I'm trying to get into X-wing and I was wondering if the list is viable for starters:

Epsilon Leader (19) TIE/fo Fighter (19)

Storm Squadron Pilot (27) TIE Advanced (23), TIE/x1 (0), Accuracy Corrector (0), Cluster Missiles (4)

Storm Squadron Pilot (27) TIE Advanced (23), TIE/x1 (0), Accuracy Corrector (0), Cluster Missiles (4)

Storm Squadron Pilot (27) TIE Advanced (23), TIE/x1 (0), Accuracy Corrector (0), Cluster Missiles (4)

Total: 100

Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated.

Is that AC going to synergize with the Cluster Missiles the way I'm thinking? If so I'd wager that's a hard hitting ordnance blast. 4 hits per missile volley could put the hurt on pretty much anything.

A Raider, two Tie Adv, and a Coreset to run all that. Not bad for a list as I think you are under the $200 mark, but that's a big investment for a new player. Maybe start out with the core set and a Tie Adv and see how you like Imps before you drop the cash?

I never thought about Cluster Missiles and AC. That's a really decent combo. That would be 12 unmitigated damage to a Decimator, if all three got arcs on it early on, and that's not accounting for good natural rolls that don't require AC. You've got a really great chance of killing one off in turn one.

That being said, all of the Advanced would benefit GREATLY from an Engine Upgrade (which is going to add to your initial costs by a decent amount). I'd drop the TIE/fo entirely, add engine upgrades, and maybe upgrade/downgrade the current Advanced to fit in a named pilot or two.

... I'm actually going to go throw a list together now and see how I like it, but this idea is extremely appealing to me, despite having weaknesses.

No comment on the ships as I don't fly advanced very much, but the clash comes to me with "new player" and the implied "buying two raider expansion sets for three cards". Maybe you found the cards cheaper, though I would think they wouldn't be cheap by themselves, but what do I know... I buy whole sets for cards when I can. Just seems overly ambitious on the money front for a new player.

When the X-1 title was first spoiled, accuracy corrector + clusters got the community pretty excited. Lists like 'AC/DC' (4 tempests w/ accuracy corrector + Dark Curse) and 4 cluster missiles tempests (accuracy corrector + clusters) were two lists lots of people seemed excited to play. However, I have never seen those lists personally, and I have never heard anyone doing well with either. I surmise that they ended up being not nearly as effective as some had hoped, due to low Pilot Skill.

Running Storm Squadron with accuracy corrector, clusters and engine upgrade costs 31 points. Its pretty hefty for a generic advanced, and while the PS4 and engine helps get the missiles off, at the end of the day, your still leaving yourself with some pretty difficult matchups. I would not recommend running more than two such ships, and making sure the 3rd ship was very capable of shoring up those weaknesses (high PS arc-dodgers being prime).

^You only need one Raider expansion -- it comes with 4 copies of the TIE Advanced fixes.

My attempt at a list. I was going to try and fit Vader on there, for the action economy, but he just wanted ATC too much for me to justify giving him AC.

============ Cluster ***k ============

100 points

Pilots

------

Storm Squadron Pilot (31) TIE Advanced, TIE/x1 (0), Cluster Missiles (4), Engine Upgrade (4), Accuracy Corrector (3)

Commander Alozen (34) TIE Advanced, TIE/x1 (0), Cluster Missiles (4), Crack Shot (1), Engine Upgrade (4), Accuracy Corrector (3)

Zertik Strom (35) TIE Advanced, TIE/x1 (0), Cluster Missiles (4), Crack Shot (1), Engine Upgrade (4), Accuracy Corrector (3)

I wouldn't mind trying to fit someone else on there, either Vader or maybe Juno, just so you can have a higher PS option against arc dodgers.

I happen to have three Advanced, I think I'm going to play around with the AC & Cluster Missile pairing a bit, maybe bring it to a local tournament.

EDIT: Ah, yeah, I only started playing recently, towards the end of the 2015 store tournament run. I've been collecting off an on since release, but didn't have anyone regular to play with. Found two stores nearby that run (or are willing to run) tournaments/game nights, and finally got my brother hooked. So I missed most of the hubbub prior to the recent meta. I'm working my way through the Nova Squadron Radio podcasts to get in touch with some of the things I missed out on.

I'm not quite sold on the Epsilon Leader here, how often do you expect to be stressed?

I'm thinking OP is proxying here? A starting player with two TIE Advanced expansions, a couple of StarVipers and a Raider seems... excessive to start? .

Ahh... that's good to know. I remembered when news first came out that it listed having two titles for the Advanced. Thanks for clarifying that for me. Obviously I haven't bought one yet or I would know that.

What about these ones?

Darth Vader (35) TIE Advanced (29), TIE/x1 (0), Accuracy Corrector (0), Cluster Missiles (4), Squad Leader (2)

Zertik Strom (31) TIE Advanced (26), TIE/x1 (0), Accuracy Corrector (0), Cluster Missiles (4), Veteran Instincts (1)

Carnor Jax (34) TIE Interceptor (26), Expose (4), Royal Guard TIE (0), Stealth Device (3), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

and

Soontir Fel (34) TIE Interceptor (27), Push the Limit (3), Royal Guard TIE (0), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1), Stealth Device (3)

“Whisper” (36) TIE Phantom (32), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Zertik Strom (30) TIE Advanced (26), TIE/x1 (0), Accuracy Corrector (0), Cluster Missiles (4)

What about these ones?

