Location: Mega Comics
Date: November 29th
This tournament was my first since Special Edition hit the scene. We were expecting one of the top players in the Dagobah Region to visit and this was also the first tourney run by the new Gainesville TD. So I was a bit excited.
By Saturday night I still was unsure of what I would take to the tourney. I wanted to take my Training deck, but it had been pounded by Queen Jawa's Operatives deck, so I scratched that. I wanted to make a LS Kiffex Operatives deck (I just love that pic!!) but couldn't come up with enough to make a good deck.
Finally Sunday morning I decided to go with Hidden Base and Ord Mantell Operatives. I thought that this would be the only way to beat those pesky Operatives.
We had a decent showing for the tournament including three other people from the BBS: Ozymandias, GAWD, and Kaya. This tournament the first tourney that GAWD. It was also a "showdown" of sort between GAWD and Ozy (good natured, of course). Matt Lush, International Competitor, stopped by long enough to say hello as well. It was a good day.
As luck would have it, I was drawn for the Bi. So I played Matt Lush. We had a friendly discussion while we played. I was disappointed that I drew the Bi, but I was also glad that I could test my decks before it counted. This turned out to work in my favor. I made mistakes in the game that I didn't make later. I ended up beating Matt, but he was using someone else's decks. Thanks for the game, Matt!
I get 2 victory points and 0 Differential. This actually hurt me in the end!
GAME 2 - Tony's Musicians and Ops Jamming on Raithal Deck vs Hidden Base
Tony is one of the new faces in town and he makes some great deck ideas. Between the musicians, the Objective, and the Operatives he was retrieving like mad. His deck took several turn to get the Objective flipped, which was just enough time for me to work my magic.
I started off with a great draw: One system, to Signals and some ships. I pulled out Dagobah and then used the Signals to pull out Wise Advice and The Planet It's Farthest From. I was took several turns to deploy any ships, which was stupid. He didn't have much of a fleet and I could have increased my differential if I had spread out sooner.
I thought this game would time out because he was retrieving so much. He never pulled off Abyssian Ornament or it might have. In the end he just had to deploy too much stuff. I win.
4 +26
GAME 3 - Kevin's Main's and Toys Vs Ord Mantell Ops.
I was playing Kaya from the BBS. I had a crummy starting hand and so he got a bit of a jump early in the game. He managed to deploy Obi and saber and do a little damage to a couple operatives. But Vader made and appearance and put some hurting on him at the forest. He moved away to regroup and then pulled off A Gift. With the the Occupation Objective turned, he wasn't able to drain for anything while I was still draining for 5 even with A Gift on Artoo.
He finally revolutioned the forest, deployed saber prof. on Obi, and KFC and moved to the forest where he would be immune to attrition. Nice move, I thought. The next turn I deployed 5 Operatives and Fett with a disruptor. I battle, hit KFC with the disruptor and he sliced Fett with Obi's stick. KFC went away for good. My power ended up being a 15 or 20 more than his. That was the knife in the coffin. It was a good game, but the operatives, even with a slow start, were too fast.
6 +52
GAME 4 - Kevin's Space Fleet Vs Hidden Base
Because the other top player was also playing DS, I played Kaya again. I was wondering how my deck would hold up against a pure space deck. He started with the Death Star which allowed me to go first. I gathered my forces, deployed systems, and waited for him to deploy first. Meanwhile I prepared to battle by pulling out S-Foils. He finally deployed several star Destroyers to Coruscant. I deployed to Kiffex and waited for his next action. When he moved all put the Thunderflare (with no pilot), I took action. I deployed several X-Wings and battled. S-Foils added two to my power and Organized attack added 1 more power and made the X-Wings immune to attrition.
The remainder of the game was much of the same kind of cat and mouse. He had to spread thin in order to try and find the hidden Base and that's when I struck. S-Foils game me problems because I couldn't move to counter his movement.
This game showed me the weaknesses of Hidden Base, but it also showed its power. The puny little X-Wings became mighty monsters. With the Docking Bay and Repair Facility Down and Rebel Fleet, I never really lost much. He did manage to probe every system and finally cancelled Hidden Base, but it was too late. In the end, I played All Wings Report in, retrieved my entire lost pile and the game was over.
8 +84
So I waited with anticipation. If the other top player won, it would be a differential race. And it was, which I ended up losing. I was short of winning by NINE differential. Oh well. I had fun. I went undefeated and was second place.
For the day, the top 3 deck were all Operatives with my Hidden Base being the exception. It shows just how nasty powerful these buggers are. I hope to have a report from the winner of the "duel in the swamp" later this week.
Beakman