Star Wars: Destiny is a superb game. Great, simple mechanics, iconic characters and weapons, a fun and engaging way to spend 35 minutes. We know this. It appeals from casual to highly competitive players alike. It can be played at home, on a train, at work, or even online. We spend hours trying to make our decks the best possible 30 cards we can create. We win. We lose. That’s what happens in gaming. It is a set up for life; we have better days than other days. Yet we as Destiny players keep returning to play this addictive little gem. Why? Because it offers us a break from our day to day lives. It takes us away from the troubles of work, school, or worries to allow us to just have fun with friends. Enjoyment is the key word and one that Fantasy Flight Games have recently let us, at the biggest and most highest levels of tournament play, do on the off days before the day-2 cut.
Pod People
Pods have been a things at huge events like NOVA, Worlds, and Galactic Qualifiers. Find a preset number of like-minded people, play in a round-robin event for tickets that can be exchanged for spot gloss cards, deck boxes, play mats, and tokens. It works. They are fun. Take a new deck and see how it works out versus a real opponent. They aren’t serious but can reward good players with exclusive loot. Which leads to two events, NOVA and UK Nationals, that have decided to make the pod/side events MUCH more interesting…
NOVA Open (Aug 30-Sep 2, 2018)
NOVA will see a Battle Royale, a 1-hour multiplayer event where the main rule is you can only use ONE non-unique character in a last-man-standing match – a la Fortnite style. Every other player dies and you win. Straight forward rule set. Your character is elite (two dice to start) and a battlefield is given to the pod at the start of the game. Roll out as normal, highest roll takes control of it & the remainder of the players take a shield. Two games are played like this, and the winner of the pod is the player with the most amount of combined points over the two games. The one-hour format is helped considerably when your deck is only 20 cards, using the same rules as normal, but neutral grey cards can only be included if you character is neutral and grey (sorry Jawas!)
There are also a few cards banned… Kylo Ren’s Starfighter (LG5), Red Alert (EW66), Separatist Landing Craft (LG14), Retreat (AW110), Hyperspace Jump (AW129), and Snare (LG80), all for obvious reasons! One of my favorite things is mill is not an option to win. If you have no cards in hand you can continue to play until your character is defeated or the game ends, which is an amazing mechanic.
Scoring is also simple: 1 pt for each damage dealt per round, and additional points for finishing in the top 4. It is easy to keep track of the damage you do and total the points up at the end of the game.
This is a superb, brand-new way to play Destiny, and to have it at NOVA is a brilliant and innovative inclusion to this years US Nationals. As card or game players, if your chosen game allows you to push the envelope further, to expand on its already great base, and develop a whole new way of using it into something exciting and new, I am sold! Ten fewer cards in a deck, just one character, multiple opponents… the concept is not only inspiring but radical, yet still the CCG 
we love. To see at one of the highest top-level tournaments such a fun and non-meta competition is a breakthrough that we as Destiny players need to grab with both hands and get well and truly behind. Full pods at such a prestigious championship may make FFG see what an amazing community of players it has behind it, non only in buying their products with hard cash, but also willing and able to participate in a brand new format. Who knows what official new rulings may be made from feedback from events such as these, and in Europe we have our own version.
UK Nationals (Aug 24-26, 2018)
At the UK Nationals, we have a 2-person team event that uses both decks to cause damage, before games 2-3 (which are solo games) are decided by the losers of game one. They choose the decks that fight in game 2 to try and give them an advantage to make the third game a decider and not a dead rubber. I am extremely excited to be trying this myself at that event, and am already deck-building with my partner some evil little decks that synergize well with each other but play as a normal deck as well. As a deck builder, this makes me happy as we both need to accommodate each others play styles and plan our attacks and defense. Yet again this game continues to provide us new ways to learn how to play it and maybe most importantly how to introduce new players to try Destiny out, a thing I am super keen on promoting, not only in Europe where I live but online via my YouTube.
If you are going to any of these events I strongly suggest you avail yourself to them. You will meet like minded players who love Star Wars (always a bonus), make new friends, and play more Destiny. It is a win-win situation. As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, Destiny allows us relax and have fun. Enjoy it. Try something old, but new. Then take it back to your game night and let your friends try it. Have your own little side event for a bag of pretzels. If in any doubt about registering for the side events, remember the wise words of Yoda – “Do or do not, there is no try.” It will not let you down.
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