richs-money-tournament
Title: richs-money-tournament
Author: Eric "YOYOY" Bailey
Date: Mar 12, 2002
Carmel, Indiana
SWCCG Constructed Tournament
Tournament Director: Rich Dailey
Entry fee: $20
Prizes: Packs and money, winner gets the lion’s share of it.
Expected turnout: Around 50.
Pre-text requisite: I know this tournament report sucks. Good for you. When I start caring about your opinion, I’ll inform you.
Pre-tourney stuff (skip if you wish, there’s a lot):
I wanted to go.
Rich had this planned for... well, for long enough. A DPC-wannabe tourney directed by him. Money involved. Sounded good. I wanted to go so badly. As soon as I knew about it, I asked mom if I could go. Hey, I was 15 at the time, and not close enough to getting my license yet, still need mom to chauffeur me places. Of course, as mom made evident, it wouldn’t have mattered... the weekend of the tourney, dad would be out of state, and mom would be out of town. So there was no chance in heck of me getting a ride. Or so I thought.
Day before the tourney. A Friday. School’s done, I go to Joe’s to play some Trek.
Yeah, you heard me, STCCG. Hey, since I haven’t been able to go to Wars tourneys in a while, and probably not the money tourney, I started playing Trek. Cool thing is, all my cards are free, thanks to Joe’s brother Duane. Me, Joe, and Duane played a couple 3-player games. I won the first one, Duane won the second one. Not that you care or anything. ~8)
Joe’s mom gets home from my house. Her and my mom hang out and talk and have tea and stuff. Anyway... his mom gets home, asks me about this big tournament I’m going to tomorrow.
Um, actually, I can’t go.
“But I thought your uncle was taking you?”
Uncle? What uncle? I ask her what she’s talking about, because I’ve heard nothing about this.
“Your uncle’s over there, the one with glasses, said he’d give you a ride.”
Andy? That’s the only uncle I know of that has glasses AND is a big enough fan of sci-fi to pull this off.
I tell Joe and Duane I’m leaving, no more Trek, Wars apparently has a destiny still in me. It wants me to go to this tournament.
Sure enough, I get home, there’s Andy and Val and my mom. I ask them about it... Andy says yeah, he’ll give me a ride.
Keep in mind that for over a month I had assumed I wouldn’t be going. My decks aren’t ready, I dunno anything about the current environment, would virtual cards do me any good, etc...
My heart skips a couple beats for good measure.
I thank my mom and uncle a lot for the trip, than I rush to my room and start wracking my brain working on decks.
Knock on the door. The back door. Odd.
It’s Travis. Him, Duane, Joe, Joe, BJ, Mark, and Hector are out playing basketball. They want me to play. It’d be 4 on 4. Haven’t played good 4 on 4 in a while. They’re begging me to play, even though it’s the night before the big tourney and I’m screwed.
But, hey, like mom said, I have the rest of the night, right?
I go out and play basketball.
I’m forced to come back in because we have to leave?!? We leave. We come back a few hours later.
By now it’s late enough at night to cause me to have a panic attack concerning decks and such. I know my DS is fine, but my LS? Ha... I throw together a modified version of Mind What You Have Celebrated, using docking bays. I even borrow some card from Joe. Hey, it’s a Friday night, he’s still up...
I get a feeling I’m forgetting something. I brush it off. Manage to go to sleep. Next morning, I get up. Of course...
The tourney starts at 11. It’s 8:30. At 9, Andy’s picking me and Val up, though Val isn’t playing. The plan is, Andy will drop me off at the tournament and him and Val will go do stuff. Sure.
We get picked up, and we get there pretty darn early. Early enough to think we could go get something to eat. Of course, it’s out of town from where we live, so what is there around here to eat? A pizza place next door. Not open. And...
A grocery store. Heck yeah. Plenty of food in there. We head that way, through the rain (hours later it’d be a fine 60 degrees, then later it’d be snowing, then later we’d have 65 mph winds, welcome to Indiana!) and get inside. We buy a box of donuts, even though Val doesn’t like donuts, then we each get a chocolate milk thing. We sit on a bench in the entrance to the grocery store. I play tricks on the automatic doors while eating my donuts and drinking my chocolate milk. Good stuff. We get done, head back. Still early. Val buys a couple Batman comics.
