So I was searching the forum and I couldn't find out why Farlander wasn't used in more competitive lists. His ability seems strong. What am I missing?

B-Wings aren't super-efficient when loaded up, and with 1AGI they die too fast to too many things for aces to be widespread.

Farlander's super mobility and bump-shenanigans more than account for any agility deficiencies in the B-wing

Farlander

*Stay on Target

*Sensors

*b/e mod

**intelligence agent

fears no generic nor ace in the game, if played properly.

the real problem is that there exist things in the game that maneuverability simply cannot counter (turrets)

Even now that we have a competitive turret that can actually be outplayed (yay tlts), Farlander's still limited by the B-wing dial to really take advantage of a dodge-able turret

An expensive B-wing that can't dodge attacks goes down just as quickly as a 22 B-wing (which is to say, "blink and you'll miss it")

Actually even faster because garlander tends to want to TL and not focus. So you don't even get the focus on that one die green

It's a combination of a few things-

-The best Farlander builds work really well in some match-ups, but are useless in others. For example, Stay on Target builds, while tons of fun, can only react to PS 7 or lower. Another good build, with Push the Limit, struggles to clear the stress on the occasions Keyan doesn't get a shot. More often than not, it's just better to go with another ship that is effective in more match ups.

-He is PS 7, and with how reactionary high PS B-wings want to be (because they are so slow and can't force the issue themselves), he really wants to move after those high PS arc dodgers, but just cant do it unless you give up EPT synergies with his ability.

-He costs a LOT of points. B-wing generics are really cost efficient because they are asked to do one thing and one thing only- joust. And their price reflects that. When you are starting to pay as much as you are for Farlander, you really want your pilots to be able to do more than just point their guns in a direction and pray something jumps into its arc.

-B-wings are really slow, and the meta right now really doesn't seem to like them much. TLTs can keep distance from them fairly easy, and arc dodgers can zoom around and behind them.

All really sad, because I LOVE Keyan. Probably my favorite pilot. I think if there is a crew card that comes out in the future that stresses, he will benefit from it a lot.

Farlander is my favorite B-wing pilot. Unfortunately, to take full advantage of him, he can get pretty expensive. Against the right build, he can still be awesome...just not efficient.

Farlander is not bad and I would probably say he is a good pilot but x-wing these days have so many released ships and cards so being just "good" isn't really good enough sadly. I love to play him in casual but for a competitive tournament I think he will die to easy against high ps aces and tlt turrets to be worth his points.

This is a problem with competitive x-wing now in general, there are so many pilots and ships released but only a part of them can be the best choices and so many pilots and ships are just left in the dust. I do think your question shouldn't be why is't farlander used in competitive lists to why don't I use farlander in competitive lists?

It's a combination of a few things-

-The best Farlander builds work really well in some match-ups, but are useless in others. For example, Stay on Target builds, while tons of fun, can only react to PS 7 or lower.

and the legacy of Intelligence Agent, easily the most underrated card in the game, continues

It's a combination of a few things-

-The best Farlander builds work really well in some match-ups, but are useless in others. For example, Stay on Target builds, while tons of fun, can only react to PS 7 or lower.

and the legacy of Intelligence Agent, easily the most underrated card in the game, continues

Agree it's underrated, but I don't think it does quite enough to cover his weakness here. You predict where the arc dodger is going, and then they just boost/roll out of arc anyways. Or the better option of course is to block. But my, if you're paying this much for a blocker... you might as well take a pair of prototype A-wings or Zs. The BEST option is to have ANOTHER ship block, and park Keyan right in front of them. But you're still guessing there as well.

In no way is intel agent a poor choice though. I took a build of Keyan, Roark, and a Wild Space Fringer to regionals this year, and the Fringer had Intel Agent crew to help Keyan use Stay on Target effectively against higher PS builds. It was a fun list, but it wasn't very competitive. Ships were too dependent on one another.

I once considered making Keyan the ULTIMATE blocker, putting Stay on Target, Navigator, and Enhanced Scopes on him with Intel agent on a couple of other ships in the build, virtually allowing him to block anything I had intel on where he was in range to make the block. Funny stuff.

