Tyler (@DJStormtrooper) —

Welcome to the Garbage Rollers Fantasy Draft! We’re taking a gamified approach to making a tier list today by doing it snake-draft style.

For those unfamiliar, on their turn, each competitor will pick a card from the existing pool. The card goes onto their “team.” Once everyone has picked once, the order will reverse, and we’ll pick again.

For this draft, we’re doing four cards each, with no restrictions on picks. It’s up to the players to define what “best” means and to defend their picks as the absolute best 4 card team! We hope y’all as the readers will sound off on Discord about who you think did the best!

Justin (@Inception) and Jayson (@ImpossibleGerman) are here, along with our Garbage Roller compatriot Jim (@jsharp), PLUS special guests Mike Gemme (@BobbySapphire) from friends of the show KTOD and Wooooo (@Woooooo), best known for his eponymous channel.

Random.org says our pick order is:

1. Wooooo
2. Mike
3. Jim
4. Jayson
5. Justin
6. Tyler

Let’s get going!

ROUND 1

Justin: Don’t screw up wooooo. So Leaders are draftable?

Tyler: You can even pick 30-pt bases

Jayson: No way those will ever be relevant 👀

wooooo: Too much pressure. How do I compare leaders with normies?

Justin: pick qi’ra you coward

wooooo: Alright with the first pick I’m taking Bazine Netal. Although not as flashy as some of the other cards I was considering here, I think she’s going to be a very important role player in many archetypes. While some other cards will be more directly powerful, I value her versatility a lot, and think we will be seeing a lot of this card through its lifespan in premiere.

Justin: Strong first pick! I know a lot of people are scared of letting their opponent draw a card, but nuking their play for a round or cutting out a bomb is so impactful! There have even been times I’ve been happy to smuggle her for 4 in limited play already.

BobbySapphire: Yeah bazine is great but a 1/3 first off the board is wild!

Jayson: Bazine is crazy disruptive for a card so early in the curve. I have a feeling she will sneakily be the play that subtly wins a lot of games nearly before they’ve begun. I also think there will be games you lose because you slotted Bazine when you would have been better served by somebody with more direct board impact. Wheels within wheels! Fun first pick.

Tyler: Spicy first pick, but I can’t knock it. She’s going to have huge implications in the control-mirror world- but will be generally disruptive everywhere else too.

BobbySapphire: Alright we’re going to up the power level for pick 2, and it’s Worth the Risk! I’m taking Han Solo! Han is going to straight up change the red hero game this season by pushing out monster units a turn early, or, when he’s, flipped, spamming out units cheaply. I love what he’s doing to the game and I think he’ll be the most played red hero leader in set 2!

Jayson: Bobby we actually forgot a rule in the preamble. You’re not allowed to take my picks.

Tyler: Gotta agree with all of that. Love his interaction with Grit, with Karabast, and high health units. I have a suspicion that Han + Krayt Dragon is going to be a defining combo of this meta.

Justin: Cards that break mechanics generally turn out to be the best, and set 1 Han had a similiar strong effect that panned out well. Can’t argue with this pick

wooooo: Han is one of my top leaders this set, resource cheating is apparently good.

Tyler: Jim, next pick is yours!

Jim: Okay, so I went back and forth between two cards that have similar abilities centered around one other card. So I pick A New Adventure. I think that card with the slightly versatile Boba Fett Villainy Leader (sarcasm) is crazy with Fett’s Firespray. I almost chose Triple Dark Raid, but I think hitting Fett’s Firespray with ANA is going to help close a lot of games.

Jayson: Yessir, New Adventure is one of the most flexible cards in the game. I’m interested to see if it gets played out of aspect, but in the mono yellow shell it’s a no-brainer. The card can do it all.

Justin: Bold of you to call a double aspect card one of the most flexible in the game.

Jayson: Right, and that’s the heart of the conversation I think. In terms of balance, New Adventure is able to be so flexible in its applications precisely because it is more restricted in terms of deckbuilding. In this case Jim’s betting that the former outweighs the latter. I think he’s probably right.

wooooo: And here I’m not even sure it’ll make the 60 in mono yellow Boba with how many options there are…

Justin: Always fun to see how the decks actually fill out over the course of the meta.

BobbySapphire: I love Jim’s high upside pick. I think A New Adventure is silly but we’ve gotta find the right spot for it and it’s only going to improve as more units with when played abilities get printed.

