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.

Tyler —  Random.org says Mike is up first!

Tyler — I think the player move here is to pick Ruthless Raider

Jayson — I PICKED THAT IN THE SET ONE DRAFT AND THE VINDICATION HAS BEEN ENDLESS

Mike —

Mike — Well, I was expecting to have to do a lot of strategizing, but if there’s any one card from Jump To Lightspeed that I could snuggle to sleep every night it is simply Devastator. One of the most powerful bombs printed thus far, mainly because of its backbreaking interactions with Triple Dark Raid and Sneak Attack, it represents so much damage to base. Without those cards, I might be looking elsewhere at number one, but this is as much of a slam dunk as when the Trailblazers took Greg Oden in ’07, there can’t possibly be another pick to consider here at the top of the first round.

Tyler — Agreed, card is insane all around. Kind of mind bending to think about Jango getting a tool this powerful.

wooooo  — One of the few Legendary cards deserving of that rarity.

Tyler — Shots fired!

wooooo  — Not my fault. I didn’t pick them out.

Justin — The Devastator is nasty, and I keep finding more decks I want to jam it in. I think this had to be the no brainer pick 1.

Tyler — I feel like I’ve got to redeem myself for my set 3 draft, where basically nothing I picked panned out into meta playability. So, for 2nd pick I’ll go with Blue Leader. It’s hard to imagine a card with more flexibility and general utility. I don’t see how every hero green deck doesn’t play at least two of these into perpetuity.

Justin — Interesting pick. Blue leader is far from the splashy card Devastator is, but it makes up for it with flexibility in a solid early/mid-game unit. I expect to play Blue Leader in a lot of decks, but if it turns out to be the 2nd best card of this set, I think we will be finishing up another meta where we played mostly set 1 cards!

Mike — I was a lot higher on Blue Leader before I got some games with it. I think the meta is too dangerous for us to be playing ships that get owned by it and not having a way to deal, and until Tarkintown goes away, early ambush guys just don’t live long. But he’s amazing in terms of his flexibility.

wooooo  — Blue Leader looked crazy on release. I expect a lot of cards on this list are strong in a vacuum, and this one certainly is. I’m not sure if it’ll really pop in what I expect will be a very specific metagame, but it at least has a lot of potential.

Tyler — What do you mean “very specific metagame”? Are we looking at some apocalyptic all-Jango meta?

wooooo  — No spoilers.

Tyler —

Justin — shameless wooooo patreon plug here

Jayson — I’ve gotta go with Han Solo – Has His Moments. It comes down to lane flexibility, the abundance of good Falcons to slot in, and the general feeling that Piloting is a winning trait.

Justin — There’s no doubt plenty of Falcons to be run, and hard to say Han won’t fit into most every hero yellow deck. Stats above curve when piloting AND a pretty nuts ability that action cheats on play? This is one of the other few legendaries I really like in this set

Mike — Han might be the best pilot because of his attack when played ability. It lets you feel less blown out if they do have an answer, since you got your attack in. Great in a pinch on the ground as well.

wooooo  — The floor is high here being a pump / ground ambush split card.

Jim — My first pick will be in the running for one of the top leaders of the set, Admiral Piett, Commanding the Armada. He has a lot of toys and green will have no problem getting out what he needs to swarm the board with multiple threats.

Tyler — His playstyle is going to be very linear, and perhaps that will make him too counter-able, but a minus 2 discount is bonkers

Mike — Tough to straight up counter a running stream of absolute bombs, but most everyone competing this season will have to figure it out because he’s going to be a meta presence from day 1.

Justin — Big space is a problem and Piett does it fast. Curious to see what version of Piett ends up being the best.

wooooo  — Piett is strong. He does the thing.

wooooo  — I can only imagine this card dropped this far because it looks like a draft uncommon and only works with one leader. Alas, here we are. War Juggernaut is insane, full stop. The synergy it has with Jango is frankly, ridiculous, and in conjunction with two other releases this set that are pushed with Jango (one which was the number 1 overall pick, and one that will likely get picked shortly), pushes him to a comical power level.

