Yep, you read that right, triple reapers!
The List:
Major Vermeil (49)
Ruthless (1)
Scarif Base Pilot (41)
Scarif Base Pilot (41)
Death Troopers (6)
“Echo” (50)
Ruthless (1)
Admiral Sloane (10)
Total: 199
View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0
First, thank you to Mynocks for putting on a fantastic tourney. Loot for each win, ton of raffles, catered lunch, lots of space, and well organized. Good job!!!
The Build:
Sloane is the best upgrade in the game, but finding a good carrier is hard to come by. Lambdas are slow and clunky, reapers are fast but weak when caught. Echo though, is elusive, token stacked, and still packs a punch. When I first read the Sloane card before 2.0 was released, I instantly put Echo with Sloane + 6 academies. My brother and I have been testing Echo as a sloane carrier for his list for a few weeks now and Echo just never dies. If you need to run, she can run. If someone gets stressed, she can turn and pounce on them instantly.
I never thought to fly reapers until a local player here flew three named ones against me with Sloane,Vader,0-0-0,7th Sis,deathtroopers as the crew. It was tough and although I barely pulled out the win, it could have went either way. It was Sloane and deathtroopers that just made things difficult.
So...I scrapped all that other crew on the reapers and kept Sloane and Deathroopers.
The PS1 Reapers are meant to get in close and jam and block, and with all their HP, I thought ruthless would generate offense for Vermeil and Echo. Most people want to not kill a ship until Sloane is dead, so if they are hunting Echo, Vermeil can take advantage of all the PS1 Reaper hull.
Life has been crazy busy right now, so I only got 1 live practice match in and a couple online matches.
On to the Mynock Open
Each win gets you a different prize, so playing all your games actually means something. I think everyone wanted at least 3 wins for the holographic Maul card. 4 wins gets you some Mynock target locks. All the 5-1s and 6-0s move on to day 2 cut where template prizes, range rulers, dice, and the grand prize of a free flight to any other major Xwing event.
Match 1 vs Whisper/Rexlar/Seyn Marana
I flew straight for Rexlar, if I can take out his 88pts he would then have to take out two reapers to beat me. This match was almost decided on first engagement. Partly my fault for flying Echo a bit too close to the action, but mostly just dumb dice luck. Opponent boosted Rexlar into range 3 of Echo, and barrel rolled Whisper into range 3 of Echo and through a debris. He fires with whisper and gets 3 natty hits. I roll 4 green dice and get 2 blanks and 2 eyeballs, needed to spend both evade and focus to not take a hit. Rexlar fires, again with zero offensive mods and gets 3 natty hits. I roll 3 greens and get 3 blanks. 3 hits go through and rexlar flips over blinded pilot. After this lopsided round, I now have to run Echo away all game, sometimes wasting my reapers actions for coordinating Echo so he is always cloaked with focus evade.
Opponent cant hit Echo. Reapers get some damage on Seyn. I Jam Rexlar, and fire with Vermeil and a PS1 Reaper and Rexlar rolls double natty evades both times to take no damage. ugh. He is getting Rexlar the **** out of dodge and I let Rex go and finish off Seyn. Whisper gives up on Echo and starts putting damage in on the Reapers. I get Whisper in range 2 of both Reapers, but Whisper barrel rolls out of arc on 1 reaper. All he has is his evade and I have Vermeil at range 3 and a PS1 reaper at range 1. I do zero damage! Didnt even make him spend his evade. Ugh.
At this point two reapers are half points, and Im losing. I need to get those final two damage on Whisper for half points. Time is running out, My Reapers have to sloop and whisper books it for Echo and Vermeil across the map. Rex and Whisper get some damage in on Vermeil and he is now halved. Time runs out.
I didnt lose a ship, just three reapers halved. The dice variance was killer in this game. I learned not to even risk Echo getting shot early. That kept him out of the entire match and wasted valuable actions keeping him alive. Lesson learned.
Match 2 vs Scum Swarm (Drea,Torkhil, 2 quads, 2 Zs)
I spread out. 2 ps1 reapers together flying along my edge and Vermeil and Echo going up right side, while the swarm came from the left side. We spent maybe 20-30 minutes maneuvering. I got Vermeil behind his swarm, Echo flanking, and the reapers towards the bottom. He had to pick one of three directions. He chose the ps1 reapers and Vermeil came in from behind. I got half on a quadjumper, then next round he tractor beams and hurts the ps1 reaper bad. Drea was stressed from gunner and in both ps1 reapers arcs, but Echo was too far away from reapers to benefit from sloane, so with all guns on Torkhil, I take him out instead.
And having Echo too far out was my mistake and lesson learned in this game. The ps1 reaper dies next round, and Echo is not range 3, so no double stress, ugh. I injure another Quadjumper. Next round my ps1 reaper is trapped from the swarm and takes a bunch of damage. Echo fails a decloak as Im 1mm to close to Vermeil. Another big mistake. Its the last round of the game and I need to kill a quad. Now all I really got is Vermeil. I roll my dice and whiff.
Its a close game, and I made too many mistakes. Maybe some practice matches before this tourney would have helped!!!
So, two losses already, and Im out of the day 2 cut. But not from the Maul card. Woo, motivation.
Match 3 vs PS4 TIE Swarm
Local player that has flown nothing but TIE swarms for years and years and every tournament we both are at, we always have been matched up. Now with 160 people, we get matched up again.
