A Shawn Valdez Weekend

Having taken a small break from playing in tourneys (and having one my first one myself), I thought this would be a good weekend to gear up for DragonCon coming up this weekend. I had a Skrillings/Numbers deck called "Skrillings Surprise" that has done well in playtesting and a few tourneys. My other deck was for nothing but bragging rights. It was a Elom/Numbers/Fallen Portal deck, it had a lot of weak points, but very fun to play. A good friend, Patrick Sullivan, and I played until way too late Friday night. We probably talked more about what we would see in the 2 weeks ahead than about how to improve the decks.

The next morning (it seemed entirely too early to me), I got ready. I donned my "Highty-Tighies" softball jersey, grabbed my Max Rebo stuffed toy ("Never underestimate the power of the Ortolan, or suffer your father's fate you will). Greg Anderson (Dwarf) came over. We were running a little late (so we thought) so we sped over to pick up Pat and went south on I-95 towards the Shawn Valdez tourney in Woodbridge, Va. The trip was more eventful that I would have liked. After much shouting at other drivers about the lack of driver's education or qualifications of their parents to continue the evolutionary (or deevolution as I called it) chain, and after the directions proved to be fairly pointless (several streets were given to us to take that were not necessary) we finally found the store with an hour to spare. Wahoo! We had time for lunch. We made a U-turn for the Fuddrickers that we saw (a tradition since the Yavin 4 Regional in Richmond. While in line for lunch, a woman recognized my jersey and told me that her brother was a Highty-Tighty, too.

Side note for the masses: The Highty-Tighties are one of two marching bands at Virginia Tech. The HT's were first and have a military syle, since they are a part of the Corps of Cadets at Tech.

Lunch was good, and we got to the store with still time to spare. Jim H (Haskell I believe, but I'm very bad at names) was the TD. I'd heard of him before, he's nice and very competant. Before started he gave us a few minutes to change decks and wait for stragglers. A few people came in stating that the store that the 10am SV tourney in Bowie/Crofton was closed when they got there. I told them that it was changed to 11am and to another store, but the there. I told them that it was changed to 11am and to another store, but the TD never got around to letting anyone know. Soon enough, we started. There were 29 players which is probably one of the largest in the area ever (I had 27 at the one I ran, but I offered a WB Darth Vader signed by David Prowse up for prize support). :) There were several tables for people to play at in addition to several long tables with stools. At the tourney another person recognized the jersey, however this person was an alumus of the band. We talked for a long time about what was new with the band, and he told em that both he and his wife were in the band. That was cool, although Patrick kept giving me greif about the number of people that we met today that were linked to a small band in southwest Virginia. :) I was one of the last persons called and thus there were no chairs or stools left. I was thinking that this could be a very long day.

Game 1: My LS vs Greg Poquis (Hoth Clouds)
Greg came all the way from Richmond for this event. Greg's a great player and a great sportsman. We've played once before in the infamous "Comedy of Errors" that let me come back into a game despite early drains to win by 1. My deck has a unique twist to it. I start with the Dagobah system and pull 3 sites early in the game. This gives me time to get set up for my real strategy while throwing my opponent for a loop. He started with the Hoth system and managed to get 2 clouds, 2 cloud cars and the OSD alien (Chall Bekam?) early. He got a Miner in Blizzard 2 down at the 3rd marker eventually, and I put down my Bargaining Table to soak a little drain. Eventually I was ready to go. I put down the Tatooine Docking Bay, Cantina and 4 Eloms (2 at each site) and gave him a Never Tell Me the Odds. I've got to say that surprised him. :) He thought about it for a while, saved force for a turn (which was not a good sign). I dropped 2 more Eloms, one at each site. He put down Vader, Tarkin and Fett and initiated a battle. I played Fallen Portal on Tarkin, draw a 3. Yes! Tarkin goes bye-bye and I get a destiny draw. He draw a 3 and draw a 4. He lost Fett and I lost 2 Eloms. I moved my remaining Elom into the Cantina, and all seemed lost. Then I found my White Knight (really 2 of them) Obi. :) I deployed Obi and saber with 2 Eloms to the site with Vader, battled. Missed Vader with the saber but drew the 5 for destiny. He drew a 2. He was very surprised when I lost Obi instead of the Elom, but I was already plotting my last ditch effort, the invasion of Hoth (boy, talk about your role-revseral). In the mean time I have used a few NTMTO, however twice he managed to use Torture to cancel them. I did get one off for about 7. Next turn I put down Obi and Seargeant Doyallen and 2 Eloms down on the 3rd Marker. I was very scared since I saw 2 Ice Storms earlier in the game. I used the "once per game" text of the Wind Chimes to retreive about 7 force. I started the battle and drewa 0 for destiny, DOH! The next turn he came back to battle me (bringing down a cloud car). I finally drew my 4 and he had Blizzard 2, a Miner and a cloud car. So he lost the walker and brought down the cloud dar with Chall Bekam. I managed to last a few battles and gained control of the 3rd Marker (unfortunately I lost both of my sabers). At this point it was too close to call. He gambled and deployed Zuckuss to the Cantina to bar a turn of drains. My turn I deployed 2 Eloms from the Bargaining Table and battled the lonely Zuckuss, waiting for destiny adders. The adders never came, and the Hoth sites that had been hiding from him all game long finally came up. I drew a 4, then calculated my power (remembered the gametext of the Cantina to raise my power +1 for each alien). The game just shifted in my direction. He had to lose Zuckuss and 6. We drained a few times back and forth, but I managed to eek out the win by 3. :) Another reallllllllly close game with Greg P. and I was in no mental shape to continue. Caffine being the only thing keeping me awake.

