I participated at the St. Pete, FL Regionals this past weekend, and I wanted to share my experience with you guys as it was very thematic, and everyone likes a good underdog story right?

I decided to fly a Fat Han list as I've had moderate success in the past (Placed Top 4 at a Store Championship). I was mostly having trouble with Soontir builds with Autothrusters, and wanted to gain the initiative bid so I can pass to move last and get him within arc.

I finally decided on the following:

98 points

Han Solo (62) YT-1300 (46), Predator (3), C-3PO (3), Gunner (5), Millennium Falcon (1), Engine Upgrade (4)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12) x 3

I decided to name my list "Never Tell Me The Odds", for obviously I was flying Han with C3P0 and I also had a shirt with the phrase.

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1st Round: Brobots

This was one of those matches that no matter what you did right, and what they did wrong, you are going to lose. I was able to get Han on an IG, at R1, within arc (no autothrusters), with Predator/Han reroll/Gunner, and wiffed....TWICE. Also, I learned how important it is to make sure pieces are placed back exactly where they were. An IG tried to do a 3 bank but was unable to clear as his other IG blocked him. He didn't move the ship as Han was bumped in front of him, so both IG's stayed in the same spots. I was able to K-turn behind the IG. On the very next turn, that same IG that bumped showed a 3 bank Segnor's Loop in the same direction as the previous turn. I was delighted as I knew he wasn't able to clear it last turn, which meant he would be faced away from me and stressed, however during readjustment of the ships the previous turn, he was able to clear it this turn. That gave him two IG's to give Han the killing blow.

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2nd Round: Rebel Ion List (Keyan with Ion Torpedoes, Dutch with Ion Turret, and Lt. Blount with Ion Pulse Missiles)

After getting tabled the first game, I started the second round dead last. Talk about getting rid of your first game jitters. I was almost kind of glad as I figured the pressure was off to try to make the top 8 cut. I told the guy I was going up against that "Whoever wins this match will win the entire tournament". I don't think he thought it was funny as we were on the last table, but alas, we played a good match. I was able to take down Lt. Blount before he used his missiles on Han, but he was able to control the headhunters and take a couple out. I was able to clean up the rest of the list with Han.

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3rd Round: Brobots... AGAIN

Oh look, another Brobot list. They were taunting me. The guy I was playing carried bombs on each one, and made good use of them. He was able to drop a Proximity Mine right on top of one of my Z95's. It was a tough fight, but I was able to take them both down with a wounded Han.

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4th Round: Brobots.... Part 3

I couldn't believe it as soon as I walked up to the table. However after two matches with good maneuvering I figured I knew how to crack the code that is the Brobots, I just needed the dice to stick. I did some good blocking with my Z's, took down one Brobot quick, and then worked on the other. We were getting close on time, but I was finally able to bring it down. This is when I started thinking about MoV to see if I had a chance, as I flew a weakened Z95 away from the fight to keep it alive.

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5th Round: Super Kath + 3 Z (with ion pulse missiles)

At this point I found out I was top 16, playing on the 8th table, so I figured a good outcome could give me a chance. I decided the best way to approach the match was to go after Kath immediately with all ships. Due to some bad evade rolls I was able to take down Kath really quick, so I went for the full win by taking out the Z95's with Ions next (I kept them close as the Ion missiles are R2-3) and again running a weak Z95 away from the fight to stay alive.

4-1 after Swiss, made 6th place! I couldn't believe it. After looking at the rankings I saw there were 4-1's up to 11th place, and due to MoV if I had lost the two Z95's I took away from the fight, I probably would not had made the cut, it was that close. But now the real challenge began.

Top 8: Chewie (Determination, Recon Specialist, Jan Ors, Anti-Pursuit Laser), Leebo (Determination, Mangler Cannon, Hull Upgrade, Recon Specialist, Outrider)

Video:

I decided to go after Chewie first, so I brought my Z95's up through the middle and placed them right behind him. Because he decided to cut, all my Z95s, Chewie and Leebo got caught in a traffic jam over a debris cloud. I was able to run 3-4 rounds of actionless Chewie/Leebo, which helped tremendously as his rolls were showing lots of focus, with no tokens to spend. Eventually I took Chewie down by stripping his tokens with Han and having the Z's clean up, and we were close on time by then with Han still with 6 hull left. Leebo chased Han for a couple of turns but with evade+C3P0 he was unable to do much more damage, and the match ended on time, with me not having lost a ship. On to Top 4!

