Happy Monday! Thanks to another official FFG stream and some more Content Creator reveals, it was a fairly big week of reveals!

FFG posted the first spoiler for this month’s social media poll (Double aspect cards) on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram

Justin – The easy way to look at this is paying 2 for a 3/5 unit assuming you have a good Waylay target on the opponent’s side of the board. Not only are you getting that value, but you gain tempo as you cheat 2 actions of the bounce and playing a unit in one. Thematic win from the Bouncing Cantina Bouncer! If Double Aspect cards keep getting released with great value like this, we will inevitably see viability in the archetype. The interesting design space around that is you have to balance making good enough cards to entice double aspect play, while not printing too many that its just always going to be better. I’m curious to see if that means we likely won’t get more than 1 or 2 a set after SOR.

Tyler – First off, is this a “she”? FFG, need to know! She’s(?) over curve, as long you’re willing to play mono yellow. We haven’t reached mono-deck viability yet, tho. My take is that it will take at least 3 mono cards to get there. It is nice to have a simple card that lays out the cost discount we can expect from double aspect icons – looks like it’s going to be a straightforward -1.

Jayson – It’s fun to see that FFG seems to have a pretty good handle, even in the first set, on how aspects and combinations of aspects should affect strength. In general, for cost, that formula seems to be Double Aspect > Aspect + Morality > Single Aspect > Single Morality, which to me makes a lot of sense. Cantina Bouncer is above curve and super useful, but it’s Double Aspect, so it had to be. Given the developer hype for mono-Cunning, I’m excited to see this deck continue to shape up. I love removal effects attached to bodies so I’m sold on Bouncer being solid.

The next 2 cards were revealed on the official FFG stream!

We already shared our first thoughts on the Avenger when it leaked a little early from a French(?) Influencer event a couple of weeks ago. Check that out here.

Justin – While Biggs isn’t quite Unstoppable, Red Three is a great card that you’re happy to slot into every hero red deck at this point. Most of the time, you’ll be able to treat this as a 4/3 or 5/3 on attack unit with the Raid it will distribute your friendly units and you are more than happy to have that. People like to compare Red Three to Veers, but honestly Red Three being a space unit is much more enticing at 3 health, as a lot less cheap units can trade up into it.

Tyler – This is a foundational card for Red Hero. It’s that good. It also sets up Hero Red/Green to be the go-wide deck- that’s exciting since it’s something we don’t have in the meta yet. It’s really hard to find something negative to say here. Here’s hoping we get a multi-deploy option for Hero soon!

Jayson – After an initial wave of hype, some folks cooled on this one. I’m not quite ready to be skeptical about it yet, because I think strong global effects are usually better to have in space, a lane that is thus far a little harder to interact with efficiently. I love X-Wings and I love this card. It may not still be in our Red Hero decks a few sets from now, but it’ll almost certainly be an early staple.

The next 2 cards were previewed by our friends from L8 Night gaming! Check out their reveal video here!

Justin – +2/+2 can present some really weird trade decisions for your opponent, which is likely the only reason Academy Training will ever see constructed play (if it even does). Since it’s in the green pool, it also gives Overwhelming Barrage an extra boost if played prior, so it could be enticing to some. I’ll be happy to only run this in limited play though.

Tyler – Besides the obvious combo with Overwhelming Barrage, not sure where this will be used. All upgrades pique my interest as potential healing fuel, so maybe a pairing with Chewie or another Sentinel could be viable? Median case is an upgrade this on-curve doesn’t see constructed play, tho.

Jayson – This is less a math problem than it is a deck slot problem. I’m not sure upgrades that are just stats and not tech will have a place in SWU unless they’re super cheap. This does give you 4 stat points that you get to use immediately if you already have a body on the board, and that’s not nothin’, but until we get a better sense of how cards like this fit in I would say I’m “whelmed” and unsure if it makes lists.

Justin – This might be my new favorite 6 cost unit in the game! We get our first “When Played” base damage from a unit, and this card can trade up into annoying units like Fett’s Firespray and survive with its 2 damage to a unit and swinging for 4. At Uncommon, it’s likely going to see some decent action in limited play as well.

Tyler – Over-curve space units are a rare thing, and this one sitting at the coveted 6-cost price point raises its value even further. At 6, it can get Ambush from either Admiral Piett or ECL, potentially multiplying its value. My initial take is Ruthless Raider is one of the best space units in the game.

Jayson – I echo my boys up there. This is the first capital ship I’m excited about. I think this card is outstanding and pretty much an auto-3x in any Villain/Red. The math on the base burn effect is potentially pretty oppressive.

