gens-endor-regional-report
Title: gens-endor-regional-report
Author: Keith "Gen" Watabayashi
Date: Jun 13, 2002
*Skip a few paragraphs to get to the actual games*
I started playing this game when Dagobah came out and started playing in tournaments when Endor came out. (Back when Peter Sundholm, #4-5 in the world for LOTR, was playing). Since then I’ve attended every regional/Open/State Championship that I could. At these major tournies I’ve seen some of the greatest players at their best, and some of Star Wars CCG’s greates moments. I saw Charles Hickey taking a new, untested objective called "You can Either Profit By This..." and killing people with it. I saw John Hawkins mow down the competition with what was the first Brangus deck to ever win a major. (Brangus/DD/Sabacc). And I saw Joe Olson win his first major tournament and the start of his "professional" SWCCG career. All those tournaments, and those are some of the things that I’d seen.
Now, at the 2002 Endor Regionals, I was through watching.
Since Decipher lost the license and LOTR took away a lot of the players, Seattle has had somewhat of a lack-luster Star Wars scene. It got to be so bad, that even though I swore I’d never become a TD because you can’t play, started to run tournaments. (Course, now TD’s can play in tournies, so my arguement was a moot point). With regionals coming soon, I was running tournies almost every 2 weeks, just so I could get the practice. Every tourney I played something different, my Baragwin Combat from F-Con, my LS Senate my Profit, my Dark Deal, my AOBS, whatever. And after many months and many tournaments, it came to pass that my Dark Deal and Combat would end up being undefeated, and my choice for regionals. So, I had my decks.
Even though I haven’t been playing this game as long as some of the people who were coming, I knew that I had an advantage over them as I had never stopped playing, and my game was at it’s best, and they would be rusty. My two playtest partners Kyle Krueger and Nick Jones (who I also went to FreedomCon with) are great players and were always up for games, so I got plenty of extra practice along with whatever tournaments were happening that month. So, I had my game.
After a brief meeting with Doug Taylor, he gave me the low down for Regionals. We would be going 6 games, but have no final confrontation since the top two players get the same thing. I asked him about attendance and he started to name off some of the people who had pre-registered. Most of them were local people I knew, or were from Wenatchee, which has become a major Star Wars hotspot. Doug also named off a few "notable" players like: Charles Hickey, Joe Olson, David Kitzman, DPC Don Kitzman, Chris Denoma, Jason Kilby, and the infamous John Hawkins. So, I had my competition.
The day arrives and I get to the store early to meet my girlfriend for breakfast. We go next door Bakers, a Denny’s-like place, only a bit more expensive, and I seriously consider ordering a brownie.....but decide that that only works for certain players, and settle for a good solid meal. We chat about this and that and eat our breakfast, then she wishes me luck and gives me a kiss. So, I had my mojo.
I walk into Booster Pack Gaming, fill out a command card, turn in my decklist, and the games begin. Once again my decks are:
Lightside: Lightsaber Combat with Baragwins
Darkside: Dark Deal Big Blue/Mains
(I built both of the initial designs of my decks at FreedomCon, so I don’t consider them copies. It just so happens that my DS deck is currently a very popular decktype, and that my LS seems cliche’. )
Game 1: LS V.S. Dennis Jeffris-- Huntdown Anti-Combat
Dennis is from Wenatchee, and has a brought a Dark side deck that should kill me. I start with Insurrection/Aim High, Another Pathetic Lifeform, and Virtual Sai Tor Kal Fas. Dennis starts with IAO/SP, Virtual Blaster Rack, and something. (not important) Dennis gets a Lord Maul down to Naboo very quickly, pulls his double-bladed saber, plays the "anti-combat" shield, and then it’s my go. I drop Quiggy and grab his saber, stack a 7, then combat Maul. I draw another 7 and use the 7, making my total 15. Dennis draws a total of 10, looks around at his cards, asks "do I add to this anywhere?" to which I respond "I don’t know, do you?" He glances at Maul’s saber, speed-reads it, and says "no, I don’t." He then loses Maul and 4 off the top. Huge play, and I wasn’t about to help him, especially after he READ the saber and still didn’t see that it added 1. Anyway, after that he played right into my hands. Deploying Jedi every turn but not tracking Combat destiny so I easily made him lose force while I retrieved with Combat and Baragwins. Even though he eventually got Deep Hatred out, it wasn’t enought to deal with Quiggy, Jedi Luke, a Baragwin, and 3 tracked 7’s.
