at-long-last-hayes-freedomcon-tr
Title: at-long-last-hayes-freedomcon-tr
Author: Hayes "Hayes" Hunter
Date: Mar 11, 2002
Room 511
I have to start with props. I just have to.
MAD PROPS FOR:
Bastian Winkelhaus. You’re the best player in the world and deserve the title of World Champion more than anyone else ever has. I can’t tell you how happy I am for you man. I love you and I’ll see you again, sometime.
Alan Sagan. Alan bestowed upon me the greatest act of sportsmanship of the weekend. He graciously drew up his remaining cards to give me the full win in game 3, thus allowing me to get into the top 8. Thank you so much.
Alex Tennet. Cheers to you for the games we played, both sanctioned and non. It was a great pleasure to see you again, and thanks once more for being there for clean up duty. I’m glad to know I have such kind people watching out for me.
Jason Kilby. No con is complete without you, bro. Without you, room 511 wouldn’t have been the same. Thanks for everything, and for contributing to the well-being of Hayes, while in his drunken stupor.
Brad Reinhold. You are the @#$%ing man. Thanks so much for all the hours of conversations on AIM, without them I wouldn’t have been able to compete at the same level I did. I, as do many others, also greatly appreciate your extreme generosity. You supplied innumerable people with the cards essential to compete.
Mike Merletto. You have to be so proud of your incredible performance. Winning your first 6 games to qualify for day 2, then to go on and beat Brian Hunter... it’s just so great. It was awesome meeting you and I can’t wait till December when I get to see you and Brad again. We’re going to have a hell of a time.
Michael Pistone. Thanks so much for the Enhanced Maul and Qui. Without them I wouldn’t have been able to do so well. You’re a great friend man.
David Akers and crew. If not for your effort and devotion to this game none of this could have been accomplished. The Star Wars community is greatly in your debt for providing the best World Championship event ever. Thank you.
Mike Carr. You especially played an instrumental role in all of this. You had the idea to use the same location as DecipherCon, and really did the most important thing of all: you got the ball rolling for Decktech to pick up. It’s thanks to people like you that this wonderful con was the great success it was.
Steve Brentson. Congratulations on 1000+ games. You are truly one of the best players in the world and have proved it time and time again. It’s an honor knowing the man that’s played 1000 sanctioned games of Star Wars. I wish you and Francis the best.
Scott Lingrell for 2 more exciting games. Dude, you should beat your wife or something, it’s never a good thing for you when she calls and we’re playing. Seriously though, you have to admit, those were some good @#$%ing games, especially that last one. It’s been a long while since I’ve had such a good laugh playing this game.
And finally, mad props to Katie. Thanks for putting up with all of my crap, and for supporting me, and for even wanting me to teach you how to play. You’re the best, and I love you.
PROPS TO:
Mike Raveling for being an amusing fellow J
Michael Kessling for taking that shot like a man.
Geminem for being the older brother I never had, and for having a hot sister. I love you man, and I’m so glad we got to have one last con. (I still want the Fear Factory back though)
Heidi Farinholt for being one of the guys. It was good fun having you around all weekend.
Charles Hickey for being a judge and a wicked cool guy all weekend- it was great seeing you again in Seattle.
Jeremy Oakes for being a great friend. It’s always a good time when you’re around.
Bruce and Allen for being the Brits and a great audience.
Matt Allen for being the Brit whose last name I always remember.
Martin Akesson for all that soup!
Evan Fitzgerald for being a great guy, and for the beer. Cheers.
Brian Hunter for not being that much of a @#$% in person :O) Good seeing you in Seattle.
Kevin Shannon for being one of the best of all time.
Shane Watner for being a wicked cool guy to chill with.
Matt Berta for the stuff. Vegas Baby!
Tim Guzman for being the best old person :O)
Andy McClure cause I finally got to meet you.
Chris McClure for being almost as annoying as my bro.
Raphael Asselin for getting arrested for speeding. I feel your pain :O) It was great to finally play you in Seattle.
Nathan Brown for your efforts all weekend.
Yannick Lapointe for being another all time great. It’s been a pleasure.
Brian Cieszynski for playing hoops and for being a great guy... I spelled your name right!
Justin Desai for being one of the boyz. Origins this year, definitely.
Andy Klema for coming down. It was great seeing you again Fcon weekend, I’m sorry you couldn’t do Albany w/ us.
Chris Praskac for ballin’ w/ the Kashyyykians.
Justin Beal for traveling 2000+ miles to play me :O)
Robert Werbicki for his love of mashed potatoes.
TJ Holman for showing up, even if you didn’t play. It was cool seeing you again.
Pete Flamini for hosting the Ghetto Squad reunion
Greg Hodur for dragging TJ’s @#$% down to VA. Good seeing you again man.
Clint Hays for being there... woulda been cool to play ball w/ you... you know, if you guys coulda actually found the court. Seeya around.
George Gundry even if you didn’t play.
Doug Faust cause he kept stuff moving... why couldn’t you have played man?!
Will Diniega for being Da One Spoon. It was chill seeing you again bro, even if we didn’t hang that much. GenCon, baby.
Joe Diniega cause I hadn’t seen him since CO either... damned glad you were there man.
Mr. Diniega because he made fun of me being drunk.
Ben Rodriguez for neutron stars, etc.
Joe Olson for winning the single elimination and for being a cool kid.
Steven Lewis for being a good guy. I’m glad you were there.
Katie Lewis for being a girl that plays cards (and a cute one at that!).
Enrique Huerta for being one of the best damn SMs out there. I thank you so much for the rides and everything.
