3 hours ago, player2422845 said:

It is funny because I am not interested about the competitive play because of all the NPE and hate, but you guys sounds like amazing people I would enjoy competing with. Thanks for sharing with us how kind and fair play those events can be.

If you have the opportunity, you owe it to yourself to come out to a system open or similar event. Don't let the internet forums (or heaven help you, twitch chat) give you the wrong idea about competition X-wing. It's staggering how friendly, welcoming, and fun-loving the community is. I can't promise you won't have to play a quad phantom list in round 1, but I can promise that almost everyone there will go out of their way to help everyone else have a good time. I had never played in any event larger than a store championship before going to Toronto for the System Open in February. I was blown away by the community. Dude, I'm hooked.

As for tips, especially for newer players at competitive events:

1. Don't be afraid to call a judge! The judges are there to prevent hard feelings. I can remember the first time I called a judge at a 25 player Store Champs and feeling like I was being a jerk somehow because my opponent and I couldn't agree. That's not how it works at all. Judges are a neutral voice that provide an invaluable service at these events by moderating disagreements without creating hard feelings. Use them. Thank them. And...
2. Don't argue with the freaking judge! Difficult arc check? Call the judge. Don't like the way they rule it? Tough. They are the Senate. For card interactions, if you really, really must you can call over the Marshall but then understand the Marshall is always right. Always. Even when they are wrong. Just understand that, at that event, the Marshall is a force of nature. Nobody with any sense stands in front of a glacier and rages at it.

TL:DR Don't argue with your opponent, call a judge. Don't argue with the judge, just don't.

1. Get all your stuff together the day before.

2. Get a good night's sleep.

3. At least take water and a piece of fruit.

4. Personally I prefer a fist-bump.

5. Sit down when you get the chance.

6. Play to win by all means, but - and I can't stress this enough - you're pushing plastic ships around a table. It's not the end of the world.

7. But it does suck when you lose. Shake their hand, wish them well, and move on.

I have not done all these things in the past, and regretted it.

7 hours ago, player2422845 said:

It is funny because I am not interested about the competitive play because of all the NPE and hate, but you guys sounds like amazing people I would enjoy competing with. Thanks for sharing with us how kind and fair play those events can be.

Even at a major event that most everyone is bringing the most efficient list (list that could be considered NPE), the community as a whole is awesome. Even before I stopped playing 1.0 due to NPE that was the Sabine/Bombs/K-Wing suck, the people playing them were still awesome, they were just preparing for system/regional/worlds and were needing to prep and try to do well.

7 hours ago, gamblertuba said:

Don't be afraid to call a judge!

To add on little more on to this, call a judge early, and don't be afraid to call often, especially if there is a dedicated judge (or two) for the event. If you have a maneuver that goes through a lot of ships, call a judge to help rather than calling a judge when something gets bumped. Judges are there to help, let them - even if you just need an extra pair of hands, call a judge.

Also, remember spectator rules. No talking to players in a game about that game unless you are a tournament official. (That's a written down rule so I cheated, but hey)

7 minutes ago, Do I need a Username said:

(That's a written down rule so I cheated, but hey)

This is probably a good place to talk about the basic written rules that people consistently forget or don't read as well.

Example is the rules for playing through the final round of the game, thats one new players often learn the hard way.

11 hours ago, player2422845 said:

It is funny because I am not interested about the competitive play because of all the NPE and hate, but you guys sounds like amazing people I would enjoy competing with. Thanks for sharing with us how kind and fair play those events can be.

I’m constantly shocked by the level of awesomeness in the community. Sure, there are a few bad apples here and there, but by and large this community has been full of fantastic folks and the good to bad ratio is far better than other competitive environments I have been involved in.

asking to see a Players Dial mid game at a critical juncture to see what moves you can do... but that may be just one of my PET peeves...

asking to see a Players Dial mid game at a critical juncture to see what moves you can do... but that may be just one of my PET peeves... Also if Vader is in your list you are REQUIRED to Quote him at every instance...

34 minutes ago, Swedge said:

asking to see a Players Dial mid game at a critical juncture to see what moves you can do... but that may be just one of my PET peeves... Also if Vader is in your list you are REQUIRED to Quote him at every instance...

