There are basically 4 major list types in X-Wing at the top
Meta level at least:
Miranda/Nym
100 point Miranda
Palp Aces
Ghost/Fenn
I am not looking at playing any of those. Well, to be fair I suppose the Firestorm
Special (Nym/Ten Numb) is SORT OF like Nym/Miranda so might be considered a
variant of that architype. Maybe. I
guess… Firestorm plays a LOT different
as it completely sells out for the Alpha Strike or just plain Jousting to
victory… Or dying in the attempt I
suppose. My record with the Firestorm is
actually quite good though and if people are not prepared for the level of
Damage I can throw out… Well, it tends
to be a quick game in any case. And with the additional bonus of less mental fatigue over the course of a longer event...
So, Miranda/Nym is based on the 2 Harpoons shooting, 2 TLTs
finishing the job and there being bombs on top of that. Pretty much the collection of the most broken
Offensive tools in the v1 of the game on two of the more broken chassis. Oh, and Miranda Regenerates so she is likely
to simply outlast most people, and the way the game is scored, having that big expensive
ship alive at the end in the nice points fortress (only Large bases give up
half VP when they are reduced to below half of their starting life) is likely
the win condition for the list. Maybe
the list wipes the opponent off the field, but the real win condition is to
simply outlast them with Miranda.
100 point Miranda is more or less the same winning
condition. Basically, the rest of the
list is to make sure that Miranda lives to the end, hopefully wiping out more
points of the opponent’s stuff on the way out.
Mind, saying “Miranda” here is really not 100% accurate. She is the most common one, but basically ANY
expensive Rebel Ace with Regeneration to simply outlast the other player… These games tend to go to time, are a bit
frustrating to play and if BOTH are bringing one of these two lists it can
degenerate to a slap fight as neither Miranda/Ace tends to have the ability to
actually put in the finishing Damage to the opposite number… I would say that Corran Horn is the sole
exception to this, but like the Control Brobots there are only a bare handful
of players in the world who have the level of skill and patience to actually
play THAT one out. Note, I am NOT one of
those players. But the list tends to be
3-4 Rebel ships including but not limited to Lowrick, CPT Rex, Ezra, Fenn Rau,
etc… Basically the big Ace, and support
ships to mitigate Damage and get the Ace to the winning end game. And this is ANOTHER reason the game itself
NEEDS a reboot. SO many things combining
to make for un-killable ships just broke the game in my opinion.
Palp Aces… Another
long time standard. Fell out of the top
for a bit there, but it has always been good, especially in the hands of a
skilled player. The current “top” list
is The Inquisitor, Quickdraw and CPT Yorr in the Shuttle. Some really bad interactions allowing Yorr to
pull in the Stress that would otherwise render “less useful” the Expertise
Quickdraw or keep the Inquisitor from getting double Stressed (and then killed
the next turn). And of course the
Emperor to just declare a Dice result.
Nasty tricks include running Quickdraw over a Debris Field, declaring a
Critical on the Dice roll to remove a Shield and get in a free Shot, usually
fully modified and against a target that has not gotten its Defensive modifiers
up yet… Nasty, and something to
DEFINITELY avoid. Of course, this list
highlights several of the things I have LONG felt were silly and overpowered
about the game and yet more reasons the current version must be replaced J… Again, just my opinion per usual, I could be
wrong…
Ghost/Fenn… Ah, last
and certainly not least is another collection of weird edge cases and odd
card/rule interactions that were I suspect not originally intended, but… At the heart of this is the Ghost which has
the Attack Shuttle docked to allow the Rear Arc to be activated but more
importantly the TLT to be fired TWICE every turn. Fenn Rau is there to assist and provide the
PS 10/11 Boost for the (usually) perfect information reposition or to say get
the Ghost to Boost off of an Asteroid.
NOT normally allowed, but of course many things are possible through a
properly timed Coordinate action… The
Crew and upgrade combinations vary, but there are some like Ezra/Maul that
allow your firing to be unnaturally accurate (3 Hits is the expected result for
each of your 4 TLT shots), others that ignore obstructions, etc… Suffice it to say, another collection of
things that illustrate the need for a reset of the game (IMO again of course).
So, if you are REALLY wanting to do well in a larger event I
suspect you will need to be prepared to face these four lists. Of course these will not be the ONLY things
out there, there will be “Jank” and I suspect people flying some of the new
things like the upgraded X-Wings and TIE Reapers to good effect. Seeing a few of the upgrades at least out of
the latest Wave, and hearing the Developers admit that “Yeah, that one is
definitely massively OP, but we figured it would only be for a few Months” does
make me a bit annoyed… But, like they
said, only for a short time as the current edition winds down. But in any case, these are the things I am at
least trying to figure out as I start my SC run for this year.
My Fett/Fenn list:
Matches reasonably well against Palp Aces… I typically have a PS advantage and can avoid
Initiative to force Quickdraw to move first, assuming they brought Expertise
and not VI. Frankly, the VI version does
not hit nearly so hard and so I am not overly concerned about it. But in any case, I have a lot of experience
flying both of those ships and can do a fair bit most others cannot or at least
do not expect with them. So, I am fairly
comfortable with that matchup.
Ghost/Fenn? Not a great one, but
I should be able to melt his Fenn flying in a light Shuttle and do a bunch of
Damage with Fett on the way out. Fenn (mine)
at that point SHOULD be able to solo the rest.
MoV sucks, but “Just Win, Baby” because MoV is just a tie breaker. Miranda lists? Depending on how they fly them, frankly
Miranda REALLY does not like to see Fett in this configuration with the Ion
Cannon and then the throw loads of Damage at whatever gets in close… In this case it is Fenn Rau who goes Kamikaze
and does as much Damage as he can before dying.
He does a LOT if I can engineer nice Jousts… The Proton Torpedo is also surprisingly
effective here. So, I feel like this
list is a VERY solid “Gate Keeper” list that has a chance to go all the way in
a smaller event that I expect to see locally…
Firestorm: Solid
against almost everything. Against the
Miranda ones, I can realistically erase her through Proton Bombs and Harpoons… Criticals against the Hull are just the big
random luck factor. The Direct Hit or
Major Explosion has the chance to just outright kill the 2-3 Hull things, and I
have killed Quickdraw while she still had Shields with those coming up… Against things like RacLo, I have to count on
the luck factor. It really is just a
line up and try to trample them in the Joust.
Hope to avoid the Blinded Pilot, but realistically know it is coming but
hope for the best Criticals coming up as the Decimator will have a hard time
avoiding them AND staying in close to get shots off… Down side, it is NOT a friendly list. Really just a variant of the Nym/Miranda list
that is actually quite a good matchup against the base list. So, maybe something I fly at the Red Raccoon
in Bloomington, but not local or Mattoon I think.
Kylo/Whisper: Hmmm,
not a lot of GREAT matchups I think.
Nothing really terrible either though.
Kylo in that ship just goes wherever the hell he wants, and with
Advanced Sensors he is essentially impossible to Block… Well, assuming I can avoid Stress. And with Ezra and the occasional Fenn Rau
having Stress, should be something I can do.
Might swap in Director Krennic for the Rebel Captive to give Whisper the
third Shield, the extra Damage output and the FCS equivalent… I have to fly her a LOT differently I suspect
because I am used to flying with the Rebel Captive for the defensive bonus and
being able to shut down the Expertise I see everywhere… So, a fun list and I DO enjoy flying it so I
suspect I will fly it at least once…
A few other things I might fly, but honestly not really sure… I have time I guess and getting in some practice rounds is next up I think...
