NickTheBug's Top 32 Worlds Report!
Hey there! This is NickTheBug and I wanted to do a little tournament report/write up about my top 32 worlds finish. It isn’t that I think every top 32 finisher needs to do a write up, but I’m always looking for an excuse to write about Destiny and I played a bit of a different version of the 4-Lom deck than most.
Deck Choice
In the months leading up to worlds, I was all in on Ewoks. The inevitability and consistency they brought were unlike anything the game had yet seen. My win rate with the murder bears was near 100% because it was nearly impossible to disrupt their game plan. Unfortunately they got hit HARD with nerfs. I tried in the few weeks after the nerf to make them work but unfortunately I just couldn’t do it.
I knew I’d need to swerve so I played basically one game with every deck I could think of and landed on JAWS. I was having good success with it despite the Wat nerf, but I found I had an impossible time vs mill and Desperate Measures. I hated the idea that there were matches I would just insta-lose, so with one week to go before the main event I knew I would have to swerve again.
I wanted a deck that played similarly to JAWS, which I thought had some of the best chances against things like droids, wasn’t killed by DM, and had a fair fight into mill. The 4-Lom/Grievous/Sentinel deck won a few primes the week before and I decided it was precisely what I was looking for. It played almost exactly the same way as JAWS but its dice are big enough that I can take out mill without anything on the table and I can survive if my big supports are DM’d.
Link to SWDestinyDB Decklist is HERE.
As I’m sure you can quickly see, this 4-Lom build isn’t standard at all. I played 8 bounties which, in retrospect, might have taken more deck space than they were worth. They lead to many strange games in which I would draw all my bounties and no supports or all my supports and no bounties. Either one was bad for me. I think the bounties also made me rely more on getting my battlefield which hurt me in matches against Reylo (the battlefield choice was a lose/lose).
So with all of these issues, why did I choose to take a full downgrade package to worlds? My reasoning, I think, was sound. Essentially I had just come off the JAWS deck and I had a hard time understanding how this deck could play a comparable number of supports without Jabba’s +2 resource side and without the money-making bounties (it definitely can, the deck just plays a lot more differently than I was giving it credit for).
I found that the bounties helped my droid matchup because once I killed one I would snowball into an unstoppable board state (in hindsight, I think droids is a pretty good match for this deck regardless so the bounties probably aren’t super relevant). Mostly, though, my ultimate goal with this version of the deck was to take one entire turn, kill a character, draw 3-6 cards and take 2-4 resources, and get an entire additional turn after the opponent is out of mitigation. This actually came to fruition in several games as I’ll write about below. However, as was pointed out to me after the event, I might not have needed these “tricks” if I’d just played better cards in my deck.
With worlds behind me, I think the version of the deck that I’ll play going forward replaces all of the downgrades (save Dead or Alive which is just IBAT or Tech Team on steroids) with:
2x Fickle - This card is just insane value. I didn’t play it on the day because I feared the fickle mini-game that sometimes develops, but there are ways to work around it.
2x Counterintelligence - I had this card in until the very last second and then ditched it for Chancellor's Edict and Mind Extraction. This card is just so good against Ewoks, Droids, and Palp often destroying their whole round.
1x Cultural Records - This thing just sucks up removal. The opponent feels like they have to remove it which leaves the rest of your dice more protected.
A second Desperate Measures - Against 4-Lom DM is pretty meh which was why I included just one. But with Aphra going 8-0 both day 1s, I think its a card you need two of.
Sidenote: Not to get too off topic, but I see a lot of debate about whether or not the Imperial Officer should be included in this deck. In my mind there is no question. IO isn’t the 29th and 30th card in the deck, it’s the 5th and 6th after Fist and Megas. Not only does it turn on the Mega’s third die after Grievous (a frequent first target) goes down, it also turns your fist die to a 3 for you every round and keeps Counterintel online. It also has a solid die with 50% of the sides being important to the function of your deck and 2 more that are situationally critical.
Before The Tournament
I flew in for the main event SUPER early Friday morning which, as a day 1B player, meant I could spend all of the first day grinding pods. I had swerved to my deck only about a week prior, so I appreciated the opportunity to get some real practice all day Friday.
