sea-world-tech-austin-tx
Title: sea-world-tech-austin-tx
Author: Justin "hoostino" Warren
Date: Dec 13, 2001
*THIS REPORT IS A REPOST, IT WAS ACCIDENTALLY DELETED EARLIER. BUT FEEL FREE TO REVIEW IT AGAIN!*
FCon was quite an experience. I’m not accustomed to losing many games here in Texas, but I was thoroughly schooled in Day 2 of FCon. SWCCG is dying, and it blows. DCon canceled, Decipher losing license, yadda yadda. But dammit, after FCon, I wanted to play more. As usual, no time for playtesting, just deck building on my own. My WYS Raiders (in a bit of a different form thanks to Hunter’s advice) did okay at FCon, losing to Steven Lewis’ Watto and Matt Berta’s Hunt Down in a dirty damned timed game. I tune it up (and put multiples of certain cards back in, because I just can’t seem to use 1 of like 25 different cards and find them when I need to) and am set for LS. For DS, options are numerous. At Worlds, I used MKOS and went 1-3 with it because I can’t play the deck. I didn’t play Hunt Down (which is what I always play) because LSC owns it. But, I worked on Hunt Down again for this local, and tried to find ways to allow it to bend Combat. I decide to add some extra Visages and the Colo Sando Claw Opee Aqua Fish Sea Monster Killer or whatever it is. The one that lets you stack a destiny and use it whenever you want. Yeah, that one. Oh yeah, and 2x IG-88 With Riot Gun. Yeah.
Since Brian Guthrie retired from directing tourneys in Austin, Jeremy (aka Van aka Uncle Tom/Lando Beater aka In The Army Now!) Losee decided to step up to the plate and run a normal six-game local. But I still have to drive down because Jeremy’s legs are too short to reach the pedals in his Explorer. Wake up early, drive to Austin, take a crap at nasty Junior’s Comics bathroom. The usual. Rating going in is like 1986 because I dropped about 65 points for FreedomCon.
[Game 1]
DS vs. Ted Woodward (1835) Lightsaber Combat
Well, what a surprise. Combat. Yay. I start the Fish instead of Crush, so I can capture Qui-Gon at my whim. My deck is just full of beats, so I try to bait Ted early with a Premiere Vader and ECC 4-LOM to one of his Naboo sites. He snags the bait, dropping R3 Yoda and Combating Vader. He stacked a 7, but drew a 3, while I drew enough to keep Vader on the table. In my hand I have R3 Boba, and IG. If he has no battle avoidance cards, it’s game. He doesn’t, and 4 destinies (at +1 each) later, it’s Yoda and 23 cards lost. He still has a good chunk of cards, but a first-turn Bad Feeling stifles his retaliation. He later moves Jedi Luke and Scoundrel Lando over to the same Vader, Iggy, and 4-LOM. My turn, Sniper Lando, another Fett from hand, I Have You Now and it’s game.
Full Win by 27
[2 (+27)]
[Game 2]
LS vs. Stephen Beckham (1757) Lightsaber Combat
DS Combat now. Okay. Sure. He drops Maul first turn. On my turn, I flip with Wedge to the system and a Raider/Craft at the DB (with a Portal in hand) thanks to all that nice Force I get, pull Battle Plan Shield and drop a Projection on Maul’s site (Hunter tech). He draws for a while, but from the looks of his starting cards I’m expecting the huge space package a la Gemme’s deck, so I move Wedge down to the DB in fear of an ambush. Instead, he mounts an offensive on my Raiders, but Portal does bad things to him. His space package turns out to be quite limited, and thus the BP/Menace Fades/Celebration lock inhibits him for much of the game. More battles take place, but Barrier/Portal and reacting Palace Raiders do their work, while It’s A Hit and ICBW halt his Cantina drain. Kessel hits the table, and it’s lights out a few turns later.
Full Win by 25
[4 (+52)]
[Game 3]
DS vs. Jacob Mayer (1882) Lightsaber Combat (!)
DAMN, Combat again? Ugh. I start the Fish, and drop another first turn Bad Feeling. I don’t think Jake anticipated my deck to run a lot of beats, so he deploys Padme and R3 Qui-Gon on like the second or third turn. In my hand, the crew is already assembled: Premiere Vader, R3 Boba, and Iggy. Oh, and an Accelerate. Activate 3, Accelerate for Visage. Activate more. Deploy guys out of my hand, stack the Visage on the Fish. He starts to get verbally nervous, hoping I don’t have an Iggy after he sees me stack the 7. It’s so early in the game that he doesn’t have a Barrier, It’s A Trap, or Blast The Door. So I battle, capture Qui-Gon, and draw many high destines against the now lonesome Padme. Jake concedes the game right there, and just draws up. We rematch, and he wins handily because he has an avoidance card like every turn, and I keep drawing crap destiny for Combat (and losing all of my guys). Oh yeah, and he was using Plo Koonta Kintei or whatever, who wrecks the Fish tech. It’s A Trap cancels Sniper, and Strike Blocked cancels You Are Beaten. Gay. I think I would have lost the first time around if he knew the beatdown capability my deck runs.
Full Win by 35
[6 (+87)]
[Game 4]
LS vs. Michael Richards (1724) ISB Troopers
Troopers? ISB? Damn I hate the local meta. Oh well, it ain’t Combat. Full Scale Alert does jack to smugglers, but I still flip without committing to the ground in the early game, while my drain of four in space isn’t hindered because he doesn’t use the Battle Order shield. I eventually drop some smugglers to his Hoth DB, and my Battle Plan shield comes out to slow his drains. I don’t deploy the Spaceport DB because he starts No Escape for some strange reason. I get some guys to Cantina, and he can only chase them around to stop the drains. ICBW and It’s A Hit stop many a drain as usual, and I continue to drain in space. I eventually cancel Ability, Ability, Ability, and he can’t cause much damage despite the lack of Menace Fades on the table.
