This article will cover the top 8 lists from the most recent Star Wars: Legion tournament in San Diego, the SoCal Open. You can find the full results here.

I know what you all are thinking. Who cares! ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ summon points ༼ つ ◕-◕ ༽つ

Okay. Maybe that will work.

Anyway, in the meantime, there are still some interesting takeaways here, particularly as they relate to the red/blue player dynamic. Please note the previewed changes to red/blue (four card flip, red chooses sides) were not in play for SoCal open; it used the traditional red/blue rules.

Also; I don’t want to start a debate here about TTS translating to real games, but it’s worth highlighting that seven out of these eight players are Invader/YBTL/TTS veterans.

Final Table

1) Kyle Dornbos

Not this schmuck again.

Wookiees? Check. T47s? Check. R2? Check. Corps units? I guess you have to take those.

Anyway, I explicitly designed this list to test the limits of a “red player” list in an environment where red player has received none of the buffs that have been previewed. Of the various red/blue advantages (blue battle deck, blue ties, blue table side, red second deployment, red second veto) only one of those things can actually be directly mitigated in the list building stage: battle deck. It is possible, via unit selection and list archetype, to make a list that simply doesn’t care about the battle deck, either because it is good at all or most of the objectives, it doesn’t really strive to interact with them at all, or both.

Objectives? Don’t care. There isn’t much strategy or nuance here. This list doesn’t really want to actually play the game; it’s entire goal is just to reduce your spacedudes to piles of plastic appendages and prevent your army from interacting with the objective, whatever that is. You can’t pick up a box or fix a vap if a Wookiee ripped your arms off.

I can’t decide whether it’s a good thing or not that a list like this works. It certainly makes for games where lots of dice are rolled, but if aggressive skews like this one can succeed in a world where red player hasn’t even been buffed yet, I think it’s possible that any further blue player nerfs are going to lead to less list diversity, where players just run more lists like this that simply decide to ignore one of the most strategically interesting things about Legion.

2) Michael Snider

Michael has figured out how to squeeze in all the fun CIS toys. It has Maul! It has B2-HATs! It has STAPs! It has B1s with heavies! All the things.

This is another “happy if you are blue, not sad if you are red” list. I think a requirement for such a list is that it has speeders, at minimum, and it checks that box while also fitting in a force user and some beef. It’s a very versatile and flexible list, if somewhat difficult to pilot, but Michael is a very good pilot.

Between Saber Throw, the B2-HAT, and the large quantity of Critical, pretty much every unit in this list can also contribute with attacks against armor, which is pretty important these days.

Top 4 (3-4)

Daniel Lupo

Sort of the Rebel version of a “goodstuff” list, Daniel has a little bit of everything in here as well. A dash of fur, a pinch of speed, a couple spoonfulls of armor, a side of R2, and a whole lot of synergy, the dice fixing in this list is silly. With the Unorthodox Tactician dishing out aims to Cassian and K2, they can both get piles of them with teamwork, and Cassian can be fire supported by the Mk2 to get a six or seven dice pool with Marksman and 4-5 aims pretty reliably. Gross.

Keegan Evans

Anakin! How about that.

Keegan was the only Republic representative in the top 8. This is a straight up fire support list; you have some silly fire supports possible with Saber Throw, the BARCs, or Padme, plus any one of the Phase I units. It’s also another no bid, red player list. Notice again the presence of speeders in such a list.

Top 8 (5-8)

Chris Schafer (habmo)

Triple Wookiees with Cassian and a party bus. Chris was definitely going for a strong bid here; he essentially cut a bowcaster for a bid. A list like this goes for the same aim spam dice fixing shenanigans as Lupo’s list above, but trades the T-47 for more Wookiees.

JD “Gladiator” Nielson

Another Cassian/Wookiee/Bus/T47 list, except JD is the lone acolyte in the Top 8 from the Church of Bistan. I like Bistan here; Ion is a really strong keyword against droids and vehicles (you are quite likely to run into at least one of those these days) and Bistan is one of the best ways to get it. Until the Spider droids come out, anyway.

Another no bid list, again with a speeder.

Bobby Joe Thomas (BloodOcean)

Ah, the classic Maul/B2. I’ve said a lot about this list. It’s great. Lots of Impact to deal with Armor, Maul to handle melee threats. Bobby Joe was actually one of the early adopters of this list (besides myself and Lupo) and he’s played it effectively and consistently, making Top 8 at Lone Star Open with it as well.

Michael Ramirez

Another Maul, triple STAP, all the CIS things list. Unlike Michael (Snider), Michael (Ramirez) cut the bid and a heavy to add an activation. It’s plenty effective as a red player list (oh look, speeders!).

Summary

Some interesting takeaways here, particularly with the success of lists with low or zero bids. I’m excited to see how the purported red/blue player changes effect this.

And finally, one more time, for science….

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