I told you Engine Upgrade would break this thing. One minute everyone is running Kanan with Tactical Jammer and then before you know it:

Damn those Mynocks and their good taste!

If this were Buzzlet Generator, I’d go straight into “46 Most Annoying Ghosts Ever” at this point:

Christmas Past Banquo Engine Upgrade Lothal Rebel Yoda on Ahch-To

But this isn’t that kind of blog! The Ghost is finally having its moment, and as a dedicated VCX-head, I can help you run it.

Alas…I don’t want to. The minute the Ghost becomes top-of-the-meta, I find myself bored with it. I’m not such an X-Wing hipster that I’m about to take up triple Starvipers instead. But it’s always more fun for me to beat the top list than to be the top list.

Also, due to my very small role in encouraging this menace, I now have to complete court-mandated community-service blogging on how to beat it. Here are some ideas.

Stress control

This isn’t a silver bullet. The Ezra crew+Maul crew variant will still get decent mods on four TLT shots, and clear two stress tokens if it hits once per volley. Dedicated, trenchant stress control, however, will annoy these lists. If R3-A2 Ezra and some wookiees can drop four triangular tokens in one turn on this thing, it’ll effectively turn off the primary gun and the coordinate shenanigans.

And for my Scum players: Latts Razzi is your friend. This ship stresses itself to get re-rolls. Eat up that free evade before Maul would clear it anyway.

Token-free attack mods

Fenn Rau, Hotshot Co-pilot, and Sensor Jammer will make a mockery of your focus/target lock. They do not affect: Rey’s pilot ability with Expertise, Dengar crew with Glitterstim, Predator, Lone Wolf, Guidance Chips, etc.

In case you didn’t notice: “Timewalk Asajj” (Lone Wolf, Latts Razzi, Glitterstimx2, Countermeasures) has checked both boxes so far.

Ion control

It may seem like I’m just listing every kind of control mechanic (don’t bother tractor-beaming the Ghost) but there’s a specific reason for this one too. The Ghost with Engine Upgrade is going to boost aggressively and then use Maul+red 1-turns to stay on the board. Putting that first ion token on this sucker will make your opponent think twice.

Boba Fett crew

The OG Kanan-killer. This was its purpose from the get-go. Pop off the Twin Laser Turret (or the title, I guess) and enjoy. While the nerf of the old Dengar/Bossk alpha strike list makes it slightly harder to get our favorite bounty hunter aboard the Ghost, the Harpoon-Missile Scurrg is a solid new platform for this trick.

Autothrusters aces

These gnats used to annoy TLT spammers, but I’m not so sure about this matchup anymore. The Pilot Skill-11 boost into a primary-weapon shot puts even Soontir’s life at risk. Any list, however, that can get Autothrusters at PS 11 with a bid stands a good chance. That means you, Thweek. Use that curvy barrel roll to get into the donut hole.

Curling up in the fetal position and crying

There’s nothing in the rules against it.

Defenders

The latest Mynock Squadron Podcast episode mentioned this as a potentially bad matchup. And I have watched the x7s pull it out with mine own eyes thanks to local hero-of-the-Empire Stephen Wooten. It’s just a lot of health for the TLTs to chew through, and playing the Ghost is still, despite all these new bells and whistles, about winning the damage race.

A possible trend away from Kanan will make this contest potentially even more favorable for the bad (good?) guys.

Alpha strikes

You have to figure out how you’re going to block the boost into range 1/override Sensor Jammer. But we’re still dealing with an extremely juicy target with no agility. Certain crits will derail these new builds, and there’s plenty of hull to pin them on.

Something I forgot

I’m sure someone on Reddit will let me know if I spaced on an obvious answer. In the meantime, I’ll start writing some posts that aren’t about the Ghost. Now that my “native” faction, Scum and Villainy, has been knocked off its perch atop the game, I feel it’s time work on some bounty-hunter-themed lists.

Pull your 4-LOM crew cards out, I’m back home.