 |
|
|
|
|
Author: Michael "Longshot" Mendoza
Title: enduro-rd-1-roseville-ca-3-10-01
Date Published: 2001-03-12
Here it is, the world-famous Enduro has hit Northern CA at
A-1 Comics in Roseville, CA (not far from Sacramento). For
those who don’t know, this is 4 tournies back-to-back-to-back-
to-back. 16 games straight! Will I make it through without
collapsing from exhaustion? Heck yeah, I ain’t no wuss!
So I playtest until 3 AM the night before Enduro (not a bright
idea, I know) with Alex Thompson and we’re confident with our
decks. For dark, I made Court (posted on Decktech already),
Hunt Down dueling, and Hunt Down TIEs (otherwise known as
FlOps, baby!). Yup, I made a FlOps deck. I would post it to
decktech, but people will give me 2-3 stars just cuz its FlOps
and won’t care about how it works. Just to be clear, FlOps is
Flagship Operations (you know, the effect that deploys on a
star destroyer when 5 executor sites are on table). Its cool
cuz no one expects it and they think you’re actually playing
Hunt Down. I don’t start Epic Duel though.
For Light, I build myself a Profit deck as well as seriously
tweak my EBO deck (also posted on decktech but its been
modified). At Enduro we can change decks between tournaments,
so I brought multiple decks in case one turned out crappy. I
made Profit cuz I wanted to beat down on MKOS, TIE, & BHBM
decks. Profit does that (at least mine does).
Like I said, I stayed up till 3 AM, and I wake up at 8 AM.
Crap! The tourney starts at 10 AM and it’ll take us 2.5 hours
to get there! So I wake up Alex and we’re getting ready fast.
I’m hungry though so I make myself a potato really quick (The
Potato, baby!) and we’re out the door and on our way after
stopping for gas and some soda. We get there at like 11 AM,
but they haven’t started yet.
Now like I said, Enduro is 4 tournies, so I’ll be writing 4
separate TRs since I don’t think any of you want to read a 16
game TR. For this 1st tourney, I play my EBO (a proven winner
which uses xwings and EBG to pull my Rogue pilots and put them
in their matching speeders). For dark I go with the FlOps
deck. Hey, this is Enduro, so any deck goes. I pay my $15
entry fee (for all 4 swiss tournies), and here we go. Its
about noon when we start. 40 people showed up to play.
Game 1: LS v Alex Thompson’s BHBM
Wtf?! I play my ride in the 1st game? Oh well. I’ve been
schooling Alex on how to play and make better decks. When I
1st met him he was like 1420 rating, but in 2 tournies he’s
now 1550 or something. So I’m proud of his improvement. I
know one day he’ll Circle me (he is the student and will one
day become the master), but that day isn’t today. I setup EBO
by 2nd turn, he deploys Emp, Xizor, Ephont, and EPP Fett to
his Tat DB. I started Battle Plan, so he’s not paying to
drain. He kept looking for DBs when there weren’t any, so I
was able to verify and since I know his deck I could tell if
he had any ships in his hand. He never drew any ships (he
plays 5).
So EBO drains are rolling, he had started Decree but like I
said he deployed to the DBs. He knows I play Ice Storm, so he
finally drops Tempest 1, I barrier. He deploys Piett aboard.
I have Iceboy Luke in Rogue 1 with Hobbie in there too. No
Vader on table yet (so Luke can stay in Rogue 1 for now). I
battle, and have a few xwings at Hoth, plus I draw 5, so Piett
dies and I’m immune to his attrition w/EBG. Then Jabba comes
down (outside the ATAT), I barrier. 4Lom backs him up outside,
draws some. I Ice Storm, leaving Tempest 1 alone now for the
beating. I have Zev in Rogue 2 there now, so they all battle,
he loses Tempest 1 plus 6 more. He finally pays to drain for
1 and I cancel it w/Rebel Fleet. 3 turns later the drains
finish him, Vader or a ship of his never hit the table. I
like to see that! Win by 32. 2 (+32).
Best: No opposition in space at all.
Worst: Beating Alex.
Game 2: DS v Paul McKelvey’s TIGIH (Insurr, Staging, Strike
Planning)
Here we go, time to see how FlOps does. I start
IAO, Mob Pts, & Something Special Planned. He doesn’t like the
matchup, but I tell him he’ll be surprised. I get 2 executor
sites in my opening hand, so I pull the DB and I’ve got 5
sites on table already. I only play 5 sites too, what are the
odds? I get Piett to the DB w/ Merrejk to pull systems. I
get FlOps out by 2nd turn (I just put it on a VSD) and get some
big drains with Chiraneau and TIEs and VSDs at Kashyyk, Kiffex,
Sullust, & Rendili. Meanwhile, he’s invading my executor w/
spies. 2nd turn Blount & others beat on Piett, Merrejk, &
Gherant. I lose Gherant. I move away. Next turn, Cracken
beats on Piett & Merrijk, I lose Merrejk. Next turn, Lando
w/AX & someone beats on Piett and I lose him and 3 or 4 more.
