R2P2KFP - Kessel Cup Tournament Deck 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Hiya everyone! This is my version of R2P2 that I took to the Kessel Cup team event hosted by the Nerfherders in Indianapolis, IN. There were 6 teams in attendance, with over 40 players (counting alternates) vying for the title of Kessel Cup winner. After a long and intense day of play against a TON of great Destiny-ers our team, Kentucky Fried Porg, was able to bring home the cup. I was able to go 9-1 on the day with this deck.

There is plenty of analysis for this combination, so I'm going to hit the highlights of my version and talk a little about each matchup. For a very nice write-up of the event, please see Mysterious Kook's decklist here.

Regarding my deck, the biggest difference from conventional R2P2s that everyone noticed was the Y-Wing. I had only gotten three or four games in with this deck before the event, but I KNEW that I wanted at least one of this card. Because it is great. The normal play of getting C-3PO out, then getting Handcrafted Light Bow out, then using Threeps to use the special from the Bow can be copied for the Y's ability. Also, when you aren't using the "Zombie Guard" defense with Docking Bay - Finalizer and Honor Guard, you can field this card for 2 . Late game it comes in very handy to eat up money and deal damage.

Going forward, a change I think I'll make is to remove one copy of Rey's Lightsaber and add one Partnership. That can help make use of either of my diced supports and give a little needed speed to this deck. Every other card in this deck is too useful to ditch, so unless something shifts in the meta, it'll stay mostly intact.

As for the event itself, it shook out like this:

Round 1 - I faced off against a classic Han/Rey deck. I went 3-1 against this fantastic player. Most games, I was able to burn Rey down very quickly with some choice rolls. One game, the Y-Wing even stepped in to throw damage. The loss came when Han was able to draw the game out with shields and Second Chances, and lay down big damage with blasters and gumption. I was very happy to make it out of this one with the win.

Round 2 - Our match-ups in this round were a little less favorable. I can only blame our moron of a captain for that one. And, as that moron of a captain, I take full responsibility. :)

This was against a sleek 5-Die Villain deck. We all know it, we all love it. Healing damage became very important in this match. Each game, I was able to focus on Bala-Tik and remove him by round 2 or 3. The dice were on my side, and my opponent was getting some unfortunate rolls. I stuck with my Bala-Tik > Nightsister > Ciena Ree kill order, and was able to go 3-0.

Round 3 - Going into the last round, our team was up by one point. This put some pressure on everyone knowing that we had to do well to keep pace with the second place team (who we had already faced in Round 2). My match-up was against e7th Sister/eDooku, and the tournament organizers decided to put this one on stream. So, you know, no pressure.

These were the hairiest games of the event for me. I had not seen this deck in action before, but I knew what each character could do. I decided to go after 7th Sister first for each game. My opponent decided to prioritize poor ol' Poe. I lost him, generally, by the second round in each game. Luckily, I was able to use every tool at my disposal to keep Rey alive and well-armed. Fatigue had started setting in for everyone, and luckily my boneheaded misplays didn't hurt me... even if they were recorded for posterity. I was able to squeak out a 3-0 win.

--

The event itself was great fun, and it was good to be able to travel to a different store, meet new players, and catch up with people I hadn't seen for awhile. Every person I played was a talented player, and a cool person. There was minimal salt and no steel chair shots. That, alone, makes this a successful event. I feel like I made the right choices in most instances and, luckily, the dice were on my side. With this deck, when the dice didn't cooperate, there are always options. I had hit that "One Year Malaise" with Destiny, but after the errata and getting the chance to play in a unique format like this team event, I may have snapped out of it.

I'd like to thank everyone on my team for all the prep work, encouragement, and their excellent play for the day. We are fortunate enough to have a great group at our weekly league (the Destiny Squadron League - Red Squadron), and we draw about 14 - 16 people for each event. That really helps get games in and get experience against a variety of players outside of TTS. I'd also like to give a shout-out (which I rarely get to do - I mean, who gives shout-outs? this guy... this guy gives shout-outs now) to my home store The Destination, for sponsoring our team and for hosting our weekly Destiny Squadron League events.

So, yeah, R2P2. Good stuff. Much fun. Big fast slow. A+ would play again.