Claydo's Tournament Results
Back to the World of Claydo...
Back to Star Wars CCG...
Back Home...

Editor's note:  I corrected and filled in as I saw the need, but, otherwise, these are his own words!

1999 Alderaan Regional Pre-Qualifier- Livermore, CA-
     For the DS, I played that same old Hunt Down/SFS deck that I've played for the past couple of months.  TIE Scouts with Dreadnaught and All Power To Weapons holding down space, while Vader and Tarkin Elis'n to and fro causing havok on the ground.
     For the LS, I played another variation of the BothOps deck that I've played a few times.  Lotsa mains and toys for backup.

Game 1:  DS vs James <insert last name here...i didn't catch it> LS M&T :
     He had a good deck, but for some reason, he wouldn't come to me at all.  He avoided confrontation of any kind.  In space, I just put a tie scout at both Kiffex and Kashyyyk and just outdrained him throughout the game.  He never cancelled Visage, so that was hitting him every turn also.
Win by 26
2 (+26)

Game 2:  LS vs <insert name here......I must be getting old, because I don't even remember his first name>  Trooper Garrison deck:
     I got my operatives out early, and established a 2nd turn flip while he was looking for all the components to make his work.  He was able to slow down my drains by getting Imperial Decree out early, but he wasn't able to find any of his Walker Garrisons 'till late in the game.  With all his drains being -1 from the get-go, he wasn't able to hurt me early at all.
Win by 23
4 (+49)

Game 3:  LS vs Jeff Millers' Raltiir Ops:
     I had a great opening hand, but a first turn Monnock changed the complection of the game really quick.  He got his objective flipped on his 3rd turn, while I was struggling to find some characters that could do some damage to him.
     I ended up deploying the LS forest to his system, converting his forest.  I then proceeded to come down with a small army of spies.  That slowed him down for a few turns, which gave me the time to get my drains going on Bothuwai.  2 turns after I get my objective flipped, he throws out  the Coruscant system and puts A Bright Center To The Universe on it.  Pretty  much game over from there.  My drains are suddenly 0, while he's draining me for a whopping 3-4 a turn.
Loss by 25
4 (+24)

Game 4:  DS vs Kevin Shannons' No Shelter variant:
     Kevin absolutely worked me in this game.  He deserved to win this game, he should have won this game.  He had me on the run, and he won every battle.  Bottom line in this game is that Kevin didn't dump his hand into his reserve when Mike let us know that there was under a minute left.  I took my last turn as quickly as I could because I didn't want this game to end this way.  As I finished my turn, Mike called time.  I got the timed decision 17-16, but Kevin had about 15-20 cards in his hand, while I had about 2 cards in hand.   I felt really bad because he did everything right, and he deserved the victory.
Timed win by 17
5 (+41)

Game 5: DS vs Steve Greenbergs' MWYHL Mains and Toys:
     BATTLES GALOR!!!   This was a pretty fun game.  He cancelled Visage rather early.  He also Revolutioned the Meditation Chamber early, but lucky for me, I had a few force saved up before he did that.  I deployed Vader to  the Med Chamber, then I proceeded to force drain there, placing my objective out of play.  < i couldn't pass up that drain for 3.....didn't seem right>
     We battled numerous times in the Med Chamber, with Vader and Tarkin getting the advantage.  On about the 4th or 5th battle up there, he finally gets rid of Tarkin.  3 Out Of Commisions later, Tarkin is out of play.  Come Here You Big Coward saved me numerous drains at the Holotheater, and stopped him from even going to the Death Star.  I was able to wear him down in space, with Bossk In Bus and a Dreadnaught giving me a consistant drain at Kiffex.
     The truth is,  that Steve and I needed another half-hour or so to decide this one.  My retrieval from SFS made it a comfortable timed win.
Timed win by 23
6 (+64)

Game 6:  LS vs Dan Mochizuki Ralltiir Ops:
     Uh oh, another Ralltiir deck.  First off I have to say that this was the absolute funnest game I've played in a loooooong time.
     First turn, I deploy a small army of free spies <started with Nightfall> at the Swamp.  No operatives in sight.  3rd turn, I finally draw 3 of them.  His next turn, he's activating for a zillion.  So he deploys some dinky Imperials to his sites and flips his objective.  He's now eyeballing my dinky hoard of spies,  so he deploys Vader to my Swamp and initiates battle.  I cancelled the battle with Its A Trap.  <woooohoooooo>
     I then deploy my operatives to 3 different sites, put a spy with each of them, flip my objective, and battle Vader.
    Yanno, it would have been perfect if I could have got rid of him there, but no.  Vader hung around for a couple of turns.  Dan then does the one thing  that I was dreading....Coruscant/ A Bright Center.  My drains are ZERO again <d'oh>  Good thing I was saving a couple of non-unique sites in my hand.  <evil grin>
     I deploy Obi, Leia w/ Blaster, and a couple of Bothan Spies over to one of his sites where he only has a couple of characters.  I then deploy 2 of my non unique locations to Ralltiir.  I put a Bothan Spy on one, and Melas on the other.  Thus, flips his objective back over.
     Obi and Leia cause havok at the one site, while I have the high ability aliens kicking butt on the other side of the planet.  This was the key moment of the game, because this opened up my Force drains again.  We went back and forth on Ralltiir for a few turns.
     The objective must have flipped back and forth about 5 times, but the bottom line was that I was draining for 6 while the objective was on the ZERO side, while his drains only reached a maximum of 3.
Win by 10
8 (+74)

Congratulations to Jeff Miller for winning the regional qualifier.  He went 5-1 with some huge differential.  Paul Todd Feldman finished 2nd, also going 5-1.  Another strange tournament for me.  I ended up taking 5th going 5-1, but 2 of my wins were timed wins.  Oh well, there's always the Modesto qualifer next weekend.

-Clayton Atkin-

Back to Top...



 

1999 Alderaan Regional Pre-Qualifier- Modesto, CA-
     I for one, often get tired of seeing tournament reports that are written by the people that won it.  The people that seemingly always grasp victory from the jaws of defeat.  Those people who think they have a better grasp of this game then the rest of us do.  Well, if you tired of reading those kind of tournament reports, then this one is for you.  This just wasn't my day.
     Thing started out really strange.  The police had all of downtown Modesto blocked off because of the Cinco De Mayo parade.  So this delayed the start of the tournament because everybody had to park about a mile away from the shop, and walk over.  Who's Idea was this anyways?  It wasn't even May 5th.  On top of all that, the Ceres street fair was today also.  Its obvious that these people in charge of these events didn't check with eachother.
     Because of this, the tourney didn't get started until around Noon.
     For the DS, I played the old Hunt Down/SFS.  I pulled this one out of the closet because I was expecting to see many HB decks.  This deck just gives every variation of HB fitts.  I saw some HB decks, but I didn't play against a single one.
     For the LS, I played another old favorite of mine, a BothOps Mains and Toys with all the Epp's and SAC's.  This decks weakness's are few, DLOTS, Bubo, and Counter Assaults.

Game 1:  LS vs. Steve Miller's Hunt Down/Counter Assault deck:
     I got my usual 3rd turn flip, and Steve hid the fact that he was playing a counter assault deck very well, as he was losing some pretty low destiny cards to Visage early.  When it came time for my first drain, I drained for 2 at the farm, he let that one go as I had only 2 characters there.  Then I drained for 2 at the forest with 1 operative, and 2 bothan spies....Counter Assault.  I was somewhat fortunate on this one, as I only had to lose 10 force, but one of those 10 was a Grimtaash that I lost blindly off the top. <ouch>  That means there was only 1 more in the deck, and the one in the lost pile was too far down to try and get with retreival.
     So the game went pretty much like this, no drains, vader elising from site to site initiating battles, and me drawing cards like theres no tommorow in the hopes of getting the only card that would give me a chance.  When I finally did get the Grimtash, I was down to about 10 circulating force, and about 10 in hand, while he was still sitting pretty with only about 12 cards in his lost pile.
     So I started my cycle.  Grimtaash lost during my control phase.  That cost him 4 counter assaults, and a couple other cards, drain for 8 at my sites, deploy an operative, and retrieve the Grimtaash to my used pile. There were no Elis's in his hand, so I felt comfortable for a turn or two.  I successfully drained on my next turn also, but stupid me, I didn't count my cards correctly.  The Grimtaash was the 2nd card in my force pile, while I thought it was the 3rd. I moved 2 characters away from Vader and company, and started drawing. <d'oh>  He finally gets one of his numerous elis's in hand, shoots them over to the Farm, chokes an operative, and slaughters Mowmow (Momaw Nadon).
Lost by 17
0 (-17)

