Here are my thoughts on the state of the current Imperial Assault meta. No surprise Spectre is dominating.

http://rollfordamage.net/index.php/2019/01/29/state-of-the-meta/

Awesome article, good work! Do you by any chance know what the "Heavy fire rebels" list that won Toronto was?

Since Tyrants of Lothal became legal, Spectre Cell has won 60% of OP events.

Sweet Jesus.

Enough is enough.

I like the comparison of the healthy diverse meta we had before the Spectres compared to nowadays. And it is really just that one card Spectre Cell. FFG ... Please errata that card!

5 hours ago, Ram said:

Awesome article, good work! Do you by any chance know what the "Heavy fire rebels" list that won Toronto was?

they were running this card with Drokkatta and Sabine. Han and RCP was in the list too.

15 minutes ago, brettpkelly said:

they were running this card with Drokkatta and Sabine. Han and RCP was in the list too.

Awesome, thanks! Am I correct to assume that there may have been an Unshakable on Drokatta perhaps?

7 minutes ago, Ram said:

Awesome, thanks! Am I correct to assume that there may have been an Unshakable on Drokatta perhaps?

It's quite possible, but I don't know for sure.

36 minutes ago, Ram said:

Awesome, thanks! Am I correct to assume that there may have been an Unshakable on Drokatta perhaps?

According to Kenny Brown's Regionals document it was:

10 - Han w/ Rogue Smuggler

9 - Drokkatta

7 - Sabine

4 - Hera

3 - R2-D2

3 - Gideon

2 - C-3P0

1 - Heavy Fire

1 - On a Diplomatic Mission

amazing article. gets me pumped to get games in and break that specter list.

btw. I haven't played skirmish for more that a few months but im honestly amazed by how good the game is. clearly one of the best competitive figure games I've played. love how the interactions and balancing between killing figures and holding objectives makes games much more versatile than one would imagine. It has a lot more layers than say xwing even though that is an amazing game too.

the meta may be a bit warped right now due to specter but up until that hit (it hit my world very recently as I played without lethal until last week) it was amazing. no doubt the most fun, versatile and healthy meta I can remember. ok, we (my play buddy and me) are not pros, but we play well and have good understanding of games in general and we were stoked to see how many fun and strong lists seem to be able to contest each other.

Specter seems amazing. but im sure it will drop down a notch at some point when people get their counters dialed in. and counterstrategies too. Still, id say a mild nerf would be appropriate. maybe just remove the +1 dam and +1 def. or maybe just the defensive bonus. the interrupting attack is a cool addition for 2 points and id hate to see that go.

On 2/13/2019 at 3:02 PM, Scoundrel said:

Specter seems amazing. but im sure it will drop down a notch at some point when people get their counters dialed in. and counterstrategies too. Still, id say a mild nerf would be appropriate. maybe just remove the +1 dam and +1 def. or maybe just the defensive bonus. the interrupting attack is a cool addition for 2 points and id hate to see that go.

Problem is, that we've had spectre cell available since August. We've been trying to crack it for that long, and it's still taking on all challengers. it was approximately 30% of the field through regionals, and 60% of regional winners. It consistently outperforms every other list we can throw at it. At this point, it definitely needs a nerf. My preferred nerf would just be making that spectre cell attack/move a once per mission effect. I don't want the list to be nerfed into oblivion (sabs/royal guards), and I think that would be enough to keep it as a fun unique list that you can win games with. Tier 1.5-2 should be the goal.

If we had some new content in the pipeline, I don't think anyone would be as concerned about it, but with no news of anything coming....

9 minutes ago, Fightwookies said:

Problem is, that we've had spectre cell available since August. We've been trying to crack it for that long, and it's still taking on all challengers. it was approximately 30% of the field through regionals, and 60% of regional winners. It consistently outperforms every other list we can throw at it. At this point, it definitely needs a nerf. My preferred nerf would just be making that spectre cell attack/move a once per mission effect. I don't want the list to be nerfed into oblivion (sabs/royal guards), and I think that would be enough to keep it as a fun unique list that you can win games with. Tier 1.5-2 should be the goal.

