Welcome! This guide aims to be a complete guide concerning all aspects of what is, in my opinion, the best deck in the metagame right now. If you have any ideas for content which should be included in this guide, please feel free to reach out at swuyako@gmail.com

Changelog

• 2024-10-10 Version 1.06
  • Updated Current List section to reflect 2024-10-05/2024-10-06 PQ results
  • Updated Sideboard sections to reflect Current List change
  • Added gameplans for the following matchups:
    • Rey Tarkintown
    • Han1 Yellow

• 2024-10-01 Version 1.05
  • Corrected Sideboard sections to reflect Current Deck change
  • Added U-Wing Reinforcements to Frequently Asked Questions section

• 2024-09-29 Version 1.04:
  • Updated Current List section
  • Removed Testing Notes section

• 2024-09-26 Version 1.03:
  • Changed name of Matchup Gameplan Quick Links section to Quick Links
    • Added link to Google Drive stats spreadsheet to Quick Links section

• 2024-09-25 Version 1.02:
  • Reversed chronological order of Changelog so most recent changes would be on top.
  • Added Matchup Gameplan Quick Links to the beginning of the guide.
  • Deleted Notes on Syntax paragraph about finding matchup gameplans with ctrl+f since it is no longer relevant with the advent of the Matchup Gameplan Quick Links section
  • Updated Current List section
    • Changed In Testing sub-section name to Testing Notes
    • Updated Sideboard sections in Matchup Gameplans to reflect the changes to the decklist
  • Added Blue Rey to the Matchup Gameplans

• 2024-09-19 Version 1.0: Guide added to Garbage Rollers!
  • Added Notes on Syntax section
  • Added explanations to the Shell section
  • Split Flex Slots / Sideboard Options into 2 sections. Not all cards that can be played in Flex Slots are good sideboard options and vice-versa
  • Filled out card choice descriptions for Core Cards, Flex Slots, and Sideboard Options
  • Added Current Decklist section
  • Added In Testing section
  • Split Qi’ra I Alone Survived Green and ECL Matchup Gameplan into Qi’ra, I Alone Survived ECL and Qi’ra, I Alone Survived Green
  • Added the following matchups to the Matchup Gameplans section
    • Bossk Blue
    • Han2 Blue
    • Han2 ECL
  • Added Frequently Asked Questions section, and added questions concerning Ketsu Onyo, Old Friend, Medal Ceremony, Sundari Peacekeeper, and Wolffe, Suspicious Veteran.
  • General structure and layout reorganization

• 2024-09-01 Version 0.8: Guide dropped in KTOD Sabine ECL chat for comments

Quick Links

• Google Drive stats spreadsheet
• Boba Fett, Collecting the Bounty Yellow
• Bossk, Hunting His Prey Blue
• Han Solo, Audacious Smuggler Yellow
• Han Solo, Worth the Risk Blue
• Han Solo, Worth the Risk ECL
• Qi’ra, I Survived Alone ECL
• Qi’ra, I Survived Alone Green
• Rey, More Than a Scavenger Blue
• Rey, More Than a Scavenger Tarkintown
• Sabine Wren, Galvanized Revolutionary ECL

Coming Soon

• Creation of a Sideboard Guide section
• More Matchups
  • Palp ECL
  • Palp Green
  • Palp Yellow
  • Han1 Green
  • Kylo Ren Yellow
  • Cad Bane Tarkintown
  • Boba Fett1 ECL
  • Boba Fett1 Green

Notes on Syntax

Throughout the guide I mention turns as 4r, 5r, etc. This stands for the 4-resource turn or the 5-resource turn, etc. I do not use 2r, that is turn 1. I feel like #r is clearer for where we are in the game. Yes, some decks ramp. That’s ok, if they ramp from 3 resources to 5 resources they skip their 4r turn and have their 5r turn while we are having our 4r turn.

Reasons to Play Sabine

• No matchups worse than 40-60
• Really good matchups into the slower decks
• Quicker matches, more downtime to relax, eat, laugh at your friends’ misplays
• Best aggro deck in the format
• Good potential to outplay opponents

General Philosophies

• Being the aggressor does not mean mindlessly hitting base
• Want to control the board early to push more damage through later
• Less concerned with card advantage
• Mirror and other aggro matchups are math-centric

