PAX West ended for me Saturday night after three of five planed Star Wars: Unlimited events. For a previous set’s release, I had played in three events in two days and forgot how the combination of mildly comfortable chairs and constant decision making can drain me. Signing up for 5 events in three days with the option for another on Monday was an act of hubris. The summary of the weekend is I played three events, did well in 1, won a few prizes, and generally had a good time!
My first event was scheduled to be Jump to Lightspeed Carbonite Sealed. A sealed event is where you’re given six unopened packs and build a deck from what you open. For Carbonite events, you get a bonus 7th pack that’s a special Carbonite booster, meaning it has some guaranteed special art treatments of cards and a better chance at getting the super-rare art treatments. The Jump to Lightspeed designation meant the packs would come from the Jump To Lightspeed set of cards. There were only 6 people signed up and a few asked the tournament organizer if we could switch from JTL to the new set, Legends of the Force. JTL is my favorite set of the five released so far so I was a little disappointed for the switch, but I enjoy the new set as well so it wasn’t a big deal.
I built what I thought was a decent deck based around Supreme Leader Snoke, a leader I’ve played in sealed games before. In sealed events, you’re completely at the mercy of what cards you open, and my card pool was solid but not spectacular. I won’t do a blow-by-blow of every match or game, but my first game of this event was against someone I know from the local SWU scene. He had a leader and card pool tailor made for each other and got an easy win. He’s a cool dude and since we were done early in the timed round we spent a fair bit of time just chatting about the game and his time at Galactic Championships in July. I split my other two matches to end 1-2 and got a few prize tickets I could collect and redeem with the organizer.
Day 2 started with Spark of Rebellion Sealed - no Carbonite packs since they didn’t exist until later sets but I was very excited to play sealed with cards from the first set, something I had never done before. Remember when I said you’re at the mercy of the card pool? I opened a Boba Fett leader and a very solid pool of cards to support him. This Boba Fett was so powerful in the constructed format of Premiere where you pre-build a deck that he’s been banned from that format but remains legal in sealed. He’s powerful for multiple reasons which all add up to mean he’s essentially an overpowered design mistake - something the game’s designers have said explicitly. I went 2-1, and lost my last match to a hyper-aggressive deck that had a couple of perfect opening draws.
With a few hours before my next event, I grabbed some lunch and eventually made my way back to the SWU area. I met a nice guy named Jim who asked if I was looking for a pick up game, so I got to play my constructed deck based around Luke Skywalker. This is the deck I plan on playing in October at both a Store Showdown event and Planetary Qualifier event, so I was happy to get some reps in with it. I won two games and lost a third and had a good time against just chatting with Jim. I’m very thankful that in my experience, SWU has a pretty relaxed, welcoming community.
My third event was another Legends of the Force Carbonite Sealed event. Remember the two earlier times I said you’re at the mercy of your card pool in sealed events? My card pool and available leader combinations, frankly, sucked. That’s the roll of the dice though. Of my three opponents though the first two were fun to play against and chat with, and my second match against a player I could tell was pretty talented went to three games and all were close. My third opponent was probably a fine guy too but I was tired and just ready to wrap up, cash in my prize tickets, and call it a day.
The most notable thing about the event was that the organizer held their daily raffle during it, and I was picked as a door prize winner. I selected a JTL Carbonite pack as my winnings, and after the event was able to cash in my event prize tickets for a second JTL Carbonite pack and a basic LOF pack. Those plus four weekly play packs (rewards with yet more special art treatments given to stores to support their local events) and three enamel pins were my winnings from the weekend. Even without those, I’d have had a good time just playing sealed events and those pick up games.
When I got home Saturday night, my body and brain were screaming at me that I needed rest, and the long holiday weekend was a damn good time to get it. The fact that my Monday morning trip to the grocery ended with my hips aching convinced me I made the right call to skip the other two events I had o planned to attend, and also plan to skip my usual Tuesday night Premiere event at Mox Bellevue in favor of a quiet night at home with a good steak.
I told others that this weekend made me realize conventions are a young man’s game. But overall I had a great time because I’d generally rather be playing SWU than doing anything else. I’m excited to get back to local events after some rest and prepare for those October events.