Adepticon 2017- Hoth Open (my second year in attendance)
...this might be long- grab a coffee
Last year I did miserable, I flew a Dengar/Bossk list which was storming through my local shops and had a great record but only managed two wins at 2016 Adepticon/Hoth Open. I've always been one to not conform to the meta, and to my fault, it costs me victories. I chose to fly a Palp shuttle with a few imperial aces at the Chicago 2016 regional later in the year. I placed the best I ever have just missing qualifying/making the cut, but did get a playmat. I was thus convinced if you don't bring one of "THE" meta lists you will fall and not enjoy the 12 hours on your feet. Life got in the way and I started getting my groove going again as of late and knew 2017 System Open Series was on the verge.
I started researching lists and fell in love with Paratanni. I brought it fully built to practice at the local shop I play and BAM- "nerfed". Well, I flew it anyways and I don't think that the Manaroo errata did anything to the way I ended up flying it. I kept in formation and flew to a victory. I was satisfied and knew this is what I was bringing to Hoth.
But then, my non-acceptance to conform caught over me and I felt like I didn't want to just be "one of the masses" flying this thing someone else built. After toying around with this new, non-stolen, all original list a few times with friends, it came out looking like this:
-
Chopper
- Hera
- Ghost title
- Dorsel Turret
- Tactician
- Fire Control
-
Zeb
- Phantom title
- Captain Rex
-
Ashoka Tano
- Captured TIE
- Rey
- Black Market Slicer
- VI
- Sabine's Masterpiece
Without going into too much explanation, the list is tons of fun. The option to BMST during activation OR start of combat is pretty nice. Chopper gives stress on a crash and bring a token over from Rey- start of combat, 50% chance to deal a damage card. It's pretty sweet and most of my matchups had PS8 or lower. It's a very forgiving list and does have a lot of moving parts, but might be decent for a beginner. It pilots itself.
HOTH 2017
Rounds 1-4 Were amazing. I went up against Imperial aces, Miranda and Ghost, rebel alpha strike and then Corran Horn regen. The rebel alpha strike was by far the toughest, it was the fourth round just before the break and was very tense... things went my way and it ended with a win. I was sitting at 4-0... unheard of for me. The stress was too much to handle for push the limit lists. Anything that had a negative of giving the opponent stress from their own cards totally went against them. I dealt a face down damage with the slicer early to Echo and then caught him for a killer shot to end him in one attack. Getting someone in range two arc with chopper is awesome- tactician goes off twice giving me a good target for the BMST. Same thing happened to Corran. He started regenning shields but was sitting with a damaged card- I managed to push a card under the shield before combat and ended his flight.
So- here we are, sitting towards the top of the board at 4-0 going into Round 5.
Kanan/Biggs. I couldn't crack him. I waited and waited and waited like I was on all previous rounds, banking tokens on Rey and when I finally made my move, it didn't work out. I lost to a really good opponent and he was supposed to beat me. 4-1
3 Jumpmasters. This was it, I needed this one- I knew it was going to be hard and wasn't looking forward to the pounding the ghost was going to take. I took out one Scout and then, Boba Fett destroyed my dorsal turret- so crushing. I continued on- but was limping the rest of the way, struggling to find a way to make anything relevant. A great match and came down to the end- but lost. That makes two people I allowed get their 5th win.
Mindlink. Fenn/Ventress/Palob. I had this, then I didn't, then I had it again- a great match. Round 7. My stress was doing wonders, if anything just inhibiting movement. Chopper had one hit to die- phantom still docked. Fenn managed to shoot a direct hit crit into Ashoka before Fenn was torched (Slicer tool helped AGAIN). Ventress had one hit to die. Palob is full. Going into this specific round I'm referencing, I knew Palob was going to kill Chopper with his ion cannon. Chopper was directly in front of Ventress and Palob was in front of Chopper I was thinking about points and was wondering about a great many things... I NEED THIS FIFTH WIN!!! I can't have this be the Atlanta Falcons and some epic collapse. Well... I lost and after the match was over... my opponent and judge (also a friend from the community) told me about how I chose NOT to eject the phantom right in the path of Ventress so she could die with the critical she had (bump and take a damage). My heart sunk. I got so far. And to lose to Ghost Biggs, Boba Fett the way it happened and misplaying the critical on Ventress (missing it, rather)... I felt so defeated internally.
I knew I built something unique, if not super thematic minus the Rey crew. It's all Star Wars Rebels. I happen to love the show. It was at the top tables for quite a while. Friends and bystanders seemed to be intrigued with the build... "How did you manage to get all that in the 100 points???" I feel really good about the build, not so much the flight. Should this list pop up somewhere, I'd like to think I influenced someone on it- try it out, it's fun, forgiving and seems highly competitive. I think I'll keep it around for a while.