Full win by 25
2(+25)
Highs: Winning first game and meeting part of the Wenatchee crew
Lows: kinda shady win since he made that mistake
After game 1, all the major players have won their games, and it seems that Hickey is playing both Theed Objectives.
Game 2: DS V.S. Martin Norris-- Combat/Space/Endor
Yeah, you read that right. Martin’s Combat deck (which he claimes he got from me) starts Sai Torr Kal Fas, Insurrection/Aim High, and Squadron Assignments? Martin is a great guy and a huge supporter of Star Wars in Seattle. Unfortunately, he doesnt play that much anymore and in this game it cost him. He deploys to CC early with a Quiggy and stick. I let him have that site and concentrate on setting up Occuaption, which is down by turn 3 with Executor (1st turn baby!), P-59, and Brangus Glee. I consolidate my forces and say go. Martin drains me and drops someone to fight me (Leia?) but I stunning leader the battle, and Martin moves Leia over to Quiggy. I drain/Occupation, put out my foruth CC site, drop a couple more people (Blizzard 4/Thrawn, and Janus I think), drop Black 2 to Cloud City, and deploy Dark Deal, and flip. Martin drops Jedi Luke to Naboo, and moves Leia/Quiggy over to Janus. I drain/Occupation for a bunch, then drop Maul w/stick to Quiggy/Leia, and deploy a couple more ships to the sector to enhance my power and hold in the air. Battle Quiggy and Leia, hit Leia but miss Quiggy, and he loses Leia while I lose Janus and keep Maul since I have no more force to run away with. Martin drains with Luke, then battles Maul. I hit Quiggy, he hits Maul, we both draw decent (5 to a 4), but with my huge power bonuse (+7), Martin has to lose like 8 cards to the battle. I lose Maul. I drain/Occupation for a bunch, and just wait for Martin to die off. Martin drains a few more times, but he never makes use of his Squadron Assignments (lost pilots/ships off top), and due to his lack of playing, he just wasnt ready for the Deal.
Full Win by 15
4(+40)
Highs: I love playing Martin, hes such a great opponent. Winnig by 15 with Deal is like winning by 45 with any other deck.
Lows: It was an easy, quick and nearly non-interactive game
Hickey is undefeated I believe, as are all the Kitzmans and Joe Olson. Whats interesting though, is that Hawkins has lost his game with his Light to my playtest partner, the 1680 or something rated Kyle Krueger, and it wasnt even close! Kyle took him by 24. Good stuff.
Game 3: LS V.S. D.J. Toby-- Dark Deal Droids
I recognized this guy from the Vancouver Open last year, and I remember him being really annoying. Turns out he still is. He flips over the Dark Deal objective and Im thinking auto-loss since Combat decks just cant handle the 2nd turn Deal followed by Occupation and Battle Order. Still, I have playtested a bunch with my own decks, and I have a pretty solid game plan, which is this: Drop early to Cloud City with EVERYTHING except Qui-Gonn, who goes to Naboo to drain. That way I can disrupt Dark Deal, kill guys for Occupation, and still drain. Well, that is what I plan to do, and it goes a little haywire this game. DJ grabs two sites with Im Sorry, one of them being the Incinerator. He deploys those along with the sector, then drops Mara+stick to the Carbonite Chamber and tells me to go. In my hand I have Jedi Luke, stick, a Baragwin, EPP Obi, Resilience, Blaster Deflection, and Leia, Rebel Princess. Good hand. I deploy Home One DB, then drop Obi to Mara. Battle, hit her, he swings but I play Blaster Deflection for fear of All Too Easy, and he senses. WTF? Im sweating now since I cant afford to have Obi frozen, but he missies the swing. I draw a 7 for destiny, and he draws low. Mara and 6 are gone and I Resilience Obi. I draw the rest of my force and get a Quiggy. DJ just draws his nex tturn he complains about his hand, thinks for like 5 minutes, (all the while going through every facial expression known to man), then just draws. I drop Quiggy to Naboo, get his saber, and say go. DJ makes his big move this turn, as he drops Bossk in Hounds Tooth to the Sector, Destroyer Droid, Destroyer Droid, Destroyer Droid, EV-9D9, and another Destroyer Droid, then plays Dark Deal. He moves some of the destroyers together, leaving EV-9D9 by himself. My turn I drain, then drop Leia and Obi to EV 9D9, battle but wait! EV 9D9 has no ability! Well, that sucked. I drop Battle Plan shield, but leave Leia/Obi where they are because I dont want to deal with the horde of droids next door. DJ doesnt drain, but drops ECC 4-Lom, EPP Vader, and another Destroyer Droid to Leia and Obi, battles, and I play Blast the Door Kid! My turn I