Held in
Spartan Games Arena
, KL
Attendance 29
5 round Swiss, Top 8
60 minute round, starts after asteroids and set-up.
Detailed report to come shortly...I'm still picking up all the lists.
Report
Round 1 : Bye
Running around making sure everything was alright.
Match Win
Round 2 : Arzmi (Han + Gunner + Determination, 2x Dagger)
Arzmi was the
Hobby Forge
Store champ - which made me quite nervous. We set up diagonally from each other and asteroid placements were wide and scattered. I made a point to take out the Daggers fast and early (I did), but the initial exchange took out 2 of my APs right away. I was starting to get worried due to the APs going down faster than I had expected. Arzmi managed to get Han into Range 1 of Echo and dealt - Blinded Pilot (could be worse - Direct Hit).
He definitely earned that Store Champ title! At this point my brain was working on overdrive when I decided to try draw the match - his Han had 52 points, the same as my remaining force (Echo + AP). So it became a game of cat and mouse, with Echo cloaking and decloaking as far as possible and the AP blocking Han, so no shots could be made. Time was called.
Draw, Lost 4x AP
Round 3 : Khairul (2x Reds, 2x Dagger + Adv Sensors)
Unfortunately for Khairul, the match up was not in his favour - I had the numbers advantage, as well as the PS (i.e. my PS1 Swarm could block him and my PS8 could hammer him). Asteroids were spread out again, so I set up my APs in the centre, to allow movement options in the next few rounds. He set his ships slightly to my left and I set up Echo to my right. In the 1st round of movement I managed to get Echo just nicely into Range 3 and out of arc to acquire the TL and re-cloak.
APs were evading pretty good through the first exchange (reversion to the mean, I guess), and Echo hammered away 1 of the B's. It didn't go too well for him from here, due to the numbers and lack of actions on his part.
Red Daggers is a very solid list, just that the Meta was not in his favour (more on that in the Meta Commentary).
Match Win, Lost 2x AP
Round 4 : Ravin (Chewie + PTL + Gunner + MF Title + Nien Nunb, 3x Bandits + Cluster Missiles)
Old sparring partner here. This was gonna be a tough match because...well...Chewie and Z95s. Lots of HP to go through. I did notice that there were 3 Bandits with Cluster Missiles - meaning that things could turn ugly fast in close range. I opted to take the Bandits out first, as they were likely to mete out more damage than Chewie over time.
I set up in the centre and he set in the right corner, with Chewie at the far edge. I did my usual thing with the Phantom and took out 2 of his Bandits before he had a chance to close into Range 2. Chewie's attack dice were sub-par, but was very effective clearing stress via Nien Nunb.
Once the Bandits were down, Chewie started ramping up the damage via TL+Focus. Fortunately for me, he had himself against the edge of the mat, which limited his movement options and allowed me to press my attacks. Wasn't long before Chewie was taken down.
Match Win, Lost 2x AP
Round 5 : Shane (Biggs + R4-D6, Tarn + R2-D6 + Swarm Tactics, Roark + Ion Turret, Blue + FCS)
And we meet again! I was a little nervous with his build due to Roark's PS12 and Ion turret. I decided that my best option would be to play it safe and keep my Phantom at Range 3, only taking very opportunistic shots.
Asteroids were dense in the center, and our squads were set up diagonally from each other. I noticed that his squad was slightly closer to the asteroids than he wanted, and flew my APs close the the center cluster. As a result, half of his ships had to navigate the asteroids and break formation by the 2nd or 3rd exchange. In the 1st round of exchange, his B-wing took 6 damage at Range 3. That was sheer bad luck on his part. Echo was dancing away from the fight, it's Ion-allergies were breaking out. Going all gender-neutral on Echo there.
Biggs went down in the next round from concentrated TIE shots and blocking, with the B-wing shortly thereafter. Tarn had a tough time going around the asteroids, missing a couple of shots. It was pretty hard to come back at this point, due to the numbers disadvantage - but Shane gracefully played to the end. Good match.
Match Win, Lost 2x AP
Semi Cut : Chris (Rexlar + Outmanoeuvre + EU + HLC, 4x Academy)
As usual, by the time Top 8 had come, we're all tired and not thinking well. I was actually pretty nervous seeing the Defender (damned things are hard to kill), but I was comforted by having more ships and a higher damage output. Asteroids were clustered in the center, and his entire squad was set to joust my APs. Echo was on the far edge of the other table - I was planning to pull off my shenanigans.
By round 2, no shots had been fired, save for Echo's Range 3 attack - my hope was to get a TL and re-cloak, so my next round I could take out one of his APs before they could should. I then forgot to take said TL and re-cloak. I stacked up my APs in the next turn, trying to prevent too many of his ships from pulling a K-turn (especially Rexlar). He defied expectations and did a daring 3 turn out of combat. Echo...well, echo was trying maneuver through a thick cluster of asteroids and TIEs without a de-cloak.
Echo was taking some serious damage (and not shooting) but I managed to hurt many of his TIEs, as mine had more actions than his. Next round saw Echo FINALLY taking a good shot and hurting some TIEs, but it was a little too late - his Defender had turned around and was pushing damage through my own TIEs.
There was a bit of a cock-up in the next round as I kept picking up his dials and trying to move his APs (they all looked the same!). As a result, I had really confused my own dials, his dials, my APs and his APs and pulled some very questionable maneuvering. I made more mistakes by barrel rolling wrong TIEs in an attempt to deny Rexlar actions (no it didn't work). Echo landed squarely in the eye of Rexlar and was promptly dusted.
