Flechette Torpedoes cause stress even when they miss (and you can't cloak or recloak when you are stressed).

They'll have to go off before the Phantom can attack though. Otherwise, it goes like this:

1. Phantom fires, cloaks

2. Phantom gets stress

3. Phantom decloaks <--------- can't decloak with stress

4. Phantom executes a green, clears stress

Unless you can get the stress on it before it fires, the stress does exactly what it does to any other ship - forces it into a green maneuver. That may help, but it's not actually going to do anything to inhibit the flicker.

I did a quick rule check and the stress card says no decloak with stress, pair this with ion and your set against a phantom.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/x-wing/news/wave4/cloak-action.png

Sorry I read that wrong stupid phone text is small.

Is Roark really that integral to beating the Phantom? Won't the Thatch Weave maneuver be enough to cover your bases in tackling the phantom since its a chunk of points tied up in a fairly vulnerable model?

I have a bigger question will a list that is made to counter a phantom lost going to be any good against a swarm list or xxbb? I feel like people are going to spend a lot of time trying to answer this question and get stumped by other lists

Several things hurt Phantoms that are useful in most games. Stress and Ions are always good. A single capable high PS ship capable of tanking hits is always good. Extra arc firing space is always good. Finding ways to fit what you need onto a team will be a challenge, but not an insurmountable on.

I have a bigger question will a list that is made to counter a phantom lost going to be any good against a swarm list or xxbb? I feel like people are going to spend a lot of time trying to answer this question and get stumped by other lists

I thinks that the real question. If you take a low number PS fleet to cover Phantoms you're pretty easy meat for the Tie swarm. If you take the Tie Swarm you are pretty easy meat for the Phantom. There's a balance somewhere in there that someone is going to find in list building beyond having to cover your weakness with player ability.

Is Roark really that integral to beating the Phantom? Won't the Thatch Weave maneuver be enough to cover your bases in tackling the phantom since its a chunk of points tied up in a fairly vulnerable model?

He's about shooting before they get to fire an recloak. 2 Defense Dice is a lot less than 4. Roark isn't necessary, but he's certainly useful(even against non Phantom lists.

Update: Played a game, where I was allowed to use Decoy. It works pretty well. I was able to switch PS skills and shoot before the phantom, I actually took off it's shields. It only worked once, though the guy never fell for it again.

I have a bigger question will a list that is made to counter a phantom lost going to be any good against a swarm list or xxbb? I feel like people are going to spend a lot of time trying to answer this question and get stumped by other lists

I thinks that the real question. If you take a low number PS fleet to cover Phantoms you're pretty easy meat for the Tie swarm. If you take the Tie Swarm you are pretty easy meat for the Phantom. There's a balance somewhere in there that someone is going to find in list building beyond having to cover your weakness with player ability.

Use a TIE swarm as your main force and do your best to have Soontir chase around that Phantom. You'd only have to catch it two or three times to kill it. I say Soontir because of his pilot skill and ability to keep a focus for his attack, but if you can get Carnor Jax near him, those unfocused 4 dice won't help him too much. He would be unwise to be unconcerned about keeping those 30-40 points alive and away from that interceptor and just keep chasing your swarm.

Update: Played a game, where I was allowed to use Decoy. It works pretty well. I was able to switch PS skills and shoot before the phantom, I actually took off it's shields. It only worked once, though the guy never fell for it again.

Give it to another ship or two. It can be chained just like swarm tactics, meaning, assuming you keep each ship at Range 2 with another ship, you can swap multiple times and pull up the ship with the best shot by swapping multiple times.

Update: Played a game, where I was allowed to use Decoy. It works pretty well. I was able to switch PS skills and shoot before the phantom, I actually took off it's shields. It only worked once, though the guy never fell for it again.

If you use Decoy to pull a higher PS towards you the opponent will see that coming and plan for it accordingly. If you use it to push to one of several ships it would be much harder to evade everything. That's where Decoy comes in handy over Swarm Tactics: it works at R2.

If you Decoy to a ship with Decoy, as said above, you can keep switching until it has arrived at the intended ship and you can cross a lot of distance. Or you could Decoy a high PS to a ship with Swarm Tactics so you can have two ships at a higher PS over a total range of max 3.