Jayson: There’s a lot of amazing cards out there for the taking still, and I truly have no idea which of them is best. So I’m just going to go with my gut, hope a couple of my favorites wheel back around, and take Poe Dameron, Quick To Improvise.

Poe is more than the sum of his parts. I think he’s going to be exceptionally hard to cut any time in the future because there’s virtually no downside to slotting him. He’s aggressively statted for his cost and he’s a Swiss army knife, with hand control, burn/reach, and upgrade hate all right there on his attack trigger. He even can do all of those things in the same swing if you absolutely need him to. There’s a lot of great cards in this set, but I think Poe stands one of the best chances of being a long-term staple for his color.

Justin: Dang I was really happy that somehow Poe had slipped down to me, but such is life. Since his reveal, people have mostly seen Poe as the best legendary and I don’t think that has changed. With amazing stats at 5 resources, and a fantastic flexible On Attack ability, the only thing not to love is if you want to play him and aren’t running green for Ambush!

BobbySapphire: I’m shocked Poe went fourth. I was expecting to take him second before Wooooo gifted me first leader. Poe is an absolute monster and might end up the most important unit in the set.

wooooo: Has a chance of breaking the trend of 5 drops with no immediate impact being unplayable when not paired with ECL.

Jayson: Yeah, the lack of immediate impact (sans-ECL or Timely) nearly sent me in some other directions. But at the end of the day I just trust this dude to win on Math™️ You’re up, Justin!

Justin: Alright, I’m absolutely torn on what to pick now. I’m between about 5 different cards, that all are very powerful in different regards! I’m just gonna go with the card I’m most excited about right now, and that is Relentless Pursuit. This card just feels so insane in yellow villain Bounty Hunter decks, often becoming a No Good to me dead (or exhausted for more turns) + a shield. It’s a tempo machine at the right spot and helps deal with so many issues.

BobbySapphire: I think relentless pursuit will continue to get slept on until people start putting it in every competitive deck (because all competitive decks are yellow right?) It’s not just for bounty hunter decks and may define what capture means in the meta.

Jayson: Interesting! It’s got such a high ceiling, doesn’t it? Capture is the least flashy of the new mechanics, but it might actually be the strongest in some ways. It is often very aggressively costed next to other cards that solve the same problem, and while the answer is theoretically right in front of you (just kill the guarding unit!), that’s easier said than done on a lot of boards.

Justin: Worst case, you exhausted their unit for the round and they had to go through a shield and kill your unit. Only gets better from there!

Jayson: Corporate wants you to find the difference between Worst Case Scenario Relentless Pursuit and Asteroid Sanctuary.

wooooo: One of them works on leaders

Tyler: At least Relentless Pursuit requires a decent bounty hunter unit!

For my first of two picks, I’m gonna pick the other leader this set that bends the cost curve- Jabba the Hutt. He’s a huge body, captures on his flip, enables bounty shenanigans every turn, and lowers the cost of a unit. The curve of this deck is ridiculous with Reputable Hunter into Hunter of the Haxion Brood. Can’t wait to play it.

Justin: I considered Jabba as well, but the cost cheating being so late in the game has me unsure on how he will pan out. I think it will be strong, just not sure we will see the same effect Han will have.

wooooo: I think he’s going to fall in the Vader/Palp camp of being good into certain metas but can’t reliably beat aggro.

BobbySapphire: I’m excited about the Jabba pick and what mono green ramp can do with him. I love he auto captures and turns bounty on by himself, the perfect build around leader!

ROUND 2

Jayson: Round 2 starting and the only things in between me and my hopes and dreams are Tyler and Justin. What’s new?

Tyler: To start round 2, I’m going to go with a name I had never heard before this week, Toro Calican. How an obscure dude with only one aspect icon became this sets most pushed 3-drop I have no idea. Not only does he have a pushed 3/5 statline, but he can ready himself once a turn with no restrictions. I can see uses in a ton of decks from GI combos to just a really solid tempo piece in Boba or Cad.

Jayson: Well, not no restrictions, but it’s likely trivial for a lot of decks that would slot him. I do think Toro has got a strong case to be considered the best single aspect Heroism or Villainy unit so far.

Funny how riled up everybody was about Boba as a 3/3/5, huh? Times change.

