As you all know, last July we had the Battle
for the Force in Barcelona, where people from Spain, France, England and Poland
could meet and play some games. At the end of it, we invited each other to the
different tournaments that would be celebrated in each country (Nationals,
Resurgir and maybe an event in Warsaw), and here you have the result:
September 17th-18th, Bourgoin-Jallieu, French Nationals.
Medfreeman and Htrader convinced me to attend, because they were hosting
us in their home and taking us to and from the airport. What’s more, the
flight tickets were very cheap! So Raxar and I, first, and then also Noel, went
there.
It was only a week after our nationals, and I
couldn’t practice much because I had exams (at least, there’s OCTGN…).
After a crushing 6-0 for my master Darth Vid in the first round, I won the next
5 games, reaching 15 points before the last game against Gylderon. I couldn’t
do anything against his Sith deck, so I had to wait until the other games
finished to see if I was in the top cut or not. Finally, I failed. I was tied
in 15 points with 7 other players, and only the two that had a bye made it to
the top. My mission for France was clear: I had to make it. Let’s see how the
swiss rounds were for me.
First of all, these were my decks. They were
the same I used for the Spanish Nationals, but I had serious doubts about
changing BtS Luke for Core one. I also asked for suggestions on what to play,
but as I had not much time to practice I decided I had to play the decks I
knew:
- LS (Jedi): 2x May the Force Be With You, A Hero’s Trial, The Survivors, A NewBeginning 1x The Secret of Yavin 4, The Flight of the Crow, A Hero’s Beginning.
After some late night games when we arrived to
our hosting house (infinite thanks, Maxliger!), we had only 3h to sleep.
Shockingly (or maybe not so much), it’s been the most awaken tournament I’ve played , so I’ll have to repeat it in the future. Finally, we were 45 players:
3 Spanish, 2 English, 1 Polish and 39 French.
FIRST ROUND: NOEL -
Really? Are you kidding? There were only 2% of chances to play against
one of us in the first round… What’s worse, I’ve always lost 6-0 when I’ve
played against Noel in tournaments. Amazing start for the tournament…
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| Yes, you have to play against Noel... |
I start playing LS. Noel plays his Navy deck (surprise!).
There’s no Loyalty, but there’s Blockade, and he plays a Corellian Gunship. I
start with May the Force, playing a Nudj, a sullustan and an Ahsoka’s
informant. I attack with the Nudj, with a Seeds in my hand, because the day
before I had done it with him and he fell into my trap no defending. And so he
did, so I could attack the three objectives and little by little I deal some
damages to his objectives. In the end, I have a Luke with his lightsaber,
Ahsoka’s one and I Am a Jedi (I think this is the second time I play it..),
apart from Qu Rahn and Yoda, You Seek Yoda in my hand. That turn, three
objectives are blown up. Finally, I win a game against Noel! And we have the
video to remember it forever.
In the second game, my starting objectives are
2x Stygeon Prime 1x Loyalty. I play the Inquisitor and Bones on one of his
objectives. Two turns later, he has Yoda and Obi-Wan on the table, what allows
him to keep the force and place a lot of focus on my units each time I attack.
I only see Mara and Yularen during the game, but the dial doesn’t go farther
than 5.
Result: 3-3. Total points: 3.
SECOND ROUND: GWYNBLEID - In
Barcelona I couldn’t play with him, so I’m happy I did it this time.
He starts playing Scum, with only Valarian in
his first turn. I play Yoda, You Seek Yoda, one resource and Luke’s speeder
bike. I attack with the bike, so Valarian ends up with 3 focuses. Next turn, Luke with his lightsaber destroys one objective
and the next turn, also the Landspeeder on the table.
I was surprised by his LS deck, with new Han
and Chewie, Cracken, Falcon, Talon Karrde, Momaw and core Leia. I have one of
the two perfect starts with my objectives: Stygeon Prime, Loyalty and Promise.
I play Mithel and a royal guard. He plays Dirty Secrets on my Loyalty, but the
Promise’s reaction deals damage little by little, and with Vader and mouse on
turn 2, mission on turn 3 and Palpatine on turn 4, I take his Han and Leia. End
of the game.
Result: 6-0. Total points: 9.
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| National atmosphere |
THIRD ROUND: NICO -
First game against an unknown player. Great atmosphere during the round,
and he also gave us some fan made force-commitment cards he had made.
