Just read a great post about getting good and moving past your skill plateau and it got me thinking. I can beat most of the casual players at LFGS. You know the guy, he has every model and plays a different list every time you see them. They know the basic rules and how to play. But they just aren’t very good players. I want to step up my game and start to see things a couple moves ahead so I can compete with the top guns in the area. I need to find my signature list, one that I know backwards and forward so I can focus on flying and learning the game on the next level. My question to you all is what was your signature list? The list that propelled you from just playing x-wing to being a contender.

I don't think I'm qualified to be considered a "contender" but the list that gave me the knowledge and helped hone my abilities, my go-to when I want to have a good game and bloody some noses is this one,

I call it Rag Tag:

"Deathfire" (17)
Extra Munitions (2)
Unguided Rockets (2)
Cluster Mines (4)

"Dark Curse" (16)
Stealth Device (3)

The Inquisitor (25)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
TIE/v1 (1)

"Zeta Leader" (20)
Wired (1)
Advanced Optics (2)
Shield Upgrade (4)

Total: 99

Deathfire is often overlooked and Dark Curse is a real pain in the A___ to shoot down without mods. The extra shield on ZL really seems to cause my opponents extra trouble too; a "common" TIE/fo shouldn't be able to take that many shots. Inqy is Inqy and often the first target. Why would you go for the other relatively "basic" ships after all? You'll soon learn not to underestimate this motley bunch. And if you lose, you'll likely have a smile on your face. We both will.

Flying something different every time. The few repeats I had drained the fun for me. I learn more trying to adjust than practicing over and over again.

My 8 year old has been known since he was 6 for his triple crackshot Glaives. He also loves flying new stuff, but that's his staple competitive list. Very few upgrades to remember so he can just focus on outflying people. He's tabled more than a few people, including a YouTube celebrity, though I won't name names

35 minutes ago, s1ickrick said:

Just read a great post about getting good and moving past your skill plateau and it got me thinking. I can beat most of the casual players at LFGS. You know the guy, he has every model and plays a different list every time you see them. They know the basic rules and how to play. But they just aren’t very good players. I want to step up my game and start to see things a couple moves ahead so I can compete with the top guns in the area. I need to find my signature list, one that I know backwards and forward so I can focus on flying and learning the game on the next level. My question to you all is what was your signature list? The list that propelled you from just playing x-wing to being a contender.

This has been my list recently, with minor variation.

Manaroo/Ketsu/Old Teroch

This was parrattanni and trip defender meta and I went with two ps7 ships that had abilities that triggered at range 1 in arc. This required great team coordination and reading my opponents like a book.

The plan is to block/ram defenders or fenn rau with Ketsu and tractor beam them so teroch is now in their arc, which drops all their tokens. Then I now have a 2 agility non tokened ship at range 1 of teroch and ketsu.

With practice, I could now kill defenders in a single round. Asajj dropped in two rounds. I got so good with ketsu I blocked small ships on her corner with mobile arc to the side. List is all about reading my opponents moves.

I love lists that revolve around blocking. Two Tie D defenders and an Epsilon. Or Fenn/Thweek and a scout. Block em and erase em ?

One way I've been using to get better, is to take a list that has the same basic tricks as the one you want to get better with, but is worse.

E.g. rebel alpha strike team is usually Nym, Cracken, and Wedge, so I flew Porkins, Dutch, and Hobbie.

I like this, but I’m bias.

The Wookiee’s (100)

•Wullffwarro (36) - Auzituck Gunship
Rage (1), "Chopper" (0), •Finn (5)

•Lowhhrick (34) - Auzituck Gunship
Expertise (4), Tactician (2)

Wookiee Liberator (30) - Auzituck Gunship
Draw Their Fire (1), "Zeb" Orrelios (1), Tactician (2)

For now:

Upsilon-Class Shuttle: •Kylo Ren (50)
•Kylo Ren's Shuttle (2)
Determination (1)
Advanced Sensors (3)
Recon Specialist (3)
•Rebel Captive (3)
Weapons guidance (2)
Sensor cluster (2)

TIE Phantom: Sigma Squadron Pilot (25)

TIE Phantom: Sigma Squadron Pilot (25)

Total: 100/100

Eventually I'll be running Stridan with Death Troopers and 5 TIE Fighters or 2 TIE Reapers and 2 TIE Strikers.

