Just wondering if anybody uses them anymore. I have seen a few lists with crackshot on them, but is it really a viable list?

I've thought about using Youngster with Rage and the Tie/fo pilot that relieves stress, and the remainder being Black Squadron or Academy Tie's but does it even have a place in the new meta?

Crack swarm is extremely viable. Even the old howlrunner and 6 academies can still work, it's just harder than it used to be.

Crack swarm is extremely viable. Even the old howlrunner and 6 academies can still work, it's just harder than it used to be.

Phrasing BOOM!

Guy in our store championship finished top 8 with a classic HR +4 Obsidian +2 Academy list.

Not even close to dead. Crackshot Blacks are strong with or without Howlrunner, Wampa is a ludicrously potent 14 points, and the new First Order aces fit in perfectly in both theme and ability. If anything, the rise of TLT and other large-based, low-agility ships have only pushed the swarm back into relevance. They're probably in as good a place as they've been since the days of the pre-nerf Phantom.

It's not dead, it's just taxing to play: the majority would rather handle three ships than eight.

It waxes and wanes in local and regional metagames, but smart swarm players still stand a strong chance against all comers.

Guy in our store championship finished top 8 with a classic HR +4 Obsidian +2 Academy list.

I would add that in general its still fun to play even though it may not be the top of the top tier lists.

Doug Kinney just won a 30 person store championship after not playing for three months using an all wave 1 swarm.

I've been using a Vader + miniswarm recently and it's done me well (a 1st(of 12), a 2nd(of 11) and a top 8(of 32) in local Winter kits/SCs, and an overall record of 21-5 in every game I've ever played with it competitive and casual)... Which given that I've only been playing for 3 months and that store champs had some of the best players in the region playing, I think aint too shabby.

I also think that the full TIE swarm will be as viable as it's ever been as well - some of those new scum cards (Boba Fett, Crew Dengar) are aimed at tooled up named pilots, a good way to undermine that is with plenty of cheap generic TIEs.

In fact just this morning I've been toying with a list involving youngster and rage that could be fun to play (not sure about it's tournament viability, but tourney play is only a little bit of why I play this game)

So yeah, I reckon the TIE swarm is still very much alive. Again though... That's against a backdrop of inexperience and only playing competitively maybe once or twice a month.

I finished 5th out of 20 and 13th out of 50 using a 3x Black, 2x Omega, and HR in two store championships. A better pilot could have probably done much better as I'm pretty new to swarms. Now with the rest of wave 8 changing the meta, not sure how the swarm would do.

Not to derail the topic but is Crack Shot that good being a single use card?

Not to derail the topic but is Crack Shot that good being a single use card?

Yes. It's not a single use card. It is a threat every single time you shoot.

Because of the timing in which it takes effect. It's after everything else happens with dice changes..THEN you can decide to use it or not.

It puts a lot of pressure on the defender to make a decision about wasting their tokens.