I'm about to head to my first bit of competitive play, and the forums have made me question my list. So:

Vader with squad leader

Or

Carnor jax, PTL, hull upgrade

The rest of the list is Echo and black squadron Ties

Vader might be fun but sadly he is in a TIE advanced and it just isn't good enough. Therefore you should go all in with Carnor Jax. Also, if you have a stealth device, consider putting it on him instead of the hull upgrade.

I don't, no firespray in my collection.

No soontir, either, so Carnor is my best interceptor.

I was also considering targeting computer instead of hull upgrade, so I can target lock.

Hull upgrade is actually probably better than Stealth on Jax, since he will be at short range.

How do you have Echo equipped?

NO Soontir.....That should be a crime!

Echo has tactician, outmaneuver and adv cloaking.

I don't have adv sensors.

I'm about to head to my first bit of competitive play, and the forums have made me question my list. So:

Vader with squad leader

Or

Carnor jax, PTL, hull upgrade

The rest of the list is Echo and black squadron Ties

Vader was seeing less and less time already, and I think that he'll see even less now that Wave four is out because he's in the price range of a elite phantom. I think his ship will be in dock at least until proton rockets come out.

Vader still get to play, on the Doom shuttle.

I think a few awesome Tie Advanced Only upgrades would solve the problem, but Carnor Jax has a brutal effect on the enemy and an Interceptor is definitely fearsome.

If the place you're playing at has the Interceptor Expansion pack, buy 2! Soontir and Turr are must have Imperial Pilots.

He sounds like he has imperial aces, so he'd really only want to pick up 1 Interceptor pack for the cards. Then you'd have the option of running 3 kitted out Royal Guards.

Vader at the bare minimum needs Engine Upgrade.

I'm about to head to my first bit of competitive play, and the forums have made me question my list. So:

Vader with squad leader

Or

Carnor jax, PTL, hull upgrade

The rest of the list is Echo and black squadron Ties

You might actually get more out of Academy TIEs than the Blacks. Moving at PS1 will allow you to block your opponent and deny actions (ideally on whichever ship is the greatest threat to your phantom). This would free up four points that you could use to add a system to Echo, put an engine on Vader, or add a targeting computer or shield to Carnor.

Vader+Engine is a really good ship, but I think you want to draw your opponent's attention away from Echo, and a hard-hitting ship like a squint is going to be better at that; everyone wants to kill Carnor before he reaches range 1. I don't really like Targeting Computer in this build because you are going to need to be as defensive as possible with the Interceptor. Major Juggler is correct that Hull is a better idea than Stealth in this build (and most others, really).

I think Sensor Jammer comes with the shuttle, so you may not have it, but it would be great if you could fit that onto Echo while you have Carnor shutting down focus tokens.

Keep in mind that Echo and Carnor leaves you with two very fragile ships. Carnor will have to contribute while he is alive, and Echo will have to use that big gun to level the field fast.

Jax all the way!