Undefeated at the 2022 Winter Championships
Interviews with the top players at the Total Escape Games 2022 Winter Championship about their lists and tournament experience.
Recap
5280 Legion hosted a 28 person tournament at Total Escape Games in Broomfield, CO on Saturday December 3rd, 2022. The event was a blast and had players of all ages and skill levels participate. I want to give a special shout out to TEG for being a fantastic host store, and also to everyone who helped make this event possible - whether by contributing to prize support, providing terrain, or helping with set up and break down - we could not have done this without you. After 3 rounds of 800pt play, we ended up with 4 undefeated players who were crowned champions. Following 5280 tradition - I was lucky enough to interview all 4 to pick their brains on their lists and tournament experience overall.
Lists on Game Uplink: https://legion.gameuplink.com/events/5280-winter-championship-at-total-escape-games/?tab=Lists
Sam Coates (@Samwell)
Walk us through your list big picture wise. What made you decide to go with this list for the event? Were there any unit or upgrade decisions you were torn on before the event?
My initial thought was a Grievous list since I wanted to make him viable. I knew he needed a good support network to make that happen, so I picked Black Sun Enforcers and Vigo to fill that role. The red defense dice on the Vigo with lead by example allowed him to get closer than other CIS commanders want to be to inspire Grievous in the hopes he doesn’t panic (he panicked twice in one game so some things are inevitable). Black suns fully upgraded, magnas with the rockets, and 3 heavy b1s give Grievous a solid backline to force the opponent to choose who to focus. I wasn’t torn on any units or upgrades as this list seems streamlined to the point that I can’t imagine taking something else. I do go back and forth on SA for magnas or targeting scopes for black suns but that’s it.
We don’t see General Grievous as frequently in competitive play lately. What inspired you to take him in this build and how did you feel about his performance for you at this event?
The fact that he isn’t used in competitive play made me want to try to build a list around him to make him viable. In my second game he did decently but for my other two games he only acted as a target. He definitely under performed but my opponents having to focus him allowed my other units to shine.
What list style/archetype did you not look forward to facing most at the tournament and why?
Any list with a force user. My heavies make this list and a force choke upgrade could really hurt them. Having magnas and Grievous might have made it easier to deal with them though. Unfortunately, (or fortunately) I only played one force user which was commander Luke who sometimes shares the underwhelming performance with Grievous - which was the case in my game.
What list match up or battle card setup were you hoping for the most at the tournament and why was that?
Battle lines, limited visibility, and intercept transmissions. This list wants to get in fast and start firing away.
What was the toughest match you played at the event, and what made it a challenge?
Double AT-ST, blizzard force. The huge dice pools, the suppression (this is the game where Grievous panicked twice), and the tankiness of the AT-ST made this a nail biter all the way to the last roll.
What did you feel your list did well at during this tournament? Any specific objectives, game situations, etc?
Rapid reinforcements really helped me secure the second game. The ability to drop off magnas in the backline really hurt one board side for my opponent allowing me to take the center key position obj.
Any ‘cinematic moments’ or crazy stories from any of your games?
The final game was a crazy story on its own. However, if I were to choose one moment it was forgetting blizzard force had unrelenting fire when Grievous had 5 suppression.. I accidentally moved Vigo out of inspire range, played Grievous’s 1 pip, and watched as he ran away. A classic Grievous moment.
What surprised you the most at this event?
The amount of lists with less than 10 acts. A lot of those lists I was scared to see across the table from me too.
Anything you would change about your list from your experience at this event?
Nothing I would change, but I do hope Grievous gets some type of change to make him a little more of a force - but he did run away all the time in the Clone Wars show, so at least the game is faithful to the source material.
Anything else you want to add about your list, faction strategy, or about the event in general?
5280 is the best legion community out there! Come to their events! New players or grizzled vets always have a good time!
Jason Baird (@JasonIsConfused)
Walk us through your list big picture wise. What made you decide to go with this list for the event? Were there any unit or upgrade decisions you were torn on before the event?
