Greetings fellow X-Wing forum goers!
I took my renewed Guri Fury list to my local store championship:
Dengar (60) - JumpMaster 5000 (33), Expertise (4), Seismic Torpedo (2), K4 Security Droid (3), Unhinged Astromech (1), Scavenger Crane (2), Punishing One (12), Counter-Measures (3)
Guri (40) - StarViper (30), Predator (3), Virago (1), Autothrusters (2), Sensor Jammer (4)
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We had 14 players arrive to the showdown so we were doing four rounds with no cut.
Round 1 – James’s Scum TLTs
In my first round I faced off against a James, a young local player. He placed his ships a little off center to my right. I dropped Guri on the right side and Dengar in the middle, hoping to get a flank from either one. I thought he might hard turn one side or the other to avoid rocks and keep everything together, so I rushed Guri in with a 4 straight. However, he decided to go strait and swooped one of his Y-Wings around the first corner rock in expert fashion. There was not a whole lot I could have done to avoid it after my opening move, so with Guri I rushed into face off against the Y’s. However, the first round of combat saw the end of Guri as she took two range one primary shots and then four TLT attacks from the other two Y’s. I knew it was going to be bad, but the dice made it slightly worse. Guri got her one shot off before ejecting safely into space to come back in round 2.
Dengar had a lot of work to do. We circled around the board a bit, but I made sure to stay in range one as much as possible to plink away at his Y’s. Slowly, but surely they started dropping. James had an expert block on me that I did not expect when I got stuck on the mustache asteroid. I was going to clear it, but he swept over in a fashion I did not see. I only took a single point damage that round, though. In the end, Dengar had a few hull remaining and we finished just before time was called.
Win: 100-69
Round 2 – Dan’s Imperial TIEs
Dan brought Countess Ryad, Col Vessery, Mauler Mithel, and a crack shot Black Squadron Pilot with him to the fight. I gave him initiative this match so I could see what Ryad was doing before I moved Guri. He set up his defenders on the right side with his ties on the left in the center of the board. I set up Guri on my right with Dengar in the right corner. I was confident I could just run into him to get some good exchanges going. I had my eyes on Ryad in the beginning, but Guri’s position in the first round of combat gave her a better shot at Vessery, so I decided to focus fire. Guri took some hits early and got became pilot skill zero. I set up for some key blocks, but missed, while Dan keep trying to whittle her down. His TIEs could not repel the magnitude of Dengar’s firepower and they started blowing up, one by one. I believe I lost Guri in the process though. It was a blast to play against Dan, and I hope to play against him in the future.
Win: 100-40
Round 3 – Chester’s Rebels
Chester brought a Rey and Lothal Rebel list to the table. Not just any Lothal Rebel…but one with Autoblaster Turret and Accuracy Corrector. I was terrified to face this list with my fragile Guri. At least I wasn’t running Fenn Rau with one less shield. Chester set up his VCX on the right side so I set Guri up just left of center. I figured if I could get a flank on it from the side, but not in range one, I would be OK. However, then he set up Rey right next to the VCX. Since I figured they would fly close together, I dropped Dengar next to Guri and we went to town. He brought his ships slowly forward while I moved a little more aggressively to meet him. Guri kept going straight ahead instead of turning in to allow a larger lane for Dengar to maneuver in the middle of the field. At the last moment, I turned Guri while ensuring I was not within range one. I got some focused fire in on the Lothal Rebel early and the damage started flying. He nicked a couple damage from Guri before the furball happened. However, then I pulled a blinded pilot crit from Dengar into the rebel to save Guri from a 5-dice TL’d shot. The next round I pulled another blinded pilot crit on Rey after she had shot which took into effect the following round after she slooped into a range one in arc position in front of Guri. Guri was saved again by blinded pilot. At this point, Rey was injured enough that I was able to finish her off. After that, I took down the remaining hull on the VCX. The match did not end up at all how I imagined it in my head.
