Personally, I think the various lists at my local tournaments and the major ones have been a bit stale. While some people point to Worlds as being pretty varied, I still see too many Fat Hans being played. While there have been some changes and new options at the end of 2014, I think that the New Year is going to bring about a lot of changes.

For one, I think the new Scum and Villainy will bring significant changes! The article today about the Scyk makes me think that five generics w/ Mauler Cannons will be devastating. Also, the Firespray revamp will be deadly. Boba Fett will be vicious, but so Kath Scarlet. The Star Viper will be a scalpel that can dish out the damage. Even all the different upgrades to the Y-wings and Z-95’s will be interesting.

The different cannons will make a lot of older ships more interesting, as well. An Imperial Scarlet with the Mauler Cannon will be nice. B-wings with cheaper options than an HLC. Defenders can get some nice options, as well. We can see some older ships get refreshed. Flachette Cannons won’t cost that much, but give out stress to anyone they hit. That’s going to be a pain to a lot of ships.

Speaking of a refresh, how about those Tie Advanced fixes? Darth Vader will be a force to be reckoned with soon enough. Don’t forget Marek Steele hurting all those large ships and making Fat Han cry. Even the generics will do lots of damage with Accuracy Corrector.

Fixes will also come out to make the Tie Interceptor interesting again. That’s one ship that many Imperials would love to get back on the table.

Lately, the meta has favored high PS arc dodgers or high PS turret ships. It wasn’t that long ago that everyone thought a handful of generics won the day. What will happen in this next year? Personally, I think we have so many options that anything will be possible. I can see low PS ships flown well can win. I think X-wings will also find their place again when arc-dodgers or fast turreted ships aren’t the norm. I see the game getting a lot more fun and the lists a lot more open. I’m really excited for this next year for X-wing.

EDIT: Please don't turn this into a converstation about how 2014 isn't as boring as I felt it to be and I should get used to 1/3 of all lists I face having Fat Han.

Actually since Wave 5 came out I don't think I've seen a Fat Han in my Local Meta, lot's of Deci's and Outriders, and just various other builds with the new upgrades, I've also seen a decline in Phantoms.

Flachette Cannons won’t cost that much, but give out stress to anyone they hit.

Flechette Cannons don't give out stress to anyone they hit. The only give stress to targets that don't already have it.

Scum get a ship that turns PS9 into PS0. That'll be huge against Phantoms and the VI meta. A lot of ships are going to be significantly hindered by that.

I saw this as "Masta Shakea 2015" and thought it was about me...then I saw it wasn't...I would make a sad face...but shake is known more for his angry faces so cue angry face.

Actually since Wave 5 came out I don't think I've seen a Fat Han in my Local Meta, lot's of Deci's and Outriders, and just various other builds with the new upgrades, I've also seen a decline in Phantoms.

People will start to figure out that the "old" Fat han is still pretty good soon enough, i can promise.

In regards of wave 6, purely speculation but i do believe ships with impulse + autothrusters will become the new meta. Something i am really excited for because it means that we will be back to the real dogfighting, and this nonsense will stop. Most players in my area are already burned out with the turrets, and the wave 5 release haven't helped, even tho they get to see different a few more different ships.

I'm expecting a dual-Firespray scum list with Lone Wolf/Recon Boba and Kath, maybe with some cheap filler Scyks or Zs, or maybe with some more upgrades, to be pretty popular.

People like to play with new toys - when a new wave is released it reduces the number of lists with the older wave ships. Then fixes come out and an old ship is brought forth anew.

I'm not sure when I'll even fly the new ships simply because everyone else is. I'm hard-wired to try and avoid what everyone else is flying. I see tables full of Decimators and Outriders, and I just want to fly more shuttles.

i'm already experimenting with running 2 large ships together. RA cheery and boba work well together.

but what i think will happen is a return to small based greatness. the empire gets all its ducks in a row, with vader being flanked by interceptors and with scum pounding us to death with Y-wings and stealing all our stuff with HWKs.

the rebels dont seem to have a clear future for 2015 coming up, but thats fine, as they've long had their time in the sun with the falcon, and the outrider still being fresh.

i'll be anxious to see what happens come wave 7. i'm betting on a 3 ship release, one per faction.

and super anxious to see if we get episode 7 ships.

I'm not sure when I'll even fly the new ships simply because everyone else is. I'm hard-wired to try and avoid what everyone else is flying. I see tables full of Decimators and Outriders, and I just want to fly more shuttles.

It happens the same to me. But i am just flying interceptors. Such meta hipsters.

It'll be nice to actually have a different faction that feels different. The Z-95 and the Decimator have made the two factions we have now feel too similar.

I look forward to the day where there is no "meta", where ANY reasonably made list when flown well has as good a chance of winning a game as another. No more scrambling to determine what the best squad or two is after a new wave, there should be tons of options that come down to personal preference.