Shell

• 12-14 total 1- or 2-cost units
  • Battlefield Marine x3
  • Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist x3
  • Green Squadron A-Wing x3
  • 3-5 other 1- or 2-drop units
    • All 3 of the named units have 3hp and can attack for 3. For the other slots, play whatever is best for your metagame.
• 12-14 3-cost units
  • Fleet Lieutenant x3
  • Wing Leader x3
  • Cassian Andor, Rebellions Are Built On Hope x3.
  • 3-5 other 3-drop units
    • Wing Leader and Fleet Lieutenant are the best units for race situations and Cassian has the best body on a 3-drop plus he provides reach
• At least 6 4-cost plays
  • K-2S0 x3
  • Darksaber x3
    • Unlike set 1 where K-2SO was the most commonly ECLed unit, nowadays K-2S0 is mostly used for his reach in the late game. After Darksaber and Wing Leader, it’s still a decent play on 4r. Despite it losing value in set 2, it’s still good enough for 3 copies to be part of the core. For more on Darksaber, see the section on Darksaber under Core Cards.
• Poe Dameron, Quick to Improvise x3
  • A decent number of games are won on the spot by ECLing Poe. Yes, he’s not as good when you ECL early, but winning games on the spot makes up for it. Just play 3.
• Wrecker, BOOM! x3L
  • Less dependant on ECL than Poe, but still nice to ECL when you don’t have Poe. This card lets us stick around in the late game and threaten a ton of damage.
• 9-12 events
  • Rebel Assault x3
  • For a Cause I Believe In x3
    • Not playing 3 copies of Rebel Assault is giving up too many percentage points against other aggro decks, especially against the mirror. You can win against the mirror without Rebel Assault, but it makes things a lot harder. Unless you have the nuts, the mirror is often about who draws the most Rebel Assaults. Playing less than 3 is asking to have a bad time in the mirror and against other aggro decks.

Core Cards

• Energy Conversion Lab – Sabine is probably the deck that benefits the most from taking early board control. Since we are the aggressor in most matchups, the 5hp trade-off is often free.
• Battlefield Marine x3 – Best ground turn 1 play stats-wise.
• Sabine Wren, Galvanized Revolutionary x3 – Almost as good as Battlefield Marine. Better in some situations, but usually worse when going 2nd.
• Green Squadron A-Wing x3 – Best turn 1 play in space.
• Wing Leader x3 – Awesome in the mirror and against decks with damage-based removal
• Fleet Lieutenant x3 – Super good for racing or defeating 5hp units.
• Cassian Andor, Rebel Without a Cause x3 – Reach! Insane stats for a 3-drop.
• K-2SO, Cassian’s Counterpart x3 – Reach and overwhelm. Really good in matchups where Poe and Wrecker are not as necessary and ECL can be used on K-2S0 instead.
• Poe Dameron, Quick to Improvise x3 – This card outright wins games when ECLed on 5r often.
• Wrecker, BOOM! x3 – Like Poe, he likes being ECLed. Unlike Poe, he is also good without ECL.
• For a Cause I Believe In x3 – Reach for the stars! And card filtering.
• Rebel Assault x3 – Really strong against aggro decks.
• Darksaber x3 – Best response to Childsen. Often runs away with the game if unanswered. A lot of people don’t want to play Darksaber x3 because they feel like it’s a liability sometimes. Yes, like most cards, there are matchups where this is great and others where it is not very good. But people shy away from this card because they feel like if the opponent has a response to this then they will get blown out of the game, which is likely correct. The solution to this is to get better. The deck has a lot of 3-drops which are good to play on 4r and it also other 4-drops, so we should almost always have an alternative to Darksaber on 4r. If we feel like we’re ahead on 4r but playing Darksaber and having it countered will change the way the game is going, then we don’t play Darksaber. We play Darksaber when we can do so at little to no risk, or when we are so far behind

Flex Slots

• Alliance X-Wing – When we want more turn 1 plays to be space units because the meta is favourable.
• R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol – When we want more options to go 3 and 1 on 4r and when we want a ground unit that is almost guaranteed to survive to our first action on 3r
• C-3PO, Protocol Droid – When we want more turn 1 plays that are 1/4 and we are already maxed on R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol
• Rebel Pathfinder – When we want more turn 1 plays against sentinels and shielded units
• Fighters for Freedom – When we want extra 3 drops good against shielded units; must-have if ever Dr. Evazan becomes popular
• Red Three, Unstoppable – When we want more space units. Helps push damage through. Allows Poe to defeat 7hp units without needing to discard a card
• Sundari Peacekeeper – Great against Boba Fett1 Yellow as they can’t trade efficiently into it and are thus disincentized to defeat it
• Heroic Resolve – Helps space units get through Concord Dawn Interceptor, Black Sun Starfighter, Mercenary Gunship, and Kylo’s TIE Silencer and provides us with another 1-cost card to go 3 and 1 on 4r, with the bonus that this can be used to close out games
• Daring Raid – Extra reach, pretty good against Han2 decks
• General Dodonna – Against the mirror and Boba Fett1 Yellow.
• Bright Hope – Against heavy space decks, Boba Fett1 Yellow
• Admiral Ackbar – Against the mirror, Boba Fett1 Yellow, Han2 decks, and decks that want to play a lot of smaller units. Also good against decks running Childsen. Downside is the 1/4 statline on a 3-cost unit and requires more 1 cost units to maximize its potential
• Heroic Sacrifice – When you REALLY need to defeat 5hp units or to close out the game, such as Kylo Ren Yellow to more easily defeat Toro on 3r or against control to push damage through
• Medal Ceremony – For matchups where the extra +1/+1 matters such as against midrange villainy green decks looking to Overwhelming Barrage on 5r or decks that play removal that deals damage or based on hp remaining.
• Timely Intervention – Unit-centric matchups ending around 7-8 resources
• SpecForce Soldier – Sentinel-heavy decks, control
• Valiant Assault Ship – Good ship to play into ramp decks and control decks

