melbourne-oz-30-10-01
Title: melbourne-oz-30-10-01
Author: Luca "Luca/Tzizvvt" Costanzo
Date: Oct 29, 2001
Adam’s House, Melbourne, 29/10/01
DISCLAIMER: This is long. Way long.
Adam’s house? WTF? Is that what you’re thinking? Adam Amy decided that he wanted to run some decent tournaments, so he became a TD. Advantages of Adam tournaments: smoking, drinking, players decide the prizes and music. Disadvantages: middle of nowhere, no AOC chicks (that’s what you were thinking, right Ronnie?).
Last time round, everyone put up 2 playable rares (to be drafted) and we split a box of Coruscant. This time round, Adam was short on cash, so he put up a foil Emperor for first and multiple rares. I figured, I’ve only got one Emperor, so I should probably try to win it.
As for decks, I’d already decided to retire my WYS deck last tournament undefeated, but I wanted to play something solid. I’d had some D-mail correspondence with Hayes Hunter and his deck looked solid (something about the title gave me the hint), so I figured why not. The problem was that Adam, in his infinite wisdom, dropped his phone in the toilet, so I couldn’t ring him to get back my Jedi Lukes (which he’s had since states). Anyhow, Adam had them so there was no problem there.
For dark, I decided that I wanted to farewell Brangus, so I threw a Brangus deck together. I also had some other deck half built and figured that I’d decide when I got there.
Lee and Ronnie came and gave me a lift, which was cool. When we arrived, Adam, Illiyana and Robbo (state champion ... ooh booga booga) were already there. We started having some conversation when someone mentioned dark side racing. I said something like dark racing is crap unless it’s Brangus. Robbo made some comment along the lines of Brangus being crap, so I started rummaging through some of Adam’s cards for Black Border Japanese Death Star Docking Bays. Booya!
So people turned up and we, like, started the tournament or something.
GAME ONE Dark v Cody Ky (WYS ... Backwards)
I suppose it’s a tradition to start off a tournament with a tough matchup. Like I said, I was expecting a lot of both WYS and racing today, so I wasn’t put off. Cody started with Squadron Assignments, me with Allegations of Corruption (this trend continued all day ... don’t know why I bothered with the Box!). Anyhow, I started off the race with something mediocre and then deployed The Emperor (no, the destiny 6 one) and Brangus early on. Cody had trouble flipping early ... but didn’t have trouble finding A Step Backwards (which promptly got snagged).
Sooner or later, I played some other schmuck and inserted. Cody deployed Kessel with Captain Han/Falcon as well as Dash/Outrider to Tatooine to flip. I accelerated for Hit Racer, hit Anakin’s Pod and drew some. The race basically preoccupied us all game. Cody played an unhealthy amount of A Step Backwards, even with it grappled, and I played a ridiculous amount of Podracer Collisions, thanks to Brangus. Battle Order, in conjunction with Control/SFS, kept Cody’s drains at bay. Hit Racer also proved to be gold, with Cody losing maybe 10 force to it throughout the game.
Sooner or later, I picked up Zuckuss, which meant owning space. I decided to go to Tatooine to get some drains in rather than to Kessel. Dash had been re-enforced with a RFC on a Medium Bulk Freighter. I Lateral Damaged the Medium Bulk Freighter, obviously ... and Set For Stunned Dash. Unfortunately, one of my Collisions had given Cody a Hyper Escape back. On closer inspection, he couldn’t play it, though. Cody got away with forfeiting everything, and relocating the Outrider to a docking bay with Dash. Dash came back and took off. He got beaten down again by Zuckuss (Zuckuss kicks everything, by the way) and relocated the Outrider once again. I deployed Maul to the docking bay. Next turn, I was going to kill Cody by Counter Assaulting Maul and drawing a 6 to the outrider’s 0, but I decided to win the podrace and get my retrieval, seeing as it had been going all game.
FW 2(+25)
The Good: Brangus.
The Bad: Not much, perhaps not starting with the box?
The Ugly: Playing the same copy of a lost interrupt 10 times in a game. Not even WYS does that!
GAYM TWO Light v Daniel Robertson (Senate)
Well, apparently WYS doesn’t lose to Senate. Except for today. Apparently Robbo had something of a god draw, with Chimaera, Imperial Command and Jabba’s Palace. In contrast, I think that I had, like, a RFC, a docking bay, Kessel, All Wings/Darklighter Spin, Lost In The Wilderness, Bith Shuffle and 2 Run, Luke Run. Robbo deployed Maul for free, Jabba’s Palace, Audience Chamber, said something about Lost In The Wilderness (LOL ... at continentals, I pounded him when Vader went missing) and moved Maul over. I played Darklighter Spin to grab a ship. I deployed the docking bay and Mirax wasn’t there, so I drew a few and waited.
