Every Firday night here in Michigan we have a sanctioned tournament in Detroit. Last week I began going and finished in the middle because of a lack-luster Dark Side deck. I was hoping things would change for this week and they did. My Dark Side deck this week was a Dark Deal-Carbon Freezing deck that started with All Wrapped Up. My Light Side deck was a Death Star Plans deck with the draining being done at the Lower Corridor, Carbonite Chamber and Trash Compactor.
Game 1: My DS vs. Nicolas Tiberia's LS Tat M&T
SIDE NOTE: I played Nicolas last week and thought his DS deck had some
good aspects to it. I copied it a certain extent and brought it this
week. Turns out it cost him. :-)
He started with Obi's Hut and I started with Bespin: CC. For the first 3 turns, neither of us deployed anything, but I got out the Walkway and Security Tower, but no Carbonite Chamber. My fourth turn I decided to get things going with deploy POTF to the Hut with Vader+saber and Tarkin. I then drained for 5 for the next 2 turns until he opened a can of whoop-ass with Obi+saber+Pro and Luke+saber+Tat Utility Belt. He hit Vader and I had to lose Tarkin + a couple cards. No big deal. Next turn, I start to set up Dark Deal by deploying Bossk+Hounds Tooth to CC and a bunch of Ugnaughts to the just deployed Carbonite Chamber. He drains and answers by deploying Millenium Falcon+Han Solo and Gold Leader In Gold 1 to CC to battle. He loses GL and I lose 3 cards. No biggie. Next turn I deploy Djas Puhr to Security Tower and Tarkin to Walkway and play Dark Deal. He drains and draws. I drain for 9 and deploy some more little characters to the Carbonite Chamber. He attempts to Nabrun Obi and Luke to the Security Tower, but I play Ooo-ta, Goo-ta Solo?, capture Obi and send Luke to the used pile. I keep draining til then end and don't get to carbon freeze obi (I don't know why.) Somewhere during the game he had deployed "Vapor" Crell to the Hut with a Vaporator and was draining there. The game was over soon after the capture of Obi. I win +14. (2, +14)
HIGHLIGHT: The drain for 5 at the Hut for 2 turns.
LOWLIGHT: Not freezing Obi.
Game 2: My LS vs. Tamyka McCord's DS M&T
She started with JP/ETE which I kind of expected. I started with Yavin
4: War Room. She got out all her sites plus the Tat and Death Star
Docking Bays, then draws. I deploy the Trash Compactor and draw. She
proceeds to deploy Boba Fett to the DS: Docking Bay and Tat: Jundland
Wastes. I deploy Artoo to War Room and draw. She deploys some characters
to the Wastes and some to the Tat Docking Bay (I don't know why). I play
Obi+Saber to the JP:AC and SOS+saber to a newly deployed Lower Corridor.
She drains for 4 for a couple of turns, all the while playing a couple
Weapon Of An Ungrateful Son's on my sabers. I keep getting more into my
hand to keep some on the table. She deploys the Rancor and I then move
Obi to the Entrance Cavern (Trapdoor maybe??). Next turn I put Death
Star Plans on the Trash Compactor and Nabrun over Artoo. She
Oota-Goota-ed me so I lost Nabrun (I had 4 in hand), then I Nabruned
back to the War Room and retrieved 8. We keep draining and I do the
Death Star Plans again for 14. We keep draining each other. I keep
retrieving. I win by +39. (4, +53)
HIGHLIGHT: Working Death Star Plans for 14 and 8.
LOWLIGHT: No battles.
Game 3: My LS vs. Dan Ellis' DS JP Gamorrean Guards/Clouds
SIDE NOTES: Dan is my Uncle and we came down together to play. I've
never lost to him outside of home. We had both played the same two
players in the first 2 games and he had won both by 52. I had been 1
card better up until now.
