Skorne vs Skorne

Since the errata, people in my meta have jumped into the faction in large numbers. It is illuminating when it comes to how wildly varied Skorne lists can be: from infantry swarms, to huge threat ranges and insurmountable bricks, to even weird jank. You can almost never anticipate what a Skorne opponent will be bringing. It has become a conundrum, and one I wish to solve with help from the community.

To elaborate, a friend of mine helped me realize that building a tournament pair can best be done with entire factions in mind, alleviating list chicken. (What do you drop into Cygnar, regardless of the opponent's pairing? My anti-gun list. At worst, he drops no guns and has to deal with the list as is.) But, as with a few other factions, locking down a counter with just two lists against Skorne can be difficult.

To shed some light on how I've been attempting to tackle my pairing, I'll write up the lists and then highlight what factions they're supposed to be dropped into and why (at no point is the reasoning infallible, and I welcome criticism):

Xerxis2 (dictates the battle line, sends heavies in as waves)
Agonizer
Gladiator
Sentry
Sentry
Soldier
Soldier
Archidon

Handlers (min)
Handlers (min)

Goes into:
- Cygnar: Two beefy shield guards, arm23s vs shooting and an average threat of 12" has busted their chops more often than not.
- Khador: Slams, pulls, throws, as well as Snacking seems perfect for pushing Khador around, though I'm sorely lacking in games against the faction.
- Trolls: Short of Doomie2, my threat at least equals theirs. Compound this with two Snackers at the front and the ability to slice up gargs and it should do the job.
- Circle: Immense threat ranges, tons of beef, and blessedly ignoring Sentry Stones, this list has mulched Circle many times.
- CoC: I've played against them a surprising amount; the slow jacks and valuable targets make my alpha crushing.
- Minions: As hard as the pigs can hit now, the piece trade usually goes favorably due to Xerxis2's speed. Tricky part is the Quagmired Gremlins.
- Ret: With Helios being so popular nowadays, and local players adoring their jacks, this list hits Ret hard. Sentinels would hurt, but no one seems interested.


Makeda1 (jams, out-threats, and assasinates)
Gladiator
Molik
Hydra

Willbreaker
Soulward

Ferox (max)
Handlers (min)

Goes into:
- Menoth: Locally, infantry is not uncommon with Menoth, but it usually also comes with about 4 Heavies for some reason. Makeda1 is a generalist and has had luck in adapting to my Menoth opponents.
- Legion: Fyanna would shred Xerxis2, and this list can move extremely quickly and spread out, necessary when Legion can be everywhere on the table.
- Trolls (Madrak2, Doomie2): Jackhammer is brilliant into beefy targets, and the Ferox also jam tramplers on feat like nobody's business. Yet to be tested.

Admittedly, my Makeda1 list is still in progress, as I've only had about 10 games with it. Xerxis2 is in the range of 40 games.


So what do I drop into Skorne?

Makeda1 seems more reasonable (I've won against Skorne at tourneys with it), but Xerxis2 feels really tempting into bricky lists.

I've also been toying with Mordikaar and Hexy2 as a second list lately, but I find them a little too specialized, and hard to compare with the huge power of Makeda1, and hardly equipped to handle things like Zaal2 (high armour infantry is a bugger!).

What have you guys dropped into Skorne?