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Author: Steven "Sir Yoda" Lewis
Title: mr-2nd-place-and-the-nashville-slam
Date Published: 2000-09-14
The night before the slam, I talk to Jon Chu about playtesting some and hes keen on coming over at 9:30 (he had to go to some dumb concert or something), so Im sitting around watching Judge Judy and I say to myself: Thats it, Im calling Clint. So I ring the goofy bastard and tell him to get over here so we can have time to hit the Chinese buffet and then play some cards. I show him an awesome new deck which I think is the stuff and he kicks it around some, so there goes that idea (by the way, operatives suck). So Clint busts out some Revolution deck he built (basically a pile of Light side cards + Revolutions) and I smack it around with my Court but he says its good against everything else. Sure.
Anyway, we go to the Chinese buffet and get sloshed on cashew chicken and egg rolls only to proceed to Dairy Queen for the ensuing pile of ice cream. Then after nearly puking all over myself, we head back to play some more cards and find out Chu had been and gone and cant come back later to play (he had to pick up Chris Praskac at the airport). So Clint and I play cards til about 3:00am and decide to go get the Brownie (an absolute necessity for proper tournament preparation). So after a trip to Dennys (which incidentally was servicing about 657 customers at 3:00am!) we head back to catch some sleep before the big event.
We meet Jim at his place the next morning and get to the tourney about 20 minutes early. Come to find out, TJ Holman has DRIVEN down from Pennsylvania (11 hours) in the most hideous piece-of-crap car I’ve ever seen and Chris Praskac flew in the night before. Incidentally, these guys are some good players but theyre also some seriously goofy-looking fiends. I mean, these guys come up to you on the sidewalk, and you cross the street. Anyway, theyre busy praising Chus Endor Ops deck (what a pile of jizz), so I go chew the cud with some of the Trek guys. Then when I check back with Clint and TJ and them, theyre all practically drooling over some chic in a bathing suit, and I say, Dude, shes like 12 years old. Then later, Clint tells me he asked her age and she said she was actually 11. Therefore, Clint and TJ are pedophiles. Anyway, after about 10 days, the tourney starts...
GAME 1: My LS Hidden Base / Kessel Runs vs. Matt Criggers DS Hoth beats.
Matt is one of the higher-caliber players in Nashville, and definitely not a scrub. I played him at a local non-sanctioned tourney a couple weeks ago and he wrecked me twice with the same deck hes about to play (so on the bright side, I already know every card in his deck and he hasnt seen mine yet). He starts Ice Plains and 3rd Marker and draws up 1st turn. I search for Lando, and drop him and ship at Endor and drop Projection on the 3rd Marker. He puts Mara down with blade and starts draining while I get out my systems and drain at Endor. I almost decide to dump the Kessel Runs to drains since Matt is notorious for playing SAC in all of his decks, but I notice the first few turns as he loses his Alters from his hand to my drains, so I hang on to the Runs. I flip mid-game just after Matt drops Vader + Tarkin to some Endor site and I start cancelling drains and draining all over the place. Matt drops some ships and probes at Kiffex and Tibrin (the base is Endor) and he takes several turns of drain damage without hurting me at all. Finally he gets my base (no Sec Prec on table) and then I start the Kessel Runs from Ralltir. Hes draining about 8 and Im draining about 6, so the Kessel Runs are NECESSARY for victory and thankfully, Matt has lost all his Alters. So I Run twice (for a total of 20 Force) and win by about 12.
2 (+12)
GAME 2: My DS Court / Rancor tech vs. Charlie Herrens Profit / Eloms.
This game is a joke. I park SE Jabba and Chall in the chamber and pull CC Engineer to convert the AC. I then back them up with Boelo from the reserve and Charlie activates 4, loses to court, and draws. I then back up the aliens with more guys (4-LOM and Fett, I think) and we sit there a few turns doing nothing. Charlie finally comes down with Luke + some guys (no Ben!) and I kill them all and capture Luke with All Wrapped Up. I drop the Rancor Pit, the Rancor, and Trap Door Luke. Charlie plays Youll Take Me To Jabba and moves Luke back to the chamber (illegal due to Rancor Pit text, but I didn’t catch it then) where I attack him and capture him again for 8 battle damage. Next turn, I drop IG88 in the chamber and Trap Door again to which Charlie again plays YTMTJN to which I again beat down Luke for 12 damage this time and capture him again. Finally I Trap Door the 3rd time and the Rancor misses. Luke then kills the Rancor. Ergghh!! Anyway, Charlie never rescues Han and I win with drains at his Tat:JP and battle damage by around 20.
4 (+32)
GAME 3: My DS vs. Jon Chus HBX.
