Joshua Grace Where's My Monnok The Full Report Mix (tournament report)

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Joshua Grace Where's My Monnok The Full Report Mix (tournament report) is the tournament report Joshua Grace posted on DeckTech on 21 November 2000 about November 2000 St. Cloud tournament.[1] Joshua Grace won the 32-player St. Cloud, Minnesota tournament on 18 November 2000 with a Tosche Station mains deck and a Jabba's Palace Manipulator, going 5–1 (10 (+125)) after an opening loss and beating Josh Kohman in the final round.

Report info

  • Author: Joshua Grace (byline: Joshua "Stormcrow" Grace)
  • Published: 21 November 2000 (DeckTech)
  • Report title: Where's My Monnok The Full Report Mix
  • Event: November 2000 St. Cloud tournament
  • Event date: 18 November 2000
  • Site: St. Cloud State University (Atwood Center), St. Cloud, Minnesota
  • Players: 32
  • Finish: 1st
  • Record: 5–1
  • Points: 10 (+125)
  • Light deck: Tosche Station and Mains
  • Dark deck: Jabba's Palace Manipulator

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 Steve Dark Jabba's Palace Manipulator EBO X-wing Swarm Loss (full loss) −6
2 Brett Light Tosche Station and Mains BHBM Win (name given as 'Brett (?)'; full win by 27 (running total 2 (+21))) +27
3 Robert Parker Dark Jabba's Palace Manipulator EBO (X-wing Swarm) Win (report says only 'Parker'; full win) +27
4 Andrew Mahjowald Light Tosche Station and Mains RalOps Win (name spelling uncertain ('(sp?)')) +40
5 Justin Fleenor Dark Jabba's Palace Manipulator TIGIH (Do or Do Not, Insight) Win +21
6 Josh Kohman Light Tosche Station and Mains Scummy Court Win (deciding game for 1st; Kohman was the last other undefeated player) +16

Other results named in the report

Side event: November 2000 Minneapolis tournament (14 November)

The report also covers November 2000 Minneapolis tournament (14 November) (14 November 2000). Joshua Grace mentions the Tuesday local four-game tournament before the St. Cloud event, where he arranged the ride with Mike Raveling and Graham Neal; no results given.

Discrepancies

Where this report disagrees with other sources, the wiki keeps the other record and notes the difference here.