In fact, just quote everything you can. Flying Grievous and seeing Jedi across the table? Awesome! Vader? Even better! I think Great Shot Jansen is one of my favs. But I fly Palpatine so all is gravy

Play a clean game. By that I mean, don't play sloppy. Get the templates flush in between the nubs, show and talk your way through your actions/maneuvers/choices out loud so your opponent can follow your process.

For example: "Vader is going to 3 bank in [complete maneuver]. Then we'll Afterburner straight, [make the move, and flip a charge] spend a Force for a Lock on Wedge, [measure Range and place the Lock] and a second Force for a Barrel Roll to the right [do the BR and flip two Force tokens]."

Deal damage clearly and crits should be read out loud too.

Mark your ships with crit tokens!

Speaking of clean games:

Hands off the dials at all times unless its to clear them from the path of a ship or it's the start of the round and you're setting maneuvers and the next phase has not begun. Feel free to check and double and triple check your dials until you thumbs up each other.

Do Not touch your opponent's dials at tournaments unless you have permission to.

13 hours ago, Force Majeure said:

Play a clean game. By that I mean, don't play sloppy. Get the templates flush in between the nubs, show and talk your way through your actions/maneuvers/choices out loud so your opponent can follow your process.

For example: "Vader is going to 3 Talon Roll in [complete maneuver]. Stress. [Place stress token down] Then we'll Afterburner straight, [make the move, and flip a charge] spend a Force for a Lock on Wedge, [measure Range and place the Lock] and a second Force for a Barrel Roll to the right [do the BR and flip two Force tokens]."

Deal damage clearly and crits should be read out loud too.

Mark your ships with crit tokens!

The other side of this communicating to you opponent when you know what's going on. Sure, you can use the 1-straight and then the 3-straight, but I've played against TIE strikers before, so I'm fine with you just using the 5 when nothing is in the way.

(BTW, taking the lock and the BR in your example is illegal)

In addition to the tips about hydrating and eating, I'd recommend stretching a bit before the event. I had a Hyperspace event over the weekend that drew 43 people and ran 6 rounds before the cut; it was the largest event I've been to yet. I showed up at 9AM and left at about 8:30PM (didn't make the cut). The constant sitting, and then being hunched over a bit while seated (that may just be on me though; my posture isn't the best), and then rapidly standing up and sitting down a ton, and then long bouts standing, plus being tensed up for most of the day during the matches (and even after, since I had to drive an hour to get home in a torrential downpour that left me unable to see the lines on the road even, so I was tensed up then too)... it definitely wore on me a bit.

I'll admit that I'm not in the best shape, and I am getting older, but it couldn't all be because of that. My lower back was sore that day and my calves and thighs were stiff until yesterday, I'm assuming from the constant up-and-down of playing. Sunday night at work while walking around I definitely made a mental note to do some light stretching before my next "big" event.

Show your list and a copy of your cards at the beginning of the game to your opponent. Clearly ask them if they are happy with your pilot, ship, and upgrade card abilities. Especially if you have a non-meta card ("I have dengar gunner on Boba, are you happy with how it works?").

If you have any non-standard tokens, explain to your opponent what they are for. Always have spare official tokens if theres an issue.

Anytime you reach towards your cards to do something, declare it. ("Anakin regens one force" "I lose 1 shield"). I'm never going to be able to keep track of the mess of tokens and cards on your side of the board, but if you're constantly fiddling with them, I'm going to get suspicious.

If you want to make a non-standard move, like the hard turns on the outside of a base or eyeball a bump, then ask for your opponents permission.

When measuring a debatable range, hold your ship and ask your opponent to do the same. If you have to call a judge, remain holding the ships.

If you make a mistake, declare it. Mistakes happen, especially with 6+ rounds, just be honest about it.

And don't whine about being diced when you made a string of poor decisions and never modded. Fly better.

I will always reroll if my dice land on something not flat, butts up against asteroid or ship base , etc, but I always tell my opponent before my first roll. I have cleared hits/crits from my rolls doing this, but it's part of my OCD. I also let my opponent know if I will keep a token on the ship/board or the card and clarify they are ok with it.

