Hi All. I’m planning on playing in my first store championship this season this weekend. Should be around 40-50 people I would guess. I’m hoping to get some advice before playing. I haven’t had much time to practice (only 3 games) with my list but of the lists I tried, this is the one I’m most comfortable with

(29) | Omicron + Palpatine

(35) | Soontir + PTL + Autothrusters + Stealth

(35) | Vader + ATC + VI + Engine

What I’m hoping to do is have a general idea of how to approach some common archetypes. Ideally I would like to have input on: which targets are first priority, general asteroid placement strategy or anything else important to keep in mind.

These are some common lists that seem popular in the meta that I feel like I need a plan for, but I’m not sure if I’m missing any or if any should be off the list

-Palp Aces

-Poe + Stressbot + [insert ship(s)]

-Crackshot swarm

-Brobots

Thanks!

Depending on your meta, you may encounter TLT spam. In my experience as a Rebel player, having 2-3 shots of TLT fire against aces like Soontir or Vader will drop them within 2-3 rounds of consecutive fire. The best thing against that would probably be to take the start slow and try to engage with more than one ship, so the enemy has to split their fire, because focus TLT Fire will put damage through slowly, so you'll eventually get bled dry.

Against TLT spam Soontir should be able to close within range one of at least a few of them and then turtled up with Palp he should be able to withstand TLT shots from 2 ships. Vader is a bit different because of his lack of autothrusters so I'd keep him out of range until soontir can strip some shields. TLT isn't huge in my area but that's how I'd play it.

Against brobots arcdodging is important... Stay out of arc if/when possible. if you can't then you'll be in for some hurt.

Poe+Stressbot it pretty simple if you can close on your approach quickly. Soontir and vader should be able to fly around the board fast enough to get in close to it and kill it while staying out of arc. IMO VI Poe is good but not super challenging to stay away from. I save him for last.

Other Palp aces is pretty much shoot at whichever ship you'd hate losing first. (with how I like to play it I try to take out Vader first.)

Crackshot swarm is essentially a more lethal/smaller version of the swarm. Treat it as you would all other swarms. IE never approach head on, try to focus fire etc.

Also, remember that your shuttle, while slow, has just as many red dice as Soontir. Don't forget to use that.

I wish I was good enough to arc dodge with Soontir. I just play hard counters to tlt and Soontir. PS bid PS crack shot homing missile(s) and other big shots to toast a Y or scare Soontir. I am just not good enough to do all this arc dodging I keep hearing about.

Arc dodging with soontir should be relatively easy as he moves after most all but a select few ships in the game. If he can't arc dodge he can turtle up which will give him 2 focus and an evade which when combined with palpatine should allow you to weather the storm from at least one enemy ship.

As far as asteroids are concerned, your list doesn't particularly like them (because both Soontir and Vader are action-hungry), but because of your maneuverability you can afford to play in and around them a lot more than most lists.

So when you place obstacles, you're after two things:

(1) Create a lane for your shuttle, not forgetting that you're going to have to turn it around at some point. I typically accomplish this by placing one obstacle at one of my corners, and another obstacle at Range 3 of the opposite corner of the mat.

(2) Either establish a loose field your aces can move in and around, or create a tight field and then avoid it like the plague.

***

Rough guidance to some common matchups:

(*) As others have said, against swarms you simply refuse to joust. If you're forced to place the shuttle first (as against Black Squadron Pilots in a crack swarm), start pointing parallel to your edge, rather than away from it: it will give you more options in keeping your shuttle away from the swarm, and it will also push your opponent to be more aggressive (which makes it easier to flank early).

(*) Against four-ship Rebel lists, you can expect to see 1-2 aces, a stressbot, some TLT, and some filler. Stressbot is almost certainly your first target, and until it's down you need to be very careful about its arc. You can safely joust with the shuttle, though, and don't forget that it's a strong blocker.

(*) Against Brobots, you're in for a long and demanding game, but a fairly straightforward one. Dodge their arcs and focus fire as much as possible.

(*) Against TLT spam, you have to play aggressively with Soontir and exploit the donut hole. Autothrusters, excellent maneuverability, and a token stack give him a lot of advantages. Again, you want to joust with the shuttle: it's actually the piece you can most afford to lose, and it can absorb a couple of rounds' worth of attacks if you tempt your opponent to focus on it early. In the mean time, keep Vader and Soontir as close as possible to the TLTs, and focus your fire while forcing your opponent to divide his.

(*) Against mirror Palpatine+Aces lists, opinions differ. If Whisper is around, definitely kill her first; otherwise, it's going to depend on initiative, deployment, and exactly what ships and loadouts your opponent brings.

These are some common lists that seem popular in the meta that I feel like I need a plan for, but I’m not sure if I’m missing any or if any should be off the list

-Palp Aces

• Think about dropping Stealth Device on Soontir in favor of Targeting Computer. This gives you a 1pt bid over the mirror match so you can choose to move last, dodge their arcs, TL, and knock off their Soontir's Stealth Device rather easily.

-Poe + Stressbot + [insert ship(s)]

• IGNORE POE! Seriously, just forget about him until he's the last ship on the board. It's a fools errand to try and shoot him early with aces. You'll get him for 1-2 damage, he'll slip away and regen, and you'll have wasted several attack phases.
• Take the TLT ship out first (try and get all 3 guns on it first combat and don't be afraid to joust it) by forcing range one and save Palpatine for defense against their other ships.

-Crackshot swarm

• Throw the shuttle right at them to break up their formation while flanking with Vader/Soontir to mop up out of position/bumped TIEs who'll run into your shuttle b/c you move first and won't have actions. It's ok if you lose the Shuttle; breaking up the formation and eliminating the swarm's ability to focus fire is more important.

-Brobots

• This one's the hardest matchup b/c of HLCs 4 dice and Crackshot making Soontir fragile. Basically you need to fly ridiculously well to constantly dodge their arcs while getting shots on them. Focus B first if you can to get rid of the built in Gunner which just wrecks Soontir.

Thanks!