Cool Things: Winning with a fun deck. Suspense. Great opponent.
Not-so-cool things: Starting off with the light deck.

Record: 2 ( +3)

I was a little tired from the night before and from the long game I just played (which was 3 minutes from timing out). But I geared up and promised myself a quick game so I could go find some form of caffine. Once again, I would be wrong.

Game 2: DS vs. Michael Walker's Space and Power deck.
Michael is a junior, and a good player (not to say that you cannot be both). I think we've played once before, I do know that he did well at the tourney that I held. He started with Kessel, and started with Tat:JP. I was worried. I didn't know if he would be playing Sense/Alter/Control (SAC) so I started with There Is No Try. I got lucky and had Slave I in my opening hand, now all I had to do was find Boba. By the third turn I had no one down, he had 2 Y-Wings and Wedge (I think). I got a Monnok off and found out he had no characters, but I did take out about 5 ships. I Twi'leked for the Bargaining Table and put out Scum and Villany, 3 Skrillings and Pote, and an insert. I picked up the remaining cards and found my Boba (looking good so far). Next turn Fett came out with some Skrillings as forfeit fodder. I managed to get rid of the ships at Kessel, and had some modest drains. There were a few battles, and the inserts hurt worst of all. The game took a while, but don't ask me how. :) Win by 30.

Cool Things: The dark deck worked against a space deck.
Not-so-cool things: Lack of interaction.

Record: 4 (+33)

Well, I started much better than I thought that I would, and things looked good for the weekly gaming nite crowd frmo the Game Parlor. I was still looking to find a Coke or Mountain Dew, but no luck for me, the next round was starting.

Game 3: LS vs. Royce Uehara's Space/#s.
Now, I've met Royce a few times, but we've never played. If I was playing the other deck, I'd feel fairly confident, but with this light deck, I was scared. I started with Dagobah, pulled Yoda's Hut first turn. Next turn I couldn't find any Dagobah site. The expression on his face was priceless (the only good part about the deck). He knew that there was an excellent chance of me not having any space. So he deployed as quick as he could. I got out the Tat:Docking Bay and some Eloms. He put out a bunch of higher destiny cards and then played HIS number card. I lost the audience chamber (no A Gift for me) and the Cantina in early drains, and the only thing I could do was to hold on for the sparce drains that I could get. once I put down Obi and the Saber he went searching for cards and eventually deployed Hoth and a cloud and put Decree on the table. He also had out a Reactor terminal, but he was not putting cards into his used pile. Eventually he put down another cloud, occupied both and stated that Decree was in effect. I was surprised, considering that he already controled Hoth and a Hoth Cloud. I told him this, and he yelled DOH! It happens. My next turn I activated all that I could. I knew that I could still do well, but I needed damage control, so after my drain of 1, I picked up my force pile and ended the game. I struggled with the decision for a few minutes, considering I don't think it's the most ethical way to play, but sometimes you have to do it. :( I only lost my 15, but he had 17 cards in hand (boy do I wish I had found room for 2 Grimtaash).

Cool Things: Had fun despite the lousey game.
Not-so-cool things: Once again, no interaction, damage control.

Record: 4 (+18)

That game was quick. Greg's was also quick so we went in search of a McDonald's for some drinks. We were walking for about 10 minutes before he asked me how much further down the road it was. I replied that I was following him. (in unison) DOH! We doubled back and found a KFC really close. We talked a little shop talk. Greg was very happy going 2-1 and said that we can leave anytime now and he'll be happy. How little did he know what would happen. Now that I had some caffine, I could relax (the headache was starting to bother me) and enjoy the second half of the tourney.