Yes there will always be certain squads that will do better against certain types of opposing squads, but as long as no squad type becomes too commonly used/powerful, that's not an issue IMO.

Scum get a ship that turns PS9 into PS0. That'll be huge against Phantoms and the VI meta. A lot of ships are going to be significantly hindered by that.

I don't think Mux will be that big a deal against Phantoms. He'll have a tough time getting them into range 2 before he blows up.

I look forward to the day where there is no "meta", where ANY reasonably made list when flown well has as good a chance of winning a game as another. No more scrambling to determine what the best squad or two is after a new wave, there should be tons of options that come down to personal preference.

Yes there will always be certain squads that will do better against certain types of opposing squads, but as long as no squad type becomes too commonly used/powerful, that's not an issue IMO.

I would love to see the same. Sadly I think this is wishful thinking. As the game grows and develops it gets harder and harder to plan for and precounter all issues that could come up...and releasing a fix or update then complicates the game even more and the cycle continues.

But yes I would love for your quote to come true...here's hoping we can see that happen...I would be very pleasantly surprised.

Sycks with mangler have already been calculated to not be worth the cost. Go ahead and run it if you want. But after a few attempts you may find that you wasted your time.

Scum in total should shake things up quite a bit though. As the higher amount of possibilities should change the relative amount you see one concept being dominant. The auto thrusters and tie adv fix really does a lot too.

Sycks with mangler have already been calculated to not be worth the cost.

are you kidding with this? i mean really? we're months away from ever seeing it and you've already ruled it sub-par. its this kind of thinking that ruins the board.

its not meant to be a single syck with mangler, adding a paltry crit to its rolls. its meant to be 3 of them. once you start stacking crits in this, the time of the large based ship, they'll go down. i would LOVE to have etahn's ability for 20 points and cancelling range bonuses.

not worth it. this guy.

I just want to fly some cheap generics kitted out with torpedoes.

THE RETURN OF XXYY IS NIGH!!!

Sycks with mangler have already been calculated to not be worth the cost.

are you kidding with this? i mean really? we're months away from ever seeing it and you've already ruled it sub-par. its this kind of thinking that ruins the board.

its not meant to be a single syck with mangler, adding a paltry crit to its rolls. its meant to be 3 of them. once you start stacking crits in this, the time of the large based ship, they'll go down. i would LOVE to have etahn's ability for 20 points and cancelling range bonuses.

not worth it. this guy.

I think they're downfall is they're squishy like a TIE Fighter. Yes they hit hard for 20 points, but the offense is wasted if the opponent pops one before it can even shoot, and the crits from the first couple shots also don't matter if your're trying to get through a large ships shields.

I think instead of just running 5 with Mangler Cannons, you need to utilize Biggs type tactics to keep your glass cannon ships alive as long as possible. Something like 4 Mangler Cannons and Serissu. Although any list that tries to just use 5 cannon ships will get eaten by a Phantom.

I think the real winner of Wave 6 is going to be the Firespray. FFG is doing a great job at making the more iconic ships more viable.

I haven't seen anything in Scum (yet) that will change the meta at the top tables. Scum are an expansion team, they have some nice individual pieces but I'm not sure they synergise all that well together yet.

5 BTL-A4 Y-wings with Autoblaster turrets could be interesting with high firepower (volume) and hitpoints, but it's also really weak to manoeuvrability (of note this works as a Rebel or Scum list). Potentially there could be something in the Aggressor. Double Aggressors could be a real pain to play against, but the forward only arc presents a potential drawback. Double Aggressors is not a list that turrets want to face.

Sure people will play with their new toys, but I'm not seeing Scum being all that "competitive" at the top tier with Rebels and Imperials (at least to start with).

I haven't seen anything in Scum (yet) that will change the meta at the top tables. Scum are an expansion team, they have some nice individual pieces but I'm not sure they synergise all that well together yet.

I think Autothrusters will alter the meta to some extent as will Accuracy Corrector (especially once the Raider releases as well). Kavil brings a relatively powerful cheap turret option for Scum and I can see Palob's token stealing antics being something that has some legs. The Firespray gets a bump through better pilots and illicit upgrade slots. I don't think it's ridiculous to think that Scum Boba has the potential to see a lot of play, especially if the trend towards 2 and 3 ship builds changes.

I haven't seen anything in Scum (yet) that will change the meta at the top tables. Scum are an expansion team, they have some nice individual pieces but I'm not sure they synergise all that well together yet.

I think Autothrusters will alter the meta to some extent as will Accuracy Corrector (especially once the Raider releases as well). Kavil brings a relatively powerful cheap turret option for Scum and I can see Palob's token stealing antics being something that has some legs. The Firespray gets a bump through better pilots and illicit upgrade slots. I don't think it's ridiculous to think that Scum Boba has the potential to see a lot of play, especially if the trend towards 2 and 3 ship builds changes.

