CAPA Cup Prime 2019 Champion (D2R write up) 1.0

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Hi everyone, this is Hinkbert. I imagine most people don’t know me. I’m one of the members of the nascent Discard to Reroll competitive team. I’m the guy who uses the dice cup. Some might even consider me the father of dice cup rolling. I’ve been using one since Awakenings. What can I say? I like the sound and heft of using one, and I figure at this point, it’s my identifying feature. My teammates Sam and Josh (BananaCrapShoot) also have write ups from the CAPA Cup 2019 Prime and I would highly recommend reading those too.

Round 1: ePalpatine / eWatto played by Paul R. (ForeverFett) (Loss) 0-1 I was less than excited to have this matchup as my first round pairing, a great player and a terrible deck to face for Aphra. He started out strong, rolling the paid 2 resource side and the modified 2 resource side on Watto and I played the Coruscant Police to mitigate Watto’s black resource side (this would become a recurring theme on the day, playing the Police to mitigate Scoundrels). He then played a Forbidden Lore and I didn’t have a Desperate Measures, so Palp got his upgrades, rolled in 3 resource sides and made $5 for more upgrades in round 2. That was basically the game then and there. I did my best and played Scorched Earth to do 7 indirect damage at one point, and I only mention it because after the game ForeverFett mentioned he thought I played it too early, which will become relevant later on.

Round 2: Jabba / Aphra / Wat played by Joe V. (I think) (Win) 1-1 I felt pretty comfortable with this match because the standard Aphra / GG / SM deck has a positive match with Jabba, and he wasn’t running blue, so no worries about having to deal with Fist. We traded some DM plays early, I got rid of his 0-0-0 (who eventually came back) and I believe he got rid of my BT-1. I controlled his Jabba die with my Police and got the old Delve - Fist combo off round 2, and an uncontrolled Fist wins games. He also gave me some promos at the end of our match, so thanks again for the promo Masterminds!

Round 3: eMaul / Zuckess (I don’t recall my opponent’s name) (Win) 2-1 I felt pretty comfortable with this match up, as long as Maul didn’t roll me off the table. I felt I had the tools to deal with his dice and Zuckess was less scary to see IMO even with an additional hit point over Watto. He dropped Vader’s Saber on Maul round 1 and I did my best to mitigate it over the course of the game. He only got average Maul Power Actions, thankfully, throughout the course of the game. He played an early Dead or Alive on Aphra, but with Respite I was able to play around giving him the extra resource. I got 0-0-0 out this game, plus a Coruscant Police, and eventually a Fist, so my board state was strong. I had a scare round 3 when Maul rolled both of his 3 sides and Vader’s Saber rolled 4, but I was able to mitigate the Saber to reduce the damage (and ultimately save Aphra) and my supports did the rest to finish off the game.

Round 4: Aphra / GG / SM played by Cody W. (Manten) (Win) 3-1 Here’s a brief history of me versus ABG guys, I have an overall record of 0-9 against them all time. They’re the New Jersey Death Star as far as I’m concerned, so needless to say, I wasn’t feeling super confident going into this match.

I had an incredible first round, I was once again able to control Aphra via the Coruscant Police and I played Desperate Measures on his Entourage. I didn’t find 0-0-0, but I got BT-1 out and he rather savagely rolled his 3 melee side so Manten blew him up (I eventually got him back, along with his psychopathic counterpart). Round 2 Manten started to build his board state and got Vader’s Fist out and I didn't have much I could do to control it. The game became super tight and we traded blows. I thankfully found a Bubble Shield and saved myself from taking 3 damage round 3, which was particularly relevant because at this point we both only had Grievous left, mine was at 3 health remaking, and his at 2. I ended up winning at the start of round 4 off the BT-1 activation. I then went outside for some fresh air and to return my pulse to normal.

Round 5: Reylo played by Mike E. (Win) 4-1 My first Reylo match since seeing my D2R teammate dismantle Reylo decks at the Boonton Prime. Shout out to Krysis for showing me the pathway to victory with Aphra vs. Reylo (hint: don’t let them get shields, ever). I won the roll off and gave Mike his Bendu battlefield and proceeded to mitigate all dice that granted shields while getting the the murderous duo of 0-0-0 and BT-1 out. Mike did get a shield from a Knighthood, but I knocked it off with a 1 range side, so we were pretty even on damage distributed round 1, but with the 7 HP differential overall, I felt pretty good going into round 2. I felt even better after the Delve - Fist play and proceeded to win the game off of my strong board state.

