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Episode 25: 90 Minutes of Blackjack
114 Plays1 month ago
A long time ago… in a windy city, far, far away… Your hosts Andrew Kouba and Nick Sperry discuss the Las Vegas Open GT, a slightly shifted meta, and the new time changes to the X-Wing tournament regulations for Worlds.
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Transcript
Introduction and Hosts
00:00:02
Speaker
You are listening to the 312 Squadron podcast. I'm back from missing my flight from Las Vegas, but I'm back. We're back for episode 25. My name is Nick Sperry. My name is Andrew Kubar.
Andrew's LVO Experience
00:00:14
Speaker
And Andrew, we got some news. Yeah. GT talk about LVO, which I was able to witness and be a part of. Again, it's my fifth straight LVO, which is fun. um And some time talk.
00:00:27
Speaker
Talking about time a little bit as well.
Nick's Personal Interests
00:00:31
Speaker
Yeah, how there's 90 minutes and sometimes not enough. Yeah, I hate that the truth for sure. How have you been?
00:00:41
Speaker
I've been great. I've been doing some fun hobby stuff. I'm getting job interviews out there. So anyone who's been following that saga, I think, hopefully, if ah all is going well, that might be coming to an end soon. Fingers crossed there, for sure. I just can imagine it can be tough. I know we've talked about it a bunch. Yeah. um But in the meantime, though, stay in positive. ah And while you were at LVO, I've been ah with my partner doing dancing, learning some blues dancing as well on the side. So that's been fun. Oh, that's cool. um yeah Going out, touching some grass, touching some dance for us, touching some dead grass in the year the Midwest for right now. That's where we're at. Some very hard packed ground. Yeah.
Estate Sale Reflections
00:01:26
Speaker
Yeah, I went to an estate sale today for the first time. Oh, with a friend of mine, i a coworker. She wanted to meet up to vent about work, which is, you know, yeah there are things that that's about. And um then she was like, I'm going to a state sale. Do you want to go? I was like, sure. It was like five minutes away in uptown. um And it was cool. It was really packed. And it's kind of weird to like watch rummage through somebody's house. Yeah, it's always.
00:01:50
Speaker
That's always sad. Yeah. But, yeah you know, it's if you're not using the stuff, you know, I would feel that I'd rather it go to people who would appreciate it and and would also like take care of it. Yeah. No, I agree. um I think.
00:02:06
Speaker
It's one of those things where it's just, ah i'm not I'm not sure exactly how it works. like I know sometimes like the family like decides to just put it up for an estate sale. I don't know if like there's ever, like because like you owe money, I don't know if that gets into that, but I'm not sure how any of it really works. but I feel a lot of times it's just that the family has already divided up all the goods that they wanted.
00:02:28
Speaker
And so everything that's left over, instead of having a company remove it or donate it all, they will open it to the public to to look yeah look through, see if they want anything. um and And then everything else usually gets like donated. So it's like a larger yard sale, right? Yes. But it's yeah under different circumstances. Yep. It's i it's yeah a whole house garage sale.
00:02:51
Speaker
Well, there you go, folks. If you didn't have estate sale talk on your bingo card, you should add it. We are covering blues dancing. We're covering estate sales. We're going to cover LVO. We're going to cover 90-minute round times.
X-Wing at LVO: Decline and Atmosphere
00:03:05
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you want to dive into LVO talk a little bit? Honestly, yeah, super excited, super jealous. I wasn't able to go this year.
00:03:13
Speaker
something I still want to definitely make it out to because we had such a blast last year, but it was so exciting to live vicariously through you and all of our friends out there as well. You know what? I'm going to say like so a part of me was going to say like, yeah, like you would have had a good time and I know you would have. I did have a good time. But the other part of me is like I almost like didn't want people to kind of see your experience like the the where X-Wing has gone from the main the main hall gamer hall by the stage to being what felt like relegated to a small like back room
00:03:50
Speaker
with like lights that were out and like dark mats that you couldn't see. um like I don't think if there was an LVO to miss, this is what I'm going to say. If there was an LVO to miss in the last five LVOs in a feature duck swing, this was for sure the one to miss. um Yeah.
00:04:06
Speaker
And we still had a fun time. The vibes are still good because the people are what make the vibes. But like at what I i honestly thought when I was first sent a picture of of the setting up in the room, I was like, that's kind of pathetic. It just it just felt it felt pathetic. And it's not our fault, but actually players fault. It was frontline gaming is like, you don't have enough players. You don't have a lot of players. We're just going to put you in this room. And just I don't know. It felt we felt like we were just not a part of the convention, if that makes sense, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Like kind of when when you're relegated to a smaller area, especially when you don't have like the stage or like last year when they were doing the streaming and everything like that for the events, too. Yeah, I can see how that feels like that. I would also say like me putting my positive spin on it would be it would be very peak Vegas if you're in this like small smoke filled room, you know, on the side or like in the Rio. Yeah. Yeah. The real in the Rio where like the real games go down.
00:05:03
Speaker
ah Yeah, yeah. um Yes, sure. ah Like had I known that was going to set up, I would have showed up with like a fedora and stuff made a day of it. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah but yeah, I mean, it does feel you know, you can you can kind of feel that the the AMG tenure of the game is coming to a close.
State of the X-Wing Community
00:05:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it made me reflect pretty heavily. I mean, I've been doing a lot more reflecting on X-wing and my part of playing in X-wing events and being a part of the community, ah but also just like my first LVO, it was my first biggest It was my first big convention, like first con for X-wing is my first major tournament for X-wing. That's cool. Everything else had been like 30-ish people, maybe 24. This one, I mean, the Fly Better guys, Dee and Ryan, they hosted LVO 2020 at Bally's back when it was on the strip.
00:05:57
Speaker
And there was like, I want to say and don't quote me on this, but I know there was at least like around 200 people playing. um Wow. It was massive. The amount of tables needed for X-wing. Like, I mean, it was really wild. There were six rounds at the time. Now we only just do five, but that back then there were six rounds and a graduated cut, you know, tournament regulations and structure was different.
