Here is a summary of the data on Daala in the major tournaments, post-errata. Complete data at the bottom... some of it is incomplete - help would be appreciated in filling in the blanks.

TOTAL (ignoring Daala vs Daala games):
13 Daala squads have been run, plus 1 unknown Imperial squad that might be Daala.
Total record: 31-18, plus 2 games with unknown results
North American Record: 16-15
NZ Record: 15-3

Raxus Prime Record (almost all Dr Daman): 10-3
Snowtroopers: 16-7
Other: 5-8

Combined record versus Lancer/Yobuck/Luke+Leia: 0-1 (yes, just one match, but there are a few unknown matchups)
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Daala has lost 18 times to squads that do NOT have Lancer, Yobuck, or the Siblings on a Speeder. Avoiding those bad matchups appears to be a lot of dumb luck. She's been present in tournaments where no counter was present. There have been tournaments with multiple strafers and no Daala. And in the tournaments where they're both present she's almost always avoided them. In North America, she's barely above .500 and that's with only one game against the strong strafe/gallop pieces.

This data doesn't look like an overpowered piece. It just looks like Daala (or maybe just Dr Daman) is an NPE. Notice the extreme difference in Daala's record in NZ versus North America. An NPE does matter - especially if it is chasing people out of the game! But the data indicates that we should be discussing a ban on Dr Daman instead of a ban on Daala.

The issue, then, is not being unbeatable or how often she wins but how she wins: in blowouts; and what she beats: the most popular squad types. Extreme Scissors (e.g. Lancer) have kept people from playing swarms for years. They crushed swarms and could hold their own against rock. Now there's a swarm that crushes rock. Can it hold its own against scissors? Lack of data, but who cares? Everyone likes to play rock anyway so it doesn't seem to matter much... after getting so much attention that Daala got an errata, it has still gone a whole season without facing more than one extreme scissors squad in 40+ matches. That tells me that people could have started playing swarms two years ago without worrying about Lancer/Yobuck. Hardly anybody wants to play them.

Anyway, I'm sorry that Daala is an NPE for so many people. I like playing her. I'm glad swarms finally have a season in the sun, but based on the overall sentiment I recognize the pendulum will have to swing back pretty quickly. It's kind of strange to read all the hate for her. Makes me feel like a 'bad guy' just for liking a different play style, and it's one that seeks engagement, not a lock-out or anything like that.

I think multiple new pieces (each costing 15-25) that have different ways to pretty reliably take out three to six 20hp enemies (or maybe 30hp to get Klats, too) is the way to go. We don't have much in the way of 'minor scissors' pieces, and that is a big void in the game that Daala has exposed. As is, for scissors damage it's mostly 'go big or go home'. Or try relying on your enemy to clump together for a LS Sweep or Grenades, but that's pretty risky.

That being said, Reserves can easily be dropped from Daala. I've never had it be an issue in my games, but I can see how it could randomly make an auto-win out of a close game. Rival with other Admirals completely nerfs Dr Daman's build. He should weigh in on that, but I have no objections to that after GenCon. I'm not sure it's necessary, but I don't particularly care either way. We don't need to be changing things right before GenCon, though.

I'm sure the talk of a ban isn't being taken seriously, but a GenCon ban would bother me greatly. I started designing Daala squads back in September. They seemed pretty strong, but my opponent (AndyHatton) would always play what he wanted to play (mostly rock squads) instead of specifically trying to beat Daala. So while I'd always win I didn't really know if the squad was Tier 1. NZ results showed it was beyond Tier 1: it was broken. Then the errata - so I'd never get the chance to launch a Sandtrooper 48 squares in Round 1 and unload for 110 damage in a tournament (hehe). But it was for the good of the game, so I'm glad we got the errata. I did manage to win PA regional without Zygerrians, but post-mortem with Jason showed that the double Lancer matchup would have been an autoloss and not just a bad match-up. (He was very close to winning his semifinal game and would have faced me in the finals.)

I don't expect to win GenCon with Daala, especially with as much hate as I expect to see there. But I'd like a shot at it. Besides that, I don't think the data indicates a ban on Daala is warranted. (However, discussion about banning Dr Daman can be picked up in another thread.)