I used to fly something different every time, not because I didn't have a play style, but because I just liked list building, and don't get to play enough to try everything I want to.

One of the first lists I consistently 'practiced', and still take out from time to time, is a First Order list

Major Stridan

- operations specialist

-kylo ren's shuttle

-rebel captive

-fire control system

3x Omega squadron pilot w/ snapshot.

Make a traffic jam with the ties, snap shot will either grab extra damage or give you focus tokens, so you can Evade more. I still love this list, and it may be one of the most fun lists I've ever made.

Two lists that really, really forced me to get better at this game (this was before the cards that are considered "good" on these ships came out). My W/L ratio with these was actually pretty high, although I wasn't playing this first one against any of the top-tier players.

http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!s!22:27,-1:-1:-1:;49:-1,-1,-1,-1,41:-1:-1:;10::-1:-1:;10::-1:-1:;10::-1:-1:;10::-1:-1:&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs=

http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Rebel Alliance&d=v4!s!29:18,72:7:-1:U.27;86:27,72:7:1:U.98;30:72:7:-1:U.101;87:72:7:-1:U.27&sn=A-Wing Aces&obs=

The list that's really held me back is Rey/Poe. It's really easy mode, and I don't have to think nearly enough about flying. Although using PTL and BB8 on Poe makes it significantly more challenging and rewarding.

A final note, you might want to watch your attitude about the local "casual" players. Usually, the people who play different lists every time you see them are actually better players than you, because you actually learn a lot more about the game by flying "sub-optimal" lists like my examples. They might not be bad players as much as players who lose because you're playing the better list. Winning doesn't necessarily equate skill and how much you're learning. I will caveat that by saying that although this game is about listbuilding, and there are certain lists that can't possibly beat other lists, on the actual mat, with decently balanced lists, this game is less than 10% luck and it's almost all skill. So definitely strive to get good at the game, but know that usually, you get the "goodest" at this game by playing the worst list.

I'm known as "That guy who flies the HWKs" in our area, and its a name (Though a bit of a mouthful) that I wear with pride. This list basically lays down 6 points (5 if my dice are exceptionally bad) of damage every round at whatever target I choose. Torkil dropping the enemy to PS 0 means that more often than not I'm PS-killing someone. Palob just laughs at things like Adv Optics, Comm Relay, Deadeye, etc. Finally, Kavil runs a small element of stress/range control in the Thermal Detonators backed up with an ungodly 4-dice TLT, usually with a double Predator thanks to Torkil dropping the enemy to PS 0.

Something with X-wings.

Lately I've bounced between Poe/Rey and Triple T-70.

...signature list? Hmm, let me think a second

Innese, love that list! Going to have to fly that soon...

I love to fly Jake, even if A-Wings aren't good. Normally fly with Dancing Poe when I can. Currently the list looks like this:

Jake Farrell (24)
Intensity (2)
Proton Rockets (3)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Guidance Chips (0)
A-Wing Test Pilot (0)

Poe Dameron (PS9) (33)
Push the Limit (3)
BB-8 (2)
Advanced Optics (2)
Autothrusters (2)
Black One (1)

Fenn Rau (Sheathipede) (20)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Weapons Engineer (3)
M9-G8 (3)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Wild Space Fringer - Tractor Beam

Wild Space Fringer - Tractor Beam

Wild Space Fringer - Heavy Laser Cannon

B/SF-17 Bombers are my jam. I am the Rebel Bomber player locally. I take them the tournaments and regionals. I vary between 1 or 2 of them in a list, but I love them. Crimson Specialist is definitely my favorite.

Torkil Mux (19)
Ion Cannon Turret (5)
Tactician (2)

Jakku Gunrunner (15)
Spacetug Tractor Array (2)

Jakku Gunrunner (15)
Spacetug Tractor Array (2)

Sunny Bounder (14)
"Light Scyk" Interceptor (-2)

Binayre Pirate (12)

Binayre Pirate (12)

Remaining 4 points for tweaking my build.

