Play, Love, Live!
by Trent McCrow

The day started just like any other. I woke up and rolled out of bed in my dorm room. I glanced at the clock and it was 7:30Am. My blinds were open and the warm November sunlight was streaming into my normally dark room. I reached for the blinds and was about to close them when I realized why I had set my alarm for 7:30… this was going to be no ordinary day. I would soon abandon my regular schedule of daily events and replace them with something new, something exciting, something epic. For on this day I played, I loved, I lived!

I thought back to the last time I had played Star Wars the Trading Card Game face to face with an opponent and thoughts of my good friend "Grand Admiral" Shaun streamed into my mind, but he would not see or experience the glory of this day. This day would involve another of my friends Josh "manoof".

I quickly ate breakfast and showered to wake up fully. I checked that I had everything I needed; decks, dice, counters trades, laptop, money, food. Once all was ready, I quickly re-playtested my two themed decks and hit the road, the road of fandom. Unfortunately I did not even have piece of junk like the Millennium Falcon to get me to my destination under 12 parsecs; my only option for transportation was of the public transportation kind.

Even though I was not aboard the Falcon I still managed to find myself in Imperial entanglements. The Empire decided it would be a good day to commence track work on one section of my journey and twice I was pulled out of transit by Imperial Interdictors and forced to travel at considerably less then light speed.

When I finally arrived at my destination, it seemed the Death Star had struck again! The Sydney Games Center (The Place to Play) was nowhere to be seen and all that remained was a large number of Asian markets and restaurants. But as I stretched out to the Force and called Josh “manoof” on my communicator, I learned the truth. That I had travelled too far in-system and that the SGC was behind me!

I walked up the stairs to the hidden Rebel base and was greeted by an old acquaintance and leader of the Rebellion, Kieren “honest” Otton. I heard a familiar voice coming from behind me and I turned to see the friend I had come to visit. I headed over to the workbench where my fellow Rebel pilot awaited me and I unloaded my cargo. But before we started, I needed to resupply and refit, so I stocked up on 8 boosters of each Rogues and Scoundrels and The Phantom Menace and 4 boosters of Attack of the Clones.

While I cracked my boosters open, Josh and I were talking about most things Star Wars; opinions on WOTC, the IDC expansions and the restriction of Luke’s X-Wing (E), and one of our shared passions, Dream Cards. (Check out manoof’s Republic Commando Dream Card Expansion). Once I had cracked my last booster, I was ready. Now the games could begin!

Our first game saw my Rebel Themed deck face off against manoof’s Dark Side Pilot deck. We both quickly took control of an arena; I took Character and manoof took Space, leaving the Ground arena heavily contested. The battle drew longer still as both of us kept putting all our resources into the Ground arena. Whenever it looked like one of us would get the upper hand, the other would pull something out and manage to stay in the game. It wasn’t until the 6^th turn that I managed to get my Ion Cannon out and deployed and I was able to lay siege to his Space arena. It was the beginning of the end and a few turns later I won the game.

In our second game, I played a Stormtrooper themed Dark Side deck against manoof’s Neutral Bounty Hunter deck. It was obvious from the start that my deck would not stand up to manoof’s as he was utilizing the stealth of Slave 1 (G) (my fast TIE’s had no chance) along with the strike power of Fel’s TIE Interceptor (A) in Space, Boba Fett and other nasty Scum of the universe in Character and a solid Ground arena with Krayt Dragons. My ANH/ESB era Stormtroopers had no chance. On the first turn manoof’s Krayts wiped the Ground arena clear of all my units and he severely hit my Space fleet. The game lasted a total of three extra turns as he thwarted my efforts to stall the game out so I could get back in the game. Josh “manoof” and I were 1 game apiece when we decided to take a break.

Earlier that morning I had sent bulk emails out to some of my old SWTCG contacts, which I acquired when I ran the Australian Players Guild website back in WOTC era, inviting any that could make it to bring their SWTCG decks to play some casual games. I was pleasantly surprised when in a matter of moments I received a reply from Adam “karingthor” Buckley confirming he would be there in the afternoon. But even better news when Kieren Otton received an email from the ‘Dark Lord’ Lindsay Hemming (on the right) asking if I was still there and that he was on his way! For those who don’t know Lindsay Hemming is the first and only SWTCG National Champion of Australia. This was the second occasion I would play the reigning champion.

When Lindsay ‘Boyas’ Flemming arrived he went straight to his locker and got out his SWTCG decks and he and I immediately went to battle! This the first time Lindsay had played SWTCG in around 2 years would hopefully give me an edge mentally, but nothing could help me against the power of his tournament winning decks! Although the ‘Dark Lord’ himself easily defeated me in both games using his Munch, Munch, Munch Light side deck and Ryan Dare’s OMG! Where’s My Force Dark Side deck (can both be found here) I was proud that I was able to survive the masterfully sculpted decks for more than 5 turns in each game we played. But manoof would not be so lucky.

While Josh played Lindsay, I headed over to where Adam was and challenged him to 2 games. In the first game, my LS deck went against Adam’s DS deck and both of us were unable to get our build or draw engines up and running. We continued to battle it out by the sheer power of each other’s decks and eventually I came out on top. My Stormtrooper deck however, did not fare so well (again). I managed to control Space for some time while contesting Character and leaving the Ground arena in Adam’s control. Adam slowly worked his way into the Space arena as I started to win the Character arena. The game came down to a battle in Character between Shaak Ti (B) and my Snowtrooper Guard (with 2 damage counters on him). I had needed a perfect roll, 4 hits, during the last 3 turns to wipe out Shaak Ti as Adam always had enough Force to keep her alive. However I was unable to do so and lost the battle for the Character arena and therefore the game.

By the time Adam and I had finished our games, both Lindsay and Josh had left, so Adam and I started discussing the IDC and what exactly we do and why we do it. I was surprised to find out that Adam knew of our efforts and he told me of a young playing group that uses the IDC in regular play! (I plan to keep in contact with Adam and find out more about this other hidden Rebel base!) We continued to talk as we waited for the SW Minis guys to show up (as Adam plays Minis as well) but when it was clear nobody else was coming (there was a big minis tournament the Sunday before) we decided to call it a night and go our separate ways.

I had plenty of time to reflect on my days activities on the long journey home. I had sought out fellow Rebels on a mission to enjoy a game or two of SWTCG with my fun Rebel and Stormtrooper themed decks and I had come out with a 2-4 win ratio with two of those losses to the Australian National Champion of our great game! As I reflected on my day I had; spent 480 minutes playing and talking about SWTCG, 375 minutes traveling 285.5 kilometers, 115 minutes waiting for transportation, $115 on booster packs and card sleeves, $12.90 on transport, and $10.45 on dinner. But most importantly I had spent 1 day the best way possible, devoted to the Star Wars Trading Card Game.

As I got in bed ready to go to sleep in the wee hours of the morning I realized the true significance of the day I had just experienced.

I PLAYED
I LOVED
I LIVED!
Keep the Game Alive!

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