u-of-m-normal-il-02-23-01-02-25-01
Title: u-of-m-normal-il-02-23-01-02-25-01
Author: David "JediJawa" Lankton
Date: Feb 27, 2001
Friday, February 23, 2001
Scott Diehl, Duncan Hwang, Joe Giannetti, Andrew Wagner and I leave Ann Arbor, MI at 12:30 for Normal, IL. Right off the bat, we make a wrong turn, and we end up half an hour north of home. We turn around and head back. We once again leave Ann Arbor at 1:30, doubting that we will make it for the Warmup Tournament at 6:00 (7:00 EST). We arrive in Normal at about 5:50 Central Time, and stop by the Motel 6 to check in. After that... we race off to Cyberia. Unfortunately, our MapQuest directions told us to drive down US-51 S for about three miles, turn around, and drive back up US-51 N for about three miles. We once again get lost, but thanks to the little inset map, manage to find the store. We arrive at 6:12. We can’t play because game one has started... unless we take 0(+0) for the game. We decide that’s it is better to play three games than do nothing, so we go ahead and register. While waiting to play in game two, the Canadiens (Yannick and Dominic at least) show up and ask us for Light Side destiny adders... hrmm... The Warmup Tournament then begings... kind of.
I end up going 3-0. The Hunt Down Dueling deck I made only for playtesting won twice, and my Watch Your Step deck, which I was planning on playing in the "real" DPC, won it’s only game. My final score was 6(+36)... and I have no idea where that placed.
After the tournament, we went to Denny’s because it was right across the street from the Motel 6. I ate pancakes, and Joe tried to convince us to eat the "Brownie." That thing looked f’n disgusting... so I refused. Nobody else ate it either. Back in the room, Joe, the scrub that he is, built two entirely new decks for the DPC. We watched some f’d up show on HBO and went to sleep. Wake up call set for 8 a.m.
Saturday, February 24, 2001
The phone rings at 8, and Tom Bodett, along with the Motel 6 music, is on the other end, reminding me that there is free coffee in the lobby. F’k coffee. I need to shower. I need to choose my decks. I know for sure that I will play WYS for light. For dark, I am choosing between Hunt Down Dueling and Set Your Course TIEs. Since I’d only played two tournament games with the Hunt Down, I chose the TIEs. Joe finally finishes making his decks, and we leave the hotel at about 9:30, expecting a 10:00 start. HA! We arrive, and it looks like 80+ people are there at least. Later official count was 86. Clint Hays and Jonny Chu made a somewhat unexpected appearance (Chu had told Joe before that there was doubt that he would show up).
At about 11:00 or so, the pairings begin. Andrew Wagner, who came with us, and has only played in one other tournament, gets paired up with Clint Hays. I don’t fare any better...
GAME ONE: DS SYC TIEs vs Yannick Lapointe (2175) LS HB Super Beatdown Mains
I’m scared. I start my normal There Is No Try & Oppressive Enforcement, Mobilization Points, and Secret Plans. Yannick starts First Strike and two other effects... (this game is just a blur now). My first turn, I drop Kashyyyk and Wakeelmui and draw up a few cards. He then pulls Dagobah and Yoda’s House, and also draws up. Over the next few turns, I deploy Zuckuss in MH, Dengar in PO, a Drednought, and some TIEs to Kashyyyk while I try to draw for systems. Yannick continues to draw cards, and occasionally plays Control & Tunnel Vision to grab a card, and Yoda Stew to drop cards back down. If you remember, Yannick and Dominic had traded for destiny adders before the Warmup Tournament on Friday. I realized that I was probably in for a huge mains beating... but really couldn’t do much about it. I drew up for a Ghhk & Those Rebels Won’t Escape Us, and saved a force every turn. Eventually, Yannick got everything that he needed. About seventh turn or so, he drops the following: Frozen Assets (F’k!), Gold Squadron 1, General Solo, Leia with Blaster Rifle, Luke with Lightsaber, and Chewbacca Protector. Obviously, the Assets goes on my force pile, and the Falcon & Company deploy to Kashyyyk. Yannick initiates and plays I Have A Bad Feeling About This, since his power is only 9 (Han and Chewie are declared pilots) to my approximately 20, to triple the battle damage if I lose the battle. He then plays I Know, Life Debt, Skywalkers, Rug Hug, Protector, and Don’t Get @#$%y. He is drawing 14 battle destinies, and it seems like half of them are fives. I think to myself, "If there is someone to lose to in game one, this is it," and try to figure out if there is anything that I can do. Just as I give up hope, I spot the first ship I deployed in the game, Zuckuss in Mist Hunter. Yannick had said Han and Chewie were piloting! I look up and I think I said, "Uh... you don’t have seven ability... those destinies are all zero." I end up winning the battle, and I think he had to forfeit Leia, Luke, and Chewie to cover. He says something like, "I can’t believe it, that was about 120 battle damage you would have taken. I only play eight characters." The Falcon and Han then run away to Alderaan en route to the Death Star. I drain at Kashyyyk, finally drop Sullust and Endor, and cancel drains at the Death Star with Dreaded Imperial Starfleet. Eventually, I believe he draws up to end the game. Yannick is shocked, and I feel genuinely sorry for him. I knew that I shouldn’t have won that game, and that he may have just wasted a fourteen hour car trip.