Sideboard Options

• Fighters for Freedom – For being able to deal with shielded units. Great against Luke Skywalker, Faithful Friend and decks running Dr. Evazan. Good vs. Qi’ra and Iden as well
• Sundari Peacekeeper – Improves the matchup against Boba Fett1 Yellow
• Smuggler’s Aid – Against aggro decks where often someone claims thinking they will win on the first action of the next action phase to mess with their math.
• Heroic Resolve – Good against decks running Concord Dawn Interceptors and Mercenary Gunship/Black Sun Starfighter/Kylo’s TIE Silencer when we have initiative
• Daring Raid – Extra reach, good against Han2 decks and decks running 2hp units
• Confiscate – Against the mirror playing Darksaber, better than Disabling Fang Fighter because this allows you to also play Fleet Lieutenant/Wing Leader in the same turn.
• Disabling Fang Fighter – Against bounty decks and control decks playing Entrenched/Devotion. For matchups where we don’t need the speed provided by Confiscate and where card efficiency is more valuable
• Admiral Ackbar – Not as valuable set 2 as it was set 1 due to having less room for situational cards in the deck, and less room in the sideboard for cards like Ackbar. We also have better cards for the matchups that Ackbar was good against
• Heroic Sacrifice – When you REALLY need to defeat 5hp units or to close out the game and you are unlikely to have 2 units for Rebel Assault, such as Kylo Ren Yellow to more easily defeat Toro on 3r or against control to push damage through
• Medal Ceremony – For matchups where the extra +1/+1 matters such as against midrange villainy green decks looking to Overwhelming Barrage on 5r or decks that play removal that deals damage or based on hp remaining.
• Timely Intervention – Unit-centric matchups ending around 7-8 resources
• SpecForce Soldier – Sentinel-heavy decks, control
• Valiant Assault Ship – Good ship to play into ramp decks and control decks

Current Decklist

As expected, Boba Fett1 put in a lot of work last weekend. However, the Green version made a bigger splash than the Yellow version, so we’re gearing for that in this week’s list. Serious players looking to win PQs are either going to be running Boba Fett1 Green or a deck that counters it. Sabine generally has great matchups against decks that counter Boba Fett1, so main deck we are trying to maximize our odds of beating those decks. R2-D2 x3 seeks to answer the Greedo/Salacious Crumb into Ma Klounkee start by giving us a unit they can’t defeat with Ma Klounkee. It matches up great into their turn 1 plays by giving us a unit that can’t be defeated on turn 1 and that can defeat Greedo without any assistance and the rest of their turn 1 plays with the help of a Wing Leader/Fleet Lieutenant. As an added bonus, R2 helps us dig for Poe/Wrecker which we really want to draw against this deck.

In our sideboard, we’ve ditched the SpecForce Soldiers for Adelphi Patrol Wings. Adelphi has game against the blue heroism decks and the villainy control decks by giving us a ship they can’t really deal with. They also put in some work against Boba Fett1 Green as that deck also has no answers to it besides Waylay and No Good to Me Dead. And if they are playing those, then they aren’t playing their haymakers down on the ground where the rest of our units have a definite advantage over their other units. I could see the Adelphi Patrol Wings being Valiant Assault Ships instead if we wanted a similar unit for a lower cost.

Matchup Gameplans

A quick note before going into the matchup gameplans. It’s better to have a bad plan and stick with it than it is to have no plan at all and do whatever. If you don’t have a plan and you are losing, it is much harder to pinpoint exactly why you are losing than if you have a bad plan. If you come up with a plan and it’s not working, you can switch your plan and maybe come up with a winning one.

The matchups contain information on how I generally sideboard in those matchups. I do believe sideboard guides are useful tools when you have very little to no experience with specific matchups. When you have enough experience with a matchup, you should look to sideboard differently based on card choices made by your opponent. Like we saw above, our deck has a core and flex slots. This is true of every other deck as well, and what your opponents choose to play in their flex slots can affect how you would sideboard.

