Right but NR Kyle is generally played with Luke, Galactic Hero

New Republic defies the expectations.

Luke GH...he's a dude. And a half.

Luke-GH won. Time for the obligatory "Is Luke-GH b0rken?" thread? :)

Pound for pound, she's still one helluva useful piece.

Lobot.

And yet somehow they got past all those other regional winning squads.

It's almost as if the players knowing how to run them well had something to do with it. ;)

Yeah, I am cutting this off this line of criticism right now. I am aware of the game. All criticism about that game needs to be directed towards me. We followed the same format as last year, allowing the various finalists to do their games at times of their choosing. And out of my sight, since my Gencon days were pretty exhausting (5 blocks with a back pack in bad shoes made me very eager to get back to my hotel). Obviously my proxies in this situation were unsure what to do. Trying to keep track of slow play is a lot easier when it is fewer games.

So, I do not want to see any attacks on the players in this tournament. Any issues with slow play should rightly fall on my shoulders, as I was in charge of keeping an eye out on it. And I trying to, after most games went to time in the first game. And when no one calls me over, I can only keep a small eye on it, as I am constantly being called for rulings (which will happen if I judge or not).

And calling this year's squads a bunch of random junk is the height of ignorance. You weren't there. You didn't see these squads played. Yes, the championship was a bit small. But this is where we are at the game now. And these 24 players are the best and most devoted to the game. So, while you might not like these squads. They were proven through 5 rounds. You want to be proven "right" beyond all doubt, start showing up.

Another +1. Just because the top 8 consists of 8 squads that don't appear in your very, very narrow local meta doesn't mean they're junk. If you don't see some of the brilliance in squad design in things like Professor Luke's Art Class and Barney and Friends, it doesn't mean that the players there are bad or playing junk, it means that there are things about this game that you don't understand. It's insulting to everyone who made the commitment to show up to talk trash about them when you didn't. Scott's right to call it the height of ignorance, but it's also the height of arrogance.

I agree. Personally, I love it that Thon and Krayt were central pieces in Top 8 squads! I definitely want to give both squads a shot in the near future.

Furthermore, I think it points to a very good balance in the meta that this year's Top 8 featured 7 different factions (a first!) and also included some non-staple squads.