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Author: Steve "BlackViper" Marshall
Title: outer-rim-opens-in-phoenix-11-10-00
Date Published: 2000-11-11
"I have aquired this in a game of chance." (Brian: there’s no other
place to put it in this report!) So I finally get to bring a buddy of
mine, Levi Buck. He’s played StarWars for awhile, but he stopped a
couple years ago and has never been to a tournament before. We struggled
to build a DS deck a couple weeks ago, and he called me and told me he
wanted LS asteriods, so I build him a simple awing sanctuary deck. I’ve
been wanting to build an awing asteriod deck anyway, so I figure I’ll
let him test it out for me. We finish the LS deck at my house and eat
our pizza, then head over to Shaner’s Outer Rim. Don’t get confused;
it’s the OTHER pink building behind the Whataburger! It’s nice to have a
tournament 5 minutes away instead of a half hour drive. I decide to
change my DS from PalpyOps to a Hunt Down w/ duelling and MAD tracking,
and my LS is a HB fake Mains + Toys with MAD tracking. I’ve been working
on my tracking since I keep miscounting by 1! I need to get better at
that. I have to get Levi back by 11:30, and the games start at 7:00. So
when 7:30 passes by, I’m getting worried. We finally start, and I’m
paired with Robert Seymour, a guy I’ve never played before, but that I
know. Here we go.
GAME 1: HD vs. Robert’s Tatooine Operatives
That’s right, he starts the Operative objective with Tatooine. I don’t
know, either. I have no idea what to expect and no clue what effect to
start with. I think I finally wound up with Battle Order, but I don’t
remember. He was kind enough to give me my 6th Force for my first turn,
so Darth Vader visits the DS Docking Bay. He drops EPP Luke, so Vader
needs to take a trip. I pick him up and prepare to drop EPP Vader next
turn instead because I want that boy sliced into little tiny pieces. He
drops EPP Leia and EPP Han, so now I know what the deck is. I drop the
lone EPP Vader anyway and initiate a battle. I play You Are Beaten on
Leia (when Luke’s gone, she can’t drain although Han can). TO NO AVAIL!
Did you know Weapon Lev cancels You Are Beaten? Neither did I. So I
settle for hitting Luke and losing 12 Force. This is what kills me; I
could normally come back with that loss, but I LOSE LORD VADER AND CHOKE
VADER AND DARTH VADER TO THE LOSS!!!!! Yes, that’s 4 Vaders (including
EPP) in one battle. Yeah, that killed me more than anything else. So I’m
holding onto my last Darth Vader (I KNEW I should have put a 6th Vader
in the deck!) knowing that HE CAN’T DIE!!!!! I drop Fett against the
Spiral and Nien Nunb with a 6 tracked, but he barriers Fett. I have 5
Force left and Zuckuss. DRAT! My little army chased Ben around Tatooine,
but I never catch up to him due to the way he placed his sites and
docking bays. He drops Harc Sef with Ben to cancel my drains DRAT! for a
couple turns. Visage eventually does me in. This was a fun, very
interactive game despite the outcome.
FL by 6
0 (-6)
PROS: Lots of interaction, good tracking by me, killed Luke at no
expense
CONS: Um, let’s see... how about 4 VADERS!!!!! Playing Tatooine Ops,
losing YAB, Fett getting barriered with a perfect 6, Harc Sef.
So that was frustrating. I lost to a TatOps deck. I ran out of Vaders in
the first couple turns. I’m ready to avenge myself with my LS mains and
toys deck. But here’s the catch: I have to play Jared. Maybe I’ll wait
until next game to avenge my loss...
