Welcome to Competitive Innovations in a Galaxy Far, Far Away, a look into Shatterpoint events happening across the galaxy. We’ll explore top matches, the who’s who of Primary Units and what you can expect from the Shatterpoint meta.
AMG kicked off the Summer with a rebalance! And with hindsight and perspective in view, they really knocked this out of the park. With a miss here and there (poor Magnaguard), but an overall healthy meta game coming out – We’ve seen growth and discovery of what’s hot continue to change and evolve with Grand Tournaments across the globe. Players have explored the balance changes and added in the spice of some new releases to their lists over the summer. Let’s dive into some events to see how this all shakes out!
Take a look at our early takes on the rebalance here.
Part 1
- UKGE 2025 Shatterpoint GT – United Kingdom
- GT- La menace Fantôme – France
- Atlantic City Open – United States
- Duel of the Fates – Australia
Part 2
- Grand Tournament Lodz EC1 – Poland
- GenCon – United States
- LoneStar Open – United States
- GriffCon Shatterpoint GT – United Kingdom
Part 3
- Evergreen Open – United States
- Nova Open – United States
- Smite Club Open – United States
UKGE 2025 Shatterpoint GT – United Kingdom
Check out full details on Longshanks.
The Showdown
Mission: Sabotage Showdown
TollstarDeluxe – Ki-Adi Mundi / Anakin Skywalker
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| Sabotage Showdown | |
Louis Allum – Mace Windu / Obi-Wan Kenobi
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| First Contact | |
Thoughts
Republic!? In the top game!? It’s been a while… The rebalance was kind to Republic lists overall; with a boost to clones and a few primaries, we see a new lease on life for democracy.
TollstarDeluxe’s Republic list brings Ki-Adi and Anakin which is something you’ll be seeing more of. This list has a ton of tools, reliable Primaries, dice less displacement and stamina to keep up over three struggles and not have to worry about force economy. Eight Force is a hell of a drug, and while this list has plenty of ways to use it, Ki-Adi’s Guardians of the Republic identity keeps your force abilities affordable while providing extra movement. Anakin got a full rework as part of this rebalance, and now acts as a reliable hyper-carry – with his turns potentially moving your entire list with his This is Where the Fun Begins identity ability. This combined with I’m Going to End This means those wounds are very reliable when Anakin needs to close them. One of Anakin’s weaknesses is that it can be difficult to get him where he needs to be, that’s where the reworked ARF Troopers come in. While they lost their old Coordinated Fire: Expose, they gained Supporting Fire: Dash, a solid trade which allows this list to really shine.
Louis’ Republic list comes in with the classic Kenobi and Mace pairing, which has existed in different forms since these boxes released. Together these two primaries can create and impenetrable wall of defense – now featuring a completely reworked Mace Windu and buffed clone troopers to support. Kenobi’s Knowledge and Defense makes Hunker tokens go the extra mile, while Mace’s This Party’s Over keeps your models alive and in place if you can maintain the bubble. Mace’s new Shatterpoint ability ensures you have plenty of force available to keep your clones hunkered, while he is a much improved. Captain Rex shines here with Hunker synergy and the updated Republic Commandos and Arf Troopers each gaining an additional stamina makes them difficult to take down with Mace and Kenobi supporting.
With TollstarDeluxe winning the roll off, Sabotage Showdown is the mission taken. Honestly, both of these lists (and really, any Republic list) shine on Sabotage.
I’m not sure I could even make a prediction here. This is our first major event post rebalance, and looking at the event overall, its very clear the community was very excited to get Republic back on the table. As for the match up, the Ki-Adi Mundi squad in Tollstar’s list has some incredible displacement which is extremely valuable in countering the defensive style of Louis’ list. Force Push or Force Repulse can get Mace or Obi off of a point without relying on an attack action. On the flip side, General Kenobi with Knowledge & Defense created some unique difficulties for Anakin. Allowing the drop of a Hunker token to dash mean Anakin will no longer be in position for his second attack, and this list really relies on Anakin for those big swing turns.
Louis Allum – 1st Place
List – See Showdown
Thoughts
Louis played Mace and Obi 5/6 rounds and clearly went in with a game plan. The other side of his list looks picked out of the pre-rebalance meta with Darth Vader, Emperor’s Servant and a newly nerfed Inferno Squad led by Iden Versio. Iden is still a missile, wounding whatever she puts her sights on, but the rest of the box is now more in line with the rest of the game. First Contact is an interesting choice here, with Kenobi specifically benefitting from being pulled into reserve out of the order deck using the Clever Ploy.
