Okay, so I'm going to attend a tournament this next Saturday, mainly to get the C-3PO card. I would also like to be competitive though and have a shot at top 8, maybe!

The only packs I have so far are TFA Core Set, Tie Phantom and K-Wing.

I plan to buy 1 maybe 2 more packs before I attend and I'm looking for some advice.

My initial thought was to get a Y-Wing pack in order to run Poe, Miranda and Gold Squadron.

I have no idea what the meta is, seeing as how I have never even played in public before.

Another question I have is, will I be okay just bringing the 6 dice that come with the core set?

Any ideas or input would be greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately, without R2-D2/R5-P9 (the shield regen bots in the other Core/Rebel Transport) as well as Autothrusters (in Starviper expansion), Poe isn't that great. He's still hard-hitting but lacks resilience. If you have friends there with OG core sets, you can probably borrow an R2-D2.

Certainly, it's hard to go wrong with a TLT-focused list for beginners, and if you're worried about placing high enough to get a C-3P0 than by all means add a Y-Wing.

The list at 98 points would look something like:

35 Poe Dameron: R2-D2

37 Miranda Donie: Twin Laser Turret, Tactician

26 Gold Squadron: Twin Laser Turret, BB-8

One of the tricks that aces use against TLTs is to get inside their Range 1 bubbles. Miranda is well-defended against that as she has a turret anyway, but the Y-Wing does not - however, barrel rolling and 2 Forward is a touch unpredictable and will throw off some expert pilots.

Last, try to borrow either Autothrusters or Veteran Instincts for Poe - of the two, I'd recommend Autothrusters more highly, but if you can get both drop BB-8. He'll be flying escort to the other two, trying to counter other high-PS models like Poe Dameron, and with Autothrusters on him he's strong against turreted ships.

Or if you were to buy a ship for Veteran Instincts, I'd get the Millennium Falcon. Its days as the core of a list may be over, but it has a TON of good cards in there and well-used is still competitive - just not as much so as Miranda + Poe. Autothrusters... is pretty much only in one Scum ship, so if you can miss it for now, do so. It's only helpful on Poe rather than an auto-include anyway.

I don't know anyone where I'm going, so I doubt I'll be able to borrow anything, but I could try.

Is there anything else I could maybe buy? Like another K+Y or a B+Y?

*edit*

This list came to mind. I could even swap out the Ion on the Y for a 3rd TLT. Thoughts?

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Rebel%20Alliance&d=v4!s!139:135,-1,-1,-1,61,-1,-1:-1:-1:;140:135,-1,-1,-1,38,-1,-1:-1:-1:;9:0,-1,-1,148:-1:-1:&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron

Seems fine.

Run triple TLT. The recon will need a hwk290 which is (my favorite) not the best ship.

I have Recon from my TIE Phantom pack. I feel pretty good about that list with 3 TLT. No initiative bid, but I don't think I'm too worried about that with my lower PS.