Original report

wheres-my-monnok-the-full-report-mix

  • Author: Joshua "Stormcrow" Grace
  • Published: Nov 21, 2000
Okay, looking back after I’m done writing this, this is a long report. Settle down. Grab a beverage. All you under-age guys, this does not mean I’m encourage illegal habits. Kick back, and enjoy. Intro? I heard that the St. Cloud tournament was drawing Jon Swenson and Zach Stenerson from Moorhead and Fargo, and I knew that Graham Neal and Mike Raveling were going to attend from the Minneapolis / St. Paul area. So the tournament was going to be top notch, drawing several of the top 10 players in our region. I made plans Tuesday, during the local 4-game tournament, with Mike and Graham to hitch a ride out to St. Cloud and checked back on Friday evening to confirm the plans. Once they were solidified, I decided I’d best change my decks since: a) my light side was a pile of interrupts in the shape of a very bad EBO deck and b) my light side was a pile of interrupts in the shape of a very bad EBO deck. Meanwhile, everyone and his grandma was playing Scum, so I decided I’d tear apart my Dark Side deck, too, which was a Nikto brand of My Kind of Scum (don’t mock the Niktos, 4 power and 8 forfeit for 1 force as a react anywhere at Jabba’s Palace is pretty good). Fiddling around with Light Side cards and looking through my collection, I decided that I really wanted to build a deck using Off the Edge. But that didn’t look too good, so I built a Jedi Training to Test 6 deck. It stunk. I tore it apart and built a Test to 3 w/docking bays and Off the Edges deck. It stunk worse. I tore it apart and built a TIGIH deck w/docking bays and Off the Edges. It smelled slightly better, but still not pleasant. So, I decided I wasn’t good at building new decks, and slapped together a Tosche Station deck, uncertain of my card mix. But it was late and I was exhausted from my week of work and I didn’t really care about my Dark Side deck much yet because I could build it in the car while we drove to St. Cloud and I decided that sleep was good so I went to bed. Enter the morning. The snooze alarm was my friend for a few taps, and I didn’t have time to work on my decks before I left to meet Graham and Mike at Graham’s house. So I grabbed my collection of cards and drove off. At Graham’s, it is made known to Mike and I that Herb Macy will be joining us for the drive to St. Cloud (that’s a different story). And Mike reveals that he can’t drive his new BMW because it still has its racing slicks, not winter tires, and the roads are snow-covered and icy. So, we’ll take my car, but, fortunately, Mike volunteers to drive so I can work on my decks. I decide to call my light side good enough and work on a dark deck. I look at a couple of the purple cards and just get this empty feeling all throughout me. Yes, I tell myself, these cards are so overplayed that they have lost all meaning. What have I left, then? I ask myself. Well, self, my self replies, how about a Jabba’s Palace Manipulator? A light goes *DING* And I start fishing out the cards that I’ll need. I grab my Tatooine, Combat Readiness and Jabba’s Palace. That’s a start. Then I start fishing out all my 2/0 locations, Scanning Crews, Senses, Alters, Myoom Onith, Ability x3, Search and Destroy, Gailid, Monnoks--anything at all that I might use. Of course, it’s way more than 60 cards, so I start sleeving cards, whittling away at the pile. Remember, now, that this is being done in half of the backseat of my car. I am, meanwhile, entertaining the other occupants with Lords of Acid and Ramstein. So I get to the point, shortly before we arrive at the campus where the tournament will be, where I have 60 dark side cards in a deck, and I’m happy. So, my decks are: Light Side--Tosche Station and Mains Dark Side--Jabba’s Palace Manipulator It turns out Swenson and Stenerson managed to corral a few other Moorhead players. So, with the 4 of us from Minneapolis, a few daring folk from Iowa, the Moorhead crew, and the locals, the tournament is populated by a very respectable 32 individuals. Dion Erbes, the TD, has a cold and can barely speak, but everyone quiets down enough that we can hear the pairings as they are called. (I apologize for names, here. I failed to take any notes. If you played me, you know who you are. If you didn’t play me, you’re just reading about the guys, 1-6, who did.) Game 1: My Dark vs. Steve’s EBO X-wing Swarm As soon as I start shuffling, I realize that I didn’t fit either Battle Order or Imperial Decree into my deck, cards that both would normally be included. Oh well, I