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, from maindeck cards- so no leaders or bases this time. 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 is here along with our Garbage Roller compatriots Stephen @rukmedes and Scott @Dekrum, PLUS special guests Mike Gemme @BobbySapphire from friends of the show KTOD and Wooooo @Woooooo, best known for his eponymous channel.
Tyler — Hey crew! Welcome back for set 6!
We have two new folks from the Garbage Rollers team this set – Scott and Steven. And….. they get to draft first 🤣
However, before we get started, let’s take a look back at the set 5 draft. At the time, we seemed to think Wooooo won, but in retrospect is that still the case? Do we have any cards that over/under performed?
What strikes me is: how the hell did Wooooo get Talzin’s Assassin that low??
wooooo — Tyler being able to snap off Anakin at 5 is a steal but I’m still going to hold strong on my draft.
Every card I picked ended up in a top tier deck (Kelleren finally making a splash when Han came back).
Tyler — Qui-Gon at 9 was probably too high for him. He never found a meta deck.
Mike — wooooo and Tyler neck and neck for best draft, all 8 of those cards have been meta players, possibly Aurra somehow the bottom of that if we’re looking for an edge; that might give it to Tyler.
Stephen — I feel like Chirrut was the MVP of the set, it was (and still is) so good in several decks.
Mike — Chirrut is definitely an MVP vote getter, we should probably do that, get a council of like 20-25 people to give mvp votes to cards. I think possibly Anakin and Itinerant Warrior would get votes but Ki-Adi would get my first place vote
Scott — I like the council idea, seems like an interesting way to compare.
Might also be interesting to look at play rate and win rate stats for each card. Obviously “best”, “most played”, and “most impactful” are different. Perhaps a council could vote on a number of awards?
Tyler — Sounds like a cool idea!
@Justin thoughts on set 5 before we move to the 6 draft?
Justin — I mean we always knew wooooo was picking the most likely to get banned cards, so Tyler def shines as the stronger overall sustained list
wooooo — What’s that supposed to mean!?
~~~
Tyler — Alright @Scott hit us with your first set 6 pick and your reasoning
Scott — Oh man, first pick… no pressure right? Secrets of Power brings a couple new build-arounds that could be meta defining, or end up totally unplayed.
That said, the best cards are versatile and fit into many archetypes. So I am going to choose a card that could fit into almost any deck in its color: Aggressive Negotiations. This card will consistently allow an attack with +3 or +4, and in decks that already play the #2 pick from last draft, Ki-Adi-Mundi, this is a monster. I think that just by existing, this card will force your opponent to play around it in the same way they must play around suprise strike, but it will have a longer reach.
Stephen — Solid choice. I think it’s going to be interesting tech with some of the newer discard options available. I think as we see the games get longer, more unit focused going into the rotation it’s going to be reach.
Tyler — Oppression Breeds Rebellion is a thing now and it can help this go off for a ton. Not the card I would have picked first tho…
Mike — I love seeing an event taken first overall, and such an aggressive one at that. I’m ready for this to let someone swing for +25 and one shot!
wooooo — This has a high chance of getting suspended at some point. I don’t think they realized how easily this will do 5+ damage.
Tyler — Anything without a limit is always a design risk
Alright @Stephen second pick is yours
Stephen — Oh boy this was a tough one for first pick, but I have to go with Chancellor Palpatine. Sure it’s a 2/2 but that delicious Plot trigger giving you 2 spy tokens with Sentinel opens so many doors. Instant Coordinate (who remembers that one?), you can Exploit, you can do all sorts of neat things. It’s also in the best color combo (long live green villainy!)
Mike — Even in just a couple of days of looking at the new set it’s easy to see that green is being pushed, and Plotpatine is setting a gold standard for the new mechanic. adding 6 hp to the board, 6 atk damage, and tons of protection for your leader, you can’t ask for much more.
wooooo — Chancellor is one of the best Plot cards in the set. The one thing that sort of balances it out is how much of a dead card it is after your leader is gone.
Tyler — I’m a big fan of Palp – even in hero. The package of goodies he delivers is worth at least 4 on its face making it an include for Anakin almost a no-brainer.
Scott — Palp is good enough to weasel his way into decks even sometimes out of aspect, but his work with other plot – official cards is just begging for a build around. Is it good enough to get Palpatine 6 though?
