freedom-con-day-1-2
Title: freedom-con-day-1-2
Author: Chris "CGogolen" Gogolen
Date: Nov 30, 2001
Both deck are now on decktech- slightly modified versions of what I actually played since I now have the EP1 Foils
For LS I was playing Rebel Strike Team Podracing
For DS I was playing Brangus(the counter shield-it ain’t that special)
There were 67 players in day 1, so the top 13 would advance(14 was a wildcard if there was an odd number on day 2).
I am currently rated 1905(15-3 not yet entered)
Game 1 LS vs David ? ‘s Tie Scout deck
He starts Kashyyk and twi’lek’s for Presence on it. 1st turn he drops a tie scout to Kashyyyk. I didn’t have a Battle Plan shield at that time, so I was playing the regular card-wouldn’t show up for a while. I make the preparations to blow the bunker and look for my ships, while winning the podrace. He continues to drain for 3 for 2 more turns. I deploy Gen Lando in Gold 1 to Kashyyyk and battle-he uses Emergency Deployment to get some backup, 2 dreadnaught. I’m outpowered by 2, but immune to his 1 of a destiny. Since I drew a 6, he loses both dreadnaughts. Next turn he moves off Kashyyyk to Naboo, and deploys Kiffex and a Scout there. Meanwhile, I win the race. I stack my destinies back in my deck. On my turn, I blow the bunker, retrieve my 8, he loses 8 more and dumps his hand. Now I know he doesn’t have anything to use for backup. Dash in the Outrider goes to Naboo, and Wedge in Red Squad 1 goes to Kiffex. The battle damage ends the game.
FW +20
Game 2 DS vs Jeff Holmes(1902) QMC deck
I don’t get a real good start in this game. He deploys quick to ground with the new Lando, and throws Wedge in Red Squad to Bespin, and Tawss to flip. I deploy Zuckuss to the system, battle and draw a 1. He deploys the Han/Chewie/Falcon card, draws decent destiny, and I lose Zuckuss and 5. He then plays Legendary Starfighter on the Falcon, and the 2 a turn will be what kills me. I complete the race and retrieve 6, getting some cards back, but I can’t challenge those 2 in space. EPP Vader makes a suicide run or 2 and does some damage, but the 2 from legendary is more than I can keep up with. I deploy Bossk in HT to Tatooine to get around Battle Plan, Emperor is in the Cantina. He’s using Path to stay out of my way on Cloud City. There isn’t a whole lot that I can do. Finally I get the Lateral damage and go try to battle in space, but it’s way to late in the game. He drains me out on the ground just before time expires.
FL –12 2(+8)
Game 3 DS vs Mike Gemme(1827) QMC deck
OK, here’s a matchup that a lot of people were waiting for. For me, it’s just another game. I’m way to tired and out of energy to make more out of it than that. This was the 2nd of 3 QMC decks that I would play, and I was really regretting not playing the Bomber deck, which can really rape QMC. Brad Reinhold watched the whole game. Gemme wanted Brad to use his QMC deck in Day 2, so Brad wanted to see how it works. I had just met Brad about an hour ago, but he seemed like a pretty cool guy and after talking further that day I realized he was-good thing Brad played LS Combat in Day 2- it worked well for him. Pretty straight forward game. He set up Celebration, had the Ten Numb at the system. I went after him with Zuckuss. Falcon showed up, Red 7 shows up, shoots Zuckuss, I exchange DB for Zuckuss just in case I figure a way to use him. I put Palpatine on CC, did some Hit & Run with EPP Vader. I had Blast door controls out so barrier was useless and I grabbed Path. He used the Naboo preview effect(forget the name-don’t own it) and then attacked someone I had at his CC site to retrieve 4. I won the race as usual. Cancelled Celebration with Endor Occupation. Did some more hit and Run with Vader again, since I got him back from winning the race. Use my other DB to exchange for that Vader again. He can’t control more than 1 site. With Maul on CC, Emperor on CC, and most of out characters dead, it becomes drain race. I edge him out by 10.
