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Author: Johan "Johan" van der Meer
Title: eusebiuskerk-arnhem-13-5-2001
Date Published: 2001-05-18
Arhem, 13/05/2001, Holland National
Pre-tournament stuff:
The 13th of may everyone of the Reservoir Dogs (except Pieter and Frits) were going to the Holland National (ryloth). Preparation began about 3 or 4 weeks ago where we all were figuring out what the hell to play for light side cause it just plain sucks right now.
Dark side of course wasn’t much of a problem... We had TIE’s, Hunt Down/Imp Command, COTVG, Agents/6xEmperor and MKOS/Myos, all of then were strong and viable.
For light side we had EBO/Xwings, HB Mains, TIGIH Mains, WYS Raiders and WYS Beatdown... but all of those decks have weaknesses or are so strong that everybody is packing a zillion counters for it so it becomes weak.
I was tweaking the TIGIH Mains deck for some time and it did pretty wel vs Scum decks.. it could win vs BHBM TIEs.. Basically its DS2 ’cousin’ Wedge on his speeder cancelling bd’ies and playing Fallen Portals while at the same time retrieving with On/Off the Edges. 1x Kessel and 1x Super H1... 2x destiny 6 with alot of recycling stuff make turning Vader a possibility... at the last moment I put in 2 senses. Not very good perhaps, but then again what is?
For dark Koen and I were tweaking for some weeks this BHBM TIE deck... We considered it the most solid of dark side decks, considering it had massive retrieval and inserts. But then someone made the Agents deck with 6 Emperors (dark surgeon or something...) about a month ago, and that was a cool deck, but there was a sort of emperor-deficiancy (we didn’t have enough emperors) so I stayed with BHBM...
So the evening before the tournament I play AD&D with my group, and we had to stop at a moment where we all were going to get killed! I sleep at about 2 am and get up again at 6:30 am... So with over 4 hours of sleep, I meet up with Koen at the Monnickendam bus stop at 7 am and go meet all the others (Arjan, Daniel, Patrick, Johan&Stefan de Vos, Kenny) at Amsterdam Central station at 7:30 where we would take the train to Arnhem, cause the tournament was scheduled to start at 10 am. It was held at a gaming convention in a church... We meet up with other starwars players and explore a bit but there isn’t much time for that because pairing were called.
On to the games... I don’t remeber everything so I can’t guarantee everything went exactly as it is written here.
1st game TIEs vs ??? RST/Scouts
I start MPoints, TINT/OE and IAO. He starts with Strike planning and CLose Air Support. He plays the variant with the effect that searches for Generals and stops my force generation at Endor. The first couple of turns he deploys Madine and a bunch of scouts and searches for some sites. I set up with Emperor at DSII:DB, deploy U-3PO to block his drain and also Dreaded Fleet. Later, I deploy Tech M’or and insert 3,720 to 1.
When it comes up I have 15, he has 3 so he loses 10 cause Honor of the Jedi is on table. But, he manages to flip and puts down Midge on the ground. He also deploys Combined Fleet Action with Tala 1 and Gold Squadron 1 (both with pilots...) at Endor. So, I deploy a bunch of TIE Interceptors with Dreadnaught at Endor, shoot Tala 1, play APTW and cause some battle damage to take control over Endor... This also flips his objective back since I control Endor system. I also come down with EPP Vader to take out Midge (so he can’t add to force drains).
At the end of the game I was draining at Sullust and Endor and retrieved a great portion of my lost pile with Short Range Fighters.
FW 2 (+30)
Highs: BHBM TIEs is working perfectly... retrieval in huge.
Lows: Well, none really...
2nd game TIGIH vs Rob(je) van Egmond COTVG with Imperials
I start Insurrection, Staging Areas and Your Insight. He starts Power of Hutt, Mob Points and Something Special Planned. First turn I get Honor of the Jedi and he searches for something but can’t find it so i get to look though his deck... I get Home One and Hoth DB’s and deploy some guys there. He deploys EPP Vader pretty late to Endor DB with Tarkin, he captures Luke and I follow him with EPP Obi, Wedge & Zev in a speeder and some other guy, he has to battle b/c of Order To Engage and does so after deploying something extra....
