HIE adds some competition for leading shots on the larger ships, and some CR90B are gonna love it.

General Draven's presence will weaken A-wing spam somewhat and makes Dengar no longer an auto-include. This one card makes the MC30 much more multi-role than it currently is, IMO.

EWS looks rather attractive on a CR90A flagship, and harmonizes with rather than replaces Jaina's Light.

But the thing I like best about this wave is the way that the most interesting upgrades compete so strongly with others. You can't just staple in the new cards and suddenly generate awesomeness where there was none before it. Something else will have to be given up.

8 hours ago, Jabby said:

How are you gonna do that? QTCs with H9s?

The idea started with Spinals, H9s with intensify Firepower. In practice I would say I destroyed flottlas 70% of the time, but you add Vader as commander that goes up to an almost 100% flottla kill. QBT might make it more reliable, but being able to tip the activation balance early in the game I feel is key to winning with lower activations, so getting in range early is important. I've played 3 porxy games against lists in the current meta that really spam the flotillas, the most memorable proxy game was against ace holes killed all 3 flotillas and yavaris turn two, the yavaris roll the dice gods smiled greatly on me 3 double hits two accuracys and a blank IF the blank to a hit change h9 into an accuracy, 6 damage 3 accuracys this attack was targeting the side leaving him with only GH against full health ISDs at the end of turn 2. The yavaris death was ridiculously lucky, but the flotilla kills felt like average rolls that IF helped and H9S locked down the scatter. I don't want to talk to much about the list as it's regionals and I may end up taking it to a regional, if it continues to do well in practice games, however I do feel that the age of flotilla spam will slowly come to an end once this wave is out. You will still see 1-2 in a fleet, but I think the 3+ will be heading out. However motti gonzotis and bright hope can fairly consistently survive the long range barrage you have to roll well to kill them, and I've done it just with less consistency.

4 hours ago, jbrandmeyer said:

But the thing I like best about this wave is the way that the most interesting upgrades compete so strongly with others. You can't just staple in the new cards and suddenly generate awesomeness where there was none before it. Something else will have to be given up.

Exactly how they mathematically made certain upgrades very competitive against each other in the same slot is really interesting to me. They do a much better job of this imo than Xwing does.

You'd think that large differences in how they work make that happen, but its usually not so simply, as people tend to start discovering that certain upgrades are either the best value, or certain ones always go on certain ships. (Cr90 with RBD for instance). But the Assault Frigate? EWS, ECM, AP, RBD all have their merits.

(But not cluster bombs lol)

6 hours ago, Blail Blerg said:

Exactly how they mathematically made certain upgrades very competitive against each other in the same slot is really interesting to me. They do a much better job of this imo than Xwing does.

You'd think that large differences in how they work make that happen, but its usually not so simply, as people tend to start discovering that certain upgrades are either the best value, or certain ones always go on certain ships. (Cr90 with RBD for instance). But the Assault Frigate? EWS, ECM, AP, RBD all have their merits.

(But not cluster bombs lol)

Cluster Bombs is a “reequip a discarded card” away from awesomeness

I know its a heretical thing to say but i actually think clusters are pretty good at present considering most imperial fleets i face these days rely on marek jendon as pretty much their only serious bomber. For big ships clusters are a bit too much of a trade off but for mc30s and cr90s (maybe arquitens) i think they are worth it.

55 minutes ago, Ophion said:

I know its a heretical thing to say but i actually think clusters are pretty good at present considering most imperial fleets i face these days rely on marek jendon as pretty much their only serious bomber. For big ships clusters are a bit too much of a trade off but for mc30s and cr90s (maybe arquitens) i think they are worth it.

.... at FIVE points a pop? Man, idk about that.

For me it's the Kuat, with the fact that I can get a cheaper ISD with a def-retro slot without killing my officer slot.

I'm still grumpy it doesn't get turbolasers, I'd love to get some XI7s on that bad boy to pair up with some XI7s

Also Intensify Firepower speaks to my inner reliability-freak on a deep personal level

I'm excited to commence primary ignition on a superlaser Cymoon.

Otherwise, there are a few toys I want to try on VSD squadrons.

Most excited, MC75 and Rebel ship shenanigans!

Happy to see it, Thrawn and Chimera. But, I would've been so much more excited to see Thrawn and Chimera and Pelleon and everything else that never actually happened.

1. MC75
2. WAB
3. EWS
4. HIE
5. Ordnance Pods (OP?)

But mostly it's the MC75. I love rebels and large ships, so I am so excited to see what that ship can do!