League Report: Level 1 Game Shop – Week 3

Week three has come and gone, and I’m back with more games and more insight! I really mixed things up this week, playing 3 different decks! First, I started out with eDooku/Bala/Trooper, getting in two games. Then, I got in two games with eKylo/eJango, as well as one game with eRey/eFinn. I’ll do a quick overview of the games, then we can discuss what how I’m handling things after this week.

Deck 1 – eDooku/Bala/Trooper

As usual, I was able to get a game started within minutes of arriving at the shop. I wanted to get in a practice game with my new rainbow deck, since I only played one game the week before. So I sat down with the person who was my only win in the league so far (NOT because I’ve beaten him before, but because he was free and finally had his own deck). So we played a practice game, and I did really well. Turn 1, action 1 was to put a Jetpack (AW66) onto Bala-Tik (AW19), so that’ll give you an idea of how the game went overall. After that game I was feeling better about my deck choice, so we played a league game, and my deck choked. Bad draws; if I remember correctly, I had no upgrades after a five-card mulligan. I couldn’t draw or roll to save my life, and I ended up losing, which wasn’t too bad since I was still able to make a bit of a game of it. I did add Power of the Darkside (AW89) to my deck before those games, and it worked pretty well. Overall, I didn’t like the deck, and missed eKylo/eJango, so I switched back and started another practice game against one of the other regulars.

Deck 2 – eKylo/eJango

This next practice game was against eLuke/Akbar, which I have a pretty high winrate against, losing once out of three or four games, so I felt pretty good about it. I did make a few mistakes, like claiming when my opponent was obviously setting up Leadership (AW141). I won the game though, giving me two more wins overall with eKylo/eJango, though none of them have been league games. Wonderful. Feeling good about the matchup, we jump into a league game, and I get creamed once again. After losing once, a league game is called, again! I tried to ignore the frustration and move on.

Deck 3 – eRey/eFinn

I remembered that I had said I was going to try eRey/eFinn in my last article, so I slapped it together for a practice game, against eLuke/Ackbar again. This game was very close. Rey (AW38) ended up getting hit hard, taking nine damage in one shot, while she had one damage. It was a rough game after that, but I loaded up Finn (AW45), giving him two Holdout Blasters (AW63) and a Jetpack (AW66). He was able to pump out enough damage to take the game for me. It was a close and very fun game, but I came to two realizations: 1. Pressure and mindset really affect play, more than I realized, and 2. Rey isn’t as good as you may think. Let’s talk about point one first, please hold all angry comments for after the article.

Attitude is Everything

At the league this week, I was told that I should adopt the strategy of one of the other players. What was the playstyle? Well, I just needed to win all my league games and only lose practice games. Just that easy right? Yes and no. Mindset is a HUGE factor in your gameplay, and just a small change, like a slight tempo shift against you, or even going from a practice game to a league/important game, can throw off your game. You put pressure on yourself to win, you over think things, or see a bad hand and admit defeat right then. You have to fight that impulse, find a way to win, because only you can. It doesn’t matter how good you are, you are the only person in that position at that point in time. No one else is going to get you out of it, and conceding before the game is actually over is dumb. Play it out, go over everything. This is what practice is for. “But Joe! The hand was really bad, it’s always bad, my deck/dice/luck just hates me!” Of course it was! You went into the game thinking poorly, so that’s how it turned out. You need to walk into each event, tournament, league, whatever, and decide that you’re going to win. No one has any say in the matter, you’re going to win! I know it’s tough to do, trust me, I’ve had one bad day tank an entire event for me. It’s rough to get a good mindset, but it is essential. I’ve also had that perfect event, going 4-0, taking all comers, no matter how good. I left scattered cards and deck boxes in my wake. It comes and goes, but when you get it, remember it, internalize it. Keep that feeling inside, and try and get it back the next time you play. Keep that fire lit, and remember how to light it, in anyway you can. A few ways I do it is either listening to music I enjoy or some comedy podcasts I listen to. A good laugh always takes the stress of life away.

No Staying Power

Now that I’ve possibly inspired you, let’s make you hate me. Rey isn’t as good as everyone makes her out to be. I’m sorry, but after really playing her, I’ve realized that she is a perfect starter set card. She’s deceptively strong, but I don’t see her staying in the meta for much longer. I’d say once set three launches, she’ll probably drop off. By next year, she won’t see play anymore.

 

“Joe! You crazy person! Have you seen her ability? Have you seen Han/Rey?! It’s one of the best decks in the meta!” Is it really? It’s good, and can get a ton of actions, but that’s all it really does. Rey isn’t very strong herself, everyone knows her die is pretty poor. Her ability is good, but it also forces very strict deckbuilding. If you want to maximize on it, you have to play ambush upgrades, which are mostly ranged upgrades, Rey is a melee character. She doesn’t use those upgrades very well. Mixing damage types doesn’t work with her, she wants melee upgrades to synergize with her die, but ranged upgrades to work with her ability. On top of that, cards that force super strict deckbuilding are never good. She can make bad cards better, but why not just start with playing good cards? Why not make good cards better, and not the bad ones? Then you have great instead of just ok cards, or good enough cards. I can tell you right now, when I played eFinn/eRey, I had Holdout Blaster on turn one, and playing that on Rey was the most awkward play I’ve ever made in a TCG.

 

Now, don’t feel bad for playing her. The overall card pool isn’t very large, that’s why Rey sees play so much, there’s no other choice. That’s why I play Kylo Ren (AW11) right now. There’s no other blue villain cheap enough to play elite with Jango Fett (AW21). Once the card pool opens up a bit, a lot of the starter cards won’t see much play, if any. If that doesn’t happen, I’ll gladly admit to being wrong, but I have a good feeling about this one.

 

Now, before you leave angry comments calling me crazy, why not take that anger and channel into playing your next game? Build a Rey deck, and prove me wrong. Go into the game knowing you’ll win because Rey is just that good! Play every event like that, go in knowing you’ll win.

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