System Open Mustafar
I played a demo game of X-wing in July of 2016 when a friend came to town. 1 month later I had my first list and started playing at local stores about once a week. I have played 3 local tournaments and Seattle Regionals 28th/110 4win-2loss before coming to this event. I played my same list from regionals at the System Open.
Rey Finn/Sloop Title/Kanan Jarrus/Eng Upgrade/Expertise
Jan Ors Predator/TLT/Vectored Thrusters/Nein Numb
Round 1
Rey/Jan vs. Parattani
I knew I'd see Parattani at this event and sure enough I saw it first round. The woman I was playing was someone I had chatted with in line to register. Then I hear someone next to me say Hey Tim! Low and behold I'm not the only Seattleite that made it down for the sytem open. Well back to the game, she had her game plan well set. I on the other hand thought I had and soon realized I was going to have to correct for early mistakes. This is the matchup I practiced for and felt my list had the potential to deal with. Asteroids set, we're both lined up on the left side of Map with Manroo Assaj Fenn LtoR and Jan Rey Left to right from my viewpoint. At this moment I realize I've set myself to go into open field and direct joust with this list, which is a terrible idea. Our asteroids were pretty much a football like blob in the middle with 3 of them just bottom right of dead center being pretty tight together. I opened with a 2 hard right to block Rey's forward progress and get my list going to the right. I essentially ran away for the first 3 rounds, there may have been lightweight fire but nothing substantial maybe a shield. My opponent even told me "I feel like you're running away from me!" I didn't deny it. I said "I sure am, I would much prefer to fight your list through Asteroids than in that open field I was headed into." I got to about 3 o'clock on the outside of the map Assaj somewhere around 5 o'clock. I started to cut into the top middle with Rey and Jan skirted around the asteroids. serious fire started now. I managed to take only light damage if any and got a good 5 damage on assaj all without getting in range of the stress mobile arc. We were starting to get into it now Fenn was poised to come my way and increase the Parattani threat. I was looking down a diagonal corridor (top right to bottom left) Feen was facing bottom left most rock with Assaj and other rocks to the right of it so safe bet that straights weren't happening, assaj was nearby bottom right of me but near a mess of asteroids. My move was predictable, no real chance for assaj or manroo to block me, I'd go before Fenn. I calculated out that a 2 straight would put me in position to boost and put Fenn in a position to bump or bank towards bottom and be out of arc but good chance of range 1-2 from rey. Sure enough I calculated dead on I went straight and boosted inbetween fenn & the rock with a centimeter betwixt me & fenn & a millimeter or 2 between the asteroid. Here's where it gets dicey, no pun intended. Her Fenn play was brilliant she dialed in a Talon roll to the left and barrel rolled back as far as she could to try for arc. Granted if I hadn't boosted I would have been in great shape to get rear shot on a stressed Fenn. The diceyness comes now. Our table had a big hole that was covered by the top of her laser cut wood tray underneath the matt. So some of are stuff was on a slope. My laser showed no firing arc from my vantage point, the rule showed better. It was time to call a judge. Well the judge came and despite his best attempt managed to significantly jiggle position on both our ships. The ruler looked in but it sure looked cockeyed so I threw the laser on it quick and the judge grabbed the laser and it definitely looked clearly out. Well we were both civil about it The ruling was definitely in my favor but my first unjiggled laser measure was out in my judgement so I didn't feel too bad about the call. None the less I chalk this advantage up to randomness. I didn't guess her move right and luck played my way. I did follow through on a tight arse maneuver though. Fenn Rau died that round 6 die range 1 with Tgt Lock whilst stressed and Jan Ors firing her TLT's first. I felt pretty good at this point I believe Jan was either full health or just down a shield and Rey still had shields but can't recall if it was just 1 or 2, Assaj had some good damage on her and Manroo isn't much of a threat if saved till last. I pulled out the win with both ships alive and half hull lost on Rey, I had switched my boost off & started focusing and target locking to ensure quality 5-6 die damage.
