I Was One of the Thousands of People That Attended the Origins Game Fair…
As an Ohio native, I look forward to a few gaming conventions every year. The one that I seem to find myself attending the most is the Origins Game Fair in Columbus, which is about an hour away from where I live. Origins is a pretty big convention (over 18,000 attended in 2018), and there is a lot to do and see. I didn’t play in last year’s Star Wars: Destiny event when I attended Origins. When it was announced that there would be a Galactic Qualifier again this year, I knew I wanted to play.
… And I Just HAD to Play Something “Different.”
In the lead-up to the Galactic Qualifier events at Origins, I struggled to choose the decks I wanted to play. I knew I would be playing in both the Standard and Infinite events. I also knew I wanted to be creative with my deck choices. After winning some games locally with a few different decks, I got a little frustrated that none of them really had that special something that would make them interesting. I’m definitely a bit of a hipster when it comes to choosing a deck, and I’m totally comfortable as the only guy at an event playing a specific character combination or color choice. Bonus points if the deck actually works and I win some games!
#BlueHero #I’mnotverygoodatthisgame #INeedHelp
About two weeks before Origins, I decided to play a couple of mono-Blue Hero pairings. I’m not delusional, and I never expected to go undefeated with the decks, but the deck building challenge was too alluring to pass up. I got straight to work trying to find something fun to build only using Blue Hero cards.
Blue Hero, Meet Standard Format
Aayla Secura (LG29) got her points adjusted at exactly the right time for me to come up with something fun and different for Standard. I ran through several three-wide variants and some Built to Last (WF115) decks before settling on The Ardent Avenger, Obi-Wan Kenobi (CV57), and a four-die aggressive lineup. This deck did not have the highest ceiling of everything that I tested. That said, the deck was consistent and I got my percentages against Darth Vader (AG1) and Captain Phasma (CV18) about where I wanted them. I could hang with Iden Versio (AG18)/ Tobias Beckett (AG36) and matched up reasonably well with Saw Gerrera (LG49) /Padme Amidala (CV75). Mill was a bit of a toss-up, but with a little luck I liked my chances against both Leia Organa (WF73)/Yoda (LG33) and Leia/Lando Calrissian (AG89). Doctor Aphra (LG20) decks were a little tougher, but they were definitely beatable. I did not test any other match ups, as I believed that aggro and mill would be the most likely decks to encounter.
A few players from my local group at Epic Loot Games traveled with me on Friday to Origins for the Standard event. I have to say that that the event could not have been run more smoothly. It fired on time and we all felt like the tournament organizers and judges did an admirable job. My Standard deck actually performed relatively well, but I was not thrilled with my play. Oh well, c’est la vie.
The Standard Event
My first game was against Leia/Yoda mill. I targeted Yoda after my opponent put shields on Leia, and I was able to kill him quickly. My second game was against Jabba the Hutt (CV36) / Iden Versio (AG18). I was able to play very aggressively and win that one quickly as well. So far so good! My third game was with Jack Broomell from The Golden Dice Podcast. I kept it close, but he was able to mill me out with Leia/Yoda and set me back to 2-1. My last turn, he re-rolled his dice into a Leia two discard and a Resistance Ring (CV87) special. I didn’t have any control, which was not ideal, and his Leia still had six health in addition to whatever control he had in hand. He had a Motivate in his discard pile and I only had three cards in my hand, so I tried the #yolo re-roll and came up well short. Jack would end up winning the entire event, so congratulations to him!
Someone Give Ketsu a Speeding Ticket For Me. Get This Thing Off the Road!
My last two games were against different versions of Hero Shadow Caster (AG145) decks, and I lost both of them. My round four game was quite stressful, quite close, and went to time. The other was a bit of a nightmare game against Bill Dicks. Bill somehow played two Outgun (AG81) and two Easy Pickings (LG117) before the second round was over and absolutely crushed my soul. It was not a great time for Obi-Wan, and in this one the Michigan guy beat the Ohio guy pretty soundly.
And so, just like that, a promising 2-0 start crumbled to a 2-3 finish. The event ended after five rounds to allow one undefeated player to remain. Players were all awarded a bye for round six to compensate them for any lost tickets from a short event. I enjoyed my games and don’t regret my deck choice. When it worked, it worked quite well, and with some more tinkering it could have been a better build. I think Spark of Hope will bring decks like this one some excellent tools to implement. I like playing Blue Hero, but it isn’t exactly “the best” mono-colored deck in Standard at the moment. The nice thing about the GQ prize structure is that even if a player isn’t great one day, pods and other events still allow for some cool prizes to fall their way. I accepted 3-3 prizing for Standard (thanks, round six bye) and moved on to Infinite!