This is the same core I’ve been running for a year: Anakin gun line. I added Pykes when Shadow Collective released, and Padme is a more recent evolution. I’m thrilled with both.
At a high level, it’s a standard force-flex list: a strong gun line, protected by a powerful force user. Clones inherently bring top-notch survivability to that archetype, as well as strong focus-fire via fire support and token sharing. Adding the cheap, tough Pykes to the mix keeps the activation count decent, allows the clones a few more points for upgrades, and increases my long-range chip damage to force opponents to come to me.
To get to the specifics of the characters: Anakin is, in my opinion, the best force-user in the game. Two free surges every turn and a dodge on three or four of your six turns makes him the toughest force-user in the game (except maybe Commander Vader). He’s also the absolute cheapest way to take force push, has excellent utility before engagement via Exemplar, is incredible at dealing with armor, and actively discourages enemies from attacking him via Djem So Mastery.
Padme spends the entire game hiding and generating tokens that anyone can use - almost always an aim, a dodge, and a standby. Because you can trigger the standby almost every turn with an overwatch Phase II, her effective damage output is actually higher than a normal clone squad’s, while also generating more tokens and holding an amazing 2-pip command card.
There are a few tricky key plays for this archetype. Most important is the double overwatch combined with both Padme’s and Anakin’s standby sharing. The massive range 3 standby bubble punishes or outright halts any close-range aggression, while also compensating for the list’s low activation count by storing an action for later in the turn. Second, Anakin’s saber throw can receive a fire support from a clone squad to output insane, consistent, armor piercing damage. Finally, Anakin’s flaw card is almost completely mitigated by the command card Ploy, which lets Anakin activate whenever he wants without actually issuing him an order.
I chose this list because it’s worked incredibly consistently for me since Anakin’s buffs, and has only become stronger with my additions of Pykes and Padme. I went undefeated with it at Genghis Con in February and through the Total Escape season 11 league. It’s also thematically my favorite thing in Star Wars: a Jedi general leading an army of devoted soldiers into glorious battle, though I admit my (unpainted!) Pykes are solely a meta addition. Finally, force-user Pyke lists were the only Republic pushing into the top tables of myriad recent larger tournaments, so I know I’m on the right track.
I continue to waffle on various small changes with the list. My Phase IIs could instead be Phase Is with Captains, but I love the additional courage and surge token (plus I don’t have any painted captains). The lone Phase 1 squad could swap between the RPS, Z6, or DC-15, depending on my need for a bigger bid or more armor piercing damage. This was my first time running Defensive Stance on Anakin over Tenacity, and I’m quite pleased with the results there, mostly for turn 1-2 token sharing. And finally, I keep hoping I’ll find a way to fit Seize the Initiative on Padme, so I can pull of a fire support saber throw on Anakin’s 1-pip turn, but in a bigger tournament, the aggressive bid is worth giving up on that dream.
What list style/archetype did you not look forward to facing most at the tournament and why?
High-quality, low-activation gunlines like mine struggle most against patient players with high-activation lists that effectively play a specialized objective like Bombing Run or Breakthrough. In this meta, the most likely archetypes to play like that are STAP droids and Blizzard Force with bikes. I’ve also never played against Blizzard force, and the Notorious Scoundrels podcast makes me think it’s the overall strongest list in this meta. This list also takes painful amounts of unavoidable damage from high velocity snipers.
What list matchup or battle card setup were you hoping for the most at the tournament and why was that?
My favorite matchup for Ani-Padme is against close-range opponents, especially those with lightsabers. I was lucky this tournament to play against a lightsaber-wielder in all three games, and a highly aggressive list in two out of those three. The standby sharing I mentioned above makes closing into range of my list dangerous if not lethal, no matter how tough you are, and even if an aggressive unit makes it into range, Anakin always has the perfect answer:
Against lightsabers or Wookiees, he’ll wait for you to go first, then force-push you into the open. Corps units will focus you down over the rest of the round. Against hardened units like Black Suns, Magnaguards, or aggressive armor pieces, he’ll saber throw-fire support for a likely one-shot kill. Against speeders, he shares the dodges and standbys his allies need to tank incoming fire and retaliate. And against Mandalorians, he’ll lock them in melee to disable their range 2 guns, then use his excellent dice pool and pierce 3 to punch through their armor.
