22 hours ago, Sunitsa said:

Flanking as general plan which often becomes a joust at some point.

I don't slam often, usually only if I can disengage safely after taking damage and have the chance to discard a damage card with r5 to not being halved or to get back his ability.

Speaking of r5, being basically forced to do it as first action of the game doesn't suit well with his flanking potential since I often would have preferred to slam or barrel as first action.

I never used explosion with wings.

I have played against mostly not aces lists with plenty of generics ranging from ps 1 to 3 which often means a single unlucky attack is enough to either disable him forever or to keep him out of the game for a couple of turns

A couple of pages back I wrote down my argument for Kaz over RSE. That post is basically the day I "found" that list and decided on it.

I kinda still stand by it. To me the biggest benefit is that for the same points I get the same damage output but get a nice bullet magnet that people won't ignore like they ignored the RSE in the previous version of the list. I think my luck plays a big part because with 3 green dice and Heroic I got a ridiculous amount of utility out of Kaz ability.

The only new argument that I would add is that the One Hard is pure filth in a knife fight. Only time I used Explosion With Wings is to One Hard into One Hard. That takes people completely by surprise.

Yeah in the right list I can see Kaz being way more useful (for example, I like him with rey) and in yours it's a nice "biggs" for bastian (while bastian could be the same for Kaz)

What I find hard to enjoy is that Kaz can be crippled by a single lone shot on first engagement.

I'm less and less interested in named t70s thought, they are pretty expansive and lack Heroic which is something I found I want to have on all my ships to maximize the morale effect it has on my opponent

Yeah but thats all I need him for. I basically only play Resistance and its only at league nights and major tournaments that I play X-Wing at all so I don't need a lot of lists.

Its this list for when I try hard in Hyperspace tournaments, Rey/Kaz/Lulu in Extended, 5A when I am teaching myself to be a better player and then Poe + something when I am entertaing new players.

But I did recently have a mental exercise. What would I change about this list to make it completely broken. If I had a magic wand how would I turn this list into Quad Phantoms levels of broken. It was a nice way to see what the list is missing and what it's drawbacks are.

1) Give Bastian a Talent Slot and give him Heroic. Yes I agree both him and Pava suffer from lack of Heroic, Bastian even more so because Pava can always just reroll on defence. Your 3Blacks list is the only beef list I might like more than my version, but it's so hard to let go of Pava and Bastian.

2) Give Cova M9-G8 and make it Hyperspace legal. Gives Kaz the all important reroll and another source of double mods.

3) Change Pavas ability to 1-2 to free up the need for formation flying.

Those three to me are the weakness of this list. No double mods on Kaz, Pava forcing formation flying and Bastian running the risk of blanking out on defence.

1 hour ago, Flurpy said:

and then Poe + something when I am entertaining new players.

Huh, I don’t think new players find it very entertaining when I play Poe.

11 minutes ago, gennataos said:

Huh, I don’t think new players find it very entertaining when I play Poe.

well thats my secret. I am **** ace player, so its fun for them to catch an ace in 3 arcs

My Extended list has M9-G8 on Cova to lock Kaz with and it turns him into an absolute beast.

14 hours ago, Waldorf28 said:

My Extended list has M9-G8 on Cova to lock Kaz with and it turns him into an absolute beast.

do you have Leia as well? If so - that's a real points Pinata

I do and it is, but you'd be amazed how many people leave her alone. Especially since she can do the bulk of her early to mid-game job without leaving the deployment zone. Neither of her abilities require range control over the initial lock.

I usually put Bastian out front and they go for him while Kaz and Zizi put the damage through.

Well then. I got to name this archetype on Meatwing. Thats one more strike off the X-wing bucket list

On 3/25/2020 at 2:46 AM, Flurpy said:

Well then. I got to name this archetype on Meatwing. Thats one more strike off the X-wing bucket list

What's Meatwing, sounds like a game I want to play.

22 hours ago, Rettere said:

What's Meatwing, sounds like a game I want to play.

