At this point, almost every CC has published a Sabine list, called the deck insanely broken, or even made series around “Can this deck beat Sabine?” Being the only leader in the game to deploy at less than 5 resources, she is in a unique spot that will always have to be considered in the meta as one of the leading aggro decks.

How close is she to her final 50 for set 1? Well the spreadsheet folks show we still have a few potential Aggression aspect events, Cunning unit slots, and Heroic aspect cards available. Even if none of them fit into this aggro list, Sabine is poised in a pretty good spot. Enough general talk, let’s jump into the list!

With the current SWUDB changes to published decks, we aren’t publishing the deck so you can continue to follow the changes to the list at this link.

Our deck tops out at 4 cost cards (though we only run K-2S0 at that cost) to match Sabine’s deploy cost. There are many games we can stop resourcing at 4 and be plenty happy to just play lots of cards. Don’t be afraid to pump to 5 resources ahead of a round where you’d be able to use that extra resource.

We’ve got one true burn card thus far in For a Cause to Believe In, though Fighters for Freedom can hit a few points if base damage with its ability from time to time. We sit at 44/50 Hero cards, so For a Cause shouldn’t have any trouble hitting 3+ the majority of the time. We’ve got 5 pump cards in Surprise Strike, Fleet LT, Red Three, Two Tubes, and Heroic Sacrifice and a little bit of extra reach in the Millennium Falcon. Leia Organa exists as an “oh crap” option to exhaust a pesky unit, along with Jedha City as our base to keep a unit alive for an extra round.

A timely specforce soldier can help you bypass the big Sentinel that was dropped to stop us in our tracks, so it’s often worth hanging on to when playing against Vigilance decks. The rest of the deck is filled out with solid aggro 2-3 cost units, alongside some tricky Spectre cards that could provide big swings. Ezra Bridger has some killer combo potential depending on what he pulls off the top of the deck, and Spark of Rebellion can be played to nuke an opponent’s gameplan for stabalizing with Overwhelming Barrage or a big Sentinel.

Play Style

Your ideal opening hand has a strong Ground and Space 2 cost unit, allowing you to lane dodge your opponent’s round 1 drop if needed. Lane Dodging is where you play your card to the opposite arena (Ground vs Space) of your opponent to prevent them from attacking your unit next round. You never want to resource Burn/Reach cards, unless you just have too many and need to keep units in hand.

The first 3 rounds are all about dropping units and swinging for as much damage as you can. Ideally you’ve hit somewhere in the 12-15 damage range at this point, and can get to close to 20 first action next round before counting on your burn/reach cards to close out the game. The longer the game goes, the more your opponent is favored.

Typically, you want to be swinging all your units in to the base, but there are times where a timely trade into a unit can be the correct decision. It’s going to take practice to see where these opportunities arise, but generally it will be where you can do a might trade up into a unit or prevent the opponent from having a big enough Overwhelming Barrage target to wipe you out. Shoot first is also in the sideboard to help you out when playing against other aggro decks.

Always be aware that taking the initiative over taking an extra action to use Sabine’s leader ability might be the better play if it allows you to attack with a unit at the start of the round before your opponent can defeat it.

What cards are we looking to add?

• Strong Hero 1 cost units – Currently only Specforce Soldier fits at this slot, and we run Benthic Two Tubes as we lack a better option for more 1 cost units.
• More burn cards – Currently we only have For a Case I Believe In to really shine here, we’d love to see 1 other card to just do a straight 2-5 base damage.

What cards are on the chopping block?

• Rebel Pathfinder – I keep trying to replace this guy, but his 3 health body and Saboteur keep finding him back in. If only we could find a Red or Yellow Battlefield Marine to throw in his place..
• Benthic Two Tubes – Two Tubes makes the deck as one of the only other 1 cost units that doesn’t have a big liability of 1 health or 0 power. We’d ultimately love to see a 1 drop with the Hero aspect in his place though, as we rarely are able to sequence in the 2 raid bonus from his attack.
• Wing Leader – As the meta continues to feature lots of upgrades and subsequently lots of upgrade punishment (Fang Fighter, Traiterous, Waylay, etc), Wing Leader keeps feeling worse and worse. We’d happily slot another 3 cost aggro ship in it’s place.

Additional Flavor you can add

• Bamboozle – Some people like this in the spot of 45-47 Hero aspect cards. Exhausting can help your guys live another round, and upgrade hate is quite tasty these days.
• Medal Ceremony – Personally I see this as a win-more card. I rarely find games I played Medal Ceremony for good value, where I wasn’t already winning the game. If we’re happy with just hitting 1 exp token, then we’re probably better off just running something else. It is a Hero aspect card though…
• Cantina Braggart – Another 1 drop, I’m just not personally a fan of this card when my opponent can trade into it for free.
• Greedo – No Hero aspect, but a solid 1 drop. The card can be punished by a variety of cards in the game that deal 1 damage though, so its tough to justify his lack of Hero aspect.
• Alliance X-Wing – I personally don’t enjoy the 2/3 body, but a lot of decks keep running less and less space units, so if your opponent can’t interact with space units, you probably want to run more!
• Partisan Insurgent – There’s a lot of potential sequencing issues given this guy requires another red unit on the table. We love his 4 health, but he is too easily punished to justify his lack of Hero aspect (common theme here).

Sideboard Options?

There’s a few directions you can go based on the meta, so here’s several options for your 10 (though you may want to pick from some of the other cards we run main deck that you choose not to).

• Shoot First – You definitely want to sideboard this if there is a lot of aggro in the meta. This can make a big difference in an aggro mirror match!
• Wolffe – Since he lacks the Rebel trait and Hero aspect, he’s not a card you want to stick in your main deck. Outside of that, his 3/2 body is great for your gameplan, and his stop healing ability can be great if you have any trouble against Restore or Iden decks.
• Disabling Fang Fighter – It’s hard not to include the Fang Fighter in the sideboard of any red deck. The flexibility of removing shields, XP tokens, or big upgrades is too much to pass up when facing those decks. 
• Precision Fire – An extra reach card, it doesn’t make main deck due to the trooper trait requirement (not helpful if you go heavy space) and the usual lack of Hero aspect.
• Outer Rim Headhunter – With Sabine coming out at 4 resources, the exhaust ability turns on pretty early for this and it effectively has the same body as an Alliance X-Wing when attacking.
• Open Fire – Removing your opponent’s units can allow you extra attacks at times, and this is basically your only cheap-ish removal option in these colors.

That’s all for today! Have you gotten any games in with Sabine Yellow? What’s your favorite deck to play so far? Check out some gameplay below from last week and keep an eye on our YouTube in the coming weeks if you want to more Luke in action!