drain, drop a baragwin to Naboo, and move Leia/Obi next door. DJ Still doesnt drain (thanks Leia!) and instead drops Maul w/stick and ANOTHER Destroyer Droid to Leia/Obi, and battles. He misses Obi but hits Leia and I hit a Droid. I draw a 7, and he draws a 5. I have to lose Obi, Leia, plus some extra, while he forfiets all his droids, but not Maul. My turn I drain and he tries to block it with some drain-cancelling thing, I point out he cant, he gets all agitated, then finally loses the force. I finally deploy Jedi Luke and stick to Naboo, and tell him to go. DJ pays to drain at Vaders site, then I point out to him that he cant do that. He then pays to drain at Mauls site, but once again I point out he cant do that, and he gets this look on his face like, like, like .like a "I just sh1t in my pants and am now stepping in it" face. He moves his guys around so he drain for like 5 at the Incinerator, and its my go. I drain for 5, deploy another Baragwin, and get ready to retrieve some devices. DJ drains me some more, but I ultimately win the race.
Full Win by 24
6(+64)
Highs: Winning against Dark Deal and playing smart.
Lows; Playing DJ, man that guy bugs me.
By now Im near table 1, at table three I think, and am feeling pretty good. Martin comes up to me and tells me that he picked me to win, and tell him not to jinx me. Hawkins beat up on some poor kid down at like table 30 for 47 force (his DS), and the Kitzmans are still undefeated as far as I know. Hickey just lost with his Invasion deck (which TOTALLY owns Combat I hear), to David Kitzmans Profit. Denoma is still undefeated I think, and I dont know how Kilby and Joe were doing. Anyway, on to game 4.
Game 4: DS V.S. Steven Ngyugen Throne Room mains Hawkins style.
Steven starts with Insurrection/Aim High, Kal Fas, and the new virtual Rycar Ryjerd. Right he deploys the Dont Do That Again shield to prevent me from getting the Executor. He deploys a docking bay, no big deal, then drops 4 twix sites ..deploys Threepio, uses him, then deploys ANOTHER twix site .holy crap. He searches his deck and grabs Obis Journal and Lightsaber Prof., then draws his last force. I grab my sites with Im Sorry, and Imperial Command for Piett. Fortunately for me I have the Executor in my hand along with an Accelerate. So I use my three force to grab They Must Never Again Leave This City, deploy my two sites, deploy the Executor docking bay, deploy the Bespin System from reserve, and then decide to drop the Executor for free by itself since I dont suspect much space. Its Stevens turn and he deploys Jedi Luke to the Carbonite Chamber, gets his saber from reserve, then deploys both the Prof. and Journal on him ..crap. He plays "Wesa Got a Grand Army" and deploys Boss Nasss Chamber, draws a few cards, then plays "How Did We Get Into This Mess" with Threepio, draws about 9 cards, saves like 8 force, and tells me to go. On my turn I back up Executor with Saber 3, deploy the CC Docking bay, Blizzard 4 to the Docking Bay who gets Thrawn. I draw a few and tell him to go. His turn he plays another HDWGITM and I grab it, then he plays WGAGA, and Threepios. I get out my Battle Plan Shield, and he pays three to drain for 4. I dont know whats in his hand, but he doesnt deploy anybody and just moves Luke over to the West Gallery. My turn I drain, grab Dark Deal with the objective, drop EPP Vader and Prince Xixor to the Carbonite Chamber, deploy Occupation, and say go. Steven drains, then deploys Lando, Scoundrel to Blizzard 4. He battles, draws a 7 to my like 2, but Thrawn covers for 7, so he loses Lando and I lose Thrawn. He moves Luke over to the Carbonite chamber, and its my go. My turn I drain and Occupation and deploy Piett aboard Blizzard 4. I look at Luke for a while, consider my options, then drop Boba Fett, Bounty Hunter to Luke, no barrier or anything is played, so I initiate a battle. I swing at Luke and of course he cancels the 4 I draw so I miss. He hits Vader, and we move to destiny. Steven draws a 3, and I draw 5, 5, 5. Even with Lukes forfiet, he loses 10 cards. I forfeit Fett, and since Steven doesnt very many cards left in his life force (about 18) due to all the locations he has on the table, I decide that it would be very hard for him to come down in tandem and battle me, so I split my forces. Well, I was right, as Steven only comes down with Ref III Quiggy, (grabs his saber) who goes to Blizzard 4. He battles, draws a tracked 7 (AiR5), and I lose the walker. My turn I drain/Occupation, deploy Janus to Xixor, and say go. Steven drains, deploys EPP Han to West Gallery, retrieves 4 with On the Edge, and tells me to go. I drain/Occupation, drop P-59 to Han, battle. Steven plays I Know, gets Leia, (which isnt all bad since it gets rid of his tracked 7), hits P-59 (who missed his shot) and plays Slight Weapons Malfunction. I draw a 5, and Steven draws a 3, 4, and a 2!! HUGE, as I only have to lose about 8 cards as opposed to like 20. From here he is almost out of characters but still plink drains me and blocks my drains, but Battle Order and Occupation out-damage him, and walk away with a win, but it was close.
