Hello everyone!

Reading through these forums over these last few weeks, I've been motivated in trying to formulate a list to take to this tournament season.

I fly rebels. I don't plan to fly ordnance. If I'm not flying ordnance, some kind of control is probably gonna be strong. I can think of 3 major control pieces I would fly: Fenn, Black One, and Stressbot.

With that in mind, I plan to definitely include Poe with VI, Black One, Adv. Optics, AT, BB-8, and a Stressbot Carrier.

If I fly Streszra (Snap Shot, Gunner, Stressbot), then I will be able to fit PS 9 Poe (albeit with FAA, not BB-8 - I could keep BB-8 on PS 8 Poe), potentially triple stress the opponent (and Snapshot is nothing to sneeze at offensively), and round out the list with one of my favorite ships, Keyan w/ VI, Collision Detector, E2, and Maul. That's a lock stripper/softening shot, a hammer shot (who is himself rather invulnerable to stress), and a really strong control piece who has rather nice defense when stressed.

If I fly StressBraylen (Luke, title, Stressbot), then I would have to drop down to PS 8 Poe, and deal with a slightly more squishy stress carrier (though with more HP), but I will be able to use Fenn (VI or Wingman, M9-G8, Weapons Engineer). That is offense interference/action economy (coordinate and M9 locks really strengthen the other ships), a lock stripper/softening shot, and a double stress ship who, between the M9 reroll and the Luke Eye, can hit almost as hard as Keyan.

So...thoughts?

Definately PS11 Poe. Nymranda lists can be as low as 94pt bid. Just get to 11 to erase two locks.

I prefer Ezra over Braylen just to save points, but if you are planning on having Fenn, then Braylen probably the better option, but with no protection other then Fenn, braylen could drop fast, and now you are playing catchup with just Poe and Fenns weak shot.

Frankly, I'm not sure FAA is strictly worse than BB-8 with VI (PTL/BB-8 is wildly different). BB-8 can be used on command, while FAA can fizzle. Pre-move repositions can be more impactful, but after-move are still also great. FAA can boost or barrel roll, and is a point cheaper. It'd be interesting to play around with, see how they compare.

With Braylen, I know Luke adds dice mods to an often stressed ARC, but Gunner would get you the points to run PS 9 Poe. Luke adds about half-a-damage to the expected damage per shot, doubles the chance of 3 hits from ~30% to ~60%, and 2+ hits goes from ~70% to ~90%. That's quite a bit. Maybe it'd be better to cut Weapons Engineer. If Fenn is only able to lock Braylen, and Poe mostly takes his own TLs, that isn't too bad. Replace with Inspiring Recruit, to give Braylen the chance to clear stress faster. Wait. With that, you might not even need Luke over Gunner, since Braylen could probably just Focus normally. Hrm. But then what would you do with the points... Vectored Thrusters somewhere? Upgrade to Thane Kyrell? Might be best to keep Luke for redundancy, and to allow more flexibility with how IR removes stress. It'd be a life-saver if facing another stress-control list.

Fenn Rau (25) Sheathipede-class Shuttle (20), Veteran Instincts (1), Inspiring Recruit (1), M9-G8 (3)

Braylen Stramm (34) ARC-170 (25), R3-A2 (2), Luke Skywalker (7), Alliance Overhaul (0)

Poe Dameron (PS9 Version) (41) T-70 X-Wing (33), Black One (1), BB-8 (2), Advanced Optics (2), Veteran Instincts (1), Autothrusters (2)

Just be aware that the meta isn't uniform. Final Form (Nymanda's most recent iteration) isn't the only meta monster. Dash is alive and well, and he'll eat all the above Poe/Stressbot lists and spit out Anakin quotes from The Phantom Menace, to say nothing of his escort.

Vi Poe is great, and the stressbot is great, but at that point you're denying all target locks and most other actions too, so Fenn is kinda redundant. You need to reduce the amount of dice your opponent is throwing, not further remove modifiers:

Poe (PS 9) (41)
BB-8
Autothrusters
Advanced Optics
Black One
VI

Captain Rex (17)
Title
Bo Shek

Gold Squadron Pilot (26)
TLT
R3-A2
BTL-A4

AP-5 (16)
Intelligence Agent

Totalling 100 points.

Before you kill Po you've got to kill the stressbot. Before you kill the stressbot you've got to kill Rex, and before you kill any of them AP-5 gives them all buffs with great board knowledge and Rex messes with your opponent's maneuvers.

Thank you all for your input! After reading everyone's suggestions, a weakness in the Braylen list occured to me: he is both a decent gun AND the stressmule. That makes him too appealing of a target. If I lose him, all I have is Poe and Fenn. Not enough damage.

Therefore, I think I will be flying this:

Poe (PS9)

VI

Black One

FAA

AT

Adv. Optics

Ezra

Snap Shot

R3-A2

Gunner

Keyan

VI

Collision Detector

E2

Maul

While I do lose Fenn as a valuable support piece, this list splits the effect much better. If you go for Poe first, then you are getting double or triple stressed the whole while, and leaving Keyan much longer. If you go for Ezra first, then you are leaving Poe and Keyan, 2 respectable hitters. If you go for Keyan first (and why would you?) you have to deal with double or triple stress AND Poe into the mid-late game.