The main event on Saturday started very late (11:45) so I was able to get in a fairly competitive warmup pod that morning. I was really grateful that the group I was playing with was willing to haul out their main event decks from the day before because I really hate playing in big tournaments cold. A nice warmup always helps me think through my decisions better. I took down this particular pod beating Han/Droids, Chopper/Droids, and Palp. I was ready.
The Tournament (Day 1B)
Game 1: eIG-88/Ventress
Shoutout to this guy for being super cool. The matchup wasn’t super tough, but my opponent was very nice. IG-88 is his favorite character, and I appreciated that he went all in on playing a character he loved and having a great time at the event. He gave me a very strange (pronounced: FABULOUS) “CHAMP” wristband which I wore for the rest of the day and he kept checking in to see how I was doing, just an awesome guy. Shoutout to you man!
1-0
Game 2: eMaul/Phasma/Retribution
This is the match I was dreading. I know my deck should theoretically beat maul, but man I have such a hard time against him. Maul is just a powerhouse and at 13 health + riot shields sometimes there are games that feel impossible to win. Luckily I had Delve/Fist in my opening hand along with DoA and my battlefield (honestly a perfect start) which gave me some hope. My opponent took down 4-Lom early turn two, but whiffed on the Maul PA and had to settle for only killing Grievous later that same turn. With 6 health (5 + a modular frame) left on Sentinel I managed to defeat Maul. Unfortunately I was facing a full health phasma with an Heirloom on her. First action he played seize the day to roll out phasma and hit the god roll 3 melee and special. He resolved the 3 melee leaving me with 3 health and him with a 3 damage Phasma special in the pool. Luckily for me, that left him with only one die and I Forsakened to save myself. He had essentially no more way to win and Fist + Megas + IO finished him off.
2-0
Game 3: JAWS
This guy was awesome. He played REALLY well, and honestly if I didn’t know the deck inside and out I would have had nearly an impossible time. Turn one I hard cast the Fist which he promptly DM’d. He then proceeded to play Embargo on DM (which I had in hand) and then Delve out his own fist. It was a perfect turn for him, but he assigned his indirect poorly. I was able to get Jabba down early turn two with character dice and then the Fist out that turn as well. It was downhill for him from there.
3-0
Game 4: Han/Droids
I was feeling really good at this point. With three wins under my belt it felt like my deck was unstopable. Then I hit this guy. This may have been the best Han/Droids player I have ever faced. He knew EXACTLY what to do against my deck. I drew Delve/Fist opening hand but he kept me off money so well that I didn’t get it down until turn three. I don’t think I killed a single character, it was miserable.
3-1
Game 5: Satine/Droid/AR
This game was a saving grace for me. After taking the biggest Destiny beating of my life I spent our hour break super nervous about my next match. I was very lucky to play against my absolute best matchup which really brought my confidence back. He was rolling resources like crazy, but it seemed he didn’t have anything to play with them. He Scruffied for event round 1 and round two trying to sniff out the DM (which I didn’t have) which left me able to play my big supports. In a reverse of the previous, I don’t think I lost a single character this game.
4-1
Game 6: Iden/Becket
This guy was super cool. One thing I will say is that I spotted Admiral on the bottom of his deck when he took it out of his box (before shuffling) which gave some of his game plan away. Just something to keep in mind if you’re playing a non-standard version of a deck. His deck exploded and he killed 4-Lom early turn two and put 5 damage into grievous. I had 7 damage into Iden from a turn one Megas, but turn two I didn’t do anymore damage. Iden with full bounties was just sitting there at five health. Turn three he killed grievous and put a few points of damage into the Sentinel before Admiral resetting Becket. He rolled out 5 damage on his second rollout. I had Hidden Motive in my hand but I knew I couldn’t play it because a reroll into an admiral special would be my end. So I ate the 5 leaving Sentinel at just 1 health. He took three shields on Becket from the Admiral die instead of risking a reroll. He then PA’d Becket and claimed. That PA was his mistake. I had one health left on Sentinel, but the remaining damage into iden and then 5 into becket from Megas allowed me to use my bounties. I draw 3 cards (Death Mark), take 2 resources (Wanted), and two shields (Chancellor’s Edict). I drew Fist AND Delve. I used the two resources plus the free one from Becket to Delve the Fist knocking off one of my new shields. Fist rolls 3 damage. I PA the fist and use Imperial Officer to flip to a 3. IO rolls a focus. So I activate the fist, flip to 3 and win by the skin of my teeth. I felt bad to have won on luck, but the guy was a really good sport (recognizing that he had spelled his own demise with the Becket PA) and my deck did exactly what it was supposed to do.
