Great write up and congrats on your finish. What rocks/debris did you bring and how did you try and position it?

First great job. However. i watched the game you lost. Why did you not target lock with Rex more. I think vessery rerolling could have been huge for you. Still great job!

Lastly most people don't have issues with the named pilots. Although the dial is just not what it should be. But most people want unnamed pilots to be better. Good luck in future tournaments

A fantastic read - to see some of the most common lists get repeatedly beaten down by my favourite ship and my favourite pilot (Mr Rexler Brath) is amazing, not to mention heartening - certainly I'm going to try out some 2/3 Defender lists myself!

Did you find the Ion Pulse Missiles to be all that useful? There seems not to be any mention of their use and I wonder if perhaps the points could be spent elsewhere?

Great write up and congrats on your finish. What rocks/debris did you bring and how did you try and position it?

I used the large rock and 2 smaller rocks. I usually tried to set them up in a loose group near the middle. I can usually maneuver my small based ships in and around them better than the large based ones. It gives extra defense and denies some space to move to the opponent's large bases.

First great job. However. i watched the game you lost. Why did you not target lock with Rex more. I think vessery rerolling could have been huge for you. Still great job!

Lastly most people don't have issues with the named pilots. Although the dial is just not what it should be. But most people want unnamed pilots to be better. Good luck in future tournaments

I honestly don't remember the reasoning for a lot of decisions that I made in that game. It may have helped to TL more.

A fantastic read - to see some of the most common lists get repeatedly beaten down by my favourite ship and my favourite pilot (Mr Rexler Brath) is amazing, not to mention heartening - certainly I'm going to try out some 2/3 Defender lists myself!

Did you find the Ion Pulse Missiles to be all that useful? There seems not to be any mention of their use and I wonder if perhaps the points could be spent elsewhere?

I used them in the first game. In other games I think their presence restricted some movement, but they weren't fired.

Hey Bio

A question for you, will you continue down the Defender path or switch it up again? Do you think the key to being so successful is 'catching' the meta off guard with a list like this or do you think with careful consideration and development you can continue to use this list to great success?

Way to go Bio. You are a braver man than I. I was considering a Brath/Soontir combo with Dark Curse thrown in, but I don't think I'm going to run it in my upcoming regional.

One problem I always have with the Defender is facing Phantoms or Soontir. They can just run circles around you and unless you can pin them down with an Ion, its an uphill battle. Also you can't forget their wingman good ole Chirpy. Luckily you didn't draw that matchup.

I don't know if I can't play Soontir right in practice games, or what, but I found that the K-turn really mitigated a lot of his maneuverability advantage. I was only able to play him once against a person, and it ended up 1 on 1 against Lone Wolf Vessery with 4 hp left. Soontir had a really hard time punching through those Greens, and if he pulled in close for a 4 dice attack, a K-turn almost always would put me in a really good position the following round.

True. I could see Soontir having a hard time punching through that combo. Unfortunately, left 1 on 1 with Vessery you are behind in points. Phantoms are more of a problem in my experience. They throw enough die that they don't care about 3 agility and you have to VI Brath to get past PS 9.

Vessery is worth more than Soontir, so you can play a little defensively if it comes to that matchup. Phantoms are a different story, because they hit way harder. I had contingency plans against them, but never ran into one.

Phantoms were no match for my Rexler+HLC+Predator+Stealth Device. I've played against both Whisper and Echo.

Hey Bio

A question for you, will you continue down the Defender path or switch it up again? Do you think the key to being so successful is 'catching' the meta off guard with a list like this or do you think with careful consideration and development you can continue to use this list to great success?

I would definitely keep flying Defenders competitively given the opportunity. I really enjoy how they move, and in all honesty I like surprising people when they win. Some of their advantage is that lots of people don't really have a plan for them. I don't really think this advantage will go away, though. Even if I were able to take it to half a dozen tournaments, I think I'd probably be the only one. Their advantages are sometimes too subtle or weird to overcome their inefficiencies without a LOT of practice. Consequently, I'd be surprised to ever see people prepare against them unless I got top 4+ for 4 tournaments in a row and someone knew I was coming. Considering someone can run into mass quantities of Corran, Fel, Decimators, etc., it just doesn't seem likely that people would prepare for such an odd list. I'd love to be wrong, though. I'd love to see lots of people take them and get good with them and start making them ships to be feared. I'd love to take it to more tournaments, but for various real-life reasons, I won't be doing any more major tournaments this year. By next year, who knows what I'll want to fly.

