So the faction that was worst when the System Opens happened last month has fallen even further behind now that Wave 14 is legal and everyone but them has new, cool stuff.

It's also the only faction I've had any tournament experience with this year.

Should I keep trying to find some way to beat Lowmiranda with Asajj + something or try to get something working on the Imperial side (without Palpatine or Kylo, which I don't own and can't borrow since the friends I'd borrow from will be using them)?

Scum can totally still rock it - I say fly what you are most comfortable with!

Asajj isnt a bad choice - never a bad choice. Her ability is shutting down Reaper ailerons, so you got that. Aces like whisper and soontir are back, so her ability can shutdown them a bit. The friend though, hmmm? Expertise Dengar can really wreck any reapers that fire at him. Expertise/Dengar Tel can get full mods even when jammed, and can come back from the dead for one last PS kill hopefully versus these ps1 reapers and Xwings and blah blah blah. Problem is you give up a lot of MOV with two large ships. Small ships will be Nym, maybe accuracy corrector or Dengar crew for mods on your TLTs when jammed? Although, adv sensors engine upgrade genius with thermals and seismics can really be nasty with aces coming back.

Like Greebwahn said, fly what you know and comfortable with.

I am a primarily Scum player, and I have pretty much decided to give SC's a pass this year due to the current meta. That said, if I were going to try, I would do something with Asajj, and I think @wurms has the right of it with Nym as a wingmate. No matter what, fly casual, and have a laugh.

1 hour ago, wurms said:

Asajj isnt a bad choice - never a bad choice. Her ability is shutting down Reaper ailerons, so you got that. Aces like whisper and soontir are back, so her ability can shutdown them a bit. The friend though, hmmm? Expertise Dengar can really wreck any reapers that fire at him. Expertise/Dengar Tel can get full mods even when jammed, and can come back from the dead for one last PS kill hopefully versus these ps1 reapers and Xwings and blah blah blah. Problem is you give up a lot of MOV with two large ships. Small ships will be Nym, maybe accuracy corrector or Dengar crew for mods on your TLTs when jammed? Although, adv sensors engine upgrade genius with thermals and seismics can really be nasty with aces coming back.

Like Greebwahn said, fly what you know and comfortable with.

What I know and am comfortable with (Asajj/Nym/Gunrunner) cannot beat Lowhhrick/Miranda, though, and it cannot beat Rho Boats unless I can wedge Engine Upgrade in somehow. And I know both those will be at the Store Championships.

The problem with any 2-ship list outside Brobots, I find, is lack of firepower. With a maximum of two shots per turn on any one target, and that's with perfect maneuvering, I just can't punch through tokens & Palp. So I lose one ship while my opponent still has two or three on the table and cannot put the game away. Asajj can survive a long time but she can't take down Vader or a regenner by herself.

You don't need to go 2 ship!

A couple of TLT thugs would be very viable alongside Asajj to soak some damage and deal out plenty, especially after Asajj tractors folks, and especially against jammers.

Also consider:

1) a few M3s, maybe Sunny and Inaldra.

2) Spacetugs. ENDLESS tractoring, you can't get past that for long.

3) 2 Bumpmasters. Deny those actions? You're GOLDEN.

6 hours ago, Kleeg005 said:

That said, if I were going to try, I would do something with Asajj, and I think @wurms has the right of it with Nym as a wingmate.

8 hours ago, wurms said:

Problem is you give up a lot of MOV with two large ships.

Sad but true, you have to get in those wins, since you will be down low in your bracket due to giving up points nearly every game.

Haven't flown scum nym myself, but I can imagine him doing well beside Asajj.

6 hours ago, Quarrel said:

The problem with any 2-ship list outside Brobots, I find, is lack of firepower.

This is why I settled with fearless Kath as winggirl for Asajj. You give up MOV, true, but you can hit them hard as well.