Robbo declined to pay 3 to have Maul go missing, deployed Lott Dodd from reserve and another senator (Tikkes?) to flip, fished the Lower Passages, deployed the destiny -3 political effect, gave Maul his stick and moved him into the AC. I dropped Mirax and the Skate to Tatooine and drew a few. Robbo played command for the best damned grand admiral in the game and knocked Mirax’s punk @#$% down. Perhaps I should’ve played E1 Tatooine, after all :P
Force choke obviously wasn’t going to work, so I had to go for plan B; cause more damage. For some reason, Robbo hadn’t put the drain canceller in, so I was able to flip with Dash in Outrider to Kessel, RFC to the Pub or something and get some drains in. Robbo played Squabbling Delegates. "Those craaazy delegates are at it again!"
In next week’s episode of <I>Coruscant Hills: 90210<I>:
Valorum: You’ve been sleeping with another man, haven’t you, haven’t you?!
Amidala: Calm down, Val, you’re overreacting.
Valorum: So you haven’t?
Amidala: Who could I possibly be sleeping with?
Enter Porn Free Taa (bown bown ... wock wocka bown bown)
Porn: You look like you could use a hand with that ...
Aaaaaaaanyhow, back to our regularly scheduled programming. I had a turn to drop Red 10 and some schmuck. I saw that I’d activated Darklighter Spin, so I drew up for it (didn’t see a control/tunnel vision). Robbo drained me for LOTS with the effect and put back 2 cards- Darklighter Spin and A Stu Manoeuvers. He also dropped DLOTS with stick to the pub and I dodged. I didn’t have Darklighter Spin or Mirax, so I couldn’t go and fight Chimaera (friggin political effect ... and Imperial Command). I activated all but one and drained Robbo. He lost it from reserve, so I didn’t drain for any more because I’d tracked his Squabble around. I deployed Luke to Vader for heaps, the plan being kill him with one of the high destinies, then edge with the other next turn when I activate up to it. Robbo swung. I played Too Close For Comfort. Robbo played I Have You Now. Now, lets see. He had a destiny of 5. Luke is immune <6. So, with 2 destinies Robbo had to pull a 1 to kill Luke. Despite all the odds against it ...
... yeah, he killed Luke good.
There wasn’t really all that much too it, after that. I was forced to ASB for Luke, but it meant nothing, because I was drained too low to retrieve. Robbo retrieved once per game. Oh yeah, Dash + Theron Nett got attacked by Zuckuss and Bus, but Zuckuss isn’t that great without Brangus, so I had enough power that Robbo chose to lose them both.
FL! 0(-21)
2(+4)
Interrupts played from lost pile: Who cares? I lost. Like, 2 or something.
The Good: Even through all of that, A Stu Manouevers still came through for me :P
The Bad: This game meant that I couldn’t afford to lose another.
The Ugly: D’oh. That Luke thing was pretty bad. Have patience, grasshopper.
GAME THREE Light v Michael I-Can-Never-Remember-Your-Second-Name (Watto)
If you happen to read TRs from Oz for kicks, you probably won’t have heard of this guy before. Michael started fairly recently and has been, to put it bluntly, fairly crap due partly to a lack of cards. I was pleasantly surprised to see him playing both a good deck today, as well as playing it and metagaming very well.
Michael started with TINT/OE, Crush and Wipe (sounds like a really f#$*ed up detergent). I was disappointed not to see podracing, because I would’ve liked to have used the 22 point swing to recover from some Watto damage (Hayes Hunter’s WYS- this guy doesn’t like to lose races). I started with Battle Plan/DTF as one of my 3. Michael flipped first turn with Watto (bet you weren’t expecting that) and Televan, making me lose 2. I deployed the Outrider, picked up one, left 2 and said go.
Michael didn’t pay to drain and I was content to make him lose 2 to recycle his character MUAHAHAHAHAHA. Michael drew a few and said go. In my turn, Michael activated with Wipe, which was good for him because I flipped with 2 RFCs and Lando (Barriered) to Mos Espa. They promptly killed Televan. Michael backed up Watto with Blizzard 2 joining the Maul that was already there. I deployed Mirax and her ship, drew some and left 2.
Michael dropped some schmoes to Mos Espa, used his objective and picked a fight with stick Vader. I used TCFC and had Lando left. Next turn, I topped up Lando with Tallon Karrde and played Goo Nee Tay. Stick boy came out again, I lost 2 and I dodged the chop. At this point, I was commenting about how we were both playing well and I hadn’t seen either of us make any really big mistakes yet. Michael dropped some schmuck to Mos Espa, flipped, I finally let him deploy for free and it was ... Bus. SCHMACKOS! 17 force later ...