figure that I have two options against EBO. Either, I’ll keep all his pilots in his used pile with Screws while my early drains and Search and Destroy will bleed his deck. OR, I’ll Monnok him for all of his X-Wings. So, we start out, and a first turn Screw reveals 3 or so X-Wings and one rebel who goes back to the used pile. Gailid goes to the Audience Chamber where he’ll sit the whole game. He gets his sites and draws. I Screw him again next turn and set up another drain, so I’m getting a good early lead. But his next turn he draws up way beyond Myoom range. Something like 17 cards. No problem. I’ve activated about 14 myself. I search for something and don’t find a Monnok, so I just draw, looking for the first Monnok I can find. And I draw. And I draw. And I draw. And then my force pile is gone, and I still have no Monnok in my hand. My dark side manipulator deck can’t manipulate. It’s a pile. So Steve drops about 6 systems and as many X-wings and says go. I drain for another 6 or so and hit him with Search and Destroy. But there’s nothing I can do about his drains, so he hits me for 18 or 22. And all I can do the next turn is deploy Zuckuss and some dude in space to block the drain at Kessel. That buys me maybe one turn. But it’s simply his huge drains versus my modest drains and Search and Destroy. The game ends in about 15 minutes. A full loss for me by 6. 0(-6) So, after the game, I go hang out with Graham, Mike, Jon, Zach and some of the other guys. Seems each of them has won (until much later Shane comes back to report a loss--to Herb Macy, but that’s another story). At any rate, I realize now that I have a manipulator deck without Monnoks, so I say, quite honestly, that I expect to go 0-3 with my dark and hope that my light can go 3-0. Everyone else finishes their games, and we re-pair. Game 2: My Light vs Brett’s (?) BHBM This game was fairly embarassing. My opponent barely knew his own cards. He started the game by announcing each card he put into play and reading the full text. I asked him if he was doing that for his benefit or for mine, and when he said it was for mine, I asked him to stop. So he did. But the game had that same sort of naive feel throughout. With Mobilization Points out, he set the Emperor up first turn at the Throne Room, losing 2 activation. He deployed The Emperor’s Power but failed to use it in two or three battles. Meanwhile, I deployed Masta Luke first turn to Tosche Station from my reserve deck (and he asked "How?"--so I said, "Using your card."). And I activated a helluvalot on my second turn. But Vader was quick to follow. We battled quite a bit and danced around when the battling was looking bad for me. I don’t remember quite how I won, but a good deal of it came from him losing cards from his reserve instead of using Vader’s forfeit value. I felt relieved when the game was over. Full win by 27. 2(+21) At this point, I know I’m going to be among the top players with a loss. And I hope to play my dark deck first, so that my light side will have an easier game again. Mike, Jon and I find an AD&D video game that was kind of fun for a while, well worth a quarter at any rate, and then we head back for Game 3. Game 3: My Dark Side Misbegotten Jumble vs. Parker’s EBO Well, he shows early signs of X-wing Swarm, so I set up Gailid and Myoom again at two Jabba’s sites. And my early damage holds him back for quite a bit. Parker pulls an interesting move and Revos the War Room, but for some reason I had put Come Here You Big Coward in my deck and, having drawn it, slap that down the succeeding turn. So, it turns into extra generation for me and a generation loss for him. Quite an important turn, too, since my Screws hold him back a bit. He gets out Echo Garrison... or whatever the effect is that lets him pull Commander Luke, etc. But that only gets him one character a turn while I’m draining for 4 and working him over with Search and Destroy. At one point, he begins his turn searching for both his Echo sites and Commander Luke. But I had a force saved and Screwed his Luke. That was the highpoint of the game for me. Sad, but true. Before he gets his EBO set up, he throws some ships into space to start draining me. But Zuckuss and Boba Fett launch into his ships at one system, and that gives me another drain of 1 per turn. However, the next turn, I Myoom and find that both Leia w/Gun and Tawss Khaa are in his hand while I have Myoom and Gailid alone at their sites on Tatooine. I’m forced to land Zuckus with Myoom and move Fett over to Gailid, but that seems to hold Parker off. He keeps losing force to my drains and Search and Destroy until very late in the game. And by that time, Vader and Mara come down to Hoth to clean up. Full win by 27. 