His deck is very effective, but I drew Artoo and A Gift in the first hand. He starts with Tatooine and I start with Yavin 4: War Room. He gets Tat: JP out and the Entrance Cavern out then draws. I draw. He gets out the AC and gets Jabba and deploys him. Deploys 2 Clouds. I deploy the Trash Compactor and Nabrun Artoo to the EC and Move him to the AC for A Gift. Then I Nabrun Him back to the War Room. His next turn, he deploys 1 Obsidian Squadron TIE to each cloud sector. My next turn, I deploy GL in G1 w/Lando to a cloud sector and battle, then I proceed to chase his other TIE through the clouds. His next turn, he starts to deploy the guards to the palace w/POTF to the EC and one to the Dungeon and one to Tat:JP. I deploy Obi+Saber to the Trash Compactor for a drain of 2. And draw. He drains for 2 and ETE on the Entrance Cavern and Gailid to the AC (Not good if you know what the cards do). I deploy Lower Corridor w/SOS+saber and Carbonite Chamber w/Capt. Han+Chewie. I then Alter the ETE. He lost 4 cards in the Sense/Alter dual we had along with the ETE. He kept doing his drains and was draining for 7 to his 5. The turn before last, I played Death Star Plans on the Trash Compactor. I had three Nabrun's and he sensed the first. I played a second and moved Artoo to the Trash Compactor and battled his TIE in the clouds. He drained and before I drained, I played my last Nabrun to move Artoo back to the War Room and retrieved 12. He lost all his cards and I won by 26. (6, +79)
HIGHLIGHT: Death Star Plans on my last turn to bump my differential
from 14 to 26.
LOWLIGHT: Obi being None Shall Passed at the start of the game when I
could have won by more.
Game 4: My DS vs. Brant Woods' (#34 in Corellia) LS Dagobah Retrieval
SIDE NOTES: Brant is one of the better players in the area and I was
looking forward to playing him or Andy in the finals. I should have
played my Uncle in the last game, but Allen changed it for some reason.
Andy Chen and I were both undefeated going into the last game, but we
were both the same side. Brant had a record of 1-2 and my Uncle was 2-1.
I scratched my head over that one. Anyways here is how it went:
There was not much to this game. He started with Dagobah and I started
with Bespin: CC. I deployed the Walkway and Security Tower first turn
and drew looking for the Chamber for a quick Dark Deal. I ended up with
16 cards in hand and his first turn he played Grimtaash. I lost 2
Control's, 2 Ugnaught's and 2 Darth Vader's. Ouch. That was the turning
point of the game. I was scared to deploy for a while and was looking to
get the Chamber for Dark Deal. He set up Yoda and SOS for Great Warrior.
I began deploying Ugnaughts and Bounty Hunters to CC sites. He had
completed the first 3 tests by the time I found the Chamber, but I still
played Dark Deal. I threw away my last Carbon Freezing in hand and he
then put down BoShek and kicked Bossk and Ree-Yees butt. Now it was up
to gettting the Cave for Failure At The Cave. I drew all my cards but 3
and got the Cave. Next turn I deployed them and I had 5 turns to win. He
kept retrieving and I kept draining with POTF on 2 sites and Dark Deal.
During Figrin's wager, I kept seeing my last Carbon Freezing, but I
never picked it up. He moved Boshek to the Chamber and I battled next
turn and captured BoShek. I spread out again to get drains back up to
speed. He kept playing We're Doomed after the drain of 4 to cut all the
rest to 1. The turn before last he cancelled the Failure At The Cave and
retrieved for the last time and got back 4. I lost by 10. (6, +69)
HIGHLIGHT:Absolutely none.
LOWLIGHTS: Losing 2 Darths on his first turn. Not picking up the Carbon
Freezing that would have won me the game. Taking out my Cane Addiss in
favor of another Ooo-ta, Goo-ta Solo? !! Losing to an old Dagobah deck.
Well, I finished second out of 8 players. Andy Chen (#51 in Corellia) won beating my Uncle in his last game. My Uncle finished 5th, 12 cards out of 4th (1 more pack). It ended up being the cards I got back with Death Star Plans in our game. Oh well. I'll get 'em next week. Thanks to Allen Pike (AE on the BBS) for running the tournament even though he didn't want to.
Mike Backwasher, JK