Set 3 TWI Weekly #5 Recap (First time judging)
12/6-12/12: We played at Magic and Monsters and Cardboard Games. I also judged for a Cardboard Games weekly.
Table of Contents
12/6 - Magic and Monsters
Format: Bo3, 4 rounds, no Top Cut, 10 players; https://melee.gg/Tournament/View/206028
This is a weekly that got converted to a 1st place SOR box prizing, but we didn’t hit the 16 players minimum, so it just became a SOR prizing event.
We were the only undefeated players going into the last round. I went 4-0, Alyssa went 3-1.
Deck - Quinlan Tarkintown
Preface: I’m aware that this is a less informative post than my usual posts. I legit am forgetting some details.
Matchups
Vs Han1 Yellow 2-0
I was pretty worried going into this matchup, because Cunning is scary.
Game 1: Don’t really remember the specifics, but I just aggro’d them down and they didn’t really have a response.
Game 2:
Turn 1: I think their start was a Millennium Falcon, which they bounced back in the regroup phase.
Turn 2: They played Tech. I was super spooked by it, so I killed it.
Turn 3: They smuggled out a Tech, which I killed again with a pump (I think it may have been a Surprise Strike?). At this point, they have an empty board, I have a few small units, and both bases are at 0 damage. Knowing that I’m the aggro in the matchup, I was quite concerned.
Later, I think I messed up my attack sequencing or something, which allowed their Han Solo unit to kill my injured leader and a small unit for “free.” They were getting to the 8-9 resources turns, which worried me, but I eventually managed to secure the win.
In the post match discussion, we talked about how they were almost able to stabilize against me.
Vs Palp Blue 2-0
[Don’t really remember the games]
Game 1:
Turn 1: They missed their Turn1 play. I played a Set1 Sabine Wren unit.
Turn 2: They played Perilous Position. Mentally, I was like “okay…” This tells me they have a pretty bad early game hand, and now I don’t really fear Power of the Dark Side as I have an easy target for it.
Game 2:
Turn 1: They played Poggle the Lesser. I played a Turn1 play.
Turn 2: They played Emperor’s Royal Guard, procc’ing Poggle the Lesser to generate a Droid token. I hit into the Emperor’s Royal Guard with my Turn1 play and used Tarkintown to finish it off.
I later played Wolffe, but I don’t think it did much tbh, because I didn’t really see any heals in the prior game and they didn’t have any healing engine on board (eg The Client). It later got killed by a Vigilance.
Vs Obi-Wan ECL 2-0
Game 1: They ECL’d out an Obi-Wan’s Aethersprite to kill something, don’t remember what. Tbh, don’t really remember this match.
Game 2:
Turn 1: I killed their Turn1 play.
Turn 2: They played Huyang just for the body. Mentally, I was like “oof rip.”
I later played Qi’Ra, their hand being Redemption, General’s Blade, and Ki-Adi-Mundi. I called Ki-Adi-Mundi to deny their following turn. I also had a Disabling Fang Fighter in hand.
The next turn, they played General’s Blade on Huyang. I played Disabling Fang Fighter in response. This was a huge tempo swing, so I was pretty confident in the match.
Across both games, I think they only used Obi-Wan’s leader ability once total? There were some moments where I think they should’ve used it, but idk.
Vs Jango Tarkintown 2-1 (vs Alyssa)
We were the only undefeated players at this point, so it didn’t really matter who won/lost.
12/10 - Cardboard Games
Format: optional pre-siding, Bo1, 5 rounds, 27 players;
https://melee.gg/Tournament/View/184322
I went 4-1, Alyssa went 3-2. Neither my opponents nor I pre-sided.
Judging Experience
Cardboard Games offered me an opportunity to help judge to meet the Judge Level 1’s requirements of judging a minimum of two Casual Tier events. Logistically, I helped call out when the pairings were up and monitor games when going through the end of round time procedure. I also answered two judge calls.
Scenario 1: Player 1 played Change of Heart on a Player 2’s unit. Player 2 captured the controlled unit with Cad Bane unit.
Question 1: What happens when Cad Bane attacks?