Game 2:  DS vs Hak Soo Kim's MWYHL Mains and Toys Beat Down:
     Yes, thats right.  Hak Soo has made an appearance in Aldaraan.  You would think that I would get to play someone easy after the beating I took in the first game, but as things stood, out of all the games, only 1 light side player won.
     I got SFS set up on the first turn, but I couldn't find another system for the life of me.  Hak Soo got Yoda out on the first turn, but he couldn't find any locations either.  We both lost force to Visage for the first 3 turns or so, then I finally get one of my Vaders out to the Med Chamber.
     Visage hurt him, but not bad enough.  He eventually gave up on trying to complete Jedi Test #1, which eased my mind a little bit, but what I didn't know, is that he was setting me up for the kill.  I finally get Kashyyyk out, and I start setting up a drain in space.  I then deploy Kiffex, and I begin to put a couple of TIE Scouts there, but then I stop as I don't have a Ghhhk in hand and I don't have enough ships in hand to draw destiny.
     This was my downfall, as Hak Soo pointed out to me after the game, this told him that I couldn't stop a beatdown if I needed to.  So instead of the Scouts, I deployed Tarkin to the Med Chamber with Vader.  He sets up Obi-Wan and someone else at the LS Audience Chamber.  Nice trap.  I Elis'd Vader and Tarkin over and initated battle.  We both missed our swings, but I had to forfiet Tarkin as I cancelled one of his swings.  He forfieted someone from hand, as I didn't notice that he had the Mantillian out.  <Huge Mistake....I wouldn't have gone over there If I had noticed it>
     I am now dead.  I move Vader over to Mos Eisley, and hope for the best.  He then deploys every EPP to Mos Eisley, Nebruns Obi-Wan over, makes Vader power 0 with Glancing Blow,  plays Jedi Presence,  hits Vader with one of the lightsabers and wins the battle 38-2.  Game over.
Loss by 17
0 (-34)

Game 3:  LS vs Jeff Rosado's Mains and Toys:
     Jeff starts out with JP, gets his Audience Chamber, and deploys Jabba there on his first turn.  He drained me there for 2 turns, as I was able to get a 3rd turn flip of my objective.  He had no answer to the operative drain.  He came down to my sites and tried to battle me, but I was able to simply overpower him.  If he got too powerful at a site, I would play Its A Trap, and move away.  All the while, deploying sites with operatives and spies.
Win by 34
2  (0)

Game 4:  DS vs Alfred Dong's Mains and Toys.
     I get SFS going early, but again, no other systems in sight.  He get's Ben Kenobi out to the hut early also, but those drains are cancelled with Come Here You Big Coward.  Were both losing to Visage for the first 4 turns, until he Nebruns over to the Holotheater and cancels it.
     I'm able to retreive most of my loses from Visage, as I'm deploying a TIE Scout every turn to Milwuakee (Wakeelmui).  I deploy Vader w/ Saber to the Med Chamber, flip the objective, and draw.  Trying in all hopes to get another Vader and Tarkin in hand.  I don't get another Vader, but I do draw a Tarkin, and Kiffex.  Kiffex goes out and I move a few ships over.  I draw some more, get another Vader, and Kashyyyk.
     He deploys Wedge with Kenobi, and Nebruns over to Vader.  He battles, we both swing and miss, but Vader w/ Saber is gone with the destiny draw.  I deploy Kashyyyk, deploy a couple of TIE's, move a few more over, and save the rest.  He drains me for 4 there for a couple of turns, as I'm saving force for the beatdown.  Vader w/ Saber and Tarkin eventually come out.  I played You Are Beaten on Obi, and commence on the thrashing of Wedge.  He lost around 14 cards, but was able to revive him with Kenobi's game text.  I don't think that this is right [Editor's Note:  This isn't].  Kenobi wasn't envolved with the battle, but he's still able to revive characters?  Oh well, the ruling went his way and we moved on.  I kept the drain of 4 going in space for the duration of the game, and we mixed it up a few times more.  But I was able to drain him out with the help of a late game Short Range Fighters.
Win by 9
4 (+9)

Game 5:  DS vs Rufino Sanchez's Mains and Toys:
     Okay, by this time, i'm sick of seeing mains and toys with Revs and stuff like that.  I was entirely disinterested in this game.  Rufino wasn't having a good day either and neither of us were having much fun.  So we did what any 2 players would do at this point.  We battled almost every turn in the Med Chamber.  An early Grimtaash from him wiped out a great hand I was saving up.  He got 2 Elis's, and 4 TIE Scouts.  I had 3 Vaders in my hand at that time, but they were all different ones <whew>.  So we just battled, and battled, and battled.  He slowly whittled me down, and took over the Med Chamber.  Draining me for 5 there per turn.  Game over.
Loss by 26
4 (-17)

Game 6:  LS vs Chris Amo's Hunt down Counter Assault deck:
     Can you tell that this day wasn't meant for me yet?  Another Counter Assault deck! Against my little aliens...  Anyways, he hit me for a Counter Assault early, but in this game, I was able to get both of my Grimtaash's whenever I needed them.  Start the cycle.  Play one lost, drain, deploy an operative, Grimtaash goes to the used pile, draw a few cards, get another Grimtaash.  He was able to hurt me a lot in battles, and I wasn't able to find the Nar Shadda Wind Chimes for a late game retrieval.  So the game seemed a lot closer than it really was.  Visage hurt for most of the game, until he came down to my sites with Vader and a Grimtaash told me he didn't have an Elis in sight, so Mowmow put an end to the Visage.
Win by 6
6 (-11)

     It was a looooooong day for me.  Congratulations to Jeff Field who won this tournament going 5-1.  The only other person that I know qualifed was Glen <tito> Wilson.  I'm not sure of the other 2 seats.
     For the sealed deck, I went 3-1 and finished 5th.  Eric Field won  this one, being the only person going 4-0.  So it was a good day to be one of the Field brothers.  I'm not sure who got the 2nd seat from the sealed deck.
     At this point, after playing Star Wars for over 9 hrs, I was just trying to remember where I parked my car.

-Clayton Atkin-

Back to Top...



 

1999 Alderaan Regional Pre-Qualifier- Mountain View, CA-
     Friday night, I'd just gotten home from work after putting in an 11 hour day.  I was beat.  I had given up on any hopes of making the qualifer in Mt. View because I didn't have a way to get there, and I hadn't heard of any of the other locals wanting to make the 2 hour drive.  I hadn't made any new decks either, so I was comfortable in the thought of not playing this weekend.
     The phone rings, its Josh Certo.  Josh has already qualified, but it ends up that he was heading up there anyways with Peter Nordstrom.  Anyways, since they were going up there, they figured they might as well fill the car.
     I looked over at my wife, with the phone still attached to my ear and said, "Hoooneeeey?"  She looked at me, laughed, and said "Go ahead, your gonna keep buggin me until you qualify anyways."  Cool, so everything was set.  Except my decks.  I was too dang tired to build new ones, so I just did what every lazy person would do in my position.  I played the same ones.
     The drive was pretty uneventful.  No near fatalities.  Pretty boring by SW players standards.  Since we had to drive through Livermore to get to the final destination, we  picked up Kevin Shannon.  He'd qualified already as well, but I guess he was bored and wanted to get in some "pick up" games and do some trading.
     Not a bad turnout.  20 people arrived for Thad's first tournament as a Squadron Member. <congratulations Thad>  Noteables in attendance were of course Peter Nordstrom, Dan Mochizuki, and a crippled Brian Cooper.  He did something to his back the night before, so he was hobbling around in pain all day.  To take one of the top 2 slots in this one, I'd have to go through one of them, if not all 3.
     For my Dark deck, I played Hunt Down/SFS.  I made a few moderate changes to the deck.  Like putting the Counter Assaults back in, and taking out the Tarkins.  It was a true space deck now.  Vader goes in the Med Chamber and makes life easy for my little TIE Scouts.  There's a couple of Elis's, just in case my opponent leaves themselves open somewhere.
     For my Light deck, I played my trusty BothOps mains and toys deck.  No changes made to it at all, as It handles pretty much everything.  Everyone and their grandmother knows I play this deck.  No reason for me to change it.  In my opinion, if they want to beat it, they have to prepare for it.

Game 1:  DS vs Mike Mooney's Revolver:
     I had a couple of systems in my opening hand, and a Masterful move, so force generation wasn't a problem at all.  He got 3 of his 2/0 sites out early, and revolved my Meditation Chamber.  I just deployed Vader over there and took advantage of that force drain, placing my objective out of play.
     Come Here You Big Coward was in my opening hand, so he wasn't able to Force drain me for all that much.  He did come to the Chamber and beat up on Vader eventually, but I was able to Dreaded Imperial Starfleet that drain every turn.  I was draining for 6 in space, and he never tried to come up and challenge that.  A late Counter Assault sealed the win against Obi, Leia w/ Blaster, Kal Fal, and a Talz, as he had to lose 8 from that one.
Full Win by 17
2(+17)
Highs: Beating a Revolution deck.  That was one of the problems I had with this deck before I added a few more systems.  CHYBC is a must forevery deck that has problems with Revolvers.
Lowlights: ummm.........
Side notes:  Brian won his first game by 20something, while Peter Lost by 27.  In Peters game, Vader lost a 2nd turn battle, and was Out Of Commisioned. OUCH!!