My sister likes Batman and Star Wars, SWCCG no less. She must be within the top few percent of the coolest sisters on the planet. Definitely.
Val and Andy leave. People are trickling in. Trickling. Phone calls start coming in for Rich...
“Hey, this is the southern Indiana people, we won’t be making it.”
“This is the Michigan crew, we’re, um, lost. We’re turning back, man.”
“This is the Illinois group, we’ve decided not to come.”
“Hey, Rich, where this place again? Or is it too late?”
Basically, it turns out that half the people aren’t gonna come. That just sucks. But people do come... 24 people to be exact. Though a couple people arrive late, but still manage to play. Then 4 more people come, but too late to play. Darn it.
I’m looking at the people here, and I realize something. I’m not a high-caliber player. I’m in-between. I can beat the crap out of newbies, but the high-caliber players still beat the crap out of me. And, I’m looking at the people here, and... I’m screwed. Definitely. Everybody here is high-caliber, with maybe a couple exception. Even if it isn’t a big crowd, it’s a good crowd.
END PRE-TOURNEY CRAP.
Actual tournament:
Tournament starts. I still feel like I forgot something. My decks:
LS: Mind What You Have Celebrated (modified, using docking bays). (My Kind Of Celebration)
DS: TDIGWATT using Tallon Roll and Stunning Leader. (My Kind Of Deal)
My LS, in every game, will start MWYHL, Dagobah, HFTMF, Insurrection & Aim High, Menace Fades, and Squadron Assignments. My DS, in every game, will start TDIGWATT, CC: West Gallery, Secret Plans, Prepared Defenses, I’m Sorry, Allegations Of Corruption, and Resistance.
Pairings announced. My LS against Shaun. Oh boy.
1st game: My Kind Of Celebration vs. Shawn’s DS Senate
I don’t like this guy. He’s a good player and all... but at states, he played BHBM with ultra-heavy SAC I wasn’t ready for. Now, he’s playing Senate. I hate Senate. Don’t get me started. Needless to say, it was a stupid cheesy deck that used Limited Resources and Senate and all the crap I just hate. His beatdowns were even in the same style as mine: Character removal. That’s the only reason he ever did well battling me... Dr. Evil and Peanut Butter with Maul With Double-Saber. It just sucked. And Political Effects... hey, I lost by 28.
0 (-28)
Good: Getting POAS on the Senate first turn.
Bad: Playing a cheesy stupid Senate deck.
Ugly: This is when I realized what I forgot... Fallen Portals. It would’ve helped a lot. I mean, a LOT. It could’ve easily been the difference between winning and losing. Ugh.
After the game, I feel stupid. I didn’t put in any Fallen Portals. I easily could’ve. It would’ve made a big difference. The worst part is knowing I’ll play 2 more games with my LS and I’ll feel stupid. Argh. I also should used a Local Uprising start instead of MWYHL, since I’m running docking bays instead... now I just feel stupider. At least I know I’ll win my next game, since I’m playing with my DS (it’s better), and it’ll be against someone who did as bad as me the first game. But I didn’t lose because I’m a bad player. I lost because I’m stupid. Next game will be different...
2nd game: My Kind Of Deal vs. That One Dude’s LS
Haha! This is funny... I don’t know this guy. We introduce ourselves, and he makes the mistake of talking.
“Yeah, I suck. You’re gonna win. My deck is so stupid. The last game I won was against some stupid girl playing this dumb RTP deck using Timer Mines and Bothan Spies...”
“Do you remember her name?”
“Ummm... no, not really...”
“Does Valerie Bailey ring a bell, punk?”
He gets this look of “oh, crap” on his face when he realizes not only does he remember the name but he suddenly remembers that I’m her brother. You better believe I’m gonna win. We start the game.
He starts Bespin. Just Bespin. I start all my crap. I start to wonder what he’s playing. Probably some weird Hidden Base with no Hidden Base? Or what... I ask him if he has any characters in the deck. He says no. I say he shouldn’t have said anything. He says oops. I set up Dark Deal on my third turn, a single character at each site, and just OS-72-1 In Obsidian 1 at Bespin: Cloud City. On his turn (he’s deployed some systems already), he deploys 4 B-Wings to Bespin: Cloud City. He puts Proton Torpedoes on one of them, an Intruder Missile on the other. He battles.