ZombieHedgehog James – 2nd Place
List
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| Shifting Priorities | |
Thoughts
James brought a revenge focused Spectre list, relying on both Kanan and Leia’s revenge triggers when your own models get wounded. This can be very effective against more aggressive style lists and your opponent must think twice before wounding a model. The addition of Kallus here is something we’re seeing more of, allowing you to spend a force to reroll both offensive and defensive dice. On the Empire side of the premiere list, we have a melee control list including the reworked Third Sister. Third sister went from one of the worst units in the game to an effective support for Inquisitors. Fifth Brother continues to be a very tough model to deal with.
TollstarDeluxe – 3rd Place
List – See Showdown
Thoughts
I discussed the Republic in the Showdown, and like Louis, Tollstar played his Republic list 5/6 rounds. Kanan and Hera make a great pairing leveraging Kanan’s Revenge with Hera’s ability to wake models up with We Will Not Stand Down. I suspect this pairing was taken for more aggressive match ups, however those did not come up throughout the event.
Broski86 – 4th Place
List
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| Shifting Priorities | |
Thoughts
Broski86 had a great run, finishing 5-1. He played his Mandalorian list 5/6 rounds, which is a trend we’re starting to see here. Mandalorians are simply an incredible generalists list. They have tough bodies, good movement and can dish out damage when needed. Mando himself adds dice less displacement, and an incredible revenge trigger while the Armorer keeps all of your Mandos going with one of the strongest identities in the game. Our Survival is Our Strength. This is the Way ensure your Mandos cost never goes up on their abilities once wounded, allowing you to play a long attrition game. Broski only played his Separatist list once, but it’s nice to see the reworked Asajj Ventress on the table since she truly lives up to her title of Assassin now.
GT- La Menace Fantôme – France
Check out full details on Longshanks.
The Showdown
Mission: Sabotage Showdown
Vaenyth Augustin – General Obi-wan Kenobi / Ki-Adi Mundi
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| Sabotage Showdown | |
Davide B – Leia Organa, Freedom Fighter / Logray
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| Shifting Priorities | |
Thoughts
We’ve got Republic vs Rebels in the France finals!
In Vaenyth’s list we see Ki-Adi paired with General Kenobi, combining the displacement and force management of Ki-Adi, with the hunker synergy and defense Kenobi adds. This is a pairing I’ve played a lot of – one of the struggles you can have with Jedi (or any melee only unit) is they can’t quick get to where you want them to be in range to attack. This list mitigates a lot of that, with adding a lot of value with a hunker action. Move > Take Cover onto an objective, then Force Push or Force Repulse an enemy unit away can be a very effective turn.
Davide played his Anakin / Ki-Adi pairing in his first four rounds. The finals forced him to complete his destiny, meaning he has to play the rest of his premiere list in the finals. Logray and Leia have some new tricks coming from the rebalance, mostly coming from C-3PO and R2-D2 which got a huge rebalance and a cost decrease to 3. They are now an excellent support unit in a Ewok list, providing extra movement and attacks with Brilliant Oration, Scale or Steadfast in a range 5 bubble with “Divine Influence” and Goodness Gracious Me preventing them from being targeted with ranged attacks. Leia’s Coordinated Fire: Expose (one of the few left in the game) should prove valuable into the excellent defensive expertise we see on the Jedi.
Overall the toughness and displacement from the Jedi will be difficult for the Ewoks to overcome. The extra 5 dice attacks likely won’t be effective into hunkered clones, but the Ewoks superior movement and placement of Leia’s Coordinated fire might be enough…
Vaenyth Augustin – 1st Place
List – See Showdown
Thoughts
Vaenyth played his Republic list in 4/5 rounds, only playing running his Cassian list in round 1. A trend we’re continuing to see of a preferred list and an ‘off’ list. Although this won’t be your last time seeing Cassian in a top list… Running Cassian / Leia with mostly boxes as is, dropping the Rebel Pathfinder for Rebel Commandos (which is a change you’ll see frequently). Cassian enables Rebel Commandos to punch above their weight class. His Identity ability Make Ten Men Feel Like a Hundred provides them with Impact (2) or Sharpshooter (2) when they are selected with Shatterpoint, combine that with their own Commando Doctrine and they have some powerful attacks coming through. Cassian’s Identity also provides a list wide revenge trigger to Advance any unit when one of your own units is wounded. He is an incredibly versatile primary, and we’ll certainly see more of him.
Davide B – 2nd Place
List – See Showdown
Thoughts
I’ve touched on the Ewoks (I use that word loosely, as there’s only one true Ewok in the list) above, and we again see Anakin and Ki-Adi paired in a top game. This list is showing be a relevant part of the establishing meta. One interesting choice we see here, is Obi-wan, Out of Hiding being taken as the secondary in Anakin’s squad. This list has plenty of force to enable the reworked Mind Trick ability. Obi, Out of Hiding saw a significant change to this ability in the rebalance, while it used to cost 2 force and completely turn off an attack, it now costs one and disarms the opponent. While the old ability was very strong, it was also prohibitively expensive for most lists to run. While Obi’s own activations can be lackluster, his impact on the game can be very high when in the right position.