FW +21 2(+21)
Highs: I beat Yannick?
Lows: Yannick beat himself.
GAME TWO: LS WYS vs Jeremiah Himmelbrand (1869) DS Vengeance of the Dark Prince
Jeremiah is also from Michigan, and we play each other at local tournaments, so it sucks that we have to play here. I really did’t know what to expect from Vengeance, since I had never played against it or ever played it myself. I start Do Or Do Not & Wise Advice, Insurrection, and Squadron Assingments. He starts Mobilization Points, Imperial Arrest Order, and TINT & OE (?). On his first turn, he deploys the Spaceport Docking Bay to Coruscant, The Emperor to the Docking Bay, moves Xizor over, and flips. That’s balls. I decide to go for space first, and get Dash, Melas, and Outrider to Kessel by turn two. Meanwhile, he draws up a few cards and I am losing to his objective. Thanks to Control & Tunnel Vision I have Jedi Luke and Luke’s Lightsaber now, and I deploy him along with Chewbacca Protector to the Cantina. He sets up Guri, Xizor, and 4-LOM at the Tatooine Docking Bay, and moves in when ready. Clash of Sabers Guri (thinking that I will be able to draw my two destiny that way) from the lost pile, deploy Lando with Gun, and cancel 4-LOM’s gametext with Chewie. I end up with only one destiny (Guri doesn’t have to be in the battle). I also miss. He draws high, I draw low, and he loses only Xizor. I think I forfeit Lando with Gun, and move Luke to the Tatooine Docking Bay, leaving Chewbacca with Guri and 4-LOM, because I have Run, Luke, Run! in my hand. He drops Boba Fett (I think) to the Cantina, Zuckuss in Mist Hunter to Tatooine, and initiates against Chewie in the Cantina. Run, Luke, Run! This time, my destinies are much better, Clashed Guri is all he has left there, and I lose Chewbacca. On my turn, I back up Luke with more smugglers, and move the Outrider from Kessel to Tatooine. On his turn, he drops more characters, including another Xizor, and starts to draw... leaving Zuckuss at Tatooine with Dash. I drop Cap’n Han in Falcon with Mirax Terrik and initiate. He has to lose Zuckuss +20. Game.
FW +25 4(+46)
Highs: Zuckuss is winning me games, no matter what side I’m playing.
Lows: None, really. I played that game well.
I have to take a piss, and I think it’ll be quick so I don’t bother to lock the door. Someone knocks but doesn’t listen (or doesn’t hear me) and opens the door. I have my back somewhat to the door, and don’t see who it is. When I emerge, Scott Diehl informed me that it was Steven Lewis. Round three pairings are announced...
GAME THREE: LS WYS vs Steven Lewis (2108) DS Bring Him Before Me TIEs and Inserts
I took it us the @#$% this game; it lasted no more than seven minutes. His first turn is standard BHBM, Emperor to DSII. I’m not really sure what I’m going to do. He draws a few cards. My turn, I pull Kessel into hand and deploy Home One Docking Bay. I draw up a bit. On his turn, I believe he got Vader down, and Emperor and Vader hang out at the Tatooine Docking Bay. So far, standard stuff. He draws more cards. I activate, and search for a docking bay. My Shock & Grimtaash is in my force pile! I ask Steven how many cards he has in hand, and it is about 15. I can either draw up and hope to get the Taash with four force left, or deploy my Dash Rendar and Outrider to Kessel. I make my worst decision of the day and throw Dash to Kessel, hoping to draw the Taash anyway. No dice. On his turn, he throws down four TIE Interceptors, and an SFS cannon to Kessel, Lateral Damages my Outrider, and initiates, playing All Power to Weapons. I have to lose Dash, the Outrider, and 15 force, on his third turn. I attempt to salvage the game, but I give him Jedi Luke, he inserts 3720 to 1, and I lose seven (Emperor and Vader to my 0 characters). I can’t recover.
FL -31 4(+15)
Highs: I’ve gotten to play Steven Lewis AND Yannick today!
Lows: Not drawing for Taash. Getting schooled like a little b’tch.
