1. GENERAL COMMENTS:

2. OVERVIEW OF THE TOP 8 DECKS:

TOP 8:



TOP 4:



FINALS: THE AGE OF SNOKE!

This is our preliminary report from the Italian Nationals, and we'll be posting a more detailed report as we get more information in.Following a bunch of Nationals over the last 4 weeks or so the meta wasn't expected to change a whole lot for thetaking place inFor the record, the winners of the previous Nationals 2018 events were:eSnoke/eBazine/FOeSnoke/Aphra/BattleDroidSnoke/Aphra/CienaeYoda/eHondoeTalzin/MandaloriansMost people anticipated the powerfulto make yet another strong showing, just as most players probably felt thatNationals victory in Belgium were more down to the talent of a great player than an apt description of the strength of the deck he took down the final with.battled it out for 6 Swiss Rounds and a top8 Cut, which makes it the second largest Nationals event in Europe so far ... and you guessed it ...did it again! The final ended up being a mirror match between the, and it's getting harder and harder to argue against the possibleof the Supreme Leader.For easy reference, the top 8 decks were (I'll be going through them in detail below):Stefano Villanova:Tom Reed:Annaliese Milne:Massimo Verde:Scott Reed:Sergio Roncucci:Luigi Ravelli:Michele Caverzan (winner):brought, and although it's a great character pairing which regularly makes a showing in the top cut at most tournaments (including the various National events), we've also grown accustomed to it just not being able to make it all the way through.It's, but! Sure, it brings along a few tricks, but as much as theplays as well as thecan be exactly what you need to close out games, at the end of the day it just feels too unreliable.While most of the list looks pretty stock,obviously did tech hard against his most likely archetype of the day:, and some of the additions probably did take some of his opponent's by surprise!Being able to send 5 damage straight into an opponent's character courtesy of hisshowing on anis extremely satisfying, and while the cost of the card is pretty steep the reward can be as well! I'm honestly surprised not to seein place of, but I guess thewas too prohibitive foris another anti-vehicle tech card. It saw some play in the early days of themeta whenwere around, but it's been out of the loop for a while. It's a great card against those instances where your opponent has amassed a fleet of supports, and just need all the dice in the pool to maximise damage output with. You only make that mistake once!is added for some nice surprise out of hand damage whilecan really destroy an opponent's turn when he's finally hoarded his 200 resources and now realises that he'll be losing it all. Withfloating around, I'm betting thatplayers will start considering their sequencing more carefully!We talked about the potential rise of, considering the meta, in our, andlist is very similar, barring a few cards, to the list thatfromtook to top4 atandform a hard hitting and super consistent duo that can wreck some serious face, and although it doesn't pack a lot of surprises, the few it has are really great, including the meta inspired, andwhich allows you to not only resolve your blue mixed damage sides, but making themin the process, which then frees the slot whereused to sit - sweet!as described byin hiswrite-up is straight up bonkers in this deck!The deck runs 4 even cards,and, which is exactly the number Talzin is looking for. Hard mulliganing for two of those 4 cards does makeability as well as thequite reliable!I'm sure we'll see more players trying to adapt their aggro decks to the meta and I'm confident we'll seespearheading those efforts.This is the list, card by card, thatused to take 2nd place at the(readhere), and the character team recently took another 2nd place at the, piloted byfrom the, as well as 1st place at thein the hands ofIt does say something about theof the deck. The deck is designed to combat all comers, slow and steadily wearing them down, but can be sweetened up by a few tech cards. I do miss theas well as aorto take care of thethat are bound to be afloat.Killing 27hp worth of characters backed byandcan be a daunting task for anyone!The surprise package of the top8 will in most people's mind bedeck, and for no good reason other than we like to be surprised - or at least act surprised. That blue heroes manages to put one deck amongst the best 8 decks in any major tournament shouldn't really be much of a surprise to anyone!The choice to addrather than go for thepackage is a smart one considering the meta, because it also means adding another +3hp, which is needed in an environment rife with big Indirect damage side. Thatalso comes with a bit of action cheating to protect the precious Melee sides is just an added bonus.The deck runs a super interesting upgrade package, from a perspective of consistency, with just 1and 1, but instead goes "" on redeployable upgrades.There are a few tricks in the deck, with a singleE and double up