I was practicing and practicing with Swarm Leader, and mostly decided on a Quickdraw with Swarm leader, x7 Vessery, and Inquisitor list or my sacramento regional list. I flew Biggs/Heff/two TLT HWKs in Sacramento Regionals and have been testing Miranda with HMs for a hard hitter instead of my HWKs. Testing seemed good, but I still wasnt happy with overall list. . I kept thinking about Parattanni and its token stack and doing enough damage.
I then looked at Old Teroch. His ability to drop all focus and evade tokens is exactly what I need. Dengaroo, x7 Defenders, and most importantly Asajj and Fenn will get their tokens dropped. Terry can easily keep range 1 of Asajj. Add Manaroo and I need a hard hitter. I didnt want Fangaroo with Fenn cause I have seen what K-bombers do to them. I didnt want Asajj because I want to beat Asajj and with Latts she doesnt hit hard enough, just survives. When Teroch is dropping tokens, I have to be sure I am taking advantage. My brother had been testing Ketsu/Bossk against me recently, and that got me thinking of Ketsu. With three points leftover, Dengar crew is the ultimate choice. Ketsu gets fed multiple focus tokens, she can take an evade, and get rerolls with Dengar. Plus, she has a lot of HP versus Bombers. Practice goes great, and my list is decided.
KATTANNI
Manaroo (27)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
Ketsu Onyo (38)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
Dengar (3)
Old Teroch (26)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
Autothrusters (2)
Concord Dawn Protector (1)
Total: 100
View in Yet Another Squad Builder
VEGAS REGIONALS
Match 1:
Yorr w/ palp, CD
Backdraft w/ fcs crack lwf title pt
Quickdraw w/ baffle rage title lwf
Rocks were spread far apart. Opponent placed shuttle middle, I setup in right corner, then the SFs went opposite corner. He turned the shuttle away from my squad and I moved fast up right with Ketsu and Terry with 5 straights and 3 banks. Sent manaroo in the middle to go head on with his squad to block if I needed it.
He turned his squad into Ketsu and Terry. I went straight for the shuttle and removed its shields in first round, while I maybe lost a shield on ketsu from backdraft. Quickdraw did a 3 sloop that round and was just outside range 3. Next round I had to fly terry away as shuttle blocked any of his good moves, ketsu 1 banked narrowly dodging shuttle and got a range 1 shot on shuttle, as did manaroo. Shuttle was off the board this round, or maybe it was next? Quickdraw was then able to baffle, and backdraft and palp got a couple crits into ketsu, nothing major though. Quickdraw slooped and baffled rage at Terry, but Terry brushed both attacks off. After that quickdraw went down two or three rounds later. It was then backdraft vs my entire squad.
Win 100-21 (half of ketsu).
Match 2:
Vessery w/ x7,juke, mk.ii
Ryad w/ x7, PTL, mk.ii
Deathfire w/ homing, em, clusters,lrs
Rocks spread fairly far apart. Deathfire setup in middle, defenders far right corner. I setup left corner. I had been flying Deathfire a lot recently, so I am well aware of what that little bastard is capable of and don’t need him cluster mining Terry off the board, as Terry is crucial to my success versus x7 Defenders.
Deathfire TL terry with LRS, Grrrr. I went 2 straight then 3 bank. I saw deathfire kturn. This was my opportunity, his only move to get a HM away now is a 3 sharp and I can b roll out of arc. I dial in 5 straights with ketsu and terry. Ketsu gets range 1 of deathfire so no need for terry to b roll.
Ketsu tractors deathfire and moves him away from terry and does 4 dmg with range 1 shot. Terry gets 3 hits, but he rolls 2 natural evades (range 3 bonus) and lives with 1 hp (Manaroo out of range, UGH!). Vessery and ryad remove 2 shields from ketsu. Bomber rolls naked red dice and gets 2 hits and crit. I evade 1 and lose shield and take a crit. "All damage dealt is faceup" Ouch. Not only did Deathfire survive with naked dice, he landed a nasty crit with naked dice, and was setup to drop all three clusters on ketsu next round with his 1 hull remaining. This was basically the game right there if that cluster mine does anything. Ketsu ate 4 damage from bomb and all damage was face up, UGH!
Vessery kturned, terry got range 1 and dropped all of vesserys tokens and lit him up, erasing his shields. Ketsu put two damage in, and Vessery lives with 1 HP. Ketsu gets put out of her misery with more faceup damage. Terry took a couple damage? Two rounds later terry dropped vesserys tokens again. Vessery killed terry. Manaroo gets a shot on naked Vessery. Vessery rolling naked dice, got the evades he needed and lived with 1 HP, argh. This wasnt crucial for the game as if it were Ryad vs Manaroo, I would still lose, but that 1 hp on vessery would be crucial to my MOV later!!!
Vessery ran away, manaroo gave chase with ryad on her tail. Opponent and I were laughing entire time, cause Vessery was running from a naked manaroo.
Good game though, sucks I couldnt kill deathfire, plus that **** crit. That was game changer.
Loss 28-100.
Match 3:
Super Dash w/ Katarn
Jan w/ TLT, kanan, EU, ept?
Rocks spread apart. Im feeling good in this matchup. I move after dash, and with manaroo and ketsu, should be able to block his greens.
Im in right corner. Opponent left. I move fast with 5 straights and 3 banks. He is running to keep distance. He puts some damage into ketsu, but next round im range 1 with everyone. He switches targets to manaroo and his 5 dice attack is chewing her up. I am able to keep range 1 of dash with Ketsu and Terry and take Dash down around the time he got Manaroo.
