I usually do not write reports from Tournaments in English, as local Czech meta is not really relevant in global scene. However in this case, I make an obvious exception, as we are talking about major event now.

I was well aware of Europeans Championship since the first notices leaked out, but due to really large distance and price pool not relevant to the travel costs, I originally wanted to pass on it. This was changed by a message from one of our local players, Lukas, who wanted to remember to himself some Magic TCG times and wanted to go for some larger event. That time I told to myself, hell yeah, lets do this, you only live once. Championship took place in Birmingham in local expo area and it was coordinated that in same time the UK’s largest tabletop games expo was happening there.

We booked our flight tickets from Prague with Lufthansa through Frankfurt to Birmingham, booked some accommodation in nearby Coventry (as Birmingham was too expensive), bought our tickets to expo and tournament itself and payed altogether several hundreds of euro per person for this 4-day gaming weekend. We started 14 days prior the tournament with play testing our decks, meeting in pubs, small local tournaments and TTS on evenings and teching our decks against every possible reasonable competition we could met. I was convinced from beginning, that I want to precise out my Poe/Maz deck (which I run earlier than all that hype around it started) and went through a couple of versions to finish with some really aggressive build, which I describe in separate article later. If you want to see my decklist, it is here: SWDestiny Database link. Lukas started with eFN-2199/eVader to change it through various versions until he finished with removal oriented aggro version of eFN/Royal Guard/Bala-Tik.

Friday 2nd June: travel to UK and warm up Event.

We packed our stuff to small backpacks as we had only carry-on baggage allowance and took off from Prague on Friday 2nd 6AM. Trip went fine and quickly as we discussed various topics about competitive gaming in TCGs and apart from boring 70 min queue for security check in Birmingham, we were good. We so-so managed to get to runner-up event on Friday, which was three rounds of something like 25man tournament with three Best of 1, where the reward for 3-0 was double sided Jyn/Krennic promo, 2-1 gets Arubesh Rey from pre-release and 1-2 received Arubesh Deathtrooper from SoR release event. I should play Sam Miles’ Vader Raider for game 1, really cool guy with great attitude and great first experience there despite the fact I lost this game. I went 2-1 at the end winning next two games against eAurra/eJango and eKylo/eVader, so I took my promo Rey to add her among others I already have. Lukas went 3-0 so he received cool promo and we went to have a look on Expo stands. To our surprise, expo was opened only until 6PM, so we did not managed too much, but I at least managed to visit Japanime Games stand and buy a gaming pad from Barbarossa deck building game with General Winter I was looking forward to use next day :)

We went by bus to Coventry, and because I am dumb and lost somewhere the booking documents, we did not know, which bus stop we should get out. Unfortunately we asked some local young lady and despite she was really kind and helpful she recommended us to get out of bus 3 kms later than we really should so we got totally wet through the walk in heavy rain. But at least we stopped in Tesco to buy some food and cider and cards survived without harm. Totally tired we played one best of three match, fine tuned our decks for tomorrow and went to beds early.

Saturday 3rd June: Day 1 of Championship – 10 swiss rounds

Breakfast, bus to Expo, nothing special there. We slept well which was important, breakfast was calories heavy, we got to Expo in time well prepared with food, water, decklists and full decks. We were relaxed, tried to concentrate on totally different things than championship before it starts and planned our day regime to not get exhausted until it is over.

Originally there should be 8 rounds of swiss first day, two more day after, but they changed this (and I was glad) to 10 rounds day one and TOP-8 cut day 2. This way we would know where we are at the end of the day, which is always good. There was 100 gaming tables which would correspond to 200 players, but it was few less as I was told later. Nevertheless the competition for top 8 ranks was huge, we expected that based on the results of few top spots, it could be sufficient to go to top 8 for day 2 with 8 wins and 2 losses in case of good strength of schedule ratio.

