I would find a thread discussing effective strategies for dealing with those pesky Rebels much more useful. No offence. ALthough in answer to the poll, losing Reeikan denies them all evade and mobile, which is what I find hardest to deal with.

Well, a few thoughts:

1. Dodonna is, for me, the piece that sets the Rebs apart rather than Riekkan. There are plenty of other ways to get a ton of evade on the board (Wedge, Bith Vigo, even Rebel Wedge), but only Dodonna offers the gear-shift option, where you can adjust your tactics to play fast or slow. It's not unbeatable, obviously, but it is a big advantage that only the Rebels have.

2. I'd agree with Bill--I don't know that it is so transparently obvious that the Rebels are the "dominant" faction. I've said elsewhere that I think a rebel squad will win Gencon, and yeah, I'd probably rate them #1, but we're a long way short of dominant--there have been Rebel teams win regionals so far, but they certainly haven't won all the regionals, and it is worth noting that Rebels don't have a ton of counter-melee abilities to deal with the Yobuck and Lancer squads that are all the rage with the young people these days.

3. And yeah, what are the counter-Rebel strategies? I mentioned fast melee, and it's one option--all the evade in the world won't protect you against a lightsaber closing from 26 squares away. And it is also worth noting that while Rebel teams are quite toolsy (evade, disruptive, bonus shots, tons of override, blah blah--they're the swiss army knife faction), they tend to have figures with relatively low defense and hit points. So really anything that lets you get on top of them is good. But what do others think?

I only agree with one of the two above statements.

I agree with most of your post, and not really arguing per se here, however, I would even question this statement at the moment. NR has been dominating Regionals thus far, and even Seps to a large degree - especially given how few people have played Seps vs Rebels so far.

If I have my tallies correct so far by faction we have the following results in terms of top 4 finishes and champions:
Sith - 0
OR - 0
Vong - 0
Mando - 0

(Ok those were obvious - but now look at this)

NR - 6 T4 2 Win
Rebel - 6 T4 2 Win
Sep - 3 T4 1 Win
Imp - 3 T4
Rep - 2 T4

I will not comment on individual results, the effects of a certain outcome, etc and so on. But suffice to say, that the two Rebel wins each have some issues in terms of being a predictor of Gencon results, whereas I fully well believe Deri could win Gencon with NR, and Jason and Eric could win it with Seps. No offense to the other two winners intended, just stating what I think are reasonable assumptions based on past experience.

There are also other pieces of data like how many players have played a given faction, and how many of those are quality players, etc. Also, luck is always an issue that is hard to truly measure and eliminate, but I think we all know that on in nearly every tournament, someone benefits from missing a key matchup in pairings, getting a key lucky die roll, etc. These skew the data I've given here, enough that I caution you from making too much of it other than what I say below.

Republic hasn't been played enough to really measure it accurately by the better players so far. It is something to say that many good players are choosing other factions, but I don't think that's the whole story. Competitive play is about which gimmick someone thinks gives them the best chance, not necessarily which faction is actually better. Rebublic may well be the best faction out there in terms of competitive pieces, sheer number of competitive squads and styles, etc. And while I'm sure a great deal of top level players could win these events with it, they are choosing other factions at the moment.

This is significant because come gencon, this isn't necessarily the case. Gencon is a longer tournament than Regionals, and the sheer amount of top level players is significant in what squad you choose. I would expect Rep to be of higher representation at the Champ than it has been at Regionals, because they are a more well rounded faction/squads and should function better in a very long tough, diverse tournament environment. NR is being played a lot for the very same thing.

Now, back on topic, I think we are clearly seeing that Reeikan isn't the issue. People are winning with NR without Wedge (something some of you think isn't possible). In the current meta, it looks like Disruptive is more important than any other gimmick, as 4/5 of our tournament winners had it. You might argue that Dodonna is the issue, as he's been present in each of the 4 NR/Reb winners, and I agree, he's useful. I'm not sure that's the reason these squads are winning however. 3/4 of these also included "levitate". I think levitation is more important than dodonna actually, as well as disruptive. With that said though, let's see what happens in the remaining events.

Had to go with Rieekan here. A cheap, board wide effect for everyone. NR Wedge is the only one close to that type of CE, and he only effects followers. Recon can come in handy sometimes too. I would've put Dodonna 2nd if able, followed by Luke's Snowspeeder and Leia. The speeder is just so "end game" if you don't account for it.

Dodonna is the factor.

Dodonna is single handly holding back factions such as the Sith, OR, Mandos or Vong from being played.

Rieekan is annoying but has nothing to do with chaning what faction you can play quite like Dodonna does.

Lets be honest you can bring a 14 activation Sith squad that is has great power to a tourney. Dodonna is the Commander that will ruin the Sith squads day. Sith dont have evade and they dont have deflect or SSM. so what do they do at the end of the round when all their pieces have activated and they are waiting on two or even 3 attacks froms Han Smuggler?

Dodonna currently has a stranglehold on the current Meta and no other piece effects 4 other factions quite like Dodonna does.

I agree whole-heartedly with the assessment of Dodonna. I run NR a lot, and I don't like the feeling of Dodonna *always* having to be in my squad. I ran an Ulic Mando squad at my last Tournament, and found it refreshing to not be thinking about how many people to activate in a round. The fact that there was no Dodonna in that tournament was also heaven.

I have one Rebel Squad that I would bring to a tournament right now, that doesn't use Dodonna.

--Shaddy's Back--
46 Han Solo, Scoundrel
28 Dash Rendar, Renegade Smuggler
27 Ferus Olin
27 Luke Skywalker, Rebel Commando
20 Princess Leia
14 General Rieekan
12 Anakin Skywalker, Force Spirit
9 R2-D2 with Extended Sensor
6 Mouse Droid x2
9 Ugnaught Demolitionist x3

(198pts. 13 activations)

As you can see, Dodonna doesn't fit easily, and he isn't needed with that much cunning attack, evade and mettle rerolls for virtually everyone in the squad. You can tie Anakin to Han or to Luke as needed, but generally Han (against heavy melee I would consider Luke to aid in Djem so rerolls and attacks).

But outside of that, there isn't much reason in 200pts to run Rebels without Dodonna. It's even worse in the NR, since that faction is heavily melee (which really need activation control to stay alive). However, I don't generally have a problem with either faction having it - even if it is like Dean says, a gatekeeper that makes it hard to play the lesser factions in a highly competitive tournament.

This is why when we feel like having a fun game Dodonna is banned but I think he is needed in NR squads at 200 and makes the Rebs even better at all pts levels.

Why can't the sith block attacks with deflect and what makes them not able to evade its kind of annoying that they don't have many ways to avoid damage.

Dodonna is the issue, bottom line. Rieekan i feel was created with that ce to make melee better. The game changed from IE> to being more melee friendly. I realize that shooting is still tops but his and wedge's ce's make melee a much better option then before.

My problem with dodonna is just what Dean said. My favorite faction is mandalorians and id love to be able to take them to a tourney and be able to compete. There is just no way they can win wwhen i sit my squad down across from dodonna without the dice being heavily in my favor.

I am NEVER for banning pieces but i do think the lower factions need some way to fight against dodonna. A 9 point piece singlehandedly beats 4 entire factions, that is just sad. Either give them some kind of counter for it or give them act controll of their own. (act control not based on LOS).

Or even better make the dodonna player choose at the begining of the round if they act 1 or 2 for the whole round.

I personally hate act control cause any faction without it suffers while the ones with it win. Dodonna style act control is simply OP. Note not all of regional winners have had act control, but all the winners are from factions that have it. Rebel, NR, Seps.

I long for the day when i can put together a sith, OR, vong or mando squad and i won't hear "dodonna nerfs it" or "cool squad but you wont beat dodonna"