Hello Pilots!

Last November, GeekADD went to the 2016 X-Wing World Championship and it was amazing! Now FFG has announced Worlds will take place the week of May the 4th this year and we wanna goooooo!!!!

Recently, I’ve been asking people about going to Worlds and I’m feeling a lot of hesitation, which actually make me a bit sad. I’ll admit, the GeekADD trio all had moments of doubt regarding their attendance, but DUDE. REGISTER. GO. We had such an awesome experience. I know there are only limited spots, but at least try. You won’t regret it! I’m here today to convince you, yes YOU, why you should attend the 2017 X-Wing World Championship in May!

Reason #1: There Will be More Spots!

Part of the reason why the current competitive schedule is so funk’ed up is FFG is changing the tournament structure. This time around, X-Wing will be a part of the May Worlds Track, which only includes Star Wars games. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be X-Wing players only, but there will be fewer games to accommodate (Netrunner, GoT, for example). In the past, registration has been a nightmare and spots have evaporated in matter of minutes. If you didn’t have uninterrupted computer access for the first three minutes of ticket sales, you were S.O.L. Now, with a Star Wars focused event, they can increase player caps, have more side events, fewer simultaneous events, etc.

So, there will still be limited spots, but hopefully the registration process won’t be as painful as in the past. X-Wing Worlds specifically will have two qualifying days (1A and 1B) before the finals so make sure you plan out what day you schedule for appropriately.

Links for Main Tournament Schedule and Side Tournament Schedule

Registration happens 12:00 PM CST, March 14th! Psst…that’s 10am California time!

Reason #2: Top-Tier Competition and the World Wide Meta

GeekADD’s X-Wing abilities are…well…modest. I mean, two of us finished the day with a proud 4-2!!…oh…wait…win-loss, not loss-win…

We…finished the day. Let’s put it that way. We have a couple strong wins to be proud of, as well as some humbling “oh, didn’t realize that was a thing…” defeats. Either way, players walking away from this tournament are going to come out a bit more knowledgeable and tempered. I mean, c’mon, you’re walking into the WORLDWIDE meta. I personally met players from Poland, Spain, the UK, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada and I’m sure there were more!

While the USA is a big place, even a place this big can get a big homogenous. Facing players from other nations, I learned a lot about disposition and tactics that I doubt I would have learned from American players. Not only that, but it’s pretty cool to see the names of upgrades in other languages. I saw a few players even swap damage cards (like Direct Hit!) to commemorate their games. I used to think if we ever achieve world peace, soccer football fùtbol fußall SOCCER would be a key part of that. But after attending Worlds, maybe, just maybe, X-Wing could take that mantle instead. Dare to dream, brutha 😉

Reason #3: Side Events

For X-Wing, there were two amazing side events: Team Epic and Hangar Bay. In my opinion, simply taking part in either of these formats is a privilege in itself, but I’m a sucker for alternative X-Wing formats.

I will say though, entry into a side event requires your name on a sign-up sheet, which gets posted 24 hours in advance. I fully intended to participate in Team Epic with Ryan Farmer (yup, from the one and only Mynock Squadron Podcast!). Unfortunately, we arrived in town Thursday night, mere hours before the start of the event. Yeah…the wait list was a mile long, so we walked away bummed and disappointed. Later, in an act of desperation, Ryan and I asked to be placed on the list anyway, and let me tell you, it was the smart decision! We didn’t get to play, but we still got the participation promos! We’ll get to that in a sec, but you’ll see why I’m so excited for it.

Mynock Epic Squadron: Red Group (Ryan) and Blue/Gold Group (Cody C). Yep…named T-70s! I even had the colored bases to go with each group!

Hangar Bay, if you’re not familiar, is a 3-round tournament format where you make two different lists and actually get to choose which one to use based on the opponent’s list. It’s a ton of fun, but also fairly easy to manage as FFG issues out score sheets that pre-determine the pairings based on wins/losses at each table.

All in all, side events are a great way to get some table time with games you play, but aren’t “competing” in. For instance, I’m going to try and get in on the Destiny side events, even though I (intend) to sign up for X-Wing. They’re also a great way of getting prizes that you might not be able to get otherwise, which brings me to my next point….

Reason #4: Promos and Lo0tZ!!!!

Hi, my name is Cody C and I like to collect things. Attending Worlds, I was in Promo Heaven!!! The ticket is a bit steep (I guess it’s cheap when compared to Systems Open or GenCon), but FFG makes sure you get your money’s worth. Here’s some of the loot from Day 1:

Of this list, here’s the stuff I received just for simply showing up:

1 X-Wing Promo (Inquisitor Pilot)

1 Armada Promo (General Rieekan)

1 SWLCG Promo (Boba Fett)

1 Imperial Assault Promo (Princess Leia)

1 Game of Thrones Promo (Winds of Winter)

1 40k Conquest Promo (Void Pirate)

1 Netrunner Promo (Hedge Fund)

World Championship T-Shirt

X-Wing Challenge Coin

Mini-American Card Binder

2 Promos of the Championship you participate in (2 more Inquisitors in our case)

1 Set of Applied Perspective tokens, including a dope-ass Palp Token (not FFG Issued)

1 Acrylic Mobile Arc Marker, also from Applied Perspective (not FFG Issued)

Some of the other stuff you could get/earn:

Targeting Coordinator (Team Epic participation)

Dual-Sided Gozanti/GR-75 (Team Epic participation)

Acrylic Energy Tokens (Team Epic victory prize)

