The Shawn Valdez Tourney at Dragon's Tail in Jacksonville, Florida went very well. There were 21 players, and I went 3 and 1 with a differential of 94 - good enough for second place. Here's how my games went.
Game 1
Unfortunately, game one was against Joey Pigg, a fellow Gainesville player
known for innovative and deadly strategies. Joey was playing a Dagobah
training deck with Ithorians and clouds. I was playing Beakman's There's
No Place Like Space Deck. He got off to a relatively slow start while I
had a drain of two at Kashyyk by turn three and a drain of two at Kessel
by turn four. Slowly but surely, the Dagobah real estate came out of his
deck as did the clouds, Z95 Headhunters, and annoying, icon-adding
Ithorians. Leesub completed her training around the seventh turn or so.
Meanwhile I was looking for sites and praying that he didn't have Cap. Han
and the Falcon hiding somewhere in that deck. His drains were right around
five a turn, but when I saw the gas miner hit the table, I knew I was in
trouble. Fortunately, I finally drew Hoth and Yavin and managed to get
them down and occupied for Imperial Decree before I ever had to suffer
that indignity. At this point, it was a drain race. He put Obi down at the
Cloud City Lower Corridor, and I got out a few more sites to drain at. I
kept looking for Boba Fett to pilot Slave I into the clouds and kick a
little booty, but he got down too late and was only able to slow the drain
for one round. It was my fear of the Falcon that made me keep an ability
of four at each site for most of the game - probably costing me the win.
Joey won by ONE force.
Game 2
I'll be brief about this one because the game was brief. I played my
anti-JP/Our Most Desperate Hour deck against a little kid. He had some
sort of Tatooine alien deck. He managed to get some aliens down and to
battle me, but Luke, Obi, and the sabers just tore the characters up.
Apparently no one had ever told him that Den of Thieves only works once
per turn, so he also couldn't keep up with the drains. I only made one
trip for OMDH and won by 38.
Game 3
I started with the Massassi Throne room and he started with JP, but his
staring effect was PotF. I deployed Luke Skywalker with Anakin's Saber on
turn one. He deployed some sites and ate the drain of 3, but on his next
turn, he put down Motti and four stormtroopers, but didn't have enough
force to battle. I deploy Obi and his saber to the same site and put
Figrin D'an at the Throne room where he would be safe, then drew. He
deploys Darth Vader (no saber) and Tarkin, but doesn't have enough force
to battle. I Sorry About the Mess Tarkin, initiate the battle, chop Motti
in two, miss Vader, play The Force is Strong with this One, and
essentially end the battle for the Palace (although his trooper assault
kept the damage down. Unfortunately, he puts PotF on the Throne Room and
deploys some stuff there and ruthlessly murders poor Figrin with a loss of
6 additional force for me (I don't think it occurred to him at this point
that he had no way of getting these characters off Yavin). He also altered
Potf, at the Palace, but forgot that I had started with Do or Do Not, so
he lost the card and an additional 2. I finally get Tatooine and Alderaan
on the table and deploy Cap. Han in the Falcon. On the next turn, I put
Leia and a Monk at Lars Moisture farm, Lando, Wedge, and Momaw Nadon at
the Massassi Throne Room and make a run for OMDH for a retrieval of 9.
Next turn, he deploys Bane Malar and battles me at the Throne Room (thank
goodness Wedge forfeits for 6). I deploy Yoda to his hut and Chewie to
the throne room, then move Cap. Han back to Tatooine for another run. He
deploys Mosep (which seemed like an odd thing to do at the time) and
battled me at the Throne Room - his trooper assaults made it hurt and the
Throne Room is his for good - plus, he's now got a drain of three going
from my reserve deck. The rest of the game was him losing four from my
drain at the palace, three from Leia and the monk at the Moisture Farm,
and sometimes one at the Tatooine system. At one point he deployed some
squadron TIEs to Tatooine, but I put BoShek in the Falcon and Cap. Han did
away with them in one battle. He also managed to get Zuckass to the
Audience Chamber, but it wasn't worth deploying the cards to deal with the
drain of 1. The rest of the game I controlled most of his drains and
retrieved a total of 24 force. I won by 27.
Game 4
Since Beakman was playing Joey for first place, I knew that if I did well
enough, I could get second place. My opponent started with the Hoth War
Room and no starting effect. For several rounds, nothing else hit the
table because I couldn't find any sites and was only activating 3 a turn.
Finally I deploy Kiffex and Hoth. He deploys another interior Echo
location and puts Rebel Planners down - a red light that I was going to
face some space. I deploy a destroyer and pilots at Kashyyk and am glad
that I'll finally get to drain him. He deploys a corvette, an X-wing, and
a pilot to Hoth. I decided that he could have the drain at Hoth as long as
that was his only drain. I kept waiting for some exterior Hoth sites to
pop out, but they never did (I had U-3PO in my hand almost the whole game,
but never got to put him down. I a few more space sites and get a drain of
five going. He deploys another corvette and a bunch of high forfeit pilots
and moves everything over to Kashyyk. I deployed an asteroid sector to
Kashyyk and move the destroyer to it - he never followed me. The rest of
the game, I either controlled his drain of two or lost the useless spies
and undercovers. He never got out another interior site. He moved his
little fleet back over to Hoth, so I moved back to Kashyyk. He deployed
another corvette to Hoth and moved his entire fleet except for a lone,
unpiloted corvette over to Kashyyk. I deployed two star destroyers and a
pilot to Hoth. I then lateral damaged his corvette and initiated a battle.
He lost the vette and 18 force. Two round later the game was over. After
we shook hand, he made some comment about how he never even got EBO up and
running (no kidding). I won by 29 - good enough for second place.
This was my best finish in a tourney, so I owe Beakman a "thank you" for letting me use his DS deck when I decided that the one I made stunk. I know that smart playing helped me to do so well, but his deck was awesome too.
Queen Jawa