Game 4: DS vs. Matthew Wadden's Yoda/Obi/Luke deck
Matthew is another junior of superior playing ability. He plays good, solid decks cleanly. When he does make it mistake it's likely to cost him the game, but he doesn't do it often. He started with Dagobah, which worried me, and I started with Tat:JP, which worried him. Matthew has seen my Abyssin deck everytime I've played against him and he knows that the swarms could override his deck. My opening hand had Vader, saber, and Cane Adiss. I haven't seen anyone revolve Yoda's Hut in months, so I figure he wouldn't do it. I deployed the Audience Chamber and picked up my cards. During his turn he put down Yoda's Hut and Yoda. I was shocked. My turn I finally got 2 Skrillings and another site, so I deployed both and searched/deployed Pote. His next turn he used Luke's back and did something else, I think I was asking the TD something. During my turn I noticed that he had revolved the hut! I was speechless. I drained for one, then played Monnok lost (yes, I know I did that backwards), used an insert and picked up. During his turn he drained at the Hut and I played Cane Adiss (that was the best drain against me all day, grin). I lost my 2 and he played Son of Skywalker to Yoda's Hut (anticipating the upcoming battle). Next turn the Dark Lord came down with saber and a Skrilling. Vader missed with the swing but drew a 4 for destiny, so someone would be lost. Matthew drew a 0, and eventually lost Yoda to attrition/battle damage. Next turn he kept SoS there and brough in a saber and drew a good bit. Next turn I brought in 2 more Skrillings and battled poor SoS. Vader hit his son, and Son could not hit father. He did draw a good destiny, forcing me to forfeit 2 of the Skrillings, but Son was lost as were several more cards. In the process of losing cards the insert came up and hit him for 8. I drew a few more and found my second Monnok. He didn't have much in hand, so he drew some more. I activated and played Monnok lost since I had to protect against mains that could be duplicated in his hand. I ended up getting 2 Alters, 2 Clouds and 2 Obis. Yes! That was probably the end of Obi (who was my big concern). I drained for 2 and he lost the Obi's saber which confirmed that Obi was gone. I deployed a Reactor Terminal and drew. He activated and deployed an Arcona to Tat:JP, which is another strategy that I had not seen in a while. Now I was regretting not having the Broken Concentration in the deck. To end a long story, he slipped and forgot to leave a Force for the Arcona one turn. That pretty much ended the game. I hate to beat anyone by that much, but sometimes a deck just shutts down against another deck. Win by 40.

Cool Things: Battle on Dagobah as the Dark Lord beat Son and Master.
Not-so-cool Things: A few mental mistakes by someone that doesn't make them often, resulting in a big loss.

Result: 6 (+58)

There was a good deal of time between this game and the next. I watched Greg and Erik Petersen (sp?) play a game of the Second Anthology League that we have locally. The next game started as they finished up (I'll let Greg tell that story).

Game 5: DS vs. Patrick Sullivan's Elom/Obi/Luke/#s
Patrick helped me develop this dark deck, and his is similar, but with subtle differences due to our playing styles. I had no idea what he was playing beforehand. He had a few decks the night before, but nothing was coming back to me in memory. I knew Obi and sabers would be paramount, so I prepared my defence of the Audience Chamber. He started with Yoda's Hut, and I started with There is No Try and the Tat:JP. I don't remember a lot of this game. Pat took an early hit of 10 off of an insert (the Eloms were not showing up. Bubo showed up and ate a few Eloms and trapped Obi and Farmboy when they came to the chamber. Eventually, they "kicked the dog" and fled from the Audience Chamber (I believe that Luke was lost somewhere in the process). I was not attacking since that seemed to spell certain doom for a certain unique Skrilling. I was nullifying his drains with Den of Theives and most of my drains were canceled with Bargaining Table. He had to spread out to get more drains. He moved Obi to Obi's Hut and left 2 Eloms at Tat:JP. The Dark Lord and some Skrillings came to visit the Eloms. In the ensuing battle, Vader hit one and drew high destiny. The Eloms didn't (destiny was going for me today). In the process of satisfying battle damage more numbers came up. Next turn serval Eloms came for revenge, along with Obi who Nabruned in. I think Teacher and student hacked each other, and most of the site was cleared out in the process. I deployed my second Vader and saber at the Cantina, and he put several Eloms to block it. I knew he was recirculating 5's back into his deck. I also dropped some Skrilingsso that the power was almost even. At that point it looked like if I did nothing else, I could probably win the drain race. That's how it turned out. He finished with a minute and 30 seconds left. Win by 10.

