How did you find the tournaments?

By which I mean, was the tournament well attended, well varied, and/or well organized?

Can you, as an observer, provide feedback to we, the theorists?

I wanna get listbuilding again

I attended a 9 man Escalation tournament 2 weekends ago, and i have to say it was honestly the most fun i've had so far in an X-wing Tourney. I got to try out a thematic build i couldn't fit in 100 pts. (B's and A's!) Also, i had fun playing my opponents builds, especially seeing how they evolved as the rounds went on.

I've been poopahing Xizor for weeks about how i dont think he's very good, and i was rudely awakened in the 150 pt round, when The Prince, sporting Sensor Jammer and a SU and PTL, backed by an HLC Serissu tucked behind him and flanked by 2 Binayres, shrugged off 2 rounds of concentrated fire from 2 FCS/Gunner Blues and a R3-A2/Title Gold. I think in the end he shrugged off something like 7-8 hits? It was insane.

I found the increased point value let people run wild and try out new, bizarro builds. Leebo w/Determination and Mangler, backed by Etahn w/ HU, PTL and R5-D8. I saw those two discard about 9 damage between the two of them.

AS far as the tourney organizationally wise, i know that we're running at least 3 more locally in the next month, one of which will be a reverse escalation, starting at 150 and going down each round. People around here (Gulf Coast, USA) really like the format.

I would love to try an escalation tournament. The challenge to build a list that works as a 60 point, then has 30 point sections that can be 'bolted-on' is really interesting.

I attended 18-man escalation tournament two weeks ago and liked it (because I won it may be ))).
You play new squadron each round and can take an interesting rebel swarm (in last round I had 2 Y-wings, 3 Z-95's and 3 A-wings (Tycho and prots) - hello, man with a topic about death of 2 red dice ships!).

There are was 12 imperials, 5 rebels and 1 scum, but squadrons differed well.
I played against:
60 pts - 2 B's + 1 A-wing.

90 pts - Han Solo + Y-wing + Z-95.
120 pts - 6 TIE-academics + Howlrunner + Soontir Fel.
150 pts - Kath Scarlet with mangler + Howlrunner + 3 TIE-blacks + 3 TIE-academics.

I've played one Escalation tournament, but that was last summer. It was well organized, we had 12-14 players I think, prize was the Tantive and Transport, list sheets were filled out cumulatively before the start of the tournament, and overall it was a fun experience. Lists varied from TIE-snowballing (mo' and mo' TIEs) to Rebel formations. Tis was also pre-wave 4, so turrets and phantoms hadn't yet become the dominating force in all that is X-Wing.

Definitely an interesting break off from the ever-stale'ing 100 point death matches. I wish it were a more supported format because I feel like I can fit in that niche more than the 100 point format, not to mention the needs to open up discussions for a different meta and strategy theorycrafting- something I'm always up to do. But I think I'm rambling now...

I WANT MORE SUPPORTED FORMATS, DAMMIT!

I suppose i should also point out that i took 1st undefeated, so i guess im biased in how much i enjoyed it, but also that the 2nd place winner was someone I 60-0ed 1st round, but his build really snapped together in the last 2 when he finally got all the upgrades on his Scum Boba. There's probably a whole list "meta" where your 1st round or two might be throwaways, but the later ones are where your build clicks and wipes the floor with your opponent. Risky though.

We're having one in Louisville, KY on April 25th. Last year's event had 12 to 14 players.

https://www.facebook.com/events/737173893062745/ I'll try to get everyone's list. I won last year's event with some kind of Imperial build (I started with Whisper and went from there...I think it had a shuttle and Defender in there somewhere).

It'll be right in the middle of all the Derby shenanigans (one giant party in the city for two weeks, starting with Thunder Over Louisville). So make the trip!

My store group played Escalation over four weeks, one match every Thursday night for a month. We played with no time limits for each match, but otherwise it was very much like an Escalation tournament. Attendance was good (10 players out of our 12-or-so regulars). The reaction was generally positive.

