Well I figured I’d write a tournament report since I haven’t seen too many reports of people running Scum lists. I had used this list only a time or two before bringing it to the store championship at Collector’s Cache in Overland Park, KS on February 28th, followed by using it this past weekend at 4 Plus Games in Omaha, NE. Prior to that, I had been using Ten Nunb and 5 bandits and I liked the way it flew overall. My friend Jonathan recommended trying Xizor and 5 pirates instead. I tried out Guri a few times and really liked the way the StarViper flew – like a better B wing, IMO. Two other guys from my local X wing community decided to run the same basic list, with slightly different upgrades. Might just be that they ran hotshot blaster instead of inertial dampeners, but that was a big difference in my games. After a lot of deliberation, I settled on this loadout:
XIZZZZZOR (98 points)
Xizor with VI, FCS, Virago, Autothrusters, Inertial Dampeners
5x Binayre Pirate
I deliberated a LOT on exactly which upgrades to put on Xizor. Autothrusters was an autoinclude. The other two guys running it locally were using hotshot blaster, but I hadn’t really been impressed with it. I feel like the hard target arc dodgers on whom it would be used would likely dodge the single 3 dice attack anyway, so it seemd like a waste of points. I had used Inertial Dampeners a few times and knew it could be game-changing. I went with VI to help Xizor arc dodge PS 7 and 8 and go toe-to-toe with Whisper and Soontir. I decided on FCS over sensors because of the prevalence of large ships in the current meta and the likelihood I would face IG88, Han, Chewie, and various Decimators.
Collector’s Cache
Solid tournament. They decided on a 1pm start time, which was fortunate for me as I had to work that morning and barely got there and was ready by 1230pm.
Round 1: Scott R.
Squad: 4x Green Squad with PTL, Chardaan, Outmaneuver, Autothrusters
In the few weeks before the tournament, I had been playing Scott a couple of times a week at a local game shop and frankly, I was dreading this matchup. He loves A wings and E wings, and he likes to make them as hard to hit as possible. I had a hell of a time landing any hits from my 2 ATT ships. We discussed after the match about the fact that it was a solid hour between the time I killed my first A wing and when I landed my first hit on the second. He used PTL to focus+evade every turn, which made it very, very tough to land anything. I set up in my standard formation, which is a block of ships on the far right of the board all facing to the left, with Xizor in the very back corner. He had his A wings all spread out, with one across from my squad. I hard turned towards it and he zoomed forward to joust. With all of my ships firing at it on the first round of combat, I landed 2 hits and stripped the shields.
Next turn, I tried my hardest to block it, but he used a 5 straight to jump everyone and slam into Xizor. I had selected a 1 straight, but Scott suggested that if I used inertial dampeners, technically we wouldn’t be touching anymore and I could shoot his A wing. I agreed and did it. Since I had a target lock from FCS, it was pretty easy to kill his actionless A wing. The next hour was spent chasing his other A wings. He managed to kill 2 Zs and I finally was able to block and kill another A wing for a win on points. We discussed the second round after the game with a few other people and learned that the FAQ had been FAQed again, so we were actually wrong about the zero maneuver non-overlapping scenario. Had we ruled it correctly, the game would have been much different. Just goes to show that Scott is a great sport and that’s why I enjoy playing him.
W (50-24)
Round 2: Dannie
Squad: 4 Academy pilots, Delta with ion, Scimitar with prox mine
Dannie is another friend and talented local player with whom I’ve played many games. He plays mixed ship Imperial lists and is hard to predict. I was worried about facing him because he had been doing well this season especially, and the ion and prox mine represented a real threat to Xizor. This game really messed with his mind because I chose initiative and used it to block him. He commented multiple times about how weird it was that I was moving first. I think it gave me a huge advantage for him to feel so out of sorts. I used my standard setup, while he had the 4AP in a block in the middle with the Delta and Scimitar off to the side a bit. We met in the middle of the asteroid field on about the third or fourth turn. At that time, I shot my front Z forward for a successful block on his APs. The other 4 Zs, firing first, shredded his actionless TIE while Xizor took a potshot at the Delta. Next turn, I was able to K turn the front most Zs and block with another one, getting one of his TIEs on an asteroid. Another Z took a 3 bank left and split away to block his Delta, who had come charging forward after Xizor. Even without an action, he was able to successfully ion Xizor, which then allowed the Scimitar to drop the prox mine right in Xizor’s face. I rolled hit, hit, crit and breathed a sigh of relief when the crit wasn’t a direct hit. Delta tried to finish Xizor with his ion but only rolled 2 hits. I rolled 1 natural evade and used autothrusters for a second, saving Xizor’s life. I then fled with Xizor and brought the remaining Zs around to finish the Delta. Can’t remember the exact score but I finished with Xizor and 2-3 Zs against an AP or two with a remaining Scimitar (I think).
