Now that we’ve had a week to digest all we saw at Worlds, it’s time to take a broader look at what we saw. I performed this sort of analysis after the glut of tournaments in August. It’s instructive to do it again with our results from Worlds.
A few caveats before we begin.
Unlike my previous meta-analysis, this covers a single event (albeit a large one). Accordingly, we should not expect the same breadth of diversity as we saw in our look at the August meta. Too, Worlds is a slightly bigger deal for many people, and the nature of Worlds (both as an invitational event and from the commitment people must make to attend) means it invites a more competitive mindset. Some people are flying what they’re most comfortable with; many are gravitating to lists they believe to be most competitive. What I’m trying to say is, experimental lists and “I bet you can’t take a [unloved ship] into the cut”-type challenges aren’t as common at Worlds, which suppresses diversity.
With that in mind, let’s dive in!
OVERALL FINDINGS
Total lists in the sample: 98 total; 20 Empire, 20 Republic, 17 Separatists, 15 Rebels, 12 Scum and Villainy, 9 Resistance, 5 First Order
Average ships per list: 4.14
Number of ships in use: 44/70
FFG shared that only five ships no-showed completely at Worlds. The cut was more selective. Even so, 63% of the ships in the game made it—not too shabby.
The ships-per-list ticked up a bit. This is largely due to the increased showings from Separatists. Ironically, the Separatists’ ships-per-list actually decreased as the faction found ace archetypes, but their greater presence washed this out. Elsewhere, Rebels and Resistance also saw their ship-per-list numbers tick up, while Empire’s went down as players leaned into three-ship archetypes.
Also of note: other people have looked at cut rates for Worlds. Their findings are that the cut rates across factions are remarkably close. First Order had the lowest number of lists in the cut, but that’s because few people brought First Order—your “average” FO players was as successful as, say, your average Empire player.
EMPIRE OF GLORY
Lists: 20
Number of faction ships that made cut: 9/14
Average ships per list: 3.35
Most-played ship by number of hulls: TIE Advanced V1 (15 hulls)
Most-played ship by list presence: TIE Interceptor and TIE X1 tied (10 lists with at least one TIE Interceptor—all Soontir; 10 lists with at least one X1)
Most-played pilot by list presence: Soontir Fel (10)
Percent of Phantoms and Strikers with Fifth Brother gunner: 100%
The Imperial Navy was famously skeptical of Force users, so much that Darth Vader was disturbed by their lack of faith. Strange, then, that no faction but Republic (which has #alltheJedi) featured more Force users. This came in both upgrade and pilot form: Vader and Inquisitors were everywhere, while Vader crew and Fifth Brother were staples. In fact, only two Empire lists lacked Force users completely. Passive, unblockable, no-consequences mods are pretty good, especially in a faction with an ace identity—who knew?
About that ace identity: Empire players leaned hard into quality over quantity, with only a single TIE Swarm cracking the cut and a strong preponderance of 3 ship lists and a handful of two-ship lists. (The price drop to the Decimator appears to have been effective!) Soontir continued to show his worth as a scalpel in the hands of masters, with fully half the cut lists leaning on the Ace of Legend. The Lambda continues to stake its claim as the game’s best support ship, appearing in 9 of the 20 lists with either Jendon or Sai at the controls.
THE REPUBLIC, BEFORE THE DARK TIMES
Lists: 20
Number of faction ships that made cut: 5/5
Average ships per list: 3.75
Most-played ship by number of hulls: Aethersprite (32 hulls)
Most-played ship by list presence: Aethersprite (18 lists with at least one Aethersprite)
Most-played pilot by list presence: Obi-wan Kenobi (17)
Combined ratio of generic Torrents and ARCs to uniques: 22-3
Much like the Empire, the Republic is dominated by 3-ship ace-centered lists with plenty of Force capability. Fully half the faction’s lists were triple aces—although a few brave souls used Baby Bananakin instead of the now-standard Obi-Ric-othernamedJedi approach.
The inexplicable price drop to Obi-wan continues to be one of the more impactful drops from the July update, with the Negotiator appearing in almost every Republic list of note. A couple of Sinker swarms and a Beef list were the only ones that couldn’t carve out the points for Obi-wan. Delta 7B and R2 Astro was the more common choice, but a few went with CLT to economize. Both approaches, clearly, work.
Gold Squadron Troopers have declined in popularity compared to August, with most players simply trimming their aces to fit in three rather than suffer “throw-away” Torrents. Anakin has been the big loser in this regard; Plo Koon and even Mace Windu found more success than the Chosen One. When Torrents are brought, though, the Troopers are the unanimous choice. Even ARCs are dominated by their generics. The point-for-point efficiency of the 104 th Battalion Pilot is hard to argue with. Two Sinkers and a lone Wolffe (get it?!) were the only non-104 th ARCs in the cut.
