It was a 10 am scheduled start at The Geekery in Shawnee, KS and after some minor oversleeping by both myself and my buddy we arrived with minutes to spare. 31 people showed up to shoot some lasers, and we got started right around 10:15
My List- "Echo"- VI, ACD, FCS, Agent Kallus
Sigma Squadron Pilot- Stygium, FCS, Rebel Captive
Omicron Group Pilot- Emperor Palpatine
100 points
A very high risk high reward list, but i figured dual phantoms without whisper would throw some people through loops. i knew aces would give me the most trouble, but Agent kallus is a god send for that. between kallus, an evade token, and palpatine, even uncloaked phantoms can remain pretty tanky.
Round 1
Bryce- PHeavers worlds 2016 list Poe, VI R2D2 autos
stresshog
tlt y
z-95
Oh boy a hard counter in round 1, plenty of stress control and an ace to hunt me down, and against a guy i know who is no slouch behind the dials. I get initiative and take the biggest rocks i can and crowd the center. I line up the OGP and the sigma in my left corner, echo in my right. He lines up his list across from echo. using echos 2 drift decloaks i keep his list just out of range 3 while the sigma flanks up the side and the lambda lumbers through the asteriods. When it finally looks like he's going to get a range 3 on echo i gun him forward and past his whole list, he over commits the stresshog to where he thinks echo would be, and im able to pick it off before it stresses a primary target. the next turn i suprise him with the lambda by 3 drifting over a rock for the block on his k-turns and echo finishes off the tlt y. He manages to bring down the sigma but i come out otherwise unscathed. Win 100-32
Round 2
Scott- Triple T-65's
Wedge with Predator, R2 astromech, Intergrated
Wes with VI, R3A2, Intergrated
Luke with VI, R2D2, Intergrated
Scott is a local who ive played many times. He always runs his 3X list, although the upgrades sometimes vary. As a result he's very solid with his list, and makes a run at any more "meta" lists than his. I crowd the center with asteriods as much as possible again and line up the OGP and sigma on the left, echo on the right. He lines up all 3 across from the OGP and Sigma. I play echo a little too conservatively in the early game as i know he's capable of shooting just 1 x-wing off and ruining echo's day. The sigma shoots up the board while the lambda hangs back, i manage to get into a range 3 of just Wes opening round of fire, he misses (thanks stygium evade!) but stresses me once and himself twice (thanks rebel captive!) I return fire. 3 Hits and a Crit! he manages 1 evade and the crit he pulls is stunned pilot which he chooses to keep. the next round see's my lambda enter the fray while the sigma gets out of dodge, and here i regret keeping echo so far out. With echo at least still 2 turns out of combat range, i fear for poor palpys survival. He takes 3 range 1-2 x-wing shots to the face and limps out with 2 hull, trading 8 health for wedges shields and intergrated. the next turn see's the demise of the lambda, but do to its positioning, i force Wes to awkwardly fly past the lambda and outposition himself in order to avoid the bump. Wedge finishes the lambda off, but because he k-turned for the shot, the sigma picks him off range 3 with another hot roll. at this point its a shieldless sigma and full hp echo vs luke, and in the turn echo finally enters the fray i trade 1 hull on the sigma for 1 shield on luke. the next turn i kill box him with the 2 phantoms and even luke has a hard time surviving 7 hits. Win 100-29
Round 3
James
Another local who i've played a few times, most recently just 3 days before the tournament. We were both practicing for the tournament then, and we bring the same lists now.
OGP- Palpy, Engine
Omega Leader- Comms, Crackshot
2x Omega squad- Comms, Crackshot.
We roll for imitative and i win it, a pretty significant win with both echo and omega leader at PS 8. I once again cluster the middle with asteroids and place my standard OGP, Sig on left, echo on right. He lines up in just right of center (from my perspective). Last time we played i was able to bait him with echo and as a result his lambda was at half hp from my sigma before anything else fired. This time he learns his lesson and doesnt take the bait, instead keeping arcs open and giving me no strong entry points. Once the sigma has made his way through the asteroids i decide to pounce, gunning echo through his squads loose formation, trying to get behind him. I fail, he gets a range 1 shot on echo with omega leader (although I did have the foresight to at least cloack as an action) he rolls 3 hits, i dodge 2, crackshot strips my shields. The sigma lays some pain into the lambda, but loses a shield himself. Over the course of the next few turns echo and the sigma hit and run and take down the lambda, but the sigma falls to 1 hull and a second crackshot brings echo to the same. Oh boy, 1 mistake and this game's toast. I start flying the OGP aggressively to try and land blocks and between my greens, and his ice cold reds, i manage to burn down one Omega at a time. Win 100-0
Round 4
Parker
Guy i know number 4, Parker is arguably the best player of the Geekerys regulars, and we've had many many crazy games (and many many blowouts in his favor) Today he was running what he liked to call Lonely Dash
Dash- Lone Wolf, Rec Spec, Outrider, HLC
Stress Hog
Y-wing- Autoblaster, R4-D6 (cancel unblocked hits down to 2, recieve stress for each canceled)
Bleh. Dash can punch through cloacked phantoms better than most, and he's got a stress bot to help him out. Oh and uncancellable damage in a range 1 donut. For once i chose to spread the asteriods as much as possible, no point in helping out dash, but otherwise my set up remained the same. He started the Y's opposite of Echo, and Dash opposite of the OGP. As a result i decided to slow play echo as much as possible, I did not want to get double stressed with a Dash on the board, but he opted to turn his Y's in towards my sigma and OGP. I was caught off guard, and the sigma got hit by the hog, no damage, but i wasnt getting actions anytime soon. I managed to strip his shields, and dash took a rebel captive stress, keeping him predictable at least. The next turn i gun echo across the board to get damage into the Y's as fast as possible, My game plan at this point is to get into an echo vs Dash endgame and hope Kallus pays for himself. It works out better than that. he opts to bring his autoblaster turret in front of his stress hog, and then bump with the hog in order to keep him in place, I shoot the sigma straight at the y's, not bothering to clear stress at that point, i just want that stresshog dead. I bump the autoblaster and finish it off. The next turn echo and the lambda finish off the autoblaster while dash picks off the sigma, but takes his rebel captive stress. I move the lambda in to block dash's greens, but he opts to 4 forward out to avoid the collision. It turns into a huge mistake as echo squeezes right into his donut, 5 hits, no dodge. He opts to not clear stress again to try and get a shot on echo, but no luck, i find my way back into the donut. 5 hits, no dodge. Win 100-32
Round 5
Joe
Round 5, friend 5. Winner is in the cut for sure as the only undefeated. He's running a rebel swarn led by Tarn.
