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Episode 23: A Year to UnPAX, and A SWU-home Chicago
95 Plays2 months ago
A long time ago… in a windy city, far, far away… Your hosts Andrew Kouba, Nick Sperry, and guest JJ Giron discuss recent X-Wing GT’s at PAX and Phoenix, the recent XWA Beta Points update, and Planning Phase Syndicate’s coverage of Star Wars Unlimited (SWU)!
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Transcript
Introduction of Hosts
00:00:02
Speaker
You are listening to the 312 Squadron podcast. My name is Andrew Kuba. My name is Nick Sperry. And I am JJ from Pliny Face Syndicate.
Year-End Discussion: Phoenix and PAX Unplugged Grand Tournaments
00:00:11
Speaker
In this episode, our final episode of the year, we have much to talk about including the Phoenix and PAX Unplugged Grand Tournaments. Nick was at PAX Unplugged, which so we'll get our on the ground reporting there. Yeah.
New X-wing Alliance Beta Points and Star Wars Unlimited
00:00:24
Speaker
And, uh, also later in the show, we're going to talk about the new X-wing Alliance beta points and a little bit of Star Wars unlimited. Cause you can check over on JJ's planning phase syndicate podcast where they talk about Star Wars limited quite a bit. But since this is an X-wing podcast, we're going to start there.
Experiences and Highlights from PAX Unplugged
00:00:42
Speaker
And, uh, Nick, how was your time at PAX?
00:00:45
Speaker
Uh, PAX was, was great. It was like, it's like Gen Con, but way more chill. It was huge. Um, uh, convention center was really nice. It was like this modern, it's like just beautiful architecture in the inside and out. Um, easy to get to Philadelphia was cool. I've never been, had a bunch of cheesesteaks, had a lot of fun, played, played some high level X swing. Good turnout. Yeah.
00:01:08
Speaker
So yeah, it was it was great. I'm glad I did it. I shout out to Steven Weiland. He made a top four number. Yeah. Overall, but it's a sightseeing with him and he nudged me into going because he said, hey, you don't have to worry about paying for a a place to stay. I already booked a hotel. So that was the reason I was able to go because I was watching. I would not be able to go. Yeah. Steven is such a top shelf dude. Yeah.
00:01:34
Speaker
I'm super excited for him and glad that you're able to to go together. Steven, also nice enough to be repping 312 Squadron out there too. Yeah, he looked good in that jersey, man. The jersey's ah jersey making their kind of convention ah debut at PAX and felt good to be representing the crew with ah the hardware. It just looks so good. So yeah that was cool. it was It was awesome to see him um rocking our jersey.
00:02:02
Speaker
ah top during top cut yeah as well. Got some good pictures of them and um yeah, really proud of them. And and um I'm happy with how I played.
Frustrations and Strategies in Competitive Play
00:02:10
Speaker
We got paired up the last round ah and the unfortunate situation was that ah my game, my side on my side, if I won, I still wouldn't make cut, even though it was three and one. And if he won, he would be he would be number three. So He did beat me fair and square, but it's a frustrating situation to be in when no matter what you you can't ah make it. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I mean, yeah, I did see that that there were a number of forewind players that just weren't able to make it. That's where the strength of schedule really came into play for this tournament.
The New X-wing Meta and Matchups
00:02:47
Speaker
Yeah, it was ah I'm excited to talk about the, you know, the event itself and kind of like what I saw and everything. But
00:02:54
Speaker
Yeah, because this is still standard. Still standard. And it's like a new meta, but not super new, just like slightly new with like a couple of minor points adjustments that Atomic Mask Games made like randomly a few months ago. And it was interesting I was interested to see what I would see a lot of. And um it was ah honestly, I thought I would dread some of my matchups more.
00:03:15
Speaker
um I did go up against Imperial aces, but thankfully because it was Scramble and I had a really good list for it, I was able to kind of ah just put a lot of pressure on with the scenario points. So that was the only matchup I was worried about was like a Duncan Howard matchup or know somebody youre just bringing, yeah, somebody who's already really good, bringing high initiative aces that are almost impossible to take off the board.
00:03:38
Speaker
So I do got to ask, you know, in relation to the Imperial aces, um ah did you run into any of the standard loadout whispers or echoes out there and what were your impressions on them? um Apparently both were out there. I ran into Whisper and um I got so I played Tyler Tippett. I've only played Tyler.
00:03:56
Speaker
a couple of times. This is brought I think the second time I've played him. I barely lost in a heartbreaker and a bubble game to make cut at Elvio a year ago against him. um And then this this year, um I was able to get the matchup in terms of the scenario I wanted. So I was playing a five strip Rebel list. It was Fen, Wedge, Luke, Kyo and Sabine. So just super good for any scenario, really.
00:04:23
Speaker
but especially for Scramble, and um he brought Whisper, SL Whisper, and I'll be honest, I i have no idea how good, what the how high the ceiling is for Whisper. I know it it's pretty high, but because I was scrambling so much, he was really incapable of taking any meaningful actions, because he had to constantly keep scrambling, and it was awesome, because Whisper did like no damage that game, dude. I was very lucky.
00:04:49
Speaker
I found the weak point. I was like, I'll be the lord optics. It is like, oh, well, whispers in front of me. It is like, oh, I'm going to lose that lock immediately. So, yeah, no.
00:05:01
Speaker
ah Oh, man. Yeah. But ah there was a couple out there. There were a couple. I was going to say that Doug Howe is also flying
Imperial Aces and Meta Influences
00:05:10
Speaker
Imperial aces. But yeah, honestly, the or carsabi, the they came up with the standard loadouts for the alphas, the Starwing.
00:05:19
Speaker
ah Not a lot of those on on the field either. Yeah. I'm not as surprised to be honest. I think, I think our Sabi is interesting. I think vendor is pretty good, but, um, I think honestly, you know what it really says a lot about and is that ah about I fours don't have a place in the AMG meta and they still have that too. So that's, yeah, that's a huge issue.
00:05:40
Speaker
I was going to say, do you think it's more the lack availability of the ship itself or just people not comfortable with flying the ship? I think it's multiple things. I do think the biggest, the non-starter is, oh, this is, I'm bringing something that will suffer because it is not an i5 or i6. I think that's like the main thing. Anybody that really wants to bring something because they think they'll win with it will find a way to get one or borrow one.
00:06:09
Speaker
um That's my belief. There are enough communities out there who look out for each other that, you know, someone has a star wing. They used to be on the shelves. I bought mine for $15 at my game store. Like, you know, if you really want to to fly one, you could probably find a way to borrow one or buy one if you care that much. But yeah um I just I just think the unknown around flying something new that we haven't had a standard plus the fact that their eye for I think is enough for people to look at something else.
00:06:37
Speaker
Nice. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Well, the way I feel about it, honestly, I was going to say looking at some other grand tournaments, it still looks like Rebels and. Republic are still top of the top of the table. Yeah, I mean, let's I'll if we want to say talking about the top four, it is a factions. It's a faction salad.
00:06:59
Speaker
Mm hmm. For that's right. Yeah. Do we want to start at number four moving up? Yeah, let's do it. I'm going to try to on the stream side of things and try to kind of show it for the folks watching. There we go. Yeah, let's let's talk about it. I'll talk. I'll talk about heaver really quick because him and I brought like the same list was slightly different. I was going to say, yeah, you did. Yeah. Oh, I was going to say I can I can start. I start off with the number four if we want to just go through those really quick. Oh, are we going forward to one? Yeah, let's go four to one. Yeah.
00:07:29
Speaker
You know, save the best for last. We had a scum at ah number four for it's as Meryl i yeah Lee Mackay, Cad Bane, Basque, Dr.
Top Players and Faction Diversity
00:07:41
Speaker
Afra, Manaroo. So it's nice seeing scum finally doing well in in standard making that top four cut um classic big chunky list. Lots of shenanigans with Dr. Afra and bo and Cad Bane and Basque is just ever since it's been two points has been a great include. Um, and then quickly we can do Steven Weiland bringing a Republic, the dedicated like list that does great with contrail, oddball, click matchstick and broadside, uh, with the Socatano. So, uh, but, so I don't know if you wanted to go over then Paul Hever and Duncan Howard's match, Nick.