00:06:21
Speaker
um But just to think about kind of the glory days of X-wing and 2.0 when you know at that point that was at 2.0 was only a little over a year old um and just a few months removed from worlds at that stage to kind of going through the next five years through the pandemic and what that's done for all types of you know all gaming and our lives in general and then in here in 2025 the Las Vegas Open um One where people from the Midwest and West Coast all tend to go to.
Event Attendance and Competitors
00:06:51
Speaker
It's the one that they all try to make make it to because it's like a trip that most of us could afford to go to and yeah to only have 45 people between two days of Swiss. um Yeah, it's eye opening, I guess. Not to but to really dwell on it or dig a huge hole and cry, but it's like, man, it's just got me thinking about it, I guess. like
00:07:10
Speaker
So one thing going against Elvio this year too was wasn't the Phoenix open also happening at like the same time? That was Pax. That was during Pax. Okay. Which did have around 40. I think it was 38 to 40 people. That makes more sense. It was around the same total number between two days. Pax was one day with a cut to four.
00:07:31
Speaker
Yeah, that makes more sense. I blanked on that for a second because I was like, Oh, it'd be crazy if you had one that was in Phoenix and then one four hours away in Vegas, you know, versus, you know, one in Philadelphia, one in Phoenix makes way more sense. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Thankfully, we didn't have to necessarily deal with that. um Right.
00:07:49
Speaker
Yeah. you know So, yeah. So still. Yeah. Yeah. Still, you know, it was um what was cool was I got to see my my
Community Acknowledgments
00:07:55
Speaker
buddy Adam. um Adam introduced himself to Andrew and I last Elvio last year. And he's a big you know he's a big fan of of ours and really appreciate the support. um Adam's a patron as well. Just.
00:08:08
Speaker
Great dude, got to play a game of X-Men with him and got to get a drink with him and hang out. Got an Africa with him and a bunch of other people. And it was a lot of fun. So Adam, if you're listening to this, you know, we appreciate you. And it is ah too bad Andrew couldn't make it out to hang out. Well, I say hi to you, too. Yeah. Yeah. He says hello to you last year. Yeah.
00:08:24
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah. And D. Yoon and I, we room together. Dan McGinn, shout out to Dan, who runs um the Fair Games, Downers Grove, X-Wing scene. It was his first time doing LVO. And um you know we we got to room with him and we had just a lot of fun. And yeah honestly, it is what you make of it. um The X-Wing scene wasn't as vibrant and as massive as as in the glory days, but we still had a good time playing and and hanging out. Right. Yeah, I was going to say and and it was looking at the people playing in the event to top tier players that were there as well. Yeah, I lucked out playing in day two had like didn't have like the Jorge Castaneda's like it didn't have the dunes still good comp Marcel played day one and keeper Tony played day one. A bunch of people that I know better in terms of their um
00:09:13
Speaker
record and and playing an organized X-Wing, but i both days were pretty cutthroat. And honestly, the list variety, I was a little surprised. like I was expecting more of specific types of archetypes that I never played against and didn't see too much of on both days, um which you know we don't we won't dive too much into everyone's list. But um you just had, honestly, ah Republic was the only one that didn't deliver um very good results. Like yeah otherwise, there was some pretty good faction representation besides the fifth place finisher um who did play Republic, a seven chip Republic list. So shout out to K. Helen Dros going three one and one just like me. Yeah. Well, I was going to say not that many Republic showed up on day one. ah But I mean, Republic still was top eight. um Yeah. In total. But
00:10:06
Speaker
ah But two very different lists as well, which is cool. Yeah, I'm looking through also a very one republic list. Yeah. Very diverse top for day one, too, because you got resistance, scum, empire and rebel, which is cool. I just typically won't interact with the chat while we're doing our podcast, but I got a message here. Nick, I was a T.O. and this year and I'll be. Oh, hey, Michael.
00:10:29
Speaker
Thanks for the half double-double. He's talking about In-N-Out Burger. You're welcome. If you have any questions, I can try to answer them. Absolutely. Yeah, we will. um appreciate you ah ah appreciate We appreciate you. you And you're very generous in giving us some awesome stuff for giveaways and really helps keep X-Wing alive ah your time and and effort. So you, yeah um Jeremy, and John, appreciate you guys.
00:10:51
Speaker
Nick shared the pictures of that. Thank you so much. That is so cool of you. Yes, it is so generous. Yeah, I'm really excited to be giving them away, new players and giveaways on our stream. So thank you. um Yeah, honestly, I will now on this topic, I will give a shout out to John ah and Jeremy, who were the judges um for Michael, who was the T.O.
Event Organization and Player Experience
00:11:12
Speaker
and all three of them.
00:11:13
Speaker
where they ran a tight ship. It was smooth. It was efficient. They gave us proper time to set up, which was amazing because in the past that all the excellent events for two point five, there has always been that one round where they give you like five minutes to to set up and start and set your dials. And yeah, I just glad I didn't have to feel rushed because the lightning setup is it's it could be um it's important to give the players, especially if they just came off a game that was really close or went over time or was heartbreaking or whatever the situation.
00:11:42
Speaker
Everyone there's sometimes you need to like cool off and I you know, I had a couple of those games um I had a game where I lost by three points that was a bit of a heartbreaker and then I had a game where I came back and tied and that was that draw was the main reason why I didn't make cut because I finished fifth place out of out of that instead of top four, um but You know, I was proud of the way that I flew and my opponents were awesome and really competitive. And it just feels good to play competitive X-wing, even if you're in a dark room with lights that are out and, you know, 20, 22 players instead of 200. It's still, you still get very much caught up in the in immersed in the environment of playing competitive X-wing.
00:12:23
Speaker
So let's talk about day two then, because I, and let's talk about your, your experience day two, go going through it. Just, uh, so one, I can live vicariously through, through you, but then two, just to get an idea of some of the lists and stuff that you've been seeing and, uh, what was like your, from your perspective, like experience of
Nick's X-Wing Strategy
00:12:43
Speaker
how the tournament. was Yeah. Um, so.
