21-player Store Champ Winner (Fire & Dice, Winnetka, CA) 1.0

• Versions
• 2.0
• 1.0

Since they published it on their Facebook page, I figure it's fair to share on here as well.

What a fun deck, let me tell you.

Ideally, you are fishing for Chance Cube, Tech Team and Hailfire Droid Tank. Two Hailfire Droid Tanks come out and it's almost always GG.

Money is the name of the game, but be smart about it — nobody wants you cashing in, so those Thrawn - Master Strategist two resource dice will be removed if at all possible. Threaten them with a Snoke - Supreme Leader focus to double focus and present danger that way.

Earlier builds had Fang Fighter instead of First Order TIE Fighter and Fall Back, which I didn't get to use once, but kept just in case a reset button was needed. Darth Vader's TIE Advanced was added in recently as well and absolutely can turn the tide of any game in a hurry! If they have no mitigation and that die is an option, be smart, get those resources and do utilize it properly.

Round 1 (W vs. eCount Dooku - Darth Tyranus/eMother Talzin - Nightsister Matriarch): I played against Noah Mindless (spelling?) from Redondo Beach in this matchup, and he rolled hot. He targeted Snoke - Supreme Leader so heavily that I needed to pop two Dark Rituals before frustrating him enough to change targets to Thrawn - Master Strategist; it was too little too late though. By then a whole fleet of ships, led by Hailfire Droid Tank were ready to fire at will.

Round 2 (W vs. eRex - Clone Captain/Maz Kanata - Pirate Queen/Clone Trooper): Boy, what a nailbiter. Alex Trumbo (from Hollywood, I believe) was quite the tough matchup. He took my battlefield at will, rerolled aplenty, and took Thrawn - Master Strategist out as he should. But sometimes, the name of the game isn't so much offense, but padding what you have available to you. Some timely and heavily strategic Beguile, Mind Trick and shields thanks to Count Dooku's Solar Sailer, combined with Force Illusion helped Snoke - Supreme Leader keep fighting. It bought enough time for the fleet to unseat both Maz Kanata - Pirate Queen and Clone Trooper in one fell swoop, before taking the remaining ticks of health on Rex - Clone Captain. I did not think I'd survive that one.

Round 3 (W vs. eKylo Ren - Tormented One/eArihnda Pryce - Unscrupulous Governor): My first of many affairs with the San Diego crew was with Abe Fernandez. And I have to say that throughout the weekend, this crew has become among my favorites. They are good guys that love this game. He called correctly once in five tries thanks to a good mixture of red and blue cards. Dark Ritual was definitely key here in reviving Thrawn - Master Strategist and keeping my game going. He played New Orders at a good time, making me feel as if I really needed to be careful. Again Count Dooku's Solar Sailer (which I called my MVP of the day) came to the rescue. It gave me what I needed just about every time, but it was the smaller ships rolling hot in this one, as I crawled back for the win, and 3-0 to start.

Round 4 (W vs. eCad Bane - Vicious Mercenary/eSnoke - Supreme Leader): More San Diego crew, and another great guy in Jim Lafferty. He ran the San Diego Regional at At Ease Games last year, but I didn't really get to chat much with him. I'm glad I got to in this matchup. We both knew it would probably be a fast game with the gas that could be thrown. I couldn't have started off with a better round one than to drop Hailfire Droid Tank, Darth Vader's TIE Advanced and Z-95 Headhunter; pinging Cad Bane - Vicious Mercenary for six damage early before rolling out Darth Vader's TIE Advanced's special side. Jim was ready for it and mitigated the die. I knew it wasn't going to be that easy. I called for weapons and got them twice in three rounds — combining my luck of his cold rolling with my supreme start to blitz past this one, going to 4-0.

Round 5 (L vs. eSnoke - Supreme Leader/Doctor Aphra - Artifact Hunter/Battle Droid): During Round 4, the third of five from the San Diego crew, Daniel Valencia, was crowned by Jim to be the darkhorse of the tournament with a really good deck. He was not kidding. In fact, I liked his deck so much that I tinkered around with what my idea of it would be and went 4-2 (losing in semis to my brother Justin, haha. My qualifying loss was to another San Diego guy, Joseph Butler's mill, and I finished second in Swiss) the following day at Comic Quest in Lake Forest with it. He was not kidding. Great deck! I immediately got rid of 0-0-0, feeling so happy to get the battlefield because I knew he'd play some tactic to keep pinging away at my health. Truth be told, I was in pretty good shape, fighting hard with Snoke - Supreme Leader. But there was no Dark Ritual to be found and Thrawn - Master Strategist found himself all alone with a ton of firepower ready to back him up. I'm going to explain this as I looked at the situation. Doctor Aphra - Artifact Hunter rolled out a two range for one cost side, while Snoke - Supreme Leader rolls out the two indirect damage side. Daniel had one resource and Thrawn - Master Strategist had three shields. I ignored how much health was on him, feeling it didn't matter. I played Pinned Down, electing to remove the indirect die to make Daniel pay the resource. BIG MISTAKE!!!!!! Let it be a lesson to learn now: ALWAYS KNOW YOUR OPPONENT'S SETUP AND YOUR OWN HEALTH AND OPTIONS. He used Snoke - Supreme Leader's power action to kill Thrawn - Master Strategist, who had three shields and one health remaining. I sat looking back at this one in disbelief. But I knew I'd make the cut so I was happy.