We played this pre-Wave VI, and without the new rule that your initial squad must contain two ships, so there's not much value to the squad-building advice I might be able to provide.

I do think the month-long "league" setup was a good idea, and made it a very comfortable "event" that allowed players more time to think about their expanding squads instead of showing up on the day and having everything in place.

But no matter how you run it, I think Escalation is a great format and everyone should try it at least once.

I love the concept of escalation. I just wish it had one thing..I wish you could upgrade a generic ship to a named one. e.g. you could have a green squad a-wing in round 1, and turn him into Tyco in round 2. Would make list building a lot more interesting.

Escalation is my favorite 'variant' to this game. I have been in a couple tourneys and run a couple more myself. The last one had three divisions and playoffs complete with a wildcard. (We played it out over 4 weeks.) If you are on Facebook PM me here and I will invite you to the event's page so you can see how we did it...

150 points gives you so much room to work with and brings more tactical options...

I love it.

Do you have any specific questions?

We had 18 players.
A few big ship lists - won early but not late.
A few swarms - won late but not early.
Lists that gave you options and or flankers did well because your opponent had to react to you.
Joust only lists went how the dice went.

Start with a 60 point Decimator.

Every round just add a Sigma Squadron with an extra hull and FCS.

You could also just play nothing but naked Sigma Squadrons. You're losing out on points, but you're going to auto win the 150 point round.

The ideal list would be something that starts off strong in a low point environment, say 44~ point Whisper (even post nerf) and Dark Curse, 35 point Soontir and 2 TIEs, or a Decimator and from then on just adds an Academy pilot and an Alpha Squadron every round.

For Rebels you could fly a 60 point Han and then just add 2 Z95's with 6 points of munitions every subsequent round.

Start with a 60 point Decimator.

Every round just add a Sigma Squadron with an extra hull and FCS.

You could also just play nothing but naked Sigma Squadrons. You're losing out on points, but you're going to auto win the 150 point round.

The ideal list would be something that starts off strong in a low point environment, say 44~ point Whisper (even post nerf) and Dark Curse, 35 point Soontir and 2 TIEs, or a Decimator and from then on just adds an Academy pilot and an Alpha Squadron every round.

For Rebels you could fly a 60 point Han and then just add 2 Z95's with 6 points of munitions every subsequent round.

If you read the latest version of the Escalation rules you will find that your 60 point list must have a minimum of 2 ships in it, stopping players from kicking things off with Fat Han or Chubby Chinerau. (Thankfully)

Though admittedly, (from extremely limited experience) a 35 point Soontir Fel + 25 more points will typically win most 60 point games. its hard enough to kill him in a 100 point match let alone when you have only slightly more than half the starting points.

I have dreamed up this "Batte of Yavin" list for my next Escalation tourney:

Trench Run 1

“Red 3” Biggs Darklighter 25

“Red 5” Luke Skywalker + R2-D2 + DTF 33

Total 58 Points

Trench Run 2

“Red 3” Biggs Darklighter 25

“Red 5” Luke Skywalker + R2-D2 + DTF 33

“Red 2” Wedge Antilles + Predator 32

Total 90 Points

Trench Run 3

“Red 3” Biggs Darklighter + R5-P9 28

“Red 5” Luke Skywalker + R2-D2 + DTF 33

“Red 2” Wedge Antilles + Predator 32

“Red Leader” Garvin Dreis 26

Total 119 Points

Trench Run 4

“Red 3” Biggs Darklighter + R5-P9 28

“Red 5” Luke Skywalker + R2-D2 + DTF 33

“Red 2” Wedge Antilles + Predator 32

“Red Leader” Garvin Dreis 26

“Gold Leader” Dutch Vander + ICT + R7-T1 31

Total 150 Points

Dripping with flavor, though not sure its super competitive. Should be fun either way.