durham-nc-8-17-02
Title: durham-nc-8-17-02
Author: Lewis "Duke Devil" Blake
Date: Aug 18, 2002
Anyways, I had been messing around with a profit that I was pretty confident in, so I knew what to play for lightside. For Dark, Everything I made just didn’t work, so I ended up going with this janky MKOS tat occupation deck that I had made a couple weeks earlier. MY friend Carson had a WYS that so far had remained unbeaten in all of its games against various ppl, so it was gonna be cool seeing if he could keep it up. He had a pretty strong Dark Deal deck too, so his chances were looking good. That and the fact that Brad Reinhold, our local guys who wins everything, just moved to Arizona for college I think, meant us scrubs were in a pretty good position to come in a higher spot than usual.
So the tourney starts at 12:30, and at 12:19, Carson isn’t there to pick me up. I was just about to grab my keys and run out the door to drive myself when he drives up. He tells me this funny story as he’s pulling out about how he had been with his dad to get one of their car’s tires rotated, and his dad had made a wrong turn down the interstate... lol. So he has a pretty good excuse (and funny too) for being a little late, so I, being the caring, softhearted person I am, forgave him :). Northgate mall, where it was held, was only about 15 min away (although the way Carson was driving it might have been 10...hehe), so we ended up making it just in time to fill out our C cards and make the mandatory $10 store purchase for the entry fee.
There is a pretty good turnout, about 20 people. The only problem is that the room we are playing in can barely fit 16 people, so 4 people have to play outside the backroom.. oh well. The room back there is so small that people start jumping over tables to get to their seats.. hehe it’s pretty funny.
My first game is called, and I get paired against Greyson Thompson, one of our better local players. Urrg, after 8 months I was hoping to be able to warm up on a scrub or something... not that I like beating up newbies, but I REALLY needed to get into my grove before I started playing good people... Oh well.
GAME 1...... MKOS vs Greyson Thompsons gungan start mains
Well I had never played against a deck that used this as a start, but it looked pretty good. Boss’s chambers, get boss and that other guys, then pull the other site, and you’re getting pretty good activation pretty early.. although my deck dos too, as I had the JP start, so I could pull out my sites. I was actually doing pretty well for a while, we were playing even, but then he dropped down luke w/ saber and han with gun and something else against tat mal w/ dbl lightsaber, dr. e, and xizor? One blaster proficiency and a chop later maul is gone and dr. e is forfeit 0... oh well. I take about 10 overflow in the end, and that gave him the momentum the rest of the game.
FL by 19 (o, -19)
the GOOD: I played up to par with one of our better players for a little while after coming back from 8 months... not bad for myself.
the BAD: Having to start out my first T in 8 months with a disapointing loss.
the UGLY: balster proficiency to make maul lost... ewwww.. nasty stuff
So I haven’t lost all confidence in myself at least, knowing that greyson is after all pretty good... lol. A lot of guys go get lunch at the food court down the mall in the down time while others are finishing, but I wasn’t hungry so I sit there and fast for a while... call me ghandi I guess...
My next game is called against Lucas Stevens, who I haven’t seen before, but I guess I forgot that a lot can happen in 8 months...
GAME 2.......Profit vs Lucas Stephen’s Dark Senate
I went in pretty confidently, which was pretty arrogant and @#$%y for a scrub like me after not playing for so long, and I got my just reward I guess. I got a not-so-good starting hand with no masta lukes and about 3 weapons WITHOUT the matching characters... hmmmm. I freed Han, but had trouble getting going early due to those blasted political effects... I was about to kill off his senators with chewie, leia, and protector by getting some uber battle destines... but then leai got dropped into my used pile... Then I was scrubby and left han with to little backup and he got killed... hmmm.. no worry, I have another in my hand... SMACK he falls into my used pile when he drops cards with the senate objective... errr... talk about scrubbing out AND geting rotten luck... lol. J/k, lucas played well and I went in @#$%y, I got what I deserved. Good job Lucas for putting me in my place lol.
FL, -15 (0, -34)
the GOOD: not much in terms of the game, but at least I met someone new who was not a complete newbie...
the BAD: leaving han underprotected
the UGLY: leaving han underprotected AND having my extra thrown back into my deck.
Now I’m feeling pretty bad about my playing abilities, but Carson is 2-0 with a dif of 13...?? he won his first game with his "unbeatable" WYS by 1... kinda close there carson... but he’s still 2-0 so it’s cool.. hehe.
My next game is called, and I was going in trying to make up for my differential defecit, when I see I’m playing a kid who had just started playing that morning.. urrff I hate doing this...
GAME 3....... Profit vs Adrain Ortega’s walker deck
Ooof... I had to explain to him how to set up his start with prepared d... man I hate playing games like this. I got a god hand, and he only got out 2 walkers the whole game. He set up a couple characters at each of the 3 hoth sites he had out, which I pretty much left him alone for most of the game. I went ahead and beat him without battling at all until right at the end when I wookie strangled xizor or something, leaving arica alone... protector + angry chewie + leia, princess = game at that point. Man I feel so bad about games like this... Sorry Adrian.
FW, +32 (2, -2)
the GOOD: meeting someone new, helping him learn how to play a little better.
the BAD: having to beat him
the UGLY: having to beat him by 32
So now I’m starting to come back a little, 1-2 with a total dif of -2 is kinda wierd... but that’s what happens when you have to play a newbie... urrg.. Carson actually lost his game to Greyson, but it was with his darkside, so his light is still undefeated so far. hehe, he is 2-1 with a dif of -4, I’m 1-2 with a dif of -2... call me crazy but I thought that was pretty funny.