Boba Fett, Collecting the Bounty Yellow

Turn 1 Priority

• Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist
• Battlefield Marine
• Rebel Pathfinder
• Green Squadron A-Wing
• R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol
• Alliance X-Wing

We’re ok with all the turn 1 plays really, although we’d prefer to get established on the ground sooner rather than later. Sabine and Marine are a tiny bit better because they can defeat Toro/Boba Fett unit on 3r with some help.

Gameplan

It’s difficult to race against Cunning, and Poe + Wrecker give us a better late game than our opponent, which means we want to take the control role here. We want to keep ECL for Poe or Wrecker to defeat Boba Fett when he gets played usually. Sometimes opponent will try to pass on 5r to try to get us to play Poe without ECL. Usually this is a trap because opponent has Relentless Pursuit. If opponent tries to do this, usually it’s better to play cards other than Poe, if possible, rather than claiming. Although, if our board is currently better than our opponent’s, then by all means claim. Opponent will be incentivized to play Boba Fett and Relentless Pursuit regardless, and both ECLed Poe and ECLed Wrecker defeat him through the shield. If possible, try to play Red Three on 4r. This allows Poe to defeat Boba Fett leader without discarding a card, allowing us more options with his on attack ability.

Sideboard

• -3 Rebel Assault
• +3 Heroic Sacrifice

Toro is a must-defeat threat in this matchup as a 5r Cunning giving Toro +4 power into opponent playing a bounty hunter to ready Toro is a huge swing. Heroic Sacrifice gives us an additional way of defeating Toro.

Bossk, Hunting His Prey Blue

Turn 1 Priority

• Green Squadron A-Wing
• Alliance X-Wing
• Battlefield Marine
• R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol
• Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist
• Rebel Pathfinder

2 reasons to prioritize space on turn 1. One, opponent has very few space units, if any, other than Avenger. Two, space units can’t be force choked, and if you have initiative and play Wing Leader, your space unit will survive Open Fire as well unless opponent had a bounty to play on turn 1. Having said that, it’s not so much better to go space first that I would mulligan a decent hand in the hopes of getting a space unit.

Gameplan

We’re playing against a control deck, so settle in for a long game. Because they have access to Force Choke, this is one of the few control decks which can defeat both our 2r and 3r plays and go into the 4r turn with a clean board. However, if they do this the best they can do with Childsen is play it as a 5/5 which still slows us down but is easier to get by. And even if they do have this, if we go space on 2r then we’ll still be able to have 1 unit left by the time Childsen comes into play.

The best response to Childsen, even as a 5/5 when we have no units on the board, remains Darksaber. That would leave us with a 7/3 Sabine going into 5r and knowing most of our opponent’s hand. With ECL to take care of Bossk with either Poe or Wrecker and playing 2 cards almost from 5r onwards, we should be able to close the game out. Opponent is very low on ways to close out the game so it will happen a decent amount of time where we win through opponent healing 20+ damage during the game.

Sideboard

• -3 Rebel Assault
• -3 Medal Ceremony
• -1 R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol
• +2 Heroic Sacrifice
• +3 Confiscate
• +2 Adelphi Patrol Ship

Confiscate should be used mostly for Top Target although it can also be used to prevent Bossk from pinging a unit or from drawing 4 cards off Death Mark if necessary. Unlike Bright Hope, Confiscate doesn’t work on The Client putting a bounty on a unit but this has a very low impact. We’re unlikely to have multiple units able to attack on the table at a time so Rebel Assault can be taken out. Likewise for Medal Ceremony, we’re unlikely to get more than 1 experience token out of it. In those situations, Heroic Sacrifice is a much better finisher and helps us deal with Childsen as well. The Adelphi Patrol Ships are a really good addition as well since control decks have no way to deal with it cleanly.

Han Solo, Audacious Smuggler Yellow

Turn 1 Priority

• Battlefield Marine
• Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist
• Rebel Pathfinder
• R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol
• Green Squadron A-Wing
• Alliance X-Wing

Gameplan

This matchup plays similar to Boba Fett1 Yellow in that it’s hard to race against our opponent because of Cunning so we have to take the control role. However, our opponent’s early ground units are not as good as Boba Fett1 Yellow’s if opponent doesn’t ramp so we’re able to take control of the board with more ease. Also, opponent doesn’t have any good responses for Darksaber. If they are running Bamboozle to counter Darksaber, this is great for us. If they ramp on turn 1 and discard to play Bamboozle for free on 4r, this will leave them with 0 cards in hand and they won’t be able to ramp and they won’t have card selection for the remainder of the game. Any game where we can ECL Poe into their Han should go our way fairly easily. Don’t ping with Sabine in the early game. Wait until later on in the game once we’ve secured the ground and it is safer.

