So I'm a little late with my report but here goes....
Our eyes met across the crowded hat store. I, a customer, and she a coquettish haberdasher. Oh, I pursued and she withdrew, then she pursued and I withdrew, and so we danced. I burned for her, much like the burning during urination that I would experience soon afterwards.
Ooops wrong report!This year I came with two squads my retooled variant of "Licensed to Kill" and the "R.N.A.F." my major concern was I felt there was going to be so much Caedus and Mandos out here that I was unsure how LtK would fair with Zam. So I decided fate would decide and I turned to my pal Hinkbert to flip my RotS coin to make the final call and it came up on light side. So it was to be the R.N.A.F., which I felt was a better meta call since the pilots are not a force to be triffled with. I'll keep things brief to capture the essence of each match.
My map was Theed Palace, in keeping with the squad thematics.
Round 1 vs Prof Luke and his watercolors
Map - Spynet (right set up)
My biggest problem is managing the tempo control and right out of the gate I pull a bonehead. I allow the Felucian to live thinking I want to delay UtF as long as possible so I can advance which invariably got a pilot killed as I forgot about the. 20d they do. More posturing and Ricky keeps picking off Pilots but trades Jaereal to get Anakin a lane to drop UtF. Now I'm down to 1 pilot and a couple of Troopers. Out of sheer desparation I rush the line with my Tropers and base Anakin and get shots on Ganner. Next round Ganner goes first in Ricky's hall way and levitates Anakin to safety but Ganner gts skragged by a Trooper and I kill Anakin with my shooters. Time is called and I escape with a win and the Champ's only defeat in the tourney. 1-0
Round 2 vs DarthMaim and his Mando Brigade
I win map and select Theed, Mel sets up on the right after a minor misunderstanding on his Resol'nare timing we get down to it. I have to play this one cagey but I was in a good spot as I out activated him. Lots of posturing and positioning on both sides and it was my fortune that I was was able to kill three Scouts in the gambit room with my Pilots by being just out of MtV's disruptive sphere. The key in this match was Speed 8 of the Pilots, and the activation advantage. 2-0.
Round 3 vs Jake's Bad G.A.S.
Won map and Jake setup on the left, we were even on acts as he brought in six MSD's. We position and I advance a Pilot into the Speeder bay to base a GAS but get SBM'd by Caedus which actually worked in my favor as he was now down 3fp. Things get fuzzy but Caedus moved into the gambit zone, I base him with a Pilot who makes his Master illusion save as Jake shakes his head in disbelief. Next round Cadeus ATFW away from me but I pursue and base him the pilot kills Caedus on the DS then Atton advances forward. I pick off MSD blockers to get shots on Atton who fails his AD second save. Game over at that point, 3-0.
Round 4 vs Greentime
This was the craziest match of the day for me as Graham won map and we played on Cmdrs Office, I select the left side.
So I bury my Cmdrs but forget the Lancer only has a lone attack. So I wasted time needlessly, 9 or 10 drones and two 86's plus San its a long shot at best. I manage to pick off advancing drones to prevent the overrun, the good news was I made 9-10 evade saves which was the reason why I was able to keep in striking distance. I made the mistake of basing Lobot only to see Crumb come up and distract my Pilot. Next round Lobot ad San are in the gambit zone and manage to get a Pilot to base Lobot. Things progress San and Lobot die but so do many of my Pilots to the point where Panaka has to get involved, I trade my last pilot for an IG then move my R7 to protect against the last IG who goes down to Panaka. Graham graciously offers me his hand in congratulations. What a match! 4-0
Round 5 vs NPE Extreme!!!
I win map Timmer setups up on the right, 14 drones UUGH! Not a fun match losing init and being severely out activated, In short I played far too aggressively with my advance, which setup the massive drone rush after the Lancer softened most of my Pilots up. I should have picked them off with mobile, still this was a learning match to prepare for a potential rematch in the final 8. Alas not to be... 4-1 and locked up a 4th seed.
Quarterfinals vs fingersandteeth
Much has already been discussed about our match and after all was said and done Deri was masterful with this build. I made a couple bad calls which enabled him to kill Doombot and a Trooper which was the difference. The tempo/disruptive/stealth made the R.N.A.F. pilot like they were in a pool full of peanut butter. There was no slow play but as I said I was worn out and sadly didn't have my best game to defeat a superior player of Deri's experience and caliber.
All in all still a great experience and I was very happy to make the final 8 two years running against very strong squads and opponents. I thank each of you for great battles!