Tarn Mison- R7, Intergrated
Stresshog
Y-wing- TLT, R4-D6
2x Bandit
Of all the matchups i've had today, this one scares me the least. Other than the Stresshog, Echo has no big fears. WRONG. Joe flies his rebel swarm expertly, and punishes me for my aggressive play. He double stresses the sigma, and the next turn Echo gets double stressed. They both have to book it out and clear stress, so he instantly turns on the lambda. Palpy never stood a chance. He manages to get a Z to 1 hull but goes down in 2 rounds of fire. At this point the sigma has gotten turned around but echo's still off in the distance. The Sigma has one goal. Kill. That. Hog. And he fails. When the sigma goes down Joe's list is as follows; Tarn no shields, Hog 2 hull, TLT 3 hull, Z 1 hull, Z full hp. My focus has been terrible and he's punished me severly for it. But i have a full hp Echo and his Hog is pointed the wrong way. I'm able to dance around the edges and i pick off the hog the turn it gets me in arc. The next turn i bring down the TLT. Over the next 30 minutes echo keeps herself so she takes at most 1 (usually range 3) shot at a time and picks them off 1 by 1. Win 100-61
And here I am, 5-0 at the end of regular play and entering the final cut as the 1 seed. I've never done better than 3-2 at a tournament large enough for cuts before now, so I'm already ecstatic. My goal for Store champ season was to get a challenge coin, but now that im here, I might as well try and keep going!
Final Cut- Round of 4
Parker and the Lonely Dash
Rematch! We talked after the last game and agreed that he should've pointed the hog at echo instead of the other 2, and this game he uses that discussion against me! Echo cant avoid the hog, but manages to get the stress and get out well away from dash. I once again charge the OGP and sigma into the fray desperate to get that hog down before it can point itself at echo again and succeed... But at the cost of both... and echo's shields. time for echo to carry the game on her back again! I manage to keep a bead on dash, and while i rarely get in the donut, between an evade token, being cloaked, and Agent Kallus, i only take one damage while bringing a full hp dash down. From there its keeping out of range 1 of a y-wing and wearing it down (which takes awhile with R4-D6), but i do it. Win 100-61
Final Cut- Championship Game
Gavin
Of the 6 people I've played, i know all 6 of them. Gavin is another local guy, but i've only had the pleasure of playing him once. It was the last weekend at a store championship where we played in the final round of regulation. He knocked me out of contention for the top cut with a 100-0 smashing. I wanted some revenge!
Gavins mini aces-
Omega Leader- Comms Relay, Juke
Zeta Leader- Comms Relay, Juke
Mauler Mithel, Scourge, Wampa all bare.
He started the swarm sans omega across from OGP and sigma, while Omega was across from echo. I was pretty exhausted and running on adrenaline by this point and unfortunately dont remember many details other than this. He outflew the crap out of me, but my dice didnt care. I remember the sigma get caught in a kill box of 4 ties at range 1, and walking out unscathed. He repeatedly blocked echo, but i managed to either still get a shot or roll natural evades, it was madness. When all was said and done he did more damage to himself than me! (he ran over a debris 3 times for better positioning/blocks, took 2 crits, 1 a direct hit!) He managed only a shield on the lambda and 1 on the sigma. I dont think i've ever been that outflown and won that convincingly. Win 100-0
I ended the Day 7-0 and im still not really sure how. I had some obvious pairing luck with only 2 games with higher ps ships, but a fair amount of stresshogs. While echo did most of the leg work, the sigma was a quiet hero of the tournament. He died the most, but if i have to choose between people focusing the sigma and echo im going to choose the sigma every time. Rebel captive on him had the added bonus of making it easier to arc dodge with echo, and because he had FCS his damage was still stellar when he could stay on a target. Overall i had a blast, a huge shout out to The Geekery and its TO and everyone who came and played. I love X-wing 24/7/365, but Tournament play brings my joy of the game to a whole new level, and this was the cherry on top!
