 |
|
|
|
|
Author: Joshua "Stormcrow" Grace
Title: mikes-house-mirkwood-1-16
Date Published: 2001-01-17
Preamble: I scrubbed out hardcore on Saturday, going 3-3 in
a 30 player tournament where, of all people, my *brother*
took 2nd. My brother’s always been a mediocre-to-good
player, but not one who’s tuned his decks for the tournament
scene. His background in Star Wars has been casual games
with me, our cousin and his roommate, playing the sort of
decks that commit 20 cards to building the Death Star or
setting up 5 card combos. But, apparently, that was a much
better way to play Saturday than playing Jedi Training and
Hunt Down (especially when you forget Jedi Test 2 for two
straight games). At any rate, I was officially "sick of
losing." At least sick of losing multiple games in a single
tournament. I had also managed to buy some Reflections II
on Saturday and traded my junk for mains. Go figure. The
coolest card was, of course, Popsicle Han, and I proceeded
to see if I could combine "fun" (always a slight concern)
with "effectivenes" in a new CCT deck. It almost worked, but
not quite to my satisfaction in a Monday playtesting with
Justin "Moffwicket" Alfs. Meanwhile, I decided uber-high
destiny were good, but waiting 7 turns to complete test 5
and get them was bad. So I slapped together a Turn Vader
deck (TIGIH), sort of like the one on DeckTech, but with
enough significant changes to think of it as my own. For DS,
then, I had a last-minute glimpse of insight and decided
to resurrect RalOps in what I’m beginning to think is
becoming my signature style (pulling a good archetype from
the past that everyone thinks is dead and playing it).
Game 1: My AT-ST RalOps vs Moffwicket’s Profit
Right away, I ask Justin if he’s playing Ounee Ta, figuring
he must since it’s a profit deck in a heavy, heavy scum
environment. He shows it to me, but starts the card that
searches for Lando, R2 and slave Leia. Fine by me. My first
turn, I get somebody out to the DSII docking bay with
Carida and the Raltir DB. Meanwhile, the Emperor and Lord
Vader managed to find their way into my opening hand.
Sweetness beyond all sweetness. Justin’s first turn, he
deploys Ben Kenobi and frees Han to flip and retrieve a
huge 1 force. I flip on my 2nd turn with the Emperor and
Janus coming to the ground and my scrub DB transitting.
Justin starts counting his force and asks me, "So all my
rebels are deploy +2?" I nod. He saves for a couple of
turns while plinking at my life force for drain of 1, 1
profit damage (Ben found his saber). Meanwhile, I set up
Overseeing it Personally and Vader gets his saber and finds
his buddy Tarkin. Mara, also, comes to the desert to play.
Oh, and I nearly forgot, with the Emperor’s drain on the
3rd turn while he was all alone, Justin played Lost in the
Wilderness only to draw a 1 and find that Dark Jedi are not
so easily confused. Again, the Dark Jedi display their
uncanny direction finding abilities when Justin again plays
Lost in the Wilderness against Vader’s 3 character drain
and draws... yup... a 3. Ha ha. That was funny. Anyway,
after I’m done teasing Justin with my drains, he finally
saves up enough force to launch an assault at Mara,
deploying Masta Luke, R2 and 3PO and Chewie w/Blaster and
battles. I react with Tempest Scout 6, holding a Trample in
my hand and expecting Artoo’s Bad Feeling. However, Justin
plays that first to cancel my battle destiny, so I try to
trample Chewie and draw the 1 that would have trampled the
droids, but no one else. He shoots at Mara with Chewie and
misses. I slash Chewie. He tries to choke Mara and misses.
He plays Rug Hug. Hmm... No one in their right mind plays
Rug Hug, but Justin plays it. And this could be very bad.
