Another TTS tournament based in the UK has been completed. However, this one was a little different to the normal standard. During the second event, the players discussed and wanted a themed event and I saw no reason to disappoint them. The stipulation for the event was to play a two character pairing that had shared time in some capacity in a Star Wars production, be it a book, comic, TV series or movie. There needed to be some restrictions otherwise Rey and Kylo Ren in a Temporary Truce would rule the day.

These were added to our event:-

1.  No non-unique characters
2.  No Rey or Kylo Ren of any sort (there was enough of them in the last two events)
3.  You could use characters from the Awakening block of cards
4.  It needed to be as close as possible to the correct timeline version of the character.

Little did I know how much discussion and talk this would create in finding a competitive pairing with the above in force. What was going to be the deck to beat? No one really had a clue. It was like delving into a fresh, just released set. That is the feeling I got from all the discussions.

The community got very creative and came up with so many different ideas. They even had to send me proof along with their decklists as to why a pairing was valid as I have nowhere near the Star Wars knowledge that exists out there amongst our players. It was at this point that I decided there needed to be a player vote for favourite theme deck as well as the usual prizes. Players were asked to vote for their top 3 decks awarding 1, 2 or 3 points. My favourite deck that I built for this was using Yoda (Wizened Master), Luke Skywalker (Red Five) and Jedi Trials.

No one else was brave or foolish enough to try this though. Here is what they did try and the results of the player vote. Only 4 repeated character line ups from the field of 30.

eQui-Gon Jinn2, eAnakin Skywalker1, Boonta Eve Classic  – 20pts
eBaze Malbus, eChirrut Imwe – 16pts
eDarth Vader1, Doctor Aphra – 15pts
eYoda1, eTarrful, Valorous Tribe – 9pts
eDarth Vader1, Krennic, Construct the Death Star – 8pts
eDengar, eBoba Fett2, Any Means Necessary – 8pts
eHan Solo4, eChewbacca2, Valorous Tribe – 6pts
eThrawn1, eArhinda Pryce – 4pts
eDJ, ePhasma2 – 3pts
3 x eAnakin Skywalker3, eAhsoka Tano2 – 3pts
eMace Windu1, eAhsoka Tano2 – 3pts
e4-LOM, eZuckuss, Any Means Necessary – 3pts
2 x eMaul2, Nute Gunray, Retribution – 2pts
2 x eHan Solo3, eQi’ra, No Allegiance – 2pts
ePalpatine2, eGeneral Grievous3 – 2pts
eObi Wan Kenobi2, eR2-D2 – 2pts
eMaul2, Mother Talzin, Retribution – 2pts
eLeia Organa3, eHan Solo4, Long Term Plan – 2pts
2 x eThrawn1, eWulf Yularen – 1pts

No Votes
eCount Dooku2, General Grievous2, Bitter Rivalry
eYoda2, eAhsoka Tano2
eCount Dooku3, General Grievous2, Built to Last
eHan Solo1, eLeia Organa1
eQui-Gon Jinn2, eSatine Kryze, Profitable Connection
eDarth Vader4, Jabba The Hut2

Well done, Ian Barnard for coming up with the Episode I winning line up. I’m over the disappointment that Anakin could have been Jar Jar but that probably would have not have received as many votes.

Baze and Chirrut was definitely considered the boldest choice of all the pairings from Nick Wheeler picking up second place in the vote and being termed “ballsy”. The ever popular Aphra and Vader from Az Johnston, who kindly donated the prizes for the vote, rounded out the top three, six points clear of the next deck. Would the decks hold up in the event though? Let’s have a look at the final standings.

Anakin/Ahsoka – 6-0
Anakin/Ahsoka – 5-1
Yoda/Tarrful/Valorous Tribe – 5-1
AWK Leia/ AWK Han – 4-2
—————THE CUT
Old Leia/Old Han – 4-2
AWK Vader/Aphra 4-2
Anakin/Ahsoka 4-2
Maul/Gunray/Retribution – 4-2
Maul/Talzin/Retirbution – 4-2
Yoda/Ahsoka – 4-2
Han/Qi’ra/No Allegiance – 4-2
EAW Thrawn/Wulf Yularen – 3-3
EAW Thrawn/Pryce – 3-3
WOF Dooku/ WOF Grievous/Bitter Rivalry – 3-3
LEG Obi Wan Kenobi/R2-D2 – 3-3
Maul/Gunray/Retribution – 3-3
DJ/Phasma – 3-3
Han/Chewbacca/Valorous Tribe – 3-3
LEG Palpatine/Grievous – 2-4
Qui Gonn Jin/Anakin/Boonta Eve Classic – 2-4
EAW Mace Windu/Ahsoka -2-4
Han/Qi’ra/No Allegiance – 2-4
EAW Thrawn/Wulf – 2-4
Vader/Jabba Specials – 2-4
4LOM/Zuckuss/Any Means Necessary – 2-4
Qui Gonn Jin/Satine/Profitable Connection – 1-5
Baze/Chirrut – 1-5
DID NOT FINISH
AWK Vader/Krennic/Construct the Death Star – 1-4
Dengar/Boba Fett/Any Means Necessary – 1-2
AON Dooku/Grievous/Built to Last – 0-3

The cut saw both Anakin/Ahsoka decks progress to the final. A deck combination that went 15-3 on the day. It is yet another solid “designed” pairing. Watching the deck be played on the day got me excited to dust of my own Anakin and give him a try. I was surprised how well the deck did to be honest. Kier Sweeney is due to give us a write up of his deck soon. You can get a sneak peak at the deck here though.

It was great to see two of the Bristol regular players make it through to the semi-finals. Erik with an inspired Awakenings Han and Leia deck that is surprisingly consistent and can really rack up the damage quickly. We hope to see a write up for you of this deck soon too. However, it is definitely the Yoda/Tarrful and Valorous Tribe (sorry Erik) that I was glad to see go so far in the event as it was a pairing idea I had for the event that Iain Gardiner of The Garbage Will Do Podcast made his own and piloted brilliantly on the day.

One thing I did notice about deck composition was that nearly half (14 of 30 decks) had a mono colour line up. I think this is a combination of banning Kylo Ren and that it is likely that a two character line up is more likely to feature two characters from the same colour.

I do wonder though how different this may have been had Kylo Ren been allowed. Even with Rey and Kylo both banned for the event there were 9 more blue force characters played than both the two other colour factions. Let’s face it, we all love a Lightsabre fight. I think this may have changed significantly though if non-unique characters had not also been banned. Maybe that theory should be tested out?

On that note I look forward to seeing as many people as possible for the next event which I will be finalising soon and posting up in the UK Destiny Facebook Group.

Thanks to all the players for staying in and playing to support our friendly local game stores and I hope to hear you all again at the next one.

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