Six months ago, I packed my bags and moved from California to Germany. I have had the privilege of getting to know the European Legion scene. When I first moved here the German Legion scene welcomed me in and I am extremely thankful for the hospitality they showed me quickly integrating me into their community here. Since moving to Europe, I have attended a few major tournaments and met players from the English, French, German, Scandinavian and Polish Legion communities. I cannot wait for Adepticon to bring together the different communities this year!
If this is your first TFT World Championship Preview article you are reading you can find our introduction article and the other regions at the links below! I used the current ELO system and contacted the top 3 players in each region who are attending Adepticon 2023 for an interview (ELO rankings are as of the Jan 9th 2023 update). This is in no way an exhaustive list, so if you think there is someone missing in this list, comment with your favorite players from your region who you think could win it all!
Worlds Preview Series Links
- Introduction and Current Champion interview & bio – Feb 7th 2023
- Asia Pacific player interviews and bios – Feb 8th 2023
- Europe player interviews and bios – Feb 9th 2023
- North America player interviews and bios – Feb 10th 2023
- Adepticon 2023 Meta Guide – Mar 10th 2023
- Adepticon 2023 Streaming – Mar 23-26th 2023
Europe
Markus Wacker
Name and discord handle
Markus “Matten” Wacker
Home Country, and Teams/Associations
Germany, SWLL Stuttgart
ELO Rankings
1st EU, 1733 ELO
21st IL, 1354 ELO
When did you start playing Legion?
January 2020
Favorite faction/battle force and unit
Rebels, and Luke or Sabine
Tournament history
2nd Alicante WQ 2022
1st Im Norden 2022
2nd Hannover WQ 2022
Top 8 European Championship 2020
Why did you start playing Legion?
I started with tabletop (40k with friends in town) end of 2018. In summer 2019 was the first time I saw Legion on Youtube. I sold my soul to Legion two weeks later. I mean it is Star Wars.
How would you describe your playstyle?
Definitely risky and aggressive 😄.
What do you expect the meta to be?
Blizzard Force and Empire are definitely favored, but all factions could make it far when they get the right matchups and some luck.
What do you think about the new rule changes?
The LOS stuff is a little bit weird. But I really like the layout of the new rules and the changes to wound allocation and climb.
What do you love about the game of Legion?
The tournament community in Legion is really awesome. I had only a few games in the last three years that I did not enjoy. Most of the time Legion is a bloody and tense game when I play. But after two years just playing Luke and/or Sabine and SC Maul on all Major tournaments it could be time to find a new strategy…
If you could have anything from the SW IP added to Legion what would it be?
A double Jedi counterpart duo like Kanan and Ezra would be awesome to play.
Do you have anything you want to say to the Legion community before Adepticon 2023?
Let’s have an amazing week in Chicago and everyone is welcome to join our German community and be part of it. We already converted Lucas (Teknofobia) into a typical German Legion player.
Dennis Jenkel
Name and discord handle
Dennis “Octobear” Jenkel
Home Country, and Teams/Associations
Germany, Erfurt Looms
ELO Rankings
2nd EU, 1719 ELO
72nd IL, 1141 ELO
When did you start playing Legion?
March 2018 (Legion release)
Favorite faction/battle force and unit
Empire, and Operative Vader
Tournament history
2nd Im Norden 2022
1st Hannover WQ 2022
2nd Im Norden 2021
Top 8 Las Vegas Open 2021
Top 4 German Nationals 2019
Top 8 London GT 2019
Why did you start playing Legion?
I love Star Wars and played Armada when Legion was announced. I always had some named squadrons in my lists so I could play my favorite characters. I thought Legion could offer a much better way to play iconic characters. It turned out I was right!
How would you describe your playstyle?
Flexible.
What do you expect the meta to be?
Mainly Blizzard Force if they don’t nerf it. If they do, we will have a much more diverse field. Empire will probably still be the most used faction, I would expect a lot of Boba, IG-88, Iden/Inferno and Vader. I also think we might see more CIS again and with Yoda and Anakin you can still build solid GAR lists. My Rebel lists always start with Cassian and K-2, so I would expect them too. Operative Luke with Into the Fray should still be fine. Maul, a bus and some Black Suns still look like a pretty solid aggressive list for SC, but I am less sure about this, since I don’t play SC.
What do you think about the new rule changes?
With the exception of the cover rules, they seem to be fine. I would prefer it if they change LOS from any point of a silhouette to any point of the targets silhouette, to one point to any point on the target (preferably in a way that doesn’t allow to shoot from the feet anymore, since this would also be a solution for those weird active cover downgrades). With a change like this we would also have solid cover rules.
What do you love about the game of Legion?
The great community!
If you could have anything from the SW IP added to Legion what would it be?
Thrawn.
Do you have anything you want to say to the Legion community before Adepticon 2023?
I can’t wait to see you guys in March!
Oscar Frances
Name and discord handle
Oscar “Franchunator” Frances
Home Country, and Teams/Associations
Spain
ELO Rankings
3nd EU, 1715 ELO
When did you start playing Legion?
October 2019 (Clone Wars Release)
Favorite faction/battle force and unit
CIS, and Vader
Tournament history
1st Roma WQ 2022
5th Alicante WQ 2022
Why did you start playing Legion?
I started playing because I really liked the clone wars starter box and wanted to play CIS.
How would you describe your playstyle?
I am an aggressive player. I like to advance. I get bored staying behind waiting for my opponent.
What do you expect the meta to be?
I am not clear about a specific meta but I think that blizzard lists and possible counters will be popular.
What do you think about the new rule changes?
I don’t really like the new rules. I would prefer more emphasis on tweaking units to give more variety and balance to the game.
What do you love about the game of Legion?
I love meeting new people at big tournaments from different places. Also, the challenge of facing great players and learning from them.
If you could have anything from the SW IP added to Legion what would it be?
I would create The Phoenix Squad and The Bad Batch so that they could be included in a battle force.
Do you have anything you want to say to the Legion community before Adepticon 2023?
I hope to meet other great players and that the European players perform well.