Sideboard

• -3 Rebel Assault
• -1 Red Three, Unstoppable
• +2 Heroic Sacrifice
• +2 Timely Intervention

We can’t outrace Cunning even with Rebel Assault so out they go for some Heroic Sacrifices. Timely Intervention is good in this matchup and is our only way to deal with Han unit once we have used ECL. We most likely won’t need them, but they’re nice to have as a contingency plan. Red Three is not as good in space because we really don’t have a solid answer to the Falcon. Bright Hope is good, but we’d rather keep it in our hand to answer a Cunning buffing said Falcon instead.

Han Solo, Worth the Risk Blue

Turn 1 Priority

• Battlefield Marine
• Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist
• Rebel Pathfinder
• R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol
• Green Squadron A-Wing
• Alliance X-Wing

Gameplan

I recommend avoiding space, especially if we don’t have the initiative turn 1. Our opponents might be running Concord Dawn Interceptors. We can handle it if we have a Green Squadron A-Wing and Red Three, but at that point we’re dedicating a lot of resources to the space arena when we would rather be fighting over the ground arena. Our opponent needs damaged units for Karabast and Force units for Force Throw, and damaged units and Force units will both usually be found on the ground. Top priority is clearing our opponent’s units off the board efficiently and closing out the game with Poe/Wrecker. Darksaber is a good play on 4r, but some opponents might be running Disabling Fang Fighter main deck so that is something to keep in mind. If we get to 5r and our opponent’s board is clear, we should be ok to bring the game home.

Sideboard

• -2 Bright Hope
• -3 Rebel Assault
• -1 R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol
• -1 Red Three, Unstoppable
• +2 Timely Intervention
• +3 Heroic Sacrifice
• +2 Adelphi Patrol Wing

We don’t need sentinels in space in this matchup, but Timely Intervention can be useful to close out the game sometimes and remove pesky sentinels in the late game, so we might as well bring them in. The +1 attack from Rebel Assault is not as useful as the +2 from Heroic Sacrifice and we aren’t really racing in this matchup, so we might as well bring in Heroic Sacrifice. R2-D2 doesn’t have any useful attacks in this matchup, even with Fleet Lieutenant and Wing Leader, so we can board one out. Red Three might not do too well in space either and raid 1 is only necessary if we want to clear Luke out with Poe, so we can board one copy out as well. The 2 Adelphi Patrol Wings can come in handy to close out games once our opponent has wrested control of the ground arena from us.

Han Solo, Worth the Risk ECL

Turn 1 Priority

• Battlefield Marine
• Green Squadron A-Wing
• R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol
• Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist
• Rebel Pathfinder
• Alliance X-Wing

When we have initiative, the only good start is Battlefield Marine as everything else other than R2-D2 can be ECLed without trading. When we don’t have initiative, we want to ECL everything that isn’t a Battlefield Marine to put pressure on our opponent to ECL early as well.

Gameplan

This matchup is very similar to playing against Sabine ECL with the bonus that we are always going to be the faster deck because we have access to Rebel Assault and Darksaber. Because the units they cheat into play come into play with 2 damage on them and can’t be ECLed, we don’t have to worry about those too much. A 4r Poe might be an issue, however if we decide we want to deal with him we should be able to. If our opponent opens with Maz it’s ok, we can always ECL Cassian or Fighters for Freedom if the Maz is 3/3 or just attack into it with our 2-drop if it’s still 2/2. Just make sure to deal with it with your first action on 3r because if Maz makes it to 4/4 she could potentially get out of hand. No stress if our opponent plays 3 units on turn 1, this means they will only have 2 cards in their hand for the remainder of the game so their options will be extremely limited, and we’re exactly the type of deck that can survive this pressure.

Sideboard

• -2 Bright Hope
• +2 Heroic Sacrifice

Qi’ra, I Alone Survived ECL

Turn 1 Priority

• Green Squadron A-wing
• Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist
• Rebel Pathfinder
• Alliance X-Wing
• Battlefield Marine
• R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol

This matchup is a bit tricky because not many of our turn 1 plays line up well with our opponent’s turn 1 plays. Typically, Qi’ra decks play 9 turn 1 plays: Inferno Four x3, Hylobon Enforcer x3, and Pyke Sentinel x3. This means there’s a 71.71% chance our opponent will have a turn 1 play. This chance increases if our opponent does not mulligan. All our turn 1 plays are good into Inferno Four. If we have initiative, Sabine Wren and Rebel Pathfinder are good into Hylobon Enforcer because both can trade with a shielded Enforcer. Sabine survives defeating Pyke Sentinel, whereas Rebel Pathfinder can ignore it and hit base. With initiative, all our 2 drops are good into Pyke Sentinel except R2-D2 (unless we have Fleet Lieutenant or Wing Leader to follow it up). Without initiative, however, our turn 1 ground plays aren’t as good because our opponent has the chance to shield the Pyke Sentinel before we attack into it. This makes all the ground units other than Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist much weaker plays.