The rest of the game was fairly standard. Michael flipped again with Maul and Fett with Gun, flipping me back. That was gay because I had a 6, 3, 5 rig and couldn’t mess Maul. Oh well, I flipped with Melas, picked a fight, Lando’s shot got Force Fielded, Bob’s shot got TCFCed and I cleared the site. I won the game off another beatdown when Luke Blaster Proficiencied Watto and Bliz 2 was left.
FW 2(+21)
4(+25)
Interrupts played from lost pile: 1 (lost before 3 smugglers hit the table)
The Good: Back to my game 1 differential.
The Bad: No complaints here.
The Ugly: Yeah, Michael was pretty choked.
We drove off to Hungry Jacks (Oz Burger King) for lunch. I could write a whole article on that, itself, but I won’t. Basically:
A Mega Meal is two regular chips and a bucket instead of a cup.
Be careful when you open bins.
Unlimited refils should be taken advantage of (we’re working on a system to funnel the cups into a backpack or something).
You have to call shotgun within site of the car (and every time you cross a border).
If you watch political debates on fast forward, politicians look like they’re wanking.
GAME FOUR Dark V ISB (Illiyana Spedding Brown) Pod Profit
I wasn’t playing against ISB’s ISB, I was determined and I was saying farewell to Brangus. I was not planning on losing.
To tell you the truth, I can’t really remember all that much of the detail of this game. I remember that these things happened, and more or less how many times they happened:
Palpatine fryed 3P0 (Once)
I deployed Visage (Once)
I Vader’s Obsessioned Luke (Once)
I got hit by AFA (Once)
I drew Projective Telepathy the turn after I was hit with AFA (Once)
Collision was cancelled by TCFC (Once)
Anakin’s Racer got hit (Once)
Odds hit (Once)
I won the race (Once)
I Counter Assaulted for 6 force (Once)
ISB played ASB (Twice?)
I played podracer Collision (Twice)
Darth Maul used his text to kill Qui-Gon (Twice)
Han got Set For Stunned (Fifteen times)
Yeah, so ISB died from Visage, which was slow.
FW 2(+25?)
6(+50?)
The Good: How funny is it when you actually duel with Darth Maul.
The Bad: Have you ever won a game using pretty much only Visage?
The Ugly: Adam was playing dark Senate against Robbo’s Pod Profit next to me. Robbo deployed the JCC. Adam put Darth Maul, Young Apprentice with stick there to beat on Yoda. Yeech!
GAME FIVE Light v Robbo (Pod Profit with Jedi Council ?!)
Hmm ... revenge, revenge! Robbo was actually playing Jedi Council Members! He did say it was a fun deck. Robbo started the game by saying "Let’s try something a little different." Qui-Gon and his stick hit the Death Star: Docking Bay. I responded by dropping Palpatine to the Death Star: War Room.
Luca: "Let’s see if Qui-Gon can take on Palpatine."
Robbo: "That sounded like a challenge."
Apparently Robbo was too intimidated to move Qui-Gon for the rest of the game, which was probably a good move, because I was planning on taking him with IG. I dropped odds and did about 10 damage with it throughout the game. It was a bit stupid, actually. Robbo had Ben Kenobi and EPP Han. I deployed IG-88 to the AC, picked a fight, captured Ben (used pile) and killed Han. In hindsight, this was a stupid move because it lowered my odds total to 6. Oh well.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Anakin and Sebulba were on par. I played Hit Racer and missed. Damn. I played Hit Racer and hit. Cool. I played Hit Racer and missed. I figured, screw that and just won the race with Collisions. Robbo backed up Qui-Gon with LSJK and stick. I played a perfect Trooper Sabbacc. Yay! Fun!
I @#$%ed around playing Trooper Sabbacc for a few more turns until Robbo flipped with Han to Tatooine again. Alone. I looked at the Vader with Lightsaber in hand and licked my lips (not literally, that’s just disturbing). I deployed Vader to the Death Star: War Room.
Robbo: "Why not beat the crap out of Han?"
So I Vader’s Obsessioned LSJK and won by 8 or 9.
Robbo: "Now I see."
Anyhow, I won the race but we were getting close to time so I had to deploy Visage to kill Robbo with instead of something that wouldn’t make me lose lots of force, so I played masturbation star wars with Set For Stun and Han until Robbo lost. Visage is cool.
FW 2(+17)
8(+67?)
The Good: Yay! Trooper Sabbacc. That thing is just too powerful, if you ask me. Good thing they made a defensive shield for it. Really, winning your opponent’s Patrol Crafts with TS and their Palace Raiders with JP Sabbacc was far too powerful.
The Bad: Screw up with IG. D’oh.
The Ugly: Michael was playing Watto next door. "I’ll flip with Watto and Taliban ... I mean, Televan."