I play Fallen Portal and Tarkin ’cancels’ it... He plays YAB (on obi) but I sense it. He chops Obi, I chop Tarkin i think... he loses the battle and has to stack a card. Next turn, I fortify a bit and follow him around cause I have a second Fallen Portal. After a few battles Luke is freed and there are 3 cards stacked. Meanwhile, Im tracking a 6 (Throw me a Charge) and use it twice for On the Edges...
In the end he gets drained for alot while I cancel his ground drains with Harc Seff...
FW 4 (+56)
Highs: Deck working at it should against COTVG
Lows: I mistracked Throw me Another Charge once..
3rd game TIGIH vs Martijn Peeters MKOS/Myos
I start the usual stuff, he starts Power of the Hutt, Crush the Rebellion and Secret Plans I believe... His first turn he thinks incredibly hard and long and then deploys Mara Jade to Endor DB to cut my activation... So I move Luke over and leave her be, while setting up activation with 1/0 DB’s and some guys there.
After a while he deploys some Aliens (Jabba, Ephant Mon, Gailid I believe...) to the Audience Chamber so I try to clear it with EPP Obi, DSII Wedge and Zev. I battle him, he battles me and my turn I battle again to make all my guys there lost, but it didn’t matter cause Gailid was lost and it made him deploy something and use some force... So after that I deploy Order to Engage, Bo Shuda and Harc Seff and he loses 5 on his turn (2 from Objective, 3 from OTE). He decides to eat Harc with Bubo and moves Mara Jade over to Home 1 DB...
I deploy Lando with Ax to the AC for use with Bo Shuda and Order To Engage. I also battle Mara Jade away with EPP Han, Corran Horn (is Barrier’ed) and a Rogue speeder... After a while He tries to shoot Lando with Weequay Marksman with Disruptor Pistol (Falke Tech?) but misses. He can’t battle me anywhere (and thereby retrieve force) so Order To Engage and drains at Docking Bays wins me the game. I play alot of On and Off the Edges thoughout this game.
FW 6 (+77)
Highs: Making him lose 5 force per turn while not doing anything...
Lows: Playing Bith Shuffle/Desparate reach in his turn. Martijns Imperial Barrier went though...
4th game TIEs vs Marc van Haastrecht WYS
He starts Squadron Assignments and 1 other effect. At the beginning of the game I take a chance and deploy Dreadnaught and 2 TIE’s to Tatooine. He comes and battles me right away with Dash/Outrider but it was a little too soon because he didn’t have too many good cards yet, and my deck is almost totally dedicated to space. I lose a TIE or 2 and on my turn I deploy another TIE and initiate battle. My ’just’ action is Heavy Fire Zone to deploy a Gun on the Interceptor so I blow his Outrider away.
In the middle of the game I set up at Tatooine and another system to drain and also have Dreaded Fleet to cancel his drains. I also play a 3,720 to 1...
Late game I retrieve a few cards with Short Range Fighters...
FW 8 (+104)
Highs: Shooting starfighters with Heavy Fire Zone
Lows: I put my force pile or used pile on my lost pile after winning, but Marc helps me figure out by exactly how much I won (see props) (otherwise it would’ve been 22).
5th game TIGIH vs Jan-Willem Sipkes Agents with alot of Emperors
He didn’t deploy Emperor on my DB so I activate alot with Luke at Endor: DB and other guys at Hoth and Home 1 DB’s. He gets Broken Concentration out and deploys EJP Dengar and a Vigo to one of my scrubs. I have no force pile but I do have a Fallen Portal so its allright. But then he deploys First Strike... so I play the Yoda Stew combo card and put 3 cards back into my force pile. He senses it but I sense his sense. So he doens’t battle me for fear of Fallen Portal... My turn, I deploy a rogue speeder with pilots, EPP Leia, EPP Obi... He plays Imperial Barrier but I counter it with Desparate Reach. I initiate a battle, retrieve 1 force, he loses 1. I chop first on Dengar with Obi, it hits so I play Blaster Prof combo card to make him immedeately lost. I dont know if I hit Vigo but he has to lose close to 20 cards for battle damage + 1 card for stacking.
After that the game was pretty much over... there were some battles but in the end I drained him to death and also retrieved some cards...
FW 10 (+134)
Highs: Yoda Stew/You do have your moments
Lows: Couldn’t play another game because I had to get some food...
6th game TIEs vs Koen Meijssen HB/Mains
Koen invades DS II Throne Room and DSII DB with EPP’s, and starts draining there. I drain at Sullust and Kashyyyk, he drains me on the ground and retrieves a bunch with On and Off the Edges. In the he initiates a battle against my Emperor sitting at Tat: DB so I lose the game.
FL 10 (+ 109)
Highs: Playing against Koen in the Finale (it will be a couple of interesting games)
Lows: Playing against Koen in the Finale (he makes for a tough matchup)
Finale 1: TIEs vs HB/Mains
Koens HB is similar to my TIGIH but with some other ships like Falcon and Outrider... Early on I do the usual stuff (deploy Walkeelmui, Emperor at DS II DB, get Force Lightning, deploy Emperors power at Throne Room, etc...). Eventually I deploy 1 or 2 TIEs (or a Dread and a TIE)at Endor and Kashyyyk to drain a little. I have the Sword, the Shield and Heavy Fire Zone in my hand. I was counting on Koen to attack me at Kashyyyk cause I would need ability 6 for battle destiny... He comes with Dash/Outrider and something and battles... I react with Sword, he barriers... I play Heavy Fire Zone, he senses... I then deploy Shield, it goes though. I play All Power To Weapons and lose 1 force for Emperors Power... Result: everything he has at Kashyyyk goes away and a few battle damage.
I don’t think he came into space anymore after that, and was draining on a few docking bays while I was draining in space... In the end I am draining for 8 per turn at systems and retrieve with Short Range Fighters... I win by 24.
Finale 2: TIGIH vs Dark Surgeon thingy
I start the usual, can’t remeber what Koen started but probably Secret Plans since he knew my deck pretty well. He comes with Palpatine first turn on my DB. Things go pretty bad cause I don’t get any rogue speeders or guys that I can safely put on Docking Bays... However it isn’t all that bad because Koen is losing 2/turn from my Objective. After a few turns I make a serious mistake and deploy Ackbar alone on Home1 DB and leave no force... I had a Fallen Portal, but even then I shouldn’t have done this while leaving no force saved... its asking for a beatdown. First Strike is a huge part in those Agents decks, as is Broken Concentration. Anyhow, Koen decides Ackbar isn’t a nice guy and stomps him with Dengar, Vigo, something else after deploying Presence of the Force (I should have seen it coming, I saw it against Jan Willem but not now) Result: I lose over 10 force from battle damage.
But still Koen is losing 2 per turn, so he splits his forces up to drain for more or he won’t be able to win by over 24. So I come with EPP Obi to deal with Dengar and a Vigo on Home1 DB with Presence of the force. He barriers, I sense... I initiate battle, chop Dengar and play Blaster Prof combo card, lost version... He loses all and has to stack a card.
In the end I follow him around a bit with a Rogue Speeder and EPP Obi but I do no real damage (save for the 2 force every turn) and Koen is doing ALOT of damage (Agents damage, drain damage). Koen wins by 24!
Playing a 3rd finale game isn’t fair for either finalist, one is always better off since one finalists dark side deck may just work better against the others light side deck or vice versa... If there’s going to be a third game, there HAS to be a fourth. But since neither of us wanted to play yet another 2 games, it was called a day and I won the Nationals because of my differential.
For prize support I got, uhhh.... a bag. Koen also got a bag, and the rest of the players got NOTHING! This has been different in previous years. All praise to Decipher’s Prize Support System (if any....)
Props:
Koen Meijssen, for being a great player.