00:08:22
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, JJ, why don't you talk about Duncan's list or that? And you can kind of circle back on the couple of the three and four. Absolutely. ah Just really quick. a Big shout out to our our perennial guest host, Alex Merrill, Alex, it'sless like he is amazing. Alex.
00:08:40
Speaker
Yeah, he was on our show. Yeah. yeah so So Duncan bringing something that he's he's actually very, very adept with. It's a four ship Empire list here is a bit of ah a an ace list here with support. So he has the standard loadout. um Colonel Gendin, along with Darth Vader, TIE fighter, I believe that's the SSP one, the one that comes in the starter pack.
00:09:04
Speaker
ah Captain Faroff with ruthless attack the officer and targeting computer and then site six Which is one of the battle of indoor TIE fighters that comes in with four-hole ah really really solid Support ship on the side or solo ship I should say on the side ah there. He can definitely do quite a bit of objective play with Darth Vader He gets extra support from Farof who can do very very well in salvage being able to grab a crate and still use those ailerons and if your opponent has no tokens to gets that free evade over there just just a lot of ah offensive potential between gendered invader and then Farof is just a really solid support trip that can also contest objectives.
00:09:47
Speaker
yeah Yeah, Duncan bringing ah surprisingly to me, he's been trying to win, we you know, with every faction, and but bringing Empire again after Tomax was ah brought up to four points. So he swapped Tomax for scythe six for that three point slot. Just. Duncan just doesn't take damage typically. So this list, you know, you have you have i sixes, you have s scythe six with the extra hole. um If you're going all in on a TIE fighter for three points like, you know,
00:10:17
Speaker
Good for him. Like, that's going to work out in favor. um I going going back to Stephen's list
Analysis of Successful Player Lists
00:10:23
Speaker
really quick. um You know, no arc one 70s in that list at all. That's a viewing. Oh, OK. Oddball. Yeah. The wing click. You know, I guess there's no there is no arc one 70 click. But just to be specific, matchstick and broadside in the wire wings. Ahsoka, though, is one of the random, you know, kind of ah point adjusted decisions that AMG made and brought her down to five points and seven beats. So Steven able to give people multiple actions with her ability or she could just be self sufficient and take multiple actions. R4P17 gives her an opportunity to take an action even while stressed height perception. She can avoid being initiative killed. So just in a ton of bombs, a ton of bombs in this. There's a lot of bombs. Yeah. Let's see. He's got thermal detonators, concussion bombs, ion bombs, concussion bombs again.
00:11:12
Speaker
proton bombs and he of course Ahsoka. It would be funny if she had bombs, but she had spare parts canisters. Yeah. I guess I wanted to say also to JJ, I'm sorry, I didn't realize as Merrill was Alex Merrill, because i I definitely should have let you take over describing that. That's such a bummer, but it's all right. We could, um I mean, always yeah Yeah, that it's a good. Alex has been playing that like his list did not change um with any of the points ah updates. And he I saw him randomly at PAX the day before. I was like, Oh, what's up, man? I know you're going to be here. And he's like, Yeah, they dragged me out of retirement. I haven't played in months since Worlds. I was like, Oh, OK. And then he made. Yeah, of course. He just made four tough. I played this list. i
00:11:57
Speaker
at tournaments back in when Standard was ah the only points met out there. um it It's really good. it's This is all about ah giving your opponent stress and making it really bad if they have stress.
00:12:12
Speaker
Oh, yeah, it's so good. It's really good. Yeah, it's really solid. um So Alex lost to Paul Hever, who ended up winning the whole tournament um with a five ship rubble list. um So he had ah he had wedge until he's a battle over and or wedge, who essentially has an unavoidable double modded pro ah a advanced proton torpedo. Mm hmm.
00:12:34
Speaker
in the hands of the average to a great player like Paul, it is just a matter of when it's going to happen, not if. It is just R2, A3 allowing yourself to spend a charge after doing an action to acquire a lock. He can focus, link, roll. He can focus boost. Even though he's depleted, he can still do a four die advanced pro ton torpedo.
00:12:54
Speaker
He can he can take a crate and take a lock. He can scramble, take a lock, whatever. And um extra shield. He gets a defensive reroll if there are more friendlies and enemies nearby and he has predator. And if he is attack hits, he gets a focus back for his ability. So just ah probably the best X-Wing pilots.
00:13:16
Speaker
in the meta right now for Rebels. like you know Luke is obviously right there with him, but um this is the type of wedge that people have only dreamed of being able to play that stays alive longer and hits still hits very hard.
00:13:29
Speaker
um i i I played the same wedge. So it's the same list, just slightly different upgrades. He also brought Luke. That's you know Battle of Yavin Luke. you Five-point regenning pro-torp carrier with Force. ah You've got Fenrao in the Fang Fighter. This version, the winning list version for Paul had Beskar clan training in Swarm Tactics. So he would make Luke an I6. Just the way he flew the list is a way that I'm not usually comfortable with, but he capitalizes on because three I6s.
00:13:58
Speaker
as an insane alpha to deal with. Then, you know, you got you got Concordia. You're fast. He's he's really good. I was going to say that also works well. He's got Kiyo with Vectored Cannons and Juke. So system phase boost. And then he's evading every turn. You have the force. You can size slip super hard to kill and worth nothing.
00:14:20
Speaker
only three points, and then Sabine with no loadout at two points in the tie fire. I mean, even with Sabine losing her best car plating, she's still good. She can still reposition really well. She can cover a lot of ground. And you've got to dedicate a lot of resources just to go knock out that cheap ship. So it's such a useful ship to have on the list. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
00:14:45
Speaker
A couple of my games, she just kind of randomly exploded out of nowhere. But I was like, ah, like that's that's her job, I guess. like She's going to take the eat off of the rest of the list. She's worth two points. so Yeah. yeah um I can't remember the final score, but Duncan and Paul played final table. I think it was chance engagement. I i believe the score was within a couple of points. um So that you know duel of the fates. I took a picture of the two of them playing. I'm like, look at this.
00:15:12
Speaker
Of course, um but but but ah you know it just in terms of scanning through the rest of the field here, Ted T, I can't remember his last name, he brought a a list with a bunch of bullseye mechanics that was super scary to deal with. I did a good job of dodging most of it, but Lee Makai with Brockets, Cad Bane with Brockets, Cutthroat, Contraband, and Zandu Blood, Dirge with Proton Cannons, Contraband and Fearless, and then he had the Mandalorian,
00:15:37
Speaker
ah with Razorcrest, you had contraband underneath that, ah the Child and Fearless. And then Lapin, this really annoying three-point mining guild TIE Fighter who, if you're stressed, you can't modify your dice while you're defending against Lapin or shooting at him. So I had opportunities to kill Lapin, but because I linked actions, I couldn't do any.
00:15:59
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. You just forget about it. And then on top of that, getting stressed or strained? Getting strained with Mark's stable closure and the rocks and had ion cannon as well. It's like, woof. Nasty. Seriously. Yeah. Seriously. Yeah. It was a cool list.
00:16:16
Speaker
And you got to dodge a lot of ah bullseye arc. Yeah. yeah the he Yeah. He he played that game well. um The Mandalorian was sitting in the middle of all my ships firing arcs with a structural damage. And I but I was able to take him out pretty quickly. But in return, he rained zero natty into Luke. And then Luke just kind of it' just evaporated out of nowhere. I was like, OK. And that's how he was able to win. argue Yeah, a heck of a trade.
00:16:43
Speaker
Yeah. Ouch. Yeah. um But yeah, just looking at other lists, it's a lot
Faction Representation and Performance at PAX Unplugged
00:16:50
Speaker
of rebels. We saw, you know, do you see the amount of resistance separatists with very little representation? I see one list right now for separatists and at PAX. Not a lot of Republic either. Very little FO. So shockingly, um you know, rebels, rebels resistance empire Um, making up most of the fields here. Uh, but we said there's a few scum lists, which is cool. I think four scum lists I'm counting one, two, three, five scum lists four or five. So that's neat.
