JQL to exclude Epics without having to specify each epic, like "Epic Link" not in ("Epic-1","Epic-2")

Problem Definition

The query I would need to use is something like this, which is not scalable:
{code}
(project = ME AND ("Epic Link" is not EMPTY OR "Epic Link" in (ME-1222) or key in (ME-1222))
{code}
Basically, I have to list each Epic I want to exclude twice.

Suggested Solution

I'd prefer to do something like "epic status != "Not Started" or "where parent epic label not in "exclude-epic""