As the 2016 Regional Season draws to a close, I attended my second Regional. I had previously attended Tulsa, where I placed Top 8. Tulsa had always been intended as a warm-up for the Regional season for Austin. I had won the Austin Regional last year, so I was fully prepared and ready to defend my title there. Unfortunately, it was not to be as I came down sick and was unable to attend. This was a huge blow to my moral moving into the Dallas Regional Championship. Further, my stamina hadn’t yet fully returned from the illness, so I chose not to wear my signature steampunk gear, going instead in a shirt that read ‘I’m Kind Of A Big Deal.’ I’m nothing if not self aware and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to poke fun at my podcast status.

This year the Dallas Regionals was once more held at Madness Games & Comics in Plano, Texas. This is a huge store, run by good people. It was able to comfortably hold the 113 players. The number was actually a bit low, being 2 less than last year. I noticed a lot less casual locals showed up this year. The competition was much stiffer this year, with at least 25% of the players in attendance having won a Store Championship, though only 12 used their Byes at this event.

Just as an aside, if you haven’t been to this store and you find yourself in the Dallas area, you really should stop by. It’s a massive store, full of interesting things and plenty of play area. They regularly get 200-300 magic players every Friday night, along with 20+ X-Wing players. It’s quite the experience.

During the opening announcements, they revealed the added prize support. First, they broke open several league kits from 2014 to pass out to random players each round. Further, the store provided a huge number of playmats to play on. The official FFG starfield mats. These were also given out to random players at the time of the cut. It was neat seeing players, especially those who never had a chance at the prizes from 2014, to get some of the old promos and acrylics.

The list I chose was ‘Last Winter’s Night’, a list I’ve had much success with.

Crack Shot is an excellent, cheap upgrade. For one point, and the cost of an EPT, you can cancel one critically important evade result. The fact that this is during the Compare Results step means the opponent is forced to overspend tokens in order to prevent damage. One of these is decent and can change the entire course of a game. A swarm full of them is a serious threat to most lists. But the pure Crack Swarm is vulnerable to certain threats. Ships able to arc dodge and defend well, such as Soontir, can pose a great danger to a Crack Swarm. While Crack Shot does give the list some teeth against such a threat, it is often not enough, especially if multiple such threats are in a single list.

Omega Leader helps deal with such threats. She is an existential threat to any ship in the game and can reasonably go one on one with anything. She is especially terrifying to those ships that normally threaten a Crack Swarm, such as Dash or Soontir. But alone against multiple threats she is often quickly destroyed. That’s why having a Crack Swarm backing her up is so potent. They can protect her just as she protects them.

Finally, add in Wampa. Another potent craft that can threaten the best of aces. Ships with low hull are especially vulnerable to his shenanigans. He also had the added side effect that he exerts a huge psychological impact on the average player. At 14 points with no upgrades, he is the cheapest ship in my list and yet often draws the heaviest fire. As such, he often acts as Biggs, drawing fire away from other targets.

I was using the 3 largest asteroids and the new damage deck. Because I don’t have Howlrunner, I don’t have to worry about flying in formation, which allows me to fly around asteroids far more easily. I will often start in formation, but break apart as needed to block or box in a foe. Most players are not ready to deal with 4-6 threats acting independently.

I have played this list many, many times. My dials are starting to turn white because of it. I know how it flows and how it fights. It’s the list I am strongest with right now. As such, it was time to test it at the last Regionals I would be attending. I took it to Tulsa where I lost at Top 8, so I knew there were risks.

The doors opened at 9am for Registration. The first round started promptly at 10:30. It was a well run tournament with a tight schedule, though there were no official breaks, even at the cut, so it was an endurance test. There would be 6 rounds of Swiss followed by a cut to Top 16. Potentially 10 rounds of X-Wing in a single day.

Note: Please let me know if I got any lists wrong or misspelled any names. I might also be wrong about how many TIEs I lose in any given round, so my MoV total might be a bit off. I didn’t take as many notes as usual.

Round 1 – Eric Riddle

Eric’s list was slightly concerning. First round and I am up against a RAC with Gunner and Darth Vader. I know Omega Leader is going to be in trouble. He gives me initiative, as his list is 98 points. I setup my brick of TIEs in one corner and Omega Leader in the center screened by asteroids. RAC sets up across from my TIE swarm. I move in slowly with OL and quickly with the swarm. On the second turn, RAC turns in sharply, pointed right at a rock, in order to get a shot at Omega Leader. Right off the bat he does a shield and a Vader crit to Omega Leader, giving her blinded pilot. I get a few shots on RAC but not enough to seriously threaten him.