Acrylic Huge Ship Maneuver Template (Team Epic victory prize)

Alt Art Omega Ace (Hangar Bay Participation)

Dual-Sided, Full Art Epsilon Squadron/Blue Squadron Novice (Hangar Bay Participation)

Acrylic Weapons Disabled Tokens (Hangar Bay w/ 2 Wins)

Plastic Biggs Alt-Art with dual finish (Hangar Bay w/ 3 Wins)

Plastic Dual-Sided, Full Art Epsilon Squadron/Blue Squadron Novice with dual finish (Hangar Bay w/ 3 Wins)

Dice Bag, Stress Tokens, Alt Art’s of Vader, Han, Bandit Squadron, Academy Pilot, VI, and Gunner (bonus prizes for each tournament match)

Rey and Kylo Ren Destiny Promos (for demo’ing the game)

The Prizes for Top 16 and above

Random loots people give you! (I know I gave out hella Mynock Patches!)

If you decide to eBay some of this stuff…lol…just, lol. Like I said, I collect stuff and have a hard time getting rid of things, but if you weren’t particularly attached to any of it, you could make a killing selling your promos, even after a modest performance. $$$ Hella Bux $$$

It looks like this year, FFG is going to be utilizing something called the “Prize Wall” which sounds interesting. You earn prize tickets for scoring wins, then you can redeem them at the wall for various items. I could see some issues with this, but at the same time, being able to customize your loot is pretty awesome.

Reason #5: Friendship, Brotherhood, and Community

Haha, now the cheesy part, but it’s true! For me, this was the best part of the whole event. I was able to go on a mini-vacation with my brethren, meet new people, meet people I’d only “heard” of (haha to all those X-Wing celebrities), as well as mingle with X-Wing’ers from other nations. I even ran into a few people from Reddit who read and commented on my prep article, which was such a joy.

While I didn’t qualify for the final day, being there to see my brothers compete, sharing in their victories and heartbreaks, joining in the collective gasps and applauses, and even catching a couple final salvos go down was so satisfying. Not only that, but buying each other beers and sharing food, trading promos and last-minute tactics on how they deal with Dengaroo really fosters a sense of community. During one of my Hangar Bay matches, met a gentleman from the UK who was attending with his two sons, one of which made it into the Top 16! How cool is that?!?!

In my opinion, X-Wing has one of the best gaming communities out there, which is why I’m pushing for this so much. Walking away from the event, I didn’t even care that I didn’t make Day 2. I was on such a high from meeting and greeting everyone that I could have got 0-6 and had a smile on my face.

Reason #6: They Have Beer, Coffee, and Food!

And I’m not talking “We have some Starbucks Frappucinos in the drink fridge, rolled in a keg of Bud Light, and have a case of Snickers Bars.” The Fantasy Flight Games Center has a full on kitchen with a decent beer and cider selection, and round the clock coffee. J Cody and Gio had some delicious burgers and I was oh-so-satisfied with the Poutine. You could also get pulled pork sandwiches and, sure, if you really wanted, the standard fare of bagged snacks and candy bars.

The best part was, it was reasonably priced! I mean, it wasn’t dirt cheap, but a pint of quality beer (in a real glass!) that you could take to your table for $7? Hell yeah. I’ve paid $15 for warm, watered-down swill in a leaking plastic cup at events before, so FFG offering reasonable prices at a major event like this made me quite happy. Surly Brewing Company had the lion’s share of offerings, but there were a few others as well. If you’re not an alcohol drinker, there’s plenty of other things to grab as well, so no worries there.

Pro-Tip: just watch out for the meager Chips w/ Pico de Gallo…go for the Nachos instead.

Reason #7: Loopin’ Chewie

loop…

Loop…

LOOP!!!

LOOP!!!

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!!

Haha, so if you’re not familiar, Loopin’ Chewie is almost as cool as X-Wing itself. A fan favorite among the various California crews, the game is pretty self-explanatory if you look at the video below. Knock the motorized Chewie into the enemy Stormtroopers while protecting your own.

We were very, very close to having a 6-Table Loopin’ Chewie side tournament going. It ended up not happening, but we did toss a few out for people to play and it got the response we were hoping for.

Maybe next time…

If Loopin’ it up isn’t your bag, FFG has an entire wall of board games (some FFG, some not) for you to and some friends to just, ya know, chill with. During the tail end of our first day, we just sat around drinking beers, playing non-Xwing games, and just basking in the glory of nerd funk and geekdom (like…you know…kingdom….but geek).

You Now Have a Sufficient Number of Reasons to Attend

I could continue, but do I really need to? Hopefully you’re out of excuses! Worlds was one of the greatest board gaming experiences of my life. I’m definitely going again (or attempting, at least), especially since the entire cost of plane tickets, AirBnB, food, and whatnot isn’t completely unreasonable. It’s much cheaper than going to GenCon or something of that sort. Again, registration will eventually max out, but if you love X-Wing, you should at least try.

Roseville is also a cool little town. Plenty of nice places to eat and drink, it’s clean, and most people are pretty nice. Get on Yelp and find yourself a Jucy Lucy while you’re in the area (haha, it’s a hamburger, look it up). While they’ve probably slimmed down by now, I also got a kick out of all the fat squirrels getting ready for winter. It’s definitely got some charm.

Anyway, if you want to see my kit prep article you can see it here. I think I was fairly well prepared and wouldn’t change much in terms of what I brought. If you want to see a video report of our misadventures, check it out below!

Good luck registering, and fly better!!!! Hope to see you May the 4th!!!