I love flying a classic Soontir and having had some recent experiences with how hard both Defenders and Dark Curse can be to take down I was thinking of this relatively balanced list:

35 Soontir (27), Royal Guard (0), PTL (3), Autothrusters (2), Stealth Device (3)

28 Delta Squadron (30), TIE/x7 (-2)

16 Dark Curse

20 Zeta Leader

99 TOTAL

The idea here being survivability, forcing hard decisions on target acquisition, and keeping the points balanced. Soontir as flanker, the other 3 in formation with Delta and DC on blocking duty and Zeta to up the firepower.

I think my biggest concern here is the relative lack of red dice, particularly if Zeta goes down early. Then Soontir would need to do a lot of the heavy lifting from an attacking standpoint. Any thoughts or advice on this? Maybe something else in place of Zeta leader?

Zeta Leader really needs Wired to make his extra attack die worth the points. Adding Wired kills an initiative bid that's already too weak for Soontir. If you want the initiative bid back, then you have to change plans completely by swapping Dark Curse for a cheaper pilot, or trading the Defender for a less expensive ship.

Good point on Zeta with Wired. What would you recommend as a good cheaper alternative to Dark Curse?

Zeta Leader really needs Wired to make his extra attack die worth the points.

Not necessarily. I find crack shot more than sufficient. Throwing on comm relay if you have the points is usually worth it too (but probably not in this case).

If you have 2 crack shot cards, this list would be pretty good:

Black squad pilot w/ crackshot = 15

Zeta Leader w/ crackshot = 21

Delta w/ X-7 = 28

Soontir as above = 35

99

Initiative bid is not as important since you have lots of blocking options to deal with other PS9+ enemies.

Minor Quibble: this Soontir build is actually NOT 'classic'. Classic would be nothing but Push the Limit for a 30 point Soontir. But not many probably remember those days...

Maybe instead of thr defender run OL. Your opponent then has to pick who to kill, and you have 2 more points, so you can put Wired on Zeta Leader, and do as you please with the remaining points.

I went this route:

Fel

-Royal

-PtL

-SD

-AT

Quick Draw

-Pred

-Baffle

-Special ops

Black Squad x2

-Crack Shot

Total: 98

You lose one evade die but still carry the same health as the defender

plus you get you bid with two PS 9 in your squad

Black squad pilot w/ crackshot = 15

Zeta Leader w/ crackshot = 21

Delta w/ X-7 = 28

Soontir as above = 35

99

Initiative bid is not as important since you have lots of blocking options to deal with other PS9+ enemies.

Minor Quibble: this Soontir build is actually NOT 'classic'. Classic would be nothing but Push the Limit for a 30 point Soontir. But not many probably remember those days...

Interesting, I like this direction although I would probably go with keeping Wired on Zeta over crackshot. And If 99 isn't going to reliably get the initiative bid anyways, maybe it's worth it to go 100 and just keep Dark Curse over the BlackCrack? I really do love the survivability of Dark Curse, particularly given my local meta which relies a lot on dice altering and rerolls. Guess I'll have to do it the fun way and try both!

Also, definitely didn't realize the true classic Soontir, waaaaay before my time, haha. I only started playing about 3 months ago

I went this route:

Fel

-Royal

-PtL

-SD

-AT

Quick Draw

-Pred

-Baffle

-Special ops

Black Squad x2

-Crack Shot

Total: 98

You lose one evade die but still carry the same health as the defender

plus you get you bid with two PS 9 in your squad

I really like this list too and will give it a go, thanks! I don't have a SF Tie but just ordered one to try this out, gonna be a Sunday Funday this weekend

Interesting, I like this direction although I would probably go with keeping Wired on Zeta over crackshot. And If 99 isn't going to reliably get the initiative bid anyways, maybe it's worth it to go 100 and just keep Dark Curse over the BlackCrack? I really do love the survivability of Dark Curse, particularly given my local meta which relies a lot on dice altering and rerolls. Guess I'll have to do it the fun way and try both!

Also, definitely didn't realize the true classic Soontir, waaaaay before my time, haha. I only started playing about 3 months ago

Its always best to try different ways to see what you like best!

I prefer crackshot over wired because its guaranteed.

I also like Dark Curse, but frankly, in a list like this, his ability is not really helping this particular list. You want to get as much damage in as possible in the early stages of the game, and a blacksquadie with crackshot will do that better than Dark Curse. Also, you want other threats for your opponent to focus on instead of Soontir. Soontir likes to be ignored. But if an opponent had to choose between Dark Curse and Soontir? They may very well choose Soontir, because everyone hates shooting at Dark Curse!

Minor Quibble: this Soontir build is actually NOT 'classic'. Classic would be nothing but Push the Limit for a 30 point Soontir. But not many probably remember those days...

I remember that. I also remember when the "classic" Soontir build was "just run a Howlrunner Swarm because Fel can't survive against Han." I was one of the crazies that never listened to that.

Minor Quibble: this Soontir build is actually NOT 'classic'. Classic would be nothing but Push the Limit for a 30 point Soontir. But not many probably remember those days...

I remember that. I also remember when the "classic" Soontir build was "just run a Howlrunner Swarm because Fel can't survive against Han." I was one of the crazies that never listened to that.

ah the days when turrets were king. I'm glad things have come far enough along that their is now a lot more diversity.

I also think a crackblack is better than dark curse. When it comes to 1v1, curse doesnt do damage because your opponent saves his focus for defense.

Another lare game threat might be a good addition as well.