In the first game, I had the other perfect
start with my objectives: Promise, Stygeon Prime and Vader. Nico plays a Jedi
deck with Obi BtS and Ferus Olin. On his first turn, he looks for Yoda and
plays a nudj, followed by the other one on the next turn. The dial goes very
slowly, but Yularen appears twice and I take Ferus by destroying Palpatine’s mission.
It was just a matter of time to reach 12.
In the second one, Nico plays Sith, and he
starts with TWO Arden’s objectives, apart from a Fall of the Jedi. On the three
first force phases, he discards Yoda, Luke, Ahsoka and Force Rejuvenations.
T-H-A-T H-U-R-T-S! I can only destroy
one objective before Vader, Mara and Palpatine take the dial to 12.
Result: 3-3. Total points: 12.
FOURTH ROUND: PAMPA22 -
Another nice, French player, who destroyed me in his way to the top.
He plays Navy with Repair and Refurbish (an
objective we hardly even play in Spain). He starts with Tarkin, and my deck
says “OK, enough for today”: until the fourth turn, when I play Ahsoka, I have
only the Landspeeder and weenies. I destroy two objectives, but nothing to do
against him.
I start again with Stygeon Prime, Vader and
Promise. Thanks to its reaction, and with an opportunistic Yularen, I destroy
the mission and take Ahsoka, who had a Trust Your Feelings and was a big threat
for me. The other option was Leia, but if I let him with Ahsoka it was game for
him… On the next turn he plays core Luke and kills Ahsoka with his targeted
strike, and with him and Leia Pampa kills all the units I play, because my
draws were awful the whole round. At the end, only Mara and a sith warrior to
defend a lot of jedi units. Bad round for me and my top aspirations…
Result: 0-6. Total points: 12.
At this moment, Noel was on 18 points, but
Raxar and I had only 12 and we were far from the top. We had to focus and do
our best in the last two rounds.
FIFTH ROUND: MOUSSINE -
Very intense and funny games with this French player. Hope he can come
to the Resurgir.
I start playing DS, with 2x Enforced Loyalty
and 1x Stygeon Prime. He plays a Jedi-Smuggler deck with Falcon and Kyle
Katarn. I play Tarkin and Palpatine’s mission, and he plays a Yoda. Two
Loyalty’s reaction and one Yularen on turn three let me take his core Luke. On
the next turn, I draw the other mission and the Superlaser Blast, taking his
Kyle. End of the game.
Moussine plays a Scum-Sith with Xizor, Spice
Trade, Vader and Palpi GA. He starts with 6 resources that became 11 by turn
three, with Vader, Palpatine, Xizor and Doole on the table. I only play Yoda
and weenies all the game and I can’t win because of the Spice Trade.
Result: 3-3. Total points: 15- I needed to
sweep in the last turn, and wait for the other results…
SIXTH ROUND: DARKWATHER -
Even though he barely spoke English, we understood each other enough to
play the games. His DS deck made me thought about Richi, a Spanish player who
likes to create crazy decks.
In the first game, I play LS. I face a Navy
deck with 14 objectives. Yes, I said 14 objectives. I’m sure my face when I saw
the size of the deck was priceless. It was a troopers’ deck, with (I think) all
the Navy objectives with troopers. He starts with espo troopers, Motti’s
troopers and death star trooper (set 32). I start with Yoda, with Ahsoka’s
lightsaber, and May the Force. He doesn’t defend my attack, so I deal 3 damages
to one objective. The next turn he plays more troopers and an AT-ST, and I play
the Moldy Crow. I attack with it and he doesn’t defend me, so one objective
destroyed, and the 3 damages from the turn before. Next turn I draw a Force
Rejuvenation, so Yoda and Yoda+Crow destroy the objectives I needed to win.
In the second game, he plays a pure Smuggler
deck with the two Dash’s sets, Tydirium, Pulsar and unblockables. The dial goes
so fast, with the Promise dealing damages to the mission I play on turn one,
and on turn three I take his Dash. On the next turn, Vader, Inquisitor, Dash
and weenies against a sleuth, I have 6 cards in my hand and he has only one,
with dial at 8 and 3 damages on one of his objectives.
Result: 6-0. Total points: 21.
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| Players...the stars in the event. |
But unfortunately, it wasn’t enough… There was
IDs on tables 1 and 8, and a couple of splits. The story was the same as a week
before, and I was out of the cut for only one point. It was a very expensive
cut, with the second player on 25 points and the 16th on 22. Raxar
was out too, on 18 points, and Noel ended 4th on 24 points. He was our only
hope for the top, facing against 14 French players and FullyOperational (UK).
In the next article, the side event’s report
and my opinion on the weekend.
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