I've not had an opportunity to try it out myself, but I saw somewhere someone advocating Fearless Boba with K4 and Cluster Missiles alongside a Fearless Bossk with K4 and Cluster Missiles. Lots of other upgrades on there, but I can't recall any more exactly. You could likely season to taste. Your alpha is going to be strong, but you'll give up a lot of MoV. Sadly for us S&V players, we just don't have a lot of hotness right now next to Rebels (and Imps to a lesser extent).

It is true Asajj can soak some damage - this means she is good in the late game if she survives.

I would look at adding something that is good early game and forces your opponent into a choice if they want to focus fire kill something. Perhaps a Kimogila (Dalan or Torani) with Harpoons. Maybe with VI to counter ace lists a bit.

Make up the remaining points with a Mindlink Light Inaldra (mindlinked with Asajj). Being able to take the evade each turn (and get the focus from mindlink) will help Asajj to survive into the late game.

I understand your pain, all the way, I hate that scum isn't getting new toys like the rest of the factions and that they are far behind the others as well, despite this I haven't given up on it and keep using it, as it is my favorite faction, and I've used it to some sucess . There will be alot of bad match ups and alot of frustration agaisn't some lists that are just near impossible to beat (I have yet to win to lowmiranda).

Asajj is most likely your best bet, she can tank a ton of damage, specially in her timewalk version (PTL is awesome too) although her damage output is lacking. Nym and Dengar continue to be good aswell, although not quite the menace they were before.

With the arrival of reapers pretty sure Fenn is even more unplayable since he relies on tokens. (Not that important, just irked cuz I love Fenn)

Lists I've found can handle themselves somewhat are things like, Twin Shadows, Asajj Nym, Dengarnym. If you want specific lists I can tell you, just thought it might be too much text - yes even more. (Joustero also seems to be doing well.)

You have to analyze your meta and make a list that can beat it, even if you make weird choices. For example, I won a recent tournament with Asajj Nym, and Nym had accuracy correct intead of trajectory simulator, and in every game my opponent asked me if it was on porpuse. It was, and it won me games, my meta was full of ships that would crumble under TLT with AC at PS10. 1 AGI, Quickdraw, Whisper. Of course it isn't foul proof, Kylo and Poe can wreck you, for example.

Long story short, scum is in a bad place, and Asajj is probably the ship in this faction that is least dependent on match up but despite this.. situation, don't give up, find a list you're comfortable with and is good, practice and don't get down when you lose impossible battles, you can't and likely won't win all the games.

Not sure if this helped at all, hope it did (kinda ranted there, sorry about that). Cheers.

Good luck if you go scum. There were only 2 out of 10 scum players at the SC I went to yesterday (I was one of them).

We both went 1-3. He took 9th, I took 8th.

Waaaaay too much broken or OP crap with rebels and imperials right now.

The something you're looking for is specifically a Quadjumper. Miranda's C-3P0 doesn't trigger when she's at 0 agility, ezra dies with 1 agility. Everything dies to the tug. Add in an agile ace like Fenn and you've got a potent 3-ship list. It takes an awful lot of practice, but the quads can do work against tanky lists.

I've gone 3-1 with that list (narrowly missing the cut. I blame BS dice, but all my opponents were very skilled). Scum is by no means out of the fight. They just require actual skill to fly now, unlike the turrets and reaper quasi-turrets of the other factions.

3 hours ago, Astech said:

The something you're looking for is specifically a Quadjumper. Miranda's C-3P0 doesn't trigger when she's at 0 agility, ezra dies with 1 agility. Everything dies to the tug. Add in an agile ace like Fenn and you've got a potent 3-ship list. It takes an awful lot of practice, but the quads can do work against tanky lists.

I've gone 3-1 with that list (narrowly missing the cut. I blame BS dice, but all my opponents were very skilled). Scum is by no means out of the fight. They just require actual skill to fly now, unlike the turrets and reaper quasi-turrets of the other factions.

Whether this is trolling or legit, it's awesome either way.

Quadjumper seems like an under-explored aspect to Scum that kind of breaks the game like cheap coordinate or jam kind of do.

Feel like sharing the whole list?

9 hours ago, theBitterFig said:

Whether this is trolling or legit, it's awesome either way.

