Welcome back to the series. During NOVA, I was contacted by our esteemed leader, Chief Chirpa himself, Jason Brame. He told me of a group that was doing a series like this one. When someone tells you something like that, it gets you kind of excited. The reason is, either I had the same idea that others did; or someone saw what was being done and thought it was a good idea.
I am always pleased when people take time to get to know others in our world. To read about another group is always entertaining and I thought that I would reach out and do a piece on them. Destiny Down Under is a group located in – you guessed it – Australia. There are two main guys that we will hear from. Aaron is based out of Perth, Western Australia, and Clint who is originally from Auckland, New Zealand, but has been living in Sydney, Australia for the past 7 years.
Wait…They Play Destiny There?
When I asked about their local scene, Aaron said “In Perth we have a very close community, but we have some really competitive players. It’s a really strong scene that I’d love to see grow.” Clint was happy that, “in Sydney, we average around 8-12 regular weekly players. That will spike a few weeks prior to tournaments, but we have a great local scene with new players joining regularly.”
Along with this, they also have tournaments and game nights that they get going through their Discord Channel. I joined even though I’m not Australian. They have a whole channel dedicated to working out the best time to do these kinds of tournaments. Check out their Discord Channel for more information.
Aaron wanted you to know, “We are a super-friendly community group that wants to help build the game to a bigger, stronger state. If anyone has an article they want to post but don’t know where, please get in touch. We will help you out!”
“DDU was my brain child about 18 months ago. I loved talking about Destiny and wanted to surround myself with the top players and learn from them, but also share that with other players. Blake and Jacob got involved from the inception, while Aaron joined a bit later (with an honorary nod to Will),” is how Clint said it all started.
Aaron said, “I don’t really know, Blake and I have been talking about doing a lot more for a long time, but now we’ve decided to do a lot more than we were before.”
This shows you that taking a step into Content Creation is simply that: take the step. They were able to give people from their continent something they wanted. All that was required of them was to take the leap and try.
We Know Our Jobs
I asked Aaron what he thought his role as a CC was. “I think in a game with as little marketing as Destiny, it’s essential for CC’s to exist, we offer a nice introduction point for new players and also offer strategic chat about the game for more serious players.”
“Humans are tribal people and want to surround themselves with different communities of things they love and are passionate about. CCs are important because they facilitate that love of the game, passion and conversation. Without CCs constantly stimulating conversation, there would be no community and no game,” Clint added.
Where Do I Start?
“Get on YouTube and watch games. Get to your local game store and connect with players. Everyone will be welcoming, will be happy to teach you how to play and you’ll probably end up with a lot of free cards and dice to get you started!” This was Clint’s advice to those that are just starting out.
Aaron feels that you should “head to a local night sooner rather than later, get out there and play more people. If your community is anything like mine, you’ll be heading home with heaps of new cards and playing the game will help you understand how everything works quicker than anything article will.”
If you like looking for good content, they had this to say about where to find theirs. “We’ve just built a new website: http:// https://ddu.network/. We’ve been posting everything we are doing up there and sharing a lot of our content on the various Facebook groups.”
Like a Boy Scout – My Motto is “Be Prepared”
What deck do you not want to sit down across from? This has been a staple question in these articles. Mostly because I want the readers – if there are any (LOL) – to know that it is okay to have decks you don’t like to play against. However, this next answer is an amazing one.
Aaron’s response was, “I’m pretty happy to play against whatever is in front of me, it’s all a new challenge right? At a tournament, I like to have a plan for every type of deck, I’d hate to face something I haven’t prepped for.” This answer shows the importance of practice. Getting ready for a big tournament means prepping for any decks you might face. This is an insight to the age old question: Is it the Deck or the Pilot?
Clint has this to say “The short answer: mill. Long answer: any off-meta deck at a tournament. Its usually one card you know nothing about that will just blow you out because it’s niche in that deck.” This, once again, shows the thought process about being cognizant of how to play “off-Meta” decks.
…..And the Number 5 Card is
Aaron has these as his top 5: “From a competitive perspective I think the top 5 cards in no particular order are: R2-D2 (SH56)/C-3PO (SH077) (I’m combining them), Entourage (CV152), Vader’s Fist (AG013), Fickle Mercenaries (CV168), and Desperate Measures (SH043)”
“R2-D2/C-3PO combo, Kylo3 (SH002), Field Medic (CV078), Entourage, Wild card pick: Yoda’s Lightsaber (SH074)” was Clint’s Top 5.
You’ve Just Made The List
I asked the duo about their thoughts of Worlds being invite-only starting next year. Clint’s feelings were, “World’s is a premier event for premier players. Every other CCG requires you to qualify and hopefully this is a step in the right direction to legitimise the game and be taken seriously!”
Aaron echoed some of the same ideas as Clint, with an extra bonus for all players. “I think it’s great, if the game wants to take itself a little more seriously, I think World’s should be a celebration of the top players, it should be offset with more OP events across the board though, I think.”
What fascinates me is the idea that this game is being played around the world. I wanted to know what kind of tournaments that they have in Australia. “We’ve just had our first GQ last month which was a great community event, we’ve got our Nationals in November in Melbourne which should be really good, can Bounce do the three-peat? Other than that we run the usual events, we also have a great community run event series, the Trials of the Darksaber, here in Perth which always goes down a treat!”
The Chance Cube Universe, we are truly lucky to have so many great CCs. I know that I have just scratched the surface of them. If there are any you would like to see in this series, please pass them on to me. I love getting these unsung heroes of Star Wars: Destiny a place to shine and bring them attention. Go and support the DDU group. See what the Land Down Under can teach you about our favorite game.
Until next time….May you always Roll what you need and Need what you Roll.
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