Game 2:  LS vs Matt Berner's JP Mains and Toys.
     Matt had luck on his side.  Too bad it was the worst luck I've seen in a while.  I do my usual 1st turn Bothan operative, and 2 free spies at the Forsest.  Just my way of getting a quick drain for 2.  For the next couple of turns, I just keep deploying spies to the Forest, all the while, he's activating for 10 and just drawing.  I finally get one of my Grimtaash's and I use it.  Matt had no characters what-so-ever.  He lost 2 Elis's, 2 You Are Beatens, 2 Focused Attacks, and 2 Vaders Sticks.  In seeing this, and with a Houjix and Its A Trap in hand, I deploy 4 operatives at different sites, a couple of more spies, and I start the drain from hell.  He was able to get a couple of Vaders eventually, but it was far too late for him to do anything dramatic.
Win by 26
4(+43)
Highlights:  Winning the game.
Lowlights:  I put Mowmow down with an Operative, and 3 spies against Bubo.  Bubo had great taste and ate the Ithorian spy.
Sidenotes:  Brian won again, and Peter thrashed his 2nd opponent. By this time, Kevin's learning how to play Young Jedi.

Game 3:  LS vs Brian Cooper's ISB Drop and Drain Hell:
     Both of us were too chicken to start with Nightfall/Sundown, we both laughed that doing this would have made for a really quick game.  So, I start with the Barganing Table, and Brian starts with the Fat Lady (Yarna d' al' Gargan).  Luck was on my side most of the day, and it pretty much started with this game.  Scramble was in my opening hand.  He draws up to 12 on his first turn, while I do my usual.
     He then drops a couple of sites, and throws down 2 agents.  I remain patient.  Theres no reason for me to try and go fight those guys right now, since I can block that drain with the bargaining table.  I drop a couple more spies at the forest and draw.  It was in this draw that I got Melas, Houjix, Its A Trap, Twass Khaa, and Luke w/ Saber.
     Brian drops a few more agents, a few more sites, and draws.  Thats when the fun began.  I dropped Luke w/ Saber and an operative to one of his sites where he had 2 agents.  Next words out of his mouth were "you'd better have Scramble to start doing that."  I snickered and dropped it.  I then deployed over to Bothawai and flipped my objective.  We battled, and he lost a few cards, but nothing major.  I was careful to keep a pilot/agent on the table at all times.  I had the advantage early, and now Brian was on the defensive.
     He dropped 3 ORS (Outer Rim Scouts) and Lt Pol Treidum at one of my Bothawai sites and battled.  I lost a Bothan Spy, while he lost a scout.  During that same turn, he's dropping more sites.  Well, there goes my drains.  While he's deploying agents to all most of his sites, I'm doing the same thing, all the while battling his spies on my planet.  I just had way to many characters for his deck to cope with.  And without him able to draw
destinies at most of his sites, it was only a matter of time before I dwindled him down.  His drains were few and far between, and he wasn't able to set up Tatooine occupation until the later portion of the game.  Even so, I only lost about 10 cards total from it.  I eventually cleared all of his characters off of Bothawai, and won by draining him out.
Win by 12
6 (+55)
Highlights:  Having Scramble in my opening hand.  It made a huge difference.
Lowlights:  Not noticing late in the game, that he had Secret Plans out.  Cancelled my retreival for 7.
Sidenotes:  From this point on, I'm not sure what Peter did.  He ended the Day at 3-3.  Theres only 3 undefeates left at this point.

Game 4:  DS vs David Wearne's MWYHL Harvest, 7's Madness:
     Once again, the Jedi gods were looking down upon me on this day.  His deck was absolutely awsome.  Things went bad for him from the beginning.
     Visage took the only Luke in his deck from the top on the 2nd turn.  He wasn't able to test.  He did however, make Vaders life a living hell.  I set up Dreadnaughts at Kiffex, and Corulag, while Bossk In Bus was draining at Kashyyyk.  SFS was set up early, and I deployed them over at Nal Hutta without draining there the entire game as I found early that he was sporting Surprise Assaults with a first turn Monnock.  He tried to play a couple of them, but his low destinies showed up both times, and he ended up losing force from them.  He easily kicked Vaders butt out of the Chamber, so on my next turn, I
deployed DLOTS over to the moisture farm against Chewie, Owen and Beru.  Chewie was choked, and I drew a destiny of 6, but alas, he drew a 7.  Oh well, at least no more Harvests for a while.
     Come Here You Big Coward saved me HUGE this game as well.  When I cleared out the Farm, that took away his drains up on the Executer, and it made his Harvesting difficult.  As the game's getting close to time, I've still got my drain going for 5 in space, while he's Harvesting with Beru and Owen again, getting back 4.  This game came down to me getting DLOTS down on the Farm again, choking Owen, and slaughtering the poor auntie.  With the SFS retrieval every other turn or so, I must have went through 8 Vaders in this game.  A late game Short Range Fighters targeting my TIE Scouts sealed the victory.
Win by 8
8(+ 63)
Highlights:  I was just damn lucky.  I loved his deck.  If he hadn't of lost luke, and was able to test to # 5, I surely would have lost.
Lowlights: How can I complain?
Sidenotes: Brian won big in his game and is currently in 2nd.  I'm  the only undefeated player at this point.  It came up that I was light for my next game, so I couldn't play Brian again.  I think Kevin is about out of quarters, because I'm noticing that he's not spending his time in the arcade anymore.  Thad's only had 3-4 smokes up to this time.  Thats VERY good for him. <haha>

Game 5:  LS vs Kyle Ishimaru's Pure Hunt Down.
     Looking at his scorecard, I noticed that he beat Peter's light with this deck.  Uh-oh, Peter was playing BothOps also.  Kyle drops a couple of CC drain +1 sites, and drops Djas on one of them.  I had the Barganing Table in my opening hand, so I let him stay there for a few turns.  I set up at the Forest and the Swamp with operatives and spies, and just waited to see what he would do.
     He deploys Vader and Stick to my Farm, trying to go for the early drain.  I deploy the Jungle with an operative and a spy there, and I flip my objective.  I then look at Djas.  I can handle the drains, but I don't want to give this guy any reason to think I'll leave his characters alone.  I put Melas down against Djas, and I deploy a Bothan Spy and Han w/ Blaster to the Holotheater, cancelling Visage.  Djas and Melas took each other out.  He continues to just sit at the Farm with Vader and Stick, and proceeds to put Jabba on one of the CC sites. All the while, I'm cancelling his lone drain with operatives, and Bothan Spies on the Barganing Table.  On my turn, I drain for 8, and throw down Brons (Bron Burs) to take care of Jabba.  Once again, we take each other out.
     Things then get interesting.  He throws down Tarkin to keep Vader company, then attempts to Elis them over to the Holotheater.......Quite A Mercenary took care of that one.  I keep my drains up, and deploy Luke w/ Stick to the Holotheater, and move him over to the Med Chamber.  Next turn, he puts Premier Vader down, and attempts to Epic Duel.  I draw a 4 &4, he draws a 0 and 3.  Vader's toast, and the game is over shortly after that as I was draining him for 10 per turn.
Win by 18
10(+81)
Highlights:  Luke pimp slappin his daddy and showing him the power of the Light Side.  Quite A Mercenary.  This card was added a couple of weeks ago, because I was tired of wasting sences to cancel Elis.
Lowlights:  An early Counter Assault hurt me for 7 force, but that was his lone high point of the game.
Sidenotes:  I was the only undefeated person, but there were 2 people at 4-1 with higher differentials than mine.  Brian Cooper was at +94ish, while Dan Mochizuki had come from nowhere to be at +84ish.  So the pressure was on.  If I were to lose my last game, there were no guarentees that I'd get one of the 2 seats for the regional.  Brian and Dan had both just played their Light decks also, so I had to play Kyle again, as he was the highest on his side.