5-1
Game 7: Reylo
I knew I had to win one of the last two games. I wasn’t going to come this far only to go 5-3 by losing the last two. My opponent was thinking the same thing. Luckily for me Reylo is a good matchup for my deck and once I killed Kylo my bounties did their thing and I got Rey down shortly after. I don’t remember much more about this game, but I believe my opponent lost his next and didn’t make it to day two. Sorry man!
6-1 (Day Two!)
Game 8: Satine/Droids/AR
This game was against Joe from the Hyperloops. As he pointed out, the game was pseudo-irrelevant because we were both in, but there was still pride in it (at least for me haha!). This game was basically the same as my last Satine/Droids match as it’s really a good matchup for me. The one takeaway I had from this matchup is that Joe is on top of EVERYTHING in his game. At one point I thought it was round three and that I had not yet used the battlefield resources. Joe was able to walk it back and convince me that it was only round two (which it definitely was). I used a token for my battlefield from then on.
7-1
Day 2
Game 1: Han/Droids
My first match I was paired against a kid named Michael Berg. He’s a Minnesota local and (I could be wrong but) I think he is the person who invented the Chopper/Droids deck. He was playing Han/Droids for this tournament and, honestly, I thought I was done for. Playing the only deck I lost to in swiss was a real bummer for me and I wasn’t feeling very good about it.
In the first game I lost the roll off so he took his battlefield (*sigh*) and proceed to play Rex’s blaster on R2. He disrupted me, rolled damage, and then claimed to play Flee The Scene and essentially timewalk my round. I had Fist down turn 2 but he killed both 4-Lom and Grievous before I could kill a single droid. I got 3PO down late turn two which let me draw three cards and take 3 resources. I played a Megas and an IO and managed to put 8 damage into Han. Killing 3PO really messed with his tempo, but he had both Han and Chewie’s blasters on Han which put 7 damage into my 8 health sentinel. Imperial Officer won the day here as it let me get guaranteed damage on Han and end the game this same round before he could draw any action cheats and kill my Sentinel. This was a big match for me, winning on his battlefield was the turning point I needed. I was very concerned having lost the roll off that he would win game 1 I would win game 2 on my bf and then he would take the series.
1-0
The second game went better for me. His rolls were less than stellar and he managed neither to heavily disrupt me or deal much damage turn one. I, unfortunately, drew a full hand of bounties and couldn’t take full advantage. I put 4 into 3PO with character dice but that was it. Round two he drew Rex’s Blaster and Chewies Blaster. He made the mistake of playing Chewie’s on R2 and Rex’s on Han which messed up his sequencing for the rest of the game. Unluckily for me, his rolls this round were fire and he got 4-Lom and Grievous down turn two again. I still only had Imperial Officer and Conscript Squad on the table when he claimed to remove my 2 damage Sentinel die. I rolled in Conscript and hit the one damage side which was enough to kill 3PO, draw 3 (including the Fist I’d seen on the Sentinel activation) and the 4 resources I needed to play it. I rolled in a natural 3 which I resolved into R2, I used IO to get a second 3, and rerolled Fist PA and IO die to get lethal on R2 plus 4 indirect into Han. The next round I activated Sent, got a natural 2 damage, and was feeling well in control of the game until he played Han’s Blaster on Han to remove it, activate, and then resolve. He god rolled 2 on Han, 2 on Rex’s, and + 3 on Han’s Blaster but the 7 wasn’t enough to put down my 8 health Sentinel and I finished off Hand with Fist/IO later that round.
2-0 (Top 32!)
Both games were extremely close with only 1 health left on Sentinel in each and my opponent was a really great sport. Great games man!
