Lone Star Open 2022: The Top 8

The Lone Star Open (LSO) has wrapped up over the weekend and it’s an exciting time in the legion meta. Shadow Collective is gaining its footing, Cad Bane and Bossk are for hire by other factions now and Battle Forces are available for the four core factions. LSO is an excellent time to see how these battle forces are going to collide in the new meta.

Below are the top 8 lists that made it to the day 2 finals. If you want to see the entire roster of lists, you can check them out here.

1st Place – Matt Bronson (Zeusjus) – Shadow Collective

We’re starting to see Shadow Collective settle into the meta and boy is it coming in with a bang. Even without any help, Shadow Collective foot soldiers swim in green tokens. By issuing orders to Maul and Bossk, this list makes sure the only thing you’re pulling out is corps tokens, and if you get an ill timed commander token, improvised orders takes care of that. Vigilance makes sure remaining green tokens will survive into the next round, letting them start with 2! Like a dug in tick, it’s going to be very difficult to remove the Pykes with their built in Outmaneuver, and they hit back pretty well themselves, with the disruptors helping focus down armor.

Maul and Bossk are both heavy hitters who do a lot of the leg work in taking down tougher stuff, with Bossk opening up a free victory point with Bounty. Overall the list is efficient and leans in on the tougher stuff in the faction’s options.

2nd Place – David Hoffman – Imperials

Double bounty lives! Imperial players appear to be embracing Cad Bane’s addition to their faction as a hired gun, to get a solid second bounty hunter on the table. This list is a lot more up close and personal, with the Shoretroopers, Mortars and Strike Teams offer covering fire while Cad, Boba and the Black Sun Enforcers serve as formidable close range fire and melee threats. Even one successful bounty can tip the scales, two almost assures victory.

3rd Place – Alex Gregory – Imperial

Surprisingly, it’s the only Battle Force on this list and I can’t say it isn’t effective. Vader gets up close and personal while the Snowtroopers can support him with close range fire. The Heavy Stormtroopers and Imperial Officer hold the back lines with strong ranged game and four speeder bikes can outflank and grab objectives.

4th Place – Colton Evans – Shadow Collective

Our second shadow collective list and a lot of the philosophy of Matt’s first place list still holds here. Notable differences include three Capos with Vigilance, allowing you to keep a maximum of 7 (!) dodge tokens between rounds (when added to Maul’s Vigilance). Instead of Bossk there are more infantry, allowing you to spread out more and grab objectives, letting the Pykes fire from the rear while the Enforcers and Maul move up.

5th Place – Tyler Lytle – Republic

One of the standard loadouts for Republic right now, Anakin with a Clone Commander, some troopers and BARCs. Anakin, when properly supped up is a force to be reckoned with, while the clones do their thing from the back. RPS and ARC Troopers serve a solid ranged gunline while Z-6s can get a little closer with shared Aims. Finally, BARC Speeders flank and contest important objectives.

6th Place – “BushFacts” – Republic

Our own BushFacts runs the other popular Republic hero – Yoda. Yoda can be pretty delicate if left unprotected so Chewie is here with Protector to keep him shielded from those nasty crits. Otherwise a lot of the same as the list above. Clone trooper gunline, with BARC speeders to outflank the enemy as needed.

7th Place – Michael Hollingsworth – Imperial

Another double bounty list with Boba Fett and Cad Bane. With a whopping 12 activations it’s clear where the focus is meant to be. Shoretroopers with various different characters help juice them up, with mortar troopers for fire support. Boba Fett and Cad Bane both work best at close or melee range and with Comms Relay on both, they can pass the order on their own card off to someone who might need it more than them.

8th Place – Ryan Volkmer

Our one CIS list in the top 8 is a wonky one. A grab bag of many different tools, the Recon droid can call out valuable targets and each unit in the list is well designed to handle different scenarios. The E-5C is able to take down other infantry, the BX Droids are able to take down large squads clumped together and the Battle Tank is able to shoot down other vehicles. The lone STAP squad can contest objectives, as usual, and Grievous himself is particularly good at handling a wide variety of targets.

Conclusion

Well that’s that. Shadow Collective is making a shockingly good showing by making up a quarter of the top 8 (and one winning the whole thing). Imperial players seem to be very happy with the ability to hire Cad Bane into their lists as well, bringing back the Double Bounty lists. One shocking thing is the lack of Rebels, not a single one made it into the top 8, despite the strength in Echo Base Defenders. Are they just sleeping? Time will tell.