So my current list is:

Braylen Stramm - Gunner, R3A2, Title

Biggs - R4-D6, IA

Poe (PS8) - R5-P9, AT, Predator, Pattern Analyzer

Comes to 99 points. I want the bid for initiative.

What is my strategy to dealing with top meta lists like x7s and dengaroo?

X-7s? Try and engage the one at a time, but once you've engaged one, be sure to use Braylen to stress it. With the Double stress it won't be able to token stack; keep up the pressure until it dies. Then turn to the next one.

Against Dengaroo? No clue mate. I'd suggest sending Braylen to hunt down Manaroo and give her some trouble; now Dengar can either chase Braylen if he wants to keep his actions, or he can go after Biggs. So, whichever one he doesn't choose, punish him for. Either super stress Manaroo, and prevent him from ever getting those actions, or have Braylen lead him on a chase while Biggs and Poe hammer his flank.

The only ship you have which can either out-run Dengar, or catch Manaroo is Poe. Braylen cannot; and, if he leaves Biggs' side, Dengar will kill him. So, I'd either use all 3 to kill Dengar first, and hope that Poe is still alive to catch Manaroo at the end - remember that Biggs will die for your cause, so you might be able to do that - or try to block Dengar with Braylen and Biggs while Poe tries to catch Manaroo.

It's not a good matchup. If you had the more traditional Norra instead of Poe, you could simply kill Dengar and then take the occasional pot-shot at Manaroo as she glides past. Norra (with Tail Gunner) eats defenders once they are stressed too.

On the other hand, having Norra means not being able to catch any fast ship. Poe is better against Dash, Corran Horn, K-Wings, etc.

The small base ships you have will struggle to catch Manaroo, especially if she has EU so realistically you will need to tangle with Dengar.

The trick when facing Dengar is to try and keep Biggs out of Dengar's primary arc. This means that Dengar will be forced to split his fire with his regular attack going on Biggs and his retaliation shot going against whoever is in his primary arc. Often I suggest not attacking with a ship in Dengar's primary arc to deny him his retaliation sot but with Biggs this is less important as his firepower is diluted.

Stress from Braylen will make him predictable (although he will normally be stressing himself out with OCR anyway) so he probably won't be barrel-rolling. Try and engage him at longer ranges where possible as otherwise he gets the extra red dice bonus on both attacks. When you have to get in close, try to block his white sloop on the turn after the joust as it is his only means of turning around.

Against Defenders, it depends to some extent on which pilots you are facing. Normally it will be the Vessery/Ryad tag team so your aim should be to focus fire on Ryad first and pile stress on to her with Braylen as this will shut down her PTL for a couple of turns.

Vessery can be left until last as without wingmen to spot for him, he is just an overpriced Glaive.

Focussing fire is the key to burning through their token stacks while using Biggs to prevent them doing the same to you. Defenders are tough but not Soontir tough and Poe will out-PS them which may come in helpful. Black One is good as shaving off target locks helps cut their lethality but you mentioned you wanted to save the last point for an initiative bid.

I think I may have a go at switching out Poe with the following Norra:

Norra - ptl, c3po, r2d2, vector thrusters

I think I may have a go at switching out Poe with the following Norra:

Norra - ptl, c3po, r2d2, vector thrusters

Looks good but I would be tempted to run Tail Gunner instead of C-3PO. Biggs will protect Norra early on which means they are unlikely to burn through her hit points with R2-D2 to regen her.

Tail Gunner is great as the reduced agility really helps to compensate for the slightly lower firepower from the rear arc. Norra in particular is probably deadlier from her rear arc than the front.

Norra with Tail Gunner instead comes in at 40 points and Braylen is 32 which means you have 28 points left. That means you might want to consider giving Biggs M9-G8. Although it does not do much to help his survivability, the ability to put a mini-Predator on Norra is great as it gives her a reroll whilst allowing her to save her Target Lock to add an extra hit.