Ani-Padme also fares well against low-activation lists where it can use Anakin more aggressively; against droids whose chip damage is slow to break clone armor; against Pykes, who melt to fire supported Z6 shots; and against heavy armor, which Anakin can often shatter in a single saber throw-fire support.
For battle cards, I’m happy every time I play Intercept because I can outlast almost any enemies to be the last one standing on turn 6. Hostage is also ideal, given Anakin’s ability to murder a corps squad and Padme’s standby sharing to get my hostage out of the fire. Third, Hemmed In allows me to ball up my entire army onto the middle objective, just the way clones like.
What was the toughest match you played at the event, and what made it a challenge?
My toughest matchup was against my round 3 opponent, Gus Woomer, a good friend of mine. He came at me prepared with buckets of High Velocity and Pierce, plus Din’s Amban rifle, to dangerously chip away at my clones. He out ranged me, and had the stronger cover position, so I planned to get aggressive early, though Vader guarding his lines would have made that difficult. He also split my forces, with Din threatening my backline Padme and Capo. If there’s one thing clones hate, it’s splitting up.
However, Gus took an early opportunity to wipe a clone squad with Vader, allowing Anakin to force push him into the open. My clones then took as many shots as they could into him for a turn 2 kill. Anakin was flat-footed afterwards and died before engaging Gus’ corps, but I’ll take that trade any day. Afterwards, my Pykes were able to handle Din by dodging most of his damage, while my clones won the gunline fight for the middle.
What did you feel your list did well at during this tournament? Any specific objectives, game situations, etc?
As I expected, overwatch standbys and Anakin were incredible against the two short-range lists I played. I also managed to claim and keep early control of the center of the map in games 2 and 3. I was surprised at how well my list handled Recover the Supplies - I deployed close enough to put an overwatch bubble around the middle crate on turn 1, then Anakin handled Yoda grabbing the box anyways quite nicely. Finally, my clones continue to win every shootout I put them into, mostly via surging defense and lucky dice.
Any ‘cinematic moments’ or crazy stories from any of your games?
My favorite moment was Anakin facing down his future self in the middle of the board on turn 3. I will never tire of watching the light and dark sides of Anakin duel, whether in the movies or on the tabletop.
Yoda also had an incredible play in game 2: I started the turn with clones touching the middle supply crate, but with Size Matters Sometimes, Yoda hitched a ride on Chewie’s back into melee with my clones, grabbed the objective out from under them, then guided Chewie back toward safety. I don’t think I could have won the game without Anakin pushing Yoda back to the middle of the table for my entire army to lay into and eventually execute off some unlucky dice.
What surprised you the most at this event?
I was quite pleased to see our faction balance in both the top 6 (all factions represented, plus an extra copy of Shadow Collective) and top 4 (all different factions, only missing Empire). At a high level, the activation counts were lower than I expected, with more 8-9 act lists and fewer 10-11s. It was also an amazing turnout for the day, with lots of newer players I didn’t recognize competing for the prize - and the prizes themselves were straight up amazing! Well done, to both Total Escape Games, Stephen, and the community for their contributions.
Anything you would change about your list from your experience at this event?
I’d like to try out clone captains with Phase Is in place of my Phase IIs, and in a lower-stakes environment I’d probably add Seize the Initiative to Padme, but overall, I’m quite happy with where my list stands.
Anything else you want to add about your list, faction strategy, or about the event in general?
A few bits of strategy advice, yeah!
