Now that we’ve had a few weeks to breathe since the release of the game, it felt like a good time to reflect on cards from the Spark of Rebellion spoiler season that we… didn’t get quite right in our initial assessment. While it doesn’t feel great to say that we missed the mark, it’s an important exercise in humility which we’ll repeat as often as necessary! For this article, our original takes will be in italics and my new commentary will be in regular font.

Without further ado, here’s our 5 worst takes of the Spark of Rebellion season!

Iden Versio

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.

I clearly misjudged where Iden could be properly applied. Some of my early attempts at putting her in a Trooper-focused aggro deck failed spectacularly. Jayson and Justin underestimated what she could accomplish as a control leader. Ultimately, what may have blinded us was the presence of Krennic at 5 resources. In a mid-December world where we lacked many of the game’s critical control pieces, a leader that came out at 6 just seemed a bridge too far.

Steadfast Battalion

Tyler – Experience with the game so far has taught me that leaders rarely remain on the board longer than a single round. As such, any unit ability that counts on having a leader out is a win-more effect. Seriously, if your opponent hasn’t dealt with your biggest threat, you’re doing fine! I won’t play these kinds of units unless they fill an obvious cost/trait hole in an existing deck.

Jayson – My main take is the same as Tyler’s- counting on your leader being available and this being the most relevant card in your hand feels like too fragile a gameplan to make a 50-card constructed list. That analysis applies to every version of that conditional we’ve seen so far, though in fairness, this is easily the best one of that cycle.

While Justin correctly judged the power of Steadfast off the bat, Jayson and I did not. Where we went wrong was in discounting the bonkers power of Energy Conversion Lab. Being able to ambush in a unit that can immediately strike for 7 (in some cases on Round 3) is a supremely powerful, leader-killing combo.

Power of the dark side

Tyler – The situation Justin described would indeed be a powerful play to make. However, I’m skeptical about the cost-benefit ratio and whether this is a win-more card. Let’s look at three potential board states where you could play this:

1. Opponent has a single unit out. Kill it or don’t, I’m probably winning and don’t need this.
2. Opponent has a mix of low/high-cost units. I don’t want to play because it’s just gonna trade down into a chump.
3. My opponent has 2+ high-cost units. I’d like to play, but I’m probably already going to lose.

Maybe there will be more clean board states than I think, but my suspicion is the community will sour on this one over time.

I’ve got to make a full mea culpa on this one. There are A LOT more of the clean board states that make this card useful than I thought there would be. What I neglected was the agency players have to create advantageous states to setup this card (i.e. kill your opponent’s small unit to leave their leader naked and vulnerable.) While it can be win-more, there’s certainly application in games that are still competitive, and I will have this 3x in my Villain/Blue decks for the foreseeable future.

Consortium StarViper

Tyler – My initial take is that this one of the worst cards in the game. Without the initiative it’s below curve- with the initiative it’s only slightly above. A card with more downside than upside is unlikely to see play. It’s a green unit, which has some synergy with Yularen, but future utility is really going to rest on if the Fringe keyword gets a powerful hook.

My stance that this card is under-curve has not changed. What I didn’t foresee was that: A) Green would become the go-to color for every tier 1 deck. B) That said Green decks would be desperately searching for Restore to keep them alive against Sabine aggro. While the StarViper has clearly found its niche in the SoR meta, I doubt it’ll be played much once set 2 releases.

Jyn Erso

Justin – It’s funny to think how much lower I would be on Jyn if she was released 2 weeks ago when we were still in love with Han Solo. Since we’re no longer in “why would I ever run a different Hero cunning leader?” mode, we can look at Jyn with an open mind. With an ability that is always online (no resource cost), I find myself interested. Where she will really gain value is turning 1 for 1 trades into 0 for 1 trades that keep her units alive with 1 health, which will also force the opponent into potentially bad trades to finish off the leftovers. You’re a little sad comparing her 4/7 6 resource body to Boba Fett at 4/7 5 resources, but her ability could prove worthy of the extra cost. I’m definitely ready to see her in action!

Tyler – This is such a player’s card, I’m surprised both her and Han aren’t rares. In addition to her great go-wide ability, the Rebel trait opens her up to some valuable bonuses like Medal Ceremony and General Dodonna. My only complaint is that she comes out at 6 resources. Having a leader that drops after 5 makes me feel like she needs to be played with Green to get the ramp. But I want to play her with Blue to take advantage of healing effects that stand damaged units back up. We’ll see what niche she ends up in.

Jayson – First of all, the art is unreal. Amelie Hutt consistently delivers. As for Jyn herself, I’m very high on her. In a lot of instances, the end result here (a unit lives for one more attack than it was supposed to) is going to be functionally the same as a Luke shield, except Jyn does it for free. It’s not going to be like that all of the time, but it’ll be more frequent than you think. I also love that her unit side gives a global effect that doesn’t care about NGTMD. I think she’s likely going to be super good.

We really overhyped Jyn here. Part of the problem is that her reveal came immediately on the heels of No Good to Me Dead being spoiled. At that time, we thought Han would become borderline unplayable because he’d be perpetually exhausted. Turns out, things weren’t nearly that bad for Han, and Jyn went on to have exactly ZERO synergy with the cards in the rest of the set. As it stands, Han has way more upside that Jyn does and we haven’t seen anyone deckbuild seriously with her in months.

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That’s it for our five worst takes from the SoR season. What cards have you changed your mind on since they were revealed? What cards were you preaching about day 1 and have never wavered? Let us know in the comments, on Twitter, or Discord!