ends with my drains.
Result: FW+6
Standing: 6(+43)
Positive: A long, hard-fought game I thought I would lose.
Negative: None.

Game 4: DS v. Tim Green’s WYS
I draw over half my deck, waiting for him to make his move. Once I draw a WMAOP, I pull Reactor Terminal and send half my hand back. He establishes himself in space first. I drop Maul and Guri on the Sith Infiltrator to Tatooine to flip him back, and Alter his Bacta Tank. He then drops EPP Luke, EPP Han, and Artoo & Threepio to the Cantina. Since he saved no Force, I knew I had him. I drop First Strike, EPP Vader, Dr. Evazan & Ponda Baba, and Dannik Jerrico. I battle, retrieve 1, play I Have You Now; he misses the swing at Vader, I hit Luke, operate on him, and Dannik eats his soup; he shoots Dannik; I draw a 1, 4, 2 for battle destiny; he clears his site and loses 19 more. He gets super-smuggler-Outrider to Kessel, a lone Wedge to Jabba’s Palace, and Phylo to DB94. I drop Mara to JP and Tarkin and J’Quille to the DB. I battle at the DB, retrieve 1, he loses Phylo and 4 while I lose J’Quille. I battle at JP, retrieve 1, he Dodges, Mara follows him. Tarkin moves to the Cantina. He moves Outrider to Tatooine and Pulsar Skate to Kessel. My turn, I battle Wedge, retrieve 1, he Dodges again, Mara then follows. I move the Sith Infiltrator to Kessel. He drops ECC Lando and Talon with Wedge and kills Mara, then spreads them out and moves Pulsar back to Tatooine and Outrider back to Kessel. I Lateral Damage the Outrider, drop Iggy in front of Lando, battle Lando, retrieve 1, Lando misses his shot, I decline to draw battle destiny, he forfeits Lando. I battle the Outrider, retrieve 1, draw a 5 while he draws a 2. Game over.
Result: FW+20
Standing: 8(+63)
Positive: Making fast work of WYS.
Negative: Drawing so damn much in search of my ships.

Game 5: DS v. Paul Feldman’s Jedi Council Chamber-start counter deck
BORING first ten turns. All we did was draw, waiting for the other to make the first move. He had dropped Thrown Back early, preventing me from drawing as much as he did. He Revolution-ed two of my sites, making me pull my Evader & Monnok and playing it, which he promptly grabbed. He dropped Battle Plan & Draw Their Fire. To get out of the stalemate, and with a decent hand, I deployed 4-LOM and Iggy to the AC. Next turn, EPP Vader. I drained for 1 there for a few turns. After a few turns of saving, I deployed J’Quille, Maul with Saber, Dr. E combo, and P-59 to the JCC. They drained for 4 uncontested for the rest of the game. After taking my drains, and me hurting myself by Altering his Beggar and Senseing 2 Control & Tunnel Visions (frelling Do Or Do Not combo), he dropped Beggar Jedi Luke with saber and EPP Obi to the AC. He battles, plays Jedi Presence and Gift Of The Mentor, I hit Obi and blank Luke’s text, he draws a 7, 7, 6 and I draw a 4. We both clear the site, and I lose 14 more. After a turn of draining at the JCC, I use the AC text to bring Mara and her saber out. Paul responds with Qui-Gon and his saber. He battles, misses the swing, Mara smacks Qui-Gon, and I draw a 5 and he draws a 3. His next turn, he deploys EPP Obi in front of Mara. I drain at the JCC, and back Mara up with Dannik, which doomed me. His turn, he Sorry About The Mess-es Mara, and beats the bloody hell out of Dannik.
Result: FL -12
Standing: 8(+51)
Positive: A great game. When it was over, he asked me what my rating was, and my response of mid-1700s made him mouth obscenities and flip me off to no end; I found this amusing. :)
Negative: 2 counter decks playing each other.