00:12:46
Speaker
Day two, I brought what I call Wish dot com Paul Hever's list because it's the archetype that Paul Hever one packs with, but it has a couple of different upgrades on Keo and Fen. So the list is to be very quick with it. Fen round the thing fires is a rebel list with Beskar reinforced plating, Mandalorian optics and predator.
00:13:07
Speaker
And then it's the battle over Endor Wedge. He gets that double-modded advanced proton torpedo, extra shield. Battle of Yavin Luke has that regen and the protorp. And then it's Kyo with lone wolf and ion missiles and Sabine. Five shipper.
00:13:20
Speaker
good two I-6s, I-5, you get some a lot of high agility, you get regen, extra shields, um double reposition stuff, like with, or not double reposition, but well, kind of with Sabine you do, um and Kia do the same, so. Ion's been stronger than ever. ah Yeah, and what's interesting is like the ion missile is more of like a a tool that I employed only a couple times during the event, but it was a good threat to be able to get behind lists and target lock and kind of just threaten and a three die gun at a lower initiative.
00:13:49
Speaker
um And I got some value out of it for sure. It's definitely maybe not as good or optimized as juke because Kio just always evades anyways, but I just I personally don't like factored cannons as much and I don't I just I don't know juke is a little boring for me But I get why it's good. I had nothing nothing against it. Just not my favorite thing. So I Yeah, I think I mean, I think it's good, though, with Keo, regardless, anytime you give an A-Wing, a three diagram, that's great. And then the where Ion is in the metal meta, just being able to break target locks, especially on some of those like lower initiative ships from other factions is key. Yeah, exactly. um I.
00:14:27
Speaker
I would say that all of my games were really were were pretty competitive. I was really happy with the way I flew. I had Fenrao. I always put him in a pretty good spot. I put Wedge and Luke and in an ideal situations and positions. And the toughest game actually for me was against a three, a four ship rebel list with a gauntlet, a ghost in Sagar and the Ewing and Sabine.
Challenging Matches and Reflections
00:14:50
Speaker
Captain Matthew is his role better name um from the shaken pilots. And he I mean,
00:14:58
Speaker
He was it came down to the last turn. um I was able to get some good shots in his Canaan. But man, with double heightened perception on Ezra and the gauntlet and the Canaan Charis and the ghost is just so scary. It is a lot of double modded, a lot of extra dice shots. I mean, he's he's rocking for chunky ships, too, with Canaan, Ezra, Sagreira and Sabine. Yeah.
00:15:22
Speaker
not only are Caden and Ezra really good at just slowly mitigating that damage, but the offensive output, especially with Saw Gerah getting those crits in that. Yeah. I remember him shooting Rangestree obstructed to Luke and I blanked out and I took like, I had, I took like hit crit crit and Luke ended up being on one hole with like loose stabilizer and like panic pilot and so I was able to to protect Luke and and get him out of there and he survived the rest of the game. But I mean, that was the tipping point. It was were're as close a tipping point against me as possible. And I was able to to pull it out. um It was salvage mission two, which made it even more nerve wracking. But yeah, I mean, honestly, I was I really love the way that I was really happy with the way that I played probably one of my best performances of late and better than I did at PAX. But you know, just
00:16:11
Speaker
missing cut because of some some some ah just victim of circumstance. And I had a look at my SOS. It's the second best SOS in the top. Yeah, I was going to say your your first round opponent made it into top four. ah And then did your third round opponent make it as well?
00:16:30
Speaker
um I played so I played Brack Brack Daddy, who went who went for one to know. Yeah. Shout out to Brackley. That was your only last son, Liam. That was my only loss. Yeah. And that was a really weird game because he him and I, his his F.O. list, it has like a targeting synchronizer midnight. It's got ah a um sensor scramblers plasma torpedo um and sensitive controls blackout and then the whisper Kylo.
00:16:59
Speaker
ah And ah with um targeting synchronizer, you can shoot those plasma to torpedoes with a focus instead. And I just never spent a lot. And in what ah the big turning point in that game was that he shot up a target and sink plasma and only got one result. And Luke blanked out and still took his shields and then died the next turn. And I was like, that was such a huge swing. So that was that set me back the rest of the game and i ended up losing by a few points, even though I scored like eight or nine in the last round. It was a tough one to lose, but he played really well and made cut and deserved it for sure.
00:17:35
Speaker
Yeah, good competition. Great people. Dwight Lindsay. I want to give him a proper shout because he played with me. Dwight from Lock and Roll. We've had a friend of the show who's been on a couple of episodes ago. He was on two episodes ago. Yeah, he brought CIS, a five ship CIS list with Sun Fac. No Vulture droids in the list at all. It was like dirt, Sun Fac, a couple of HMPs, one with Kalani, that tactical relay droid that gives you like target locks and greatest and he he got He scored 80 mission points, which is tied for the most in the top four from day two and went four and one. So Dwight had a great run with CIS, which technically and statistically ah is the worst faction in AMG points, like with a lot of data for us to look at. It is the worst performing. And so it's it's neat to see him put together a combo that that worked.
00:18:25
Speaker
against this slightly shifted meta because of that weird, that little tiny points update they gave us um last year. Yeah. And this top form, two rebel lists, one F.O. and one CIS. So I believe that when we go into top eight, every single faction is represented.
Top Players and Standout Performances
00:18:41
Speaker
So, yeah, like I mean, we could talk about um what just let's talk about. We talked about the people who made top eight. Diyun also give him a shout out. He ah he brought um and known as Raythos. He's just a troll and roll better, which is really funny. He is not yet the ASBI architect. He's just trolling.