I go for the block on RAC with Omega Leader while aggressively banking in the swarm. He takes a different maneuver than expected, going over the rock. He then easily dispatches Omega Leader. Not good. Then my swarm just barely kills RAC. That’s an acceptable trade to me. Then it’s five TIEs versus the Inquisitor. Most of my Crack Shots are still operational. I break apart the swarm and suddenly my opponent doesn’t know how to fight that many threats. I burn him down in a few rounds without losing anything else. Victory. MoV for the round is 174.

Round 2 – Raul

Raul is a local I play semi-regularly. Great guy. He brings a threatening list. No pilot skill conflicts means initiative doesn’t matter. Kath can be a serious threat to a swarm. N’Dru can seriously threaten Omega Leader. And the Slaver is bad news for OL as well. He sets up his slaver in the center. Unable to directly joust it because of rocks, I setup in the corner with my TIEs and decide to tuck OL in the corner, surrounded by the crack swarm. N’Dru and Kath are setup across from the swarm.

I punch it with the entire swarm, with OL only slightly trailing behind the formation. He slowly inches forward. Second round I leap forward again, getting close to his ships, with OL trailing enough to get a Target Lock on N’Dru, who proceeds to hurt Wampa but not kill him. A long range shot from Kath had done two damage to Omega Leader. I was then able to destroy N’Dru, even with Glitterstim, and take the shields off Kath. Then the Slaver kills Omega Leader. Not good. Due to positioning, I send one TIE to chase Kath off while the rest of my TIEs turn around to destroy the Slaver. I lose a TIE in exchange. That leaves four mostly crackless TIEs versus Kath. Several rounds of long range shooting and I manage to put the PS 0 crit on Kath, giving me the edge I need to hunt her down. I lose a third ship during this time, but manage my second victory of the day. OL has been lost twice though, so I’m not feeling as confident as I was walking in. Still not feeling as capable as usual. MoV was 144. Total at this point is 318.

Round 3 – Daniel Murphy

A Crack Swarm. And one that is better at jousting due to Howlrunner and the two PS7s, all with Crack Shot. I luck out and win the roll for initiative and choose to take it. I need to kill Howlrunner before she can help reroll dice for the PS 4s. I setup my brick in a corner. My preferred formation is a checkerboard formation, as it gives me the most flexibility and blocks a significant amount of board real estate but keeps my fire focused. He setups up across from it in a standard brick. I then place Omega Leader near the center to bank in.

I start off with a 3 forward and Daniel chooses to slow roll. I then make a mistake and move three forward in my next round, matched by the opposing swarm, so we are all range 2-3 of each other. Had I done the 5 forward, I would have blocked his formation. But OL banks in and scores a Target Lock on Mauler. First shot and he takes 2 damage. Not bad. Then the pain begins. I lose a Black Squad Pilot to Howl, Scourge, and Mauler. I retaliate by killing Howlrunner and Mauler, losing another in the process. We’ve both lost two, but I’m ahead slightly, having taken away most of his advantage in jousting. Next round I K-Turn behind with most of my ships while using Wampa to attempt to block a K-Turn, though he instead moves forward to clear the joust. OL and the swarm manage to down one of the Blacks. The joust is rejoined, but now breaks in my favor. I quickly press my advantage, and though I do lose Wampa in the exchange, I am able to clear the board. MoV was 156. Total is 476. I’m now 3-0. I just need to win two more to make the cut.

Round 4 – Gordon Pinkerton

Pinkerton? Blast, they sent a detective after the Scum and Villainy. His list is a bit of a threat too. Three PS9 ships? That could be bad for Omega Leader. We’ve already seen her struggle this tournament. I setup my standard checkerboard brick in one corner and OL in the middle screened by asteroids. Dengar and Zuckuss are across from the swarm while N’Dru is across from OL. I decide to be a bit aggressive and see if I can catch Dengar with my Crack Swarm and burn him down. Omega Leader moves up and gets a Target Lock on N’Dru during the second turn, expecting him to come after her. Instead he turns in towards the swarm. He’s going to try and destroy my swarm and leave OL alone. This could end poorly.