Tyler — Ive been high on Chancy P so far. That flip turn is enormous value
Justin — For the third pick of this prestigious draft, I choose my true secret of power… John Tatta @TD_Tatta ? Welcome to the draft bud, you’re on the clock!
John — Oh man I feel like I’ve been summoned like in a video game. What a tall task to fantasy draft against the GOAT
With the third pick in the draft I’m going to go out on a limb and take … Cinta Kaz! On a serious note I think she’s one of the more polarizing cards in the set but she almost single-handedly brings forward to the limelight all of the 6 deploy leaders as well as pushes pilot leaders to new heights.
Tyler — I expected her to go first! Solid pick.
I am worried about the level of non-interaction that this set is enabling. It seems (A) Unfun and (B) Against what the designers have said they intend.
Mike — Welcome in John! Cinta is a slam dunk pick here at three, and she’s great, but when you build for her and don’t draw her you’re often left with a lackluster flip because there’s no real replacement for an auto attack effect. That said, plenty of people will just run hot and draw it all the time and crush.
wooooo — Cinta is crazy good and adds so much non-interaction in to the game. Her synergy with pilots specifically is out of control but she also has play elsewhere. I said the same thing with Aggressive Negotiations – I would not be surprised if this got suspended at some point in the future.
Stephen — Love the Cinta pick, it’s an insane card at uncommon. Looking forward to this being a staple until it’s suspended.
Mike — With my first pick I’m thrilled to take Mina Bonteri the new and undisputed Best Two Drop in the game. Restore 1, draws a card when she dies for a modest disclose cost. Even one of these traits would have Mina seeing serious play, but it’s clear the devs are pushing green and Mina is one of the most pushed Command cards in the set.
John — I was fully prepared to take Mina with my pick but Cinta still being there made it impossible. She’s going to be a staple for every Command Heroism deck for the foreseeable future, long into rotation and beyond. I’m especially excited for the impact she’s going to have on the soft control blue/green hero decks like Luke, Rey, and even Lando (post-rotation). Great pick, Mike.
Tyler — It’s hard to imagine how they could squeeze more goodies onto a 2-drop. Solid pick
John, love the Lando shoutout. Someday he’ll be a thing!
Mike — Lando’s not a thing he’s a MAN
Scott — Mina is such a great pick. She can stick around, and she even gives value when she is defeated before being able to attack. If only she had the force, she would be perfect…
Stephen — It’s an auto include in any command/heroism deck – love the stickier early game options now and card draw can’t be beat.
Tyler — What does it say about this set that we’re picking value 2-drops 4 picks into the draft?
Scott — I am not sure it says as much about the set as it says about what is valuable in the game. A solid start with a valuable first turn is extremely important to build off. See last set, where 2 drops made some of the biggest waves. See Secretive Sage pushing Gar Saxon to the limelight, Yaddle almost completely replacing Yoda, and making the red/blue/hero decks so much stronger, and then there is Gungi that Mina is competing against.
None of the top cards being Legendaries though… that is quite something
John — Thanks to Tarkintown, and most recently the Force mechanic from Legends of the Force, turn 1 has been important for quite some time. Having something that gives you value even when it’s defeated by a Tarkintown makes it far less impactful overall over the course of a game, in my opinion. Naturally she’s uncommon, the true legendary cards of every set.
Scott — “…she’s uncommon, the true legendary cards of every set”
Now that is a quote to remember
Mike — Yes, very classic that they don’t nerf uncommons bc they forget they are strong to begin with. She’s not the showiest or most busted pic, but is indicative of a culture change in the meta and I wants it haha
I’ll never forget what Tyler Parrot said about Uncommons and I think about it all the time: “The Uncommons didn’t get as much scrutiny, since they were simpler (and therefore more predictable), which led to a weird value distribution within the set.”
Tyler — @wooooo you’ve got the next pick!
wooooo — Mina certainly is one of the more pushed two drops in the game. My early testing has indicated that the 3 “pip” Disclose costs are not trivial though, so make sure to manage your deck building and in-game resource management when running these cards.
