I thought I would try the obvious Keyan-Maul combo last weekend, to see how if it can actually achieve anything in the current meta and after a few games I was Holly S******!!!
The amount of punishment this combo can deliver is amazing and combined with Fenn Rau-Ezra is almost broken.
This is the exact list I tried, that has plenty of room for adjustment regarding who to take as the 3rd wingman.

I plan to bring Poptics, Maullander, and Stresszra to this regionals season. However, I ditch use Collision detector on Keyan - I don't think SJ is worth the points.

Sounds like a solid list, I was thinking to try exactly that next time.
Something among these lines:

Keyan Farlander + Collision detector + Veteran Instincts + B-Wing/E2 + Maul
Fenn Rau + Adaptability + Ezra Bridger + R3-A2
Poe Dameron + VI + R5-P9 + Advanced Optics + Black One + Vectored Thrusters

Although truth be told, my play style favours this list:

Keyan Farlander + Advanced Sensors + Veteran Instincts + B-Wing/E2 + Maul
Fenn Rau + Adaptability + Ezra Bridger
Poe Dameron + Adaptability + R5-P9 + Advanced Optics + Black One + Vectored Thrusters

i don't think Fenn + r3a2 is a good combo. If you stress your target on your attack, you pick a stress to so you won't be able to use Fenn's ability...

13 hours ago, tsondaboy said:

Sounds like a solid list, I was thinking to try exactly that next time.
Something among these lines:

Keyan Farlander + Collision detector + Veteran Instincts + B-Wing/E2 + Maul
Fenn Rau + Adaptability + Ezra Bridger + R3-A2
Poe Dameron + VI + R5-P9 + Advanced Optics + Black One + Vectored Thrusters

I'll second what Ninotik said. Fenn's greatest asset is how pilot ability; with R3-A2 you're trading that for a single stress on an enemy which has less defensive benefit against anything without either PTL or Expertise. Then there's Ezra on a two attack ship, which seems sub-optimal since two dice has a low chance of getting through regardless of mods in many matchups.

Poe's load out with both options and R5-P9 also send at odds with itself as one upgrade may want to spent the token while the other wants to keep it...

16 hours ago, tsondaboy said:

Keyan Farlander + Sensor Jammer + Veteran Instincts + B-Wing/E2 + Maul
Fenn Rau + Adaptability + Ezra Bridger

Ten Numb + Sensor Jammer + Adaptability + Bistan <----------- brought in just for fun, Poe is an obvious better choice for the same cost.

Keep Ten Numb with Bistan and win something big. They tune into the Mynock podcast and listen for Dee's head exploding.

#bistanisdirty

Soooo Stressful!

Keyan Farlander (29)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Collision Detector (0)
Flechette Cannon (2)
Maul (3)
B-Wing/E2 (1)

Ezra Bridger (Sheathipede) (17)
Wired (1)
Inspiring Recruit (1)
R3-A2 (2)

Poe Dameron (PS9) (33)
Veteran Instincts (1)
BB-8 (2)
Advanced Optics (2)
Autothrusters (2)
Black One (1)

Total: 98

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Altogether, here's my suggestion along the same lines:

(43) T-70 X-Wing: •Poe Dameron (HotR) (33)
Autothrusters (2)
•Black One (1)
Veteran Instincts (1)
•R2-D2 (4)
Advanced Optics (2)

(34) B-Wing: •Keyan Farlander (29)
B-Wing/E2 (1)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Collision detector (0)
•Maul (3)

(23) Sheathipede-class Shuttle: •Ezra Bridger (17)
•Phantom II (0)
Snap shot (2)
•Jan Ors (2)
•R3-A2 (2)

Total: 100/100

Standard optics Poe. If you don't see a lot of turrets and/or do expect lots of non-deadeye ordnance then I would recommend switching Artoo to BB.

Maullander, the experiment.

Strezra has a chance at double stressing a target if you can accurately anticipate their maneuver, and once he does that he gets very durable with the evade conversion. I wanted Jan Ors crew here so that Keyan can have a useful action since he won't need focus or TL on attack he can now convert focus actions to the much more defensively valuable evade token when a barrel roll won't get him out of arc, and in a pinch Poe can now do the same thing (courtesy of the latest FAQ)

I think I'll try that list at my next game night. My next tweaks would be to trade Artoo for BB and switch Ezra to a zero point elite, which saves enough to get Sensor Jammer back on Maullander.

... Or I could trade Ezra's elite for Pulsed Ray Shield. Hmm... I'll start with what I posted. Keeping Maullander trim seems good, but if I'm not getting snaps off then Sensor Jammer might be worth it in exchange.

@tsondaboy not even naked Poe comes in at 38 points, so... not sure about that bit.

Also how is Fenn w/Ezra "almost broken"? On paper it looks like lame duck filler to me, what am I missing?