00:18:57
Speaker
um But he brought a four ship rebel list. It was Luke Wedge um Chopper and the ghost and Sabine, I believe. I think that adds up to six, eleven, sixteen. No, he had a four pointer. ah I'm trying to think of who that would be. Maybe it was Ahsoka. I don't remember. um I can look at his list. It'll tell me. Right. Yeah. Yeah. He's got the B wing. ah Oh, the giina Gina Gina moonsong. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. So no Sabina's Gina moonsong. A four ship list with the plasma. Torb. Proton cannon. You can like double tap with it. It's really crazy. The damage potential. um Poor guy got diced a bit in his top eight game. um And then um I think Seth is the one I'm thinking of who brought a really good rebel list with Bota in it.
00:19:44
Speaker
Yes, i ah this is with Bodhika and Ahsoka with Luke, Wedge, and Sabine. Yeah, Luke, Wedge, Bodhika, Ahsoka, Sabine, and he basically just says Ahsoka give actions the whole game and Patience is the folk of the forceback. that Yeah, Patience.
00:20:04
Speaker
Yeah, so she's just in that and double modding Ahsoka, double modding whoever yeah needs it. Yeah, ah she can't use her ability on herself, but she ah but she could still double mod her shots with her force anyways, right? She can take a lot of concussion missiles. And so, yeah, a lot of opportunities for her and Bodega with the double tap um being able to bonus attack pretty much every turn um is is very, very solid.
00:20:27
Speaker
Yeah. And Ahsoka has concussion missiles, too. So, you know, she has a way to get that. It's no joke for sure. yeah No joke. um But and what really not surprising, considering it was a runner up at Worlds, um Jorge, one of the sweetest, best X-wing players I know and the best in the world because of just the fact that he is, brought a scum list ah and he played day one and he ended up winning the whole thing.
Jorge's Winning List
00:20:50
Speaker
um with his five-ship scum list ah featuring Fenrao, Han Solo, Dirge, Lee Makai, and Bosk. And so Han, one of the points changes they made, the AMG made, was they brought Han down to five in the Falcon um with just like 10 loadout, but enough to take Maul.
00:21:10
Speaker
And so, yeah, yeah and the mall and this is the mall that coordinates. This is there's a few different mall crew, but this is the one that like coordinates. So he's doing an I six coordinate with perfect information or almost perfect information and oftentimes giving dirge Lima or a lot of cases Fenrao in additional action. And um with Lando's Falcon title, you can still fire a three or maybe in Hans case for shotgun ah with the Falcon, a lot of health for five points. High initiative coordinating. I mean, gosh, doesn't seem so bad to me.
00:21:40
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah, this is the Mandalorian Mall. Yeah. Yeah, George with proton cannons, false transponder codes and marksmanship. That is a that is a nasty ah shot to take. And the false transponder codes is just so good. um If I were playing against Jorge, I would do everything I could to make sure Keo locks to drop that false transponder code. Yeah, it's a really nasty thing to deal with. And Lee Mackay with plasma, Thorps and dorsal just have for flank. And if no one looks at her, hey, thanks for the target lock. Yep. And then. Yeah. And George. Right. Yeah. We were talking already just
00:22:14
Speaker
really hard to be to to take down. Yeah. dirt or ah Lima might be a a guy. I apologize if I get Lima confused. Them. I will use the pronoun on them for Lima Kai. And then Basque, of course, the most dangerous pilot in the whole list, of course, and that's 95. He could sneak in some damage marks and chip expert handling for two points. Yeah. Oh, Lee Mackay is a man. Yeah. Lima's a dude. and Oh, no. I got it wrong. um But in the wake of all the news, I feel like that's probably one of the least cancelable offenses. There's a lot of bigger fish to fry these days, Andrew. Right. So we'll get into that. But Lima's a non-staggered guy.
00:22:47
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. um But lima Lima is a lot of... I really like Lima. Lima used to be four points with more loadouts. You can take protorps, um but three points with plasmas is still really, really good. And ah obviously, ah a good part of Jorge's list, a lot of high initiatives. He only had the lowest as an i4, two i5, two i6s. And man, I know Fenra was six points, but with Fearless, Predator, Beskar, and Mandalorian Optics, that is A lot. That's almost like a guaranteed five hits when he gets in a range one. That's a lot to do for sure. And then, you know, in this list, too, there's really no good options to go after. um No, I don't. Is only two points. Fenrao is six. Like, you know, maybe you want to go for that first. But if you're then leaving Lee Makai dirge and Hahn, like any of them alone, they're just going to be able to take advantage of that.
00:23:35
Speaker
Yeah, dirge is pretty easy to kill Lima. There's about nine points of things that you can you can try to go after. um But Han and Fenn are going to be really tough, especially Han. Yeah. And I feel like you almost, though, have to take out either Fenn or Han pretty quickly.
00:23:52
Speaker
or otherwise, you know, they're just going to also be able to take the nine points away from you right back. I remember talking to Jorge. I played a TTS game with him before LVO and I asked him like what he was bringing and I'm like, are you bring Republic? He's like, no, I'm just bringing some jank. I'm like, I don't think it's very good. And he wins the whole thing. So yeah, I just wish I could just be like that. That's just such a flex, you know, like.
00:24:17
Speaker
I know he wasn't trying to like he didn't. He's going to try to win the whole thing, but I just found that really amusing. You know, it's just like I'm just Jake. Yeah, it's also Jakey or maybe not just calling your list a pile. Yeah. Yeah. um But overall, Elvio like Pax, it was it was it was good to see.
00:24:39
Speaker
different things. um And I can now confidently say that worlds I'm not besides like these like four ship imperial lists, they're going to feature like a vader, a suntir, a whisper like that kind of combo and plus whatever you want to fit in, um you know, a fair offer or something else. Like i I think we're we might see a little bit of an uptick in scum. um I think we'll see ah an uptick in, you know,
00:25:04
Speaker
i don't even The republic has always been so popular. I still think that the primary three factions we're going to see the most of is going to be empire, republic, and rebels. um yeah My prediction is that empire is going to be probably the most represented, and then republic, and then rebels is like my prediction. But ooh we'll see. You know what? i will illll I guess I'll take that bet. I'm going to say rebels is going to be the most Brot faction. Let's hope if we remember to revisit, then we'll do a little fun little bet for it. I don't know. That's right. Empire versus a drink. Malort cocktail. You know what? I don't mind Malort, so I'll take it.
