The Seattle Regional completed my 3 week marathon of High-level competitive events. For Vancouver, I flew Poe, Lowhhrick, Fenn. For Portland System Open I flew Ion Chopper (w/ Zeb) and Strezra. It was my twist on the typical Ghost Fenn--designed specifically for the mirror match, which, naturally, I never came across, but I did come across Ghost counters...

For Seattle, I promised my girlfriend that it would only be a one-day event for me, regardless of how I did. I'm a gambling man, and willing to gamble on my continual inability to make the cut at high level tournaments. So I decided to take a list that I (a) would enjoy flying, and (b) would have the ability to kick Ghost/Fenn right in the nuts.

Here's what I came up with:

Fenn Rau (28)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
Autothrusters (2)
Concord Dawn Protector (1)

Guri (30)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
Advanced Sensors (3)
Autothrusters (2)
StarViper Mk. II (-3)
Virago (1)

Tel Trevura (30)
A Score to Settle (0)
Boba Fett (1)
Rigged Cargo Chute (1)
Anti-Pursuit Lasers (2)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Guri is my favorite pilot in X-wing and it isn't particularly close. So if I'm flying what I want and **** the consequences, that's where I start. Attanni has been one of my favorite mechanics since it came out (when the internet was positive it was terrible, before the internet realized it's actually really ******* good). It's interesting, it's original, it's a mental exercise, and post-nerf, it's still good even though nobody knows it. Hot-cop on Fenn is mean, right? Well it's a lot less mean if you have double focus on 2 ships.

I've flown my fair share of JM5K but the only one I've never flown is Tel. I started with rigged chute--the best 1 point scum can spend. With killing Ghosts in mind, I put in Boba and ASTS. APLs for bumpmastering and...would you look at that? 5 points left, "lets try out Tel", I thought, "he'll mitigate ASTS somewhat by sweeping nasty crits away for his brief second life."

Game 1: Bossk, Asajj

This is one of the weirdest games I've ever played.

Bossk lines up in the corner, with Asajj just inside. I put Guri and Fenn in the middle, with Tel lined up for a joust.

Guri drove hard up the gut, hoping to flank both or draw Asajj off. Tel and Fenn slow-played to draw them in. Fenn darted past Asajj in the opening combat but was barely, barely out of range 1, and Bossk dropped him to 1 HP. I hammered Bossk pretty hard and took him to 3 hull.

This is where it got weird. I crashed Guri, Fenn, and Tel all into Bossk so he was out of the game and Asajj crashed into Tel. Fenn died. Guri and Asajj traded range 2 attacks and I had a choice for how long I wanted that to go on. I had Adv Sensors and an enemy stuck at range 1 so focus+TL on every shot. Asajj was continuously bumping, so no mods. But 10 hits vs 5? I didn't like it, so I viper rolled back and 1 turned in. It gave Bossk a range 1 shot which brought her to 2 hull, but my opponent had planned on popping cybernetics with Asajj, pulling 5k, rotating arc, and blasting Guri at range 1. Only her new position blocked all that. Guri finished off Bossk which broke up the parking lot.

From there, Guri and Tel managed to bring Asajj to half and time ran out when Tel got blinded, but had 1 HP on his first life. Guri was out of range so that was it.

Win 52-49

Game 2: Quickdraw, Ion Vessery, TIE shuttle w/ tactician and focus officer

I flanked hard with Fenn and flew Guri up the middle, trying to draw them in. Tel was behind Guri, waiting for QD's shields to drop before Boba'ing something useful. Guri had a large rock as cover and I had a choice to cut left to hopefully flank, or drive straight to come to grips with or block QD. I went for the block and dove with Fenn. I missed the block by a fraction, Guri got erased and Fenn got ioned. Next turn, QD took a range 1 shot on Fenn out the rear arc, got 3 natties, I blanked out, and Fenn was off the table. Tel never got through QDs green dice and died shortly after.

Loss: 0-100

Game 3: Crimson specialist w/ proton silos, crimson leader w/ bomblets, AP-5 w/ Sabine & prox. Both bombers had engine upgrades.