In case youre not joking

https://meta.listfortress.com/

Its just a site that collects tournament data

I mean, there was also that typo. Metawing. Meatwing. Etc, etc.

On 3/26/2020 at 10:44 AM, Rettere said:

What's Meatwing, sounds like a game I want to play.

Oooooooh.... I mean, beer-wing is excellent, but can you imagine Bacon-Wing!?!?!?!?! Or Beer&Bacon-Wing?!?!?! ****** this covid ****!

Lately we have been playing PizzaWing and WingWing in Alameda, CA - meeting at Domino's and ordering wings. Before COVID, of course.

I miss PizzaWing.

On 3/27/2020 at 6:44 PM, theBitterFig said:

I mean, there was also that typo. Metawing. Meatwing. Etc, etc.

O God **** it. We'll I'm now leaving that typo because it's funny.

Kaz's Jousters: A season in review.

Well this post is like a month late. I would like to say I had important stuff to do but I spent it drinking and painting Legion. Did you know you could legally fit 48 B1 Droid in Legion and still have enough room for Grievous AND a Big Bad
(either Dooku or the tank)? I love it. Always wanted to run a horde but didn't want to paint it. The contrast paints are a godsend.

Anyway. I'll do it like this, instead of battle reporting every win I had which is just a string of "Resistance Beef goes one forward brrr brrr" I'll focus on my losses and what they taught me about Resistance, since you learn from failure much more than from success.

In total I played 28 competitive games of X-Wing this season across 4 events. In addition to that I played a local league but that doesn't count for reasons I will get into. I won 23 games and lost 5 games, making this probably my most successful season.

The List and how to fly:

Event name: UK System Open
Swiss Results: 6:0 finished 2/450-ish people
Cut Results: Top 32

The Game:

I lost in the Top 32 against a Droid Swarm. Of all the games on this list this is the one I feel bad about the most. This list has a massive edge against swarm lists and I failed to exploit that. In general, I noticed that as long as you can range control against swarms you have the upper hand. With only 4 ships you have a smaller footprint and generally the ability to move after all their ships. This will result in you picking where the engagement happens and more importantly how many ships participate in it. With the opponent having between 6 and 8 ships in most cases if they are firing with all of their ships, you failed. As I did here. The opponent baited me with 2 ships I took the bait, over-committed and ended up in a situation where all of our ships are firing. In that situation it devolves into a game of dice. My opponent went on to lose the Top 16 in a close game against FOcho.

The lesson:

I don't play enough. Simple as that. I am a naturally talkative person so I tend to engage my opponent in chit chat to get a feel for the person. What I did notice is that I tend to lose to people that play more than me. It's usually people that play once a week and play a tournament once a month. I don't. I don't prepare for tournaments and I don't practice. I hate playing online and I don't have anyone to play with locally that I can practice with. Most of the people playing locally are only just starting so there is no purpose to me bringing a tournament list when we play. So I list built on Fly Casual and hope for the best. This is not optimal. So yeah lesson #1. Good players become good by sucking at enough matches.

Event Name: Road to Lima Open (TTS Tournament)
Swiss Results: 5:0 finished 1/48
Cut Results: Top 4

The game:

Yeah you read that right, Kaz's Jousters went undefeated two events in a row in Swiss. One was premier and the other as close to possible in South America. Top 4 was a game against Boba Fenn, and boy oh boy what a game. In general, I feel people joust me because I sound like an idiot. No, let me explain, it makes sense. I have been told on multiple occasions that I gave off a "Legally Blond" vibe, and that they were surprised that there is functional brain hidden behind that thicc Ivan Drago accent and clumsy personality. So I think when people see me they just think to themselves I'll joust him and be over with it. That's the only way it makes sense. That's the only way I can explain Boba Fenn players jousting me. Anyway they jousted me. I lost. Yeah, I could go into detail where I played wrong but it doesn't matter. I was gifted a massively beneficial situation and I lost. They went on to win the tournament.