This might be more of a critique on Jango than it is an indictment of War Juggernaut, but I’m not entirely sure how multiple units with the ability to exhaust an entire board with Jango’s ability got through the design and testing process in their current form. In a game where the primary mode of interacting is by attacking with units, War Juggernaut says nope to your hopes and dreams. Being a vehicle also means Triple Dark Raid will go fetch this, and then your opponent can also add 9 damage to their base while all their units sit around and watch.

Why does this also ping space units? Why can it ping itself? Why can Jango exhaust your whole board with one card? Why why why…

Jim — I agree 100%! I feel there are a few uncommons in this set that are good, but when you pair this with Jango it’s exactly as you said. I also feel this will be a value unit in Twin Suns, as well. Great pick!

Mike — Yeah, the only being great in one deck is why it isn’t on my draft board at all. For these drafts I try and pick things more globally amazing. But for what it’s worth, I think War Juggernaut is the most egregious design of a card we’ve seen in Star Wars Unlimited thus far. I expect either it or Jango will be banned for worlds. Maybe both.

Tyler — Oh man, now yall have me really scared. I thought we’d have a shot against Jango.

There’s going to be a high premium on being able to one-shot 7 health leaders again. Welcome back to the Steadfast Battalion meta.

Oh, and BTW, why even have token units when War Juggernaut exists?

Mike — If you’ve got a line on beating Jango I’ll happily pay you for it.

Jayson— Some of the top end lines for Jango feel at least somewhat telegraphed, which might help to a point, but at this point there are just so many potent plays available. I sincerely hope Wooooo’s pick is an overreaction, and if it isn’t, that action is taken quickly. Boba got deaded because of insurmountable efficiency. His Daddy might need deaded because of insurmountable tempo

Justin— Glad wooooo picked the Jugg, I felt like I too was going to have to pick it due to how insane it plays in Jango. The card is fun and okay otherwise, but approaches what were the devs play testing in Jango specifically. Whoever can crack control early in the meta to eat Jango will probably be in a good place to win some events!

Tyler — Justin, next two picks are yours!

Justin— My first pick is purely a value pick. I’m going with Luke Skywalker, You Still With Me?. A 3/2 upgrade for 2 is already above curve, then we add in the bonus of it deploys as a unit when defeated? Value town baby!

Jayson— I love this card. I’m super high on it and it’s the kind of card I gravitate towards in every game I’ve played. Lane tactics are gonna be a whole new headspace in this set.

Mike — This is another card I’m way higher on now that I’ve played with it a bunch. We all know that piloting can get totally blown out by various counters, but Luke makes those counters legitimately bad plays, and I love that counterplay. Also shout out to this being the best spoiler KTOD has gotten!

Tyler — Gotta call out the synergy with his lightsaber too. We said back in the set 1 draft that Luke’s Saber would make the 6 Luke deck way better than the 6 Vader deck- well here we are.

Mike — Yes, I love the lightsaber here, because you get the action priority when Luke jumps out of a vehicle our opponent doesn’t have an opportunity to take him out before he grabs his lightsaber and shields up!

wooooo  — Luke is great. I like this kind of value play. I wonder if Force trait in Green will end up mattering at some point.

Justin— With my first pick of Round 2, I’m going to take my boy Kazuda Xiono. Ramp and effects that break the game generally are some of the stronger effects in a TCG, and Kaz somewhat does both allowing units that were overstatted due to negative abilities by turning off the negative ability. What may be busted is how he breaks the negative effects on pump cards like Heroic Sacrifice and Trench Run. Kaz will only get better as we see more cards hit that play well into his ability. And that’s not even mentioning he’s another 4 deploy leader!

Mike — Wow… I wonder if Justin pulling a Kaz showcase had anything to do with this pick

Tyler — Kaz certainly seems nutty. Anxious to see him on the table.

wooooo  — Kaz is a great leader. When he gets to attack…

Tyler — Man, I was not prepared for this level of doom and gloom from wooooo . Has me shook.

wooooo  — I can’t believe you’re all making me do this. I guess you can have your fun picking the new flashy stuff and I’ll just take the clearly broken stuff. IG-2000 is the pick. Not going to give a full write up here. Refer back to my previous dissertation and change up a few words and you should get the point.

Justin— I wanted to let you be the guy that picked the Jango cards.

wooooo  — I was hoping we’d get them out of the way in the first few picks so that I could pick fun stuff too!

