Players can often be overly dismissive.

This is no surprise to those that have played card games for a while, but in SWU it’s particularly interesting to observe. Even in this first set, the overall balance of the game is in a really good spot, and a far wider selection of the cardpool than many would have guessed is capable of seeing competitive play.

Some of these cards have so leapt so far over the fences players put around them that they’re worth talking about. Additionally, I wanted to make a quick note of why players underestimated these cards, and what broader SWU lessons to take away from their ascension. As with all of our articles, I hope this helps to think more broadly and openly about the game we love!

Without further ado, here’s some of the cards that have surprised players most in SWU’s first set.

Surprise #1 – Vigilance

Yeah, count me amongst the folks who weren’t excited about pulling a Vigilance, and who have been proven very very wrong. Now every bit of a $40 card, Vigilance has shocked the world not just by being played, but being played with the aspect penalty in decks that aren’t running double blue. I said several times that paying aspect penalties wasn’t going to be common in competitive and have had to eat those words. It’s shown up in a ton of blue shells, even some ones that skew closer to midrange than full control.

The secret sauce here? Healing is genuinely better in SWU than it’s historically been in other TCGs. The mill option can be super relevant in control mirrors (actually all four options on the card are viable in lots of games), but it’s really that healing that’s put the card on the map. 5 damage off the base is a body blow to lots of decks that really aren’t built to sustain into the late game. I don’t think situations like this, especially wide play of a card at +2 resources, will be especially common, but in this environment Vigilance has definitely surprised the broader player base.

Surprise #2 – Steadfast Battalion

Even the designers have gone on record saying they didn’t expect this card to get competitive reps. While many (including Justin!) noted Steadfast Battalion’s interaction with ECL, especially on the Boba flip turn, exactly how relevant that line would be has been an interesting development.

While the Overwhelm damage has played a key role in aggro decks, I think the biggest takeaway here is that HP breakpoints are important. Steadfast Battalion, if all goes well, can hit out of hand for 7 damage, which is an incredibly relevant number in a world where Boba Fett is a dominant leader. Knowing those numbers and what card are available to hit them in your colors is an essential deckbuilding skill. Relevant HP breakpoints are the reason Don’t Get Cocky worked so well in the Casino Han deck, why Takedown and Force Choke are so widely played in their colors, and why a card like Open Fire can be a little less than the sum of their parts. Single action answers to common threats are important for nearly every deck, and Steadfast is just one example of those kinds of haymakers.

Surprise #3 – Chewbacca, Walking Carpet

I feel a little vindicated by this one! Chewbacca got a really tough early reputation and was widely called one of the worst Leaders in the set. I never really understood what he did to earn this, and in hindsight I think it was just a product of people not really understanding the game. Once people connected Chewie to some of the powerful options that could help him extend the length of a match past his 7 deploy, he was able to start making top cuts and got a lot of competitive attention. I’d still place him among the ten or so decks I’d trust at a major tournament. Not bad for a guy who got written off completely while his ink was barely dry.

The lesson? Sentinel is one of the most important keywords in the game. It can be incredibly disruptive to have it on tap and to give it to units that aren’t balanced around it, even for a turn. People not respecting that enough is probably the core reason why Chewie was underestimated.

An Ever-Evolving Game

These won’t be the last surprises SWU throws at us. The strength of the design team, and the ingenuity of the player base, will continually raise underdogs above the crowd. Maybe the next player who discovers one of these rough gems will be you!

May the force be with you!