N’Dru is JUST inside Range two of Zuckuss, meaning his clusters are only 3 dice each. This is a huge break for me, as he only manages to get two damage onto that TIE. Zuckuss manages to melt one Black Squadron Pilot. Dengar gets greedy and tries to kill a full health Wampa, who takes on damage. However, I’ve spent most of my focus tokens. I do a damage to N’Dru with OL. Then take two shots on Dengar and only manage to do two damage, spending one crack shot to do so. I decide to switch targets with the TIEs that have a shot on Zuckuss and manage to do three damage to him. Not great, but most of my ships are alive.

N’Dru doesn’t have much of a choice as where to go, so OL follows him. My swarm breaks apart, blocking Dengar to ensure he doesn’t get any focus token for that second Proton Torpedo. N’Dru hops in front of OL as expected and Zuckuss turns towards her, though is blocked. Still, Zuckuss manages to do a damage or two to OL. I luck out and neither N’Dru or Dengar do any significant damage. N’Dru is quickly burned down and Zuckuss is dropped to a heartbreakingly tantalizing 1 hull left.

Zuckuss then is able to bug out the next turn and Dengar finally breaks free, though not facing any of my ships. I proceed to chip away at Dengar some, though I miss the shot on Zuckuss. Over the next couple turns, due to brilliant flying by Gordon and a bit of luck, I’m not able to take out the one HP Zuckuss for three turns, losing Wampa and a Black in the process. Finally though, I’m able to crush Zuckuss and drop Dengar to one HP. I then block Dengar onto a rock, which does the honors. Another 156 MoV victory and OL has survived half of the matches. 4-0 with a total MoV of 632.

Round 5 – Andrew Quick

An Imperial Aces list. I’ll have to be flying my best to face off against this. He wins the initiate roll and gives me to me. That was not unexpected. I setup my Checkerboard on the left side with Omega Leader tucked in the bottom left corner. Soontir sets up across from me, Inquisitor in the middle, and Vader on the far right. Soontir is so obviously a bait that I take it and zoom 5 forward. I do this because it also happens to be the exact speed I need to get to an opening in the dense asteroid field. The asteroid field that the Inquisitor is going to have to carefully fly through. The second round, when the Inquisitor is committed, my entire TIE swarm turns into the field. Omega Leader breaks off to go chase Soontir. Even though she isn’t getting shots on Soontir, she ensures he’s not able to stop the disaster that’s about to unfold. I take a couple damage on the lead TIE from the Inquisitor, including the Weapon Malfunction crit. This isn’t ideal, but I immediately use that TIE to block the Inquisitor and burn him down. Vader had zoomed all the way to my right corner before coming back. He got greedy and went after the hurt TIE that was blocking the Inquisitor, but didn’t manage to hurt him. In the exchange I manage to strip the shields off Vader.

OL continues her pursuit. Once more, it isn’t about catching Soontir, it’s about keeping him from supporting Vader. Meanwhile, my swarm breaks apart to surround Vader. I miss the block, but he doesn’t get a shot and loses two more hull. The next round Soontir is boxed in and OL finally gets a shot, doing two damage to him. Vader escapes the trap and I’m not able to finish him off. Soontir manages to destroy a TIE next round, but OL finishes him off. Then it’s just a matter of hunting Vader down. Victory. I’ve done it. 5-0 in a 6 round tournament. I’ve made the cut. MoV of 185 puts my total at 817, not that MoV matters anymore.

Round 6 – Erik Larson

I went into this round expecting to Intentionally Draw. That way I could get dinner and relax before the cut. But my opponent wanted to play. He apologized to me but I brushed it aside. I wasn’t upset. If he wanted a game, we’d have a game and I would give it my best. I quickly put my stuff out, as we weren’t able to ID until the clock started, and I hadn’t setup anything. Starting five minutes late also hurt my chances for dinner. I might have to send someone to get me dinner during the cut if I didn’t have any other options.

I win the roll for initiative and he gets it. He sets up his Gray in the left corner for I setup across from it. Miranda goes middle right, so OL goes in the center. Poe deploys on the far right. I can sense when I’m being baited. So my entire swarm turns hard right 3. Sure enough the Y-Wing turns away from me. Miranda slowly banks in and Poe moves down the right side. OL had banked in slowly towards Poe to feel things out. I see the trap for OL as it is forming. There is a rock in to lower right corner that OL is somewhat near, which makes banks in that direction difficult.

