We were expecting this to be the largest store championship that any of us would attend. We were right, as 38 pilots showed up to test their skills on the day. We had high hopes coming into this championship since all four of our main players would be competing here in preparation for Nationals.

Lucky running DashWullff

Round One: 27-100 Loss

Opponent: Fred

Asajj Ventress w/ Glitterstims x2, Latts Razzi, and Lone Wolf

Dengar w/ Punishing One, Wired, Maul, and Countermeasures

So my wife and I had our first child five and half weeks ago. I haven’t played X-Wing much, and haven’t slept much, so there was definitely a lot of rust to get sanded off of my favorite squad, DashWullff. My opponent set up in his left corner, I set up diagonally across from him, trying to see which ship presented itself first. In the end it was Dengar that took the lead into the center of the map. I bit too aggressively at that bait and, while I got half points on the ol’ Mummy Cyborg Dengar, he was able to put a LOT of damage on Wullffwarro. Normally I don’t mind Wullffwarro taking damage (that’s kind of the point of flying him), and so I set up what I hoped would be a very deadly return shot to finish off or cripple Dengar. Dengar took his opening shot at Wullff and managed to push one crit through, which pulled up a Blinded Pilot.

That card more or less devastated my chances. What should have been the end of Dengar was instead the end of Wullffwarro, and my opponent then wisely flew Dengar away, utilizing the superior dial and Pilot Skill of Dengar to ensure that even my hyper-mobile variant of Dash never got a shot. Dengar weaved in and out (and here I do have to credit Fred for some very solid flying) ensuring that Dengar was either out of range entirely or pounding Dash at Range 1. My defense dice soon began to falter, and of course a Push the Limit ship trying to push damage onto a Timewalk Asajj with Latts is a laughable notion. Dash eventually went down, giving me only half points on Dengar for my labors. Frustrating as it was, this was probably helpful in the long term, since my pairings afterwards were rather favorable, and perhaps helped boost my MOV overall for the tournament.

Round Two: 100-29 Win

Opponent: Jason

Quickdraw w/ Fire Control System, Intensity, Special Ops Training, and Primed Thrusters

Scarif Base Pilot w/ Director Krennic, ISB Slicers, Lightweight Frame, and Advanced Ailerons

Major Vynder w/ Harpoon Missiles, Advanced SLAM, Veteran Instincts, and OS-1 Arsenal Loadout

Jason was new to competitive X-Wing, and he was also playing handicapped by the fact that he’d built his list assuming he could give the Optimized Prototype condition to QuickDraw, which he found out was incorrect when he sat down for his first game that day. He settled for putting it on the Reaper, but it was definitely a decrease in the power he thought he had in the list. My dice decided to make apologies for the damage deck’s faux pas in the last game, and some hot dice allowed me to strip all of Quickdraw’s shields off in one turn, in turn allowing me to deal with the Reaper. Jason knew where to put Vynder, but two shots were foiled by Vynder’s SLAMs putting him just barely onto rocks or debris, preventing him from getting off more than a couple of Harpoons during the whole game.

Tactician on Wullffwarro did good work in keeping Quickdraw manageable until she blew up, and then slowing down Vynder so that he couldn’t escape after what proved to be his final attack run. This list proved to be fairly capable in dealing with Reapers, since Wullffwarro couldn’t care less about Jam tokens as he merely wants to reinforce every turn. Dash liked the Jam tokens less, but double reposition was usually a solid option, since even a Reaper can’t keep up with a PTL Dash. I lost half points on Dash, but managed to clean the table and, greatly encouraged, moved on to the next game.

Round Three: 100-0 Win

Opponent: Tim

Boba Fett w/ Fearless, Engine Upgrade, Bomblet Generator and Dengar

Asajj w/ Lone Wolf, Glitterstims, Latts Razzi, Shadowcaster title, and Gyroscopic Targeting

Tim was an incredibly nice guy to meet. He and his son picked up the game earlier this year, and he had driven an hour and half to get a taste of competitive play. His list was a tweaking of the list that won the last Regionals at Games and Stuff, but he wasn’t terribly practiced with it.

