Another light week! Hopefully we’ll start seeing some real spice in these last ~40 cards!

The first card was spoiled by FFG on social media!

Justin – This is officially my least favorite of the double aspect cards. Since it doesn’t affect all units that aren’t currently in play as a unit when it is played (including your leader if undeployed), it’s going to be hard to set this up for more than a couple units in a situation that wouldn’t just be “win more.” If anyone can make use of it, it’ll be a Sabine weenie or Grand Inq combo deck that can get multiple activiations from the one unit, but I’m not holding my breath!

Tyler – Both this and Attack Pattern Delta want us to have a wide board for a game-winning aggro push, but FFG hasn’t given us go-wide tools to make that anything more than a “win more.” Maybe in the last 40 cards we’ll find events that can deploy 2+ units at a time.

Jayson – Really makes you think twice about all that trash talk Attack Pattern Delta got, huh? This card is really, really, really bad, not least because it gives your opponent so many actions to remove its potential while you slowly cash in. I know folks will try to make it work because effects like this are fun, and nobody’s gonna stop you from having a good time, but for the purpose of competitive constructed where you’re trying to win, this is a coaster, full stop.

The next 2 cards were spoiled on the new Star Wars Unlimited website!

Justin – Love that we have tanks, art is fun, but I’m not sure I even really want to play this card in limited. At 5/4, we’re expecting closer to a 4 cost unit. While Grit is a powerful keyword, it’s going to be hard to justify paying 5 for this with how much people already complain about 4 health IG-88 dying to removal.

Tyler – The tank is clearly understatted at 5 so I don’t know why I’d play it unless “Imperial vehicles” ends up becoming a strong tribal effect.

Jayson – What on earth is Grit doing on such a tiny butt for five resources? Most of the draft filler in SWU is super duper playable, but this is rough.

Justin – This card is super intriguing to me. It has similar vibes to It Binds All Things, without the force restriction and heal. The floor is 1 damage if you simply have a unit in play, but a lot of big body blue decks might be able to see value upside here getting 3+ damage. While the Timmy dream may be playing Redemption, dealing 8 to it, and then spiking your opponent’s unit with 9 damage from Karabast, the reality of how often you can get 3+ damage in a good spot will dictate whether it sees constructed play. Currently a Mono Green Hera deck will likely have to run it just due to the lack of removal options in Green.

Tyler – This is a fun card, especially in conjunction with the newly revealed Chirrut. Since he can guarantee staying in play with lots of damage on him, Karabast can be a 6+ damage event. Combined with Force Throw, Chirrut Red could have a bevy leader-killing tools available to it. The hyperspace of version of this one will be cool!

Jayson – Lot of folks were really down on Karabast, but damage from hand is just so good that I think it’ll find play. Occasionally this could be a genuine blowout at the top end, but what raises my eyebrows is that this card’s floor doesn’t seem terrible to me. Nobody really wants to talk about it, but there will be board states where playing this from your hand for 1 damage is correct. I think it’s an interesting card that will find a deck or two, and closer to playable than not.

The next 2 cards were spoiled by Danish Papskubber

Justin – 1 drops continue to be highly debated by the community, since we start the game at 2 resources and they have less impact overall. While this won’t feel great as a Round 1 play in every deck, Luke green can shield it to make use of it in dropping Kanan or Yoda with a shield Round 2. It will likely be most impactful as a mid-game drop that can let you curve out a bomb like Luke Skywalker or Redemption a round early if not dealt with. Jury’s still out, but I’m interested in testing this card.

Tyler – I’m intrigued by the possibilities of this one with Han. There’s a world where, thanks to an early Resupply, the Dispatcher can enable a Round 3 Home One. TBD on if that’s a meme or serious threat, but I will be excited to find out! I’m also interested to see if there’s a swarm deck brewing with Cassian as well. Lots of 1-drops on the cheap could be a thing down the road.

Jayson – Man, this one got hotly debated. As usual with extreme takes, I disagree with the camp that thinks it’s insane, and I disagree with the camp that thinks it’s garbage. My general take is positive, for several reasons. To summarize briefly: this is providing a lot of pressure for a cheap unit, even bad bodies are nice to have around, and this is one of those low curve units that still can be very relevant in mid to late rounds. For those reasons I think this guy will see play. Really fun design, great art too.

Justin – At the awkward cost of 4 with 3 power, its likely a card you will be primarily playing in limited formats to fill out your 30 card deck, but restore 2 can have big game implications at times. The art is quite fantastic though, and I’m eager to see the hyperspace version!

