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Author: Peter "jeeps" Jacobson
Title: st-cloud-mn-2-26-00
Date Published: 2000-03-01
Tournament Report:The Time Vault, St. Cloud, MN 2/26/99
Tournament anticipation was high for this event. Not having any bad feeling about this, I went into the tournament with a DS Ralthir/AT-ST deck and my Tatooine Mains and Device Manipulation deck. I knew my DS deck was a winner, I modified Martin Akessons winning deck (less SAC and more nasties and effects to counter various deck strategies). Here we go.
Game 1: My DS v. Vince Botzs Endor Scout blaster Deck.
I start with Ralthir and and TwiLek for Battle Order because I notice that most Endor decks are weak in space and his drain potential could be huge. With Battle Order, he has to pay to drain and that slows him down more. He uses Combat Readiness to get out two Endor Battle Ground Sites (Rebel Landing and Forest Clearing, I believe). I start and get a decent opening hand, pretty typical. I decide that I want to set up rather than take the fight to him. I flip by turn three using the Forest, Swamp, and Jungle. (aside: I notice that most players stay away from attacking Ralthir Ops right away. I think that this is the most deadly mistake- if rebels control one Ralthir location then the obj cant be flipped and that can slow the game down immensely!). The first thing I look for (if its not out already) is Kyshyyk for my battle ground system so I can drain for free. He deploys a few Dressalin Commandos with Premiere Blasters and a few of the Endor Rebel Scouts to the Clearing and gets Aim High out. I Make sure i have an Imp at each Ralthir Location so that when I take it to Endor, I will be drawing a +4 to my battle destinies. I get DLOTS, Saber, & Tarkin to Endor and we battle. Between my heightened battle destinies, choking his ability 2 scouts, canceling his destinies, and force drains, I get out a solid win.
Full Win: +26
2(+26)
Highlights: Excitement with Trepidation, Did I win by too much?
Low lights: None, really.
Game 2: My LS v. Jason OLearys DS SCrew deck
Jason won the previous tournament here and he had support. He brought a female companion to watch our skirmish (girlfriend?- I assume). I joked about her being his cheerleading corner and she said sort of... Anyway, it didnt bother me. He starts with Cloud City Downtown Plaza (or casino, I cant quite remember) and TwiLeks for Bad Feeling Have I. I start with Obis Hut and use Combat Readiness to get Lars Moisture Farm to counter his effect. I have a bad hand. A lot of red and one character, Ben. He starts and SCrews my hand. I lose Ben. He draws. I figure theres more SCrews to come, so I activate and draw, looking for my What Are You Trying To Push On Us???. The last tournament, I won a game by 35 by snagging this card. I was hoping the same thing again. He SCrews again. AG! There went Han! I know that I can win this game if I could only get Push out. He SCrews during his turn and drains me. The game continues with him SCrewing every other turn and me not getting the Push I need. I do get a few characters down and we do battle, and the game is really close to the end, with Jason claiming victory
Full Loss: -10
2(+16)
Highlights: Going toe to toe with a proven warrior and nearly irking out a win.
Low lights: Wheres my Push when I needed it?!?!?!
Game 3: My LS v. Chad Clasemans DS Bounty Hunting JP deck
Now I have played Chad before and we have had good games in the past. This one wasnt in his favor and I sort of screwed him over from the start. My LS deck is meant to be reactive. This means I adapt to what the DS does first. He deploys Jabbas Palace and doesnt use an objective. He instead opts to use Any Methods Necessary to get out Jabbas Dungeon, Fett, his gun and Boy in Bubble (Fett). I deploy Obis Hut and then use Careful Planning to, yep, you guessed it, convert his Palace to the light side thus crippling him from being able to get any sites out, plus hes only activating three per turn now to my 5 so I can get most of my mains out. My deck isnt meant to choke the opponent really, but when he starts with any Jabbas Palace location, I can convert it at the start. He draws up for the first three turns, giving me ample time to get Boussh with Leias Blaster and Artoo down with A Gift to completely keep him from draining. I also set up Ben with saber at Jabbas Palace to drain for two a turn. I but Electrobinocs and portable scanner on him. I force drain and draw a few turns. Before I can get Artoo into the Audience Chamber (I was generous and gave Chad a few more force when I felt it was safe), he deploys a lone Garandian to Artoos site and plays Nevar Landal (sp?- dark side Double Agent) and fails. I then deploy Master Luke to Garandians location and battle and send him up canceling the battle. I also deploy and ASP droid to Artoos potential location (audience chamber). He deploys the Dark Lord and Vaders Obessions Luke. I lose luke and more force, he retrieves... I am thinking, this could get nasty. I then get the combos going. I get another portable scanner on Obi and look for a device to put on Artoo. I find an Arc Welder (destiny 6). I have moved Boussh to Vaders location to block drains (remember shes packing heat still- her blaster). During my control phase, I use ASP to return the arc welder to the top of my reserve deck. During my deploy phase I break Leias cover and initiate a battle against her dad. I get first battle action and fire er blaster. I draw (no surprise) a 6+1 and Vader is lost. The Battle is over and I safely drain him further until the game is over.