Win: 100-0
Round 4: Eric’s Scum Mirror
I could not believe I would be going into the last round undefeated. I was up against Eric, a strong player that I have played in the past (and lost). He was bringing his own version of Expertise Dengar but with Plasma Torps and guidance chips along with Expertise Advanced Proton Torpedo Fenn Rau as a squad mate. I knew it was going to be bloody, and I did not have a lot of confidence in my own list after seeing his across from the table. I also knew that he had been playing Dengar for many moons. We were joking that no matter what happens, Dengar will win. However, we had to see which Dengar was the better Dengar. I also challenged him to find out which Fenn Rau was the better Fenn Rau, Fenn, or Guri. He outbid me on points and gave me initiative. We did not share any combat triggers that mattered, but he wanted to see where I was moving so he could react accordingly. I set Guri up at left center and Dengar in the left corner at a 45-degree angle. He set his Dengar up on the left corner and Fenn Rau in the middle.
The first round I swept Dengar in with a 3 left bank and moved Guri forward with a 4 straight. I wasn’t sure if he was going to flank with Fenn Rau by taking the long way around or if we would meet in the middle between the rocks. The next round I had to choose a target…do I take out Dengar first, or go for Fenn Rau. Either one of his ships would have decimated Guri in the late game if he takes out my Dengar. However, I knew that his 6 dice Adv. Proton Torps would likely one shot Guri. I decided to one straight Guri, leaving her out of a possible range one and I did a 3 right bank with Dengar to acquire a target lock on Fenn. He does a four straight to get in perfect range one position of Dengar and takes a Target Lock, getting excited to launch torpedoes. His Dengar does another slow roll to get a Target Lock and focuses up. Going into combat I check for Guri’s ability, even though I know she is outside of range one. I do this every time to remind me of my triggers. The most important trigger just happens to be Counter-Measures in this case. I trigger it to drop Fenn’s lock and proceed to start firing with Dengar. I roll out a range one shot with crit-hit-hit-hit, and he rolls something like blank, blank, eyeball, evade. He adds his Concord Dawn title die and takes a hit crit. Nothing major this round, but he is down to two left. He goes in for Dengar’s plasma torps and melts my 4 shields. Fenn then decides to fire at my Dengar and he drops 2 hits in. I evaded, IIRC, and proceed to get some payback. I drop another 4 hits his way and he evades one or two. Fenn Rau was gone and I think both of us were just stunned. I was so stunned, in fact, that I forgot to trigger Scavenger Crane to get CM back. The round finishes by Guri firing at Dengar at range 3 and taking a payback shot of one shield. The next few rounds play out while I drop some damage on Dengar while he tries to finish Dengar off. I slooped around after turning into the asteroid field to get him in my sights. I fired into him to finish him off, but he gets simultaneous fire and ends up taking out my Dengar. With Guri still left on the board with 4 hull, the match is over.
Win: 100-58
Reflection
I was still kind of stunned about the whole turn of events because at any point I could have lost each game. I had a number of missteps as well, which could have cost me more than it did. It was either using Counter-Measures at the wrong time, or not triggering scavenger crane. I believe even one time I forgot to trigger Guri’s ability. I do not get to practice often between family, school, and work, but it was such a blast to play with such great folks. I hope to see each of them across the table again at some point down the road. I am extremely stoked that I could fly Guri to victory at a store championship. The only question is: will I run her again at Regionals? I did last time, and it was still really fun, but extremely challenging.
My thoughts behind Guri's loadout is what I did a few seasons back with the rise of the stress meta. This loadout of Guri doesn't really care if she is stressed or not. She can still be defensive with SJ and AT, while getting a focus at range one and always maintaining Predator rerolls. With what I saw at the most recent event I went to (local CAC), I thought more stress lists would be out and about. I also went with Counter-Measures on Dengar to see how well it went with Scavenger crane. I liked the idea of getting it back multiple times in a row against 4-5 ship lists. However, half the lists I faced were two-ship large lists, where scavenger crane did not, or would not have done enough. I think glitterstim would be a stronger choice if I were to run this list again, or some type of torpedo. With all of the FCS, ordnance, and other TL centric lists, I believe that Expert Handling COULD have a place, but things like Black One, Wes Janson, and Counter-Measures could see some more play in the coming months. However, these types of lists might struggle against rebel regen (Miranda) unless they bring their own ordnance. If only I could fly Wes like DHars.