While we had a break, Adam gave us a 15-page thesis on why the new blockade flagship site is broken. All I can say is, I’m playing turbo flagship.
GAME SIX Light v Rodney Lee (BHBM)
You guys would probably have seen "Guilty By Association" in the top 10. Same guy. Different BHBM deck, though. Rod started with IAO/Secret Plans, Crush and Mob Points. I started with DDTA as one of my 3. Rod just shrugged and said "Had to happen."
Rod dropped Palpatine to the Tatooine: DB first turn, Janus and AAA. I don’t know why he didn’t go to the pub, but I guess that Rod had Maul and was looking for his ship, or he wanted to be able to get Palpatine back to duel or something. Either way, I was confused. My first Tunnel Vision got sensed ... WTF? I think that Rod also sensed something else before I flipped with Mirax and Lando with Gun to Tatooine and the (other) docking bay.
One of the great advantages of Adam’s Place as a tournament venue is that we can play music. Of course, someone started to play Guilty By Association and Adam commented that I was going to lose. Well, sure enough, I went through my deck with Squadron Assignments to see that there was only one Goo Nee Tay in my reserve, so I tunneled for the other one. It wasn’t there. I checked my hand. I checked my lost pile. I checked my reserve deck again. I checked my deck box. Nowhere. Well, we asked Adam what to do. He asked Rod, who said he was happy for me to grab another one and shuffle it into my reserve. Cool, but the tunnel vision was already wasted.
Anyhow, I grabbed a RFC and put it in the pub. Rod responded with Darth Maul to the pub, leaving one force active. I deployed Melas. Rod barriered and I cancelled it with Shuffle/Reach combo. I then deployed Luke from reserve, forgetting that he was -2 and that I could grab him from lost but nevermind, and beat on Maul without Rod being able to play I Have You Now because of Battle Plan/DTF. I lost the RFC, Rod lost Maul and one or two. He also lost Search and Destroy, which prevented him from using No Escape to get Maul back. Yay!
I was hoping that Rod would come to Melas and Luke with Vader because, let’s face it, who wouldn’t? Sure enough, one dodge later, Vader was bludging around in the pub and I had Rod losing force. I deployed Wedge to the pub and moved Melas over, thinking that at worse Vader gets a stick and dark strikes away Melas, in which case I houjix. Rod dropped Mara with Stick and ... Battle Order/FIRST STRIKE. He picked a fight and swung at Melas. I payed one to dodge from lost. Rod drew a 4 and a 5 then, sure enough, played dark strike on Melas. Rod drew high, I payed one for Houjix. Good thing I saw that coming!
Yeah, that was pretty much it. I dropped Kessel with Dash and Outrider and drained Rod out.
FW 2(+17)
10 (+84?)
Interrupts played from lost pile: 2 (1 before 3 smugglers, 1 that didn’t matter anyway).
The Good: Nothing. Well, winning, I guess.
The Bad: Rod and I seem to alternate who wins and loses without fail, so I’ll probably lose to him next time.
The Ugly: WTF happened to my Goo Nee Tay?
Ronnie managed to beat Robbo’s Pod Profit with his BATTLE DROIDS/Senate deck by 35 or something ... I’m not quite sure how that happens, but good onya, Ronnie. So, yeah, I won the tournament and The Emperor (no, the destiny 6 one). Adam came second, followed by I can’t remember. We had a moment of silence for Brangus, I gave a speech and we all cried a bit.
Anyhow, I gave Adam back his stuff and got my Jedi Lukes back. Adam said that he was happy that I won The Emperor (no, the destiny 6 one) ’cause now he can borrow it.
Anyone interested in a foil Emperor?
Props:
Adam for holding the tournament, topping up my decks, keeping my Jedi Lukes safe and always finding something to @#$% about.
Michael for improving.
Those zany delegates ... stay tuned for their next adventures.
Rod for being a cool opponent and for giving me a Goo Nee Tay (you really didn’t have to do that).
Hayes Hunter for the deck- looks like you were right about the shield.
Lee for giving me a lift, we need to work on that Hunt Down deck, though.
Porn Free Taa. Bown wock wocka wocka bown bown.
Ronnie for beating Robbo and playing BATTLE DROIDS, WTF?
Robbo for clarifying the shotgun rules (Ok, you have to have shoes on. Fine), playing well and being a dude.
Everyone who turned up.
Leigh for providing the election debate tidbits.
Brangus. Sniff, sniff.
Slops:
Whoever came up with the idea of a Brangus bullet. I kill you.
Robbo for knocking Brangus.
Anyone out there who’s going to knock Brangus.
Anyone out there who doesn’t knock people who knock Brangus.
Anyone out there who knocks people who knock Brangus knockers.
Everyone get the message?
Yo,
Luca