Bear with me – I’m evaluating a few picks. Anecdotally, outside of maybe the pushed red cards, I find the power level flat between the top stuff, which makes it difficult to choose!…
wooooo — With my first pick I guess I’ll be a bit of a homer. I’m going with Cad Bane. I think this card will see play in a variety of decks and will provide a lot of value as a bulky removal unit that you can play from the resource row. The new Palpatine enjoys this guy, and I think Talzin can potentially include it as well. However, the true brokenness is with Qi’ra. This might be the single most impactful slot into an existing deck card we have in the entire set. The ability to flip Qi’ra and immediately remove a unit with no chance for your opponent to respond is a major game changer, and it also puts a second 4 power unit that you can barrage off of next turn. We all know how good Gunship is with Qi’ra, and this is that on steroids.
John — I think S cards are basically honorary Uncommons so we’re still batting .1000 on those rarities. I was thinking Cad Bane might slide into the next round or two in the draft but can’t fault you for taking it. It does one thing in a few specific decks but does that thing very well as you pointed out. A consideration for any blue villainy deck.
Mike — All of the plots are interesting but Cad getting to kill makes it extra sweet.
wooooo — Yeah, I mostly just see it as a major piece with a very high ceiling, even if it’s more narrow than some other cards I considered here. So many cards felt similar in the power level.
Stephen — I like the potential applications with the new Cad, and agree with the high ceiling. Lots of respect for the homer pick, there are certainly a few other cards I would’ve gone with first.
Tyler — I’m loving him in Chancellor and see the use case for QiRa. He’s the plot card that’s most playable outside of the leader flip.
John — Jar Jar says hi but you’re in the ballaprk! (Now I’m giving away future picks)
Tyler — For my first pick, I’ll take the set’s one playable legendary, Queen Amidala. A 5/3 that has built in protection and a solid when played is worth every penny. She also has cool synergies with Rex swarms, Mon Mothma, and Jedi Consular. She’s going to go in a lot of decks.
Mike — I LOVE Amidala, I’m so hyped to start playing with her. She has so many interesting applications on the table, and at the very least is 9 potential power for 5 resources.
John — Whoa now I don’t know about the only playable legendary but she’s a good one!
Tyler — Put your money where your mouth is, Tatta! Pick a legendary next
John — You won’t even have to make me, I have one specific L in mind.
Stephen — Having seen those cool Rex and Mon synergies in person, I can confirm they work really well. This is the type of card that makes me want to play as much hand hate as possible.
wooooo — Amidala might be the best legendary in the set (which doesn’t mean much.) I’m interested to see if she ends up good though. Still feels like a slow 5 drop to me, even though it’s not quite a do nothing for 5 since it makes bodies.
Tyler — For my second pick, I’m going to take Captain Typho. He’s one of the best sentinels ever printed with above rate stats and a base healing ability. It’s hard to see how Typho won’t stand alongside Bright Hope as one of the must-include sentinels in every Hero Green build.
Mike — Typho is really strong, and there are a lot of awesome sentinels in this set, but Typho blocking damage and healing damage all in one card is just too good to pass up.
wooooo — Typho is gonna be a great one. Definitely a bit of a power creep in the sentinel department.
John — Ooooh love the Typho pick. I wasn’t impressed with him at first glance but it didn’t take long to come around.
Tyler — We’re gonna need good sentinels with all this action cheating coming our way
Stephen — Well there goes one of my picks. Solid body with cheap healing, can’t go wrong there.
Scott — +1 for the need for sentinels. Typho does everything I can ask for in a ground sentinel, in a color that has had few good options… I just looked, and this is the ONLY 4 cost sentinel in green/white. So if you needed that in your curve, then now it exists
Tyler — @wooooo back to you, sir
wooooo — I guess I’ll keep going with some more Plot. How about Jar Jar Binks. This is another Plot card that has a lot of upside outside of just the leader flip turn, and I can see this making appearances in tons of green decks.
Stephen — Meesa gonna agree with you 2 cost give another friendly unit +2/2 for the turn has a lot of applications in the already existing green decks. Also having Official & Republic lets it both provide and benefit from other fun green cards like Mon and Dignitaries
Tyler — Solid choice. His ability to brick Power of the Dark side on leader flips is where he really shines
John — I think Jar Jar is ultimately going to be the most played Plot card in the whole set. Very versatile in what he can enable.
