Rogue Squadron - Wave 8 Incoming

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X-Wing’s Wave 8 is supposed to hit the street this week. And boy are we looking forward to it. While this hasn’t been the longest gap between wave’s so far it is up there. It’s only been seven months since Wave 7 whereas Wave 3 to Wave 4 was nine months. Though it has been the longest gap in announcement to release, eight months. Most other waves clock in at around four to six months from announcement to release.

In a way this delay has been good. Wave 7, Imperial Raider and TFA Core set all dropped within a month of each other. Last September saw a major shift in X-Wing and a major blow to everyone’s wallets. Given those changes, some time to breathe has been nice. Those ships have had time to settle and find their place. TIE Advanced don’t suck anymore, TLTs have brought Y-Wings back, K-wings (especially Miranda) dominate and the poor Punisher and Kihraxz get largely ignored.

So what will Wave 8 bring to the table? What major changes are we going to see in the game? It’s hard to predict these things in advance. No one really talked about Crackshot before Wave 7 but Crack-Swarms are definitely a thing now. But I’ll here’s what I think will make the biggest impacts (in no particular order) from Wave VIII.

Guidance Chips (Modification)- Will this resurrect munitions from it’s stillborn grave? That question can only be answered in the future. But I definitely think we’ll see people playing with munitions a hell of a lot more than we do currently. Especially since, you know, almost no one brings munitions. Now, if you have a spare few points and a torpedo/missile slot on a generic ship, it’s worth throwing a weapon and Guidance Chips on them. Your shot now has one guaranteed hit giving you a pretty decent range three alpha strike. Z-95 missile swarms might be a thing. Bombers and Redline might make a come back.
Jumpmaster 5000 (Ship)- Until I get a chance to fly it I don’t know if the asymmetrical dial on this thing is going to be trouble or not. But my monies on this ship seeing a fair bit of play. It’s a large base turret for Scum that has the option to make a white S-loop. Dengar’s ability plus the Punishing One title in conjunction with that is going to be mean.
Kanan Jarrus (Crew)- I eagerly anticipate running Kanan aboard Dash’s Outrider. You can PTL and then have almost your entire dial available to clear it. He’s a great crew addition to help anything that tends to see a lot of stress.
The Inquisitor (Pilot)- I’m not sure how the other TAP (TIE Advanced Prototype) pilots will pan out but I’m sure we’ll see a lot of the Inquisitor. He’s a cheap ace, can equip autothrusters, and has a great offensive ability.
Adaptability (EPT)- As a zero point EPT this card will see a fair bit of play. There are many times you take a ship and don’t have enough points to equip an EPT but now you can. Or you can drop VI for one less pilot skill level and use that point elsewhere. The real question is how much we’ll see Adaptability used in it’s negative form.
Boba Fett (Crew)- For one point you gain the chance to discard an opponents most valuable upgrade. It’s hard to trigger that doesn’t matter so much. It’s the threat he entails that matters. Stick him on a low value ship and your opponent might decide to target that one instead of your ace.

Now I feel pretty confident about those new things making a strong showing in the new meta. Now, there are a few things I think have a good shot but it comes down to how they really play out on the board.

Cloaking Device (Illicit)- Because this upgrade is unique I’m not sure how much we’ll see it. Throwing it on Guri will probably be a thing but you don’t see StarVipers all that frequently as it is and I don’t see that happening more just for this card. But it could be fun for a super defensive Guri as it would allow you to achieve a new maximum of eight defense dice (3 base + 2 cloaked + 1 Stealh Device + 1 Range 3 + 1 obstructed).
Hera (Crew)- Is the ability to take red maneuvers while stressed worth a crew slot? I think it will definitely see some play but doesn’t really create any new meta defining functions.
Tractor Beam (Cannon)- I don’t really think you’ll see this much until Imperial Veterans launch. It’s cheap so it will show up some as added utility. But Defenders will love when they get their title.
G1-A (Ship)- How much will we see the new Mist Hunter ships? They are essentially scum B-wings and we’ve seen a lot less B-wings as of late. Will we see a rise of them? 4-LOM and Zuckuss, both crew and pilots could be a thing but I’m not confident we’ll see them like we use to see B-wings.
Attack Shuttle (Ship)- This one could appear a lot or could never catch on. It has a lot of potential. I really like Ezra and Sabine’s pilot abilities. And it is a cheap three attack ship that can even take a turret as back up. But it’s pretty fragile so might end up not seeing a lot of use.