After the game, Lewis and I went upstairs to play a fun game, since we still had 50 minutes left before the next round. Before we got far into it, Chu and Hays showed up and wanted to go eat. I wasn’t really hungry, but I decided to tag along so I could get something to drink, and to get the f’k out of that store for a while. After wandering up and down the street, trying to find the "Chinese Restaurant" we discovered that this "Chinese Restaurant" was actually a deli. They served burgers, sandwiches, hot dogs, fries, and... sweet and sour chicken. It took forever for their food to come, but we made it back just in time for game four.
GAME FOUR: DS SYC TIEs vs Steve Brentson (2052) Hidden Base Fake-Out Docking Bay Drains With Celebration
I do my normal start, and he starts Insurrection, Squadron Assignments, and something else. I get a decent opening hand, including Sullust, Kashyyyk, and two of my three Vanguards. I drop my systems, pull Wakeelmui, draw. He pulls Tatooine, the Tatooine Docking bay, and also draws up some cards. I’m activating quite a bit, and I have a lot of TIEs in my hand, so I drop a Vanguard to Kashyyyk and save force for reacting. He gets set up some more, while I drop another Vanguard to Sullust. He gets some ground draining going on Tatooine, with the Spaceport Docking Bay there now also, and gets Wedge RSL in RS1 and Mirax and Dash in the Skate and Blount in Tala 2 to Tatooine. He drops his I’ll Take the Leader. Now he has good drains at his docking bays. I had been in command of this game up until that point. It is all downhill from here. I drop TIEs to Tatooine with a Drednought, initiate, play All Power to Weapons, and Tallon Roll Tala 2 successfully. I had a total of -12 power from his Admiral’s Order, and neither of us really had to lose anything else. After that, he set up Celebration on Tatooine, and played On The Edge multiple times to retrieve like a fiend. I keep draining at my other systems, but I just can’t keep up with his retrieval. I can only drain for one at Kashyyyk because of Menace Fades, plus two at Sullust, and he retrieves two with Celebration each turn. Eventually I run out of cards.
FL -9 4(+6)
Highs: Busting out to an early lead. Playing yet another player over 2000. Good experience for me.
Lows: Not seeing any of the following cards: Lateral Damage, Gravity Shadow, SFS Laser Cannons, Dreaded Imperial Starfleet, Battle Deployment, Twi’lek Advisor, There’ll Be Hell to Pay. No Seinar until mid-game. Such balls. SFS Cannons would have won me the game.
GAME FIVE: DS SYC TIEs vs Duncan Hwang (1656) Hidden Base B-Wing Weapons
Duncan is my roommate. I knew exactly how to play against his deck. I let him set up some early small drains at Aquaris, and let him deploy some B-Wings and weapons to the Rendevous point, but he can’t find his Endor, so I don’t deploy the one I have in my hand. After he’s deployed six or seven B-Wings, I set up drains at Kashyyyk and Sullust, after dropping Wakeelmui and Seinar. He takes over Wakeelmui and drains there and at Aquaris and Roche while I drain at Kashyyk and Sullust. Eventually, he goes to the Death Star to drain, but TIEs + Lateral Damage + Tallon Roll wreck his B-Wings. I take small drains, while continuing to drain at Kashyyyk and Sullust. Eventually, I win.
FW +19 6(+25)
Highs: Playing smart.
Lows: Playing Duncan. We play in EVERY f’n tournament.
GAME SIX: LS WYS vs Philippe Parisé (1964) Death Star TIEs and Capitals With Guns
He got his systems out very early, and was draining for about four by his third turn. I decided not to go to space until late game, hopefully to surprise him and beat down on a lone TIE. I set up Jedi Luke with Luke’s Lightsaber at the Cantina, with some other smugglers at the Tatooine Docking Bay. Meanwhile, he drops more systems while I suck up his drains with Control & Tunnel Vision from hand and lost pile. About mid-game, I make sure he sees me lose Dash, Han, Mirax, and Pulsar Skate from hand (I hold another Cap’n Han, The Falcon, another Dash, and the Outrider in my hand). At this point, the game is very even. One turn, I’m drawing up before telling him to go, and before I even finish drawing, he has deployed U-3P0 to my Cantina. He finishes deploying, and then asks if I lost eight from force drains. "You never said force drain..." was my response. I SWEAR TO GOD HE NEVER SAID TO FORCE DRAIN!!! IF YOU HAD SAID FORCE DRAIN, I WOULD HAVE LOST IT!!! I AM AN HONEST PLAYER!!! Anyway, this really pissed him off. He starts insulting me, which isn’t helping the situation. I stay calm, and try not to get pissed off. The game sucked after that point, and I really didn’t want to play. He continues to drain in space, I drain on the ground. Very late game, I go Dash, Outrider, Han, Falcon to space to stop some drains and do some damage. He has to lose a few, I lose Han because he drew a five for destiny. Dash sticks around, and survives his turn. I initiate with Dash, and he tries to deploy the Accuser as a react for four force instead of five, so that he can fire his TIE cannon. I catch it, and don’t allow it. I let him take the Accuser back, and he shoots the Outrider down. On his turn, he drains me down to nine, and then on my turn I finish him off.