Mike — Jar Jar is crazy man, I think he’s absolutely cracked especially in Rey. He solves all of the early game issues Rey can have with getting kills with your units and we can buff him to boot
Scott — An excellent choice, and another 2 drop to boot!
Mike — For my second pick I’m going to stick with green hero and take Figure of Unity — this upgrade is now THE build around card for go wide strategies in hero, and makes the strategy viable with more than a handful of leaders. I expect it to be a huge player in the meta for a long time.
John — Nooooo that was my pick. So close. I needed to take it so Tyler got off my back. I really do think it probably ends up as the best legendary of the set.
Scott — Such an interesting card, gives so much more consistency to Rex, but would you care to tease who else you are looking at for it?
John — Rey definitely likes it, I think. Any go wide green deck will want some number. Personally I jammed 3 into Rey right away.
Also want to point out that combined with Oppo Rancis, it actually gives him restore 3 and raid 3 which is really messed up.
Scott — Oh that is some interesting tech, I may just need to play some swarm to try it out
Stephen — Back to back sets with legendary upgrades that aren’t bums. I like the direction these new cards are pushing the go-wide play.
Tyler — It’s about time. They spent 3 sets toying with us before finally delivering the goods.
wooooo — If the Unity style decks will succeed, this is likely a big reason why.
There’s a lot of upside built in to this upgrade so we’ll have to see if it overcomes some of the short comings upgrades have had in the past.
John — I’m up after seeing a couple of my picks get swept up just before my turn. I do actually have another L in mind for my roster but for this pick I’m going to take Condemn. We finally have good shut down cards that don’t say “non-leader” and I’m especially excited for this one. Shuts off pesky “on attack” abilities and the -6 attack effect is a great threshold. A solid, cheap-enough answer to a lot of major threats for blue villainy decks.
Also the first and only Rare in the top 10!
Stephen — Condemn is a great nullifier. Just bricking units for 3 and the meager disclose cost and forcing upgrade removal on their unit as opposed to your Pilot / Saber / Figure of Unity is going to keep this an ever looming threat.
wooooo — I’m eager to play this on a Han.
Tyler — Steven, I’ve heard this argument from the devs too- that you can overwhelm your opponent with upgrades. But wouldn’t having any 3+ cost upgrade removed result in you losing? The meta has just never been slow enough for that big a tempo swing to swing back, no?
Stephen — I think that’s a fair take. When you have the most efficient removal currently available (potds) it makes things like this look worse.
I’m looking at this more like an Entrenched then straight removal. It’s going to be situational, I would always prefer just deleting a unit off the board but I’ll take what I can get.
Mike — What I like about Condemn is that it’s a little complicated and different, it doesn’t feel like a Star Wars Unlimited card it feels like I get to play a Magic card in my SWU deck, which at the very least is a nice mix up to the fairly vanilla offerings we’ve had in the defensive upgrade category hitherto.
Tyler — @Stephen your pick next!
Stephen — I really like Crucible. As a swarm player I love persistent buffs to all of my units. The fact that it comes in and buffs, and buffs on its way out is gravy. Argument could be made for another space unit here, but I like this one better.
Tyler — I’m hyped about this too. There’s a use case here for the Rex swarm, but also for Thrawn green who can double the “When Defeated”
Mike — It’s a great card that both needs to be answered in your aggressive deck but also punishing your opponent for answering it; Crucible reminds me of K-2SO in that way
Scott — Seeing Crucible be only green makes it an extremely versatile card, able to make any swarmy deck large. @Stephen I can’t wait to see our next Akbar/Vader showdown with a Crucible on both sides
wooooo — This is a kind of card that I can see having a lot of upside if/when the game slows down a bit.
Tyler — Alright, @Scott next two picks are yours!
Scott — My next two drafts are two cards that directly oppose each other. First up is Trade Route Taxation, and the other is Hyperspace Disaster.
Trade Route Taxation is another tool in the toolbox for swarm focused decks and at two cost can be used to cover any risky play. It will force your opponent to have to try and deal with your units directly with their units. In addition to stopping answers to swarms like Superlaser Blast and Overwhelming Barrage, it will protect a large leader deploy from rivals fall, Power of the Dark Side or pilots from Bamboozle.
