Star Wars LCG NACC Tournament Report - Fifth Place

For those who don’t know me, my name is James Booker and I live in Lakewood, Ohio. I post under the username “America” on the cardgamedb.com forums and I have been active in card games from the time I was a small child. I started playing Decipher’s Star Wars CCG in 1997 and I still dabble a bit in the game in its current form that is administered by the Star Wars CCG Players’ Committee. When Decipher lost the Star Wars license, I always hoped a company would keep the Star Wars CCG mechanics and reboot the game because I believed Star Wars CCG was the greatest card game ever made. As the years went by, this hope dissolved and I started to yearn for an in-print Star Wars card game that wasn’t atrocious – like the game Wizards of the Coast released that required you to roll dice the entire time. Last year at GenCon, I sat through a demonstration of Fantasy Flight Game’s second attempt at a Star Wars card game with my good buddy Brad Eier. While the game lacked the depth of Decipher’s version, it appeared to be a fairly decent game representation of the Star Wars universe in a card game form. A few months later, I bought a few copies of the core set and started playing some games.

Since the game was released, I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some solid folks locally who play. K.C., who posts as Boba Fett on cardgamedb.com, and my good buddy Ryan Patterson played a fair number of games with me since the game released. Also, we have conversations about decks and share ideas and formulate strategies. These relationships have had a tremendous positive impact on by ability to play the game.

During regional season, I was hindered by a freak knee injury I suffered in early April that led to me tearing my meniscus. Due to the inability to bend my knee before I had surgery and my immobility after surgery due to being on crutches for 8 weeks, I couldn’t make it to as many regional tournaments as I would have liked. Additionally, I graduated law school in May and was destined to spend the entire summer studying for the bar exam. The time commitment for bar study also took away time I could allocate toward my hobbies including card games. While all of my friends were out having fun this spring and summer, I was cooped up in my house memorizing the elements of defamation while allowing my knee to heal. I guess I know what Bananarama tried to convey in Cruel Summer.

At the end of July, I took the bar exam. Once that happened, I was free to return to leading a normal life. I was able to get some games in with K.C. and Ryan the weekend before GenCon at a local tournament held at Heroes Haven in Mansfield, Ohio. After losing to K.C. in both of my games, I figured out what changes I needed to make before GenCon. At that tournament, I was playing Sith Scum using 2x Wraith pod, 2x Greedo, 2x Feeding the Pit, 2x Emperor, and 2x Vader. For light side, I was playing 2x Guardian, 2x Luke, 2x Han, 2x Chewie, and 2x Falcon. The game I lost with the light side deck was due to K.C. getting double Counsel of the Sith and getting Vader out first turn with a fistful of Sith events. This led me to jamming 2x Council of the Sith in my dark side deck for GenCon. I thought I could play without them, but Council of the Sith is just too good. As for changes to the light side deck, I just hoped my opponent doesn’t ever draw 2x Counsel of the Sith against me.

On Thursday morning, I get to the convention center and head back to the card game area. Even though the event had a posted start time of 11:00, 11:00 was when registration started. We didn’t start the tournament for at least another hour. Eventually, pairings were posted.

Here are the decks I used for the tournament:

Dark Side (Scum): 2x Vader, 2x Emperor, 2x Council of the Sith, 2x Feeding the Pit, 1x Cruel Interrogations, 1x Greedo

Light Side (Jedi): 2x Guardian, 2x Luke, 2x Han, 2x Chewie, and 2x Falcon

Round 1 – Andrew from California

Game 1 – My Dark Side vs. Andrew’s Shield Deck

Andrew started Spies and Smugglers and started The Defense of Cloud City, Last Defense of Hoth, and another objective that escapes my mind. Andrew’s strategy was to put shields on everything that came into play and try to end the game with Preparation for Battle. This game was extremely awkward because I needed to rely on Vader for his removal but I wasn’t able to play him early due to never drawing him. Andrew played an early Security Control Tower and this frustrated my ability to clear the board. However, I was able to commit units to the force and tick up the dial by two for most of the game. For the most part, this game was uneventful because his units didn’t have blast icons and couldn’t damage my objectives. Due to me not being able to break through his shielded units, I couldn’t destroy objectives to increase the dial until late in the game and this game took about 50 minutes to play. I was able to get the dial to 12 by blowing up 2 objectives on my last turn. Andrew wasn’t able to blow up any of my objectives.