Darth Vader (35) TIE Advanced (29), TIE/x1 (0), Accuracy Corrector (0), Cluster Missiles (4), Squad Leader (2)

Zertik Strom (31) TIE Advanced (26), TIE/x1 (0), Accuracy Corrector (0), Cluster Missiles (4), Veteran Instincts (1)

Carnor Jax (34) TIE Interceptor (26), Expose (4), Royal Guard TIE (0), Stealth Device (3), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

and

Soontir Fel (34) TIE Interceptor (27), Push the Limit (3), Royal Guard TIE (0), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1), Stealth Device (3)

“Whisper” (36) TIE Phantom (32), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Zertik Strom (30) TIE Advanced (26), TIE/x1 (0), Accuracy Corrector (0), Cluster Missiles (4)

First List:

Vader really likes advanced targeting computer better. Even with cluster missiles, he cannot do as much damage using accuracy corrector as he can with ATC. Zertik and Carnor are BFFs, so running them together is a good idea. Expose is not a good idea, however. Even with Vader's free action to give Carnor a focus token, and even with stealth device to try to shore up the downside, I still think Expose is a terrible idea, especially on a ship so fragile as an interceptor. With that in mind, I would suggest:

Vader w/ x-1, ATC, veteran instincts & engine upgrade = 35

Jax w/ push the limit, autothrusters & hull upgrade = 34

Strom w/ x-1, veteran instincts, accuracy corrector & cluster missiles = 31

100

I don't know how expensive it would be to acquire all those cards, but it would be much more effective for you. All of your ships are versatile; capable of working closely together or spread out. Flexibility is nice in this game, because it means you have very few weaknesses and fewer bad matchups.

2nd list:

I would not recommend flying Soontir and Whisper together in the same list. They share the same weaknesses, so if someone brings a 'hard-counter', you've doubled down on how bad the matchup will be for you. For example, both Whisper and Soontir hate to see rebel captive, Darth Vader crew (especially combined with gunner) or lists featuring ways to 'double stress' your ships. They are also kind of hard to fly, so not the most forgiving or easiest to learn the game with (although Carnor Jax falls in this category too, but at least its just 1 ship in your first list).

What about these ones?

Darth Vader (35) TIE Advanced (29), TIE/x1 (0), Accuracy Corrector (0), Cluster Missiles (4), Squad Leader (2)

Zertik Strom (31) TIE Advanced (26), TIE/x1 (0), Accuracy Corrector (0), Cluster Missiles (4), Veteran Instincts (1)

Carnor Jax (34) TIE Interceptor (26), Expose (4), Royal Guard TIE (0), Stealth Device (3), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

and

Soontir Fel (34) TIE Interceptor (27), Push the Limit (3), Royal Guard TIE (0), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1), Stealth Device (3)

“Whisper” (36) TIE Phantom (32), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Zertik Strom (30) TIE Advanced (26), TIE/x1 (0), Accuracy Corrector (0), Cluster Missiles (4)

First List:

Vader really likes advanced targeting computer better. Even with cluster missiles, he cannot do as much damage using accuracy corrector as he can with ATC. Zertik and Carnor are BFFs, so running them together is a good idea. Expose is not a good idea, however. Even with Vader's free action to give Carnor a focus token, and even with stealth device to try to shore up the downside, I still think Expose is a terrible idea, especially on a ship so fragile as an interceptor. With that in mind, I would suggest:

Vader w/ x-1, ATC, veteran instincts & engine upgrade = 35

Jax w/ push the limit, autothrusters & hull upgrade = 34

Strom w/ x-1, veteran instincts, accuracy corrector & cluster missiles = 31

100

I don't know how expensive it would be to acquire all those cards, but it would be much more effective for you. All of your ships are versatile; capable of working closely together or spread out. Flexibility is nice in this game, because it means you have very few weaknesses and fewer bad matchups.

2nd list:

I would not recommend flying Soontir and Whisper together in the same list. They share the same weaknesses, so if someone brings a 'hard-counter', you've doubled down on how bad the matchup will be for you. For example, both Whisper and Soontir hate to see rebel captive, Darth Vader crew (especially combined with gunner) or lists featuring ways to 'double stress' your ships. They are also kind of hard to fly, so not the most forgiving or easiest to learn the game with (although Carnor Jax falls in this category too, but at least its just 1 ship in your first list).

Here's the new list:

Darth Vader (34) TIE Advanced (29), TIE/x1 (0), Advanced Targeting Computer (1), Exposed (34)

Zertik Strom (31) TIE Advanced (26), TIE/x1 (0), Accuracy Corrector (0), Cluster Missiles (4), Veteran Instincts (1)

Carnor Jax (35) Push the Limit (3), Royal Guard TIE (0), Autothrusters (2), Shield Upgrade (4)

I could probably drop Exposed and Shield to give Strom and Vader engine upgrades, but not 100% sure.

Definitely drop Expose for Engine Upgrades.

Red dice are fickle and you'll never want to use Expose if you're in someone's arc/range -- turret heavy meta means Expose is never really a good idea (unless slapped on a Decimator).

I could probably drop Exposed and Shield to give Strom and Vader engine upgrades, but not 100% sure.

Expose is so bad. Its literally the worst card in the game. You'd do yourself a favour by burning it

I think engine is good on Vader, but not necessary for Strom. Jax needs protection more than Strom needs an engine, however. I would just re-recommend the list I posted above

I wouldn't say exposed is the worse. Again, it has at least one use -- on most Decimators. And it's one of the few cards that sees use with Experimental Interface, alongside the Deci.

I would look at one of the ordinance cards as being worst, most likely.