We started diagonally from each other. Tim let Boba zip ahead, angling for that brutal Range 1 shot on Dash, who he correctly identified as the more dangerous ship in my list. I was able, however, to park Dash behind a debris cloud that prevented Boba from getting his boost. With no Range 1 rerolls, Boba instead found himself taking the full fusillade of shots from Dash and Wullffwarro, and the Tactician on the Wookie ensured that he couldn’t effectively chase Dash. Boba lost all of his shields that round, and by the time Asajj arrived a turn later, it was too late for Boba. After that, it was just a matter of slowly and meticulously working through the Timewalk Asajj.

Tim made the mistake I always hope my opponents will make of, when seeing that Dash was proving very hard to get, taking shots on Wullffwarro instead of Dash. Threepio and Reinforce means that I can really throw the brakes on incoming damage once Wullff’s pilot ability triggers.

Tim was a great sport, though now I began to worry about my coming matchups, as my MOV was beginning to look very similar to two other members of Sand Brawler Squadron, neither of which I particularly cared to fly against.

Round Four: 100-0 Win

Opponent: Eric

Darth Vader w/ Veteran Instincts, Engine Upgrade, TIE x1 and Advanced Targeting Computer

Countess Ryad w/ Lone Wolf and TIE x7

Scarif Base Pilot w/ Director Krennic, ISB Slicers, Advanced Ailerons, and Lightweight Frame

Eric was also very new to X-Wing, and though his list had a lot of things to love, his lack of practice flying it was definitely his undoing. He set up the Defender and Reaper near the middle of the board. When I picked a corner, he put Vader almost directly across from me. While Vader was indeed able to jump into Dash’s donut, he did it at the expense of any defensive actions (Boost and then Target Lock). A Range 1 Wullffwarro stripped the Dark Lord’s shields off, forcing him to peel off. The Countess and the Reaper were too easily arc dodged, and both soon had their shields stripped as well by Dash and a now-triggered Wullffwarro. Dash was able to take out Vader as he turned back into the fray, and my opponent chose at that point to concede and eat his lunch, guessing (probably correctly) that his PS 1 and PS 5 would struggle to come back against Dash alone, let alone Dash and his very angry Wookie partner.

Round Five: 41-0 Win

Opponent: BJ “TIEdye”

Pure Sabacc w/ Veteran Instincts, Lightweight Frame, and Adaptive Ailerons

Major Vermeil w/ Veteran Instincts, Lightweight Frame, Director Krennic, and ISB Slicers

QuickDraw w/ Veteran Instincts, Pattern Analyzer, Fire Control System, Spec Ops Training, and Lightweight Frame

It had to happen eventually. This wasn’t the first game that BJ and I had been paired against each other for the final round of Swiss, and we’re both rather irritated when it happens. We get to play each other plenty on a casual basis, and we’re both pretty competitive guys that don’t exactly love losing. Still we set up, shook hands, and proceeded to rip each other’s throats out.

BJ knew all too well to be 100% focused on killing Dash first. I was flying my heart out to keep Dash away from most of the hostile firing arcs in the area, but being lower PS than everything on his team made that a tough proposition. I was able to knock out Vermeil fairly quickly (if you swing for the Wullffwarro block, you’d better not miss), but Quickdraw stuck to Dash like glue. And here my luck ran out, somewhat.

Wullffwarro shot at QD after killing Vermeil (you have to shoot Quickdraw at some point, you can’t let him get to late game unscathed). Dash still had a shield left, but had spent his focus defending against Quickdraw’s initial attack. I didn’t mind dipping into hull on Dash if it meant stripping QD’s shields and transforming him from the ace-hunting terror that he is into a very over-priced TIE Fighter. However, the expected return shot from QD produced Hit-Crit-Crit (as expected Dash blanked on his evade roll), and the two crits that went to hull BOTH turned up Direct Hits.

This forced a radical uptick in the speed at which I had to finish off Sabacc and Quickdraw, since I knew Dash was going to die quickly. Dash’s return shot put some solid damage on Sabacc, deactivating his extra dice. Next round, I hid Dash behind a debris cloud and focused, knowing that QD would only get a rear-arc shot and Sabacc would have to drift directly in front of Wullffwarro to get a shot at all. Still, if there’s one rule to swear by in X-Wing, it is that Green Dice Are Bastards. With two hits rolled by Quickdraw, even at Range 3 with a focus Dash couldn’t roll enough paint to avoid that one final hit, and snuffed it.

