The Reddit Season Two IA tourney just concluded. I managed to come out on top, but that was merely the gift of the dice gods. The tourney was packed with great players, and I had a blast playing (hope these continue!).
I wanted to share some thoughts I had at the tourney’s conclusion, but mainly I wanted to start this thread so other players could chime in to share their ideas.
1. Rebels can compete, but list building is limited.
I played my list with all the new hotness and old staples: Jedi Luke, eRangers, Hera, Chopper, Gideon, C3PO, rSmuggler, and Rebel High Command. The strengths of this list are pretty straight forward. It has high command card draw with RHC and plenty of figures to sit on terminals. Also, with Chopper, I sometimes chase others off from terminal sitting, granting me even more of a CC advantage. This is important because this list thrives on getting those hunter cards quickly so you can take units out before your Rangers go down (if you play this list, PROTECT your Rangers!). Of course, the other hope is that you draw SoS or Devotion early so Luke can wreck things in his typical annoying fashion. When he goes on a rampage and gets SoS off early on, it’s hard to counter, but even if he doesn’t he’s still valuable. In the final, for instance, Luke only managed to do 5 damage to a Weequay before @mellowthello struck him down with a well-timed squad swarm and Assassinate. Luke did soak up a lot of attacks and some powerful cards, though, which still serves a purpose.
There are a few options that you can swap out from this archetype, but to compete against those rugged Mercs, I struggle to find any list that doesn’t include Rangers. You can try double eRangers or swap in some spies, or use Obiwan or others, but most lists that want to compete on the highest level will look very similar to this. The Rebels list that placed third at GenCon, for instance, was this exact list with R2D2 swapped in for Chopper.
Luke isn’t as strong on Nal Hutta, certainly not as strong as on ISB, so that’s problematic for this list, but hopefully the next wave will bring more list options for Rebels. More on that later.
2. Imperials still seem a half-step behind. Maybe.
This is just my opinion, so don’t hate me J. Two eJets and Terro can still rock people’s world, and BT is no slouch (and in the right scenario can be the MVP), and of course Zillo is beyond amazing. But Hunter cards are so powerful, it’s hard for Imperials to compete against the high damage output of the Mercs. Some fantastic players tried out some Imperial lists and did really well, and they of course can come out on top, but it’s hard to beat those Mercs right now.
Sadly, the new map is pretty bad for Terro, but conversely it’s not bad for eJets (though not as good as ISB). Luckily, I think things are looking up for Imperials with what’s on the horizon.
3. Mercs are robustly powerful, with various archetypes, and very hard to beat. Duh J
One mainly takeaway for me is that Iggy really is a great figure. Unlike Luke, he fits in such a variety of circumstances and can adjust to whatever’s needed of him. Iggy may be the best anchor for Mercs right now, especially with Nal Hutta.
4. Ugnauts are really annoying to play against.
This has nothing to do with the tourney. I just don’t like the ug swarm J. It’s really good, so props to the winner of the Gen Con tourney (please note, this is not me taking a shot at him at all), but I hope it doesn’t become more prevalent in the meta.
5. I’m really excited about the next Wave! (again, not really about the tourney, but thinking through this has gotten me thinking about the state of the meta, which leads into this)
As a perennial Rebel player, I like extra options. Already I’ve toyed with swapping Luke and Chopper out for Ahsoka and Ko-Tun, and both figures are surprisingly potent and fun to play. I can’t wait to see the next two figures spoiled, but what I really want is my Han back (presuming, of course, that he will be one of the two upgrades). If Rebels get one or two of those upgrades, with these added figures, I think the faction will be in good shape as far as diversity (assuming the other figures are well balanced and playable).
Mercs, you guys are an embarrassment of riches, so I don’t know why you should be getting figures J. But I love that this faction gets spies and a force user (whom I might draft into Imperials on occasion).
Imperials, of course you are hitting the mother lode. Even I will be tempted by all these new goodies. I’ve tested out a double AT-DP list and had a blast clanking my way down hallways and tearing things apart. I’m interested to see how Vader shakes out, but of course he’s powerful. I love the versatility of the Emperor. And we haven’t even had all the units spoiled yet. Can’t wait!
Additionally, I really hope force user and vehicle command cards get fleshed out more. I’d love for these traits to pack enough of a punch that lists didn’t have to be hunter dependent.
Overall, I think more variety is on the way, and I’m optimistic about the meta after the next wave drops.
6. Vassal is awesome!
This was my biggest take away. I had stayed away from Vassal up until this point, maybe because learning to play via the online platform seemed like a chore and I wasn’t sure how to go about doing it or finding opponents. But seriously, dive into this. It’s fun, easy to play a quick game, with competitors of all types from all across the world. I got to play both the two-time Worlds champion and the Euro champion in this tournament, which is pretty awesome and definitely playing against players of that caliber has sharpened my game. But there are others who want to throw a silly list around and would enjoy a more laid back sort of game.
So, hopefully there will be another Reddit tourney soon, and I hope to see you on there!
For the other players, I’d love to hear your thoughts about the tourney and your takeaways as well. To everyone I played (and those didn’t), thanks for making it such a fun tourney!
-ryanjamal
Edited by ryanjamal