Game 6:  DS vs. Kyle's Hidden Base X-Wing hell:
     Luck was the theme of the day for me, and after looking at my opening hand, I'd knew that it hadn't left.  DLOTS, Alter, and a Monnock.  Also in my hand were the Imperial Holotable, and 2 systems.  I put out the Holotable, and held the systems for force drain fodder, because I would be able to get enough force from his systems.  The drains for 2 instead of 1 were also very appealing.  We both lost to Visage on our first turns.  2nd turn, DLOTS goes to the Med Chamber <started with Presence>, objective flipps, and I Alter Yarnal.  He's only got 8 cards in hand, so I decide to hold onto the Monock for later in the game.  Kid had no idea I was playing space.  I let him get all of his systems out, and he proceeds to flip his objective on his turn.
     Big Mistake.  He should have waited until my turn, before my draw phase.  Then he would have gotten off some pretty good drains.  I was content on eating those drains for 1 turn, but since he did it that way, how can I complain?  On my turn, I deploy a TIE Scout to Tatooine and probe, nope.
     Then I try Bespin, got it.  I then throw out a couple more TIE Scouts to Kiffex where he had nobody.  And I deploy a Dreadnaught to Bespin.  He'll only have a drain of 3 at Kessel, and 1 at hoth.  So I put out the Dreaded Imperial Starfleet.  I move my lone Scout from Tatooine to Bespin.
     I was draining for 4 early, and he was getting hit with Visage every turn.  On his drains, I would lose a system from hand, and put a TIE on the Dreaded Imperial Starfleet.  We battled a few times, but with me being able to Alter S-Foils and Sense Organized Attack every time he tried to mount something, I was able to come up on top most of the time.
     That Monnock is what finalized the victory for me.  I saved it until late.  I drained him for 6, in which he only lost 1 of the drain from hand.  So I used it.  I got 3 X-Wings, 2 All Wings Report In, 2 Rebel Fleets, and 2 Organized Attacks.  Any hopes he had of a comeback were over at that point.
Win by 20
12(+101)
Highlights:  My opening hand.  It doesn't get any better than that against HBX.
Lowlights:  You try to find one.
Sidenotes:  Brian and Dan both lost, so the tournament was mine reguardless of the outcome of my last game.  Brian was still able to grab the 2nd seat despite the loss.  Nobody finished at 5-1.  Kevin did a lot of trading, and made some $$$ by selling some cards.
     Young Jedi was everywhere.  People were playing it between games.  Out of my unlimited packs, I got a Falcon.  All the other stuff were "givaways."  In the 2 YJ packs, I got Darth Maul, and Anikan.  Not too shabby.
     Thanks to Thad for throwing a pretty damn good tournament.  Special thanks to Josh for calling me, if you hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to get this qualifying thing out of the way.  And if you all are still reading this up to this point, thanks for putting up with all of my run-on sentences.
I know, I tend to ramble.

-Clayton Atkin-

Back to Top...



 

2000 California State Championship- Mountain View, CA-
     Is anybody else out there tired of seeing Huntdown and Raltiir Operations dominate the tournament scene?  Wouldn't you like to see a different Dark deck sweep though all the muck of Light Mains and Toys?  If your answer is yes to both questions, sit back and relax.  You'll get a kick out of this one.
Decks:  For the Light Side, there was no doubt what I would be playing.  I'd been having some great results with a Throne Room Mains and Toys deck.  I wouldn't call it Force denial, as much as I would call it deprivation.  Only 1 Revolution, with H'nemthes, Goo Nee Tay, and Civil Disorder.  Basically, I'm activating for 10 more Force than my opponent is each turn.  Smack them down wherever they may go.
For the Dark Side, I went totally against the norm.  Carbon Chamber Testing/ Skrilling Numbers.  Yes, you read that correctly.......Skrilling Numbers.  I went with CCT instead of Court Of The Vile Gangster because Profit can choke out the Court deck.  With CCT, I can actually choke out the Profit.  The key to the deck is its total surprise.  Nobody, and I do mean NOBODY expected to see Dark numbers.  (So for those of you wanting deck lists......IT WONT WORK AGAIN....I ruined it for everyone)  I start with There Is No Try against everything except Hidden Base.
     57 people started the tournament, and from what I heard, only a couple of people dropped.  The only disappointment was that nobody that I know south of Bakersfield showed up.  None of the regulars from LA or San Diego made the trip.
     As I'm writing my decklist for the Light Side, I realize that I didn't put in 1 Grimtaash as I had planned to do all along.  I ask Kevin Shannon, who's sitting right beside me, and knows my decks as well as I do...." 2 Revo's, or 1 Revo and a Grimmy?"  He says 1 and 1, so I go with it.  At the same time, he's torn between which dark deck to play.  So he asks me...."Hey Clay, TIEBo or Cloud City?"  I really don't want to pick his deck for him so I tell him that the CC deck is the better overall deck, but TIEBo would give more people fits.  His TIEBo deck would beat my Light 8 out of 10, while my Light would beat his CC deck 8 out of 10 in my opinion.  So, he fills out decklists for both decks, because he can't decide.
     Kevin walks up to me 5 minutes before we start and hands me a folded deck list and says "Throw it away, I'm going to play this one."  So I take it, tear it up, and trash it.  He says, "I think your right, Cloud City is better, but TIEBo has a better chance of winning today."  I agreed, and then we wait as Carl 'Mike" Hardy starts to announce the pairings................."Clayton, I love TIE Scouts Atkin.......Light (thats an entirely different story all together [Editor's Note: See Claydo's last three tournament reports!]) Vs Kevin, Leave me alone i'm still building my decks Shannon, Dark."  ARGHHHH!!

Game 1:  LS vs Kevin Shannon's TIEBo:
      Kevin starts with Kashyyyk, and Surface Defence for the 3 effects.  Of course, I start Throne Room, Careful Planning with the Farm and Swamp.  I got the Spiral in my opening hand, but no characters for support.  So I get a Nudj, deploy the Yavin War Room, and pick up the rest. This is where I got the Grimtaash. Kevin activates for 4, drops Endor, and puts a TIE at each system.  Hard Core. I  don't have enough in hand to really do much to him, so I deploy Master Luke w/ Stick to my Swamp so I have someone out to Sense/ Alter with if need be.  The drain of 2 doesn't hurt either.  He drains me for 4 for a couple of turns while I'm trying to get something going in my hand.  When Kevin drops Well Guarded, I'm forced to make a move.  I drop Spiral and Chewie w/ Blaster to Kashyyyk and battle his lone TIE.  He loses the TIE and about 5 cards.  I Alter Well Guarded, then hit him with the lost Grimtaash.  This was the game in my opinion.  I got 2 TIE Assault Squadrons, 2 All Power To Weapons, and a couple of TIEs.
      I keep deploying pilots and ships whenever I get them and I keep him on the defensive.  A late game Pride Of The Empire did me about 8 damage, but the outcome was already decided.
Win by 6.
2 (+6)
The Good:  This ends my 4 game losing streak against Kevin
The Bad: Kevin was my prediction to win the state championship.  I ended up being his only loss.
The Ugly: First game tough matchups suck.  Why can't we all just get a newbie?

Game 2:  DS vs Sean Pon's Dagobah Test Mains and Toys
      My first turn I go to look for my Audience Chamber, but its not there.  The East Platform and the AC are both in my force pile.  So he gets to see the deck right off the bat.  Oh well, so much for surprises.  I can see by the look in his eyes though that he's screwed, and he knows it.
     Inserts hit him hard.  He kicked me out of the AC with Master Luke and Obi, but with IAO and Battle Order out, it was alright.  He'd have to activate to drain.  I put 3 Skrillings at the Security Tower and inserted.  He activated for all with no damage.  Then deploys Orrimaarko, Tawss, and Kal Fal to the Carbonite Chamber and moves them over.  I put Pote at the AC, deploy Scum and Villiany, and put 3 more Skrillings at the Security Tower.  Then the nice surprise.....EPP Vader.  Battle.....hit Orrimaarko, and draw a 5.  35 total power to his 11ish.  I lose Vader, he loses everything and some cards.  I then battle with Pote, because Order to Engage is out.  Retreive 2 with Scum, and Ghhhk.  3720 to 1 pops while he's swinging.  It was pretty much like that the whole game.
Win by 17
4 (+23)
The Good: Dark deck-1  Light mains and toys-0
The Bad:  Sean being able to see my whole deck 1st turn.
The Ugly: I figure that Inserts hit him for 29 cards. <ouch>

Game 3:  LS vs Nick Miller's Hunt Down:
     An early Revolution really hampered Nick.  He didn't have Crush (Crush The Rebellion) in his deck and I took quick advantage of that.  2nd turn Revo of the Med Chamber cut his activation down to 4, where it stayed for most of the game.  I was draining him with a Bothan and a H'nemthe at the Holotheatre for the whole game.  He eventually saved up enough to deploy Premier Vader and Lightsaber to my Throne Room, with the help of a Presence Of The Force.  I ate that drain for a few turns while I put Master Luke and Stick at his East Platform with another H'nemthe, with Civil Disorder making an appearance.  I finally got all the anti-dueling cards in hand, and was able to set up my destinies to take out Vader and Tarkin who had just arrived the turn before.  Deploy EPP Obi..<no duel>  Initiate battle....<no duel>  swing at Tarkin....5 <cancel> another 5 <still no duel.......looks good for me> and I draw a battle destiny of 5, clearing the site.  Only activating for 4-6, he never deployed again and lost the game due to Civil Disorder.
Win by 10
6 (+33)
The Good:  I love beating Hunt down
The Bad:  Not being able to clear vader out of my Throne room earlier.  That drain for 4 really sucks.
The Ugly: Only winning by 10 in a game I totally dominated.

