I love the standard format. I can pretty much only play xwing at my local FLGS every so often, and so being able to pick up and play a quick 100-pt match with a list I bring ahead of time is amazing. But sometimes I get so wrapped up in the competition and mechanics of the game I lose sight of the reason I fell in love with it in the first place: it's Star Wars.

I was playing a VCX/YT-2400 list at my last game night due to the new trailer. Dash had Kanan crew, chopper was flying the Ghost with Hera on board. In our second match of the night, my opponent pulled out a list of ordnance TAPs and we went at it. He blew up Dash after I made an attempt to slip past him on the edge of the board (big mistake), and it was chopper vs several TAPs. I was careening around the board stressing myself out and taking damage (as I imagine chopper would be doing), when I finally drew a crit: console fire. My opponent and I busted out laughing, imagining the cockpit of the ghost on fire with chopper at the controls, Hera yelling "what are you doing to my ship," and the fire is comically unable to be put out. The ghost blew up soon after (ok, so maybe not so cinematic), but it was enjoyable to feel like I could imagine the actions of our game taking place in the show.

Anyway, what are some of your favorite spontaneous cinematic moments you've experienced in the standard format?

I have to admit that I can't think of any cinematic moments in 100 pt games. I generally get that feel not in 100 pt games. The standard format just becomes all about the joust and winning as opposed to a good story. I'd probably have to say something like nothing-but-generics 100 pt games. Something about X-wings vs. Tie Fighters flying across the table at each other.

Fair enough. Not only does your squad have to feel cinematic, but it has to match up with the way your opponents squad feels cinematic.

Maybe that's why I like scum. Those guys are teaming up and fighting each other all the time, so it makes sense no matter who the opponent brings.

Regardless, I feel like enough of the meta builds are relatively thematic nowadays (Dengaroo is a great example, so are certain variations of Palp Aces. Dash/VCX is now, if you pretend Dash is a stand in for whoever is piloting the YT-2400 in rebels), that it shouldn't be impossible to get that feeling. And of course other formats do it better, but like I said, I like 100 pt for convenience reasons and the competitive aspect.