00:17:30
Speaker
Yeah, I gotta say that's pretty impressive, right? Because for the majority of the last ah points update, SCUMM just did not have a very good like performing like list right that that would constantly make it. Yeah, I would say for the majority of just 2.5, SCUMM didn't. Yeah. Yeah, technically CIS is like the worst performing faction in the AMG points, but SCUMM is right next to it. For sure. Pretty close, yeah. they're both We're struggling, for sure, um and mostly because where CIS was getting a little bit of love with SOC, the faction identity struggles when everything's so fragile and low initiative. um And then SCUMM is just so 2.0-y. It's hard to play scenarios with SCUMM. I think that's been always been a big issue, right? Yeah.
00:18:18
Speaker
Yep, yeah, very little force carriers, very little ways to protect the ships if they do scenario actions, things like that. Yeah, no, syner not the synergies are all self-sufficient, kind of lone wolf type abilities as well. Yeah, and that makes it hard to balance as a faction too. Yeah, that's true.
00:18:36
Speaker
um At the same time this past weekend when we're you know recording this is this was this past weekend um We had the Phoenix the North Phoenix
North Phoenix GT Overview
00:18:46
Speaker
GT. It was a two-day event as well which is cool. um So two concurrent concurrent GTs happening in the US. And I say that like it it means something because really there weren't that many GTs um like two in the same day is kind of cool. Like, you know, they're just not a ton to be able to play at. And our friend ah Dwight Lindsay, who was on our last episode ah from lock and roll, was at this event, which is cool. And he he went three and two as well, which is neat. he So congrats to Dwight for playing well there.
00:19:19
Speaker
And Phoenix. Yeah, also it's great they have one on the east coast, one on the west coast. Phoenix though, wild top eight. Yeah, lots of rebels. Five rebel lists in the top eight. In and a top eight, not a top four, which is cool. Right, and they did the top eight, yeah. Two republic, one resistance. Coming in with ah Jonathan's list, correct? No. I'll have you with Alex Farley's. yeah yeah Alex Farley.
00:19:48
Speaker
ah With Wedge Antilles, with Battleover Endor, we already talked about why that guy's so great. Fenrao with Mandalorian Optics, Beskar Reinforced Plating and Predator, still also very lethal. Ahsoka Tano, great at four points. Magpulse Warheads, Patience and Compassion, going a little more aggressive ah with Ahsoka, but that's, I think, kind of the the standard build for her now. um And then Bodica, doing what Bodica does. ben Beskar Reinforced Plating, Mandalorian Optics, and Clan Training, just to get that extra focus if you need it, and then Sabine Wren. Great little two point ship, and it's fun to see this many fangs and rebels, and also doing so well. I'm almost surprised. I'm like, like it's just like, I know Bodika's good, and I know Fenrao is good. I just, that's a lot of like squishiness, even though you have Beskar fang fighters. It's so tough.
00:20:44
Speaker
It's squishiness, but it's also a lot of offensive output as well. so I think this is just a jazz list that you really hope that first engagement goes well. I mean as ah i flew for the 3-1-2 League. I flew those Mandalorian or a Clan Ren volunteers. and You sure did. but I mean, I got to tell you, man, when when you can put them in range one consistently and get shots in there, I mean, it really just discourages your opponent from taking shots at them just because of that auto evade and the current cancellation there. So they're they can be squishy at range, but if you can range control really well, I mean, you you can do some serious work with those things. so Yeah, I liked the clan run volunteers with outmaneuver, but you can you can put
00:21:31
Speaker
I mean, it's got they got so much load out, too. Yeah, those fang fighters yeah can get it up. Yeah, those fang fighters can get really aggressive. We might want to start paying them. They're doing so well. Am I right? Clan Red volunteers and maybe give them an age. Some of the worst jokes in this economy was there you at school. with Yeah, with the fuel leak with these gas prices.
00:21:56
Speaker
ah Go to our bird store, buy the fuel leak with these guys prices shirt today. hu ah Zach Bart, my man, Zach from ah the Hangar 19 Indianapolis crew. ah He typically helps run crossroads and he ah he was a great host for us. And Matt and I for three went to when we ah streamed our event last year.
00:22:18
Speaker
um And he brought ah he brought the same list. to With all due respect to Zach, he brought the same list as what we just listed a couple times. ah ah This Ahsoka also has Magpulse, like Alex Farley's. But it it seems like ah ah there is a... Grassar brought the same list after that, not to to jump to the next person, but it's the same. So there's clearly been a bit of a a circle of communication about what type of Rebel list you should bring to a GT.
00:22:48
Speaker
I don't know if it's just the crates talking about this, but it seems to be popular. um What about ah what about Dick Willie? Love that name. That is phenomenal name. How about you, JJ? Yeah, I guess so. He actually came in with a really interesting list. I like it a lot. So it's Lee Organa with height and perception, Ursa Wren, Mac Rioro, Bestan, Millennium Falcon and electronic baffle. I think she is.
00:23:14
Speaker
the only pilot right now for the the Falcon that can carry the best on combo. Right. Lando can as well. He went up against Lando. Oh, yeah. That's right. And and he he can take him. Yeah. Yeah. And then we got three A-wings. We got Harrow with mag pulse and marksmanship. Ahsoka with brilliant invasion and concussion missiles. Kia with Juke and then Sabine Ren in the TIE fighter there.
00:23:38
Speaker
I mean, it's all of us. You got some really, really fast movies there. Leia Organa can ah essentially do double minor shots as she needs to with Magma and Ursa Wren there. ah Kind of needs to just hang back, allow the eight wings to kind of be that initial screen, and then she can just pick off everybody she needs to there. You have a lot of great fast-moving ships that can go in, can test objectives as you need to, and get out when they need to. So it's a very solid list.
00:24:08
Speaker
Look, love I mean, it's awesome seeing Leah like hell. Yeah. Mm hmm. Let's go. Yeah. Yeah. No, Luke, no watch. Yeah, that's awesome. She's she's she does it. She doesn't she doesn't have to be flying on her lonesome like Mary Poppins in space. She can be in the Falcon. I think that's awesome. Yeah. Too soon still for that reference. Blastromech, though. Andrew, let's do this is the only ah Republic list that made top eight. Everything else rebels.
00:24:35
Speaker
Yeah. And then this one with the, the build your own oddball with veteran tail gunner and RP astromech. Uh, we got stub with a shield upgrade. Ricolee coming, coming into this list. Daredevil, crack shot R2C4, Daredevil and Ricolee. One of my favorite ways to fly them. Super fun. Uh, and then you got contrail with lone wolf and shield upgrade and we have ax.
00:24:56
Speaker
um and mastic ion cannon turret seismic charges and delayed fuses. So this is a list that it's got a combination of like fast ships and then also chunky ships that you have to get through for um not that much value. Axe is really good too. Axe is very good. Yeah. And for like ra rocke still three points though, right? So yeah great value for for what you get. Yeah. like ah Another very solid Republic morph.
00:25:25
Speaker
after the the slight nerfing of the the gun trips. Yeah. The nerf heard around the world. Yeah. that The needed one. Oddball. The oddball nerf. The five point oddball nerf. Yeah. Or the four points of five point. Yeah. That was a needed app. And then you you Trib but brought on. hello Oh, my God.
00:25:48
Speaker
Hey, Han Solo, Captain of the Millennium Falcon. That's my really good Han Solo impression. Like, if he was really drunk or if I was really drunk doing Han Solo impression, that's what it would sound like. And if he was a newsboy in the 1920s.
00:25:59
Speaker
You know, a master and news boy that I teach one is exactly. Oh, exactly. Yeah. So I really I really want to say the joke, but it's so overdone that I'm just going to hold off. um So Hans got Millennium Falcon title engine upgrade Ezra Bridger for the force and the bonus attack with Turret Ezra. Let's see you do that, which is a way to get around this and a chopper and novice technician.