I look at the board state and see an opportunity. My entire TIE swarm banks in at speed three and focuses. OL then turns hard right, towards my right corner and goes under the asteroid. This leaves Poe out of position and Miranda out of range to get to her. Miranda kicks things off by attacking one of the TIEs who incredibly takes no damage. My green dice really decided to show up this game. I proceed to roll precisely enough green each attack this round to avoid all damage. Critically, Erik decides to switch targets with the Y-Wing between shots, giving two TIEs one stress each. My return shots go to Miranda and manage to strip her shields and give her the stunned pilot crit, though I burn crack shots to do so.

Next round OL completes her circuit of the rock and gets a TL on Poe. My entire swarm banks in to try and catch the Y and Miranda, though the Y-Wing goes faster than expected and gets a couple blocks. Miranda does a surprise three bank and lands on a rock. She takes two damage from this, due to Stunned Pilot. My TIEs manage to burn her down while doing some damage to the Y-Wing. The Stresshog doesn’t have anywhere good to go, so does a hard two away from the fight, keeping the three stress it has on it. Rock placement and angles meant I couldn’t K-Turn everyone. OL is now behind Poe and harassing him. OL does strip some shields from Poe, but she moves too fast not to overshoot him. Wampa begins to shine, rolling TWO crits. Poe manages to dodge one, so I opt for the damage card instead of the shield.

Because OL is simply too fast to engage Poe, she breaks off to destroy the Y-Wing while my swarm converges on Poe. One lucky shot takes out a TIE fighter and he is able to slip away with no shields and two damage cards, but I can’t press the advantage. He begins to rabbit, regenerating shields. But that is put to a stop when Wampa gets a range three shot and rolls a crit. Boom for an MoV of 185. 6-0 with a final MoV of 1002, but I didn’t get the recovery time I wanted. I did end with 40 minutes to spare, meaning the game only took 30, so I rushed for dinner. I made it back in time for the round to end.

I am the top seed and I’m feeling good. I start to think I can win three more matches, but I’m looking at the field and there’s some scary lists out there. The heat, humidity, and lingering weakness are taking a toll on me.

The results are announced and I setup on Table 1, waiting for my opponent.

Top 16 – Daniel Bates

Blast, another Crack Swarm, again with Howlrunner. I win the initiative roll and I take it. No fooling around here. I setup in the right corner with Omega Leader in the center of the map while he sets up in the opposite corner. I setup rocks along that side to make turning in difficult so I know where the engagement is going to happen. I turn my entire list two and barrel roll towards the board edge. Omega Leader moves cautiously into the center of the map to get her evade token. Sure enough he screams along the edge. I then move my swarm at a sedate 3 speed, though I probably could have gotten shots if I had been a bit more aggressive. Still, it’s creating the engagement I wanted. I bank aggressively while he turns in to try and catch O. Omega Leader moves in on his flank and barrel roles out of arc.

I manage to burn down Howlrunner and one of his Blacks, but lose one ship in the exchange. Still, I’m happy with that trade. My swarm banks in, hungry for blood. His entire swarm turns towards an asteroid to get Omega Leader and disaster! It works. She’s caught and destroyed. And my dice fail me. I was able to destroy one ship, but that’s with four Range 1 attacks. Still, I have four ships to his three. I’m feeling decent with these odds, even if my ace is gone.

I realize I have to get the Omega Squad Pilot off the board and I focus my efforts there. I take some damage, leaving two of my TIEs at one HP and two at full, but I manage to destroy it. But I just can’t finish off the other TIEs. I watch my lead begin to evaporate. He kills the two 1 HP TIEs, leaving us at 2 healthy TIEs versus one healthy TIE and one at 1 HP. I’m still feeling confident. Then he one shots Wampa. I’m not feeling confident now. I begin chasing the wounded TIE, but he’s running and evading. I don’t have a lot of choice though. I can’t let it escape. Finally, I find myself in a bad position. If I’m going to chase it, I have to hit a rock. If I do, I’ll be actionless and possibly lose a precious hull. But I don’t have a choice. I risk it and rush over the rock. He then moves the wounded TIE right in front of me. He evades. The other TIE slams into me, getting no shot. And my unmodified attack manages to kill the wounded TIE, punching through the evade. Finally!

