So last year Aaron Bonar made a splash with his Danger Zone triple K-wing list. Paul Heaver's Poe/Z/Y/Y list wasn't really mind-binding, but it and derivatives saw a lot extra play after this. The year before, Heaver's twist on Fat Han, running R2D2 instead of Gunner became very popular as well.

This year, were there any ship builds or archetypes, top 16 or otherwise, that are novel, but obviously powerful, and will see more play after they become more widely known?

There were 2 Corran Horn/Miranda Doni lists that did well, though I think we've seen some variation of them before?

This is the first major tourney since wave 9 came out properly, so yeah, there were a bunch of new things. It was also the first major tourney since the Deadeye nerf so a bunch of old friends came back too.

For me I think the surprise of the show has been Mindlink lists, that most people had written off 6 months ago as not being worth it.

The Shadowcaster has also proven to be really good.

I was actually surprised that the only lancer + large base pair was double lancers. I expect more lancer+ lists to show up in regionals, especially since they should be fast and tough enough to put dengaroo on struggle street.

Were numerous Lancer + TLT lists.

I think most of them were Scum. The Double Lancer lists and mindlink ones being the most prevalent. Who knows, we may see some more triple K wings again!

I think most of them were Scum. The Double Lancer lists and mindlink ones being the most prevalent. Who knows, we may see some more triple K wings again!

God I hope not.

I find K Wings, particularly non-bomber ones, to just be so BORING to fly against. 3 turrets, nowhere you can go without taking fire at a VERY fast pace, one of which is regenning.

Ugh. Trip K Wings are probably my biggest NPE in x-wing. AT least Thug Lyfe has donut holes.

I think most of them were Scum. The Double Lancer lists and mindlink ones being the most prevalent. Who knows, we may see some more triple K wings again!

God I hope not.

I find K Wings, particularly non-bomber ones, to just be so BORING to fly against. 3 turrets, nowhere you can go without taking fire at a VERY fast pace, one of which is regenning.

Ugh. Trip K Wings are probably my biggest NPE in x-wing. AT least Thug Lyfe has donut holes.

Eh, the donut hole is still there, since the regular turret is so much less threatening, much like with Mangler Dash (Although admittedly, getting in said Donut Hole is a lot less satisfying compared to a TLT Y or HLC Dash). But without the double stress from tactician+TLt, we're not going to see danger zone return, at least.

I'd not thought of using the R4-B11 droid on Dengar, but one of the streamed swiss games had it and it was ace. I gave it a go yesterday myself and having people re-roll 2/3 evades into all blanks was very Scummy,

Don't forget the NonRonConDonGonFonLonSpecial.

...it was Palp + Ace + Defender.

I think most of them were Scum. The Double Lancer lists and mindlink ones being the most prevalent. Who knows, we may see some more triple K wings again!

God I hope not.

I find K Wings, particularly non-bomber ones, to just be so BORING to fly against. 3 turrets, nowhere you can go without taking fire at a VERY fast pace, one of which is regenning.

Ugh. Trip K Wings are probably my biggest NPE in x-wing. AT least Thug Lyfe has donut holes.

Eh, the donut hole is still there, since the regular turret is so much less threatening, much like with Mangler Dash (Although admittedly, getting in said Donut Hole is a lot less satisfying compared to a TLT Y or HLC Dash). But without the double stress from tactician+TLt, we're not going to see danger zone return, at least.

Miranda's one is a four die attack which is never to be sniffed at. The others are 'only' 3 dice, i.e. half a TLT. So yeah, better than nothing, but still, my issue with them is that of any PWT - that it's impossible to shoot them without getting shot yourself - magnified by the fact that TLTs are stupidly reliable at killing things, including things they were never intended to be that good at killing.

But my real issue is that they're just dull.

I was actually surprised that the only lancer + large base pair was double lancers. I expect more lancer+ lists to show up in regionals, especially since they should be fast and tough enough to put dengaroo on struggle street.

You might wanna go back through all the 6-2 lists. I know for a fact that François ran ketsu/bossk at 97.

I'd not thought of using the R4-B11 droid on Dengar, but one of the streamed swiss games had it and it was ace. I gave it a go yesterday myself and having people re-roll 2/3 evades into all blanks was very Scummy,

A friend of mine tried that on sunday, using R4-B11 and K4 Security Droid as a non-stressy substitute for Zuckuss (he was using Fenn Rau rather than Manaroo, so didn't want to be dependent on stressful mechanics). The main problem he found was when facing a rival Dengar (not an uncommon occurance), R4-B11 gets blown off with countermeasures, whilst Zuckuss just keeps rolling. Plus, you're investing a lot more points in the capability

I think Sable's triple K-Wings with just bombs was pretty amazing. Takes a high level of skill to play. He did not have TLT on them, for those who don't like flying against it. It was just bombs blowing up everywhere. I think bombs are extremely strong in this meta. Any time you can just force damage through on an x7 Defender or Dengaroo, that's really good.

Nathan Eide's list was great, for some reason it had never dawned on me that the Firespray could take LRS.

Sables K-Wing list as a fantastic evolution of his 2014 Bomber list.

The Bossk Dengar alpha strike list was pretty brutal. That was Aaron Bonar's list

Bombs require a different sort of planning and flying to direct attacks and I think only a small percentage of people take the effort to master it. This in turn has an effect when those players attend tournaments because many opponents have never faced a skilled bomb user and don't know how to counter it.

Fat Han came back.

Nathan Eide's list was great, for some reason it had never dawned on me that the Firespray could take LRS.

I've used that to put Homing Missiles on Kath for a first round strike and then get them in my rear arc the rest of the way.

Those Manaroo Mindlink Fang lists! Pretty much the epitome of a glass cannon, but it was inspiring to see top level players using them!

Fat Han came back.

We thought he was a gonner!

I was actually surprised that the only lancer + large base pair was double lancers. I expect more lancer+ lists to show up in regionals, especially since they should be fast and tough enough to put dengaroo on struggle street.

Lancers move in such an unusual way for a big ship that they're actually not great partners for anything else. You put it with Dengar for instance, who wants to sloop around at close range, and the two ships are going to get separated. TBH even double Lancers is a pain in the arse to fly well - it's very tough to fly big fast bases around the table avoiding rocks & bumps.

I think looking at a couple of individual upgrade cards was more telling than the builds themselves.

Attanni Mindlink was huge for getting great action economy. People think the stress is a draw back, and it really isn't when you're using ships with lots of green maneuvers like the JM5K and Fang Fighter, with Manaroo as an obivous choice to continue pumping out the focus factory.

Also, Latts Razzi crew was super successful even in lists without stress mechanics as the meta is pretty heavy with PTL, Zuckuss, R3A2, so there was lots of opportunities to use it. I especially liked it on François's list on Bossk as it made him just a bit more tanky to continue nuking ships. Also Latts Razzi helped Faan beat Heaver in the top 16 match to help him save that 1 shield that he used to zap Asajj for the half points.

There were no major innovations at worlds that will make a meta impact.

The lack of surprises is rather disappointing and it can be explained.

All top16 were 2 or 3 ship builds (except 4x Y-wing). This means that ALL ships and pilots that work best in 4+ ship builds are not truly competitive.

Wave 9 and the FAQ change were the most recent factors before worlds. The FAQ change didn't add anything to the meta. All it did was bring back regen & TLT. Wave 9 added the Shadow Caster & Fenn Rau. Both those ships are not significantly different from anything we have seen before. Last year, the K-wing made a splash because it was a true advancement of X-wing ship design.