The following tactic has won me more games than anything else I do in legion, including all three of my games at this tournament. In lightsaber vs lightsaber matchups, the aggressive saber-wielder that gets into enemy lines will usually net the first kill, often a corps squad, but they’ll die for it, and that’s a terrible trade. Assuming the defensive saber-wielder has Force Push, they’ll be able to push the aggressive one into the open and the rest of that player’s army will wipe the aggressive saber-wielder out. What this means for your strategy is, in the saber-v-saber matchup, do not engage first with your saber-wielder unless you’re desperate. Figure out a way to make your saber-wielder the defensive one. My favorite ways to do that are outranging your opponent, solidifying an activation advantage, or making an aggressive, early play for an objective.
Don’t take blue player just because you won the bid. Red player is guaranteed to be better than blue player when both players’ battle decks are similar - and there’s good odds it’s better if the cover situation is imbalanced, too. I won the bid in all three matchups, chose red in game 2 because our lists were similar, and regretted not choosing red in game 3, too.
Finally, I said this last time, but I’ll reiterate: Clone gunline players, as long as you can maintain your surge token supply, trust your saves. You’ll win a range 3 shootout against almost every list out there, and it’s all contingent on rolling those defense dice. Get your entire gun line into range at the same time and trade shots for as long as you can, because you’ll almost always come out on top.
Thanks for the games, everyone! Can’t wait to play some more legion with you all!
Tony Hunter (@Huntsman)
Walk us through your list big picture wise. What made you decide to go with this list for the event? Were there any unit or upgrade decisions you were torn on before the event?
I’ve been trying out various combinations of Shadow Collective since it dropped. Something I’ve come to realize about myself is that I like to play lists that can pull stunts and tricks, and a cunning maneuver that surprises my opponent is often as good as a win. I’ve been trying to find a list that ticks all the boxes for me, is it fun, is it tricky and is it competitive enough to win games with practice.
I started with Maul and he is a great unit - a cunning Force User that has three actions a turn certainly ticks all my boxes and is fantastic on both objectives and at killing opponents units. I have him fully loaded, but, controversially, I prefer BoS (Burst of Speed) over Choke. My reasons for that are I really like the pressure Maul brings by infiltrating and burying himself on turn 1 of the game, it often causes opponents to completely forget whatever their own battle plan was and have to react to him immediately. Secondly, Maul’s already fantastic objective play is cranked up to 11 with BoS, particularly on objectives like Bombing Run, Breakthrough, Hostage, Recover and Vaps. Lastly, Witch Magick and BoS are a perfect match, that immobilize is immediately gone without any ill effects if I need to keep moving.
Knowing that I wanted to play Maul was the easy part, but I’ve been on quite the journey for the rest of the list. I initially started with Mandalorians (too fickle on defense for my liking), travelled through a Pyke gun line (not tricky enough for me), and eventually landed on double buses and Black Sun Enforcers. I loved what the buses brought in the ability to react and change the direction of my list very quickly, and how they keep my opponents guessing. Their ability to reposition before or after each move, travel incredibly fast, fly over terrain up to their height, fire their turret 360° and block routes and fire lanes is the most fun I’ve had playing Legion.
I needed two squads to put in the buses, and admittedly I’ve been struggling on the Black Suns loadout - they blank a lot without multiple aims and upgrades, but I think I’m getting closer. With my scopes, 2 aims and Mag-Dets at this tournament, I was rolling 13 dice, rerolling 8 and ignoring cover at range 1 - it felt pretty good.
Lastly, with those 5 units as my base, it left very little for the remainder of my list. Three naked Pykes and a Capo for securing objectives.
I’ve heard you talk some about the efficiencies you see in taking naked pykes. How did they perform for you at this event?
They were great, I take vigilance on the Capo and so they are a 40 point unit with 2-3 dodges, escaping with or holding an objective. It will usually take concentrated fire from multiple expensive units to deal with them which isn’t efficient for my opponent. While I’m only playing 9 acts, the effort it takes to kill those naked Pykes gives me breathing space to take on larger activation armies and gives me time to hurt them in return with my heavy hitters.
What list style/archetype did you not look forward to facing most at the tournament and why?
