Joshua Grace Mike's House Mirkwood 1-16 (tournament report)

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Joshua Grace Mike's House Mirkwood 1-16 (tournament report) is the tournament report Joshua Grace posted on DeckTech on 17 January 2001 about January 2001 Minneapolis tournament (16 January).[1] Joshua Grace finished 2nd at the 16 January 2001 Tuesday tournament at Mirkwood in Minneapolis with Ralltiir Operations and a There Is Good In Him deck, going 3–1 (6 points) and losing only to Travis Bean; Michael Raveling won with 8.

Report info

Games

Games as the author describes them; margins are as stated in the report.

Round Opponent Author's deck Opponent's deck Result Margin
1 Justin Alfs Dark AT-ST RalOps Profit Win (report: Justin 'Moffwicket' Alfs) +8
2 Graham Neal Light TIGIH with uber-destiny Scum (MKOS) Win FW 17
3 Garrett Larson Dark RalOps TIGIH with Eloms and inserts Win (report: 'Garrett'; full name Garrett Larson given earlier in the report) FW 20-something
4 Travis Bean Light TIGIH with uber-destiny Bring Him Before Me Loss (decided by a final duel; Grace had about 20 life force left) −5

Other results named in the report

Side event: January 2001 Minneapolis tournament (13 January)

The report also covers January 2001 Minneapolis tournament (13 January) (13 January 2001). Grace went 3–3 with Jedi Training and Hunt Down at the 30-player Saturday tournament, where his brother took 2nd.