GAME 2: HB vs. Jared’s Bring Him Before Me
Okay, my starting hand has Luke JK, EPP Luke, EPP Leia, DoS, and some
other scout. I don’t remember who. For the rest of the game, I would
draw no other characters besides Luke and Chewie. I search for Dagobah
first turn; Dagobah is activated. I settle for Endor with Strike
Planning blocking his generation and draw Dagobah. I drop it next turn
and search for Yoda’s Hutt; Yoda’s Hutt is activated. He Twileks for
Search And Destroy, but it never hits the table when he realizes I’m not
playing space. I gave Vader my JK Luke from the deck because I didn’t
have enough Force to do it from my hand. He didn’t drain on the Tat DB,
which was too bad because I had a Lost In The Wilderness with his name
on it. I took out his non-stop onslaught of Walker Fodder, but I died so
often it wasn’t even funny. He caught my first Insertion Planning,
making it impossible for me to track my 6 destinies. He eventually
stacked 7 cards on his Luke turner, but he won every single duel, making
it impossible for him to turn my Jedi. I finally got down to Cracken and
EPP Obi in my hand, but I didn’t have the Force left to do some carnage
in the Throne Room. I can’t lose the duels anymore and he turns Luke
with 3 cards left in my deck.
FL by 17
0 (-23)
PROS: Um, maybe, um, well, ahh, um... is it getting hot in here?
CONS: No tracking, drawing crappy destinies to boot, only drawing luke
and chewie, not getting Vader lost, not leaving 2 Force for Insertion
Planning
Yeah, that was ugly. But Jared’s a good player, and I can still make a
decent showing, right? Well? Am I right? Okay, don’t answer that. I know
I’m scrubbing now. Levi won his second game, so I’m happy for him, that
evil bum. He wants to play a fun game while everyone else is having
pizza, so I break out a DS2 precon and start a game. He freezes Jendon
first turn for a loss of 8 (Honor should be in precons!), and I’m
satisfied to stay on Endor and drain. Anyway, our game gets cut short as
the next round begins.
GAME 3: HB vs. Stephen’s Tatooine "Sands Of Giants" scenario
He didn’t have time to build a real DS deck, so he was using the deck
from Scot’s tourney long ago. I tried to remember the deck I had built
for the event, but I couldn’t remember the specifics. I was just
watching out for jawas and tuskens. Luke JK and DoS ran around Tatooine,
avoiding his army. He had a G-Stick, and I can’t use my weapons! I must
find a way to get around this little error in strategy I seem to have
made. Anyway, I’ve got Chewie of Kashyyyk and Gen Solo at the Endor DB
for an easy drain of 1, a destiny draw, and the ability to cancel one.
He drops Lord Vader and Tarkin, and we battle away. He cancels my battle
destiny, and I use Insertion Planning on him to track a 6. He draws a 3,
so I don’t bother to cancel it. I lose a Force, and we all live. Next
turn wipes him inside out. You see, the previous turn I had just drawn
up Draw Their Fire and Frozen Assets. I was planning on having fun with
some assault-less troopers, but this was just too much fun to let pass.
I drop EPP Obi, Tawss, and Wedge to Endor, Clash Vader, Draw some Fire
and Freeze his assets. I initiate a battle (forget to retrieve Clash!),
swing at Tarkin, and draw the infamous 6 (tracked) for destiny. I even
called it. So he loses Tarkin and 22 more. The Grand Moff leaves some
blood stains on Vader’s jacket as he watches from afar, but there is
nothing he can do. He can’t even Ghhhk because of Draw Their Fire and
Frozen Assets.
Meanwhile, a couple Skywalkers are still bouncing around Tatooine. I
finally get a weapon lev and ask Jared for a specific ruling on reacts
and just and who gets first action and all that to make sure I do this
right. Lord Vader paid a visit after being beaten off Endor, so he’s
here, too. I battle, he reacts, and I weapon lev his G-Stick. That’s
nice. And I even remembered to retrieve one this time. I get to use my
sabers! I slice a couple guys, knowing that I don’t have the numbers to
kill the Dark Lord. I lose DoS, and he loses his hit guys plus a cadet
to cancel the rest of it. DRAT! We ran around the planet a little more,
then we battled again. I was trying to wear him down with the drain of 1
on Endor, but it wasn’t working. I realized that my top destinies were
good, but I didn’t know what my third was. I destroy Vader and rip him
limb from limb over and over again, celebrating the evil joy I got from
it (I drew a destiny of 12 for the saber hit). He draws a destiny, and I
draw a 4. I lose Luke and Houjix the rest, he loses Vader and some other
scrub. So I’ve played solidly, made no mistakes I can think of, and used
my strategy and tracking skills to the max. Now I realize that I have 6
cards left, and he has a drain of 6 coming up. What happened? Before I
activate my last turn, I search for a general. Lando isn’t there, but
I’ve got 2 Obi Kenobi’s. I activate it all, drain him for 1, and draw,
hoping I can get something useful. In retrospect, I could have used the
Spiral to react to his drain, but it wouldn’t have mattered. He still
would have killed me with the other drains. It really puzzles me how I
lost this game. I played great, then I just kinda ran out of cards. The
very last card I lost was ironically my last 6.