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COMPLETE DATA

MI:
One Daala. Won the tournament.
Lou's Snowtroopers, 4-1 overall. In Swiss, lost to TimmerB's Luke+Leia in Swiss. Beat DarkDrakul's OR Bastila/trooper squad. Not sure what the 3rd Swiss game was, but he had to win it to make top 4. Beat two rocks (Talon's Hat Trick and then Mace in the Face) in the brackets.
Two strafers in the field: AceAce's balanced Lancer squad and TimmerB's Luke/Leia. Lost to TimmerB - unknown if he faced AceAce.

IN:
One Daala present, 0-2 plus two unknown results. Randy's Storm Commandos + Diplomats. Lost to TimmerB's Karrde squad and leshippy's Sep Melee+Drones+Momaw squad.
Lots of Daala hate present, but I don't know what happened with the other two skirmishes. Daala didn't make top 4.

LowerHuttaCon:
Two Daala squads present. No Lancer or Yobuck present.
Daman's Raxus wins. 2-1 in Swiss, 4-1 overall (plus a bye). (Bye, Beat sharron's Solo Charge, Loss to Mike Moore Smuggler with Rebel pilots 48-47, Beat TheHutts' Dooku squad. In brackets, beat Talon's Hat Trick and then beats the Rebel pilots in the rematch)
Ian's Snow Swarm took 9th place, 1-2 (plus a bye) - all low scoring games where no player scored 100 pts. Loss to Darth O's Valenthyne/Hoth, Ian beat Stuart's Quorreal/Shamed One swarm, loss to kezzamachine's Angry Luke (Celeste/LukeHoE/Watto). Bye in last round.

PA:
One Daala present. FlyingArrow's Bare Bones Snowtroopers, 4-0 (plus a bye). Won the tournament with three easy wins and one tough win (versus Tantives). Nearly faced double lancer, which would have been an auto-loss.

TN:
One Daala present. Pegolego's Elite Scouts take third, 3-1 overall (3-0 in swiss, loss in semis). Beat Shmi15's OR Melee, YodaHoG+MaceLotLS, scruffyhan's Zam Caught the Klat. Loss to theultrastar's HK-47/Master Thon.

WNY:
No Daala present.

California:
2 Imperial squads. One was not Daala. One is unknown.

IL:
LilyWan's Daala, 2-3 overall. Two full wins to make top 4. Loss in semis but claims 3rd. 2 elite scouts, 8 stormies all at +8atk, +20dmg, and Advantageous Cover. Swiss loss to sthlrd2's Vong (w/Quednak). Beat atmsalad's Furious Assaulting Mandos. Beat Mike's Sith. Loss to urbanjedi's Cloaked Blastbuggers, despite getting Reserves. Loss to urbanjedi again in Top 4, despite getting Reserves.

Peter's Daala/Scout Troopers/Elite Scouts. 1-2. The one win is 91-88 versus AceAce. Other matchups unknown.
DarkDracul's 11 Snowtroopers. 0-3. Loss to urbanjedi Vong swarm, win versus Daala mirror match, loss to atmsalad, loss to TimmerB Klat swarm.
(Mirror match ignored in compiling these stats.)

Furious Mando Mercs were present (bad scissors matchup for Daala but LilyWan beat it). No Lancers/Yobuck.

WI:
Owen's Raxus Prime squad, 1-2 (plus a bye). Did not make top 4. Field had at least one strafer, but Daala did not face one. Played two Furious Assault-ish squads, though (Cad BH and Arica).

Canada:
One Daala present. Russel's Snowtroopers, 1-1. Did not make top 4. No Yobuck/Lancer present.

