ayer-ma-2-9-02-taking-care-of-business

Title: ayer-ma-2-9-02-taking-care-of-business
Author: Stephen "The Gov'na" Cellucci
Date: Feb 10, 2002

Taking care of business

<B>Pre-tourney stuff</B>

Unlike my usual enthralling pre-tourney content (haha yeah right), I really have very little to report here. I had been to a tournament at the same shop-M’s Collectibles in Ayer, Mass-about a month ago, and I did badly (went 3-3). It had been my first tourney since, well, a while before, and I had gotten bad matchups, not to mention playing less than brilliantly. I was a little more confident this time, with some recent practice under my belt and a better idea of the local meat… I mean meta (typo sorry). My light side standby, QMC, didn’t seem to have had too many problems for me so I didn’t change it much. God I love qmc. Such a good come from behind potential. For dark I had played walker garrison for that last tourney, a deck which crushes everything…………but WYS. So I switched to a solid non-dueling (who does dueling anyway these days) hunt down. Much like Hayes’ but to fit my style. So yeah, those were my decks coming into this tourney. Hmm what else. Oh yeah one thing about my dark side was I could not for the life of me get my hands on a IAO combo or a secret plans defensive shield, so that really sucked, because when all of a sudden the games were starting I didn’t have time to look thru all my stuff for a regular secret plans effect. In conclusion, NO SECRET PLANS, which was bad. Also some proxy issues, I had talked to justin desai and he said if he was coming he would get me a new fett, which I was proxying with epp fett, but he didn’t come, so I asked around, nobody had one, and I ended up playing with the epp. Whatever.

We ended up with a turnout of only 10, but at least we got enough for it to be sanctioned, and no bye. I noticed that I was actually the highest rated player there (at approximately 1760-something, D hasn’t updated), so statistically I should win. None of the real big guns showed up, plus I guess a lot of them are getting out of the game. I figured my decks were solid, nothing too cheesy or weird, but good enough to defeat almost anything, so all I had to do was play smart and <B>take care of business</B>, as they say. But of course I knew it wouldn’t be easy, what with games against the experienced michael "rayc" hawley, who gave me two close and challenging games, and steven anderson, who was performing well that day and who gave me a couple good matches toward the end of the tournament. Let’s see what happened.


<B>The Games</B>


Game 1: Hunt Down vs. Kris Earle’s MWYHL (1731)
I was surprised to see MWYHL, since it didn’t seem like something many people were playing after the advent of defensive shields. Kris is cool; he runs a good tourney, and he got me the masterful move combo I needed (thanks Kris). A little into the game he said he hadn’t played for a while, which kinda explained why he inserted anger fear agression into my deck. To start he simply signaled for wise advice, while I started IAO (grrr. not combo), Mobpoints, and crush the rebellion. I didn’t get a Vader in my opening hand, so I drew up first turn and we lost to visage. He got yoda out his turn. I put DVDLOTS to the death star DB with emperor palpatine and drained for a turn or two, despite his battle plan shield. He tried to deploy LSJK from reserve to dagobah but realized that he didn’t have great warrior out, so he used boshek instead (after then deploying the jedi test). He completed test 1 pretty quick, then went for test 2 for many turns, every time coming up short (somewhat understandably, since he needed a 5 and he was playing a more or less average destiny mains type deal). I kept fortifying death star db with tarkin, dr.e combo, making sure not to put any other battleground sites out, and put chimaera with thrawn and zuckuss in ship to carida for battle plan. So I was draining for two and visage was hurting him. Meanwhile he did pull off some weird stuff, like two stone piles and an uncontrollable fury. To cancel the fury I had to draw for a lord vader and replace dvdlots… Eventually he had to do something, so he finally deployed epps luke and obi to my death star db for 14 (bad feeling have I was out). I tore them up, dr. e making obi immediately lost and me adding destiny with I have you now. He had 16 overflow damage from that battle, and basically I just drained him out from there.
FW +22

Highs: Winning first game, the deck worked just as it should have in that matchup.
Lows: uncontrollable fury sorta… no lows really

2(+22)


Game 2: QMC vs. Paul Laudenbach’s AOBS Naboo Occupation (1659)
I was wary coming into this one, knowing that Paul knew how to play the game and was no pushover. When I saw Agents of black sun, I was slightly relieved, because I knew this was one of QMC’s easier matchups (not that the mighty qmc has any really tough matchups…). It ended up going pretty quickly. He started IAO & secret plans, mobilization points, and all wrapped up, while I answered with keeping the empire out forever, squassin, and don’t do that again (pulling the executor/carida gives dark too big of an advantage for me not to start it). He moved Xizor over to the battleground coruscant db for the first turn flip. I had drawn 2 epp obis in my opening hand, and I figured that I didn’t like early damage, so I sent obi on a suicide mission to slash up xizor. Having done that, although he got palpy and some vigos and the droid vehicle thingies at naboo sites, he didn’t get another xizor out for a while, by which time I was already set up at bespin and on cloud city with my objective flipped. Luke did evade me for a little while but I put him to cc when paul finally got another xizor out. I had pucumir on cc and was draining for 9 a turn while retrieving 4, and he never got occupation set up, so his drains were only around 4-5 a turn. I retrieved 6 with a tracked intruder missile and off the edge at the end of the game, finishing with 1 card in my lost pile.
FW +32