I place tight rocks in the center of the map. TIEs come down right side and I aileron around the center rocks, then begin self blocking my reapers to slow them down. I coordinate the lead one to stress him so he cant aileron and just ram the others into him. This forces my opponent to kturn all the TIEs. As soon as I see this I Aileron Vermeil away from self bumping and towards the swarm. He gets range 3 and puts 2 damage on the inside TIE. The ties bank and fire at ps1 reaper. Vermeil sloops behind the Ties and Echo moves in. The hurt TIE is a goner and I begin on Howl. My ps1 reaper blocks the entire swarm and Howl drops. I keep that reaper there just bumping and creating an obstacle for the TIEs and Vermeil and Echo just pick the TIEs apart. The PS1 Reapers are just ruthless caddies at this point and Vermeil and Echo are get nothing but hits. Ruthless is mean when it works.
WIN. Finally. I kept Echo in range of every body, and began actually flying the reapers properly. Im getting the hang of this.
Match 4: Guri, Boba, two escape shuttles
Local player I play pretty much every Wednesday night. I drove 5 hours to play people I see all the time. wtf.
So, this game starts off as a doozy. I fly a reaper off the board. Just when I thought I was getting the hang of this list. Now I gotta be super aggressive and try and take guri out. I zoom in and jam guri. The escape shuttle coordinates a boost two her and then she calcs removing the jam. I wasnt expecting the boost, and it blocks Vermeil who now gets no shots on guri. Luckily Echo is range 1 of Guri and so is the PS1 reaper. Guri fires and rolls lots of eyeballs and he spends the focus, forcing me to spend the evade and focus. Echo fires and gets 3 hits and a blank and I ruthless for the 4th hit. Guri with no tokens takes 4 damage!!!! Vermail shoots the escape shuttle and one shots it to death (I love Vermeil) My range 1 ps reaper on Guri fires and gets 3 hits!!! Guri rolls 3 natty evades!!! Argh! Guri lives and Echo is hurting and cant cloak with Boba on her ***. I want to sloop vermeil next round but Echo needs help. I instead just bank my reapers and coordinate a cloak for Echo, then a barrel roll (there was a rock in front of echo). Now echo can move and evade. Boba turns and just puts massive hurt on Vermeil, who is stressed and cant turn around now. Its all over next round. I get super aggressive with Echo thinking my opponent is going to bank with Boba and Echo will be out of arc with a range 1 shot. Instead Boba sharp turns and Echo is now range 1 in arc and dies.
LOSS
Eeeek. 1-3. Not looking good for my Maul card.
Match 5 vs Supernatty Luke, Sabine, Blount, Arvyl
No more mistakes, damnit. Really, Im getting the hang of these reapers, I swear.
I keep my reapers together this time. Luke fires a proton torp at a ps1 reapers and only manages to take 1 shield. Woo hoo. Next round I land ps1 reaper in front of sabine and Arvyl and jam Sabine. Luke torps Vermeil and gets 4 crits. ouchie. Vermeil fires at tokenless Sabine and she takes 3 damage. Vermeil dies and blount gets double stressed. ps1 reaper finishes off Sabine.
Echo is hanging out in the back and moves in. My ps1 reapers sloop behind Blount. Arvyl boost into range 1 of a reaper and Echo and Reaper take shots at Aryyl while I got them and drop him to 1 hull. Arvyl is stressed and I keep my deathtroopers near him so he cant lose it while I focus on Blount. Luke is plinking away at my reapers in the meantime. Blount finally drops and my ps1 reaper is getting hurt. Last round and Echo has to kill Arvyl before Arvyl kills my 2 hull reaper. Echo fires and gets Arvyl. Game set match.
WIN!! 2-3 record
Match 6 vs Dutch w/ torps, Wulf, Biggs, Rex
Hmmm, I know I dont want torps coming at me with Dutch, that is key. I fly like I did against the TIE Swarm match and fly around center rock and self bump. I notice dutch is in a position where a rock is blocking his 2 and 3 bank and move in with the reapers. I zoom in to block his squad, but he changes targets toward Vermeil. Rex is blocking where Vermeil was going to go, so I aileron over a debris cloud to get a range 1 shot on Biggs who target locked instead of focused (turning on Vermeils ability). Echo also has a range 3 shot on Biggs. So, Vermeil fires at Biggs for 2 hits and 2 eyeballs. Without a focus I vermeil one to a hit and ruthless a ps1 reaper for another. 4 hits and Biggs eats three of them. Echo fires and I get hit, eye, blank and spend focus and ruthless the ps1 reaper again for 3 hits. Biggs eats them all and dies. Next round dutch is range 1 of Vermeil. Echo sharp turns and misses Dutches arc by a mm so I barrel roll to get a range 1 shot. Wullf and Dutch drop Vermeil to 2hull remaining. Vermeil fires on Dutch and I ruthless the ps1 reaper AGAIN! for 4 hits on Dutch. Echo fires range 1 and I ruthless Vermeil for 4 hits on Dutch and Dutch dies. Rex fires at Vermeil with only 1 hull now and kills him, causing Rex to be double stressed! Echo gets behind Wulf and its all over. I take out Wulf while Rex is shedding his stress, then Echo takes out Rex.
WIN!
CONCLUSION:
I get the Maul holographic card! woo hoo. I end with a 3-3 record. Not too bad for a list I only flew once before the tourney. I probably should have taken something I was more comfortable with, but this list is so **** fun to fly.
Deathtroopers only played a part in the Arvyl match. I think it can get dropped from the list, freeing up 6pts. That allows all three reapers to have tactical officer for white coordinates, or maybe Kallus instead to help the offensive output of the reapers. Or swap out 1 reaper for Saabac. One problem I noticed is the reapers take to long to die usually, so Im not getting the full effect of sloane early on. Sabaac has a shorter lifespan and can help the offensive output of the list. List has serious potential. Gotta tweek it a bit.
Echo as a Sloane carrier is the way to go. She only died in one match, and that is only because I was way behind in points flying a reaper off the board and had to be really aggressive. Otherwise, she lives.
THE LOOT:
