The first Regional took place on 6th September at the UK Gen Con in Loughborough, England. Competition was fierce and frenetic, with some hard fought battles and unbelievable pairings. All the top players were present (Dave Crane and his kids, Derek Hawksworth, Pete di Biasio, Alex Rimmel, Mike Riboulet, John Shields, Max Salven etc) and there were about 50 entrants in total.
I went in with my usual playing decks, LS space/Haven (Yavin 4 as SL and Haven as SI) and DS mains and drains (either Ice Plains/Defensive Perimeter as SL and either Bad Feeling Have I or There is No Try as SI). Was unsure how they would fair in hard competition. Was more hopeful about the LS deck than the DS deck (though that proved to be wrong... see later), but would see how it all went. Can't place some of the names but they are in where I can remember them.
GAME 1 - LS versus ? (DS space - Death Star and Resistance) This is the sort of deck my deck is designed to try and counter. The reverse psychology being that if DS players think that LS will be mainly countering JP decks, then surprise them with something different. Anyhow he starts with the Happy Fun Ball, which is an immediate red light to a safe Haven. Get something out first turn (couple of ships) to keep Haven safe and start from there. Locations are slow to come out, but Capt Han/Falcon/Luke turn up fairly soon and head off for a 2 force drain at the Big Ball O'Fun. Kessel turns up and some ships move that way instead. He is trying to get stuff out quickly, but hampered by a lack of his systems appearing (I think the only other location he got out was Kiffex). He decides to concentrate on Kiffex drains and puts PotF there as well. He tries to Lateral Damage the Falcon but it gets moved to a Corvette via IHAVFAT. Order to Engage pops up middle of the game and that signals his downfall as he has to keep losing 3 force against my superior forces. Win by 17.
GAME 2 - DS versus Dave Crane (LS Tat/Our Most Desperate Hour - Mass Throne Room and no SI) Dave is one of the best players in the country but this was a fairly new, untested LS deck he was trying out. I start with Bad Feeling Have I as I think he will be using mains - how right I was. The main problem he faced was a lack of his Tat locations coming out to drain on the ground with (and generate force). I chucked all of my Tat locations away as I concentrated on Darth/Tarkin/Mosep draining at the Defensive Perimeter. I got Labria/Boba Fett/Ree Yees to the Throne Room to tempt someone into attacking, and Luke and Obi obliged with sabers flashing. One battle later sees Obi off to the lost pile (destiny 6!) and Labria and Ree Yees dying. I decide to Elis Helrot Boba over to the Ice Plains to activate Imperial Decree and stop the 1 drain Dave would have at the Throne Room. Meanwhile Dave is setting up Tatooine and Alderaan, and running between them with Capt Han/Falcon. At Mos Eisley there are Lando, couple of Monks, Leia, another Obi, plus Yoda at his hut and Bo Shek in space. Runs OMDH and gets back 13 force, ack! The Executor though turns up at Tatooine and starts kicking ships, and Djas Puhr/Blizzard 2 block and battle at Mos Eisley. Vader transports over to Tatooine later to do some slicing as well. In all, Dave must have retrieved over 40 force running OMDH three times, but I still win by 9.
GAME 3 - LS versus Rod Latham (DS Space/Ground - Kashyyyk and There is No Try SI) Not a nice game. Things were too strong overall for me to cope with. It went well to begin with, couple of locations, Haven protected and started to spread out. Capt Han/Luke and Falcon went to Kashyyk. Out pops the Executor resulting in 8 force loss before I could put down Savrip next turn. See a number of ships go to the Lost pile from Reserve. He controls Kashyyyk and my Tatooine in space, plus Vader down at the Cantina. I block Jundland Wastes drain with an undercover Jereon Webb, but he is still taking me for 6 per turn as my ships are too slow to come out with the limited force I had (no more locations appear!). In the end it could have gone better if I had waited a couple of turns to build up forces and then spread. Lose by 15.
GAME 4 - DS versus Thomas Crane (LS "reacting" Mains - Mass Throne Room and Resistance) The son of Dave (his other son Billy finished third overall) starts in a similar manner to his father. I start with BFHI once more and once again it totally slows his deck down. Vader/Tarkin/Mosep once again do wonders at the Def Perimeter, as I just decide to see what comes into hand, play it out and drain there. Thomas doesn't get enough force to deploy with quickly and ends up not getting out as much as he would have wanted. All three Cranes like to play with Tunnel Vision, and I see how it is a useful card. Blizzard 1 and a few others join the fun at the Def Perimeter as Vader suffers from Uncontrollable Fury, but eventually it gets cancelled with You are Beaten... twice! Despite Vader's problem, there was still enough to try for a three drain per turn. The mistake he made though was to slice Vader and Tarkin up (and hence lose the Fury effect) because there was still enough of a force to hold the 3rd marker. I dump all my hand to Used pile and drain to win by 29.
GAME 5 - LS versus Alex Rimmel (DS Clouds/inserts - Hoth and Imperial Decree) First and only mistake of the game was not to put Haven on Hoth. Should have realised he would be going with clouds. What did give me a little shock was the use of inserts. Big shock when both he used were revealed the turn after insertion. I go ouch and lose nearly a third of my deck to them. Can't recover. He gets two clouds under control with Imperial Walkers holding the numbers characters on the ground and does me afterwards for 6 per turn. The Falcon appears but too late to do anything constructive. Bad bad game for me, due to some bad luck in the shuffling stakes. Lose by 24.
GAME 6 - DS versus ? (LS Asteroid Sanctuary - Kashyyyk and Yarna Del Gargan) The SI gave me the idea he was either playing lots of Y-wings/X-wings or Asteroids. In this case it was the latter. An early Monnok though takes out two droids and two Asteroid Fields. I can't remember though if he had more than 12 cards in hand, and if he didn't, then he forgot about Yarna! Whilst Vader/Tarkin/Mosep set up camp yet again at the Def Perimeter, the Big Ship O'Fun (Executor) was in my starting hand... a lucky deal and one I was grateful for. Together with Cabbel it makes a bee line for the lone ship sitting at Kashyyyk. Bye bye a fair bit of force. AS was in operation and I was losing 3-4 force per turn due to it. However I was returning the same damage, mostly from Reserve. Out came a couple of Tat locations and bounty hunters/walkers to drain there. He deployed Kessel and tried to set up a sanctuary there, but he seemed to have lost them all. After the match he tells me there were only 3 AS in the deck, which is by far not enough. Avenger/Needa make an appearance late on to try and cancel the one AS he had, but a lucky asteroid takes them out. Not to worry, I had a total drain of 9 per turn going by the end. Win by 23.
So at the end, I had a record of 4-2 with a differential of +39. This gave me a placing of 11th, which was about what I had hoped for (top 12). My dark deck just took out what it came across, which was surprising, and I didn't get to use Circle is Now Complete all day (though it came up for destiny a couple of times!). My light deck, which I had hoped would play well, failed twice due to bad early losses. Maybe a change of direction needed there (or attrition reduction!).
The playoff final was between John Shields and Michael Riboulet (last year's World Championship runner up). In the end, it was Mike taking the honours, and another trip to the States. He won the first game by 19, then in the second game John forfeited when he realised he was down to 18 cards and couldn't possibly win overall.
MAYHEM - (Matthew.Allen@ukmail.mpct.com)