Personally I play 8 Ties from the core set at most tournaments and placed or won in most of them since February.

Looking on amazon that would be 3 core sets and 2 tie expansions,around 105$. Of course my collection is much larger than that, but if I'd played since wave 1, that's still all I would need to win.

As some have said before :pay to play, yes. Pay to win, no.

If you take a look at the way the pack are set up if you want certain upgrades for ships you will have to buy other ships. It has been set up that way since wave 1. Take the core sets for example with the wave 1 release. The highest Pilot Skill X-Wing Wedge is in the Expansion pack, and the Highest Pilot Skill Tie Howlrunner which is the key component in swarms in in the Tie Expansion pack. Yes you get more model value per $ with the core packs but you will still need the expansions for a decent squadron set up.

Move on to say Wave 3 with the Tie Interceptor and the famous Push the limits upgrade. The Push the limits upgrade is in the A-Wing pack so if you bought an Interceptor and you need the push the limits you will have pick up the A-Wing which will have no effect on your Imperial Squadron other than that 1 upgrade card you wanted for your Soonter Fel. It wasn't until the Imperial Aces pack that interceptors came with push the limits. Still if you want Soonter Fel then you will still need the Interceptor Expansion pack.

This package interdependency is a key marketing strategy made by FFG and why it may seem like a cash grab I will dare say it is way better than say a random booster pack that some customizable table top games use today. When you buy a pack you know what you are getting in that pack. Besides increasing the profit success of X-Wing so they can continue to make expansions it also forces players to have a broader selection which is a good thing. Before Wave 4 what was the ratio of Rebel Squadrons to imperial Squadrons in those Tournaments? Now that wave 4 is out and "Echo" is changing the meta now how many more Imperial Squadrons do you see at tournaments? As the meta shifts from Tough B-Wings to Nimble Phantoms players can adapt their list much easier without having to buy more packs because they already have those packs at earlier purchases.

On to the rant topic the OP is talking about, I can see the plight of the rant, to be honest there is not much incentive to play Epic (probably because the Star destroyer is not available) I got the big ships wanting to try out an epic scenario but with league and tournament formats being the only thing that is played in my neighborhood, the only thing I have used from them is R3-A2. Even with those so called "super powered" upgrade cards that you can only get in an epic pack I still get destroyed (maybe I should stop flying into those asteroids and my own fighters).

Either way it is still a good game, I haven't seen too much ridiculousness of the interdependency as most of the upgrade cards can be used with the models in the packs. They haven't done something like put proton torpedoes in a Tie Fighter or made "Echo" a $30 pack or so. Also with allot of the upgrades I see them start to come to the basic 1 model $15-$20 packs such as flechet torpedoes which is now available in the E-Wing expansion. So is the game pay 2 win, well there is an advantage for squad flexibility but I think the power is well spread out from the core set to the small expansion packs to even those HUGE @$$ EPIC $HIP$. Having more money spent on this hobby doesn't make anyone a better player.

This package interdependency is a key marketing strategy made by FFG and why it may seem like a cash grab I will dare say it is way better than say a random booster pack that some customizable table top games use today.

YES. THIS.

You could look at my sigline and conclude that I paid to win.

That's not true, though. For a long time, all I had was a core set, an X-wing, a Y-wing, and a TIE Advanced. I played with my best friend and used part of his core set to make the infamous Deadly Trio (Wedge, Biggs, and Luke) and I got really good with them. I've added a ton since then because I wanted to see what all I could do with the game, but non of it was necessary to win. All I needed to win as three X-wings and some time.

This package interdependency is a key marketing strategy made by FFG and why it may seem like a cash grab I will dare say it is way better than say a random booster pack that some customizable table top games use today.

YES. THIS.

Which card in the Tantive 4 is instant win? I will never buy it, so what am I missing out on?

It's not the card. It's the ability to run over TIE Fighters. Man, I win EVERY TIME with that.

Oh, you mean the game? Shoot, I thought you meant when playing chicken with starfighters...