I keep hearing this term on podcasts and stuff...what does it mean? Does "fly casual" have something to do with acceptable list choices in a casual setting? Or is it just about being chill when it comes to agreements on bumps, range, little mistakes, throwing dice all over the board, friendly reminders, not complaining about dice, etc?

Edit: Summary of Findings - Be Nice and Fly Whatever You Want

The responses are all over the place as expected but based on the 3 pages of discussion so far I think I can now summarize the various opinions in GIF format. Seems "Fly Casual" and "Casual X-Wing" are easily confused. See if you can spot the difference below.

Xzibit A: Here we see, Vader, clearly the superior player and list builder, being super chill about letting Old Man Obi do that sweet spin move....everyone knows spin moves were only good during Wave 1.

Xzibit B: Here both Vader and Obi Wan are playing a casual game...because winning doesnt matter as much to them as just having fun. They will both do glorious boost barrel roll re positions for eternity without attacking at all.

Xzibit C: Here we see Darth Maul, being a super chill bro, and intentionally avoiding swinging at Obi Wan's head with his OP double sided lightsaber. So sportsmanship.

Xzibit D: Here we see Kylo Ren didn't get the memo, that your supposed to be nice to new players like Finn. But its ok, Kylo's intentions are pure, he just wants his best friend Whisper to be able to play again.

Xzibit E: Anger Fueled Rey using inexplicable game breaking action economy settles the score with Kylo by being even more competitive.

Xzibit F: And of course who can forget....Yoda reluctantly uses force errata on Palpatine since he is hopelessly competitive.

Xzibit G: Here we see Yoda flying super casual against Dooku....he doesnt even use his obviously superior force powers since it just doesn't feel enough like Star Wars for some reason.

Xzibit H: This is a Porg. At home building a HOTAC kit for his kid Porgs. Porgs are rare and adorable natural born casual players.

Xzibit I: This is a PS10 Advanced Sensors Nym Rancor vs a PS9 Gamorrean.

Xzibit J: This is Jar Jar....he is just here to troll natties and make space ship noises.

Xzibit K: And finally....here we see what happens when Obi Wan gets tired of his casual eternal battle with Anakin and takes the much OP "higher" pilot skill ground.

YO BRAH JOIN DA CLUB YOU GOTTA CATCH EM ALL. DONT PLAY WITH EM STARBOYS AND ACEWhINGERS.

For me, it's just about being friendly and not uptight.

"fly casual, just let me take my action the bump was really close" is not flying casual at all, that is just cheating.

@Blail Blerg

I think I follow...but whats an "ace-winger" heard that term to but never understood what it meant.

Fly thematic squads or just fun squads you want to try. Not necessarily the most optimal ones.

Han and Luke with R2D2 on Luke, C3PO and Chewbacca with Han.

Or Luke, Wedge and Biggs versus Vader and some TIE Fighters.

Or an assortment of scum ships representing some pirates, or some Black Sun criminal gang, etc.

You know, "X-wing for fun". Not "Optimized X-wing for winning".

If you are copying some netlist or some build from Metawing, that is not Fly Casual.

17 minutes ago, Azrapse said:

Fly thematic squads or just fun squads you want to try. Not necessarily the most optimal ones.

Han and Luke with R2D2 on Luke, C3PO and Chewbacca with Han.

Or Luke, Wedge and Biggs versus Vader and some TIE Fighters.

Or an assortment of scum ships representing some pirates, or some Black Sun criminal gang, etc.

You know, "X-wing for fun". Not "Optimized X-wing for winning".

If you are copying some netlist or some build from Metawing, that is not Fly Casual.

Disagree 100% Fly casual has nothing to do with what lists you fly and everything to do with attitude.

Just now, Icelom said:

Disagree 100% Fly casual has nothing to do with what lists you fly and everything to do with attitude.

100%?

So it's okay to go to a Fly Casual tournament with netlisted Dengar Nym to beat everyone there?

8 minutes ago, Azrapse said:

100%?

So it's okay to go to a Fly Casual tournament with netlisted Dengar Nym to beat everyone there?

That's an attitude problem IMO. Whose attitude problem depends on the specifics.

My way to "Fly Casual". There are more...

1. The Objective must allways be to have fun. No matter win or loose. Better to loose 95-99 than to win 100-15. So sportmanship, gentle actitude, remembering obvious things forgotten and not only playing 100% focused on the game. You can talk a little with your opponent. Why do you like that Pilot? Your oppinion about the Gunboat? Messi or Ronaldo?

2. Thematic. Not only A vs B. Luke protecting friends. Vader plus faceless Rookies vs a lonely and damaged Rogue Sqdrn. Hero helped by some Mandalorians.

3. Open mind about House Rules and Cards. Perhaps I want to test my rules about ice asteroids that can explode if hit by a ship. Or you want to fly with Generic Purple Squadron PS 6 A Wings ( I love them).

4. Never, ever, search the web... "Better Scum 100 pts Squad". Copy paste print.

5. If you can... Go Epic.

I love Casual X Wing. To play "dogface" ASL Red Barricades (not gentle play in Stalingrad).

Fly casual=Fly whatever you feel like! It's where you don't worry about meta etc.

How to fly casual:

1. Don't be a ****.

Simple as that. For example, if you are lining up a bump "that will do" is the attitude as opposed to "you are trying to cheat by getting an extra target in your arc".