00:26:28
Speaker
um And then we've got a soca with the Magpul's marksmanship and patience, so no compassion. Tycho killed you. Oh, this is dope, dude. Oh, my God. I am like loving this. Oh, my gosh. Can you see how you can tell how stale everything is to me? I see this list of like screaming internally and externally. Tycho, build your own Tycho, the a-wing with the heavy laser cannon, lone wolf and elusive. I don't want to shoot at that guy.
00:26:56
Speaker
Yeah, I find you fancy with Magpul's warheads and Predator and then Sabine. Like, how about it? Finish top eight snuck in there at number eight. I like the use of on Tycho because he just gets to recharge that and then on top of. little Yeah, that is. That is so cool. I love profits on Tycho, too, but it's only it's really stupid with ah an XWA because you can take composure and just. Yeah. Watch it. You bought a double modded shot every turn.
00:27:25
Speaker
Incredible. Yeah, it's gross. But yeah, it is gross. I've been abusing it constantly. But Taiko. Why they banned it in standard. Yeah. Yeah. A composure is just like has a composure. I think Sabine used to also in the attack shuttle used to abuse composure as well. Yeah. She could she could she could fail her ability. And then focus and then move and then lock.
00:27:53
Speaker
when the attack shuttle, so they had. Awesome. Yeah, so a composure is seen, it stays for sure. Yeah, I was going to at this point, I think it would be all right if it also just got banned again, like doesn't need to be. Well, I'm bringing it tomorrow, so. I mean, the ah there the shuttle Sabine, she can still do what debris gambit? You could do the barrel roll into ah evade with debris. and Why are we talking about shuttle Sabine? Is she even legal and standard?
00:28:22
Speaker
named XWA. She's she's like, Oh, yeah, we're talking about both XWA and AMG. Well, I was going to say that's taking blame on this because I mentioned a composure first. I just I just love seeing Taiko at AMG points as well. Like I was I was going to say that's a great transition into the XWA beta points. Shout out to Grasser for winning. Jonathan Grasser won the event. Yes.
00:28:45
Speaker
um Real quick, before we talk about XWA, I have a strange connection. Sorry, I hit my microphone by accident. I have a strange connection to Jonathan, super random. My awesome Rebel backpack that I sadly had to throw away after five years of service. Jonathan has the exact same one, literally exact same one, that I got from Star Wars Celebration. So, shout out to Jonathan for having a good list, winning Phoenix GT and having a dope backpack.
00:29:11
Speaker
All right, we can move on. That's cool. No, that is cool. So we did get our first update. Well, our our first official. or third I mean, yeah, I was going to say that there was kind of like a mini one ah in between. um This one, has I think is it's been the most impactful update so far.
00:29:30
Speaker
um for XWA and it's got a lot of stuff going on. One thing I will say, I do like that XWA comes out with the documentation saying, hey, this is everything we changed and why. If you don't want to like go look list by list. Yeah.
00:29:44
Speaker
Shout out to my boy Martin Liu from my PR team for doing, ah once again, the formatting ah and branding kind of layout for these documents. He is the reason why they look so good. Nice. He's doing a great job. ja Appreciate Appreciate you, Martin. Hell yeah. Good member of the PR team, Public ah Relations. Our relations are almost as good as my relations are with JJ's mother. I had to sneak in one of those. Sorry, JJ.
00:30:12
Speaker
I was waiting. ah Reset the clock, yes. ah Yeah, turn back the clock.
00:30:21
Speaker
Oh, Andrew's like these guys, these guys, these guys. Hey, ah just a bunch of just a couple of guys hanging out. Just a couple of guys. um Yeah. So what's nice about ah the ah for anyone that wants to look at this awesome documentation, Xwing dot.life is the XWA resource site for everything. And um if you go to Xwing dot.life slash resources, you'll be able to find um where you need to go to look at this document. ah The that breaks down the beta beta points version three changes.
00:30:51
Speaker
I was going to say, JJ, have you had a lot of experience with the playing XWA lists? Oh yeah, ah between the draft league right now and practicing for the the next season of the 312 league. Yeah, I've been playing a ton, a ton of different lists and stuff like that. I've been concentrating a lot more with CIS as of late, but ah yeah, just playing a lot ah ah lot of XWA points for sure.
00:31:18
Speaker
Yeah. Well, great. Well, I would say then too, as a, as a CIS player, one of the strongest, I think factions in XWA, there've been a lot of changes, not as much on this new one for CIS, but, um, were there any changes that you saw that were obvious as like, yeah, that was a great idea.
00:31:39
Speaker
Honestly, the the proximity mines was definitely a a needed change, I think, especially for the the bombers, for the hyena bombers and CIS just being able to have indie calcs and have the the proximity mines made them pretty strong and the users also combined it. Yeah, the fuses. And you can also do the struts on top of that as well. I'm just nerfing that down, makes you play them differently. And it took me at least two games where I kept on running my hyena bombers onto obstacles, only to realize, oh, yeah, that's right. There aren't struts anymore. Oh, no. Oh, oh, JJ. Oh, no. I had laughed so hard, dude.
00:32:23
Speaker
It's great. We did get that on stream. Was that on stream? No, it was not on stream. Thank God. So I got I might answer that question, Andrew, even though you didn't ask me, I'm going to jump in and answer that question as well. I was going to ask him.
00:32:40
Speaker
So I'm, I'm personally, I'm going to play the, I'm the meatball meatball X-wing player for a quick second. When I first saw these, I was like, I am personally attacked because I've been playing a list with multiple things that I got derved. And then five seconds after I had that initial reaction, I was like, Oh yeah, that's fair. yeah So Aiden Fox, my boy Aiden, my boy Aiden.
00:33:03
Speaker
Why can't I have a four-point I-1, pocket carrying, focus evading, proton bomb dropping, two agility throwing, B-wing? Because that's not fair at four points. But I had a lot of fun playing them. That's for sure.
Adjustments with XWA Changes
00:33:17
Speaker
That was the first thing I read about the new points changes I thought of you immediately. I was like, oh, Nick, it's going to be so bummed. And it's so obvious. Yeah. I was like, it absolutely needs a change. Nick is definitely going to be bummed.
00:33:33
Speaker
Yeah, um the one that I actually really disliked personally is because it it and I believe the SL Chara Bay for this happening is the only reason why three point Chara Bay went up to four is because the SL version, which is worse, needed to be cheaper. So.
00:33:49
Speaker
A-Wing Shara, who was in jail at four points with like not a lot of loadout and AMG points or still is, went down to three and had enough to take proton rockets. And I was like, hell, yeah, like her ability is pretty niche. She's like, you know, a cheap rocket carrier, but I for squishy, you know, like.
00:34:07
Speaker
you is Is a three point bracket carrier a little too far? I'd say probably, but she was never really that good. So I felt sad about that just because I used to play Shara in 2.0. No one played her then. No one really played her now. And she will not get played again. So but I understand you need to keep the SL version cheaper because it's a lot worse. Like the SL version is very uninspiring. It's a hopeful discussion of the 70.
00:34:36
Speaker
She is. Oh, dude, I remember that. I remember ah playing two point five with the first rule set and Ursa read and Gavin and I would from across the bat target like target like Shara so that I could get target target. Oh, yeah, it's amazing. So i I remember that. Yeah, like in in two point oh, right.
00:35:01
Speaker
So Ursa Ursa was a two point oh release. Right. But it was like right as the game transitions and you could hurt. She needed to be a ratted. Right. Didn't happen until after the first Adepticon. Yeah. Oh, five. You could lock anybody. Locking her. Correct. Yeah. She could lock. Yeah, it was crazy. No, I i remember that. That meta. Yeah. Yeah, it was silly. um But yeah, the rebel changes all make sense. Like just just to kind of do quick summary. Bodekan Fenn, their loadout was slightly tweaked. Sabine, is it Sabine Gunner ah or Crew? I think it's yeah true that Crew. Yeah, Crew.
