i flew the list a lot back in the day and i have been dusting it off lately as tlt spam is not seen much in my environment these days. And the list can easily handle one or two tlts.

i used to run a flechettetorp for soontir but now i run stims instead. its pretty hefty and allows you to fly Xi even more aggressive. i think he still needs VI but my wet dream is to find something neat offensively to slap on him at some point if the meta changes from competing for ps 9. and it might just.

so as of now my list is:

xi, vi, fcs, at, stim, virago

5x binaries

99 points

the list rarely looses and seems to have a chance vs a lot of builds.

could it be a thing again?

I don't think it could be. 2 attack dice ships are obsolete unless you use Crackshot or Juke or something. The meta is no longer composed of 50% fat turrets that can be damaged on occasion, expect to shoot at Soontirs or regen Poes and do nothing.

However, with the release of Guidance Chips next wave, you may be better off ditching a Z and going for some missiles. Just like Black Squadrons are great uses of 15 points while Academies are wastes of 12 points, Z's are the same.

I suspect a Binarye or Bandit with Ion Pulse and Guidance Chips will be the Scum/Rebel version of the Crack Squadron. With more points you can go for more damaging missiles.

I prefer to fly my xi in a square

Nobody has any idea what you mean by Xi.

If you drop a Z , you could get flechette on Xizor.

and maybe 8 points of feedback array? or 4 points of PS3 Zs and 3 with feedback array. Should make soontir dead.

Vader might be worse: more health, ps11, just as maneuverable.

Wow i honestly had no idea what he meant either... What the hell is a Xi?

The problem with the list is that it's hard to keep the Z's with Xizor or either you do but then the good mobility of the fresh Prince is wasted until you run out of Binaries.

If you have a Hounds tooth I like to replace 3 headhunters for a slaver with with title. Gives you 4 more health for 1 less point.

title is just bad

slaver, gunner, bossk

xizor dies to TLTs.

because his ability is useless against them :C

I love Starvipers and find this not to be the case at all. Autothrusters+3 green dice+focus is a TLTs worst nightmare. Good old Fel just flat out laughs at TLTs (with or without Stealth Device).

I thought it was always called the xiswarm? Sorry if that term isnt a thing. Sadly i cant change the topic header. Xi refers to Prince xizor off the scum faction.

I've never heard it called that and I flew it last summer. Someone called it "Prince and the New Power Generation" and the name stuck around here. I took it to Regionals and almost made Top 16, but my dice went incredibly cold. I couldn't knock a Decimator down to half strength after 3 turns of firing with everything.

Z-zor

Pretty certain it's pronounced She-zor.

It is. I listened to the audiobook he was in and it's pronounced "She-zor".

I don't think it could be. 2 attack dice ships are obsolete unless you use Crackshot or Juke or something. The meta is no longer composed of 50% fat turrets that can be damaged on occasion, expect to shoot at Soontirs or regen Poes and do nothing.

I disagree. I think if you have a ship that has 3 attack dice and some action efficiency (Xizor) and a lot of 2 attack die ships, you can do well enough. Yes, there will be times when the dice won't go in your favor, but there will be times when you will hit. Xizor with FCS can usually strip some tokens off those like Soontir. With 5 ships attacking, your opponent will flub and be out of tokens by the end. Also, Poe is not so crazy (when not at R3) that you can't hit him with 2 attack die ships. Not all the time, but probably 50-50.

The problem with the list is that it's hard to keep the Z's with Xizor or either you do but then the good mobility of the fresh Prince is wasted until you run out of Binaries.

Have you flown the list? I've done it quite a bit and had few problems keeping Xizor around at least one Z-95.

Now....I want to know is how do you fly the list vs. TLT's? If you aren't having issues, I would like to know. I don't buy into Warpman's ideology that if his ability doesn't work against TLT's than he is utterly terrible and unable to be flown smartly. How do you fly Xizor to be effective vs. TLT's without Sensor Jammer?

Flechette Torpedo is good not just vs. Soontir, but especially against Bro Bots and Phantoms, too. Vader is another good one that hates stress.

The problem with the list is that it's hard to keep the Z's with Xizor or either you do but then the good mobility of the fresh Prince is wasted until you run out of Binaries.