Darth Hunter – 3rd Place
List
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| Shifting Priorities | |
Thoughts
Darth Hunter continues the trend, playing his Republic list 4/5 rounds of the event. This time the list combines the carry potential of Anakin for big swing turns, with Kenobi to make sure those pieces stay alive on those objectives. Leveraging Shaak Ti in the Kenobi squad adds some effective displacement. Cassian & Kanan make a great pairing though and I’m a bit surprised this wasn’t played more. The combined revenge triggers, along with a tie breaker in Ezra and Lockdown on K-2SO allows this list to play an incredible control game with some excellent offensive output from Kanan and the Commandos.
JudgeAssault – 4th Place
List
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| Sabotage Showdown | |
Thoughts
Republic through and through! Taking advantage of many of the reworked clone units, the 501st Clone troopers now do much more reliable damage, while the 212th have gained access to Sharpshooter and improved expertise. All of them have increased Stamina compared to their pre-rebalance selves and this provides a flexible list that can mix and match squads based on the match up. JudgeAssault has stuck with Republic through the good and the bad, and its great to see that expertise in a top 4 finish.
Atlantic City Open
Check out full details on Longshanks.
The Showdown
Mission: Never Tell Me the Odds
Scott (Evilhoudini) B – Thrawn / Grand Inquisitor
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| Never Tell Me the Odds | |
Evan (Must Play Faster) Ritt – Hondo / Princess Leia
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| Shifting Priorities | |
Thoughts
Reigning world champion Scott B puts a twist on what we’ve seen so far since the rebalance. Here, we see the newly improved Inquisitor box paired with Thrawn. Bringing Never Tell Me the Odds as his mission, Scott is taking advantage of the incredible movement Thrawn provides through both his Battle Tactics and We Must Wait and Watch, the latter allows a unit to reposition when reserved. This combines with tough bodies like Fifth Brother and Dark Troopers allows for fast control of objectives that can be hard to reach for some lists.
In preparation for the possibility to play Never Tell Me the Odds, Evan is taking Leia and Hondo, both of which provide out of activation movement for any units in the list hoping to keep up with Scott on the mission. Both Dengar and Han and Chewie are tough models, and when you are able to take them out, Leia is there to punish with her revenge trigger Somebody’s Gotta Save Our Skins. I like that both Hondo and Leia can move Dengar, as not many models can without paying for Payday.
Scott’s list doesn’t need to wound to take and hold objectives, so I’m not sure Evan is going to get much mileage out of revenge mechanics here. Thrawn can be oppressive on Never Tell Me the Odds, plus unit outside of the Dark Troopers here is able to provide movement to Fifth Brother. Evan will need to keep Fifth Brother and the Dark Troopers down to hold an advantage.
Scott (Evilhoudini) B – 1st Place
List – See Showdown
Thoughts
Scott played his Cad / Leia list twice throughout the event, both into Ki Adi / Anakin lists. This list takes a couple things that make Anakin’s life a little difficult. Mind Trick from Kenobi can reduce Anakin’s attacks, while Leia can potentially punish for getting those wounds through. There’s enough damage output here to keep the clone supports down, which helps avoid Anakin’s big swing turns. Add Shaak Ti for some movement and displacement. With how much Republic has been running around events, taking advantage of Never Tell Me the Odds can be a great advantage against heavy melee lists.
Evan (Must Play Faster) Ritt – 2nd Place
List – See Showdown
Thoughts
Evan had a great run, only losing to Scott in the finals. Hondo is a favorite of mine both in Shatterpoint and general Star Wars and it’s nice to see him doing well! There’s a ton of Scoundrels in this list to take advantage of Fair? What’s Fair?. Add in that both Hondo’s Inspiring Stories, So Many of Them True and Leia’s It’s a Wonder You’re Still Alive provide out of activation to any model regardless of tag synergies and you can start to create some real synergy in these lists for units that tend to lack it. Units like Dengar or Han & Chewie can really start to shine… not to mention Cassian, K-2SO, Kanan and Ezra all have Scoundrel!