Cool Things: Pat was the first person I ever played a tourney. I won that one by 1. This was the first time in a tourney that we played each other since he returned from Washington state. Interactive game, down to the wire.
Not-so-cool Things: That there has to be a winner and loser when good friends play each other.

Result: 8 (+68)

I knew I was doing well. But didn't realize that I'd be playing James Kendrick next who was undefeated at that point. We have played each other a lot in the past few months. I've been winning most of the tourney matches while he has been winning the gaming nite games. This would be a struggle. The TD told us that if my differential was high enough if I won, I would win the tourney. My response was "Not bloody likely." :)

Game 6: LS vs. James Kendrick's Skrilling/#'s
James is an excellent player. He is on a 15-1 streak currently, and I'm playing my LS deck that's gone 1-5. Not a good pairing if you ask me. I love to play fun decks, but I leave too many holes in them. This was a good game. I took a lot of hits of battle damage. I did manage to pull off an Artoo and Artoo I Have A Bad Feeling About This, but besides that the numbers and battles all went his way. There's not much to say except that he earned his victory that day with a win of 17. Not bad damage control if I do say so myself. The endgame was really good, and if I had not lost one of those early battles by so much, I might had stood a shot at winning. But c'est la vie.

Cool Things: Playing James, interactive game.
Not-so-cool Things: Really wishing I had room for the Grimtaash.

Result: 8 (+51)

I ended up 5th or 6th out of 29. Not a bad day's worth of work if you ask me. James won and Greg took second. Yes, our Dwarf kicked some major butt. Patrick finished 3rd and Erik finished right behind him (they started off against each other and an Epic battle ensued). Thus it was a good day for team Game Parlor taking 5 of the top 6 slots.

After the tourney we had dinner at Uno's Pizzaria, and enjoyed the peace after the storm. We were all pleased with the dark decks we brought. Pat wanted a grudge match (and he would get it the next day), but we all wanted to work on decks. We went back to my place and got several new ideas floating around trying to fight swarms. We played a few times. Greg wanted to try a Revolver against my Skriling deck, but the cards just didn't come up for him. Pat wanted to try his luck, but I insisted that Greg use his deck, as I was exhausted from the day's events. About 12:30am we parted and made arrangements for the tourney in Anapolis, Maryland the following day.

I finally got a good night of sleep, had a vision of a light deck in my dreams and went right to creating it. It was a Haven deck that used Han and the Falcon and a few Kessel Runs. I went to the ATM (damn, out of service), and to McDonalds for a drink and fries. I picked Patrick up and we went in search for another ATM (damn, that one was out of service too, luckily the one in the supermarket next door worked). He started to read the directions when I told him we were picking Greg up in Silver Spring first (the other direction around the beltway). As we got on the beltway, we discovered that there was an accident not too far away as traffic was backed up. We managed to merge in with traffic and I did my best to get into the left hand lane. We soon passed the crash as traffic opened up. The crash was along side the road, was nothing spectacular, but everyone was "rubbernecking". After a few curses to other drivers (as is the custom in Northern Virginia), we sped along to pick Greg up. We were running a little late, so we called the store to tell them we might be late. We managed to find the shopping center ok, but the directions as to where in this mamoth rustedout building was poor. We managed to find it with 5 minutes to spare. Once again directions to a store were more than inadequate. (no wonder why people don't support their local stores, they can't find them). We started about 20 minutes late. Wendell Jones, a friend of mine from western Maryland, just made the tourney. He only found it bacuase he saw my car. Funny, huh? :) There were 14 players, 2 would drop out, and the 5 of us (Erik also showed up) were from "out of town". :)

Game 1: LS vs Player A (I don't remember anyone's name here)
This was the debute of the Haven deck. He started with Jabba's Palace/Expand the Empire. I deployed several systems controled Yavin 4, and things looked good. Turn #3 he deployed the Executor, Boba and Dr. E to Yavin 4 and battled. This is not looking good. I run GL in G1 to Kessel, get a Mon Cal Cruiser, GSYW and RSXW to Yavin 4, although I knew I would lose a war of attrition. Once I got Wedge and the Bacta Tank going he fled to Hoth. However in the mean time, he set up a viscous drain on Tatooine with Gallid, sabers, Ability 4 characters, and Wuher/Ephant Mon. I got Han's Toolkit and Landing Claw on the RSXW and moved that to Hoth to attach to the Execubaby. He got the Avenger, Vader and a septoid droid to Hoth, and eventually moved it to Kessel. I abandoned Kessel and started working the lower parsec systems (Kiffex, Correlia, Corulag). Han and the Falcon came up too late. I tried a Kessel Run but knew he would finish me off first. Once Han, Chewie and Wedge were at Kessel, I stayed battled the next chance I could. I drew my 2 destinies (and last cards available) 6 and 6! That rocked! I still lost by 23, but it was still cool.