00:25:43
Speaker
And ah shout out to Connor, who is the runner up at this event. And Connor um conveniently just subscribes to the channel through Twitch because they're streaming for subscribers right now on on Twitch. And Connor um brought a really cool imperialist with some bombers, which is cool and and not the bombers that you might be traditionally thinking of. um I would like a little bit of list, a little bit of that, but I'll read the list really quick. He brought ah a Vader SSP Vader ah SL Whisper and then three point Tomax with feedback ping and barrage rockets. My boy Tomax without the SL. This is three point one major rhymer with feedback ping and barrage rockets and then deathfire. So custom Tomax and custom rhymer in the list. Yeah. Clearly did very well. Made it all the way to top two.
00:26:33
Speaker
I don't remember, Connor, what the final score was, just because we were too busy arguing about the prequels in the corner. We actually got in trouble and were asked to move because we got too heated with our conversations about Star Wars while they were playing their important top two game. It was so ridiculous. um But I do know that it was it was an intense game. And, yeah, Connor's a good dude. It was nice to meet him for the first time. He's in our league and in NCX as well. so um But yeah, man, tell tell me about this Vader Whisper combo, Andrew, because you've been playing it.
Vader Whisper Combination Discussion
00:27:05
Speaker
It's I played against it. It's it's good. We talked about a little bit, but it's so good at any time that you can get a focus lock on with Whisper. I mean, I think Whisper combos with any X1, but just Vader and Whisper together just hit so hard because basically when whenever a ship at range one to two of Whisper takes a target lock,
00:27:27
Speaker
than whisper can acquire a lock on that same target. It doesn't have to be in range at the time, just whenever it happens, then they just get the lock. um And already they have an evade from coming out of cloak and then they have a focus, then they can take focus for the action and then they just get a target lock. so You know, you're almost guaranteed a target lock there. And then the cool thing that Whisper can do is if you if Whisper doesn't use the target lock when they fire, Whisper can spend the lock and then another ship within, I believe, range one to two of Whisper can acquire a six console. Yeah, basically. Curious if Connor did that at all with Tomax or Rimer to give them double modded barrage rockets.
00:28:10
Speaker
I mean, yeah, that's something that that yeah you could do as well, which that combo seems really good on its face, too. And then when Whisper shoots, Whisper can take a cloak action ah and can do that twice a game. And so now if they're shooting back at you, you're rolling four dice.
00:28:26
Speaker
You know, it's really crazy about feedback ping and death fire, Andrew. I just thought if I was going to say that is a comp that what a comic launch and just go anywhere with those bombs. And then as soon as the enemy ship executes and maneuvers, you're the one of the bomb death fire just like yeeted at them. You get these locks for double mounted barrage rockets. Like, I mean, that is a type of like alpha.
00:28:48
Speaker
that gives me nightmares, especially as somebody who has been playing a fang fighter and two T-65s like I'm going to pass. That sounds awful. um you You better hope that you to to me, I played against that fire enough like that fire is kind of predictable, but you still can't necessarily you have to play against it and therefore you're you're having you have to your opponent still wins out in most cases, even if you're not getting hit by these bombs or or like the feedback things are going off, you have to like be mindful of it. And that mind game is very effective.
00:29:18
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. I mean, because for three points, Deathfire still packs a lot of punch. But yeah, adding that feedback thing to it too nasty. That what a great what a great list. That sounds so fun. Yeah, it's was super, super fun. I took a photo of his list. He had a cool painted hu dials and ships. I was like, it was a little photo op, like as we're setting up for like top his top four cut games, like, hey nick can you can you take photos of my list? And we like took time out of them to to take those little photo shoot of his list is fun. Yeah, that's a good time.
00:29:47
Speaker
um It's nice to feel included, because I'm Mr. 3-1-1 over here, just like Squidward, that meme of him looking through the blinds of his house, seeing SpongeBob and Patrick having fun. like That was me, but I still so had a good time. Oh, yeah. um There's so many people out there that that feel that too. like i'll I'll always remember the time that I at Gen Con, just outside of top 10.
Handling Tournament Disappointments
00:30:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:15
Speaker
But I mean, still that, you know, there's of all the 40 people or the 21 people that played in that that game, you know, you're number five. Like you still yeah did so good. No, someone's got to be number five, you know.
00:30:30
Speaker
Someone's got to be number five. And I definitely set i expectations for myself because I believe I'm a pretty good excellent player at this stage. But, um you know, I always so I always set my expectations on making cut. And it can always feel a little bit of a burn when you don't. But someone's got to miss cut by by a draw. And I'll be that guy. that's There is plenty of psychological research out there that says that second place is actually the most devastating thing to get.
00:30:53
Speaker
You hear that, Connor? Because you could have gotten first. No, but I mean, it's a very real thing. like Yeah, no no, you're right. I'm just messing with him. Yeah, like cases of depression among i ah Olympians are silver place medalists.
00:31:06
Speaker
If unless you were searching for the holy grail, five is right out. Yeah. i agree but Right out. It is. And I was right out of the cut for sure. ah But it was really cool watching these players play different, really cool lists, good variety, good people. It's just yeah, it is good. um And again, ah Michael and Jeremy and John just ran just a really smooth. ah event, I will say it's a little easier when you do have everyone in kind of ah a controlled space. I think that side of it actually benefits the TO. And if that's good. Oh, for sure. You don't have to be patrolling and you know like 20 tables worth of games, 40 tables worth of games. What I think it would be really funny if like 80 X-Wing players showed up and they like forced frontline to give us a bigger space. Yes, because I just would think that's funny. Plus, more players is always good. but
00:31:58
Speaker
you know and it was They were able to to to really do a good job running LVO because we had a lockdown space. Yeah. i And I will say I'm going to try to segue this super well. I'm going to my attempt. One of my games, um the game that I lost, we went to it was it was a tense game. A lot of like, you know, trying mind games about where we think we're going to be moving and stuff like that. Some longer planning phases. We ended up playing five rounds, um which five to six rounds about average. not No shame in that. But I I really wanted like I was really hoping we could have gotten one or two more rounds in.
