Over the past months, the X-Wing™ System Open Series competitions been taking place across the world. After two days of intense competition, one player from each event emerged from the fires of battle and took home the trophy and title of 2017 System Open Champion. On April 15th, at Star Wars™ Celebration in Orlando, Florida, these eight competitors are welcomed to the Coruscant™ Invitational in order to play in a unique event tailored to challenge their abilities and to prove their mastery in the game of X-Wing.

You can click on the planets to see some of the data gleaned from those events or select a planet name from the space below.

Hoth, Yavin, Kashyyyk, Endor, Tatooine, Lothal, Naboo, Mustafar

And now, to introduce the Champions of the System Opens. Click on a portrait below to read more about that competitor, as well as see the answers to a few questions we wanted to ask them.

Hoth , Yavin , Kashyyyk , Endor , Tatooine , Lothal , Naboo , Mustafar

Analyzing the Field

Over the course of the past few weeks, we collected hundreds of submissions for #XWingVote2017 in order to determine a few of the mini-squads that would be featured at the Coruscant Invitational. The votes rolled in and we were finally able to narrow it down to one mini-squadron for each faction. The rest of the mini-squads in the draft were created by some special contributers and Fantasy Flight Games staff. Thank you to all of the people who submitted mini-squads, voted, sent in photos, and collaborated with us! This format would not be possible without all of your work! If you're interested in following the results of the voting, as well as seeing an analysis of each of the mini-squads, take a look at our voting articles! 1, 2, 3, 4.

At the Coruscant Invitational, these champions will come together and play X-Wing using the new 77-Plus format, a tournament experience unlike any other. Prior to arriving at the draft, each player will have prepared three seventy-seven point squadrons—one for each faction. Each player will then select a ship from the pool and add it to their squadron of that faction. Once a ship has been selected, it cannot be picked by another player! Once each players three squadrons are completed, the players will face off against one another until only one remains as the 2017 Coruscant Invitational Champion. Read our article here for an in-depth overview of the Coruscant Invitational and the 77-Plus tournament format.

X-Wing, at its core, is a game of strategically predicting and reacting to your opponent's maneuvers. The 77-Plus's draft takes this to a completely different level. The players who are able to navigate its uncertainties should come out with the advantage of forming a squadron that fits with their playstyle and comfort. You may be hoping to draft heavy hitting damage dealer like the G1-A Starfighter, but if you have a late turn to draft, those options might not be on the table anymore. Players who are early in the draft might even make the choice to draft a suboptimal choice for their mini-squad in order to deny it from being a more powerful addition to another player's squadron. Since the order for the first two phases of the draft are unknown, we will have to watch with excitement as players react to each new and changing situation.

In phase three of the draft, we do know the order the Champions will draft in, based on the size of attendance for their respective Open.

Chair Player 1 Mishary Al-Faris 2 Jesus Sanchez 3 William Haigwood 4 Radoslaw Dmochowski 5 Paul Heaver 6 Andres Matesanz 7 Jeremy Chamblee 8 Chris Norris

Thanks to a first place finish against a pool of three hundred and sixty-nine players, Mishary will have a big advantage by having the entire last pool to pick from. If the initial rounds of the draft work out in his favor, he could end up with some seriously tough squads to beat in this competition. Pulling in the last pick of phase three is Chris. He will have the challenge of working with the last remaining mini-squad. Since we don't know which mini-squad will end up remaining or which faction it will be drafted from, this may influence his choices when creating his initial seventy-seven point squads.

Now Arriving at Coruscant

On April 15th, these eight competitors will cross the globe and meet in Orlando, Florida for the 2017 Coruscant Invitational. They will face off in a brand new tournament format and experience a once-in-a-lifetime event. They will earn some fantastic prizes to commemorate their journey and the winner will receive the Greatest Prize in Gaming™. Most important of all, they represent the fact that people from all over the world can come together, play some games, and share in a great experience with each other.