Tournament Report - 4/3/99 - Cedar Grove, NJ - Time Warp Comics
Coming off a poor performance last weekend (went 3-1 in one tournament, 2-2 in another, did get to meet Doug Faust though) I was hoping for a good performance this weekend. I decided to change my LS deck (which had been MWYHL/Mains & Toys) to a Bothawui Operatives deck with Rebel Speeders, I liked the way the deck turned out. For DS I had the Corulag Operatives deck (lots of 2 deploy imperials, 2 Vader, 2 Tarkin) that I'd been using for the last few. That's right, Operatives for both sides!
I got there 15 minutes early and saw Rich talking to some guy I'd never seen before, turns out it's Steve Brentson (ranked like 2 in the world!). Also ran into John Lolli and his friend Shawn who gave me 2 of my losses last weekend on my way in, so it was sure to be an interesting tournament. Unfortunately some of the top local players didn't make it, but there was still plenty of good competition.
1st game - DS vs. Sapeel's LS space deck
It was clear he was kind of new and didn't have all that many
cards (he started Yavin 4/Haven) and my deck is pretty ruthless. He
amassed a large contingent of ships in space, while I flipped my
objective 2nd turn and had most of his drains stopped. He eventually got
out Kiffex and Kessel to do some draining but I had out Den of Thieves so
I was canceling 1, and retrieving force w/ Operatives to keep pace w/ the
drain for 1. He never deployed to the ground, I never deployed to space,
I was draining for 12 per turn by the end. Full Win by 34. (2 +34)
The DS dominated the opening round, John and Shawn won by 38 and 30 respectively on the DS, w/ Steve getting 1 of the 2 LS wins by 28. So it would be Steve and John in Game 2, I played the other LS player who had won.
2nd game - LS vs. ????? Sienar Fleet Systems deck
I smile when he reveals his start, knowing there's not much drain
for DS in space w/ -1 force drain in effect. I get my objective flipped
2nd turn w/ an Incom Engineer and Ithorian at the Forest, and 2 Rebel
Speeders at 2 other sites, an Operative at all 3. He drops Vader and
battles and loses 2 force and I lose an Operative. I run from Vader for
the time being and set up more speeders w/ Operatives at other sites.
He's dropping Ties in space to retrieve his lost force but he's got no
drain anywhere thanx to the -1. Eventually Vader gets some friends and
makes a stand against my forces, but EPP Luke and a Sic-Six make short
work of his guys thanx to lots of attrition. He gets out Kashyyyk to do
some draining in space but I've got it canceled w/ Bargaining Table, I
get out Operatives at all 6 sites and some Ithorians for a massive drain,
get off a Wind Chime to retrieve some lost force. Win by 28 (4 +62)
Meanwhile next to me Steve and John are fighting it out. John had commented to me that his Revolver deck would do well if Steve didn't start w/ D* or JP, sure enough Steve starts JP and John just laughs. Steve Weapon Levitated Ben's Saber then Circled him and it was all down hill for John from there. Josh Strauss managed a big 2nd game win to jump into 2nd place w/ a +48 differential so Josh and I would play next round. Shawn faced off against Steve.
3rd game - DS vs. Josh Strauss's Ralltiir Freighter Capt./Asteroid deck
Josh starts Ralltiir and I'm pleased he's not playing HB. I get
a good draw and draw up 1st turn to get a 3rd Operative. His turn he
drops a RFC on an X-Wing @ an asteroid on Ralltiir and an Asteroid
Sanctury (ugh). I know I'll have to move quick, I get a 2nd turn flip w/
2 imperials, a Lobel and 3 Operatives. He drops Farmboy Luke at 1 site
and battles and pulls a Kessel Run for destiny, I lost both and Luke
survives. I get out more sites and soon get 5 sites w/ a character and
Operative while Luke sits at the 6th site doing nothing. I get a lost
Monnok in for 2 Asteroids and some Rebel Flight Suits, but he gets a full
set of asteroids out anyway. I drop the Avenger w/ Ozzel and Evax to
battle the RFC on X-wing at the Sanctuary and manage to cancel it, and
also blow up his RFC on an X-wing @ the Big One. He drops an RFC on
X-wing at Kessel, and one @ Ralltiir targeted by Kessel Run and moves to
Kessel. I drain for 10 on my turn and manage to kill Luke. He completes
his Kessel Run for 10 force but he's almost out of force so that only
buys him 1 more turn. I drain him out soon after. Win by 21 (6+83)
Steve beat Sean's Bothwui Ops deck w/ his DS deck, and Scott Carver also wins his 3rd so there are 3 undefeateds, however all of us will be LS in the last game. Josh and I play a game for fun w/ his ISB vs. my Bothawui Ops deck, I pretty much crush him, I cancel ABCTTU w/ Tantive, Double Agent his 5d6, and give him a Rebel Speeder beatdown.
4th game - LS vs. Josh Strauss's ISB Ops deck
Turns out we are still the top 2 on our respective sides, and
he's not happy about having to play this game again. I'm slightly
concerned as he should've learned a lot about how to play this game from
our last, but he's not too confident. I get another 2nd turn flip of my
objective w/ Rebel Speeder and Ops at 2 sites, a Spy, Engineer and Op at
the Forest. He set up some ISBs on Tatooine to drain but I got out my
Bargaining Table to block it. Then he set up another site w/ General
Veers on Blizzard 1, and eventually another w/ Jabba and Chyler at
another +1 drain Tatooine site. I set up more sites on Bothawui w/
Operatives and some Ithorians, then sent 2 Speeders, an Engineer and a
Sic-Six to beat up on Veers in Blizzard 1, drew a 5 battle destiny and he
lost everything to the 7 attrition. Next turn I dropped EPP Luke and a
Sic-Six to battle Jabba and Chyler and moved to block all his drains. He
eventually set up the Devastator w/ a Probe Droid at Coruscant to play
ABCTTU on Bothawui but it was too little too late. My drains were still
8 per turn, and I was holding my own on Tatooine. I got off a late game
Wind Chime on Operatives and drained him out. Win by 30 (8+113).
Meanwhile Steve played Sean again and his Revolver Mains & Toys did a number on his Hoth/Clouds deck. Scott won his last game as well so there were 3 undefeateds. John Lolli was in a tense game w/ his Revolver against a Ralltiir Ops deck that was playing Evaders to cancel his Revolutions and John's Mains were running from his stockpile of Troopers w/ Vader. John pulled out the win, in part due to his opponent and him forgetting about the Ability, Ability, Ability on the table.
I ended up as the winner and got a Jabba The Hutt shirt and 4 packs of WB Premeir. I pulled a Leia Organa in it. Everyone got 1 pack of SE for entering and I pulled a Harvest which I didn't have which was sweet. I was kind of disappointed that I didn't get to play Steve, but from the looks of his games I don't think I would've faired too well against him, ya don't get that highly ranked w/out being really good!
faramir