Tyler — I know you’re all Panic! At the Jango, but aren’t these interactions dependent on the actual leader staying out? If there’s one thing I know about SWU, it’s that I can’t count on my leader to stay alive.

wooooo  — They are still good cards when he’s dead. And he’s a 7 health 5R flip leader.

Mike — I think this guy is a bit better than your Juggernaut pick because it’s way less narrow, this guy is good in a number of decks. I think he’s a major player.

wooooo  —I agree it can see play in more than one deck, but at least for me, the pure power of Juggernaut in Jango is far and away the best thing the new set has to offer.

Jim —For my second pick, I am taking Sabine’s Masterpiece, Crazy Colorful. While the theme is to have it in a Spectre deck obviously, it benefits all colors. I think it will easily slide into most decks and be productive.

Mike — It might single handedly make Hera decks work, it’s so much better than I originally thought. Which is the theme of these picks for me! haha

Jayson— That Yellow effect is nasty. I’m excited to see if this gets play outside of the poor, poor souls who never lost hope in Hera. I wish them the best.

Tyler — Being Hero gives it a lot of versatility too! Excited to see it play.

Justin— Sabine’s Masterpiece is nuts, I fully expect it to slot into most every hero deck, was almost my 2nd pick.

wooooo  — Sabine’s Masterpiece falls in a large bucket of card designs – units with lots of relevent text but below rate stats. I have largely been low on this style of card, as stats are still king when it comes to playability on cards. I think outside of pairing this card with ECL, it likely won’t get too much airtime.

Jayson— I think it’s possible that by the time things wheel back the Leaders I feel best about will be off the board, so I’m gonna grab Luke Skywalker – Hero Of Yavin and feel real good about it.

Luke is cracked. You don’t love him as a blank ground unit, but 6/5/6 ain’t small potatoes in a pinch, and his ceiling if you can’t deal with him in the ship is nutty. Meanwhile, his front side is free damage with a pretty easy hoop. We love low floors and high ceilings, especially in a Leader.

Jim — I agree and he would have been my first leader to pick too, but felt Piett was going to change the meta in a different way. Luke is a different style of Sabine and maybe faster, so players will get used to his deck quicker than say Piett. I think he is solid leader and deserves to be picked 3^rd.

Justin— I really want to like Luke, but 6 cost leaders has been a tough spot to play for the most part.

Tyler — Luke in double red has felt like a lot of fun- nothing the meta needs like another Tarkintown leader.

Mike — I hesitate to believe in Luke, he doesn’t seem that much better than Bo Katan leader was and she is ostensibly non-existent. Until Bamboozle rotates out of premier I don’t expect Luke to take off. After that though…

Jim — I think the fighter trait has better options to satisfy than the Mandalorian trait, but I see your criticism.

wooooo  — Luke is an interesting pilot – he got the magic text that makes him exempt from non-bamboozle upgrade hate. I wanted to start bullish on him, but I still think 6 cost leaders aren’t in a great spot. I agree with Tyler that Tarkintown is the first place I’d look when building this leader.

Jayson — As another word in his defense, flexibility is part of why so many Piloting cards have so much appeal. Having that flexibility with an insurance policy and with solid numbers is why I think Luke will push through.

Mike — Fighter is a good trait with a lot of great unit options, but none of them buff Mandos like some of the Mando support cards, so I see it better in some ways and worse in others. I think piloting leaders are inherently very strong so he can do some busted things on flip, and the common ways to deal with pilots won’t work so he might just end up a ridiculous monster.

Tyler — Next up, I’m gonna grab Ahsoka Tano. Solid stats, great ability and plenty of synergy with cards we already use and love like Force Throw.

Mike — Great pick, and a back-breaking addition to a meta that already has powerful decks that love more discard and force units in Heroic Cunning

wooooo  — Ahsoka is fantastic. I really like that it frontloads the discard, and having a force trait fits so well in the yellow/red force throw builds.

Justin — Ahsoka does a lot of things well in hero yellow that I want to be doing, def expect to see her a lot.

Tyler — Mike the next two picks are yours!

