Today, we’re rolling out our first Meta Snapshot for Star Wars: Unlimited constructed play incorporating Set 3, Twilight of the Republic. We’re really excited about this moment as it’s the culmination of weeks of work by our team to play and learn as much as we can about Set 3. If you want to skip straight to the list, you’ll find it permanently on our website here. Otherwise, stick around for a summary of the changes from Set 3.

This edition of the tier list is probably the most speculative we’ve ever done since it comes on the heels of FFG banning Boba Fett, Collecting the Bounty who was occupying four meta slots and the commanding heights of both our midrange and tempo lanes. Could we delay and get more data? Sure. Would that be fun? Not really. As such, we’re gonna do our best to take educated guesses about where the meta is heading.

Who’s Sticking Around?

Several staples of the previous meta aren’t going anywhere.

First, Sabine is still the queen of Aggro, where both the Green and Yellow versions reside. Sabine/Green was a staple of the set 1 and set 2 metas and seems only poised to increase in power with the exit of Boba from the meta. It also received two additional power cards in set 3 – Jyn Erso and Jesse.

With the shift to set 3, Sabine/Yellow is also joining the snapshot. Hero Yellow might have gotten the best new cards in this set, namely R2D2 and Plo Koon. Given the yellow version of Sabine was already fringe playable in Set 2, it’s hard not to see how, armed with new cards and in a Boba-less world, it will become a more consistently real Aggro player. It also has the advantage of a good matchup against, as luck would have it, Sabine Green.

Second, Han Solo is set to get serious play in both his Yellow and Green iterations. Both had success at major events in Set 2, but didn’t reach a very high play rate, because the public justifiably viewed Han as hard to pilot and vulnerable to Boba. With his worst matchup now removed and the archetype more established, Han is set to take off in popularity and power. He also benefits from the same aforementioned Yellow Hero power cards as well as tech tools like Clear the Field and B1 Security Team.

Third, two similar midrange staples of Set 2 are remaining in place- Rey/Red and Han2/Blue. Both decks use a similar blend of maindeck cards to leverage efficient units like Poe and Luke while employing Force Throw, K-2S0, and Pillage to control the opponent’s hand. We waffled on which was the better version in the Set 2 meta, but are keeping both on the snapshot for now. It could be that one definitively takes the “best Force Throw deck” crown, or they both could lose it to another build.

Finally, several of the control staples of the previous meta are staying on the snapshot until we have more results. We expect all control archetypes to suffer with the rise of Sabine and Han on the quicker end of the spectrum and the switch to a new, unsolved meta. However, we believe Qi’Ra, Bossk and Iden all have sufficient play into those aggro/tempo decks to maintain their position. This is an area we’re watching closely and will re-evaluate if needed.

Who’s Fallen Off?

With Boba’s exit, there’s one leader who suffers the most: Palpatine. With disappointing PQ results, we were already wondering if he had what it took to compete. Now, with his best midrange prey removed and Sabine and Han ascendant, there doesn’t look to be space for an 8-deploy leader.

Who’s New to the Scene?

Boba’s exit from the meta has allowed several leaders, both old and new, to join the meta.

First is Cad Bane. Another leader who was fringe playable in Set 2, Cad is set to take a big step out of Boba’s shadow. While he’s got play in all colors, we’re adding Cad/Red to the snapshot in the midrange lane for our initial list. The ability to free ping a unit, and immediately clear it with Tarkintown, gives Cad/Red a solid early game, which he backs up with a formidable troop of bounty hunters in the midgame.

Second, the Triple Dark Raid archetype isn’t going anywhere, but it is getting a new leader- Jango Fett. His red version leverages all the same tools Boba/Red did in Set 2 with the addition of a powerful exhausting function that P38 Starfighter and Ruthless Raider can take natural advantage of. This build has already won a Store Showdown and is among the scariest things we’ve personally tested, so we’re high on Jango’s chances of being around for a minute.

Third, Quinlan Vos has had a lot of pre-release buzz, and we think it’s justified. Quinlan is a well-statted 5-drop leader with useful keywords. His ability has much the same power as Fat Boba did in Set 2, allowing units to ambush in with one additional power and relentlessly trade up. Our only trepidation about Quinlan is that he competes in the same color space as Han1/Green and the community may eventually decide that Han has more upside. Until the debate is settled, we’re keeping both on the snapshot.

Fourth, we’re excited about Yoda! While he suffers from some of the same problems as Emperor Palpatine, we think he has two advantages that could make him relevant. The first, and most obvious, it that he deploys a turn sooner – with very similar stats and abilities. The second is that he can be played as a mono-blue build that has waaaay more play into Sabine than Palp does. While Green or even Yellow may turn out to be the best Yoda pairing, we’re going with Blue in our initial cut.

Finally, Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious is the hardest-to-predict leader that FFG has ever released in terms of power level. There’s just a lot of moving pieces. However, our initial testing suggests that a Blue version of him, that seeks to prolong the game and flip as many times as possible, could be a force in the hard control lane.

What’s on the Watch List?

The cardpool and leader combinations for Set 3 will be even broader than Set 2, so it’s fully possible that a deck we haven’t seen much of in testing creeps up as the meta develops. A short list of possibilities include: Grand Inquisitor combo decks, Bossk/Green midrange, Luke/Green midrange and Kylo Ren aggro.

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We’ll be updating the Set 3 meta snapshot periodically in our Meta Monday updates. Come back 0800 (US Central time) each Monday to see who won tournaments that weekend and what decks we’re moving up and down as the meta develops.

Thanks for reading! Check out the full Meta Snapshot here.