Justin: It’s kind of mind boggling that Toro ended up with the same stats as Boba (which were already seen as insanely good) with a sometime more relevant ability and only has single aspect Villainy! He’s definitely going to show up in all of your limited games, and I won’t be surprised to see him in basically every villainy deck while the cardpool is small. Solid choice.

wooooo: One of the more pushed units in the game, and not being aspect locked will increase his play rate substantially.

BobbySapphire: I think we were all surprised by Toro and his potential. Card players love pushing interactions like this and the fact that he can go in any villain deck for 3 and be built around heavily or slightly makes him a crowd pleaser even if I’m dubious that a 3 attack ground unit can really take over games

Tyler: Justin, your pick!

Justin: For my 2nd pick, I’m going to take Hero’s 2nd favorite new toy Wrecker. While he doesn’t have quite as much flexibility as Poe, he presents an amazing closing option for hero aggro, and a solid 6 cost target for everything else. With Timely Intervention adding more chances to ECL, he will absolutely end games with a really strong when played ability and big body swinging with overwhelm. What’s not to love about our friend Ralph?

Jayson: I actually nearly took him ahead of Poe. He’s seriously just so, so impactful. Lives up to the name.

wooooo: So chunky. Huge when played effect. Overwhelm. Gonna be meta relevant.

Tyler: So how much of a drawback is his resource deletion?

Justin: Depends on what you’re trying to do! Closing out as aggro? Not really an issue. Other places, it will require more timely usage most likely.

Jayson: I’ve definitely accidentally Wrecker’d away the resource I needed for my Leader deploy in testing. Careful out there, folks…

BobbySapphire: Damn I was really hoping Wrecker would fall to me, he’s absolutely bonkers. He’s got a massive bod, he’s damaging units to kill them or set up his overwhelm, he’s everything I want in a SWU finisher. Great pick!

Tyler: Alright Jayson, did we take what you were looking for?

Jayson: You did, but my plans continue unabated! Y’all suckers want some Overwhelm? Mama says we have Overwhelm at home. I’m personally not convinced at the hesitancy around Maul, Shadow Collective Visionary, and specifically the idea that his prospects are diminished by the slot competition with Vader. I’m grabbing him because having Ambush+Overwhelm in tandem natively is a huge deal, and Maul can rapidly change the game state if a unit is clinging to life when it’s time for him to drop.

Combine that with a color that’s already beautifully set up to ramp and I don’t think the question is whether you pick him or Vader, but rather how many copies of each you pack…and how many games you win because they’re both incredible.

wooooo: Definitely surprised this card wasn’t made a legendary. Due to its cost and color, it will likely forever be compared to Darth Vader, but being compared to the most expensive card in set 1 doesn’t seem to be a bad place to start. The overwhelm ambush combo is certainly going to close out some games, and will be a great top end for more aggressive villain command builds.

BobbySapphire: I love the Maul pick, what a busted card, if I haven’t gushed enough about it yet. Ambush+Overwhelm is just bonkers and getting them both in Maul is silly.

Justin: The overwhelm/ambush combo is what makes Maul especially nasty, but he feels less flexible than Vader which is why I let him slide a few picks. Sometimes you just need to put more butts on the board, and Maul doesn’t do that

Jayson: Don’t diss Patrick Mahomes just because Tom Brady exists! It’s a new era, old man!

Jim: Please don’t call Justin old…makes me feel ancient.

I think this will be a staple in a lot of Villainy decks. The Lurking TIE Phantom is going to prove its worth. Thank goodness a lot of shield love is on the hero side or this might never leave the table. And yes, I know it looks like I am previewing a Yellow Villainy deck, but some others I wanted are picked!

Justin: Lurking Tie Phantom is an interesting one. Nobody can argue the ability is real strong, but it felt like the set 1 meta had a lot of 3 health ships flying around that I won’t be happy to see trading my Tie and living. In the right meta Phantom can be insane, but it can also feel terrible in the wrong one. Jury still out for me on whether or not it sees much competitive play in the set 2 meta.

BobbySapphire: I definitely hope Lurking TIE Phantom is the menace it has the potential to be. Giving a unit those protections really pushes the boundaries of the rules for Unlimited and I think there’s enough counterplay for it to not get out of hand, but is there too much? I’m it sure. It dying to a TIE/LN is a little concerning

wooooo: I think ill need to be convinced more on the TIE. Bricking removal is nice, but most decks simply play units that favorably interact with it. The decks such as villain blue green control, where this should theoretically shine, play cards like inferno four, consortium starviper, and MaO, all which pose problems. I do see it as a sort of silver bullet sideboard cards against some decks.

