Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-454133-20171102205841/@comment-27029853-20180323184321

Went to Canadian Nationals. I had a Nationals.

So, there's some context for this nationals. 2 weeks beforehand I went undefeated at a local tournament with some tough competition practicing for Nationals, using the build a few posts upwards.

I was unhappy with my opponent's target priority, since Vessery was a massive 38 points and was the obvious first target, so I balanced it out a bit by taking Expertise and Twin Ion Engines Mk. II off of Vessery and giving him Juke and Countess Ryad instead. Meaning that 35 point Vessery is the more offensive powerhouse and you don't want to keep taking shots from the Nu and Vessery, but you also don't want the 37 point Ryad making it to the endgame with Lone Wolf and a Stealth Device.

Then in just about all of my practice games for the 2 weeks afterwards, I wound up against either Trajectory Simulator or Rey. Trajectory Simulator is a bad matchup because of that bubble that's roughly range 2 plus a 1 straight in diameter, and I find it either means the Defenders can go in slow and get bombed, go in fast and get an evade and get bombed, or turn away from the fight, which is really not great against a Nym who will keep bombarding you with damage with a Harpoon or TLT even after you've disengaged from the fight. The Defenders have so few options that taking them away really hurts, and I sorta strive on my unpredictability, so losing options really hurts me. Another issue with x7 Defenders is that it doesn't matter how many defensive mods you have if the opponent is throwing more attack dice than you have defense dice, so I find Rey to be a bad matchup. To top things off, I think I had some relatively poor dice in practice matches (Ryad getting killed by losing both her focus and evade to a range 3 Oicunn that had 2 hits and then dying to a range 3 shot from a Punisher primary that only rolled 1 hit was a highlight). All together the practice time was rough and seeing the meta change swiftly over two weeks meant I was really down on my chances to do well, and I was kinda just hoping for some favourable matchups. Will get back to my list when analyzing the day.

The format of the tournament was that there was two Day 1s with 6 rounds of Swiss each, and everyone who wnt 4-2 or better would make Day 2, where there would be 2 more rounds of Swiss before a cut to the top 8. It was also at a board game convention and I was staying in Toronto for the weekend, so I got the pass that would allow me full access to the convention (rather than just access to the FFG events) so that I could enjoy board games that my group tends to prefer less on the day 1 I wasn't playing, day 2 if I didn't make it, and if I got 3 losses I could drop and play games.

My standard turn 0 with the list involves trying to get an asteroid in the dead center, and then try to keep all obstacles at range 1.5-1.9 of 2 other obstacles so they're relatively well spread out (kinda my standard) while also making sure there's a vertical lane in the center open. I place my Nu in the corner of the side that's sparser with obstacles, pointing towards the center at 45 degrees. I do the same with Ryad but place her in the opposite corner so she's in the denser side for obstacles, and she's also pointing towards the center at a 45 degrees angle. This way both ships can bank inwards, the Nu can slow roll if needed, but can also SLAM along my board edge, Ryad may travel along my board edge and BR inwards if needed, and I can bait opponets into the asteroids.

Round 1 I came up against a relatively well decorated player from Quebec based on his Regional dice and templates. He had Genesis Red in a Heavy Scyk Interceptor with Veteran Instincts and a Mangler Cannon (rather good against my x7s!), a Contracted Scout with Dengar and Adaptability, and Nym with in the Havoc with Accuracy Corrector, Autoblaster Turret, Thermal Detonators, Extra Munitions, Harpoon Missiles, Veteran Instincts, and Genius.

While I'm happy to see no Trajectory Simulator, that Nym can still rip my Defenders apart, so I see him as my win condition. The rocks are denser on my right then my left, so as per the above the Nu was deployed on the left and Ryad on the right. My opponent got the better of the range control and gets a range 3 shot off on Ryad, Harpooning her, but she only takes a single damage. I see my chance to go after Nym, although it requires sacrificing a TL for Vessery by not acquiring it on the Nu. I dive in after Nym. Nym BRs to get out of the Nus range but will take shots from Ryad and Vessery. The Harpooned on Ryad goes off, hitting Ryad and Vessery and Genesis Red. Nym takes shots, and both Defenders are hurting, but the Nu manges to get 3 hits and a crit on the Heavy Laser Cannon, killing Genesis Red. Sadly, I couldn't capitalize on it and my Defenders go down while Nym lives on 1 hull, leaving Nym to avoid getting shot by the Nu and the Nu getting cleaned up by both. 26-100

Round 2 I come up against a relatively standard Rey with Expertise, the new Millennium Condor title, Finn and Kanan, with Poe in the Black One with BB-8, Advanced Optics, Veteran Instincts, and Autothrusters.

