Here's my list with Jess...

Lowhhrick (28)
Selflessness (1)
Tactician (2)
Rey (2)

Jess Pava (25)
R2-D6 (1)
Draw Their Fire (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Miranda Doni (29)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
Sabine Wren (2)
Bomblet Generator (3)
Long-Range Scanners (0)

Total: 100

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Here's THEZACKMATHEWSCAROLINAKRAYTSPODCAST's list from GenCon...

Lowhhrick (28)
Selflessness (1)
Wookiee Commandos (1)

Biggs Darklighter (25)
R4-D6 (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Miranda Doni (29)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
Concussion Missiles (4)
Sabine Wren (2)
Bomblet Generator (3)
Long-Range Scanners (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Biggs Pros:

• R4-D6 removes damage results
• Biggs guarantees you control target priority
• Alpha or kill shot potential with missile on Miranda
• Same PS for Low and Biggs can make maneuvers more flexible

Jess Pros:

• Critical result protection
• Increased general damage potential for both Jess (over Biggs) and Low (due to Rey crew)
• Increased evade result potential for both Jess (over Biggs) and Low (due to Rey crew)
• Control element with Tactician

I've yet to lose a game (10-0) with my Jess list, but I'm definitely not facing the same sort of competition nor do I think I'm in the same realm of skill as Zack. I'm honestly curious about people's thoughts on the differences. I'd love to get your input, @catachanninja! I know you swapped Biggs in place of the Stresshog, but don't know if you entertained other ships.

I went back and forth on it a ton. I figured lowrick plus would create a ton of target confusion. The polish national champ put on a masterclass at what i was trying to do. It was wierd when i was playtesting because people would always shoot the stresshog first and they were often successful in 1 rounding it. I was ususally giving up a shield on the opening shot with the missle, so what struck me is that if my opponents had shot miranda instead they'd be able to kill her. Getting draw thier fire on jess is definitly clever, but id worry your version of the list would punt to kanan biggs or tlt spam. Also without the missle there's a ton of things that can out joust you. That said that's a good list and if your opponents havent figured out to burn down miranda first play on brother.

You lose ships faster, pretty much, which isnt good for MOV in tourneys. But if you win every game, then who gives a crap

Biggs is guaranteeing Lowhhrick can use his reinforce/evade + selflessness keeping Biggs alive, and therefore MOV alive in tournaments. Without Biggs, the obvious first target is lowhhrick negating his ability, selflessness, killing Jess's ability while you are at it cause Miranda is gonna book it at that point if she hasn't already, and you are removing the stress control from the list. It's all guns on Lowhhrick. After that Jess is just a blue squad T70 at that point and I can focus on Miranda with what I got left.

Thanks for the replies, guys!

@catachanninja - Yeah, TLT spam is the one glaring weakness of my list. I haven't faced that yet. I also agree that there's a bunch of lists which could joust better, but that'd require them to shoot Miranda first, and no one has considered that yet.

@wurms - I don't know if I'm losing ships faster, but you're probably right. I'm not trying to keep everyone alive, just alive long enough for Miranda to be alone against someone she can beat in the end game (which is most ships). I don't agree that Jess is just a T-70 when Lowhhrick dies...I've had him die first and I do a pretty good job of keeping her and Miranda close to trigger Jess' ability. But, I don't think I've been in a situation where Lowhhrick dies and I'm not already ahead.

It's interesting that @catachanninja says to go for Miranda first, but @wurms says to go for Lowhhrick. Most people do go for Lowhhrick first, which given my record with the list, might point to them doing it wrong. I'm leaning more towards @catachanninja's suggestion...Miranda has to die first, because the chances of my opponent having something left which can beat Miranda in the end game after they've killed Lowhhrick is pretty low.

23 minutes ago, gennataos said:

Thanks for the replies, guys!

@catachanninja - Yeah, TLT spam is the one glaring weakness of my list. I haven't faced that yet. I also agree that there's a bunch of lists which could joust better, but that'd require them to shoot Miranda first, and no one has considered that yet.

