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Just keep swimming

Just keep swimming

Alright. Last weekend's tournament at Cartazimut (Mons) didn't go as planned. I brought my Kanan/Biggs list from the European Championship and got destroyed. I ended up 17th out of 22 with a 1-3 record. What happened?

Round 1 - Yassin - Jan/Keyan/Thane

My opponent was a newer player which probably explains the unusual (at least for me) list. Jan with Predator, TLT and Nien Numb. Keyan with Advanced Sensors and Push the Limit and Thane with R2-D2 (droid), Alliance Overhaul title and Chopper.

Going into the match I felt it would be rather easy. Having a double TLT shot with the Ghost would ensure me almost guaranteed 4 hits on those 1-agility ships. However Yassin flew way more aggressive then I  expected which meant I had to switch around targets every turn to have some use of that Fire Control Systems. I traded Keyan for Biggs and then a lot of the Ghost for Jan. 

Ezra ejected before the Ghost blew up and I ended up chasing Thane. I was close to killing him (Thane at 1 hull) when I made a stupid mistake dialing in a left instead of a right. Yassin offered to let me change (as it was a really obvious mistake and this move took him entirely out of my attack vector. However under the motto 'fly casual' I didn't change and he continued to regenerate all his shields while I turned around. 

Time was running out and Ezra was only able to do 1-2 damage per turn, which promptly got regenerated by R2-D2. That little droid sure pulled his weight! Using Thane's rear-arc shots he was able to slowly kill Ezra and I got my first LOSS 70-100


At the start of the next round Yassin came to me and told me that we had been playing Alliance Overhaul wrong. When firing a rear-arc shot he was adding a focus result (which he would turn to a hit with his focus token every time. However the title allows you to turn a focus to a crit result. I should have noticed, but in my defense he was using French cards and I assumed he knew his list. Also at that time there wasn't much that could be done about it. Round 2 was just starting we were already set up to go. Lesson learned for next time. Always read through the cards three times if you don't know them, even if they're in French. 

Round 2 - Pierre - Chewbacca/Gold Squadron/Gold Squadron

A younger player with a list containing 2 Gold Squadron Pilots with TLT aided by Chewbacca "Doesn't get crits" the Wookie with Predator, Gunner and Captain Rex. 


Poor maneuvering on my part ended Biggs on a rock early. He died to several TLT shots. I was however able to take out Chewbacca, but the Ghost was getting pummeled by the TLT's on the Y-wings. I undocked Ezra as soon as I was below 4 health and he ended up chasing and killing the last Y-wing. WIN 100-78

Round 3 - Nicolas B. - Kanan/Biggs

Mirror match! His list was slightly different as his Kanan was carrying Finn and Rey and Zeb was in the Phantom. 



He got the initiative and I decided to set up across from him and joust. He beat me on the damage curve by killing Biggs one turn earlier And then we started a dance where my Kanan died just after ejecting Ezra and one turn later I took out his Ghost. But he decided to not drop the Shuttle early and it came out with one damage card attached. 


So a dance of the Phantom's began. But at that moment in the game every sliver of health is important and every dice-roll matters. His dice were more favorable so LOSS 82-100

Round 4 - Nicolas S. - Quickdraw/Vessery/Ryad

Last round. 1-2 record totally takes me out of the cut so it doesn't really matter. Nicolas is a very fun opponent who was flying Quickdraw with Crack Shot, Fire Control Systems, Special Ops Training title and Lightweight Frame. Ryad in a TIE/X7 with Adaptability and Colonel Vessery in a TIE/X7 with Crack Shot.

This match was over quick. Biggs died to the combined fire of all 3 TIE's. I was able to take out Quickdraw with a natural 5-hit attack. But 2 rounds later the Ghost remains at 6 hull versus 2 full health Defenders. I decide not to eject the Phantom and this turned out to be a mistake as (with all the dice modification) Nicolas got 6 hits (versus 0 green dice). One little Phantom couldn't survive the maneuverability of 2 Defenders and I threw in the towel. LOSS 34-100

Later Nicolas went on to the final table where he lost of after a 100-100 final salvo. Congratulations to him!

In the end this was still a great tournament in a great venue with great organizers. Every time it's a pleasure of coming to Mons. Cartazimut was the first to organize a Belgian Championship and did this two years in a row. This year someone else is organizing, but I really hope the BC will return to them in the following years!

New skills 

Another thing I tried this tournament was filming matches. Pretty basic setup as I just used a €20  webcam, the camera app from Windows 10 and Windows Movie Maker. The result is not fancy, no overlays, no cutting in the movie to skip the dial setting and some poor audio quality. But I don't want to deny you the 4 matches at table 1 during this tournament. 


Next tournament in 2 weeks in Namur. List is already picked and send in. Where and what are you going to play in the next few weeks? Let me know in the comments below!

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