4(+48) Well, I’m pleased as punch, having won with my dark side. So I figure I may even go 4-2. And I trust my light side to do its job. Game 4: Tosche madness vs. Andrew Mahjowald (sp?) RalOps I played Andrew before in another tournament at St. Cloud, and I know he’s no pushover. I should beat him, but he knows how to play his deck. When I look at my hand, though, it seems to matter very little what he’ll do. I draw a 2/0 site, Ben Kenobi and Luke w/Saber. First turn, he activates deploys a site from reserve and draws. My turn, I deploy Ben at the hut, my 2/0 site and move Ben to Tosche. He goes, deploys another site from reserve and an Imperial Guard at the Swamp. I activate 14 or 15, deploy Battle Plan, Frozen Assets over his saved force, Luke w/Saber against the guard and battle. He loses the guard and 5 or 6. So he activates about 6 force on his turn and draws. I activate and draw, too. His next turn, he deploys the Emperor at the spaceport site that gives +1 power and forfeit to Imperial leaders. Okay... Since he didn’t start IAO. I deploy Frozen Assets to shut off his force pile. Then, to Ben’s hut, I deploy Han w/Gun, Leia w/Gun and Chewbacca. I Nabrun the 4 of them to the Emperor’s site and beat the tar out of the old man. At this point, the game is effectively over no matter what Andrew chooses to do, so rather than forfeit Pasty and lose only 15, he keeps the embodiment of evil on the table and loses a good 24. I look at the cards in my hand and those on the table and decide I don’t need to draw another card for the rest of the game. I just stop him from draining me at all and block his drains with my armada. General Calrissian in the Falcon deployed at his <> DB. And I took 2 force loss from a battle involving the Emperor, Vader a bunch of Imperial Guards, Trooper Assault and a Dark Jedi Presence. But I never drew another card and paid for my drains to win by 40. And now I think I can win this tournament if all the undefeateds knock each other off--and I pull off a miracle win with my dark side slop. 6(+88) Well, not only do I know that I can potentially win this tournament, but so does Jon Swenson who starts *accusing* me of throwing the first game of each tournament. I mean, really, can I help it if I suck at first games? Righteously offended, I tell Jon that of coure I’m not trying to throw my games, but he should go ahead and try to backdoor a tournament sometime... BUT the real trick is to lose the first TWO games. No one would EVER expect that! Anyhow, I believe this is the intermission wherein the inaugural Kohman Olympics took place. Josh Kohman was making a loud noise of himself and Mike Raveling suggested that he and Stenerson see who can throw Kohman further. So Mike lifts Kohman and tosses him about 3 feet. Zach, not to be outdone, tries a new technique and hurls Kohman headlong into a chair. Maybe 4 feet, but Kohman disqualifies him for brutality, still reeling from the new lump on his forehead. Later events are much gentler, including the push-Kohman-on- a-cafeteria-tray contest... Well, the new pairings are favorable to me again. I play my dark ahead of my light. Game 5: My heap vs. Justin Fleenor’s TIGIH It had occured to me that I could play my dark deck like a beat-down deck and just use Screws far more than I really should. But Justin starts Do or Do Not AND Insight. And they never leave the table. This means effectively half of my deck is good for nothing other than destiny and easy choices when it comes to losing force. But I draw a Lord Vader early and deploy him to the Landing Platform. As soon as I can (while I’m still force-choking Justin), I move Vader to Chirpa’s Hut and set up a drain of 2. Unfortunately, I can’t draw a character to save my life over the next 2 or 3 turns. Meanwhile, Justin’s deploying 2/0 locations all over the place and amassing a good handsize, and I can’t take a peek with Screw. So I’m getting a bit worried when finally he launches the initial assault. 2 Eloms, Chewbacca and Admiral Ackbar. Ackbar? What the? Anyhow, that’s who comes to battle. Fortunately, I draw a high destiny, so Vader covers all but 3 and the one to IFTC. I start setting up on Tatooine with Mara and Saber, Mosep, Myoom, Dr. E and maybe some other scrub. We exchange drains until I draw a Vader. At this point, I have enough force to a) deploy Vader, b) Elis Helrot and battle or c) do both if I draw a 0 for Helrot. I search for a Jabba’s location and find in my 5 force: two 0’s, one 1, and two 3’s. Why not? I play Elis on Mara and crew before deploying. 