The Garbage Roller team picks the best 18 cards in the game in a conversational snake-draft

[Editor’s note: This conversation was held before the Cunning Aspect stream on 11/8.]

Tyler  —

Welcome to the Inaugural Garbage Rollers Fantasy Draft! We’re taking a gamified approach to making a tier list by doing it snake-draft style.

For those unfamiliar, the way this will work is, on their turn, each competitor will pick a card from the existing pool. The card goes onto their “team.”

Once everyone has picked once, the order will reverse and we’ll pick again.

For our first draft, we’re doing a quick six cards, with no restrictions on the cardpool. So, the goal is to pick the absolute best 6 card team!

We hope y’all as the readers will sound off on who you think did the best!

With me today are:

Justin (@Inception) and Jayson (@ImpossibleGerman). Say Hi gents!

Justin —

Hello! Excited to do this!

Jayson —

My fantasy football team this year is currently 0-8. For any readers considering sounding off in favor of my eventual team, I wouldn’t.

Tyler  —

I have lost 9 consecutive games in my leagues, so Justin might be the best pick then.

Random.org says order is:

1. Jayson
2. Tyler
3. Justin

You first @Jayson. Here comes a Star Destroyer!

Justin —

Well, as an avid reader of GarbageRollers.com, we know Jayson won’t pick Overwhelming Barrage first.

Tyler  —

He didn’t say it wasn’t the best – he just said it might not be broken. But I like the reverse psychology you’re using.

Justin —

I’ll say it.  I’ll be the first to call him a hypocrite if he picks it!

Jayson —

This puts me in the unenviable position of having to declare, in a roundabout way, the best card in the game right now. That’s a tall order, so I’ll settle for the most flexible- I’ll pick Leia Organa, Defiant Princess.

Leia can get you an extra 1 drop played early with the resource refresh, but I tend to hold her for a high value exhaust. She’s one of the most reliable ways to slow down big units in the whole cardpool, and on top of that you leave behind a 2/2 that can continue to impact the board. She does a ton of heavy lifting in it’s slot, and that’s why I’m taking her first.

Justin —

Get a load of this guy picking a starter card as the best card in the game!  I can’t argue too much, as Leia is quite literally the most flexible card in the game.  She is playable Round 1 through Round Unlimited.  She can have a good value plays of just being a 2/2 for 1 resource, or big value plays of exhausting your dual-lightsaber wielding Darth Vader.  She is really good.

It was only inevitable though at the end of the day that Tyler, who runs Overwhelming Barrage in any deck that can pay 7 or less for it, would get to pick it.

Tyler  —

I really respect that pick. She is very good for a 2-cost and almost certainly underrated. There’s an argument to be made that she single-handedly makes big leaders like Vader nearly unplayable.

@Jayson would you consider Leia out of aspect?

Jayson —

I wouldn’t consider any card out of aspect basically ever. I’m pretty obsessed with the idea that SWU is a game where success usually depends on getting more value out of your resources than your opponent, and I haven’t seen any card that is so far above curve in its native aspects that I’d pay 2 more for it elsewhere.

To provide context for that take though, it’s worth reminding our readers that I am a tremendously boring person. Tyler has fun paying 11 or whatever for OB and I’m just over here doing arithmetic. I may win the game, but Tyler’s getting invited to the after party.

Tyler  —

In a pick that will surprise no one, I select OVERWHELMING BARRAGE. It’s just a fantastic card and the closest thing we have to a board wipe right now. All you need is a halfway decently sized unit and you get to smack face. What really puts it over the top, tho, is the ability to split up the damage to multiple targets. No other card in the game has that kind of game-ending flexibility. While I’ve scrolled back to only playing two out-of aspect in my hero decks, that’s not exactly a non-endorsement.

Who are you picking Justin?

Justin —

No need to rush me, we need to take at least a few minutes to stare blankly at @Tyler in shock.  Who could have ever seen this pick coming?

Well, I figure we continue off the beaten path.  We’ve had a unit and an event picked thus far, so naturally I think the next best card is an upg… just kidding.  With the 3rd overall pick, I select the first Leader, Han Solo – Audacious Smuggler.

It’s no secret that ramp is a powerful tool, and while cheating a resource ahead for a round here and there is a cool ability, what Han does best is cheat 2 rounds ahead on Round 4.  Dropping a spicy 7 cost unit like Mace Windu or the other Han Solo just wins games sometimes!  Sure, Villain green could hope to draw 2 of Resupply and DJ Deathstar to achieve the same effect permanently, but I only have to give up a card from hand to do it for 1 round with Han.  The downside being my opponent can sit on an Exhaust card or something that can deal 6 damage in one go, but that’s part of the gamble baby!  Never Tell me the Odds!

