I'm the one in the light-blue sweater, front-left
The second PTL was this past weekend, and man was it fun! The format required you to bring 3 different lists with no repeated named pilots (in the same faction). Each game, you pick which list you fly without seeing your opponent's lists. You get an extra win if you fly all three lists at least once, and some acrylic force tokens if you fly the lists twice each. If you make the top 8, you can only fly each list once.
The first PTL Open was actually a bit stressful for me. I hate losing games just based on matchups and the matchups could be really skewed in X-Wing 1.0. Finding three lists I enjoyed that didn't have matchup problems was tough. I ended up going with 3 meta lists and didn't really enjoy the event.
X-Wing 2.0 changed everything. I can take a somewhat experimental list and know the game will come down to play on the board, and I can also bring strong lists without killing the game for my opponent. Not only does it make the over-the-board play more enjoyable, it also makes list-building fun again. Coming up with a strong list now gives you an edge without destroying the game. What was once a stressful format is now a more relaxed format that rewards creativity and adds more variety into two days of X-Wing.
Besides the main event, there was also a Furball, some 200-point Armada on an X-Wing mat, and beer. If you have a chance to go to the next PTL Open, you definitely should!
Huge props to the organizers of the tournament at the Prototype Toronto League: Devon Monkhouse, Alexandra LeBlanc, Aaron P, Perry Low, Tim Bo, Sumeet Vats, and Mike R. Thanks to Victor and Travis of vttv for streaming the games so my friends at home can see my questionable flying skills :). Finally, a shout-out to all of my opponents for the great games, and congrats to Aaron D. and Robin for beating me in two well-flown games!
My Lists
I don't want to do a long BatRep, but I do want to share the lists I brought. For my three lists, I decided to bring one for each of the current factions (Rebel, Imperial, and Scum). Overall, I wanted to take advantage of strong cards in unusual ways. I don't have the sample size to say how strong these lists are, but I think two of them can potentially contend in the top tier and the third can be strong in the hands of a skilled player.One thing you'll notice is my combined bid across all three lists is 0. I got annoyed with the crazy bids in the meta (the largest bid at the event was 22 points with Boba Fenn!) and decided to skip the whole mini-game. Besides, I wanted practice pinning down arc-dodgers while moving first. If you want to take some of these lists and care more about the results than practice, you can consider cutting some things for a bid.
Rebel List: Not Quite Civilizations
Wedge Antilles, T-65 X-Wing (52)
Servomotor S-Foils
Luke Skywalker, T-65 X-Wing (62)
Servomotor S-Foils
Thane Kyrell, T-65 X-Wing (48)
Servomotor S-Foils
Sabine Wren, Attack Shuttle (38)
Total: 200 points
This list started as Wedge, Luke, and two Blue Squadron Escorts (hence the name). My friend Marc suggested adding Thane, and I think Sabine's the best choice for the remaining points. Biggs Darklighter can also fit in place of Thane Kyrell, depending on if you want a third high-initiative ship or to protect your other ships.
I think the easiest option for Rebels right now is to put four quality guns on the table. Three ships don't have the health to survive a ship dying early. For example, against Boba Guri, Sabine died in the opening salvo before she could shoot. Still, she absorbed my opponent's first and best salvo and the three X-Wings cleaned up. Five ships don't have the same individual ship quality and are much harder to coordinate.
I think these four ships are some of the best options for Rebels. Wedge is great against defense-reliant ships and I5 aces including Boba Fett and Whisper. Luke hits really hard and is annoying to kill. Thane is a cheap I5 ace and has a nice ability. Sabine's one of the best cheap ships for Rebels, especially if you can get her a free evade by doing a barrel roll and a blue maneuver (I couldn't set it up and played against lots of Palob, so she died a lot). Other options to consider include Norra Wexley in the ARC, a HWK with Moldy Crow, and maybe Ten Numb with Advanced Sensors in the B-Wing.
Despite the general consensus that Rebels are weak, it beat three "meta" Scum lists: Boba Guri, Guri Palob L3-37 2xJakku, and Guri 4-LOM Palob. I didn't fly this list to its potential; I could never get Sabine her free evade, for example. It could have weaknesses against some other lists, but I'd feel confident taking this into any serious competition.
Imperial List: Not Quite TIE Fighter
Darth Vader, TIE Advanced x1 (85)
Supernatural Reflexes
Fire-Control System
Rho Squadron Pilot, Alpha-class Star Wing (59)
Trick Shot
Os-1 Arsenal Loadout
Proton Torpedoes
Adv. Proton Torpedoes
Fire-Control System
Advanced SLAM
Colonel Jendon, Lambda-class T-4a Shuttle (56)
Admiral Sloane
Total: 200 points
The Torpedo Combo on the Missile Boat effectively gives it a 4-dice attack against its locked target that gets the range 1 bonus but doesn't give the range 3 bonus. The Missile Boat works well with Colonel Jendon, both with Coordinate and with his ability. I wanted an ace that also works with Jendon, so I took Vader. I also threw in Admiral Sloane as a last-minute inclusion. 10 points to turn the tanky Lambda Shuttle into Biggs felt too good to pass up. The shuttle was the only ship I lost in all of my games with this list, but I don't think I took full advantage of Sloane due to my inexperience with the list and it's hard to know how much it helped. A 10-point bid is also a consideration.