3. Bummer. So they head over and just sit around. Choke Lord and Saber remain in my hand. Justin brings Ackbar back from the Bacta Tank and battles. I lose everyone but Mara. Stack another card on IFTC. I’ve already seen the ASP droids, so I very much fear stacking another card on IFTC, lest he get the Catapult down and convert Vader. At this point my drains are keeping me in the lead. But Mara’s stuck against his big, bad crew, holding Luke captive for 2 loss a turn unless Vader joins her. And when has Vader ever shrunk from a battle? Vader comes to the Landing Platform, saber in hand, and we battle. I choke Chewbacca, hit two characters and win the battle by 1 power. Meanwhile, I’m immune, so both my characters stick around while his are decimated. Next turn, all he can do is run away. It’s pretty much a drain race from this point on, except that I had managed to use Myoom once before she died and saw an On the Edge or two in his hand. So I keep hold of a couple of my Senses just to kill that card. Finally, he’s down to 10 life force or less and plays his On the Edge. Sense. I succeed and lose the Sense + 2 more. But it was the finishing blow, and I win by 21. The dark pile *somehow* goes 2-1. 8(+109) And so it turns out, history *does* repeat itself. Jon Swenson lost to Graham’s Scum. Graham lost to somebody. Mike Raveling lost to somebody. Stenerson lost to Josh Kohman. All of the undefeated players have knocked each other out of contention except for Josh Kohman, who has a timed win and needs to win the game to win the tournament. Meanwhile, I have (apart from Kohman) the largest differential by far, so the winner of our game is going to be the winner of the tournament. Game 6: Battle of the Joshes, Grace vs. Kohman My Tosche "Can I please play against Scum?" vs. Kohman’s Scummy Court. He starts Court. I start Obi’s Hut, Careful Planning and decide to convert his Audience Chamber. Of course, this is much better than a Profit conversion because he doesn’t get to pull a CC Engineer with Chall. Not right away, anyhow. He activates, loses one and draws. I activate deploy Ben to the Hut, KFC to the Chamber and move Ben over. The rest of the game is a prolonged battle over the audience chamber with both First Strike and Draw Their Fire hitting the table. Many men fought bravely in the hot Tatooine suns, and many men died. Ben was disarmed and fatally wounded, only to recover on a later turn. Master Luke was captured, only to be freed and wreak havoc on unsuspecting aliens. But among the many battles, the most memorable in my mind was a fairly humours battle between Fett w/Blaster and Dr. E against my Luke, Ben and Chewbacca. Kohman initiated this battle and paid to retrieve (Aim High, people--I’ve been reading your reports, and you let people retrieve for free... that’s like *giving* them force...). He had earlier searched for something to find a 3 and a 6 in his deck. Well, he plays Hidden Weapons to target Luke, and the fateful destiny is... 3. Yes, Luke is captured (where was Kashyyk? Eh, Stenerson?) and Ben gets hit by the 6 and is E-bait. Operated and dead. Nonetheless, Chewbacca stands his ground with no destiny, and since Kohman had exhausted his reserve deck, he gets no destiny either. And Chewbacca outpowers the silly evil aliens, so Kohman goes back into the force he retrieved and loses one. As the suns were setting on Tatooine and protracted battles, his Projected Telepathy gets grabbed, General Cal and Nien Numb join the fray, Scum gets cancelled, and finally the balance of powers tips irrevocably in the favor of the light side. Win by 16. So, yes, Jon’s right. I’m a sneaky son of a gun, "backdooring" yet another tournament, coming from an early loss to claim first with a total of 10(+125). Zach Stenerson got second. Swenson took third. And I failed to keep track beyond that point. So, cheers and jeers abound: Cheers: Ben Kenobi. Do I need to say why? Dion Erbes for running a smooth tournament, even while sick. Players from Moorhead and Iowa for taking the drive. The 31 players other than myself that made this a well- attended tournament. Jeers: Monnok, oh Monnok, wherefore art thou, Monnok? This is where all those "...but that’s a different story" references come to bear... Joshua "Stormcrow" Grace

See also

Sources

References

  1. ↑ wheres-my-monnok-the-full-report-mix, DeckTech (Joshua "Stormcrow" Grace, 21 November 2000). Preservation copy: GitHub Pages.
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