Bobby Dayton for being my @#$%! Seriously though, you’re one of the few people I play here in AZ that actually gives me a good game of Wars. Thanks for letting me ride in your death trap, too. I’m gonna owe you like $42098234890.43 in gas by the time I’m done w/ college.
Neal Razi for his role in making all of this happen. The community owes you man.
Justin Warren for being a wicked cool guy. Yeah, I’d like to see you say that in Texas.
My Bro for being there. If not for you being there to play with all those years... yadda yadda.
Adam Drake, right chief?
Caleb Foth for oyster crackers!
Kim Caton, my nemesis, for bringing Scrabble board and for being such a great person.
Dave Evans for his efforts all weekend.
Bob Caton for being such a cool old guy gamer.
David Irvine for being there. Good seeing you again man.
Brian Fred cause I finally got to meet you, you deck building genius, you. You, you.
Greg Forster for running all sorts of stuff and for being there. I hadn’t seen you in forever!
Whoever wrote, "@#$%" in the sand on the beach for writing "@#$%" in the sand on the beach.
Dominoes for having cheap pizza.
Your Jewish Mother, heh.
The Ninja Hamsters for mesmerizing Bastian.
WOTC for the prize support and the good time in Seattle.
IHOP for being King.
KFC for mashed potatoes, etc.
Oyster Crackers ’cause everyone wants ’em.
Scrabble ’cause it’s tech.
Room 511 for being the place to be.
SLOPS TO:
Decipher. It’s not that I don’t like many parts of Decipher. There are many individuals within the company that I have the highest respect for. I absolutely love this game. And I cannot express how much I appreciate their efforts to create a community for players like me. At the same time, however, Decipher is a company and I a consumer. Their decision to cancel DecipherCon was not a good one. Very, very quickly Decipher turned many of their most loyal and avid supporters against them.
The Sheraton Hotel elevators for having the jankiest elevators ever. Like, the buttons for each floor have these little red lights that are supposed to go on when you push them. Of course, maybe half of these red lights actually work, and half the time you push the button itself, it doesn’t go all the way in so the elevator doesn’t drop you off at your floor. To make matters even worse, the only way to tell what floor you are on is by looking at this digital screen on the wall of the elevator. When the doors open there are no markings or numbers to tell you what floor you are on- in fact, they all have the same print of a sailboat directly across from the doors. So, if someone were to break that little digital screen... well it would have been funny. We shoulda figured that out earlier. Oh well.
The United Postal Service for almost losing 2 Enhanced Mauls and an Enhanced Qui Gon the Twiggs sent me.
My giant hickey, for obvious reasons.
That felt good. Now let’s do some history.
Long ago and far away...
DecipherCon is canceled. I, like many other players, was extremely disappointed. There isn’t much more to say that hasn’t been said about that.
Sometime between then and the 14th of November I play in Day 1 of the I-10 cup tournament, despite being sick. These games don’t really matter; I’ve just made it a habit to document all my games in the last year so here they are:
Game One
WYS Vs Pat Gimber’s (1613) HDADTJ w/ Deep Hatred Dueling
This was a fun version of the WYS- I was running 3x EPP Han and 3x Life Debt and 2x Angry Chewie. If you ever wondered why the WYS shield cancels Don’t Underestimate Our Chances, now you know. This was the first tournament I noticed my SW abilities declining, but I assumed it was just because I was sick. Basically I set up menace fades, he attacked a lone Han with EPP Vader, and despite him Force Fielding my SATM/BP enhanced shot (that would have hit Vader) he still ended up losing Vader and a bunch of force. The cool thing was everyone in the room saw it happen. Needless to say, Han didn’t get initiated against the rest of the day.
FW +18
2(+18)
Highs: Fun games, I like the new cards.
Lows: I played slow. That sucks.
Game Two
New Dark Objective Vs Kyle Schliesman’s (1562) New Light Objective
So yeah, this was the first tournament after Reflections 3 came out so the Conduct Your Search errata wasn’t in effect yet so basically I won every combat. Not much more to tell.
FW +21
4(+39)
Highs: Wasn’t the last to finish that game!
Lows: Feeling sick...
Game Three
WYS Vs Patrick Hug’s (1857) New Dark Objective
Same deal as before. I set up menace fades turn one (how can you not when they give you 230984234 force before you even take a turn). Goo and the WYS choke did their thing. I drained, he drained, I retrieved, he didn’t. Then EPP Luke came down and took out Maul w/ a SATM/BP and 2 tracked destiny. He didn’t have enough to deploy anyone and drain (against my Battle Plan shield) at that point.
FW +17
6(+56)
Highs: WYS still owns.
Lows: Me no know.
Game Four
New Dark Objective Vs Robert Dayton’s (1647) New Light Objective
Bobby’s my newfound playtesting buddy. I’m convinced that had I met him like 6 months ago I coulda gotten his rating above 2000. He’s a damned good player and if not for him I wouldn’t have had as much success as I did at Fcon. So anyway all we did was playtest the new objectives against each other the days prior to the tourney so we both knew how this one was going to end up.
FW +24
8(+80)
Highs: Booger.
Lows: Always having to play Bobby. He doesn’t lose to anyone except for me now.
So I got another tournament foil and some packs I think, I don’t know, I can’t really remember, but at this point I feel like total crap and, actually, I think I got everyone in the store sick. Sorry guys. Speaking of tournament foils, I won maybe 2 while I was in Mass. I won at least 8 while playing in Arizona for only 4 months, just a fraction of the time they were giving out foils. So I’d just like to give a big @#$% You to a certain TD in Mass who keep the prize support D gives them and then shell out boxes and boxes of old crap product (JP, CC, etc) that no one wants, then @#$%s about how no one appreciates you. You know who you are.
