Set 3 TWI Store Showdown - Cardboard Games
2/08: I was supposed to judge, but I sat in; I went 3-2, #10 standings.
Table of Contents
2/08 - Cardboard Games Store Showdown
Format: 22 players; https://melee.gg/Tournament/View/243544
I wasn’t intending to play, because I was kind of SWU’d out and CBG is pretty competitive (aka sweaty 💦) and I didn’t really want to deal with that. Alyssa didn’t play, because she was busy.
So, I asked and was confirmed on 2/06 to judge, but I still brought out a deck and my mat just in case. I arrived early at the store, confirmed some details with Kevin, the store owner (CBG does a store “house” rule of using the top cut’s end of round time ruling for the Swiss rounds to prevent double loss). I was later asked, obviously no pressure, if I want to sit in if there was an odd number of players (and Kevin, would take over the judging role), and I was like “sure.” And that’s how I ended up playing.
One note about prizing is that CBG was allowing any of the Set3 TWI packs prizing to be exchanged for Set4 JTL packs. For players who came from afar (specifically talking about the San Diego peeps who drove up), Kevin would be shipping the Set4 JTL packs to them (if they choose to do the exchange). So, that’s pretty cool of Kevin to do.
Deck - Jango Tarkintown
51 cards main deck, because that’s how I roll 😎 (not that it matters, because I didn’t even make Top Cut lol).
Matchups
Vs Quinlan Tarkintown 2-0
Going into this matchup, I was expecting an unfavorable matchup (based on my experience of me having an overwhelming positive record when playing as Quinlan Tarkintown vs Alyssa when she was playing Jango Tarkintown, though my early Quinlan Tarkintown deck is a bit different from the standard lists).
Game1: I had initiative, I passed, they took initiative.
Res3 Turn: They played Ezra Bridger, I played Greedo and Crafty Smuggler.
Res4 Turn: They attacked with Ezra Bridger, kept the top card. I bumped Crafty Smuggler into Ezra Bridger. They Force Throw me, I tossed a Sneak Attack (I think?), they did the 2 damage to Greedo, I RNG and hit, so Greedo finished off their Ezra Bridger.
Don't remember the rest, but somewhat of a grind. We got to around the 8 resources turn. I was fearing Han Solo, but it was never played. I ended up having a Ruthless Raider in my end board state.
Game2: They started with a Sabine Wren. I had the ISB Agent + Daring Raid combo start to finish their Sabine Wren off.
Res3 Turn: They played Set1 Millennium Falcon. I played Elite P-38 Starfighter, pinged and tapped down their Falcon1, they claim. I Tarkintown'd it and hit their base with my ISB Agent.
Res4 Turn: They played K-2SO, I hit their base with Elite P-38 Starfighter. They claimed. I hit their base with my ISB Agent and played a 4-LOM, no ambush.
Res5 Turn: They traded their K-2SO into my 4-LOM, choosing K-2SO's discard effect. I hit their base with the rest of my units.
Don’t remember the rest, but this match went easier than the first one.
Vs Quinlan Tarkintown 2-0
Another Quinlan Tarkintown matchup ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Game1: They had initiative, they played Sabine Wren, I played Kylo's TIE Silencer.
Res3 Turn: They attacked with Sabine Wren, I attacked with my Kylo's TIE Silencer. They played Grogu, Quinlan pinging my Kylo's TIE Silencer. I played a Elite P-38 Starfighter, pinging their Sabine Wren. They claimed. I Tarkintowned'd their Sabine Wren.
End game state was me having three units (1 space, 2 ground) that they couldn't address.
Game2: They had a bad early start. They started off with a Spark of Rebellion, sniping my Triple Dark Raid, instead of sniping my Turn1 play. I played a Crafty Smuggler.
Res3 Turn: They Waylay'd it. I played a Boba Fett.
Res4 Turn: I think they played a You’re My only Hope into something? I don't quite remember.
I later had two space units representing lethal that they couldn't address.
Their deck has some non-standard cards in the form of Let the Wookiee Win.
Vs Jango Tarkintown 1-2
They're running a lower to the ground variant of this list, with Reckless Gunslinger and Death Star Stormtrooper. When I saw this start from them, I knew I was unfavored in this mirror.
I won game 2, mostly off the back of Sneak Attack + Ruthless Raider. I didn't have an early ISB Agent as an answer to their 1hp units any of the games. All games, they had an overwhelming amount of units relative to me.
In the post-match discussion, I asked them how they thought of the matchups against the pinging decks (mostly Cad Bane decks), and they said that it wasn’t bad, as eventually the small units would overwhelm them.
Vs Cad Tarkintown 2-1
I lost board control in Game 1. I knew I was favored in this matchup, so when I lost the first game, I was getting worried.
I won Game 2.
They had two early Ma Klounkees in Game 3.
In the post-Game 3 discussion, they could've won.
The end board state was that I had a Jango leader with Armed to the Teeth. They had a Cartel Spacer, Mercenary Gunship, Bazine Netal, Crafty Smuggler, Cad Bane leader, and a Zuckuss. They had 15 damage on base, I had like 8 damage? I played Surprise Strike on my Jango leader putting their base at 23 damage. I had Sneak Attack and Ruthless Raider in hand. They could've Bazine’d my Ruthless Raider, instead of doing their actual play of Hotshot DL-44 Blaster’ing their Zuckuss to hit my base. My following card draw would have been a Fett’s Firespray (from their Bazine Netal), but they also had a Waylay in hand. They had lethal on board.
Vs Sabine ECL 1-2
This is a bit non-standard Sabine ECL deck.
Lost first game, won 2nd game.
First game, they played Resupply on Turn 2. I immediately was taken aback. I lost this game. It was close, but their Timely Intervention + Adelphi Patrol Wing triggering on their Poe Dameron to attack wiped out my only two space units. I just needed one of them to make an attack that turn to win.
Second game, they did a Turn 2 ECL Green Squadron A-Wing to kill my Cartel Spacer. I don’t think it was worth it for them, because they floated one resource that turn.
Third game, on the Res3 turn, I made a pretty big misplay of accidentally resourcing my event (Surprise Strike) instead of an Armed to the Teeth, so my ISB Agent was less effective.
Conclusion
Ended up with a 3-2 record, at #10 standings. Feels a bit bad not making Top Cut; I also was paired down Round 2 and Round 5, so I knew my strength of schedules is not great. But oh wells, it do be like that sometimes. This was most likely our last Set 3 Store Showdown opportunity, onto Set 4!