So I live in Sioux Falls, SD. I don't really know if I can say that the meta has affected us here, but there's very few of us. I've played 3 rounds of this Summer League (my first competitive scene) we have going and was very pleasantly surprised to see my opponent pull out an A X U-Wing list:
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Luke Skywalker (28) [38]
- Expertise (4)
- R2-D2 (4)
- Vectored Thrusters (2)
-
Jake Ferrell (24) [28]
- PTL (3)
- VI (1)
- Chardaan Refit (-2)
- Autothrusters (2)
- A-Wing Test Pilot (0)
-
Heff Tobber (24)
- Jyn Erso (2)
- Rey (2)
- FCS (2)
- Engine Upgrade (4)
What was even better about this was that we were having a bit of a classic match-up going on with my triple Imperial build:
-
Darth Vader (29) [33]
- x1
- ATC (1)
- Juke (2)
- TIE mk. II (1)
-
Quickdraw (29) [36]
- Predator (3)
- Spec Ops (0)
- Electronic Baffle (1)
- TIE mk. II (1)
- Sensor Cluster (2)
-
Deathfire (17)
- Extra Munitions (2)
- Cruise Missiles (3)
- Adv Homing Missiles (3)
- Cluster Mines (4)
- Guidance Chips (0)
Quickdraw kind of messed up the classic, OT-ish feel of the match-up, but this was a fun list to play and his was a fun one to play against. I'd built my list to contend with the fearsome Fenn Rau and was relieved to not see him around. This was an extremely positive play experience and would encourage others to simply play stuff that is fun, fly a bit more casually, even in this meta, whatever it actually is.
Anyhow, we met in combat in the third round. The rocks were mostly clustered in the middle. He brought Heff and Jake around on his right side, Luke dove directly into the asteroids. Vader went straight down the middle, rolled around to the left side of a rock. Quickdraw went to the right of the same rock. Deathfire went left, slow-rolling a bit.
Combat round 1: Deathfire moves straight 4 and grabs TL on Heff, who moves into Range 2 of DF, uses Jyn to hand off 3 Focuses to Jake, who scoots in front of Heff, Range 1 of DF. Luke tiptoes into the asteroid field and Vader rolls right into his face, about 1/4" inch away, already has a TL on him. Quickdraw 1 hard left turns around the rock, baffles, lights up Luke, takes off a shield from him. Combat phase, Quickdraw fires, takes Luke's shield and gives him a damage, Vader finishes him with 3 natural hits and the ATC crit. Luke is gone before he even gets to shoot. Heff shoots at Vader, takes his shields.
Jake fires at DF, who takes a damage or two. DF fires off a cruise missile for a measly 2 hits even after spending the TL, Heff rolls 1 evade and loses a shield. Heff shoots at DF, lands maybe one hit.
CR 2: I flew like a doofus here. Ran DF barely onto a rock, though I would've been fine if I'd gone with my gut and would've gotten a good bomb drop, but DF didn't take any damage. Heff slipped into the asteroid, barely missing a bump with DF. Vader runs into DF on the same rock, draws a Direct Hit. Quickdraw ran right into Heff with a hard 3 turn, baffles the stress for a no-hit shot on Jake. Vader keeps his status as best pilot in the galaxy when Heff fires at R1, doesn't take anything. Quickdraw shoots again at Jake, no hits. Jake shoots at Vader for nothing.
CR 3: DF, who really wanted to bomb the daylights out of Heff, morosely 5 K-turns out, no damage from the asteroid again. Heff loops out of the asteroid field toward DF, doesn't get arc. Vader gets off the asteroid, no damage except to his pride. Quickdraw S-loops, no arc, keeps the stress. Jake hits the gas, gets out of arc. No shots fired of consequence.
CR 4: DF tries to find an arc, gets found instead. Heff got arc, blew him to smithereens before DF could drop any mines at all. Sad face. Vader moves out to find a good position. Mostly positioning at this point.
CR 5: Heff lands a hit on Vader at range 3 through a rock, a major disappointment. Down to just Quickdraw, who can't really keep up with the U-Wing and can't find an arc.
End of Game: Finally managed to catch up with Heff, brought him to half-hull on Quickdraw's last shot of the game. Lost, 100-55.
Thoughts: The game was decided mostly on how the game was flown. I flew like a doofus for 1 round, paid dearly for it. Both players agreed that though our lists were not meta lists, they were both solid and fun to play. We're both cautious against the Scum players in the league and have prepped to fight them, but enjoy flying our lists.
Don't play solely against the meta, play for fun. I've loved flying Juke Vader, everyone's been surprised to see him or Imperials in general. I'm probably fourth in our small league and loving it.