W
Round 3: Peter
Squad: 5 AP, Black Squad with Wingman, Howlrunner with PTL and stealth
Peter was my first opponent whom I hadn’t played before. He traveled up from Springfield for the tournament. Very nice guy and I enjoyed this game, even though his list scared me. My victory basically hinged on having initiative and being able to block him on the first combat round. He did some fancy maneuvering at the beginning, but I slow rolled until it seemed safe, then I was able to get a block with the front couple of Zs. I split Xizor from the pack in this match and sent him around the side as a flanker, where he was able to take some nasty range 1 shots, usually on K turned TIEs. I killed Howlrunner on the second or third combat round and it rolled downhill from there. Still went to time with the swarm on swarm action. I think I killed Howl, the Black, and an AP or 2. He killed a handful of Zs (RIP).
W
Round 4: Chris
Squad: Keyan advanced sensors HLC, Biggs R2D2 shield upgrade, Kyle with ion, Jan
Another guy I hadn’t played before, Chris drove up from Springfield with Peter. I was happy to shoot at ships with only 1 or 2 green dice. I set up on the left in a loose block and he set up to joust. I stalled and we had a range 3 exchange where I only got 1 of Biggs’ shields due to some hot evade dice on Biggs (not to mention a focus and an evade). Next turn, I shot forward and blocked Biggs with a Z, then opened fire with the rest. He continued to have hot evade dice with Biggs, even without tokens, and he survived the barrage. Next 3 rounds or so I made a parking lot with the Zs. First one I killed Biggs and started on Kyle, then I finished Kyle, then I finished Keyan. I actually went after Kyle first because I had seen what an ion could do to Xizor and I was more afraid of the turret. I knew Xizor alone could handle Keyan. He ended up killing 2 Zs I think. First game that didn’t go to time since I wasn’t taking 2 dice shots against AGI 3 targets.
W (100-24)
Round 5: Gavin
Squad: Soontir PTL Royal Guard Shield Autothrusters, Buzzsaw Whisper
Gavin is another friend I play all the time. He had won the Tulsa store championship at Team Covenant HQ the prior weekend and was now running an 80 points list just to prove a point. IMO, he is arguably the best player in the KC area. I was sure I would lose this match. I started off in my standard opening in the right-hand corner. Gaving brought Whisper down towards my squad, while Soontir went around to flank. Third round I banked the front Zs towards Whisper, who promptly jumped them and arc dodged all but a couple. He started laying into the Zs while I took a couple of shots with Xizor. Since we were near the board edge and penned in by asteroids, I was able to K turn the front Zs and bring them back towards Whisper while I brought the back Zs in to block Whisper’s decloak points. I did this 2 turns in a row and on the second turn, Heavy fire by Xizor and multiple Zs put Whisper out to pasture. I spent the remaining hour chasing Soontir with my ENTIRE squad without doing more than plink his shield upgrade off. I think towards the end I lost 1 or 2 Zs to Soontir. I was pretty mad at Gavin for making me chase him for the whole game by the end. What a troll. Lol
W (44-24?)
So at this point I was pretty happy. Not only did I go 5-0, I beat Gavin, killed Whisper, and beat a swarm. Can’t remember the last time I went to a tournament without losing to a swarm. On to top 8!
Round 6: Peter
Squad: 5 AP, Black wingman, Howl PTL stealth
At this point Peter and I were both exhausted, but pumped to be in top 8. I was tired and felt like there was no way I could beat him again since it was such a tough game the first time. I offered that we could split the focus tokens regardless who won the game since that was what I wanted most. I had been in a huge rut since the previous store championship season, so going through qualifying 5-0 was enough for me to feel good about the day. We agreed to split the tokens and then had a pretty casual game. I think both of us were a lot more relaxed and enjoyed the game more. Peter also mentioned that he felt like he played better since he wasn’t nervous, whereas I felt like I played a little sloppily.