Game 4:  DS vs Alfred Dong's Profit:
     I've got to give Alfred some credit.  He was the only person who played any numbers defence that I played all day.  I converted his AC first turn in hopes of choking him.  5 was still enough for him to deploy Ben Kenobi and Stick 2nd or 3rd turn.  He went ahead and freed Han during his next control phase so he was able to hit me for 4.  He deployed his cantina and I'm thinking "yay.....more force for me."
     I'm activating for around 10ish, with a few saved, so now its time for a beatdown.  I deploy Pote, Scum And Villiany, 5 Skrillings, and EPP Vader and initiate battle.  I swing at Ben Kenobi and hit him, while he missed Vader.  With my destiny of 3 I thrashed him 31-14.  He had to lose General Solo and 9 cards.  I lost 2 Skrillings to satisfy attrition.  His next turn he drew up to refill his hand, while I just threw an insert and waited.
     He activated for all he could, which was about 8, and he came at me with his attempt of beatdown.  Master Luke and Ben Kenobi.  One of them had a stick, I just don't remember which one.  He battles.....Force Is Strong, Gift Of The Mentor.....5 battle destinies later and he clears me out of the AC.  The insert came up, but he was packing Dont Froget The Droids...and I grabbed it with Hell To Pay.  Ghhhk was in hand, but fortunately I had enough on the table to cover all the damage.  From there, I just deployed 3 Skrillings to the Security Tower and proceeded to insert 3720 to1.  Once Battle Order and IAO are out.......NO FEAR.  There were a few battles here and there, but the inserts did their damage in full.  He picked up on me a couple of turns after I survived a thrashing in the Cantina against EPP Han and Leia.
Win by 18
8(+51)
The Good: Dark deck-2   Light mains and toys-0
The Bad:  Can't think of anything
The Ugly:  Inserts did approximately 24 in damage.

Game 5:  LS vs Dan Mochizuki's ISB Power:
     Dan just got choked.  Revo, Yavin War Room, and a H'nemthe are in my opening hand.  In my first draw, I get Civil Disorder and Goo Nee Tay.  His first turn he drops Endor: Back Door for some force generation.  He started IAO, so he does get a couple of Docking Bays out.
     I Revo Coruscant, and drop a H'nemthe, Tawss, and Kal Fal to the Back Door and draw.  LOTS of characters.  He deploys 2 agents to 2 different Yavin sites and flips, deploys Blizzard 1 and brings them all together.  We spend the next few turns fighting over Yavin, but with me activating for about 14 to his 6ish, it was only a matter of time before I powered him out.
     I got drains going on at the Endor system, 3 at JP with Obi and Stick, and 2 at my swamp with Master and stick.  He stopped my drain at the Back Door with an Undercover agent.  With my characters all over the table, and his nowhere to be seen, he breaks cover and battles at the Back Door.......hence, commiting suicide while I still got 10 cards in my hand.
Win by 17
10 (+68)
The Good: Total domination.  Flipping his Objective back
The Bad:  Umm, hard pressed to find anything bad about this one.
The Ugly: At the end of the game, I had 12 cards with ability on the table to his 1

Game 6:  DS vs Shawn Ely's Obi's Hut/ Toche Station Mains and Toys:
     Shawn and I are the only unbeatens left out of the field.  Nothing too dramatic about this game.  He had no insert protection at all.  He put EPP Luke out at the Station 2nd turn.  I stay calm and don't show my hand until about the 4th turn....After Ben Kenobi is on the table.
     Activate, deploy IAO, Battle Order, Pote and 3 Skrillings to the AC and Insert.  He takes out quite a few Skrillings thoughout the game, but he couldn't get rid of the 3 that I always put at the Security Tower.  The only way he could win was to drain me out.  But to do that, he'd have to activate and seemingly every time he did, he got popped.  Shawn is playing heavy Sence/ Alter, but he only Altered Scum once.
     After I started inserting, he really didn't want to get popped on a SA draw.  There was one huge battle in the AC mid-game, but he had Mantillian out and was able to lose Yoda, a Ben, and a ship from hand.  From there on, I just moved away from him.
Win by 15
12 (+83)
The Good: Dark deck-3   Light mains and toys-0  Revenge against Shawn, he'd beaten me 2 straight umm, Something about winning the State Championship.
The Bad:  Having to pay for airfair out of my own pocket if I want to play in the North American Championships.
The Ugly:  Inserts hit Shawn for 32

     All In all, I'd say I've had one heck of a year in SWCCG.  I won the San Diego ComicCon in 1999.  Placed 13 at worlds, just missing day 2 by 6 differential.  And now winning the State Championship in California which is reguarded as one of the tougher regions in the world (Alderaan).
Now its time for some props:
Kevin Shannon and Damon Looper: For being my playtesting partners and putting up with my crazy deck ideas.
Todd Feldman: For just being the Mentor
The Frisco crew:  Just for bringing the term "Hard Core" into our vocabulary.
Mike Hardy:  Running a great tourny after you scrapped the software.

The reason I love California:  Its Gotta Be the Cheese!!!!

-Clayton Atkin-

Back to Top...


BayCon 2000 Tournament Report- San Jose, CA-
     Sorry boys and girls that it's been so long since my last tournament report.  The fact of the matter is, I took a little over a month off from SWCCG.  Seeing that regionals and the ComicCon are right around the corner I really wanted to avoid any possibilities of getting burnt out.
     I honestly hadn't planned on playing in this event either.  The night before was spent partying at one of my friends' "going away" party.  (we're still friends, we just don't work together anymore.  = ))   So, I crawl in the door at 4am with no thoughts of anything but sleep.  Too bad my wife and children had no idea when I got home.  So, to make a longer story shorter, I ended up with about 3 hours sleep.  I take the family out to breakfast (Grand Slams at Denny's are heaven sent) and my wife (Kim) informs me that Todd called the night before.  "He said something about the guys from Chico being down for some tournament," she said.  That would be Jason Makahon, the best deckbuilder I know.   So, now I'm feeling somewhat obligated to play, and she knows it.  It just wouldn't be right for Jason to drive 3+ hours for a tournament, and to have me skip out on it.   So, we get home from breakfast at 9:30ish, and I decide to call Todd.
     He finally returns my call at 10:30ish.  It appears that they stayed up all night just playing pick up games.  After some mumbling back and forth, we decide to meet at our rendezvous point at Toys-R-Us at 11:30.  Closer to 12:30, they finally pull into the parking lot, I jump into the mini-van with Jason and Brett Nottingham.  Todd, and Eric Field rode with Brad Rowell.  Its an hour and a half drive, and we drive right through Livermore, so we go by Kevin Shannon's house and pick him up.
     Everyone is starving (or hung over = ) so we stop off at In and Out Burger in Pleasanton.  While were there, Kevin and Eric rip off a couple of the hats that the employees wear.  (The paper ones that say In and Out on the sides of them)
     BayCon is a huge Sci-Fi convention that was being held at the DoubleTree Hotel in San Jose.  We were greeted at the front door by Satan.  Once inside, the people were getting a little more strange.  Klingons, Romulans, fat versions of Number One (Will Riker), Aliens, wizards, dwarfs, and even a couple of dragons were walking around.  I was feeling a little overdressed for the occasion with my button down shirt/shorts/and flip flops on my feet.  Kevin and Eric fit right in, and even got some compliments with their In and Out hats.  I'm wondering.......Is this what heaven would be like for all the LARPS?  (live action role players)
     So after meandering around for about 10 minutes, we finally find the gaming room.  The tournament starts about a half an hour later with 20 people in attendance.  Not to shabby for a tourney that wasn't even hyped until the week prior.
     Decks:  For light I went with the same Yavin Mains deck that I've been doing well with.  Its not a force choke, but a force deprivation.  I give them nothing.  For dark: My version of Kevin Shannon's TieBo.  "nuff said"

Game 1: Yavin Mains vs Mario's Vile Gangster:
     Mario was getting force screwed Hard Core.  I got some of my locations out early and was activating upwards of 12 to his 5 for most of the game.
     Every time he saved up and deployed something, I deployed more and spanked him.  I took over both of his Jabba's palace sites and put out Civil Disorder.  He just couldn't save up enough force to do me any kind of damage.
Full Win by 39
2(+39)
The Good:  Not showing any signs of ring rust
The Bad:  Winning by too much early...I like to be in the middle of the pack and work my way up.
The Ugly:  My headache.  I'm popping Ibuprofen like there's no tomorrow.