And here, I will credit myself with some good flying. Wullffwarro, with Sabacc flying away to his left and Quickdraw flying away to his right, simply did a 1-straight, keeping both ships in his firing arc. Triggered (and presumably grief-stricken at the death of the charismatic smuggler), he ended Sabacc with one angry shot, and it was down to Wullffwarro and Quickdraw. Here BJ made a slight mistake, as he held Quickdraw’s stress to perform a Two Hard back in towards the board, presumably to be able to disengage and then reengage on his own terms, settling in behind the Wookie. But that one extra turn of stress meant that I was able to catch him at Range 2 again.

Tactician absolutely was the champion of this last portion of the game, as I was able to lock down Quickdraw for at least three turns with that stress, pummeling him at Range 2 where the two-dice return shot proved utterly ineffective against Reinforce and Threepio. Wullffwarro won the day in the end (very much a rarity in my time flying this list), and we both allowed ourselves to breathe again after this fairly intense matchup. I discovered, to my surprise, that I had made it to the Top Four cut (some of the players with better MOV than me had had very intense, Pyrrhic matches that knocked them both out of the top spots). On to Elimination!

Top 4: 100-0 Win

Opponent: Duncan

Soontir Fel w/ Push the Limit, Autothrusters, Royal Guard TIE, and Hull Upgrade

Scarif Base Pilot w/ Lightweight Frame, Advanced Ailerons, and Emperor Palpatine

Scarif Base Pilot w/ Lightweight Frame, Director Krennic, ISB Slicers, and Advanced Ailerons

Yes, for those of you from the area, my opponent was that Duncan for the first round of elimination.

Duncan flew his two Reapers across his own board edge, apparently trusting Soontir to handle the opening rounds solo. However, as he engaged wih Soontir, adroitly slipping into Dash’s donut, he apparently forgot one of the Cardinal Rules of X-Wing: Read The Cards (RTFC, for short). He was apparently under the impression that Wullffwarro was Lowhhrick and that Tactician was Magva Yarro. So Soontir received a very unpleasant second stress from the Tactician, forcing him to bail pretty rapidly. I chased him with the Wookie for as long as I could, managing to stress him one more time before he had to bug out completely.

At the same time, however, I had to deal with the unpleasantness of Duncan choosing to invoke the recent-ish FAQ that Dash must declare that he is using his ability whenever he uses his ability (Why, FFG? Seriously, why??). This left Dash hung up on a rock taking fire from two Reapers on a turn where I meant to have him boosting away and taking potshots at Soontir. Still, Dash survived, and that was one mistake that I certainly won’t be making again.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In the end, it was Soontir’s hasty engagement that proved Duncan’s downfall. As the Reapers struggled to turn around and focus down Dash, Dash was able to loop around and block Soontir’s escape, leaving him vulnerable to triggered Wullffwarro. Once Soontir died, finished up two PS 1 Reapers was simply mop up, even against someone as skilled as Duncan. On to the final!

Championship: 100-29 Win

Opponent: Chris

Rey w/ Expertise, HoTR Millenium Falcon, Finn, Engine Upgrade, Kanan Jarrus

Lowhhrick w/ Expertise, C-3P0 and Magva Yarro

This was the closest I got to a mirror match all day, as both of us were flying a fat Rebel turret supported by an Auzituck. The lists fly very differently though, and my victory here was due at least in part to some luck. We started off diagonally from each other, both leading with our tanky Wookies. I knew Rey had to die, just as he knew that Dash had to die. I was able to focus fire into Rey, stripping her shields even as Dash lost his shields. However, Chris chose to fire off a full Rey punch into Wullffwarro’s front before Segnor’s Looping around. Though this brought Wullff low, it left him alive and triggered, which I took full advantage of.

As Rey looped around I simply slight-turned Wullffwarro to keep her at Range 1 of him. He tanked another shot from Rey, and responded with a devastating attack of his own. At that moment, bye and bye, the circle was unbroken. The Blinded Pilot that lost me my first game showed up on Rey, denying her the shot that almost certainly would have killed Dash. This bought me the time I needed to finish killing Rey. After that, as everyone who flies Lowhhrick can tell you, the rest was mop-up. I walked away with a pile of sweet loot and a bye at my next Hyperspace Qualifier.