The next card was debuted by our Spanish friends over at El Valle Del Jedi. Their reveal video was super cool and definitely worth checking out first!

Justin – Krennic is pretty excited to see some more cards that synergize with him! Even more interesting, is taking a look at combining him with the Grand Inquisitor. A fairly strong Round 1 play is dropping these speedy bois before pinging it 2 damage to ready with the GI and swinging for 3 into base.

Tyler – There are so many great hooks on this card. I can use his Trooper trait for Tagge, his Imperial trait for Veers, and his Grit for Krennic or the Grand Inquisitor. It’s fun that such a simple card can have such deckbuilding potential. Side note- this card does answer a previously unsolved costing mystery: how much is the Grit keyword worth? This card indicates it’s “free” putting it in the same category as Overwhelm and Saboteur.

Jayson – Villain/Blue desperately needed good cheap staples and FFG didn’t disappoint here- this has lots of internal color synergy, good traits, and is priced well. My only complaint is the Lays Southern Biscuits And Gravy level of bizarre flavoring. What speeder bike has 4 health?

We then got a new leader from FFG on Friday!

Justin – Iden is an interesting spot. It seems like most everyone’s reactions to her have been “worst leader in the game,” but we’ve also seen a few people say the opposite! While she will likely land somewhere in the middle once we see more of the cardpool that synergizes with her, it is funny to note that Takedown (which shows Iden taking down a Fleet Trooper) nukes her off the board on deploy. Iden also presents a strong case for running a 30-health base just to give you extra time to get more heals out. I think she will get a lot more interesting if we see a full board wipe in villain blue.

Tyler – Iden’s four health is a clear downside, and she’s obviously and ironically vulnerable to Takedown, but I doubt that’s the liability people are making out to be. Her shield makes her more powerful than her 4/4 statline belies, and her Imperial and Trooper traits are useful. Most people seem to be evaluating her as a control leader, but given that the healing provides no boardstate advantage, I think she’s actually going to see more play in midrange or even aggro- with her ability serving as a damage-race tiebreaker.

Jayson – If Iden is a control leader, then her heal is too conditional and incremental to make a big enough impact. If Iden is an aggro leader, then she comes out too late and her leader ability doesn’t actually help you win. She’s homeless, and that’s why I think she’s likely just not very good. Consider that Rogue Operative, a common unit, one shots her just for checks notes being on the board. Things look dire for Iden.

Lastly we got 2 more quick spoilers over the weekend from Jenders Gaming. Check out his reveal here!

Justin – Holy bananas! Important to note that you can target a unit without sentinel, so you aren’t in a pickle if you play this card and have the only sentinel on the board. If we keep getting more pure hate cards for Sentinel like this, its going to start being harder to justify running them. Sentinel is one of the few keywords in the game that seems to cost a decent amount of power/health in card design, so if Sentinel just flat out won’t work a lot of the time, running those cards will be painful. Obi-Wan Kenobi is especially sad to see this guy, as he’ll have a tougher time protecting those 6 cost Leader deploys now. In the current card pool, I see SpecForce seeing a lot of main deck play with solid value at 2/2 for 1 even if you don’t find a spot to take advantage of his ability. He may start to move to Sideboards, but his ability will likely keep him relevant in constructed for a quite a while.

Tyler – A 2/2 body for Hero sounds great, especially with the Rebel and Trooper traits. I don’t understand why he has the ability, tho. First, it makes the card obviously overpowered. It’s interesting the designers opted to crank their 1-cost cards rather than including buffs for one-costers like other CCGs have done. Second, the game didn’t need Sentinel hate. Poor Chewie! He was just starting to get some momentum.

Jayson – Rebel shells need cards like this one. I just wasn’t expecting it to be so juicy. Anti-Sentinel is definitely tech you’re not gonna turn down, and in the meantime, his 1 cost makes him super flexible, fitting into a ton of gameplans and turns. Great card, likely a staple for a while.

Justin – This card must be from Legends, not sure we’ve ever seen Precise fire from stormtroopers before! A little extra damage push for a trooper deck is pretty solid, add in that it can bypass Sentinel for the attack and it definitely slots into an aggro deck. This won’t be quite the staple SpecForce looks to be, but it will definitely see play in Constructed.

Tyler – Concur with everything Justin said. I’d expect this to hover in the 45-50 slots of decks with Troopers in them and potentially shift over to their sideboards as the cardpool grows.

Jayson – I think this is a really cool card for any deck that can manage a steady flow of Troopers, and I think that’s going to be possible for both Hero and Villain. This should see some play no matter what, but I’m just really excited to come back in a couple sets and see how deadly this cool Trooper deck ends up. That’s the kind of thing I’d love to play.

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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?