I was referring to Scum as a faction, but your point about Autothrusters is interesting. I think it is a great card, but I don't think it stops anyone from using turrets. All it does is delay their death, they are still on a clock of death against turrets, one bad roll and they are still (almost) dead (except for the Aggressor). Soontir Fel never left the meta, he is still great and gets better, but he is now 5 points more expensive than he typically was and that has consequences for the rest of the list.

You listed three ships that all got "better", but none of those ships has been lighting up the meta, and we already know how each of them flies, so better, but not meta changing/defining. All the Scums ships fly similar (and have the same strengths and weaknesses) as everything else we already have. Don't get me wrong Scum is interesting faction, that can do some interesting things, but none of those things is "new" to the game, except maybe getting 4 HLC's into a list, and while that will win some games, it's hardly an all comers list.

I see some potential control builds in Scum, but the jury is still out on control as being a viable strategy long term. The more I think about it, the dual Aggressor build is potentially the best of the two big base builds because it has a lot more points to spend on options. Plus it has built in synergy.

But I misspoke, the meta will change because some people will stubbornly try and make Scum work (like me), and that changes the odds of facing the elite lists at the top end.

Now, will we see interesting and varied lists all the way down to the bottom, for sure. I'm really looking forward to it, I am a big fan of crazy lists. I'm just not seeing how any of the new stuff radically changes the makeup at the top end (say the top 15-20%). Falcons, Outriders, Decimators, Swarms and Phantoms are unlikely to disappear, and I would be surprised to see a Scum list sneak up that far into those lofty heights of trading blows with them.

Though I admit it is still early to say all that, and I'll likely as not be proven wrong in the long run

@ ID X T

Before further posting, you may want to check the probabilities of a turret getting damage through against PtL 3 agi dice Autothrusters ships. Getting 1 damage through with 3 attack dice is pretty much a scenario of 1 out of 33 with Predator/lone wolf

4 dice gets better if you have focus + predator/lone wolf, but it's still 1/5 to get 1 damage through, 1/33 to get 2.

I had rounded slightly the numbers, feel free to correct me.

Not sure who really is on a clock there. If we add stealth device it gets really really funny against turrets. It's impossible for turrets to get more than 1 damage if they have 3 attack dice (and pretty hard already since it requires a 3 blank), because of evade + autothrusters interaction, and that's before having to use the focus token.

I haven't seen anything in Scum (yet) that will change the meta at the top tables. Scum are an expansion team, they have some nice individual pieces but I'm not sure they synergise all that well together yet.

I think Autothrusters will alter the meta to some extent as will Accuracy Corrector (especially once the Raider releases as well). Kavil brings a relatively powerful cheap turret option for Scum and I can see Palob's token stealing antics being something that has some legs. The Firespray gets a bump through better pilots and illicit upgrade slots. I don't think it's ridiculous to think that Scum Boba has the potential to see a lot of play, especially if the trend towards 2 and 3 ship builds changes.

I was referring to Scum as a faction, but your point about Autothrusters is interesting. I think it is a great card, but I don't think it stops anyone from using turrets. All it does is delay their death, they are still on a clock of death against turrets, one bad roll and they are still (almost) dead (except for the Aggressor). Soontir Fel never left the meta, he is still great and gets better, but he is now 5 points more expensive than he typically was and that has consequences for the rest of the list.

You listed three ships that all got "better", but none of those ships has been lighting up the meta, and we already know how each of them flies, so better, but not meta changing/defining. All the Scums ships fly similar (and have the same strengths and weaknesses) as everything else we already have. Don't get me wrong Scum is interesting faction, that can do some interesting things, but none of those things is "new" to the game, except maybe getting 4 HLC's into a list, and while that will win some games, it's hardly an all comers list.

I see some potential control builds in Scum, but the jury is still out on control as being a viable strategy long term. The more I think about it, the dual Aggressor build is potentially the best of the two big base builds because it has a lot more points to spend on options. Plus it has built in synergy.

But I misspoke, the meta will change because some people will stubbornly try and make Scum work (like me), and that changes the odds of facing the elite lists at the top end.

Now, will we see interesting and varied lists all the way down to the bottom, for sure. I'm really looking forward to it, I am a big fan of crazy lists. I'm just not seeing how any of the new stuff radically changes the makeup at the top end (say the top 15-20%). Falcons, Outriders, Decimators, Swarms and Phantoms are unlikely to disappear, and I would be surprised to see a Scum list sneak up that far into those lofty heights of trading blows with them.