The remaining turns in the game was my sad attempt at trying to kill 2 healthy APs and a PS8 defender with 4 very badly damaged TIEs. Glad he humoured me.
Match Loss, Lost Echo, 5x AP, Kitchen Sink
Great day out there and a big thank you to Spartan Games for hosting the event. It went very well due to the hard work of Riznal, setting up the tables until 3am and playing good host to our Singaporean visitors.
Data
Top 8
1. Wei Jia - Chewie + MF Title + C3P0 + Predator + Luke + EU, 3x Tala
2. James - Chewie + Predator, 2x Bandits, Dagger + HLC
3. Chris - Rexlar + Outmanoeuvre + EU + HLC, 4x Academy
4. Az - Chewie + MF Title + C3P0 + Luke, 2x Tala, Tala + Assault Missile
5. Vick - Whisper + VI + ACD + Rebel Captive + FCS, Howlrunner, 3x Obsidian
6. Chu Heng - Whisper + VI + ACD + FCS, Echo + Outmanoeuvre, 2x AP
7. Matthew - Whisper + Tactician + FCS + VI + ACD, Krassis + HLC + Rebel Captive, AP
8. Me - Echo + VI + FCS + ACD + Rebel Captive, 5x AP
5 round Swiss Cut
1. Wei Jia - Chewie + MF Title + C3P0 + Predator + Luke + EU, 3x Tala
2. Me - Echo + VI + FCS + ACD + Rebel Captive, 5x AP
3. Vick - Whisper + VI + ACD + Rebel Captive + FCS, Howlrunner, 3x Obsidian
4. Matthew - Whisper + Tactician + FCS + VI + ACD, Krassis + HLC + Rebel Captive, AP
5. Az - Chewie + MF Title + C3P0 + Luke, 2x Tala, Tala + Assault Missile
6. James - Chewie + Predator, 2x Bandits, Dagger + HLC
7. Chris - Rexlar + Outmaneuver + EU + HLC, 4x Academy
8. Chu Heng - Whisper + VI + ACD + FCS, Echo + Outmanoeuvre, 2x AP
9. Shane - Biggs + R4-D6, Tarn + R2-D6 + Swarm Tactics, Roark + Ion Turret, Blue + FCS
10. Ravin - Chewie + PTL + Gunner + MF Title + Nien Nunb, 3x Bandits + Cluster Missiles
11. Shazli -
12. Wilson -
13. Nicholas - Chewie + MF Title + C3P0 + Predator + Gunner + EU, 2x Bandit + Ion, Bandit.
14. Iqbal - OGP + Vader, Rexlar + Predator, Echo + VI + ECD
15. Yeo - Chewie + Predator + MF Title +C3P0 + Luke + EU, 3x Tala
16. Chang - Han + Expert Handling + Gunner + Chewie + EU, 3x Tala
17. Chong Hin - Echo+ VI + ACD, Backstabber, Night Beast, Bounty Hunter
18. Jia Yit - Wedge, Biggs, 2x Gold + Ion Turret
19. Khairul - 2x Reds, 2x Dagger + Adv Sensors
20. Laurence - 2x Delta + HLC, Jonus + Swarm Tactics + Seismic
21. Eric -
22. Alvin -
23. Nahri - Wedge + Swarm Tactics + Proton Torps, Rookie, Blue + Adv Sensors, Roark
24. Riznal - Roark + Ion, Tala, Bandit, Tarn Mison + R7, Dagger + FCS
25. Arzmi - Han + Gunner + Determination, 2x Dagger
26. Jerome -
27. Yip - Wedge + R2d2 + Predator + Shield, Porkins + R5-D8 + Elusiveness + Hull, Tarn Mison + R7
28. Ivan - Wedge + VI +Flechette + R2-F2 + Shield, Tarn Mison + R7, Wes + R5 + Shield + VI
29. Abdul Rahman -
If you guys were there and remember, do help me patch it up too, I'm missing a good deal of data.
Meta Commentary
Holy moly would you look at all those Chewie + Predator + C3P0 lists!
It appears that the Chewie lists trounced all non-Chewie lists in Swiss 1, and encountered each other in Swiss 2. Progressively, more and more Chewie lists got eliminated until the Top 8. It seems that the Phantom lists have had at least 1 loss each in Swiss, likely to a Chewie list, but all were cut in Top 8 by more Chewie.
Having come across 2 YT lists, I'm inclined to say that while difficult, not unstoppable - but as a a Phantom player, this largely requires superior firepower on the wingmen (5 AP or Howl mini swarm). Whilst I did not encounter an Apex Chewie (Predator, Luke, C3P0, MF title), it seems that 5 AP does deal with the Z95 wingmen surprisingly well. Thereafter, having more, but smaller guns, also overcomes C3P0's ability and being able to block, while swapping APs increases their survivability.
Whilst the meta is, as some say, "boring", I think it is simply driven by the level of competitiveness expected in the Regionals - you wouldn't bring a risky list to and event where the Dice and Templates are so covet-able.As some observers have put it, the meta isn't exactly Rock, Paper, Scissors. It's only Rock and Rock - you bring a Chewie or a Phantom, or you don't. These two lists would easily deal with any other list except each other.
I doubt the meta will die off before Wave 5 comes about.
Things to Learn
I'm going to start marking my TIEs more effectively with coloured pegs and marked dials. Probably paint the Cloak marker white on one side so I can leave it on the table to show it's Cloaked/Uncloaked, rather than palming it and forgetting that it exists.