Game 2 – My Light Side vs. Andrew’s Sith deck

Time was called right when the game was getting interesting, but nothing significant happened and neither of us were able to win on our last turn.

Round 2 – Jeremy from Michigan

Game 1 – My Light Side vs. Jeremy’s Sith deck w/ Feeding the Pit and Force Wraiths

My opening hand had no resources and no guardians, which were essential because I did not draw a Life Debt for a starting objective. So I took a mulligan and drew 2 Crossfires, a Twi’lek Loyalist, a Twi’lek Smugger, a lightsaber, and a Twist of Fate. The objectives Jeremy revealed were two Counsel of the Sith and a Feeding the Pit. He played a Royal guard and a Kuati Security Team and committed the Royal Guard to the force. I played both characters and attacked with the Loyalist to empty my and try to take the force back. He force chocked the loyalist and I was entering a world of pain. On his next turn, he played Darth Vader and started attacking. Eventually, I was able to stabilize with a Millennium Falcon bringing in a Luke, Chewie, and Han. However, I was never able to take the force from him and when the dial hit 12, we had each blown up one objective.

Game 2 – My Dark Side vs. Jeremy’s Sleuth deck

I tweaked my deck to deal with sleuths and it worked out pretty well. I was able to get and keep the force, but I couldn’t be too aggressive because I didn’t want to lose the game due to not having defenders. This game saw me playing Vader with his lightsaber and this allowed me to deal with his blockade runner. Various guys like Royal Guard, Greedo, Kuati Security Team, and other Rodians allowed me to defend my objectives. Unfortunately, my Mitt Romney-conservatism didn’t pay off and I was only able to blow up one objective before the dial reached 12.

Round 3 – Dave from Canada

My Light Side vs. Dave’s Sith deck

This game started in a completely opposite way for me than the last game I played with the deck. I started Wookie Life Debt and 2 Asteroid Sanctuaries and drew some resources and wookies. When this deck gets a great set up, such as resources and wookies and then starts playing the Millennium Falcon and returning it to hand for Chewie, Luke, and Han, the game can get out of hand quickly. Unfortunately for Dave, he had a slow start and I was flipping the Falcon on turn two. Due to the aggressiveness I was aiming for, I didn’t bother taking the force. I was able to blow up three objectives with the dial at 7. He really didn’t have any answers to anything I played.

My Dark Side vs. Dave’s Sleuth deck

Having won the first game, I knew that I just needed to keep the force and keep my objectives from getting wiped out. I was able to get many of my cheap guys out to the table pretty fast and I was able to keep the force. Dave was playing the Rebel version, so I had to be vigilant of Rebel Assault and a possible turn where he could drop a three ships with the Defense of Yavin IV. Dave was able to push through my defenders with a few Targets if Opportunity and a Rebel Assault to blow up one of my objectives, but I was able to counter attack and destroy two objectives with the dial at 9 to seal the win with a well timed Spice Visions on a Krayt Dragon.

Round 4 – Mike who was rocking a sick Montreal Expos Pedro Martinez jersey

My Dark Side vs. Mike’s (John Wojcik) Blockade Runner/Rebel Deck

I wasn’t looking forward to playing Sleuths again, but what can you do? This game played out like my other games against Sleuths, although there were no sleuths in his deck. I kept the force and held on for dear life. Fortunately, between Greedo, Dark Side Apprentice, assorted Rodians, Gammorean Guards, and other two drops, I was able to defend pretty well. However, Mike was still able to cut through my defenses and bow up two objectives. Throughout the game, I was able to knock out two Blockade Runners with Darth Vader being equipped with a light saber. Also, ISB Interrogators ended up saving my butt a few times with its shielding. I was able to end the game by getting the dial to 12 by blowing up two objectives.

