With the 2023 Las Vegas Open in the books, I ask LJ Pena, the organizer of the LVO’s Star Wars: Legion tournament to reflect on this year’s enormous tournament.
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HH: With 143 players this was the largest, live, Legion tournament in the game’s history, and it came just two weeks after the new Core Rulebook dropped. Very broadly speaking, how did it go, from your perspective?
LJ: This year’s event was fantastic. I had a huge amount of community support – from the set-up crews, to the judges, to the players themselves checking in on me throughout the weekend. We were ready to go on Thursday in record time, and on Friday we quickly settled into a comfortable pace of play. The judge crew noted that player questions were very similar to previous events, and at one point it felt like we were getting less judge calls than expected. We were able to stick very close to the planned schedule, which is always a sign of a well-run event! On Sunday everything was packed up quickly and we cleared the hall on time. I couldn’t ask for much more.
HH: This event was half again as large as last year’s LVO, and close to three times as big as PAX unplugged about two months before. What does it take to organize such a colossal event? How are you recovering?
LJ: Planning for the LVO usually starts in March of the previous year. The event would not happen without the staff members who support me throughout this process. Nema, our head judge helps me create the format and plan out the events each day. Our Vegas locals, Matt and Dan coordinated the collection and transportation of the FLG terrain inventory. Our streamer David (Check out Yavinbase!) also put forth a herculean effort this year, covering the event live through all three days. The organizational tools we use (Discord, Google Sheets, etc) are the key to making it all work. That, and having a unified plan so far out that we execute over the course of 10 months or so!
I was definitely in a bit of a post-event coma this past week recovering from the LVO. Part of that is undoubtedly the number of drinks I was handed over the weekend, but mostly it’s the pent-up excitement that comes from getting ready for this event for so long. I returned home to an exciting Legion announcement (Star Wars: Legion Special Operations, check it out!) and have spent most of my spare time digesting the LVO data, as well as helping my other TO’s plan their 2023 FLG Legion events.
HH: Did you get to observe much actual gameplay? What did you think of the games you saw and the player interactions over the course of the tournament?
LJ: I did assist in my fair share of judge calls and was able to observe a ton of player interactions. I am continually impressed with the communities ability to have important conversations at the table in a mature, level-headed way. Players did a fantastic job of talking about the new terrain definitions before each round, and I heard several tables stop gameplay and take a step back to work through an issue before calling a Judge (or Consular, as they are called now). The community also seems to be more comfortable in a competitive setting as large events have returned to the United States, and this helped keep the event moving in a positive direction, through rulebook updates and swathes of new players joining our ranks.
HH: As mentioned above, the Core Rulebook had been teased for about a month and was dropped just weeks before the tournament. What challenges did this pose to the tournament judges? How did the tournament goers respond to these brand new rules?
LJ: The Judge crew did a superb job of staying engaged in their local communities to see what sort of common questions were being asked. They used this knowledge to help tackle some of the more frequent issues that came up – which were mostly related to line of sight and determining cover. One of the biggest challenges was also simply familiarizing themselves with using the new rulebook. Shout out to the 5280 crew for printing a handful of rulebooks for us before the event, which greatly assisted in their work.
The players had to rapidly assess if the lists they had been practicing leading up to the LVO were still valid, which created a little bit of chaos as they weighed if they should stick with what we knew was good, or try to bring something new to the event. The rule changes themselves were mostly inconsequential, as most players reported that the games “pretty much felt like Legion”, with most of the sticking points revolving around Cover. Overall, our players did great and were able to play the event as if nothing had changed.
HH: Kyle Dornbos from the Fifth Trooper took first place, and the three other lists in the top 4 were also Fifth trooper team members or alumni. What do you think organized clubs dedicated to a single game, such Fifth Trooper and 5280 Legion, contribute to a tournament like the LVO?
LJ: One of the most exciting parts of our tournament scene has been the growth of local groups and teams that travel to large events. It’s much more common to look out across the tables and see custom components (like Order tokens) and jerseys than it was a year ago. They have helped create a sense of consistency that has increased the general knowledge of any given event – I credit groups from Colorado, Florida, Vegas, Seattle, and many others with the continued growth of the FLG events. Dedicated players from these groups also showed themselves to be resilient through the Core Rulebook update, using their collected experience to finish in such a strong position at the Las Vegas Open.
HH: Do you have any key takeaways or favorite moments from the tournament?
LJ: The most important takeaway I left Vegas with, is that Legion is as strong as it’s ever been. So many event goers stopped to ask questions about our game, and the players themselves were fantastic ambassadors. My favorite moment was watching the internet explode over David Grant, a gentleman from the UK who stole our hearts with his six-activation Vader / Palpatine list. I was proud to award him one of our spirit awards for his solid generalship over the course of the Grand Championships. I also have to mention the moment of pure joy I had when yelling “Star Wars Legion players…..Welcome back!” each year, as to me that signals the start of another wonderful adventure at the Las Vegas Open.
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