Game 2: TieBo vs Eric Field's Profit:
     First turn, I drop Presence of the Force on Kaskyyyk and a lone tie (Hard Core).  In my first draw, I get Kiffex and it goes out next turn with a single tie.  In my hand I've got a ghyyk and an imperial barrier, so I've got no fear at all.
     Eric flips his Profit as soon as he can, but has to waste a turn paying for his retrieval. (secret plans)  He spreads out and is hitting me for about 7 a turn.  3 from drains, and 4 from the objective.  I've got U-3PO blocking a drain for 2, and I'm losing a tie to the Dreaded Imperial Starfleet for one of the other drains.
     I'm draining him for 9 a turn, and with my mass retreival going on he can't keep up.
Full Win by 25
4 (+64)
The Good: TieBo is still unbeaten.
The Bad:  Ummm........where?
The Ugly:  Still got the headache.  I've graduated from Ibuprofen and am now looking for extra strength Tylonol.

Game 3: TieBo vs Brett Nottingham's Profit:
     I have Endor in my opening hand this time, so I place a lone tie at Kaskyyyk and at Endor (Hard Core Baby!!).  Brett activates and picks up, leaving 2 force.  I activate, anounce my first drain........Surprise assault.  I lose 2.  I announce my 2nd drain......Surprise assault.  I lose 3 more.  Well, that was productive.  I have to drain to win, so I don't shy away at all.  Ends up that those were his only SA's in the deck.
     He retrieved them when he finally flipped, but by the time he got to play them, I had both of my Tarkins Orders in hand.  Right after he flipped he left Epp Obi and Premier Han alone at a site with no saved force. ( he had to use it all to retrieve his 10 force with Secret Plans out)  I took advantage of the situation.  EPP Vader comes down...I hit Solo, and took out EPP Obi with attrition.  I'm now draining for between 4-6 early to his 0.  It took about 4 turns for another Han to hit the table, by that time it was far too late.
Full win by 29
6 (+93)
The Good: TieBo straight up rocks.
The Bad:  Nobody had any extra strength Tylonol
The Ugly:  The Magic players were starting to get rowdy, and with my headache (hangover) still running amuck, they were starting to really annoy me.

Game 4: Yavin Mains vs Paul Todd Feldman's Vile Gangster:
     We each played the waiting game for a few turns, getting our hands set up for what we wanted to do.  He used monnok'd me early, then came down to the AC with his alien hit squad to get the fun started.  He put down just a little too much for me, so instead of going to play in the AC I put Premier Obi and his stick at my <> Farm on Yavin.  (His hit squad consisted of Jabba, 4lom, Iggy, and Evasan....thats why I didn't go to him)
     I'm just trying to stay even on the force loss for right now.  I'm draining him for 2, while he's draining me for 1 plus the 1 I've got to lose from the objective.  He then puts out the Death Star and Battle Order.  Were both activating for enough, so this is just a minor annoyance at the moment.
     Next turn, I deploy the Tantive with Melas and a H'nemth to the DS.  He deploys Kashyyyk and counters my assault on the Death Star with Boba in Slave 1 and Zuckuss in Mist Hunter.  I draw a 5 (bye bye Boba) and he draws a 3....so I lose the H'nemth.  He moves the DS to parsect 1, and moves the Mist Hunter to Kashyyyk.  So, I've got a nice drain going on.....but I'm having to pay for it.
     I put Orimaarko and EPP Leia at an unoccupied Tatooine site to stop the loss from his objective.  His drains are now free, so he spends a few turns getting his had built up and setting up his destiny draws.  Eventually Obi bites it, and Orimaarko and Leia die a grizzley death.  The only drain I've got going on is at the Death Star, while he's hitting me for 4 plus 1 from the objective.  I can't get anything going and he drains me out.
Full Loss by 5
6 (+88)
The Good:  It was a very fun game to play.  Todd and I usually argue like cats and dogs when we play.......but this game was actually peaceful.  A nice change.
The Bad:  My light deck has lost a total of 3 times out of 15 games.  2 of those losses are to Todd.  The man has my number.
The Ugly:  By this time, my headache is so bad, I'm asking around for some Cyonide to releave the pain.  = )
Todd's the only undeafeated player, but has a timed win over Kevin.  This would come into play later.

Game 5: Yavin Mains vs Kevin Shannon's Abyssin Dark Deal Objective:
     Force deprivation would not work against this because he can pull all the stuff out he needs with the objective.  Traffic Control is in my opening hand, so I'm able to build my deck and just wait for him to do something.
     On about the 3rd turn or so, he deploys the Bespin system and just drops Zuckuss there.  I go Tantive, Melas, Jerron Webb and battle.  He loses the ship and a few cards.  No big deal, but it opens up the game.  Next turn, he decides to go hard core.  Bossk at Cloud City, and an Abyssin to 3 different CC sites.......Dark Deal.
     Luckilly, my deck is very character rich.  Bron Burs to one site, Obi wan to a 2nd, and 2 bothans to the 3rd.  I clear him off the table.  I leave Obi by himself and put the bothans with Bron.  I get a couple of good drains in before he starts his comeback.  Myo in the AC with a hit-squad, Scum and Villiany, and First Strike.
     I'm draining him for between 6-8 per turn, but he just drops Abyssins at 3 different locations and battles at each of them to retreive 9.  This goes on for a few turns, then I notice his hand is down to 1 card.  I deploy a few more characters to his open sites and I win by draining him out before he can do any more retreiving.
Full Win by 9
8 (+97)
The Good:  2 wins in a row over Kevin (yay!!)  The headache is starting to subside.
The Bad:  Kevins deck was great, but sucked to play against.  Its like playing my 60 card deck against his 110.  Thats honestly how much retrieval he had going.
The Ugly:  Kevin and Eric were still wearing those Gawd awful hats, but they still looked more "normal" than 3/4 of the people there.

Game 6: TieBo vs Kevin Shannon's HB Stuff:
     Kevin got a Gawd draw, and thus was able to hold off TieBo for quite some time.  He got Super Falcon out early and made life misserable for my lil' ol' Ties.  The whole game was a cat and mouse affair with us picking our spots.  Drains were at a minimum.  He pulled an early OMDH (Our Most Desperate Hour) retreiving 9, but never saw it again.  He flipped shortly after, but I probed his HB within 2 turns.
     This game would take all night, as I'm retreiving a ton with Sinear Fleet Systems.  As we reach the one minute mark, Kev counts his cards and says he has 16 left.  I count mine, and I have 19.  I draw 3 cards......and time is called.
     I knew that Feldman had lost and everyone else had 2 losses.  My differential was so much higher then everyone elses, that it really didn't matter to me if I got the points for winning the game.  All I needed was a timed win or a true tie to come out on top.
True Tie  +/- 0
9 (+97)
The Good: Kevin and I ended up finishing the game on our own time anyways.  40 minutes later I won by 16. Its all about Pride of the Empire BABY!!!!!
The Bad:  Its 10:00pm and I've had 3 hours sleep over the last 2 days.  We still have about 2 hours to go before I can crawl in my front door.
The Ugly:  My headache is finally totally gone, but i'm too tired to care.

     So, I end up taking BayCon 200, and Feldman gets 2nd.
     Props:  Kevin and Eric for the Hats.  Todd for the non-argumentative game.  Jason for comming down and doing all the driving
     Slops:  Fat Trekkies....if you got the belly, you gotta be a Klingon.  Nothing against tubby people.......I'm one of you.  The bartender at Ridgeways.  When I say "another pitcher for the table" your supposed to tell me NO.

-Clayton Atkin-

Back to Top...