Mike — Ooooo baby okay. I had to hold my breath through the last couple worried people would take my stuff. I am most hyped to take with my #2 pick, one of — if not THE best two drop ever printed: Director Krennic. This guy is straight up crazy, he’s the 2/2 shielded we’ve come to rely on in our early curve, but he straight up lets you make insane plays dropping cards early. Greedo and First Order Stormtrooper come out FOR FREE turn one with Krennic. We can drop some very choice capital ships like Fleet Interdictor, CR90 Relief Runner, and Annihilator early, some even earlier with Admiral Piett. He allows for some fun and interesting deckbuilding choices that really shine through on the table, I absolutely love this guy.

Justin — dang, I was really hoping he would wheel

Mike —

Justin — It’s crazy to me Krennic is a Crafty Smuggler with an insane ability attached. Like Crafty is already a pretty good 2 drop, and somehow Krennic exists! Obviously, he’ll be insane in Thrawn, but I have a hard time not seeing him played in a lot of villain blue just to get units out a round earlier.

Tyler — Yeah, he’s 3x in Villain blue from here on out. And they’re only going to print more units that key on his ability.

Y’all haven’t lived until you’ve leveraged him to play a Battle Droid Legion for 4 and then Thrawn’d your way into 6 Battle Droids

Mike —

wooooo  — Will never say no to more Crafty Smugglers. Gar loving shields for days too.

Jayson — I adore Krennic. Nearly took him.

Mike — With my third pick, I’m keeping it in the Vigilance Shielded family and taking Iden Versio, Adapt or Die and I’ll leave the choice up to her, I’ll follow her as far as she’ll let me and she can end me when she’s done with me. I never knew I needed a 4/3 Shielded 4 drop in my life, but she has done so much work in the early testing for this set both in the ground arena, and shielding up a space vehicle to create a ridiculous unkillable bomb that has my opponents ready to flip the table. Plus, her interaction with Corvus picking her up and letting her shield it is just some of the most fun and spot on design this game has seen, and they’ve been pretty great at nailing the feel of Star Wars and how it translates to gameplay, this card is 10/10 perfect design.

Tyler — Had Iden on my list too. She’s fantastic!

Piett:
R2: Outlaw Corona
R3: Iden

That’s a 6/8 shielded unit ready to strike🫠

Justin — Iden was also high on my list of pilots that are statted well and do awesome things! Great pick for sure

wooooo  — It also leaves behind some value through upgrade hate, which is pretty relevant.

Mike — I also just got wrecked by iden at my pre-release right after I resourced a Kwing. Dang best of ones!

Tyler — For my next pick,I’ve gotta go with Chewbacca, Faithful First Mate. He’s a boss of a pilot and a downright good unit. He might be the most punishing round 2 play in the game. There’re obvious applications for aggro, but I think he could be a strong control play as well on something like a Bright Hope.

Justin— Another baller pilot, hard to argue with the pick

wooooo  — I think it’s a very good card and also a design I’m not a fan of. I don’t like brute forcing non-interaction in to games, especially when they create non-games as early as Turn 2.

Mike — I love this card. I need to test it more. Unlike Wooooo, this is the kind of design I absolutely love and am hyped to delve into.

Jayson — He was next on my list! Piloting really seems like it’s gonna be a winner

Jayson — I’m gonna take a chance on my next pick and pick a card because of almighty STATS. Stolen AT Hauler has downsides, to be sure, but there are so many ways for the player who slots it to mitigate those downsides, not least of which is our new buddy Kaz. It’s a little less universally applicable than the kinds of cards I normally like to grab in these drafts, but I believe the ceiling here will take it places. It’s just so big for the cost.

Justin — I like cards with better stats and a downside, especially when we can mitigate or eliminate the downside! I think this is for sure one of the few really interesting legendaries this set, and I’m also real bummed i only opened 1. Thankfully Tyler can trade me 2!

Mike — I love this card and I love cunning cards that can be stolen because I love having more reasons to play A New Adventure to get them back!

Tyler — A card with bigger upside/downside will always be more fun than a simple effective one. Stolen AT is a deckbuilder’s puzzle that will keep everyone busy.

wooooo  — I’m liking this card a lot with Kaz right now. It’s one of the better Legendary cards in the set.