This isn't a thing so much in 2.0, but remove any tokens from your ship/card that are gone away. I played too many people in 1.0 that would move their spent shield token from the card to just off the card. You would look and sometimes not know if they had 5 shields or 0 shields, and bumps can happen and all of a sudden they are full shields.

18 minutes ago, Barkest said:

And don't whine about being diced when you made a string of poor decisions and never modded. Fly better.

this should be the number 1 rule!

lol

26 minutes ago, Barkest said:

And don't whine about being diced when you made a string of poor decisions and never modded. Fly better.

Actually, to expand on this point, don’t whine period. NPEs, bad games, awful dice luck, it doesn’t matter. Don’t whine about it. If you need to vent, hop on here or Reddit after the event, but try and stay positive. That can get hard, especially if you are getting stomped, but put a smile on your face, shake hands and enjoy the game.

On the flip side, don’t gloat. If you are having a great game, don’t worry, your opponent knows it.

All in all, put yourself in your opponent’s position. In all likelihood, you yourself have won and lost many games. When you are winning you don’t want a salty or upset opponent, it sours the win, so don’t be that opponent. Also, if you are losing, you don’t want an opponent cackling at every ship you lose or every time you blank out on dice, so don’t be that opponent.

So yeah, all in all, follow Wheaton’s Law.

On 5/6/2019 at 1:13 PM, Ken-Obi said:

Bring a bag of candy or nuts and share with fellow players around you - people are usually less grouchy when they have a little snack.

That's the spirit @Ken-Obi. Well, I find a good pint is a fantastic touch and I have yet to be cranky or be cranked at post game when a gift of a pint was involved. This has an obvious caveat as the local to your match must be an accepting location for libations.

Its not even an unwritten rule, but I have seen this more and more at larger events: Bring a participation something or other for your opponents or stuff to trade. Alt arts are super cheap to print, make something up with your squadron, favorite pilot, side joke, dank meme, whatever! I love hearing stories about why your alt art is 7 blank green dice and the quote is "F U DASH, LOVE WHISPER".

I heard of a CAC event where one guy painted and gave away a ship to each of his 6 opponents, that's insane!

Bring a list that's weak but "fair", and then always let your opponent win so their feelings don't get hurt. Then proclaim your superior skill for losing with a "fair" list and remind your opponent that they are a scummy WAAC NPE try-hard for playing even a semi-competitive list in a tournament and that winning and fun can never co-exist, and if they try to argue with you just shout FLY CASUAL at them at the top of your lungs until they leave. /s

4 hours ago, Tvboy said:

Bring a list that's weak but "fair", and then always let your opponent win so their feelings don't get hurt. Then proclaim your superior skill for losing with a "fair" list and remind your opponent that they are a scummy WAAC NPE try-hard for playing even a semi-competitive list in a tournament and that winning and fun can never co-exist, and if they try to argue with you just shout FLY CASUAL at them at the top of your lungs until they leave. /s

Don’t forget to embody the true boogeyman of X-Wing. Before the game, shake hands and instead of “good luck,” whisper “I am paragoombaslayer.” They’ll never know, and they will be shaken to their core and have a story to tell about their own run in with a legend (of a sort).

/s as well

Y'all forgot the most important one! Whenever you fart at the table, you gotta say, "Did you hear that frog?"

On 5/6/2019 at 6:17 AM, RedHotDice said:

Play a fun list.

For the vast majority of X-Wingers, a boring win is better than a zany loss, so ... hello net-deckers.

Also if you’re playing Resistance and you get a Heroic trigger, you have to yell HEROIC real loud so everybody will realize how often Heroic triggers. That one’s not a /s, that one’s real.

On 5/8/2019 at 12:14 AM, Force Majeure said:

For example: "Vader is going to 3 Talon Roll in [complete maneuver]. Stress. [Place stress token down] Then we'll Afterburner straight, [make the move, and flip a charge] spend a Force for a Lock on Wedge, [measure Range and place the Lock] and a second Force for a Barrel Roll to the right [do the BR and flip two Force tokens]."

Is this the right way to play this? I thought stress prevents that.