FW +10 4(+18)
Game 4 LS vs Steve Thompson(1537)’s Endor Ops/Build DS2 deck
When he starts Operational as planned and takes the DS2 into hand, I’m thinking to myself-what the hell is he playing. It’s an interesting match-up storyline wise, but I’m pretty sure I can win the race and blow the bunker before he gets it operational. Game starts out slow. He puts a ship to my Endor and Jerjerrod to the DS2 docking bay. I draw high for the race. My turn, I grab Deactivate, I did it, and the BackDoor. I had started The shield is down since Strike planning doesn’t work against endor ops. I put Battle Plan out as well. He’s paying to drain for 1, gets Wakeelemu and Sienar out and has a few interceptors floating around. He’s not even stacking race destinies. I’m drawing 4,5,6’s. The race is over in 3 turns. I retrieve my six, he loses six and I stack the 2 6’s back into my deck. My turn I can’t activate to them, so I get some guys down, and move into the bunker. He keeps draining in space while he hunts for That Thing’s Operational so he can start moving the DS2. My turn I play Throw me another charge, and draw the 2 6’s and blow the bunker. I don’t pay 8 to retrieve 3, he loses 8. I set up drain on my 2 exterior endor sites, deploy strike planning. He gets That Thing out and starts moving DS2 to Wakeelimu. I deploy Gen Calrissian in Falcon and Dash in Outrider to space and do some and clear Endor. Now my drains are free, he gets DS2 to Wak., but it’s too late.
I put Boonta Eve OOP and retrieve 4 more.
FW +35 6(+35)
Game 5 DS vs Andy Klema(1843)’s QMC deck
This game was very similar to Games 2 and 3 that I played. There was no Legendary Starfighter to hurt me. I won the race, he flipped his objective. I got out my Cantina, and threw Emperor and Janus in there. I put Bossk to the Tat System. We were both around battle plan draining. I didn’t cancel his celebration because I had perfect sabaac tracked with the occupation and would rather make him lose 2, and then have to spend to retrieve it then not let him retrieve, kinda force choking him, kinda screwing with his destiny tracking. With Janus I was able to draw the Sabaac and then play it to make him lose 2. It took him about 4 times before he grabbed it. I used the rest of my guys to chase around CC while I held my drains. We did some battle damage back and forth to each other, but I was able to edge him out as time was near expiration. He never came to the Cantina, and his drains just could match my Drain for 3 there. It was a great game, a brilliant chess match of a game, and I was able to edge him.
FW +4 8(+57)
Game 6 LS vs Alan Rimell(1806) Ties deck
Alan started the Operative objective and Kashyyk. I was wondering if he really was playing Ops-but 1st turn when he deployed an Interceptor with Cannons to Kashyyyk I knew he wasn’t. I decided to take a chance while I still could. I pulled out my usual stuff, and saw Gen Cal in the reserve. I had gold squad 1 in hand, so I pull Gen Cal and deploy him and GS1 to Kashyyyk. He has no force left to shoot with, so I battle. He has 5 cards in hard. One of them is Combat Response-he activates 4, uses 3 to shoot and caps the Falcon. DAMN. He later tells me that he only carries 1 Combat Response. Next turn he deploys Kiffex and a Tie and uses I can’t shake him to pull a gun. When he drains at Kashyyyk, I have to flip 1 card since I need all the stuff in my hand-I flip the Bunker. Well, unless I can win the race quick and get it back, I lose. I set up some exterior drains on Endor to try to do him some damage, but I’m not drawing high for the race. He deploys Naboo and another Tie with a Gun. Now I’m trying to find Wedge and Red Squad 1, about the only thing I have that he might not be able to shoot. I have to stop the drains quickly or the bunker will be too far buried to get back. I won’t be able to hold a system to use I did it to retrieve from the bottom of the lost pile. Well, I draw lousy race destinies, the bunker gets buried and I can’t get it back. I win the race, drain on Endor and at the Podrace arena, and then send Wedge to space. He dodges a bullet or 2, but doesn’t last long enough for I did it to let me get to the bunker. His drains are bigger than mine.
FL –8 8(+49)
Damn lost by 8 the amount he would have lost if I had blown the bunker. Must have been the Mono, I know better than to flip cards when I don’t have everything set up yet.
Game 7 LS vs Mike Gemme(1827) Let them Make the First Move
Mike gets his rematch from game 3. Right now he’s #11 and I am #12 in the tournament right now. Whoever wins will most likely make Day 2, the other will have lots of ground to cover to be that 5-3 on the bubble. This wasn’t a very eventful game. He did his draining on Naboo with Maul, I only sent Obi there once to flip him and block a drain, but when he lost the duel and I had to lose 7 and Obi, I decided it wasn’t worth it. I won the race as usual. Then I blew the bunker, and was able to retrieve the 8 when I moved to the back door to get around Coward which I think he deployed after I won the podrace. I drained on endor, he drained on Naboo. We had one or two space battle that were uneventful. My direct damage plus retrieval were more than enough to beat Maul’s drain. His UC spies were useless because Corran horn was draining at the back door. He was holding U-3po the whole game. I retrieved 4 more for I did it, and that was about all I needed to edge him out.