Original report

mikes-house-mirkwood-1-16

  • Author: Joshua "Stormcrow" Grace
  • Published: Jan 17, 2001
Preamble: I scrubbed out hardcore on Saturday, going 3-3 in a 30 player tournament where, of all people, my *brother* took 2nd. My brother’s always been a mediocre-to-good player, but not one who’s tuned his decks for the tournament scene. His background in Star Wars has been casual games with me, our cousin and his roommate, playing the sort of decks that commit 20 cards to building the Death Star or setting up 5 card combos. But, apparently, that was a much better way to play Saturday than playing Jedi Training and Hunt Down (especially when you forget Jedi Test 2 for two straight games). At any rate, I was officially "sick of losing." At least sick of losing multiple games in a single tournament. I had also managed to buy some Reflections II on Saturday and traded my junk for mains. Go figure. The coolest card was, of course, Popsicle Han, and I proceeded to see if I could combine "fun" (always a slight concern) with "effectivenes" in a new CCT deck. It almost worked, but not quite to my satisfaction in a Monday playtesting with Justin "Moffwicket" Alfs. Meanwhile, I decided uber-high destiny were good, but waiting 7 turns to complete test 5 and get them was bad. So I slapped together a Turn Vader deck (TIGIH), sort of like the one on DeckTech, but with enough significant changes to think of it as my own. For DS, then, I had a last-minute glimpse of insight and decided to resurrect RalOps in what I’m beginning to think is becoming my signature style (pulling a good archetype from the past that everyone thinks is dead and playing it). Game 1: My AT-ST RalOps vs Moffwicket’s Profit Right away, I ask Justin if he’s playing Ounee Ta, figuring he must since it’s a profit deck in a heavy, heavy scum environment. He shows it to me, but starts the card that searches for Lando, R2 and slave Leia. Fine by me. My first turn, I get somebody out to the DSII docking bay with Carida and the Raltir DB. Meanwhile, the Emperor and Lord Vader managed to find their way into my opening hand. Sweetness beyond all sweetness. Justin’s first turn, he deploys Ben Kenobi and frees Han to flip and retrieve a huge 1 force. I flip on my 2nd turn with the Emperor and Janus coming to the ground and my scrub DB transitting. Justin starts counting his force and asks me, "So all my rebels are deploy +2?" I nod. He saves for a couple of turns while plinking at my life force for drain of 1, 1 profit damage (Ben found his saber). Meanwhile, I set up Overseeing it Personally and Vader gets his saber and finds his buddy Tarkin. Mara, also, comes to the desert to play. Oh, and I nearly forgot, with the Emperor’s drain on the 3rd turn while he was all alone, Justin played Lost in the Wilderness only to draw a 1 and find that Dark Jedi are not so easily confused. Again, the Dark Jedi display their uncanny direction finding abilities when Justin again plays Lost in the Wilderness against Vader’s 3 character drain and draws... yup... a 3. Ha ha. That was funny. Anyway, after I’m done teasing Justin with my drains, he finally saves up enough force to launch an assault at Mara, deploying Masta Luke, R2 and 3PO and Chewie w/Blaster and battles. I react with Tempest Scout 6, holding a Trample in my hand and expecting Artoo’s Bad Feeling. However, Justin plays that first to cancel my battle destiny, so I try to trample Chewie and draw the 1 that would have trampled the droids, but no one else. He shoots at Mara with Chewie and misses. I slash Chewie. He tries to choke Mara and misses. He plays Rug Hug. Hmm... No one in their right mind plays Rug Hug, but Justin plays it. And this could be very bad. But, true to form, Justin continues to draw weak destiny so that Mara and Tempest Scout 6 cover the damage with a little overflow, while Justin loses Chewie. On my turn I drain for a bunch and return the beat-down with another AT-ST. And then it’s a drain race until IG-88 finds out that all the destiny in my reserve are 3 or higher, so he goes against Han and Ben and kills Ben, only to die in the process, leaving Han all alone. Without a drain, Justin backs up Han and deploys Lando. Ozzel comes down in an AT-ST and Tramples Lando. Garrett, who’s now watching the game, assists me by making, "Squish, squish, squish" sound effects. I win by 8. Mike Ravelling, meanwhile, has won by the highest differential. Garrett plays Mike, and I play Graham Neal. Game 2: TIGIH w/uber-destiny vs. Scummy Graham (MKOS) As long as I don’t stupidly invade the audience chamber while my opponent has enough force left with which to beat me down, my deck tears through Scum. Never Thinking with his Stomach Luke allows me to put my only Jedi Luke in the deck as a destiny 6 back up and drain and activate like a mofo. There were too many battles in this game to recall them all. It was battling back and forth all game, really a good game. Graham set up his main force at Jabba’s Palace sites, not drawing Gailid in the first few turns, thus allowing me to set up my DB activation with Luke and Crix and scouts until I revealed my secret anti-Scum tech: a generic DB placed in-between the Desert Heart and Jabba’s Palace. Aha! My scouts were now ready to invade. There was one good battle at the <> DB when Graham had his Sail Barge and a ton of aliens against my scouts. As soon as Boelo was deployed, Chewie Protector blanked his text. An average Fallen Portal took out both the Merc Pilot and Dengar w/ Blaster. I cancelled his destiny with General Solo and drew a 6 for my own. He lost some characters, and on my control phase, I blew up the Sail Barge with a tracked 6 for Under Attack. In the end, I was able to retrieve a bunch with On the Edge while Graham was unable to find a grabber, and Luke and my scouts took over Jabba’s Palace, forcing Jabba to run out of the Audience Chamber so I could cancel Scum. Full win by 17. Mike Ravelling won by more than anybody else for the second straight round, effectively