YOU SOUND LIKE A SEPARATIST
Lists: 17
Number of faction ships that made cut: 4/5
Average ships per list: 6.2
Most-played ship by number of hulls: Vulture Droid (69 hulls across all lists)
Most-played ship by list presence: Belballub (16 lists with at least one Belballub)
Most-played pilot by list presence: Trade Federation Drone (12); most-played unique was Sear (11)
Percent of Belballub pilots in the cut: 100%
Consider this the Day of the Bulbasaur. Captain Sear is by far the favorite for supporting swarms, with either TA-175 or Kraken providing the extra calculates required to power his ability. On the other end of the spectrum, the Nantex has provided the faction with something it didn’t have before: ace-type ships. This contributed to a huge drop in the average ships per list (a whole 1.1 ships!) due to some players adopting 3- or 4-ship archetypes. In smaller archetypes like that, Sear isn’t doing much for you—but Grievous slots in neatly. He fills a good spot in such lists, as he’s the most durable ship popping around (so shooting him feels bad) but his offense when ignored is nasty. And a couple of players made the Feethan and Wat work for them, completing the ship’s representation.
Interestingly, Chertek wound up being far more common than Sun Fac, with the much cheaper option outnumbering the top dog 8 to 3 in cut lists. The dynamics of Initiative are always fascinating. Given that the firepower of the two is pretty closely matched, what you’re really paying for are high odds of going last. Would you pay half again as many points (plus even more in your bid!) for two more points of Initiative? For all the panic Sun Fac's appearance induced, most players didn’t.
Let's check back in a month from now.
A NOT-SO-INSIGNIFICANT REBELLION
Lists: 15
Number of faction ships that made cut: 8/17
Average ships per list: 3.9
Most-played ship by number of hulls: U-Wing (23 hulls)
Most-played ship by list presence: U-Wing and X-Wing (9 lists with at least one U-Wing, 9 lists with at least one X-Wing)
Most-played pilot by list presence: Braylen Stramm (7)
Percent of Rebel cut ships that were in the movies: 95%
The Rebel faction has spent *years* plumbing the depths of the Extended Universe for more ships, and got an infusion from the “Rebels” show on top of that. Despite that, the great majority of their ships were from the movies—with Rogue One standing out.
There are a number of ships that are still paying for their 1.0 sins. The Jumpmaster, for example, is widely derided as underpowered in 2.0, perhaps because of its ridiculously deep and long hegemony over the 1.0 game. The U-Wing is the happy inverse of that: a ship so hapless and clumsy in 1.0 that the designers are using 2.0 to apologize. Quad U-Wings was the most common single archetype, but Cassian Andor showed up in plenty of other lists, too. Cassian, Braylen, Ten, and Wedge continued to be the Rebellion’s all-stars. The points change seems to have separated them from each other, nothing more; even at their higher costs they’re worth fielding, just with filler instead of wall-to-wall excellence.
SOMEONE NEEDS THEIR SCUM
Lists: 12
Number of faction ships that made cut: 9/19
Average ships per list: 3.6
Most-played ship by number of hulls: Khiraxz (14 hulls)
Most-played ship by list presence: Khiraxz (6 lists with at least one Khiraxz)
Most-played pilot by list presence: Cartel Marauder and Torkil Mux (6)
Number of 3-ship lists: Zero
Bizarre as it sounds: while some factions are majority 3-ship lists, Scum had none at all. How, you might ask, could Scum have such a low average ship count then? It turns out that Scum has become the home of 2-ship lists. Boba-Fenn is most common, but someone forgot to tell PhilGC amid his continuing love affair with Guri-Fenn.
On the other hand, Scum’s most common single archetype in the cut was Seevor, Torkil, and Marauders—though some players’ variations did well for themselves. It remains a very tough out of a jousting list.
IT’S THE RESISTANCE!
Lists: 9
Number of faction ships that made cut: 5/6
Average ships per list: 4.2
Most-played ship by number of hulls: RZ-2 A-Wing (16 hulls)
Most-played ship by list presence: RZ-2 and T-70 (6 lists with at least one RZ-2, 6 with 1+ T-70s)
Most-played pilot by list presence: Greer Sonnel (5)
Ratio of Heroics to other EPT choices: 22-5
As before, Heroic remains the Talent of preference for Resistance players, though not to the same extremes as previously. Five A-Wing builds are still a thing, though variants are creeping in, mixing in Pods to famous effect. Elsewhere, T-70-based efficiency lists are still potent, salad lists made the cut, and Poe-based acey lists showed up too. Perhaps the sample size is too small to make good generalizations—or perhaps the faction successfully supports some pretty diverse playstyles. So long as you’re running Heroic, anyway.
THE FIRST ORDER? MORE LIKE THE LAST ORDER
Lists: 5
Number of faction ships that made cut: 4/4
Average ships per list: 3.6
Most-played ship by number of hulls: TIE/sf (7 hulls (5 Quickdraws))
Most-played ship by list presence: TIE/sf (i.e. Quickdraw) (5 lists with at least one Quickdraw)
Most-played pilot by list presence: Quickdraw (5)
Quickdraw?: Quickdraw
If you weren’t expecting the Kylo-Tavson-Quickdraw list, I don’t know what to tell you. Those pilots still define the faction. This, in turn, probably means people have gotten plenty of reps against it, giving it a steeper task. (And its advocates are probably getting bored of it.) Breaking into the cut unexpectedly was an efficiency list with three Epsilon Cadets, two Zeta Survivors, and (who else?) Quickdraw. We’ll see if this sort of thing picks up followers—but, for now, you wouldn’t be wrong to stick with the Big Three.
Edited by ChahDresh