As the Eminent Dr. Jones said it best, "Now, your getting Nasty"

Most squad lists I see are dependent on VI, PTL, Predator, TLT, Etc.

So, as I, a non "meta player"; I like trying out new tactics, two lists, BBZ, and YT-2400, B, and a Z (Although Keyan is a hot pilot, as of late.)

BBZ list

B-Wing Keyan (29) Daredevil (3) Ion Cannon (3) Engine Upgrade (4)

B-Wing Ibtisam (28) Expert Handling (2) Mangler (4) B-Wing/E2 (1) Saboteur (2)

Z-95 Airen Cracken (19) Squad Leader (2) Experimental Interface (3)

As long as Cracken stays in the fight, at range one/two of the other ships, Range 1 for his ability, and 1-2 for squad leader, he's basically action support for the guns. Both lists are a bit dependent on him, but can still hold their own if he's taken out.

YT-2400 Eaden Vrill (32) Saboteur (2) Engine Upgrade (4)

B-Wing Ibtisam (28) Daredevil (3) Ion Cannon (3) Enhanced Scopes (1) B-Wing/E2 (1) Dash Rendar

Z-95 Airen Cracken (19) Squad Leader (2) Experimental Interface (3)

I like secondary cannons they give some flexibility, mostly, I'll range in fire with primaries, then hit with secondary's, soften the shields close in with the crew, (depends which list) Saboteur, will work with the Ion Cannons, Obviously Dash on a B-Wing, or on the YT-2400, Also, I'm throwing the dice on the second list, hoping I throw blanks on the Daredevil card.

But this is all theory, going to try these two lists when I play against my friends, I do have a Dual Decimator list, I'll post later.

I can understand wanting to 'go against the grain' and trying to 'think outside the box'. I love coming up with builds that are somewhat off-the-wall, myself. However, to limit yourself to 'bad' cards and avoid using any of the 'good' cards is going to be an excercise in frustration and is borderline folly.

I'm not saying you can't make a decent list with cards not often used, but you have to be careful about how you go about it. For one thing, you need to make sure you have the tools to deal with common threats (swarms, turrets and high PS aces). I'm not seeing anything to help you in those particular matchups here, meaning that most matchups are likely to be difficult for you.

The biggest change I would suggest is not trying to run 2 expensive ships with lots of 'extras' that don't necessarily contribute to removing enemy ships from the table. You need more firepower because neither of those lists has enough damage output to finish a game for you.

Here's a few things that I know are not going to be useful:

Saboteur is pretty terrible. Having to use an action to activate it is a huge opportunity cost. Using Cracken to offset that might seem like a good idea in theory, but if your opponent is smart, its not difficult to dismantle this 'combo' by killing cracken early (and a z-95 is not hard to kill). Plus, you don't deal much damage anyway, so its going to take a while to get through enemy shields and actually be able to activate saboteur...

Expert Handling on Ibtisam makes no sense. It doesn't stress her since she has barrel roll already and you can't barrel roll more than once per turn, so the only value is you can remove a single target lock. That might prove useful against other rebel lists, and perhaps some scum lists, but that's some very situational benefit for 2 points...

Frankly, I'm okay with the idea that some cards just downright suck. Expose and saboteur are probably the most egregious. As the meta evolves and the game changes, perhaps there will be cases that make less used cards situationally useful, but its not like there aren't enough cards in the game nowadays to build unique and interesting lists that are a bit off-the-wall but don't downright hamstring themselves...