Baddest Batch $2k Tournament Report

TL:DR I finished top 4 in the Baddest Batch $2k Tournament for Star Wars: Unlimited this past weekend in Sydney.

This past weekend myself and 2 others from Perth, Blake and Shawn, made the trip over to Sydney for what was an amazing showing for Star Wars: Unlimited in Australia. Having travelled to the first Planetary Qualifier or PQ in Melbourne last October, I told myself I would chill on travelling for card game events for a few sets, leaving it to be a once a year thing at most.

This was until the Baddest Batch announced they would be hosting a $2k tournament on the same weekend as Sydney PQ. If you haven’t heard of the Baddest Batch, they’re a group of awesome people that run a Star Wars: Unlimited podcast and YouTube channel along with casting other SWU events including our own Perth PQ the previous weekend. I highly recommend you check them out at on YouTube and wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Once the back to back events were announced, along with the support of a very loving partner; the grind was on!

The day started out at a reasonable time, although my body didn’t agree considering it was still 3 hours behind; with some poached eggs on toast with 2/3rds of the Baddest Batch crew then it was onto the venue to help them setup. As players started to filter in, I could feel my anxiety and excitement rising, but after the swerve to Sabine ECL for the Perth PQ the previous week and resulting poor showing, I was back on my comfort pick of Sabine Yellow so it was time to throw some curveballs.

My list for the $2k and PQ was as follows:

It was the same list that Rebel Resource got 2nd with at the Minnesota PQ which he detailed in a video on his channel.

Round 1 vs Sabine ECL

With everything set up and everyone briefed, it was time to play! My first round opponent was a Sabine ECL which I was shocked about considering everything that I had heard about the Sydney meta. In the lead up to the weekend, I was told that only Baddest Batch member, Clint, played Sabine ECL but with the way the meta in general is, your deck must be prepared to face Sabine at some point so it was down to business.

Or was it?! I proceeded to draw poorly and play even worse by trying to control down my opponents units when I should have been applying pressure in order to force out an ECL prior to the 5 resource turn. Game 1, he ECL Poe to clear all but one unit and in game 2 he ECL Wrecker to Overwhelm me to death and so, the submarine began.

As a side note, in talking to my opponent after the game, he mentioned that he had brought a Sabine deck to the $2k in order to have a less intense day in order to preserve energy for the PQ which seemed to be the case for a number of others there on the day.

Round 2 vs Anakin Blue

A matchup that I haven’t played much of in a while but I was confident into it since they generally play one unit a turn and I’m going super wide so I can often push through for the win before Anakin is much of a factor. Both games I played a Sabine unit on turn 1 since it effectively neutralises Village Protectors on turn 2 and then its just a case of playing around the remaining Sentinels and removal that the deck runs. I managed to take game 1 convincingly and in game 2, I played an A-Wing on turn 2 and my opponent responded with a Concord Dawn Interceptors which allowed me to pivot to ground and go wide. I played Plo Koon on 5 resources knowing that if he played Obi Wan on 6, I’d be able to take care of it immediately but it was Plo Surprise Striking for 9 that took the game.

Round 3 vs Sabine ECL

After the loss in round 1 to the same matchup, my confidence in it was starting to wane but some timely messages of encouragement from the Perth SWU community along with it now being a time that my body is used to being awake at gave me that extra energy.

Game 1 did not go as planned as my opponent played 2 Rebel Assaults which is usually too much for me to deal with and it was at this point, that my tournament life was probably on the line. In game 2, I was able to land an A-Wing turn 1, into a Wing Leader followed by a Red Three and Cartel Turncoat and win through space before a pesky Poe could ECL to ruin my day. Game 3 was progressing evenly with my opponent playing Rebel Assault with his first action on the 4 resource turn; I had a decent board presence and was pushing damage but I had a feeling he was setting up to Fleet Lieutenant his Sabine leader with his remaining 3 resources so I Bamboozled it on flip discarding a Millenium Falcon only for him to confirm my suspicions with his next action. Preventing that 5 damage on my base was enough to give me the game and series win.

Round 4 vs Sabine ECL

Yet another Sabine! Of the 7 Sabines at the event, I managed to face 4 of them (spoilers for later). There were 5 Sabine ECL and 2 Sabine Yellow including myself.

In game 1, I effectively used the same game plan as last round by lane dodging although my opponent had some tricks up his sleeve in a cheeky Echo Base Defender to put a dampener on my Sabine flip turn, or so he thought! I played a Red Three so Sabine could clear the Sentinel and again the armada of space ships took down the base for the game 1 win. Game 3 was much of the same, my opponent going to ground, me in space and once he used ECL to play a Sundari Peacekeepers on the 5 resource turn, I knew I was home.