Lessons Learned:

1. Don’t be salty.

2. RTFC.

3. I should probably just declare Dash’s ability every turn now, just to enforce the habit. It’s beyond idiotic, but that doesn’t mean people won’t exploit it, especially at an event like Nationals.

4. Wullffwarro is my tank, but that doesn’t mean I should sacrifice him needlessly.

Cobra running Boba/Assaj

Originally, I wasn’t going to write a recap this week, but I did a lot better than I expected so I would so I figured I would share. The weeks preceding this event I didn’t have any time to test lists, so instead I stole a list which won a regional event last year. This list consisted of Boba Fett and the “time walk Assaj”. I was able to play it once before the event.

Round 1: Win 100-0

My opponent was the son in a father-son duo and by far was the youngest player I have ever faced. He was flying a Jan Ors and Rey or “Nuclear Rey”. Unfortunately due to some asteroids and the “blinded pilot” crit, Rey never actually got the opportunity to shoot. Either way we both had fun.

Round 2: Loss 100-31

This time I faced another Rey build this time it was a Rey Lowhhrick. It was a very close match, but unfortunately I didn’t use my Glitterstims or counter-measures at the right time. I also forgot to put stress on my opponent’s ship with Assaj a couple time. I think I could have done better in this round had I had more practice.

Round 3: Win 100-0

This was one of same opponents I faced in the charity tournament about a month and a half ago. He was flying the same list with 2 X Wings, a U wing, and a Sheathipeade. The game went well with Boba and Assaj removing the Sheathipeade and an X Wing by turn 2.

Round 4: Win 100-75

In this game, I was now flying against the father in the father son duo. He was running Rey and Lowrick. This game was very close. In the mid-game, I accidently forgot to drop some bomblets from Boba that would have been for sure hits on Lowhhrick. This mistake would cost me later. I was able to kill Rey, but it cost me Boba. It was then Lowhhrick Vs Timewalk Assaj. Assaj was at full health, but she had expended all of her gitterstims and countermeasures. The Wookie had lost all his shields and had 3 hull left on it. It took me a couple turns but eventually I was able to get structural damage crit on it. Which means C3po wouldn’t work. The final damage was scored when I was able to get a final range 2 shot in on the Auzituck.

Round 5: Win 100-0

My opponent in this game was flying the “Snap Crackle Pop” list. That’s 2 A wings with crack shot and snapshot, 2 X Wings with snapshot, and AP-5 in the Sheathipeade. In the beginning of the game I set Boba up in the corner aligned with the edge and Assaj range 3 away to the right. This ensured she would get the lone wolf bonus. My opponent was set up straight across from me. I sent Assaj up first and the swarm turned to attack her. This left an opening for Boba to get a range one shot on the trailing A-wing. After that turn the A-wing only had one hull left and an X-wing only had 2 hull left while Assaj only took one damage. The next turn I was able to do even more damage and Assaj only lost her shields. By the 4th turn of firing, I was able to remove both X Wings and the Sheathipeade, and both A Wings were close to death. My opponent then conceded the game.

At this point all the qualifying rounds were over and I was fortunate to make the cut in 3rd place.

Top 4: Loss 100-0

This round I was unfortunate to be paired up against the same person who beat me in round 2. History repeated itself and I lost again.

Over all I am very happy with how this event went. I never had made the cut at an event this large, and had a lot of fun while doing it. I do like the list I used today, but it obvious I need to practice a lot more with it if I want to bring it to Nationals.

TIE/die running Triple Aces

Round 1: Loss

Round 1 found me face to face with a variation of the current Rebel Beef meta. 4 U-wings and a Z-95. It was the type of list I anticipated, dreaded, and wanted to take on. I wanted to test the true mettle of my list against it. The first round saw the Z pop. The key was one ship at a time. Unfortunately, a double crit draw of 2 “Direct Hits” took out Sabacc. Back and forth we went until it came down to Vermeil and the last U-wing. Another unfortunate crit from blitzing through an obstacle led to a missed chance at a range 1 into its side. “Blinded Pilot”…go figure. Lost the game in the end, but only by 10 points and some bad card draws.

Round 2: Win

Round 2 found me staring down the barrel of a triple tap Bossk list. Poor, poor Sabacc. A mangler canon shot from Bossk produced 2 natural crits plus another hit turned crit. Even with the shield gained by Optimized Prototype, Sabacc bit the dust. Thankfully, a round of focus fire ensured that the IG would follow. I settled in nicely behind an angry Bossk and finished another fine game.