I actually keep it simple with keyan, VI and advanced sensors. Let the dial give you stress, focus is fine on its own, keeps it efficiently priced too

Quad TLT's.

Hundred's of them.

Thanks for the insight. Makes sense. It's too bad though...

Put it this way. Keyan would be top tier if he was in an E-Wing. He'd have the Dial, Agility, synergy w/PTL, and Thrusters. Hax level stuff there. But on a ship with 1 Ag? No way.

In a Vacuum, He's too fragile, lots of ships can target and kill him - Swarms murder B-wings. Higher P.S. Aces outmaneuver him. 8HP behind 1 AGI can drop to N'dru clustermissiles in a single attack.

In a squad though - he's got potential to be amazing - He's somewhat expensive, so the trick is to not overload him in context to the rest of your squad. Run him with Biggs or some Greater threat - Wedge + Keyan + a pair of harrassing Z's - the opponent will need to go after wedge or keyan - your other ace punishes. He works in squadrons even today. Just don't put him in the main line of fire.

Just like quite a lot of the Rebel ace pilots, he's Best Flown With Biggs©.

The Ablative Ace© can usually help him survive the initial engagement, and once he's in the thick of things he can exploit his ability, his red moves and upgrades like Advance Sensors and/or Stay on Target to be hard-hitting while tricky to nail down (doesn't help his deficiency against turrets though)

B-wings are all about bang for buck.

22pts for 8HP and 3 attack combined with a dial to manage itself in close range. Any other points you add in (except for its systems to some extent) is less bang for buck.

Keyan is my favorite as well and also just use him with VI and AS to keep his cost somewhat in check.

If you want to use a named B wing in this meta:

http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Rebel%20Alliance&d=v3!s!41:27,-1,110,-1,-1:-1:-1:;65:-1:-1:-1:;65:-1:-1:-1:;65:-1:-1:-1:;65:-1:-1:-1:;64:-1:-1:-1:

Palpatine can't do jack to stop the crits.

I used to use him a lot but the meta kind of out grew b-wings.

I used to fly him a lot with Advance Sensors, Stay on Target, Engine, and HLC. A lot of fun, but if you get out PS'd, you're in real trouble and it falls apart. Tried it with Intel Agent as well instead of Engine but could never make it work for me. I'm all about Ibtisam these days.

He's very good but b-wings can get focused down quickly due to only one agility, and the more expensive you make him the more obvious a target he becomes.

He's a third of any list he's in but can die very fast.

Fun in casual play but I can see why he does not get used in competitive play.

I'm certainly no expert, but I would think either of these lists could do well competitively with a bit of practice:

Keyan w/ adv sensors, stay on target, E2 mod + intel agent = 36

Corran w/ adv sensors, push the limit, R2-D2, engine = 49

Proto pilot w/ chardaan = 15

100

Or

Keyan w/ adv sensors & Vet instincts = 33

Biggs w/ 1 pt droid of your choice + integrated astromech (when available) = 26

Gold Pilot w/ BTL-A4, twin laser turret & R3-A2 = 26

proto pilot w/ chardaan = 15

100

I'm probably overly optimistic, but I like to believe any ship can be made to work. Of course, I love ships like the star viper, TIE defender and Scyk, so I'm probably crazy. Anyway, those 2 lists would be where I'd start if I was keen on building a list around Keyan for 'top' competitive play. As you fly it and see how it works on the table, you'll develop better strategies and figure out what, if anything, needs to change to make it better.

Ahh, I remember the good old days of people crying out that he was overpowered and broke the game.

Ahh, I remember the good old days of people crying out that he was overpowered and broke the game.

the good old days happen every time something new and not obviously useless is released

Honestly, a low end Keyan is not as good an ace as Procket Jake and a high end Keyan isn't as good as cheap Corran or loaded Poe.

There's no such thing as "cheap corran"

the Stay on Target + sensors + b/e mod + int agent comes out to 36 points. That's naked corran with...V.I?

Poe is a more staple point of contention, since BB-8 + PTL lets him do very similar tricks involving slamming into bastards to avoid damage and rolling around obstacles before moving.