Sign-up price was Darth Vader card promo and commemorative coin, next price (set of double sided damage tokens) was available for top third and than the prices were bulking up. Anyway, the price pool for the event did not have any money, so despite the things were somehow valuable, they were not incentive too much. Apart from first place, as the champion wins paid travel tickets and accommodation for Worlds Championship in USA. I really do not remember every detail of the games I played, as I was really concentrated to shut the brain right after the game and go with cold blood for the next round. But I will try to summarise everything which remained in my memory from the tournament and how my deck went. I was playing with Barbarossa playmat, which actually was quite funny in that environment full of Star Wars merchandise and helped me always to lighten my mood. Should there be a mat with manga female nazi general opposed to you, you know you played against me ;-)

Poe Dameron Maz Kanata

1st round – eKylo / eVader, DA

I remember that I made jokes of that deck day before, as it is really not as good against Poe/Maz as people believe, unless Poe/Maz player plays bad or his deck fucks around. Which happened to me unfortunately (I believe both of it). I wanted something to throw into Poe, and cheap stuff, preferably Cunning, but it went the opposite way. I mulligened into a bunch of stuff with costs 5, 3, 3, 3 and 1. I lost the battlefield roll, but that does not matter much as he played also the Throne Room. I managed to get rid of all cards before Kylo went with that special, I hit Vader for 4 with Falcon and deployed DL-44 on Poe and discarded the rest away. But as I wrote on the beginning, the deck was bad and the situation was similar round two and despite the fact I tried to get rid of the expensive cards asap, it was too much of them, Poe and Maz refused to go to Poes Special and I was hit for 5 damage to Poe through Kylo’s special when opponent hit U-Wing among two other cards for 1. Poe died, I managed to do some more damage and I actually think I even killed the Vader, but it went quickly afterwards anyway.

Loss, 0-1

2nd round – eJango/eVeers

Ironically first loss calmed me down heavily and I was playing relaxed since than knowing that now it is most probably just causal tournament for me anyway. eJango/eVeers is outdated meta and really not dangerous unless opponents rolls like crazy round 1 and 2. Which did not happen. My deck went just normally as it should, I won with both characters alive, i do not remember too much from this game.

Win, 1-1

3rd round – eHan/eRey

I played this deck (among others) by myself during our playtesting to find out its potential, and I believe it is dead chicken now. Game was brutal from my side, again both characters survived. I played Friends in Low Places round 1 turn 1 to see that he has no removal and he has One With the Force in his opening hand which meant that I targeted Han first shooting him down round 2 I believe (or by opening of round 3). Rey alone is not scary even with Vibroknife, when she rolled or focused to any damage, she was Hyperspaced or DefPositioned.

Win, 2-1

Hyperspace Jump Friends in Low Places

4th round – ePalpatine

Since round 2, we went with Lukas with same score, so we were afraid to meet together on same gaming table, but fortunately it did not happen. I was climbing up on the ranking and as I was higher, the competition was tougher. ePalpatine is difficult match-up, I of course thought about him when I was building my deck, but I decided to not play the best card against him (Frozen Wastes battlefield) as I found out, that Throne Room adds consistency to my games when I really need it to finish the game asap before my characters are killed. I knew that in case when my opponent will roll luckily, I will be most probably dead as my deck can not withstand 10+ damage per round and I only have 4 wipe-out removals in deck (2 Defensive Positions and 2 Hyperspace Jumps). The plan was to kill my opponent turn 3 or 4 before he does the same to me so I wanted really aggressive cards and Maz’s Goggles. I lost the roll as always but I had luck this time and deck went as zombie horde. Both of my characters were alive at the end, Cunning went on table soon and because of Hyperspace Jumps and Defensive Positions I believe Palpatine resolved his dice only twice…

Win, 3-1

I think after the fourth round we had a lunch break (but maybe it was the round later). This helped me and Lukas to keep the energy and concentration. We had like 30-40 minutes of fun chat outside on sun, while eating our chedar bagels and I even managed to get a picture with Xena cosplayer.which set me up in good mood. We were close to price ranks (6-4 should be ok for top third) and we wanted to not make a shameful result, so tokens would be honourable result.

5th round – ePoe/eMaz

First mirror match. I won the roll this time, went second for shields and played Goggles and Cunning early. Opponent’s deck was different from mine and after few rounds I think he really felt that the game is not even – when he had only his characters and mine Maz was full equipped with stuff. Again both of my characters survived.

