I am about a month and a half away from my first regionals, I have played in three tournaments in my X-Wing Career and am excited to try my hand in regionals. I'm looking for some wisdom from those of you that have already played in regionals this year.

What's the meta like? From the videos that I've watched I'm seeing lots of scum, Dengaroo, attani, Partybus. Rebels are pretty much rocking k-wings and Imperial well we all know that it's palp aces defenders. What am I missing?

Also I am struggling with what to bring so far I'm thinking Rey, Norra for some serious damage output. I also have a palp Aces list but I'm very reluctant to take it as I feel everything imperial is palp aces and everyone knows how to fight it.

Thanks in Advance

Stay Positive

PS I'm looking for good advice if you've never played in a tourney or regionals at all this post isn't for you with all due respect.

Both of your ideas should be viable. Just try to get some practice in tournaments beforehand if possible. Make sure you know how Dengaroo and Palp defenders work, so you aren't caught off guard.

For the event itself, just take it easy and keep mentally double checking yourself before committing to decisions. Take a good look at your opponents list and try not to forget about their expendable upgrades, e.g. dampeners, bombs.

My area regional was pretty well saturated with Defenders so make sure you have a plan to deal with them. Otherwise have fun! This was my first year going to regionals as well and caught a few bad breaks(opponents defense dice rolled 9 natural evades in a row! I hate Defenders lol) or I would have made the cut. also practice your setup and opening moves. High level games can be decided before you ever roll the dice.

If you're going to have fun, take whatever list you like. If you're going to try and place somewhere, take the list you have the most practice with. Last year, I settled on my regionals list (which was commonly panned as being "bad" and "poorly thought out" by a few of the non-locals) a few months before the event. I pretty much just ran that, and little else, between then and the event itself. My "bad" list won the tournament because I'd built a few oddball answers into it for the meta at the time, and I'd practiced the hell out of how to use them effectively. Any time I wasn't playing that list, I was playing lists I thought I'd come against in an effort to figure out their nuances.

Practice, practice, practice. It'll not only help you to avoid mistakes, but to force your opponent to make them at critical times.

Also, don't be afraid to risk the trade. I feel like people are terrified of trading ships in a tournament setting, especially if they're 3-4 ship builds. Sometimes you just have to ask yourself "What would Leeroy Jenkins do?".

I don't think everyone knows how to fight a palp aces list. The aces in those lists tend to be very maneuverable and allow you to showcase your flying skills. If you have them, that is! There is no universal way of beating such a list and good play can exploit that.

From someone who played a few regional tournaments:

Be confident in your list. Don't take some last minute list, but try to get at least a few games in with a list with a few different approaches, so you know how things work in your list.

Know your ships. Have some grasp of what your opponent's ships can do. Predicting what your opponent does should have direct impact on the maneuvers you pick for your ships.

Pay attention to what you eat. Drink enough water and don't eat too much garbage.

Have fun! That's the most important thing

Thanks all for the help, I'm actually really hoping for a lot of defenders as I know how to deal with them more than a manaroo and friends type of list.

I'm really getting to the point where my palp aces list is the most solid. Though I shy away from it because you see a lot of them!

I'm really working on starting position now.