Jayson —

I think Han is so fun. I love how many internal synergies he’s got already, and I can’t wait to build for him in the full set. Fantastic pick.

Tyler  —

Solid pick. I had him next as well. Every 7-cost unit from here on out is going to get so much attention. @Justin you prefer the Red or Green variety?

Justin —

It’s a toss-up, Red gets you so many great 2 cost units like the Green Squadron A-Wing and Sabine Wren that you often don’t need to use Han’s ability before Round 4.  Then again Green allows you to do the crazy Han shenanigans Round 3 if you find Resupply early.  Why not both?

Jayson —

Already planning multiple decks. What a whale.

Justin —

With the 4th overall pick, we get into the very interesting territory.. I could go the route of picking the next best card that fits with my first pick, Han Solo.. but that’s not what we’re going for here!  If I were to pick the card I view as the very best card remaining, I will go ahead and take our first upgrade Entrenched.

Similar to Jayson’s #1 overall pick, this is a card that is basically playable the entire game.  Its use is so flexible, you may even play it on your opponent’s unit!  Ultimately making R2-D2 or C-3P0 look like BT-1 and 0-0-0 murder droids is one of my favorite plays!  I’ve also found several times where I would drop this on General Dodonna Round 4 to threaten a 7/7 swinging at my opponent’s leader when they deployed.  So much flexibility with board control and a well above curve value card.

Tyler  —

Dammit! Took my pick again. But yes, all of that is correct. It’s the bossiest of boss upgrades.

Jayson —

Entrenched does what Nintendon’t. Or something like that.

…Card’s good.

Justin —

I guess it’s not wild that we wouldn’t see much disagreement among the first 4 cards taken, maybe card #5 if your time to bring the fire? @Tyler

Tyler  —

It’s time to swing for the fences and pick Home One. It’s the best top-end card in the game right now, giving Hero decks tremendous ability to stabilize if they can make it to that 8-cost price point. It has so many great effects I almost forget sometimes that it’s ALSO a beefy unit you can swing with.

Justin —

I can’t say I completely disagree with that pick.  Home One is a super strong late game card with its when played ability generally bringing out another heroic when played ability in Leia Organa or Admiral Ackbar.  You also add Restore 1 to all your other units, but it doesn’t immediately impact the game as much as another card I had in mind at this position.  Guess we’ll see if that card makes it back around to me!

Jayson —

Welcome back, readers, to the land of boring accounting. No cool effects allowed, no combos, no BIG HAIR, none of it. We’re here to win through logistics, and that’s why I gotta take Green Squadron A-Wing.

Few cards in the game right now trade up as consistently as this one, and they can come out on turn 1! If you get a second one out and your opponent hasn’t resourced in a way that lets them get something going in space, the race can sometimes feel over before it really even began. A few cards can be very disruptive towards A-Wing for sure, but there are precious few interactions with it your opponent can really feel good about, and that’s my idea of a good time.

Justin —

I don’t hate this pick either, but there was another space unit I had ahead of this one.  Jayson nailed the description, a 3/3 on attack for 2 is killer, and we’re happy that it’s basically always going to take a 3-resource unit or higher (or combination of cards) to trade effectively into it.  Now I have an A-Wing, Ho Ho Ho!

Tyler  —

I have a lot of love for the Green Squadron. The keywords are also good, giving you hooks for both Dodonna and Wedge. I just don’t buy that a unit that defends at 1 power should have been picked this high.

Jayson —

My next pick is Millenium Falcon, Piece of Junk!

Justin —

I’ll give you it, the Falcon is a card worthy of its legendary status, and I do love it dearly!  While many argue about how good it is truly, I’m still in the camp of “it’s probably going in every hero yellow deck”, and that’s worth being picked in this draft!  I also can’t be mad about a guy staying on brand and picking the Piece of Garbage.

Jayson —

I love how hard it is for the opponent to trade into since it must be downed in one turn, or you can potentially heal it. I love that it’s easier to get value out of than most units because it doesn’t have to wait a turn to ready up. I love that it’s so weird but also can sometimes just win you the game.

Tyler  —

I had to be converted on the Falcon. On its face, the math isn’t stellar, but the flexibility she affords, plus the synergy with Han is really great.

I’m going to swerve away from ships and pick Boba Fett, Collecting the Bounty!

He’s a great leader coming down at 5 and enabling a whole host of shenanigans with his resource regeneration. I think I played 9 resources worth of stuff in Round 4 of a game last week? His stats are also better than the average leader at 4/7, so he trades advantageously.

