Long time no see folks!

Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated, etc etc. After a break from the game, I’m back with a vengeance and a solid record at a regionals. Without further ado, let’s look at the list!

MOBIUS SQUADRON

100 points

PILOTS

“Dutch” Vander (29)

Y-Wing (23), BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0), Flight-Assist Astromech (1), Ion Cannon Turret (5)

Gray Squadron Pilot (26)

Y-Wing (20), BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0), Flight-Assist Astromech (1), Ion Cannon Turret (5)

Fenn Rau (23)

Sheathipede-class Shuttle (20), Adaptability (0), Tactician (2), R2 Astromech (1)

Ezra Bridger (22)

Sheathipede-class Shuttle (17), Wired (1), Tactician (2), R3-A2 (2)

The list concept is fairly simple, ensure an range 1-2 initial engagement, inflict stress and ion on 1-2 ships, and then take the next turn to eliminate those ships. Ezra spends most of his time stressed, while both Y-wings take focus. Fenn then coordinates a Target Lock onto Dutch, who passes one over to the Gray, giving both of the warthogs two modifiers for their attacks. Any single surviving ship still has the potential to hit above their weight if the initial engagement goes poorly, and the double ion/stress situation allows the list to walk the ghost off the board.

Round 1 – Nym and Sol Sixxa (Zachary Beaudoin Smith)

And right out of the gate I faced a very bomb-happy (but trajectory-free) double Scurrg list. My opponent used Minefield Mapper to close off one direction and make the other hazardous, thankfully He was herding me where I wanted to go and neither placement ended up causing me too much grief. The opening engagement went spectacularly, with Sol Sixxa getting ioned onto a rock for two turns and Nym ion/stressed up close. Nym had R4-E1, so ignored the stress and dropped Cluster Mines keeping him temporarily safe from damage. Losing the 2 turns of shots from Sixxa put him behind on the damage curve however, and Ezra managed to finish the job alone in the end after the Y’s heavily smashed both Scurrgs.

Result – Win (100-78)

Round 2 – Rey and Lowhhrick (Rolando Garcia)

Ah the dreaded Wookiee! Having been absent from the game during the nonsense of Fair Ship and Quad Wooks, I was only operating on word of mouth when it came to figuring out my target priority. It wouldn’t hurt me this game, but it would down the road. Lowhhrick went down fairly quickly to combined fire, but when the dust cleared both Fenn and Dutch were dead. With Rey now stressed down and aimed towards Ezra, we began a long chase, with Ezra narrowly holding on while the Gray followed behind Rey, eating away at her hull and preventing her from dropping stress by putting her on ion every 2-3 turns.

Result – Win (100-49)

Round 3 – Triple x7 Defenders (Jared Oulette)

And I finally fell victim to the cannibalism that our store was committing on itself. Jared’s a fantastic player, and immediately saw the threat Mobius posed. The initial engagement saw Vessery and Ryad go down in exchange for Dutch and the Gray, with Ezra falling shortly after. Thus followed somewhere around 10 turns of a Delta vs Fenn Rau, coming down to 1 health on each, when the slugfest finally ended with Fenn going up in a ball of fire. 10/10 game for just sheer intensity and silliness (at one point marshal Brian Frost came over, gestured to the mountains of stress tokens on the board, and asked what this nonsense was).

Result – Loss (72-100)

Round 4 – Lowhhrick, Norra, Ezra Stress nonsense (Solomon Lee)

And here’s where my inexperience with both Lowhhrick and Mobius finally caught up to me. In this matchup, Norra should have been my priority (with 6 different attacks, Lowhhrick’s ability isn’t anywhere near as intimidating to me), and instead I decided to focus on Lowhhrick. In combination with me deciding to slow-roll one more turn instead of commit, resulting in a range 3 initial combat, and gunner Ezra then locking me down with hefty stress, that mistake cost me the game. By the end I was at least looking to keep a good MOV, managed to catch a stressed-down Lowhhrick and finish him off with a lonely Ezra, but lost him before I could finish off Solomon’s 1 health Ezra. While I was frustrated with a lack of Ion shots and hits this game, this loss was completely on me for misdiagnosing where my target priority needed to go. Note to self: more attacks = I don’t care about Lowhhrick.

Result – Loss (34-100)

Round 5 – Kylo, Rho, TLT Aggressor (Mirek Kutnik)

At this point I knew I was likely out of the running for the cut, but kept my spirits up in the small hope that the math might work out (primarily to keep playing at the top of my game). We engaged right in the middle of the board, going from a couple range 3 shots between the Y’s and the Aggressor to range 1 with the Rho on everyone except Fenn, who had hidden behind debris with arc on the Rho. A harpoon into Fenn dealt minimal damage, and the rest of the fleet dumped damage into Rho and dropped Ion into the Rho and the Aggressor. The Rho dropped the following turn, followed by the aggressor the turn after, accompanied by Ezra. Following that, we engaged in a yakety-saks inducing chase, with Kylo running for 45-60 minutes while I strained to catch up and drop ion/stress to shut him down. Kylo finally hit a Debris field, allowing me to catch up and start whittling at him, and just before he escaped again I dropped Ion on him, sending him first plowing into Debris, and then limping in front of a couple Y’s ready to hit him range 1. Mirek called it there and we shook hands after what was one of the most exhausting games of my x-wing career.

Result – Win (100-22)

Round 6 – Lowhhrick, Miranda, Ezra (Josef Riccio)

Determined at this point that there was a small chance at making the cut (despite evidence to the contrary), I came into the final game exhausted but energized at the same time. Josef was a fantastic opponent, and this was one of the most fun games of X-wing I’ve played in a long time. Having learned from my mistake in round 4, I came in and target locked Lowhhrick to guarantee an Ion/stress, and then turned the majority of my attacks to Miranda. With both Miri and Loowhie stress/ioned, I laid into Miranda on the following turn, trading her for the Gray. Lowhhrick followed the turn after, followed by Fenn Rau, leaving Josef’s Ezra vs my own damaged Ezra and a full health Dutch. After a couple turns, my own Ezra came out with one heath, scorched but alive, and Dutch stood triumphant, challenging all those who had ever questioned his worth as a pilot.

Result – Win (100-49)

Final Placement – 33 Overall (32 on list juggler), 4-2 with 708 MOV

Out of 136 players, coming in 33 is a nice consolation. I came in with a goal to make the cut again after doing so 2 years ago, and while I didn’t quite get that far, I know where I went wrong, where to improve, and especially what to target. I didn’t end up facing the Ghost (reportedly there were only 9 in attendance), which actually disappointed me, as I had really wanted to grin maniacally while ioning one off the table. Most importantly to me though, I took a list from outside the box (Did he just say Dutch? Did i hear that right? Holy sh*t he’s flying Dutch. What does Dutch do again?), and proved it could not only stand up in this meta, but has the potential to become a minor piece of it. In addition, I had a LOT of fun playing this list, and to those not sure about the “fun” of flying Fenn Ghost or Miranda/Nym, I highly recommend the Mobius archetype.

Moving Forward

I’ve since been tinkering with some variants of the Mobius archetype, including dropping Fenn Rau down to AP-5 and using the spare points to run just Sabine/Seismic on him, with Bomb Loadout/Ion Bombs on both Y-Wings to further improve the Ion drops, or Thermals on both Y’s to increase the stress and damage drop. Until we receive another wave (or another major FAQ), I’m fairly certain that Mobius will be my archetype of choice, bringing heavy damage and disruption to a meta vulnerable to both.

Until next time folks, and as always, Fly more Missions!

-Tom B-W AKA Phasertech