But, true to form, Justin continues to draw weak destiny so
that Mara and Tempest Scout 6 cover the damage with a little
overflow, while Justin loses Chewie. On my turn I drain for
a bunch and return the beat-down with another AT-ST. And
then it’s a drain race until IG-88 finds out that all the
destiny in my reserve are 3 or higher, so he goes against
Han and Ben and kills Ben, only to die in the process,
leaving Han all alone. Without a drain, Justin backs up Han
and deploys Lando. Ozzel comes down in an AT-ST and Tramples
Lando. Garrett, who’s now watching the game, assists me by
making, "Squish, squish, squish" sound effects. I win by 8.
Mike Ravelling, meanwhile, has won by the highest
differential. Garrett plays Mike, and I play Graham Neal.
Game 2: TIGIH w/uber-destiny vs. Scummy Graham (MKOS)
As long as I don’t stupidly invade the audience chamber
while my opponent has enough force left with which to beat
me down, my deck tears through Scum. Never Thinking with
his Stomach Luke allows me to put my only Jedi Luke in the
deck as a destiny 6 back up and drain and activate like a
mofo. There were too many battles in this game to recall
them all. It was battling back and forth all game, really
a good game. Graham set up his main force at Jabba’s Palace
sites, not drawing Gailid in the first few turns, thus
allowing me to set up my DB activation with Luke and Crix
and scouts until I revealed my secret anti-Scum tech: a
generic DB placed in-between the Desert Heart and Jabba’s
Palace. Aha! My scouts were now ready to invade. There was
one good battle at the <> DB when Graham had his Sail Barge
and a ton of aliens against my scouts. As soon as Boelo
was deployed, Chewie Protector blanked his text. An average
Fallen Portal took out both the Merc Pilot and Dengar w/
Blaster. I cancelled his destiny with General Solo and
drew a 6 for my own. He lost some characters, and on my
control phase, I blew up the Sail Barge with a tracked 6
for Under Attack. In the end, I was able to retrieve a bunch
with On the Edge while Graham was unable to find a grabber,
and Luke and my scouts took over Jabba’s Palace, forcing
Jabba to run out of the Audience Chamber so I could
cancel Scum. Full win by 17.
Mike Ravelling won by more than anybody else for the
second straight round, effectively annihilating Garrett
Larson in one battle at the Cantina.
Game 3: My DS vs Garrett’s TIGIH
I leave Luke alone until I get Vader into my hand. But the
deciding event of the game... I draw Overseeing it
Personally into my opening hand. Garrett has started Battle
Plan, Wise Advice and Squadron Assignments, so I’m a bit
confused, but Garrett’s always doing things a bit off-kilter
so it’s no great shakes. I get another quick flip, using
Imperial Command to fetch Ozzel into my hand for big
activation on my 3rd turn with lots of DB’s controlled.
And, combining the deciding event with the deciding moment,
Garrett searches for Wedge by revealing Red Squad 1 on his
2nd or 3rd turn and fails to find him, thus allowing me to
verify his masses of Eloms and inserts. Ah... one of *those*
decks. And suddenly all the guilt about playing RalOps has
completely dissipated and vanished. And the Overseeing it
Personally in my hand is a godsend, and the You Cannot Hide
that I started with is going to stay there ALL GAME.
Garrett is unable to do much to me while I flip, but he
moves Wedge over to Raltir when Mirax can join him in her
ship. I have Bossk in Bus, Fel, a Laser Cannon and Lateral
Damage in my hand. Naturally, I use 2 to search for Saber 1
and beat the tar out of a 0-power lone Wedge in ship, by
30-something. Wedge forfeits for 6, and then it’s a mass of
Eloms and inserts hitting the lost pile while Fel dominates
Raltir. A few quick drains, a barrier and trample on an
Elom brigade, and the game is mine. FW by 20-something.
Mike Ravelling might not have won by as much as me that
round, but he still 30+ differential ahead of me. We just
played the same sides, so I hope someone good gets paired
against him. Graham Neal gets paired to play his dark
against Mike’s light. I think there is hope.
