Winnipeg Hoth Open Report

Pre open, Thursday in the Palace:
Met Kurt Schlichting discussed another possible foreign attendee with another palacer.

Pre open, Friday in the Palace:
while talking to Allen Divers and Brian Kallenbach (discussion time), predicted most likely outcome of Open based on the information at hand... that Eric would win (and anticipated tournout approx 35)

After a loooong Friday night (compared to the night before the previous tourney it wasn't that bad) [I didn't get any sleep the night before that because a: I was extrememly nervous and b: There was some kinda problem with the furnace (possibly a gas leak, it had been adjusted only recently)] I got up early on Saturday, again somewhat nervous but not overly so.

I was nervous all right, but nervous not because of the open (that I figured would be outta my hands anyway, although I hoped my decks would be strong enough to give me a shot at top ten) but because I realized I'd given my buddy the Tick the wrong starting time 10:55 which was right... but I'd completely forgotten to tell him when we needed to be there for pre reg (9:30 to 10:30).

Anxious, I went onto Decipher's BBS and left some messages for him, sent him a quick email and lurked in the Palace for a bit hoping he'd log in... around 8:45 I disconnected and phoned the tourney director to ask him to call the Tick (since I couldn't remember the Tick's Home Ph#). I hastily got ready and received a call from the Tick at 9:05. I filled him in on the situation, he said he'd make it, but that it might be a little tight.

Anxious about being late, I gave Red 35 a call at the site and told him I thought we might be five to ten minutes late. In the hour long wait, pacing and restless I fidgeted with my dark deck, swapping in and out several cards, finally packed up meandered outside and waited for The Tick. 10:05 still no sign, too late for me to catch a bus I decided to walk up the block to the corner (so I would be in plain sight if he drove by). 10:13, he rolls around the corner we hop in and drive to the tourney... (forgetting that the main arteries near where the tourney was being held were clogged by construction) In my own little zone of worry, concentrating more now on the tourney and my plans I overhear the Tick talking to his buddy in the front seat (who we'd brought along) (something to do with babies and fishwrap...)

We got to the tourney site, found a parking spot and headed into the Royal Canadian Legion where the tourney was held. After a couple Q's about the weight of an unladen swallow we went to the tourney waiting area, The Tick went outside "for a breath of air" and I stopped to chat with my local buddies Rob (Webmaster of Imperial Command) and Dave Macgee,(among others) he filled me in on the gossip... and to my surprise I found out that Joe Alread and a contigent of people from Indiana had decided to attempt to get to the world's here, I was also surprised to hear that a californian named Brain Cooper had also come as well as a group of four or five from Calgary (including Preston Hunt), someone from Saskatchewan and someone from Alberta as well as Kurt Schlichting (who I met in the Palace only 2 nights before) and another Minnesotan. All told 46 people turned up.

(A number of people joked that they'd go upstairs to the bar for drinks afterwards)

We waited a half hour as final preparations for the tourney were made (and Red35's PC with beta version Tournament software was set up) After the obligatory speeches and an offer to any who were interested of free passes to Oktoberfest for that night were made we got down to the nitty gritty. Finally the fourth game was called... and I went to meet Joe Alread. Finally... the tourney began

Round 1
OCF vs Joe Alread

LS Asteroids/Odds vs DS Skrillings/Numbers
Just my luck I drew Joe Alread first round. My decks were untested and this was just what I didn't need. Oh well. Consigning myself to my fate (at the outset I anticipated at the least a VERY close game) we shook hands, shuffled and began to play (after I commented on his odd good luck charm :)

Starting locations
Alread chose Tat:JP
mine, Dagobah

my starting effect Do or Do Not
his, Ability x3

My starting hand was sooooo Sweet. I had a houjix, a couple xwings, a big one, Hiding in the garbage, some asteroids, and KESSEL (AND an asteroid sanc). He began by pulling the audience chamber, then he drew. I dropped Kessel, the asteroids and the big one and played my first Xwing at Kessel, cancelling his ability ability ability. (He did not look pleased by this somewhat unexpected turn of events). I drew my remaining force.

His turn, he searched for Pote Snitkin and deployed him to the ac and dropped a couple skrillings with pote. My turn I hit him for 3, deploy an Xwing at the big one and deploy Asteroid sanctuary on it, draw my remaing force.

He drains for one, gets down two more skrillings at Tat:JP and draws some more. I hit him for 6 more AFTER Grimtaashing him lost (for five including two 3720 to 1s). (asteroid destinies kept getting missed) (he lost Den of Thieves off the top) I finally get a corvette and Plop Wedge down on it. Desperate for another character, I use hiding in the garbage (forgetting that I need to declare a character type rather than just "character") not that it matters much, as I reveal nothing but locations and a couple interrupts and ships.

His turn he drains 2, and draws more again. Mid activation the first numbers hits and I take 8. He takes six again in turn, and I deploy another destiny 4 character and a starship and draw up some more. He drains 2 again, gets his bargaining table down and puts down the Lars Moisture Farm.

From there on it becomes a drain race. Ultimately in the last turn, he Abyssin ornaments for 12 and drains me to death on his next turn.

Final Result Joe Alread wins by 12.

He congratulated me on the game and said that with some tweaking the deck could be VERY nasty. We wandered into the waiting area after turning our decks in. After a little chit chat (and some questions about his "mascot" a red cow that the indiana boys insisted he take) the next round started.

