Welcome our new guest writer, Semperlooney!
2025 UTAH CUP
ARC 2025 Tournament Series
NuMothma
Full Disclosure, I was an ARC playtester. That said, I was relatively limited in my participation (especially early on) and had/have no control over the design process. I provided feedback and played some test games that didn’t include her. Getting my business off the ground and having a child in travel sports makes my time limited.
With that in mind, I was somewhat worried about NuMothma’s ECM effect on Evades. Especially fleet-wide. “Agate for evades” was my concern. I have had some success running Rebel MSU before (MR. BLUE DICE!), and she is tailor made to work with that exact style fleet, so I thought I’d give her a go in the wild. A few things came to mind when choosing her. “Why not Cracken?” being the biggest. Theoretically, it is better to not be attacked at all and not even spend defense tokens. He’s very helpful against Mar Tuk, Ackbar, TF-1726, and any other dice-add admiral. The difference maker to me –aside from acc tech), was the fear of NuScreed. I wanted to cancel any HIE crits that might come my way at medium range. The second issue was the temptation to slow down to speed 2. I have a personal rule guideline (Particularly with Rebel MSU) that going below speed 3 will kill you. I didn’t want my ships getting trapped!
With this in mind, I set off for the Utah Cup, which is the rebranded tournament I won in 2022 with one of my favorite lists: Mr Blue Dice (RIP). I’ll include both lists for comparison. I feel like this is important for putting NuMothma’s performance into context. The Cracken version fell victim to nerfs, but it was at 400 points prior to the H8ers nerfing it. Without further ado, for the very first time as a couple, I give you… Mr. and Mrs. Blue Dice!
Name: Mr. Blue Dice
Faction: Rebels
Commander: General Cracken Version: AMG
Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Asteroid Tactics
Navigation: Infested Fields
MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63)
• General Cracken (26)
• Expert Shield Tech (5)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• External Racks (4)
• H9 Turbolasers (8)
• Foresight (10)= 120 Points
CR90 Corvette B (39)
• Captain Rex (5)
• Ion Cannon Batteries (5)
• Jaina's Light (5)= 54 Points
CR90 Corvette B (39) • Dodonna's Pride (4) = 43 Points
GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Toryn Farr (7)= 25 Points
GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Adar Tallon (10)
• Boosted Comms (4)= 32 Points
Squadrons:
• "Dutch" Vander (16)
• Lando Calrissian (24)
• Rogue Squadron (14)
• Shara Bey (17)
• A-Wing Squadron (11)
• 3 x YT-2400 (48)= 130 Points
Total Points: 404
Name: Mrs. Blue Dice
Faction: Rebels
Commander: Mon Mothma Version: ARC01
Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Asteroid Tactics
Navigation: Infested Fields
MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63)
• Mon Mothma (27)
• Expert Shield Tech (5)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• External Racks (4)
• H9 Turbolasers (8)
• Foresight (10)= 121 Points
CR90 Corvette B (39)
• Captain Rex (5)
• Ion Cannon Batteries (5)
• Jaina's Light (5)= 54 Points
CR90 Corvette B (39) • Dodonna's Pride (4) = 43 Points
GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Toryn Farr (7)= 25 Points
GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Adar Tallon (10)
• Boosted Comms (4)= 32 Points
Squadrons:
• "Dutch" Vander (16)
• Lando Calrissian (24)
• Rogue Squadron (14)
• Shara Bey (17)
• 2 x A-Wing Squadron (22)
• 2 x YT-2400 (32)= 125 Points
Total Points: 400
Game 1. Grudge Match
Some of you will remember the online worlds 2025 stream where Joeseph M. rolled 6 accuracies from Pats Fist and sent me Sloane-ing into day 3 (Thanks Joeseph!). Well, we had our grudge match to open day 1. Joeseph tried a new style list for him and brought Ozzel Demo with APT, 2 Arqs, and lots of Rogues.
He chose my Asteroid Tactics. Probably mistake number one. We jockeyed for positions, and he moved forward into the death zone. I forgot he didn’t have ET on his demo, so I played it extra safe with my MC30. My plan was to ram the Demolisher flag with my cheap CR90Bs and then “catch” it with Lando, the YTs, and Rogue after ship engagement. My plan worked and I traded a Jaina’s Light and some squads for a nice 7-4 start to the day.
Mothma in this game didn’t play a big role. The anti ship shots were limited, and demo only had one solid attack run that didn’t result in any hit/crits. For this game, I felt the result for me would have been the same if not better if I had used Cracken.
Game 2. PDICs BE DAMNED
Game 2 I played Chris E. He drove in from Idaho and is always a great opponent. He flew a nasty TF list that had a lot of firepower with great access to raids. I chose his Most Wanted. He placed the token on my flag and on his Gozanti.