Game 4: My TIGIH vs Travis Bean’s Bring Him Before Me
I take out Staging Areas in favor of Wise Advice, and this
proves to be a very, very good move when I verify Travis’s
deck a few turns in and see the heavy SAC I feared. As it
turns out, a turn or two after I give up Luke to Vader and
force Vader back to the Throne Room, I draw Insight and
scrap it for Staging Areas, so everything works out. Except
that Travis is activating a bunch, too, and has managed to
get down a large force at Endor, including Veers in a walker
and IG-88 with gun. That does not bode well for me. So, I
save my force (since we’re both losing one a turn, me to his
drain, and him to his objective) and deploy en masse to the
Tatooine DB he gave me. Travis tried one early duel, drawing
a 5 and a 4 (I think) only to stack a card, so he’s pretty
much given up on dueling at this point. He chases me around
for a bit, until I lash back with Obi w/Saber and Nien Numb
and Lando vs Mara 4-Lom and some others. I lose the battle,
but my attrition clears his site. However, I have to stack
one, and we’re even on the stacking. I draw the back door
and have this brilliant idea to play a couple of characters
there and split forces to try to get in a drain. That allows
Travis to battle me there with IG-88 and Fett, miss the
capture (and prevent me from On the Edging Crix out of the
battle), draw his destiny and stack another card while Crix
and Blount cover my damage. I get Wedge up in space with
a Laser on R2 in R5, and he gets in some drains, evening
things out a bit. Travis then starts draining at the Back
Door, so I move over to block the drain at the Back Door
with Han, Cracken, Leia w/Blaster and landing Wedge. He
doesn’t initiate the battle due to Fallen Portal but
reinforces his troops, sending IG-88 over. I initiate a
battle and use my first action to play I Know. He captures
Han. I shoot somebody. I play the card to reduce his
destiny by 3. Attrition clears the site on both sides, but
he stacks another one, giving him three. I battle with Obi
w/Saber against the lone Ephont Mon he moved to my Hoth DB,
and I stack my 2nd. On his turn he duels me, but he wins,
so I just lose 3. My turn, I don’t do much, drain for 1.
On his turn again, he duels and loses. I stack one. I say,
"If you draw a 6, you win. If you don’t I win." I have
tracked 6’s all through my deck. He draws a 6. He wins by 5
while I have about 20 life force left. Good game.
Mike Ravelling beats Graham’s scum deck like a stubborn
mule. Graham’s scum suddenly looks vulnerable. Mike
suddenly looks invincible again.
The final results then, go:
Mike Ravelling 8 (big differential)
Josh Grace (me) 6 (40-something)
Travis Bean 6 (less than 40-something)
Other people
This just in! Mike Ravelling is Prince Xixor. Ability of 6
needed just to draw a destiny against him, and he’s
immune to attrition less than 5 while Jim Li is not at the
same tournament.
Cheers:
Justin for playing Profit and getting beaten.
Graham for playing Scum and getting beaten.
Prince Xixor for winning the tournament with a cool LS deck.
Travis for turning my Luke. "1 out of 2 Lukes agree..."
Myself for avoiding pairing with Herb.
The Hansicle for looking cool.
Mirax for being hotter than any of the other SW:CCG females,
not much for personal interest other than debate value.
Jeers:
Garrett for playing Eloms & Inserts. Boo! Hiss!
Justin’s Hansicle deck. (You know what I mean.)
Shannon Baksa for still looking like a junky even if she is
wearing a sheer top in the new photo.
Herb. In general; I’ve tried to avoid saying this, but each
Tuesday, this statement has just become all the more
inevitable.
All those people who buy 3 or 4 boxes of an expansion and
then try to "trade" with you, laughing at your cards and
kicking sand in your face while taking off with your gal.
Graham’s sex jokes. They’re as stale as his old...
That Josh Grace guy for putting Traffic Control and Reactor
Terminal in his Top 10 cards. What a dweeb!
Ciao!
Josh "I’m only partially a scrub" Grace
|
|
|
|
|