He actually battled. I couldn’t believe it.
I used All Power To Weapons, easily Tallon Rolled (Dark Maneuevered & Tallon Rolled, to be specific) the 2 ships with weapons, drew battle destiny, cleared the system.
Avenging my sister has begun.
On my turn, I drain for 10. I set a lone TIE at Bespin (LS, can drain for more) and set up CC Occupation. His turn, he again battles the TIE (this time at Bespin) with 4 B-Wings, 2 of them with weapons. This time I only leave one, and clear the system.
My turn, he loses 15 Force. 2 turns later, he loses. I never needed to deploy anything else. I win by 40.
2 (+12)
Good: Avenging my sister in spectacular fashion.
Bad: Feeling stupid. Knowing I’m probably lose next game.
Ugly: His deck... he explained that it’s designed to beat his brother’s DS deck. K.
Next game, pairings are announced. And I notice a couple names... Booker and Abel. They made it? They must’ve came a game late... awesome. I’ll catch up with them later. As for me, I’m playing Karl.
3rd game: My Kind Of Stupid Crap vs. Karl Harford’s DS
Karl? I don’t wanna play Karl. He’s a high-caliber player. And I’m playing with my stupid deck. I might as well not mention this game. Hey, I won’t. I’ll just say Karl’s a meanie and I lost by... 29. Ouch.
2 (-17)
Good: Nothing.
Bad: Everything.
Ugly: Karl.
I engage in an argument with Danny O’Dea about Batman, Superman, which is better... I say Batman. Obviously. I mean, he’s awesome, yet has no superpowers. Superman cheats. And yet Batman can still kick his butt in a fight. Danny obviously hasn’t read DKR... oh well. Different strokes for different folks. Sure.
Rick had some mustard packets left over for the subs for the customers for Customer Appreciation Day. He let me eat some mustard packets. Some people found this to be disgusting. Whatever.
Next game... I’m up against Dan Spaid? Crap.
4th game: My Kind Of Deal vs. Dan’s Ewoks.
Hey, don’t bash Ewoks. They rock. I used to play them. Now Dan does. Not good. He’s another high-caliber player, though his dad is a scam artist. Speaking of which, just in case his dad is searching for his name again:
Craig Spade craig spade CRAIG SPADE
There. As for the game... it’s like he was prepared for TDIGWATT. And Tallon Rolls. And Stunning Leader. Stunning Leader doesn’t help on Endor against Ewoks... and on CC he could get around it. He played with 3 A Vengeance In The Forces. That’s crap. And of course my 3 Undercover spies each went bye bye... he was prepared for those too. Let’s just put it this way... his deck was the anti-thesis to mine. I could’ve played it a million times and not won. He won by 21.
2 (-38)
Good: Only losing by 21?
Bad: C’mon, he was playing a deck practically designed to beat mine!
Ugly: Dan.
I talk to Dan about crap... tell him he might as well have won by 39. He just laughs. Someone makes a crack about Ewoks. We defend Ewoks. We then discuss their origin... Lucas was running out of ideas for new species, so he just took a Wookiee, chopped it in half, and reversed it’s name: Eeiwook. Or, Ewok. Eventually, time for another game. Pairings... I’m up against James Bottoms.
Ate some more mustard packets.
5th game: My Kind Of Stupid Crap vs. James’ HuntDown
Never played this guy before. Cool. He says he’s not that good. Cool. He’s playing HuntDown. Not cool. I hate HuntDown. But it’s not Senate... we each start stuff, he starts IAO, so I know he’ll have docking bays too. We each get out our stuff... I set up my drains and Celebration, he sets up drains on Endor. Visage is getting annoying. He comes down for beatdowns, but I foil him each time, even though it costs me characters. Fallen Portals would’ve really helped a lot... I’m so dumb... and eventually I do manage to cancel Visage by... guess who? JEROEN WEBB! HECK YEAH! He gets killed, but hey, that’s what Houjix is for... my drain at Kessel really hurts him... that, and Celebration easily win me the game. Not to mention Figrin D’an as a passenger on the Super Falcon. I end up winning, but only by 9. It seemed like more, though.
