Zion's Finest - Episode 048 - Learning Wisdom From His Foes

By kennydkbrown, in Imperial Assault Skirmish

Posted at
WORLDS REPORT!
Ben Varnum, who previously appeared on Zion's Finest in order to provide an AMAZING comparison of IA to Chess, is back to provide a Worlds report! Ben, who was running Han Rangers with some spy flavor, made top 32 in his first Worlds showing and THIRD organized play tournament.
Ben talks about his Worlds experience and how he approached solving the particular problems that were posed by running into an endless series of non-Vader lists. He then talks about what he wants to work on while we wait for Tyrants of Lothal. Ben talks a lot about how he approaches matches in terms of trying to force sub-optimal decisions on his opponents; it is awesome to consider and really helped sharpen my thoughts on trying to get opponents to squander resources in order to obtain material advtange.
For reasons passing my comprehension, there is a little bit of feedback on Ben's audio at points, but I was able to work it down so that you can continue to bask in the glory of his intelligence without too much distraction.
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Thanks, Kenny! The feedback was definitely due to my kittens trying to eat the headphone cord, especially during the reporting on the game with Brandon. I will definitely banish cats from the room on any future recording! Though I know that cat-ownership is still "a reason passing your comprehension."

It's fun to report in; I always forget a dozen things I wanted to flag (strat shift in a number of games, the way DT used Opportunistic to pull an EQuay around a wall before I could get a clear shot on it, the Vassal game log I kept leading up to Worlds), but mostly I think I just want to thank everyone at Worlds -- the players, the organizers and staff, all of it. Everyone I met seemed genuinely happy to include me in conversations and meals and side games, and the whole event had a great feel to it from start to finish.

The other big mention is how little rankings seem to matter -- I've played a lot of guys who didn't finish top 32 who are more experienced and have a firmer handle on the game than I do. I got lucky on a lot of my match-ups (mirror match on the first mission where an objective-stronger list like Vader would've given me tons of trouble; good match-up round two, playing against an opponent who hadn't had time to train the new map, never seeing Vader, etc). You've always still got to capitalize, but I had a pretty lucky string.

The whole experience rekindled my desire to build up the tournament scene around me in Omaha, and I'm excited to plan for Worlds next year!