I just ordered both core sets, and the heroes of the resistance expansion. Any insight or recommendations before I start building?

Build what you think will be fun to fly! Experiment, figure out what you think is the most enjoyable for you and roll with it.

IBlack One Poe is really strong, with either BB-8 for maneuvering shenanigans or R2-D2 to keep his shields up. Rey/Finn is a Falcon that punches pretty hard and is tons of fun to fly; the YT-1300 in general is a really versatile ship that you can do a whole lot of interesting stuff with. The Imps will be a bit tougher with just four TIEs to work with, but there are some fun things you could do with them as well! As a group, the TIE/fo pilots have some of the most interesting pilot abilities in the game.

Are you open to proxying pilot/upgrade cards, or would you strongly prefer to build only with what you physically have?

I want to focus on what is tournament accepted to start, then branch out after I have the foundation locked in. Better to know how to walk, before running. So I do want to get into the more diverse realms, just later.

14 hours ago, Kilo Ryan said:

I just ordered both core sets, and the heroes of the resistance expansion. Any insight or recommendations before I start building?

Work sone overtime if you can.

My opinion is to start simple. Get used to flying ships and getting used to determining distance before more complicated builds. The highest level meta list will still lose if you don't fly it well.

Poolman, lol. I agree.

Biggsy, I’m an old 40k guy (1st edition), so starting small and branching slowly is a familiar process.

With what you've ordered, Rey and Poe will be a very good start for list building. Barring a few (key) upgrade cards, you have most of what you will need for their builds.

You can also fly the Resistance Sympathiser with a couple of generic T70 X-Wings to get a feel for how flying lower down the PS order works.

I don't think I would agree with starting with Rey, or really any turreted ship. Flying new, you want to get used to how arcs work. flying a turret gets you used to the mindset of, "just put it anywhere." Yes, Rey's ability requires arc, but it's not as big of a difference when compared to something that can't shoot at all.

Excellent input Biggsey and Gecko. I’m agreeing with Bigg for the start, but looking to throw Rey in the mix once I’m comfortable with flying and battles.

With what you have, for tryharding, Rey & Poe will probably be the foundations of any list you build (or just the list in total). I agree that you might want to try out some X-wing lists to get a feel for arcs and arc-dodging. Wedge is a personal favorite pilot for the Ye Olde X-wing, and the Integrated Astromech modification is really good for that ship. Try out some different Elite skills on him; Predator is my go-to, but he can work with a lot of different things.

Generally speaking, I would suggest proxying cards, especially early on, until you get a good feel for how the game works and what lists you like to fly. Then you can work on acquiring the cards you need to make the lists go for tournaments. Don't buy packs just for the cards, especially at this point, because you can often find cards individually online, and you also won't know until you've been playing for a while what lists you really like to fly. Once you've gotten a feel for it it'll make targeting the upgrades you want that much easier. At this point, if you're going to spend money on packs do it for the ship you'll get.

For the Imps, you don't have a lot right now, and it'll be hard to field a competitive list with just those four ships to work with. If you're interested in that faction, a good place to look next would be the Special Forces TIE. The Rebels have a lot of viable ships for the competitive scene, but if I had to pick a place to start, it'd be the K-wing. Look around, play around, borrow ships if you have to, and have fun!