Win, 4-1

6th round – ePalpatine

Another Palpatine, but as I was now ranked highly, I could not expect any funny deck in my opponents hands. Plan was same as the previous matchup, I said the prayers and started to play. Opening with Friends was scary, as my opponent had in hand Holocron and double Force Lightnings. Should he be able to resolve Holocron and deploy it round 1 and than round 2 again, the game would be over. But he did not. I had some removal, build up my aggressive position rapidly, when he finally deployed Lightning in turn 2 or 3 I moved through Hyperspace Jump to Throne Room and wiped Emperor from his chambers. Again both of my team remained alive.

Win, 5-1

7th round – eVader/Raider

I hope I remember correctly my matchups as I played against two Vaders that day. But I believe the first one was round 1 Cunning on Maz. My opponent was than scared to resolve his Holocron to Mind Probe as I could use it against him and he lacked the necessary damage to beat me down afterwards. Vader down round 3 I think, game went as all others fast. And again Hyperspace Jump ramped the game by switching the battlefield as I won the battlefield only against mirror that day if I remember correctly and no-one wanted to play on mine.

Win, 6-1

8th round – ePoe/eMaz (by Chris Hudson)

First of all, Lukas lost last round so he was 5-2, which was unfortunate and I realised that it goes to tough spots now. I was playing on top 4 tables now and last few games my table did not went above 8, so I was really playing high rank game. I had streak of 6 wins in a row but mirror is always scary. I knew I had my deck good teched against the mirror, and that it can not be possibly much better so we are talking now about skills. The issue was, that my opponent played also version with Cunning and we had almost identical hands that game. I lost the roll I think, went first, opened with Friends removed his removal as I did not wanted to lose any of my Poe’s dice because I had two throwables. Unfortunately I did not rolled well with Maz and was able to resolve only one special due to battlefield, which set me back by 3 damage against my opponent and since than I went always one action from behind.

He played DL-44, I played it, he played Field Medic exactly before I could kill Poe and I was not able to play mine the round I needed it. I should maybe choose a different tactic or just change the tempo of the game, nevertheless, it was lose on my side setting me back on ranking to somewhere like 15th place. Chris was however great, the game was relaxed from his side, which was cool and helped me again to wipe out the memory and start with cool head next round. Lukas went 5-3 at that time, beaten either this or previous round by Unkar deck piloted by current European Champion.

Lose, 6-2

9th round – eVader/Raider

The guy against me (sorry I forgot the name) was close friend of Sam Miles who I played first game with on Friday warm up event and he also fought on table next to us. After the game, I found out that they both had almost same decks, melee oriented Vader builds with Vibroknives and high power/cost ratio events (which was the way how to be successful with Vader on the tournament anyway). I played similar version as a test on mini-tournament in Prague last week so I knew the great potential. I got the Goggles which I really wanted and started to abuse the opponent’s hand with them and Friends to get rid of his powerful events. Vader went down and my side was quite well, so I just concentrated to not fuck the things up and win which I managed.

Win, 7-2

10th Round – ePoe/eMaz (piloted by Tom Reed)

The opponent deployed his Vader World Championship playmat against my Captain Winter and had again Poe/Maz deck. Tom was placed on 10th place this years Worlds Championship, but he seemed to me already tired or maybe he lost the previous game which signed on him. I do not know. His play was not optimal and the mirror quickly switched in my favour. I do not remember too much from this game, it was after 12 hours of staying in the place and all of my mental skills were focused on isolating my inner mindbox from any unnecessary thinking and outer world. I won which meant I had 8-2 and should the scoring of schedule would be good, I could get to top cut. Lukas managed to win his both last games, which gave him 7-3 and he has pretty solid position for something around rank 20.

Win, 8-2

And I made it. I had 5th best score of schedule among players with 8-2 which meant I made the cut from 7th place in total. My lost first round almost costed me the cut, as my opponents from first rounds most probably dropped from tournament or did not went well afterwards, but second half of the swiss rounds helped me to climb up on SoS sheet. I knew that Luke Skywalker playmat for top 8 is mine and I can do only better. Lukas finished on 27th place with his deck, which was respectable result. We both picked our prices for day 1 and went by bus to hotel with minds wiped out from gaming. I was thinking about the next day a little, as I knew I will play against ePalpatine which is my least favourite matchup, but the tactic was anyway clear – get some AoE removal in hand, Goggles to get rid of Rise Again and No Mercy and than hope that I will be able to finish him earlier than he finishes me. We packed our things and went to bed.