FW +7 10(+56)
All I need to do is win this game and I make day 2- so that’s what I am going to do, win this game by 1 card if I have to.
Game 8 DS vs Greg Shaw(1796)’s WYS deck
At least it’s not another QMC, but it sucks having to play a fellow NJ guy for a spot into Day 2. First turn I draw for the race, and then sent Palpy into the Cantina. He deploys mirax to Tatooine. I drain 2, then drop zuckuss to tatooine. He loses 3 cards. His turn he deploys to his DB’s to flip, deploy Kessel and moves away. I hold my drains, get Brangus out, and then use Epp Vader on some Suicide runs. I may not be able to abuse Brangus anymore, but he can turn a Suicidal EPP Vader into 3 Suicidal EPP Vaders. That was all I needed to do, keep his guys off the ground, drain 2 in Cantina, 2 at Tatooine. I lost the race because I didn’t grab the A step Backward and he got to play it twice-stupid me. Didn’t matter in the end though. Suicidal Vader with First strike let me get some guys back. Maul made his presence felt as he always does against WYS. I began using Bossk with Zuckuss to chase him between Kessel and Tatooine to eliminate his drain. Not much he could do at this point. My drains ended the game
FW +18 12(+74)
That was good enough for 5th place. At this point, all I want to do is shoot myself because I feel horrible. For this reason I opt not to change my decks, I simply change 1 or 2 cards in each. This was a huge mistake-I knew the DS deck would not do well against the best in the world, but I was too tired to change a deck to something else that I didn’t have experience playing, playtest a few games, and then write out a decklist. As a result, I went 1-4 on day 2 before dropping. I was going to drop after game 4, but since Raw Deal wasn’t starting for 1 ½ hours I opted to play 1 more game.
Day 2 matchups:
LS vs Gary Mohnsen’s Court(1811)- Gary didn’t know Conduct your Search had been Errataed- Win by 11
DS vs Jason Kilby’s(1901) Lightsaber combat- bad matchup when I can’t beat him in a duel and none of my Dark Jedi can drain anywhere. Loss by 8?
DS vs David Irvine(2131) WYS deck-just couldn’t get the right cards together when I needed them and had opportunities. Loss by 20
LS vs Kevin Shannon’s(2125) Scum deck-really tired, played stupid and let Leia get her a$$ whooped by about 30. Though about dropping here. Loss by about 30
DS vs Greg Shaw’s (1796) WYS- Rematch of yesterday-everything went his way-had a handful of red for half the game, and nothing to use any of it with. Loss by 20
I dropped after game 5 and went to play Raw Deal.
I had a lot of fun all weekend, and was real glad to get to hang out with my Ghetto boys again. Greg was his typical self, as was made apparent in the first 5 seconds he was at the Con-you can ask him or Steve Baroni about that one. It was cool seeing Pete again, since he moved down to VA I’m only seen him once or twice. TJ showing up Saturday was an unexpected surprise. You put him and Greg or Clint in a room together and some funny $hit starts happening, but with all 3 of them it was ridiculous. The 2am run to Walmart to buy an air rifle was interesting, we also went to find more stuff that we could use to wake up Praskac. I think we woke him up about 4 times, but TJ shooting him in the face with a Nerf Dart Gun was pretty priceless. So was dinner at Denny’s, where the 8 of us all got separate checks-not sure why the waitress did that. And I have to give props to GG for the getting the chick in the bar on Friday night.
I got to meet some pretty cool people that I hadn’t before and talk to some that I had met before but just hadn’t seen in a while:
Brad Reinhold
Bastian Winkelhaus
Adam Drake
Brian Hunter-well, I wouldn’t call him cool, but he was interesting to talk- briefly.
Raphael Asselin-hope things went well on Monday for ya
Yannick Lapointe- Always a pleasure talking to Yannick-sorry to hear he quit
Maxim Briand(Burnt Toast)-gotta love a guy who says "Ok, so we break him now?"
If I forgot anyone, then I guess you didn’t make a big impression on me or maybe its the Mono.
None of the people playing Raw Deal were fun-they were all pickles, especially the kid from PA playing the Rock.
And Clint is a pickle for losing his Dark deck with all the cards he borrowed from people.