Ketsu has five hull left. Terry full, vs Jan who just has hull left. I have this match in the bag. Ketsu flies over debris, jan ors hards two behind her. Next round I three bank to clear stress and turn arc. Here is where I screw up. I thought ketsu was still stressed, so I dialed in a 3 turn. She lands a bit too close to the board edge and cant make it back in next round. So I just lost the advantage. Terry moves first but jan has EU and can boost and tlt, so my focus is used for defense, and my dice are cold for a solid 25 minutes. Don’t think I rolled two natural hits ever. It was 1 hit, and he gets 1 evade. I got jan down to 1 hull plinking away. Time is called.
Loss 30-42
Im raging inside for my horrible flying. Cant believe it. I feel like dropping but my brother text me and talked me into staying, saying I can get a high enough MOV to make the cut. Alright, I guess I will stay. My list is meant to kill, and I am doing a fine **** job screwing that up. I need to be aggressive in my next matchups and kill kill kill.
Match 4:
RAC w/ vi, hscp, gunner, captive, EU
ryad w/ x7, ptl, mk.ii
A matchup I am well familiar with and confident I can win. A local player has been using this list for like two months straight.
Rocks again are spread apart decently. He leads in with RAC and has ryad trailing. I split ketsu and terry up and come at RAC from two sides, leaving manaroo doing 1 straights up board edge to ensure focuses every round because of HSCP. Terry and ketsu are range 1 of Rac. Rac gets a crit into terry, blinded pilot. Ugh! So ketsu removes RACs shields. Ryad doesnt do anything with a range 3 on ketsu.
I like ryads position next round. Her only safe 3 maneuver is a 3 bank, which she does. So I 3 straight terry over RAC and land right in front of her. I two straight ketsu who bumps into terry. All Ryads tokens go bye-bye with Terry’s awesome ability and Ryad gets taken down to 2 hull remaining with range 1 shots from Terry and Ketsu. Ryad 3 kturns next round, ketsu 3 banks to side of her, terry 2 sharps and then b-rolls backwards into her range 1 arc. Her tokens get dropped again. Ketsu finishes her off with a range 2 shot.
After that its hunting RAC. He takes out terry, then goes after manaroo while Ketsu is turning and chasing. Manaroo does work though and takes RAC down to 2 hull remaining before being destroyed, then ketsu finishes RAC.
Win 100 - 58
I was hoping to take RAC out before losing Manaroo to help my MOV. Argh! But my opponent flew RAC really well, keeping just out of Ketsu's range the entire time, until he was in a corner.
Match 5:
Whisper w/ VI,FCS, kallus, ACD
Vader w/ VI, title, ATC, EU
Scimitar Tie shuttle w/ kylo, rebel captive
Didn’t particularly like seeing Vader and Whisper, as it was going to require some blocking in order for me to get those squirrely ships. Wasn’t too scared of Kylo crew, since the only bad thing in there to hurt me was the two blinded pilots.
The middle is left practically clear of rocks, which I love. The shuttle is first to engage and Kylos Manaroo (his only target in range) with Stunned pilot. Vader and whisper can’t get the crit through from range 3 fire though. I had naked range 3 vader, or focused range 3 bomber with all my ships. I went for Vader, probably a stupid decision. Ended up doing a whole lotta nothing.
Next round Vader and Whisper barrel roll out of Terry’s arc, so he ends up with no shot. Ketsu bumps into bomber. Whisper and Vader both range 2 of Ketsu and put some damage into her. I tractor beam bomber off of Ketsu and range 1 fire into him, dealing 3 hits and a crit (cannot perform actions). Works for me, don’t have to worry about Kylo for a little while.
Whisper decloaks forward, right where ketsu was headed, so Ketsu bumps Whisper. This helped me out though, as I notice my corner is pointed right at Vader. I hard 1 with terry and am able to b-roll to the right. That was enough to block Vader’s hard turn, and he ends up on Ketsu corner. Whisper K-turns behind Ketsu, and bomber is out of fight for next few rounds turning around. I tractor beam vader off Ketsu into range 1 of Terry and herself. Vader does not live that round.
Takes a few rounds, but plink 2 shields from whisper. Then I am finally able to get Terry right in Whispers grill. She has to b-roll out of his arc, wasting her action. She shoots at Ketsu, but Ketsu with focus/evade dodges it. Whisper has no focus and Ketsu gets a damage in. Then Manaroo range 2 finishes her off. Bomber doesn’t survive long after that.
Win 100-21
This win really helped my MOV. I start calculating in my head and am at 595. I figure another win like this to boost me above 750 and I have a decent shot at making the cut.
Match 6:
3x BTLA Tlt thugs
TLT thug
Rocks scattered fairly far apart, love it! Opponent sets up in top right corner. I line up in middle of board. I thought they were normal TLT thugs without the title. So I move 2 straight then bank away from his TLTs for first round of fire. I wanted to keep out of range of about two per combat round while I take one out. As soon as I see they have the title and take a crapload of fire into Ketsu, I dial in a hard 2 next round right at them with her, and then 3 bank Terry right into their faces. Figure, once I am behind them, then advantage ME! Terry is in range 1 of three of them. Ketsu is as well. So I drop one focus from one Y-wing with Terry, then b-roll another out of arc of Terry. From here on out, I was basically taking out a Y-wing each round, with all three of my guys focusing them down.
Win 100-21
So, now is the waiting game. I figured out my MOV is 774. In Norcal regionals with 80 people, 4-2 with 734 MOV was good enough for 16th.
Rankings are posted. I end up 20th. It was not meant to be.
In the end, I’m glad I didn’t drop. The last three games cheered me up and I know it was just my crappy flying and a couple close calls (like Vessery surviving, man I needed those points!) that cost me top16. Better luck next time.