New post up over on the blog comparing the current regionals season to the last one.

LINK

None of the numbers are too surprising, but it is interesting to look at.

Let me know what you notice in the comparisons.

Nice data. I think it's safe to say that Flotillas and bomber command have really boosted rebels to take the lead over Imperials overall. Sure imperials can still win but Rebels have an easier time I would say.

Is my Phoenix win the 1 Screed victory? In my Regional I faced 3 imperials but all ran heavy fighters for the most part.

Wave 3-4 does seem to all be about the squadron game and flotillas. The rebels having a cheaper flotilla and IMO better multi role bombers/fighters in general makes them a little easier to build a list that can handle a wider variety of fleets.

I think Wave 5 should give the Empire some well needed new tools to maybe even out the squadron game. I still think 2-3 flotillas will be common for any fleet however with only 1-2 real combat ships.

Imperials still have the tools to dominate the squadron game if they so choose. The same old nasty syngeries are there. I had an X-Wing swarm roflstomped by an Interceptor ball with Dengar and Howl. It was brutal. The Gozanti is definitely less efficient than the Rebel counterpoint (which is what I expected going into the wave), but still perfectly usable. So yeah, Imps are going to get more tools for the squad fight, but I see them as more niche tools than game changers. The Imperials already have great tools and their placement in the Top 4 is still roughly in line with their overall attendance levels. We saw the same trend with Rebels early in the last Regionals and everyone wanted to claim Imps were the better faction. The data has 41% of attendees bringing Imps and 39% of the top 4 being Imps. That hardly says "Rebels win easier" to me.

Also, I hate you ass holes for using my beloved Rieekan to death. Now I can't use him. On the bright side, does this make me and Biggs trend setters for using him early on? I wanna be cool...

What I think wave 5 will do is diversity Imperials lists in general. Jerjerrod and Tua are looking to make victories great again (do I have to pay Trump royalties for saying that?), while the Arquitens opens up an extremely different way to play Imps altogether. The Raider might also come back with a vengeance now that it can take Flechette Torpedoes. It's really the only effective platform in the game for that upgrade, and it could be utterly devastating paired with Instigator.

Nice breakdown

Nice data! I definitely feel that BCC and Farr definitely made Rebel fighters shine WAY brighter than they were. Wonder if we'll see an Imperial version of her, perhaps allowing rerolls on fighter attacks only or something.

I don't think Rebels are invincible, but definitely feels like they have a lot more in the options bin than the Imperials do currently. MAKE THE EMPIRE GREAT AGAIN!!!

In the Wave 2 Regionals when the Imperials were really dominating it was easy to point to the Motti/Demo/Rhymer power trio as being a big part of the Imps success. Later in that season Rieekan, Admonition, and TRCR-90s seemed to come on strong and help even things out.

What I haven't seen in this season is any kind of dominate archetype. The Imperial power trio is still doing well, but the Rebels have been quite a bit more varied in their winning fleets.

It will be fun to see how Wave 5 shakes things up.

I love data, thank you

As a side note, there's a reason why I'm not writing ANYTHING yet on the blog. It's Xmas season and I'll be visiting relatives. I'm holding back so I'm not deliberately bored out of my mind

Articles to come around the holidays!

Good conservative conclusions from the data, and I think in line with expectations going into the season.

NECROMANCY!

This is amazing data to look at the time before so many people complained about the flotillas.

100% of imperial winners had Goz O.O