Heyo,

Going to a tournament this weekend, and I think I'm going to wind up with the Palpmobile & 2 Aces Combo. Currently thinking of:

Omicron Group Pilot w/ Palpy

Fel w/ PTL, Title, AT & SD

Vader w/ VI, EU, Title, ATC

99 Points with a small initiative bid -- I don't know what the local meta has been lately, but with the Gozanti drop and other goodies, I don't really know what else I'll see to compete with Fel's PS. Absolutely nothing revolutionary in this list, obviously, but I'm really just waiting for Imperial Veterans, then I'll be stuck using Defenders in everything I do...

Two questions:

1. What are the worst lists to run up against with the Palp & 2 Aces setup?

2. Other suggestions on the Aces -- anyone have something that's been more effective than this duo?

I would be on the lookout for quad TLTs. Also you don't want to see the Stresshog anywhere near Soontir. Or Vader.

I have a good friend who runs a palp build, in his build he puts palp and ysanne issard on chirpy's deci, with Vader running escort. I believe the other upgrades on chirpy are engine and veteran instincts. Chirpy puts out such ridiculously reliable damage in that list.

I was just trying to put Ysanne, Kallus, and Gunner on Kenkirk's Lone Wolf/EU Deci with standard VI Vader in escort....

It's not by any means more effective, but I like running Maarek Stele with ATC and Calculation, Darth Vader with ATC and something else (haven't quite figured him out just yet. Usually go with Predator, though) and Jendon with Palpatine. Jendon makes up for Stele's lack of action economy, giving him the Target Lock he needs while he takes a Focus for his ability. It's not the best build, but against builds that aren't arc dodger-heavy, it does some major work. I got 7 damage on a YV-666 with Stele once. It had one shield left, and Stele rolled a single hit, a blank, and an eyeball. ATC added a crit, Calculation turned the eyeball to a hit, and Palpatine turned the blank to a hit. Bossk blanked his one evade dice, and I used Stele's ability to get the three crits to all be Direct Hit. It was beautiful.

I was just trying to put Ysanne, Kallus, and Gunner on Kenkirk's Lone Wolf/EU Deci with standard VI Vader in escort....

With Lone Wolf and Kallus on Kenkirk you already have 2 modifiers for both attack and defense so Gunner seems a bit wasted here. Especially if your running VI (or Pred) Vader here as he could be stripping tokens first.

I was just trying to put Ysanne, Kallus, and Gunner on Kenkirk's Lone Wolf/EU Deci with standard VI Vader in escort....

With Lone Wolf and Kallus on Kenkirk you already have 2 modifiers for both attack and defense so Gunner seems a bit wasted here. Especially if your running VI (or Pred) Vader here as he could be stripping tokens first.

Sometimes modifiers aren't enough. Sometimes you need to chew through token stacks, and one ship shooting before you ain't enough to get the job done. Yes, we're talking about Soontir. Also doesn't hurt against autothruster ships, like BroBots. Also just doesn't hurt when your first roll is 3 blanks, which happens from time to time. Only other real contender for the slot is Rebel Captive.

I've really been digging the following list:

[Rule of Two]

98 points

PILOTS

Darth Vader (35)
TIE Advanced (29), TIE/x1 (0), Veteran Instincts (1), Engine Upgrade (4), Advanced Targeting Computer (5)

Commander Kenkirk (63)
VT-49 Decimator (44), Predator (3), Emperor Palpatine (8), Ysanne Isard (4), Engine Upgrade (4)

Went 5-1 with it at a recent, 45 man tournament. Unfortunately the 1 loss was from the first round in the cut to Top 8, single elim. Not the lists fault, it was a really hard match-up where I totally botched the opening run, breaking two of the cardinal rules for this list. Lots of people are hating on two ship lists and pancakes, currently, but I still don't really feel that this list has substantial weaknesses. You have to know how to handle Stresshogs and TLTs, but as long as 4x TLT spam isn't super heavy in your meta, this list is worth considering.

