I also did the two long store championships in the Seattle area on 2-28 and 3/1. I cant remember all the details of my games, but can give the basics still.

I placed 2nd at the Game Gurus event with BBBZ, but wanted to get some control happening to shut down things like Super Dash that give me problems. So for these events I ran

2x Blue Squad/Ion cannon

2x Blue squad/E2/Tactician

Sat 2/28 Card Kingdom

33 people at the start, which meant 5 rounds of swiss, then cut to top 8. This started around 12p, and the final game finished at 1:50am.

Game 1-

Opponent ran Wedge/swarm tactics/hull upgrade, roark/moldy/recspec/blaster turret, Tarn/R7, Bandit. Very good guy, played his list very strongly all day. He ended up taking 3rd overall.

We set up basically opposite corners, with me having 2 in the corner, and 2 in the middle which I started bring toward the far side to get my squad together. I misjudged how aggressively he would come down his side, and caught my ships from the middle out of position away from my other 2 ships. He took me apart fairly easily, finishing me off while I only killed Wedge and the bandit. Loss 46-100 0-1

Game 2-

3 Delta squad Defenders with Ion cannon. It felt very strange moving last and shooting first with my PS2 squad. Set up opposite corners, I slow rolled up the left while he turned and came across to my side, then lined up 3 across to my offset 2 formation. I got to have my way against this list, using Ion to control them, tactician to deny his actions, and focus down a ship every round or two. He killed off 1 of my ion B's. Win 100-25 1-1

Game 3-

Fat Han and loaded up Corran

I cant remember all his upgrades. I did my usual corner setup, with his ships coming up the middle. Corran was closer, and I was able to land a single Ion shot on him at range 3. next round I focused all ships on corran and took him down, while only losing 3 shields from a Bwing. My opponent conceded, complimenting my build. he said he had a long drive ahead, and left. Win 100-0 2-1

Game 4-

Etahn/R2D2/adv sensors, Blue squad, 3 Z95's. He ended up taking 2nd overall.

This was a fun game for me, as I caught Etahn early with an Ion shot and landing a stress on him, and proceeded to ionize him each round. My red dice were not cooperating beyond that however, and I could only land the single ion shot each round, taking a full 5 rounds of ion shots to wear him down. Things still were in his favor, as I was focusing 2-3 shots per round at Etahn, and only scratching his other ships. After Etahn finally died, I was able to take some other ships out, but he finished me off in the final minutes of the round. Loss 66-100 2-2

Game 5-

Whoever I was supposed to battle had left, so I found myself in a rematch from the final game at Game Gurus against Super Dash and a loaded up Keyan Farlander. This was why I switched to this control list, so this was the test!

He flew really well, and baited me into committing too early, easily getting out my arcs, and 2 HLC vs Bwings equals my ships dying fairly quickly. I conceded after losing 3 of my ships and having maybe done a couple of shields damage to Farlander. Loss 0-100 2-3

He went to top 8, losing to the Chewbo build that took 4th.

Top 8 cut occurred at this point, so I was done playing for the day. I stuck around to watch the rest of the tournament, which was very cool to see some great guys playing at a high level. While my performance wasn't great, I take some solace in that my losses were all to people making the top cut, with them coming in 7th(?), 4th, and 2nd overall!

It was cool to see several people from yesterday's tourney at this one as well, including the winner. This time he was running a Tie swarm list for shiggles.

Around the Table is a great store with a large league playerbase, that does all kinds of gaming along with beer and some fancy ice creams.

Game 1-

Han/Lando crew/Nien crew/Experimental Interface/Adrenaline Rush, prototype pilot/chardaan refit x3

I was able to double stress and ion Han quickly, but his Awings were doing there job of being annoying with blocking and chipping away at my ships. At one point I had 3 stress on Han, with all my ships set to block him and have range 1 shots, when he pulled out that AR card and successfully did a now-white 4 K-turn! Caught me out of position and finished off one of my ion B's. I took Han down soon after, and it was down to my 3 B's vs his 3 A's. last round as time is called, I have 2 B's left, and he has 1 A with no shields, the other two have 1 shield each still. I take a range 3 shot at the sheildless A with a target lock, get to 3 hits. His green dice fail, and I take a 20 point lead! His 2 remaining ships get to fire last, and between both he manages to kill another B, giving him a 5 point lead for a modified win!