00:35:42
Speaker
Yeah, Sabine Crew went up just because you can kind of abuse that. And Gavin Darklighter and my boy, Gavin. Oh, God, do I love Gavin? I love the e-wig, everybody. We all know this already, but I love it. His loadout went down a couple to make Corin a little bit more interesting. Yeah, I was going to say for me, from my perspective, like I played a lot of Empire and scum so far with like XWA. I will say the Lambda losing the title that definitely makes sense being able to double match shots ah anywhere really made that Lambda feel like just an auto include in every. Lieutenant Psy. Or Psy, I mean, right in the Lambda. Psy of relief. Yeah. Sometimes I felt, you know, some of my opponents would be like groaning when they saw like, oh, another Lambda now. But it was fun to to play it again. It's going to be interesting seeing a Whisper going down to six points now.
00:36:38
Speaker
So I think we're going to see a little more, uh, standard whisper. I think, yeah, I'm excited to see kind of what that meta looks like as well. You you can, um, you can run custom Vader with that, uh, with the, uh, SL whisper and that's a pretty good combo on its own. And that still leaves you with eight points to fill up your list. And empire has a great choices for four pointers. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
00:37:03
Speaker
Um, so yeah, I thought that was, that one made sense. Uh, the one that I'm excited about though, for scum scum, just kind of got some boosts. Um, Fenrou going down to five points. Uh, I've already kind of put him in my lists, um, to see how good that really is. Loadout to three is pretty good. That kind of limits what you're going to be taking.
00:37:24
Speaker
I'm, my feeling right now is just fearless is probably good enough. Um, but also moving up old Terak's loadout to 11 kind of makes that an interesting choice as well. Now I do. I was going to say, I do have a question for both of you guys on, on how you feel the comparison between rebel fan is versus scum fan, right? We just had scum fan come down to five points with three load out there.
00:37:49
Speaker
We all know that he has a high ceiling where he can potentially, you know, roll natties with red dice that are, um you know, kind of 50% chance to roll paint, right? You could potentially roll natties. I love that. look Yeah, exactly. he has ah He has a very good chance to do it, right, versus the the Rebel Fen route, which doesn't have that same output. Do you still think that we could potentially see Rebel Fen also come down in points? Oh, god. To four? No. No, he's six. That's my answer.
00:38:24
Speaker
I thought Rebel Fenrao was five in XW way. I will need to double check that. that That's going to need. We need a fact check. The rules were, Margaret, great you were going to fact check. I i think, at yeah, Fenrao is five points. Oh, he has a five. Do you think he's worth coming down to four maybe with no loadout? Four and no loadout? No.
00:38:45
Speaker
I, here's my, my hot take is that I understand why some things like Jan Ors, for example, don't have any loadout, but I don't want it to be common practice to take things that we'd like to be able to put loadout on and like restrict it from being able to put anything on like.
00:38:59
Speaker
I understand from like a couple of instances doing it, but like Rebel Fenral, I want to put upgrades on him. I think he should be able to do that. I'm trying to see XW. He's five with eight load up. Putting him down to four brings the same issue kind of that we had with 2.5, where you by making such high initiative ships so cheap again, ah that bumps up the average initiative that everyone else has to play at.
00:39:27
Speaker
across the board. and um I still think, you know, 4.i6 is pretty good. I mean, soontier fell had one loadout and that got taken away immediately. That's my fault. I asked for that. No, no, i mean I think it was it was it was worthy to experiment with, you know, but you that's the whole point is you try it out. Turned out that was actually kind of too good.
00:39:53
Speaker
um And Fen's ability to kind of opens up on his own, opens up a lot of really great possibilities for rebels to rebels to abuse that anyway. um Yeah, so, yeah, kind of like where it's at. And, and you know, i'm I'm curious to see whether scum Fen even stays, you know, at five points.
00:40:21
Speaker
Yeah, the XWA has made it pretty abundantly know clear that they're willing to do an emergency change if there's enough overwhelming data to to like that. It's not fair. I'm not hearing too much, too much um yet, but we'll see. I'm not on the play test side. um Yeah, I also the other thing, JJ, is like it's kind of a dilemma because like I appreciate the question because Scump Fenrao is just a lot better than Rebel Fenrao when it comes to just damage and like he's harder to kill. Range one, the Rebel Fenrao like.
00:40:51
Speaker
Rebel Finrao, you can still just kill him because he doesn't roll four green dice with Concordia at range one. um You know, I think not being able to give scum fan that scar. Is is a good way to differentiate between the two. Yeah, I would consider.
00:41:10
Speaker
giving Rebel Fenrao more than eight loadout if you really wanted to separate the two. But but I think it's it's fine right now. just I personally, like outside of AMG points, like in XWA points, I've been playing Rebels like religiously and you know kind of have to for the draft league. And we've played well this season. We're in the playoffs right now. um I would not bring Rebel Fenrao in my list. I'm good.
00:41:37
Speaker
I don't think it would be it would work for me, but maybe for someone else it would. Yeah, I mean, it's not bad. It's not bad. I just think the risk of like, you know, five points is 25 percent of the game. Oh, so no, for sure. Yeah. Right. So it's just like it just depends on that I think the type of play style you want. If you want to go aggressive, um things are really good for that.
00:42:00
Speaker
There's just enough in XWA right now. There's enough ambiguity still, like, you know, how often am I going to see proton cannons? How often am I going to see proton bombs or or or protorps or anything that just makes a ah fang fighter just shudder? ah I'm just like, I'm just not going to play them right now until I know I can confidently take them.
00:42:20
Speaker
Yeah, for me yeah, that is fair. I mean, I will say that with XWA, the it feels like the firepower of a lot of ships has gone down quite a bit, making things a little more viable ah than they were, I would say even in the middle of two point five, not the in this current you know meta. I think that the things are now pretty good.
00:42:46
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I I've been playing like ah kind of a salad list, like with I've been playing a lot of corn in the X-Wing and that that's been really fun and Tycho and just playing more A-Wings again. And yeah, the I don't feel like me taking a three point TIE fighter is is like ah going ah going to be a game ending decision.
00:43:08
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Might be you know for rebels, not, you know, not for empire, obviously, but like a three point tie a tie fighter for rebels. Like, you know, it's like, oh, you want to bring Ezra? Sure. he He has force. But like, you know, does it can kill anyone? Usually no. So but I feel I like bringing him now because I feel like I can afford to do so. And I think XWA that like that echoes the sentiment that I think these points are allowing people to to take to make choices that they don't feel really bad about endless building. Yeah. Just because it's not super meta.
00:43:39
Speaker
um The one thing I want to bring up was the changes made to First Order.
First Order Changes and Impact
00:43:42
Speaker
um The one thing I definitely agree with a lot of people was that First Order felt like it was kind of behind the curve yeah compared to the other factions that got the rebalance from the previous points update. um One of the surprises for me actually was the Red Fury Zealot. That's how you whisper generic that came out there. um A lot of people that I thought to kind of dismiss it a little bit because it doesn't have the ability to take the the the special suite that allows you to jam. Thank God. Yeah. um Which is honestly, it's fine to me, right, because it just forces you to play it a different way. And having a three point ship that has the potential to um to really go like really fast. it It can equip sensor scramblers. It still has enough loadout points to put in pattern analyzer and proud tradition.
00:44:35
Speaker
make it a really excellent knife fighter or optics. Honestly, i was ah I was looking at this originally because you could fit up to four of them and put in a major strident in the Upsilon shuttle, which you can also equip general hooks on there to expand the range of your coordinate on there.
00:44:55
Speaker
And you can really get those ships into really good blocking positions and then coordinate them to boost and rotate as you need to, to take shots uncontested. um Do you think that this is going to be a big shake up for first order, those ships?
00:45:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think the Red Fury zealot has like slightly too much loadout just because I the i was it said I saw it was sensor scramblers um fanatical and optics in one of our games. I was streaming playoff games and shout out to Sean um ah Bowman for playing the hell out of that list and showing why they're really good. But for dye bullseye.