My suggestion:

Lowhhrick (28)
Predator (3)
Kanan Jarrus (3)
Ezra Bridger (3)
Experimental Interface (3)

Keyan Farlander (29)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Collision Detector (0)
Maul (3)
B-Wing/E2 (1)

Fenn Rau (Sheathipede) (20)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Hotshot Co-pilot (4)
Flight-Assist Astromech (1)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

EI has to work on an upgrade card. The Lowrick needs a better way to generate stress for Ezra. Maybe PTL instead of Predator? Then you can put the EI points into something else.

6 minutes ago, BlodVargarna said:

EI has to work on an upgrade card. The Lowrick needs a better way to generate stress for Ezra. Maybe PTL instead of Predator? Then you can put the EI points into something else.

Good catch, and good suggestion.

New version:

Lowhhrick (28)
Push the Limit (3)
Kanan Jarrus (3)
Ezra Bridger (3)

Keyan Farlander (29)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Collision Detector (0)
Ion Cannon (3)
Maul (3)
B-Wing/E2 (1)

Fenn Rau (Sheathipede) (20)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Hotshot Co-pilot (4)
Flight-Assist Astromech (1)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

3 hours ago, nitrobenz said:

@tsondaboy not even naked Poe comes in at 38 points, so... not sure about that bit.

Also how is Fenn w/Ezra "almost broken"? On paper it looks like lame duck filler to me, what am I missing?

Read the sentence carefully I never said that.

5 hours ago, kris40k said:

Keep Ten Numb with Bistan and win something big. They tune into the Mynock podcast and listen for Dee's head exploding.

#bistanisdirty

Ten used to be one of my favorite B-wings to fly, but his ability is not that useful in the current meta I think. Sure, its great against Fell or Whisper but doesn’t help much against Miranda. At this point its preferable to switch him with someone that can produce more hits in one attack instead of one guaranteed or switch him with someone that can hold better on his own in the late game like a regenerating Poe. And although the sensor jammer combo with Fen in the OP is great for defense, that list has practically only one ship that can deliver damadge. So if you lose keyan early you will have problems in the late game.

Keyan + Maul is a great combo, with he will go down in the first combat turn against pretty much any list without Biggs' protection. He's a third of your list, and actually has a good chance of missing shots when attacking with 3 dice, so why not go a little bigger?

Lothal Rebel (45)
VCX-100 (35), Sensor Jammer (4), Ezra Bridger (3), Maul (3)

Fenn Rau (26)
Sheathipede-class Shuttle (20), Adaptability (0), Weapons Engineer (3), M9-G8 (3)

Lowhhrick (29)
Auzituck Gunship (28), Adaptability (0), Wookiee Commandos (1)

The Lothal is a (nearly) fully modded 4-die shot, with a critical in there nearly every turn. It's practically impossible to kill because:

Fenn Activates on the opponent's biggest gun, stoping their mods (especially focus tokens).
Fen target locks the two biggest threats, rerolling one of their hits/crits on every shot they take.
Lowhrick Reinforces, so he can add another evade result.
The Lothal evades, giving another result.
Sensor jammer turns one hit to a focus on every attack.

All up, it can turn a 4-hit harpoon into a 1-hit harpoon even without M9-G8. In addition you get a very big gun, a 18 arc with decent power, and Fenn can plink against AGI 1 targets.

On 1/29/2018 at 5:32 PM, tsondaboy said:

The amount of punishment this combo can deliver is amazing and combined with Fenn Rau-Ezra is almost broken.

That's what I was referring to ... I still feel like I'm missing something on the interaction between Maullander and Fenn-Ezra

On 1/29/2018 at 5:32 PM, tsondaboy said:

Ten Numb + Sensor Jammer + Adaptability + Bistan <----------- brought in just for fun, Poe is an obvious better choice for the same cost.

this is 38 points, I miscalculated my head math even still, that is a pretty slim Poe (ps8 w/ VI, BB-8, optics, AT, B1?)

I was referring to Fenn`s ability in combination with sensor Jammer.

PS(8) Poe + Adaptability + R5-P9, Optics + Title + Thrusters (or Autothrusters) fits there, you have 39 points to spend not 38

I took this to game night tonight:

Keyan Farlander (29)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Advanced Sensors (3)
Maul (3)
B-Wing/E2 (1)

Ten Numb (31)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Advanced Sensors (3)
Linked Battery (2)
Bistan (2)
B-Wing/E2 (1)

Ezra Bridger (Sheathipede) (17)
Snap Shot (2)
Tactician (2)
R3-A2 (2)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

...And went 2-0 with it.