I set up in the middle in a block. Peter took a different approach than the first time around, coming down the side and then hard turning into the asteroids. Because of his approach, I wasn’t able to get a good block. My Zs got completely eviscerated and since his TIEs all had focus this time, I wasn’t able to land any damage. There’s not much to tell. He ripped through the Zs and then killed Xizor pretty easily. I think I maybe killed 2 AP. Tough game, but he played well and I felt like I had done well that day on the whole, so I wasn’t too bummed about losing.
L (24?-100)
Thoughts on the day:
I was very happy with my list. I felt like I had the worst possible matchups with all the AGI 3 ships, but I was still able to squeak out a victory in all games except for the last. Xizor ended just about every game with 1 hull. I think I rolled 3 or 4 evades with him all day. His ability and autothrusters were the only things that kept him alive. I was really pleased with how he flew. The S loop and inertial dampeners were very fun, useful moves that made him hard to pin down. I think I flew pretty well overall and used my swarm effectively. I made a few mistakes with Xizor, but now feel like I know how to fly him better.
Store Championship Two
This past weekend, I made the trip up to Omaha for the store championship hosted by XWingTOMan at 4 Plus Games. Hands down the best tournament I’ve ever been to. Polished, smoothly run, minimal wait times, food, and a bar. Absolutely awesome. I think about 10 of us came up from KC to continue the longstanding rivalry with the Omaha and Iowa guys. I thought about switching up my list and spent a lot of time trying to decide between FCS and advanced sensors for Xizor, but ended up staying with FCS since it had done well for me the week before. I also hated to give up my initiative bid since that had proven useful as well.
Round 1: Brant (The mind that brought you Rebel Convoy)
Squad: 5x Syndicate Thug with autoblaster turret
I’ve seen Brant at tons of tournaments and talked to him a lot, but we’d never played before this, so I was looking forward to it. I started with my squad in the same setup: bottom right corner in a loose block, all facing left with Xizor in the very back corner. Brant set up directly across for a joust. I turned in and we jousted. I was able to get a good block on the approach and start laying into a Y wing. He let loose with the autoblaster turrets and started chewing through the Zs. I killed 1 Y wing in the first combat round without losing a Z, but then it evened out pretty quickly. The only thing that kept my Zs alive was that Brant was firing actionless quite a bit, and he rolled a decent amount of crits, some of which I was able to evade (with focus). It came down to 2 damaged Ys against a damaged Xizor and badly damaged Z. He sent 1 Y wing to finish the Z, who just wasn’t fast enough to escape range 1. The game ended with Xizor right at the edge of range 3 of 2 Y wings. Xizor and the Y wing he had been dueling each had 1 hull. I had to boost to guarantee range 3 for the kill shot. I was able to get 3 hits with my reroll from a TL I had kept from FCS earlier, finishing that Y wing. The remaining Y wing rolled 2 hits. Actionless Xizor got 1 natural evade and autothrusters kicked in to keep him alive with a second. Nail biting finish.
W (80-60)
Round 2: Aaron D
Squad: Krassis with mangler, Soontir PTL autothrusters, Turr VI autothrusters
This was a pretty fun game and a good test for Xizor to hunt high PS arc dodgers. I used my standard setup. He brought Krassis down the middle and the interceptors on the far side to come around and flank. I swarmed Krassis with the Zs and killed him pretty quickly. Krassis didn’t have great attack or evade rolls. I think maybe he took a Z with him, not sure. Soontir went about killing my Zs with good support from Turr. I was able to get a decent block on Soontir with the remaining Zs and take him down quickly, but Turr proved pretty slippery. I think it ended with Xizor and 2 Zs chasing Turr. With Turr moving first, I was able to chase with Xizor pretty effectively. FCS kept my attacks pretty solid and I was able to finish him.
W (100-36?)
Round 3: Elliott
Squad: Keyan PTL sensors, Jake with P rocket, bandit, Gemmer stealth, Tala
This was an interesting and fun match because this was such an off the wall squad. It was nice to see Keyan and Jake on the table, not to mention Gemmer. I have to admit that I was worried about Jake’s proton rocket, too. I started in my standard formation, and Elliott placed everyone out in the middle across the asteroid field. I shot across my board edge the first few turns with 4 straights, then banked in to face his squad. He had shot Gemmer down in to attack while Jake tried to flank off to my right and Keyan and the Tala hung back a bit. Gemmer survived an incredible barrage by all of my Zs, most at range 1. He was actionless after boosting into range 1, but was rolling 5 green dice. It was pretty hilarious. I think he ended up with just hull left, maybe only 1. The next turn I turned 1 Z left to shoot Gemmer, anticipating his K turn and hopefully blocking if he used a 3 K. The rest of my ships banked right and started in on the Tala. I was able to kill the Tala that turn with the Zs after Xizor finished off Gemmer. Then I dueled with Keyan and Jake. Jake came flanking in and laid the proton rocket on Xizor. I think he rolled 3 or 4 hits and landed 2 or 3 after Xizor passed 1 (my Xizor can’t roll evades). I had a pretty easy time finishing Keyan and Jake after that. I think I had a 1hp Xizor and 2 Zs left.