Grand Moff Eric – 3rd Place
List
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| Shifting Priorities | |
Thoughts
Grand Moff Eric also came in to show Empire is alive and well post rebalance! Shifting Priorities is a great mission here, tons of movement to help units get to the midline with tough bodies like Fifth Brother and Dark Troopers. Darth Vader, Jedi Hunter loves when your opponent is forced to bring units to contest the midline, as his lightsaber is one of the best in the game for testing “Will it Blend” (the answer is yes, for most units in the game). Your Hatred Makes You Powerful helps everything in the list punch up and really helps the Inquisitor’s lightsabers spin fast. The Thrawn / Moff pairing playing a similar mobility combined with tough bodies as Scott’s Thrawn list above.
Andrew (Retiosanti) W – 4th Place
List
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| Shifting Priorities | |
Thoughts
Andrew brought a classic Spectre revenge list here with his Kanan / Leia pairing. 4/6 units being Spectre means Kanan will be trigger happy when anything is wounded, and Leia is triggering off every wound making it very difficult for your opponent to wound effectively. Lists like the Thrawn lists seen above can counter this well though by placing tough bodies on points and leveraging superior movement. Armorer / Maul was only taken one round, but Maul can solve an interesting problem in a Mandalorian list, by asking for no force for himself… helps make the 5 force the list brings go the distance while Armorer ensures those abilities never increase in cost.
Duel of the Fates
Check out full details on Longshanks.
The Showdown
Mission: Sabotage Showdown
Michael (Red Mando 2) W – Ki-Adi-Mundi / General Obi-Wan Kenobi
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| Shifting Priorities | |
Olek von Guttner – Ki-Adi-Mundi / General Obi-Wan Kenobi
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| Sabotage Showdown | |
Thoughts
Who doesn’t love a Republic mirror match!? Not a difference in these two lists outside of mission… Red Mando 2 won the roll off here so Shifting Priorities it is! As for mirror matches go, these lists have the tools to both make their opponent’s life difficult AND displace the tough bodies that aren’t worth attacking. Melee units can be a bit of a risk if they can’t get to the point and attack, but in this case the Take Cover action adding a little movement and following that up with a Force Repulse or Force Push can be a very effective turn.
Michael (Red Mando 2) W – 1st Place
List – See Showdown
Thoughts
Tons of versatility in this list with most of the pairings making a good match up. We’ve discussed most of these, but adding a revenge trigger with Ahsoka, Jedi No More means this list has the tools for whatever its comes across. Never Tell Me the Odds being nearly absent from this event means the melee units can shine.
(TheOG) QuiGonJim – 2nd Place
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| Sabotage Showdown | |
Thoughts
Taking advantage of Rebel and Scoundrel synergies, each squad here was anchored around Cassian. Ezra providing a tie breaker, K2 and Lobot both providing Lockdown, and the Mando squad coming in two steadfast unit means this entire list is playing a control game. Cassian’s Make Ten Men Feel Like a Hundred will punish the opponent for wounding and make sure these tough bodies with control abilities are where they need to be. I don’t believe any of these lists are doing anything particularly unique from each other, but the doubling down on revenge primaries for every squad is going to be a tough puzzle for opponents.
Matheos (Red Mando 1) Loizou – 3rd Place
List
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| Sabotage Showdown | |
Thoughts
Another full Republic list here, this time opting for Vader1 and Mace to tag along with Obi and Ki-Adi. Vader creates an incredible pairing for Ki-Adi focused on control and reliable attack trees. This list is going to be triggering Ki-Adi’s Guardian’s of the Republic to dash a Jedi when you wound an enemy unit on most activations, in particular Your Hatred Makes You Powerful allows the Padawan Learners to punch far above their weight class. Fil’s clones here with their Supporting Fire: Heal allow you to mitigate some of the self-damage from Vader’s identity.
aaronbutler1 – 4th Place
List
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| Sabotage Showdown | |
Thoughts
Now we get something interesting! It’s been a while since we’ve seen Mother Talzin on the table, and in an environment where we’re not seeing much Never Tell Me the Odds and a lot of Jedi, this is a great take here. We see the new Aurra Sing kit with her On Contract ability allowing her to take the Dathomerian tag. This Kanan and Han list we saw get to the finals of Adepticon, combining Kanan’s incredible revenge, Kallus’ Imperial Intelligence for reliable dice and Han’s Let’s Keep a Little Optimism Here to control momentum for a perfect storm that can mess with your opponent’s game plan. Force economy can be a bit tricky, so you need to use these abilities sparingly, but the list can create some very difficult problems.
Final Thoughts
The rebalance gave us the meta shake up we were looking for, and whether because players were excited to bring out their Republic toys again, or because they have some of the strongest options, we saw a whole lot of Republic in these early events! Adding the Cassian release to give Rebels a shot in the arm, and Inferno Squad being pulled down, we see multiple iterations of Rebels in top 4 lists. We also see quite the trend of Premiere lists including one throw away list and one list played for the rest of the event. Let’s see how this shifts throughout the summer in Part 2!
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