The Karate Kid - Store Championship Top 4 1.0

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• 1.0

Played this in three different Store Championships. Went 3-1 the first and placed 5th, just missing the cut on strength of schedule. 2-2 at my home store, and finally, 4-1 today at a 29 person SC with five rounds.

Key to my wins was shielding up early, and keeping them on, as well as doing some large mulligans for two cost upgrades, Synchronicity and some mitigation to start, the big player being Ancient Lightsaber.

Swiss Rounds:

W vs. Snoke - Supreme Leader/Doctor Aphra - Artifact Hunter/Battle Droid: This deck (played by someone else), actually ended up being my downfall during the Top 4 games AND my only loss during the Swiss Round. I started off with a great hand, getting an Ancient out early, as well as a Force Illusion. I was also able to use Synchronicity twice in the same round for 4 unblockable, key to killing Snoke. Both my characters survived this game.

W vs. DJ - Treacherous Rogue/Doctor Aphra - Artifact Hunter: My second win of the day, and this one wasn't really a contest. My rolls were too good, and again, early Ancients. I think I was able to put an Ancient down my first move in all 5 games.

W vs. Mother Talzin - Nightsister Matriarch/DJ - Treacherous Rogue: This was against one of the hosts and employers of the shop. I think this one was closer than I remember. Opponent was able to Witch Magick three health at one point, but I had good luck rolling the +3 side on Ancients on the day.

L vs. Snoke - Supreme Leader/Doctor Aphra - Artifact Hunter/Battle Droid: This was against one of the Golden Dice podcasts folks, who are all really nice guys. I actually ended up playing him in the Top 4 rounds. I won't post those two results because I lost the same way in this games, and both Top 4 matches: Indirect Damage. It kills you and kills you faster than you think. I just couldn't keep up. I could blame it some bad roles, because I did have some, but I would have lost anyway.

W vs. Cad Bane - Vicious Mercenary/Snoke - Supreme Leader: Needed to win this game to make Top 4 and I did. It was also probably the biggest nailbiter of my day. This was a great match that went down to Snoke and Luke. Force Speed really helped me in this one as I was able to do some focusing and resolving to get the win. Very good game.

Top 4:

Like I mentioned previously, I ended up playing Snoke/Aphra/Battle Droid for the best of 3 matches and lost both games. I had some really bad roles both of those games, and just couldn't keep up with the indirect damage coming my way. Between that, and not being able to get Ancients or Force Illusion out it was too much. I kept on not being able to finish Snoke off, which also really hurt.

I ended up finishing 3rd overall, which I'm more than happy with. $25 in store credit, Box, playmat, then 4 prize packs where I pulled Luke Skywalker - Reluctant Instructor and Cassian Andor - Rebellion Operative, so $75 right there!

Big Performers: Ancient Lightsaber -Saved my butt on more than one occassion. Force Illusion - See above Synchronicity - Two different games, I was able to use this twice in the same round. Absolutely huge. Loth-Wolf Bond: Great late on for making my opponents make some hard decisions on what to mitigate. Caution: Early shields for Rey, pulling a Luke die was clutch.

Respectable Performers: Hidden Motive: Always comes in handy. Way of the Light: Removing a non-hero die came in handy on more than one occasion. Rey's Lightsaber: Great for some shields, and it's 2 melee side got me the win against Cad/Snoke/

Underwhelmers: Unbreakable: Think it can be good, but I shockingly barely used it. Heirloom Lightsaber: Haven't played it once in three store championships. This is getting replaced by Dagger of Mortis as soon as I can get my hands on one.