How effective a screen are people finding it. Is anything of similar cost on the rebels side which works as well?

You are looking for

1)scatter/brace,

2)2xBrace and high HP,

3)High HP

All non-heavy

Tycho and Shara would be the first two. I wouldn't take Ketsu as you probably get a better deal on 2xAwings.

Save for the speed, YT-1300s are your sweet spot,

Gold squad could be viable just for the cheap non-heavy HP. Ewings maybe for Snipe to hit intel

Used both of them over the weekend - Tycho always proves useful (scatter/brace and ability to move wherever), but Shara Bey is something else. Her counter 3 with crits counted pinned down and shredded enemy bomber/fighter wings. Over 4 games my (lumbering speed 2) MC80 only once had to contend with bombers, and then only for one turn. Fav Reb ace for sure.

I got Shara in the CC campaign and vet after first game. Cant wait for my second game, those counter re-rolls are going to slay!

Tycho and Shara are the new awesome pair. It takes a pretty committed anti-squadron force (IG-88, Snipe, Mauler, as examples) to really deal with them, and the two plus 2 A-wings is definitely a solid anti-squadron defense without having to hit the 6 squadron territory. In fact, you're almost better off taking lighter squad numbers because you the opponent to shoot at Shara as much as possible, and giving them options besides Shara and Tycho makes it much more likely they'll just take the easier shots.

Considering the lists that were running A-wings in regionals, a lot of the MC80 long-arm lists would work with Tycho/Shara/2 A-Wings, and some of the speedier MC30 lists would work fine with just Shara/Tycho.

My next list will try to make Tycho + Shara work as a small but effective fighter screen. If I can focus the intel ship (if there's one), I'm pretty sure they will both do awesome work, but I'm concerned as I usually pick 4-6 A-Wings as fighter screens. I feel kinda naked with just 2 squads xD