Bombs are scary for my aces, but 2 dice primaries aren't.

My opponent set a fortress in the corner and my heart sank as I realized this game might be play grab-*** for 75 minutes and final salvo. There's a 0% chance I fly into fortressed bombers with trajectory proton bombs. I'll take the 8 vs 6 salvo, thank you, and shower away the shame when I get home.

Regardless, I sent Fenn up one flank and Guri up the other, with Tel in the middle waiting to commit. Luckily he broke the fortress after a turn, which allowed Guri to get behind the bombers and happily plink away at range 2 or 3 without fear of bombs and with turrets posing almost no threat.

Fenn turned away from the approaching bombers while Tel hurried to engage. AP-5 coordinating boosts on bombers is a cool trick and I tried to get Fenn away from it. Crimson specialist dropped a specialized bomb, which I saw coming, and tried to avoid it with Fenn, but he boosted into range to block my only escape path. Boom went the proton, major explosion-->direct hit+Sabine, dead Fenn.

****.

Luckily, Tel's suicide dive into the heart of it paid off. He was rattled but not bombed. Shaken, but not stunned. He Boba'd away Crimson leader's bomblets and GTFO'd with his 2 remaining hull.

Guri dropped crimson specialist while staying way the **** away from his protons. Then I got confused when he coordinated a boost on crimson leader. For some reason, I thought that was his final position, so I barrel rolled into a position that I knew would give AP-5 a prox drop, but gave me a shot on the severely wounded Crimson leader. But then CL moved and I realized I didn't have to do what I did. I could have just turned from where I was and have no risk of getting bombed.

Sometimes I'm dumb.

Guri killed CL and got proxxed next turn. She only rolled 1 hit+Sabine and was down to 2 hull (I lost a shield some time previous). My opponent called it there, knowing there was no earthly way AP-5 kills Guri and Tel in the 5 remaining minutes we had. But considering there were only 5 minutes and I had no intention of re-engaging with either ship, I couldn't count it as a full win.

Win: 78-49

Part II coming soon

Part II

Round 4: Blair Bunke and his 7 Z-95s. 4 with threads, 3 with 'poons, all with chips.

After seeing I was matched up with Blair, I had just one question for him, "How the **** are you 2-1 right now?!" He mumbled something about Attanni.

Which Z-95 did I have a score to settle with? How about #3, that guy is probably a ****. I didn't figure that Boba was likely to trigger, but what the ****, I didn't like the cut of #3's jib.

We set up a diagonal picket of asteroids and he put the swarm at one end of the picket. I deployed on the opposite side.

His swarm turned parallel to his board edge and bought time before committing. I drove Fenn hard up the flank and sent Guri tentatively toward the swarm's starting corner with Tel as back up.

Once it was clear the swarm wanted to bite on Fenn, I turned him away and got the **** out. Guri was taking range 3 pot shots at #3 and managed to get his shields down in a couple turns. Tel actually got Boba off and I only had 2 harpoons left to worry about! Joy!

The swarm realized it couldn't get to Fenn so it turned towards Guri, but I played range management well enough that he couldn't harpoon her, though he did sneak through a tracer and she had 3 or so TLs on her. Gotta be careful now. The swarm came in but I rolled towards them and 3 banked past every arc but one and shot him up a bit and finished him off next turn.

Now Guri was behind the swarm so they turned towards Fenn again, hoping to surprise him. I saw it coming and flew 5 straight, clearing the blocks by fractions of an inch and boosting out of any remaining arcs.

I think I made a mistake by K-turning Fenn because Blair was flipping the swarm around for another pass. Fenn had to 2 turn away and run the rest of the game as the swarm gave chase. A boost or barrel roll here and there and Attanni focus to stay alive--even straight up dodging a desperation harpoon at range 3 through a rock.

Time was running out and I had only killed 2 Zs, one with threads, and #3 with harpoons (the prick). That's 29 points killed, with 5 Zs angling for 32 point Fenn. I couldn't lose that way so I rolled back and turned right into the heart of the swarm with Guri. She finished off one more, ensuring the victory, and survived a couple of range 1 shots and a range 2.