Helping out the opposite end of play styles, is Hyperspace Disaster. A cheaper Superlaser Blast just to get rid of space aggro decks is quite the addition. The ability to “dodge” your own SLB will help stabilize the board one turn earlier. I am not sure how many decks will put it into a main deck, as it is so laser focused on space agro. That said, with this card in the hands of mid range and control decks, I doubt decks like Vader and Boba will be nearly as prolific.
Stephen — The big thing for me with Trade Route Taxation is the Plot, being able to protect leader and still be able to afford something in addition is what makes this worthwhile vs. some other Plot cards.
Hyperspace Disaster is interesting here. I just don’t know if it’s fast enough or if it’ll see a lot of main deck. Certainly a sideboard card as long as the current meta stays. It will help fill the niche left behind when SLB rotates.
John — I’m going to sound like a broken record here but Hyperspace Disaster is a great card for, you guessed it, Rey DV. A weakness (that has been getting better) for the deck has always been space decks and you can almost always get to 7R due to your tons of restore. I think it’ll be a big player in the current format as well as post-rotation.
Taxation is another card I’m a big fan of. Solid picks that are sure to see a lot of play in various places.
Mike — What I like about this set the most is the addition of interesting new tools that are competitive playable; Secrets of Power is filling in the gaps so nicely and these two great picks are perfect examples of it. We can’t have counterspells really, Relentless is the closest mechanic we have to that, so an event like this that bricks a card type provides a really nice anti-control card in a color that lacked one. Hyperspace Disaster provides some much needed anti-space control tech in a board wipe for one arena. Both of these are welcome new additions to our arsenals.
wooooo — I think Trade Route is solid overall. It may not come up all the time but it can cause a lot of problems for control.
I was hoping Hyperspace Disaster would make it’s way back to me. I think this is sneakily going to be one of the most important cards in the set, probably better than many of the more “flashy” cards we’ve picked so far. It just fills an incredibly important role for many decks.
Tyler — I agree that both of these are solid picks.
From a design standpoint: Does a card like Trade Route risk unbalancing the meta? Like, if design adds too many anti-control pieces, does the game just become a bland midrange on midrange on midrange meta?
Scott — I am not too worried about Trade Route Taxation unbalancing the meta. It is certainly anti-hard control, but it only takes away one type of tool. Control decks will need to include more options than just events, and have unit-based removal too. Cards like Snoke, Avenger, Luke, Anakin, etc. will see more play in place of some event only control strategies, and in my opinion, that is a meta that is more fun to play in
Tyler — Those cards are all about to rotate!
Stephen — I waffled a bit here on the next pick, but I’m going with Galen Erso – name a card, any card and it loses all abilities. This also works on ECL and TT. I like the tech, and I think it’ll be a nice additional to blue heroism.
Mike — Another in a long line of utilitarian, heroic, 3/5 four drops. Cool text, and nice that it counters a ton of different stuff. I think this will see a lot of play.
John — It’s also very relevant that he also has Plot. While being very thematic, it also allows you to protect your leader from something that the opponent may have. I think Galen will be played quite a bit in the coming months.
Tyler — I’m very excited about this card. I’m sooo tired of my leaders getting blown off the board by ECL Poe or ECL Wrecker and Galen can stop that.
wooooo — Galen is a solid Qi’ra knock-off. In some ways it can be better (if you need to remove abilities are something already in play). Plot feels like some extra free upside.
John — I’m so excited to make my next pick that I can’t wait to make it. I know it’s not coming back around and suspect both Bobby and Wooooo have it next on their list. I’m going to slam Garindan for my pick here. Playing both with and against this card this past week has been wild. He seemingly never misses and just does some very unfair things combined with Thrawn1, Ma Klounkee, and more. I’m thrilled to have him fall to me.
Tyler — The Ma Klounkee interaction is kinda bonkers. He might be the best hand hate in the game now.
Mike — Damn. Yes that was absolutely going to be my next pick, and I almost took it last round! This card is crazy man, I’ve been playing so much Thrawn 1 this week because of Garindan; he’s crazy.
Stephen — Yes!!!! I’m glad everyone is on the Garindan train.
Tyler — I would LOVE for Thrawn1 to come back
Mike — Oh yeah, I’m thinkin’ he’s back
wooooo — Garindan finally gives yellow villain some actual targeted discard. Bazine is fantastic, but often not enough. Underworld upside is fantastic, and Garindan will have 4 months to synergize with Cad and Ma Klounkee before they both rotate.
