Hi everyone! I wanted to get this out earlier, but I was exhausted after yesterday's event. I was the winner of the FFG event in MN. There were 36 players for the event. We had 5 rounds of 60 minute Swiss Friday night followed by a cut for the top 16 Saturday morning. I will do my best to remember as much as I can, but the event was kind of a blur for me, so I apologize ahead of time for the gaps that are sure to follow. As this my first Tourney report, I would love feedback on how to improve the next one!
Here are the decks I ran:
LS - Rebel Affiliation
Defense of Yavin 4 x2
Fleeing the Empire x2
Mobilize the Squadrons x2
Hoth Operations x2
Preparations for Battle x2
DS - Imperial Affiliation
Fall of the Jedi x2
Emperor's Web x2
Killing Cold x2
Counsel of the Sith x1
Cruel Interrogations x1
Imperial Command x1
Shadows on the Ice x1
In the five rounds of Swiss I had 2 full sweeps, 2 modified wins and 1 modified loss for a total of 16 points. With SoS it put me in the 3rd seed going into the cut. Above me was my brother Matt in 1st seed with 17 points and Sean H ( pretty sure, sorry if I'm wrong) in 2nd with 16 points but better SoS. My loss came to the deck I feared most, the Imperial Navy Fighter/Capital Ship deck. In the first game of the match, my opponent had destroyed 4 objectives and I had destroyed 1 and I while I was able to destroy 2 with my DS, I couldn't get that 3rd to pure draw. During Swiss I faced 2 Rebel Vehicle decks and 3 Smuggler's Den decks. I'm not sure how many of them were pure or variants. Most of the DS decks I faced were Sith control variants. While I didn't face any personally, I do know there were at least a couple of Scum/Sith being played.
At the Top 16, I faced a Rebel Hoth deck with Echo Base Defense/Sensors/Hoth Ops/Rebel Fleet. I don't remember the rest. My DS had its only loss of the tournament in the first game and I feared an early exit because I'm not as as confident in my LS play. I managed to force the game to a pure tie and a 3rd game, which found me playing my DS deck again and an advancement to the Top 8.
I really want to apologize to my opponent in the Top 8. After squeezing out of the first round by the skin of my teeth, I have no recollection of this match at all. I think I won both matches. I'm pretty sure this was against Jason O, who was running a Smugglers Den variant with 2 copies of Obi-Wan replacing a Message and a Guardian pod (I think, sorry Jason…). I honestly don't remember if this was a pure win or a modified one. All Top 8 players received a playmat at the start of the round.
In the Top 4, I faced up against Sean H, who was seeded at #2 coming into the cut. He had an interesting Rebel Hoth deck using Sensors/Hoth Ops/Red 5/Leia. I'm not sure what the final pod(s) He made some pretty scary moves, but he flipped only 1 rebel resource and had trouble getting units out faster than I could choke/focus. I made sure to avoid destroying his objectives until the last turn to make sure he continued to have that issue. My Rebel deck had one of those games where everything clicked and I found myself headed to the final match. All Top 4 players received the Force coin at the start of the match.
The final match was against Mick, an awesome guy from MN who played the crap out of his decks. He won the coin toss on choice and chose DS, which made me immediately concerned. I knew he was running a deck hybrid that included Devestator and DSSD and that it could destroy some objectives. My fears proved correct and as the dial hit 8, he had destroyed 2 objectives with a third coming to end the game in the next turn. I had destroyed nothing. He had completely shut my LS deck down. I had one objective down 2 health, and a Rebel Assault in hand, but no black blast in hand or on the table, but a ton of units. He had the Devestator, Palpatine, a royal guard, 2 stormtroopers, an Ice Tromper and probably more. There was no way I was winning edge because I had 2 or 3 cards in hand, all with 1 Force icon. I knew I needed at least one objective going into my DS game just to try for a tie, so I used the only play I had. I sent all of my units. Red Two,a Snowspeeder, Fleet Officer, a Tauntaun, 2 AAC Speeders, and 2 X-wings. I had a 2nd Tauntaun that was used to pay for deployment and I sacked him using covering fire to give all of my attackers shields. With all of my unit damage, I was hoping he wouldn't send everyone, and he didn't. After killing his lone defender and getting the 1 damage in for un-opposed, I used my Rebel Assault to destroy the objective and went into the 2nd game with him at 3 destroyed objectives, myself at 1.
