Developing a list: Eaden Vrill enjoy your stress

By cybu, in X-Wing Squad Lists

Posted at

Hi guys,

I've been toying around with a rebel list for our local Store Championship and I wanted to get some insight from you on my squad because I don't have as much time to test as I'd like.

First of all: I don't want to run a Netlist. I want to brew something of my own and see how it does but obviousely I still want something competitive. Second: I don't expect to see a lot of Netlists from the other attending players. Most of the players around here don't scan the forums and copy a well known list. But still I think that we will see a lot of Decimators, Dashs and Hans. So I want to be prepared to fight the big guys.

Now to my list:

At the core stands Eaden Vrill. I think he's underrated and sees less play than he should (does he see any?). If you can reliably stress the opponents ships, he can be a cheap and heavy hitter but tough enough to take down. So I started the list with:

Eaden Vrill (32)

"Hobbie" Klivian (25)

- R3-A2 (2)

and added 2 A-Wings, mostly because I didn't have to opportunity to play with the A-Wings recently and wanted to get them out of the box for a bit. The basic idea is that you focus on an opponents ship. First you stress it with Hobbie, hit hard with Target Lock, thereby clearing his own stress and then hitting it with the now improved Eaden Vrill and the rest of the squad. On top of that you limit the opponents moves the next round and you punish every list that relies on stress. There's a lot of Push the Limits out there and you basically take that card away.

The squad performed very well and easily took down a Decimator list and a rebel list with Keyan Farlander (I don't remember the exact lists).

However I feared that Eaden would loose a lot of punch once Hobbie is taken down. So I looked for other opportunities to stress the opponent. Also I was not very happy with the performance of the A-Wings. My next list was:

Eaden Vrill (32)

- Intelligence Agent (1)

"Hobbie" Klivian (25)

- R3-A2 (2)

Blue Squadron Pilot (22)

- Tactician (2)

- B-Wing/E2 (1)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

- Ion Pulse Missiles (3)

This list had better offense and 2 additional control elements. The Z-95 is a juicy target as the opponent should shoot it down before it gets the missile off. But if the opponent shoots it down first, oh well, I've only lost 15 points. If not, the Bandit can do that crucial ionization.

I gave my brother a Super Move Dash list with Corran Horn and tested against it. I went 2:0, once ionising Dash off the board (to be fair, that was a mistake from my brother. He wanted to make a suprise move but I anticipated it and was ready with my Z-95 to ionise Dash and off it went...) and once shooting Dash down. It was then down to Corran Horn vs. Hobbie and the B-Wing. Klivian stayed behind Corran and piled up stress so that Corran never had the chance to turn around again and face his enemies.

Two things I didn't like about this list:

1. Intelligence Agent didn't shine. First of all I seem to forget its abilty all the time. But even if I would use it, it wouldn't serve me very well as I only have limited possibilites to reposition my ships. Eaden Vrill and the B-Wing can do a barrel roll, but that's it. Is it worth the point or is there a better option?

2. The Blue shoots after Eaden. If Klivian an the Blue pile up stress togehter, that's not a problem. But if Eaden needs the Blue to get that stress, the opponent can just do a green maneuver to clear it before Eaden can get some use out of it. I don't say it's bad to know the opponent cannot use Push the limit and has to do a green maneuver. But it's just not really what this list should do.

So the ovious choice is to promote the Blue to a Dagger. To get the points I took the missile from the Z-95, which leaves it as a filler with no specific role in the squad. Now for the last 2 remaining points I can either

- Give Eaden Vrill a Tactician to make even more stress.

- Upgrade the Bandit to a Tala and give Eaden a Tactical Jammer.

This is what I have at the moment:

Eaden Vrill (32)

- Tactical Jammer (1)

"Hobbie" Klivian (25)

- R3-A2 (2)

Dagger Squadron Pilot (24)

- Tactician (2)

- B-Wing/E2 (1)

Tala Squadron Pilot (13)

What are your thoughts about the squad? Is it competitive enough in the current meta? Is there some improvement that I've missed? What else do I have to look out for?

Thanks for your ideas!

Honorable mention:

Another squad that I've been testing for the Chamionship is

Keyan Farlander (29)

- Push the Limit (3)

- Advanced Sensors (3)

- Intelligence Agent (1)

- B-Wing/E2 (1)

Etahn A'baht (32)

- Push the Limit (3)

- Advanced Sensors (3)

- R2 Astromech (1)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

I'm 4:0 with it at the moment and am really happy with the performance of Keyan. I think this squad can do a lot of pain to decimators (all those crits piling up!). But I fear that it won't hold up against fat Han or Super Move Dash. What do you think?

Edited by cybu
Posted at

Just a thought, you could drop the Dagger (and it's stuff) to a Rookie Pilot, and the Tala to a Bandit. That frees up 7 points for an HLC on Vrill. This makes it more of a firepower (with some nicenough bonuses) list than a control list. Vrill is sort of just a Fringer+ in this case, but he is solid, I think. Lots of red dice and a pretty solid block of HP too.

Posted at

I've never really been a fan of Intel agent unless I'm really trying for some blocking with something that can barrel roll.

But I do like the concept of the list. I've wanted to find a place for vrill. I think the 2400 has such a great dial and with so many self stressing lists he can see some play.

The bwing Ewing list I might suggest trading as and the r2 unit to go up to R2D2. That regeneration ability has saved my Ewings many times over

Posted at

Eaden Vrill can use his ability only with his primary weapon. So a HLC won't be of much use.