This was definitely my most skill-dependent list. My rustiness and lack of experience with the Missile Boat showed in my results. Both of my losses were with this list. The first loss was to a Biggs + 2x Selfless 4-ship Rebel list where my abilities force me to help him spread damage. The second loss was a rematch against Robin's squirrely Echo Whisper Soontir list where he learned from our first encounter (a close win for me). Still, I made some decisive mistakes in both games. I think this list has potential and can be strong in the hands of a good player.
Scum List: Not What It Looks Like
Boba, Nym, and... wait, what?
Koshka Frost, Firespray-31 (86)
Proton Bombs
Marauder
Han Solo
0-0-0
Sol Sixxa, Scurrg H-6 Bomber (71)
Dorsal Turret
Proton Bombs
Proximity Mines
Havoc
Trajectory Simulator
Genius
Captain Jostero, Kihraxz Fighter (43)
Total: 200 points
This list was designed to use strong components in new ways. Everyone knows by now that Boba Fett with Marauder, Han Solo, 0-0-0, and Proton Bombs is really strong. While Boba's rerolls get stronger with extra focus and calculate tokens, part of the reason I built this list is to show it's really the upgrade cards that make Boba Fett too strong (Boba Fett by himself is probably about where he should be).
Koshka Frost gets fewer rerolls than Boba Fett, but she's cheaper and takes advantage of these upgrades about as well. She can't use Han to get a focus for defense as often, but she still gets fully-modded attack dice when she wants. Her ability makes 0-0-0 better and deters linked actions and K-Turns. Amusingly, Koshka's ability is especially good against Boba Fett with Han gunner. The points saved by using Koshka Frost instead of Boba Fett will be put to good use in this list.
The other reason I built this list was to show bombs are too strong on ships with rear arcs. Proton Bombs deal a crit for 5 points and can potentially hit multiple ships. Compare that to Proton Torpedoes, which adds less than 1 crit for 9 points. The main drawback of Proton Bombs is it's harder to land. The only way for a front-arc ship to land Proton Bombs without giving up a shot is to fly into the enemy ship's face and survive a turn to drop the bomb while K-Turning behind them.
Bombs on a ship with a rear arc are much easier to land without giving up shots because they cover the easiest ways of dealing with these ships. Paradoxically, chasing ships with a rear arc is often the most consistent way to get shots on them. If you joust them head-on from close or intermediate range, the rear-arc ship can do any turn, fast bank, or fast straight to keep you in arc. It's difficult to call the correct move to keep them in arc, and a K-Turn might cover the most options. Bombs take away all of these consistent ways of engaging these rear-arc ships and force opponents into predictable engage-disengage patterns.
I wanted my second ship to also bring bombs and a rear arc, and a Scurrg with a Dorsal Turret was the obvious choice since it also brings Trajectory Simulator. Trajectory Simulator is the other way to easily land bombs without giving up shots. I chose Sol Sixxa with Proximity Mines over Captain Nym with Seismic Bombs for a few reasons. First, a list with bombs and low-initiative ships with rear arcs want to keep rocks on the board to limit enemy movement. Second, Proximity Mines with flexible drops let me deal more easily with nimble aces. Mobile ships may be able to get away from bombs, but they can't escape from a Proximity Mine dropped on top of them. Finally, Sol Sixxa's initiative 3 lets me move and attack in any order. Without a bid, Captain Nym's initiative 5 has limited value.
Captain Jostero is an easy inclusion with all of these bombs. He adds a sorely-needed third 3-dice attack. He's worth his points even if he gets one extra attack off, and I got at least one bonus attack in all three games with this list. Combined with a Trajectory Simulated Proton Bomb and Koshka's fully modified attack dice, this list has a fearsome opening salvo on top of the bombs.
This list beat a Sloane Whisper + 3 Strikers with Crack Shot and Bombs list, a Boba 4-LOM Palob list, and a 3 Torpedo X-Wings list. I landed multiple bombs in every game. The strategic value of bombs were especially clear in the top-8 game against the X-Wings. In the opening maneuvers, my opponent went a bit too fast and I forced the turn 2 bump with Koshka Frost. Captain Jostero and Sol Sixxa were lagging behind in the asteroid corridor and would normally have been an easy next target. However, Koshka Frost and Trajectory Simulator meant he'd have to take 2 Proton Bombs to turn into the corridor and go after them. Instead, he tried to disengage. The X-Wings spent most of the game taking damage while running away. By the time they turned around, it was too late and I still landed three bombs, including the one in the picture that barely caught Luke. (Fun note: Technically, I landed 5 bombs. Sol Sixxa took a shield from the Trajectory Simulator bomb after banking to cover the X-Wings' disengage. And in the system phase after the turn in the picture, I misjudged the Proximity Mine drop by millimeters and landed it perfectly for Koshka Frost's 2-turn.)
I hope you enjoyed reading about the event and my lists. Feel free to try them out with any changes you like. If you're in the Toronto area next year when the PTL Open runs again, I highly recommend checking it out!