on, but I'm honestly surprised at not seeing more tricks focusing on getting dice in the pool setting up for some power plays:Plays like activate, then playonto activateandand eitherthe entire hand away orto deal lethal to a character in one swift action. All of these plays are available because of the crazy design of, and some of them as early as round 1.Going that route of course does make the deck much more vulnerable though and I can appreciate whychose the safer avenue - even ifin the current competitive meta.Both of the top4 decks that did not manage to make it into the final are very similar decks, gravitating around the same design template, although different character pairings., which carries on the philosophy fromwinning deck at. The philosophy is as simple as it is effective. Get in, do damage and get out.deck sacrifices some of the resource efficiency fromand instead includes a much more massive mitigation suite:+ 2and 2, which is an interesting choice in a meta where everyone seems to be cutting back on mitigation, but that might mostly have been due to the previous prevalence of mill decks, against whom you do NOT want to see too many mitigation cards. But the Millpocalypse has been cancelled - for now - which means that being able to remove dice is again great, and Scott Reed does have some of the best in the game at his disposal.Remember that on top of the really cool synergies going on betweenand the other upgrades in the deck, with thebeing able to emulate the effect of any otherin the game, there are crazy possibilities to explore: Including using anto destroy itself!looks pretty necessary in this meta and coupled withcan make for some NASTY rounds where you just plough your way through 3wide character decks! Thosethough .........deck is similar in play style and tactics to the previous list played by. It's incredibly effective, although slower than(but that shouldn't really matter in the current meta), but packs are serious punch. Thedamage fromquickly stacks up!The upgrade package seems pretty stock although the singlealongside thecan be a cute tech against vehicle lists. If an opponent decides to roll in a vehicle die first or plays aand uses the ability to get the die in the pool, playing thewill make short work of it! It is in any instance free mitigation of a die, even if it is the worst die, and together withwill make for an efficient additional mitigation package!What can really be said aboutwhich hasn't already been said?! He'sof the meta, and while he might not be as inherently good as, he just makes everything he touches into gold. He can makecharacters intocharacters andcharacters intocharacters.Whether he is teaming up withor, he's nothing but formidable, and we'll probably have to enjoy him while we can ... I suspect he'll be in for a bit of nerfhammering pretty soon.The two lists that were battling it out for the crown of Italy were almost identical and piloted by(left) and(right), respectively:At the end of the day it would bewho would get the upper hand and become the newCONGRATULATIONS!Watch the finals here courtesy of(you even get to practice your Italian a bit)! Interestingly enough in both lists, there are very few of the vehicles that we've become used to as staples in most support based lists, i.e.and none of the massiveshenanigans, instead relying on sustaineddamage to do all the work ... ah, and then naturally thewhich is just ridiculously overpowered withBeing able to play that monster of a vehicle in Turn 1 can be absolutely backbreaking!I feel we need to talk about, a card I proclaimed in my set review as probably the worst card in the set ......Withto deal draw cards, and filter through your deck for the quality cards you need, combined withability to dealdamage to your opponent, coupled with ato soak the damage you inflict yourself ... well ... then you are looking at a locked and loaded nuclear warhead just waiting to explode! Best thing about it: It cannot be mitigated. There are no dice to remove! The question is always going to be if your opponent will be able to outrace you!Most of the cards in the deck gravitates around taking advantage of the combo, including your mitigation suite, and whoever - in the mirror match - gets it set up first will be in pole position to take home the win.also looks pretty menacing flanked byand. The possibility of removing dice are really manifold with either of the 3 supports, andeven comes with a pretty decent die to boot.Runner-upadded a cheeky tech card to his deck:to move some of the Indirect damage inflicted, while both of the finalists ran, which now looks like aIf you were in doubt before, which you probably weren't, but you are living in an era of... he'sAnd thank you tofor keeping us updated on everything that went on in Bologna!We can now start looking forward to the Spanish and Polish Nationals mid-October and consider if the meta will be moving slightly or if Snoke is going to sit tight on the throne until a new set arrives?!