The lesson:

Sometimes dice just **** you. If I had to replay the game, I still would have jousted them head on It's a dice game, and believe me I know I have won a fair share of my games on dice alone but I also lost some of them on dice alone. I think it's important to recognize when extreme dice happen and more importantly to not blame them for the loss but take it on the chin. Furthermore its even more important to not think you played well just because you won on dice. Its massively important to recognize those matches where you played correctly and lost, and played incorrectly and won. I've had matches where I won on dice alone and the key is still understanding you played wrong, understand why you played wrong, and make sure to not repeat the same mistake because dice won't save you next time. So lesson#2 is don't let dice variance trick you into learning the wrong lesson from a particular game .

Event Name: Mandalorian Open (TTS Tournament)
Swiss Result: 3:1 finished 4/20 (huehuehu I am a child )
Cut result: Winner

The game:

I wasn't intending on including such a small tournament but its basically the cream of the crop as far as the Balkan region is considered, all the local XTC captains showed up and all the local good players. For example the person I lost to here played Top 16 of last years Euros. They played Zizi, Lulu, Kaz and Nien with a bid so worst case scenario for me, four ships moving after me. Slowly and surely I got dismantled and isolated, they really took their time, using each and every one of my mistakes to slowly move my ships out of position and then kill them when they were isolated. The end results was closer than it appeared, but they went on to claim the win comfortably. As far as the rest of the tournament goes, they lost in the final. To me. And that is the lesson.

The lesson:

3# Never lose another game in the same way. After losing in Swiss we missed each other in the cut until the final table. They once again played a really great game, but they made one single mistake. They played the same game. Having absorbed the strategy from the first game, I changed and adjusted. Kept my ships close to the edge, close to each other and took no risks, choosing to keep them protected and overlapping over them baiting me with better shoots. And it worked. Its probably the single best game of X-Wing I ever played. But that is the point, without learning from my failure in Swiss I would have never won, I also think I do not win if they doesn't play the exact same game as the first match.

Event Name: Rome Space Jam (TTS Tournament)
Swiss Result: 4:2 finished 30-something/148-ish
Cut result: haha no I suck , 5:1 was needed for the cut

The game:

Imperial ******* aces. Man was this guy good, I think this was the ugliest game I lost since I started 2.0, it ended up 200:21 for them, complete massacre. They out-flew me, out-diced me, outmaneuvered me and outplayed me. It was a classical ace dismantling a bad player match. So, I would like to focus on one single ship and why Resistance isn't winning Premier level events. Duchess.

The Lesson:

#4 Poe is over-costed and dragging Resistance down because of it (with apologies to @gennataos ). Its super obvious I modeled Kaz's Jousters after Rebel Beef and the more I play my list the more I realize what made that list a monster. It wasn't the efficiency (I would rather take Cova/Pava/Bastian than Casian/Braylen/Ten), it wasn't Leia (**** this list has a Leia) and it wasn't Wedges ability (my list hits harder). It was the I6. That simple one digit number made the difference. Because it meant auto death to Duchess, it meant auto death to Guri, it meant auto death to Boba. You know that one scene in Indiana Jones where the dude waves his swords around for half a minute and then Indy shoots him. Yeah that is Wedge looking at a double reposition I5. The only ship in Resistance which is an I6 is Poe, and my God is he over-costed. There is a list I feel is good enough and its currently just above 200 points. Poe, Finn, Kaz and Cova. Maybe if that one becomes legal. Until then and until Poe can get some friends next to him that can do the legwork we are doomed to play second fiddle to whoever is the big winner of the meta. Speaking of meta.

The game:

I hate Sloan with the passion of a thousand suns. How is this not a meta staple, why arent more people flying it? Reaper with Sloane, 4 Tie Fighters and 2 generic Tie Interceptors (yes I lost to a non Soontir Interceptor) A lot of what went wrong is quite similar to the first match described here, I lost to a better player who managed to get the first engagement better than me. So the lesson will be one of list building.

