endor-regional-6-8-02

Title: endor-regional-6-8-02
Author: Jason "Mr. Black" Herrin
Date: Jun 11, 2002

Well the Endor regional is over and many folks had a great time. I for one had some good times (although most weren’t even at the tournament). The environment was diverse, but a good representation of the game today. In my opinion Doug Taylor of the players committee did a great job organizing a tough event. He also gave a “sneak peak” at what some of the next virtual cards might be. Long hailed as the most useless cards in the game, the Jedi Pack might be getting a much needed face lift. The cards that gave Decipher the idea to do a Reflections Gold virtual set are now in the hands of the autonomous players committee. And from the performance and balance of the recent additions to the game from Doug and his crew I would say that there is much to look forward to. They may also become one of the best tools to get new players into the game with. Imagine being able to hand your buddy a Luke Skywalker Jedi Knight, General Solo, Leia Rebel Princess, Grand Moff Tarkin, Super Motti, and super Tagge. I have to say you would definitely get that persons interest going in the game. Well with that exciting bit said and on the record lets move on.

The environment today is hot. Some of the best deck types today are straight out of premiere and episode I. Set Your Course For Alderaan saw some very competitive play with the additions of the Virtual Imp. Class Star Destroyer and Super Motti. These cards also managed to make it into the Bastian’ All Your Bases and Walker Garrison. Another hot deck and a total surprise to me was the Corellia(?) regional winners Hyperdrive deck. Lightsaber Combat was present with little opposition even though the new shield was in effect and utilized. In the end the decks that ruled the day in Endor were Dark Combat and QMC. Still QMC is a beast with tons of evasion and retrieval. The Darks combat deck was just twisted enough to pull out win after win. I ended up playing both combat decks at the tournament, but drew up twice to end some very bad games. The one match that really was a total loss was versus a Bastian style QMC played by Jason Kilby of Oregon. Full of tons of high destiny, butt loads of retrieval, and a healthy amount of running away it managed to rape my Dark Combat deck in about 20 turns or less (probably less).

Any how let’s start this off on a more official note and begin a real tournament report here. It all started a long time ago in a city far, far away called Wenatchee. That’s right the famed city of the child sex scandals is the origin of our tale. The members of the Rebel Strike Team consisting of myself, Casey Merry, Rob Confer, Ian Hunter, Dennis Jeffris, and our fearless leader Ryan French all agreed to make the perilous journey. Ian, Ryan, and Dennis all road together and Casey, Rob, and myself road together as well. We had the typical before tourney discussions, you know, what are you playing, who do you not want to play. We kept on talking and it degenerated into 2 dollar hoe jokes that further degraded to necrophilia (seems to be Casey’s favorite topic). I happened to notice a road sign saying 142 miles to Spokane. And then promptly pulled a big U-turn in front of a sign that read no U-turns and began to speed down the highway going the other way this time (95-100 miles an hour conservatively speaking). We find where we made the wrong turn and fix the situation. This promptly takes us into a little town somewhere in Egypt, bum f*@! Egypt that is. The highlight of this small American disaster seemed to be their telephone museum. We theorized it must be where they worshipped the modern cell phone.

Upon leaving B.F.E. we found the open road and started to make up some lost time. It appears the speed limit in Egypt these days is something like 12 and a half miles an hour or something. To make yet another long story short we got lost again and had to do a whole lot more speeding. We finally make it to the card store dreading that we were ten minutes late and see that it isn’t even open yet. What the @#$%!? I have a bad feeling about this. It opens and we meet up with the rest of our crew and then sit through some really long speech on sportsmanship for the Seattle players. Doug spills about the next possible virtual set and gives a brief rulings of interest before we start. One of those rulings was about upkeep, of which I had no idea. And for all of those that still don’t here it is. Upkeep occurs AFTER you re-circulate. I’m like, okay does not really affect what I’m playing today. So I’m playing my Voice of the council and Darksaber II combat decks and we get ready to go.

First match- Voice of the council versus Mike Nowoki’ TDIGWATT.

Match opened with a terrible draw, I only had one character in my hand and the rest were all reds. He sets up with some Imperial chumps on the ground, Okay he’s got imperial speed deal going on. At some point he drops a Boba Fett Bounty Hunter and pays upkeep before he re-circulates. I point out the ruling and he goes all Rain man @#$%y on me. So I call Doug over to rule. Rain man chills a little after that. Then it gets really bad and he starts stalling. I’m looking at this match saying to myself I do not want to be here. We pitch a couple more little battles that he losses but his demeanor is worse than I can handle. I want this game over with. I start to think to myself, if I lose this one that won’t put me out of the running with so many people here, and it will give me a really good next match up. So I start
activating everything (about15 a turn) and keep drawing up. He (finally) drains me down and I lose by 19.

FL 0 (-19)

Good- There was nothing good about this match at all.
Bad- Taking a loss so early in the event.

The first matches are all over and only one of us came out with a win. Dennis ended up playing Keith Watbayashi and getting spanked. Ian was the one that pulled out the win so we gave him the congrats and got ready for the second match.

Match two- Darksaber II versus Ryan French’ Hidden Base flip.

I take one look at the starting stuff and know that I own this match up. I run Security Precautions and a ton of great space in my deck. I fortify the Generator Core with Lord Vader + stick, 4-lom W/ gun, and Mara + stick. He stays off the ground the whole game. He also didn’t have the new shields so he took 4 a turn there almost the whole game. I got Chimeara with Guri to one of his systems and started probing with SP on table. He flipped to amp his drains but I dropped Zuckuss in ship a few turns later and kept doing Drop! to put cards back for the differential score. Probed his Base and he lost 8. I moved the Chimeara to Zuckuss and next turn initiated with his Mirrax in ship to end the game. FW 2(+11).

Good- My Battle Order Shield did what it was meant to and shut him down.
Bad- Having to face a team member and hand him a loss.

Well after that Doug calls the meal break and a group of kids come in from off the street and start poking around in peoples cards. One of them in particular has taken an interest in my bag with my decks in it. He goes to unzip my bag and I ask him what he thinks he’s doing. He says just looking, and I tell him to go look somewhere else. While this was happening the rest of the crew all bailed to Jack In The Box (fine local cuisine notorious for causing intestinal issues in all those consuming it). I leave fellow strike team member Rob Confer to watch our stuff while I play gopher and go get the chow. I hook back up with the rest of the crew and start bagging on them for not waiting. I cordially inform them of the possibility of theft in this place, but I don’t think I was taken too seriously. Oh well, I get my food (4 extremely greasy tacos and a nasty cheeseburger) and Rob’s and we all pile into the Jeep and drive back to the tourney. I eat the four tacos of death and try to gnaw the burger down. Upon getting half way through the pile of beef my stomach tells me stop or else. We’re about to start up again, but the last bite of meat has taken it’s toll. Something bad escapes “thy inner workings” and peoples eyes begin to water as if a chemical warfare attack has commenced. I manage to temporarily shift the blame of such a foul attack onto fellow team member Casey Merry as I escape the room. As I leave I see the entire center of the room part like the red sea. I return after I can stop laughing and Doug announces the next matches.

Match 3- Voice of the council versus Andrew Taylor’ Hunt Down combat killer.

This was one of the more enjoyable matches of the day. I ended up playing against this kid (who turned out to be Doug’s son I later found out) who was the most courteous player yet. He put a lot of the other players to shame (Nowoki). Any how, for a kid of like 12 I start seeing a deck develop that a player twice his age should have built. I start to talk to him and tells me he’s been playing since he was 5 (cool) and learned from his dad. It still didn’t click to me who he was talking about so we kept playing our game. He managed to drop Maul and stick and the combat shield first turn. I reciprocate with Qui-Gon Jedi Master and a combat card. Move phase I take maul off the table and he losses four from reserve deck. The whole game goes like this, at one point I get to verify and see tons of 6’s and 7’s but he kept drawing the same 1 in Boba Fett in slave I and Bossk In Hound’s Tooth the entire game. We get to the last and I drain him out if I remember right. I win by 17. if he’d had his destinies fixed I might not have won at all though.

FW 2 (+17)
Good- Getting to play a cool game with a really cool player.
Bad- His deck not working the way it should have, I really felt bad for him.

We shoot the crap for a while longer, shake hands and then part for the next match. Dennis and I find out our scores are the same so figure we’re about to face off so I get comfy and wait for the match up to be announced. They’re announced alright, and I end up playing Nowoki AGAIN. This time I was determined not to let rain man piss me off.

Darksaber II versus rain man’ There Is Good In Him Mains

It’s all business here folks. He drops big bad Scout Luke to the hut with his stick and I have Vader in hand. I drop Lord Vader down and move over to take the brat under control capping his activation. He tried the whole game to get something going, he even won a couple of battles. He just couldn’t keep up with the drains and all the characters he was losing in battle. I controlled Rendili with Zuckuss and had Maul at the Core. Drained him down with the Battle Order shield on table. Before long he couldn’t pay to drain and died.

FW 2 (+8)
Good- Handing Rain Man his @#$% on a platter.
Bad- Having to listen to him babble his way through the game again.

With the last round about to begin I surmised I was going to move up to the “winners” room. I’m starting to get really tired of playing combat decks since that’s about all I’ve played in the last six months. I promise myself this will be the last time I play them again for a very long time. Sure enough as the matches are announced I’m up in the big room with the current leaders. I get paired with Jason Kilby of Oregon and I think we’re playing for 4th or 5th.

Voice of the council versus Jason Kilby’ Bastian QMC

Jason is a really cool guy. We talked as we played and just generally enjoyed the hell out of this game. Both of us were very calculating in what we were playing and putting where. Neither wanted his @#$% beaten down with over flow. I got a jump on cloud city and put down Lord Vader with stick and 4-LOM W/ gun at his drain canceling site. He goes to the system with Wedge RSL and ship, X-Wing guns then battle plan. Later I get Zuckuss in ship to Rendili as well as Chimeara and Guri but can’t find any other dark jedi except Palpatine to drop on Naboo to contend with his EPP’s there. He drains and I lose the rest of my Dark Jedi in a clump. The game is now over and I know it. I just have to see how long it takes him to drain me out.

FL 0(-25)
Good- getting to play such a cool game with such a cool guy.
Bad- losing all the rest of my dark jedi in one shot, seriously lame.

At this point in the tourney I’m ready to go home. That last match took me way out of the running. The last match was announced and I ended up being paired with another team member Dennis Jeffris.

Voice of the council versus Dennis Jeffris’ combat killer.

Dennis had this match from the start. He had good table control and I was having a hell of a time getting my cards even in hand to put out on the table. I decided to give Den a big win and started activating and drawing until the game was over.

FL 0 (-20)
Good- It was finally the last game of the day and I could leave this card shop with all the Gay and Lesbian magazines all over the place.
Bad- having to leave the day with a less that stellar performance.

We start to wrap up for the night and Doug doles out the prizes. I get a pack of Death Star II, Coruscant, and Reflections III. I pull Lord Vader, Phylo Gandish, and foil Prisoner 2187. I get back all the cards that were borrowed from me and pack them back into my bag and zip it up and tie the draw string since I see that those kids that were so interested are still hanging around being shooed away by other folks too. I say my good byes and thank Doug for the event. I tell Kilby I’ll see him at worlds (since he talked me into going this year) and we all gather up and get our stuff loaded. I notice my bag is unzipped, but think nothing of it being so glad to get going. We get horribly lost in Seattle and end up being 20 miles from where we should before we figure it out and finally (three hours and two sets gangs following us later) get on the right road. Needless to say we were very tired and late in getting home. The next day I finally go to unpack my cards and see why my bag is open. My decks had been jacked!!! I start on one of the worst ranks of profanity I ever heard come out of any mouth. I finally calm down enough to just feel like puking and try to call the card store. They don’t answer so I e-mail Doug hoping they found even some of my cards. For the next few hours I walk around feeling like I’ve been kicked in the balls a hundred times. Later that night Doug calls me at home and tells me they found not just one or two of my cards, but all of them. The kid must have ditched them trying to get them out of the store. I was so relieved that I was getting them back it wasn’t even funny.