00:45:35
Speaker
being able to focus, rotate, shoot out back, yeah have being able to cloak and go fast, um and then also being able to have an efficient attack with optics. like I just think that that's like a little too much. um But I like the design space being explored like yeah these guys you can take generics more generics being viable in the game is good but you know they can't jam thankfully and you know you can you know and their eye too so there are a lot of chances to take them off the board before they can really do a lot of damage but man those four die guns at range one you get bullseye it is a lot to take with optics for sure
00:46:14
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I was going to say blackout also being reduced to five points. I think it's going to give them, yeah, a lot more like ability. Yeah, my we love. the I like to call him blank out just because it's, you know, it just feels inevitable with with a non Kylo silencer, um even a Kylo silencer. Sometimes yeah you get that. But I definitely agree. Blackout going down um was good. And I think thematically as Greg and I had a stream I hosted on three one two ah last week talking about these changes. And Greg, I asked him like, hey, why like
00:46:52
Speaker
Why did Gaelic, for example, lose the cannon slot? Why static? not Why static lose the cannon slot? It's like, well, it's just not thematic. They don't have cannon slot. They don't they they don't have cannons. They can't take cannons. Yeah, these ships. It's not cannon to have cannons, as they'd say. ah So doing but they have sensors or or ah yeah. So being able to take fire control system. um That's really good for midnight, for example, like midnight.
00:47:21
Speaker
really loves the ability to re-roll a die without having to spend the lock. How many times have you brought midnight and like needed to spend your lock immediately? Feels bad. Yeah. So that's cool. I like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no. That was a good call. Thanks for highlighting first order.
00:47:40
Speaker
Yeah, I appreciate that. um Definitely hoping they do a little bit better. First order is tough. They just don't have a lot of choices. The Upsalons are getting more play now, but they just yeah, they just don't have a ton of choices in terms of different chassis. And I think that's why you don't see a ton of people playing F.O. Yeah, I just think that, you know, I just hope that hopefully, you know, with the newer shows coming out, you know, on Disney Plus and, you know, with the newer movies and stuff like that, that we'll get to see more of the sequel trilogy fleshed out, you know, like get to see more ships on there. I'm pretty excited so far with Skeleton Crew to see some of the lore for some of the newer ships that they've been displaying on there, because that's just more things that we can pull from later on to hopefully bring into the game or in future games. um I mean, even in Star Wars Unlimited right now, they've been bringing out stuff that we've seen in the
00:48:34
Speaker
and some of the newer shows that come out on there. And it's great to see that you know that that stuff that we're seeing on the screen is translating into our Star Wars games and stuff. So it's it's pretty exciting to see what what they'll bring in the future.
00:48:47
Speaker
I was going to say, yeah, in Star Wars Unlimited, that it's cool to see like the the that's chips that have come out on just the new TV shows are immediately making it into into the game, which is like, it's super neat. Oh, yeah. For sure. Yeah. The last thing I want to say before we move over to talking about Swoo for a few minutes is that XWA thought that Resistance was in a pretty good spot. They didn't even make a single change to Resistance, which is really interesting. ah Yeah.
00:49:14
Speaker
that resistance has always been a lot better than people think in terms of performance. Yeah, that's for sure. That's cool. Very consistent. Yeah, absolutely.
00:49:26
Speaker
All right, well, ah let's let's say way over to planning phase syndicate a
Planning Phase Syndicate's New Direction
00:49:30
Speaker
little bit here. I've I've wanted to talk to you about PPS for ah quite a while, JJ. And I do appreciate you guys having me on a few times in the past. And, um you know, you guys have been very passionate about Star Wars gaming, specifically X-wing. You guys were just doing X-wing and now you've kind of done a little hazy situation slash mostly focusing on Star Wars Unlimited. um So How did you guys start Planting Face Syndicate? We'll start with that question and we can kind of go from there. Yeah, absolutely. So Planting Face Syndicate originally started with ah with a group of guys out of Michigan, Chris Tanner, Matt, and a guy that lived in Florida. His name is Charles Dillman. They were original founders of Planting Face Syndicate. Chris had some previous experience running podcasts and stuff for
00:50:18
Speaker
ah some of his local stuff there in Michigan and she was introduced to X-wing and he really got into the game and the three of them got together and said, hey, you know what? Let's form a podcast and let's do it. um the the They went through about six months and I played with Charles quite a bit at the time and they brought me on and to as a as a host, and I've been doing it ever since going two and a half years strong. um We are comprised right now of just mainly myself, Chris Tanner, who's our lead host, and then our perennial guest host, Alex Merrill from the Best Men, Best Warmers. ah We started off doing X-Wing coverage quite a bit, doing our targeting our podcast more towards the newer players.
00:51:06
Speaker
trying to discuss breakdowns for like list art types and pilot breakdowns and such. And we did that for a while. um And then we went through a period of time where there was a lull in content.
00:51:21
Speaker
ah from from AMG. We went through what was it like two years, I think, ah without any updates from from AMG. And it as a as a podcaster, um it becomes really, really difficult to to kind of see ghosted. but Yeah, exactly. And it it was tough. It was a very tough decision for us when we decided to bring our focus more towards Star Wars Unlimited.
00:51:46
Speaker
um It was a game that myself and Chris really really got into and Alex got into as well. ah I got to try it out in PAX and then I convinced Chris to like, hey, this game is really cool. You should definitely check this out. And I got to play it at PAX last year. And we were we were definitely blessed to be to be in contact with FFG and they allowed us to spoil some of their new cards for the last set that came out, and so we we've been able to cover that ever since there. ah We're not totally done with X-Wing at all. um As a matter of fact, I still play X-Wing more than anything else, ah a board game wise, and Chris also plays. and
00:52:33
Speaker
Oddly enough, he is one of the top players this season for the trash league, which I found hilarious because he was normally pegged as a CIS player for the longest time. And then he came into the league as a Falcon and then just proceeded to have a seven and three season, which is actually fantastic. That's incredible. He did way better than I did, which is awesome.
00:53:01
Speaker
But yeah, we still we still play X-Wing and we do have regular updates for X-Wing when we get it there. We were definitely a super, super excited to interview Ollie when the beta points came out and of course the interview that we have with you.
00:53:16
Speaker
and um And yeah, we try to cover ah the major events as they come up there. um We are definitely really excited to see what's going to happen in post-worlds with the XWA, mainly because we want to see where it
Community Initiatives for XWA
00:53:32
Speaker
leads, right? you know it It kind of gives us the free reigns to take the game into a better direction right as a community and we're excited to see what the the new tournaments will look out there. I mean just listening to the various um outlets that have been putting out news for XWA you know for
00:53:53
Speaker
prize support with with your guest that you had last podcast from lock and roll. um Just seeing that prize support that you guys are are gathering up there to give out for different events that are running XWA events. ah That's something that's going to be great and big shout out to- Yeah. Yeah, those store kits. Yeah. ah The big shout out that I want to give to is also to Harry Nick, who recently opened up his geeky bit store ah that actually has a lot of components for X-Wing that you can you can purchase there, including a custom dial that can work with any ship. ah that's That's something that will be needed in the future when it becomes more difficult to find ah some of the core sets or like a secondhand market. Yeah, sure. So that's ah that's exciting.
00:54:41
Speaker
I enjoyed talking to him for our our our podcast as well, interviewing Nick. I've always been a big fan of his. um when When I got an X-Wing, I absolutely adored his channel and just felt very nurtured by his channel and the way he covered the game and it was really great to be able to have a one-on-one with him and talk to him. and Yeah, definitely check out a store. It's just kind of creating like an evergreen solution to ah initiatives and dials dials for for pilots and stuff that's compatible with the game. um Appreciate him stepping in to do that. And y'all should definitely support him and his channel and his store. like Yeah, as JJ said, ah geeky bits. We can include a link in the description of the channel or of this episode with that as well. Yeah.
00:55:30
Speaker
No, 2025 is I feel is going to be a great year for Star Wars gaming in general. If you're just a fan of Star Wars and and want to get into a competitive gaming scene. um yeah
Star Wars Unlimited: Appeal and Features
00:55:45
Speaker
Yeah. JJ, especially what do you what what do you like about Swoo specifically? Like what like at PAX last year? Like Sudatu is like, oh man, like I'm hooked. So.
00:55:56
Speaker
um i I previously played ah a lot of different card games. I tend to play a lot of like board games and card games on the regular, but what really grabbed my attention about Swoo was the way that they divvied up the the areas or the arenas where you compete, right? You have a ground-based side where you have your ground-based units and then you have your space side where you have your space units and like capital ships and starships there.