One on one. Two health TIEs. I have initiative, so if it goes to time, I win. I could run, but I’m not that kind of player. I turn to joust him. We K-turn, shoot, do nothing, and try again three times. But each time I edge closer to a rock. I can’t risk it and I break away. But this puts him behind me. Still, the angle isn’t great for him to bank. I K-Turn out of range. The next turn I move in cautiously and he meets me at range one. We are both focused. And I roll two blanks and an eye, deciding to keep the focus for defense. He rolls a single crit and I blank out. Blinded pilot, no! I immediately break away and evade. Sweat is pouring from me, due to heat, humidity and the stress of the situation. He follows me and there’s two turns of free shots on me, though I’m saved by the evade token.

This time is not wasted though. I get in a spot where I can K-Turn and be out of his arc, so I take it. The shot misses. Now I’m in a bad way, as he has a bunch of options. But I suspect he’s going to do a 4-K Turn. I bank towards it and evade. He does K-Turn and clears. We have shots. I roll a crit and it gets through. Stunned Pilot! YES! His return shot does nothing. He’s stressed and I’m not, so I turn directly in front of him, hoping either for a shot he if goes fast or a damage if he bumps. He tries to turn left, which bumps. Damage from Stunned pilot. I then do a one hard in front of him and he slams into me and explodes. Victory with 3 minutes to spare! Easily the most hard fought battle to this point of the tournament and I’m feeling it. I’m not sure how much more stamina I have in me. Still, I made Top 8 and scored a second set of the awesome dice, even if it was with an MoV of 115. Total MoV is 1117, though we are well past Swiss and MoV by now.

Top 8 – Erk Larson – Rematch

Erik Jackson, my 6th round opponent has returned for blood. He’s clearly learned from our last match, but I can tell I’m also in his head a bit. He wins the initiative roll this time and gives it to me. I setup the same as last time. He setups his Gray in the middle, with Miranda in middle right and Poe far right. I setup OL behind my formation this time. Even though he’s not jousting my swarm with the Y-Wing, I decide I want the engagement to be in the middle of the map. I turn my entire swarm hard right three, with OL doing a hard right 1. He turns his Y-Wing away from me again while Miranda and Poe slow way down.

Next turn I bank my entire formation in, with OL trailing significantly behind. He turns his Y-Wing back in, but I’m eyeing Miranda as she moves slowly in. Poe moves a bit more rapidly south, clearly going for the flank. I have a choice. Pounce on Poe and hope to take him out or go after Miranda. I think OL can take Poe, but I have to prevent him from double stressing OL.

My entire formation rushes forward to get at the Y-Wing, but I don’t move far enough with some of the rear TIEs, meaning I only have three shots on the stresshog and my dice go cold, not even stripping the shields off. Next round I don’t have an option, OL is going to be double stressed. So she moves in and focuses. The Y-Wing banks towards her fast. My swarm only gets one shot on it, but forces Miranda to SLAM to escape a lot of range one shots. OL puts two damage on the Y-Wing, but takes two stress and a damage in exchange. And Poe is in a flanking position. I threaten Miranda with two TIEs as the rest move to deal with the Hog. OL guns it three forward, clearing a stress and moving her past the firing arc of the hog. I finally put down the Y-Wing, who had no shots, but Poe is rushing after OL and manages to put another damage on her, forcing her to spend her evade.

Omega Leader hides behind a rock, finally clearing the stress and getting her evade back. Poe is in a bad spot to chase her, so he turns the other way to try and stop the TIEs from chasing Miranda. This works poorly as he lands on a rock. My TIE swarm is converging on Miranda and whittling her down. Remembering the lessons of last game, Miranda focuses on Wampa and manages to take him out. But my swarm has converged and destroys her. Poe’s rock debacle resulted in no damage and I couldn’t capitalize on it at the time. But now I have an entire swarm hunting Poe, and Omega Leader is out for blood now. The rest of the game is Poe being constantly blocked, harassed, and harried by the swarm, before he is finally destroyed. Victory! I made it to the Top 4! And an excellent MoV of 186, taking me up to a total of 1303. I’ve now won 8 consecutive rounds of X-Wing and it’s getting late.