00:32:32
Speaker
um And now, it seems, Andrew, that ah per some updates from Atomic Mask Games for Worlds um and GTs moving forward, there's going to be more time.
Debate: Extending Tournament Time
00:32:43
Speaker
There's going to be 90 minutes plus or minus versus the original 75.
00:32:48
Speaker
Yeah, which is huge. So 90 minutes. Yeah. Plus or minus. So it's going to be long days because it's still going to be what five rounds. Long days. Yeah. how Andrew, let me ask you a question. On average, would you say that more often than not?
00:33:03
Speaker
close in the the games that are close that you end up losing. Do you wish you had more time to play more rounds? Well, it depends. It depends the list that I'm flying. If if I'm flying an AC, you know, heavy hit list, then yes, I want more rounds. If I'm flying like Republic arcs or a big ship list or things with why wings, I want those games to go as short as possible and and get those objectives.
00:33:29
Speaker
So those are the games that you're kind of looking for like five, six rounds because but the games that you have lose by just a few points. Oh, yeah. No, you always wish that you had so many games that comes down to where you're just like, if I just had one more round, I think I could have got there.
00:33:42
Speaker
Yeah. And you think this this probably solves that, right? Would you say this change? I mean, yeah, it solves that for the players that that want that. I think that now taking this extra time is going to matter on how you build their lists by adding more time to it. For some games, I.
00:34:02
Speaker
Objectives are going to be more important. Having ships that can stay alive longer are going to be far more important. And I think that this is going to fundamentally change the way that we build lists and think about objectives. um I also think that this does adding adding more time might also give some players that we're going to win anyway, just have them win more. But that just depends on the state of the game.
00:34:30
Speaker
I think I mean, as the type of player that I am in the list that I fly, I think it will benefit me. And at the very least, I just would rather my games go to 20 than lose like 18 to 16 or 17 to 16 or 15, whatever. And I play five rounds and, you know, I.
00:34:47
Speaker
As most scenarios, too, you're always like there's always feels like there's some momentum shifting a little bit in the end game when the games are close and in like scramble or salvage or assault, like things can swing pretty heavily. um You know, like the game I lost, they scored like eight points in the last round, almost like half the threshold to win. Right. yeah So but it's it'll be interesting. I think the rant, the the the downsides are just going to be we're not used to this. um We've gotten accustomed to
00:35:19
Speaker
I'm trying to think of like, mean we're not used to it. And I do wonder, like, I don't know if anybody was asking for this. I don't necessarily think that matters, but is it necessary? I'm on the fence about it. I think it has some some benefits to like completing games. Yes. But the drawbacks are these are going to be excruciatingly longer days. um yeah i mean I mean, yeah, three hours for two games now.
00:35:46
Speaker
so exactly So yeah, because we're adding an extra 15 minutes on to to each game, ah which is and basically so an extra 75 minutes for a five game day. So it's.
00:35:59
Speaker
the same as going six rounds instead. And that's not including and this 90 minutes to is play time. So this does not include like set up time or anything like that. I remember there being some confusion um from people when this first was announced because like the AMG didn't really make it clear if like this included set up time or not. And i I assumed it did. And then there was the kind of the formal correction from the folks that will be assisting at worlds, including Chris and Chris Allen being like, no, this is does not include set up time. This is like this is game time.
00:36:30
Speaker
um So, yeah, I mean, the most important thing for me, if anything, if I've ever wanted more time for X-Wing 2.5, it's just been to set up. Right. There's just so many components to track ah scenarios. You know, it's like, is this one the three or five? Is do I start placing your side or my side first? And I mean, honestly, I would say in competitive X-Wing tournaments, i'd like maybe half the time, we're still setting up obstacles when they start time. Like we we haven't even set up our ships yet. and I definitely am not a slow turn zero player, but it I do feel like I'm forced to make maybe some more so suboptimal choices in turn zero when I know that I'm going to lose like up to five to 10 minutes of time. If I actually think about things like time, I don't I don't think I can afford to lose. Yeah, that' that's for sure. um and And I would say, you know, one thing that we've been saying this whole time went since two point five came on is that turn zero is so important. I think it's one of the most important aspects of the game is understanding turn zero.
00:37:27
Speaker
So it's not something in tournament setting that I would want to rush at all to. Yeah. um You're going to be at Worlds, though. You're going to be at our Airbnb. It's going to be a packed Airbnb. It's going to be a vibe for a good time. um are you have you ah Have you been able to grab your stuff yet? Are you excited? Everyone, by the way, registration is open for Adapticon. I definitely recommend booking, getting your badge and stuff sooner than later.
00:37:50
Speaker
i'm I'm registered, um I'm playing on Friday, and yeah, got the badge, got everything, super excited. Looking forward to some of the side event games there as well. No, I'm i'm i'm ready. I haven't selected a list I'm going to bring yet though. And and then them adding this 90 minutes I think is is interesting for me. One of my first theories is is that arcs become worse.
00:38:12
Speaker
So it is an extra 15 minutes per round. It doesn't sound like a lot, but for a lot of these arc lists, when you, when you're, when you're flying a list that has like five or sometimes with the Republic list can have up to six or seven seven in them. seven Yeah.
00:38:26
Speaker
yeah um your rounds are going to five, especially if you're playing someone else who also is setting six ship, five or six ship list two, just from selecting the dials. Usually, you know, going five rounds, six rounds is fine. But I think with this extra, you know, 17 minutes, you can guarantee that you're probably now going into seven rounds, like six or seven rounds is going to be the. a Yeah, that's so hard'd be awesome. Six seven. It really should be the minimum. Yeah. Yeah. And so, I mean, this might be a good thing overall, you know, for for two point five. um But, you know, for these lists that play like those bigger ships, like like those arcs, um ah like if you're playing like against Han Solo i or or the Falcon or any like why wings, things like that.
