US Continental Championship Firsts
With a somewhat unpredictable expansion release schedule, the positive change in Organized Play, and the typical summer lull, Gen Con hosted what is arguably the most significant tournament in Star Wars: Destiny life-cycle, kicking off a season of high-level play down to the resurgence of Prime Championships and all the way to the World Championships. In many ways, this showcases what Destiny is and is going to be about for the next several months, and also how the game will sustain as we begin year four this October. What is perhaps most interesting about this event, is highlighting many exciting firsts for Star Wars: Destiny.
SoS, What’s That?
Strength of Schedule (SoS) has always been the bane of existence for many players aspiring to reach the top. There is nothing more frustrating than a large event cutting to Top 16 and falling in at number 17 due to Strength of Schedule. This time, the team running the US Continental said, “NOT THIS TIME!”
For the first time in a “premier” level event*, the top cut was determined by win record only. In the Swiss Rounds, you had to win six games to qualify for day two. Now, of course, placement in the top cut was determined by Strength of Schedule after your win record, but there was no complicated math needed to determine whether you were going to qualify for those that were sitting “on the bubble.”
*Ed. note – Oops, the first time a straight win record determined second-day qualification at a premier event was last year, and was used at Gen Con 2018.
This resulted in a top cut of 22 players, all playing in a traditional tournament bracket. For those following the news closely, you saw how wild this bracket ended up being for the first couple of rounds, as the top 10 seeded players landed a slot in the Sweet 16 while the other 12 players had to fight for the remaining six spots.
This is a great practice that I hope is duplicated for future events. Strength of Schedule is always important, and it will always be a factor in pairings and final standings, but ensuring that it does not determine whether or not you top cut if your win record is the same as another players is refreshing, to say the least.
“Theme” Decks Are Top-Tier
Okay, so this may be a bit of a stretch to say this 100%, but the fact that Hero Droids (whether it be Han, Chopper, or Satine) and Rey-lo were sitting in the top cut, it is refreshing to see some of the first real thematic character pairings come to the game and be competitive. Our top tier decks of the past (Rey/Aayla, Rainbow Nines, Vader/Raider, Hero Vehicles, etc.) were not composed of characters that existed in the same timeline, and seeing these decks on the top table is a huge design win for the game.
Budget Decks Are Top-Tier… aka… Who Needs Dice?
Anyone who has been around the Customizable Card Game world long enough know that the best decks are generally composed of some of the more expensive cards in the game. Star Wars: Destiny has long been the same, with Legendary Characters, Upgrades, and Supports required to build decks that compete at the highest level.
For the first time, a budget deck has won. And the intent of the Hyperloops Ewok deck was not to build a budget deck, it was to build the best deck that has the highest probability of success at Gen Con. And this was accomplished with three to five Rares, no Legendaries, and hardly any dice.
This should be a motivating factor for many players. Yes, the success of the Ewok deck is largely due to the skill of the players who piloted it, but that just goes to show two things: that skill plays a major factor in this game, and that not every deck has to have the most expensive or rare cards in it to win.
Fantasy Flight Games Streams… Keyforge?
While the Star Wars: Destiny coverage was awesome thanks to the efforts of The Hyperloops, Jackalmen Games, and the Golden Dice Podcast, Fantasy Flight Games had 0% coverage of this event. Is it because they knew the community was going to stream it, or are the just focusing on Keyforge due to its high sales and current popularity?
This is the first time that FFG has streamed from Gen Con, both their Inflight Report, which left out Destiny, and some of their events (both Vault Tours of Keyforge). This is a remarkable first for their PR and OP teams to start to do their own coverage, and signals a positive change for them, but it also showcases how challenging it is to focus on multiple games at once, as they spent all their efforts on Keyforge and promoting their new Marvel line.
THANK YOU
Thank you to all the content creators who provided news and coverage of Gen Con! We know how challenging, time consuming, and expensive it can be, and for those of us who are unable to attend these events, it is greatly appreciated. This is the first time Star Wars: Destiny has been streamed at Gen Con, and we hope it will not be the last.
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