Mark Balderston VA Beach VA Comic Alternativa 10-22-00 (tournament report)

Mark Balderston VA Beach VA Comic Alternativa 10-22-00 (tournament report) is the tournament report Mark Balderston posted on DeckTech on 26 October 2000 about October 2000 Virginia Beach tournament. Mark Balderston finished 4th of about 20 at The Comic Alternative in Virginia Beach on 22 October 2000, going 3–1 (6 (+44)) with a Super-Falcon direct-damage deck and Hunt Down and losing only to Paul Evans; Lincoln Torrey won.

Report info

• Author: Mark Balderston (byline: Mark "Rogue Nine" Balderston)
• Published: 26 October 2000 (DeckTech)
• Report title: VA Beach VA Comic Alternativa 10-22-00
• Event: October 2000 Virginia Beach tournament
• Event date: 22 October 2000
• Site: The Comic Alternative, Virginia Beach, VA
• Finish: 4th
• Record: 3–1
• Points: 6 (+44)
• Light deck: Super-Falcon direct damage (similar to Yannick Lapointe's GenCon winner)
• Dark deck: Hunt Down (similar to Brian Hunter's)

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	Phillip	Light Super-Falcon direct damage	COTVG	Win (opponent rated 1640+)	+29
2	Todd Rowe	Dark Hunt Down	MWYHL	Win (opponent rated 1885)	+14
3	Brian Catalino	Dark Hunt Down	Profit	Win (opponent rated 1733)	+14
4	Paul Evans	Light Super-Falcon direct damage	No objective drop and drain walkers	Loss (opponent rated 1933)	−13

