Not to downplay that this is still an issue, but they have largely improved over 1st edition. I didn't play scum in 1.0, but I have enough scum ships to justify buying a conversion kit. Meanwhile, afterburners in the sf kit and bt1/0-0-0 in the deci shows at least that they're making an effort (low though it may be) to make things accessible in a timely fashion.

You're completely right. I had points to spare on a Norra build and I was mostly just salty that I couldn't use those points in any worthwhile fashion. Really, I just wish that fewer gunners explicitly worked with mobile arcs only.

I've been playing Nora for a hot minute now, and I just can't understand it. Obviously they have the slot for tail gunner, but that card is super trash. Meanwhile, literally none of the other gunners work with the arc due to it not having bombs or mobile arcs. I hope the republic Arc at least comes with worthwhile gunners for non-mobile arcs.

You can still run 3 with juke and just throw Crack on the last one. Not as good but not too far off either

With IG B, it's a nice free compensation for missing your primary. Especially now that you can run 3 aggressors

I spent so much time liking everyone's posts here that FFG has forbidden me from any more reactions today

Phantoms have a Gunner slot now, so vader whisper is no more

Silencers all had a few points shaved off too

Woah, some IGs are cheaper than the others

This is an important point. As I understand it, the outrider cup (a team event) stipulated that unclear rulings would be voted on by all team captains. So this wasn't an example of an overzealous TO, but rather group consensus. That being said, you could absolutely argue that a council of captains with a vested interest in the rulings is not an impartial body, but at least they were consistent.

The reality is most TOs won't care much, especially if you're using custom community alt arts, like Mynock or Gold Squadron promos. Buf if you're going anywhere where you're paying more than $20 or traveling, I would find a friend who can lend you the components you need. No sense losing out because you have the wrong cardboard.

If they are adhering to the tournament regs, then you need all cards and they have to all be ffg product. From page 4 of the tournament regs: Cards such as ship and upgrade cards are considered essential components (see page 5). A player must have all cards required for their list, including the suitable number of copies of any cards used multiple times. Proxies of cards are not allowed unless used under the rules of “Lost and Damaged Components” on page 5.

Consider that the first step of setup is 1. Gather Forces In this step, instructions are clear that this is the step you put down shield, charge, and force tokens. Necessarily then, Shield Upgrade, Force Crew, and Upgrades with Charges must be considered active text or you wouldn't modify the number of tokens you put down. It seems to me then that it is implied that card text is generally assumed to be active. This assumption is further strengthened by the RRG explicitly defining times when text is inactive, such as while a ship is in reserve (To be clear, ships awaiting placement during setup are not in your reserve. I checked to be sure). If the rules only define exceptions, then all else is likely meant to be the normal gamestate. My conclusion would then be that you deploy at I7. But I wouldn't fight a judge that told me otherwise.

Also, don't forget that they can rotate out specific pilots, sort of like how renegade U-Wings are in but not rebel pilots.

I mean, they can thematically justify cutting the starfortress from resistance...