I can tell you this: In 9 matches I didn't face the same list twice. So the meta can't be that bad. The closest I faced to similar was a couple tie swarms, but they had different tweaks (obsidians, backstabbers, PTL's, etc.). I believe that they measure the entire balance of the game against the tie swarm when testing, because it's ALWAYS going to be there and be competitive.

Honestly, I think that this wave was the most frustrating to people because of one card: C3P0. The phantom came out and everyone went bonkers about how unbeatable it was, so the whole world went to beating it. How did they do it? High PS and one card: C3P0. And it's not just the card, it's the fact that you can only get it through purchasing a gigantic F'ing ship for a boatload of cash that you'll never fly (I've seriously never seen an epic match, but know 8 guys with the ships).

I saw a lot of variation. Han was just a good ship that had a wide margin for error this worlds. Combine that with people that don't make mistakes (Paul) and you've got a TOUGH build, but I'd be willing to say that his build with the R2D2 crew was the ONLY one like that out of 250 worlds players, which has to say something on variance.

R2D2 has always been an underdog card. Jeff B. really showed what it could do at gencon this year and Paul definitely adapted it. Lol unfortunately since Paul won now everyone is really gonna be seeing it and most likely putting it into there builds. This means that the falcon can now shrug off 3 damage a turn or more with a c3p0 guess of 1 or 2. So this means we have to beable to deal atleast 4 damage a turn to do 1 damage to the falcon. R2d2 is a beast of a card!

The broader you make your build type categories, the more stuff you can lump into each one, and the less diverse the field looks.

"Fat Han" builds, especially with R2D2, do bum me out, though. Being able to flat out ignore 3 damage per turn, making it literally impossible for a single ship (outside a Phantom, which happens to be a bad matchup for the Phantom) to do any damage whatsoever one-on-one is extremely boring. It might also be unfair, but completely removing one player's chance at victory is a sure way to suck all the fun out of a game (yes, there's early game strategy of pointing all your guns at it, but that doesn't change the potential end-game scenario, and is it really strategy if it's your only option?).

(yes, there's early game strategy of pointing all your guns at it, but that doesn't change the potential end-game scenario, and is it really strategy if it's your only option?).

Here Here! Well stated. I think you succeeded at summarizing what the discontentment with the Fat Hans build is.

R2D2 only works once the shields are down and even than it could end up hurting more than it helps.

I saw the Fat Han vs Luke, Blue, and 3 Z-95s on Friday. That had enough firepower to nearly kill a Fat Chewie, which is a bit more defensive than what won. Sadly, he got too confident in getting the kill, and Luke's attack die crapped out on him at the final moment. I do not see the issue. Especially once Scum comes out. Between the StarViper and Firespray (especially Scum Kath, who will be putting in some major hurt), Scum will easily be able to handle Fat Falcons.

And I challenge anyone to watch the finals match or the one from Friday (but no Typo's match) and call them boring.

R2D2 only works once the shields are down and even than it could end up hurting more than it helps.

Once R2D2 kicks in, though, it's 3 damage negated. Are you really going to take out 8 Hull in one turn with one ship? What, 4 Direct Hits from Range 1? And so what if R2D2 flips a Direct Hit? Unless Han's on his last Hull, it won't make a difference. The -1 Agility would probably make the biggest difference, as it shuts off C3PO and the MF title while Han takes the time to flip it. And crits are only 1/8 of an attack die.

@sithborg: But were any of those 1-v-1 end-game scenarios?

Well its not pure fat. Its a rich falcon: http://geekologie.com/2012/03/millennium-falcon-chocolates-with-liquid.php

If you are in a situation where you only have a 2 Atk ship left vs a Falcon, I would say that the game was decided already...

R2 doesn't prevent damaged, he repairs a shield. You can still damage the falcon and have R2 flip crits.

And your argument that uses a full health Falcon is dumb because odds are a full health Falcon would defeat ANY small size ship one on one regardless of fat Han or not !

@sithborg: Again, you miss the point. It forces players into one strategy, and a game so well balanced otherwise doesn't need any impossible end-game scenarios.

Once R2D2 has repaired a shield, that's damage prevented next turn. Yes, a Falcon (not full health, mind you, but with at least a decent amount of Hull intact) should have a good chance beating almost anything else 1-v-1. But there's a key word there: chance. There's still a decent chance that another ship could beat a skinny Falcon.

Really, there is only one way of concentrating firepower? Heavy attacks and multiple smaller attacks will work. You kill the Falcon when you have the firepower. And considering there are many, many ways a game will progress, you cannot assume such a scenario will happen all the time, thus creating an imbalance in the game.

Just ask poor Blaster Turret HWKs vs Dark Curse. Which, quite frankly, is worse than what you are talking about.

R2D2 only works once the shields are down and even than it could end up hurting more than it helps.

iv heard it said it helps versus other falcon lists as u can get a free shield if you roll well. i think that with predator on board, Han is on average going to still be pretty effective even if u get the crit that stops him rerolling attack dice. So to me, R2D2 was his insurance versus other falcons lists so he could keep alive longer in a head to head fire fight with another falcon. Just my thoughts, not sure how he actually played vs other falcon squads.