Game 2: Reylo
My first Bo3 ended in under half an hour with a 2-0 finish so I was able to scout around to see who and what deck I’d be playing in game two. I found that I’d either be playing Eric Wainright on Reylo or Matei Dragne on… Reylo. This had me excited as the Reylo match is usually really good for my deck. Matei wound up taking the top 32 slot and we sat down to play.
Disclaimer:I have no qualms about my opponent winning this match. He played absolutely FLAWLESSLY not making a single mistake as far as I could tell. Unfortunately, my deck went totally cold this match.
In the first game, I drew 2 probes and 3 bounties, so I kept 1 bounty mulliganed 4 only to draw… 2 probes and 2 bounties. Not having any removal or supports vs Reylo is a worst case scenario, and he punished me for it. He put something like 8 damage into Grievous, dropped 4 resources worth of upgrades, and managed to use shielding and Rey’s PA to keep me from doing a single point of damage. Round two I drew some mitigation pieces but still no supports which again kept me from doing much of anything. He defeated Grievous and put 4 damage into 4-Lom. I removed his “exploding dice” and dropped 2 modular frame on 4-Lom. He promptly swapped targets to Sentinel and had him down by early round three. I got my megas finally (I had something like 12 resources) but without grievous or IO it only had two dice and my opponent quickly finished me off before I could kill a single character.
0-1
After my first loss in the cut I was determined to make a comeback in the rest of the Bo3. After all, the best of three format is supposed to eliminate unlucky draws/rolls right? I knew things were looking up when I got fist in my hand as well as Forsaken and a bounty. Unfortunately, my opponent dodged the forsaken the whole round. I activated Grievous and my opponent used Forsaken against me. I activated Sentinel and he used a SECOND Forsaken. I finally rolled in 4-Lom thinking I could resolve 1 die to put Forsaken on line but rolled double blanks. I rerolled with grievous and hit 2 damage and a blank. He blanked my damage with Rey’s PA and again I’m stuck with two dice in my pool. He didn’t do quite as much damage as the previous game, but I was still in deep trouble. Round two I drew into delve and megas and was able to drop both of my bombs. Things were looking up! Unfortunately, despite many rerolls on their dice and dice with focus sides, I hit almost no damage. My opponent, on the other hand, killed Grievous, puting damage into 4-Lom and advancing his win condition. I was just floundering. I managed to do a good chunk of indirect damage into Rey (who had no bounties) before he killed 4-Lom. I’m now left with an 8 health Sentinel against a 4 health Kylo and a 4 health Rey. It still should be winnable. I activated fist and finally rolled into the 3 I was looking for. He managed to remove it, shield up and then force a Rey kill (he had kylo at 3 shields, I had only 1 damage die left after all of my rerolls and his removal, and rey had 3 damage in the pool). This meant I got no value out of my bounties all game. I knew I could still win when I drew Forsaken, Hidden Motive, and Automated Defense having Sentinel, Fist, Megas, and IO on the board. Unfortunately he rolled in Kylo (with Crossguard, Dagger, and Ezras) first action and hit 2 damage, 2 damage, +2 damage, +3 damage, 2 damage. I could remove one of the dice but it wasn’t enough.
0-2 (Out of The Cut)
Once again my opponent played flawlessly and fully deserved to win. We play a game based on dice which unfortunately means you may win or lose some by rolls. Today I lost.
Conclusion
Worlds was an absolutely fabulous experience. It was amazing to meet so many community members, play all of our favorite game for a full weekend, and take home some really sweet prizes. My opponents were all phenomenal and really great sports win or lose. My opponents in pods were extremely kind to let me play my main event deck for practice (and many of them hauled out their main event decks as well to give me a run for my money!). My only upset for the entire weekend was that the top 16 (and not the top 32) gets an invite to worlds next year. For the second year in a row I was able to go to worlds and both years it’s been just a phenomenal time. I’m sad that next year’s event will be invite only, and I hope that I can win an invite to spend another weekend playing Destiny with this amazing community.
I hope you enjoyed this article! If you did, please consider subscribing on our home page to be notified when we post new material. You can also contact us at MandalorianHQDestiny@gmail.com.
Thanks so much for reading!
-NickTheBug; Mandalorian HQ