Jayson: Lurking TIE made me seriously take a second look at Tarkin Yellow, which is about as ringing of an endorsement as I can give. What a cool little ship.

Tyler: I’m also taking a look at Tarkin yellow thanks to the TIE and Triple Dark Raid. I didn’t have the phantom on my list for the draft but it’s definitely a card I’m excited to try!

Jayson: It’s definitely the kind of card that’s capable of asking questions some decks won’t be able to answer. BobbySapphire, what do your elven eyes see?

BobbySapphire: My second pick is going upgrade, because I can take Hot Shot DL-44 Blaster. The DL-44 was my favorite SW Destiny upgrade of all time, and it’s arguably better in Unlimited. This is a new 3x in almost every yellow deck, with it’s smuggle ability making it so we never brick a turn. What a card!

Justin: Absolutely love DL-44 and it was the main competitor to Wrecker for my last pick. Card is just good in so many spots, and the fact that it’s best when smuggled makes it even better. It’s on the short list of Smuggle cards I expect to see everywhere that they can be ran!

Jim: Yeah, some people hate on Smuggle cards but this one is a must!

Tyler: I love the off color smuggle costs. This one in particular with the way it interacts with Gar. Do you actually play this in Red?

Justin: Not nearly as often as Yellow.

wooooo: I’m annoyed it doesn’t show up under yellow cards when I’m deck building on SWUDB, I keep forgetting about it in early theorycrafts. Really powerful tool for decks to have access to.

Tyler: wooooo, next two picks are yours!

wooooo: So I guess I get to take the best leader in the set- Qi’ra. Bonus points, she also has the best showcase.

Anyway, the leader that gets to play half a board wipe for free whenever she wants to seems like a decent control leader. I hear she doesn’t have healing built in, but that tends to matter less when your opponent has no units. If you’d like to hear me monolog about her more, feel free to check out my recent leader tier list video. And if one more person tells me she’s bad because she’s a 4/4…

Justin: I almost troll picked Qi’ra for my 2nd pick just to see how mad wooooo got. I think she’s definitely primedo take over somewhere in the soft vs hard control world within the meta, and she may have the flexibility to be the best at either. It can’t be understated how impactful her leader ability can be throughout the entire game, which is rare on leaders in this game! She does seem like one of the most complex and hard to pilot leaders, but I have no doubt the best of the best will be winning tournaments with her. Great pick!

wooooo: This guy actually thought about hate drafting in this…

Justin: when wooooo spends all day trying to roast me, I gotta take advantage of the few outlets I have for revenge!

Tyler: For the record, I beat Justin running “Tier Yes” Qi’ra/Blue last week with “Tier No” Finn/Green 2-0. We coming for you and your Tier list wooooo!

Still, I don’t question at all that she has an important role to play in the development of Villain Blue control.

Justin: Tyler is the king of taking incredibly high varianced games and preaching them as Gospel for matchups.

Tyler:
Justin win: Matchup Gospel
Tyler win: Random Fluke

I see you!

Justin: That’s totally what happens

Tyler: So wooooo, as the local Qi’ra expert, do you currently lean towards the green or the double blue? And how often and how late do you slip her flip turn?

wooooo: I like Green! And a lot of times, I wait to flip until I can match the opponent’s own flip turn. But that can change if flipping her earlier can establish control.

Jayson: I had Qi’ra right in the middle of my recent Leader tier list video, but that’s mostly just because I’m not sure the time is right. The people who have dismissed her need to dream harder! She’s such a wild build around, and I hope FFG keeps giving us Leaders as bold as her.

Jim: She is a puzzle most people will dismiss, and some players will think they are smart enough to figure her out and fail then to say she isn’t good. People will figure her out and people will try to play those lists that win with her. I agree most people now are discounting her, which is fine if they trade/sell those Showcases cheaply because of it.

ROUND 3

Jayson: Round 3 underway, fellas. Time to get weird. Take it away wooooo!

wooooo: Next up will have to be Darksaber. I think this card is going to be a huge gutcheck on brews looking to enter the meta, sort of a “you have to be this tall to ride” situation. If a deck can’t handle a 6/8 Sabine on t3 before she hits you twice (also known as 14 damage to the dome), then it needs to be reevaluated. It’s not going to be too hard to sequence a turn in such a way to get this attached to Sabine (similar to Wing Leader in that regard).

