WARNING: This TR is *super* long. I have studying to do for finals and I just love procrastinating. You know how it is. Anyway, if you don't have about 10 minutes than you might want to skip this or save it for a rainy day. :) Seriously, this is long.
Well, I've been looking forward to this date for a long time. True, the beginning of May does mean that the Phantom Menance hype can now start full swing with all the cool stuff releasing on May 3. The start of May also means that in 19 days I'll finally get to see an incredible movie I've been looking forward to since Lucas announced his intentions sometime in 1995 (I believe). But the real reason I was excited about this Saturday was the fact that I actually had it off. This has been the first Saturday that I haven't had a track meet since March 1. Two months of straight competition can really wear you down. At any rate, I promised my girlfriend I'd see her no matter what on the first weekend I had off, so I made the trip up to Raleigh to spend the weekend with her at NC State.
Conveniently, there was a tournament scheduled that Saturday in Raleigh, too. But, I had no intentions of playing because you just don't choose SW:CCG over women. So, I was all set to leave when she called me to tell me to bring my cards. WHAT?! As it turns out, she has exams all this week, so she needed time to study. In other words: "Leave me alone to get my stuff done, but enjoy yourself while you're doing it." And what better way to get me out of her hair than to send me off to play SW:CCG! Woohoo! So I get to write a tournament report after all! :)
So, in a fit of excitement, I email all my NCSU SW:CCG buddies about the late-breaking news. Three emails later, I have one friend interested, one who can't make it, and one who didn't reply. Hmmph. We'll see if he ever gets another email. Anyway, my friend who wanted to go had all of his cards at home (90 miles away) and not in his dormroom (I know, I know). No problem; I'll just bring my cards for him to make decks. I'm such a nice guy. After lugging my entire collection down 3 flights of stairs in the mid-afternoon sun all the way over to the parking lot, I load up my car and head east. There's nothing like the excitement of getting to see your girlfriend and having the opportunity to play a tournament in the same weekend. Well, for some of you this is every weekend, but let me have my excitement, ok? :) And to add to that excitement, I get to go off to Raleigh to play, a place I haven't been to in close to 10 months, and face ZippyDaJedi on his home turf. Let the fun begin.
Saturday morning starts off with me waiting for my friend to show up to make decks. He went out to a party last night, so I didn't know what sort of condition he'd be returning in. I told him we were going to leave at 10:00 AM, so he'd need to get there early enough to make decks. Well, tired of waiting, I finally call him at 9:15, only to find him just rolling out of bed. Doh! He finally gets over to the room at about 9:30, and attempts to make some decks in a half-hour. Both sides. Ha. That was funny. We didn't end up leaving until 10:30, and when we did, all he had was a JP/ChadraFan/EPP deck (don't ask) and a CCT/Abyssin/bounty hunter deck. We leave now a half-hour late (thanks buddy) only to get lost and show up to the tournament with two minutes to spare. So much for trading. And so much for Zippy. He wasn't going to be there. So, he invites me up to play and then doesn't show (but that's not a problem because I didn't really know I was coming and didn't inform him, so I'm sure we'll get another chance). And so much for a big turnout. Twelve guys showed up. TWELVE!!! What's up with that? And that meant only 4 games instead of the usual 6. Oh, well. Begger's can't be chosers, right?
As for decks, I take my revised Obi-Max for LS and a new DS I've cooked up to punish Ops. It's called Counter Creature Assault, and I was rather pleased with the results. It was a little shaky, but I'm sure I can work a few kinks out of it for next time.
