It wasn’t so long ago that it felt like Worlds was a million miles away, but it’s only 11 and a half weeks. After my recent appearance on the Firestorm Firecast it became apparent that practice is a thing. All the table time in the world isn’t going to help if you have several weeks between those times on the table. Then last week I learned the lesson that flying what you know and love best, sticking with it consistently and practising with it makes a difference too.

Far more than 1.0 ever offered, 2.0 is about positioning. With a multitude of 360 arcs and autothrusters, token stacks and the like a mistake didn’t necessarily cost you the game. You get it wrong in 2 and you can get horribly punished, very quickly. Dice spikes happen, unlike 1.0 there are fewer ways to orchestrate them or mitigate them. When they happen they can really impact a match up, sometimes in a way that there is no coming back from. The more health you have the better you can handle those when the green dice abandon you, conversely a good green roll at the right time can swing a game into your favour.

It will come as no surprise to most people who are familiar with this blog that I am flying Guri Fenn at worlds. It’s my favourite list, I have more table time with it that anything else (since Boba Guri got pointed out of the market). Guri has been to 27 tournaments with me in 2.0.

when 67% isn’t enough?

11 tournaments, 52 games, 41 wins, a 79% win ratio are all numbers I am happy with (As a point of reference Boba Guri had a 71% win ratio after 70 games). When I first set out on the objective to maintain a 67% win ratio, which feels a very long time ago I did not imagine that I would surpass that figure. For those who didn’t read the blog back then 67% wins means that you’re likely to go 4-2 at a premier tier event of 6 rounds. If you are averaging that then you are in a good place to make the cut, a good place to possibly go 5-1 and make the cut at a System Open.

So what does 5-1 look like? 5-1 is 81%… consistently hit that and you’ll rapidly find yourself playing for the shiny acrylic, dice, but more importantly testing yourself against the best players the game has to offer. Prizes are nice but my motivation has always been to be the best I can be at the game, and to find that out you have to play against the best. There are a few weeks left before Worlds and I’m going to try and get to as many events as I can between now and then, see if I can get Guri Fenn up to 81%. If I can get to that level and maintain it then I think I will be as confident as I can be going into the biggest tournament I have ever been to.

Practice is always good. Game time is always good. Every tournament is just practice for the next. So the small 8 man event I went to in CGC Chichester this Sunday was a great opportunity to put Guri Fenn back on the table after the last blogs somewhat unfortunate performances with the Resistance. It felt so good to put it back on the table. I just don’t seem to ever get bored of it, it’s everything I love about X-Wing…

My first game was against Adam Rose with 7 ships… that’s a lot of ships, a lot of firing arcs a lot of positional practice. Fenn took 5 target locks meaning that he was on full run away mode, energy shells are manageable but he doesn’t want to risk taking more than one on a turn, and ideally not even that. Fortunately for me the droid swarm’s weakness is it’s low health and agility (especially when outmanoeuvre is triggering). Target priority is massive. Separatists have lots of tricks that give them action economy, removing those tricks is a key part of beating them. The game went to time, with Guri and Fenn doing what they do best and bullying less powerful ships. At the end of the game one half pointed Droid was left against the two aces and a 188-0 win came my way. A turn more and it would likely have been the full 200.

My second opponent of the day was Jay Elvin with a list that is becoming fairly familiar. Soontir, Vader and Duchess have been doing the rounds. The first place I encountered it was being flown by my good friend Dale Cromwell. Since then the cost efficiency and potency of these three ships has become very much a thing. It’s one of the toughest match ups for me because there are 2 initiative 6 ships that Fenn has to deal with before Guri is safe to dance. Problem is Fenn really doesn’t like Vader with that guaranteed crit… So let Fenn do the damage, Guri dodge a lot and hope it works out in the end. Fenn was able to put some hurt into Soontir, then leave the Baron for Guri to finish while he went after Vader. A few turns later and it was Fenn and Guri vs Duchess, and I don’t know of any imperial pilot who can take those odds on and win. 200-37 was a bit of a relief as this match up is super hard and I have to fly it perfectly to get a win with this margin.

Which led me to the third and final match up against Elliot Weights, flying Soontir, Vader and 3 academy ties. I got the outmanoeuvre shot on Soontir early on, with a lock and focus, with 5 dice from Fenn, Interceptors aren’t a fan apparently. I spend all the mods to guarantee the kill and left Fenn exposed to the Tie a fighters. Obviously they halved him. But with Vader bleeding from Guri getting behind him and both of us knowing the game hinged on Elliot at least have 3 vs 1 on Viper. He went for a bold block on Fenn that narrowly missed and in round of combat that followed a TIE and Vader both dropped leaving Elliot offering his hand in concession. No way two Academy TIEs deal with the best aces the Scum faction has to offer. 200-35 win, and the only 3-0 for the day.

After our game Elliot and I chatted through the match up and he asked what I learned from it: I had to fly it right, a key disengage with Fenn when Elliot had set up a potential kill box on him with the Academys, was really important. Getting Guri behind Vader was a practiced move but had I got it wrong she would have been in a terrible spot with at least 2 range one shots from TIEs coming her way. It is easier to learn things when stuff goes wrong but the key is practice, getting positional play right, understanding how different players approach lists is also really useful. There are thing I need to work on, lists I need to understand better and rock placements to make sure I get as right as possible.

So now to go find some events to go to, book up my calendar and get as much table time in as I can. Worlds could be a once in a life time opportunity. I want to make it count.

Next Time: WORLDS WILL BE CLOSER…obviously

If like me you are looking for events to go play at then head over to the 186th Tournament Calendar.