Round 6: 4LOM / GG / SM (or as the D2R team affectionately calls it: 4LOL) played by Josh M. (BananaCrapShoot) himself (Loss) 4-2 Ugh. I finally had to play a teammate. I thought we both still had a chance for top cut even with a loss, as long as the player who lost won the next round. Armed with that knowledge I didn’t feel an overall sense of dread worrying one of us might miss cut based off of the result of this game. Banana did his own write up for this match, plus it was recorded and put out by ABG, so I won’t go over much other than to say, GG is really good when he rolls that focus side.

Round 7 - The Final Round: ePhasma / SM played by Arnell D. (Win) 4-2 I was so happy to see Phasma! I love playing Phasma (ask any of my teammates, especially Krysis, he loves talking about Phasma) and I figured it was a positive match up for Aphra. He won the roll off and gave me my battlefield (drawing the Scorched Earth opening hand as I had didn’t feel bad now). I got 6 ID damage off that round, Probed his mitigation out of his hand, and BT-1 savagely rolled that 3 melee side to finish off the Messenger. Round 2 I found 0-0-0 and I got the ol’ Delve - Fist combo off once again, Phasma ate 10 damage that round. Round 3 started and Arnell didn’t find the Riot Shield he needed and I won off the BT-1 activation.

I ended up 5-2 at the end of swiss and 8th seed going into top cut. Phew.

At this point I was reminded of a quote from one of my favorite movies: "They've no idea we're coming. They've no reason to expect us. If we can make it to the ground, we'll take the next chance, and the next, on and on until we win, or the chances are spent."

At this point, I was happy with my performance. I finally made a top cut at a Prime, D2R had a good showing on the day (3 of us made top cut), and as far as I was concerned I was playing with “house money”. I was inspired by Jyn Erso’s words because all I could do now was play the opponent in front of me and take my chances as the underdog. The underdog playing villains with the Delve - Fist combo, but still an underdog.

All of my top cut games were streamed via Golden Dice (shout out to Jack for running a spectacular tournament, well run and efficient, thanks a ton man!). So, given that the games are available via Golden Dice I’m only going to go over some broad points and insights in this section of the write up.

QF - Reylo played by Rob F. (Win) 2-1 Out of all the decks in top 8, I felt like I had drawn the most “winnable” match up for my deck, but facing the guy who went undefeated into a very tough field is rather intimidating. When I saw his deck list I became very happy that I was running 2 Probes. He had an extensive event suite, so I figured my Probe plays were more likely to be effective (and after Probing away Hidden Motive and Steadfast round 1, my position on this was reinforced). Game 1 I controlled his shield dice as much as possible and got enough damage through with my board state to win the game. Game 2 I wasn’t able to establish control early and he got Aphra out of the game before I could get enough value from her (I made a mental note at this point, he was going for Aphra first) and he won the game. Game 3 I took shields and gave those to Aphra instead of GG (as I had been doing all day) and it paid off. Game 3 was close, he was able to produce more shields, but thankfully I had built up a strong enough board state to win.

SF - Thrawn / SM / Greedo played by Kyle W. (KillerFenix) (Win) 2-1 As we were setting up for this match, I thought to myself (and probably said aloud) “What the hell am I supposed to do against this?”. I read Thrawn’s card, and then reread it so I would hopefully commit to memory what he did (I still messed it up at one point and revealed cards at the wrong time, but thankfully Kyle is a magnanimous player and he let the mistake go, I still say he’s slightly maniacal though, but in a good way). Anyway, on to the games. Game 1 I drew both Desperate Measures round 1, plus I had BT-1 and 0-0-0 in my hand. He played Counterintelligence and put a DM back on top of my deck. I had no way to play it off of a Sentinel Messenger activation so I tried to figure out the best way to deal with it. I ended up playing BT-1 to try and force KillerFenix into using it, which thankfully worked, because had he not played my DM then, I just would’ve drawn it. I felt safe that he couldn’t play my DMs against me anymore that game and was able to build a board state. I was able to play and keep 0-0-0 and kill of Greedo quickly enough to not have to worry about his DMs. It was during this game that I started to really appreciate the Coruscant Police and Megablaster Troopers (a card I don’t think I played all day prior to the top cut). Their damage sides really add up, and I realized that even though Thrawn gives a massive amount of control, his damage output takes time to build up. I also accepted that I couldn’t stop KillerFenix from gaining insights via Thrawn so mentally I decided to “stop worrying and love the bomb” as it were. I let his brain do the heavy lifting and played my game knowing I wasn’t going to do anything “clever” but hoping I could outpace him for damage. Game 2, that didn’t happen. He played both of my Delves against me and it went poorly for me. Game 3, I honestly don’t recall much of the set up of this game, I just remember it coming down to the most anguishing intersection of math coupled with fallible human thought processes. He had, if I recall correctly, 9 total damage showing via 4 dice. I knew he couldn’t get a die lower than a 2 direct damage side, so I tried to play in a way to force him to either have to kill overkill GG, or outright kill Aphra, so I’d at least have 1 character left. I should mention at this point I had a Fist die showing lethal, but no $ to pay for it, but I had an unactivated BT-1 and control of an unused Theed, I just had to get BT-1 out there without killing myself. I played a Dangerous Maneuver (appropriately named for this situation) to get to the stated point above where GG had 1 HP left, plus I wanted the card draw. KillerFenix saw his only path to victory that round as drawing and playing an Act of Cruelty from my deck, so he played a No Good to Me Dead to heal 1 off of GG to get the resource to play the supposed AoC. This gave me the opening to play BT-1, and thankfully the only copy of AoC I was playing had already been discarded, so I got the resource I needed via Theed and won the game with the Fist die.