I’m not sure it will have widespread application outside of a Sabine deck, although it might. But this is going to ask a very specific question, and if your new brew can’t answer it, then back to the drawing board it goes.

Justin: Dang there goes the last card I was considering at my 2nd pick. Not much spice on picks thus far, just good cards getting picked!

Tyler: What you’re saying about being the gatekeeper applies to the other end too. If you don’t have a plan for hard control, you can try again. I wonder how much room for midrange there’s actually going to be between those two extremes.

BobbySapphire: I think Wooooo made two great picks on the turn, certainly two bombs that a lot of people are sleeping on. I think both Qi’ra and Darksaber are meta warping cards and I’m most interested to see if people will be able to beat them with strategy and planning because, right now, they’re catching people with their sleeves down.

Jayson: Darksaber is hot, and I think it goes well beyond Sabine. Upgrades really got a glow up this set.

Jim: I am just worried that they will be too easy to remove from the board. Jury is still out on upgrades for sure.

BobbySapphire: My next pick is one that I think will be ubiquitous across blue control lists in a short time and that’s Supreme Leader Snoke – while he’s not always going to be able to come in and destroy our opponent’s board, he is going to win us a lot of races and present a must-remove finisher that is nigh invulnerable to unit combat. He might end up regarded as the best unit in the entire set when all is said and done.

wooooo: I really like Snoke. He gets through some annoying shielded units and also presents a really difficult barrier for unit based decks. And a perfect play to clean up little guys before playing Avenger.

Tyler: I worry so much about dropping a body that size with all the bounce effects around. But you can’t just not play a great card because bounce exists.

Justin: Snoke is bonkers and will def be a villain control staple. It can be suffocating making all your opponents units weaker and easier to kill. The only question will be does he come out too late to really be the one making the swing, or does he just further help you stabilize?

wooooo: I really like Snoke. He gets through some annoying shielded units and also presents a really difficult barrier for unit based decks. And a perfect play to clean up little guys before playing Avenger.

Jim: I feel like I need to pick a leader, so I’m going to pick Fat Boba. I think he is this set’s Sabine and plays a fast aggro deck well.

Justin: This is the first pick I feel won’t do very well in the Set 2 meta. Boba’s a great leader, and empowering Ambush/Sentinel units is going to be great, but he solidly lives in midrange world for me which I think is going to have a tough time in set 2.

wooooo: I think Hero Boba has some cool plays in a yellow deck where he can ambush all over the curve in both ground and space, while still being able to run Spark of Rebellion for control decks. He does play a pretty fair game though.

Jayson: I really want Hero Boba to be good because he’s exactly my brand of boring. I’m not as down on midrange’s stock as my colleagues are, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if those decks are, like, different flavors of Han and Gar instead of the sort of dedicated midrange folks like Bo-Katan and Hero Boba.

Justin: Villain Boba will still probably be king of midrange world.

Jayson: There’s Justin talking about Set 1 cards again. What a fogey.

BobbySapphire: I agree he’s playing a fair game and that’s magnified by how late he comes out so he’s playing on the back foot in the mid game. I think there are so many green decks that present the green end game states stronger and more efficiently that I don’t know that he’s going to get the call from the bullpen very often.

Tyler: The whole Book of Boba Fett show was a travesty and Hero Boba should not even be a concept.

Justin: Where are you taking us next Jayson?

Jayson: I’m taking y’all to PAIN TOWN BAY-BEEEEEEEEEEEE

RAWRRRRRRRRRR

RAWRRRRRRRrrrrRRrR

Justin: Solid pick, was wondering if Krayt Dragon would make it past the 3rd round. A lot of people were underwhelmed initially, but I think the reveal of Han and Jabba got people more interested in that big boi.

Jayson: GRRRRAWRUHRRRHRHRHRRRRRR

Tyler: Oh yeah, this guy is the closer of closers. If you don’t have removal in hand when it drops, you’re probably losing the game.

Jayson: GRAWRRRAWRRRRRRRHHNNGRRR

(to translate for our readers who do not speak Krayt Dragon, Jayson also wants to remind the class that any removal directed at Krayt Dragon burns them anyway, making him among the safest top end plays in the game)

wooooo: This will be an important card vs control. While most likely too slow to matter vs every archtype, I still think it will be a very relevant card. Also, is that the 4th legendary drafted already? I was told the legends all suck.

