Today, we’re rolling out our first Meta Snapshot for Star Wars: Unlimited constructed play incorporating Set 5, Legends of the Force. 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 5. 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 4.

This edition of the snapshot is hopefully the most stable we’ve ever released. The lessons of a full year of SWU are that: A) Not more than a couple leaders make the snapshot from any new set- and B) the old archetypes aren’t going anywhere.

Who’s Sticking Around?

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

Let’s start with aggro. While the form it takes will morph to accommodate the new set, Sabine/Green is still a force, and we’d be fools to discount her. She has the ability to run a space-first build that sidesteps the new Force-wielding obstacles on the ground- namely Chirrut. Vader is also primed to increase his meta share as the premiere space aggro deck. The ability to bypass the ground-pound decks leveraging the Force isn’t a new tool for Vader perse, but it is an advantage in the new meta.

Many of the midrange and tempo leaders from the last set are also coming back. All of them get new tools to leverage and Legends failed to produce serious competition for their slots in terms of new leader archetypes. What level of success these tried-and-true retreads will have remains to be seen, but you can be confident they’ll hold a significant share of the meta.

Finally, the effectiveness and reach of midrange decks has kinda gone off the deep end with the addition of cards like Ki-Adi-Mundi and Kelleran Beq. That doesn’t mean there won’t be a control/ramp solution to be found, and that a significant percentage of players won’t gravitate to those decks. As such, we’re retaining Qi’Ra/Green and Palpatine/Yellow which were staples of the previous meta.

Who’s Fallen Off?

Rey/Data Vault is a solid deck- and it will continue to be played. However, it’s the sense of our team that the other midrange hero decks- Han2/Han1/Anakin – got more tools to leverage this set. As such, we’re ranking those decks above her until if and when she proves her worth again.

What hard control looks like in a world of endless Force Throws, Kelleran Beqs and Ki-Adi-Mundis is a very open question. If this archetype is all about 1-for-1 removal, how does it function when an opposing Han2 deck can easily flood the board AND replenish its hand quickly? Since we don’t know- Bossk/Blue comes off. The designers made it an explicit goal for year 2 of SWU to push us all towards playing midrange builds. Perhaps they’ve succeeded this set?

Han2,
Han Blue.
Han will,
Break through.

Han2 is set to have a monster meta. There’s an argument to be made that all of his color combinations are meta competitive, but Blue seems to be the pairing everyone’s hooked on. This deck has the best available Force unit lineup featuring Grogu, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Mace Windu, and Luke. There’s even Bendu lurking in the late game. If we had to pick a deck to have the largest percentage of the meta at the Galactic Championship, it would be this one.

Who’s New to the Scene?

With aggro necessarily shifting to space, Poe Dameron has an opportunity to shine. This deck presents early-game space aggro threats, with a side of ECL’d Poe/Wrecker, and adds a spicy new combo with Yoda’s Lightsaber. Since the saber only costs 2, you can attach it to Poe on his flip, making him a 7/7 who can then swing twice with a timely BB-8 play. Given their tight play lines, it can only take a single combo to put an aggro deck over the edge- this might just be it for Poe.

Mother Talzin is the best new leader from Legends of the Force and the only viable Force deck in villainy. Her build has excellent tools for controlling the mid-game board like Talzin’s Assassin and Darth Tyrannus. Combined with her leader ability, she can typically produce a favorable boardstate in the 5-6 resource range and push for victory.

Finally, we always reserve the right to make a speculative pick from the new meta and Kylo Ren is the man for Legends. The version we’re adding today is a green ECL build that can leverage the power of Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader. However, there are more combo-y builds involving OTKs with Snapshot Reflexes and we want to use this roster spot to capture the off chance that one of them proves durable enough to compete.

What’s on the Watch List?

A couple we have our eyes on here are Gar Saxon, who got a lot of set 5 ammunition after getting a ton in set 4; Chancellor Palpatine who got the new Loth Wolf and Anakin Skywalker to help stabilize; and Thrawn with some interesting combo potential with the new Legacy Run. More testing to be done on all of them!

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We’ll be updating the Set 5 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.