Gepko Sterringa and Johan de Vos, for running it.
Daniel, Arjan and Patrick, for playing.
Stefan and Kenny (from the youth leage), for playing in the Nationals.
Marc van Haastrecht, for helping me figuring out my differential.
Decipher, for making a cool game.
Pieter Heerma, for some corrections in this treport and other stuff.
Slops:
Me for being sick at the Nationals.
Some people at the convention for ruining the toilets.
The guy at the door with the stamp.
Decipher for its lack of prize support at major events.
Here are my decks:
LS - Oetsjie Beng Beng
Characters (19)
Admiral Ackbar
BoShek
Corran Horn
First Officer Thaneespi
Han With Heavy Blaster Pistol
Harc Seff
Lando With Vibro-Ax
Leia With Blaster Rifle
Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight x2
Major Haash’n
Mirax Terrik
Obi-Wan With Lightsaber x2
Owen Lars
Tawss Khaa
Wedge Antilles, Red Squadron Leader x2
Zev Senesca
Vehicles (2)
Rogue 2
Rogue 3
Starships (1)
Home One
Locations (6)
Cloud City: Platform 327 (Docking Bay)
Endor: Chief Chirpa’s Hut
Endor: Landing Platform (Docking Bay)
Home One: Docking Bay
Hoth: Echo Docking Bay
Kessel
Weapons (1)
Luke’s Lightsaber
Interrupts (19)
Control/Tunnel Vision x2
Fallen Portal x2
Heading For The Medical Frigate
Off The Edge x2
On The Edge x2
Sense x2
Sorry About The Mess/Blaster Proficiency
The Bith Shuffle/Desparate Reach
The Signal x2
Throw Me Another Charge
Out of Commission/Transmission Terminated x2
Yoda Stew/You do have your moments
Effects (11)
Bacta Tank
Battle Plan
Bo Shuda
Echo Base Garrison
Honor Of The Jedi
I Feel The Conflict
Insurrection
Order To Engage
Staging Areas
What’re You Tryin’ To Push On Us?
Your Insight Serves You Well
Objective (1)
There Is Good In Him/I Can Save Him
I first saw this type of deck played by the French at a Belgian Grand Slam... They started HB, got DS II Wedge in a speeder and sat on DB’s while retrieving with On and Off the Edges while playing also with Menace Fades, Battle Plan and Harc Seff to minimize damage. It was extremely solid but it also gave away lots of force (dagobah, 1 system, 1 DB) and could get into trouble against a good S&V deck... so I converted it to a TIGIH deck, added Bo Shuda and voila... you have a S&V-crusher. Its not as good vs Hunt Down as the HB variant though.
DS - Oetsjie Walie Walie
Characters (9)
Darth Vader With Lightsaber x3
Emperor Palpatine x2
Arica
Tech Mo’r x2
U-3PO (Yoo-Threepio)
Starships (14)
Dreadnaught-Class Heavy Cruiser x3
The Emperor’s Shield
The Emperor’s Sword
TIE Interceptor x9
Locations (7)
Death Star II: Docking Bay
Death Star II: Throne Room
Endor
Kashyyyk
Kessel
Sullust
Wakeelmui
Weapons (2)
SFS L-s9.3 Laser Cannons x2
Interrupts (11)
All Power To Weapons x3
Control/Set For Stun
Force Lightning
Ghhhk combo card
Heavy Fire Zone
Prepared Defenses
Short-range Fighters
Twi’lek Advisor x2
Effects (15)
3,720 To 1 x2
Dreaded Imperial Starfleet
Emperor’s Power
Imperial Arrest Order
Insignificant Rebellion
Lateral Damage
Mobilization Points
Presence Of The Force
Secret Plans
Sienar Fleet Systems x2
There Is No Try
There’ll Be Hell To Pay
Your Destiny
Admiral’s Order (1)
Fighter Cover
Objective (1)
Bring Him Before Me/Take Your Father’s Place
Not much to say... standard TIEs/Inserts. Koen and I worked on this deck on and off for couple of weeks before the tournament. |
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