Round 2
me vs ? (local Brandonite)

DS QR vs LS drain on Cloud City
I deployed Vader early and it cost me. Having foolishly taken Elis's out of my deck I was completely unprepared for a sit on Cloud City and drain deck.

HE shut down my tatooine drains quickly by first putting artoo down, Undercover at the AC and putting projection of a skywalker down on Tat:JP and on my dungeon I simply couldn't outdrain him, he was playing a lot of anti drains AND he had 2 projection of a skywalker down so my FD was for at most 3 a turn. I held his FDs off for quite a while retrieving my hidden weapons along the way (forcing him to spread out more and more) but my low character count low drain location count and lack of Elis cost me the game.

Loss by 20ish

In between games I was hanging out with my buddy Rob U. We were hanging around as the 3rd game was being called, guessing half humourosly I said the table we were at would be where Rob's next game would be (Table 12) eerily enough... I was right.

Round 3
me vs local "kid"

QR vs LS space drain
Again I was playing my Quick Reflexes deck but this time it paid off. He went to space, I went to ground, I got all my forcedrains going quickly and he stayed WELL away from my characters, I saw the space location and chose Quick reflexes as a starting effect and it paid off, since he got a first turn Kessel. Despite his early luck, I put down a couple more quick reflexes and minimzed my force losses. He figrined a couple times and I retrieved some force, he made two Kessel Runs the first suceeded and the second failed on his last turn and the Falcon was lost because I drew a 0.

Final results +20 for me (just enough to put me back into the -11 range)

Afterwards he swore revenge and said he was glad I was a local player, since he could find me after the next tourney and beat the living bleep outta me :) Apparently he didn't like my Quick Reflexes strategy that much :)

At about the same time, Brian Fred won against Eric Orellana (in normal Tournament play) by 1 force. (Around this time a local named Matty who had recently gotten out of Star Wars showed up and got his Scrye signed by Joe Alread in the waiting area. Joe had just lost to a turbo Asteroids deck from Calgary and jokingly swore he'd nickname Canada Sanctuary Country :)

I went for Lunch with my friend Rob Urbonas. (he took a quick trip to the bank then we went over to the local mall) I ran into an old friend on the way and told him how things were going, I told him based on our win loss ratio and differential I thought I'd play Rob next game. We hurried back and got back 15 minutes early.

While we were waiting I happened to observe the The Tick had decided to play darts for a bit to relax. After warming up for a bit, he scored 3 or 4 bullseyes in a row.

The last half of this round was delayed by about 5 out of towners (including Brian Fred and Joe Alread) who had gone to Pizza Hutt for lunch and were about 10 minutes late.

Round 4
me vs Rob Urbonas

LS Asteroids Odds vs DS power ground
Usually when we play I beat the tar out of Rob but he had gotten help with building this deck (from Cris Orellana, Calgary Regional winner) so I wasn't too sure how things would go. I hoped for a quick insert and possibly a fast asteroid field, but no such luck. Any prayer of getting even into the top 10 was destroyed this game. Rob got a good start with a quick Vader down at the Lars Moisture farm and I was barely able to get a piddling drain of one off. (to add insult to injury he even controlled my drain for one once)

Rob wins differential +31
my total differential -42

Round 5
me vs local again

LS asteroids odds vs DS random JP aliens ground
I faced a rather odd deck, a bunch of random aliens deployed on Jabba's Palace to drain and/or Battle. I had a good start, getting an early Kessel down, but he got a Den of Thieves down quickly as well (which he forgot about using for about 10 turns) I spread out and drained in space as quickly as I could.

End result: I win differential +20
total differential back to -22

At this point The Tick had gone undefeated 5 and 0. He was throwing darts again and I could see the tension was getting to him, as his aim was considerably off compared to earlier. In the 6th game he faced "The Brick Wall" (as the Tick called him) Eric Orellana (and lost)

Round 6
Again me vs local

DS Quick Reflexes vs LS dagobah clouds/Jedi Training
Some Projection of a skywalker early game and the drain race was over. I held my own for a while retireving the hidden weapons, but he started using electrobinocs and On the Edges and I couldn't stop it.

Loss of 37.
total for me 4 -59 (roughly)

Total Players undefeated 0
Total Players w/o at least one win 0
Total 5 and 1 (4 ?)
Total 4 and 2 (4 ?)

Exhausted by the day we waited for the final matches to be set up and preliminary prizes to be handed out (as a number of out of towners had loooong drives ahead of them) Chairs were arranged around the playing area in a circle.

I sort of ignored the first of the final matches (expecting Eric to win since he had already played this game before against Brian Fred and knew what to do to take him out)

But I got interested in the final match. I couldn't actually see a thing, I could hear the FD declarations and see the lost piles and that was about it. The one thing I could see and it made me nervous as heck was that there was one of the local players watching the match, slightly behind Eric who (it seemed to me) was making faces at what was in Eric's hand. Being completely on the opposite side of the circle there was nothing I could do except watch in horrorand hope he didn't give anything away and that Fred didn't pick up on things. Fortuantely everything turned out all right in the end (at least for Eric) and he won, going on to become I believe the first brothers EVER to get to the worlds "together".

I stayed around a bit for the cleanup but since I was getting a ride from the Tick (who had to leave right away) I wasn't able to stay and play any of the out of towners ho had stuck around :(