Round 2
3 Kwings, Intel Agent, Sabine, maybe Zeb? Cluster Mines, Seismic, Extra Munitions.
Okay round 2 coming up. 3 K-wings with clustermines, seismic & possibly something else, forget now. I have yet to play vs. a K-wing Bomb list, so this was bound to be interesting. One K-wing had Intel Agent, one had Sabine, and thrid I think was just vanilla build. Opponent in top left I was in bottom right, a decent spread of Asteroids. First opportunity for combat was pretty close to tell. Measuring over an asteroid between Rey and K-wing with intel agent. Opponent offered a die roll on it, I took him up and lost it so no fire there. Next round I got 5 hits through on the intel agent K-wing with Rey and some supporting fire with Jan Ors. It was now down to 1 hull. Next round he slammed all 3 K-wings right near where Rey was going to be. This may be my mistake, I have a sure kill coming, he was out of intel agent range but that didn't matter I did exactly what he was expecting chase down my sure kill. Probably smarter to let Jan try to TLT it down and keep Rey out of bomb doom range. He slammed all 3 of those K-wings around me like they were drunk driving, bumps etc but the last one he flew in was poised to dump 2 clusters on me. There I sat facing towards bottom of map, a debris field to my left and a mess of K-wings in front of me. Sure enough I take the last K-wing down with one of my ships and the other gets to put some fresh damage on Sabine K-wing. Next move was a dillema, where is he going to go with his two remaining K-wings, anywhere was dangerous. Well he read my likely move and again I took the most obvious optimal path. My options were to try and curl right or left to minimize but probably not avoid all bombs. I end up 2 banking right as a 3 might put me ona K-wings bombs, turned out not to matter as I was going over 3 clusters and taking 1 seismic anyway. I rolled a total of 5 clusters in those 2 rounds and I think I got only 1 miss against myself. Rey was down to 1 hull and I believe the Sabine extra finished her off. Jan was at full health or possibly down a shield. She opened up on Sabine K-wing, Hawk has little chance unless she can get it down to 1 K-wing exhaust ordnance and TLT it down. my HOT clustermine dice started going cold. I ended up losing Jan before I could finish off a well wounded Sabine! Well played match and a good first real match against K-wing bombers for me.
Rey/Norra
Next I face a Tanky Rey & Norra build. My arch nemesis, C3PO and evade token. I knew two things about this matchup. Norra needed to take burst damage to go down not pecking away & I needed to have in-arc shots vs. out of arc to beat tanky Rey vs. Sloopy. My opponent setup on far right of board with Norra furthest right and Rey going around an asteroid to Norras left. Well I decided to go for it. I knew if I lined up at the gate with Rey and dialed a 4 with boost I would be able to hit Norra opening round. Sure enough that is what I did, I was just in range by a few thumb-nails. 5 dice to welcome Norra I believe it ended up all shields off, maybe one hull can't recall. second round I'm slooping Jan is slow 1 banking but not going to be out of range. Norra pulled forward and I was able to take her off the map that round. Good so far but, what about Jan? Jans days were numbered, She went down the next round to Rey fire. I got bumped Rey/Rey so nothing to fire at, bad manoeuvring on my part. Should be so easy to read. Well now it's down to Rey vs. Rey and I'm no where near in the sweet spot of getting out of arc. We start Rey vs. Rey with me at 1 shield and his Rey at 5 shields. I think he lost 2 shields before my Rey went down to tanky Rey. Well played match, my big take away was; diving in early was probably not the right answer to this list but, it was destined to be difficult as this matchup is quite hard for my list. Engaging Rey first through debris and with TLT shots whilst trying to avoid good Norra arc on me may have been a better approach but definitely still not certain to do well.