Posted at

The final build is actually extremely similar to what I've been playing lately, including taking it to a store champ this weekend. The difference between yours and mine is I took Tarn instead of Hobbie, wasn't worried about being stressed and prefer Tarn's ability. Also allows me to upgrade the Tala to an A-wing which I much prefer for blocking and survivability. I also prefer Intel over Tact, 3 of your ships, if you're using a proto, are low ps with br or boost and it makes blocking or dodging arcs so much simpler, plus I found Vrill was usually the first target.

I ended up getting knocked out of the top four by the eventual winner after losing by 8 points in a 60 minute match. Was disappointing as I had 2 full health ships (Dagger and Proto) vs a banged up and stressed out Y and B-wing who were both out of position and unable to K-turn.

I actually still really like the list but found I slow played a bit too much and focused on controlling multiple ships with stress instead of focus firing, which you need to do in timed games. I think it's competitive if flown well.

Edited by stmack
Posted at

Eaden Vrill can use his ability only with his primary weapon. So a HLC won't be of much use.

Right on the first count, wrong on the second. First, HLCs are always good. Second, most stress clearing moves are straights and banks, meaning that stress clearing moves have a harder time getting out of the HLC arc. Opposing opponents are faced with 1 of 2 options: 1.) take a green move and get shot with an HLC (and likely some X-wings), or 2.) Hanging onto the stress, getting no action, and getting shot with a 3 die turret. Obviously there are ships that are exceptions, but in general the two types of attack (Turret/Fixed HLC) complement each other pretty well. It's pretty cheap for what you get, too.

Edited by Biophysical
Posted at

The final build is actually extremely similar to what I've been playing lately, including taking it to a store champ this weekend. The difference between yours and mine is I took Tarn instead of Hobbie, wasn't worried about being stressed and prefer Tarn's ability. Also allows me to upgrade the Tala to an A-wing which I much prefer for blocking and survivability. I also prefer Intel over Tact, 3 of your ships, if you're using a proto, are low ps with br or boost and it makes blocking or dodging arcs so much simpler, plus I found Vrill was usually the first target.

I ended up getting knocked out of the top four by the eventual winner after losing by 8 points in a 60 minute match. Was disappointing as I had 2 full health ships (Dagger and Proto) vs a banged up and stressed out Y and B-wing who were both out of position and unable to K-turn.

I actually still really like the list but found I slow played a bit too much and focused on controlling multiple ships with stress instead of focus firing, which you need to do in timed games. I think it's competitive if flown well.

That's very helpful. I actually thought about replacing Klivian myself and had Tarn in mind as a replacement. During some games I've had more than one stress on Klivian and found that it was better to keep stressing the opponent and thus keeping stressed myself than going easy on the opponent and getting the action back.

I'll have time to test tomorrow and will maybe try your list.

Eaden Vrill can use his ability only with his primary weapon. So a HLC won't be of much use.

Right on the first count, wrong on the second. First, HLCs are always good. Second, most stress clearing moves are straights and banks, meaning that stress clearing moves have a harder time getting out of the HLC arc. Opposing opponents are faced with 1 of 2 options: 1.) take a green move and get shot with an HLC (and likely some X-wings), or 2.) Hanging onto the stress, getting no action, and getting shot with a 3 die turret. Obviously there are ships that are exceptions, but in general the two types of attack (Turret/Fixed HLC) complement each other pretty well. It's pretty cheap for what you get, too.

I get what you mean and I think you have some valuable points. But I still think it's kind of a nonbo. With this list I don't want to joust with Vrill. And if I wanted a HLC I would just downgrade Vrill and get an Outrider title for 3 additional points thus getting a permanent 4th die. But with my list I've gotten that 4th die quite often anyway.

Posted at

Try this list. Should meet your criteria.

Eaden Vrill — YT-2400 32
Ion Cannon 3
Dash Rendar 2

"Hobbie" Klivian — X-Wing 25
R3-A2 2

Jan Ors — HWK-290 25
Swarm Tactics 2
Ion Cannon Turret 5
Kyle Katarn 3

Posted at

Interesting to see how close this is to my Vrilled pork list...

Jek Porkins + R3-A2 + Veteran Instincts (29)
Eaden Vrill + Tactician (34)
Jan Ors + Ion cannon Turret + Kyle Katarn + Engine Upgrade. (37)



I'd find a way to put an engine upgrade on Jan Ors here, as it helps her kite arcs, and works well in tune with kyle and the greens she's likely to be often doing.

I've really decided on liking that Jan + Vrill combination - it's the last 29 points (Porkins) that probably needs a change to something else.

Posted at

Interesting to see how close this is to my Vrilled pork list...

Jek Porkins + R3-A2 + Veteran Instincts (29)

Eaden Vrill + Tactician (34)

Jan Ors + Ion cannon Turret + Kyle Katarn + Engine Upgrade. (37)

I'd find a way to put an engine upgrade on Jan Ors here, as it helps her kite arcs, and works well in tune with kyle and the greens she's likely to be often doing.

I've really decided on liking that Jan + Vrill combination - it's the last 29 points (Porkins) that probably needs a change to something else.

Originally was thinking Porkins or Luke but then I remembered how low a PS Vrill is. So I decided on the "Poor Man's Porkins" and went with Hobbie. And Swarm on Jan.