Jim —Next, I’m picking Planetary Bombardment. I like the extra damage it provides easily in Piett decks and can work in Jango too (I don’t it doesn’t proc his ability). While it’s basically 2 Open Fires, with an Outlaw Corona out the 12 damage seems a little crazy.

Tyler — It’s obviously a lot of damage. And with Devastator it’s a complete board wipe. Don’t think its range of use is going to be as wide as we initially thought tho

Justin — What Tyler said. Card is real good where it fits, but not sure we’ll see it much otherwise. This card benefits from capital ships having good staying power on the board

wooooo  — Burnnnnnnnnnnn

Justin — One day we will have enough burn cards… one day

Jim — That’s okay, I think only Mike agreed with me about the Lurking TIE Phantom when I picked that one back when.

Tyler — Oh, I’m not saying this is a bad pick at all. Powerful effect that doesn’t really exist anywhere else in the game

Mike — And I’m with you on this one too! I love this card and was planning to pick it this round but last minute swapped to Iden. 8 damage is crazy, 12 damage is bonkers. Love the pick.

wooooo  — Alrighty, I can finally pick a card that isn’t good in Jango! With my 3rd pick I’m going with one that I think has potential to unlock a whole new way to build decks. I’m taking Colossus. 35 Health is a lot. I think we’ve only scratched the surface so far when it comes to the new high HP bases (the green one is also interesting). It became apparent pretty earlier that the 5 HP between the 25 and 30 HP bases made a pretty big difference, and now we have one that goes even further. I think it will take some time to find the right leader and build to support these new high health bases, but there’s a good chance they end up reshaping how we think about deck building.

Jim — I am still messing around with it, but an early Aphra build works well with it.

Justin — Ugh I hate the colossus, 35 is such a big number. It may not have immediate impact on the meta (though I won’t be surprised if it does), but it will surely be a staple in some control archetypes moving forward.  And we’ve got 2 full years of it coming up in premier!

Jayson — I wonder if 35 is enough in a game that gets faster all the time. I do think this is the most interesting of the new Rare bases.

Mike — Man, have we ever picked a base before? I will say it’s a pain in the butt getting to 35 hp, but I like cards too much to play too much of this card lol

Tyler — So much of the reveals for this set have been “OMG why is FFG making Aggro so crazy?” – part of me wonders if all those tools will be countered by this. Control doesn’t need a bunch of new cards to stay relevant if it gets one amazing one.

Justin — There’s a whole lot of cards I want to pick at this point. I dont think I’m going to lean in as hard as wooooo did on picking a card thats broken in only 1 deck, but I will pick one that has somewhat good value outside of the deck it’s good in! That pick is the Fireball. A 2 cost 3/3 ambush ship that can trade into everything round 1 is decent on its own. Add that even outside of Kaz it can still do a 2 for 1 on those pesky Green Squadron A-wings that just never seem to leave the meta and we’re cooking. Add in the removal of the consequence with Kaz and what’s not to love?

Tyler — Can’t really argue with the pick, the drawback isn’t there when you’re in Kaz and worst case scenario it’s a space version of Cloud Rider.

Mike — This is a great card for Kaz, it clears the way for space and makes an opponent deal with it. Like most cards, I’m worried about it in a ping/Tarkintown meta, but at least this takes another card with it so you end up getting a lot of value by making opponent’s deal with it.

Jayson — Fireball seems like a staple for decks who need what it brings and can mitigate the downside. There’s also a lot of decks that can straight lose to an early space snowball, and Fireball might prove a potent sideboard option to keep things on that side from getting out of hand

wooooo  — While it probably won’t see crazy amounts of play outside of Kaz, it’s pretty crazy with him. One of the most pushed T1 plays possible.

Justin — There’s still plenty of value pilots to be taken, but instead I’ll close out my last pick by doing something I don’t love by taking a second leader. He may not be as bonkers as the first version, but Boba Fett, Any Methods Necessary is pretty dang good! Indirect damage in Star Wars Destiny always had some pushed cards you could throw in decks, and I have a strong feeling Boba is the leader that will push that archetype in SWU.

Jayson — It’s such a splashy on-play effect that you have to imagine he’ll see play. A lot of the counterplay to these piloting cards with high ceilings is “kill ships on sight” and that line is just so out of touch with how games in SWU are traditionally played. Most decks aren’t prepared to do that, and the ones that can have to make compromises. That should mean cards like Boba have a chance to really be felt in the meta, because there’s just no way you can always stop him from doing his thing.

