Cowall, lorrir, and maybe Kir will find spots. Royal guard, TC, and opportunist migt see some use but nothing meta shaking at all.

Tetran Cowell, Jousting King of NYC

Tetran Cowell, Jousting King of NYC

Really not.

Agreed. One thing that no interceptor can afford to do is head-to-head jousting, and Cowell doesn't let you do anything after your snap turn.

I'm not convinced that a stressed interceptor is instantly dead, but it's certainly not pulling its weight.

IMO, most people are underestimating how powerful the new 'Stress meta' will be.

Granted, we don't know yet all the upgrades and options available within the upcoming expansions, but from what it was revealed, rebels are clearly ahead of imperials in dealing with/using stress to its benefit.

Interceptors are only another collateral victim, but in general, any pilots whose abilities depend on taking actions (and that includes cloaking by phantoms) can be effectively shut down and neutralized without much effort.

Its sad that no one gets the joke

However, if that's true, then why are the vast majority of the ships and cards coming out that penalize stressed ships coming out for the rebels? From where I'm sitting, they either a) get more cards that hurt stressed ships, b) get more cards that deal with stress tokens, c) get more cards that shed stress tokens completely, or d) get more cards that enable combos that completely work around them.

New/upcoming cards that deal directly with stress are R3-A2, Keyan Farlander, Jek Porkins, Hobbie Klivian, Flechette Torpedoes, and Wingman. Old/existing cards that deal with stress are Kath Scarlet, Captain Yorr, Rebel Captive, and Ibtisam. Honorable Mention goes to Howlrunner, Jonus, Krassis, who get/grant rerolls that can stand in for actions regardless of a ship's stress status.So, to the degree that Rebels are getting more/better cards to help inflict or handle stress, I think it's that they have a glut of cards in the pipeline at the moment (Transport/Rebel Aces), and have the slight advantage of having those releases clearly come just after the designers decided to make stress a big thing (rather than just before).The big caveat, though, is that "Rebels are getting the stress toys" is not the same as "FFG is targeting the Empire", let alone "FFG is targeting Interceptors". A lot of people prefer not to play mirror matches, but particularly in competitive play they're very common--so R3-A2 is going to be just as much of a pain for Advanced Sensors B-wings to deal with as it is for PTL Interceptors (because it gives a nice healthy whack to both kinds of crutches).

Any experienced player will be able to judge scale, power, weigh the pros and cons, understand cause and effect, just by reading cards and letting their superior experience, game knowledge and skill guide them. Saying "we'll see how it plays out" is quite simply a pillowfort for lesser players who lack the tools to decipher what's in front of them.

I'm pretty sure you don't actually mean to imply that table time and practice are trivial and superfluous aspects of this game--but that's precisely how this post reads to me.Also, the "EZ mode" bit was really uncalled for.

The only thing good to come out of the Imperial Aces box was two nicely painted ships, Carnor Jax and the Royal Guard Tie. From a competitive standpoint of course.

Carnor Jax - I agree with you; he's at least very good, and potentially a game-changer. Also a point cheaper than Fel.Kir Kanos - I wish he had an EPT (and I'm not sure why he doesn't), and I sort of wish he didn't require you to give up an evade token at a relatively early point in the firing order. Meh.Royal Guard Pilot - I agree with you here, too; this is really a game-changer.Tetran Cowall - maddening to fight, since he can turn on a dime or run away from you. Has an EPT, which can be used for fun things like Adrenaline Rush even if you don't use PTL. Also a point cheaper than Turr.Lieutenant Lorrir - I really wish he had an EPT, because otherwise this is one of the most fun pilot abilities of any Interceptor.Opportunist - Another game-changer, potentially. This is the card Expose should have been; the timing is better than PTL, the average damage is often better than PTL, and there's nothing that feels better than telling your opponent you're rolling 5 dice.Targeting Computer - Only useful on the TIE Fighter and TIE Interceptor, both of which often have better things to do with their actions. A bit steep at 2 points. Meh.Hull Upgrade - Cheaper durability extension, very nice on ships with 3 Agility (let alone 4). Not an earthquake for the metagame, but definitely interesting.Royal Guard TIE - Combine any two modifications, probably (because it's an Interceptor) durability ones.Of those, I'd say Kir Kanos and Targeting Computer are the only things I'm not excited for. The other named pilots, plus the Royal Guard Pilot, all approximately represent a 1-point discount on those fragile and expensive named Interceptors. And although many people don't run Shield Upgrade on Interceptors, an Interceptor with a Hull Upgrade is giving up the advantage of a shield in order to get a 1-point refund, while still making the Interceptor more reliable (and without removing the ability to run a Stealth Device, if you still so choose).I don't think Imperial Aces is a bad box or a boring release; I think it has had the bad fortune to be pushed back until long after its previews had stopped echoing, and to be released when the community was still digesting a massive wave of previewed products. But the box does effectively refund a point on (high-PS) Interceptors, as well as providing additional options for reducing the maddening variation in their effectiveness.

Excellent post but I would like to add that although targeting computer won't see much use, it will be a excellent upgrade for Fel due to his free focus. He could push the limit into range 1 for 4 target locked hits with focus. For me the card was put into the aces box for the already available interceptor pilot.

Just played against Han Shoots First twice with two Interceptors and a Bounty Hunter. Won both games. Going to attempt a THREE Interceptor build next. (Soontir, Jax, and Kanos)

Just FYI, I took Vader and the Elite 9-9 interceptor pair to my SC for ***** and gigs; and other than losing out in the first round to time and a bad round of shooting, it was domination. Unless you practice against them a lot its really hard to out fly Vader, Soontir and Turr. It was very obvious that my opponents were not having fun as I systematically dismantled their lists with near constant shooting while spending the game being mostly out of their arcs.

My last game was against Kath Scarlett with Gunner and at one point Soontir had 3 stress counters on him. Still managed to win that one by jinking Soontir out of the fight for 2 turns and he was right as rain. Stress isn't really going to kill an Interceptor unless you literally have no where to go.

I fear a Firespray (Kath) more than anything on the rebels side that can fit torpedoes or Astromechs.