Quadjumper seems like an under-explored aspect to Scum that kind of breaks the game like cheap coordinate or jam kind of do.

Feel like sharing the whole list?

Definitely legit. I played it in the Vassal League this year and placed something like 8th in the outer rim, too. The list is:

Fenn Rau (34)
PTL
Autothrousters
Title

Asajj Ventress (47)
Predator
Shadowcaster Title
Latts
Glitterstim

Jakku Gunrunner (17)
Spacetug Tractor Array
Courier Droid

Totalling 98 points.

The whole list is really, really synergistic. The 98 big is specifically for Kylo, who is one of the list's biggest threats. Predator and glitters on Asajj make her much more reliable in this reaper meta, and the tug gets a courier droid instead of Vizago+cloaking both for the big and to avoid being out-deployed by swarms.

It took a long time to get good with, mainly because the quadjumper often either died early or was out of the fight too long, but I'm getting it now, and it's brutal.

13 minutes ago, Astech said:

Definitely legit. I played it in the Vassal League this year and placed something like 8th in the outer rim, too. The list is:

Fenn Rau (34)
PTL
Autothrousters
Title

Asajj Ventress (47)
Predator
Shadowcaster Title
Latts
Glitterstim

Jakku Gunrunner (17)
Spacetug Tractor Array
Courier Droid

Totalling 98 points.

The whole list is really, really synergistic. The 98 big is specifically for Kylo, who is one of the list's biggest threats. Predator and glitters on Asajj make her much more reliable in this reaper meta, and the tug gets a courier droid instead of Vizago+cloaking both for the bid and to avoid being out-deployed by swarms.

It took a long time to get good with, mainly because the quadjumper often either died early or was out of the fight too long, but I'm getting it now, and it's brutal.

Makes a lot of sense. There aren't too many Scum ships in that price range, much less support ships. Asajj and Fenn Rau are both individually strong ships, but unless there's something worthwhile to put with them, it's hard to fit them into lists together. Asajj mostly gets paired with other large ships, or Fenn Rau almost only in triple ace lists. Mixing the ace with the tank with a support ship, again, just makes sense.

My only considerations would be Lone Wolf over Predator (risky in a 3-ship list, but perhaps inconsistent defense and offense > consistent offense), and Gyroscopic Targeting over Shadowcaster. More tractors are always nice, but with only the Tug shooting after Asajj, it's mostly a positional thing. That can still be quite good; there are lots of lower PS ships you could rock with it. That said, free rotates might also be worth considering. The pair would also free up points for a second Glitterstim.

8 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

My only considerations would be Lone Wolf over Predator (risky in a 3-ship list, but perhaps inconsistent defense and offense > consistent offense), and Gyroscopic Targeting over Shadowcaster. More tractors are always nice, but with only the Tug shooting after Asajj, it's mostly a positional thing. That can still be quite good; there are lots of lower PS ships you could rock with it. That said, free rotates might also be worth considering. The pair would also free up points for a second Glitterstim.

I've tried Lone Wolf briefly. The trouble is that the tug really wants to be at close range of Asajj, which is painful to meaningfully achieve when Asajj has Lone Wolf. It'd be great in the endgame, but Asajj very rarely reaches that point.

Shadowcaster is really fantastic in the current meta, especially since I fly Asajj through the rocks, much to many people's surprise. I can tractor Quickdraw onto a rock before she gets her revenge shot, or stress a PS 1 reaper and put them on a rock so they can't shoot back. Given that this Asajj can actually do K-Turns and white manoeuvres, it's really not so bad to lose Gyro targeting (although I have missed its presence on occasion, mainly against brobots). Plus, in the endgame, it can be utterly infuriating for Asajj to continuously take R2 shots, then tractor the stressed opponent out to R3 and dodge anything they roll.

If you're going to go LW on Asajj, then giving the quad cikatro cloaking is essential. It allows you to go from outside R2 of Asajj to relevant in the game in a single turn. But it does promote a much less aggressive playstyle, making it difficult to table beefy opponents.