FL by 7
0 (-30)
PROS: Tracking like a mad mother *shut your mouth!* the entire game. I
had the 6 lined up every time I needed it. I’m finally getting better at
this. Someone even commented after I had drawn my 6 for battle destiny
the 7th or 8th time in a row "That guy’s a tracking madman!" I felt good
about that one. Royally raping Tarkin, using my cool Draw Their
Fire/Frozen Assets tech that I learned from the Mega Tourney Saturday
night. Stealing a Gaffi Stick. Using Transmission Terminated to cancel
the Monnok that wanted to eat my 2 Jedi Lukes. Did I mention the Tarkin
battle already?
CONS: Still managing to lose somehow. I think my mistake was dropping
everyone at Endor and not being able to get them off the planet.
So that really pisses me off. I was doing great, then I just ran out of
cards. Yeah, it sucks. Whatever. So now I get the bye because I suck so
badly. I watch Levi’s last game. He’s playing his Asteroid Sanc against
someone’s Hunt Down. I played my Hunt Down against his Sanc deck before
we came, and he slaughtered me by nearly 30 points. Sanc really takes a
toll, even if it’s just at 1 system! He manages to destroy his opponent
through a few mistakes, but at the end of the game, asteroids take out
the Avenger, Fett, Zuckuss, and Bossk all in one stroke. Sanc at 3
systems for 4 Force each + drains at the Big Ones + Rebel Fleet +
Undercover Spies = Levi won. So he won both LS games. And he’s never
been to a tournament before. For crying out loud, he only saw the deck
for the first time a couple hours ago! He’s only played it twice, both
against me and my playing style! He came up 4(-40), not bad at all! I
ended with 2(-30) for a 2nd to last place. Levi finished 4th to last,
and Brian Choongphol went undefeated and won the thing. I pull a Liberty
in my prize support, thank the maker that it’s not a TTO, and give it to
Levi. I should have played with the asteroids and given him my HD deck.
I scrubbed out hard. I don’t really know why I’m playing so poorly
lately. I’ve got decent decks, I’m just not doing something right. I was
"borrowing" a modified version of Brian Hunter’s HD deck today, just to
see what other variations on the objective are doing. I’m gonna steal
some other deck ideas while I’m at it just to find another little nitche
that I can call my own. I’ve got ewoks for LS, but I need something for
DS now that PalpyOps is all but retired.
The Good:
Shaner for holding a tourney a couple minutes from my house!
Shaner for giving unheard of prices on SWCCG stuff. I can’t post it
online, but email me privately if you’re interested in the best prices
in town.
Everyone who came for making it a fun, sanctioned event. Even though I
scrubbed, it was still fun.
Levi for coming and doing incredibly well at his first event.
Me for finally tracking without any mis-counts
The Bad and The Ugly:
Shaner for having 18 million Outer Rim Scouts that span the entire floor
length of his store. :-P
Jared for catching my tracked 6 destiny card!
Levi for beating me in rankings.
Everyone else who beat me in rankings! ;-)
Me for losing without the aid of mistakes
Me for not having money to spend on product. I used my lunch money for
next week just for the entry fee! Yes, StarWars IS more important than
eating.
It was a good event, thanks to all who came. See you next time! YJ on
Sat, and Type2 on Sunday, I believe. |
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