Fast forward to Wednesday the 14th (7:00am)
I’m up ri@#$%ulously early and leave Katie sleeping as I depart with Greg Abdouch. I dunno if that’s how you spell his last name, but it’s pronounced like "ab doosh." Like ab as in your stomach muscles, and doosh as in douche. It’s nice. We just call him douche. Anyway, I arrive like nearly 2 hours before my flight and I get through security with no trouble at all (what terrorist wants a piece of the Tucson airport?). So I’ve got some time to kill so I bust out the deck lists and the Tool and start making stuff like MKOS and Senate TIEs, basically just stuff to mess around with before I have to play for real. Nothing eventful really happens, I just sleep on the way to Houston.
So now I have a 5 hour or so layover, but I’ve already gone about building and organizing cards to the best of my ability, so I decide to read some. I start on the Fellowship of the Ring, cause I figure I should read the book before I see the movie or something. I dunno, it seems kinda cool, but there is a lot of walking. I guess it is a journey after all. I don’t think I am going to get into the game though. I have too little time, and no one on campus plays, and I don’t really have the money for it. Plus Decipher kinda sucks. Ah well. So I’m reading and drinking coffee and all of a sudden this stocky dark fellow with a goatee walks up to me and I can’t help but stare. Something about him looks really familiar. He notices me and says hi. I respond in kind, and I’m almost convinced its Justin "Hoostino" Warren based on his pic from his editorial. At the same time, I’m not sure, and I don’t want to be a total @#$% if it turns out not to be him. So I get out some Star Wars cards and kinda start counting my decks, making sure to flip cards at a fairly audible rate, hoping he’d hear. He pays no mind. And I keep looking at him, and I am almost sure it’s him. So I finally ask if he’s going to FreedomCon and he’s like yeah, and I ask if he’s Justin Warren, and so we’ve met. We’re bored so I ask for a game and we start. We just get down on the floor since airports are against having tables of any sort but sooner than later boarding is announced. Oh well.
We sit together on the plane and shoot the @#$%. Talk about what’s popular, what he should play, school, and how much he enjoys coming from the bible belt of Texas, etc. I dunno (my new catch phrase, apparently). The plan was to meet Steve Baroni at our gate then find the Vegas crew consisting of Shane Watner, Tim Guzman, Matt Berta, with the addition of Brian Hunter. Our flight got in late so Steve found us and we met the Vegas peeps at baggage claim. There was also this hot chick with a mad fine @#$% that we were content to walk behind, but there wasn’t much I could do with a giant hickey on my neck. You see, I made the mistake of telling Katie about last years, umm, "events," so I think she wanted to make sure none of that happened again (and indeed it didn’t!). Justin and Steebo and I take the shuttle back to the hotel and the Vegas peeps take Tim’s rental car. Not much to tell there. Though I must say the Norfolk International Airport is kinda cool. It’s a tiny thing, so you feel like you’re in the middle of the woods, but it’s nice. We arrive at the hotel sometime around midnight, and that concludes my day of travel.
Thursday the 15th (12:00am)
I go to check in but since Bastian, who is one of my two roommates for the time being, already did he had to change the reservation to a joint thing, so they wouldn’t let him use my mom’s credit card to pay, so they took all of his cash. It was dumb. Anyway, Will Diniega, the number one rated YJ player, comes down the stairs to meet me and I am introduced to his Dad; in his hands are the magestical Twinkie pajamas. They’re these bright yellow pajama bottoms that have the words Hostess and Twinkie all over them with the Twinkie cowboy guy on them. Kinda pornographic if you ask me, but more about that later. So we head up a floor to where all the gaming area and stuff all is and in the elevator I quickly strip down and put the pjs on. I run out of the elevator and hug Bastian and go on to shake hands with whoever is unfortunate enough to be within reach. Among the people I find are Kim Caton, Alex Tennet, Matt Allen, and Bruce and Allen (the Brits!). It’s wonderful seeing all the usual blokes again and within minutes I have a beer in hand. Ah, the life of a gamer. It’s great; I just throw down my @#$% and start playing like a fiend. I’m playing this kid Steve Harpster I think his name was and all of a sudden the room gets real loud as the whole Kashyyyk crew comes up the stairs. I leap up and grab Klema and say hi to everyone, Jeremy Oakes, Justin Desai, and Ben Rodriguez. I haven’t seen any of these guys since before I left for college in like July. The whole time, of course, everyone is just wondering at my sagging bright yellow pjs. Evan Fitzgerald comes in on the scene and breaks out another case of beer and is gracious enough to hook me up. People get their crap into their rooms and we all just play and play into the early hours of the morning. At about 6:30am I’m tuckered out and the buzz has worn off so I wander up to my room, the infamous room 511, and crash for about 3 hours.
I shower and stuff, and when we finally get downstairs again the place is alive and full of action. More and more people are arriving and I’m talking to all these people I haven’t seen since Dcon last year! All this time I still haven’t eaten anything substantial, so it’s definitely time for IHOP. IHOP is king. We made several trips on the weekend, so I may be getting the trips mixed up, but I’m pretty sure this is the time we have Jessica the waiter. At least I think it was Jessica. Like 23098324029384230 of us sit down and the waitress is all flustered but she gets our orders. I go with the Belgian Pecan waffle with whipped cream and Benny gets soooo into ordering it’s funny. As the other Kashyyyk TRs have alluded to, Ben’s a weird kid (think neutron stars). He definitely looks like Ten Numb, so we call him and his brother the Numbs (cause his bro looks like Nien). So when our food finally comes there are 4 syrups to choose from and I’m like what are they and he exclaims, yes "exclaims," "strawberry, regular, blueberry, and pecan." And everyone just kinda looks at him and I’m like- how did you know that? And he’s like: they’re labeled. Indeed. I gobble down my waffle and when Jessica comes back to check on us I interrupt Klema’s girl trouble story and I’m like hey Jess can I get another and again everyone just kinda stares and is like "who calls a waitress by their real name." It coulda been a mac, if not for that @#$%ing hickey. Ah well, such is life.