Sunday 4th June: Day 2 of Championship – TOP 8 and Expo

Again we slept well, we finally managed to buy bus tickets via cell phone app (se we did not waste several pounds by not having coins finally), we checked out from hotel and went to Expo. We arrived early, all decks were checked by judges and first game was prepared. The day 2 games started.

Palpatine Abandon All Hope

TOP 8 Match – ePalpatine (piloted by Dimitris Papadogeorgopoulos)

Cut was played on Best of 3 matches. Dimitris arrived from Greece, and I think we were only non UK players in TOP8, but I am not sure. He finished second last day with 9-1 losing only to Chris who plays also Poe/Maz so I knew he is beatable. I even won the roll and as I had Hyperspace Jump in my hand I decided to go second as I felt that this 4hp switch could be crucial. The hand was not great, I did not had Fast Hands nor Goggles, but there were some throwable target and Jump so it could be even worse. I usually did not mulligan aggressively as I would be fine to play with mediocre hand, but terrible hand would always be a ticket to exit. This also resulted in fact, that I had maybe only once Fast Hands in my opening hand during the whole tournament and I played majority of the tournament without them on table.

Game 1 started bad, Abandon All Hopes meant that I either lose my 2 resources or 5 cards. I chose the resources, which meant my overpriced Hyperspace Jump is now useless. I rolled luckily some damage and the game went so-so first round. I kept Hyperspace in hope, that I will use it next round to shut his dice and switch game in my favour. I was wrong. You can guess, yes Abandon All Hopes again. I beleive game went two more rounds, but with naked team, the chance was low. I was able to deal some damage and if this round would go good I could be close to win in case of hit and run god roll, but that was plain hope. Dimitris rolled 3+2 ranged resulting in 9 damage and game was over. I gave up, as this would left me only with 2 health on Poe and there was practically no chance to deal sufficient damage while opening the round, but I believe I should go and push the luck. I needed something like 2xFalcon/Launcher + Hit and Run and double special roll.

Game 2 should go better right? Hand was again weak with bunch of stuff to throw on Palpatine but nothing I would really like to see (DL-44, Goggles etc). I lost last game so I choose to go first this game as now I knew that he plays that awful event. I made now a mistake and I opened with Friends but I could go with Planetary Uprising instead to spend my resources. Because guess what? Yes, Friends showed me some removal and Abandon All Hopes which costs 2 so I could not get rid of it. Yep, for the third time! This time it went slightly better, but still it was lost game somewhere in round 3 I believe, which means like a half away from kill. And that was my last game in Euro. I went on 5th to 8th place, receiving Playmat, Medal, Leather deckbox, damage tokens, promo Vader and commemorative coin for my placement. I also get a pair of Jyn / Krennic promo cards from FFG Expo stand which was nice bonus (but I had them already from USA Orlando Star Wars 40th Anniversary anyway thanks to friends in LEGO community).

All three Poe/Maz decks in top 8 were beaten in first games (one by Baze/Snap, second I do not know). Finals were Sam Miles’ Vader/Raider against David Hancock’s eUnkar/FN/Stormtrooper. David won with really nice built deck oriented on heavy weapon deployment on FN and Unkar’s abusing of one of the best red/yellow cards like Salvage Stand and Imperial Inspection. I really think, that the tournament of this size and long swiss game showed and filtered out tier 1 decks but also confirmed that Poe/Maz despite being very popular now is not unbeatable nor broken. Meta just have to adapt and get used to it. I want to thank the organisers for really good care of the event and lets all hope that next year the event will be 1) bigger 2) more expensive which means with better price pool. I believe I am definitely not alone who thinks that CCG of this format deserves more competitive treatment.

We quit the area with Lukas pretty quickly as we wanted to at least see something from Expo also, when we paid 28 GBP for the ticket. We had nice 4-5 hours there, playing few games and I managed to purchase some more product from Japanime (Tanto Cuore Octoberfest and respective playmat with the barmaid from this game). It got handy, as we had to spent whole night on airport so we played several ours this game in Costa Coffee. Unfortunately I had no time to sell any extra legendary and rare cards I took with me, but thats a life. Now it is Monday, we are finally at home in Prague, I am writing this blog before I forget all the details. I hope you enjoyed the reading of my report as we enjoyed our wonderful journey. Should you want to contact me, you will find my contact links: here.