Tell me if I'm crazy here, but does anyone else think that we might soon see the Expert Handling EPT make a comeback?
In case you've forgotten (and nobody would blame you), Expert Handling is a 2 point action EPT that does this:
ACTION: Perform a free Barrel Roll action. If you do not have the barrel roll action icon, receive 1 stress token.
You may then remove 1 enemy Target Lock from your ship.
You probably have multiple copies of this card and have likely never flown it, for good reason: it's just not very good value. If you have barrel roll, the upside hasn't really been worth two points, and if you don't, the stress token has always been offputting, and besides, there are better uses for that EPT slot, right?
Well, it seems to me that a lot recent and upcoming changes have been gradually and quietly conspiring to make Expert Handling potentially enormously useful. They fall into three broad categories:
1. Imperial Target Lock Shenanigans
Let me throw some pilots at you. Darth Vader with Advanced Targetting Computer. Omega Leader. Redline. Colonel Vessery. All Imperial, all either viable or soon-to-be viable competitive pilots. All entirely reliant on having a target lock to be effective. The presence of these pilots in the meta is making the ability to shake a target lock more and more valuable. If Omega Leader can't target you, he's an expensive TIE/fo. If Vader can't target lock you, he's a two attack ship, and all the actions in the world aren't getting around that. Without a second target lock, Redline's just another ordnance carrier, and without an allied TL, Vessery's a Glaive Squadron pilot and not much more. Sure, the ability to remove these critical locks will only work if you're moving after these high PS pilots, and that's not always going to be achievable (especially with your EPT slot taken up and no access to VI or Adaptability). But there are still major benefits if you can stress these guys, or otherwise deny them actions.
2. Tractor Beams.
When facing off against lists with tractor beams, post manoeuvre positioning options become much more valuable. Ships like the X wing and the Khiraxz will need some way of moving themselves away from roids if they land too close. When the alternative is being tossed onto a rock, losing your attack and potentially taking damage this and the next turn, a stress token to barrel roll away suddenly seems like a bargain.
3. Munitions Fixes.
This is the big one, and the most obvious. FFG have made a point of gradually improving ordnance, and once Guidance Chips, Long Range Scanners and XX-23 Thread Tracers are part of the meta, I think just about everyone is either planning to run or expecting to face an alpha strike list or two. Now, granted, the ability to remove a target lock won't mean much if Lt. Blount hits you with Tracers and his five Concussion missile toting Bandit escorts all get target locks on you. But outside of that context, the ability to shake target locks will frustrate the hell out of just about any ordnance-oriented list, as long as you're moving after them. Even moving before, you can deny your opponent the opportunity to hang onto a target lock from previous rounds - not only does that serve to prevent TL/Focus/Chimp shots that would be the ultimate aim for any ordnance user, it also gives an amazing opportunity to deny shots to ships using Long Range Scanners. Get target locked turn one, then in turn two or three, zoom into range two and shake it off - your opponent wont be firing missiles for at least a couple of turns while they get out to R3 and probably K-turn around - fly well and they might never fire their missiles at all.
So, obviously, Expert Handling won't be the solution to every problem in the post Wave 8 meta. The main issue it has, in fact, is that it's inclusion in a list is almost always going to be reactive, rather than strategically proactive. It's a defensive upgrade that costs two points - points that could very possibly be better spent if you come up against lists without tractor beams, ordnance or those aforementioned imperial pilots. And there are real questions in my mind about its usefulness on low PS pilots, and even high PS pilots - after all, there are plenty of pilots who can just us VI as a counter, a strategy unavailable once your EPT slot is full. But I think it's interesting that we're entering a meta where post manoeuvre re-positioning and avoiding target locks are going to be more important than ever, and there's a single, massively underutilized upgrade card that lets you do both. I really do think that after 8 waves, this card has finally found itself a real niche.
