Kyber Elimination League, season 6, round 1: Nébal (First Order) vs Stevie B (Rebel Alliance) (battle report in English)

Kyber Elimination League, season 6, round 1! And a new battle report in English. Of course, I’m French, so I’m genetically designed to speak and write an awful English… Please be kind!

This season is very different from the previous one, of which I have published all my games a few months before. This Elimination League has a special rule: some cards, pilots as well as upgrades, are banned, based on surveys of the players. A first list of ten banned cards was published at first, but after each round two more cards will be banished. Players therefore don’t have to choose a single list for the whole tournament, and can change their list each round, as long as it doesn’t feature banned cards.

Here is the list of banned pilots for round 1:

• Baron of the Empire (TIE Advanced v1, Galactic Empire).
• Inquisitor (TIE Advanced v1, Galactic Empire).
• Cartel Spacer (M3-A Interceptor, Scum and Villainy).
• Jango Fett (Firespray-class Patrol Craft, Separatists).
• Zam Wesell (Firespray­-class Patrol Craft, Separatists).

And here is the list of banned upgrades for round 1:

• Admiral Sloane (crew, Galactic Empire).
• Count Dooku (crew, Separatists).
• Zam Wesell (crew, Scum and Villainy/Separatists).
• Foresight (Force).
• XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (missiles).

Yeah, it seems this tournament’s players are not very fond of Zam and double Firespray. And 3 Agility generics with tracers or Force. Not very surprising?

There will be six rounds of swiss, and that’s it.

For this first round, I have been paired with Stevie B, a very nice player from Bristol, England, who brought the following Rebel Alliance list:

T-65 X-Wing – •Wedge Antilles – 62

•Wedge Antilles – Red Two (54)

Servomotor S-Foils (0)

Hopeful (1)

Plasma Torpedoes (7)

BTL-A4 Y-Wing – •“Dutch” Vander – 49

•“Dutch” Vander – Gold Leader (40)

R3 Astromech (3)

Ion Torpedoes (4)

Dorsal Turret (2)

RZ-1 A-Wing – •Hera Syndulla – 48

•Hera Syndulla – Phoenix Leader (42)

Hopeful (1)

Proton Rockets (5)

RZ-1 A-Wing – •Jake Farrell – 40

•Jake Farrell – Sage Instructor (34)

Hopeful (1)

Proton Rockets (5)

Total: 199/200

As for myself, actually, I brought back the First Order list I played for Kyber Cup 5 (not very creative I guess, sorry…), my take on a Malarus TIE/fo swarm:

Xi-class Light Shuttle – •Commander Malarus – 58

•Commander Malarus – Vindictive Taskmaster (45)

•Agent Terex (7)

•Hondo Ohnaka (6)

TIE/fo Fighter – “Scorch” – 33

•“Scorch” – Zeta Leader (33)

TIE/fo Fighter – “Longshot” – 31

•“Longshot” – Zeta Ace (31)

TIE/fo Fighter – Epsilon Squadron Cadet – 26

Epsilon Squadron Cadet (25)

Automated Target Priority (1)

TIE/fo Fighter – Epsilon Squadron Cadet – 26

Epsilon Squadron Cadet (25)

Automated Target Priority (1)

TIE/fo Fighter – Epsilon Squadron Cadet – 26

Epsilon Squadron Cadet (25)

Automated Target Priority (1)

Total: 200/200

Now to the game.

BEWARE: RIGHT AFTER THIS OMINOUS DARTH VADER PICTURE, I WILL REVEAL HOW THE GAME TURNED OUT. IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS, WATCH THE VIDEO BEFORE READING FURTHER!

Victory for the First Order, 200-88! Well played, Stevie, thank you for the game!

Of course, I had no idea what Stevie would play. When I discovered his list, I thought the matchup was balanced. His list included new material, which was cool, and was mostly based on the very Rebel trend of sharing or exchanging tokens, through “Dutch”’s, Hera’s and Jake’s abilities. I’ve had many occasions to face “Dutch” and Jake, and know what they can do with target locks for the former and focus tokens for the latter. Hera on the A-Wing, it’s even another level: basically, she can give what she wants to whom she wants and when she wants, which is very powerful. In the meantime, both A-Wing could be kind of heavy hitters, as they were both equipped with Proton Rockets. And there was one more heavy hitter in the legendary Wedge Antilles on his traditional T-65 X-Wing; his dreadful special ability could overcome my superior agility and, with Plasma Torpedoes, he could technically one shot any of my ships but Malarus. “Dutch” was less frightening to me, though: his ability was the issue, combined with R3 Astromech, but he wouldn’t hit as hard as his friends, with Ion Torpedoes (I would be ionized during the game here and there, but this was not a perspective I really dreaded), and his Dorsal Turret, always useful though; anyway, I had to take care of him, mainly because he would give Wedge especially some crucial target locks. Finally, there were two jokers in this list, both I6 pilots having the new Rebel talent Hopeful.