My Light side vs. Mike’s Sith deck.

Mike revealed two Counsel of the Siths and I may have audibly groaned. However, there was a point in this game that it looked like I was going to be able to destroy three objectives because I was able to start the Millennium Falcon loop pretty early. However, a well timed Force Stasis really slowed me down and gave Mike enough time to re-establish his board with a Darth Vader and an onslaught of Force Chokes and Force Lightnings. After surgically removing guys from my board, he was able to knock out three of my objectives while I only destroyed two of his. Extra point for Mike.

Round 5 - Drew from New York

Dark Side vs. Drew’s Han, Chewie, Luke, Falcon, and Yoda deck.

Drew reveals his opening and he only has one Smuggler objective (Questionable Contacts). I start the turn by playing a Royal Guard, a Sith Library, and Rodian and I take the force. He plays some resources and drops a few guys. My next turn I play Vader and I get a force choke on line that I follow up with a force choke on the beginning of his next turn to wipe his board. However, he drops a Millennium Falcon on his turn and returns it to hand for a Han Solo. After striking with Han, he has two of my objective in peril. I end up having Vader attack his Questionable Contacts and play Spice Visions to blow it up. Unfortunately for Drew, he reveals another Jedi objective during his refresh phase and he cannot replay the Falcon. As it turns out, he can’t play anything and I’m able to jam an Emperor onto the board. I eventually blow up three objectives and get the dial to 12.

Light Side vs. Drew’s Navy deck using Sith for Icetrompers

Drew starts 2 neutral pods (Wampa + the shield stealer) along with a Imperial Command. Drew takes the force on his first turn with an Ice Tromper and also plays Motti and a stormtrooper. I have a pretty nice set up with Life Debt, a wookie, a resource, and Chewie in my hand. I drop those guys down and try to blow up his Imperial Command. As fate would have it, on my next turn, I blow up Imperial Command and he reveals a Sith objective. This causes him to have no Navy resources and I spend the rest of the game pinging his other objectives so as to blow them up at the same time. Drew isn’t able to play much stuff and I easily win the game after looping the Falcon for Luke and Han on consecutive turns.

After the swiss portion of the event, I finished 5th place and start the bracket portion of the event as the five seed. After the Top 16 is announced, the players were given a dinner break. Phil Schrader and Ben Hosp, guys with whom I play Star Trek CCG Second Edition, also made Top 16. We go to the food court to grab some food before the Top 16 starts and end up making our way back for the playoffs.

Top 16

First Round – Zach Bunn

My Light Side vs. Zach’s Sith/Navy Deck

I saw that Zach had a logo on his shirt and I thought it was a logo from The Spoils card game. He told me it was a logo that represents a website that he and his friends own called Team Covenant. I’ve seen Team Covenant mentioned a few times, but I thought it was a Jewish gaming website. Apparently they post strategy articles and sell tokens. I was sort of let down because of the lack of a strong religious presence in gaming, but maybe I will need to be the one that rallies that cause for gamers of various faiths.