I've really been digging the following list:

[Rule of Two]

98 points

PILOTS

Darth Vader (35)

TIE Advanced (29), TIE/x1 (0), Veteran Instincts (1), Engine Upgrade (4), Advanced Targeting Computer (5)

Commander Kenkirk (63)

VT-49 Decimator (44), Predator (3), Emperor Palpatine (8), Ysanne Isard (4), Engine Upgrade (4)

Went 5-1 with it at a recent, 45 man tournament. Unfortunately the 1 loss was from the first round in the cut to Top 8, single elim. Not the lists fault, it was a really hard match-up where I totally botched the opening run, breaking two of the cardinal rules for this list. Lots of people are hating on two ship lists and pancakes, currently, but I still don't really feel that this list has substantial weaknesses. You have to know how to handle Stresshogs and TLTs, but as long as 4x TLT spam isn't super heavy in your meta, this list is worth considering.

As someone who has built a similar list, how have you been handling stresshogs and TLT spam?

Also, On Vader I swapped VI and Engine for Pred and Stealth. Slight variance in playstyle, I'm curious what your thoughts are on the change?

I was just trying to put Ysanne, Kallus, and Gunner on Kenkirk's Lone Wolf/EU Deci with standard VI Vader in escort....

With Lone Wolf and Kallus on Kenkirk you already have 2 modifiers for both attack and defense so Gunner seems a bit wasted here. Especially if your running VI (or Pred) Vader here as he could be stripping tokens first.

Sometimes modifiers aren't enough. Sometimes you need to chew through token stacks, and one ship shooting before you ain't enough to get the job done. Yes, we're talking about Soontir. Also doesn't hurt against autothruster ships, like BroBots. Also just doesn't hurt when your first roll is 3 blanks, which happens from time to time. Only other real contender for the slot is Rebel Captive.

I agree however if Soontir has already shot you with Rebel captive (in place of Gunner) your likely now facing a double stressed Soontir. If your facing another VI'd Vader then he is likely stressed now as well which makes him predicable. With un-VI'd Brobots it would come down to who had initiative which could have either a stressed Brobot against you (again fairly predicable) or the ability to force the use of tokens in its defense.

As someone who has built a similar list, how have you been handling stresshogs and TLT spam?

Also, On Vader I swapped VI and Engine for Pred and Stealth. Slight variance in playstyle, I'm curious what your thoughts are on the change?

I don't see a reason to run Vader unless he has Engine and VI. If you're going with other EPTs, Vader may not be the pilot you're looking for. If you want damage, you don't want a ship that needs to spend an action just to get its third attack die online. If you want defense, Soontir has better upgrades for it and a thicker stack of defensive tokens. If you want the very last word in Aces, who can trump enemy Aces like Poe, Soontir, and even other Vaders (2pt bid), you're gonna need VI and Engine. He's the ultimate end game trump card, assuming you can get him to live that long, and he's not facing a full 100pt squadron of enemies, still.

4x TLT spam isn't a real thing in my meta. Mostly we see 2x TLTs and then some Aces. They're not free kills, but neither are they especially daunting. Your Decimator is fast and moves second. It can control range when it needs to and does healthy burst damage before they fire. Vader is good at hiding in their blind spots.

Stresshogs are very threatening to this list, but they can be dealt with if you have a plan. Essentially, you aim to be just out of R3 before combat starts, then speed up and rush into R1 during the first round of combat. Vader and Deci can both move quick, and they care little for being dealt 1 stress. After that, you're behind the Hog and the Deci can finish it up. This strategy works against all but very skilled opponents who designate a blocker for the Stresshog, in which case you should try and position to fly past with a pre-emptive barrel roll from Vader on the prior turn.

The match I eventually lost was a nightmare match-up, with Biggs, Stresshog, Z-95 Blocker (for the Hog) and another X-Wing. Vader and Deci both dislike 4 ship lists (though I'm finding 3 ship lists to be more popular, currently), and the inability to start shooting a the Stresshog first was rough. Still, this is a very corner case, and I attribute that loss to the fact that it was hour 8 and I got very sloppy. With better piloting, the list could have prevailed.