Kath Scarlet/Assaj
Time to turn around my losing record and win everything for the chance to make it to Day 2. I'm up against a PTL ketsu onboard Assaj & a Kath Scarlet designed to throw 4 dice at range 3 -1 to my 1 agility Rey. Well I know my first target is going to be Kath if at all possible. She's the wrecking ball in this list. Asteroids are spread out a little thicker on this match with asteroids on left looser than those on right. Kath and Assaj setup their marching band on the left to go to the right, enticing the chase. I decide that I can reach Kath first round if I setup on left and prep for a boost 1bank right. Sure enough I am right. I got great angle in between Kath's forward and rear arcs & assaj is too far ahead to be involved, her mobile turret is to the right and she is basically going to circle the map like a spectre gunship trying to get me in range 2 to ruin my expertise. Opening volley of 5 die I belive 3 or 4 go through on Kath. Next round I get the benefit of an extra defence die so I get one shot at dodging that rear arc. I'm taking hits but I'm chasing down Kath because she can't bank unless she wants no arc & she's headed for the edge of the map. The advantage is to Rey but she'll take some decent hits. Kath finally has to 2 hard to avoid edge of map and Rey wipes her off. Assaj may have gotten a shot and a stress in here but I managed to focus instead of boost to ensure I behaved as if I had expertise. So I have a damaged Rey and a Jan going after Assaj. I ended up chasing Assaj down and pecking at her pretty hard. I don't recall what happened with Jan for some reason. The final duel Rey vs. Assaj, this guys mobile firing arc and Ketsu tractors were much more challenging that a Parattani Assaj. Assaj & Rey bumped. Assaj miscalculated a bank to my right side. I slopped then tgt locked for the overkill shot of 5 dice believe I got 2 crits. A fun game, practicing vs. Parattani and previous experience vs. Kath got me through that one. Rey had a bigger stick in a more durable but less agile ship.
Nera, Jake, Poe
How to do a soccer dive in an X-wing match by Zorprime! This is defintitely one of the matches where I lossed this one for myself. To start, I came almost direct at it along the left side. I dove after Jake and took him to one hull in first round. Nera got close and dumped some brilliant ordnance on me. I tried a block move with Jan, throwing her out into the open and it failed. There went Jan! This was really just poor play on my part. Rey has a big stick and there are times to dive in and punish people with it, this wasn't one of them, diving in with Jan was just dumb too. 5th match of the day and I have plenty of excuses why I didn't do well but, I don't learn from excuses so I just learn from my mistakes. By this time I should have figured out that if nothing else I should have forced him to meander through Asteroids to get at me. I essentially got ate alive by jumping into the middle of Nera missles or was it torps, staying in Poe and Jakes arc. I don't think I even got the 'one hull Jake' killed by the end of the match. The guy I played was good but I gave him no chance to prove how good he was or wasn't!
Progress check on the Millennium Falcons:
I was definitely the "out of town" guy in this match coming from Seattle to SLC to San Antonio on a 'seat available flight' that arrived 12:10AM day of tourney, see!! the excuses are coming out subconsciously. I saw Zach from Team Covenant, but he was pretty pre-occupied, although not in a game, so I didn't bug him. So I hit up the guy playing Defensive Rey and saw how he was doing. He wasn't going to make cut, found a few more falcon players that weren't cutting it, most people had Norra wingmates, twoish Miranda, one Jan Ors & one Ghost, forget the pilot. I asked the guy with the Ghost/Falcon combo how he was doing, he wasn't going to make cut but he said the girl in the purple hair has got a shot. So I went over to observe her game, technically this observation happens after my next round so time-line wise it's after my Hera/Biggs/Zeb matchup. Turns out her and her opponent, believe it was Parattani or variant... twas Scum for sure, anyways... they had not done significant damage to each other and the judge had called time. Later I think I found out the other guy had done just enough damage to get half on something... not for certain but she also did not make the cut for next day. I thought she was our only hope, then for a brief moment I thought there was another... Then I realized Carrie Fishers death must really be hitting me hard?? Anyways back on topic. I don't think any falcons made it to the final day but I cannot be certain I covered all of them in play. It was time to make a comeback. I'm 2 win 3 losses, I can still get 4 wings and get some acrylic target locks... Well it's something right?