annihilating Garrett Larson in one battle at the Cantina. Game 3: My DS vs Garrett’s TIGIH I leave Luke alone until I get Vader into my hand. But the deciding event of the game... I draw Overseeing it Personally into my opening hand. Garrett has started Battle Plan, Wise Advice and Squadron Assignments, so I’m a bit confused, but Garrett’s always doing things a bit off-kilter so it’s no great shakes. I get another quick flip, using Imperial Command to fetch Ozzel into my hand for big activation on my 3rd turn with lots of DB’s controlled. And, combining the deciding event with the deciding moment, Garrett searches for Wedge by revealing Red Squad 1 on his 2nd or 3rd turn and fails to find him, thus allowing me to verify his masses of Eloms and inserts. Ah... one of *those* decks. And suddenly all the guilt about playing RalOps has completely dissipated and vanished. And the Overseeing it Personally in my hand is a godsend, and the You Cannot Hide that I started with is going to stay there ALL GAME. Garrett is unable to do much to me while I flip, but he moves Wedge over to Raltir when Mirax can join him in her ship. I have Bossk in Bus, Fel, a Laser Cannon and Lateral Damage in my hand. Naturally, I use 2 to search for Saber 1 and beat the tar out of a 0-power lone Wedge in ship, by 30-something. Wedge forfeits for 6, and then it’s a mass of Eloms and inserts hitting the lost pile while Fel dominates Raltir. A few quick drains, a barrier and trample on an Elom brigade, and the game is mine. FW by 20-something. Mike Ravelling might not have won by as much as me that round, but he still 30+ differential ahead of me. We just played the same sides, so I hope someone good gets paired against him. Graham Neal gets paired to play his dark against Mike’s light. I think there is hope. Game 4: My TIGIH vs Travis Bean’s Bring Him Before Me I take out Staging Areas in favor of Wise Advice, and this proves to be a very, very good move when I verify Travis’s deck a few turns in and see the heavy SAC I feared. As it turns out, a turn or two after I give up Luke to Vader and force Vader back to the Throne Room, I draw Insight and scrap it for Staging Areas, so everything works out. Except that Travis is activating a bunch, too, and has managed to get down a large force at Endor, including Veers in a walker and IG-88 with gun. That does not bode well for me. So, I save my force (since we’re both losing one a turn, me to his drain, and him to his objective) and deploy en masse to the Tatooine DB he gave me. Travis tried one early duel, drawing a 5 and a 4 (I think) only to stack a card, so he’s pretty much given up on dueling at this point. He chases me around for a bit, until I lash back with Obi w/Saber and Nien Numb and Lando vs Mara 4-Lom and some others. I lose the battle, but my attrition clears his site. However, I have to stack one, and we’re even on the stacking. I draw the back door and have this brilliant idea to play a couple of characters there and split forces to try to get in a drain. That allows Travis to battle me there with IG-88 and Fett, miss the capture (and prevent me from On the Edging Crix out of the battle), draw his destiny and stack another card while Crix and Blount cover my damage. I get Wedge up in space with a Laser on R2 in R5, and he gets in some drains, evening things out a bit. Travis then starts draining at the Back Door, so I move over to block the drain at the Back Door with Han, Cracken, Leia w/Blaster and landing Wedge. He doesn’t initiate the battle due to Fallen Portal but reinforces his troops, sending IG-88 over. I initiate a battle and use my first action to play I Know. He captures Han. I shoot somebody. I play the card to reduce his destiny by 3. Attrition clears the site on both sides, but he stacks another one, giving him three. I battle with Obi w/Saber against the lone Ephont Mon he moved to my Hoth DB, and I stack my 2nd. On his turn he duels me, but he wins, so I just lose 3. My turn, I don’t do much, drain for 1. On his turn again, he duels and loses. I stack one. I say, "If you draw a 6, you win. If you don’t I win." I have tracked 6’s all through my deck. He draws a 6. He wins by 5 while I have about 20 life force left. Good game. Mike Ravelling beats Graham’s scum deck like a stubborn mule. Graham’s scum suddenly looks vulnerable. Mike suddenly looks invincible again. The final results then, go: Mike Ravelling 8 (big differential) Josh Grace (me) 6 (40-something) Travis Bean 6 (less than 40-something) Other people This just in! Mike Ravelling is Prince Xixor. Ability of 6 needed just to draw a destiny against him, and he’s immune to attrition less than 5 while Jim Li is not at the same tournament. Cheers: Justin for playing Profit and getting beaten. Graham for playing Scum and getting beaten. Prince Xixor for winning the tournament with a cool LS deck. Travis for turning my Luke. "1 out of 2 Lukes agree..." Myself for avoiding pairing with Herb. The Hansicle for looking cool. Mirax for being hotter than any of the other SW:CCG females, not much for personal interest other than debate value. Jeers: Garrett for playing Eloms & Inserts. Boo! Hiss! Justin’s Hansicle deck. (You know what I mean.) Shannon Baksa for still looking like a junky even if she is wearing a sheer top in the new photo. Herb. In general; I’ve tried to avoid saying this, but each Tuesday, this statement has just become all the more inevitable. All those people who buy 3 or 4 boxes of an expansion and then try to "trade" with you, laughing at your cards and kicking sand in your face while taking off with your gal. Graham’s sex jokes. They’re as stale as his old... That Josh Grace guy for putting Traffic Control and Reactor Terminal in his Top 10 cards. What a dweeb! Ciao! Josh "I’m only partially a scrub" Grace

See also

Sources

References

  1. ↑ mikes-house-mirkwood-1-16, DeckTech (Joshua "Stormcrow" Grace, 17 January 2001). Preservation copy: GitHub Pages.
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