42 minutes ago, Azrapse said:

100%?

So it's okay to go to a Fly Casual tournament with netlisted Dengar Nym to beat everyone there?

If you show up to play and are mad because someone brought a list they wanted to try that you feel is a "netlist" then you are not flying casual at all.

If someone shows up to a casual game night with dengar +nym and I am running a Z-95 swarm, all power to them we both came with a list we wanted to try and as a "fly casual" player I am 100% cool with their choice to run a "netlist" as long as they have a good attitude about everything.

I would hate for people to come to a casual game night and feel they could not fly whatever they wanted because some people have some weird view on what people should be allowed to fly during a casual game night. I am very glad you are not a part of my gaming community, I personally don't run netlists as I have a lot of fun thinking up my own lists but I don't hold it against anyone for flying whatever they feel like flying.

Your view is the opposite of fly casual in my mind.

1 hour ago, Boom Owl said:

How To Fly Casual?

Keep your distance, but don't look like your trying to keep your distance.

1 hour ago, DarthEnderX said:

Keep your distance, but don't look like your trying to keep your distance.

WWharrgghAAgg?

I dunno, just, ... Fly casual?

You are on this forum, you are not flying casual.

Hummmm. well personally it is mostly to do with attitude but for me it is also about netlists.

I don't enjoy flying against netlisters or those who only fly the current broken meta. Just isn't any fun for me when im trying to fly some x-wings vs nymgar as you have very little chance of actually winning or having fun.. sure you can laugh it off but by the 10th game of whatever you have vs nymgar or jumpmasters it is a drain on enthusiasm for the game and kills it off.

At my club there are many x-wing players who were there from wave 1 who no longer play due to netlists and the broken mechanics with bombs and unforeseen combos.

To me fly casual is about 2 things mainly:

-being courteous to your opponent (this can be anything from shaking hands to stuff like not playing slow deliberately and/or not cheating)

-not holding him to whatever your standards are (if you think that allowing take backs on missed opportunities is the nice thing to do, do it; just don't hold it against your opponent if he thinks otherwise)

Oh man... my friend told me of their experience with light weight frame at a tournament.

Normally you would roll 3 green dice against 3 red dice, but his opponent insisted he rolled 2 green and then 1 green immediately after.

1 hour ago, Flaren48 said:

You are on this forum, you are not flying casual.

I hope you're joking about this.

4 hours ago, Blail Blerg said:

YO BRAH JOIN DA CLUB YOU GOTTA CATCH EM ALL. DONT PLAY WITH EM STARBOYS AND ACEWhINGERS.

Man, haven't read Joe Boss for quite a while...

And still have problems understanding his english.

As mentioned above, attitude is most of the "fly casual" mantra. I don't think bringing a netlist goes against that either. I have most of the ships released and there's more than a handful that have been played once or not at all and that list includes some meta winners. I'll break them out to see how they work and how well I can use them. Netlists are not automatically winners.

Maybe don't bring out the latest meta list when someone wants to try something fun and wacky.

Other than that, don't be a **** about forgetting a focus action during a non tournament match. Avoid conceding when you land on an asteroid. Stuff like that

Flying Casual has nothing to do with playing the meta or netlisting or whatever nonsense complaints people want to complain about. It's is all about your attitude and conduct during a game, you could essentially call it good sportsmanship. Just be respectful and don't nitpick every tiny little thing, especially in the non-tournament environment. Fly casual =/= casual play, but you should always fly casual in either competitive or casual play.

Addressing the points in this thread about actual casual play though, you should always establish expectations with your opponent in advance if possible. If two players show up and one wants to practice his dengar/nym for tournaments and the other just wants to run 4 X-wings for fun, then neither player will probably get what they want out of the game.

Just note that if you intend to play with the arbitrary list building restrictions that casual play generally demands, be aware that the responsibility lies with you to communicate this. The guy with dengar/nym came ready to play anything, it's the casual player who is looking to play with special rules outside the game itself. Also note that just because something is called or thought of as a "casual night" it doesn't automatically mean there are expectations on what you can play, it just means it's not a tournament and unless there are some expectations established within the local community you should not assume anything. Again, communication and establishing expectations are important, don't make assumptions.

edit: also note that Fly Casual is not a stick to beat people into letting you get away with breaking rules. People will probably have slight variations in their concept of flying casual, so again it is important to communicate and not just assume that everyone will be okay with the same things that you are. They're probably not a jerk just for wanting to play by the correct rules, they just want to establish a fair baseline for competition.

51 minutes ago, william1134 said:

Oh man... my friend told me of their experience with light weight frame at a tournament.

Normally you would roll 3 green dice against 3 red dice, but his opponent insisted he rolled 2 green and then 1 green immediately after.

I've seen enough people make mistakes modifying dice when it comes to anything more complex than Roll / Reroll Blanks / Convert focus. Your friend should really get the habit of checking with their opponent before the game. However pointless it seems to you, some people follow and process information very differently.

I think 90% of fly casual is just not complaining about everything like having to follow the rules a bit more strictly than your used to, or the fact your opponent has a hard counter to your squad. Or how terrible your dice have been all day.

What is this.. I can't tell how genuine this thread is..

Git gud?