I had a pretty solid start for my DS with 2 free wampas to the table and a quick Interrogation that yanked Yoda. He dropped 2 guardians to the table and, as him and I discussed later, was pretty much prepared to sit back and shield up objectives with the Guardians and never attack. I recognized that I would be completely shut down with those. My DS deck can destroy objectives, but there is not a lot of blast in the deck. So after dropping Motti, I had to be a little unorthodox. I had 2 chokes in hand along with a lightning. I sent Motti by himself against an objective. As expected, Mick defended with one of his guardians, shielding the objective. I let the edge go without throwing any cards. I needed to not strike with Motti if this was going to work. He focused his Guardian to attack. Then I used the resources from Motti and 1 more Sith one I had left up to lightning the Guardian. Then I used my first choke and passed the turn to Mick. In the refresh phase I used the 2nd choke to get rid of the other Guardian. He managed to drop Luke and get him pretty well beefed up. He had 2 trust your feelings on him, and an Old Ben's spirit. I managed to hold him off with succumbed and a few other tricks and he wasn't able to destroy any objectives. He had a late game opportunity, but went after my only non-Hoth objective as his opener and lost the edge. Then he went after my Killing Cold unopposed but couldn't destroy it when I sacked most of my board to keep it at 4 damage. On the final turn I destroyed a 2nd objective to take the game and force a 3rd game with the tie.
I'm not going to lie, I didn't think there was anyway I was winning this game. Mick's DS deck was extremely powerful, both offensively and defensively. I flipped Prep/Mobilize/Fleeing. I dropped an AAC speeder and Rogue 3. I was able to get in some early damage but the Devastator dropped turn 3. I managed to win a crucial edge while defending, and while I lost my unit, I saved the objective. From turn one on I was able to slow the dial and get in a little damage here, a little damage there, but destroyed nothing. With Fleeing finally destroyed, the dial at 7 and the Devestator breathing down my kneck, I had 2 objectives of his at 4 damage and one at 3. But I was focused out on the table and no black blast in hand. But I had Leia and I had a sacrifice for her. I started the turn with a Rebel Assault in hand, but knew I needed 2. I dumped 1 card from hand and drew. The last card I pulled was my 2nd Rebel Assault. I dropped Leia to the table, and he choked her, freeing up my units. I sent Rogue 3 shielded from an AAC speeder to attack on of the objectives with 1 health and took out the 1st objective. I then played a RA to destroy the one with 2 health left. As the turn passed, he flipped killing cold and my heart stopped. The last objective to be destroyed was Shadows on the Ice. Then I realized that with only one action before my rebel assault, he could only pull 1 damage off. And as the last RA destroyed the objective, that was the game and the tourney.
Mick's deck (as I remember it. Sorry if I mess it up Mick!)
LS - Smuggler Affiliation
A Hero's Journey x2
Message from Beyond x2
Secret of Yavin 4 x2
Message From Beyond x2
Questionable Conacts x2
DS - Imperial Affiliation
Fall of the Jedi x2
Emperor's Web x2
Killing Cold x2
Shadows on the Ice x1
Imperial Command x1
Death and Despayre x1
Deploy the Fleet x1
It was a crazy weekend. I would like to thank all of my opponents who were polite, fun and friendly. And the team from FFG was amazing! They really put together a great event. They let me choose between statues of Yoda or 2 Royal Guards from Kotobukia. I chose the Guards and Mick received the Yoda.
Sorry for the wall of text. Thanks for reading!
Jim
