Making my best attempt not to hijack the Intentional Draw thread by starting my own about this topic I'm struggling with. I'm heading down to Kansas City this weekend for my closest Regional (why Nebraska got nothing is still upsetting... but that isn't going to change this year). I've got a bye from a SC win... but I'm not sure I want to use it.

Don't get me wrong, I want to win this tournament! That being said, I want to play Armada a lot more than that. Do I go down, use the bye (losing a chance to play someone I've never met [which is half the fun]), and potentially get paired against a player I've played several times who also has one? I only get to play twice, and I might end up playing people from my neck of the woods for those games anyway?

If I'm being honest, I really only care about placing top 8, because I want some of those sweet, sweet dice. Taking the 8-2 bye puts me in a very good place to go for that, but the more I consider, the more I think it's not worth it. Yeah, in X-Wing, where you play 5+ rounds, why not? I don't think I'm going to skip 33% of my tournament...

Final thought (and not that this actually has any bearing on the tournament standings): The Regional just so happens to be taking place on my 30th birthday. I'm spending a milestone of my life driving 3 hours to play a game I love, seems like such a waste to end up just sitting around waiting, points be damned... The competitor in me really WANTS to use the bye, I earned it. ...but the rest of me wants to roll some dice, so I think that's what I'm going to do.

Why not just have a casual game against another Bye player?

Another side of that is going to be "How many Players are there overall?"

I mean, if you're dealing with a 10-12 player event, you could effectively say that the First Round Bye is going to be a top 7 Placing after the first round, at WORST.

If its a 40 player event, well, its a Top 20 Position after the first Round...

I feel the Risk/Reward is definitely skewed based on entrant numbers.

Another side of that is going to be "How many Players are there overall?"

I mean, if you're dealing with a 10-12 player event, you could effectively say that the First Round Bye is going to be a top 7 Placing after the first round, at WORST.

If its a 40 player event, well, its a Top 20 Position after the first Round...

I feel the Risk/Reward is definitely skewed based on entrant numbers.

Right now it's looking like 16 or so players. So the bye puts me in a good position when half the pack (that plays) is losing their first game.

Another side of that is going to be "How many Players are there overall?"

I mean, if you're dealing with a 10-12 player event, you could effectively say that the First Round Bye is going to be a top 7 Placing after the first round, at WORST.

If its a 40 player event, well, its a Top 20 Position after the first Round...

I feel the Risk/Reward is definitely skewed based on entrant numbers.

Right now it's looking like 16 or so players. So the bye puts me in a good position when half the pack (that plays) is losing their first game.

Thats what I mean - if your Goal is Top 8... Then you're Top 8 after the first game with a Bye, Guaranteed... You're on Target, No Risk.

Another side of that is going to be "How many Players are there overall?"

I mean, if you're dealing with a 10-12 player event, you could effectively say that the First Round Bye is going to be a top 7 Placing after the first round, at WORST.

If its a 40 player event, well, its a Top 20 Position after the first Round...

I feel the Risk/Reward is definitely skewed based on entrant numbers.

That's a really good point. I guess my reason is more colored by our last store championship results. The winner went 9-1, 10-0, and 9-1. So anyone with the bye didn't really have a chance for #1.

EDIT: for what it's worth, we had 13 people.

hopefully at a Regionals the competition will be more consistent after first round, so the landslide wins are less likely

Oh, I'm sure it will be, but "less likely" doesn't mean "won't happen," and since I want to play more games in a competitive setting, that tipped the scale in the favor of me probably not byeing.

Totally your Call

But you can play, get your 9-1 or 10-0, and still lose to a guy who Nails all of his Games that you never play against

Oh, for sure. And it's not like I think I'm some awesome player. I just love playing this game and would rather do that than watch other people have fun for two hours.

im going to yell out "who turned 30 today" as soon as I get there on Saturday now.

I am also debating on if I will use my regional bye or just play my first game. I am leaning towards not using the bye and playing for the following reasons.