Yet my list could provide a strong counter: I had two more ships, better agility overall, good maneuverability especially for a swarm (not as good as A-Wing, but, hey!), rerolls and green tokens for days with Malarus, Terex, and Automated Target Priority, and that cheeky Hondo Ohnaka with his weird coordinate/jam tricks (Terex also being able to jam at long range when turned into a cyborg).

Stevie could choose the first player and gave me that token (it would matter only for “Scorch” on my side and Jake Farrell and “Dutch Vander on his’). Obstacles might be an issue for my swarm, although I took care to give me room in both of my corners for setup. As we were deployed, however, it seemed I would have to turn left, and the middle of the board was quite crowded; there was kind of tunnel I could take, though, but I was not very happy with it: my swarm would be in line when it’s always better to present a more solid front, and some of my TIE would probably be too far away to benefit from Malarus’ rerolls, which could be an issue. Plus, if I knew approximatively where Wedge and “Dutch” would attack, and they were my primary targets (easier to kill with their lower agility, also the ones that would grand me the more victory points), both A-Wing could easily flank me, and I dreaded what those Proton Rockets could do to my command ship especially… However, Stevie mostly chose not to flank with them, in order I guess to benefit from their sharing tokens abilities on the other ships. Which made sense, sure, but I thought nonetheless it was kind of a relief to me.

What also was a relief was that, as Stevie’s ships were set for the first engagements, especially since my green Cadet had well sustained the first one (well, he gave half points, but was still there!), I had good chances to block at least some of them with my front TIE Fighters, therefore… well, seriously damaging their sharing tokens’ abilities. Actually, my green Cadet was ionized… but really didn’t care: he would have done a 2 straight maneuver and focus action anyway! The blue one, on the other hand, could bank and hope to block both Jake and “Dutch”… and he did! “Scorch” wasn’t ideally placed, having to go through a gas cloud, but that was worth the risk, and Hondo did his thing, granting a focus token to my heavy hitter. And Hera bumped in my pink TIE just in front of “Scorch”! No Proton Rockets, therefore… Only Wedge didn’t bump, as was to be expected, but he didn’t manage to destroy my green Cadet, and Hera didn’t do anything on my strained “Scorch”, luckily. Malarus took half of Hera, and “Scorch” killed her! Stevie B could have used Hopeful on Wedge there but forgot, as I did… Jake took half points on the pink Cadet, but that was ok. Especially since, right after that, “Longshot” scored a hit on Wedge, and an interesting one: Loose Stabilizer! As my green Cadet did two more damage after that, Wedge would have no choice but to do a straight maneuver or be destroyed! That turn was really great for me, far better than I hoped…

After that, “Dutch” did a Koiogran turn that would make Malarus bump on him, and that was the good move, but Jake bumped; Wedge didn’t, so he could do one last attack on Malarus, and actually took half of her, ouch, and Direct Hit! as well, ouch again! (A mistake on my part, there: Malarus being strained and attacked by Wedge, I should have rolled no defence dice at all; luckily, since I rolled a blank, it didn’t change anything; sorry anyway, Stevie!) But after that she managed to kill the X-Wing, as was to be expected: an ok trade, I guess? An unmodified “Scorch” did nothing on Jake, though, and lost only one shield… but my Cadets managed to take half on the remaining A-Wing. Malarus took a beating, for sure, but this turn was quite good for me again: I had taken two Rebel ships out of four, and the two I6 with that, and still had all my ships, although two at least were badly damaged!

The following turn, “Dutch” was surrounded by my ships, although Jake managed to escape; I was fine with that, since none of those ships would therefore be able to shoot at Malarus, who was starting a strain tokens’ collection (she had three at some point!). Having performed a stationary maneuver, she was able to take half on “Dutch”, but the Y-Wing then destroyed “Scorch”, my first casualty of the game: a big one, for sure… but the only one, as it went. And the pink Cadet then killed “Dutch” with a shot from outer space! That was Jake with no more shields against everybody…

The only sensible thing to do for both Jake and Malarus was to flee; the A-Wing did… but Malarus bumped. Luckily she wouldn’t get shot at… but my TIE could maneuver and hope to take down Jake before the bell rang, which ultimately happened.

And so, victory! Good game, Stevie! I wish you the best of luck for the remainder of the tournament!

So I’m 1-0 now. We’ll see next week what happens in round 2… See you soon!