00:56:21
Speaker
and you have to really focus on ah on balancing the two sides, right? you You don't want to neglect one side because your opponent can completely overwhelm you and destroy your base from that side, but at the same time you have leader abilities which are unique to each different leader that you can build your deck around with um that really give you a tactical advantage when you're trying to Kind of outmaneuver your opponent there um There's so many different ways to build different lists um different decks and stuff and they've done a really really good job of really Bringing out the lore the biggest part of it is bringing out the same character but from different points in time where
00:57:06
Speaker
they have different abilities, ah namely characters like Anakin Skywalker, or even Luke Skywalker and such, or some of the ah clone troopers. Each clone trooper has their own feel for what they're doing, especially with the new pack that came out, the new set three.
00:57:23
Speaker
it's It's just really fun and entertaining to use the same leader and make different decks that that give them a different tactic to it, um or just use different leaders in general and have different feels for it. So it makes the repa replayability of the game much, much higher than what I've experienced playing like Magic the Gathering, for instance, um or even Lorkana. I was very, very big into Lorkana when it came out.
00:57:51
Speaker
ah But Star Wars Unlimited just won me over immediately. Yeah. That's cool. I did. and Andrew, have you tried Unlimited yet? I played one game, just the the initial starter game. Yeah.
00:58:04
Speaker
I played with Peter, a boy Peter, who helped me get an X-Wing, actually. um he's He's basically moved on to Unlimited, which is what a lot of X-Wing players are doing. like There's a lot that are like UJJ that are still doing both, but a lot of them have left X-Wing to play Star Wars Unlimited.
00:58:23
Speaker
um So I have a bitter relationship with Swoo only because of that. I wish like they're so different. The games are could not be more different than I'm like, hey, like play both. like I ran into someone at the airport with Steven back when we landed from ah Philly. And he had a resistance hat on. And Steven's like, hey, nice hat. And the guy's like, oh, hey. And he's like, did you guys just come from PAX? We're like, yeah, we started talking. And we were like, we're playing X-Wing. He's like, oh, I was playing Unlimited.
00:58:53
Speaker
and He's like I used to play x-wing but I play unlimited now just a little Mike and I said like you can play both You can still play both like to say j's proof of that Yeah Like ah yeah like i you know, maybe I still have my stuff and I was like, you know, it's like hey like come back like, you know, it's a card game It's so different, you know, you could play both So, yeah um you know, I think it's the timing of of Star Wars a little bit. Honestly, it was needed for a lot of people because yeah um yeah people who were not feeling X-wing or other games, so just there's a bit of a lull. They have this new, exciting, and very well-designed game with good mechanics. Like, I was impressed with the game. um I got curb stomped, but, like, It was it was ah it was so thematic. I was like, man, FPG is so good at finding ways to just echo thematicism through all of their games. Just really good at that. The premise of it of you have a leader and you are trying to find and destroy the other opponent's base. I mean, that's basically almost every Star Wars movie and you get to to play it out in in the way that you have your strategy.
00:59:57
Speaker
Also, if you like the ships, like like an X-Wing, there are ships in the game and the the characters that you love. like yeah it is ah It's a cool like Star Wars game.
01:00:07
Speaker
yeah and the The thing about FFG too is that FFG has the the experience on making Star Wars games and relying on that brand identity, right? you know they They did Destiny, ah they they started X-Wing and they are very, very familiar with the lore and you can really tell in the way that they they theme their cards and the theme the several sets that come out so far based around the singular theme and flesh out really really well with the wealth of characters that are available in star wars so i think the main reason why you see a lot of x-wing players
01:00:45
Speaker
a Transition over to Star Wars Unlimited is because there's that familiar reality with the theme and the lore for Star Wars They don't share the same art sadly, ah but they it's it's easy for people to be familiar with the characters You know you you have people that have their favorite Star Wars character and they can play them for um ah with their other favorite cast and stuff in a theme deck and as a person who is really, really enjoys list making in X-Wing. Creating different decks and different lists ah for your decks is right up my alley because I can tell you that the majority of my time playing Star Wars Unlimited is making decks, making thematic decks with specific characters doing specific things and just having a blast that way. It doesn't always have to be competitive.
01:01:37
Speaker
um But it's always fun when you get that that that perfect run of cards that just that just completely um makes your opponent just confused on what's going to happen next and they're not prepared for it. And it just creates those moments there where you can have that aha moment, right? It's ah it's a lot of fun.
01:01:56
Speaker
I was going to say, I play a lot of like Magic the Gathering as my card game um and especially Commander. So when I heard that they have like the Twin Suns format on Star Wars Limited, that's kind of the one that I want to play the most. ah The singleton format with like four players, because one of my favorite parts about card games is like the social aspect of it and sitting down with like multiple players to play. It's one thing why I really loved Epic 2 in X-Wing. So anything that gives me that kind of feel is something that I'm looking for in in a game. So I haven't played that yet, and that's the one that I'd be like most excited.
01:02:33
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. It's it's a ton of fun. I highly suggest it. Yeah. And you guys should if you're ah if you you want to support Swoo and get that that fix for Star Wars Unlimited content, definitely go over to JJ's channel, planning face and a kick. You guys are doing it's really cool that you got to spoil some stuff. FFG is giving you guys. yeah I think you guys deserve it. um Alex is telling me you guys are doing really well covering Swoo. So that's that's awesome.
01:02:59
Speaker
I was going to say I love the the like for new players, the deck building guides that you have and like the how to get started guides. Like if you if you are interested in getting started on limited, definitely check out planning face in the kit because it's one of the best primers to get you ready to play your first game. Hell yeah. Last last last thing, guys, before we put a little bow.
01:03:24
Speaker
You know, three themes in terms of the odd time of the year. A little bow on this.
Nerdy New Year's Resolutions
01:03:30
Speaker
New Year's resolutions. We roll our eyes because a lot of the times it's hard to uphold, you know, to to sustain a New Year's resolution. But what is it? Give me for both of you guys. Give me one that's like a personal thing. Like, you know, this is something I want to do for myself. And then maybe one that's like geeky, nerdy, Star Wars, gamey, X-Wing, whatever it is, a resolution as well. So JJ, I'll start with you.
01:03:53
Speaker
what What would you got? Well, I got to go with, um, I, I absolutely am making it in my personal goal to make it out to that gun this, this coming year. Um, it is going to be the last, uh, AMG worlds that we're going to have for X-wing. I know it's going to be such a huge event and I, I want to make it all the way up to day two, just to make sure. Um, but I'm bringing a couple of suite decks with me just in case I don't.
01:04:20
Speaker
But I absolutely like out of all the events going on next year, that is the one thing that I really, really am excited to go to. And I have to make it out this year for sure. I'm probably going to drive all the way from North Carolina and to go up there to Milwaukee ah just to to to have the freedom of having my own car and driving around.
01:04:44
Speaker
ah Milwaukee out there, but that is definitely a personal goal of mine to make it out there. And I know just just have a blast out there. Well, awesome. Yeah, I'd love to see you there. That'd be great. Yeah. What do you have one that has nothing to do with the gaming convention? ah Yeah, actually, that is a good one. one The ah the other one I want to do actually um is I I um i it tend to have a really big creative side like I like to make content for a lot of different things. And one of the things I've been working on for probably about like three years now, um, is, uh, here's what the Atari cluster, um, or are at least related to that. So I've been working on a, uh, on an RPG, um,
01:05:31
Speaker
campaign based on heroes on the Atari cluster that is meant to be run by like a ah GM um helping players to go through it and I wanted to run it as a way to catch people who may have not played the game to get into the game because you want to be able to work as a team to get familiar with the mechanics of the game and stuff and make it very ah user-friendly for first-time players who who may have never played the game before. And um I want to make it very intricate. I want to have a lot of different scenarios and stuff and borrow elements from other ah games like Armada from Star Wars Unlimited and such and integrate into one game there. So that way anybody can play it, everybody can have a lot of fun doing it. And that would definitely satisfy my own personal ah creative itch that I have to to make content.