Highs: QMC demonstrated its potential to outdrain the opponent no matter what. Obi for that clutch first turn hit
Lows: nope

4(+54)


Game 3: QMC vs. Michael Hawley’s Hunt Down solid, very similar to mine (1721)
This matchup was sort of a turning point in the tournament since I was in the lead thus far but this game would put the winner ahead. I knew that michael had good skills and I would have to make very few mistakes to win. But qmc does have a slight advantage over hunt down, as we proved today. He got vader out second turn I believe, getting almost all of his locations in his opening hand, while I set up space with wedge in red squadron 1 to cloud city. He sent zuckuss in ship after a turn to cloud city on wedge, and I barriered and beat up on zuckuss for 10 cards overflow the next turn. So at this point I had an advantage. I got luke out on cloud city, while he had the cc docking bay out so he was able to move freely on cc with darth vader and friends. Michael made the game closer by sending epp maul to luke’s site (I had the new leia and luke at adjacent sites, and it was a tough choice for him, but he went for luke). Luke hit maul and maul hit luke, the site cleared, and he flipped to his 7 side. I was losing a lot off top because I was keeping a relatively small hand and playing a lot of cards, which wasn’t exactly the smartest thing to do. But that’s what visage does. Anyway, he had lost almost all of his space in the 10 card battle, so he never satisfied battle plan. Menace fades hurt his drains for a while, but neither luke nor obi hit the table again that game, besides a suicide strike against another epp maul during which I got hurt pretty badly by an I have you now and 5 cards overflow. I was keeping a battleground site most of the time with melas and other random characters, but I had lost paths off top early so that was tough too. He was paying 3 to drain and visage was hitting me, while I, having spread to cloud city, was draining for 3 and retrieving one. He did all he could but I squeezed by with a 6 card win.
FW +6
Highs: the whole game. Michael played well and is fun to play with.
Lows: none at all

6(+60)


Game 4: Hunt down solid vs. Michael Hawley’s QMC, again much like mine (1721)
Well look at that, we were both playing similar versions of the same decks. Great minds think alike, eh michael? I felt like I had a slight disadvantage this time, although I knew I probably wouldn’t send zuckuss to get smacked. This game was similar to the last in many ways, with sides switched. He started DDTA just like I had, and it took me a while to find carida and finally set up space with chimaera & thrawn. I got vader out early to the death star db, with a saber, having drawn a pretty good hand. He did the qmc thing, setting up space and getting both luke and quigon epps to cc sites after a few turns to keep me on the zero side for a while. I was paying to drain for 2 for several turns while getting palpy and janus, along with tarkin and vader moving over to cc. I began chasing luke around once he got menace fades out. I eventually got maul to beat luke off cloud city but there was still the matter of quigon. Meanwhile, palpy and janus, who were left alone, got attacked by a suicide obi (?) who hit janus and forced some attrition, but I played I have you now and palpy was left standing when the dust cleared. To handle quigon, I began to track a visage and was going to send ig-88 with gun to capture and seal the deal, but I soon realized that I had used one too many cards last turn and the +1 deploy from bespin’s game text would prevent my capturing quigon. Instead, I forgot about tracking and sent iggy and 4-lom w/ gun to quigon’s site. He moved/dodged around for quite a while and, although I had clear character superiority on cc, he evaded me long enough for my own visage and his ping drains to do me in. This is where not having secret plans really didn’t help, since when I had gone to smack luke earlier with maul, he tried to kill luke off by a blind off the edge and hope for a destiny 1. Well, it sort of worked: he drew a blind 7 and retrieved 6, which he could not have done if I had been able to get a secret plans combo or defensive shield… grrr. Also, something that may have swung the odds in his favor was that, toward the end of the game, my grabber was still open, but I kept not saving force (stupidly), he got off a rebel artillery and then <I>another</I>, even though I knew he had it. If I had grabbed that it might have won it for me, along with having the IAO combo instead of just regular IAO. Oh well, qmc does have a small advantage over hunt down if played well, and that’s just what michael did.
FL -3
Highs: another great game, even though I lost it was close all the way
Lows: losing? Not really, it was my fault for making a couple key mistakes

6 (+57)