Justin: That’s what KTOD told me

Jayson:

Jim: Blue decks will sideboard Imprisoned for dealing with the KD late and then throw down a Superlaser Blast.

BobbySapphire: I love Krayt Dragon, it was a real coin flip for me between it and Snoke. Amazing pick and great card.

Justin: Between a few cards here, so gonna hope a 2nd one swings through Tyler. With my 3rd pick I take 4-LOM, pronounced correctly unlike that wooooo guy on YouTube.

4-LOM fills out a previously weak 4 cost unit spot for villain yellow with solid stats on an ambush unit, with some real cool synergy if you happen to get Zuckuss for the next round.

wooooo: I think this guy will make a big impact if Cad Bane takes off, being able to pseudo ambush for 5 there. And he definitely needs Zuckuss way less than Zuckuss needs him. Also, how do you pronounce this guy’s name?

Jim: LOM like Rom.
https://youtu.be/N5DhNC1kAhw?si=zPoIR1sEWEBOxng7YouTubeHT wordsHow to pronounce 4-lom [Star wars characters ]

wooooo: …aren’t droid names just the letters?

Jim: Yes, but that’s why you see Threepio for 3-PO sometimes. He is 4-L O M, but for short he is 4-LOM.

wooooo: but we don’t call him 3 – PO (pronounced Poe)

Jayson: RARRRRHRHRHNGNGNHRRRRWRRRRR!

Tyler: I’m a big fan of 4-LOM and it’s a good pick. The synergy between him and Zuckuss is real. I wonder if it’s enough to bring Recruit back?

Justin: Recruit got an upgrade in set 2 with Commission.

BobbySapphire: The design of 4LOM and Zuckuss are great and I remain in love with the flavor of this set. I’m a little worried 4/4 ambush will continue to fall flat with me, but add in Bounty Hunter and Underworld and we may have something worth playing heavily.

Tyler: Alright! For the first of my two, I’m going to go with The Client. Being a 2/5 shielded for 3 is pretty good. Giving units Bounty can be pretty good. But repetitively healing your base for FIVE is absolutely broken. I don’t know how Aggro decks are going to survive what control is cooking this meta.

Justin: The Client is a pretty wild card, its hard to think he won’t be meta relevant for a while for blue control decks. Heal on demand each round is just such a powerful tool, and 5 is a lot of it!

Jayson: RAAAAWWRRGNNRRRRRGGRRRRRRRRWWRRRWWRRR
(It is possible we’ll look back on this pick and think this guy slipped in the draft substantially. This is a 3 resource healing engine that usually takes decent effort to remove. Werner Herzog’s gonna take over games if left to his devices. Great call by Tyler.)

wooooo: This guy can pop out with vader too, which is pretty nasty.

BobbySapphire: I’ve been loving the client. I keep adding more and more to my blue lists. We’d be considering otherwise blank 2/5s w a shield.

ROUND 4

Tyler: For my final, and spiciest pick, I’m gonna go with General Rieekan. Initial testing says this guy is a beast. He can make himself a 5/7 sentinel on play with only more upside. There are tons of good sentinels to play in Hero G/B so him doling out experience (that Finn can turn into shields) is no pipe dream.

Justin: It’s a good thing you learned how to say his name correctly! Rieekan is an interesting unit and I suspect will find his way into many hero green decks. Giving Sentinel out each round, while always being fine just sticking it on himself is pretty strong. He’ll be even happier if Steadfast disappears from the set 2 meta.

BobbySapphire: Yeah Rieekan was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. Definitely didn’t expect the unsung hero of the evacuation of Hoth to be as powerful as he is, but his crazy stats and crazy abilities make him a real player in hero ramp.

wooooo: Rieekan does pass the immediate impact test, doing a Gladiator Star Destroyer cosplay. While I don’t see him as a top 20 card, I certainly think he’s good enough to see premiere play.

Justin: He does do it better though, not only being when played!

wooooo: Yeah for sure, just the immediate effect thing is the same and matters a lot on a 6 drop.1

Jayson: RARRRRARAWRRWR
(Don’t take my card, Justin)

Justin: With my final pick, I’m going to be taking Shock Daring Raid! While a 1 cost 2 damage card doesn’t seem like much at first glance, it’s the context of filling out the burn archetype that makes this card really strong. Add in flexibility to potentially defeat an opponents unit that could take out one of yours if not dealt with and it’s a fantastic card to work with for 1 resource.