Round 5 vs Han Yellow

Before this game, both myself and fellow Perth legend Blake were sitting at 3-1 and I just knew that if we were matched up in the next game it would be on stream which turned out to be the case.

You can watch the VOD here and I’ll update the link once its uploaded to YouTube.

For those that don’t watch the video above; I managed to win game 1 convincingly but it seemed like he had a few rough draws while I just drew gas. Games 2 and 3 were much closer with Blake taking them down. After the round completed, I went to report the result in Melee while in conversation with Blake about how the games went however I mistakenly reported the score as a 2-1 win to me instead of the actual result which was a 2-1 win for Blake. Unfortunately this mistake wasn’t caught until mid-way through the following round once my opponent and I had already completed one game and were halfway through a second, which meant that it was difficult for the organisers to redo the pairings for that round.

I’ve apologised to the organisers and Blake for this mistake, there was never any ill intention behind it but it did still feel bad to cause the tournament organisers some stress in deciding how to resolve the situation.

Round 6 vs Quinlan TT

Stream chat was calling out for some Quinlan Tarkintown to be played and given I was paired into it, I was on stream yet again.

Part way through game 2, the tournament organisers realised the aforementioned mistake which meant the VOD was divided into 2 since there was some time before a resolution was reached. The second part is below.

Top 8 vs Sabine ECL

With a theoretical 5-1 record, which should have been 4-2, I made it into top 8 and I was thankful that Blake did also so he wasn’t affected by my mistake too much. In this round, I was faced with my 4th Sabine ECL opponent for the day and given how I had played into that deck, my confidence had grown massively.

In game 1, I was too quick for my opponent and pushed damage to base constantly to seal the win. In game 2, my opponent did something I hadn’t seen all day in using ECL on turn 2 to remove my A-Wing which I believe is usually the correct play for them to get board advantage and rush me down. Two Rebel Assaults later and it was off to game 3.

I started out being able to land an A-Wing on turn 1 into a Wing Leader on turn 2. On the 4 resource turn I was cautious of a Bright Hope coming down and putting a stop to my space force so I put a Heroic Resolve on my A-Wing in order to buff it to 6 attack with the possibility of dealing Overwhelm damage to base. My opponent flipped Sabine with 4 resources available so I suspected he had a Darksaber in hand because he would have instead played the Bright Hope if he had it. I played Surprise Strike on my A-Wing for deal 9 damage to base to take him to 19 and I hadn’t even deployed my Sabine leader at this point.

I had put my opponent in zugzwang, a term used in chess to mean that any move opponent makes puts them at a disadvantage. In this situation, if my opponent performs an action, I get to claim the initative and use the ability on Heroic Resolve to win the game next turn. If my opponent instead claims the initative, I swing in with Sabine leader to take him to 22 and even if they drop Bright Hope next turn, I can hit with Sabine leader again or use the Heroic Resolve for the win.

I was into the top 4.

Top 4 vs Quinlan TT

My top 4 matchup was also streamed against the same Quinlan Tarkintown player from round 6. Given theres no match report for the final, its safe to assume I lost this time around but all 3 games were intense and extremely fun to play from my side.

Overall I was extremely happy with my performance throughout the day, despite the first round loss I felt like I played at quite a good level and looking back through the streamed games I’d like to think I did the deck justice.

My hots for the weekend were:

• The Baddest Batch crew for being all round amazing people and for putting on the $2k tournament which was enough to convince me to travel to Sydney since I probably wouldn’t have gone if it was just for the PQ. I highly recommend checking out their podcast and YouTube channel for some great Star Wars: Unlimited content.
• Blake and Shawn, my fellow Perth people for also making the trip over. Blake smashed it was a 2nd place on Saturday and 1st on Sunday at the PQ along with putting up with me inputting the result wrong. Shawn did well with a top 8 performance on Sunday with his Yoda Green deck that is surely getting banned next set /s
• Everyone who messaged with support and advice between the Perth SWU community and Rebel Resource Discord. It definitely helped me get through what was quite an exhausting weekend.

The nots were:

• Sydney trains because of the strikes which made it much more difficult to get to and from the airport.
• White sleeves that look pretty bad after a single weekend of play, won’t make that mistake again.
• Myself for misreporting the result in Melee despite me usually being on other people for reporting.