I didn’t have to travel far for this tournament as it was at my local shop (Comic Culture & The Games Store, Lincoln, UK)!

Recently I’ve been using a Phasma/Guavian/Stormtrooper team and it had been proving quite effective, so I decided to go with that.

Character: (30/30)

2x Captain Phasma

1x Guavian Enforcer

1x First Order Stormtrooper

Battlefield:

Mos Eisley Spaceport

Event: (16)

2x Bait and Switch

2x Cannon Fodder

2x Doubt

2x He Doesn’t Like You

2x One-Quarter Portion

2x The Best Defense…

2x Undying Loyalty

2x Unpredictable

Support: (2)

2x Backup Muscle

Upgrade: (12)

2x DH-17 Blaster Pistol

2x F-11D Rifle

2x Holdout Blaster

2x On The Hunt

2x Personal Shield

2x Z6 Riot Control Baton

There were 32 players for this tournament, so we’d be doing 5 rounds of swiss. The recommended top cut was 4, but it was decided before the tournament started that we’d be doing a top 8 cut instead, as this meant everyone on a 4-1 or better record would make the cut, plus a couple of 3-2’s.

Round One vs ePoe/eRey

Just like at the Euros, I’m playing against Poe/Rey in the first round. However, this time it went much better for me. I managed to take out Rey on the second turn, which left Poe facing off against a largely undamaged team. Thanks to guardian spreading damage around, Poe was unable to kill any opponents before being defeated. WIN (1-0)

Round Two vs eRey/eLuminara

As always, I went for Rey first. During this game, guardian was fantastic, removing many dice showing melee damage and leaving unusable modified melee damage in the pool; this saved me a lot of damage. I defeated Rey on the second turn, and Luminara tried her best but was unable to defeat any characters before being defeated herself. WIN (2-0)

Round Three vs eKylo/eVader(sor)

It took me a long time to take out Darth Vader, and he’d managed to dish out a lot of damage by then, so much so that I thought that I’d probably not be able to win this. It ended up with Kylo facing off against Phasma, who was nearly always a No Mercy away from being squashed. Luckily, I rolled out loads of damage with Phasma; too much for my opponent to mitigate. WIN (3-0)

Round Four vs ePalpatine

This one started off pretty badly for me, with my opponent rolling out 3 damage on both Palp dice. The Guavian was killed early on turn two. However, the amount of damage Palp put out afterward slowed down a bit, and I managed to get him down to one health remaining. The following turn he used Rise Again, and I wasn’t able to do enough damage to bring him down. LOSS (3-1)

Round Five vs ePalpatine

Another Palpatine opponent! I did my best to mitigate Palp’s damage with guardian; it really is very effective against him. After several turns it came to crunch time; did he have Rise Again or not? Turns out he didn’t, and I managed to take him down. WIN (4-1)

Standings After Swiss

Rank Player Team Wins 1st Kayne H ePalpatine 5 2nd James R eUnkar/Royal/Guavian 4 3rd Carl H ePalpatine 4 4th Rob S eUnkar/FN/Storm 4 5th Tim P ePhasma/Guavian/Storm 4 6th Andy T eKylo/eVader(sor) 4 7th Jo W ePoe/eRey 3 8th Mat B eLuke/Rey 3 9th Mat W ePalpatine 3 10th Rob P eKylo/eVader(sor) 3 11th Darren P ePalpatine 3 12th Dean C eBaze/Chirrut 3 13th Karl B ePoe/eMaz 3 14th Callum S ePoe/eMaz 3 15th Andy S ePalpatine 3 16th Noel B eIG88/FN 3 17th Carl W eKylo/eVader(sor) 2 18th Paul P Storm/Storm/TIE/Bala 2 19th Tim K eRey/eLuminara 2 20th Gareth I ePalpatine 2 21st Jason R eSnap/Hired/Hired 2 22nd James B Chewbacca/Maz/Padme 2 23rd Gareth P eUnkar/eJabba 2 24th Dan B eUnkar/FN/Storm 2 25th Paul A-W eKylo/Death/Storm 2 26th Jaydee B eJyn/Rey 2 27th Harry F ePoe/eRey 1 28th Rik H eUnkar/eVader(sor) 1 29th Joe W-M eLuke/Maz 1 30th Stuart M eVeers/Storm/Storm 1 31st Rob C Storm/Storm/TIE/TIE 1 32nd Carl W eIG88/Kylo 0

Top 8 vs eUnkar/FN-2199/Stormtrooper

This matchup is a bit of a nightmare for my team, and this match was no exception. Salvage Stands and Imperial Inspection kept me on the backfoot for most of the game, and FN-2199 quickly ended up with two Z6 Riot Control Batons, which may just be the best weapon in Destiny at the moment. The turn that I killed FN-2199, both my Guavian Enforcer and Stormtrooper also died. This left Phasma against a tooled-up Unkar Plutt, which was a fight she lost. LOSS

Top 8

Andy T (eKylo/eVader) beat Carl H (ePalpatine)*

Kayne H (ePalpatine) beat Mat B (eLuke/Rey)

Jo W (ePoe/eRey) beat James R (eUnkar/Royal/Guavian)

Rob S (eUnkar/FN/Storm) beat Tim P (ePhasma/Guavian/Storm)

*Anecdote from this game that I was asked to share; Kylo managed to do ten damage to Palpatine in one turn by rolling out two specials and hitting Rise Again both times! Jammy git!