Win: 42-0

Round 5: Ghost/Fenn. The standard one.

Time to put my theory to the test...

I clustered asteroids mainly in the middle to limit the Ghost's options. He deployed the Ghost in the middle, I took a corner, and his Fenn took the opposite.

The Ghost banked away towards his Fenn and I did 5 straight up the flank and boosted with my Fenn, while Guri and Tel flew parallel to my board edge to get in front of the Ghost.

Round 2 I got my Fenn into range 3 of his Ghost. With an Attanni focus already, Fenn had a choice. If I double focused he'd probably just boost his Ghost out of range, and I thought maybe a TL would be handy later so I gambled on it. As luck would have it, all 4 TLT shots missed and the Ghost was stressed.

Round 3 his Fenn decided to Fenn my Fenn so Fenn shot Fenn () instead of the range 3 Ghost with evade and jammer. It paid off with his shield taken at range 2 through a rock. Guri and Tel took a couple shields from the Ghost and the Ghost dinged Tel for 4 hits.

His Fenn was stressed and a 2 bank in either direction would put him on a rock. This was my chance. Guri and Fenn both moved to engage his Fenn and both ended up double focused when his Fenn landed at range 1 of both. No way around it, he was taking a modded shot from someone. He decided to save Fenn's ability, not sure if he was hoping that my Fenn would opt for the range 2 shot on the Ghot (not happening) or if it was just a mistake. I forgot to ask him after the game. Regardless, my Fenn probably screamed "THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!" and vaporized the imposter.

The battle, and the clarity of this battle report, just got a lot easier.

Tel took another shield from the Ghost, took 2 more TLTs, but miraculously managed to avoid the last 2, leaving the Ghost stressed and facing the board edge. Just about as perfect a turn as I could hope for.

Guri and Fenn pursued the Ghost, knowing Tel's time was short. Come on baby, hold together...a couple more shields stripped off the Ghost and Tel took 3 more hits and died.

My opponent rejoiced! And then remembered the reincarnation...

I had to get Guri out of the way so Tel could get a shot on his last turn, so no shot from Guri. Fenn had a range 2 shot through a rock and made the Ghost spend his evade. Tel had a range 3, hit/focus-->crit. The ghost had one shield and one agility die. Oh God, please don't roll an evade.

Blank.
Shield, crit--damaged sensor array.

BOBA!!! Bring me that title!

The lothal was now titleless, but killed Tel with his one (and only) TLT volley. Still, two aces untouched with autothrusters and focus vs a half dead VCX with no actions, no rear arc, and no ability to launch Zeb for support.

The rest of it unfolded as you'd expect. The lothal died fast, inflicting no damage, and Zeb popped out wounded. Fenn T-rolled behind Zeb, Guri gave him a focus, and kaboom.

Win: 100-34

Game 5: Expertise Rey/ Expertise, 3P0, tactician Lowhhrick

This was Gordon Pinkerton who had won the System Open in Portland the week before.

What do you hope to Boba in this list? 1 of 2 copies of expertise? Kanan? Finn? Engine? The problem with Rey is there's no one upgrade that makes her tick. (Spoiler alert: it didn't matter)

Gordon knows his list well and it has been tested and proven in high-level competitive play. I had exactly 0 practice games with my list before this event. I just played one of the very best players in the region--if not the country with a list he's been playing since at least October and followed that up with a matchup against the meta boogeyman.

I was in full on pumpkin mode, but I was having a blast and went in to the game riding high and hoping to keep a possibly tense game 6 light and fun.

I baited with Fenn and turned away when Rey tried to joust. The plan was to split her away from Lowhhrick and drag one down quickly. I went for an aggressive block with Guri, hoping to slip behind him while Fenn took the front, and no matter what, have one ace avoiding reinforce. Only I missed the block and took some damage.

The next turn I swung Guri behind Lowhhrick but then I got got. I didn't realize Kanan allowed Rey to do white maneuvers through debris and take no stress. She did, and boosted into range 1 of Guri and blasted her off the table.