If you can keep everything in the right range band, you could even Decoy a high PS to a lower PS ship with Swarm Tactics, who passes it along a couple of times ending up at the ship with Decoy.

Vader and 3 Sabers or 4 BSP's would give you 4 or 5 ships shooting at PS 9.

Come Rebel Aces you could even end up with:

Tycho Celchu

Title & Refit

VI & Decoy

3x

GSP

Title & Refit

ST & Opportunist

for four ships shooting at PS10, 3 of them with 3 attack dice and four points left. .

Swap out Tycho for Airen and drop the opportunists and you can squeeze in another GSP.

Update: Played a game, where I was allowed to use Decoy. It works pretty well. I was able to switch PS skills and shoot before the phantom, I actually took off it's shields. It only worked once, though the guy never fell for it again.

If you use Decoy to pull a higher PS towards you the opponent will see that coming and plan for it accordingly. If you use it to push to one of several ships it would be much harder to evade everything. That's where Decoy comes in handy over Swarm Tactics: it works at R2.

If you Decoy to a ship with Decoy, as said above, you can keep switching until it has arrived at the intended ship and you can cross a lot of distance. Or you could Decoy a high PS to a ship with Swarm Tactics so you can have two ships at a higher PS over a total range of max 3.

If you can keep everything in the right range band, you could even Decoy a high PS to a lower PS ship with Swarm Tactics, who passes it along a couple of times ending up at the ship with Decoy.

Posted this a while back:

One of the most popular uses of Swarm Tactics is the chain, IE to bring several ships up to the Pilot Skill of an ace by putting the card on several ships.

Decoy can work similarly. It's function doesn't really seem conducive to that at first, but consider this:

Lets say you have three ships that got separated during the firefight, two of which have Decoy as their EPT. You deem it best for one particular ship to fire first, but it neither has Decoy, nor is it in Range 1-2 of the high PS ship with Decoy. It is Range 2 of the middle PS ship with Decoy which is Range 2 of the highest PS ship with Decoy. You could activate Decoy to swap the Middle and High ships, and then use the other Decoy card to swap the now highest ship (previously middle) with the low ship?

I'll try to make more sense of it in a Diagram

[ PS2 ] -R1-|-R2- [ PS6 ] -R2-|-R1- [ PS9 ]

The PS9 and PS6 switch, and then the new PS9 and PS2 switch, so it becomes this:

[ PS9 ] -R1-|-R2- [ PS2 ] -R2-|-R1- [ PS6 ]

With this approach, you can really switch up your predictability, which can be really advantageous. Can definitely benefit from a Swarm Tactics in the mix, as well.

This tactic can really throw off your opponent, as he will not be able to predict your firing order. There is an added bonus against the Phantom, as you can swap around to the ship with the best shot. Combine this with a Thach Weave Formation, and you will often catch that Phantom in someone's arc and get to shoot it uncloaked.

We seem to be doing a good job of what to put together to kill a phantom, but we seem to be ignoring what the ships with him will be doing. It seems that unless we get to a point in the game where the phantom is the only thing left and we have not lost ships our predictions may be good, but when you have to also engage his other ships how well can we concentrate on the phantom, If we over concentrate our forces on it what will his squadron mates be doing to us in the meantime.

Well, the Phantom is going to be a big chunk of his squad, so there's that.

The problem at this point is that the meta is not yet settled down on what will be the most used lists, once there's more data available, we would be able to better build against a list.

But loose formations and PShenanigans should throw off players at any rate.

We seem to be doing a good job of what to put together to kill a phantom, but we seem to be ignoring what the ships with him will be doing. It seems that unless we get to a point in the game where the phantom is the only thing left and we have not lost ships our predictions may be good, but when you have to also engage his other ships how well can we concentrate on the phantom, If we over concentrate our forces on it what will his squadron mates be doing to us in the meantime.

The point is well taken, but I think most of the responses here acknowledge that. Most of the responses have focused on tactical flying that can be directed appropriately to give shots on other targets. Some of the squad choice suggestions are very focused, but plenty are general... Wes with R3 is going to be mean no matter who he's shooting at, and Roark is a boost for any list.