i am considering this squad for an upcoming tourney

Kath Scarlet + VI + Rebel Captive (42)

Howlrunner + Push the Limit (21)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Total: 99pts

The meta is pretty open/unknown although i am expecting to see lots of falcons and the top players will imo be playing phantom lists of various designs.

thoughts on this squad/its good & bad matchups?

VI is fine on Kath, you take her for the EPT anyway but give her Predator and/or keep Howlrunner nearby as well.

Evade/Focus + "Target Lock" every turn, on a 2 agi 5 shield 5 hull boat is well.. sweet.

Personal experience with PTL on Howlie is that Hull Upgrade is usually the better buy.

Otherwise it looks solid.

Keep rebel captive and drop the pilot skill of the firespray, drop howlrunner and take an additional Tie.

More ties = better than howlrunner in the current meta IMO.

(edit: unless you play a traditional swarm that flies in tight formation of course)

id drop howl, or have predator on her, hull up grade is always gd on a tie, predator on kath I think is better than VI, ive had gd success with krassis and ion cannon, he lasts long enough to dish out damage or ionise load of ships and ties can blast away

Switch the firespray to krassis with HLC. Keep rebel captive.

Ptl on howl isn't that great and could take her away from the other ties at the wrong moment, predator is a better bet does not cost an action and raises her offense.

I run this with Boba for that PS10 maneuverability against Phantoms. Ran it last night against Shuttle, Phantom and Jax. Unfortunately some early mistake and green dice lost me too many ships early. Got the Shuttle, and Jax was left with one hull. It is designed to tackle an arc dodger and or tank, so working on two arc dodgers will be tricky, but something I am going to work on.

I'd only put PtL on Howl if you can bring a Wingman to the fight. That way she can stay with the group. Otherwise, I like the idea of Predator on Kath. If Kath is near Howl, that's like a free TL every turn and no action is needed.

I would lose the PtL on Howlrunner and give her a Stealth Device or a hull upgrade, she will last longer this way as the "green" on a Tie dial is not conducive to formation flying with PtL.

I would also change Kath for Boba. He has PS10 in this set up, which is very useful and his ability in the current wave 4 meta is actually very handy, especially when combined with PS10.

Kath's ability is mediocre at best and I have found, rarely triggers.

I really like Krassis HLC Rec Spec as my go to Firespray list. People find it crass (Krass?) because it's more straightforward than Kath RC, but it works!

I also run it with Howl miniswarms as a direct assault to block up enemies and allow R3 shots for Krassis.