W
Round 4: Aaron B (KineticOperator)
Squad: IG-88B and IG-88C with PTL, sensors, title, mangler, seismic, autothrusters
This was a tough match. I used my standard start and turned in to fire at empty space after Aaron boosted both ships and did some fancy maneuvering to arc dodge off to the right of my swarm. Xizor took a couple of shields off IGB. He hobbled one Z, who then fled off to the left. I then brought up my ships into the middle and tried to cover every possible flight path of the IGs, with one farther forward for a block. I was able to block IGC, who then backed IGB up onto an asteroid. I got some decent shots with Xizor and a few Zs on the next two turns to finish IGB. He laid down a few Zs and it came down to Xizor and 2 Zs against IGC with minimal damage. He used manglers to put a direct hit on a shieldless Z for the kill. I was closing on IGC with the full health Z who had a TL and focus as well as a damaged Xizor. He S looped his IG right next to my stressed Xizor who had S looped the previous turn. I burned inertial dampeners instead of going my selected 1 straight right into a range 1 shot from IGC and a certain death. We ended the game at time and I won by 2 points since he had killed 4 Zs compared to my 1 IG kill.
Modified W (50-48)
Round 5: Landon
Squad: Chewie predator MF title Luke 3PO, Vrill HLC recspec APL
This was a very, very tough game. Landon is a good friend and I play him occasionally in KC, although not as often as I’d like. He was top 32 (if not top 16) at world’s this past year and has consistently made top 4 at our local store championships. I used my standard start and he placed Chewie across from me with Vrill a little farther away. I turned towards Chewie, but then he turned away and I had to navigate around asteroids to pursue. I was able to block Chewie multiple combat rounds but he still took forever to kill due to good evade rolls combined with 3PO. He also dished out a lot of pain with predator and Luke. I killed Chewie pretty quickly, but he killed at least 2 or 3 Zs in the meantime and the rest were damaged. A damaged Xizor and 2 damaged Zs couldn’t take out Vrill in enough time. I also forgot about APL and tried to ram Vrill with Xizor to avoid a range 1 shot, but took 1 damage from APL instead. Vrill HLCed the remaining Zs and then killed Xizor (who can’t roll evades) for the win.
L (56-100)
Top 8
With that result, Landon and I both ended up 4-1 and made top 8. He was third seed and I was sixth, so we ended up playing again about ten minutes later. This time it was a little more tense as we both really wanted to progress. I started in the same formation, but Landon put Chewie on the far corner and Vrill near him. Similarly to how I started against Elliott, I shot across with a few fast moves, then turned in to choose a target. Landon played it safe and hung back with Chewie while sending Vrill down towards my squad. First combat round saw all of my ships firing at range 2 and 3 against Vrill with not a single damage landing. I think he rolled 2 evades 3 or 4 times. Very demoralizing. Next round I shot 1 Z ahead to block and brought the rest in for a range 1 barrage on Vrill. I was able to kill Vrill pretty quickly, but Chewie put down the Zs very quickly. Predator meant 4 hits nearly every shot. We had a brawl and it came down to 1hp Xizor vs 1hp Chewie. I had S looped Xizor for a shot, then was forced to double stress by using inertial dampeners to keep him in arc on the next turn. I cleared 1 stress, then kept the other and used two consecutive 4 straights to chase the fleeing wookie. Without a defensive focus, I had to rely solely on autothrusters and dice to keep Xizor alive. I was rolling badly on this string of attacks, getting 1 hit even after target locks. On a couple of occasions when I rolled more than 1 hit, Landon used 3PO to correctly guess for 1 evade, dodging 2 or 3 hits. The last turn when time was about to be called, I finally was able to use my TL to convert to 3 hits. He guessed 1 with 3PO but rolled a focus and Chewie bit the dust. Crazy, crazy ending. One of my closest games ever to a very talented player.
W (100-60)
Top 4: James
Squad: Han determination gunner MF title 3PO, Corran PTL R2D2 FCS
James is another solid KC player who has been doing very well this year with his Han/Corran list. I think he’s made top 4 at least a couple of times at store championships. The game started very similarly to my game against Landon. He started opposite to me, so I shot my squad across and then banked in to meet him. Corran was on the very left edge and Han was a little closer, with an asteroid between them. First combat round, Han and Corran took range 3 potshots at a focused Z, who rolled hot enough to live with 1hp despite Corran double shotting with a TL from FCS. Crazy and lucky for me. I let loose on Han with my whole squad, then turned to block and start the range 1 barrage. My plan was to kill Han as quickly as possible, then I knew Xizor could arc dodge Corran if need be. I managed to kill Han 2 turns later from concentrated Z fire while losing 2 Zs in return. Then it was Xizor and 3 Zs against Corran. He managed to take 1 more Z out, but in return, I S looped Xizor and K turned the remaining 2 Zs behind him. From that point, he was forced to PTL focus+evade every round to survive the incoming fire, meaning he could never turn around and return fire. It’s a testament to Corran’s insane tankiness that he lasted about another 5 turns. I was taking range 2 shots with Xizor and alternating blocking and taking range 1 shots with the Zs. Finally Xizor managed to chew through his regenerating shields and a Z finished him at range 1. A lot of the spectators were saying they thought Corran could take Xizor and my 3 healthy Zs when I killed Han and I scoffed, but it ended up being pretty close. I can’t believe how much fire it took to kill Corran.
W (100-36)
Finals – Shayn
Squad – 2x Black Squad with hull upgrade and wingman, SUPER OCUINN
I think Ocuinn’s loadout was dauntless, daredevil, engine, Mara, Ysanne, rebel captive
This was a fun game with a great guy. Shayn is another Omaha player and was actually one of my roommates from World’s this past November. He told me beforehand that he wouldn’t be able to attend any regionals, so the bye was mine no matter who won. We had a pretty fun and relaxing game. I started with my standard setup and he set Ocuinn in the center on his side with the TIEs flanking. I was conscious of the danger presented by Ocuinn bowling into my squad and then preventing K turns with Mara Jade, so I decided to spread out a bit more than in previous games. I hard turned 3 of my Zs and Xizor and brought them up the board edge while the other two went 1 straight towards the center of the board, then hard turned a little farther into the asteroids. We had made a pretty tight asteroid field and I was hoping to draw Ocuinn into it.
He sent Ocuinn down into the asteroids on the path that I expected and took a potshot at the lead Z at range 3. It was the lucky double evade Z and he ended up taking no damage. Next turn I shot that Z forward for the block while the rest slow played. The Zs I sent up the side hard turned in, so I had two parallel lines of fire. Ocuinn shot into the asteroids and double rammed the lead Z with Daredevil to take away both shields. His TIEs crashed into the back of Ocuinn. All of my ships were range 1 of Ocuinn, so I ended up putting 16 dice into him and nearly killing him. His black squads fired at my damaged Z but couldn’t land anything without a focus. Next turn that Z fled and the Z behind blocked Ocuinn while I banked towards Ocuinn with the flanking side Zs and Xizor. Xizor finished Ocuinn with a range 1 barrage and then I started in on the TIEs. I had been making fun of Shayn for putting hull upgrades on the TIEs, but then they ended up being REALLY annoying. It took longer than it should have for the Zs and Xizor to finish up the Black squads. I don’t think Xizor took any damage in this game, which was a first. Somewhat of a short game compared to all the others which went to time, but I think everyone was okay since we had been playing for 12 hours at that point.
So that’s my past couple of weekends. I’ve had a blast playing this squad. I think the Starviper plays like a tougher, dodgier B wing with a better dial. I rolled pretty well with the Zs but not with Xizor. I had to rely on his ability combined with autothrusters to keep him alive, and most games he finished with 1hp. Really nerve-wracking. Inertial dampeners saved his butt a few times, too. All in all, I think it’s my favorite ship of the wave so far. The Zs provided great support and although I had initially thought about dropping to 4Zs to add feedback array, I’m happy with how it works as-is and I don’t think the 4Z version would work as well.
Not gonna lie, I had been in a HUGE slump the past store championship season, regionals, and even into world’s. It felt good to finally do well again and get a win, and it was fun to do it with some new ships. Thanks to Jonathan for recommending this squad to me. It has all the right tools to take on the popular lists and its actually fun to fly. All photo credits to Sean Dorcy. Big thanks to Sean for hosting an awesome tournament!