Tyler – It’s understatted, but 2 Restore units have a place in sideboards as anti-aggro tools. Maybe this displaces the Consortium StarVipers people have been stocking in Hero Green decks. The Rebel trait also has great synergy that gives Regional Sympathizers more range.

Jayson – I had higher hopes for the Hero card in this slot than what we got here- I was holding out hope for a Sentinel, but instead we get more Restore, a keyword I’m kinda low on in isolation. Not at all unplayable in draft, though.

The next 3 cards were spoiled by Tom & Taha on Instagram!

Justin – At 8 cost, this feels more playable than Blizzard Assault AT-AT, but the When Played effect isn’t huge unless you can get ambush on this to trigger it twice. Likely it will end up mostly a card for limited, but decks like Tarkin Command might slot it in looking for a decent 8 drop.

Tyler – I was thinking the same thing. Villain ramp decks that don’t have access to Emperor Palpatine needed a decent 8-drop unit. Reinforcement Walker should pave the path up to 9 and 10 cost drops for Tarkin and Krennic decks going tall. I also like that the longer it stays around the more effect it will have.

Jayson – So much big stuff in this set! This one is pretty okay, though I think the heal is gonna be the go to option. Decks that want this aren’t likely to be struggling with card count.

Justin – Awesome art, awesome theme, tough card to play in a lot of decks. The ideal world is playing this in an aggro deck that tops out at 3 cost cards, so you can stop at 5-7 damage confidently, which is an okay floor for a 4-cost removal card. Most decks though will struggle with the odds, as the floor can easily be 0 damage.

Tyler – Fun theme and fun design, but I don’t know if it’s competitive playable. For 4 cost you should consistently get 7-8 damage, and this card caps the ceiling at 7 with a catastrophic floor. This would have been more interesting if you’d gotten to set the order of the cards on top of your deck afterward.

Jayson – Some cards just aren’t for everyone. This card is not for me. I hate this. It irritates me just by existing. Just have no interest whatsoever in selling out my cost curve for something with so much variance, but even if you’re already planning on playing cheap, it just doesn’t hold up to any scrutiny whatsoever. The salt in the wound? Resolving this card in person is going to be fiddly and annoying. And they wasted this awesome art piece on the stupidest effect in the game. GAH I can’t stand this thing!

Justin – Now every deck has upgrade hate available at the cost of 1! This will find a nice spot in several sideboards in an upgrade heavy meta when you aren’t playing aggression.

Tyler – Simple, solid card. Decks that don’t have access to Disabling Fang Fighter will want to sideboard this to counter powerful upgrades like Jedi Lightsaber.

Jayson – Weirdly fine for a true neutral card, I’m gonna be rocking this in a ton of sideboards. Did not have a neutral this playable on my bingo card, I can tell you that.

Lastly FFG Spoiled this leader on social media!

Justin – With Force and Rebel and an odd unit side ability, Chirrut looks to be a fun leader. Ultimately, though, you look at another leader like Boba Fett and feel pretty sad with his stats. Ultimately if he’s able to be competitive, it will be because of the aforementioned traits and the fact that you can freely upgrade him assuming he isn’t instantly takedown‘d. There seems to be a trend though of Rare leaders seemingly not fitting into the Competitive meta in Set 1. These leaders typically have some strong synergies that can be built on with a bigger card pool, so they might be the most interesting leaders to revisit in another set or 2 of cards.

Tyler – People seem skeptical of Chirrut, but count me in the believer camp. His unit side presents amazing conundrums for an opponent. Say they attack him and deal 5 damage. If you play a heal card or upgrade, Chirrut lives to the next round. Do they then attack him again, potentially wasting an action/unit? If they don’t and you play It Binds All Things, your opponent’s gonna hate it. Those kinds of plays, combined with Chirrut’s earliest-deploying-Force-trait-leader status should give him a place in the meta.

Jayson – Oh look, Tyler is high on a card that has synergy with healing effects. Who could have predicted this 😉 Chirrut is cool and I’m excited to mess around with him. I agree wholeheartedly with Justin that his traits are the sauce here, and that he’ll need a critical mass of the right cards to hit his potential. This guy begs to be built around, and could have enough of a ceiling to be dangerous once the pieces come into play. The Leader side ability also isn’t being respected enough! There are some compelling lines available, and not too far towards the border of Magical Christmas Land. So yeah, fun stuff to unpack here, and not a Leader to be instantly written off. Takedown really does look better and better every day though…

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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?