Have you flown the list? I've done it quite a bit and had few problems keeping Xizor around at least one Z-95.

Now....I want to know is how do you fly the list vs. TLT's? If you aren't having issues, I would like to know. I don't buy into Warpman's ideology that if his ability doesn't work against TLT's than he is utterly terrible and unable to be flown smartly. How do you fly Xizor to be effective vs. TLT's without Sensor Jammer?

Flechette Torpedo is good not just vs. Soontir, but especially against Bro Bots and Phantoms, too. Vader is another good one that hates stress.

I have tried and tested the list, yes! I can't say i have really flown it, because i have never flown it in competitive gaming.

I was honestly not impressed at all with it, therefore i didn't bother anymore with it.

There are just more fun list for me to fly. If i had to dig it out again i would actually put Sensor Jammer on him regardless. Unlike what some people say i have found it very effective against TLT's and other threats. I largely prefer it over even FCS on expensive ships like Corran, Guri, Xizor... In this meta surviving to lategame with your aces is key, and SJ does that pretty well in combination with other defensive upgrades like AT and defensive actions

The only part i don't like is keeping Xizor with the Z's. As if he was a jouster!

I thought it was always called the xiswarm? Sorry if that term isnt a thing. Sadly i cant change the topic header. Xi refers to Prince xizor off the scum faction.

I've never heard it called that and I flew it last summer. Someone called it "Prince and the New Power Generation" and the name stuck around here. I took it to Regionals and almost made Top 16, but my dice went incredibly cold. I couldn't knock a Decimator down to half strength after 3 turns of firing with everything.

Z-zor

Pretty certain it's pronounced She-zor.

It is. I listened to the audiobook he was in and it's pronounced "She-zor".

I don't think it could be. 2 attack dice ships are obsolete unless you use Crackshot or Juke or something. The meta is no longer composed of 50% fat turrets that can be damaged on occasion, expect to shoot at Soontirs or regen Poes and do nothing.

I disagree. I think if you have a ship that has 3 attack dice and some action efficiency (Xizor) and a lot of 2 attack die ships, you can do well enough. Yes, there will be times when the dice won't go in your favor, but there will be times when you will hit. Xizor with FCS can usually strip some tokens off those like Soontir. With 5 ships attacking, your opponent will flub and be out of tokens by the end. Also, Poe is not so crazy (when not at R3) that you can't hit him with 2 attack die ships. Not all the time, but probably 50-50.

The problem with the list is that it's hard to keep the Z's with Xizor or either you do but then the good mobility of the fresh Prince is wasted until you run out of Binaries.

Have you flown the list? I've done it quite a bit and had few problems keeping Xizor around at least one Z-95.

Now....I want to know is how do you fly the list vs. TLT's? If you aren't having issues, I would like to know. I don't buy into Warpman's ideology that if his ability doesn't work against TLT's than he is utterly terrible and unable to be flown smartly. How do you fly Xizor to be effective vs. TLT's without Sensor Jammer?

Flechette Torpedo is good not just vs. Soontir, but especially against Bro Bots and Phantoms, too. Vader is another good one that hates stress.

Using 60 points of trash baby 2 attack dice ships just to do a plink damage or two to Poe is not at all efficient. His ability destroys 2 attack ships.

Soontir Fel is a lost cause.

Hence throwing Ion Pulse Missiles and Guidance Chips on Z's.

Using 60 points of trash baby 2 attack dice ships just to do a plink damage or two to Poe is not at all efficient. His ability destroys 2 attack ships.

Soontir Fel is a lost cause.

Hence throwing Ion Pulse Missiles and Guidance Chips on Z's.

Xizor attacks first and usually does at least one damage. The rest of the Z's will add in their plinks. It does add up. I'd expect to see 1-3 plinks from the Z's a turn. Including Xizor's attacks, that is enough.

I have tried and tested the list, yes! I can't say i have really flown it, because i have never flown it in competitive gaming.

I was honestly not impressed at all with it, therefore i didn't bother anymore with it.

...

The only part i don't like is keeping Xizor with the Z's. As if he was a jouster!