Gameplan

Typically, Sabine has the advantage against control decks from 4r onwards because we can play 2 units a turn, whereas our opponent struggles to defeat multiple units in a turn outside of Overwhelming Barrage. Ideally, we would like to force opponent to ECL before 5r because Gideon is great against us, but if opponent does ECL Gideon, we can ECL Poe or play Wrecker afterwards. Opponent has a 36.33% chance of having Gideon on their 5r if they ramped, 42.61% if they did not ramp. Another important thing against all green villainy decks is to make it as difficult as possible for them to play a relevant Overwhelming Barrage on 5r. Lastly, if we play Darksaber on Sabine before Qi’ra comes into play, Qi’ra will be able to trade with Sabine, so either we need to force our opponent to play Qi’ra before we play Darksaber or we want to do something else during that turn.

Regarding The Client: Healing 5 damage from the base sounds like a lot, but it’s important to remember that if opponent played The Client on 3, it means we have an extra unit on board that would have otherwise been defeated. This extra unit is going to do at least 3 damage a turn. Also, usually opponent would defeat one unit before we took our first action and so we would have 1 less unit doing damage each turn. The Client forces our opponent to activate it as their first action, leaving us free to attack with the Bounty target unit before it gets defeated. So, we have 1 extra unit on board every turn, and instead of being able to attack with X-1 units a turn, where X equals our total number of units on board at the beginning of the turn, we will be able to attack with X units instead. All of this means that The Client is not healing 5 damage a turn. At best, it is healing 2 damage a turn. As far as attacking our units and defeating them, it is not defeating anything until Qi’ra flips.

Sideboard

After sideboard, this matchup gets more difficult because they will have fewer dead cards and more healing. As of now, I sideboard like this:

• -3 Rebel Assault
• -2 Bright Hope
• -3 Medal Ceremony
• -1 R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol
• -1 Sundari Peacekeeper
• +3 Heroic Sacrifice
• +2 Timely Intervention
• +3 Confiscate
• +2 Adelphi Patrol Wing

Bright Hope is ok in this matchup because our opponent is never beating us through space and it has a lot of hp against Overwhelming Barrage. They have 1 relevant space unit that they play 2 copies of: Black Sun Starfighter. You can see Black Sun Starfighter as a 3-cost removal that defeats 1 space unit. Not only that, but if we have a Green Squadron A-Wing that manages to attack on 3r and a medal ceremony, suddenly Black Sun Starfighter is simply a dead card. We could use Bright Hope to bounce a unit with Top Target on it, but this is a little bit slow. I take out the Rebel Assaults because the game will go long, which means we are less likely to have rebels on the board as we near the end of the game. Also, we are less likely in general to have multiple units to attack with. I could see bringing in the Confiscates against Top Target which our opponent will assuredly be bringing in. If I decided to bring them in, I’d take out the Medal Ceremonies, but I’m not sure it’s necessary.

Qi’ra, I Alone Survived Green

Turn 1 Priority

• Green Squadron A-wing
• Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist
• Rebel Pathfinder
• Alliance X-Wing
• Battlefield Marine
• R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol

This matchup is a bit tricky because not many of our turn 1 plays line up well with our opponent’s turn 1 plays. Typically, Qi’ra decks play 9 turn 1 plays: Inferno Four x3, Hylobon Enforcer x3, and Pyke Sentinel x3. This means there’s a 71.71% chance our opponent will have a turn 1 play. This chance increases if our opponent does not mulligan. All our turn 1 plays are good into Inferno Four. If we have initiative, Sabine Wren and Rebel Pathfinder are good into Hylobon Enforcer because both can trade with a shielded Enforcer. Sabine survives defeating Pyke Sentinel, whereas Rebel Pathfinder can ignore it and hit base. With initiative, all our 2 drops are good into Pyke Sentinel except R2-D2 (unless we have Fleet Lieutenant or Wing Leader to follow it up). Without initiative, however, our turn 1 ground plays aren’t as good because our opponent has the chance to shield the Pyke Sentinel before we attack into it. This makes all the ground units other than Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist much weaker plays.

This version usually runs Entrenched x2, so use ECL to get rid of Pyke Sentinel, if possible, as we have no good way to deal with it once Entrenched.