Game 5: Hunt Down vs. Steven Anderson’s TIGIH (1612)
At this point steven was the only undefeated player, and I was in second, so we stood to face each other inevitably. I was surprised to see TIGIH, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, but I knew that hunt down could deal with it pretty well. I sent tarkin to the endor DB first turn, while he moved luke over on his turn, deployed a couple DBs, and drew. It took me a turn to get out vader, so I lost once to I feel the conflict, but eventually I fortified the endor db with lord + saber and was draining for 2 a turn. However, he had canceled visage early with ooc combo. Stupidly, I was paying to drain, assuming battle plan/order was out, then when steven sent corran and figrin to cancel visage agian, he didn’t pay to drain, and I saw my blatant error. Ig-88 with gun, the perfect man for the job of cleaning up the executor, captured figrin d’an and attritionized corran. For some reason (idiocy), I decided to capture figrin instead of letting him go to the used pile, and figrin still controlled the holotheatre. Meanwhile he had gotten mace windu out to the naboo db, and I had to send maul and a saber to kill him, but I didn’t realize that I have you now didn’t work on him. It was ok because maul survived and vader and tarkin transited from endor to naboo for a drain of 3. Steven then put quigon w/ saber to the endor back door, I played the battle order shield, and I was flipped back once again. I could either go after quigon-it would take two turns to get to his site-or I could send thrawn and chiraneau (yeah I know, not exactly a beatdown team) to clear figrin out. I went with the second option and redeployed visage. Then I sent vader/maul/tarkin to teach quigon a lesson, but while they were at the endor db, he threw down caldera righim (the ability >8 battle prevention guy), who I hate. I left maul at the db and sent vader & tarkin to the back door to deal with quigon, who moved over to the db. Caldera moved to the back door to prevent the 3 drain. I battled quigon, both of us missed swings, he drew high and I drew low for battle destiny so the site was cleared. But mace windu had gone to naboo again (he was saved by jedi resilience earlier) and visage plagued me for the rest of the game, as an attempt to kill him with a saberless maul (I forgot that I have you now didn’t work against mace, him not being a rebel) fell through. But my early drains had been too much, and I had character superiority, so I pulled it out.
FW +12

Highs: winning, if I had lost I would have been out of the running for 1st place.
Lows: I did some dumb stuff, could’ve won by more

8(+69)


Game 6: QMC vs. Steven Anderson’s AOBS (1612)
OK so this was basically a final confrontation, because the winner would get first and the loser would most likely (although not definitely) take second. The beginning of the game was largely a repeat of my earlier match with agents of black sun. He started the mobpoints combo among his effects, so once again I answered with ddta. And once again I got 2 epp obis in my opening eight. He put a vigo to the non battleground coruscant db first turn and moved xizor over. I began to set up space with wedge in ship at bespin. He moved xizor and the vigo to a battleground db and flipped, also getting palpy out. I decided I didn’t like that, so I sent obi again on a suicide mission to take out xizor and the vigo, and he did. In this game, steven played more aggressively, to my locations, whereas in my other AOBS game paul stuck to his sites. He held bespin for a while, beating wedge around with zuckuss and two droid starfighters. I let him hold space for a few turns, while he paid to drain for 2 at bespin and fortified it with fett in ship. I instead decided to get characters to cloud city, putting epp obi and leia at cc sites. We traded drains for a while, and it took me a lonnnggg time to find ships/pilots, but eventually I put a pilot on wedge’s empty ship, an xwing cannon, and ten numb with squassin to bespin. But the important move was deploying I’ll take the leader. His power went from relatively high to very low, with a total subtraction of 8. I won the battle and decided not to put legendary starfighter on either ship (which I had grabbed with ddta), having captain han and falcon in hand and wanting the 2 damage a turn instead of one. He responded with bossk in bus but I barriered for 3 force, since he had grabbed it earlier, and saved enough for broken concentration to have 3 left for the xwing cannon. He didn’t battle; I put melas on the again empty red squadron 1 and dash in outrider to bespin (han in falcon would have cost too much, bad feeling have I was out), and I did a good number on his ships this time, me losing ten numb and him losing bossk. He retaliated; I didn’t have 3 force for the cannon, but I still shot down a droid fighter, and he ran away to cloud city with fett. Captain han took him out, I played legendary starfighter, and he was cleared from space. I forgot to make him lose to legendary both of the 2 remaining turns, but I was far enough ahead that consistent ping drains and celebration won me the game, and the tournament.
FW +15

Highs: winning tournament, qmc proving that it can own space with ease
Lows: those few early turns when I couldn’t draw ships or pilots to save my life

10(+84)


So, I chalked up my second won tournament (read about my other one in my Lexington, MA tr!), having taken care of business. The second and third place players were michael hawley and steven anderson, respectively (michael had won by enough and steven had lost by enough to put michael in second). I left before the last game finished, so I don’t know how the rest of the rankings worked out, but I know they were weird, because there were about 6 timed games in the tourney. I won a complete set of BB premiere for first, thanks to the generosity of tournament director Joe Sottile (sp?). Thanks joe. By the way if anyone wants the premiere set, leave your bids in your reviews or something and I may very well sell it. Oh yeah, props and slops.


Props:
Joe for being a good td, running a quick tourney despite the timed games and giving good prize support
Michael "rayc" Hawley for our excellent games, I enjoyed them, and for placing second
Steven anderson for placing third and for our games
Kris for the game and the trades
Paul Laudenbach for the game
EPP obi for being so clutch, kicking xizor’s butt TWICE!
Everyone who showed and played pretty varied decks
That dude who went 3-3, it was his first tournament
you for reading this nonsense

Slops:
me for making some mistakes
Cheesy anger fear agression (thank god its killed), stone pile, uncontrollable fury
Not much else, it was good.

Alright everyone, thanks for reading. How much for the premiere set, really! Gov’na out.