Mike — To be fair I love Boba Leader, I bought some hyper Firesprays yesterday, and it’s by far the leader I’ve worked the most on from Set 4. I love me some burn and I’m trying to make it happen with cards like Torpedo Barrage and Planetary Bombardment so I’m all for this pick. I love his flip ability cleaning up the board, I thought it wouldn’t be as good as it is but it’s strong.

Jim — Having a unit that has a built in OB is crazy.

wooooo  — I traded for a Boba showcase two days ago.

Tyler — Uh oh

Jango/Boba about to make warping the SWU meta a family business

wooooo  — Well, I went with a lot of cards that are good in Jango, so I may pick one that’s actually good against him. I’m going with Commandeer. While I think this card may ebb and flow out of metagames during its lifespan, the fact of the matter is that currently, against what is widely perceived to be the best deck going in to set 4, it’s a standout. I can see this card being in a lot of yellow decks moving forward due to it’s power level against things such as War Juggernaut, Ruthless Raider, and other stand out ships. It’s a shame though, that once again, yellow gets all the answers.

Tyler — I’ve tried main-decking this one and haven’t had much luck so far, but maybe Jango will turn out to be so dominant that it can graduate from sideboard.

Mike — If Jango can be stopped, it starts and ends with this card. It’s going to be weird that if people play it, they will beat Jango but if they don’t then they may cut it, and then lose. It’s a metagame card for sure.

Tyler — Gotta shout this out as a Dooku combo piece tho. Exploiting a stolen unit is so sweet

Jim — Last pick….man, there are a few more I would like to take! I have a grouping of cards I love like Electromagnetic Pulse, Shoot Down, and Heartless Tactics that all give more than one benefit, there are a few pilots I love like Biggs Darklighter and Dengar. There are some neat combo cards like Close the Shield Gate and finally trying to get Galactic Ambitions to work or AT-DP with Jango or Mace (of course probably only the former), and something easy and simple like Salvage to get back a Falcon (set 1). But I digress. I’ll take a card that should function like a set 1 Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist and take Black One, Straight At Them. Same cost, pretty easy +1 feature and works great with Poe. Should be a lot more playable than Anakin’s Interceptor.

Tyler — I wonder how dependent this card is going to be on the Poe leader. I tried playing this outside that build last night and got wrecked. There are just so many ways to punish at 2/3- even in space.

So, the question becomes, will Poe be meta?

Jim — Right now he has the highest valued Showcase on TCG

Mike — Having a cheap enabler like Black One will certainly help, especially when you can follow it up with Red 5.

Jayson — The little BB-8/Black One/Poe engine is cool, I hope it pops off. I think BB-8 is my favorite piece of that puzzle in a vacuum.

wooooo  — Flying Sabine is definitely interested. It’s certainly hero locked to an extent, but will be strong if Poe is viable.

Justin — Black one is a decent enough unit that it doesn’t entirely have to be run in Poe, but that is where it will shine brightest. Cool card, cool effect, whats not to love.

Jayson — There’s some really flashy cards on the table here, and while it’s tempting to score points with the peanut gallery by taking yet another big-name character, I’m going to go with my gut, play the long game, and grab Dogfight.

I think the most salient point I’ve seen against Dogfight is that sometimes it’s a slightly worse Timely Intervention. While I think that’s overly reductive to begin with, I also think it’s a backhanded compliment- Timely Intervention is still a super relevant card that shows up at top tables all the time. Extra triggers of potent on attack effects are great. Not having to choose between hitting base or removing a threat with your best unit is great. Taking advantage of your opponent thinking that unit you just played can’t hurt them this round is great. The card is cheap, flexible, and its ceiling is potentially game winning. That’s the exact formula that has historically put events in the competitive tier. I believe we’re gonna see a ton of this card in a variety of shells.

Tyler — Anakin approves 🦾

Justin — At 1 cost, I’m sure there will be places this card fits with overwhelm in mind especially.

wooooo  — It looks like an interesting utility card. I’m not yet certain what its main application will be.

