As people post, I'll try to keep this post up to date. A list of Tier 1 squads as of early 2017. Let me know what's missing and let me know if there's anything in the list that actually isn't Tier 1 after all. Note that this is not the same as the meta, because I expect people to play multiple non-Tier 1 squads just because they're newer. I don't expect to be able to complete the Tier 1.5 and Tier 2 lists (there are actually too many squads in those categories to even list at all), but I think we can come close to completing Tier 1.

TIER 1
Old Republic
Bastila + Pilots (Jaq/Carth/Shoaneb)

Sith
Dance of Death variants (Caedus/Barriss)
Something with Plagueis

Republic
Skybuck
Something with Obikin
GOWK + Mace
Cin + Serra

Separatists


Rebel
Prison Break (2016 GenCon champ)
Ghost Crew w/Ahsoka

Imperial
Multiple Thrawn variants (Black & Blue, Stealth & Blue, Ladies & Blue, Boba & Blue)
Multiple Daala variants (Raxus, Snowtroopers, Elite Scouts, maybe even First Order?)
Vader of Lothal variants (100pt Palpatine or Elite Republic Commandos)

New Republic
Solo Charge (is that still Tier 1?)
Luke's Art Class (2013 GenCon champ)

Fringe
Talon + at least 2 of (Boba, Embo, Morrigan)
Black Sun Grenades swarm (not sure if it's best with Tarpals, Pote Snitkin, or with Self-Destruct in Vong)
Ewoks (not best in Fringe... probably best in either Imperial, Separatist, or Rebel)
Hex Droids (probably best in OR, but maybe in Seps)

Mandalorian
Movin Mandos (2014 GenCon champ)

Yuuzhan Vong
Blast Bug focus
Domain Lah focus


TIER 1.5
(can beat some TIER 1 squads and even win a tournament, but either has a really bad match-up or just generally weaker)

Old Republic
Thon Song (was Tier 1 and is still fun, but I think it's not quite up to Tier 1 anymore)
Arkanian Jedi General squads

Sith
Lost Tribe (there might be something there, but it lacks a big movement breaker)

Separatist
Single Lancer (is this still Tier 1?)
Double Lancer
Wheelbike + BXs
NR-N99 + BXs (hasn't really been tried... could move either up or down)

Republic
Elite Republic Commandos

New Republic
General Leia Resistance (might be Tier 1, but not seeing it at first glance)

Fringe
Hutt Cartel (best Hutt Cartel squad not yet determined... might be Tier 1 but looking Tier 1.5 to me so far)


TIER 2

Republic
Tarpals/Gungans

Fringe
The Father squads (but I still expect to him show up at a couple regionals this year)

Are Seps really so bad that they have only one tier 2 squad and no tier 1 squads? They certainly have been getting basically no love from the design team recently.

As the resident seps player in my area I can attest to them slipping down competitively. The problem actually came from the double nerf of the Poggle/drone situation. Before it was a very strong addition that helped pieces like Dooku, Durge on Speeder and Wheelbike keep up in the activation game. The buzz droids took some of the buzz out of their big three. And then making drones cost 3 and hugely increasing poggle's cost completely eliminated them from ever being remotely played competitively again. They already had hard counters in disruption, Bastilla, anti-self-destruct and the like. But the one-two punch knocked Dooku and the remaining costly Seps down. Swarms that were just below average before got pushed down further by the range hate. And huges are just to costly and big to play effectively. Not to mention all get almost completely shut down by Bastilla.

Currently the only tier 1.5/2 squads they can field on my opinion is wheelbike + BXs. There may be a black sun living team build, but as a sep droid player I just can't bring myself to play a Hutt and black sun over my left behind droids. It's a hard day to be a Seps player, but I'm probably going to still try to pull one off, either that or a new father build because that is so awesome. And the chance to combine Grievois HoH with Cin is just to good to pass up.

The rest of the posted squads look good though. Rebels Ghost squad and First order dalaa are very powerful combos right now in our meta. I think Obi-kin have some potential as well.

@Echo

Do you think Kyle/Jan in NR is still Tier 1?

I think Rebels need a good look. I think Lando helps a lot in a bunch of builds, the WOTC tech of Dodonna, Princess Leia, and Rieekan is solid, and they have attackers like new-ish Kyle and Luke Hero of Endor (Lando really helps him).

I constructed my "Ladies & Blue" squad on 06/06/2016, which I won the 2016 CA Regional with and displayed publicly;


http://www.bloomilk.com/Squad/116145/league-of-extraordinary-hunters-ca-2016-regional-champion



Disclaimer; Not saying that mine is the best variant out there, of course

RE: Seps - what about the Enforce Droid + BXs? It can cart a sniper/spotter combo around and provides a massive shield area. I've seen squads on here use it to protect big Sep pieces while they get to gambit.

As far as squads I ran last year and how they stand up IMO

Cin/Sera -- Should still be quite good. People have learned how to play against it and how to try and exploit its weaknesses, so won't be quite as good and probably not played nearly as much because it isn't new or different.

Ewoks -- I ran the Imp version. Jen'ari has a much beefier version as my version basically loses to anything with jedi reflexes or mines. Also, it will struggle with anything with damage avoidance (ssm, parry, etc) so not sure if it withstands the test of time either. Can certainly win in the right meta.

Yobuck Old School -- Will always be good depending on the meta.

Vader of Lothal/Palps -- still remains quite good. As people adapted to how to play against it, it wasn't quite as good. Still should be at least 1.5 as it can do some neat tricks.

Gungans -- Jim should have beat me in PA, a rolled 1 and a couple other really low rolls bought me just enough time to eek out a victory. TJ is right, the hex droids are a huge problem for these guys. Anything with enough speed/beef to actually catch them can be a problem as well as with only 30 HP they aren't the beefiest of pieces. I would say solidly a tier 2 squad.

Yobuck New School -- Darth Os version was also quite good. Certainly better in some matchups, and much less susceptible to to some of the issues of the classic version, but doesn't have near the singular damage output without skywalker. So the plan is to chip away, chip away and win via attrition. Doesn't really stand toe-to-toe with the big beats like the old school version does.

I think a mix is the best approach for Ewoks. Some of the beefier BTV Ewoks, a strafer, a few 5pt shooters but also a handful of 3pt swarmers.

Yes, that's the one I had in mind.