Interview with Judge Dodo about the DXM

Great events cast their shadows ahead: The unofficial German Championship for our favorite game will take place on January 30 and 31, 2021 – via TTS due to the pandemic. Reason enough to ask the Judge some questions in advance…

Dear Dodo, first of all thank you for taking the time for this interview. I assume that you are well known in the German X-Wing tournament scene, but for all those who don’t know you, here’s a question to get you started:

Tell us first who you are and what you do

Yo, I’m Dodo, 28 years old, a trained curative education nurse and deacon and I’m currently working at a comprehensive school where I take care of an autistic child. Furthermore I am also known as the guy in the cow costume or short the „Cowstume“ (Editor`s note: At local tournaments Dodo often appears dressed as a cow). I organize X-Wing tournaments in OstWestfalen-Lippe (OWL) in Herford or in Bielefeld and I also travel with other X-Wing players through Germany to X-Wing tournaments. So the usual stuff 😀

Since Corona I have hosted 3 online tournaments for X-Wing on TTS, the so called Nighty Cup, which was aimed at X-Wing players who are more likely to be able to gamble at night.

When did you first get involved with X-Wing? Did you immediately “fall in love” with the game? What appeals to you most about X-Wing?

When wave 5/6 was released in X-Wing 1.0, the wave where Scum was released and immediately sold out 🙁.
I played the rebel faction and a friend of mine played the galactic empire – so that you could “learn” to understand these two factions right from the start.
What appeals to me most about X-Wing? Talking with other people about the lore or about (in)sensible list ideas 😉

How often do you play X-Wing and where? Are you part of a team? And under the current pandemic conditions: Do you play TTS and if yes, how often? And if no, why not?

When I have te time for it and the inclination, several times a week over TTS 😉 .
And am a member of the „X-Wing Selbsthilfegruppe“ from Hanover around ScumDan, Rashktah and Co.

TTS is also a good keyword: In Germany you sometimes get the impression that X-Wing via TTS has a similarly difficult stand as a home office regulation at some employers – why is that?

TTS is not the true substitute for offline X-Wing play, because you don’t have that nice cozy play, but it keeps you fit and the meta is much more in motion, there have been many lists played so far that you would normally never have seen 🙂

How high do you estimate the effort in planning and execution to an offline tournament (“classic X-Wing tournament”)? Similar or less?

In my opinion, planning an online tournament is almost as time-consuming as planning an offline tournament, because you have to think about how you want to set up the tournament – whether it’s a pure fun (casual) tournament without prizes and without costs or whether you want to work with prizes, whether you want to offer something alternative that doesn’t quite fit the norm… In an online tournament you can invest just as much time as in an offline tournament.

For someone who has never played a TTS tournament: How can you roughly imagine the process? For example, are 32 (or more) virtual tables actually set up? How do the pairings work? How do you call the judge? What happens if you suddenly lose your internet connection and can’t connect to the game anymore?

The players all meet in X rooms, where they play 1v1 against each other. So one player opens a virtual room where there is a big table with two mats and all accessories etc. and there the opponents meet and play against each other. The pairings run online via tabletop.to short TTT and are saved separately by FunWok (Editor`s note: Another TO) on Cryodex – just in case TTT goes down.
How to call the Judge? By tagging me on the DXM Discord Channel or just telling me in the Discord-Judge-Channel – if I am there.
Otherwise please tag me in the Judge-Text-Channel :*

Is judging at a TTS tournament actually easier than at a presence tournament?

No, it’s even a bit more complex, because you have to hop from virtual room to virtual room and have to search for the room again and again, connect to the room etc… that takes a lot of time, while in offline tournaments you can move from table to table and deal with the situation faster.

The X-Wing scene is known to be very casual in general and also in dealing with newcomers. Do you think this also applies to TTS tournaments? Could you just play as a newcomer or should you have some previous experience in TTS?

In TTS you should already have some experience but many (non)-tournament players will already take their time. Whereby it is rather gladly seen, if one masters the basics halfway, so that the games are no „introdcution games“ for beginners, since some would like to play already rather “normally” or wish it then rather.

Since I am also somewhat involved in the DXM organization myself: How surprised are you by the support from other teams and retail partners regarding price support?

From the trade I am partly very surprised how quickly all the retailers have jumped on – from the community I’m already used to the MER (Editor`s note: The largest tournament organized by and for the community in Germany) and have expected nothing else 😉
Thanks again to all past and future supporters from the community and the specialty retailers – hearts for you ♥

Keyword prizes: There are already some things to win. If you were allowed to play yourself: What would you be most keen on as things stand?

The attendee promo definitely – some are definitely keen on the Royal Naboo Starfighter, from the fancy GenCon 2020, of which I think only10(?) are in Germany. I’m not keen on that one, I kindly threw it into the prize pool 😀
Otherwise on Jangos Slave 1 😉

Can you actually only win prizes as a player on the DXM or will something also be raffled to viewers or social media -likers and -commenters?

There will also be prizes on twitch.tv/xwingshg – which ones and if only between and during the games, ScumDan can answer that (Editor`s note: An interview with ScumDan will be published in the next days)

Often people ask “critically” at virtual tournaments, why they charge a participation fee at all, if usual cost factors like room rental or catering do not arise. What is your answer to this? Can you still hear the question?

Shipping. Shipping is damn expensive, especially when international players are involved and you send the prizes to them. Furthermore the purchase of some prizes as well as the trophy.

Is there a list you don’t want to judge?

Lists that I don’t want to judge? There is none, I judge all lists 😉

What is your favorite list to play right now and why? What is your favorite ship/pilot?

Currently I play my „Iniative 5 only“ separatist-list from time to time. It’s a unusual non-swarm list, which I play without a bid 😀

Favorite ship and pilot is Han Solo in the Falcon – better said the Scum version is my personal love-hate relationship.

Oracle something: If Atomic Mass Games were to announce a new ship for X-Wing anytime soon, which one would it be?

Razor Crest.

The obligatory question: your favorite movie(or series) of the Star Wars franchise?

Return of the Jedi still has a very special flair to me and I love the poster for it.

And why is it not Episode 9?

There is episode 9 ? Do you mean the three bad movies that are a knock off of the original trilogy with very similar plots and different characters and a few changes? I don’t know.
Not seen, doesn’t exist.

Do you actually play any other tabletop system/games outside of X-Wing? Would you go to or organize tournaments for those as well?

Star Wars Legion, Guild Ball and Blood Bowl.
And yes I would organize tournaments for all of them and would also participate in tournaments 😉

Would you call yourself a nerd or gamer or do you reject such “pigeonhole” terms?

The terms “nerd” and “gamer” have been very blurred for me by the social change of recent years, because many people have suddenly called themselves so, although they were not or are not from the definition of the terminology. They only dressed like this and did not have the necessary special know-how. One still remembers the “Scene” times. (That was 2008/2009 around)

Finally: What would you miss without X-Wing in your life?

A nice community ♥

Thanks for the interview!

If you want to sign up for the DXM now (and I strongly encourage you to do so),please see below:

Tournament stats:

30th – 31st January 2021
Extended
Player’s meeting: 8am CET/UTC+1
6 Rounds of Swiss Saturday
Top Cut Sunday (size depends on player numbers)
15€ fee

Prizes: Yes!

How to enter the tournament:

Fill out this form:
https://forms.gle/AQAX8Q1MGTLP1YGD7

Send 15€ to paypal:
https://www.paypal.me/therapiestunde

Join this TTO event:
https://tabletop.to/dxm

The organizers will confirm your TTO signup after receiving the form and paypal entry fee!