Full Win: +25
4(+31)
Highlights: Converting Jabbas Palace & Getting my device manipulation rocking!
Low lights: losing Luke to a Non-Epic dual even with device manipulation
Game 4: My DS v. Mike Ravelings Tatooine Mains
This was my first time playing against Mike. My God! Hes played in over 280 tournament games and he is a real veteran of the game and a great sport. It was a real chess match here. Sweat was pouring on this one. I was 2-1 and he was 3-0. Anyway, we said our pleasantries and got down to business. I start with Ralthir and see that he has Obis Hutt so I start Bad Feeling Have I to slow him down. He plays Signal and get Goo Nee Tay. I start looking for sites to deploy. Again, my strategy remains unhindered by this deck. I like to flip ASAP but I wait until all the cards are in my hand before doing so. That way the opponent cant react until its too late. I flip on turn 3 and only get one turn with it flipped before I was grounded.Well, Mike played my deck very well. He got Ben and KFC out at his Hutt and Nabruned over to my Forest. He battles and I react with what I have and still win the battle, but lose to attrition while he revives KFC and gets him back. He also got Tantive IV with Wedge out to Ralthier in fairly short order. I figured that my +2 to deploy and the other +2 for the Mains would slow him down, but for some reason my deck was slow to develop. Next turn, I deploy Zuckuss in Mist Hunter (I will call him the Tweedle Bug in the Family Car- THE FAMILY CAR!!), and Bossk in Hounds tooth and work wedge over. He leaves space, but not before making my flip my objective back where it stayed. See, Mike didnt let me get solid on Ralthir. He took the fight to me and that hurt. Anyway, there were two places I could have won this game. Let me agonize over this (again) for you. First, he has Ben and KFC at the forest. I know that if he were to try to drain with them next turn I could play my Lost In The Wilderness and make Ben go missing. I activate everything I have, intending to place the Alter (destiny 4) on top of my used pile making it my draw for Lost in The Wilderness next turn. I then make one of those crucial bonehead mistakes that good players DONT make. I attempt to alter an effect (I believe it was his traffic control) and after I do this, I move a character! What was I doing? I buried my destiny four and now had NO CLUE what I would draw. Anyway, he did force drain me and I drew a 1. The second chance (I was fortunate there was such a chance) came when I drew Vader, his saber, and You Are Beaten. I see that all he has is Ben and KFC still. I figure I will need to activate about 10 force to beat him. So I activate, drain, and look down. I forgot he had Goo Nee Tay on me and since it hadnt been effecting my deploy costs all game, I forgot. I deploy Vader, his stick and realize that I am one force short! My GOD! I am making too many mistakes to be deserving of winning this thing.... Anyway, I battle him and he draws a 5 attrition, I draw a 2. He loses KFC and then revives him. I lose Vader.... and the game winds down like that.
Full Loss -23
High Lights: one of the best losses I have every had (because I learned so much about myself, I guess)
Low Lights: Learning so much about myself... I guess...
4(+8)
Game 5 My DS v. Ced Campbells borrowed Hidden Base Numbers deck.
Well Ced is relatively new to Star Wars, although not to CCGs in general. He stayed up all night at the store constructing decks, but when the time came, decided to borrow our tournament director, Dions, Hidden Base Numbers deck. Well, Ced had been doing fairly well with this deck until he played me. Now, I am not a GOD player, quite the opposite in fact. What worked well for Ced in previous games is what destroyed him in this one. Since Hidden Base is the one deck people usually dont like people to sit and watch since it ruins the Hidden aspect of the Objective, Ced realized that I know Dion VERY well and I have played this deck before. I knew his hidden base before we even drew our opening hands... We discovered this as we began our opening pleasantries about our performance so far and what not. (The small talk can reveal EVERYTHING about an opponent, and this little conversation was no different!). He told me how he decided to go with Dions deck after an all night constructionfest, then he pause, realized that he just tipped his hand and said haltingly, Youve already played this deck havent you... It wasnt a question, but rather a statement of despair. I said coyly with a smile, maybe and we began. I start Security Precautions on Ralthir and he starts with Battle Plan. I knew that he had numbers in there so I made sure I got Corporal Vesdan down at a scomp link to shield my destiny 1 guys. He was able to get two Never Tell Me the Odds in my deck, but since I was playing Ralthir Ops, I could continually reshuffle when I felt the card was at the top. HE sent a suicide luke with stick to Vesdans heavily fortified spaceport and took him out. So I needed the added comfort of a fresh shuffle every turn. Anyway, I set up Vader and Mare with their weapons at two Ralthir locations. Neither of us could afford to drain (paying 3 for each drain). I deploy Boy in Bubble and Tweedlebug in the Family Car to Kyshyykk and I get my up and down control to force drain for free. He still has to pay to force drain, which he rarely did. He then around turn 10 converts my Ralthir to the LS version making it A) a battle ground system giving me something easy to control and force drain at and B) showing me that Dion hadnt changed his Hidden Base. A few turns later, Ced hoped that I forgot what the hidden base was, flipped his objective. I suppose he thought that the hiding something in plain sight would trick me. I was ready. I probed with only one card, he lost 8 force and the objective and I began milking him down after that.