Mike — I’m gambling here, but I’m going with Darth Traya with my next pick. It’s extremely narrow, but I want to invest in any infinite combo the game has; so I’m staking my claim on the three color Yellow/Red/Blue combo – for readers who aren’t familiar if you are using Grand Inquisitor 1, you can attack and ready Traya as many times as you need to to win by playing The Tragedy of Plageuis to prevent Traya from being defeated by having no remaining HP. Pretty spicy!
John — Ooooh that is a big gamble. I think it’s really cool that the combo exists but I don’t ever see it really materializing as a “real” deck. I think the best usage for Traya is likely to be in a Talzin yellow deck as another solid Force unit where it was previously lacking after Shin Hati but we’ll see!
Stephen — I applaud the infinite combo. If anyone loves some 1000:1 odds decks it’s me. It’ll be a fun one to keep trying (I’ve still yet to pull off 4 sabers on Grievous).
Tyler — I think John’s right that Talzin yellow is the more plausible use case, but somebody somewhere will get owned by the infinite combo
Three legendaries now!
wooooo — I think Traya will be a decent turn two play for yellow force decks looking for another curve unit to go along side Shin Hati. She’s solid in Talzin Yellow and that could be where she says play.
Tyler — Alright, @wooooo pass me the rock
wooooo — So this set has brought in an abundance of powerful two drops, and I’ll be taking one that was previewed towards the end. Mr. Nemik (Karis Nemik) is the pick. 3/2s have mostly been powercrept out of the format due to the abundance of 2/4s, but this guy isn’t going down without a fight. Not only is he hidden, but he also explodes in to a new unit! That’s a lot of value from your two drop. He comes with the handy rebel trait, and the disclose can even be upside if you run him in a Padme deck. Regardless, I can see him being a mainstay in a variety of decks, from hard aggro to midrange board control style builds.
Tyler — Nemik is a great card. He seems like all upside. I’m such a fan that I’d seriously consider running him in Thrawn4
Stephen — A 3/2 with hidden is already good most of the time, Rebel and the token on disclose puts this up there. I agree, we’ll be seeing this around in most decks.
John — I actually haven’t played with Nemik yet but in theory he seems great. Cards that replace themselves are typically strong in an action based game like SWU and this is especially true for aggressive ones. Solid pick!
Mike — I’m loving the disclose cards, they are creating so much interesting design space with just the right amount of power creep
Scott — Nemik is a super aggressive card that also counters Tarkintown, I am looking forward to being able to have another unit that works against Cad
I am also liking disclose this set. The ability to “tune” the abilities with choosing the number of aspects makes it feel like the designers were able to get just the right cost per value in a way resources and stats can’t
Tyler — Alright, I get to close out round 3 and start round 4. I’m going to begin with Emergency Powers. This card might be the best “upgrade” in the game. The ceiling is infinite since I can add as many experience as I want. But unlike most large upgrade cards, I don’t risk being blown out by individual upgrade hate. There’s also fun synergy with cards like Vanee, Axe Woves, and Gar Saxon. We say that Gar gets great cards every set and it’s just true.
John — I’m torn on Emergency Powers. It’s been great for me against specific decks but then almost dead against yellow and blue decks. There’s no doubt it’s extremely powerful and has a ridiculously high ceiling but we’ll have to see how low the floor is. Regardless, it’s a sneaky good pick here as it could definitely have a big impact on the game.
wooooo — You will need to make sure you can churn some actions before dropping this, but the ability to add a ton of instant damage is appealing.
Stephen — It’s a great double edged sword. Good as a finisher or removal-esque play but I am certainly not leading with it.
Mike — I love it, anything that scales I’m in on. Love the design and love having the option. It’s going to be a crazy bomb in sealed and draft too.
Tyler — For my final pick, I’m going with a pure-vanilla banger: Imperial Dark Trooper. This might not seem like a hero in the 2/4 world we live in today, but don’t forget how key Battlefield Marine has been to Sabine’s success. This could be a foundational tool for villain aggro. That’s even before we get into the Tarkin and Imperial synergies or the fact that this is a two-drop droid that Invisible Hand can fetch. This goes a long way to putting Piett on the competitive map.