Game 1 (finally!): Obi-Max vs. Matt Lux's DS ROps deck
Sorry, but this game is a little hazy to me for some reason. I start the usual HB/RPoint/Goo Nee Tay, but I can't remember his starting effect. I draw my opening hand looking for a Revolution, but don't get one. Grrr. However, I see my last card was the next best thing--Tantive IV. On his first turn he uses the ROps gt to pull a site, then plays a couple of Imp. Supplies to get out a some Imps to his Swamp. He also plays a DSSD to Raltiir. Hmmm. That bites. So on my turn I get out the Force base (Dagobah/Hut) and just draw up, getting EPP Han. On his turn again he played some more Imperial Supplies, deploying POTF and Premeire Vader with his saber to the swamp, and uses the gt to get out another site. He then moves some Imps over and flips his objective. Yeah! Now we rock! I activate, deploy Tantive IV and EPP Han to Raltiir and wipe out the DSSD due to attrition. On his turn he drains, and plays a Lobel to the the Swamp w/Vader (the middle site) along with some more Imperials to other sites. That made me cringe. Lobels aren't good. But it didn't matter too much because on my turn I deployed Obi w/ his saber, DTF, and went to town on two Imperial lackeys. I altered the POTF during the battle, and when the smoke cleared, so did his site. Consequently, the Objective flipped back over and he never again did manage to recover. The rest of the game was just me avoiding Vader until Luke and GOTM showed up, and using Oola to limit the number of characters he could put out. In the end, he did chase me out of Raltiir with two more DSSD, but it didn't matter because Obi/Luke/Oola still controlled two locations. Battles and Force drains ran him out of life Force.
Result: win by 27. 2 (+27)
Highlights: Getting Tantive IV in my opening hand and getting Obi out quickly to eliminate Imperail lackeys. Obi rocks! It was cool to play Matt for the first time. I also liked Matt's idea of using Imp. Supplies to speed up ROps.
Lowlights: Not getting a Traffic Control to dump my hand. Other than that, it was fun.
Game 2: CCA vs. Kyle Meredith's LS HB/Xwing Swarm/Odds
Ah. Well, when I designed this deck I knew that it would have a very hard time against HB/Xwing Swarm. So, what better way to start out than to play one! :) He starts with standard goods and Rebel Fleet. I start Imp. Occupation/Wakeelmui/Docking Bay/SFS. First turn I hold off deploying my systems because I know a HB deck will give me all the Force I need. Well, that and I'm not to keen about getting drained at my own systems. Anyway, I deploy a TIE Scout to Wakeelmui, and draw, getting a Monnok. Textbook. On his first turn he deploys Kessel, drops a free Xwing to RPoint, and draws. I activate and Monnok. Bingo! Three Xwings and two Kessel Runs. Hmmm. Interesting. I see We're Doomed, an Arcona, POAS, Do Or Do Not, and other random cards. I deploy a Scout, retrieve the Monnok, and draw, getting a Masterful Move among other things. Textbook. With no options, he activates, deploys some more systems, and draws it all! Textbook. I activate and play MM/Monnok. And I get another good catch, and luckily see something that would give my deck fits: Never Tell Me The Odds. Well, he had two, so those go to the Lost pile along with more Xwings. Need I say it? Ok...textbook. Seeing he had nothing to harm me in his hand, I deploy a few systems, some TIE scouts (retrieving the Monnok), DVDLOTS to the DB, Dreaded Imperial Starfleet, Reactor Terminal, and spread out to each system. You got to love that hyperspeed of 5! Again on his turn he draws, but I couldn't draw my last turn, and I was out of Masterful Moves. Not textbook. Oh well. I Alter Rebel Fleet knowing I can retrieve the lost Force from DODN, and drain big. However, not knowing the contents in his hand, I retreat back to Wakeelmui before I can get bushwacked. I draw, looking for a MM or Monnok, but no dice. On his turn he flips the Objective after deploying another system, 4 Xwings to Kessel (whew!), and POAS to the DB. He also deploys S-Foils, making Counter Assaults much less of a sure thing. I activate, signal for Resistance just in case, deploy my regeneration engine (Return to Base/an Asteroid Sector) and draw until I can get a MM/M. You know, I haven't had this many effects on the table in a long time! Cool. I finally get a Monnok, but I don't have enough Force to play it. Darn. He locks S-Foils and drains, only to have it cancelled by a TIE Scout to the DISF. Again he draws. And again he gets Monnoked on my turn. Good bye more Xwings. I deploy out to other systems and the asteroid sector, retrieve some Force and end my turn. He deploys a Corellian Corvette to Kessel drops Artoo (time to see that We're Doomed), and wisely decides not to draw. I drain, catch WD, and "lose" a TIE in the asteroid belt to Return to Base only to deploy it again. Wheee! Well, the game drags on with me draining and cancelling his drains, playing Monnok to check out the strike Force waiting in his hand, and CA lone xwings when he has to move and leaves S-Foils down. I retreat back to a few systems, but he's afraid to drain and it just came down to tactical manuvering on his part to try to bring down my differential. A late game Short Range Fighters takes care of my lost pile and I end the game by draining him out.