Full win by 5
8(+69)
Highs: Playing a great game against a good player, beating down MEGA Luke
Lows: P-59 getting spanked.
Right about now Im one of the three undefeated players left (DPC Don being one, and Greg Russell being the other but he has a timed win), and people are coming over to me and telling me that Im going to win/I better win/they knew I would win, etc. etc. It feels good but Im just playing it cool and having a great time.
Game 5: LS V.S. Don Kitzmans Watto beats
Don starts Colo Claw Fish, No Escape, and You Cannot Hide Forever. Don is obviously a great player, and he has a strong deck, but I know Wattos weakness: Late Game. Watto is so fast with cards to the table and in your hand that by late mid-game it has almost used up all of its resources. This doesnt always hold true, but thats what Im counting on this game. Don flips first turn with Watto and Televan Koreyy, makes me lose two, then deploys Search and Destroy via YCHF along with two twix sites. Don saves a force and tells me to go. Now, in my hand, I dont have any Jedi, but I do have Lando, Scoundrel, and Leia, Rebel Princess. I know he has a barrier, and he has beats, but I figure the only REAL way he can deal me a lot of battle damage is with Jedi, which is good for two reasons: It gets a Jedi out of his hand so I can drain easier, and it clogs up his drains on Tatooine. So I go for it, drop Lando Televan, Barrier, and I cant grab it. His turn, make me lose two, stack a 7 on the fish, drops EPP Maul, I barrier but he cancels with TSCT. I attempt to Sense, miss with a 3, and because he already has out There is No Try, I lose the Sense. He deploys Dr.E&Ponda Baba and finally the Secret Plans shield. Battles, he hits Lando and draws his 7, while I draw a 7. I lose Lando and 10, he loses Maul. Suck, but its okay. My turn I just get out the Jedi Council Chamber and draw. Kitzmans turn I get out the Battle Plan shield, he pays to drain me once, then I pay two for his Objective and P-59 comes out, he draws. My turn Jedi Luke goes to the Generator Core along with his saber, and he is backed by a Baragwin. Out comes Goo Nee Tay, and I end my turn. Kitzman makes me lose two, and draws some cards. I back up Luke with Quiggy and stick, and just draw couple of cards. For a good while the game is just me draining and retrieving while Kitzman does plink damage to me. Eventually Boba Fett BH and EJP Bossk come down to the Generator after Kitzman had deployed Enter the Burecrats and some Naboo effect that lets him retrieve 4 force onto the Generator Core. I dont sweat it as I jusy deploy Rebel P. Leia. He never drains there, and eventually I do move over there with my Jedi, and Kitzman cant capture or do any damage to me, and thanks to a Ghhk I dont hurt him. We go back to the drain race, and Emperor Palpatine goes to the G. Core to retrieve 4, I combat him with Qui-Gonn and he loses 4, then we go back to the race. The game is really tight now, and I am just paying two every two every turn for his Objective (made easy by Another Pathetic Lifeform--GREAT card). However, since I am only paying 3 every turn to do three damage while he is paying 6 to drain for 2, its looking good for me. A key moment later was when Kitzman deploys Mara +stick to Jedi Council chamber. I come down with EPP Obi, but he barriers. He comes back with ECC Iggy and ECC 4-Lom and battles, but I "Blast The Door Kid" the battle. My turn I battle, hit Mara and draw a 7, and he loses all his characters, didnt get to drain me once there, and I Resilienced Obi! The game is tight, and then Kitzman shows Overload and says "Overload luke?" (who is alone at the Generator draining for 3), and I say "cool", (cause I love seeing this happen) but Kitzman mis-tracks and draws a 7. With that done, I drain him below 3 cards and win a very tight game thanks to Baragwins, Another Pathetic Lifeform, and Goo Nee Tay (he was a bit choked between that card and Battle Plan)
Full win by 4
10(+73)
Highs: Finally play DPC Don; playing at my best; the Lando beatdown actually helping me (I saw no other Mauls the whole game).
