This past weekend, I was able to make to the monthly tournament at Area 51 in Grapevine, TX. The event had another solid turnout, I want to say 13 players.
I took a variant of my last list, swapping Vader with Swarm Tactics in for Marek.
TIE Defender: · Colonel Vessery (35)
Crack Shot (1)
Heavy Laser Cannon (7)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
TIE Advanced: · Darth Vader (29)
Swarm Tactics (2)
TIE/x1 (0)
Advanced Targeting Computer (1)
TIE Advanced: · Lieutenant Colzet (23)
TIE/x1 (0)
Fire Control System (0)
-- TOTAL ------- 99/100p. --
My first opponent, Daniel?, was flying a Carnor/Soontir/PalpMobile list. I wasn't sure how my list would handle the dodgy Aces, so i thought I would zoom up the board edge and take out the shuttle early. Well, luck would have it that Soontir took an unlucky turn and ended up Range 1 of Vader and Vessery. I capitalized on the mistake and took out the Baron. It took a bit but I was able to draw a bead on Carnor and the shuttle quickly followed. I took some shield damage but the game went better than expected.
1-0
Game two, was against Rich (I think) and he was flying Nathan's list from Worlds. Poe scared me a bit more than Corran but neither were exactly soft targets. On the initial approach, Vader got a lucky Hit-Hit-ATC Direct Hit to vape the Prototype in a turn. I don't remember the specifics but I lost Colzet before dropping Poe. Vader and Vessery were more than a match for Corran once he got into recover mode.
2-0
I was feeling pretty good at this point. The tweaks I had made to the list were paying off. Next round I was faced with Alex and the only quad-TLT list in the store. It was my most worrisome match up.
This was a really good game though. We lined up on opposite corners and just ran up and down the board edge for a while, neither wanting to commit. Finally, we both turned in and the initial clash was had. I got some hot dice rolls and was able to take out a Y before their first volley. I played this game a lot better than i expected and was able to hang out in the Range 1 band pretty well. The end game came down to a shieldless Vessery vs a hurting Y and Vessery was able to carry the day.
3-0
At this point, people definitely were taking notice of my odd ball list. It was fun to talk to everyone about how i made the squad choices I food and how the synergies worked.
The final round of Swiss was against James, who beat me in Top 4 last find, and good Kenkirk and 4 Academies list. He outflew me by a long shot. I was able to kill a couple Academies but made some major mistakes while he flew an awesome game. I believe Vessery was my last ship on the board and he still has the Deci and an Academy.
Well, Top Cut was announced and I finished second in Swiss. I was super happy with this. It was my best Swiss finish ever. Then pairings are announced and it was me vs James again. To put this shortly, he wiped the floor with me. My strategy wasn't great and I got out flown again. Luckily, James went on to beat the quad TLT list in the finals. I only lost to the champ, so that felt good.
I've flown in four tournaments (Store Champs, Regionals and two local tournaments) and have lost two games in each. I'm exceptionally proud of each finish, especially these two where I was rocking the Defender to much success.
I hope I can make out to the next Area 51 tournament! Hopefully, I can improve upon back-to-back third place finishes.