Tel did have a moment of "glory", dropping debris on Rey's stupid face (no offense Daisy), but the dude could not roll a crit or focus to save either of his lives and he died. Fenn chased Lowhhrick and did what he could while Rey cleared her stress. She got back into the fight one turn sooner than I expected and Fenn got a damaged cockpit.

I tried for the K-turn to at least hope to trade dice with Rey for posterity, but it took Fenn off the table by a couple millimeters. Pumpkin mode.

Loss: 0-100

I ended up in 54th place (out of 155, I think), **** near the bottom of the 4-2s. My MoV was garbage. Two 0-100 losses, a 3 point win, and a win where I scored less than 50 off my opponent. Yikes.

But I was still thrilled with a 4-2 record with my "**** it, I'm flying what I want" list. And I got to kick a Ghost in the nuts, just like I hoped. I drove 1.5 hours back to Bellingham with a smile on my face.

Recap and lessons soon.

Congrats on having fun AND a winning record with what you wanted to fly!

5 hours ago, JohnBoo said:

Congrats on having fun AND a winning record with what you wanted to fly!

Thank you!

That's the first lesson I learned from my 3 week competitive run. Stick to what you love and what you know. It's better to fly what you enjoy flying than to fly what you think will be good.

Hey buddy!

I was the TIE Shuttle shenanigans player in Round 2.

I ended up needing to drop after Round 3 with a stupid back injury acting up and keeping me from bending over, etc., but I'm really glad to hear you went 4-2.

Glad we got to put both a Shuttle and a Viper on the table

Hope to see you around!

Oh no! I'm sorry you had to drop, I had actually wondered at one point. I usually try to check in with my opponents throughout the day to see how they're fairing and wish them luck on the next one. I just assumed I missed you in a room of 150+.

I loved your squad though! I wish I had offered you a more competitive game, though I did appreciate the opportunity to go get lunch.

Looking back at the battle, I think the wise choice would have been to cut Guri to my left to try to get around the formation while doing a 5 straight+boost with Fenn to hook around the back.

You had Guri's "shoulda" path covered with the TIE shuttle's tactician, but its attack wasn't really a threat beyond that. I was laser focused on killing QD fast but really I should've prioritized picking the shuttle off while Fenn led QD and Vess on a merry chase for a couple turns.

Break the synergy first, then drag down an ace. That's the lesson I (sorta) learned from our game. I say "sorta", because I lost game 6 with a very similar suicide dive from Guri.

Sometimes it takes me 2 attempts to learn a lesson.

Hope to see you around!

WELL done! And Nice list! Do you think AS is better than FCS on Guri? I’ve used AS on Thweek as I usually move last, and it lets me arc dodge like crazy, but moving at PS5 is a lot different... whats’s your experience?

P.S and if you take FCS and drop apl you can get a hull upgrade on tel, which is cool for having 2 extra lives

5 hours ago, RoockieBoy said:

WELL done! And Nice list! Do you think AS is better than FCS on Guri? I’ve used AS on Thweek as I usually move last, and it lets me arc dodge like crazy, but moving at PS5 is a lot different... whats’s your experience?

P.S and if you take FCS and drop apl you can get a hull upgrade on tel, which is cool for having 2 extra lives

Advanced sensors is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G on Guri. Particularly with Attanni. If she knows she won't be within range 1 of an enemy, or isn't sure, she can focus then move.

Beyond that, starvipers live and die by their unpredictably. Their wonky barrel rolls give them a lot of options. Their 7 post-maneuver positions are doubled to 14 options if they can begin their maneuvers in one of 7 spots, or skip it and move after.

I can confidently say that I wouldn't have beat Blair without adv sensors on Guri. In fact, I would contend that there is almost no greater single terror to generics than adv sensors Guri. She's got the best positioning advantage, immunity to blocking, and free focus on a whim.

PS 5 is literally the only thing holding her back, which I love because it keeps her below the power curve, but still powerful.

Honestly, I'd probably not run Tel on the future. His PS being higher than Guri was actually a detriment at times. He would fire while the shields are still up and this devalue Boba. I'd go Manaroo on the next go around.