1. I want to secure as much points as possible especially from the first round. I have no way of proving but logically I think your best chance of getting a 10-0 or 9-1 is generally in the first round where you are teamed up against random opponents all with 0 points to start. This means you could get someone that will finish in the bottom quarter of the tournament or someone who could potentially finish in the top quarter. I know this may sound harsh to say you are hopeful you get to play someone who is not as good of a player than you are so you can take advantage of that and get a decisive early win but I think it is strategy. Generally if you secured a bye it means you won a store championship and are a decent player. With most attendees that won a store championship in attendance using the bye that means a lot of the top quarter players there will not be playing in the first round so its more likely you may get placed against someone who is in that bottom 25-50%.
2. If you decide to use your bye you are likely playing against someone else who also used a bye so your second game is against someone that won a store championship. I know if you get a 9-1 or a 10-0 you will be playing against someone who also got a 9-1 or 10-0 during the first round but it likely someone who has not won a store championship and could have played someone who has only played 2 games of Armada as an example. It will likely be a tough match up but at least you are going into it with 1 or 2 more points and more MOV than the people who used the bye.
3. I like the idea of having my first game as more of a feeler out game, getting into the groove etc.. If your first game is more random I think I will be much more relaxed as opposed to waiting around for 2.5 hours for my 2nd round game likely against someone I know who won a Store Championship as well. That would be more tense. I know you are saying well you can play a casual game before but you would have to bring a separate fleet unless you want to play against someone with your tournament fleet who you may well play for your 2nd round game because you both have byes.

I know this is a riskier strategy but if your goal is to win the tournament wouldn't it make sense to try to get the max amount of points each round. You can get unlucky and maybe draw someone in the first round who has the exact counter to your fleet and knows how to fly it but I think that is worth the risk. The last 2 Store Championships I played in I went, 10-0, 10-0, 9-1, and 10-0, 6-4, 10-0. I don't want to give away 2 points at the start when that is the round I am most likely to get an opponent I am likely going to have the best chance to 10-0 them as opposed to the later 2 rounds where I am going to be playing players that have either won Store Championships or are also 2-0 going into the 3rd game. I want to know I can win my 3rd game by a decisive amount like 8-2 or 10-0 and no one can catch me than have to think I have to hope someone above me in points only wins 6-4 or 7-3 and me get a 10-0.

Yeah, but with 2. is just as likely you end up playing against someone who won a Store Championship, Decided to Forgoe their bye, and still got an 8-2... Just as likely, anyway

I'm going to use the bye. A factor I'm not seeing mentioned is tournament fatigue.

I'm going to use the bye. A factor I'm not seeing mentioned is tournament fatigue.

Didn't even think about this...good call!

I'm going to use the bye. A factor I'm not seeing mentioned is tournament fatigue.

I think this is the best reason to use it honestly. I usually choke on game 3 because I'm just exhausted by that point.

for me driving that morning almost three hours away, im using the bye card.......im going to need the break

All of the sudden I imagined Rocky training for Regionals as the theme plays. He's just standing there waiting for his sparring opponent to make his move.

Rocky: Yo Mick, my feet are killin' me!

Mick: You wanna win Regionals?! You gotta be able to stand up for 10 hours straight!

Rocky theme continues...he repeats setting up and taking down his fleet...fade to a shot of him drinking raw eggs...then bending over to measure, then standing up straight, then measuring again, grimacing as his lower back is in pain...

Another thought is, the "byes" trickle down. So, the "winner" of a SC is not always the one that gets the bye.

That being said, I have also had major conundrums about using the bye. In one aspect, I WANT to use it because I put effort into "earning" it by playing well in SCs. Its a nerd level badge of honor so to speak On the other hand, I don't feel 8 points is a good enough threshold in a three round tournament to guarantee a win.

However, there is another more sinister method to using the bye. 8 points will certainly (by round two) not have you at the top tables. There will always be a couple 10s and 9s. Using a pseudo "dive" of points in round one may allow you to submarine the leaders, smacking a second round "8" opponent, then leaping ahead of the leaders that battered themselves in round two.