Other results named in the report

• 1st: Lincoln Torrey
• 3rd: Karl Horn
• 5th: Paul Evans

Original report

va-beach-va-comic-alternativa-10-22-00

• Author: Mark "Rogue Nine" Balderston
• Published: Oct 26, 2000

Begin pre-tourney stuff: Well, day before the tourney I have the PSAT, so you know my brain’s all geared up. For Light Side I’m playing a Super-Falcon direct damage deck that I designed in Physics class (thinking real hard, but not about Physics :). This deck is very similar to Yannick Lapointe’s gencon winner, but i actually hadn’t seen that deck when I made mine, so that’s kind of weird. I guess great minds think alike. Dark side is hunt down, with the same phenomenon, mine being similar to brian hunter’s hunt down. of course theirs were better, i just thought it was cool that my decks were somewhat like theirs even before i saw theirs. of course after i saw theirs, i kinda of took a few pointers and improved my decks. anyway day before the tourney, we have this luau thing at my school, so i go to my date’s house (good-looking for those of you who want to know) to pick her up, and i start to turn around at the end of her street to go pick her up, but when i go into reverse, nothing happens. not cool. anyway, as soon as i go into reverse, my car starts rolling forward and i’m like over the curve before i can stop. anyway in the process of trying to back up, my date’s dad comes out of her house and helps me push it to a good spot. i really liked volvos up until now. what a great time for it to break down. so we end up walking to the thing which is like a block away anyway, and i have to drive all the way around some circle to get out, cause my car can’t reverse. not cool. this has the added benefit of me not being able to drive to the tourney now, as there really aren’t many ways i can avoid reversing in the comic shops tiny parking lot. which means my mom has to drive me, which she’s not happy about. the other thing is i’m not really sure if i’m going to be able to play because my light side deck is missing like nine cards, including two captain hans. i;m worried but it’s ok cause i borrow a jedi luke and an obi with saber, then trade like a madman for the rest of the cards i need. i end up having to buy a captain han for like twelve bucks. ouch. oh well onto the games. also with a 1520 for rating, i’m hoping to improve it, which i think i will cause my decks rock : ) end pre-tourney stuff Game 1 My light side vs Phillip’s (1640+) COTVG Get going standard, get test one done relatively fast then get the super-falcon to kessel to start the damage. pull honor first turn to stop the court damage. He puts down epp vader second turn, and i’m like yes, cause i’ve got a signal. so i go and get uncontrollable fury and put it on vader. he draws a ton, then cancels it with you are beaten. i’m like, go ahead, waste it, so i play effective repairs and put it back on vader, and then he plays ANOTHER you are beaten. all the while he has like forgot to drain me every turn, and i think something’s funny, but i don’t say anything, cause hey that’s life and he’s got a better rating than me anyway, so there’s no helping a scrub excuse, cause I’M THE SCRUB! After a while he puts down a ton of aliens, but there not really evenly spread out, so i come down with jedi luke and saber and beat up on a few of them. he chases luke around, but i barrier a couple of the guys chasing luke so after a while he’s just got jodokast with fett’s gun and mara and stick with him. i put down obi with saber and melas, battle he shoots melas, i hit both his guys with sabers, draw a tracked 6 for destiny, he gets a 2, but all i lose is melas, causeof Yoda at his hut. He loses them and like 8 and then i just drain him to death. win by 29. 2 (+29) highlights: actually using my ground team with my super-falcon deck, and whooping tail. lowlights: no one coming to space, him saying after wards, oh i didn’t know honor didn’t affect battleground sites, i guess i’ll have to read my cards better. obviously it was his fault for not reading his cards, especially staples like HOTJ, but i feel bad because the game was too easy. also afterwards, i discovered i left two cards in my box, so my differential could have been two better. argh! Game 2: My Dark side vs Todd Rowe’s (1885) MWYHL this guy made it to day 2 of worlds, so i’m slightly worried, but i’ve got confidence in my deck, i get a god hand (Lord Vader, saber, db, gmt, etc.) , and i have my lucky PURPLE SKITTLES!!! I get a first turn flip thanks to the two i got from dagobah, and let him go. he sends an obi with stick first turn, but he dies valiantly. to make a long repetitive story short, he forgot to put honor in his deck, and that’s game. i get search and destroy and visage set up, he keeps playing it could be worse, which i grab after a bit. he has like 6 jedi luke’s in this deck, three of which go off the top, a couple i kill, and another one runs away from my party, to hang out at executor, and cancel visage. i waste a massive amount of cards being frivolous, i.e. disarming luke, etc, but it was fun. he plays like three on the edges to retrieve like 15, but after a while i get out secret plans to stop that. late game superfalcon comes down to rendili, but can’t drain due to hunt down, and consequently does nothing. win by 14. 4 (+43) higlights: a fun game with lots of battles (for me, that is) beating a player with such an awesome rating. lowlights: him repeatedly projectioning my sites, and then minimizing my win afterward, by saying stuff like "I would’ve won if I’d had honor". people should be gracious when they lose. him smelling like smoke. low differential. Game 3: My Dark side vs. Brian Catalino (1733) Profit cool. i’ve never played against profit before. yet again a no honor game, or it just didn’t come out. i start mara and evazan, get her stick in my hand, argh! back up at that site, get vader and tarkin to JP for the flip, set up search and destroy, and just hang on. he puts ben kenobi and obi’s saber, and lightsaber proficiency and an elom at the cantina, but can’t drain. when he finally gets a jedi luke, he brings them on over to rumble. i don’t even have vader’s saber on vader, darn! i initiate a battle, cancel luke’s text with 4-lom, duel, but forget and let him subtract three with luke. doesn’t matter though, i disarmed luke, he has a 1 on top, i checked with sim aloo. he plays courage, i play focused attack. i get a 6 a 4 and a 4, he gets a 1 a 3 and a 4 which i cancel. i win. win the battle too. win the game next, when he draws up. win by 14, again 6 (+57) highlights: crossing and disarming jedi luke. i’m done playing dark, and it’s still undefeated (4-0), in tournament play!! lowlights: him drawing up when i had like 8 cards in hand, cause he had like 11 left and i thought he’d wait. oh well. Game 4: My light side vs Paul Evans (1933) no objective drop and drain walkers. this guy is like the local expert, besides the TD, so i’m kinda scared. but i don’t care, cause i’ve already gained a ton of rating, and even if i lose, i lose almost no points. I get CRAP for a hand, forget to insert AFA first turn, and have to draw for like three turns to get an apprentice or a super falcon. i get the jedi test set up, and then get out the super falcon. he brings on punishing one and some other ship. initiates, i play i know, and he loses pilots, so i can’t play legendary starfighter. he’s draining for like 5 a turn, not cool. i’m catching up in damage, and i chase his ships, and get legendary starfighter down, and then it’s a drain race. he has walkers and presence of the force on a couple locations, and i lose my ground guys, cause they can’t touch dat. he wins the race, because i don’t have battle plan , so he doesn’t have to activate to get my anger, fear, agressions. i think with a semi-decent hand and battle plan, i could’ve been able to win this one. loss by 13. 6 (+44) highlights: legendary starfighter, holding my own against a good person with a bad hand. lowlights: losing. darn. at least it wasn’t by much. i don’t mind being beat by paul, cause he’s good. overall, i did pretty good. i came in 4th out of like 20 people, pretty good. however i do get crap for prize support. placings: 1. Lincoln Torrey 2.  ??? -sorry, I forgot. 3. Karl Horn. 4. Mark Balderston (ME!) 5. Paul Evans sorry, i didn’t get the rest of the people. props: everyone who showed up that didn’t smell like smoke people who have good attitudes about winning my mom, for driving me paul evans, for cool different decks the TD, Dan Bojanwski-cause he’s cool the people that traded me cards before the tourney Bobby, benjamin, and billy for coming even if they didn’t do too well. PURPLE SKITTLES (first three games)!! slops: my brother, cause he could’ve done better Austin for not showing people that smell like smoke *cough* *cough* people who have bad attitudes about winning my bad luck last game my packs, oh no! not another lieutenant Blount!! the VOLVO!!!!

See also

• October 2000 Virginia Beach tournament
• Mark Balderston
• Tournament reports
• DeckTech tournament reports

Sources

• va-beach-va-comic-alternativa-10-22-00, stephenskilton.com
• va-beach-va-comic-alternativa-10-22-00 (GitHub Pages)