Know Your Enemy – A Pre-Worlds Meta Review

The first-ever Shatterpoint World Championship, held at Adepticon, is right around the corner. For those of us looking to prepare, it’s important to know what sort of lists we can expect across the table. I’d like to think I have a finger on the pulse of the current meta, but just in case I also checked the top cuts of many large tournaments dating back to GenCon 2024. And why would I hoard this knowledge for myself? Let’s take a look together!

It’s important to remember that, even with common lists, there can be many different variations of a particular archetype. I won’t be able to show every single variant that’s been used, but I will show the most common (or the one I personally prefer). One phenomena that’s interesting to note is that certain lists can show up in clumps. It’s not uncommon for a certain list to show up two or three times in one top eight then not at all in other cuts. This can be due to local metas or playgroups that figure out a list that they rate highly.

Inferno & Dark Troopers

I have to be careful here not to shorthand this powerful list to “Iden.” Sure, she is extremely mobile and hits hard, but there’s a lot more going on here. Hask adds a lot of firepower with Defiance Will Be the Death of You while also being a pain to attack due to easy expertise heals and a self-revenge ability. ISF are one good spike away from one-shotting any 8 health unit, and Dark Troopers have best-in-class defensive abilities/durability. Luckily you can just Force Push them away … wait, no, you can’t. Beyond the core four, the last two slots are a bit flexible. The Vader version brings even more killing power plus some flexible mobility thanks to Perhaps I Can Find New Ways to Motivate Them. On the flip side, Moff and DTE are two very solid units that will rarely have dead activations.

Whichever variant you are facing, you want to kill the supports quickly. A lot of the out-of-activation (OOA) movement abilities focus on moving supports, so if they can’t contest then it will be harder for the Empire to flip objectives. However, these are two of the best defensive supports in the game. Something like Coordinated Fire: Expose from ARF can help a lot, though they usually die quickly themselves. Since Dark Troopers have easy crit mitigation, volume is what you’re looking for to wound them. Attacks that specialize in pushing through a couple of crits will not be super effective. Against the Vader version, try to force a dead turn from the Stormtrooper Sergeant. That’s easier said than done considering the Sergeant can full-advance an entire supporting unit, but they don’t have much self-mobility which might lead to a so-so turn. Similarly, Vader can come out of the gate slowly if he can’t reach melee right away, so position accordingly. Against Moff, recognize that no one in his team can move him. Keep him off objectives and he’ll be less of a headache (at least until he activates again). Whenever he gets to sit on an objective he can cause major problems.

The Moff version was most popular at LVO, but Vader has made a splash previously. Both are extremely strong and lists you 100% need a plan for at Adepticon, or any competitive event.

Kanan & the Power of Family

When a super-killy list is top of the pile, it’s no surprise that a strong revenge list follows close behind. Kanan is extremely strong as a revenge character, plus he does everything else well, too. The fact that he can attack any target after a Spectre is wounded (with an attack) is pretty wild, especially since he also heals and jumps, making conditions/positioning less detrimental. Hera and Leia are his two main pairings, with both showing up en masse at LVO. Leia brings multiple OOA movement abilities and a second revenge trigger, though it’s much less potent than Kanan’s. Personally, I’m partial to the Hera variant. While she doesn’t double down on revenge, she helps before (with heals) and after (with We Will Not Stand Down) characters get wounded. Her big weakness is mobility since she’s usually limited to one move during her turn.

One main strategy against these lists is to pick on the Rebel Commandos. Not only are they squishy, but Kanan won’t get an attack when they’re wounded. Burning down Leia is also useful for similar reasons (and, unlike Kanan, she doesn’t trigger her own revenge when wounded). Ezra is also a high priority target. As a tiebreaker body he is a very strong target for OOA movement effects, so slowing him down with a pin, strain, or wound can be very important. Kanan and Ezra both get easy access to dashes from defensive expertise, which is another reason to bring pins and strains. The most likely candidate for a dead turn is Chopper, so try to capitalize on that as well.

Though not pictured here, Kanan/Mando had a strong showing at Element Games in the UK. I personally believe it leans into revenge better than Kanan/Leia (the condition removal is especially effective vs. Iden), and also has more diceless displacement, but it does lack some OOA movement.

Veers Alpha Strike

This is a list where you definitely want to understand the gimmick from the start. The goal is to swarm objectives quickly and put you on the back foot, ideally snagging four objectives on the opening turn of Shifting Priorities. Veers uses Prepare for a Surface Attack to get DTE in reserve to start the game, allowing them to go first. Thanks to Infiltration, the ISF are merely a dash away from the midline. DTE can dash them up and then use their own super-mobility to take another objective, preferably sniping the opposing home objective.

Counterplay starts in deployment (even more than usual). You want to make sure your home objectives are well secured with two bodies each, at least the ones closest to DTE. Units like Chopper or Bar2 can be handy here since they can’t be shot on turn one. Snowtroopers don’t shove particularly well and Veers is slow, so try to win on that side of the board. If you do fall behind early remember that all is not lost, you can try to farm momentum on the opponent’s side of the struggle tracker before slowly pulling it back.

This list was most popular at the recent at Torchlight Games in Ontario and I wouldn’t be surprised if many of those crazy canucks are at Adepticon.