Tyler: 1 cost cards haven’t had a great run in SWU so far. They generally don’t provide enough bang for buck in a game that starts at 2 resources. Maybe this is the one to break the mold?

wooooo: I’ll be playing Daring Raid a lot. 1 cost is sort of a superpower.

BobbySapphire: Versatility and value, with a lot of upside in any aggro deck dying not to come up short. I’ve already played this card a bunch and have loved it.

Jim: I could have used this in many games with Sabine to finish off an opponent!

BobbySapphire: Now you can!

Jayson: Man. This last pick is so hard. I think there’s a lot of staples still on the board.

Oh, sorry, uh I meant RAAWRRHNGGRRRRR

I’m interested whether I’ll get slammed for this pick, but I’m going with the remaining card that I think has the broadest implications, and that’s Spark of Hope.

Hero’s lack of a dedicated ramp option was a well-documented quirk of the Set 1 meta. It created a situation where the whole Heroism side of the cardpool was pretty disadvantaged when it was time to make something that wasn’t Aggro. Spark of Hope, AKA “Hero SLT”, is here to even things out, and while it has its quirks, I think it has a good chance of being a tremendously relevant card.

Your opponent can absolutely play in ways that make it awkward, something it shares with good old SLT. But selling the farm to avoid letting your opponent trigger their ramp can backfire. In all likelihood, the Hero players units will die, and as compensation, they get to ramp for just 2 bucks. Time may prove me wrong, but for the moment, I think that could be a big deal, and that makes it my final pick.

…I’d have taken Krayt Dragon again if it was allowed in the rules, though.

Jim: That was on my list, as well. It’s a much needed card for Heroism and will keep Cunning Han relevant.

Justin: I considered it too, especially after we just had the talks of hero green ramp. It can be a clunky card at times forcing you into a bad trade if you want to use it, but you’re probablly still happy to be ramping at that point. Glad to see hero finally has similar quantity of options to villain for ramping though.

wooooo: Spark of Hope…I seem to recall a pretty cool person previewed this card.

2 cost ramp is a big deal, and it will fit in to a lot of curves because of that cost. Time will tell if hero ramp will end up being a meta relevant deck, but if it is, it’s surely because Spark of Hope played an important role.

Tyler: That was the last card I had on my list! Solid pick. Excited to right one of the wrongs of the Set 1 meta and give hero some ramp.

Jim: I am cheating/breaking the rules (which won’t surprise Tyler or Justin), and doing something Justin should have done with 4-LOM. My last pick(s) are Rey AND Kylo units.

Literally Everyone: destroys Jim for trying to break the rules and forces him to choose

Jim: Big babies! Fine, I lean a lot more to Rey being useful over Kylo. She is at a great cost in Han blue decks!

Tyler: Now that we have a pick, I’m actually not a huge fan of this one. Her ability is really only good when you’re running lots of non-hero units (i.e. in a villain deck.) Not sure I want to build Kylo/Blue for her.

wooooo: I’m not too high on Rey myself. I am notoriously low on units at the 5+ cost range that either don’t have an immediate impact or a very strong ECL synergy, and Rey doesn’t have either. Maybe she can make an impact in a meta where pure stats can shine more.

Jayson: I’m hopeful Rey will be best in slot in Hero Blue decks at some point. She’s got great stats, the essential Force trait, and a pretty decent ability. I think I can live without her if I don’t pull her in my boxes though.

Justin: Yeah, Rey does little for me. Personally, more excited about Kylo still having good potential with ECL/Green ambush stuff.

BobbySapphire: Alright I’m going to complete the side quest of picking a leader upgrade unit and event by taking Timely Reinforcements (???)

Justin: You actually have to pick a real SWU card

BobbySapphire: I’m drunk- what’s it called

Justin: Timely Intervention.

BobbySapphire: Sure. In my defense I knew it wasn’t that, but I also couldn’t think of the real one. Also, who intervenes? Always reinforce.

Anyway, I love this card as I loved ECL in set 1. Give ANY unit ambush for 1? That’s absolutely nuts, and I think it’s being slept on as a card people don’t want to practice with early on but is absolutely going to warp the meta for the next few months.

wooooo: Poe and Wrecker’s best friend.

