So this will be my recap of my 7-1 run at NJ with a loss in the Top 8 to a local player, Tyler. It was a really great day getting to see a lot of friends within the community as NJ takes the crown for the largest US regional this year at 78. I got excited when the store owner told me he was at 90 players but we had 12 no shows. It was a great day and shout-out to Scott, the owner, and Lawlor, the TO. They put on a great event but I do recommend match slips next time…

Here is my list:

As per usual I got onto this list late. Tommy had been working on some real jank that I was testing out but opted not to bring, Rey1/Boushh/DoubleDown. It was solid but inconsistent. My advantage was for this list was that I had gotten plenty of reps around PAX Unplugged time as I ran it for Day 3 trilogies. Back when it was big at GenCon I was all on Aphra so never debated switching to this. I really just took that GenCon list and made a few changes to it with EMP being the big thing to come in. Overall I was happy with how the deck played but I think two changes I would make would be to drop a Force Meditation for another discard from hand die, either EMP or Bartering and I would drop a Caution for a second Clandestine. Probably my biggest regret was only running 1 of those. Quick shout-out to Adam Cox for last minute advice on the final 30 in-case I wanted to lean hard into countering the 2 wide mill. Luckily I opted not to because there wasn’t a single one floating around the top tables.

Bye 1-0

I was one of 14 to use my bye. Felt good to finally use it and let me monitor the stream round 1.

Round 2: vs eSnoke/Ciena/Traitor piloted by Ray the Co-Pilot

Finally get to play a game and here is my buddy Ray rocking his new Discard to Reroll mat. He was suppose to make Chip proud today but it wasn’t in the stars. I was able to prevent a turn 1 drop of anything and able to build up my board state and mill a few cards. Round 2 brings a Fist. I mitigated it once and ate it twice but was ahead so I felt okay doing so. Round 3 my first action was to Flames of the Past it. That left Ray in a very bad spot as most of his deck is gone at this point, I have a EMP on Cassian in-case he plays a vehicle and he now has no real way of killing my characters aside from Snoke PA. 2-0

Round 3: vs eVader/Bazine piloted by Issac

Round 3 I was happy to sit down against Vader but I knew better than to relax as Issac is a great pilot. I was able to get a Force Jump down early. He had some misplays of not trying to get ahead of Yoda with a Jump so I was able to consistently blank his dice. Beguile was huge as always and let me keep removing his upgrade dice such as Darksaber. After he was milled I was able to Flames of the Past a ancient saber to help seal the win. 3-0

Round 4: vs eVader/Ciena/BR piloted by James

Another Vader match-up but the last time I played James when he was on Vader and I was 3 wide mill was at PaxU and it did not end well for me. The red was a different ball game as he had cards like Grand Entrance, Swiftness and Tactical Mastery. He also went the small upgrade route of Vibroknifes and Electrostaff. I felt way ahead for awhile as I did my usual Force Jump and blanking but he got off a Tactical Mastery into Force Speed special to chain a Vibro, electrostaff and Vader’s die for 8 un-blockable to snipe Yoda through shields and a Force Illusion. So yes I started sweating. Lucky for me that was later in the game and he was just about done with his deck. I was able to Clandestine with Anakin, Cassian and Ani’s Pod to seal a win. 4-0

Round 5: vs eObi/eMaz piloted by Dan

This was a great game and I love playing against Dan. He has been on Obi/Maz since you could be on this deck. I faced him back at Worlds on Day 1 and here we had a rematch on stream. You can head over to our Twitch if you want to watch it. For this game he started out slow not finding either of his Vibroknifes or Speeds round 1. I was going to really widen the gap round 2 when I Easy Picked his Obi dice but he was able to Jump away and save around 5-6 cards. He found his Vibroknife and did a Drop in play with Running Interference to get to lethal un-blockable on Yoda and put 6 into Anakin. I missed played and should’ve rolled out Yoda to use Force Jump in-case he used RI like he did. So Yoda was gone but Anakin was able to get another pod resolution out before he died and Cassian finished the game with 3 shields on him and 2 second chances. 5-0

Round 6: vs eVader/Greedo piloted by Chris

Another Vader so I was happy but it was not to be. I had a great first two rounds but I backed myself into a corner. I had a few outs if I played out my turns correctly. Instead he rolled lethal on two characters and I had 3 outs but could only do 1, I had a Second Chance, Beguile and Force Jump special. I made the mistake of rolling out Anakin’s Pod instead of dropping my SC. So it just wasn’t meant to be. His second Vader’s Fist being in his last hand and missing the first two discards really didn’t help either, I wanted that Flames so bad. Oh and it was a pair down so it felt bad. 5-1

Round 7: vs eBeckett/eTalzin/Profitable piloted by Tyler

This was against one of my locals, Tyler. Beckett was really tough to play into, on-top of starting with 2 Force Waves turn 1. This was a struggle due to him always hitting what he wanted the most thanks to Talzin, and a lack of me not finding my best mitigation for situations, such as Easy Pickings. It was a back and forth game. It came down to a big misplay on his part. Using Cunning on my Yoda die to hit a special. This gave me the opening to mill the rest of his hand this turn and win the game. I pitched everything I got to get that Yoda discard side for the win. I had to as he had a Backup Muscle ready to go to kill my Yoda with 1 health left. It was a tight game and I was glad he still made top cut until he stomped me! 6-1

Round 8: vs eVader/Greedo piloted by Nate

Now I get the pair up and face the current undefeated and eventual winner. He was on Vader and teched for Vader match-ups so I felt confident going in. It went as well as I had hoped. This game was only on our Twitch page. I was able to blank his dice and keep his upgrades from resolving. He took care of Yoda but Ani, his pod and Cassian closed it out. At the end he just had an ancient and no hand/deck and I rolled 3 blanks in a row with Cassian which made me nervous I wasn’t going to be able to resolve his die to mill ancient when he does that action. But I finally got that 2 range side. Spoiled his undefeated run. 7-1

I have to say this is probably my first event where I didn’t bubble in or out I think. Regionals this year at VA and CT were 5-2 and 6-2 so it felt good just 100% knowing I was in. I knew there were 3 Vaders in Frenchie, Nate and Issac in so I would’ve loved to have one of them but instead I got Tyler again.

Top 8: vs eBeckett/eTalzin/Profitable piloted by Tyler

Honestly I hated playing a local and one where the game was so tight before. These games were no different. It is mostly a blur at this point because I was exhausted and all I remember is how much money he was taking from me. Turn 1 Beckett’s Rifle was hard to deal with a bit. Force Jump was tough as he had Wave and Fist out so it wasn’t working to its full potential. Tyler played it very well and 2-0’d me and then 2-0’d Mike as well, so I guess Beckett is solid into mill.

Congrats to Nate for eventually taking the whole thing down. Would’ve loved for the trophy to stay in NJ but Nate is a great guy. You can catch all 8 rounds and the top cut on our Twitch page if you would like to re-watch them. That is a wrap for US regional season so thank you to everyone who supports us and makes it possible to get to these events!

-Jack