Cool Thing: Drawing a destiny of 12!
Not-so-cool Things: Executor on turn 3.
Result : 0 (-23)

Game 2: DS vs. Player B's Y-Wing Assualt Squadron/Haven deck
He had not seen a lot of the cards in my deck played before. This game went fairly quickly. Obi and BoShek came down breifly and battled some Skrillings. Next turn Vader came down (weapon destinies did not go in my direction today). I did draw a 5 for battle destiny. I told him that he probably should lose both characters, and he didn't quite grasp why. The next battle after several more Skrillings beat on poor BoShek, he found out why. The drains in space meanwhile were huring a bit, but the inserts hurt him worse. Win by 28.

Cool Things: Battling Obi. :)
Not-so-cool Things: Another space vs. ground deck.

Result : 2 (+5)

Games 3: DS vs. Player C's Nighttime deck.
This was battle of the egos. Both of our decks were undefeated in tourney play, and we each just came off of a big win with that deck. When I saw he was starting with Nighttime, I thought I would wait to see where he deployed first and react to that. He put down Tessek and 2 Snivvians at the Audience Chamber. I put down Bubo, 2 Skrilings, and went to search for an alein. No Pote!!! DOH! I pulled Hem Dazon instead, and threw an insert his way. Bubo picked Tessek (at random) and the battle the ensued was a good one (drew a 5 for destiny). A good start. He picked up cards for 2 turns while searching for his Bargaining Table. I played Monnok lost and got rid of 5 Snivvians. Unfortunately things were going to take a turn for the worse and I saw Luke and Han , and I still have not seen Vader or Pote. I'm picking up as quick as I could trying to find something useful.. Eventually he deployed the big force of Han, Luke, Snivvian, 2X-xxx (nighttime droid). I took a loss despite the 0 he drew for destiny. Next turn I counter attacked with several more skrillings and Vader. Vader hacked Luke and drew a 4 for battle destiny while he drew another 0 for destiny. :) He lost Han to minimize the damage. During his turn he moved the remainder of the force over and put a few more Snivvians down. The Dark Lord and several Skrillings Elis Helrot over to the site and attacked again. Another destiny of 0 by my opponent. By this time I'm still looking for Pote so I can end the game in one big battle, 2 inserts have done some damage, but not enough. I also cannot find my reactor terminal. After searching and searching for it (I should have used the Tat: JP text to search my reserve deck, but I wasn't thinking right). In the end he picked up while I had 24 cards in hand. I still won by 12, and 2 victory points are always welcome.

Cool Things: Lots of Battles
Not-So-Cool Things: No Pote, No Reactor Terminal

Result: 4 (+17)

Game 4: LS vs. Patrick Sullivan
It was time for the grudge match. I won't go into too much detail, but let's say it wasn't pretty. There was no interaction, at all. I had Tantive IV and Kiffex in my opening hand. I deployed both and got the drains going right away. I drained in space. He tried to play numbers on me twice, and both times they were met with Don't Forget the Droids (first time I let it set in my deck, the second time I played it right away). He did Abyssin Ornament for 15, but the It's a Hit reduced a few drains a away, and I was draining for too much. Large win, and first defeat for Pat's deck.

Cool Things: Grudge match for 2nd place.
Not-so-cool Things: No Interaction, little fun besides early freindly trash talk. :)

Result: 6 (+5x) (not sure)

I finished second behind Erik. Wendell placed third, with Pat and Greg taking 4th and 5th (I think, both went 2-2). I got $10 in store credit that I used to by a OSD box. Pat bought one too (they are the new addition to the 2nd Anthology league). Pat pulled Vader, DS Cantina, and Wedge. Erik also pulled Vader, and he had Vader's TIE from before. Needless to say I'm not playing their dark decks if I can at all help it. :) I did get a Wedge tho, and some other useful stuff for the league.

We had dinner at Ouback Steakhouse. We relaxed, all decided that we need to put in a good deal of work before DragonCon. Dinner was good, ate too much. I was determined not to let Greg walk off with my dinner like after the Yavin 4 regional. :) Eventuallt we made it back safely, and declared our Shawn Valdez weekend a success. :)

Back to work.

This TR was brought to you Scott Valentine (aka Statman) and Homer Simpson. DOH!