Oakes, Bastian and I take off from IHOP and go looking for booze and women, but mostly booze cause looking for women like that can be bad. So we find a supermarket cause we’re dumbasses and they have beer, but it’s this weird holier than thou supermarket so they have tons of this gay gourmet crap and tons of wine. Who wants wine? I pick up a 6 pack of Sam Adams to distribute to people I borrowed from last night and Bastian gets some cereal. We get directions to one of the ABC liquor stores and take off. We drive for quite a while but finally we come upon the store of "adult beverages" as Oakes calls them. Oakes goes in and returns with my precious vodka and informs me that they required him to present *3* forms of ID in order to buy. So we head back and now I’m all happy because I have my adult beverage for the evening.
Anyway, time for a new paragraph cause now it’s basketball time. Flamini, Praskac, Gundry, and Clint are chillin’ in the lobby when we return. Bastian, Brian C (no one will ever learn how to spell his last name, ever), Steebo and Justin are all game so we’re off. Off course (in waiting close to 2 months for my PS2 and Game Cube, I lost patience and broke out the ol’ Playstation- can you guess what game I hit first?) we’re in 2 separate cars, and neither of us know where, exactly, the courts are. I’m fortunate enough to be in the car with the ball, and we actually find a court, so it’s me and Praskac vs. Justin and Steebo, with Brian as ball carrier. First, I must point out that the court was total ass. Well, not so much the court, as it was the hoops that sucked. It was a @#$%ing rock. Everything that hit it bounced off with nearly the same velocity in some inane direction. Heh, I said ’velocity’. Basically, if you couldn’t bank if off the backboard at the right angle, or get the swish, then you were @#$%ed. Steebo has the hot hand at the end so he wins it for him and Justin and after about 30 minutes of playing we’re all exhausted. We’re card players- sue us. I just have to mention here Brian’s shot. Like we we’re doing warm-ups and @#$% and he wasn’t hitting anything, then at the end he goes to half court and just hucks it up and makes the shot- nothing but net (chain). We’re all psyched and I’m just like dude- George Costanza, stop while you’re ahead, but off course he tries another shot and misses horribly and we mock him for it. The End. Well, not really. We just go back and the rest of the people that wanted to play were all @#$%y. I run up to shower and by the time I’m back down Bastian is locked into a game of Scrabble with Praskac, and the weekend has developed a new dimension. At that table from that point on, Scrabble occupied literally every minute that passed.
So now it’s nearing dinner time and the alleged Deck Clinic had begun. This was news to me and Bastian, since nothing formal was ever organized, so we went to Domino’s and brought Pizza back to our room. People found us (or was it the food?) and beer was brought and pretty soon we had a nice little tech session going on. Of course, where there is beer there is alcohol and sooner than later we had a party going on. I had a couple of beers and went straight to my Schmirnoff, then to the ol’ Captain, then to another ingenious substance, courtesy of Mr. Berta. And then I was feeling pretty good.
Friday the 16th (12:00am)
At this point (I think) me and Oakes, Gemme, Klema, and Berta go off to make some trouble- what better way to celebrate my 18th birthday? We start exploring the hotel and find some access stairs down into housekeeping. Toilet paper is always good. So we run around throwing the stuff and we make our way up to 801, where we launch the last couple of rolls. Like many things in life, it’s more fun when you’re drunk. Now it’s time for more alcohol so we go back to 511 and find the man, the myth, the con-legend, Mr. Jason Kilby entertaining everyone with his antics. No con is complete with this guy. He brought Tina, who was wearing only a Falcon t-shirt and a couple of guys decided check for who knows what *cough*Bastian and Baroni*cough* by lifting up her shirt. I’m introduced to Tina, but after I briefly explain my giant hickey she informs me she can only give me head and nothing more. I was a little upset I wasn’t going to get laid but it’s all good. So then Kilby starts on Steebo. The kid has had like nothing to drink so we’re all telling him to take a shot of Schmirnoff. We’d pour him a baby shot and then one for me and I told him I’d drink with him, but he would refuse so someone else would take his baby shot, then complain that I didn’t take mine. So we did that like 5 times before we gave up on him. Now my head is spinning and stuff and Steve, despite not accepting any shots, hurls over the balcony, well kind of. He got *most* of it over the balcony, the rest ended up on the floor and on Mike Kessling’s pants. It was all caught on camera, apparently (pictures I have still yet to see! Klema, J-man, scan that @#$%!) Props to Mike for overcoming his age deficiency and taking his shots like a man. At some point later, as far as I can recall, I fell on the bed, nearly crushing Steebo, then threw up in the in the ice bucket, and then passed out hardcore. Well, I don’t actually recall passing it out, it was more like I remember falling, then [scene missing], [scene missing], wake up in the bathroom, discover there is no pain in throwing up through your nose when you’re that drunk, [scene missing], "Justin Pakes is a fish," and finally [scene missing]- all in front of about 40 people.
I wake up in not the best shape the next morning. I feel like @#$%, and the place smells not so much better, and I now know what a half digested Snickers looks like- up close. Jeremy and Bastian are picking up beer bottles. Tennet is just coming awake too. I start working on the throw up under Alex’s advisory and in the end we total well over 120 empties. The once pristine black rooftop 3 stories down from our window is now littered with bottles and butts. That was a hell of a party- if you can call it that. I shower and everyone is playing in Day 1, it’s my time to recuperate. We open the balcony doors and I just kinda wander around, feeling nauseous all day. I drink water and ingest not much more. I end up in 801 to watch TV away from the stench of throw up. I find Caleb, provider of oyster crackers and I indulge myself. It’s amazing how many people like oyster crackers. Day 1 concludes and I’m feeling pretty good so it’s time for me to build decks.
