I'm looking at playing in a Store Championship this weekend and my collection is still a bit on the small side (2 core, imp aces, tie, z-95, tie advanced, and tie bomber).

List I'm thinking of taking:

Vader +Cluster missiles +Expert Handling + Shield Upgrade 39

Academy Pilot 12

Academy Pilot 12

Academy Pilot 12

Academy Pilot 12

Academy Pilot 12

99/100

The local meta is heavy on decimators, phantoms, and yt lists (both fat han and some dash + horn lists). There were no tie swarms in the last tournament and 1 awing swarm list.

Corrected the list and went with a mini swarm + vader. The idea would be vader is there to fight phantoms but I skipped swarm tactics and squad leader because I feel this approach will keep him alive for late game and as a result make it so the other guy is more likely to go after academy pilots.

You can't field that list with the components that you listed. Imperial Aces doesn't come with Alpha Squads.

oh good point. Let me edit and get back to you in a minute

May I suggest the following for Vader:

Cluster Missiles

Predator

Engine Upgrade

Expert Handling is kind of wasted on Vader since he already has a BR action. Engine Upgrade will give you more mobility and Predator will give you re-rolls.

May I suggest the following for Vader:

Cluster Missiles

Predator

Engine Upgrade

Expert Handling is kind of wasted on Vader since he already has a BR action. Engine Upgrade will give you more mobility and Predator will give you re-rolls.

Well I can see where that would be valuable but I simply dont own the engine upgrade or predator cards. I went with the expert handling not for the BR but for the ability to drop target locks. Played the list yesterday and found it worked fairly well. My opponent was not happy how long vader stayed up and we called it a draw after we both got down to one ship (the game had gone quite long at that point). If it had been a 60 minute game i probably would have won by points narrowly.

Vader + 5 TIES was great back in wave 1, but I'm not sure how good it will do in today's meta.

I've done okay with Vader and 5 academies. It's a fun list to fly, but if you can find someone willing to lend you outmanuever, Prockets, and EU, that's what really makes him potent.

Otherwise, I'd suggest Carnor Jax with PTL, Shield, Hull, RGT, which allows you to upgrade the mini-swarm a bit (Backstabber, or add afew obsidians).

Vader, now a days, is worthless without his engine upgrade. The mini-swarm is ok, however, it is not a good match with Vader. I would go with a Vader/Fel combo with a TIE or 2.

The TIE Fighters are ok but I dislike that load out on Vader although I'm not sure there's much you can do about it.