Sanctioned  Tournament Report- Sacramento, CA-

     Sacramento.  The capitol of California used to be a haven for great SWCCG players.  That haven has been destroyed over the past year.  There are various reasons for this which include childish behavior, and squadron neglect.  How the heck are you supposed to keep interest alive when there are no tournaments being held?  Thats simple.......you don't.
     Thankfully, Carl "Mike" Hardy, a squadron member who gives a crap recently moved to the Sactamento area.  Hopefully, with his enthusiasm, we can help him resurrect SWCCG in that area.  Unless I'm working, or dead, I will support Mike's tourneys no matter where they are.
     On Thursday I get an email from the Alderaan Listserv that reads, "Any plans this weekend?  CANCEL THEM!!"  (yes, we have our own listserv in Northern California) Now thats enthusiasm.....either that or psychotic, not sure which one yet.  A few hours later, I receive an email from Todd Feldman ranting something like "yeah, Sacto would be great.....plenty of people willing to give away rating points..."  or something to that effect.  Now I've never been one that has been too stingy about giving away some points, and heck, if it pulls a little more interest to get some of the big names out there....I'm all for it.
     I call Todd on Saturday morning, and everybody decided to meet at the Gauntlet here in Modesto at 9:30, and we'd all just carpool up.  I get there at 9:25 and everybody is waiting for me.  Present company consists of Peter Nordstrom, Paul Todd Feldman, Eric and Jeff Fields.  I decide to go ahead and drive, so they all pile into my car for the hour + trip.  No near fatalities caused by us, but we did pass a flipped Jeep Cherokee on the way up.  Honestly, it was already flipped by the time we got up to it.  We arive at the Florin Rd Mall with plenty of time to spare.  Once they open the gaming room we get settled in, and wait for Mike to show.  Guess he got caught hard in the traffic caused by the flipped jeep.  The tournament was due to start at 11:00.......so of course, we get started promptly at 11:30.
     Decks:  Same as they have been for a few tournaments now.  Kevin Shannon's TieBo for dark, and my TR (Throne Room) Mains deck for light.  Revisions to the light deck consist of adding another Grimtaash, Oola, and another location.

Game 1:  TR Mains vs Chris Giles Dark Deal:
     Chris started with the downtown plaza.......and thats all he got.  I threw down Obi and saber first turn and started draining him right off the bat.  Re-enforcements came down when needed, but I never lost that drain the entire game.  Once Civil Disorder hit the table it was over.
Full Win by 38
2 (+38)

Game 2:  TieBo vs Brett Nottingham's MWYHL/Y-Wing/Numbers
     Brett's starting effect was Rebel Fleet, so I knew right off the bat what was going on.  I look at my opening hand........and its all blue and a ghyyk.  So, I activate for 5 and drop a lone tie to Kashyyyk and pick up.  Got Rebel barrier in that draw.  Brett drops Raltiir, that effect that lets him retreive a y-wing each turn, Kessel, and goes to look for Yoda's hut.  Its not there and I get to verify on his first turn.  Exactly what I expected, except for the numbers.  Good thing I start with Surface Defence for all 3 effects.
     I'm playing with no fear since I've got both the ghyyk and the barrier in hand, so I deploy lone ties to both Raltiir and Kessel.  Brett is planning on a beatdown.  He plays Organized Attack lost and gets 3 Y-wings.  He deploys 2 of them to Kashyyk and 2 more to Kessel and battles at both locations.  I just lose the ties plus 1 force at each system and give him an evil grin.  I activate for 7.  Drop a Dreadnaught at Kashyyyk, and deploy 4 ties for free.  Battle, All Power To Weapons.....I smoke him 25 to 4.  That was the beginning of the end.  His inserts only hit me for 2 at a time because Resistance was in full effect.
Full Win by 26
4 (+64)

Game 3:  TieBo vs Peter Nordstrom's Profit
     I do my usualy lone tie to Kashyyyk on the first turn.  He deploys epp luke to the AC on his first turn.  I drain for 2.......and he loses a Double Agent and an Artoo.  High destinies have me scared for a little bit, but he never saves any force during his draw.  Within only a few turns, I have ties sitting at Kiffex, Kashyyyk, Tatooine, and Kessel.  While he flips his objective and spreads out early.
     I get EPP Vader out against a lone EPP Han.  I initiate battle......Run Luke Run!!  I still chop up Han, while Luke and Vader both bite it with attrition.  Since I've gotten rid of Han, I've just cut his drains down to a minimum while I'm hitting him for 6 a turn.  Lando in Falcon make an appearance, but they get barriered.  Next turn, they get beat down.
Full Win by 23
6 (+87)

Game 4:  TR Mains vs Paul Todd Feldman's Vile Gangsters
     My TR Mains deck has a total record of 17-3 up to this point, but 2 of those losses are to Todds Vile Gangster deck.  The man just has my number.  First turn, I drop EPP luke and Kal Fal to the AC, just to try to take an aggressive approach.  I get a drain there for a couple of turns, and I decide to force his hand by throwing Civil Disorder on his side of the table.  He counters with EPP Vader and 4-Lom.
     He battles and we clear each other out.  For the next 5-6 turns, we battle back and forth over JP locations, with neither of us getting any real advantage.  Were both stacking our destinies and just waiting for the right moment to attack in full force.  I've got Obi and stick, Orimaarko, Jerron Webb, and EPP Han at the Audience Chamber.  He's got 4-Lom, Iggy, Dannik Jericho, Jodo Cost, and Dengar with Blaster sitting accross from them.
     I've got Chewie w/blaster in my hand, and my destinies set up to clear the location......except that Chewie got Barriered.  With only 2 saved force I can't move them away........so I decide to stay put.  Dengar proceeds to sniper both Chewie and Han during his control phase.....everybody else who is sitting on my side of the AC is close to following them to the lost pile.  Todd battles and clears me out.  I took over space entirely, but he's got the edge and I can't make up any ground from then on.
Full Loss by 9
6 (+78)

     Now my light has lost a total of 4 games, with 3 of them being to the same deck.  Oh well, there's no such thing as a perfect deck.  Todd ends up winning the tournament, while I finish in 2nd.  It was a fun tournemant, and I hope that we were able to help spark some interest back into the local players.

-Clayton Atkin-

Back to Top...


ComicCon 2000 Open Tournament Report- San Diego, CA-

     This is the tournament that I've been waiting all year for.  It's hard to imagine, but I was actually feeling pressure going into this one.  In the few years that the open has been held in San Diego, not a single defending champion did any better than 4-2 the next year.  It was my goal to change that.
     As you all know, decks were an issue for everyone.  Death Star II being released on Wednesday put a damper on everyones well layed out plans.  So, after buying my four boxes and going through cards all that day, I decided that the
best route to go would be with a couple of good old fasion balanced battle decks.
      I knew exactly what I was going to do for light.  It was just a matter of changing a few cards in my pre-existing Throne Room Mains deck.  I replaced Jerren Webb with Lt.  Blount.  Red Leader in Red 1 was replaced by Home One.
Home One war room took the place of the Yavin IV war room, and Honor of the Jedi replaced one of the sences.
     For those of you who don't know the power of Honor of the Jedi, here's a brief list of what your missing.  Unless your opponent occupies 3 battlegrounds it cancels the effects of :  Visage, Occupation, Do or do not...if your playing SAC, and First Strike.  It also acts as Come Here You Big Coward by reducing those pesky force drains at non-battlegrounds by 2.  Other direct damage cards that are reduced are Pride of the Empire, and even 3,720 to 1 is reduced by 2.  I'm sure that I am missing a few more, but I think that I've justified that card going into almost every light side deck out there.
     For a dark deck, I really had no idea what I wanted to do.  I knew what I should do, and that was Ralltiir, but I'd never had any kind of success with it at all.  Kevin Shannon had put one together the week before for the ENDURO.  (I
know, I still owe you guys a Tournament Report for that one) and he did very well with it.  I was impressed on how it was able to dominate the local EBO meta.  So, Kevin calls me on Wednesday night and asks me what to do for light.  While at the same time, I'm asking him about dark.  So, in a round about way, we just convinced eachother to go with each others decks.  With all the new fun imperials, and the Emperor, RalOps was the way to go.  (P.S.  Please hold off on requests for a decklist.  Our regional is this next weekend and I don't want to have to face too many versions of the KevClay RalOps deck, or the ClayKev TR Mains deck).
     No near fatalities on this years roadtrip.  The only bummer was that it took almost 3 hours just to get from LA to San Diego on the 405.  Wassup wit that??
     Thursday night we finally get to our hotel room and everyone is starving.  I am too, but I've still got a dark deck to make.  Everyone goes and grubs at the Spaghetti Factory except myself and Jason Makahon.  I get it built in about an
hour and then I start playtesting it against Jason.  It wins 3 out of 4 against Elom hell.  This is very encouraging because the Eloms don't face all the deploy bonus's that a mains and toys deck would, and I was still able to get through it.  In the middle of one of our games, everyone gets back with a full belly.  If you've never eaten at a Factory, do yourself a favor and go.  The bread alone is worth it.  A few minutes later, Kevin calls from the airport and needs a ride to the room to avoid the 30 dollar taxi fair.  Brett Nottingham, and Eric and Jeff Field go pick him up.  When they get back, I hand the RalOps to Kevin.  We spend the next few hours teching it out and playtesting it against everyone who wanted to play.  We were sure of one of two things.....It was either the best dark deck we could possibly make, or everyones light side sucked so bad that it didn't matter.  For ego's sake, we convinced ourselves that it was a great dark deck.
     The next morning Kevin, Eric, and myself go for some grub and walk over to the convention center together.  We got there about an hour early, which meant that we had way to much time to think about our decks.  Kevin and I made some
minor changes at that time, but all in all we stayed with what we had.  Juz walks in right after us and comes over and looks at my decks.  He gives a little smile and asks if I'm ready to defend my title.  I smile back, and re-introduce him to Kevin.  They met at DragonCon, but I wanted to make sure that Justin knew who he was.  "Kevin, this is Justin, Justin, this is Kevin Shannon.  If I don't win it, he is my pick to take it all this year."  (yeah, I predicted it........just ask Juz) A few minutes later Kyle H walk up to me and says "you know that a lot of people are predicting you to win this one."  As if I don't feel enough pressure.........geeez!!
     Theres about a half an hour to go still and I'm up at the control desk talking to Nhat Lai.  Then I notice Gary Carmen walk in.  Talk about unexpected.  (last years world champ for those of you who don't know) Gary had just flown in to watch the open, and he'd brought Michael Riboulet with him on this trip.  A small group of us stand around and talk tech for the next half an hour or so, until they start getting things organized for the eventual start.
     This year, instead of shouting out the match ups, they posted them up on the board.  Saves time......yes, but in my opinion it takes away from a lot of the personality of the huge events.  You know, hearing the early tough match ups and listening to the participants go Oooooooo.  Hell, I didn't even realize that Tim Guzman was there until someone had told me after game 5.  Now finally, off to the games.