Jon’s (@Gutrik) double AT-ST Blizzard Force. My buses don’t like to be shot by those beasts and I was concerned he could theoretically dismantle me starting with the buses and then moving to the troops. I would have had to focus hard on objectives and it would have been pretty rough. I got lucky and didn’t draw him in the Tournament.
What list matchup or battle card setup were you hoping for the most at the tournament and why was that?
Anything that doesn’t have heavy dedicated anti-armor. My list is surprisingly effective at almost every objective so as long as my Buses aren’t getting annihilated early. Heroes are less of a concern for me also because I can usually find a way to put both buses and Black Sun at a point that can neutralize most of my opponents aggressive units.
What was the toughest match you played at the event, and what made it a challenge?
Jeff (@painting_for_the_emperor) in round 3 was my toughest match. He started the game by immediately hitting Maul (in a position I thought I was safe in) with Mando Jetpack rockets, and it forced me to slow my usually aggressive play with him until he could hide and heal up. I managed to one-shot Cad Bane on turn 2, however, which gave me a false sense of security because he immediately launched everything at me and we fought tooth and nail for the next 4 turns. It was a very sweaty game and exactly how a tournament final round should end - it literally could have gone either way right up to the last turn.
What did you feel your list did well at during this tournament? Any specific objectives, game situations, etc?
I angled for and was given both Limited Visibility and Recover the Supplies twice at the Tournament which my list really enjoys. Limited Visibility is key to keeping my buses safe, they can usually close to range 2 from deployment, emerging from the fog when I’m ready. The other objective I played was red player on Sabotage the Vaporators. Maul really likes to bury himself on an opponent's Vaporator and sit for the game. My buses are a ‘quick reaction force’ and give me the ability to head off any assaults on my own Vaps, or bail Maul out if he starts to get tired.
Any ‘cinematic moments’ or crazy stories from any of your games?
I’ve had a rough couple of weeks with dice luck lately, and as a player who doesn’t even like to mention dice normally, I was starting to wonder if I’d done something bad to a black cat in my past life. Dice were largely with me at the tournament, and in my first game against Leevi (@zekesquad07) felt like they couldn’t fail. He played hard and strong but everything from my Tactician to my Black Sun defense rolls were running on all cylinders and close to 100%.
Round 2 against Mark, my dice continued to hold up and it allowed me to grab the boxes even under the eye of his overwatch Storm and Death Troopers.
We had some big dice fluctuations in my game with Jeff. I put 7 hits into Cad Bane with my Black Sun and he only blocked 1 which killed him instantly. However, Jeff almost immediately made it back when I put 11 hits on one of his Mando squads and he blocked every single one (that same squad blocked a further 6 out of 7 on a subsequent turn also I believe).
What surprised you the most at this event?
The average Activation count on the day seemed to be pretty low. I love that many of us are investing in quality over quantity here in 5280, but it does make me wonder if that is caused by playing in an insulated and largely sheltered goldfish bowl. Many of us haven’t played outside Colorado for a while and I am curious how our currently low act local meta will stand up to the larger meta in the outside World? I guess we’ll find out soon at both RMO and LVO!!!
Anything you would change about your list from your experience at this event?
I would like to find a way to fit Frag Grenades on the Black Sun and crank up the alpha strike even further. Another Tactician on the second bus would also be great. Unfortunately, I’m already at 800 points so that's going to take some cuts elsewhere that I’m not sure I can make. I am also very concerned about the incoming points update with this list, I suspect both Vigilance and Pykes are about to get smacked…
Anything else you want to add about your list, faction strategy, or about the event in general?
It was a fantastic event and well run as always by Stephen (@ASpaceViking). The new tournament software (Game Uplink) that Fifth Trooper / 6up Supply has created was an absolute dream to use as a player. A massive improvement over anything we have had before, they have all done a great job on that.
Lastly, a massive shout out to Total Escape Games who not only have a great location for the event and let us invade their store for the day but also provided an incredible amount of Prize Support for the players!
