Top 8 at SWU SEC Store Showdown at Atomic Comics
2025/12/28: Gameplays included.
My TCGPlayer link to support: https://partner.tcgplayer.com/LumiMouse
Table of Contents
12/28 - Store Showdown at Atomic Comics
Format: 5 Bo3 Swiss rounds, Top Cut of 8, 17 players;
https://melee.gg/Tournament/View/392302
In the Swiss rounds, Alyssa went 2-3. I went 4-0-1. I then got eliminated in the first round of Top Cut.
Deck - Piett Red
I was expecting the Data Vault decks (Yoda and Anakin), so that’s why I brought Piett Red thinking that it’s more favorable. I was also expecting SOR Han and Vader Yellow, so that’s why I was main decking 1 copy of Eager Escort Fighter.
I really like SEC Chancellor Palpatine as a card and wanted to try it. I ended up playing it a total of one time in round 3.
My Matchups
Round 1: Vs SOR Luke Data Vault 2-1
I’ve only playtested my deck vs Alyssa’s Sabine ECL, so this is my first time actually going up these Data Vault decks that I imagined myself to be favorable against. Uhhhh it’s still a lot closer of a matchup than what I was expecting.
I also made an illegal gameplay error in this round, so I’m giving myself the cat in the thumbnail :(.
Round 2: Vs SHD Han ECL 2-1
SHD Han ECL goes brrrrrrr. Tough matchup imo, but that’s pretty typical vs aggro.
Also, cool to see my opponent be cool with the camera and making faces so I can get some interesting thumbnails haha.
Round 3: Vs Piett Red 2-0
Assuming my opponent has the more standard list, I knew that I was already at a slight disadvantage in terms of late game (typical Piett Red lists run 2 SOR Devastators, I was only main decking one). But outside of that difference, I went into this matchup with the mindset that it’s just going to be 50/50 chance of either of us being the victor.
Round 4: Vs Yoda Data Vault 2-1
My opponent had a horrible start for game 1, so I don’t count that as a true win. Tough matchup, they had a lot of removal.
Round 5: Vs SHD Han Blue Force - Intentional Draw
I was the only undefeated going into round 5 and my opponent had the next best record at 3-0-1. We ended up ID’ing. I used the time to get a burrito from across the street.
Alyssa played at the recording table, but she performed meh (lost vs the eventual champion) and she didn’t want me to post her gameplay.
Top Cut
Round 1: Vs SHD Han ECL 1-2 (different player from Round 2)
Now having an idea of how fast this deck can be from my Swiss round 2, I was most worried about this matchup. I drew pretty suboptimally in both games I lost in, where I keep drawing the desired cards a turn too late (e.g. drawing into ramp on turn 3). Oh well, that’s how variance be sometimes. At least I only lost to the eventual champion.
Conclusion
I’m still looking for my playset of Queen Amidalas, so I’m looking to try to perform well at future store showdowns.
Next major event is judging for Pasadena PQ at Odyssey Games, so be on the lookout for the usual judge writeup + gameplay recordings (with hopefully less drama, looking at FAD PQ round 4 gameplay…👀).