Though I admit it is still early to say all that, and I'll likely as not be proven wrong in the long run

I guess you could say that Soontir didn't leave the meta because he still gets play but Soontir and other Interceptors weren't really a big part of the Wave 4 meta. Autothrusters puts them back in the game. Soontir becomes an even bigger threat and Jax gets enough surviability to snuggle up for a couple of rounds denying actions before getting blasted. It's not going to make turrets go away but I think it will give players that want to play positional ships more choices than just playing a Phantom. A decrease in the frequency of encountering Phantoms may drop the number of turrets flying around.

I think you are also under estimating potential effect that the Most Wanted ships may have on the meta. Just because the ships and their dials have been in the game doesn't mean the changes in abilitlies and upgrades won't help cause a shift in the meta. Scum is bringing more unavoidable damage. EPTs on a Firespray that costs less than 37 points and having good pilot abilites on the most expensive pilots may make the Firespray a common sight. Y-Wings that can do green hard 3s are a different animal than the slower Y-Wings of the Rebels.

I don't think that all of these things are going to cause a shift in the meta but I suspect at least a few of the announced ships and upgrades will shape the meta into something different than it is today and not just because people are being stubborn and trying to make Scum work.

I haven't seen anything in Scum (yet) that will change the meta at the top tables. Scum are an expansion team, they have some nice individual pieces but I'm not sure they synergise all that well together yet.

I think Autothrusters will alter the meta to some extent as will Accuracy Corrector (especially once the Raider releases as well). Kavil brings a relatively powerful cheap turret option for Scum and I can see Palob's token stealing antics being something that has some legs. The Firespray gets a bump through better pilots and illicit upgrade slots. I don't think it's ridiculous to think that Scum Boba has the potential to see a lot of play, especially if the trend towards 2 and 3 ship builds changes.

I was referring to Scum as a faction, but your point about Autothrusters is interesting. I think it is a great card, but I don't think it stops anyone from using turrets. All it does is delay their death, they are still on a clock of death against turrets, one bad roll and they are still (almost) dead (except for the Aggressor). Soontir Fel never left the meta, he is still great and gets better, but he is now 5 points more expensive than he typically was and that has consequences for the rest of the list.

You listed three ships that all got "better", but none of those ships has been lighting up the meta, and we already know how each of them flies, so better, but not meta changing/defining. All the Scums ships fly similar (and have the same strengths and weaknesses) as everything else we already have. Don't get me wrong Scum is interesting faction, that can do some interesting things, but none of those things is "new" to the game, except maybe getting 4 HLC's into a list, and while that will win some games, it's hardly an all comers list.

I see some potential control builds in Scum, but the jury is still out on control as being a viable strategy long term. The more I think about it, the dual Aggressor build is potentially the best of the two big base builds because it has a lot more points to spend on options. Plus it has built in synergy.

But I misspoke, the meta will change because some people will stubbornly try and make Scum work (like me), and that changes the odds of facing the elite lists at the top end.

Now, will we see interesting and varied lists all the way down to the bottom, for sure. I'm really looking forward to it, I am a big fan of crazy lists. I'm just not seeing how any of the new stuff radically changes the makeup at the top end (say the top 15-20%). Falcons, Outriders, Decimators, Swarms and Phantoms are unlikely to disappear, and I would be surprised to see a Scum list sneak up that far into those lofty heights of trading blows with them.

Though I admit it is still early to say all that, and I'll likely as not be proven wrong in the long run

I guess you could say that Soontir didn't leave the meta because he still gets play but Soontir and other Interceptors weren't really a big part of the Wave 4 meta. Autothrusters puts them back in the game. Soontir becomes an even bigger threat and Jax gets enough surviability to snuggle up for a couple of rounds denying actions before getting blasted. It's not going to make turrets go away but I think it will give players that want to play positional ships more choices than just playing a Phantom. A decrease in the frequency of encountering Phantoms may drop the number of turrets flying around.

I think you are also under estimating potential effect that the Most Wanted ships may have on the meta. Just because the ships and their dials have been in the game doesn't mean the changes in abilitlies and upgrades won't help cause a shift in the meta. Scum is bringing more unavoidable damage. EPTs on a Firespray that costs less than 37 points and having good pilot abilites on the most expensive pilots may make the Firespray a common sight. Y-Wings that can do green hard 3s are a different animal than the slower Y-Wings of the Rebels.

I don't think that all of these things are going to cause a shift in the meta but I suspect at least a few of the announced ships and upgrades will shape the meta into something different than it is today and not just because people are being stubborn and trying to make Scum work.

I love me some Interceptors. Soontir + Targeting Computer + Autothrusters + Royal Guard Title is going to be a thing

Personally, I'm more looking forward to Turr Phennir + Royal Guard Title + Lone Wolf + Autothrusters + Hull/Stealth Device. THAT'S going to be fun.

I also love me some Firesprays, so Scum will definitely be fielded by me regularly.