Result: win by 35. 4 (+62)
Highlights: Playing SFS for the first time. It was fun! Meeting Kyle and enjoying playing with him. He's cool too.
Lowlights: None. Textbook. ;)
Game 3: Obi-Max vs. Joel Sicko's DS ROps/Troopers
Looking at the command cards I see that I'm in first, but I also see that this guy crushed my friend with this same deck so I was a little worried abou how powerful it might be. But then I remembered that my friend was playing with ChadraFans. Hehe. I start same as last time and he starts with Strategic Reserves. On his first turn he deploys a site, gets one from the reserve deck, and draws. I activate, play the Revolution that I didn't get in my opening hand last time on Raltiir, and draw. He gets worried, so he speed-flips ROps by dropping Vader w/ his saber, POTF, some troopers, and General Veers to three sites. Objective flips and he consolidates his forces into two groups. Seeing as though there is no point in Force choking him, I go ahead and play Dagobah/Hut. I also signal for The Planet That Is Farthest From, just in case. I have Obi in my hand but no stick, so I just decide to draw. Besides, the little Grimtaash light in my head lit up when I saw the troopers, so maybe I could get one. I did get it and Obi's saber, but again I didn't have enough Force to play the Grimtassh. He activates, drains, and tries to cancel TPTIFF by deploying to Dagobah. Um, no can do. Anyway, he takes it back and draws. I want to play both Obi and the Grimtaash lost, but I can't do both with that deploy +2. So I just play the Grimtaash, netting a few Trooper Assaults, but nothing else big. I do see his hand though, but no surprises there. I then just save up Force for a big offensive dropstrike next turn. On his turn he drains (get it in while you can), and deploys a lone Wullf Yularen. Huh? Ghhk perhaps? Ok, I'll take that. I deploy Obi w/ his saber and initiate a battle. Obi makes french fries three different ways (he slices and dices), but Joel plays Ghhk to take care of the battle damage. Darn. But now the fun starts. A turn later I deploy Luke to his Veers and 4 troopers, Nabrun Ben over, and intiate a battle. I move one trooper away, Clash Veers, catch and Sense two Trooper Assaults, and slash a trooper. Wheeee! I held off on GOTM for fear of a Ghhhk, but he didn't have one. Ouch. Mucho battle damage later, I end my turn. He then moved Vader over to protect Veers. Wanting a battle, I let Obi/Luke stand their ground against Vader/Veers. On his turn he initiates battle, swings at Obi (misses) gets Vader Clashed, gets Veers sliced, and he counts the battle damage after GOTM and Courage Of A Skywalker is played. That was pretty much it. After that, it was just Oola regulating what was in his hand and me draining him out.
Result: win by 22. 6 (+84)
Highlights: Battling, battling, battling!!!
Lowlights: Letting too many early Force drains get through.
Game 4: CCA vs. Joel Sicko's LS Bothan Ops
Yeah! A Bothan Ops. deck! I start the same as last time, and he starts with Bothawui/Farm/Bargaining Table. My opening hand looks fun with a TIE Scout, two CA, two Womp Rats, and other stuff. I deploy the scout to Wakeelmui and draw the rest, getting a DVDLOTS. He activates, and deploys an operative with Han to the Farm. He then deploys two more sites and ends his turn. I pretty much just draw because there isn't much I want to do without playing a Monnok first to check out his hand. I don't get one, but I do get another Womp Rat, another DVDLOTS, and some more effects. He activates, drains, and promptly loses 4 Force to a CA. Textbook. He then deploys Chewie with Han and the op, an Obi/op combo, and a spy/op combo. Objective flips. Gulp. Gotta love that -1 drain in space, huh? Anyway, I activate, deploy a scout (retrieving the CA) and deploy a Womp Rat. Woohoo! Do you know how long it's been since I've played with a creature? The Womp Rat goes off and eats Han (yes, that's textbook too), but leaves a total power of 8 behind, so I don't think I'll be CAing there. Again I draw, and this time I get a Monnok. I play it only to find that I missed my chance last turn. I get zip. But at least I see the M. Falcon in his hand. On his turn he drains, and I CA the spy/op combo. Lose 5 more Force. Textbook. He gets pissed at my little Womp Rat and deploys EPP Luke to the same site as Chewie and op, initiates an attack, and whacks the fuzzy little guy upside the head. But don't worry, he'll be back, and in greater numbers. :) He deploys the Falcon to