Jayson —

I still kind of can’t believe buckethead is a 4/7. What a wild card.

Justin —

Another solid pick!  I had him as my 2nd leader to be taken, though not quite this high.  Any time you can get resource advantage in this game, you are happy!  His 4/7 body definitely presents some decisions to be made by the opponent in round 4.

Well, I guess I shouldn’t leave everybody hanging on their guesses.  My next pick is Bright Hope, otherwise known as the Great wall of Space!  Not only is this sucker a 2/6 Sentinel in space, but it trades so well in to all the early game space units that it is rare that the opponent can find a clean way to get it off the board.  At 4 cost, you aren’t feeling terrible if it gets Waylay’d either.  The On Play ability can also provide some spicy shenanigans bringing a Leia Organa or Admiral Ackbar back to hand for When Played ability to hit again.  I have a hard time not playing hero green right now with how good this card is.

Jayson —

I had a feeling he’d pick Bright Hope. That ship has a big ol’ butt, can singlehandedly save your space lane, and is darn near impossible to trade up with. I’m also a Hero green fanatic and I think Bright Hope is the premier unit for that color right now. What other monstrous card did you want, @Justin?

Justin —

Mace Windu is my next pick.   It’s so easy to find times where you play Mace and get at the very least 10 damage out of him the round we play him (5 to defeat a unit and 5 into base). Often times, we start to enter crazy town and get 15 or 20!  Clearing an opponent’s board and getting 5 damage to base on top of it is the immediate impact I want to see on my big units, and no other card in the game has as much impact as Mace the round he comes in currently.

Jayson —

Mace is super, super good. One of the big cards I feel least likely to end up regretting paying all that cash for. I’m actually super interested to see what the other Hero Aggression leader is specifically to see how well they crash parties, because at first glance Mace isn’t an obvious Sabine card. No question he typically gets his value and then some, though.

Tyler  —

Yeah, Mace is really at home in Han, but that’s not the most thematic pairing. I have a borderline obsession with making unit healing a viable strategy and Mace is a cool potential playground for that mechanic.  Overall solid pick. Can’t argue with going in round 4.

We’re just over halfway, so good time to check on everyone’s teams so far:

Jayson:

Leia, defiant princess

Green Squadron A-Wing

Millennium Falcon

Tyler:

OB

Home One

Boba Fett, Collecting the Bounty

Justin:

Han, Audacious Smuggler

Entrenched

Bright Hope

Mace Windu

Excited to see where this goes in the later, spicier rounds.

For my next pick, gonna go with the most valuable Muppet available, Yoda. He’s pushed on the costing chart with his stats and restore 2; and that’s before you get the card for him dying. Add in his useful Force trait and the ability to recur him with Home One and you’re in a good place.

Jayson —

To me Yoda feels like he almost should cost 4. He has such good value, and I think he’s the best Hero/Vigilance unit so far.

Justin —

Yoda is one of the most above curve cards in the game. You’re always happy to drop him round 2, and even if he gets instantly dunked on you get a card out of it. Well played Muppet.

Jayson —

Well, this means it’s time to start off the back half of my picks and they’re definitely going to be further damning evidence of what kinds of play patterns I’m valuing highly at the moment.

First up, I’m taking Waylay. Behind Entrenched, I think this might be the best single color card in the game. I’m sure we’ll get better removal options as more colors get fleshed out- I like to remember that two of our best removal cards, Force Choke and OB, are dual color events, which we’ve seen startlingly few of. It’s safe to assume that more of those are coming that will have similarly high ceilings.

The reason I’m going with Waylay over Force Choke is just that it deals with almost everything. Several cards on my teammate’s lists get kind of blown out by it, and by itself it can make the entire ramp archetype seem like a hard sell. It’s a game-warping event.

Tyler  —

Saw this in action against a Tarkin Ramp deck last night. All the high-cost units are phenomenally vulnerable to this card. Part of the reason I’m so high on Home One is that it automatically compensates me for a potential Waylay play, unlike a unit like Devastator that just wilts to this.

Interested to see if this pick stops Justin from taking a certain 6-cost event I’m expecting him to grab.

Jayson —

Also worth noting- with rare exceptions tied to units like Mace and Han into certain board states, I would argue strongly that Waylay’s bounce effect is usually just as impactful as hard removal like Vanquish. I would almost always rather Waylay something and save the 2 bucks. The operative thing about removal is that they paid for something and you denied them value on it. Whether it ends up in the hand or the discard can be made trivial if your tempo is good.

Justin —

Love Waylay as a card and I often have to stealth change Tyler’s decks to add it back in.  That crazy man will cut anything to make room for his overwhelming barrage baby.  Great pick, so many value plays with it and very few cards in that game 3 cost or higher feel bad to waylay!