Round 3: Win

Round 3 found myself against another list that I had been wanting to face. It was 2 Reapers, Palp, Krennic & Soontir. A list I may try at some point, but probably not in time to fly under the current version of X-Wing. After some futile attempts at killing the Baron, the opportunity arose to take out the Emperor. With Palp of the board, killing off Soontir became far more viable. I won the match, though technically I had lost Vermeil. My opponent, who had decided to call it a day, graciously bowed out and allowed me the 100-0 victory.

Round 4: Win

Round 4 found me facing off against a fellow imperial player. Figuring out the keystone to his list took some thought. I decided that Vessery had to go first. Not that he didn’t have other threats on the table, but I know how good that defender is if left alone. His Harpoon Gunboat managed to tag QuickDraw, but thankfully the condition never came into play. Cleared the board for a hard earned 100-0 victory.

Round 5: Loss

Then came round 5…

The round that will live in infamy…

It was me versus Lucky. It was a fantastic game, even if it was a difficult loss. We had danced that dance many times, I knew his list and what it could do. After losing Vermeil, I managed to dash the Dash amongst the stars. This left the Wookiee triggered and angry. He cleared off Sabacc and settled behind QuickDraw. A brutal combo of tactician, C-3PO, and reinforce led to loss. There was far more than luck on his side. At least I got knocked out by the soon to be store champion.

In the end, I am hopeful for the showing at NOVA. Until then, TIE/DIE out.

Skipjack running Wombo Combo

Round 1: Loss 100-30

First round I was back against the same opponent I faced in the final round at the Family Game Store about a month ago. This time, however, the game was not nearly as close. We once again started in opposite corners of the map. He drove quickly down his side of the board, and I turned in. I should have slow rolled up my edge and then K turned to reverse course.

My impatience killed me as my pivot point placed me in nearly the perfect kill box for his X Wings and U Wings. He killed Shara almost right off the bat, and Fenn followed shortly after. Norra was eventually hunted down after she took half off a U wing.

Round 2: Loss 100-23

I faced off against an interesting set of Imperial Aces in the second round. Boy, was it a bad matchup for my ARCs. Who knew that a TIE/d with an ion cannon would screw with a pair of 1 agility ships? I again aggressively engaged to try to wipe out the Defender early. That did not work out well. Norra, stressed from her use of PTL, was ion locked and chased down from behind. I was able to kill Howlrunner, but the ion lock did its work and I was eliminated quickly.

Round 3: Win 100-27

Round 3 pit me against a scum squad of Dengar and Assaj. He placed each of his ships in the opposite corners, with Dengar straight across from my ships. Dengar dove into the fray, and faced off with my whole squad. Assaj was too far behind to offer any support. I brought Dengar down to just 2 health while Fenn was limping at 1 health. He was able to kill Fenn, but Dengar died without taking a second revenge shot. My ARCs then took minimal damage while pounding Assaj until she died.

Round 4: Win 100-0

This next round put me against the youngest member of our competitive scene for the day. A brave 8 or so year old pilot bringing nuclear Rey to a store championship. He played well, effectively boosting to get himself into position and put my ships into his arc. But following the first round of engagement I was able to use Shara’s barrel roll shenanigans to block Rey and put her into a rock. Without any return shots, she died quickly. I was able to later pick off the HWK without losing a ship.

Round 5: Win 100-40

The final round for the day let me face off against another newer player. His double Y wings wouldn’t scare most lists, but I needed to ensure that those torps didn’t both go to the same target. We slow rolled toward one another and I was able to eliminate Horton in little more than a turn. I walked Norra, however, into the autoblaster bubble and got her killed from shots by all three of his ships. I dropped Dutch that turn though, which left the HWK against Shara and a Fenn. Together, and without any long range attacks coming from Jan, they were able to finish her off.

Conclusion

It was a fun day for sure, but frustrating. I could have won the first two rounds had I been more patient and less aggressive. Slow rolling and time wasting work to my advantage, so I need to use that instead of forcing an engagement in a place I don’t want to be. If nothing else it was a good reminder of that for Nationals.

39.173536 -76.631852