Welcome back gang. Tonight is going to be an X-Wing blog... on a Monday! I know, can you believe it! Two whole nights of X-Wing for you! So, this one is about the Outter Rim Appalachain Open. It happened. I was there. I know it happened. I lost every single round. It happened on July 23rd. It was a sad day for some. A fun day for all. A great day for others. I have to say, I was surprised at the number of attendants. It was during Funfest week and I was concerned about the loss of attraction to that. There was also a tournament in Chattanooga that I honestly thought would pull away from the festivities. However, including Johnson City's own Shadow Squadron and some of the fellas from Knoxvill's Sun Sphere Defense Fleet, we had a pretty good turn out. We had thirty participants and some very good players.
I made a couple of new friends and I got to meet a few people along the way. This was my first tournament and I set a goal, walking through the door. I failed in that goal...utterly. My goal was to not finish dead last. Well, guess what I did just exactly that. However, I was able to learn quite a bit from my opponents and the list I flew was a pretty good bit of fun. I won't give away the lists I flew against but I flew against five people. My first oppponent was one of our locals, he's a younger player and he played a good game. His name was Jude. He was my first full out 0 points to 100 points loss. That was apparently my theme until my last game. My first four rounds were 0 to 100, with my last round bringing me one full ship destruction at 16 whole points. I played another younger fella by the name of Asher. I felt kinda bad, I thought I was being scary because he was being so quiet but I was told later he's just shy around new people. Either way, he also played a good game. Then I met Chris. Chris took me out but I made him work for it :D. He was a really fun guy to play against and while I felt totally outclassed, he was really cool to play against. My next opponent was another of Johnson City's own Shadow Squadron; thanks Justin for the competitive play. Try as I might, I lost again. My last game was with another new face, to me, by the name of Zachary. I am not sure if he was local but I had alot of fun playing against him as well. He was my one lone ship destruction. I think he and I were both pretty beat by the time we got to our last game. (On this note, I would like to apologize for not getting last names; on top of being horrible with names and remembering them to faces, I suck at that whole social thing. I would also like to apologize for the lack of photos. I was so nervous about this tournament that I completely forgot to take pictures.) As I said, I came in dead last but I am proud of myself for sticking it out. By the time my fourth game was half over, I was so frustrated that I was ready to quit and walk away. Not just from the tournament but from the game entirely. I started to feel crushed because I just couldn't seem to get anywhere. I know it was my first tournament and it was supposed to be rough but that didn't stop me from being frustrated. I made a few bad mistakes and only one was really a game ender for me. I accidentally flew my K-Wing off the board. (I admit it, I did it once after that and it was intentional because I couldn't win. Chris had three ships to my one and they all had manueverability and shooting to my one of the other option.) Otherwise, most of my mistakes (so I'm told) were just simple newbie mistakes. Granted I haven't been playing very long so it's very true. I just got in to this game in February. That said, I am glad I stuck it out and I am glad I got the chance to play. It was a heavy learning experience and I definitely learned a few ideas. I admit I am not a meta follower for this game. I prefer to look at the cards and come up with my own ideas and see if it works. Most of my lists suck and therefore, I am not good at this game. However, to me, learning a game is about getting in there and making mistakes. I was the same way with Magic: The Gathering. I started playing it way back when Revised was still a big deal. I got in to it and I never followed the trends (at least not intentionally). I read the cards and came up with decks and I had a natural talent. I won and I won often. With X-Wing, I take the same approach. I'll get better and I'm sure I'll find my niches and my default or go to lists but it will take time. It's a learning curve for me. Here at the end, you will see my list. I have already tweaked it and I will post the new list tomorrow but for now, I plays: Miranda Doni (K-Wing) with C-3PO, Guidance Chips, Twin-Laser Turrets, Extra Munititions, Plasma Torpedos, and Ion Pulse Missiles. Her wing mates were two Red Squadron Pilots with Plasma Torpedos, Integrated Astromech, and R2 Astromech. It was a solid list and a good list but, like anything else; it can get better. We'll see how much better tomorrow when I run the new list. Hope to see you guys there. G2K Games - Johnson City, TN from 7pm to 9pm! |