Let me start by saying that this was my first x wing tournament. It was in a nice and spacious shop with 40 participants who all loved the game. The atmosphere was welcoming and friendly. The tournament was well run. There were a few glitches in the system but the TO handled it like a boss. I walked away from the tournament energized and excited about the game.

I've been on a Tie Defender kick lately, and so I ran my defender centric imp aces build

Vessery - 35

Crackshot - 1

HLC - 7

43

Darth Vader - 29

Advanced Targeting Computer - 1

Crackshot - 1

31

Omega Leader - 21

Juke - 2

Comm Relay - 3

26

I had to drive 2 hours to get to the shop, so my morning started rather early. The store had more entries than originally anticipated, so they posted on their Facebook page that they would start half an hour early to allow for an extra round of swiss. Im not from the area so I don't follow their facebook. I showed up early for the original start time but 15 minutes late for the new start time. The TO was kind enough to all me and my buddy to play each other for the first round rather than us both taking a first round loss.

Round 1 vs Nick

Corran Horn

PTL

R2d2

Engine upgrade

FCS

Wedge

BB8

IA

VI

Lt. Blount

Advanced homing missiles

We knew each other's lists well. We had been practicing against each other all week. He knew if he took out vessery before he lost a ship I wouldn't have enough firepower to focus corran down.

I target locked corran and put a couple damage on his e wing early. I expected corran go run and regen leaving me to deal with wedge and Blount so I turned OL back towards the middle of the board and bumped (huge mistake) I was so focused on predicting my opponent's move that forgot to think about where my own ships were going to be. Corran swooped into position behind omega leader and made quick work of him. Wedge and Blount and my cold greens made quick work of my defender. Vader fought valiantly, taking down wedge and getting a hull off coran before finally dying with 5 minutes left in the round.

0-1

Round 2 vs Jossle

OGP - 21

Palpatine - 8

29

Soontir Fel - 27

PTL - 3

Targeting Computer - 2

Autothrusters - 2

34

Darth Vader - 29

VI - 1

ATC - 1

EU - 4

35

This list scared me. I knew my jousting power was far superior but his arc dodging was bound to give me hell. I get up straight across from his shuttle and he purpose bumped the first few turns while I screamed straight towards him with 5 straights. Once I got in range 3 his soontir and vader broke off to flank. Vessery had all 3 ships in arc and all 3 of his ships had vessery in arc. He took shots with vader and fel and took 3 shields off vessery. I rolled a r1 shot on fel with vessery and after modifying with my free target lock and a focus, I pulled 4 hits. Palpatine had been used offensively and soontir turned 2 evades. Crackshot finished his worthless life.

It was all downhill from there for my opponent. The shuttle died an untimely death and vader couldnt dodge all my arcs (which were beautifully fanned thanks to the defender's white 4k)

Win 100-0

1-1

Round 3 vs Dan

PS6 k wing

Bombardier

Extra munitions

Connor net

Cluster mines

Advanced SLAM

poe

Bb8

Push the limit

B wing generic

Advanced scopes? (The PS0 card)

This guy was new and wasn't having a good time. I had to remind him of Poe's ability a few times and I stopped him from taking a target lock on omega leader with poe (who couldn't use it because of my TL on him) by explaining what exactly OL does.

But he was fantastic at flying his k wing. He slammed through the asteroid field and placed a cluster mine at the entrance to the asteroids, forcing me to fly straight at his ships. The following turns he placed a cluster mine that hit OL with 2 bombs and vader with 1, and then tagged OL and vader with a Connor net.

If he flew the rest of the list as well as he flew his K he might have won the tournament. However, he didnt, and I handed him his 3rd loss

100-0

2-1

Round 4 vs other Dan

4x ps2 z95

4x ps4 z95

This guy went undefeated until top 4 (I left after not making the cut)

I have never flown against a swarm

I died

0-100 (I died hard)

Round 5 Boho (last name)

Trabdosian slaver X2

Tactitian

K4

Trandosian slaver

Tactitian

I forced his to come to me

I engaged at r3 with all my ships having a shot and 2 of his teeth out of range

I then proceeded to bump and suck and roll blanks

17-100 (I almost killed one)

Overall, I had a great day. The all star of my list was vessery. He did the most damage in every round by far. He needs no more in the way of upgrades than HLC, but crackshot put in work too. 1 point for 1 free damage is simply good. I liked crackshot on vader as well. If I had room for EU I would have gone VI, bit vader did fine and I hardly even missed having EU. The only time it would have helped me wouldn't have changed the outcome of the game. It was beyond decided. Omega leader never got a chance to contribute more than target locks and the occasional juked evade. I simply didn't play lists that were weak to OL.

Vessery is amazing. Easily better than Rexler if your list can accommodate his target lock habit! Nice to see the pre-buff Defender getting some play.

How difficult did you find having to relock people once killed off? I have preferred Brath over VI Vessery as it allows me to be more independent with my action choices. I've lost a few ships on turns I've taken a Target Lock instead of a focus/evade in order to proc Vessery's skill.

It was hardly noticable. Vader wants to target lock whoever he is focusing and OL wants a defensive target lock. I usually had a target lock on two different enemy ships.

And this list is only going to get stronger when veterans comes out. Tie/d saves enough points for EU on vader and ion cannon on vessery. (You can also take tractor beam and a 2 point initiative bid) this list will be much stronger late game as vader will be able to arc dodge like his normal self and vessery will have a strong control/manuverability complex

(I don't get why so many people say the defender's dial is horrible. Just because it doesn't fall into the fly slow/shoot lots style doesn't mean he's bad. His speed 2+ maneuverability is unparalleled)