My plan for this game was simple. Ignore the murder Prov (With Jedi Hostage) and set up a last/first to nuke his flag ship. I was able to Lando kill his MW Gozanti which set up optimal positioning and engagement for me. I left my Dodonna’s Pride back to catch the Providence and hopefully cripple it with a lucky crit. Well, lucky me I got 2x DD Pride Crits which drew a comms noise and set the Prov to speed 0. It was an opportunity I couldn’t miss! So I sent my MC30 on the hunt. I tried my best to soften it up with rogues but immediately felt the pain of PDICs. He was then able to use Reinforced Blast Doors to get rid of some face down damage. My MC30 opened the round with a double arc shot. I needed 12 damage to kill the beast. Unfortunately, I didn’t roll super hot with the double arc (including Ex-Rax). He PDICd away the only hit/crits in each attack pool and only took 4 hull damage. He used Wat Tambor to super repair but got stuck again at speed 0. I got to work chewing on him with squads with limited success. The PDICs kept on working. It saved 9 damage during our match and exposed my squads to loads of flak. I had to finish off the Prov with a ram from a CR90B, but lost Rogue and another squad, which took me from an 8 to another 7. Chris got to hear my PDIC rant (which wasn’t aimed at him. It’s too busted not to take). He also took down Dodonna’s Pride with a nasty TF double arc.
NuMothma again was useful but not game changing beyond what Cracken would have done for me. The biggest factor in my ship’s survival was arc dodging and staying far away from close range.
Game 3. GARquetins Buffet
This game I played against Justin R. He’s a great member of the Southern Utah Armada community and has offered up some sweet prize support for our tournaments in the past. You may have played him at LVO or worlds!
He wanted to give the new GARquetins a try and actually put the most damage on my ships of anyone. He took my Asteroid Tactics (yay!). My plan was pretty straight forward. Eat the flag Ven1 (With Tarkin and SPHA-Ts). I figured I could tank the medium range SPHA-T shot with my flag easily enough (regardless of NuMothma), so I parked my MC30 in front and forced him to shoot her with ignition. I let my squads get to work on the Ven and chipped away at it with CR90s and Lando with the Adar/Lando Asteroid Tactics combo.
NuMothma was very helpful in this game. Canceling dice at medium saved me SPHA-T damage on the 3 and kept it healthy for Arquetins hunting post flagship death. The biggest NuMothma winner was my Adar Flotilla. Justin had Clone Gunners, and took two rounds of multiple shots to take me down. I was able to keep the flotilla on the table for an extra round because my defense tokens were able to be utilized with max efficiency. That flotilla happened to be the only really good target for those Arqs, which is somewhat of a symptom of Arquetins having trash nav charts. This was a bad match for Justin. He and I both agreed that NuMothma makes Rebel flotillas very tanky. He did manage to burn every defense token and shield on my MC30, but I was able to slip away round 6 with 3 hull left. We ended with an 8-3 in my favor.
NuMothma was excellent in this game. I’m not sure if the outcome would be different with Cracken, but I definitely got great use from her effects.
Game 4. Mar-K Tuk
My last game of the day was against Mark S (Ston3Twig). He likes to run Mar Tuk gun lines and (Barf) PDICs. You may have faced his “You Hurt Me, I Hurt You” list online or at LVO or worlds. He knows how I feel about Marty and PDICs.
For clarity, the big red ship on the right is the new Quarren Prototype. He built his with EST/ECM/ and you guessed it, PDIC.
This was a game where I would have LOVED Cracken. I had several occasions where Mark’s shots would have been canceled by obstruction and saved me a lot of worry. In the bottom right corner, you can see him derp the Quarren ship into all my squads and escape with one damage and no discarded defense tokens because of…. PDIC. After that round I just decided to leave it alone. It was an 88 point pillow fist that couldn’t put out any damage. Suck it PDIC users! His double arc on my CR90B didn’t hit very hard and I flew that ship into the sunset (And off the table later). For the record I told all of this to Mark’s face along with my very informative PDIC rant.
The short version of this is I had to spend way too many turns to kill a hardcell. He got a YT-2400 and my self inflicted CR90B. It was a narrow 6-5 to me. Mark won swiss but couldn’t attend day 2.
NuMothma was useful of course, but again, I’d take Cracken in this matchup any day. Marty suffered a lot from his no shields drawback as well. Suck it Mar Tuk.
Day 2 Game 1: Asteroids Tactics Can Strike Twice
Sunday started with a fun game against James E. I had the pleasure of playing James last year during the Utah Cup and he’s always been a great opponent.
This was another great matchup for me, and I chose his Asteroid Tactics. He was squadless and didn’t have a lot of anti squad power on the ships. He had a Luminara build which worried me because I have built my list for chip damage. My plan was to kill a Charger to gain activation advantage. Then I’d try to get at least one more and then pounce on Luminara who was on the Implacable. I had no intention of shooting the Venator. All went according to plan, and I was able to kill a charger very early because he lead with them instead of the Venator and Acclamator. I chipped away at Lumi with super powered Lando on Asteroid Tactics. I did lose Toryn and some A Wings, but otherwise I got out unscathed. He lost everything except for the Venator, but could have salvaged his last Charger if he had Brave Sir Robin’d out of there.
I didn’t feel like NuMothma was a big factor in this match. I was able to keep my ships out of harm’s way and my squads did most of the heavy lifting.