Final - ePalpatine / eWatto (again) played by Paul R. (ForeverFett) (Win) 2-1 I ended the day as it began. I knew that ForeverFett had just swept by teammate Sam, who was also playing Aphra, so the odds of me winning didn’t seem too great. I learned prior to the start of the game that I’d get a World’s invite since Paul already had one, so that was nice, helped relieve some pressure I was feeling. Game 1 I played Coruscant Police as I had become wont to do to control Watto’s die and built a solid board state, helped in part by a Probe play to get rid of Desperate Measures. I also remembered Paul’s advice from earlier in the day and waited a round longer to play Scorched Earth and it payed off as it helped me win the game. Game 2 Paul was able to set up well, I did not, and since basically everything has to go in Aphra’s favor for the deck to have a chance, I lost. At this point, I had played more games in top cut than I had in swiss and I was starting to feel the fatigue, but I galvanized myself as best as I could. One game to win it all on the day. Game 3, like the third Thrawn game I don’t recall much from the beginning, but I’m sure I played a Coruscant Police to help against Watto. We were both doing well to set up, but I had drawn my Scorched Earth round one, and I refused to discard it, so it slightly hampered my draws, and even though Paul eventually discarded it with his dice, I still think it was the right decision. I recall playing Probe to discard one of Paul’s Bactas which turned out to be huge. He did get one off that game, but it gave me a chance at victory. I also built up quite a stash of resources and thanks to my compliant friend the Sentinel Messenger I was able to top deck a Delve to play the Fist one more time, and I was still able to afford the Megablaster Troopers to set up a threatening board state. I put extensive damage on Palp, and while I was milled, I had lethal showing on Fist. Paul played Doubt on the Fist, his one and only out. I had a 67% chance to win the game, to win the CAP Cup 2019 Prime. If someone had given me a 67% chance to win the Prime at the start of the day I would’ve taken that in a heartbeat, still it speaks to the fine margins in this spectacular game that the result of the Prime came down to playing Doubt on Fist. Thankfully for me Fist came through, and against the odds, I had taken down the New Jersey Death Star to become the champion.

A few final take aways: Prior to the tourney the D2R team had discussed the value of the Assassin Droid compared to the Coruscant Police, obviously I’m on the side of the Police, mainly because my Assassins roll trash. I hadn’t considered the value of the Police not having a blank side until rolling them into Palp. 0-0-0, the Police, and Fist have no blank sides, and that’s not incidental into a deck utilizing Force Jump.

Probe is good. Real good. I made a last second change in my list to drop Galactic Deception and run 2 Probe instead and it was emphatically the correct choice. It goes without saying, but villains have busted 0 cost events.

1 damage direct sides are good. In a deck doing loads in indirect damage, having access to 1 direct sides is key. GG, the Police, and even the murder droids all have 1 direct sides, and given that Aphra games basically come down to efficient math problems, 1 directs are great to have.

Well, that’s it. I apologize if I missed anything or made any errors. 16 games is a lot to play and to try and remember, but I’ve done my best. Shout out again to the D2R team and our strong showing. Thanks for all the TTS games and practice. Shout out again to Jack for running the Prime and to Parker Simpson for his awesome alt arts and Vader shield tokens. Top Rate! Finally a big shout out to the New Jersey Death Star known as Arrow Brook Gaming, you guys are classy, excellent players!