GAME 4........MKOS vs Carson Swanek’s WYS
WTF??? I have to play carson, who I play against more than anyone else... we live about a mile away from each other, and we know each other’s decks backwards and fowards.. man this matchup sucks.... and even more so cause his WYS owns my MKOS...
So I set up pretty quickly actually and get a drain of 3 at the AC with mara and gailid to match his drain of 3 at kessel, so it’s looking pretty good. Then of course he gets menace fades set up 2nd turn to take my drain down.. he ends up getting talon karrde stuck in the middle of my forces.. so even though he dodges away from maul, he has to deal with blizzard 4 on the other site, and I cause a couple overflow... yeeee haw.
Then I try to beat up on lone han with aurra and some guy, but of course he has his OTHER dodge in hand... so next turn he uses the WYS AO to make han move during the control phase, drops luke, theron net, and another scrub down and beats me down for 15... urggg... I hate this matchup. I almost get enough ships to go to space and take out his outrider but by that time I’m down too low in my reserve deck... he wins by 22.
FL, -22 (2, -24)
the GOOD: playing Carson, who is cool so we can sit there and make stupid jokes that no one else gets, but they’re still funny
the BAD: playing Carson
the UGLY: playing Carson’s WYS
Grrr... now I have to win both of my last games to even finish respectably... Oh well at least carson is still going strong.
I’m at the point now where I don’t really care who I play bu I am gonna win the next two games... or else... bum-bum-bum.... (suspensefull background music)
GAME 5.............Profit vs Matt Teator’s dark LSC
He didn’t get much going here... and I got everything going. I was pinging for 9 a turn by the 3rd or 4th turn I think (between lightsaber proficiency, 3 sites and 2 lightsabers, while it took him that long to get someone at both sites... He didn’t do much and neither did I, I don’t recall that there were any battles at all. Not a great game for the storytellers...
FW +22 (4, -2)
the GOOD: winning, getting set up fast
the BAD: having an uneventful game
the UGLY: him not getting much going
Well it’s starting to look better for me... 2-3, I can still end up 3-3. Carson is up to 4-1, although it is impossible for him to win it, he pretty much is garunteed either 2nd or 3rd place. AND he gets to play his WYS in his final game vs lucas’s (from my earlier game) senate... hehe his deck owns senate.
GAME 6....... MKOS vs Joshua William’s LSC
Well this game is a rush for me, almost everything went my way. He dropped a chewie of kashyyyk, caldera, and a chardra fan on Naboo first turn, which I respond to with YA maul and his saber to the site where if you hit someone, they go to the used pile... I hit both chewie and caldera, leaving the chardra alone and make him lose about 9 overflow. I manage to get in a drain of 5 with maul’s saber at the site before he does anything about it... hehe. Then he deploys mace windu (???) to naboo, combats maul, I get crap draws cause I miss-tracked a seven, and I lose maul + 2 more, oh well. Next turn guri, vader, and aurra beatdown mace. Hes’ down 10, mace covers 8 + 2 more overflow. I’m immune to his destiny.
He then proceeds to pile enough mains on the adajacent site to make me run around back and forth between the two naboo sites to avoid getting beat down, while I spread out on tatooine and do about 9 damage a turn. unfortunately for him, I had enough power to beat him if he had spread out, but he obviously couldn’t catch me by chasing me around naboo. And he never got to combat again lol. I won by 22. It was a fun game, and I was in control the whole time.
FW + 22, (6, + 20)
the GOOD: finishing with a respectable win ratio, beating up mace
the BAD: losing maul, mistracking the 7
the UGLY: losing maul to mace
Well I got my 3-3 finish, I’m decently happy with myself after not playing for 8 months... except that the next tourney on September 7 is the same date as a big Cross country meet... errrrg... will it ever stop?
1st: John Irving
2nd: Carson Swanek
3rd: Ryan Obeman ( I think)
So carson got second, which is pretty good seeing as he hasn’t been to a tourney since regionals in april. 1st place gets a 3rd anthalogy, which John used to play some dealed deck games... pretty funny stuff happens in those. Everyone else gets choice of 10 random, unknown cards pulled from packs or some tourney foils/ other special cards. I end up getting a Paploo signed by Kenny Baker, the guy who was in the Artoo-Detoo suit and played paploo... lol it’s pretty cool... and better than getting 10 commons off the random piles lol.
PROPS
-Carson for driving me, keeping his WYS undefeated, and coming in second
-John for winning
-Adrian for coming to a tourney the same day he learned how to play
-Patrick Hines for running it and letting me borrow a han with gun
-Mike the store owner for letting us play there
-Kenny Baker for playing paploo... hehe
-the cieling mirrors in the backroom... those were cool as anything I’d seen in a while. And no I didn’t use them to cheat...
-WOOKIE STRANGLE!!! hehe in a pickup game I used it to choke maul with saber... if that’s not just FRICKING AWESOME I don’t know what is...
-Carson’s dad for going taking the wrong route down the interstate.. hehe that was good for a laugh
SLOPS
-Carson for beating me.. errr... (j/k hehe)
-the store backroom for being tiny
-me for not going to a tourney in 8 months and being scrubby
-MKOS for going 1-2
-Profit for not going 3-0... yes I was expecting it to go undefeated.. oh well
-Brad for moving away... no j/k Brad is cool good luck wherever you are
Overall, it was fun and I got to see some people I hadn’t seen in a while. I found out that I need to revamp my dark deck/ get a new one, and that profit is still good as long as I play smart. Although, I guess you could say that for a lot of decks... ah well, I scrubbed, but it’s ok. Maybe I can get to another tourney sometime... if it fits into cross country and all that.. sigh... o well.
Thanks for reading
--Lewis Blake
"Duke Devil"