NZ Nationals:
Two Daala squads. Both make it to the finals. No Lancer/Yobuck present. Cad BH in field. AniStap and Grievous Wheelbike were in the field, but neither Daala squad faced either.
TheHutts, 5-0. Beats CadBH squad, beats Talon Karrde moderate Rock squad, loses to Dr Daman, beats Darth O's Talon/Klats, beats Vong Blastbuggers. Beats sharron's Sith/Mandos. Loses to Dr Daman in finals. (In total, beats 1 scissors, 2 rocks, 2 paper)
Dr Daman, 5-0. Beats BobaBH+Shae, beats sharron's Sith/Mando combo squad, beats TheHutts, beats Darth Moore's Blastbuggers, beats Karrde/Corrigan/Marn. Beats Darth O's Talon/Klats. Beats TheHutts in finals. (In total, beats 3 rocks, 2 paper)

(Not counting Daala vs Daala.)


VASSAL:
No Daala present.

Thanks - updated.



I'll leave this as unknown for now. Let me know if you get confirmation.

Ian had 11 Snowtroopers at LowerHuttACon.

So, it could be argued:
Raxus with Dr Daman: 9-1 - and his loss, he reversed easily when he bought Ozzel in to counter Dodonna for the final.
Builds with lots of Snowtroopers (between 18 and 21): 9-0 (FlyingArrow and TheHutts)
Aggregate: 18-1

I had the opposite impression - it seems the main thing that the stats show is that the builds with around 20 snowtroopers are far better than the builds with around a dozen. 20 troopers doing 30 at +16 is much better than 12 troopers doing 40 at +20 imo, especially when you consider most opposition squads should be taking down 5-6 each round, even if they don't have a scissor.

The most successful Rock squads have had a "scissor" element to them. However, you are limited to those pieces; Kaan, Thon, Ben, which take up around 1/4 of your squad. A 'minor scissors' piece would definitely open up more squad builds. Also, it would be accessible to the big squads too. The winner of GenCon designs a v-set piece, a fringe 'minor scissors' piece would be a nice gift to the community.

When a top player plays pretty much any squad that is competitive, they do well.

I made top 4 all over the place with all different kinds of squads.
Dooku and bombs in Kokomo
Double Lancer in PA
Gungans in NY
Vong Blast Bugs in CHI
Mandos in WISC

So if I could do well with Daala or do well with some other squad, why would I play the squad that has the huge auto-loss? I am going to play the squad that will give me the best chance of winning (as I presume everyone will do). Why would I go to a tourney (especially a high level tourney) with a squad that I didn't think gave me the best chance to win?

What does this prove? that other factions have good squads? well of course they do, but none of what you have listed have dominated anything as badly as daala has... Maybe not here in the united states, but my point is that one or two of the top new Zealand players ran daala in every major tournament and guess what it dominated every major tournament they had. Daala, has not seen that love in the U.S. people have largely stayed away from her. My guess is that maybe if you had ran daala instead of those other squads you may have a regional win on that list above here



Edit*: You can prove that other factions have good squads all you want to, but that does not address Daala. I am talking about seeing what would happen if someone like Daniel, Tim, Bill, ran Daala, how badly would they destroy everyone? Maybe they wouldn't but that is what I would like to see because I believe they would win Gencon if they did, even with all the "counters" people expect to be there.

awesome, that would be great. depending on the results I may even change my position on her.

based on....? have you used daala against kybuck? last I heard you had beaten yobuck with daala, but then again maybe that was before the errata....

My take on these would be that these squads would struggle against the Lancer/Yobuck, just like Daala does? They're 3 squads that can probably give Daala a game, but I think Daala has a bit of an advantage against them all.




I wouldn't bring Daala to GenCon, because I assume lots of good players will be running Yobuck - which looks likely.

I think my issue with Daala is that if you take away gallop and strafe - which she's going to lose to the vast majority of the time - she's incredibly strong against everything else. What else beats this consistently apart from gallop/strafe, other Daala builds, and hate squads (eg massive swarms)?



Not many squads outactivate it if I bring in Ozzel, I have Ysalamari, I have enough firepower to deal with tanks, I have the Mouse to help against deep strikes (so I can lock my commanders up), I'm not bothered too much by disruptive or Bastila, I have plenty of door control, I have It's A Trap against stealth squads like nom bombs, I have enough activations to beat most swarms. It just doesn't feel like it has enough weaknesses.