I recently did pretty well in a large Store Championship with the following list:

Whisper+FCS+VI+Kallus+ACD

Omicron+Palpatine

Inquisitor+VI+Title+Autothrusters

I managed to dodge the only 3 Jumpmasters list, and I'm expecting more of those lists though at the next SC I play in (roughly a week and a half away) and I don't think this list is optimal. for that matchup.

I am primarily a Phantom pilot and will be flying Whisper. Exact configuration is... flexible. I'd also like to maintain at least a 1 point bid.

Here are the lists I'm considering:

Original:

Whisper+FCS+VI+Int Agent+ACD = 40

Yorr+Baffle+Palpatine = 33

Omega Leader+Comm Relay+Juke = 26

Kallus is pretty decent, but I like Int Agent a lot, and having flown the shuttle with Baffle.... its awesome. This is a buff to Yorr so I can stay above Jumpmaster PS and at least get a round of firing off, Baffle on Yorr also seems good. This list is pretty much just updating my existing list to (hopefully) suit the meta better.

The next 2 lists lose the Palp Shuttle and become Whisper +2 Aces. Without the Palpatine, I want to boost Whisper's survival capabilities a little by going one of two ways:

A) Whisper+FCS+VI+Recon Spec+ACD = 42

B) Whisper+Jammer+VI+IA+ACD = 42

Recon Specialist gives me extra focus for defense and retaining the offensive power of Whisper, Sensor Jammer is obviously defensive. One of these Whisper configurations would then be grouped with:

Omega Leader+Comm Relay+Juke = 26

I like OL a lot, and he leaves me 31 points for the third ace. I've narrowed that down to 2 options:

1) Carnor Jax+PtL+Autothruster = 31

2) Inquisitor+PtL+Title+Autothruster = 31

Carnor is a shot at taking down Jumpmasters, denying them their focus tokens for Deadeye. He's also pretty good in his own right. Inquisitor has an extra hit point and is pretty good on the edges as a flanker with a little better offensive power thanks to the TL.

Basically I'd like to know people's opinions on the relative strengths and weaknesses of the various lists which come out to:

Original

A1

A2

B1

B2

Thanks.

I like my Shadow Strike list personally. Before I got Agent Kallus, it thoroughly destroyed a powerful Nera Dantels - Dash Rendar list with their 360s and should be even better now.

"Whisper" (32)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Agent Kallus (2)
Advanced Cloaking Device (4)
 
Soontir Fel (27)
Push the Limit (3)
Autothrusters (2)
Stealth Device (3)
Royal Guard TIE (0)
 
"Mauler Mithel" (17)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Stealth Device (3)
 
Total: 97
 
View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Whisper and Fel deliver the firepower, with Mithel adding an extra 9 for three PS 9 ships in total. At only 97 points, you're also very likely to win an initiative bid.

Of your proposed lists, I like B2 the best, but them I'm quite partial to Interceptors.

I like my Shadow Strike list personally. Before I got Agent Kallus, it thoroughly destroyed a powerful Nera Dantels - Dash Rendar list with their 360s and should be even better now.

"Whisper" (32)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Agent Kallus (2)
Advanced Cloaking Device (4)
 
Soontir Fel (27)
Push the Limit (3)
Autothrusters (2)
Stealth Device (3)
Royal Guard TIE (0)
 
"Mauler Mithel" (17)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Stealth Device (3)
 
Total: 97
 
View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Whisper and Fel deliver the firepower, with Mithel adding an extra 9 for three PS 9 ships in total. At only 97 points, you're also very likely to win an initiative bid.

Of your proposed lists, I like B2 the best, but them I'm quite partial to Interceptors.

I actually have Soontir in my box for playtesting tonight and figuring out a way to fit him in because I'm already bidding and he's awesome, but I'm not really a fan of any of the lower point ships. I like Mauler a lot too, but I worry about him because he's a fragile dude without autothrusters. I'll give that a solid consideration.

I left out of my original post that I'm not going to fly Kallus because I forget him a lot. My chances to practice are limited, and Int Agent/Rec Spec are easier triggers for me to remember and are more widely useful in my opinion.

I'll definitely give that list another look when I've got the ships with me to fly it! Thanks!

My experience so far with Phantoms vs Torpedo scouts is that the phantom is not great in that match up.

Scouts can easily block making it difficult to decloak and get shots (and with ACD, if you don't shoot, you're dead).

Its not impossible, but phantoms are definitely not ideally suited against them.

I have tried Whisper vs Scouts in the following configurations:

VI, Jammer, ACD & kallus

VI, FCS, ACD & rebel captive

VI, FCS, ACD & gunner

Jammer doesn't help much actually. In fact, I'd say its basically a waste of points vs torpedo scouts (and I LOVE Sensor Jammer, so I'm a bit disappointed, but facts are facts). The reason Jammer fails against torpedoes is because of the combination of deadeye, R4 agromech and guidance chips. Deadeye means the focus is spent to launch, but after Jammer turns one hit to an eyeball, the opposing player has too many options to make it not matter. If its a proton torpedo, he happily turns it to a crit and re-rolls any other eyeballs/blanks with the free TL (and chips anything that isn't a hit) Even with Plasma, he can still re-roll all other eyeballs/blanks and use chips on the die you jammed, meaning that there is still a high chance of 3 or even 4 hits/crits.

Kallus is not great neither. Yes it helps vs 1 of the torpedo scouts, but assuming your opponent is not a dummy, he's going to hound Whisper with the other two and use the one scout that you put Kallus on as a blocker.

Rebel Captive has a similar problem. All three scouts have the same PS, so your opponent can carefully choose firing order to ensure the ship that gets stressed will be the least impacted next turn (or at worse, can use that one as a blocker if he has no good green moves available to ditch the stress).

Gunner works well however. It won't proc every shot, but it does something important for Whisper: it allows her to decloak in unpredictable directions and switch targets with impunity (normally with FCS, you want to keep firing on the same target until its dead, but against scouts, the one that loses shields becomes blocker, forcing you to switch it up). Take evade every turn and thanks to gunner + FCS, whisper always has an evade+focus to help her tank through the constant incoming fire.

But lets not kid ourselves. Whisper will not last long because your options are always limited. You have to avoid the block; you have to dive for Range 1 to avoid torpedo launches; you have to kite at times to escape getting trapped. And the scouts will be shooting every turn no matter what you do, and with R4 agromech, their turrets typically score max damage (2 or possibly even 3 at Range 1).

You can help her out with a blocker or another high-value ace (preferrably with autothrusters for turret protection). Omega Leader is not bad too, but his damage output is only okay (and you may have to frequently switch your TL to scare away potential torpedo launches).

Or you could drop down to Echo and put SD on OL.

TIE Phantom: · "Echo" (30)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Fire Control System (2)

Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

TIE/fo Fighter: · "Omega Leader" (21)

Juke (2)

Stealth Device (3)

Comm Relay (3)

TIE Interceptor: · Carnor Jax (26)

Push The Limit (3)

Autothrusters (2)

Royal Guard TIE (0)

Stealth Device (3)

Played a game against 3 jumps with A1 (Whisper/Carnor/OL) and I won, despite flying pretty poorly. Dice I think were slightly in my favor and he didn't fly well either, so that helped.

Carnor ruins their day, and OL is tough once it gets into knife-fighting mode. I was generally able to keep Whisper away from them, and aside from parking her on a rock she was pretty much untouchable.

The list has game, but I wouldn't put it significantly different than a 50/50 proposition. Really, in limited playtesting I'd guess that the list turns just about any matchup into a skill matchup, with the only geuinely bad matchup being Vader/Soontir with a Shuttle.