Saturday the 17th (12:00am)
I had initially planned to play Dark Senate SOLID and WYS SOLID, but as soon as I started building Brad Reinhold started showing me his edited version of my old HDADTJ. I loved it. I completely forgot why it was that I was planning on playing Dark Senate over HDADTJ (the immense popularity of the new LSC deck) it looked so tight. I wasn’t in the best state of mind to be making such a deck switch, which is just goes to show you should always have Con decks physically built like at least 3 days in advance, but whatever. I love HDADTJ. Anyway, I’m there sitting outside my room in the hall searching my boxes (which were now horribly disorganized thanks to random people looking for cards) for the essential cards and Kevin Shannon drops by. He doesn’t know what to play for dark. Brad disappears to test out his teched out LSC deck and I help convince Shannon that MKOS isn’t a bad choice, just as long as he’s prepared for space. So we decide that 2x Tat Maul and 2x of his ship and a Dark Maneuvers (to provide SATM/Cannon immunity) would suffice. I dunno if that’s all he was packing in the end, but I do know he took out the Dark Maneuvers and got burned for it in the final 8. And so decks are HDADTJ SOLID and WYS SOLID for me. Simple as that. At 4am it’s time for bed.
Wake up at 10ish, stumble down stairs and hand in my decks after cutting the final card from both and sign up. Go back up and shower. Head back down and collapse near the Quebecers- it will be very soon time to play. Finally pairings are called and I’m one of the last.
Game One
HDADTJ Vs Justin "Bubba Joe" Beal’s QMC (1777)
Ugh, I just flew 2,000+ miles to play the only other qualifier from Tucson. Good deal. It’s HDADTJ SOLID, so I start Mob Points and IAO/SP every game. The third effect was always Crush except when I played against Martin in my last game, where I started No Escape instead. Two icons means a first turn Vader, usually, but none is in hand. Instead I drop Palp to Leia’s Hut draw my 6th force, a Vader, and we take a point of Visage. He has @#$% hand so he just picks up and we lose another. On my turn he brings out his Battle Plan Shield so I pay to drain and then I bring out Vader and stick and draw. He starts losing Jedi and Luke’s off the top to Visage and I Monnok him used at one point. He flips and I beat the crap out of Wedge in ship with First Strike, Thrawn on the Chimaera, and Lateral Damage. Not much else happens.
FW +27
2(+27)
Highs: Imagine HDADTJ has a vagina. Now imagine me @#$%ing it. You know why? ’Cause I want to have its baby.
Lows: PLAYING A GUY FROM TUCSON!!!!!
So that game was fast and I’m just chillin’ outside waiting for other games to finish. Everyone is like "Did you win?" "How’d you do?" etc. The rush was on. Soon one of the judges comes out and is like "Guys! Some kid took down Hunter first game by 20 something!" I think back and suddenly I realize whom he was paired up against. Mike Merletto comes out and everyone’s like "Who did Hunter play?" And I just run up to him (an intimidating sensation for him, I’m sure) and give him this big hug. Parings again!
Game Two
WYS Vs Alex "Greedo" Tennet’s DSC (1932)
At last I get to play Alex Tennet. I mean we played two or three times when I first arrived, but that was just for fun. So it’s WYS SOLID anew, so I started SquAss, Insurrection/Aim High, and Menace fades every game except against MKOS, where I’d start The Camp to counteract S+V. Anyway, Alex gets Maul and his Double Bladed Saber to the 3/2 Naboo Site and I counter by getting Theron in ship to the Tat System and some random mofo, a RFC I believe, to the Cantina thus satisfying Menace Fades. On his turn I bring out the Battle Plan shield and he opts not to drain. Instead out comes EPP Vader to the RFC and I Dodge away. I’m holding an old skool Houjix (can’t be canceled like that stupid combo version, @#$%!) in hand the entire game so I can afford to play somewhat recklessly. We’re having an excellent game, just conversing and such, but without Goo Nee Tay out he is able to keep things closer than I’d like. I Edge once with Han, and about 3 turns from the end I draw the first of my 3 EPP Luke’s into hand and use him to kill that first turn Maul. Phylo goes to his DII: DB to drain for 3, Luke drains for 3 on Naboo, and I am draining for free and he is not. I still have one edge and he is only draining me for 2. I woulda won, but time ran out on my turn so I just edged for a little bit and that was that.
TW +10
3(+37)
Highs: Playing Alex for the first time!
Lows: Timed games are gay.
Game Three
HDADTJ VS Alan "Serpent" Sagan’s Light LSC (1993)
Well here we go. After seeing Brad’s wrecking machine he went and built a very similar version- this is a match up that does not bode well for HADTJ and now I *almost* wished I was playing Senate. I remember I started Crush and that was a mistake because he Wished to Board for Honor off the bat and I couldn’t find No Escape to save my life. I did have a good beatdown on Yoda, though, so that evened things out a little bit. Outside of Visage damage not a lot happened for a lot of this game. Soon I had Carida under my control and I was plinking him a little bit, and then I got lucky in one combat and drew a total of 10. I was able to track that 10 around so I never had another one of my characters combated away and I was able to clear him off the ground. Soon I was draining for several for free, and he was not. Time is called and in a tremendous act of sportsmanship he ended one of the most draining games we both got to play that weekend, by graciously drawing up. Thanks so much Alan.