Jayson —

So far, theoretically all these cards could live in the same deck. No reason to break up the gang now.

My fifth pick is Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist!

Nobody wants to spend a card to remove a 2 drop, but Sabine’s defensive ability could very well make you feel like you have to. It’s less likely to be online early game, but that’s okay- you’re still getting a functional 3/3 for 2 resources that has immense utility against opposing units with 1 HP.

Sabine, like most of my picks, isn’t flashy, but she has that quality of being able to stay relevant no matter what round it is or what the boardstate looks like. You’re never sad to see her and a world where you cut her from your list feels like a long, long way off. Plus her traits are outstanding.

Tyler  —

I think Sabine is underrated with her ability to do her 1 damage to a unit instead of the base. It’s pretty common that some opposing unit is down to 1 health. Stormtroopers beware!

Jayson —

Yeah, it’s that flexibility that takes her over the top for me. She’s equally comfortable in aggro or control, with a defensive kicker to boot. Great unit.

Justin —

Sabine is a very strong pick.  The ultimate round 1 or 2 cost unit, you’re never upset to see her opening hand.  You’re clearly trying to create the perfect opening hand in this draft!

Tyler  —

Alright, I’m headed back to events with my next pick, Shoot First. What incredible value- it’s 1-cost removal that’s not hard to get 5-6 damage out of. If this cost 2 I would still play it 100%.

Jayson —

Hey @Tyler can you go back to playing big Timmy cards and leave the efficient nickel and dime plays where they belong in MY wheelhouse?

Shoot First solves so many problems at once and does it cheap. It’s a little better at trading small to medium units then it is at countering huge stuff, so I took Waylay, but in my heart I have them both…

Tyler  —

How dare you defame Home One as a Timmy card! It’s very special to me.

Justin —

Not surprised to see more of the gold standard cheap yellow event pool showing up.  Shoot first might be my favorite removal card, mechanically and thematically.  It’s just so cool and it costs 1.  What a homerun design.

Tyler  —

Makes taking initiative more valuable too.

Justin —

Well, that leaves me no choice but to give our last category some love.  That’s right, I’m taking the Energy Conversion Lab.  The first rare base that really got me excited, I have yet to play a game where I felt like I just couldn’t find the value of ambush to be greater than the 5 health reduction.  It is super consistent, and can give you some really great swing plays.  The recently revealed Jedha base may have a slightly higher ceiling against Overwhelming Barrage, but I appreciate the consistent of the Lab more.

Tyler  —

Aggressive choice picking the base. I guess the value of all the spicy bases depends on how much of a threat aggro ends up being?

Justin —

I think that is the main reason ECL is great, even against aggro it can get more value than the 5 hp it gives up.

Jayson —

Ooo, is this where it’s time to break out my spiciest take- that the 30 HP bases should be thrown out wholesale in competitive decks?

Justin —

I’m currently at that point, but I could see a world where we’re missing a lot of aggro staples that will force a lot of decks to consider the 30 hp bases outside of green.

Jayson —

I heavily considered Jedha Base with my last pick. I could spend a lot of time breaking down specific board states but ,suffice to say, I really do believe the only health that matters is the last one, and each of the Rare Bases so far gives you the potential to snowball the advantages they generate.

5 HP is gone in a flash when you’ve lost the board. I intend to utilize every tool at my disposal to make sure that doesn’t happen, and that means the common bases don’t get sleeved up.

Justin —

In a world of mostly midrange decks, some slightly more aggro, and some more late game control, I completely agree.  It has yet to be seen though what everything will look like when we get true aggro and true control decks in the mix.

Tyler  —

Onto your last pick!

Justin —

I see no reason not to revisit the rarity of our first overall pick.  With my last pick, I take our glorious starter leader Luke Skywalker.  Luke’s ability will always be relevant, and while an entire keyword exists to hard-counter him, I see no reason not to expect to see Luke in the meta within some capacity until he rotates out. Strong leader ability, strong unit side with good traits and a strong ability.  What’s not to like?

Jayson —

Playing against those insufferable shields is what’s not to like!

Luke is capable of some crazy trades. 1 for a shield usually feels like a bargain and he gets to do it every turn. Plus, his unit side kind of sets the standard at 6/4/7 with a strong on-attack. It’s just really hard to picture the rest of this set panning out in such a way that Luke isn’t a major factor in the early metas.

Tyler  —

I used to think Luke had a real drawback and that was coming out at 6 resources instead of 5. Then I started playing him with green and I suddenly have no issues. It’s way less likely your opponent has a solid counter round 4, and he only needs to swing a couple times to get serious value. He was on my list as well.