Mike — BaddieField Marine is hot, he’s got awesome scaling keywords: Imperial, Droid, Trooper; I think he’s exactly what villains need if they can figure out an aggro shell for him.
John — I think he needed the traits to really be pushed. 3/3’s for 2 aren’t what they used to be but having 3 relevant traits really pushes this card. I’m not really looking for an aggro shell with him, I’m looking at what can best abuse his traits – Invisible Hand really comes to mind first.
Stephen — This one is an instant add to Piett Droids and Tarkin Yellow. What’s not to love about a 3/3 for 2?
wooooo — And he’s not even the only 3/3 for 2 in the set!
Great addition to villain green.
So looks like it’s time for my last pick. I’ll be going back to the Plot well with this one and grab Sudden Ferocity. This one isn’t going to be super flashy, and there’s certainly a few more spicey picks left on the board, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this card is going to perform very well in quite a few different decks. It may not look like much (in fact, we’ve seen 3 cost upgrades routinely give +3/+3), but when you get an action cheating effect while also keeping your hand size large, it adds a lot of utility. I’m looking forward to see if this prediction works out for me.
Mike — At the very least it’s going to be a heavily played cards as the meta gets more aggressive and more inclined to try these plots out
John — Not gonna lie I didn’t even realize this card was still on the board. Maybe that says a lot about the overall power level of the set. I think this is going to be sneaky good and played in quite a few decks. Great pick for your last card.
Tyler — Han4 is a big fan, since it can plot out and fuel his flip ability. That’s where I expect to see this played the most.
Stephen — +3 attack and action cheating with zero restrictions on equipped unit type is a nice tool to pack into red decks. I’m eager to see how folks integrate this into their decks.
Scott — I keep seeing this card as a red option for hotshot blaster. Playing it with your leader and attacking is the same number of turns as hotshot, even if the turn ordering isn’t as great. Another tool in the agro toolbox
Mike — Alright with my last pick I’m going with Ziton Moj, this guy is bringing me back to my Star Wars Destiny days by weaponizing the Take the Initiative action. This guy creates an insane inevitability, and brings completely new dynamics to the game with a double claim to victory, reminiscent of my Arena of Death Ewoks!
John — Mike staying with the trend and taking my pick right under me! I love Ziton and think a lot of decks are going to utilize him with good effect, even things like Boba4 DV.
Tyler — Did not expect to see him in the draft! He’s a solid unit for sure. I have bad memories of those Ewoks so hopefully those days aren’t coming back.
Stephen — Being just a red 4 drop gives him a bit of versatility and I like the ping on claiming. I didn’t have this one on my radar, so I’m pleasantly surprised.
wooooo — I’ve recently been trying Ziton and he’s pretty cool. The initiative dance is interesting. He’s not going to work everywhere but he gives decks some nice inevitability.
Scott — Ziton is an interesting choice, I certainly was not expecting it. I like the design concept to grab onto any small part of the game and encouraging new archetypes, however small.
John — Since it’s the last round I’m going to go ahead and make my pick to round out the team. I was torn between a few admittedly narrow cards but ultimately I decided on Faith in Your Friends. We need to run the math to see just how greedy you can get with this card, or if it’s just a monk yellow card, but its effect is ridiculously powerful. I think an Amidala TTown deck can play this but you have to make some concessions. We’ll see!
Tyler — My initial take was that this would only work in a mono deck, but when it dawned on me that the card you draw could help fuel the disclose, it became more plausible to play it in normal decks. This requires a build-around, but rewards well for it. Just the kind of design we want to see.
wooooo — Faith is definitely solid on rate, it’s just difficult to enable in a normal two color deck. As you mentioned, it can be even better in a Padme deck, and there are ways to still run Tarkintown if you just avoid running a lot of red.
Scott — I am on the same side as Wooooo here for Faith. Needing a minimum of 3 cards that are all the right aspect is hard to do. That said, the event’s draw is so strong that it might still be worth the risk
Mike — I think in a mono yellow deck Faith in Your Friends will hit pretty hard, it just depends if the mono yellow decks can get anywhere in this meta.
Tyler — @Stephen penultimate pick is yours!