00:39:11
Speaker
you now, I think, have the extra round or two to get the significant chip damage in them to maybe swing a game. Yeah, which I agree. You know, I also think might be i an OK thing. i As much as I've loved resistance these past couple of years, ah flying against resistance, the Y-Wings with wartime loadout feels like just an impossible task ah such to try and destroy one of those.
00:39:37
Speaker
Yeah, three points to three points exactly rounds of shooting for three points. There you go. Yeah, I i think we'll see more four ship lists. It'll be mostly Empire. They'll be bringing the four ship lists, um maybe like risk list with like Ray, but she's kind of a fringe like could be really good, like low, like high floor.
00:39:56
Speaker
high ceiling kind of thing yeah um i I like my rebel list a lot, but I do want to bring something that gives me the best chance of making day two. And I feel like I'm like hitting like I'm right there like hit knocking on the door. But is this list going to get me through?
00:40:14
Speaker
i I don't know. i've i call I'm a little mean to Fenrao. I call him a choke artist all the time because unfortunately, he is one of the worst endgame pieces. He might be an i6, but he just ah just gosh, he just dies so quick. Boy, same thing yet. Anytime I spend my focus, it's just brutal. Fenrao and Suuntyir, I think are both... you know They're both characters that the more chances you have to shoot at them, the more likely they are. or They are going to blink out. Oh, oh yeah. I mean, thank. Honestly, I'll take a cell soon to your over rebel fan, fan row 10 times out of 10. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Right. Like, in even after Suunter's exhausted his ability charges and we have the the mod with the like the force mod. um Yeah, I would say like. After S.L. Vader, S.L. Soontier is the second best ship in the entire game. You know what? I take it back. ah Third, I would go wedge. I would go battle render. Yeah. So we're OK. Real quick. and The top five. OK, let's take S.L. Soontier, S.L. Whisper, S.L. Vader, the best Luke and Wedge. Where were you ranking these guys? Let's just assume Jenden's like, you know, in the top 10 because he is.
00:41:27
Speaker
Oh, for sure. Yeah, I mean, I would I would still go. I would still go Vader number one. OK, I would go wedge to. Mm hmm. I go soon. Tier three. Whisper Luke.
00:41:42
Speaker
i I would say ah Luke four, Whisper five. And the only reason why is because Whisper isn't invincible. I and mean, there's a lot of tech going on with Whisper, but she can be caught out of place defensively. um And also, if Whisper is stressed, that is writ so bad.
00:42:10
Speaker
Hmm. Like, yeah, I well i if well, if I take it back so you can remove a stress token if it if she's cloaked. However, if you cloak, yeah, that's when it comes to things like Ferris for your paint or if there's like if you have to spend that evade and you're stressed and you can't gain that cloak back, I mean, then you are really a sitting Yeah, I will say I think I agree with your ranking, but I would flip Luke and Whisper. I think Luke's at the bottom of the list um only because he is a platform that is not agile or mobile. um And his two agility goes a lot less of a ways, even though he has force, which is his ability is one of the best and most thematic abilities is in the game.
00:42:50
Speaker
Yeah, and he has regen, but it Luke tends to be if Luke is taking damage, he tends to be in very high danger of just dying that turn anyways, at least in two point five. You know, Luke tends to want to trade one shot, maybe two at range. If he's getting shot more than that or at a closer range, there's he can just explode. Whisper, I think there's a lot of things that go ah whispers way, especially with the ability to cloak after shooting at a high initiative. So that's the only reason that I'm going to flip them. But I think it's close. I mean, I'm still sticking with mine also because Luke can take objectives. Whisper is not really good. Whisper does not want to carry crates. Whisper wants to be mobile enough. So isn't really as impactful. I feel like an assault and doesn't want to be taking the the scramble action where Luke is totally fine taking scrap. I think head to head like if you were to just play Whisper against Luke, I think Whisper would win. But it'd be the pro torps. Pretty good.
00:43:48
Speaker
Yeah. Well, you know what? That's a. Well, unless unless yeah else you're not first player, then you lose the lock you and you got to stick to the pro sort. But they're both I five. So then you also have the ah road, you know, it comes down to road a little bit, too. Yeah. um And also, so I mean, you know what? They're going to be having aces high at worlds. And I think that would be a wonderful time to see, you know, who's on top.
00:44:13
Speaker
Yeah, Whisper would be wild at Ace's Eye, for sure. That would be really fun. I i would bring Whisper to Ace's Eye, for sure. Yeah, that would be a real good time. Now, anything else on this topic? There's one more thing I wanted to talk about that might it pique the interest of the people who are listening and watching live right now.
00:44:32
Speaker
Yeah. Um, you know, I was going to say, uh, the one thing that I kind of like about it going to 90 minutes is that we'll have more games that will end because someone's hit 20 points, which, which that would be cool. I still think games like a scramble or not scramble, um, salvage mission are still going to be fairly low point scoring games, but it does make.
00:45:01
Speaker
that the crates matter a little bit more. And that's the last thing I want to say on that. Yeah. So shifting gears a little bit, just just as kind of in a few days, the Xwing Alliance is going to be posting an update, um a preview for ah three factions worth of ah standardized loadout pilots that will be coming out.
X-Wing Updates and Future
00:45:24
Speaker
I'm not going to get into the details because technically I'm leaking this by saying this. But look out um for those watching live, especially and for those listening, you might have access to this information in more detail by the time you listen.
00:45:37
Speaker
Um, but very exciting. It's been fun working with design on, um, you know, porting over the the language to the article, the preview article template, um, for the press release template. And, um, it just kind of as worlds comes up. And as we're prepping for that there, it's nice to have some breadcrumb of excitement for what's going to come after, because that is going to be the bigger unknown and, uh, things are looking really good and really exciting and really fun. So.
00:46:05
Speaker
Um, that yeah, I'm excited to talk about that in more detail the next episode we record. Um, but, uh, also, if you're watching the sith taker open is happening in, um, uh, or if you're looking for X-wing to watch that is going to be happening, uh, this next weekend. And right now it is, uh, today is the 26th Sunday, the 26th is one recording this. So as TO is happening the weekend of February 1st, there will also be.