4 (-29)
Good: Actually winning a game.
Bad: No Fallen Portals.
Ugly: When Yoda at his Hut barely saved my life, and James totally forgot about it.
James was cool, I wouldn’t mind playing him again.
By now I have a face to connect with Booker... I see him, we meet and greet and such. It was so awesome... I met Booker! THE Booker! The one and only Booker! Ohio Mouse Droid Ozzel Numbers Tech Booker! I met him. Oh yeah. I was planning on meeting Abel later. But then pairings were announced...
6th game (FINAL): My Kind Of Deal vs. Jamie Abel’s WYS
All right! I get to meet and play Abel at the same time! I tell him that it’s an honor to play THE Abel... he’s like uh oh, what does that mean? I just tell him I’ve heard his name a lot and seen him on the list-serve... he says he thinks he recognizes my name, I say something about Food CCG, and sometime we realize we’re supposed to be playing a game. We start our crap... Abel’s high-caliber, so I know I’ll lose. Oh well. The problem with WYS is that the Outrider and Pulsar Skate are independent ships... which means they can’t be targeted by Tallon Roll, which screws me over in space. The other thing about WYS is that a couple stupid ability 2 smugglers can draw 2 battle destinies AND get through Stunning Leader. So, basically, Dan and Abel have both managed to create decks practically designed to beat mine, it seems. Very bad matchups. Another mistake I made was not taking over the Cantina. I forgot it was interior... which means I could’ve used Stunning Leader. I know he could get around that, but it would’ve taken at least some effort. Normally I’m not so stupid as to forget that Cantina is interior. But hey, at this tournament, I’m pretty much intelligence-impaired. Abel beats on me in space and on CC, and drains, and prevents DD and CCOcc, and, well, what can I do? I lose by 13.
4 (-42)
Good: Meeting, playing, getting beat by Abel.
Bad: Another horrible matchup.
Ugly: My stupidity.
In the end, I got 19th out of 24. Hey, I have my reasons, you read the report, there’s no way I could’ve done better! I’m happy I did as well as I did! But still, my LS sucked. Oh well. I’m okay... got some packs, got some Trek stuff from Rich, did some trades, exchanged contact info with Booker... oh, btw, Booker didn’t want me to tell you but I will...
BOOKER SCRUBBED OUT MISERABLY. HE SUCKED. HE WAS TERRIBLE.
Just thought I’d mention that. >8)
Val and mom came to pick me up... mom brought brownies. Rick and Rich and Randy had some, too, besides me. I bought Val a couple more Batman comics. Those of us left talked about whatever... the winner of the tournament (and a few hundred dollars) was some out-of-state guy. Abel got 4th, even though he missed the 1st game.
I ate a few more mustard packets.
Time for everyone’s favorite part: Props And Slops:
Props:
Abel and Booker for being so gosh darn cool and such.
Rich for holding a great tourney and stuff.
My uncle Andy for taking me and everything.
Rick for being cool even though he had nothing to do with the tournament. He let me eat mustard packets. Lots of them. Mmmm... mustard packets...
Mr. Bottoms for letting me win a game with my stupid LS deck.
My sister for being a cool sister.
Brian Fred for no particular reason.
Grocery stores for having food.
SWCCG for being an awesome game.
Joe for letting me borrow stuff.
Randy, Brian, Matthew, Dan, Karl, and all the other cool Indy guys for making our environment fun.
Slops:
My sister, for not playing.
Frank, for arriving with only a $5 entry fee and no decklist. The time I actually want you to play, you didn’t.
All the people who didn’t come for not coming.
Brian and Matthew for coming late.
Clint Hays for no particular reason.
WOTC for making a stupid Star Wars card game.
My LS deck, for being stupid.
Me, for making a stupid LS deck.
What else is there to say? Any questions, D-Mail or e-mail me. Any comments, do the same. Want me to post my decks, tell me. Want me to shove a banana in my ear, tell me. Want me to eat more mustard packets, tell me.
Never let the spirit of Mr. Ducky or SWCCG die.
That’s about it, thanks for reading.
Eric Bailey
YOYOY008@aol.com
AIM: YOYOY008