The Infinite Event
My desire to play Blue Hero carried over into my second qualifier. The Jedi Champion version of Mace Windu (EW34) got an excellent Balance to be 19 points elite, which made him interesting. I like the character, so I decided to play him and set out to find a partner. Yoda with Allies of Necessity (AN16) crossed my mind, as did Aayla Secura with Solidarity (AG156). I didn’t do much testing with Maz Kanata (SR45) or Satine Kryze (CV91) simply because I wanted to stay with mono-Blue. On Saturday morning, I turned in another deck list featuring Jedi. This one ended up being Mace Windu/ Ahsoka Tano (CV54), as I loved Ahsoka’s interaction with Force Speed (SR55) and the amount of synergy her dice have with Destiny (SR101) and Guard (SR103). I knew this deck would spit straight fire if I could get in a couple of full rounds of play. I hoped to get lucky and dodge Hyperspace Jump (AW129) and Mean Streets (CV177) as much as possible, so that I could push some classic Blue Hero melee damage.
“This Party’s Over.” (Was Supposed to Be My Line)
My first game was against Menion Croll (who had actually played the Jabba/Iden deck I beat in Standard on Friday). He set down an odd lineup of Mon Mothma (SR27), Luminara Unduli (SR36), and Hired Gun (AW47). He was also running Double Down (AG143) and Mean Streets. I assumed some kind of shenanigans were afoot, as that plot/battlefield combo foreshadows a few strategies and I didn’t want to play against any of them. I decided to target the Hired Gun first, as it was his only Scoundrel. He took shields on the Hired Gun, and I did 8 damage to him turn one.
He played several draw cards and hit a New Orders (SR137) to get things started. A combination of three Hyperspace Jumps, two Retreats (AW110), and multiple Planetary Uprisings (SR97) hit the board extremely quickly after that. About ten minutes later I officially lost the most non-interactive game of Star Wars: Destiny I have ever played. I never even got to activate Mace Windu after turn one of our game! Kudos to Menion for building such an effective combo deck, but this game was NOT the redemptive start I was hoping for in the tournament.
A Small Winning Streak?!
The rest of the day went a fair bit better. After starting 0-1, I would recover to finish 3-1. I played a fun game against Han Solo (AG134) / Poe Dameron (TP25) in round two. In that game, Force Speed let me sneak around some of the tricks that the Hero decks have right now. I followed that up with an enjoyable match against Rex (WF74)/Satine Kryze/ Clone Trooper (LG38). Not much to say about it except that my opponent, Eric, couldn’t quite seem to find any favorable rolls. In the last round of the tournament, I played a fast and furious game against Josh Levy’s Lando/Leia mill. I interact with Josh quite a bit on the Central Ohio Destiny Facebook group, so it was great to finally play him in person!
To ensure only one undefeated player, the event ended after four rounds. Cascade gave all players two byes to end the tournament, so as not to take tickets away from players. This made it so I was able to get prizing like I’d finished 5-1. No complaints here! A player from my local (Nathan Ball) won the event and earned his worlds invite. That was really exciting for our group! I also played my Mace deck in a pod, and was one turn from going undefeated in that event. Overall I was pretty happy with my Infinite deck – it was a blast to play!
GQs Are Neat
I walked away from the events I entered with enough tickets to get several cards that I wanted. I felt like I did what I set out to do (play unique decks, meet some new people, and not totally embarrass myself playing Blue Hero). Star Wars: Destiny really does have an excellent community. I always come away from events happy to have spent my time rolling dice with old friends and new opponents. Congratulations to Jack and Nathan for winning the two events, and thank you to all of my opponents for a great weekend of Destiny!
I look forward to Origins next year, and to a great summer and autumn of Star Wars: Destiny events!
Support The Chance Cube
Do you enjoy the content provided by The Chance Cube? Would you like to connect even further with The Chance Cube Family? Consider supporting this content by joining our Patreon. We are a team dedicated to media coverage and community building, committed to bringing you the best of this game, sharing the joy and community that comes with it. Our Patreons enjoy membership in The Chance Cube Hangout, our Facebook group for supporters of the channel, and we have additional tiers that include gifts from us to you as a thanks for the generous support. Find out more at patreon.com/thechancecube.