Firecast Focus Promotion
00:46:33
Speaker
a ah more specific conversation about XWA design stuff during the STO event. So if you're watching the stream, I'm sure you'll catch that. You should watch the stream. That is going to be Firecast focuses last X-Wing stream um until they they're going to be hanging it up.
00:46:53
Speaker
So I definitely ask you guys, implore you if you have the time to give them some love to tune in for some in-person X-Wing. As someone who just casually streamed in-person X-Wing at my apartment, streaming in-person X-Wing is really hard. It takes a lot of time, a lot of money, and a lot of effort. So just you know ah give them the support they deserve if you can. um And watch some live X-Wing. It's going to be a huge event using XWA points.
00:47:18
Speaker
um I'm going to be really excited to see how that's going to be met at the early beta points meta defining tournament to really see what truly is the strongest in this ah version of the points and what isn't. And yeah, so I just there's a lot to look forward to and you guys should tune in. That's cool. Yeah, I didn't I I heard like rumors about.
00:47:38
Speaker
I heard rumors that standardized loadout points were being developed by XWA. I had no idea that they were going to come out this soon. um That is such cool news. well that's they'll will They'll be teased ah early. They won't be like available to play right away. That'll come a little later. We don't want to step on any toes. That is fine. I think just knowing that that's out there. um Yeah.
00:48:02
Speaker
It's going to be so that's going to be so fun. Yeah, it's going to be the factions. You guys can probably think about the factions that don't really get much love, if any, of the cells and we can go and can go from there. Your mind can start to wander um and more news will come very soon. But I just wanted to to take the opportunity to to use my connections to to leak a in a very vague way. Some some exciting stuff that is going to be announced soon. So again, tune in to SDO. Look out in the our discord and in the ah two point five edition server for yeah announcements and and posts as well.
00:48:32
Speaker
Yeah, I'm always excited to see the Sith Taker open. It's always such a cool event. The people who run it are amazing. So definitely check that out. Absolutely. And shout out again to Firecast Focus has had a really long standing successful run of streaming games in the UK for X-Wing. And um I understand the burnout and the feeling of, you know, it's just now is the time for them. And I just again, I think they deserve a really good, great send off. So big time. um It'll be it'll be a good time all around.
00:49:02
Speaker
Last thing before we wrap up, Andrew, is I just wanted to plug the conquest series. Again, I'll be doing this a lot as much as I can. um We got a couple of months until it starts, but tickets are going pretty quickly. We're about halfway sold ah for ah the Chicago conquest, the first one to kick off this year long series of X-Wing tournaments online using XWA points, using what could be new pilots.
00:49:26
Speaker
new components. Who knows? It's going to be all in the world of XWA. I'm excited to partner with them for this. So ah definitely look into getting your tickets as soon as you know you can. um Five bucks, you get in the door. If you're a patron and want to play, you can play up to three for free. Message me if you're a patron and I'll get you in um to to the Roll Better page. um Yeah. any Any final comments, ah insults, compliments? Anything from me, Andrew? No, I was going to say it's been great hearing your weekend. I'm happy that ah it went so well and that you're back here streaming and recording again, too. It's good to be back. I'm glad I made it. um I survived my American Airlines flight, Redeye flight, my middle seat, my neck cramps. And it's just it was great. But you haven't truly lived until you've experienced that. I feel until you get bumped from a flight and are forced to fly overnight and arrive at yeah six in the morning.
00:50:22
Speaker
Yeah. Also, folks, if you're ever going through TSA, there's a high chance that if you have X-wing stuff in your bag, high chance they're going to flag your bag. So that's what happened to me. play trading card games, and if you have X-wing stuff, yeah, because they have no idea what they're looking at. It just looks like a weird brick or weird blobs every time. I guess my bags are pulled every time. Yeah. Really funny, though. I went to another terminal when I missed my flight and went through TSA again to get into that terminal, and they didn't look at my bag. And that was partially the reason why I missed my flight, was because they had to pull my bag. And I just thought that was really funny. I was like, oh. Maybe the person, yeah. Maybe the other person played X-wing before, so they were just like, oh, I know what this is.
00:50:59
Speaker
As I as X-wing stuff, I usually usually when they pull out my X-wing stuff, I have to like explain to them what the game is because they're just like, what? yeah What is this? I know one time at at Midway, they made me step into like, they asked me to step into the little like closed off section where they pull your bag and look through it and you stand next to it. They're like, he's like, I told him how the box works. and He's like, I just come, so come step in here and just open it for me. yeah I just like, so I'm just like in the tsa area just with this guy just like opening the box and showing him my component. Yeah. Oh, it's so funny.
00:51:28
Speaker
All right, you guys, so big three big things. STO happening this coming weekend with some awesome, exciting XWA news. We've got ah we've got a depth to con worlds. Registration is open. Make sure you get that stuff locked down as soon as possible. That's going to be in Milwaukee and not Shamburg this time. And then the other thing is the conquest series. Just look out for ah more updates on that. And if you haven't got your ticket, you should. It's going to be a lot of fun. We just posted the ah the tournament champ plaque um the conquest series plaque in the the Google Doc. So we we have that now to tease. So all right. Well, thank you, everybody, for listening and supporting us i all the way through and beyond GT season and beyond us, you know, AMG support for the game.
00:52:13
Speaker
Super excited to be a part of XWA, both internally and supporting the efforts of the X-Wing Alliance. And um thank you to all of our patrons who have supported us and made all of this possible. We hope you guys have a good ah rest of your week or whenever you're listening to this, if it's your birthday, happy birthday. And ah yeah, we're looking forward to seeing you guys very soon.
00:52:35
Speaker
And thank you so much. Follow us on Twitch, you know YouTube, all all the things, and check out the podcast description for any helpful links that you might need. My name is Nick Sperry. My name is Andrew Kuba. And we are signing off.