Gameplan

Typically, Sabine has the advantage against control decks from 4r onwards because we can play 2 units a turn, whereas our opponent struggles to defeat multiple units in a turn outside of Overwhelming Barrage. Ideally, we would like to force opponent to ECL before 5r because Gideon is amazing against us, but if opponent does ECL Gideon, we can ECL Poe or play Wrecker afterwards. Opponent has a 36.33% chance of having Gideon on their 5r if they ramped, 42.61% if they did not ramp. Another important thing against all green villainy decks is to make it as difficult as possible for them to play a relevant Overwhelming Barrage on 5r. Lastly, if we play Darksaber on Sabine before Qi’ra comes into play, Qi’ra will be able to trade with Sabine, so either we need to force our opponent to play Qi’ra before we play Darksaber or we want to do something else during that turn.

Regarding The Client: Healing 5 damage from the base sounds like a lot, but it’s important to remember that if opponent played The Client on 3, it means we have an extra unit on board that would have otherwise been defeated. This extra unit is going to do at least 3 damage a turn. Also, usually opponent would defeat one unit before we took our first action and so we would have 1 less unit doing damage each turn. The Client forces our opponent to activate it as their first action, leaving us free to attack with the Bounty target unit before it gets defeated. So, we have 1 extra unit on board every turn, and instead of being able to attack with X-1 units a turn, where X equals our total number of units on board at the beginning of the turn, we will be able to attack with X units instead. All of this means that The Client is not healing 5 damage a turn. At best, it is healing 2 damage a turn. As far as attacking our units and defeating them, it is not defeating anything until Qi’ra flips.

This version usually runs Lieutenant Childsen x3, and there’s a huge difference in how hard it is to deal with a 5/5 Childsen vs. a 6/6 Childsen. For opponent to play a 6/6 Childsen, they need to skip playing a card from hand on either 2r or 3r. Usually they will do this by skipping 2r and playing Power of the Dark Side on 3r. This will leave you with a unit in play. If you have Heroic Sacrifice in your deck, a ground 3-drop + Red Three on 4r + Heroic Sacrifice will get rid of Childsen. However, the cleanest answer remains Darksaber, which sets you up great for 5r. If you have no way of dealing with Childsen on 4r, ECL Poe on 5r can discard to remove an experience counter from Childsen, allowing you to keep Poe alive.

Sideboard

• -3 Rebel Assault
• -2 Bright Hope
• -3 Medal Ceremony
• +3 Heroic Sacrifice
• +2 Timely Intervention
• +3 Confiscate

Bright Hope is ok in this matchup because our opponent is never beating us through space. They have 1 relevant space unit that they play 2 copies of: Black Sun Starfighter. You can see Black Sun Starfighter as a 3-cost removal that defeats 1 space unit. Not only that, but if we have a Green Squadron A-Wing that manages to attack on 3r and a medal ceremony, suddenly Black Sun Starfighter is simply a dead card. We could use Bright Hope to bounce a unit with Top Target on it, but this is a little bit slow. I take out the Rebel Assaults because the game will go long, which means we are less likely to have rebels on the board as we near the end of the game. Also, we are less likely in general to have multiple units to attack with. This version is better against Sabine than the ECL version, so I would bring in Confiscates because they are more necessary against Top Target and can also bail you out against an Entrenched. Because this version doesn’t have ECL, it will struggle more to set up a 5r Overwhelming Barrage which means Medal Ceremony is less necessary.

Rey, More Than a Scavenger Blue

Turn 1 Priority

• Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist
• Rebel Pathfinder
• Battlefield Marine
• R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol
• Green Squadron A-Wing
• Alliance X-Wing

We want to take the fight to the ground in this matchup because Concord Dawn Interceptors outclasses everything we have in space, and because the majority of their pesky units with restore, and all their force units, are on the ground.

Gameplan

By design, Rey decks tend to play units lacking in attack, play under curve, especially early, and take a lot of actions. This is all great stuff for us. We want to keep ECL for Poe/Wrecker and focus on clearing ground units as they are played. If they open with R2-D2 or Moisture Farmer, we can defeat them on 3r with Fleet Lieutenant. This matchup is similar to playing against Han2 Blue except they play undercurve instead of cheating units out so this is much easier for us. We have an extra turn to set up for dealing with all of their units and if we allow a force unit to stick around for an action, we won’t be punished by Force Throw.