Phantoms were no match for my Rexler+HLC+Predator+Stealth Device. I've played against both Whisper and Echo.

I've beat Echo with my list in a small local tournament, but I'm curious how your games typically have gone against them. Pre- or post-nerf?

Hey Bio

A question for you, will you continue down the Defender path or switch it up again? Do you think the key to being so successful is 'catching' the meta off guard with a list like this or do you think with careful consideration and development you can continue to use this list to great success?

I would definitely keep flying Defenders competitively given the opportunity. I really enjoy how they move, and in all honesty I like surprising people when they win. Some of their advantage is that lots of people don't really have a plan for them. I don't really think this advantage will go away, though. Even if I were able to take it to half a dozen tournaments, I think I'd probably be the only one. Their advantages are sometimes too subtle or weird to overcome their inefficiencies without a LOT of practice. Consequently, I'd be surprised to ever see people prepare against them unless I got top 4+ for 4 tournaments in a row and someone knew I was coming. Considering someone can run into mass quantities of Corran, Fel, Decimators, etc., it just doesn't seem likely that people would prepare for such an odd list. I'd love to be wrong, though. I'd love to see lots of people take them and get good with them and start making them ships to be feared. I'd love to take it to more tournaments, but for various real-life reasons, I won't be doing any more major tournaments this year. By next year, who knows what I'll want to fly.

Phantoms were no match for my Rexler+HLC+Predator+Stealth Device. I've played against both Whisper and Echo.

I've beat Echo with my list in a small local tournament, but I'm curious how your games typically have gone against them. Pre- or post-nerf?

Post nerf mostly and Rexler's 4 dice HLC is quite brutal against them especially if running a PS10 Boba + HLC with him. Boba strips shields/tokens and Rexler cleans up.

Dual HLC's are pretty tough to beat regardless of what the build is. They chew through pretty much anything. With Rexler with Stealth Device I tend to keep the focus for defence and only use it if i can flip more than 1 crit against something hard to kill like Soontir, Chewie or Leebo. Flipping 4 crits on a decimator is quite fun too. Watching them having to resolve all 4 crits can be pretty rewarding and funny at the same time.

Thanks a lot for writing this very interesting regionals report. Pretty cool seeing a double Defender list performing so well.

... also best greetings from my FLGS, he just wanted to thank you to make me buy 2 Defenders

I toyed around with some variations of them since then and had some really nice results so far. However I'm curious about some things and therefore it would be great getting some feedback from you.

- when it comes to elite upgrades, I'm really torn what to pick. I played a few games with PTL and Engine on both of them, and found it pretty cool actually. Have you maybe considered them?

-I also thought about adding VI on Vessery at least, but not sure here either. Have you ever felt the low pilotskill on both (compared to Soontir etc) to be an issue?

- have you considered changing Vessery into something like a Firespray or maybe even a Phantom or a mini swarm? Not sure it's good or not, just thinking out loud

- which matchups would you consider good, which bad ... and why?

Again, thanks a lot, have a nice weekend

Thanks a lot for writing this very interesting regionals report. Pretty cool seeing a double Defender list performing so well.

... also best greetings from my FLGS, he just wanted to thank you to make me buy 2 Defenders

I toyed around with some variations of them since then and had some really nice results so far. However I'm curious about some things and therefore it would be great getting some feedback from you.

- when it comes to elite upgrades, I'm really torn what to pick. I played a few games with PTL and Engine on both of them, and found it pretty cool actually. Have you maybe considered them?

-I also thought about adding VI on Vessery at least, but not sure here either. Have you ever felt the low pilotskill on both (compared to Soontir etc) to be an issue?

- have you considered changing Vessery into something like a Firespray or maybe even a Phantom or a mini swarm? Not sure it's good or not, just thinking out loud

- which matchups would you consider good, which bad ... and why?

