On January 18th, 2020 the stage was set at Valhalla’s Gate Games in Columbia, Missouri. Around forty players on three teams, Kansas City, Mid-Missouri, and St. Louis, met to decide the fate of the Sacred X-Wing Trophy – would it remain in Kansas City, or find a new home with a different group of X-Wing champions? It would be a memorable day of spirited and friendly competition. Members of the Midwest Scrubcast and the Tosche Station X-Wing Podcast were pitted against each other. The 2019 World’s list was still good, and Rey was relevant. And no one drove any number of hours to end up playing someone from their home city. Comradeship, prizes, and honorable jousting abounded.

How was such a glorious state of X-Wing achieved? It’s all thanks to a unique format that to our knowledge has only been applied to X-Wing by the venerable Bob Howe, our tournament organizer for the Missouriclorian series. This team-based format allows a variable number of players from a variable number of teams to compete in 4 swiss rounds to score points. Players only play matches against members of other teams, and each individual win contributes to their team’s score.

Ultimately, the top 8 players from each team have their scores tallied into a post-swiss standing that determines the make-up of the final round. The two top scoring teams each send three people to a best out of three final match. The second place team puts forward their top three players first, and then the first place team gets to decide which of their top three team members to pit against which of those players. The second place team is allowed to veto one of the choices to keep things a little fair. Swords are crossed, and then one team is crowned the champion.

But enough of explaining the format and on to this year’s action: the four rounds of Swiss went smoothly and quickly. Raffle prizes were given out between most of the rounds, and team-related swag was exchanged. The Arch Alliance team pulled ahead to an early lead in the first few rounds, but Kansas City’s MoKan Moisture Farmers closed the gap by the end of round three. St. Louis went into the last round just two points ahead, but then widened their lead with a solid fourth round performance.

At the end of Swiss, Mark Myers, Michael “Biophysical” Simon, and Midwest Scrub’s own Emily Rastl were undefeated from Arch Alliance, so our three champions for the cut round were selected by default. The Kansas City team gathered together at one end of the room and selected their three champions from among their 3-1 players: Tosche Station X-Wing Podcast member and former Crossroads Classic Champion Alex Smittle, Matt Ritts, and Jon Reinig.

The cut round saw Emily and her XAAA Resistance list paired against Jon Reinig, who was running a close variant to the 2019 World’s winning list. Emily had previously defeated Jon during the Swiss rounds, but Revenge of the Swiss kicked in quickly when an A-Wing popped during the first round engagement. Nien Nunb did his best to hold things together, but in the end, Jon claimed a decisive victory.

The second game to finish was Michael Simon and his five Tie Interceptors versus Alex Smittle with his Fenn Rau and 6 Mining Guild Ties. The game was a nail-biter. Fenn died to a hail of crits. Interceptors clung to life on one hull. Clutch natties answered even clutch-ier natties, and in the end, Michael Simon pulled out the win.

So with one game left to finish, the cut score was tied. MoKan had taken the first game, Arch Alliance the second. It all came down to Mark Myers’ four T-70’s versus Matt Ritts’ Rey and friends. Jousting queen Rey had elected go for a strafing approach. L’ulo flanked while Vi and Matt’s Red Squadron Veteran flew toward the mass of T-70’s. The initial engagement saw little damage, but the following turn saw Mark’s Rookies activate their BB astromechs, creating a killbox for Vi to jump in. Vi obliged and died quickly, allowing remaining shots to pile into Rey. A couple turns later, Rey was space dust, leaving a full health Red Squadron Expert and full health L’ulo to contend with a shieldless Poe, a 1-hull Rookie and two full health Rookies. L’ulo is capable of pulling out a miracle, but it’s a very stiff challenge with Poe still on the board. A few turns later and it was over, Mark had won with handshakes and hugs to follow.

After a hard fought tournament, Arch Alliance brought home the trophy, where it will move from game store to game store in the St. Louis area until next year when MoKan and the Mid-Missouri teams will have their chance to fight once again for the right to claim it as their own for a year.

If you’re interested in creating this type of experience for your own community, reach out to Arch Alliance and we can help you get further, more detailed information about how to organize this team tournament format.

For more Midwest Scrub content, you can also find us on our podcast: The Midwest Scrubcast. A more conversational take on X-Wing topics, featuring all the same scrubs, but in your ears!

If you enjoy our content, like and follow us on the Midwest Scrub Facebook Page to keep up with the latest. Click on the events tab for info on tournaments and events around the St. Louis area. To support us even further, head to our Patreon page.

For other Arch Alliance content, check out:

Arch Alliance’s YouTube channel, Facebook page, and Biophysical’s Starfighter Mafia blog.

If you are in the St. Louis area or coming to visit, reach out to Arch Alliance X-Wing on Facebook to find out where we are playing on any given night.