I personally enjoy the strategic thinking about it and have no problem at all with people using ploys to maneuver in the rankings. Besides outright unsporting behavior that is..

I will likely flip flop a few times but end up on the day of and actually play my first game. BECAUSE STAR WARS SPACESHIPS! The whole point is playing the game...hehe...awesome to win, but way more fun playing!

I've yet to feel exhausted on my 3rd game. I can see if there will be more than 3 rounds that I may want to use the bye but if its 3 rounds I don't see that being an issue. With the new rules allowing for a cut it will be interesting to see. If its a top 4 cut after the end of 3 rounds then I would probably use the bye as in that case I just need to get top 4 so that extra 1-2 points in the first round is not as important to secure 1st.

In answer to likely playing someone that didn't use a bye and also won a store championship.... I would rather being sitting at 10-0 and playing a good player than be at 8 with 129 MOV playing another good player.

I admit its risky but if my goal is to win the tournament I want to give myself the best opportunity to get the max points I can. If I lose well then I guess I didn't deserve to win the tournament. I would be far more disappointed getting a bye and winning my next 2 games but be unable to get enough points to secure first than if I lost 1 game against a really good opponent and won 2.

I'm going to use the bye. A factor I'm not seeing mentioned is tournament fatigue.

I think this is the best reason to use it honestly. I usually choke on game 3 because I'm just exhausted by that point.

I agree 100%. I am going to use my bye for this reason alone.

I will likely flip flop a few times but end up on the day of and actually play my first game. BECAUSE STAR WARS SPACESHIPS! The whole point is playing the game...hehe...awesome to win, but way more fun playing!

I'm 96% sure this is where I'm going to end up as well. Pew-pew!

I've yet to feel exhausted on my 3rd game. I can see if there will be more than 3 rounds that I may want to use the bye but if its 3 rounds I don't see that being an issue. With the new rules allowing for a cut it will be interesting to see. If its a top 4 cut after the end of 3 rounds then I would probably use the bye as in that case I just need to get top 4 so that extra 1-2 points in the first round is not as important to secure 1st.

I probably could have used multi-quote instead of two posts in a row... but it's nearing the end of a long day and I already clicked Post once.

Agree with this statement as well. 3 games isn't enough to crush my brain, or it hasn't been at every tournament I've been to so far. Even a 4th round would be a big difference, but 3 is very doable.

I've yet to feel exhausted on my 3rd game. I can see if there will be more than 3 rounds that I may want to use the bye but if its 3 rounds I don't see that being an issue. With the new rules allowing for a cut it will be interesting to see. If its a top 4 cut after the end of 3 rounds then I would probably use the bye as in that case I just need to get top 4 so that extra 1-2 points in the first round is not as important to secure 1st.

I probably could have used multi-quote instead of two posts in a row... but it's nearing the end of a long day and I already clicked Post once.

Agree with this statement as well. 3 games isn't enough to crush my brain, or it hasn't been at every tournament I've been to so far. Even a 4th round would be a big difference, but 3 is very doable.

I agree with this sentiment completely. Good, now that I've decided I can go ahead and frame my SC card. Or maybe bronze it?

I've yet to feel exhausted on my 3rd game. I can see if there will be more than 3 rounds that I may want to use the bye but if its 3 rounds I don't see that being an issue. With the new rules allowing for a cut it will be interesting to see. If its a top 4 cut after the end of 3 rounds then I would probably use the bye as in that case I just need to get top 4 so that extra 1-2 points in the first round is not as important to secure 1st.

I probably could have used multi-quote instead of two posts in a row... but it's nearing the end of a long day and I already clicked Post once.

Agree with this statement as well. 3 games isn't enough to crush my brain, or it hasn't been at every tournament I've been to so far. Even a 4th round would be a big difference, but 3 is very doable.

I agree with this sentiment completely. Good, now that I've decided I can go ahead and frame my SC card. Or maybe bronze it?

I love the ideas, but would bronzing it not just yield a piece of flat bronze? Might need to do a little creative etching first...