Title: COMIC-CON 99'

Well one week has gone by since the start of this Convention. Even now I am resting from everything I did there. I can't wait until the next one. I just wanted to let Decipher know that I had a great time helping out at the booth and meeting some of the Squadron Members that I didn't already know. And for meeting some of the Decipherians(is that a word?), like Justin and Carol. By the way, how did you do in the YJ tournament Carol? Oh and Justin I still have to say great job on the tournaments you ran over the past weekend. It was always done with organization. Well I am going to keep this brief, but I wanted to make sure all knew that if you can ever help out Decipher at a major convention or otherwise, then do it. It's a lot of fun. I wonder how many YJ Demo's I did? For a while there it seemed that the people were coming non-stop. It was great. The last man standing trivia was another thing I enjoyed watching. Oh and not to forget the Austin Powers display. I can't believe I forgot to get a picture with the car for myself. Oh well maybe next time Between going to Gen-Con and Comic-Con, I would have to say that Kevin was right. This is a summer that will be long remembered.

Until Decipher Con or maybe Seattle, Tim Guzman Gold 117

The Above is a brief report I sent to the Squadron Listserv. But for all of you Outer Rim visitors I have a much more detailed report. Maybe in some areas a litttle to detailed. So if you are in the mood to see Comic-Con through my eyes then read on.

It starts when Brad Bedlion comes and picks me up Thursday evening around 3:00 PM. Now from my house we pick up Kris Lavigne, and John Spadora. Then head over to get Preston Pendergraft. So that was the car group we had. Brad, me(Tim Guzman), Kris, John, and Preston. We took Brad's Suburban so we had room. It fact we had so much room Brad decided to bring all his cards, that's right ALL his cards. Getting on the road toward San Diego around 4:30 PM, brought us to our Hotel around 10:00 PM. Well tomorrow was Friday, which meant the Team event for Kris, Brad, John, and Preston. Their team was called the Destroyers. I was going to help at the Decipher Booth so no playing in tournament games for me. We practiced some of everyone's deck before bed so everyone had a feel for what they might see at the Team event. I think it was around 1:30 AM when most of us went to sleep. Now I didn't make it to this Con on Day 1, which was Thursday. We started on Friday. But I will still call Friday Day 1 for this report.

Day 1

Well it is time to go. We all get up between 6:30 to 7:30 AM and find breakfast at McDonalds. In fact we ate breakfast at McDonalds every morning. After all it was only right down the street. When we arrive at the convention center we meet up with Chris Hines. He flew in on Southwest sometime yesterday. Chris and I were going to meet Kendrick out front today so we can get our Exhibitor badges today. The rest of the group, except Preston were Pre-registered for the weekend. Chris Hines sold his Ticket to Preston since him and I was getting in for free from Decipher. In exchange of helping out this weekend of course. So Chris and I enter the exhibit hall around 9:30 AM. I tell you when you go inside and there is no one around the isles look so wide. We meet up with the rest of Decipher and Kendrick introduces us to everyone we didn't already know and our assignments are given. I was to do Young Jedi Demo's All day. With only a 1 hour break somewhere between 12:00 PM or 1:00 PM. Chris had the priviledge to help Justin run the Team Event tournament. They did 3 rounds with that, so Chris stayed pretty busy. I went up every so often to see how they were doing and even stayed up there to help during my break.

While working at the Demo Tables, which there was only room to do 6 Demo's at a time, I kept busy. It was one person after another wanting to learn this New game they never heard of. All kinds of people wanted to learn. The young, old, boy and girl, literally everyone you can think of. Most of everyone picks up the game right off. Only a few people who, maybe it is because they know nothing of Card games, need more practice and explanation. If we had more room we would have Demoed to twice as much people I am sure of it. But as it was, it was Austin Powers Stingray that was at the booth and all wanted to know about this new game that will be out in November I believe. I am not to sure how many people who did get a Demo, but I would not be suprised if it was over 500. I did at least 60 so if you times that by 6 you get 360...then count those who were involved in the interactive Demo...yea 500 has to be right. Maybe more. Keep in mind that 60 total for me is only a guess, and it would be for Friday and Sunday and even that might be wrong, give or take a few. Although its got to be close to that.

Well when my shift is over from doing YJ Demos, I go back upstairs to see how everyone is doing in the Team event. I help set up the prize support for Justin and talk to Team Destroyers and find out that they are not doing to well. The team ends up in the middle somewhere with and 11-13 record. Kris, Brad, and John all go 3-3 and Preston goes 2-4. Team 'Got Force' from San Diego wins this Event with a pretty big margin. Hak Soo Kim who was not part of 'Got Force' came in first over all. I am not sure what he was playing on the Dark Side, but his Light side was a Rescue the Princess Deck. I am in the process of trying to get that from him so we can post it here on the site. First place got a cool 4 piece Trophy and a box of Endor to split. Now that was worth the try. That night we eat at In-and-Out and Playtest for the big Tournament Tomorrow. Brad is up the latest building a new Light deck. In fact Brad even woke up first, he needed to fine tune the light deck.

Highlights of Day 1: Working with Decipher and showing so many people how to play YJ.
Lowlights of Day 1: Brad spending 20 minutes in the Bathroom to only come out and tell us that the toilet is clogged.