The Empire’s in Control

Sometimes, just sometimes, Empire players don’t want to play super-murder lists. Namely, sometimes they are looking to have a more favourable matchup into Kanan. This list excels at OOA movement with a number of durable bodies. Unlike Iden/Moff, where it was impossible to move the tiebreaker body OOA, here we see two tiebreaker bodies (this is getting out of hand) and lots of ways to move them around.

As counterplay, conditions are handy, but Thrawn can still work around those with We Must Wait and Watch. However, wounded bodies can’t contest. Considering there is also no revenge trigger here, it’s a great matchup to pull out your big guns.

This list had a strong showing recently at Cancon in Australia.

Sticky & Slippery

Even with the imminent release of Ki-Adi-Mundi, this is probably still the best Republic list out there. It’s well-loved by the Polish especially, dominating the top eight of 35 MFKiG. The Bad Batch bring a lot of mobility and durability that Republic often lacks and General Kenobi can melt your brain with Knowledge and Defense. Wrecker can be a particularly strong Kanan-counter as well thanks to I Wasn’t Sneaking. If you’re looking to attack and shove to win objectives, this will be a bad matchup for you. The preferred counter-tech would either be a lot of diceless displacement or a lot of killing power.

If you don’t have much experience against Obi-Wan, I’d suggest checking out my deep dive on Knowledge and Defense. It’s an older article, sir, but it checks out.

This is the Way

That’s a lot of Mandos! Despite huge initial hype, all-Mandos hasn’t quite found success at the tip-top of the meta. Now, it is important to remember that they only released in November, so the sample size is small, and they had good showings at PAX and Cancon. It’s a very well rounded squad, with good firepower, decent defense, decent movement, and some diceless displacement. Paz can be an absolute monster with We are Mandalorians! and I’ll Cover the Rear, but sometimes his own lack of mobility can be a weak point.

Against this list, you’ll definitely want to have a plan for keeping Paz from wrecking your day. While Mandalorians are by no means slow, a lot of the units are limited one long move and one short move during their activation. Forcing them to move long distances can yield useful results. Burning down Bo-Katan can also be very useful. She isn’t super durable if you focus on her and turning off her Protection/Steadfast bubble helps a lot.

“Ewoks”

OK, we’re getting into the zone here where you could cut corners if you’re pressed for time. It isn’t the most popular of lists, but Leia/Logray did do well at both GenCon and the Salt Lake Open. Logray brings mass movement on his activation and Leia gives you Coordinated Fire: Expose, which is always useful.

While this list has a lot of good stuff going for it, durability isn’t really one of them. There are a lot of squishy characters you can wound, which makes all the OOA movement less effective. Chewie has a big pool of health, but he can still be shoved away from objectives relatively easily. The list can also struggle into Steadfast units, in my experience.

The Most Recent Separatist Releases

Excuse me a moment, it seems I’m getting a phone call. Hello? 2023? You say you want your list back? Yes, it’s true that we’re kicking it old school here, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Grievous has been making a bit of a comeback recently, and Grievous/Dooku did particularly well at the aforementioned Element Games event. Lists like Inferno + X can come out of the gate very quickly, so perhaps droids are rising in response. They are the OG swarm squad, pushing minis to the middle with fantastic speed. They can also throw a lot of dice, which helps push through the defenses of things like Empire and Mandos. Jango is, as ever, an extremely strong displacement piece with potential to ruin a turn via Not So Fast. That’s an ability you definitely want to be familiar with.

Much like facing Empire, against droids you want to focus down the supports. That’s mainly the stuff that gets moved around so you don’t want them to contest. Dooku also gets mad if you wound primaries or secondaries. Terrain is an area where you can also look for an advantage, especially against Magnas. If you get on a higher level with no ingress nearby they will be less threatening.

Honorable Mention

He didn’t fit nicely into any of the showcased lists, but Obi2 is certainly someone who need to be prepared to face. Mind Trick can mess up your turns if you aren’t thinking about it. Try to knock Obi out of position, and avoid engagement with his team when possible (to have less Run targets). Obi is often paired with Vader1 as they are mutually synergistic.

Wrap-Up

This is an oversimplification, but there is a general trend among the top meta lists currently: Inferno is a menace, Kanan tries to counter with revenge. Then stuff like Moff/Thrawn and Hunter/Obi tries to counter Kanan, but they can get blown off the table by Inferno. Some would call this rock-paper-scissors, but I think that does a bit of a disservice to player skill. It’s still extremely important in Shatterpoint, and games are by no means won purely in the list selection stage. Practice reps are important, and knowing your chosen list inside and out is usually better than playing a “better” list you’re new with.

One other thing to consider is how metas themselves evolve. I guess you could say we’re getting meta about the meta now. In a healthy meta, counters rise up to defeat the top lists, those counters become the new big dogs and invite counters of their own, and the cycle continues. In a less healthy meta, the best stuff is so good that it just stays at the top indefinitely. Time will tell which world we are living in, but be careful to not simply be fighting the last fight. If you find something successful that’s not on this list, take it and run with it!

There are also advantages to running off-meta lists. People will be less familiar with your tricks and may not have an adequate plan to deal with your team. Everyone and their mom will have a plan for dealing with Inferno and Kanan and you won’t ever have the element of surprise on your side.

Whether or not you’re going to Adepticon, I hope this helps with your upcoming events!