Ben Chee (@ODSTGeneral)
Walk us through your list big picture wise. What made you decide to go with this list for the event? Were there any unit or upgrade decisions you were torn on before the event?
The big picture for this list was just to capitalize on Rebel firepower beyond range 5 and leverage the new rebel Bounty option.
One big upgrade decision for me was including Grogu - a lot of people don’t like him but I’ve found him to be well worth 17 points. In the end, I dropped a Capo off a Pyke squad to afford him.
You’ve been playing Grogu with Mando a good bit lately. What are your thoughts on Grogu in this list? Where was he the most helpful and do you feel like you got your points worth out of him?
Grogu is incredible, or at least has been in the last six games I’ve played. For 17 points, he is always at least another wound for Mando (not to be ignored) and tends to heal at least 1-2 wounds through latent power across the game. Those wounds have been on Wookiees, Cassian, Mando, etc - and they have often been invaluable. Hilariously, shooting from Grogu had also helped me keep Mando safe, and I even had a use of his offensive power against some Swoops in my line. The real trick I’ve found with him is you have to keep Mando back until you play his 1 Pip to move up and attack - and even then you need to keep Grogu on top of buildings and Mando away from melee units. That said, people have a much harder time claiming Grogu’s token than you might think. If Grogu dies (has not happened yet) the token drops and an enemy trooper has to make it to the token and burn a whole action to claim it. On turns 5-6, this is an especially tall order when many units are trying to just see if they can make it to an objective, let alone to a token with a spare action to claim. It also makes some people overcommit forces to try to get the bonus point, which allows for other rebel forces to move somewhat unhindered.
What list style/archetype did you not look forward to facing most at the tournament and why?
By far the hardest matchup for rebels always is armor heavy. Fighting double ATST, double AAT, or spiders is rough.
What list matchup or battle card setup were you hoping for the most at the tournament and why was that?
My list was designed to defend, as blue, against enemies who had to advance on me so I could counter attack with Wookiees and Pykes. The pierce in the list was definitely intended for red save armies.
What was the toughest match you played at the event, and what made it a challenge?
My match against Dustin Grorud was definitely the hardest. He brought empire against me and maneuvered on the map expertly to mitigate my sniper fire to take the center of the map. Dustin is an excellent player who is a master of mini placement - I only managed to win because my building climbing Wookiees were able to just barely peek the silhouettes for Vader and IG-88 to take them down behind buildings.
What did you feel your list did well at during this tournament? Any specific objectives, game situations, etc?
In this tournament my list got very lucky in being able to force my enemies to attack and, as a result, save action economy on shooting down attacking forces. The unlimited range of Mando and Cassian also were incredibly helpful because they could position themselves, through Jump 2 and Infiltrate, to deny cover and pick off key units as people advanced.
Any ‘cinematic moments’ or crazy stories from any of your games?
By far the most cinematic moment was Grogu deflecting a jet pack rocket back to kill a Mandalorian through energy shields to start game 3. Danger Sense + The Hand Thing is not to be ignored! Grogu throwing immobilize tokens onto Swoops in the same game was also cinematic since Mando had already given the bikes 2 tokens with the Amban, bumping them to 4 in one activation!
What surprised you the most at this event?
I was surprised to not see more Pykes and Blizzard Force, I anticipated almost every game to be against bike spam or Pyke spam
Anything you would change about your list from your experience at this event?
I’ve been debating swapping a squad of pykes for an FD Cannon to hedge against armor - the only vehicle I killed was a DSD, and it was still pretty rough to take down
Anything else you want to add about your list, faction strategy, or about the event in general?
I think the event was awesome, very well organized with a wonderful group of people. Everyone was super friendly and the day was by far one of the most fun days of war gaming I’ve had!
Wrap Up
Congratulations to Sam, Jason, Tony, and Ben for going undefeated, and shout out to them for sharing their thoughts on the event. If you find yourself in Colorado and want to play legion, make sure to check out our events calendar and join the discord to get in touch!
Written by: Stephen Cobb (@ASpaceViking)