Anyway, Zach has a pretty strong opening of two duty officers, Motti, and a Stormtrooper. I had to mulligan and I ended up with some bad cards and a Luke Skywalker. I decided to go all Leroy Jenkins with my Luke Skywalker and attack with him, hoping I can win edge and do some damage. I ended up getting blown out during the edge battle and Luke was force choked and then the trooper placed two more units of damage on Luke sending him to a quick death. At this point, I thought I was doomed. I wasted a turn and lost a good unit, but on the bright side, I made Zach send a lot of good cards to the discard pile for the edge battle. He plays more small guys on his next turn. On my next turn, I play a Threepio and two Guardians. Those three cards kept me in the game. I was able to defend with Threepio to prevent an Imperial Officer from an uncontested attack and used Lightsaber deflection to kill a different unit. The shielding the Guardians provided was also key. He eventually blows up one of my objectives and it gets replaced with a Wookie Life Debt. This works out wonderfully because on my next turn I get a Chewie, a wookie, and some resources. Zach plays an Orbital Bombardment and does some more damage to my objectives. On my next deck turn, I get out a Han and a Trust Your Feelings and I start wiping guys off the board. Han with a Trust Your Feelings in tandem with a Chewie with protector is a bit unfair. I start looping the Falcon and eventually destroy my third objective. However, because of the poor start I had (and the great start Zach had), the dial was at 11. The winner of the next game will advance.

My Dark Side vs. Zach’s Lando/Han/Jedi/REDEMPTION deck

I don’t remember much from this. I just had to keep myself from losing three objectives. I remember getting Vader out pretty early and being able to double up on Force Chokes. However, Zach was able to get Lando out and really start causing me some problems. I was hooked by Lando once because I had Vader committed to the force and decided to block with him. I totally forgot Lando could pull himself out of an engagement. Thus, Zach pulled Lando out and attacking with him again causing Vader to have 3 tokens on him. I was able to build up quite a board, but Zach made one last big punch when I had the dial at 10. Due to the tiebreaker rules, if there was a tie, the top seed one. Therefore, if the dial was at 11 and Zach won, I would advance. Unfortunately for Zach, he wasn’t able to muster enough forces together to kill me with the dial at 10 and when it clicked to 11, the match was over.

Zach was a super pleasant guy to play against and I look forward to encountering him in the future.

For the top 8, I ended up getting paired against Grant Huddleston.

My Dark Side vs. Grant’s Sleuth deck

I remember this match pretty well. On my first turn, I get an Advisor and two Gamorrean Guards thinking I’m in good shape. On his first turn, he attacks with Han Solo and wins the edge. This led to the destruction of my Advisor, a Gamorrean Guard, and a focused Gammorrean. Grant had Trust Me on the table, so I couldn’t even Force Lightning Han on my next turn. Without a good way to protect my small units, Han just sliced them up as his Sleuths went on to tear my objectives. This was the worst beating I received all day, and it was quite untimely. I even mentioned to the judge that I could go through my deck, cherry pick 6 cards, and still lose on Grant’s turn. Grant ended up taking a third objective with the dial at 5. This was a total blowout.

My Light Side vs. Grant’s Sith deck

This was a short game as I conceded when the dial hit 5. I don’t think I blew up an objective.

This nice part about playing Grant was that he a pretty nice guy as he smashed my dark side deck. There are never enough good people in world. At least it was a pleasure playing Grant.

My day came to a crashing halt around midnight. After it was all said and done, I was happy to get back to the room and fall asleep.

Props:
1. I’d like to give props to all of my opponents. None of them were toolbags during my games.
2. FFG Volunteers – Thanks for volunteering and helping make sure the tournament was organized. I understand FFG took a lot of grief at GenCon for how poorly the events were ran due to slow pairings and delayed start times, but if anyone is willing sacrifice their GenCon weekend to sit, stand, and deal with numbers all day then I can even be remotely mad.
3. The Han Solo playmat. The playmat looks insane and it is a very awesome keepsake to remember my performance at the event.
4. My friends Ryan, K.C., and Brad who helped me prepare for the event.
5. The Greedo pod.
6. My Bruce Wayne-like knee brace that allows me to walk.


Slops:
1. The Sleuth deck – The deck is totally degenerate. I’m glad we have more answers to it with The Battle of Hoth, but that deck had a huge impact on the meta.
2. The temperature of the exhibit hall on Thursday – No lie, it had to be 432514132 degrees in there on Thursday.
3. The 11 AM Thursday start time – I understand FFG doesn’t want to cannibalize its other events, but I believe the turnout for Star Wars would have been even higher had the event been held later in the weekend.