Jeez, so many spies. I deploy Coward to kill the drains on my
3rd turn. Thats the last battle. So he’s got 3 stacked.
He’s got no ships, so its a drain race. He pulls Back Door,
but I drop U-3Po to block it. Problem is, now he’s got 2 BG
sites to satisfy Coward. No prob, I retrieve with Short Range
Fighters, plus I had been retrieving w/SFS and deploying
guys like Emp’s Shield and sword and Interceptors. So the game
goes quick, drain...your turn...drain....your turn. My drains
and retrieval were too much. He had no retrieval. Win by 11.
4 (+43).
Best: FlOps won! Paul is a really good player too.
Worst: The Executor being overrun. I don’t play Vader, only
4 characters (Piett, Chiraneau, Merrejk, Gherent).
Game 3: LS v Sal’s SYCFA TIEs (TINT/OE, BatOrder, Mob Pts)
Crap. I never played against TIEs w/my EBO deck (except TIE
Bombers, which don’t count). Well, the Interceptors made
short work of my xwings. I setup EBO fast, but he had good
drains at Endor and Kessel w/Chiraneau there. Merrejk was at
the DS DB. I couldn’t draw a Rogue speeder for the life of me.
So I transit over w/Luke, Wedge, and Zev. He drops LVader,
Arica (breaks cover), Janus, battles. I lose Zev, he loses
Arica. I run back to Hoth. I’m draining at Kiffex, Alderaan,
and Hoth, but I’m paying for my drains, and he’s cancelling 1
w/Imperial Fleet. I move my lone xwing out of Alderaan after
he draws a lot cuz I fear the POTF beatdown and I don’t have a
Houjix. I also can’t get my Incom out, that’s just wrong!
So my deck is getting low, and he goes and drops a bunch at
Kiffex and battles me, I play Organized and somehow win the
battle by drawing high, so he just loses 2 TIEs (1 to used).
I’m out of Organized Attacks for the moment, so I play AWRI &
replace 3 xwings w/a squadron. Draw, and get an Organized.
Perfect. Eat a drain of 5, he Lateral Damages my squadron,
shoots down 2 xwings, and I’m left with 1 xwing and a damaged
squadron. Thats game right there. I took the risk he didn’t
have the cannons, since he only drew a couple, but he got it.
Dumb. Lose by 13. 4 (+30).
Best: None really...I had a couple big drains but I had to
pay for them!
Worst: Not drawing speeders. I could’ve taken over DS DB w/
a couple speeders. Or at least occupied my North Ridge so I
wouldn’t have to pay for my drains.
Game 4: DS v Brian’s WYS (Squassin, BatPlan, Insurr)
Like a scrub I’m letting him activate 3 at his DBs. But
Staging isn’t on the table! Dumb! Well, I catch it on like
the 3rd or 4th turn, but he got the force early on. I get
Piett at Exec DB, pull Gherent to pull my Exec sites. He puts
Luke on Artoo in Red 5 & an RFC in RedSquad 1. I drop a
VSD, put FlOps on it (this is the 4th turn), drop 3 Intercep-
tors, Cannons, Battle Deployment, Lateral Damage on Red 5,
then battle. I play APTW, blow away RedSquad 1 (didn’t think
I could hit a maneuver 8 red 5). So he loses them and 17
force. I send a TIE used. He loses a lot of ships off the
top, so i just spread and drain and stop drawing. U-3po is
at his Cantina, so he’s done. Win by 35. 6 (+65).
Best: Did FlOps just go 2-0? Yes, it did!
Worst: Letting him get that extra force early on.
A bunch of people went 4-0, so I’m in the middle. But I had
2 wins over 30, so I’m happy. We get a 45 minute break, I
find out Nick Stefanko beatdown with his CPI deck (not SYCFA
though). He’s keeping a tally of how many systems he
blows away, so check out his TR cuz that deck is too cool
(kind of like someone’s FlOps deck I know...heheh). I’m
tired just from writing this 1st quarter of Enduro, so that’s
all for today. Man, I don’t know if I’ll get around to
writing the other 3 quarters of Enduro....maybe tomorrow. I
must still be tired I guess. Thanks for reading. |
|
|
|
|