Top four was then announced as:

1. Daniel (eSnoke/Aphra/Battle Droid)
2. Me
3. Jim (eCad/eSnoke)
4. Abe (eKylo2/ePryce)

It was me against San Diego! But I knew I had defeated two of the three already, even though I felt both of those games could go either way, and my misplay could very well have cost me a 5-0 bid as I needed 9 indirect damage with five ships to go. Moving on.

Semifinals (W, 2-0 vs. eCad Bane - Vicious Mercenary/eSnoke - Supreme Leader): The rolls were just not there for Jim, and I felt bad, but it's business and Destiny. I rolled quite the opposite, but at the midpoint of Game 1 decided to stop fishing for weapons and instead go for Bait and Switch. The fleet built up and Jim scooped Game 1 and we re-readied for Game 2.

Then something happened that makes me want to share another lesson with everybody, and I'll write these in caps to make them stand out: BRING EXTRA SLEEVES!!!! YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU'LL NEED THEM. If you already do, great, you are golden.

One of my sleeves tore completely at the side. Thankfully Justin was there to save the day by purchasing a new pack of Dragon Shield gold sleeves for me.

But then another issue: they were matte sleeves and I was using glossy! Oh man. I hoped the tide wasn't about to turn for me. Jim came up with a solution to take three cards and have another guy randomly resleeve those cards so I wouldn't know which they were. Game on!

It was more of the same in Game 2 as some damage would come through, but timely mitigation just always seemed to be in my hand. I played a Feel Your Anger for three dice at a point, and the fleet held strong as I held on for a second victory and first-ever berth in the Final.

One moment in the game to point out. I called for zero and openly said, "I want your Bait and Switch, Jim," to which he replies, "I think I have something else you want instead." I look at his cards, see the Bait and Switch and look back at my seven resources and immediately throw his "Fair" Trade right back at him and smiled at how lucky I was to stop calling for weapons.

Final (W, 2-0 vs. eSnoke - Supreme Leader/Doctor Aphra - Artifact Hunter/Battle Droid): Daniel swept Abe, and it made for the matchup I wanted. I wanted to redeem myself. But I really got to see what his deck could do this time, and it poked at me hard. However, I was able to rely on Chance Cube and Count Dooku's Solar Sailer for resources, while using Thrawn - Master Strategist to shield up with Snoke - Supreme Leader's power actions. I immediately disposed of Doctor Aphra - Artifact Hunter and Battle Droid, before cutting Snoke - Supreme Leader in half (thanks for the reference on Sunday, Michael Shaneman) with a ton of indirect damage. Luckily since he plays with a lot of indirect damage, I spread it out pretty evenly and didn't feel as threatened in this one.

Game 2 was even better for me as I got an ideal hand of two Tech Teams, a Hailfire Droid Tank, Chance Cube and Z-95 Headhunter. The next hand had a Planetary Bombardment, which I knew I had to save for an opportune moment. That moment came with five ships on the field to turn the tide as I hit him for five and rolled in the five indirect damage, needing just three to finish off Snoke - Supreme Leader as the fleet blitzed through this one. However, Daniel was ready for it with Hidden Motive and he removed the die. But I hadn't activated the fleet yet, and Hailfire Droid Tank was focused by Count Dooku's Solar Sailer (have I mentioned how much I love this damn card?) for the win and the championship.

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I want to give a special thanks and shout out to my brother Justin for getting me into the game almost two years ago and dragging me to Store Championships last year after I missed half the season. We playtest almost every night and he is absolutely one of the best players I know, and every bit the stiff competition I need to be stronger. Also, congratulations to him on winning at Comic Quest yesterday in an amazing matchup with his eRex/Maz/Clone Trooper deck against the vicious eYoda/Cassian/Anakin mill deck.

Also to SoCal eBoyzz, my playtesting group. Four of us (Justin, Thomas Kamiura and Will Gately) have won store championships this season. There is a weekend left to get one (Eddie Guzman, Aurelio Alvero and Alex Vayhinger!) Get out there, guys.

To Fire & Dice for hosting the tournament. Although I do have one gripe: why live stream the Pokémon guys, and not us?! Haha. I heard we were live streamed last year. But thank you for running the tournament.

Lastly, to all the guys at The Realm Games and Comics, Shuffle & Cut Games and Card Addiction, three stores I consider my home. The game is growing and it's because you're all spreading the word.

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I hope you enjoyed my little write up. I will be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

Until then, take care, everybody!