FW +9 8(+34)
GAME SEVEN: LS WYS vs Corey Faherty (1834) My Kind Of Scum Abyssins
As soon as I see MKOS, I start Menace Fades instead of Do Or Do Not & Wise Advice. I know exactly what I’m going to do this game. I set up Dash in Outrider at Kessel on my first turn, then use Control & Tunnel Vision to get Jedi Luke and his Stick. Meanwhile, Corey sets up his fortress in Jabba’s Palace. On my third turn or so, I Control & Tunnel Vision for Battle Plan, and deploy Jedi Luke and Stick to the Cantina, and drop the Battle Plan. He is only activating ten or eleven force, and if he wants to drain, he has to pay nine to drain me for three. I take a lesson from my game with Steven Lewis, and as soon as I know my Shock & Grimtaash is in my force pile, I once again Control & Tunnel Vision, and play Taash lost. I get five Abyssins and two None Shall Pass (?). After that, there wasn’t much that he could do. He drains me, I drain him... back and forth until I have about 15 left, and I could drain him out. However, Corey, who takes home the sportsmanship award, does not draw up while I play On The Edge four times to retrieve 20 force. I also initiate a battle against Zuckuss in Mist Hunter to retrive another force with his First Strike. Once my lost pile is gone, I drain him out.
FW +36 10(+70)
After game seven ends, I wait impatiently for the current standings. To my amazement, I’m in eighth place after seven games. However, I will need to win game eight by 30 plus to make it into the top four. I’m nervous as hell, and it affects my play in the next game...
GAME EIGHT: DS SYC TIEs vs Scott Anderson (1879) Profit With Cloud City Drains
I start Arica in the Audience Chamber. In my opening hand, I get a system, which makes me happy. Unfortunately, I’m not thinking well, and I WAY overdeploy to space. Before I realize what I’m even doing, I’ve deployed like five ships to Kashyyyk. I draw up and finally get Sullust (x2), along with my other Kashyyyk. No Endor. Balls. I ONCE AGAIN overdeploy to Sullust. Meanwhile, Scott is playing it smart, and getting some drains going at the Cloud City drain sites with Ben Kenobi, who Nabrun’d over from Jabba’s Palace. When he has only 14 force left, he frees Han, and pays ten to retrieve ten. After that, his drains plus Profit damage were too much. I never saw U-3P0 until he drained me second to last turn, and I was in dire need of my Vader with Lightsabers. I finally get the Emperor, but he really doesn’t help. He plays On The Edge a couple of times, and I know I’ve lost the game. I look down at my systems and wonder why I deployed so much... I have like ten ships on the table. My hopes of placing in the top eight disappear.
FL -12 10(+58)
Well, my performance was good enough to put me in 16th in the end.
As I’m sure most of you know, TJ Holman ended up winning the whole thing.
After the tournament, we headed back to Denny’s where I had a bacon cheeseburger, which made me happy. Back to the hotel, where we made / picked decks for the team tournament on Sunday.
Sunday, February 25th, 2001
I decided to play Hunt Down Dueling and Watch Your Step for the team event. Well, only 14 people showed up for the team tournament. Disappointing. We were expecting the Canadiens, at least. Team [U of M] consisted of myself, Joe Giannetti, Duncan Hwang, and Andrew Wagner, because Scott Diehl’s grandmother died and he had to fly out to Seattle on Sunday morning for the funeral. With Scott, I GUARANTEE we would have taken the tournament. Duncan and I both went 3-1, with my loss being to David Irvine, after incorrectly On The Edge’ing my Jedi Luke. Joe scrubbed out going 1-3. Even though Joe scrubbed, we did still place second behind team Secret Squirrel: Geoff Snider, Chris Hunter, Scott Lingrell, and Joe Alread.
Overall, it was an exciting weekend for me. The only person I wanted to play, who I didn’t play, was Clint Hays. However, my smacked-up-like-a-@#$% loss to Steven Lewis would have been the same against Clint, so that’s okay.
Maybe, at least, team [U of M] has started to make a name for ourself.
My Decks
-------------------------------------
Hunt Down Dueling : 4 Wins, 0 Losses
SYC TIEs : 2 Wins, 2 Losses
Watch Your Step : 5 Wins, 2 Losses
Overall : 11 Wins, 4 Losses
Well, if you made it this far, thanks for reading.
David Lankton
dlankton@umich.edu