The Lesson:

An astute reader will know that Space Jam is an extended tournament and my list is a hyperspace list. Yes, I went with a knife to a gun fight, partially because I am an idiot who thought the tournament was Hyperspace, but even if I knew that I would have taken it because I thought I could win a gun fight with a knife. You cant. So the lesson #5 is you cant win a game just because you want it more. The limitations imposed on each tournament are there for a reason, if you intend to do well or even win you have to stretch you list to the absolute limit, and not stop halfway at some imaginary line imposed by yourself. Use all the tools available to you, at least in list building. Slow play and cheating are a **** move. This all can be ignored if you are a savant that knows how to fly a specific list perfectly. Most of us are not.

Summary:

So there it is, a season in X-Wing. Started with grandiose plans and ended with an global pandemic. What I learned in general is that I reached a point where I lose to players who most people would consider "top" tier and not much else. Mostly its me losing because I do not play enough to learn, but there is also the fact that Kazs Jousters is a small time bully list. Its fine for getting to the cut, but it has no chance in the cut. So for next season I am going back to the drawing board and intend to build a list specifically designed to win cut games, and to "thoughts and prayers" its way through Swiss. Will I be successful? No, but it will probably result in some interesting posts in here and in the Rey thread.

3 hours ago, Flurpy said:

Poe is over-costed and dragging Resistance down because of it (with apologies to @gennataos ). Its super obvious I modeled Kaz's Jousters after Rebel Beef and the more I play my list the more I realize what made that list a monster. It wasn't the efficiency (I would rather take Cova/Pava/Bastian than Casian/Braylen/Ten), it wasn't Leia (**** this list has a Leia) and it wasn't Wedges ability (my list hits harder). It was the I6. That simple one digit number made the difference. Because it meant auto death to Duchess, it meant auto death to Guri, it meant auto death to Boba. You know that one scene in Indiana Jones where the dude waves his swords around for half a minute and then Indy shoots him. Yeah that is Wedge looking at a double reposition I5. The only ship in Resistance which is an I6 is Poe, and my God is he over-costed. There is a list I feel is good enough and its currently just above 200 points. Poe, Finn, Kaz and Cova. Maybe if that one becomes legal. Until then and until Poe can get some friends next to him that can do the legwork we are doomed to play second fiddle to whoever is the big winner of the meta. Speaking of meta.

Hah, no need to apologize to me . I'd be happy to see Poe get a points drop and more wing-mate options!

I do play Poe primarily for fluff/preference/whatever, but him being an I6 is a large part of the reason I like him. There's always been an I5 boogeyman in the meta for him to hunt.

6 hours ago, Flurpy said:

Anyway. I'll do it like this, instead of battle reporting every win I had which is just a string of "Resistance Beef goes one forward brrr brrr" I'll focus on my losses and what they taught me about Resistance, since you learn from failure much more than from success.

Thank you for writing this! I'm not a Resistance player myself, and I found your post and insights really valuable -- I think they're broadly applicable elsewhere, and helpful for improving as players in general.

6 hours ago, Flurpy said:

The only ship in Resistance which is an I6 is Poe, and my God is he over-costed.

*edit* I put Harrison here as a joke... but could Han/Cova/Kaz/(Finn or Rose or Jarek) work? 65 for Han without upgrades isn't that expensive.

6 hours ago, Flurpy said:

yes I lost to a non Soontir Interceptor

Don't worry about it.

"Alpha Interceptors are bad" is one of the silliest, most baseless "truths" in X-Wing. Mathematically, these things are nearly identical to Strikers, and Strikers are commonly acknowledged to be solid ships. But there's this myth, "Oh, if an Interceptor isn't Soontir, it's so very, very bad."

5 hours ago, theBitterFig said:

*edit* I put Harrison here as a joke... but could Han/Cova/Kaz/(Finn or Rose or Jarek) work? 65 for Han without upgrades isn't that expensive.

Don't worry about it.

"Alpha Interceptors are bad" is one of the silliest, most baseless "truths" in X-Wing. Mathematically, these things are nearly identical to Strikers, and Strikers are commonly acknowledged to be solid ships. But there's this myth, "Oh, if an Interceptor isn't Soontir, it's so very, very bad."