This game is also a joke. Ive seen Chus deck and its nothing but X-wings, Boushh, TK422 and one EPP Luke. Im going to wreck him. I draw a great starting hand and deploy Tat:JP, Jabba, and Gailid 1st turn. I then drop Mara + saber on turn two while Chu starts stacking Xs at Endor. I drop S&D and a third site to cover Honor and Chu is now losing tons of cards to drains and damage while hes only draining me for 1 at Endor. He finally flips and starts draining at Kessel so I drop some ships and probe (Sec Prec is down) and miss Endor. So I just sit at Endor and start fighting every turn (no battle damage!) to retrieve cards. He never gets any characters out and I win in drains by about 30.
6 (+62)
GAME 4: My LS vs. Scott Andersons BHBM
Once again, Im paired with a seasoned player. He seems disappointed at the get-go after seeing my objective (which is advantaged vs. BHBM). I start out with my systems and guys while he drops Emperor to the Throne Room (he never deploys Emps Power, though???) and Vader to Endor:DB and I drop farmboy Luke to Vader to flip him. He never goes to duel Luke and decides to just try and drain me out. We fight some in space and I finally flip and start draining for big. He probes my base on his first try, but he cant handle my drains + Force loss on his objective. I win by about 15 or so.
8 (+77)
GAME 5: My LS vs. Chris Praskacs SYCFA / Scum deck.
Now, Chris and TJ have been talking up this SYCFA Scum deck like its broken and never loses, so I say, Whatever and get ready to wreck it to prove them wrong. He drops JP and AC right off with Jabba there. I Projection him and start setting up the systems. He drops Bane, Mara, and S&D which hits me the rest of the game. I lose Kessel off the deck early to a drain (crap!) and have to play without it. I set up some big drains, but Chris keeps the pressure on with bounty-hunter ships and (believe it or not) a bunch of Set For Stuns to nab my pilots. Order to Engage gets him a couple times and the game comes down to this: he is draining for 3 and making me lose 1 to S&D every turn. I have 5 cards left in Life Force, 0 in hand. He has about 12 left total and Im draining for 7. Boba in S1 is sitting in front of Kian in GS1 and Spiral. I battle, retrieve/lose for 1st Strike, now I have 6. Fett lives (crap!) and I lose Kian. I lose 1 to S&D. His turn he drains for 3 (Im down to 2 left, he has 4). He battles with Fett, retrieves 3, I lose 1, then I lose my last to S&D. What a game! If I had one more Force I would have won. Oh well, loss by 7.
8 (+70)
GAME 6: My DS vs. Scott Andersons Profit
Wow! What a day! Ive played 5 good players already and now I have to play Scott again! Scott has already beat Jims (identical) Court deck with his Profit, so I know Im in for a good game. I get the CC Engineer and convert the chamber as usual, getting some good aliens and Oota Goota (huge!) in my starting hand. I fortify the chamber while Scott drops Jedi Fluke to the CC:Lower Corridor with saber (ouch!). I drop Gailid and take over the Tat:JP for my own 3 drain and I add S&D to the mix for some added damage. Scott drops Honor and drains and draws for a few turns while I do the same (I need more aliens to spread to 3 sites so I can start hitting him for S&D and Court damage). I finally get to my 3rd site and start overcoming him in drains and damage. But then (much to my dismay) Scott drops Boushh and frees Han with Someone Who Loves You (what a great card!) and retrieves 10 (ouch!). Han and Leia now flee to the Dungeon. Now were about even in Force. My drains are about the same as his, so we exchange damage for a while and eventually (we each have about 6 cards left) I move Fett and 4LOM in front of Han and Leia and Ben (who are in the dungeon) to stop their drain. Scott only has 1 card in his reserve and 5 in his Force pile and I am holding Hidden Weapons, so I think Im ok. Scott now cannot win in drains, so he has to do something. He looks at me and says, You know, sometimes it just comes down to what you have and what you dont have. I know exactly what he is about to do. He plays Nabrun targetting Ben, Han, and Leia to move them to Orrimarkos site at the Carkoon Pit for a beefed drain and certain victory. After he draws and pays, I drop Oota Goota to capture all his guys and end the game. What a game! I win (barely) by about 6 or so.
10 (+76)
Come to find out, Praskac ends up undefeated and I get a glowing 2nd place as usual. That makes 99 Worlds, Continentals, the Yavin 4 Regional, and now the Nashville slam, all 2nd place for me. Figures. Anyway, Jim runs into a local Trek player and agrees to buy a binder full of Star Wars cards for $250. Chu, Clint, and I split it with Jim and we all draft the rares later, getting bunches of good stuff worth well over $250.
PROPS:
Charlie for avoiding the Rancor twice (and taking heavy battle damage because of it) only to kill it the third time it tries to eat him.
Clint for playing Revolutions.
The Rancor.
Praskac for being so frickin goofy-looking.
SLOPS:
Jim for losing to Profit with my Scum deck.
Clint for losing with Monkey TIEs.
Bill Gordon for not showing up (where were you, man?).
Clint and TJ for getting hot over little girls.
Chus Light deck.
Praskac for being so frickin goofy-looking.
Thanks for reading and see you at Deciphercon,
Steven 2nd Place Lewis
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