Top 4: Corran Horn (PTL, R2D2, EU, FCS), Jake Farrell (VI, A-Wing Test Pilot, PTL, Autothrusters, Chardaan Refit), 2x Bandits

This was the first opportunity I had to pass initiative to the opponent. He had Jake Farrell at PS9 with Autothrusters, so I needed to move last to get him in arc. Earlier that day my opponent ended in a tie with a Han+3Z list, and I wanted to make sure to avoid that from happening (as a tie would give him the win since I passed initiative), so I went after Jake first. Having practiced flying with my front arc from my 3 Brobot fights I was able to take Jake down fairly quickly, in the process taking down both Z95's. Corran was left having to green to regain shields with no shots, so eventually he was brought down once I concentrated fire. On to the final!

Final: Super Dash (PTL, HLC, EU, Kyle Katarn, Outrider), Corran Horn (VI, FCS, R2D2)

Video:

The final against Travis Cooper, arguably the best player in Florida. He has won several Store Championships in Florida, in fact one of them in which he wiped me off the board quickly in a Top 4 match at a Store Championship. The mistake I made in the last match was I didn't cut enough with my Z95's when I sent them after Dash, so he was able to BR+Boost out of range of 2 and pop one at a time, while I had Han shooting at Corran Horn who just kept dodging and regaining shields. I figured to beat him this time I had to approach the fight differently. I placed Han across from Dash and by Round 2 I was in his HLC blind spot. In the process I was bringing the Z95's through the middle to cut Dash off once he pulled away from Han. My one mistake was turning sharp instead of banking Han after getting in R1, so I bumped into Dash and was unable to shoot him, but I had a R1 shot at Corran and took two shields off. This forced him to fly Corran away with greens to regain shields while the Z95's stayed in pursuit with Han on Dash to take him out. Eventually I was able to crit Dash with Injured Pilot, which lost him PTL and his ability to fly over debris. He then cut towards Han, which I saw at the last second during the dials phase, and adjusted my ship so I would not bump him. I was able to take down Dash while the Z's got started on a fully rehealed Corran. At this point Han was hurting with about 3 hull left, but after a couple of turns I was able to take Corran down to 1 hull. I had two Z95 shots to finish him off and he evaded both, then came the dreaded double tap, and Han was down. With a Z95 at 2 shields and another with 3 stress and no shields, I figured it was going to be tough to stick on Corran. He then performed a K-turn to my surprise, as I figured with an untimed match he was going to regain shields before turning on the offensive. He shot at my stressed Z95 and I survived, I then rolled a natural hit/hit/crit, and he dodged only one. I had won the match!

It was quite the experience and I met some great players along the way. I am now very excited to attend Gen Con and compete in Nationals with the first round bye. This is a reminder to everyone that it's better to fly casual and laid back. After having getting tabled the first game, it calmed my nerves, I tried to have fun, and played with a clear mind. I kept saying in the top 8 "I'm not even supposed to be here", which brought some Clerks references, and I picked 37 for one of my pilots as that is one of my favorite movies. Also, I had bumped one of the Z95's on a bonehead move in the final (probably tired, did a 3 turn instead of 2 turn like the others), which was explained by saying this Z95 was "The Rookie" by those watching. Guess who took the winning shot, with 2 stresses because he ran through debris because of being displaced? That's right, "The Rookie". I couldn't have made this stuff up any better.

Thanks for reading!

Great write up Carlos. We all know how well Travis flies and to be able to come a away with a win is great let alone a regionals. Had to face him in round 2, which he won.

Still don't know how to approach this list and flying style. Played Travis twice so far killed Corran in the first go while loosing RAC and Boba. Second time at regionals managed to ion Dash off, but he really had the game in the bag before that.

Congrats and nice write up! I watched the Top 8 video and was surprised your opponent didnt't use his turrets to his advantage. He got into a furball and never recovered.

Great write up Carlos. We all know how well Travis flies and to be able to come a away with a win is great let alone a regionals. Had to face him in round 2, which he won.

Still don't know how to approach this list and flying style. Played Travis twice so far killed Corran in the first go while loosing RAC and Boba. Second time at regionals managed to ion Dash off, but he really had the game in the bag before that.

Thanks man yea I just went aggresive and it worked. There are some things I think I could have done better, relied too much on luck there at the end. Hopefully we'll see the video soon

Congrats and nice write up! I watched the Top 8 video and was surprised your opponent didnt't use his turrets to his advantage. He got into a furball and never recovered.