I legitimately forgot Han existed. Now that you mentioned it, he definitely should be thrown in as an idea, since he iss a couple of points cheaper than basic Poe.

Han Solo (Resistance) (65)
Heroic (1)
Rey's Millennium Falcon (2)

Ship total: 68 Half Points: 34 Threshold: 6

Cova Nell (38)
Heroic (1)
Leia Organa (Resistance) (17)

Ship total: 56 Half Points: 28 Threshold: 4

Kazuda Xiono (40)
Heroic (1)
R5 Astromech (4)

Ship total: 45 Half Points: 23 Threshold: 3

Finn (29)
Heroic (1)

Ship total: 30 Half Points: 15 Threshold: 2


Total: 199

Hmmmm. To the brainstorming list you go.

5 hours ago, Flurpy said:

I legitimately forgot Han existed. Now that you mentioned it, he definitely should be thrown in as an idea, since he iss a couple of points cheaper than basic Poe.

Han Solo (Resistance) (65)
Heroic (1)
Rey's Millennium Falcon (2)

Ship total: 68 Half Points: 34 Threshold: 6

Cova Nell (38)
Heroic (1)
Leia Organa (Resistance) (17)

Ship total: 56 Half Points: 28 Threshold: 4

Kazuda Xiono (40)
Heroic (1)
R5 Astromech (4)

Ship total: 45 Half Points: 23 Threshold: 3

Finn (29)
Heroic (1)

Ship total: 30 Half Points: 15 Threshold: 2


Total: 199

Hmmmm. To the brainstorming list you go.

I feel like I'd be more inclined to R4 Cova than Heroic Han. 3 red dice will rarely trigger it, and 1 green die won't, so it's only for Han's Range 3 or obstructed defense. Just doesn't seem worth. Meanwhile, R4 can spare Leia's force sometimes while keeping Cova in actions and bonus dice.

It's not super important, just a preference.

1 hour ago, theBitterFig said:

I feel like I'd be more inclined to R4 Cova than Heroic Han. 3 red dice will rarely trigger it, and 1 green die won't, so it's only for Han's Range 3 or obstructed defense. Just doesn't seem worth. Meanwhile, R4 can spare Leia's force sometimes while keeping Cova in actions and bonus dice.

It's not super important, just a preference.

I an physically unable to not put Heroic on a ship. I am sorry. Its a sickness. The moment I do I roll 3 blanks on a 3 dice ship.

In lieu of a points update, I guess I bring back some tweaks to this. I'm not sure why I never considered L'ulo in place of a BB rookie, other than the excitement of rehashing a 2.0 version of my best 1.0 squad. Zizi never felt right, but maybe the potential 3-die gun of L'ulo would feel better. I guess I'll find out next time I play...

Poe Dameron (68)
Heroic (1)
R4 Astromech (2)
Integrated S-Foils (0)

Blue Squadron Rookie (42)
BB Astromech (1)
Integrated S-Foils (0)

Blue Squadron Rookie (42)
BB Astromech (1)
Integrated S-Foils (0)

L’ulo L’ampar (43)
Total: 200

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0

So, looking through the early posts in this thread for inspiration, I saw someone saying that giving Snap the Composure talent would be somehow beneficial, as he could choose to fail his free Boost action and get a Focus action in return. But... why not just complete a Focus action instead? Composure requires that you skip any additional action in the turn, so there seems to be zero benefit here, unless Snap accidentally fails a Boost, which, I mean, just don’t do that, right?

Help me see why Composure is good on Snap.

4 minutes ago, Cpt ObVus said:

So, looking through the early posts in this thread for inspiration, I saw someone saying that giving Snap the Composure talent would be somehow beneficial, as he could choose to fail his free Boost action and get a Focus action in return. But... why not just complete a Focus action instead? Composure requires that you skip any additional action in the turn, so there seems to be zero benefit here, unless Snap accidentally fails a Boost, which, I mean, just don’t do that, right?

Help me see why Composure is good on Snap.

It used to allow him to get a free focus from his boost and follow up with a target lock. A rule change killed this interaction so now there is no reason to take it.