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Tournament is coming up and you've been playing around with the same 2-3 lists and it's getting close to crunch time. How do you decide which list to bring with? Do you base your pick off of personal win/loss record, top placing list research or even "I like this ship!" I've got 3 lists I'm looking at to practice with for next months tourney and I'm having trouble deciding and wondered if anyone else has the same dilemma.

PS: One of the lists I'm trying to lock down is a Mini Swarm, and I'd like a little feedback.

"Whisper" w/ Fire Control System, Advanced Cloaking Device and Veteran Instincts
Howlrunner w/ Determination
Academy Pilot x2
and either Mauler Mithel or Backstabber (and bumping both academy pilots to obsidian)

What I'm wondering is is it worth having 2 dedicated flanking ships? Thoughts?

I pick a ship i want to use, then add in a couple of others that i think could support it.
Then play a few games and tweak from there

As for writing a few lists, I had a rebel and imperial list for the assault on imdaar event recently, I tossed a coin, ran a new imperial list and lost every game

On that occasion I was flying lambdas for the first time and overestimated the mobility capabilities

I use several lists that I enjoy playing. I have perfected (or have tried to perfect) these lists by their performance.
I have also watched how other players react and play against these lists to help refine them.

At the moment my three favorites are Biggs with 3 blue sqdron bombers w/A Sensors. Lots of quick turns, puts strain on enemy.
The second is tie swarm w/ Mauler vet instinct, howlrunner w/ swarm, dark curse, 3 black ties w/ vet instincts. Mostly move last shoot first.
Last is Capt Jonus with clusters, 3 gamma's all w/ clusters and 2 also have protons. Using Jonus gives lots of rerolls to hit.

finally got to try out the whisper + mini swarm. Did not fare well vs. 3 bounty hunters... mostly because of my VERY poor dice.

I have a couple of lists that I really enjoy playing. Both are actually Rebel Swarm lists.

The first is an Ace list:

Darth Vader/TIE Advanced + Assault Missiles + Daredevil + Engine Upgrade (41)
Soontir Fel/TIE Interceptor + Push the Limit (30)
Turr Phennir/TIE Interceptor + Veteran Instincts + Stealth Device (29)

This is a fun little list with Turr racing around, blasting people face-to-face at Range 1 before boosting right past them. Fel has perpetual Focus thanks to PtL. Vader is a maneuver king and once he gets a TL and Focus to Range 1… someone gonna die (with damage to everyone around them).

* * *

The second list is a kind of supported swarm list:

Kyle Katarn/HWK-290 + Predator + Ion Cannon Turret + Recon Specialist + Moldy Crow (35)
Bandit Squadron Pilot/Z-95 Headhunter + Assault Missiles (17)
Bandit Squadron Pilot/Z-95 Headhunter + Cluster Missiles (16)
Bandit Squadron Pilot/Z-95 Headhunter + Cluster Missiles (16)
Bandit Squadron Pilot/Z-95 Headhunter + Cluster Missiles (16)

The Bandits only need to stay within Range 3 of the Moldy Crow for Katarn to toss them a free Focus before they fire their missile. Add to that Katarn’s Ion Cannon Turret which will focus on Aces with stress tokens (to their destruction if necessary), and this is a great anti-swarm mini-swarm.

I pick a ship I want to play and build up from their. No ship in x-wing is a poor choice, so you can always build something playable (By ship I mean the model, not the pilot. There are good and poor choices of pilot, but every ship has at least one good pilot).

If you want to mix things up start by picking something you don't normally play. I can't think of a single ship I wouldn't use for something, it just has to be kitted right and used correctly.