Chitchatting with my opponent at the start of the match, I find out he's relatively new to the game and has been playing for two months, but he's got Rey so I'm refusing to treat it as an easy match. Thankfully, BB-8 on Poe rather than R2-D2 makes him a clear target in my eyes (I found out after the match that he did not yet have R2-D2).

My opponent deploys in the center, however with both ships facing to my left. After a turn or two of him going along his board edge, I dive in and he picks that moment to turn towards me. Fortunately, the timing meant that Rey had an asteroid at her 11 o'clock, hampering her future maneuvers. I get a couple damage in on Poe on that first engagement, Vessery also lost a shield of two IIRC. As mentioned, Rey's a tad limited on the future round, meaning she had to sloop right to maintain arc, and that hampered Poe somewhat. In this round I believe Vessery took a tad more damage, but Poe really hurt, rolling a lot of blanks at range 2, the last roll being double blanks and dying. Thanks to the good luck and positioning, Rey struggles to maintain arc and the Nu and Ryad weaken her. Vessery fled to reengage on better terms since he was down to one hull, but he manages to live through the match. 100-0

My next match was against another player who's really good, this year's Toronto Regionals semi-finalist and someone I've heard of a lot although never seen play or really directly interacted with (I think some short comments in threads of the Ontario X-Wing group being it).

Kelvin flew the standard Fenn Rau with Push the Limit, Concord Dawn Protector, and Autothrusters, Thweek with Push the Limit, both titles, Fire Control System and maybe Glitterstim, and a Contracted Scout with Adaptability, EMP Device and Ion Projector and I forget the crew, although I remember it wasn't Courier Droid. Fenn Rau and Thweek are the obvious targets, but the Scout's EMP Device and the asteroids are super scary.

Oh God this match. This was my worst performance in an X-Wing game for a very long time, Kelvin just outflew me and never made a mistake, I never got meaningful shots off at Thweek or Fenn Rau. I never concede a match unless it's one hull Zeb vs the world, but I conceded this match with a full health Vessery and a 2 hull Nu with a Weapons Failure whereas Kelvin had maybe lost a shield on the Scout. 0-100.

At this point, being 1-2, my chances of making of making day 2 are relatively slim, I have to win the next 3 games. I'm sorta hoping to just lose the next one so that way I can play board games earlier. The worst case for me is to win the next two and then lose the last, so I don't make day 2 and lose board game time.

Next round I came up against Dengar with K4 Security Droid and Expertise. Asajj with two Glitterstims, Latts Razzi, and Push the Limit. Trying to remember the mods on these ships, it's not coming, sorry!

Chitchatting beforehand, my opponent mentions again that he's relatively new to the game, but again he has a good list, although the Defenders tend to be better against Jumpmasters in my experience. We wind up meeting a little south of the center with Asajj flanking more (from my perspective) and trading damage at each other before kturning and slooping. I got a tad lucky on the initial engagement, with the Nu rerolling a blank into a crit once again, and Dengar was put to PS0 before the sloop happened. Thanks for favourable dice, I manage to take Dengar down, and bite at Asajj for a while. My opponent may have had better target priority, he sometimes took the better shot rather than taking worse shots at weaker ships. I was playing relatively casually however since I wasn't expecting to make day 2, so I was letting my opponent take back his Pushing since he was planning on Glitterstimming (since Asajj moved after Vessery, so there was no new information), but managed to win with the Nu at 2 hull, and the Defenders at 2 and 1 hull each. 100-0, sitting at 2-2 ​​​​​ Running out of time to post my report, but will definitely come back to finish it!