I haven't really tried it yet since this summer, but I had fun with it. It was excellent at killing fat turrets and bro bots. It especially ate Bro Bots for breakfast. The Z's gotten eaten up fast and it usually came down to Xizor facing off against one ship at the end.

I found that you joust for a turn or two with the list. Use your Z's to cause bumpage to maximize all the shots on the same guys. After that, you gotta turn around and you just need to include at least one guy near Xizor. It wasn't a problem before, but again, I haven't tried it in the latest meta.

I've had fun with this list.

Xizor - VI, FCS Virago, Autothrusters, Inertial, dampeners

Trandoshan Slaver - Bossk, Gunner, Tactician

Binayre Pirate x 2

100 pts.

I is a lot of fun, and the slaver seems to be the higher priority, which gives Xizor the opportunity to flank. But, I'm wondering if tactician is really worth it, as keeping things range 2 with the slaver is fairly difficult. If I switched FCS to Sensor Jammer, I think Xizor would live longer, but I'm not sure his attack dice would be potent enough without FCS. Any thoughts? I love this thread, it has given me a lot of ideas already, so thank you.

Ok. to get back on track with this wonderful thread; i have done some testing. The list is still super potent. i have beaten palp and aces, crackbot and boba as well as rebel swarm. Narrow losses to crack swarm and whisper plus 3 cracks and an AP are also pn the record. All games a tight with the list but it stands a fair chance in most match ups, imho. Any comments are welcomed.

could it be a thing again?

It never really was a thing.

why should it suddenly become one?

it works as it did before - now you just won't see any PWTs at all, and will see more TLTs, that aren't that surprised to see the swarm, taking it out one by one with higher PS.

as always, the swarm is a swarm, and it's power is in numbers (R1 shots!) and blocking.

why is Xizor there outside riding a beautiful Starviper is something that I never truly understood

Something I was tinkering with last year that got shelved was Xizor with three Unhinged Autoblaster Thugs. It's an incredibly sturdy list with some real damage potential. It definitely lacks range vs. two TLT Y-Wings but can generally close range and overpower any two ships with just the Thugs while Xizor does whatever the hell he wants.

Could I perhaps offer a slight variation to your xiswarm:

Xizor + VI + Flechette + Virago + FCS + Autothrusters

Thug + TLT + unhinged

3 x Binayre Pirates

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Scum%20and%20Villainy&d=v4!s!100:27,58:16:15:U.36,U.-1;123:135,-1,-1,118:-1:-1:;115:-1,-1:-1:-1:;115:-1,-1:-1:-1:;115:-1,-1:-1:-1:&sn=Xizor%27s%20guard

Swapping two Z's for a TLT-y-wing, gives you the same health-pool for Xizor to draw upon. The TLT gives you some area control and pointwise you now have room for Flechette Torpedos to annoy Soontir.

Almost Ninja'd by Tsiegtiez, which is also a cool variation.

Could I perhaps offer a slight variation to your xiswarm:

Xizor + VI + Flechette + Virago + FCS + Autothrusters

Thug + TLT + unhinged

3 x Binayre Pirates

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Scum%20and%20Villainy&d=v4!s!100:27,58:16:15:U.36,U.-1;123:135,-1,-1,118:-1:-1:;115:-1,-1:-1:-1:;115:-1,-1:-1:-1:;115:-1,-1:-1:-1:&sn=Xizor%27s%20guard

Swapping two Z's for a TLT-y-wing, gives you the same health-pool for Xizor to draw upon. The TLT gives you some area control and pointwise you now have room for Flechette Torpedos to annoy Soontir.

Almost Ninja'd by Tsiegtiez, which is also a cool variation.

My only problem with Headhunters next to Xizor is that they're just so dang squishy anyway, he's a good way to accidentally PS kill a Headhunter here and there. The Y-Wings are a lot sturdier and really don't mind blocking for him several times on the approach or in the scrum. I mean, I'd rather lose a 12-point Pirate than damage Xizor at all, mostly. But with the Ys, why do either?

I would really like to squeeze a TLT in though, that would help immensely with Range control.

You know what let's try and fit that TLT in there:

I like 5 Z's for their firepower. Two of them can possibly do more damage than TLTs, especially at close range. I also life the block power.