Hera biggs Zeb
There are always rumour lists that you don't see but just hear about at a tournament. At Seattle Regionals it was the guy with Z-95s & Thread tracers that was cleaning up. Here it was a few people with a Ghost & Biggs. Well my next matchup was a Ghost/Biggs. I was kind of happy as I had playtested a bit with Lothal Rebel and knew that my Rey's 5-6 die will be brutal on them, I just got to get Biggs out of the picture soon. I start out with my first bead on Biggs with Rey and Jan Ors in range for her extra die madness! I get two TLT shots on Biggs then Rey throws 5 dice & 2 hits two crits go through bypassing his R4D4!!! very nice indeed, he has to flip IA in order to not die first round. So a 1 hull no Astromech Biggs for next firing round. I lined up Rey where she could fire on Biggs or Lothal out of arc range 1, I wanted to kill Biggs with just one ship & didn't want to risk Jan Ors fire not being enough so I clobbered Biggs with Reys guns for an overkill by 3 or 4 damage, then TLT'd the ghost. 2 rounds later I managed to park with about 1/3 of my large ship base in Hera's rear arc, I boosted forward into no shot range sacraficing my in arc for a no return fire scenario. Combined with Jans TLT it was enough to finish the Ghost off. Jan was at full health & Rey was either at half or one hit away. Zeb died next turn with barely a chance to do a thing. It was a well played match, I was pretty pleased with my list vs. this combo and some good flying to counter my terrible flying last match.
Palp Defenders
This is it, well 3 rounds ago was it for the tourney but, this is it for 2 measly target lock tokens. PTL Ryad, Palp & a Glaive I believe. Well I run in and joust Ryad at range 3 right away. Jan helps clear a focus off of Ryad first, then Rey punishes Ryad with 5 hits, 3 go through & that is shields on Ryad. It was a left side map fight again I was facingup and to right down an open column of asteroids shooting at Ryad. Palp shuttle was heading down left. Vessery was right behind Ryad. Ryad fired on Jan range 3 & missed, Vessery couldn't reach Jan so fired on Rey so did Palp. I believe I lost 1 or 2 shields cannot recall. I sloop up left and the engine boost back down to bear on Ryad range 2, Vesser out of arc on top of rey, Palp shuttle range 1. This is where X-wing becomes Yahtzee!!! I pick Palp shuttle over Ryad, it's still important to stop Palpatine from manipulating results & if Ryad runs I want an already hurt palp shuttle to blow to nothing in two rounds. I'm lined up to get behind it and ruin it's day. Well I get only one hit on Palp shuttle then Ryad gets a hit and 2 crits through on Jan. Okay looks like Jan will still be around to help and Rey's not too bad off. Well here it comes, 1 shield off Jan then two crits 2 Direct Hits!!! I have to take Jan off the board, man that is harsh. The game just went down hill from there I was trying to fly my way out to a better angle and he chased with 2 ships counter clockwise from bottom and vessery from top. I managed to get a scenario where only Rey had a shot but she packs less punch and only got a shield off vessery. Next round I finally get a shot on Ryad again and have a target lock but it is out of arc and her evade focus & 3 defence die make it worthless. Rey & Jan Ors go down in what could have been a final come-back match.
I found the system open to be much tougher competition than Seattle regionals, just more of the people were there to win with lists that are competitive at a high level event. There was less people than Seattle regionals. The event ran really smooth, the biggest problems were more than a few tables created some very non level surfaces under the matt. I saw some seriously cool team t-shirts and even nicer red/black 'bowling shirts' for lack of a better term. No negative play experiences while I was there.
My big take away were that the Falcon isn't as strong as some of the other lists, the Meta seems to reflect that in my perusal of List Juggler too. If you're going to fly into town for regionals show up with enough time to wind down before hand if at all possible, I got a little more mentally exhausted than I did at regionals coming in last minute with little rest. Don't dive at lists even if you can't figure out what you're going to do to beat it, make me fly through or around obstacles to get at you. Lastly I think I need to learn more about asteroid placement, I felt like I let my opponents really control that aspect during my matchs. Also I'd probably call a judge vs. take a die roll for in/out of range especially against a strong counter list, no fault to my opponent though he was really good guy.
Played first match with new System Open matt, this was the only picture I got of it. This was my fellow X-wing gamer from Seattle playing next to me. Neither of us knew we'd be there until he noticed and said my name.
Edited by Zorprime