the Docking bay along with Bron Burs and Taws Khaa. He moves EPP Luke over to the DB, and moves the spy over to Chewie's site. I activate, deploy Hoth with a cloud to set up Imperial Decree, deploy POTF on the cloud, deploy Kashyyyk, Kiffex, and a TIE Scout to each (retrieving the Womp Rat and Monnok). I drop Vader to the Farm to take on Chewie/op/spy. I initiate a battle, choke Chewie, and leave the op/spy to take the brunt of the damage. I lose Vader to his destiny (didn't really matter because I have that other DVDLOTS in hand), and I outpowered him 11 to 4. He forfeits everything and then one or two. I draw and get two MM. I play one only to find no Monnok. Doh. He verifies, but it wasn't like he didn't know. He activates, drains for 1 at 2 sites (thanks to the Decree), and gets the DB drain CAed because he forgot that the M.Falcon counted as being present. Oops. How do you like that big zero? Unfortunately, I draw low and only make him lose one or two. He doesn't really have much to do (he's getting pretty low on life Force with all of the CA), but he deploys a few more high-power characters to Obi's site. I activate, track a 6 as destiny, deploy DVDLOTS #2 to the DB along with with two Womp Rats (they're baaack) to Obi's site. I initate a battle first (I love these new creature rules!), choke EPP Luke (!!!), and beat up some more guys. Then my little Womp Rats want revenge and take out their hatred for the ops by eating a guy at Obi's place. The other one attacked Obi, but our powers tied so the old man was safe. For now. Of course, he now controlled less than two subjugated planent sites so I flipped his objective back over. Haha! Vader and his army of little commando Womp Rats came in and put down the uprising on Bothawui! Textbook. With his objective flipped, Monnok thrashing his hand, and creatures running wild, there wasn't much he could do other than count his life Force as I drained him for the next couple of turns. Reactor Terminal showed up just in time, and I dumped my hand.
Result: win by 28. 8 (+112)
Highlights: CCA worked just as I had hoped. Of course, it's only one game, but it was still fun to see it work even once! DVDLOTS #2 choking Luke was great. Beating up on ops is always a blast.
Lowlights: The pace of the game was incredible slow because Joel kept questioning all of my rules. Creature attacks, present and presence, asteroid destiny...you name it. So each time I'd have to whip out the glossary and show him where the rule was written. It's almost as if he didn't believe me. But, I guess that's better than going on blind faith and having your opponent screw you over. Still, this made the game crawl by.
My friend finished 11th. Tough luck, but what do you expect when you have one hour to build two decks? :) Play tip: don't bring JP/Chadra Fans with only 30 minutes to make a deck.
I end up the only undefeated so I take first place, Sean Bass takes second, and Jason Hairiston takes third. Again there was no T-shirt, but the prizes Games Galore gave away were outstanding! Everyone received two packs for playing (pulled Kal Fal and Tagge), and for winning I got singles of EPP Obi, EPP Luke, EPP Vader, *and* one pack of every expansion! And those packs were great too, with me getting a Chewie out of ANH, a Commander Luke out of Hoth, and a LS Lando out of CC! All in all, not a bad day.
After the tournament I played a game with CCA against a Maelstrom deck, but we ended up stopping about halfway through because it was obvious that he was going to win. My only chance was catching SS, but he kept playing Frozen Assets on my Force pile. No matter what the Womp Rat commandos or the CA do, he would just retrieve it again next turn. The game was slow and it was obvious that he'd drain me out eventually. (sigh) Well, time to see about what I can do to improve my chances against Maelstrom (namely, add in an Oppressive Enforcement).
We left the tournament and didn't get lost so that was cool. My friend was bummed out about his 11th place finish and vowed to not play until Endor. He asked me if I thought that was bad, but I told him that's what a lot of people are doing. I personally enjoy the game, and it's fun to try to smash the popular uber-decks (as Steve Horton called them). But maybe that's just me.
Haha. I told you this was long. If you made it all the way through, thanks for reading. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email.
Well, I guess I'll go study now. :)
Master Yoda <(-_-)>
lfmitche@uncg.edu