Mike — This is probably the first time I’ve had to look up a card for the draft 🙂 I do think it’s pretty spicy in Anakin and love the idea of controlling the board for just one resource.

Tyler — With the penultimate pick, I’m gonna go with Darth Vader, Scourge of Squadrons. Much like Mike’s Iden pick earlier, this is a 3-cost upgrade with serious upside. His ping ability has great utility in Jango, and I’ve been liking it in Thrawn as well. He’s also a beefy 7/7 for 6 on the ground that could be a potent Eject play if there was a red/green villain build that wanted it.

Jayson — Nearly took him myself. That would have been the crowd favorite pick 😂 I think he’s versatile for sure, but I worry if a blank 6/7/7 is really enough for that versatility to matter on the ground.

Mike — I was way too hard on this guy in my Legendary Buying Guide, these pilots have proven that when they can’t be answered on turn 2 they become real problems for opponents, especially monsters like Vader

Justin — Love Vader. He’s def one of the weaker unit versions of a pilot having no text, but its made up with raw stats. Like Mike said, Big pilots are doing a lot of what Darksaber did for Sabine in set 2 of just winning games when your opponent couldn’t answer it. Power of the Darkside and Merciless Contest stonks are def up right now.

Jim — I loved having these big pilots work well in early games. I hate seeing Waylay and other cards bounce them, exhaust them, or remove them. But that makes the deck-building more fun!

wooooo  — I think I’m still pretty concerned with piloting in general when some of the best decks (or all of the best decks) play main deck blow outs.

Tyler — Alright Mike , last pick!

Mike — Well, I can’t believe I’m going to go this whole draft without taking a yellow card, but I never would’ve guessed I’d have taken three blue! With my last pick I’m taking an event that I think the game desperately needs, and that’s No Glory, Only Results. There are so many problematic units to deal with in this set, and so many ways to avoid the “normal” ways of taking something out. NGOR gets around pesky cards like Chewbacca Pilot and Lurking TIE Phantom plus lets us get the When Defeated trigger on cards like Ruthless Raider for even more value.

Tyler — Solid pick! I like this card a lot. It’s super reliable and has great synergy with Thrawn. Bummed that Hero Blue didn’t get something equivalently good this set.

Justin — Vanquish with more potential upside, I’m a fan!

wooooo  — No Glory would have made a massive difference in the last meta. Ruthless Raider was the bane of blue control decks. We shall see if it’s enough of an upgrade going forward.

Justin — So who ended up with the best team?

Picks by Team

wooooo

War Jugg

IG-2000

Colossus

Commandeer

Jayson

Han Solo (Pilot)

Luke Skywalker (Leader)

Stolen AT Hauler

Dogfight

Mike

Devastator

Director Krennic

Iden Versio

No Glory, Only Results

Tyler

Blue Leader

Ahsoka

Chewbacca

Vader (Pilot)

Jim

Admiral Piett

Sabine’s Masterpiece

Planetary Bombardment

Black One

Justin

Luke Skywalker (Pilot)

Kaz

Fireball

Boba Fett (Leader)

Mike — I like my Aggression/Vigilance control deck 🙂 I also like what Jim has cooking. Woooo’s Jango list is strong too!

wooooo  — Not just Jango, It’s also the Jango counter!

Mike —

Tyler — I’m already feeling my physiology revolting against Kaz and Jango, so I’m gonna go with Mikes list. Way more my style.

Jim — Overall, I like Mike’s list, as well. I am a fan of a lot of the cards we have picked here and I can’t wait to see over the next few months how they stack up out in the meta!

Jayson — I think Mike really nailed the best card in the set correctly, and then grabbed two bangers right after that. The luxuries of picking first! Can’t argue with his list. But just y’all wait…I’m right about Dogfight!

Tyler — Any final thoughts on the draft?

This certainly felt like a more target-rich environment than last set.

Justin — Than the last 2 sets, to be honest.

Jayson —  I’m happy to know that we’ll be playing with JTL cards for the next two years, and in the best possible way. It looks to me like the design team had that in mind.

Justin — Curious to see if this set feels even better after rotation

Mike — I think it’s a really great set. My issues all stem from peripherals of the meta and the legendary cards being weak overall. I just want better mechanics and better leaders so that not every game is just making value plays.

Justin —