01:06:22
Speaker
That's awesome. That's how I got started indexing was I was planning on just doing here's the Atari cluster first. Nice. Yeah. That's cool. I like those. Those are good resolutions, JJ. I back both of them. how What about you, Andrew? ah Yeah, my news resolution, my non nerdy one is just to be better at remembering people's names when I first meet them.
01:06:44
Speaker
That's a really good one. I'm going to get it. If I yeah, if I if I can can up that percentage, you know, like I'm i'm hoping for like 80 percent. I think that would be a good place to start. And when in doubt, just say chief point out and say, hey, hey, hey, man. Hey, soldier Sarge. What's up? Yeah. Hey, chief.
01:07:07
Speaker
but That's the whole thing where it's like, if, if you woke up with amnesia, you're not going to just yell at people like, who are you? Like John has a joke like this too. It's, you're going to be like, Oh, Hey guys, like what's going on?
01:07:22
Speaker
it's really funny Yeah. What's your dirty one? Yeah, my my nerdy one is honestly just to to be able to play more. um I'd like to show up it as many tournaments as I did in 2022. I felt like 2023 was kind of ah a slower year for me, so I would just like to get more involved in the X-Wing scene. 2023, 2024.
01:07:49
Speaker
Well, I was, I felt like I did a whole bunch of tournaments in 2023. Yeah. And then twenty twenty so this past year, yeah, this past year, like I didn't do as I guess many as I'd like to, but that was more just because I had a lot of other stuff going on. Um, but no, I think I'd like to in 2025, get a lot more involved in the X-wing scene. Um, maybe even, you know, at least try out as an alternate for some, some draft leagues and dip my toe in there.
01:08:17
Speaker
as well, because it seems like yeah everyone's having a lot of fun with those, and they seem great. Still sign ups open for the team league, 3-1-2 team league. All right. Well, there you go. Matt joined. Our local Matt is playing in it. So 3-1-2, it was a good year for us. um you know we we We started our Patreon at the beginning of the year, and it opened the doors for us to do a lot.
01:08:43
Speaker
um and not a lot of like We got a lot of equipment already with that help. um We've put ourselves in a position to be able to travel with that equipment in a safe and compact way. So 312 resolution, I guess three resolutions here. 312 wise is to be able to get on a plane with our gear and stream at events.
01:09:04
Speaker
somewhere that I cannot drive to. Convention, big tournament, whatever. I'd love to do that. i By January, the goal is to have everything capable and ready to be able to do that. um that's That's the goal. And it looks like that's going to happen, which is super exciting. um and The other thing is.
01:09:22
Speaker
ah Just continuing to do more um with three one two when it comes to online tournaments because we've done a couple we have the Blues Brothers Bonanza This weekend. Yeah it was really plus Players for that. It was very fun seeing the art for that one the logo. Yeah, I love that Thanks John. Cough copper blue could make it that logo for us um Just yeah, just being able to provide more content and more playing opportunities for players um so That'll be a challenge, but I hope to do that and look forward to to to that. my For myself, I'd like to do a little bit more socially when it comes to like activities.
01:10:02
Speaker
um you know i Dating is not the only thing I want to be doing socially. I'm exhausted from it, and I love hanging out with the the the guys playing games, but we don't play games all the time. So I think ah you know maybe doing some sort of like ah know I don't know what it would be. Soft fall is definitely on my radar for the summer and fall. um Oh, nice. Maybe spring, if the weather is holds and is nice enough in the spring, it's always iffy in Chicago. Just want to be outside more and do more, a little bit more active. so that That's a good one. I think being a little bit more social and just ah keeping myself out there is a goal. And then nerdy wise, I just want to win. I want to win an X-Wing tournament of some sort. So I'd like to say Worlds, but Duncan Howard exists. So I'm going to look elsewhere, but I want to play well at Worlds. i mean you You never know.
01:10:51
Speaker
So hang on, two questions. So does that mean that you're coming to the Richmond Open and are you bringing your mom? Oh, oh well, you know what? The fact is my mom is strange from you because the fact you have to ask me or on her word fair about suggest that your relationship with my mom is not looking very good. That's embarrassing and also good for good for my mom and I because we could finally get out of this terrible situation ship you guys have been in. Oh, my God.
01:11:17
Speaker
Richmond open, dude, um you you played a Richmond. You've been final table Richmond open, didn't you? Yes, I did. Again, Duncan Howard went undefeated last year. He's so good. Yeah, man. and he yeah we Yeah, we all knew how that went. But um but no, I mean, that's incredible. But what ah what a great run. Yeah, that's awesome. I will go to LVO. um I when is Richmond open? It is May 1st. Oh, oh, after. So after it's not going to be a GT, but there will be X-Wing.
01:11:46
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it should be a GT, actually, because I think it's the last GT that we have here in North America. Oh, they're doing. Yeah, it's weird to do post world's GTs, but I guess because they don't connect to each other. they um Yeah, I think that's possible. ah May, that gives you a lot me a lot of time. Sure. Yeah, I mean, and if we're still doing the same venue that we did last year, ah literally right across the parking lot is King's Dominion, which is like a big theme park that has like a ton of rides and stuff. So so that's all Right after the tournament. and So absolutely cool. That's great. That's awesome. All right. Maybe I'll go to Richmond too. Yeah. Yeah. do it Let's do
Future Plans and Community Engagement
01:12:25
Speaker
it. Any, any, ah any, any final say guys, as we wrap up the year here.
01:12:31
Speaker
It's a, uh, I'll go first. It's been a great year. Um, really, really excited to see what XWA has done so far. And, uh, if you're on the fence and still not sure, uh, you know, what to do about X-wing and stuff like that, definitely check XWA out, check a look at all the work that they've done and rebalancing the points and stuff. Uh, there's a, there's a lot of new stuff coming up for XWA.
01:12:53
Speaker
ah Big shout out to Paul Heber for the work that he's done for for Epic Play. I know that we have an upcoming interview with him over at Planet Face and to get to discuss the the Epic Play changes that's come out there. ah But definitely take a look at all the new stuff that's coming out. I know that you guys have big stuff coming out next year once Worlds has concluded.
01:13:16
Speaker
and And yeah, we're going to keep the game alive as long as possible. So the shout out goes to all the current and future X-Wing players. Thank you so much for for supporting the game. And we hope to still see you guys out at all the events, um even if it's still AMG points. We still want to have a good time. We still want to play the game and have fun with everybody.
Final Sign-off and Holiday Wishes
01:13:36
Speaker
Well said, andrew for sure. No, I was going to, I mean, I'm, I'm so, I've never been more excited for the direction of X-wing. Um, it was great playing in the, the three one two, the Chicago tournament that we just had back in November. Um, and, uh, it's.
01:13:54
Speaker
Honestly, it's just been awesome. Yeah. i i'm There's a lot to look forward to in 2025, for sure. for and i And I hope to see all of you, or a lot of you, at Depticon. And if not, i'm I'm sure I'll catch you around online or at another event. I appreciate you all.
01:14:12
Speaker
All right, so thank you to JJ for joining us for our final podcast episode, episode 23, to wrap up the year. Make sure you guys check out Planning Phase Syndicate on Twitch. You can find the link to their channel in our description of this episode. Now, for the holidays, the best gift you can give us is your continued support. So look out for bigger things from 3-1-2 this coming year. If you aren't already following us on Twitch, what are you doing, huh? Follow us on Twitch, YouTube and Facebook.
01:14:39
Speaker
Because you should, because Cassian said you had to. The links to those in the description as well. And lastly, but not leastly, if you think 3-1-2 has been extra good this year, consider joining our Patreon. We have some amazing benefits, including exclusive commission cards, tokens, stickers, and much more. Not to mention early access to content, Discord benefits, and awesome discounts on all of our events, whether you're playing in person or online.
01:15:05
Speaker
We hope you have a safe and happy holiday season on behalf of all of us here at 312. We know you have many options when it comes to which squadron you choose to fly with, and we thank you for choosing us. We'll see you in 2025. My name is Nick Sperry. And I'm Andrew Kubba. And I'm JJ. And we will see you next year.