Stephen — My final pick was the result of a coin toss, and I’m going with Screeching TIE Fighter. Love the Imperial fighters, this one is a niche pick – On attack you get to wipe out keywords on a unit and prevent any new from being applied.
As a person who loves cheap effective units, getting 2 of these out turn 1 is a dream. Having them stick and null out those pesky restores, raids and whatnots is going to be rewarding.
Null out that sentinel on the ground to allow your BaddieField Marine to swing in and wreck shop. Going to love this in decks like Tarkin and Vader4.
Tyler — He can’t resist the Vader-bait!
Scott — That is quite the niche pick. Nullifying restore is something that I was not thinking about for this card, and this is simply an upgrade from the TIE-LN fighter that is currently in play. Do you think its niche is good enough to get significant play?
wooooo — It’s basically a clean upgrade for Vader (along with the new A-Wing card) and I can see decks like Tarkin or Snoke being in the market for it too. Not a bomb by any means but the little edges add up.
John — @Scott needs to close us out and wrap up this sets draft!
Scott — For my last pick, I am going to go with Dryden Vos. Dryden has an extremely unique ability that has potential to be very explosive when paired with any pump card. He also has the upside of working with GI… but who knows if GI will ever be a viable leader.
Mike — I forgot that unit existed
Stephen — Dryden is that card people at first will ignore until they realize It works really really well with your first pick. This set has all sorts of fun shenanigans that I’m hopeful that it’s going to provide some comedic games.
Tyler — I’m skeptical this one will be a thing. The designers have been very conservative by trying to ensure the kinds of lucrative combos Dryden might enable don’t go off.
John — I don’t love Dryden for his cost but it’s very similar to Emergency Powers in that his effect doesn’t have a limit. The limit is just double and when you combine that with cards like Emergency Powers or Aggressive Negotiations “double” can be “health remaining on base” very quickly.
Final Picks by Team
Tyler — Ok, with the draft complete, it’s time to choose our favorites. If you had to vote for one team that was NOT your own, whose would it be and why?
I’ll have to go with Wooooo’s. As he usually does, he’s picked 4 cards I’m quite confident will see serious meta play. Everyone else has at least one card that’s too high variance for me to sign my name to.
Mike — I think it’s close between Tyler and wooooo.
John — I’m going with Tyler but I agree with Mike it’s gotta be between those 2.
Jar Jar and Amidala are in basically every deck I play though so it’s like 6 here or half-dozen there haha.
wooooo — Dryden is really cool but I’m dubious that he will work out. The Quinlan 4 drop is like a much safer floor version, but of course has no insta win potential.
Stephen — I’m going to go with Tyler overall with Wooooo a very close second
wooooo — I’d probably go with John for this one, who I think got some great picks that I think will see a lot of play (Faith maybe won’t but it’s cool!)
I like Tyler’s as well although I’m not as crazy about Queen Amidala just yet.
Stephen — It’s super close, I think both groups of cards will see a lot of play. Tyler’s fit closer to the jank I play and what I’ve been seeing others go on about. John’s is also fire. So many good picks.
Scott — I’m going to go with John on this one. There are a lot of strong building blocks there that may end up being really excellent.
Tyler — Looks like Mikes half a vote gives it to me over John then. Please be sure to give @Inception shit for letting me win as soon as he leaves.
Alright, any final thoughts on the draft and the set overall?
Mike — Even though I found the draft difficult- there didn’t feel like there were a lot of top end cards- the entire tenor of what’s playable feels like it’s shifting. The strong cards are really strong, and I’m dying to see how the meta shakes out.
Stephen — This set feels a little lackluster. I agree with Mike’s sentiment that the strong cards are really strong. Hopefully set 7 is a home run- not a double, like this set- going into the great rotation.
wooooo — I definitely feel like the power level is pretty flat (not necessarily weak, just hard to differentiate). Outside of a handful of cards, I think most picks could have gone 10 picks earlier or later pretty easily.
John — I don’t have anything to add past what Mike and Wooooo had to say. I agree that the top cards in the set are all flat in terms of power level, and that’s not a bad thing. It’ll be an impactful set.
Scott — Overall, I am interested in what this set will bring. The set does not have a strong focus like the last 2 did, but instead seems to focus on meta tools that will add something to any list. Maybe Secrets of Power will create its own archetypes!
Garbage Rollers 
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