It was a fun and very close game, right down to the last roll, and I will take a loss like that any time. loss 70-75 0-1

Game 2-

Dash/VI/Navigator/Outrider/Mangler Cannon, Blue squad/E2/Tactician x2

He has my stress shenanigans plus an interesting Dash. I set up my usual corner layout, he had Dash far corner and his B's straight across from me. I rushed at his B's, landing an ion on each, and then focusing fire on 1. His First B died on second round of shooting, and I made a good dent in the second. Finished it off before Dash even got into the fight, but he immediately showed what a mangler cannon does to a low agility B wing by landing two crits on the hull of an Ion B, with the inevitable direct hit turning it to space dust.

I was able to control Dash fairly easily, between the Ion and stacking stress, but he finished off another B before Dash went down. This was my first time against the mangler cannon, and I really hate it against B's- all of my hull damage cards were face up crits. Win, 100-50 1-1

Game 3-

Oicunn/Rebel Captive/Vader crew/Predator/Tactical Jammer, Soontir Fel/PTL/Autothrusters, Night Beast

I was worried about this match up, but I was able to get the control happening on the Deci fast. Second round of shooting, I had several stress on it, and an ion token, with my other ion B in range 1. I debated on control or range 1 get damage on it, deciding for damage. Two hits two crits, with the injured pilot crit ignore pilot abilities and EPT landing on him! Goodbye ramming damage, goodbye predator rerolls, which made my life significantly easier.

I managed to get a block on Soontir, leaving him with no actions vs a range 1 shot- hit/crit/crit, he only rolls 1 evade. The inevitable direct hit comes up, and Soontir is gone.

The Deci fell soon after, and I got to remind him about the FAQ on Night Beast not getting the free focus token if he was stressed when doing a green. (oh right, that's why nobody flies him anymore) Win, 100-50 2-1

Game 4-

Lt Blount/Deadeye/Ion Pulse Missle, Tala Squad, Blue squad x3

at this point there are 3 people undefeated, and he is one of them. I win the roll and take initiative. He sets Blount off to the side, and the rest together in the middle. We move our swarms towards each other, and I ion his two lead B's and take a couple shields off one of them. He focuses on one of my ships, getting all the shields in the first round. I quickly realize that his raw damage will outpace my control with the ions, and even with us getting all jammed up and bumping, he is able to take ships down faster.

I then proceeded to make several bad moves, misjudging distances and bumping into myself, and he wisely took advantage of my mistakes. I get a B and the Tala down, but have lost a B, shields low on another, and now we are getting past each other, except for Blount coming in on my flank. I turn two towards him, and K turn my other ship, which Blount promptly nails with the Ion Pulse Missle to catch it stressed and ioned.

My next big mistake was to set a green bank the wrong direction, landing my 1 hp ship on a rock, and killing it for him. He quickly cleaned up my last two ships, and that was that.

Loss, 35-100, 2-2

Cut to Top 4. My game 4 opponent and yesterday's winner both make the cut, but decide to drop and let the next guys up play. I stuck around to watch the rest of the games, which again is fun when its the watching the very good players going at each other.

I should mention at the cut to top 4, Around the Table gave away all kinds of fun extra stuff, like star wars plushies, extra promo cards, plastic cloak tokens (I won one, but have more than I need, so passed it on to the next person), free ice cream, etc. Did I mention its a great store?

So, many hours of Xwing over the weekend, and good times meeting a bunch of great players in the area. I look forward to more games with them in the future!

(and not flying B wings for a while )

Man, I was beat after 6 rounds at my first Store Championship. I don't know if I could manage back to back days.

My work schedule is going to be super busy for rest of March, so I will not be able to make any other events. I was able to swing the one weekend to get a major fix of Xwing

It was two great events at two great stores, with tons of people following the fly casual attitude. Hard to beat that!