Lows: Lando being beat down, barely winning, and playing that whole game on basically 10 life force.
So, I am the only undefeated left, but with such low differential I HAVE to win the last game to place, and, as it so happens, win the tournament. Well, here we go.
Game 6: DS V.S. Don Kitzmans Profit
Don starts Rycar Ryjerd, Kal Fas, and Insurrection/Aim High I believe. I was nearly ecstatic when I saw the Profit start, as that is an extremely good match-up for Dark Deal. Basically this game came down to my opening hand: I had 6 characters, a starfighter, Battle Deployment, and a Ghhk. So, I grab my stuff, drop the system and Saber 3 first turn, tell him to go. My second turn I drop Piett, Ozzel, and Blizzard 4 (who grabs Vader) deploy Occuaption, and say go. Kitzman decides to try to out-damage and deploys Ben to free Han, Master Luke (+ Saber+L. Profiency+ Journal) and Lando w/Axe (all at different sites). My turn I hit him for 7 damage, deploy the Sector, a ship, Dark Deal, and Xixor at my last CC site. From here we just damage each other (me for like 12 since he got out Ultimatum, and him for like 7), but since I got set up faster and can drain for free, this game is all mine. Sorry if the final game isnt that dramatic, but this game was just non-interactive and full of damage. At one point he did deploy to CC with Ref III Leia and Padme, but he forgot to use Leias drain-stopping and Boba Fett, BH helped to beat them down and soon he was cleared off of CC.
Full win by 11
12(+84)
Highs: Im the Endor Regional Champion.
Lows: Looking back, I think I forgot about Blizzard 4s upkeep the whole game .or did Don forget? Sorry Don, didnt mean to do that.
The dust settles and I am undefeated and the champion for 2002. David Kitzman comes in second (playing variants of Dons decks) and Nick Jones comes in third with Martin Norris (Congrats dude) coming in 4th. We do prizes, and people head their separate ways. I go get food with Hickey and the Oregon guys, we talk and chill, and soon decide to call it a night.
Props to:
Don Kitzman, thanks for some amazing games
John Hawkins, always a pleasure seeing you
David Kitzman, qualifying for worlds is cool
Steven, man, that was a great game
Matt (from Vancouver/Oregon?) it was great meeting you
Jason Kilby, as everyone says, you are the @#$%ing man!
Chris Denoma, like Hawkins, always a pleasure
Charles Hickey, Theed Palace objectives, right on.
Doug Taylor, you ran a good show man
Martin Norris, cant think of a nicer to place high
Nick Jones, the playtest games helped a bunch, and third place is cool
Jason Herrin, great to meet you, and Ill come to Wenatchee at some point
Philip Aasen, you were right man, I was gonna win
Kyle Krueger, I doubt I would have won if not for our playtest games
Joe Olson, good to see to you (wish you played more)
Tiffani, you run a great store and thank you for the support
Slops to:
Doug Taylor, spend more time running tournaments and playing in them and less time designing virtual cards
Martin Norris, run tournaments again man, we need more TDs in Seattle
Well thats all, thank you very much for reading and I hope to see you at Worlds.
Later,
Keith "Gen" Watabayashi