Again, thanks a lot, have a nice weekend

1.) I don't especially like PTL on Defenders as they don't shed stress well enough to use it regularly, and the don't have an evade action to stack tokens defensively. I also find that K-turn + action is lost if you K-turn while stressed. You lose some of that brute force advantage that you get from multiple K-turns in a row.

2.) I don't really feel like the PS is an issue. My strategy vs Arc Dodgers is to engage at long range where it's hard to get out of arc. That doesn't require high PS to work. VI on Vessery is decent, because it makes both of their abilities easier to use.

3.) I tried running Rex and Boba Fett for a while, but couldn't really get my head around the Firespray. I believe Ynot has run that build quite a bit, though. I did try Soontir with a TIE fight, which was pretty good, but I just found two Defenders to be more fun.

I have 3 lists that I run with defender/firespray and detailed the lists as well as playing strategy here https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/180369-strategy-thread-killing-turrets/page-3#entry1663403

Hiya Bio .. so I think have a question that I don't recall being asked before about your build .. how many red moves have you made with this list .. maybe a bit more specific, how many did you make that day in KC..

In the KC Regional I made at least 1. I distinctly remember using a 1 turn to jam up Boba Fett in an asteroid field. There might have been 1 or 2 others. My normal rate is about once every other game or so. Interesting question. When you need it, it ends up being a really useful move.

Thank you ... I guess the follow up would be did you clear the stress next round or hold on to it for a turn or two ... Honestly I'm just trying to plan in case we face each other again .. haha..

Nice to see someone not underestimate the Defender.

Congrats on flying something that you are passionate about and doing well! I bought a defender with my starter box as well, and I would love to fly them more. Are you going to make it to any other regionals?

This was my one and only shot at a Regional this year because of work and family stuff. We'll see how next year shakes out.

Nice read on this thread, Biophysical. I have been in love with the TIE Defenders since I played TIE Fighter, and I was a bit dissapointed with their status within x-wing miniatures. Las weekend I went to a store championship with a Rexler + Whisper build, and had a LOT of fun, but the rebel captive on a decimator took me away from any chances of winning (Chirpy almost got thrown off the table with the ion torp, but a few milimeters saved him with a hard 2). In the other hand, I did beat the former champion of a previous tourney and his double IG, and a loaded Chewbacca quite easily.

My list just copied your rexler exchanging predator for lone wolf, but I have that feeling, where I think things would have been better with Vessery, just because "Fire control system" would have helped a lot focusing things down even when lone wolf wouldn't activate.

My list was:

Rexxler (HLC + LW + Shield + Ion pulse missiles)

Whisper (VI + Gunner + ACD + FCS)

97 points of awesome. Would it be worth it if I switched rex for vessery? Would that hurt the list? Is Rexx's ability and PS worth the free TL that may allow an ion pulse missile later on?

Sorry about asking here instead of creating a new thread, but just wanted you to read it, even not being exactly double defender

I think either Rex or Vessery is fine in that list, and it kind of comes down to personal preference. Vessery will be doing a bit more damage overall, probably, because when you concentrate fire, FCS on Whisper will make Vessery's ability pretty easy to use. Because of that, he'll also be more defensive because you can more easily keep you Focus for defense. The downgrade in PS could hurt against the likes of Super-Dash, and potentially IG88s (although you have enough of an Initiative bid that Vessery is still probably moving later if you want). Rebel Captive does seem to hurt a Whisper build more than a dual Defender build. You could try and help this by putting Decoy on the TIE Defender (probably Vessery) to allow them to swap Pilot Skill values in that situation. That's a pretty big change to counter a single card, but it's an option.

No problem posting in this thread. I support the use of TIE Defenders in all lists.

Are there any videoes available from this event? I'd love to see the duel Defender list actually being played.

The only visual record, unfortunately, is the game I lost. It was broadcast on twitch under user "facesofderek". I don't know how twitch keeps those things around, though.

I hope they interview you for Nova Squadron Radio. That would be a blast to listen to.

I hope they interview you for Nova Squadron Radio. That would be a blast to listen to.

It was kind of funny, when I was playing my top 8 game, Richard Hsu was watching and he said that Nova should interview me for taking such a crazy list to Regionals (and getting that far).

Sadly it seems the only game on that channel still is the final. Drat.