Full Win +26
6(+34)
High Lights: Getting My objective flipped
Low Lights: Feeling like a cheapskate knowing his hidden base, losing Vesden to Lukes Saber
Game 6 MY LS v. Cliff Zimpels DS Space Navy.
Cliff is a new Star Wars player who got tired of our tournaments taking up space and time away from his Magic tournaments at the same store. Since so many people in SW:CCG have gone through the conversion, Cliff did the if you cant beat em, join em! So were glad to have him! He is still learning the nuances of SW, so sometimes he gets rude awakenings the day of a tournament, which he takes with stride. He usually brings decks that really are a cut away from the rest. He stocks decks for either ALL ground or ALL space. so if you are weak in one area, he WILL get you. This one was the later. He had a bunch of Tie Avengers (silly ship, no permanent pilot!) and Victory Classes. He even used the Death Star Assault Squadron! Anyway, Cliff starts with the Death Star giving me a first turn start and no starting interrupt. I begin with Obis Hut and Combat Readiness and get Lars Farm out. I get a good draw hand with Ben, His Saber, and a Portable Scanner to get my electrobinoculars and other devices. I deploy Ben and next turn start draining. Cliff puts out Fondor and I am thinking, Uh oh, Executor! Nope. I was wrong, at least, I think I was. He was just deploying systems to force drain at. He leaves the Death Star unoccupied, so I hastily deploy the Tantive IV and Wedge and hope to begin force draining. I knew that I was safe on the ground, but I was taking an awful risk in space, but I had a Spiral and an extra two force just waiting to be used to react with. Cliff is new, and with a novice, can be predictable. I figured he would deploy ships using All Power to Weapons and any Tie Cannons he might have. Well, I was a bit surprised when he used THE DEATH STAR CANNON AND DEPLOYED THAT BAD BOY!!!!! Next, he deploys the Permanent Pilot Hit Squad to the Death Star (Death Star Squadron) and initiates a battle. GULP. My capital ships were sitting ducks for a high destiny space deck with a Death Star swinging a Planet Killer at me! I react and deploy my clay pigeon, er, I mean, Spiral, to the Tantive for added power. He fires at my tug boat, the Tantive and draws an 11! Now, in the movies, that would have evaporated my ship, but thanks to SW:CCG, my tantive was only hit. We both draw destiny, (I use my Binocs to manipulate my reserve deck to get a 5 on top- thats all I had). Its enough to take out his squadron. He draws a system for destiny and I sacrifice Wedge as hes going out, leaving the Spiral to stand fast versus the Death Star- yeah, riiiiight. Anyway, he moves a few ships to the Death Star to keep me from force draining. My turn, I deploy Tibrin and deploy Yoxit and an ASP droid to Bens location for for the combo I use with this deck. See, I am using the Portable Scanner to get my devices to my had, then ditching them to my lost pile for any one card using Tibrin text, then retrieving them with Yoxit or with On the Edge. I return a device to the top of my reserve deck using the ASP. I can keep doing this for as many multiples of three I have in my hand- nine cards, three force retrieval attempts. I only had 7 cards so I replaced one of my two portable scanners, play On the Edge, retrieve 5, ditch three cards from my hand for any one card (On the Edge). I used my Binocs to look for another high destiny on my reserve deck, retrieve a few more. I draw, hoping to do the same thing again next turn. Cliff sees the broken combo I have going and realizes that I am going to do too much damage anyway activates and draws EVERYTHING up, giving me the win.
(Side Note: I know that there are people who HATE these kinds of techy manipulative decks (Harvest is another example), but I say this, pack a Hell To Pay/Push or Grapple/Tentacle in your deck- that would cripple most decks that depend on these kinds of combos. This deck doesnt, its just a nice late game byproduct!)
Full Win +33
8 (+77)
Thats it. I took 6th out of 33 players. Mike Raveling took 4th and Jason OLeary took 8th. I was pleased to place with such great players. Prize support was waning for various reasons (namely the turn out was the largest on record), so I walked out with a few Decipher posters and a pack of New Hope- a Holotable! ;) This venue is my favorite place to play, the Time Vault in St. Cloud, MN. Unfortunately, Pete (the owner, not me- I dont talk about my self in the third person... much) is closing his doors at the end of this month so there will be a Farewell tournament March 25th. Hopefully, I will be able to get a report on this one soon. |
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