Total: 100

Janky 6 ship Scum swarm. Mux provides control, and the Quads rush in and strip Defense dice from the target for the rest of my swarm to devour the target despite 2 attack dice. It's worked pretty well for me so far, only loss was against a Kylo + 2 Juke TIE/FO leaders list that I played poorly against. Since the team isn't reliant on formation flying, they can space themselves out a bit to avoid getting completely shredded by Harpoons. Unfortunately I don't have much opportunity to stress test it against top meta lists, but on paper this looks to me like it could work with skillful flying. I enjoy flying it though, love flying swarms. I like to fly all kinds of different lists, but this is my 'main' list I fly competitively right now.

Well, this is my current favourite list. It is pretty unforgiving if I mess up with range control or stay in more than one arc. Torpedos add extra spice for protectorates, Fenn’s torpedo being more stress control and Teroch is going for more damage. I try to fly them close to each other as long possible to make that crucial r1 hit count big time.

Unkar on the other hand is real magician hat that have some kind of mischief for every moment. I just cloack him and change cloacking device for EMP device with Cikatro. His 2 die primary is pretty useless anyway, he is there to setup easy tractored targets for my aces. And lay some mines. And block. And tractor some more. And give some lovely ions. Etc.

Old Fenn’s Magician Hat (98)

•Fenn Rau (36) - Protectorate Starfighter
Push The Limit (3), Flechette Torpedoes (2), Concord Dawn Protector (1), Autothrusters (2)

•Old Teroch (36) - Protectorate Starfighter
Push The Limit (3), Proton Torpedoes (4), Concord Dawn Protector (1), Autothrusters (2)

•Unkar Plutt (26) - Quadjumper
•Cikatro Vizago (0), Cluster Mines (4), Primed Thrusters (1), •Cloaking Device (2), Spacetug Tractor Array (2)

GUNBOAT

GUNBOAT

GUNBOAT

GUNBOAT

GUNBOAT

with 10 pts of stuff. Like Flatchet torps and LRS/Chimps x 5

or title and tractor beams

or stuff.

GUNBOAT!

The closest thing I have to a signature list is this. It's the only one I've ever run unaltered more than 3 times.

The Inquisitor (25)

• Push The Limit (3)
• Homing Missiles (5)
• TIE/V1 (1)
• Autothrusters (2)
  Ship Total [36]

Double Edge (19)

• Deadeye (1)
• Homing Missiles (5)
• Concussion Missiles (4)
• Synced Turret (4)
• Lightweight Frame (2)
  Ship Total [35]

Duchess (23)

• Squad Leader (2)
• Adaptive Ailerons (0)
• Lightweight Frame (2)
  Ship Total [27]

[98/100]

55 minutes ago, Pooleman said:

This has been my list recently, with minor variation.

Twin Bombers (100)

"Crimson Specialist" — B/SF-17 Bomber	27
Trajectory Simulator	1
Bomblet Generator	3
Advanced Optics	2
Deflective Plating	1
Crossfire Formation	2
Ship Total: 36
"Cobalt Leader" — B/SF-17 Bomber	28
Accuracy Corrector	3
Proximity Mines	3
Ordnance Silos	2
Advanced Optics	2
Deflective Plating	1
Crossfire Formation	2
Ship Total: 41
Fenn Rau (Sheathipede) — Sheathipede-class Shuttle	20
Adaptability	0
Sabine Wren	2
Flight-Assist Astromech	1
Ship Total: 23

Oooh okay, how good do you think those bombers are? Are they actually like.. good or are they just fun?

This btw, is a gorgeous topic. I love it. Its so personal.

Used to be Palp Aces

Nowadays its Kylo QD and an Academy.

Slaughterhouse TIE Swarm

1 hour ago, s1ickrick said:

Just read a great post about getting good and moving past your skill plateau and it got me thinking. I can beat most of the casual players at LFGS. You know the guy, he has every model and plays a different list every time you see them. They know the basic rules and how to play. But they just aren’t very good players. I want to step up my game and start to see things a couple moves ahead so I can compete with the top guns in the area. I need to find my signature list, one that I know backwards and forward so I can focus on flying and learning the game on the next level. My question to you all is what was your signature list? The list that propelled you from just playing x-wing to being a contender.

Oh, you mean me?

I guess I'm out of the discussion, then.