Top 4 – Clay Longino

This is a match I’m feeling pretty sanguine about. He’s going burn through ordnance quickly, giving me the advantage, especially if I can keep OL from being nuked. Blount can’t really do any damage directly, which means simultaneous fire will be a thing, but then I end up with Initiative. I setup in my checkerboard in the right corner and he sets up to joust me. I setup Omega Leader a little right of center. My swarm moves 4 forward, meaning there is no way he can get shots the first round. OL moves slowly forward to get her evade. I rush forward 5 and he inches forward 1, leaving him with actions and shots. Omega Leader banks in and manages to get a TL on one of the Talas, sinking a damage into it. Then Blount drops a stack of TLs on one of the blacks who is obliterated in a couple shots. The other Tala drops a stack of TLs on Wampa, who also is destroyed. In exchange I destroy two Talas. He has one Concussion Missile left, so I need to silence that. The one that OL has a Target Lock on tries desperately to block her with a three bank, but I was cautious and she moves slow enough to clear and focus. Two of my TIEs K-Turn behind their lines, but one does a hard turn and barrel roll to block their K-Turns, but they instead do 4 Forward and clear. OL melts the Z that decided to block her. Then it’s mostly cleanup. My ships hunt the Zs down and that’s game. Woo! Final table! And I scored an MoV of 171 for a total of 1474. 9 and 0.

So our match is finished and I look over at the other board, which has a Crack Swarm versus Triple U-Boats and nothing is dead yet. Seriously? This is going to take forever. The game goes to time, but is offered an extension due to some issues at the table. Still, it’s inevitable at that point that the crack swarm player is going to win. Joy, yet another Crack Swarm.

Finals – Chris Williams

Here it is. Final table of a the tournament. Round 10. I’m exhausted, but I can tell I’m doing better than my opponent. During the remaining hour of their game, I spent time psyching myself up and planning strategy. I’m feeling ok, but as I found earlier, a bad move or maneuver can end Omega Leader. He has 99 points and is debating who should get it. He initially wants to take it, but starts to regret that decision, so I let him know that he can change his mind if necessary. He gives me initiative. I could not be more happy with that choice.

I setup in the left corner. He sets up to joust. Omega Leader goes in the center. I do the math and figure he’s going to rush me. I move three forward and I was right, he goes 5 forward. Just out of range. So I jump 5 forward. He sees the danger too late and stalls with a 2 forward. He’s smart enough to leap the rear ships over the front ships where possible, but Howlrunner can’t do that. Only two of his ships have actions. Then Howlrunner attacks and one shots one of my TIEs before it can shoot. Blast! This is bad.

Omega Leader sinks two damage into his OSP, which is excellent news. Then I’m able to kill Howlrunner and the OSP. His return volley kills Wampa. Ok, so I’ve lost two ships, but he’s lost his big two. I can deal with this. My adrenaline is pumping, but Chris is looking exhausted. I see the danger to Omega Leader, but I can’t do much. Two of my TIEs K-Turn behind their formation, but one does a hard right towards the board edge and barrel rolls. This prevents one of his TIEs from turning to OL. Omega Leader banks in and focuses. His Wampa is range one of my OL, with two others at Range 2. I attack Wampa and get two eyes and a hit. I’ve got a focus and an evade and three attacks coming back at me. I decide to spend. He gets one of each symbol, which Juke takes to two eyes. Wampa is forced to spend the focus. I attack with my TIEs and manage to kill one of this ships, but it still gets to shoot. Wampa attacks OL and rolls three eyes. YES!

The other two attack, doing two damage to Omega Leader and forcing her to spend her evade. Still, she’s alive. I have four ships versus three. I block the one TIE again and the other two bank in to harass the remaining ships. Omega Leader banks in and evades. Nothing dies that turn but OL has to spend her evade again.

Next turn she jumps clear while my ships block and attack his. Over the next two rounds, I destroy one ship and get the other two to 1 HP. I have a two to one advantage in ships, I’m outflying him, and OL is on the board and alive. He concedes. Victory! I win the tournament! MoV for the Match was 171. Total 1645.

Conclusion

I’m still stunned. It was along, hard fought day. It had trials and tribulations. More than once I wasn’t sure if I was going to pull it out. In Top 16, watching my 4-2 ship lead turn into 1-2 was heartbreaking, but then pulling it out at the very end was so very sweet. Chatting with so many other good X-Wing players between rounds. Our community is important. I was never a jerk to my opponents. I tried never to be unsportsmanlike and I tried to remind them of forgotten tokens and actions. I tried to be the best player, and person, I could be. I can walk away from this tournament knowing that I did my best. I’m happy. And I hope all of my opponents would be happy to play me again.

Thank you once again to the venue, for hosting such a large group of gamers. To the tournament organizers, for running a tight, well run event. To the excellent players who came out to make it the awesome event it was. And thank YOU for taking the time to reach this rather wordy document.