Top 4

Rob S (eUnkar/FN/Storm) beat Kayne H (ePalpatine)

Jo W (ePoe/eRey) beat Andy T (eKylo/eVader)

Top 2

Jo W (ePoe/eRey) beat Rob S (eUnkar/FN/Storm)

A very close final, coming down to Poe against FN-2199, both of whom were low on health!

Which Cards Worked Well?

Z6 Riot Control Baton is amazing, and probably gets my vote for the best weapon in the game right now. Consistent damage, ability to re-roll on activation, and redeploy, nearly makes this a no-brainer. Even tempted to try using Finn in a Hero team just to be able to use this on someone like Qui-Gon Jinn!

On The Hunt was great against Palpatine. The special ability is very relevant, stripping shields and being able to remove dice (something Palpatine struggles against). I didn’t face any Poe teams, but I imagine it’d be handy there as well.

He Doesn’t Like You is still one of my favourite cards in the game, as people don’t always roll and resolve dice straight away; not everyone is using Fast Hands!

Bait and Switch was excellent, and I think it’s a card that’s always going to be useful (as long as your characters/upgrades have resource faces).

Which Cards Didn’t Work Well?

I was expecting to play against more Poe/Maz, so Personal Shield might have been good against them, but in this tournament it fell a bit flat. I’d most likely look to replace it with another event card instead.

To be honest, the rest of the deck performed okay, so not much to disparage here.

Summary

With the standard tournament structure of top 4 cut, I wouldn’t have made the single-elimination phase, and with a 4-1 record I’d have been a bit gutted to miss out. Sixth place was also on 4-1, and I imagine he would have been similarly annoyed. As it turned out, one of the players on 3-2 (Jo W) ended up winning the whole event!

After the recent European Championship, there was a lot of talk about the size of the single-elimination cut. The event had 182 participants and only cut to the top eight. Pretty much everyone I spoke to agreed that this was too small a cut. In fairness to the organisers though, this had been announced prior to the start of the event (and stated on their event signup page), so it’s not like they moved the goalposts at the last minute.

In general, I’d prefer a larger cut (when time allows), as this would encourage players to keep going until the final round as there’d be more of a chance to make the next phase.

As for my team choice, I was pretty happy with how the deck performed. My losses were against Palpatine (which is always going to be a tough match, no matter what you play) and against Unkar/FN-2199/FOST, which I knew would be a problem for my team.

As stated, I think that Personal Shield didn’t really work out for the deck. Since Salvage Stand and Imperial Inspection are such a problem for this deck, I’d be tempted to swap the Personal Shields for Sabotage.

Overall, the event went very smoothly and everyone behaved like adults, even the kids that were playing! Speaking of which, there were several father/son combos at the event, and two of the sons actually finished higher than their dads!

That’s my personal input over; now it’s time for lots of info!

TOURNAMENT INFO

Top 8 Decklists

1st – ePoe/eRey by Jo W

2nd – eUnkar/FN-2199/Storm by Rob S

3rd/4th – ePalpatine by Kayne H

3rd/4th – eKylo/eVader(sor) by Andy T

5th-8th – eUnkar/Royal/Guavian by James R

5th-8th – ePalpatine by Carl H

5th-8th – ePhasma/Guavian/Storm by Tim P

5th-8th – eLuke/Rey by Mat B

Team & Character Frequencies

Teams

Characters

ePoe/eRey by Jo W

Battlefield:

Frozen Wastes

Event: (10)

2x Caution

2x Defensive Position

2x Deflect

2x Guard

2x Hit and Run

Support: (4)

2x C-3PO

2x U-Wing

Upgrade: (16)

2x Force Illusion

2x Force Speed

2x Force Throw

2x Handcrafted Light Bow

2x Holdout Blaster

2x Mind Probe

2x One With The Force

2x Vibroknife

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eUnkar/FN-2199/Storm by Rob S

Battlefield:

Ewok Village

Event: (15)

2x Bait and Switch

2x Doubt

2x Electroshock

2x Flank

2x Friends In Low Places

2x He Doesn’t Like You

1x Sabotage

2x The Best Defense…

Support: (4)

2x Imperial Inspection

2x Salvage Stand

Upgrade: (11)

2x Flame Thrower

1x Gaffi Stick

1x Prized Possession

1x Thermal Detonator

2x Vibroknife

2x Vibroknucklers

2x Z6 Riot Control Baton

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ePalpatine by Kayne H

Battlefield:

Moisture Farm

Event: (20)

2x Boundless Ambition

2x Deflect

2x Feel Your Anger

2x Isolation

2x Overconfidence

2x Premonitions

2x Rejuvenate

2x Rise Again

2x Take Cover

2x Trust Your Instincts

Upgrade: (10)

2x Force Lightning

2x Force Speed

2x Force Throw

2x Mind Probe

2x Sith Holocron

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eKylo/eVader(sor) by Andy T

Battlefield:

Emperor’s Throne Room

Event: (12)

1x Anger

1x Decisive Blow

2x Deflect

2x Isolation

1x Lightsaber Throw

2x Manipulate

1x No Mercy

1x Overconfidence

1x Rejuvenate

Support: (2)

2x Meditate

Upgrade: (16)

2x Datapad

2x Force Choke

2x Force Illusion

2x Force Throw

1x Immobilize

1x Lightsaber

2x Mind Probe

2x Sith Holocron

2x Vibroknife

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eUnkar/Royal/Guavian by James R

Battlefield:

Echo Base

Event: (13)

1x Bolt Hole

1x Confiscation

2x Doubt

2x Electroshock

2x Friends In Low Places

2x He Doesn’t Like You

2x One-Quarter Portion

1x Sabotage

Support: (4)

2x Dark Presence

2x Salvage Stand

Upgrade: (13)

2x Armor Plating

1x Blackmail

2x Crime Lord

2x Cunning

2x Fast Hands

2x On The Hunt

1x Prized Possession

1x Vibroknucklers

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ePalpatine by Carl H

Battlefield:

Moisture Farm

Event: (20)

2x Boundless Ambition

2x Deflect

2x Feel Your Anger

2x Isolation

2x Overconfidence

2x Premonitions

2x Rejuvenate

2x Rise Again

2x Take Cover

2x Trust Your Instincts

Upgrade: (10)

1x Force Choke

2x Force Lightning

1x Force Speed

2x Force Throw

2x Force Training

1x Mind Probe

1x Sith Holocron

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ePhasma/Guavian/Storm by Tim P

Battlefield:

Mos Eisley Spaceport

Event: (16)

2x Bait and Switch

2x Cannon Fodder

2x Doubt

2x He Doesn’t Like You

2x One-Quarter Portion

2x The Best Defense…

2x Undying Loyalty

2x Unpredictable

Support: (2)

2x Backup Muscle

Upgrade: (12)

2x DH-17 Blaster Pistol

2x F-11D Rifle

2x Holdout Blaster

2x On The Hunt

2x Personal Shield

2x Z6 Riot Control Baton

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eLuke/Rey by Mat B

Battlefield:

Starship Graveyard

Event: (16)

1x All In

1x Caution

2x Deflect

1x Destiny

1x Force Misdirection

2x Guard

2x My Ally Is The Force

2x Overconfidence

1x Synchronicity

1x Trust Your Instincts

2x Use The Force

Upgrade: (14)

1x Comlink

1x Force Illusion

2x Force Speed

1x Handcrafted Light Bow

2x Holdout Blaster

1x Lightsaber

2x Makashi Training

1x One With The Force

1x Rey’s Staff

2x Vibroknife

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Teams

Rank Team Qty 1st ePalpatine 6 2nd eKylo/eVader(sor) 3 3rd ePoe/eMaz 2 ePoe/eRey 2 eUnkar/FN-2199/Storm 2 6th Chewbacca/Maz/Padme 1 eBaze/Chirrut 1 eIG-88/FN-2199 1 eIG-88/Kylo 1 eJyn/Rey 1 eKylo/Death/Storm 1 eLuke/Maz 1 eLuke/Rey 1 ePhasma/Guavian/Storm 1 eRey/eLuminara 1 eSnap/Hired/Hired 1 eUnkar/eJabba 1 eUnkar/eVader(sor) 1 eUnkar/Royal/Guavian 1 eVeers/Storm/Storm 1 Storm/Storm/TIE/Bala 1 Storm/Storm/TIE/TIE 1

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Characters

Rank Character Qty 1st First Order Stormtrooper 10 2nd Palpatine 6 3rd Kylo Ren 5 Rey 5 Unkar Plutt 5 6th Darth Vader (sor) 4 Maz Kanata 4 Poe Dameron 4 9th FN-2199 3 TIE Pilot 3 11th Guavian Enforcer 2 Hired Gun 2 IG-88 2 Luke Skywalker 2 15th Bala-Tik 1 Baze Malbus 1 Captain Phasma 1 Chewbacca 1 Chirrut Imwe 1 Death Trooper 1 General Veers 1 Jabba the Hutt 1 Jyn Erso 1 Luminara Unduli 1 Padme Amidala 1 Royal Guard 1 Temmin “Snap” Wexley

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