Day 2

Bright and early we go up. When everyone is up we head over to McDonalds as usual to have breakfast. We are excited about today and are talking strategy and 'what it' stuff. Basically we are not making much sense. We meet up with Chris and we have plenty of time before the big event starts. I started at 12:00 PM so arriving at 10:00 AM gave us two hours to practice. Or if you were me then walking around the exhibit hall spending money was the thing to do. I got a new book to read and a new game to play.

Time started to get close to the Invitational. Chris and I had high hopes because we had the decks to win. Well as most of you know we didn't win. In fact we didn't even do very well. Chris made a mistake and was talking about what we had planned to one to many people. I am not saying that is the only reason why we lost, but it had something to do with it. That and the fact that we got matched up with the people who knew someone who knew someone who spoke to Chris. Keep in mind I am not saying they were actually told that it was us who were playing this Strategy, but as long as they knew that someone was, then they put the neccessary cards in there deck to counter it. But I must say that there was one person who titled his deck,"This deck will beat Tim Guzman" and I faced him the last game and lost. Ok not really, but talk about having an answer for everything I did.

Some of you may be wondering what deck I am taling about. Well it is the Light Side deck that me and Chris played at Gen-Con and Comic-Con. Chris took it to Wizard World and went 3-0 with it. So was both took it to Gen-Con and we went 5-1 with it. I had the one lost against Chris himself. The deck is 90% surprise, so if you can not surprise your opponent it will be tough to win the game. With that deck, and a really good Dark decks we thought we were ready for Comic-Con. I will post this Deck first thing next week.

I am not going to do a Game by Game report of what happen. I am sorry about that. But lets just say the Light deck lost twice and My Dark deck faced a deck it couldn't win and I went 3-3 at the tournament. It is funny to note that the person who did win the Invitational brought a simiar Light Deck. He deserved to win and I now I say my Congrats. The rest of us was not doing so good either in the tournment. Kris went 3-3, John goes 2-4 I think, Brad went 0-4 then droped out. Chris went 1-3 then droped out. Preston couldn't play in the invitational anyway, so he played in the Young Jedi Tournament and went 2-2.

Needless to say we all were a little down today. I for one had high hopes, but was brought down quite quickly. We walked around a little before we left and decided not to stay for the Masquerade party later at 8:00 PM. I needed a stiff drink to feel better so we go to Red Lobster to eat this night. Preston Can't beieve the prices in this place. You cheap dog Preston. I order a drink called Red Snapper. I like it so I drink 3 more and each drink was a little stronger than the one before as requested. The food was great for all and the Drinks were great for me. I started to feel a little better about my losses and we all started to laugh about it and talk about what we are going to do tomorrow. Some of the details of our conversation can not all be told, to much to write. Lets just say everone seemed to like to hear my stories of when I was a teenager and what happened when I was younger(yes Thrawn you were brought up). Everyone had a story to tell. We made the best of a 'down night for all. Brad even bought an Endor Box this day and we went back to the Hotel to play Sealed Deck with that.

Highlights of Day 2: Great Dinner, it was fun and seeing a lot of nice outfits worn by women at the Con. (Sorry Honey, but can't help but notice.)
Lowlights of Day 2: On our way back to the Hotel we stopped at a Gas Station. Brad once again has problems :) with the restroom. He was in so long, even the tenant had to ask? "Hey are you all right man?" Sorry Brad had to get that one in for everyone to hear. We had our laughs and went back to the Hotel.

Day 3

This is the final day for us. There was an Endor Booster Draft Tournament and a Young Jedi Constructed Deck tournament. I was going to help out at the Decipher Booth again, but I almost didn't to play in the Young Jedi Tournament. This is where I met Carol Wisely putting together some YJ decks she wanted to try. I think it is ok to tell everyone since Carol mentioned it. Next week Decipher will announce what you can get with the YJ Points, one of them is an Anakin Foil for 1000 points. Now that is something to look forward to. Kris, Brad, and Preston, and John make up there minds and play in the Endor Booster Draft. I think John went undefeated being a Dark player and the rest didn't do so good. Endor Booster Draft is just to tough for the Light Side player to win. You guys can correct me on this if I am wrong.

After doing demo's for about an hour I was glad I chose to help Decipher instead of playing in one of the Tournaments. You just meet so many interesting people and so many different kind of people when you are sitting there and they ask to learn the game. A lot of them just love the game with only 1 Demo. A lot even come back with there new Starter Decks and start asking questions. Around 2:00 PM I take a hour break and walk around some more. I watch a Demo on the game Final Fantasy 7 or 8, can't remember which onme, but it looked awesome, can't wait till that one comes out. After checking up on how everyone was doing in their tournament I returned to doing Demo's until about 4:00 PM. Wow what a weekend I had. All in all we had a great time. Even though everyone was a little under my age group I made it through the weekend. My wife says I will never grow up anyway. I learned a lot too, like watch your back with Preston (there's a pun in there). Just kidding Preston, but I do have to say, 'Preston please do not procreate.'

Highlights of Day 3: Brad had no problems with the restroom today :) HaHa. Just kidding Brad. I also enjoyed doing demo after demo. That was fun and tiring. I was on auto pilot after awhile.
Lowlights of Day 3: Having to come home so soon. And trying to stay awake to whole drive home.

Until my next trip that is it. I hope you enjoyed reading about some of the things I did at Comic-Con. I can't wait until the next one. Which for me probably will be Decipher Con.