Game 6: LS v. Philip Green’s Senate Dark Jedi
He comes in complaining of bad luck. I say ’whatever.’ He opens with flipping and I open with Lando to the Junkyard. He responds with Maul Young Apprentice with saber; I lose Lando and a few. He reinforces with Dr. Evazan combo. I next come down with Qui-Gon with saber, battle, hit Maul and SATM & Blaster Proficiency him away, and force the first stack. He comes back with Lord Vader with saber, and battles; I Weapon Lev the saber and force the second stack. I drain and reinforce the Junkyard with Obi and Talon. He deploys another Maul to the Desert Landing Site and moves him to the Outskirts. My next turn, I flip, then drop Beggar and use all his Force plus some of mine to deploy Chewbacca with his Bowcaster in front of Maul and Yarua and Tendau Bendon to the Senate. I play Wookiee Strangle to kill off Edcel Bar Gane, leaving Lott Dod alone. I battle, and draw a 3, which he reduces, and I retrieve a Force from my objective. I move Chewbacca to the DLS. He, flippantly and without care, deploys Lord Vader to the Senate and Mara to the DLS. First, he battles in the Senate, making me lose Tendau and letting me retrieve 1. Next, he battles at the DLS; I react Obi over to his confused dismay, hit Mara, and make him lose 12 while I forfeit Obi and retrieve 1. My turn, I deploy another Obi and Panaka with his blaster in front of Maul, hit him, and he loses Maul and 2. His turn, he, only having a few Force left, deploys Tikkes to the Senate and battles, making me lose 2 (he didn’t have anything left for destiny). My turn, I deploy Palpatine to the Senate, battle, draw destiny and retrieve, use Palpatine’s gametext (since I had senate majority) to add his 5 to my power, and win the battle and the game.
Result: FW+24
Standing: 10(+75)
Positive: Beating the Senate.
Negative: He wasn’t thrilled with his play overall so far.

Results:
Wow, I did really well. My Light deck is still undefeated. My Dark deck ran with quality efficiency, something which the podracing variant of it was lacking recently. I gave Steve some money, and he went to Taco Bell to buy me some pintos & cheese (good sh*t!). I sat back, listening to music and writing this TR, and awaited the start of the 2nd Quarter.

For the 2nd Quarter, everyone had a choice between a Constructed tournament or an Episode I Sealed Deck. Since I both don’t have money and don’t need any more cards, I chose to go Constructed. There were only 8 people opting for Constructed, so I went in planning to play people I had played previously (since most of them chose Constructed as well). I didn’t make any changes to my Dark deck; for Light I switched out Tendau Bendon for a Republic Cruiser.

The 2nd Quarter:

My decks:
LS - Junkyard Party - The Hyperdrive Generator’s Gone with armed mains (Qui-Gon, Obi Padawan, Lando With Ax, Chewbacca) and utility interrupts
DS - Psychos With Sabers - MKOS start (for activation), armed Dark Jedi battling

Game 1: DS v. Paul Feldman’s JCC Counter deck
Since we had already played this, and I knew I couldn’t beat it, I went out for fun. He deployed Qui-Gon with saber, Jedi Luke with saber, Chewie With Blaster, and Corran to the AC, where I had Guri. I deployed Maul and battled, playing I Have You Now and Maul Strikes. I drew a 4, 6, 1, 3, 2. He played Jedi Presence and Courage Of A Skywalker (making Luke power 28). I lost a ton of cards, while he lost everyone but Luke. He on his turn plays On The Edge on Luke with a tracked 7. Next turn of mine, I deployed EPP Vader and battled Luke, hitting him and playing I Have You Now, drawing a 6, 4, 2. He lost Luke a few. Next, he deploys EPP Obi to the AC, Mace Windu to the JCC, and Queen Amidala, Ruler Of Naboo to Jabba’s Palace. I laugh at his combo, and drop Dr. Evazan & Ponda Baba in front of Amidala, battle, and draw a 2. We end it there since he would do enough damage next turn so that I couldn’t do squat.
Result: FL -31
Standing: 0(-31)
Positive: A fun, hilarious game.
Negative: None, really, aside from obviously getting the inevitable pairing v. Feldman.

