I want so badly to try some new ISD craziness, but with a tournament closely following the new release - I'd like to be familiar with my list since I don't get many games in.

I usually fly a Liberty, 2xTRC90, 2xFlots; OR a Liberty, Admo, TRC90, Flot list. I'm was looking to up my game against ISD's (cough *Wave 7* cough).

Can you spare a moment for the apostle of Admonition to say something about these MC30's in this role?

The Foresight to Admonish Liberty Points: 383/400

[ flagship ] MC80 Star Cruiser (96 points) "Swiss Army Battleaxe" is to kill cheap activations, wreck carriers, and sap large shields
- General Madine ( 30 points) keeps us moving fast from the pesky squads
- Mon Karren ( 8 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points) this might switch out for Bail or a Strategy Adviser
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Dual Turbolaser Turrets ( 5 points)
- H9 Turbolasers ( 8 points) I dunno what else to put here (unless I drop MK and add HTT for similar effect)
- Heavy Ion Emplacements ( 9 points)
MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63 points) "Wet Work" for that one big high-risk close-up hit
- Admonition ( 8 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Heavy Turbolaser Turrets ( 6 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63 points) "Boogieman" lurking at long range for finishing work
- Foresight ( 8 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Heavy Turbolaser Turrets ( 6 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
1 Shara Bey ( 17 points)

Is this a very poor idea, or just an odd list? I'm told the latter is my jam.

I hate to suggest it, but dropping an MC30 for three flotillas might make the list more dangerous. The MC80 could be trimmed and/or upgraded to the BC version with H9s and Quad Cannons. I’m finding the Mon Karren title to be weak as well.

Alternatively, I have run Madine with TRC90s or MC30s and the LMC80 almost exclusively for a couple months (Sounds impressive, but no more than one game a week) and I’m going to ditch Madine for Raddus. I think the Liberty will be an extremely potent ship to drop in just the right place and the 30s really have the staying power to get to the good drop point.

Agree, I've tried something very similar in the past and while on paper there is an impressive amount of firepower, the problem is your number of activations. Replacing one MC30 with a combination of flotillas, TRC90s, and/or HHs will give you an extra activation and increase the chances of being able to bring your big guns to bear where and when you want.

Of course, the new upgrade that lets you skip an activation will change all of this.

Diddo to what everyone else said.

Most good lists create an offset somewhere. They have one thing that do extremely well that is difficult to manage. Right now, your activation count is a bit iffy. I think Madine lists should still easily be playable in the post wave-7 world.

For yours:

Liberty: Ask yourself what you really want it to do and then pick upgrades that match. For example, if I run a Star Cruiser, I generally have pretty light upgrades. Mon Karren is great on it, but I'm skeptical about Intel Officer + MK. I suppose Intel Officer is great for getting rid of the brace on key ships, but then why not run XI7 instead of MK, because once you pitch the brace, they can freely use their redirect, and part of the point of MK is to give them the choice flat out and make that a painful choice because of the damage incoming. But perhaps more importantly, I tend to think of the question: How am I going to slay big ships? In terms of efficiency, I don't want to dedicate too many points in my list to this question, because it comes at the expense of dealing with squadrons or activation spam. I wonder if the way that your list is constructed if you wouldn't just exhaust the shields out anyway, in which a lot of the upgrades are over the top.

On upgrades, I've never felt like I needed H9 much on the SC. Sure, it is painful not to have the acc on the flotilla, but you're already at such high odds. It isn't the end of the world to run it blank and just save points. I'm still uncertain about HIE. You really absolutely need them to trigger across all those blue dice, and maybe you'll fire at two targets one of which triggers the upgrade, but I still think SW-7 for cheap damage pumping is the way to go on an SC.

Admonition: HTT: most people avoid this because it only sets you up against one specific ship type. It is also an upgrade that is dedicated to big ship slaying. XI7 or H9 work a lot more wonders here.

Foresight really doesn't work in this list. Foresight seems to work best on a Scout, perhaps as a home for the commander, that is trying to TRC early game and swoop in late game. Or you could run a Torpedo variant with Mothma. In the end, you have 3 ships, but not a reliable way of getting any one of them to target against the best lists.

Now, I do think SA has merit in a Madine liberty list, but you're minimally needing to drop Foresight to a Jaina's Light and a flotilla. And what they say about 3 flotillas works better.

Thanks all for taking the time to share your advice. Honestly, you are steering me back toward what I usually run (except I like vettes over a pair of flotillas whenever I can squeeze them in). In some ways, I'm a little disappointed that a more creative approach is against conventional wisdom - but hearing your well thought out reasoning helps me understand why my old ways are worth continuing.

After the next tournament, I'll go back to creativity. I get such precious few opportunities to play outside of my home, that I need to make them count.

Try this wave 7 MC80 BC build:

-Battle Cruiser-

Intel Officer

Caitlen & Sheldon (or whatever their names are)

Engine Techs

Spinal

X17s

------

She comes in at 139.

Thats 5 re-rollable reds and a fake speed 4 that will crush the brace and prevent redirects. I think she will pair best with Madine, but flavor to taste?

With an MC30 as a backup you can get a few flotillas in there and a token 2-4 squads. And you could move intel officer to the MC30, freeing up your large base for Stategic Advisor.