Day 2 Game 2: Hungry Hippogorths
I played Ryan K (Who has awesome 3D prints!) for game two day 2. He also drove 13 hours from Canada with his super cool son Marcus who also played day 1.
Ryan took 1st and chose my Asteroid Tactics. The way he deployed all of his squads prevented my from engaging, so I was mentally prepared for a very boring 6-5. I set myself up to force him into the hungry exogorths if he wanted to engage. He got up to the edge and I used Adar/Lando to snipe DBS404. Ryan didn’t like that and sent his vultures into Lando to take him out. I returned the favor by throwing Shara and A Wings into his vultures along with an Exogorth. The escalation of violence continued and before I knew it we were exchanging deadly blows. This became a very fun game and I managed to barely fly my CR90B off the table. Again. You could say I need to git gud and I would agree with you. In the end I traded some A Wings, Lando, and my poor CR90B for his 134 in squads and a flotilla and earned a 7.
NuMothma was really nice in the match. She made me feel a lot better about my MC30 sitting in front of his Prov, but I think Cracken or any other Foresight build would have been ok where I put it. This fight came down to squads, exogorths, and ship positioning more than anything.
Day 2 Game 3: The Final Countdown
For my last match I played Ed H. Ed is a long time Armada local and has helped me prep for worlds! I have had the pleasure of playing him several times in local tournaments as well.
This was a bad matchup for Ed’s list. I had deployment advantage, lots of squads, and slippery ships. He had Motti and Targeting scramblers. I knew I only needed an 8 to secure the win for the tournament, and his Onager was exactly 140 points. I decided to hunt the onager and hope I didn’t take any losses. If I took one loss I would have to go for his flag Interdictor. I had no intention of engaging the Venator. It had LTT, ExRax, and Ordnance Experts.
Ed charged in with the onager in an attempt to nuke a CR90B. He hit it hard and got 4 damage through at extreme range with medium ignition. I elected to keep my evade and canceled 2 dice. Unfortunately his Beck raids kept him from slowing down and he landed the Onager in all of my squads, the MC30 double arc, Dodonna’s Pride double arc, and Jaina’s front arc. He was also on 6 unactivated squads –Including full power Adar/Lando. I was able to remove the Onager and at that point I decided to take my win and go. This was mostly due to the tournament. If this was a casual match I would have gone for the interdictor as well. Jaina’s had a narrow escape. The NuMothma reroll changed a crit into a hit and left me with one hull. Had that gone down I would have had to chew on the Interdictor for the rest of the game.
NuMothma worked well in this game, but I felt the biggest contributing factor for my success was squad flexibility, and flying my ships in a way that they weren’t in danger of being hit by a big shot.
Final Thoughts on NuMothma
She is very strong. She is absolutely worth taking and I would even say she can edge out Cracken. If you can nav her ships well, she will keep your ships on the table. That said, when facing any rebel MSU, you have to focus down the ships and burn their defense tokens. I think she has promise with AFMKII builds and Heath A. had some success with a Mothma Hawk and Prov (Though I didn’t get to talk with him about how it went). I think she will struggle against NuPalpatine, NuScreed (at close range), large dice pools like Pats Fist, and Sloane. Who can forget Boarding Troopers, too!? But she will require some getting used to, and you might have a hard time tabling her. I might recommend the time-honored tradition of ramming MC30s to death!
I think I had a lot of really good matchups for my list in this tournament. I think a larger pool of players and fewer ship-only matches would have been really tough. We also had a lot of folks flying new styles and new upgrades. I am excited to see NuMothma (and other ARC content!) in Endor to really stress test the changes ARC has made.
The Powerpoint Slide of 3 Rings
I wanted to touch a bit on how I see Armada. I have three major things that I think contribute to the tactical side of the game and make it a fun puzzle to solve. Keep in mind this is for tournament style competitive play which I find to be the most fun. This won’t be groundbreaking information, but this is how I think of the game.
1. Activation Order/Control/Advantage
1. I know a lot of folks lament the last/first days, but activation control is 100% necessary to win. The deadliest blows are given when you have perfect information for your heavy hitters to act on.
2. When I’m planning a way to win, this is my most important question. How do I get you to lose an activation?
3. This ties into point 2 and 3.
2. Extreme Range
1. I think a good list can threaten your ships at extreme range in at least one way. A great list has two. Whether it be squads, and onager, or Demo. Imperials have a major advantage with this category.
2. Rebels must rely on maneuverability and staying out of nasty arcs to accomplish this.
3. CIS can navigate this with pass tokens and punish with Pat’s Fist. Sorry GAR, you’re up a creek.
3. Defense Tokens
1. You have to have a way to either overheat defense tokens or ignore them entirely. Fortunately most factions have lots of tools for this.
2. Defense tokens keep ships on the table and are one of the biggest reasons a ship or squad is competitive or not. If your chosen ships have a bad suite, it’s going to be an issue.
3. Any upgrade that removes defense tokens is –for meta purposes- superior to accuracy tech. There are niche situations where this is not true, but for tournament planning I will take defense token removal over accuracy in most situations.