Game 2: LS v. Joshua Harris’ Walkers
This kid sounded like he had a bad cold, and he didn’t see to know how to play very well. I sped through this one. I flipped 5th turn, facing no challenge on Tatooine. He dropped an early Ice Storm on Hoth, prevent me from coming in early to beat him down. He did get in some direct damage and hit me for 2 drains at the Defensive Perimeter, but once the Ice Storm cleared, Qui-Gon stepped in. He deployed a lone Dreadnaught to the Hoth system late game; I deployed my Republic Cruiser to the Hoth DB, Chewbacca climbed aboard, and it took off. I Out Of Commissioned 10 cards.
Result: FW+29
Standing: 2(-2)
Positive: None.
Negative: Beating a newbie.

Game 3: LS v. Jason Taylor’s Build the Death Star II
He works on the Death Star II while I start getting cards stacked on Credits. He sets up at Endor and drops Mara, Igar, and Pellaeon to the Endor Docking Bay. I drop Chewbacca with his Bowcaster, Caldera, and Palpatine, and kill off Pellaeon and Mara, losing Palpatine. He misses for a Death Star II sector for the second time, allowing me on my next turn to drop Jar Jar and Talon to take out Jerjerrod, and moves Igar to the Bunker. He uses Combat Response to pull Maul YA out of his deck, and shuttles him down to the Endor DB by way of the Star Destroyer there. I deploy Qui-Gon with his saber there, and take Maul out, losing Chewbacca. His hand size is dwindling, so I spread out on Tatooine. Lando and Panaka with his blaster come into the Bunker and waste Igar. My drains finish him off two turns later.
Result: FW+28
Standing: 4(+26)
Positive: My Light Deck is undefeated in tournament play; 8-0 total.
Negative: Beating a scrub.

Game 4: DS v. Chris Christman’s MWYHL
When we started, he expressed confidence that he would lose. Training decks always worry me, so I wasn’t too sure. He started Draw Their Fire, which put me on edge. To provoke some action, I used the AC text to pull out Mara, and a turn later, backed her up with P-59. He inserted Anger, Fear, Aggression, and came at me with Padmé, Qui-Gon with his saber, and Lando With Ax. He battled, missed the swing at Mara, Mara hit Qui-Gon and P-59 hit Lando. I lost Mara, he lost Lando and Qui-Gon, and ran Padmé to Jabba’s Palace. I deploy EPP Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin, and First Strike and make him lose her and 8, and move P-59 over. Meanwhile, he’s completed Test 2. Down comes EPP Luke and EPP Obi. Tarkin cancels a weapon destiny of Obi’s targeting him, Vader hits Luke, and Luke misses Tarkin completely. He draws a 4, I draw a 5. I move Vader and Tarkin to the AC. He comes down with ECC Chewie, EPP Han, and Dash. He misses the shot on Tarkin, I hit Han and Sniper & Dark Strike him away, Chewie misses Tarkin, I cancel his battle destiny and I draw a 2. He loses Chewie and moves Dash away. I activate, Elis Vader and Tarkin over, drop 4-LOM and Iggy, battle, hit Dash, draw two 3’s for battle destiny for the win.
Result: FW+22
Standing: 6(+48)
Positive: Beating a MWYHL battle deck.
Negative: It wasn’t a very good deck, his destinies sucked all game, and he wasn’t really that spirited in play.

Results:
I end the day with a total 16(+123). This wins me the third place finishing spot! Prizes sucked since the entry fees were going to the Red Cross, but it was still quite a fun time and worth the drive.
The restroom in the store somehow became broken during the 1st Quarter, and repairing it was impossible. So, Mike Hardy said that the 3rd and 4th Quarters were cancelled, much to the dismay of myself and most of the other people. I think two other factors influenced Mike’s decision: (1) the fact that < 30 people bothered to show up for the event, and (2) Feldman and a few others were dead tired and planned on pulling out after the 2nd Quarter. So, the Enduro turned out to be a huge, unfortunate flop. A bunch of Southern California players had made the drive up to play, but the absences of the San Francisco and Lodi crews, along with a lot of my other regular players in Pleasanton. I was disappointed, but am glad I came. Evidently, I’m getting a little better at playing this game, and my Squadron-Member-itis has gone into submission.

Thanks for reading!