If we had some new content in the pipeline, I don't think anyone would be as concerned about it, but with no news of anything coming....

I agree. It's not that bad that we want it completely nerfed, but an adjustment needs to be made.

I actually kinda do want it completely nerfed lol...

Just removing either the +1 dam or +1 block would do it I think. Removing the +1 dam would make it less OP in the hands of pro's, while removing the +1 block would make it easier to tackle for newer players I feel.

13 hours ago, Jaric256 said:

I actually kinda do want it completely nerfed lol...

Agreed. You want a reason to play it? You get to be the guys out of the awesome cartoon, you can re-enact all the exciting scenes from the series, in your imagination. That's a reason to play it.

Oh, it has to be a high-tier power list as well?

...

Why?

1 hour ago, Bitterman said:

Agreed. You want a reason to play it? You get to be the guys out of the awesome cartoon, you can re-enact all the exciting scenes from the series, in your imagination. That's a reason to play it.

Oh, it has to be a high-tier power list as well?

...

Why?

Because it's a nice change of pace for the game to have a full IA list that is both:

A) A good, thematic team

B) Not terrible

1 minute ago, Wintermute0 said:

Because it's a nice change of pace for the game to have a full IA list that is both:

A) A good, thematic team

B) Not terrible

Yeah, but “not terrible” is different that meta-defining good.

I don't even know if you can call what we have a meta. There's Spectre Cell and then there's other lists that aren't nearly as good as Spectre Cell.

10 minutes ago, GuillotineTE said:

Yeah, but “not terrible” is different that meta-defining good.

I agree, it's definitely too good. I'd be sad to see it get nerfed into oblivion, though.

9 minutes ago, Wintermute0 said:

I agree, it's definitely too good. I'd be sad to see it get nerfed into oblivion, though.

If I was in charge:

3 hours ago, Bitterman said:

Agreed. You want a reason to play it? You get to be the guys out of the awesome cartoon, you can re-enact all the exciting scenes from the series, in your imagination. That's a reason to play it.

Oh, it has to be a high-tier power list as well?

...

Why?

As long as the next wave hard counters Specter Cell it'll all be good.

2 minutes ago, King_Balrog said:

As long as the next wave hard counters Specter Cell it'll all be good.

What next wave? Can you tell us when it's out?

(Also: will it? "SC or the new wave" isn't much better than "just SC". Still leaves dozens of cards and models gathering dust).

2 minutes ago, Bitterman said:

What next wave? Can you tell us when it's out?

(Also: will it? "SC or the new wave" isn't much better than "just SC". Still leaves dozens of cards and models gathering dust).

every wave they have created was made to change the Meta before it. Some units fall into disuse- it happens.

Do I know when the next wave is? No. Am I butt-hurt about Specter Cell? Not really...

Sound kinda bitter there friend.

28 minutes ago, King_Balrog said:

As long as the next wave hard counters Specter Cell it'll all be good.

Doing that is horrible game design. The "we'll just power creep out of bad metas" is what killed x-wing 1.0.

On 2/15/2019 at 9:20 AM, miguelj said:

Doing that is horrible game design. The "we'll just power creep out of bad metas" is what killed x-wing 1.0.

I agree; it is also exactly what they have been doing.

Chapter 1) sabs/vs royal guard --> Chapter 2) nerfed royals/sabs and replaced the meta with more varied squads (trooper lists, leia/luke, Bantha etc.) until Jabba's Realm --> Chapter 3) Scum hunters overtakes the meta especially when IG-88 obtained a fix --> Chapter 4) Vader, Chewie, and Han fixes adds more variety and ways for the meta to combat Scum Hunters (During this time we probably had the most balanced meta thus far) --> Chapter 5) Specter Cell --> more varied squads to combat specter cell --> The next game changing Meta unless IA dies- ( we are beginning to run out of content- IMO )

It looks like we have had 5 "chapters" of Meta. As long as IA "lives" each chapter will counter the one before it.

Also out of curiosity: should the sabs and royal guard be de-nerfed thanks to the healthiness of the Meta- aside from Specter Cell? or are they still too broken?

Haven't they been punished enough? Should we invite them back in to play again?