FW +10
5(+47)
Highs: Alan Sagan is the @#$%ing man.
Lows: None. It was a great game.
Game Four
WYS Vs Chris "Peacecraft" McClure’s HDADTJ Jizz (1800)
Everyone was happy that I was playing Chris. Apparently most people at the con felt that he’s really annoying and no one could stand him, but then again most people at the con haven’t lived with my brother :O) He starts HDADTJ but w/o the DB stuff. His first turn he gets out JP and another site from hand and one from the reserve deck. I like it when people give me force. So I get out Goo Nee Tay, but don’t flip at this point, as my hand wasn’t strong enough. Basically Angry Chewie, EPP Han, and repeating SATM/BPs with tracked destiny ate him up. I do the Menace Fades / Battle Plan deal and edge a bit. Not much more to tell.
FW +21
7(+68)
Highs: I like Chris. He’s young (and annoying) but has some good skills.
Lows: None.
Game Five
HDADTJ Vs Scott "CRingwell" Lingrell’s Boomrace (1931)
So I’m surprised to see Scott now. I’d learned in speaking with him over the last couple of days that he was like 1 for 18 and now he’s in the same situation as me, undefeated with a timed win. He whips out RST and I’m like you can still play that? I get greedy and take the first turn flip with Choke Vader and stick to the Landing site, but he just comes down w/ EPP Luke. He swings and hits, I miss, so I opt not to play I Have You Now, and instead get lucky with a random 6 for the choke. We lose to visage for a bit as I rebuild my hand and he struggles to get anything going. The race pops and all of a sudden I’m really behind in force. I am patient, and become a bit too cautious, but I bring out Vader and fortify. Visage helps me catch up and I Monnok his 2 EPP Obi’s. I play a bunch of shields, none of which is CHYBC so he starts draining me on the Executor. I’m draining for free, he’s draining but paying for it, he pulls off an Edge and he drains me out with his final 3 force. I didn’t feel anything when I lost that game. I knew I was still in very good standing, and I didn’t mind losing to Scott cause he’s a wicked cool guy, but at the same time I knew I coulda won it had I just realized what I needed to do a bit earlier.
FL -3
7 (+65)
Highs: It’s always cool to play Scott, and it was a really tight game.
Lows: I coulda/shoulda won!
Game Six
WYS Vs Paul "lbmyers1" Myer’s MKOS (2115)
I figure playing Paul would be a piece of cake but I got, I think, the worst draw ever. Usually I won’t complain about such things, but this was ridiculous. I didn’t flip for 3 turns. We just kinda drew and did a whole lot of nothing, very slowly. Okay, I lied, I’ll tell you when I wrote this part: 3/11/02. Basically he played slower than anyone I’ve ever seen play. In the end I had control of space, Legendary on an unpiloted Falcon, my whole deck tracked, an Edge in hand and an Edge in lost pile, and a Luke in hand to play them with. Of course, I also only had 14 force. Dumb. Apparently other people had similar troubles with his tactics, I know Fred was pretty pissed.
TL -23
7(+42)
Highs: Erm... first and only loss for my WYS?
Lows: He plays sooooooo sloooooow!
Game Seven
HDATJ Vs Yannick "Crusher" Lapointe’s Pile (2063)
Battling owns. I don’t even remember what he starts, I just know he was dong force denial, and so was I. It came down to fighting at docking bays, so Crush gave me a huge advantage. At one point I had Maul, Vader, Tarkin, Supa Fett, and a Maul strikes vs His Luke, Qui, and Obi or something like that. It was just insane. The game was really even and the battling was intense. Sorry I am writing this description 5 months late, it doesn’t do the game justice.
FW +10
9(+52)
Highs: Playing a master of the game.
Lows: Having to beat him.
Game Eight
WYS Vs Andy "Solo337" McClure’s MKOS Jizz (2014)
This deck is similar to his bro’s JP activation for mains scheme. Goo ate him up. Tracked destiny and SATM/BP owned. I had 26 force on the table at one point and like 3 in lost pile, but Xizor and Tarkin or someone spanked on Phylo late game for 11. Didn’t really matter though, I knew I was in if I won, and I was in control the entire game. Oh yeah, at one point he did some massive damage to me, but I had the houjix, and he couldn’t believe I used the old version (he was holding Take Evasive Action in his hand).
FW +15
11(+67)
Highs: It was just a really fun game.
Lows: Phylo taking it up the @#$% for 11.
So after 12 grueling hours and 8 games the top 8 players are: (in order)
1) Martin Akesson (LSC, Tat Occupation) 14+ 90ish
2) Bastian Winkelhaus (QMC, Tat Occupation) 14+
3) Brian Hunter (WYS, TDIGWATT) 12+
4) Me (WYS, HDADTJ) 11+
5) Scott Lingrell (RST, MKOS) 11+
6) Andy McClure (Light Senate, MKOS Jizz) 10+
7) Kevin Shannon (?, MKOS) 10+
8) Brad Reinhold (LSC, HDADTJ) 10+
We are given like an hour break after deciding on how the final games would work. So Bastian and I head up to our room to chill for a bit and Martin comes in. We talk then decide it’s time to head down. Martin, Bastian, and Hunter all choose to play light against their opponents: Brad, Shannon, and Andy, respectively. I opt to play dark, as I did earlier, against Scott.
Sunday the 18th (12:00am)
Preliminary Finals (or something)
HDADTJ Vs Scott’s Boomrace
Here’s an email from Scott (to Juz and I):
"Ok, so it is completely obvious that Hayes here has a better memory...in
fact any time I pretend to track he looks at me funny because he knows I
can’t.
