Happy Monday! It was quite the week of reveals, so let’s jump into going through the cards spoiled in the prior week and share our first impressions! Golden Dice Podcast has 2 more spoilers going up in an interview with Designer Jeremy Zwirn this week, so keep an eye on their YouTube channel!

FFG posted the second spoiler on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram to start the Cunning Month poll.

Justin – Overall a 2/3 space unit at 2 would be on curve, but the fact that it’s a 1/3 when defending hurts. Is a mid game ability that will be hard to maintain more than a round in games where we aren’t already winning worth running? Probably not…thus I don’t see myself running this in constructed outside of a deck with a Leader like Thrawn that has more staying power. Should be a blast to run this in limited though!

Tyler – Exhaust is a big effect so I’m not inclined to write the headhunter off completely. There’s a potential role here with quick-deploying leaders like Sabine or for those with staying power like Thrawn. I suspect the designers are setting up Thrawn as what I’ll call a “castle” deck where he builds a defensive board that slowly becomes impenetrable. This card could be a piece of that strategy.

Jayson – Hard to know what to think about this little fella. Decent ceiling, but hard to imagine it not losing the slot to a more consistent option. Might need reevaluating when we get some tribal stuff for Fringe, which seems completely inevitable.

The next 2 cards were revealed by MainDeck on YouTube!

Justin – Important to note designer Tyler Parrot clarified on twitter (X) that this card does in fact block all copies of “Luke Skywalker” for example, not just one specific copy. Altogether, if you know what to name, this effectively turns into a 2-cost, 1/4 Sentinel unit because your opponent will likely need to remove it from the board ASAP. Is that good? I definitely think it has a strong case for sideboard slots. Outside of that, it should find a home in Control decks.

Tyler – The 4-health statline opens up uses in Krennic. The ability is also solid for Thrawn since he’s likely to know what’s in hand and be able to name something immediately impactful. Keywords proc both Veers and the Royal Guard as well. Given she filled a gap at 2-cost for certain Villian decks, I’m pretty happy with the guvna.

Jayson – This is a really cool card that will greatly reward solid matchup knowledge. I’m particularly excited to see whether Vigilance is able to consistently leverage her against events. She has the rare ability to potentially shut down catch-up cards in matchups where the opposing deck is relying on catch up plays, cards like Overwhelming Barrage and NGTMD. If this ends up being genuinely good into matchups like that, it could sneakily end up as one of the premier tools for blue.

Justin – I recently wrote an article a few weeks ago about what I look for in expensive units. Chimaera does not fit that bill. Shielded is cool, and the “On Attack” is interesting, but ultimately, I’m not going to get excited about a high-cost unit that does not immediately impact the game. There’s an argument that Thrawn stalls the game out enough that this will feel like a 6-cost unit in other decks, but I don’t love dropping an AT-ST (or bigger) without having Ambush for that immediate impact.

Tyler – If the ability triggered “On Play” there’d be more excitement around the Chimaera. The chances of this being a brick are very high. As-is, it will see play simply because there are no other top-end closer options for Blue/Yellow villain decks.

Jayson – Coaster. Decks might win with this around, but it’ll be in spite of it, not because of it. I think Justin’s above linked article has some super great insights into what to look for in tempo from a high-curve unit. Nothing this big can possibly justify zero board impact on play.

We actually discovered this card in the interwebs on a German news site, before Xander said we were okay to share it since it became a hot topic!

Justin – I’m torn on first impressions for this one…a 4/4 6 cost space unit is obviously nothing to be excited about, but being able to potentially draw 3 cards with an empty hand twice is very strong. This means you can throw everything in your hand at the board state via resourcing and playing cards, which could normally be punishing if you didn’t get the win in that round. Now if you sequence well, you can play out your hand, drop Black One as the last card, and refill to 3. If you then play it out well again, you can throw Black One into another space unit to trade and repeat! In theory, a strong effect, but practically how often will this work out well enough for the value? We must test!

Tyler – There was a lot of fear with the release of No Good to Me Dead that Han was now a backbencher. This card brings that deck back to life as it can now be more aggressive pitching cards to run up the curve with Han’s ability. We’ll need to see more low-cost units for Hero before the board-swarm strategy most folks are envisioning becomes a reality, but the time will come.

Jayson – I’m pretty sure this is good, and even if it doesn’t pan out, it’s gonna be a ton of fun. I think this color combo is really going to love a top-curve option to gas back up for the close. This is a Legendary I’ll probably be stoked to pull come release day.

The next 2 cards were revealed by DeanTramp on YouTube!

Justin – I read the textbox and got excited, before realizing you’re effectively paying 1 for a 1/1 space unit. Outside of a Wedge deck or something else revealed that boosts space units, I’m going to have a hard time getting excited about this one. I would rather just run 3 of a space unit I’d actually play.

Tyler – This is fuel for a future space-rush deck, but as of right now, there aren’t enough synergistic hooks to make it worth playing. Yeah, you can get the bonus from Wedge, or put an upgrade on it, but that’s not enough to make a below-curve unit playable.

Jayson – They were wisely pretty conservative with this guy. Would have loved a Rebel trait on it. I don’t think it’s as bad as a lot of people do, but it’s just not got enough juice. This card actually made me realize I was probably evaluating Mining Guild TIE Fighter too highly. Decent effects still need decent bodies on them to be compelling. This is a little short of the mark.

Justin – Lil bro is cookin! As it currently stands, I’m not sure why you wouldn’t just drop him in every villain red deck as a solid and flexible 3 cost unit. The possibilities don’t end there, as there is obvious synergy with his co-worker the Grand Inquisitor and Director Krennic. We also love to see a cheap unit finally on the villain side that has the force trait to turn on cards like Force Choke and It Binds All things. If Waylay didn’t exist, he’d also be a fantastic Voltron target, but we’ll likely be happy to play Entrenched or a Lightsaber on him anyways. Exciting reveal!

Tyler – This was certainly the best reveal of the week. As Justin said, there’s lots of potential with Krennic and Grand Inquisitor who have yet to see much play. I’m interested in 5th Bros synergy with the powerful, but largely unplayed, Admiral Motti. Exhaust is turning out to be prevalent in the meta and he could give Villian red a path around those effects. It also means aggro decks will have access to 10+, base-damage plays much earlier in the game than the previously did.

Jayson – This is the kind of card we all knew was coming when we saw Grand Inquisitor, and I hope we see more like him. Great traits, aggressive cost, and lots of synergies with all SORTS of stuff in the field. Seriously, what’s not to love?

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That’s it for last week’s spoilers! What cards are you most excited about? Are there any specific archetypes you’ve been enjoying in the cards revealed?