First game was against Imperial Bobs and 2 mangler Nus. I went hard after one Nu and the other Nu and Bobs raced in to support it. I turned Ezra towards a debris cloud and managed to snap-stress Boba. Then all 3 ships opened up on the Nu and PS killed it. Boba was soon buried in stress and limping with crits. I traded 1 HP Ten for 4 damage on the other Nu. I blocked Boba with Keyan to trap him in Ezra's snap shot range which killed him. He had a 3 HP Nu vs full health Keyan and full health Ezra so he swept.

Second game was against Oicunn and Ryad--both way too tricked out. I managed to engage Ryad with rocks between my squadron and Oicunn, so he had to turn around them and not ram me. I double stressed Ryad and blew off her shields. Next turn she tried to 5k but barely clipped Ten and took a snap-stress from Ezra. Then I shot Oicunn's shields off but Ezra stressed Ryad again and ranged her too, rather than doing a damage to Oicunn and triggering Ysanne Isaard. Oicunn soaked up some crits and died to a double console fire in the next couple turns. Ryad tried to joust Ten and he blew her away.

I really, really liked the Mail+Farlander combo. One thing I didn't realize until most of the way through game 1 is that his ability and Maul trigger at the same time, and therefore either order. It came in handy when firing Oicunn in game 2 since he had rebel captive. I would:

1) Declare target, get stress

2) Roll dice, spend stress to change focuses (if any)

3) Re-roll a die with Maul, get another stress

4) Hit and de-stress again

It was lovely! I had just been thinking of it in the typical Maul re-roll, spend stress, clear stress pattern, but the flexibility of it was nice to discover.

I thought about this combination myself, but it seems like it falls short in almost every aspect to Rage/Inspiring Recruit on Keyan, which is both cheaper by a point and produces more consistent damage, as it generates more rerolls (as well as a defensive focus), for fewer stress, and doesn't need to hit with the attack to clear all of said stress. The advantage of Maul is that he doesn't take up your action, I suppose, but the only action you would take anyway is a barrel roll, and I'm not convinced that option is worth the extra investments Maul requires.

I thought the same thing, but I would strongly suggest playing it to see. It truly is a lot more flexible.

1) Barrel roll is huge. B-wings have crap dials and predictable moves. Being able to barrel roll frequently is about the only thing a B-wing can do to stay relevant in the battle. Rage, recruit and 2k turns (or any of the other 5 red moves either) can't happen in the same turn, and that's not good.

2) You don't use Maul until you're shooting. Ever raged with Keyan only to get arc-dodged? Now you're 2 stress deep and facing the wrong way. Not good. Only getting stress when you know you're getting shot is a big deal.

3) As I outlined above, the flexibility of using Keyan or Maul in either order makes you much better equipped to deal with stress you didn't account for. Maybe you clipped a debris, maybe they've got rebel captive, or maybe you got tacticianed by PS 11 Fenn. In those scenarios with Rage, you either can't do it (if you clipped debris w/o adv sensors) or you end up with 3 stress and are guaranteed to be stressed next turn even if you do get a shot. With this combo you just spend the first stress with his ability, then re-roll with Maul, then clear that stress when you hit.

4) Your EPT is still open. I'll take PS 9 Farlander against PS 7 raging Farlander any day.

On 1/30/2018 at 3:59 AM, tsondaboy said:

Although truth be told, my play style favours this list:

Keyan Farlander + Advanced Sensors + Veteran Instincts + B-Wing/E2 + Maul
Fenn Rau + Adaptability + Ezra Bridger
Poe Dameron + Adaptability + R5-P9 + Advanced Optics + Black One + Vectored Thrusters

Am I reading that wrong or is that 101 points?

4 minutes ago, Funkleton said:

Am I reading that wrong or is that 101 points?

PS(8) Poe

I'm loving this thread. I fully agree that Maullander is a tremendously flexible piece, and Ezra is many forms is crazy useful.

20 hours ago, JaceDK said:

Good catch, and good suggestion.

New version:

Lowhhrick (28)
Push the Limit (3)
Kanan Jarrus (3)
Ezra Bridger (3)

Keyan Farlander (29)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Collision Detector (0)
Ion Cannon (3)
Maul (3)
B-Wing/E2 (1)

Fenn Rau (Sheathipede) (20)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Hotshot Co-pilot (4)
Flight-Assist Astromech (1)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

With this little team, I might suggest ditching the Ion cannon from Keyan for VT or Targeting Computer on Low. Gives him more action potential for PTL, or helps him keep arc. Plus, you don't really need the ion.

I really think B-wings should have advanced sensors. It's a bad dial, hideous by today's standards. You've really got to wring every drop of value out of it you can. Collision detector accomplishes that somewhat, but really offers more "gotcha" moments against inexperienced players.

Adv sensors do a much better job of letting you perform the "optional move" turn after turn. Even if the opponent knows you're going to barrel roll and 2-turn, it's still often the best move anyway.

I'd drop the ion for that over a fatter Low.