The game was amazing, fun was an understatement. We were joking around
listening to heidi talk about sexual things for a good 30-40 minutes
:). In fact we were the only ones even talking because the other 3 games
were all serious...meanwhile we are having a ball making corny jokes about
calling someone that cares, Hickey and hickeys, Our energy kept us awake
for the entire 1:25 minute game since everyone else was done in about 40
min tops. The phone call was cool though because I was in the zone so to
speak and she called and I had to make her feel special while wondering
how the hell I could win :).
I think hayes covered everything else pretty well.
Scott Lingrell
www.ramapocon.com
On Sat, 1 Dec 2001, Hayes Hunter wrote:
>
> it was classic. we started at about 1:15 AM and my first turn (i was dark)
> ended at 1:35. i made note of this at the time. i made some remark about
> the chances of scott’s wife calling again, seeing how the last time we
> played in a final game (at ramapo) she called and interrupted us for a good
> 15-20 minutes (her house was flooding). we had charles hickey and heidi
> farinholt (who, at that point, had her fair share of mudslides) as our
> judges, and they are quite jovial people. this combined with the fact that
> i had a giant hickey (the most wicked hickey i’ve ever seen) on my neck
> merely provided that much more amusement, to heidi especially. obviously
> charles’ last name is hickey, so you can imagine some of the comments she
> made. second, she is a doctor (or rather, she will be one soon) and she
> kept insisting that she had been trained to tell how old a wound is, and
> that my mark clearly came as a result of the festivities in room 511 that
> fateful thursday night. she knew that it was older than that, but she
> brought up the point that no one would believe my word over hers. charles
> just sat there giggling like a little school girl, and everything we did
> just made everyone that much more giddy. at some point, amidst all the
> laughter, all the other finalists in the room, who up till then had been
> playing silently, yelled at us to shut up. of course that only made us
> louder, but eventually we did calm down (some). about 3/4 of the way
> through scott’s wife called. it’s like after 2AM and she feels the need to
> call him. i can’t even remember what she called about, but i just about
> dropped dead! everyone started cracking up all over again meanwhile scott
> was trying to be all earnest and caring on the phone. i begged to talk to
> her and scott came like 6 inches from handing me the phone, but then
> realized what he was about to do. i dunno, it was great. so after scott
> explains to her what she has done, we keep playing the game. i don’t play
> stupid so i win this time by 14, and on my last turn scott goes through his
> lost pile and flashes "i did it!" to me and congratulates me. it was one of
> the best times i’ve had playing star wars. too bad i made ONE mistake
> against martin that prevented me from getting into the finals, but more on
> all of that in my TR.
>
> on a somewhat unrelated note: i like lotr. i finally sat down and learned
> it, and i must say i do enjoy it. it’s like a hackneyed RPG in card form:
> the same classic magestical/medieval that you can’t help but love. i just
> get this warm fuzzy feeling playing with a party of elves and hobbits and
> aragorn. (don’t quote me on that :O) it’s not on the same level as wars but
> it does have it’s elements of strategy (maybe i’ll get sick of it later, i
> dunno). this first set is certainly a better first set than premeire for
> star wars was. obviously there are strategies that dominate (nazgul and
> ranger/elf), but it’s not like mains and toys and SAC are all you see.
> so i applied to be a PC but i dunno if i’ll get accepted because it seems
> like everyone else has too. a great thing is that many new faces are
> showing up at the comic store to play. i mean, most everyone from the SW
> croud here has picked up LOTR but there are actually new people, who were
> never gamers, playing this game; and it does my heart good to see it. i was
> thinking (mainly because i want to get as much lotr as i can for free) that
> maybe sending out some packs or starters to each person that qualified for
> dcon wouldn’t be a bad idea. you could say it’s to reward them for their
> efforts or something (like how you gave out the foils), and at the same time
> spread the lotr game. one thing about most of us (gamers) is that once we
> are introduced to (what seems to be) a good game it’s hard to not desire to
> play/explore it more. of course people would critisize this as a blatent
> marketing attempt or whatever (which it is), but then no worse has been said
> of warren’s "dcon is canceled" speech ("i truly believe lotr to be our best
> game ever!"). ah well. go read the TRs on decktech, juz. lates
FW +14
Highs: What more can be said?
Lows: None whatsoever.
As ours is the last game to finish, and I quickly learn the rest of the top 4 all won their games, though Hunter actually made McClure place his objective out of play. I understand you’re supposed to reveal your rep and the consequences for not doing so, but as a player of reputable name you should have some decency and show some respect for your opponent.
So it’s down to the top 4. Martin gets to play me and chooses his LSC again because he knows how similar my HDADTJ is to Brad’s. Bastian and I discussed what he should choose earlier, and so he went with his QMC to combat Hunter’s TDIGWATT.
Semi Finals
HDADTJ Vs Martin’s LSC
My dark is a cinch to play against everything... except LSC. What does LSC do? It kills Dark Jedi dependent Mains and Toys. So what do you have to do to beat the deck if you are using Dark Jedi dependent Mains and Toys? You can’t avoid them and drain, obviously, so you have to fight them. But how do you do that when they can kill off one of your Jedi each of their move phases (if they are lucky)? The key is to get 2 of your Dark Jedi to one of their sites so they can’t duel all of your fighting power off at once. So here’s the ideal set up: you get some activation going, then drop Maul and Vader and some fodder to where ever they are on Naboo, and cancel their anti battle stuff (Dodge, Barrier, It’s A Trap, etc.) and do some battle damage, and lose your fodder. Here’s how it usually goes: drop on them, and they Dodge away cause you can’t spend the entire game drawing for your cancel cards. It doesn’t matter which way it goes, except you need to make sure 2 of your Jedi are alive on their turn. With your Jedi on their sites they are forced to come at you, and this is where you lay the beats. You can drop that Fett and whatever you’ve been holding in your hand and really do some damage. Let them run away again, if they want. You are now draining and they are not. They are wasting cards to run away and you are not, and you can keep deploying Jedi to keep pace with whomever they duel off. Sooner or later, however you will get some nice destiny tracked so you won’t have to keep losing your character though. So you’ll win.