Game 1:  Dark vs James Floydd's new light objective speeder deck:
     Everone says that you've got to be lucky as well as good.  This game proved it.  James spread out with sand and snow speeders early and avoided beatdowns with Its a traps.
     He got out Manuvering Flaps early, so I had to play very cautious.  I captured Luke with epp Vader and moved into the Hutt with him to avoid any speeder beatdown.  He was outdraining me 5-2 early, and was Figrin'ing every turn to get one back.
     The game turned when he made a mistake and forgot that he had to pay extra for General Solo on Raltiir.  (+2 because of the objective and +2 because of bad feeling) I barriered him, and so he didn't have enough force to come at
me with the 5 or so speeders that were in his hand.  I got out my 4th <> site, deployed to it, moved a few characters and flipped.  Game was mine from there on as his drains suddenly went down to 1.  Putting Zuchuss in MH at Kashyyyk sealed it as I was hitting him for 6 a turn in drains.
Full Win by 12
2 (+12)

The Good:  Winning a game that I probobly shouldn't have.
The Bad:  I won, what bad could there be??
The Ugly:  Juz, Gary, and Michael watched most of my game.  I probobly gave a very crappy first impression to Michael.  I made some stupid mistakes early which should have cost me.

Game 2:  Light vs James Bottomley's Set Your Course Manipulater:
     I was very worried about this game.  James had gone undefeated with this deck a few weeks prior and it was very sound.  He gets out all of his docking bays on the first turn with the DS docking bay control center, so he's activating for BOOKOO.  I put Luke and a H'nemth at the CC Docking Bay and begin draining.  He gets jacked for characters early and he can't find Miyoon at all.  I wax him in a couple of battles and make a very quick game of it.
Full Win by 32
4(+44)

The Good:  Playing a near perfect game.  It was so quick that I had time to go get some grub.
The Bad:  Taking out a friend
The Ugly:  I notice that Kevin is playing Todd a couple of tables behind me.  Tough early matches suck.  We need to constitue the Newbie rule until game 3.  <wink>

Game 3:  Light vs Patrick "Julio" Garcia's RalOps:
     Patrick and I played each other in last years team event and had a blast.  I love playing the people from the San Diego area.  They are there to have fun.  Anyways, to the game.  I get Luke and a H'nemth to his jungle 2nd turn, with Goo Nee Tay.  He just got choked.  I was activating for over 18 by the 6th turn to his 6-8.  So, everywhere that he
went to, I went to with double the power and waxed him.  Another quick game with the light side.
Full win by 28
6(+72)

The Good:  It was a fun game.  He called me "skip" the whole time.  "The force is with you skip."  While I was calling him Julio.  Gary watched this whole game.  I think I redeamed my honor with the Brits.
The Bad:  None
The Ugly:  The prices of hot dogs were outrageous!!

Game 4:  Dark vs DJ Pierazek's Profit:
     I was able to flip on the 2nd turn while he was just stacking characters at the Audience Chamber.  The Emperor makes his presence felt with Overseeing It Personally.  So my drains on Ralltiir just doubled.  I was hitting him for 7 a turn to his 1 from his objective.  He comes to Ralltiir to battle and gets barriered.  Next turn I come down with a hoard of
walkers and thrash him.
Full Win by 21
8(+93)

The Good:  DJ and I have traded cards online for the past couple of years.  It was cool to finally meet him.  Kevin is still undefeated.  He took out the 97 ComicCon champ Evan Ferguson.
The Bad:  Thrashing him.  He didn't have a chance.
The Ugly:  I'm wanting another 5 dollar soda already

Game 5:  Dark vs Steve Greenburg's Docking Bay Stuff:
     Leave it to Steve to come up with some crazy stuff.  He starts with Endor system and 3 effects.  The one that lets you pull a general twice per game, and makes it so I don't activate at the Endor system was one of them.  So, he pulls Nadine I think, and puts him up at a Docking Bay.  Uses his gametext and grabs a scout every turn.  (very mean stuff) He keeps putting these scrubs at DB's and makes his activation absolutely HUGE.  Then he starts Revolutioning my stuff.  (WTH?)
     I have to save for a few turns to get some force, but I finally get enough going to flip my objective.  Steve had the force, but just didn't have the beats early to keep me from flipping.  So, every turn for a while, I used 2 force during my control phase to grab an Alter.
     It was slow, but I eventually got rid of his Revolutions.  One of which cause a huge beatdown at my Docking Bay where he had planted a random scrub.  Once the choke was gone, I set up the Emperor with Overseeing It Personally, and stuck Zuckuss in MH at Kashyyyk to eventually drain him out.
Full win by 19
10(+112)

The Good:  A tough win against a world finalist.  Steve is one of the great deckbuilders out there.  Never expect the usual when playing him.  Kevin won again also, taking out Greg Miller.
The Bad:  I'm in first place now.  I can feel the target on my back.
The Ugly:  I find out shortly that Kevin and I are the top 2.  Damn, I wanted Kevin in the final.  Oh well.

Game 6:  Light vs Kevin Shannon's KevClay RalOps Deck:
     We both know that he should win this 8 out of 10.  The only shot I have is to go to him early and cause some damage.  He puts a random scrub at his executer docking bay first turn, but doesn't get any Ralltiir locations.  Very smart.  He knows that I'd take over on his planet early, so he's not giving me anywhere to go until he's ready.
     I got a Bothan Spy in my opening hand, but wait until my 2nd turn to go thrash the scrub with the spy and Orimaarko.  He loses a few cards, but it was the jump I needed.
     He bides his time and gets everything set up in his hand.  Then in one turn, he lays it all down and flips.  My drains are suddenly gone, while he's adding to his destinies everywhere now.  Its all uphill for me from then on.  I do some battle damage here and there, and hit him with uncontrollable fury for about 12 cards, but in the end it wasn't enough.  Full Loss by 8
10(+104)

The Good:  If I'm going to lose to anyone, I'm glad that its Kevin.
The Bad:  James Lafferty won by enough to sneak over me and play Kevin for this years title.  You'd think that +104 would be enough wouldn't you?
The Ugly:  I can't complain at all.  I won this event last year, won the state championship, and took 3rd at this years ComicCon.  Not bad for a scrub huh?

     As you all know by now, Kevin thrashed James in the final winning with our dark by 26, and with our light by 18.  It really makes me feel proud that my best bud in the game finally is going to get the recognition that he deserves.
I know that he'll do great at DecipherCon.

     Mad Props go to:  Kevin of course.  The bread at the Spaghetti Factory.  Gary Carmen and Michael Riboulet for some damn funny stories.  Juz for running a very smooth tournament.  James Lafferty just for being himself.  Truely one of the great guys in the game.  The kids absolutely adorable man.  Congratulations.

     Mad Slops go to:  Whoever the moron was who decided to run a DSII/Endor Sealed Deck in the middle of the Open.
     Decipher for the lack of prize support.  WE NEED TO BRING BACK THE GLASS. There is definately a sence of pride when your carrying around a coaster that says "yadda place finish 2000 San Diego ComicCon."  I've got a few, but think about the newer players who are striving for some glory.  I know that its a weak argument that someone needs a piece of plastic to feel good about themselves, but its the truth.  Give back the Glass so the people have something to show, rather than just having a sence of accomplishment.
     Decipher once again.  WHERES MY BINDER??  Has any of the State/Province Champions received their booby prize yet??  just curious

     For those of you who are still reading, I hope you enjoyed it.  I had a great time and I'm looking forward to next years open down there.  Until next time....PEACE!!

-Clayton Atkin-

Back to Top...