Meta Snapshot Updates

This was week two of Planetary Qualifiers and we again saw a wide diversity of winners from all over the world! We’re making two changes to the snapshot as a result. Keep reading below to see what they are!

PQ Lyon – Anakin ECL
PQ Abbeville, France – Anakin Blue
PQ Tres Cantos, Spain – Han1 Yellow
PQ Guetersloh, Germany – Mace Blue
PQ Bydgoszcz, Poland – Jango Tarkintown
PQ Brighton, UK – Han1 Blue
PQ Nottingham, UK – Sabine ECL
PQ Copenhagen – Bossk Green
PQ Phoenix, AZ – Anakin Blue
PQ Rochester, NY – Han1 Yellow
PQ Kissimmee, FL – Han1 Yellow
PQ Louisville, KY – Sabine ECL
PQ St Louis, MO – Yoda Red
PQ Genova, Italy – Quinlan Tarkintown
PQ Manchester, NH – Han1 Yellow
PQ Pasadena, CA – Han1 Red
PQ Toronto – Krennic ECL
PQ Santiago – Han1 Yellow
PQ Curitiba, Brazil – Han1 Yellow

The continuing diversity of winners is forcing us to triage the decks coming out of the set three meta. Previously, our criteria for including a deck on the snapshot was: “Did it win a PQ?” And that simple rationale served us well through the set 2 meta where 50% of everything was just Boba. But in the post-Boba world, with a half-dozen new winners seemingly coming at us each week, we have to set a higher bar. Accordingly, we’re going to be looking for either: Won a PQ + >1% of top 8 finishers OR won more than one PQ.

By those new standards, none of this week’s champions warrant snapshot inclusion. This is not to take anything away from their accomplishments! We love deck diversity and certainly want this trend to continue. But we also have to control the size of the snapshot since it’s meant to give players a realistic view of the meta they are likely to encounter at an event.

These new criteria are leading us to remove two decks from the snapshot.

The first we’re removing is Rey/Red. There is a LOT of play right now in the Hero/Blue/Red space as evidenced by the continuing performance of Anakin/Blue and the wins this week by Mace/Blue and Yoda/Red. Turns out Force Throw is really good, eh? Rey, bless her soul, has yet to win a PQ, though. Until she proves herself to be at least equal to the other decks in her class, she’s taking a break.

The second removal is Han1/Green. While Han seemingly has play in all of his colors, and Green has had a respectable 2% play rate in top 8s, Han has yet to win a PQ. Until that happens, we’re going to remove him from the snapshot with the understanding he could win soon and return.

One final note on the meta is the increasingly problematic showings of Han1/Yellow. Take a look at the results of the Rochester, NY PQ. While the results of PQs taken as a whole don’t look this apocalyptic, any deck that can do this seems like one deserving balance. There’s a lot of discussion to be had on what the change should be, but I’d be surprised if the designers didn’t take the opportunity to improve the meta at the end of set 3 by banning DJ since he’s such a powerful (but niche) card.

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I encourage all our readers to also check out SWU Competitive Hub, which does a great job keeping up with tournament results!

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If you’re from the UK, Unlimited Power TCG does a good job keeping up with UK tournaments.

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Thanks for reading! Check out the full Meta Snapshot here. Any decks you’ve been enjoying that aren’t seeing enough love in the meta? Let us know!