I'm fairly new, just a few weeks into playing X-Wing, though no rookie to miniatures games, I'm limited on options at the moment as my additional 4 Tie Fighters I purchased won't make it in on time for my tournament. In stock I currently have 1 Phantom, 1 Defender, and 3 Ties with everything they come with and nothing extra. What do I run to be semi competitive in a 100 point casual tourney? I've played well enough to place in the middle twice with Whisper and an advanced swarm before. I'm thinking.....

Phantom

-Whisper

VI, fire control system, ACD

Defender

-Rexler

Draw their fire, Ion cannon, Shield Upgrade

Backstabber or Dark Curse

(Leaning towards Backstabber to better utilize with an Ion cannon hit)

I wouldn't bother with ion cannon on a named Defender---its just not really worth the loss in damage output since you will inevitably have a low firepower list due to paucity of ships.

This might work well:

Whisper w/ VI, FCS & ACD = 39

Vessery = 35

2 obsidian pilots = 13 x 2

Vessery feeds off of Whisper's FCS to make use of his ability and get decent damage output while the pair of fighters run interference and try to keep some of the heat off your heavy hitters.