For my last pick, I’m going to take a unit that I expect to increase in value as more cards are revealed: Bossk. Good stats, ambush and a direct damage ability that essentially costs you nothing. There’s already an amazing suite of cheap yellow events available- now you get to play them all with two extra damage!

Jayson —

Bossk is so cool. I do think it’s a little silly how inclined people seem to be to run like 25 events with him, but he’s unquestionably cool and has a sky-high ceiling.

Justin —

Bossk was also in my list of potential selections.  Ambush units in general are very strong, add in one of the strongest constant abilities in the game currently, and I’m a big fan of the card.  Great pick!

Justin —

I believe that leaves @Jayson to conclude our inaugural draft!

Jayson —

There’s several cards remaining in the pool that fit my little niche, and I rate them all nearly the same, but I’m going with Ezra Bridger, Resourceful Troublemaker.

Ezra isn’t exactly what I would call a build-around card, but he definitely has a deck style that’s more likely to hit his ceiling. That deck- one with a lot of potent small stuff that’s universally applicable- happens to be the kind of deck I believe in most right now anyway.

It’s often just a good play to attack with Ezra early in a round and see if you can justify playing the card he peeks at. It’s valuable card advantage early, basically the same as a draw, and in later rounds your chances of having the flexibility to play his card are even higher. Staring him down stinks for your opponent, too- he’s not the easiest guy in the world to trade with, and leaving him alive for very long can bury you in card disadvantage. Ezra is a dangerous piece of a potentially potent deck.

Justin —

Ah yes, one of my favorite 3 drops in the game!  While 3/4 for 3 is nothing too flashy, that ability absolutely slays.  Even if you have no resources to work with, you’re getting some early knowledge for next round, or sending a card to the discard that isn’t as helpful in the current game state.  Value value value!

Tyler  —

Oh Jayson, you break my heart with the grinding efficiency! I see the value in Ezra, I just can’t get excited about him. Force and Rebel keyword on the same character is dope tho.

Jayson —

Yeah, I’m excited to see how those intersect as the cardpool expands. Ezra is loaded down with keywords.

Well, congratulations y’all. We did a thing. And as I suspected, I probably compromised my own picks by being mentally unable to pick cards that didn’t go together. My list is less a draft and more a sneak peek into what cards are in every single one of my private decks on SWUDB. What can I say? I have a refined palate.

Tyler —

Here’s everyone’s final teams, and a rough list of what we think are the best cards in the game: (with overall pick #)

Jayson:

Leia, defiant princess #1

Green Squadron A-Wing #6

Millennium Falcon #7

Waylay #12

Sabine, Explosives Artist #13

Ezra #18

Tyler:

Overwhelming Barrage #2

Home One #5

Boba Fett, Collecting the Bounty #8

Yoda #11

Shoot First #14

Bossk #17

Justin:

Han, Audacious Smuggler #3

Entrenched #4

Bright Hope #9

Mace Windu #10

Energy Conversion Lab #15

Luke Skywalker #16

Justin —

I think there’s a few cards that weren’t selected surprisingly that I find worth mentioning:

Jayson —

Galactic Ambition

Consortium StarViper

Force Speed

????

Justin —

Count Dooku – Many think this the best unit in the game since he was revealed.  Definitely a valuable card, and expected him to be picked when we started this exercise.

Asteroid Sanctuary – Potentially better than Leia in the blowout potential, an early game Asteroid Sanctuary played at the right time can blow out the game.

DJ Deathstar – Everyone’s favorite ramp card, no need to say more.

Double aspect cards, Aggression, Command, Vigilance – All very strong cards, obviously with some limitations through deckbuilding.

Kanan Jarrus – The only Spectre unit not picked!

Jayson —

I have one to add to that list- Death Trooper, which I think is being underrated right now because of its color combo being largely unspoiled. I think Death Trooper is quietly one of the best cards in the game.

Justin —

You don’t have to mention our old friend Death Trooper just because we got to spoil him Jayson!  There are several villain blue cards that I expect to be a lot higher on once that card pool gets more fleshed out, including Director Krennic.

Jayson —

Well @Tyler, hows it feel to have taken OB as your first pick now that the dust has settled? Do you have REGRETS?

Tyler  —

Nope! The only untouched cards I had on my list as potential picks were Death Star Stormtrooper and Imperial Interceptor.

Justin —

I’m surrounded by a bunch of efficient math nerds.. ugh

Tyler  —

Aren’t you an accountant?

Thanks for reading! Please leave us a note on who you think drafted the best team here or on the SWU official discord!