Thanks. Yes I was also surprised he cut in like that, and those rounds without actions really hurt him. If he just made it a chasing match it could have gone very differently

Great write up Carlos. We all know how well Travis flies and to be able to come a away with a win is great let alone a regionals. Had to face him in round 2, which he won.

Still don't know how to approach this list and flying style. Played Travis twice so far killed Corran in the first go while loosing RAC and Boba. Second time at regionals managed to ion Dash off, but he really had the game in the bag before that.

Yep, Travis totally took me apart in the first round of Top 8, he's got that list and the distance judging down so well it's a bit scary. I'd played him previously at a Store Championship and it didn't go much better. Congrats on the win! Definitely well deserved given the competition.

The title was misleading, I assumed you started out 0-2 or worse. I can only give a half hearted congrats though since you used fat han, that's the only list many of the best players in my area have been using to win store championships this year.

Full congrats from me. Lists are good and all but players are more important. Great work dude, it's always hard coming back from a loss. Way to stick with it.

The title was misleading, I assumed you started out 0-2 or worse. I can only give a half hearted congrats though since you used fat han, that's the only list many of the best players in my area have been using to win store championships this year.

In the Florida Meta Fat Han has taken a back seat to Fat Dash and Corran.

Great write up Carlos. We all know how well Travis flies and to be able to come a away with a win is great let alone a regionals. Had to face him in round 2, which he won.

Still don't know how to approach this list and flying style. Played Travis twice so far killed Corran in the first go while loosing RAC and Boba. Second time at regionals managed to ion Dash off, but he really had the game in the bag before that.

Yep, Travis totally took me apart in the first round of Top 8, he's got that list and the distance judging down so well it's a bit scary. I'd played him previously at a Store Championship and it didn't go much better. Congrats on the win! Definitely well deserved given the competition.

Can't wait to watch Travis' video of the final and listen to him comment on the battle.

First round at regionals I got a 200 MoV; the first thing I said was "oh great watch I'll have to fly against Travis." Bingo!!!

The title was misleading, I assumed you started out 0-2 or worse. I can only give a half hearted congrats though since you used fat han, that's the only list many of the best players in my area have been using to win store championships this year.

Top 8 was 4x B-wings, Panic Attack-ish(me), 2x Interceptors + Bounty Hunter, Corran + Jake + Bandits, 2x IG, Chewie+Leebo, Han, and Super Dash, so no domination by any one list, only three lists with turrets. The player still definitely matters and there's nothing about that win that's diminished by him flying a Han build.

The title was misleading, I assumed you started out 0-2 or worse. I can only give a half hearted congrats though since you used fat han, that's the only list many of the best players in my area have been using to win store championships this year.

I understand the hate towards Fat Han lists as it has ruled the meta for so long but I just started playing this game last fall so this is my first run through the championship season, and I went with the list that I've had most success with. Usually I like flying imperial but they're so **** squishy!

I think the addition of auto thrusters is helping keep some turret pilots honest. Having to fly with the front arc is definitely a challenge. Good thing I only had to do it in 4 out of my 8 matches lol

The title was misleading, I assumed you started out 0-2 or worse. I can only give a half hearted congrats though since you used fat han, that's the only list many of the best players in my area have been using to win store championships this year.

If you watched the video of the finals, you'd see that he flew his Z-95s especially well and they were the key to his victory, and he deserved every last bit of his win.

VaynMaanen, I loved the trap you made for Dash where you kept those Zs in front and in the middle of the board and Han behind them so Dash had to either fly into the arcs of the Zs or stay behind them and let Han boost into range 1. As a Super Dash player, I learned a lot from watching your match about how to play against this match up, both from Travis's mistakes in that game and from watching how you punished his mistakes. I know Travis is a good player, we're all human and kept your head in the game until the last. Good stuff.

Congratulations on a great write up and a superbly played game! Using your Zs to block was Chewie and Leebo in the debris was great! (Top 8) I'll watch the finals later today.

The title was misleading, I assumed you started out 0-2 or worse. I can only give a half hearted congrats though since you used fat han, that's the only list many of the best players in my area have been using to win store championships this year.

I understand the hate towards Fat Han lists as it has ruled the meta for so long but I just started playing this game last fall so this is my first run through the championship season, and I went with the list that I've had most success with. Usually I like flying imperial but they're so **** squishy!

I think the addition of auto thrusters is helping keep some turret pilots honest. Having to fly with the front arc is definitely a challenge. Good thing I only had to do it in 4 out of my 8 matches lol

Yeah, regardless of your game balance opinions anybody who gets a big win earned it. Don't hate the playa hate the game.