Tbh I don’t remember what exactly I responded with, but Player 1 can’t rescue, because the captured unit isn’t owned by them.
Question 2. What happens with Change of Heart’s effect?
Change of Heart has no relevancy due to the captured unit being out of play.
Scenario 2: Player 1 played Timely Intervention to play Fleet Lieutenant.
Question: Can Fleet Lieutenant pump itself?
No, because Ambush doesn’t make the unit readied for the Fleet Lieutenant to pump itself. The entire Ambush effect (ready and attack a unit) must resolve fully. At that point the When Played of Fleet Lieutenant cannot pump itself, because the unit is already exhausted from the Ambush.
Deck - Rey yellow
I decided to play off-meta, because I wasn’t too concerned with my match’s outcome in the event I run into time issues if I have to answer judge calls.
Matchups
Quinlan ECL 0-1
On the resource 4 turn, their Qi'Ra made me make an awkward play. They called out Wing Leader. Spare the Target was my only other play, but I felt it wasn’t really worth to play it on their Qi’Ra just for them to be able to replay it next turn for the hand info / card denial effect again. So, I played Spare the Target on their Set3 R2-D2.
On the resource 6 turn, they played Spare the Target on my Obi-Wan. When I tried to play my Obi-Wan again on the following turn, it got bounced by their Set3 Enfys Nest. RIP GG.
Jango Tarkintown 1-0
They had a Greedo start, I had a Leia + Set1 R2-D2 start. I later killed Greedo (its effect missed) with R2-D2. I eventually had Yoda, Kanan Jarrus, and Rey leader on board and only ~6 damage on my base. They didn’t have the board to outdamage my restores.
Obi-Wan Yellow 1-0
This player had a lot of force payoff cards in the forms of It Binds All Things and The Force is with Me that gave them a lot of value. They also had Obi-Wan's Aethersprite, which made me give up the space arena. I eventually broke through both their Obi-Wan leader and Obi-Wan unit and I developed a stronger ground board state.
Anakin Blue 1-0
Turn 1: I played Chopper, they played 501st Liberator. I took initiative.
Turn 2: I played Fleet Lieutenant pump on Chopper to kill their 501st Liberator. Chopper’s effect missed. They played Anakin’s Interceptor, so I basically gave up the space arena.
On the resource 6 turn, they played Jedi Lightsaber on their Anakin leader, which was a bit scary. It hit my Obi-Wan for 6 overwhelm damage. I buffed my Ki-Adi-Mundi with Obi-Wan’s buff and later in the turn finished off their Anakin leader with Ki-Adi-Mundi and a buffed Chopper.
Later, I built a stronger ground arena than they did and their space presence wasn’t relevant enough for me to address.
Yoda Blue 1-0
Ngl I mistakenly assumed that they were Yoda Yellow due to their base health tracker that covered most of their base card for most of the game. I recall being able to read that their base is Sundari (blue base), but I just didn't make the connection that it was blue, so...totally my bad, I should've payed more attention. I only realized their correct base color toward the end of the game, when my opponent asked how many cards I had in my hand, and I was like "Spark? Qi'Ra?" and they had a confused look and then I realized when I looked at their base.
This did influence some of my plays, as I was putting more effort to kill off their lone unit to try to deny Now There Are Two of Them.
Turn 1: I played Leia and ready one resource. They played C-3PO, called three (C-3PO ended up drawing them like 1-2 cards total). I played Chopper.
Turn 2: They played Yoda. I played Wing Leader on Leia. They attacked with C-3PO (I think it attacked my Chopper). I killed their Yoda with my buffed up Leia, they claim initiative, then I attacked with Chopper.
Turn 3: They played Village Protector, I attacked with Wing Leader, their C-3PO attacked my Chopper, I played Takedown on their Village Protector as I didn't have an effecient way to remove it without both my units dying. I then used the buffed Leia to kill their C-3PO.
Don't really remember the rest, but my end board state was a buffed (from Obi-Wan) Rey leader and a bunch of small units. My opponent had two units, but I had lethal on board, or at least very close to it.
Conclusion
Judging was alright, I wasn’t too too worried about it. There are some control decks I want to practice with, we’ll see.