I'm still a little new to x-wing. Having a blast and enjoying the learning. I'm trying all sorts of squads. I've heard discussion of "pirate" squads. If I understand correctly, these mixed rebels and imperials? True? Has the anticipation of Scum & Villiany taken the interest away? Is anyone playing this format? I'd be intersted. Anyone else? Share your thoughts? I'm in the Baltimore Washington area.

That's not an overly popular 'format", even before Scum & Villainy, and that third faction doesn't really change how that "format" works. The basics to how that format works is only generics are allowed to be used.

The Pirates format is a fun diversion from playing standard format. Our Friday night league play does it about once as we mix formats and build points for some variety.

From memory, the format is:

Can mix Rebel and Imperial.

No unique pilots or upgrades.

No more than one of any kind of ship.

Because it's all generics, we haven't encountered any broken play.

It's probably not the most popular everywhere because it doesn't follow the standard format and doesn't prepare you for tournaments. We tend not to schedule it the month of our Store Championship to help people get into that mindset.