Sprint or Marathon?

By RStan, in X-Wing

Was building some lists recently and thought about considering tailoring lists for the quick win or the long haul survivor wins. If you build a list around the quick win with alpha strikes or just as much firepower as you can bring, it's likely if you don't kill what you need to in the first two engagement rounds, you're gonna lose. Build for a survivor list having regens or lot's of health or evasion, but if too much damage is taken, it's over. Simple concepts yes, but sometimes making all these lists with very specific combos or dedicated designs, it's good to take a simple look and see which side of the field your list is on, sprint or marathon or even a balance.

Some examples are:

U-Boats - Sprint

ARC-170s w/ Biggs - Marathon

Palpfenders - Marathon, to some degree a bit of balance depending on defender builds

Dengaroo - Sprint, but depending on how long you can draw out Manaroo running away and feeding tokens, could be a bit balanced.

Wondering from the community, do you take this into consideration when list building? Do you mostly build lists around the sprint or marathon? A mix of both for a bit of balance?

I always try to find a balance, like pairing TIE Bombers with the multitude of late game options that exist for the empire, but when in doubt I prefer the long game.

Although my midgame skills are still pretty lacking and I would do well be trying to never have to rely on them. On the other hand, that way I won't get better, either.

Things like crack swarms are the "balance". They have a good alpha strike to help take the most dangerous thing off the board quickly (or at least SOMETHING off the board), but they still have a lot of staying power that gradually tapers off the more of them you kill.