Well, another week another championship. Winnipeg certainly has a great X-Wing community.
The previous week, I had been sick, so I knew my energy was going to be low. I almost went with the trip phantoms again, but made a last minute change to another build I had been toying with.
Double Decimators
Patrol Leader with gunner and Vader
Patrol Leader with gunner, Jade and Isard
I debated long and hard about the Rebel Captive vs Mara Jade. My worry was that Double Decimators might struggle against the swarm. I should have gone with the Captive.
First match vs Cameron flying IG88B (loaded) and 2 naked Star Vipers.
It's nice to see the new Scum and Villainy making an early appearance. (As an aside, I don't think Cameron had a successful day, fun perhaps, and educational, but not successful). The asteroids were set up fairly consistently on the board, so there were no real blocking areas, but nor were there huge open avenues. He placed his Vipers in the middle, so I set up my Decimators opposite. He then put his IG88B on the far left.
I've always been a proponent of making sure you bring all your forces to bear simultaneously. This has two effects. First, you concentrate your force. Secondly, if done well, you can set it up so that your opponent has multiple targets (and will hopefully spread his fire around). Essentially, give him the chance to make a mistake. I have a lot of respect for players who can time the merge from different locations.
Unfortunately, on the merge, it was two Decimators vs two Star Vipers. IG88B was flanking and without turrets, had no shot. So, one Viper died before it had a chance to fire, the other the next turn (though the Vader/Gunner combo meant that I did a lot of self damage as well).
I think learning to fly IG88 is going to take awhile (I had tried it the previous weekend with poor results). And when it gets figured out, it will be a relevant ship. For now, it's a fragile beast. Full points to Cameron for trying it at a tournament.
Second match vs Graham running a Chewie (Recon Specialist, C3P0, Falcon) and Leebo (Jan Ors, Manger, Anti-Pursuit Lasers, Outrirder).
He said he added the Anti-pursuit Lasers at the last minute. It was prophetic.I will say that this build worried me - there was not much Vader could do here. And that Mangler Cannon with its crits was going to hurt.
But, this was certainly my most entertaining match of the day. Both sides with two big turreted ships. Should be boring, right? Wrong!! The amount of maneuvering was exciting. Both sides trying to get the upper hand, always making sure two ships had shots. Flying away to reform and cycle back. Loads of fun. I can't remember a lot of the details, this was such an intense match. My question to you - who should have been my primary target? I knew that Vader was going to be useless against Leebo. At least he could deal hits vs Chewie (though at 2 for 1, I was going to have to be careful).
So, my decision was to go after Chewie first. After much jinking and dodging I did manage to use Vader to make the last two hits on him, but Vader died shortly thereafter. At this point I was up 52-48 and had a few more hits left than Leebo. But the crits from the Mangler Cannon were piling up.
In retrospect, here is where I made may mistake (or. to give Graham his due, his genius move). I tried to close to activate Mara's ability, he k-turned and we ended up colliding. I had stunned pilot and he had APL. That, plus the last attack killed me. I should have kept my distance and made him chase me. Alternatively, I was really regretting taking Mara over the Rebel Captive.
It was an exciting match. The crits from Mangler Cannon really hurt. And I rolled too many crits on Leebo (I think he drew six cards and didn't take a single hit cause of determination).
Third match vs Dan (Whisper++, Howlrunner with Stealth and 3 Academies)
This was the type of list that my list should shine against. Vader is designed to kill high value flankers. Though Dan slow-played the first turn, Decimators can cover a lot of ground. On turn two, combat was engaged in full force. I think Dan made an error this turn - he turned Whisper towards me, but left him cloaked - so he had no shot. I was thinking he wanted to keep him cloaked for protection, but he had the Advanced Cloaking Device, so that was not necessary. I don't think it would have made much of a difference, but it does show how small mistakes can be costly. The match was anti-climatic after the previous match.
I will say Dan was a great sport, But I was now 2-1
Fourth match vs Jim (Dash, HLC, marksmanship, Mercenary co-pilot, experimental interface), Ethan, Bandit
I've faced Jim a number of times. He is a very serious player and his build was designed to deliver crits. I knew from my previous match this was not a good thing for me. However, he had the HLC vice the new Mangler, so I though I had a chance.
Let me just say this, I hate Dash. I thought I had him corned multiple times, but he dodges over asteroids like they aren't even there. I did manage to take out Ethan and the Bandit, but the crtis piled up. I think I had more crits than hits on my last Decimator.
I also made a clear mistake in this match. We set up all the asteroids right. He set up the bandit right. I then set up my Decimators left and vowed not to go into the asteroids. Guess what I did. The takeway is two-fold. First, pay attention to asteroid placement - by placing them all on the right they were too bunched up for me to fly through easily. Second, pay attention to your first battle plan. Yes, be flexible, but do so with an understanding of your plan.
I did land Vader on an asteroid and one turn not shooting is bad. Jim deserved the win and he made the cut. With a record of 2-2, I placed 5th, just outside.
I stayed to watch the finals and watched Mike beat Jim in the first round with some excellent flying (Hans Solo + 3 x bandits). Han stayed well within the doughnut hole with some amazing maneuvers. It was fun to watch.
However, Mike was not quite as successful in the final round against Chris Allen and his 3 x Daggers (with FCS) and 1 x Blue B-Wings. It was a powerful build and he flew it well. Congrats to Chris for another championship.
More lessons learned. One more chance next week to apply them.