Full Win by 16
[8 (+103)]
[Game 5]
LS vs. Jacob Mayer (1882) Maul Mains
We’ve played this matchup before, and I won by like 10. But he gets the quick start this time, with the free Maul to the Landing Site and Mara/Stick to the AC from Reserve Deck on turn 1. Battle Plan shield hits quick to stop that, while I go to space and use It’s A Hit/ICBW on his early drains. He grabs ICBW, thus It’s A Hit recurs almost all game. I set up with Raiders/Crafts, while Monnok nets him nothing. He moves Maul and Guri up to the system on board the Infiltrator, but Melas is there. A Barrier on my Theron/Red 10 and Cannon prevented me from battling, though. He moves the ship back down, and the lock appears imminent. But I get greedy as usual, and deploy Kessel, and move the Cannon AWAY from Tatooine like a moron so I can drain for more. So, he moves back up and now fulfills Battle Plan. Suck. I move the Cannon back over, and he of course retreats to Kessel, but still fulfills Battle Plan and now blocks my drain of three. At Kessel, I have Outrider/Dash, and Wedge in Red Squadron 1. I deploy Luke to the Outrider to suspend Maul’s text, but don’t think about the possibility of I Have You Now (Jake has Crush on the table). I battle, and of course he plays IHYN. But I’m cool with that, as his destiny isn’t exactly stellar, and I am confident that Wedge + RS1 will cover whatever he draws. He draws three consecutive blind sixes. Holy crap. So, I don’t even inflict any battle damage (which was obviously my plan), and I am forced to lose Wedge, RS 1, and Dash. I move the rest of my fleet over from Tatooine, but it looks like he’ll fulfill BP for the rest of the game now. The focus then shifts to the ground, where Raiders are running rampant. He tries a battle at JP with a bunch of guys, but a Portal from the Lost Pile spoils his plans. He drops the Executor in space, and moves Guri to the ground where she is now more needed. Again the battle is at JP, but he doesn’t expect another Portal, which I have tracked a five for. So Guri is Portalled, and more Raiders react to join the battle. Three destinies later and I seem to have control of the ground for good (save the Cantina, where he’s draining with Vader and P-59). He uses some clever moving tactics (shuttling, landing, moving, transiting in one turn) to spread what’s left of his ground package on top of my Raiders. This move included Maul leaving the Executor, so he essentially has conceded space finally. I deploy Celebration, but fail to realize that one Raider is at a non-battleground, one is at a DB, and the other isn’t really anywhere thanks to Maul. So, Celebration is lost instead because I don’t occupy two. Oh well, with him out of space, BP should win it. I rearrange my Raiders so I can avoid any late beatdown. He battles a Craft with P-59, shoots it and deals me his final points damage before he runs out of cards.
Full Win by 9
[10 (+112)]
[Game 6]
DS vs. Michael Richards (1724) HB Flip
Well well, it just wouldn’t be an Austin local without playing HB Flip at least once. But this one is different. It’s one of those that runs all of the weapons jizz. Thus, I must exercise a bit more caution before committing to space. First turn, I draw. His turn, he plays WWTBAO to grab Honor. My turn, I drop Vader and No Escape, while he loses to Visage. His turn, he loses to Visage. My turn, he loses to Visage. His turn, he loses to Visage. My turn, he loses to Visage. And so forth. Wow, Hunt Down takes so much skill to play. Heh. He flips, and it’s time to probe. It’s either Kessel or Kashyyyk, maybe Sullust, so I start with Kessel. I deploy the Chimaera with Maul and Thrawn to Kessel, probe, nail it, and move away. Visage and drains are mowing down his Life Force. He spends 8 for Boussh, which doesn’t leave him a Force for a Barrier. I see two X-Wings sitting alone, and drop ZIMH, 4-LOM, and Boba. Lateral Damage + 4 destinies = beat. I move around in space to avoid late tricks, and let Visage take him out.
Full Win by 20
[12 (+132)]
I let Jeremy keep one of his Alter foils, while the other goes to Jacob Taylor, who finished second. We grab the usual post-tourney food (McDonald’s), and head home. His wife drags him to the movies, while I go home, get high, and get laid with my palm. Hey, screw you for judging me! Sorry, but I have no patience for anymore serious commentary. :)
Props/Slops? Eh, sure.
Props:
Hunt Down and WYS, for still owning the Austin meta.
The Colo Sando Aqua Mackerel Claw Tuna Fish Killer Shark Monster, for being tech.
Jeremy, for running the tournament.
Jeremy, for wearing sandals in 50-degree weather. He’s got vaginal fortitude.
Jeremy, for not inviting me to go see Behind Enemy Lines. Heh.
Richards, for his Pauly Shore haircut.
Jacob "Armeeeeeedes" Taylor, for placing second.
Jacob Taylor and his boy Zane for smoking a lot.
Jacob Mayer, for playing with like 3 Bith Shuffle/Desperate Reaches. And all this time, I never thought anyone in Austin even knew what Barrier was. Heh.
Jacob Mayer, for forgetting that Portal works at JP.
Jacob Mayer, for deploying early against Hunt Down.
Anyone not named Jacob.
Slops:
Me, for dropping my card case (along with about 20 "cool points" according to Jeremy).
Jeremy’s mom, for not swallowing.
Lack of sleep.
Finals.
And finally, Jeremy’s mom would like to plug her site:
(www.cottagecheese.org/nasty/REALLYnasty/jeremysmom/nude/index.html)
Me go study for finals now.
Darwin bless. Hoostino out.