Anyway, here’s the gist of my game with Martin:
I start No Escape over Crush cause Honor rapes.
Get Carida, activate, search for DB, Accelerate for BFHI and play it, then drop Palp to the Holotheatre.
We lose to Visage.
He gets the JCC out and draws.
We lose to Visage.
I drop ZiMH to Carida and draw.
We lose to Visage.
He gets out Threepio and draws.
We lose to Visage.
He plays the Battle Plan Shield, I pay to drain, then draw.
We lose to Visage.
He gets out Qui with Stick and draws.
We lose to Visage.
We fight some or something, and, you guessed it, lose to Visage.
I pay to drain again and draw my twelfth card. I now have 2 Mauls in hand (no other doubles mind you, I was checking my deck every turn with Palp to make sure I didn’t draw any doubles of Vader or whatever). I see that the top card of my deck is foil (I don’t use/own any foils, so the Mauls stood out in my deck). I decided to lose the Maul off the top of my deck, instead of one from hand, and he loses something.
His turn, he Grimtaash’s me for the other 2 Mauls, and I lose the game.
Had I not been greedy I very well could have won the game, and gotten myself into the finals (and I really liked how my decks matched up against Bastian’s). But I didn’t. It was a pleasure playing you, Martin, and I congratulate you for playing flawlessly (or for at least not making any mistakes that I could take advantage of).
FL -12
Highs: Losing to one of the best in the world.
Lows: Coming ever so close, and not accomplishing my goal. Here’s to hoping there’s a next year. "I tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter..."
So I watch the finals, though I already know the outcome. Bastian did an excellent job writing up the details for the games, and I strongly suggest you read them. They were excellent games. I gotta say, almost as entertaining as watching the final itself was watching the people watching/during the final. It’s like 4am, in a hotel convention room, in Virginia. People from all around the globe have come to take part in this event. Hickey is virtually passed out. Heidi is sprawled over Steven Turner, who is pretty much gone, everyone has this glazed look over their faces. Then off course there is Hunter there in the back playing pick up games w/ McClure and Gemme. I was mostly amazed at Heidi’s fleece socks. Other people weren’t wearing shoes either. I don’t really know why I am describing this, except that this was all part of the moment, and I told myself to in the TR outline I did 3 months ago. It was all very surreal. The second game ends and everyone applauds. I feel ... torn. Happy for the success that Fcon was, and sad that it is finally over. I congratulate both finalists again and again. David let’s us know the award ceremony is at 11, and at quarter to 6 Bastian and I head up to our room to crash for a couple hours.
Well I haven’t skimped on any other pointless details, so here we go. I check out 10 minutes late, and then everyone just chills as we wait for the award ceremony. We all stand around awkwardly for various photos and I only now do I realize how much of a fruit I truly look like w/ a buzz cut. Ladies, (all 3 of you) I don’t look like I’ve gone through Chemo anymore, honest. So we are given are certificates and medals and stuff. A bunch of us start signing each others cards, and the crowd slowly filters out of the hotel. I said a lot of good byes, thinking it might be the last time I’d ever get to see these people again... I know LOTR is no SW, but at least so many of us still play. I’ll see you guys at worlds, and Bastian, I’ll see you in Germany (yeah, I’m a @#$%y bastard).
Brad Reinhold, being the generous chap that he is, offers to give me a ride, so Robert Werbicki, and Mike Merletto and I all pile into his car, after jamming our luggage in with the four thousand or so cards that now flooded his trunk. We attempt to find somewhere to eat in the immediate area, but it’s the off-season for tourism so nothing is open. Eventually we end up at KFC... oh the horror. For starters I was amazed at the fact that everyone working at the place was Mexican. Next, when we did finally get our food, I was sitting with a view of this chic’s crotch. It wasn’t upskirt or anything, she had jeans on, I was just amazed at the shape of her crotch. Some ASCI (sp?) art to demonstrate:
Normal Female Crotch: (sitting, birds eye view)
__
/
/
/
/
/
Chick’s Crotch:
______
/
/
/
/
Note the "not v-shape" of the representation of her crotch, and the poor ASCI art. She wasn’t fat... I wouldn’t have been looking if she was fat... She was just like a normal person, with a really wide crotch. Anyway, the direction of my observation set the course of the conversation for the meal. My god, MASHED POTATOES are dirty. And Werbicki loved ’em, each and every single, umm "mouthful." Brad nearly died. I have never seen anyone turn quite that shade of purple before. Ah well, I can’t really capture the true humor of the moment, so read Werbicki or Merletto’s (I can’t remember who wrote one) TR, somewhere in the archives.
Moving on, I don’t remember my flights. At all. I do remember getting picked up by Katie and, entering my room COVERED in Cray paper. It was EVERYWHERE. Birthday signs and all sorts of craziness taped every which way. It was an unexpected (and greatly appreciated) surprise! I threw up my famous "sleep or other" away message, and that concluded my Fcon experience.
I will cherish the last couple of years forever. You guys are the best. As always, thanks for reading.
-Hayes "Hayes" Hunter
(I think I have a couple SW TRs left in me, from when Brad came up to Massachusetts and we went to Albany over Xmas break, and, of course, for this years summer cons and worlds, so stay tuned.)