@wurms - I don't know if I'm losing ships faster, but you're probably right. I'm not trying to keep everyone alive, just alive long enough for Miranda to be alone against someone she can beat in the end game (which is most ships). I don't agree that Jess is just a T-70 when Lowhhrick dies...I've had him die first and I do a pretty good job of keeping her and Miranda close to trigger Jess' ability. But, I don't think I've been in a situation where Lowhhrick dies and I'm not already ahead.

It's interesting that @catachanninja says to go for Miranda first, but @wurms says to go for Lowhhrick. Most people do go for Lowhhrick first, which given my record with the list, might point to them doing it wrong. I'm leaning more towards @catachanninja's suggestion...Miranda has to die first, because the chances of my opponent having something left which can beat Miranda in the end game after they've killed Lowhhrick is pretty low.

It depends on the capabilities of the list im flying, but id likley go for your miranda first. When i played paul black at gencon he had norra lowrick pava, similar to yours. I went for lowrick first but his norra lacked regen

31 minutes ago, gennataos said:

It's interesting that @catachanninja says to go for Miranda first, but @wurms says to go for Lowhhrick. Most people do go for Lowhhrick first, which given my record with the list, might point to them doing it wrong. I'm leaning more towards @catachanninja's suggestion...Miranda has to die first, because the chances of my opponent having something left which can beat Miranda in the end game after they've killed Lowhhrick is pretty low.

It really just depends on the list you bring.

It's a points game. Your Miranda is only 40pts, so it loses to Poetensity, Corran, Nyms, other Mirandas, etc. on points. Once I am ahead on points, Im not chasing a bomblet miranda, she has to come to me. I bring Poe/Dash, you get Dash and I get Low and Jess. There is no way your Miranda beats Poetensity.

If I have an imp list with a bunch of single arc ships that cost 30-ish points then Miranda is priority #1 cause its an auto loss 1v1 in a timed match.

EDIT: But this goes back to your initial question. Why even give your opponent a choice? Force them to kill biggs

9 hours ago, wurms said:

It really just depends on the list you bring.

It's a points game. Your Miranda is only 40pts, so it loses to Poetensity, Corran, Nyms, other Mirandas, etc. on points. Once I am ahead on points, Im not chasing a bomblet miranda, she has to come to me. I bring Poe/Dash, you get Dash and I get Low and Jess. There is no way your Miranda beats Poetensity.

Valid points, if you're ever ahead on points. You're really discounting Jess and also assuming Poe/Dash can kill Lowhhrick in any amount of time. I've played with and against that list, Poe hits like a wet noodle then runs away. Dash is going to dodge Jess, but won't dodge Miranda and Lowhhrick. I've beat Poe/Dash. I've beat Dengar/Nym. No one plays Corran aside from Nathan Eide. I've beat other Mirandas, but not fat Mirandas, so maybe those would be a problem.

9 hours ago, wurms said:

EDIT: But this goes back to your initial question. Why even give your opponent a choice? Force them to kill biggs

I ask the question because I don't know if the default answers given by the "world" meta are necessarily the blanket correct answers.

Jess with DTF is at least 1 point more expensive than Biggs. That's a little worse. And the pilot-skill difference makes formation flying a tiny bit harder. I know a 3x Rookie and Luke with DTF, R2D2, Shield Upgrade list made top 4 at Worlds 2013. It did lose to Biggs, but that was Paul Heaver with Biggs... Biggs forces concentrated fire, DTF leaves more to chance. Perhaps someone slips a bit out of formation as bait at some point, to entice split fire. Still, DTF can take a reasonable amount of heat away from main targets, just not as much as Biggs, and you still take the damage. Jess might draw 4 crits off from one of your 1 agility ships, but once they've killed that ship, Jess is only at 3 hull. However, in the meanwhile she's contributed a lot more offense toward the list than Biggs would have.

As to the list in general, I don't know that I like taking the missile off Miranda. That means probably keeping Wookiee Commandos on Lowhhrick (I don't know if a single Tactician is worth it, as much as I love trip-tac-tucks) and taking either Plasma Torpedoes or Cruise Missiles. I'm not sure how shifting points around from Miranda to Lowhhrick changes target priorities, and how that impacts matchups when down to the last ship.