Justin: Card is fire, can’t argue with the pick at all, I’m just curious to see where it will feel best given the extra cost that it requires unlike ECL being free

BobbySapphire: I’ll happily pay 1 and the smuggle is just bonus

Tyler: My initial take is the same, but I can’t help but use it less than I thought I would in testing games. We’ll see if that’s something unforeseen in the dynamics of the card or just me grossly misplaying…50/50 ya know?

BobbySapphire: Yeah I’m not sure why I’m seeing so little of it but I think it’s damn good.

Tyler: Part of it might be that there’s just so many fire Ambush units already. (See 4-LOM).

Jayson: I think the biggest issue with Timely Intervention is that it is not a Krayt Dragon. Actually if you look closely there’s not even a Krayt Dragon on the art.

wooooo: With the final pick I’ll be taking Bo-Katan Kryze (the unit).

This is just the best 2 drop in the game now isn’t it? Battlefield Marine on Steroids. I know it’s double red, which will limit it’s overall play rate, but this draft isn’t about play rate, it’s about which cards are best. And Bo Katan is best.

Tyler: Solid pick! She’s a 3x in every double red deck from now until she rotates out.

Jayson: Double red has gotten some interesting stuff in Set 2, but this is the best of them. These kinds of above-curve workhorses are exactly what mono decks need from their exclusive cardpools.

Justin: Yeah, I had considered her but ultimately pushed her a little further down the list to the edge case of deckbuilding. She’s auto in any double red deck, so can’t argue with how good she is!

DRAFT SUMMARY + CONCLUSION

wooooo

1. Bazine Netal
2. Qi’ra (Leader)
3. Darksaber
4. Bo-Katan Kryze (Unit)

Mike

1. Han Solo
2. Hotshot DL-44 Blaster
3. Supreme Leader Snoke (who is ironically not a leader)
4. Timely Intervention

Jim

1. A New Adventure
2. Lurking Tie Phantom
3. Boba Fett (Leader)
4. Rey (Unit)

Jayson

1. Poe Dameron
2. Maul
3. Krayt Dragon
4. Spark of Hope

Justin

1. Relentless Pursuit
2. Wrecker
3. 4-LOM
4. Daring Raid

Tyler

1. Jabba the Hutt (Leader)
2. Toro Calican
3. The Client
4. General Rieekan

Jayson: Well y’all, who’s got some hot takes on cards that were just on the cusp or should have been taken?

Jim: Inspiring Mentor was on my list. I like the bonus it gives. Tyler played that card well in his Finn build.

Tyler: My list was 100% taken!

wooooo: Cassian Andor, Lom Pyke, and Kylo’s TIE are all some more considerations.

Justin: I had those as well along with a couple bounties and Dr Evazan. I also put Mercenary Gunship ahead of Kylo’s TIE for its flexibility.

Jayson: I nearly grabbed Timely Intervention as my list pick. The other one I almost got was Ma Klounkee, which I think is set up to be a star. It’s hard for me to imagine Underworld not getting a steady drip of cards, too. Another set sleeper is Fenn Rau, who is doing an awful lot at his price point. I think the Snapshot Reflexes combo is hilarious.

Tyler: Per tradition- whose list, other than your own, do we like the most?

BobbySapphire: I like Jayson’s team a ton, great picks! Beefy units and ramp, simple formula for success!

Jayson: Gotta go with Bobby’s list as my favorite!

Justin: It would def be Jayson or Bobby’s list for me, both look fantastic.

Tyler: Jayson has my vote!

wooooo: Jayson has the most legendaries so it’s gotta be good. Nice list.

Tyler: Alright crew, final thoughts on the draft?

BobbySapphire: I’m excited for set two and look forward to revisiting this to see how wrong we all were lol!

Jim: Yeah, I believe we were right on the mark with some and hopefully (for me) some picks will prove to be better than we think! Players will always find some cool combo that others miss and that’s what is cool about the community!

Justin: Drafting is fun and I hope this wasn’t the only time I get to draft set 2!

wooooo: Plus you promised the person with the most OP list a case, courtesy of the Garbage Rollers. I do appreciate that very generous gesture.

Justin: Absolutely, I hope you enjoy your case of toothpicks, wooooo!

Jim: What’s your name, wooooo? Don’t know who to address this “case” to.

Jayson: RAWRRRRRRNNGNRRRRR