Sideboard

• -2 Bright Hope
• -3 Rebel Assault
• -1 R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol
• -1 Red Three, Unstoppable
• +2 Timely Intervention
• +3 Heroic Sacrifice
• +2 Adelphi Patrol Ship

We don’t need sentinels in space in this matchup, but Timely Intervention can be useful to close out the game sometimes and remove pesky sentinels in the late game, so we might as well bring them in. The +1 attack from Rebel Assault is not as useful as the +2 from Heroic Sacrifice and we aren’t really racing in this matchup, so we might as well bring in Heroic Sacrifice. R2-D2 doesn’t have very many useful attacks in this matchup, even with Fleet Lieutenant and Wing Leader, so we can board it out. Red Three might not do too well in space either, so we can board one copy out as well. The 2 Adelphi Patrol Wings can come in handy to close out games once our opponent has wrested control of the ground arena from us.

Rey, More Than a Scavenger Tarkintown

Turn 1 Priority

• Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist
• Rebel Pathfinder
• Battlefield Marine
• R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol
• Green Squadron A-Wing
• Alliance X-Wing

Gameplan

Feel free to Sabine ping liberally. This matchup is similar to the Rey Blue matchup with the caveat that we need to take more care to remove force units from the board as quickly as possible to prevent Force Throw from defeating our units. We want to avoid going space early because Concord Dawn Interceptors stonewalls us but that is ok because all of our ground units outtrade their ground units. Because our opponent’s big turn for ground units is 6r, this buys us a ton of time to get either Poe or Wrecker to put a dent into their plans.

Sideboard

• -3 Rebel Assault
• -2 Bright Hope
• -1 R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol
• -1 Red Three, Unstoppable
• +3 Heroic Sacrifice
• +2 Timely Intervention
• +2 Adelphi Patrol Wing

The usual sideboard plan: We’re not racing here, so ditch Rebel Assault for Heroic Sacrifice. We don’t need Bright Hope to defend space, so ditch them for Adelphi Patrol Wing as that can force our opponent to play out a Concord Dawn Interceptors and put an xp on it. If the game makes it to 7r, we have a hard time dealing with Luke (especially a second copy), so we can bring in the 2 Timely Intervention to help with that. Timely has many other uses outside of that since all of our ground units are so much better. R2-D2 and Red Three aren’t great so we can take out one of each without any worries.

Sabine Wren, Galvanized Revolutionary ECL

Turn 1 Priority

• Battlefield Marine
• Green Squadron A-Wing
• R2-D2, Ignoring Protocol
• Alliance X-Wing
• Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist
• Rebel Pathfinder

Gameplan

With initiative, Battlefield Marine is the only good turn 1 play. Everything else is defeated by an ECLed Battlefield Marine, Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist, or Green Squadron A-Wing. Going second, Battlefield Marine and Green Squadron A-Wing are both good, with Sabine Wren, Explosives Artist being good if opponent doesn’t open with Battlefield Marine (There’s a 32.43% chance of any 3-of being in an opponent’s random starting hand. If opponent didn’t mulligan and they understand the mirror, their odds of having a Marine are higher. If opponent doesn’t understand the mirror, their odds are still 32.43%). Initiative at the beginning of the game and on 5r is super important in this matchup. The quickest games end on the 1st action of the 5r turn, whereas the slower games end on 7r, but those are exceptional. Because going second is a big disadvantage in the mirror, you need to be ready to mulligan more aggressively in that spot.

Once the game gets going, the idea is to try to get opponent to within a Rebel Assault attack (generally 13 to 17 damage on base depending on what you have on board) away from dying while preventing them from getting you in the same range unless you have initiative over them going into the final the turn. The matchup is really math-based, so take your time to calculate the damage your opponent can do and how many actions they are likely to have before every action you take. Make sure you understand whether you need to play defensively or aggressively at every given point.

Sideboard

• -3 Wrecker, BOOM!
• -2 Bright Hope
• -1 For a Cause I Believe In
• +3 Confiscate
• +3 Heroic Sacrifice

Most games aren’t going to last long enough for Wrecker to be relevant, so might as well get rid of those. Ground is faster than space in the mirror so we don’t need Bright Hope to stop space because if our opponent is going up there we most likely have the advantage. If we don’t, we have the opportunity to ECL something there, and the space ECL is pretty much always profitable since our unit will survive, forcing our opponent to respond with an ECL of their own often.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Ketsu Onyo, Old Friend seems like a nice way to deal with shields and other pesky upgrades as well as pushing damage through. Why is the card not in the deck?
  • Ketsu has a few downsides which make it less than stellar. Contrary to almost all our other options on turn 1, Ketsu is not a Rebel and has less than 3hp. The best plays we can do on 3r when we have a unit in play tend to be Fleet Lieutenant or Wing Leader and having Ketsu as our turn 1 play stops us from getting full value from both. It’s not great in race situations where we need Rebel Assault. Because she has 2hp, she gets defeated by almost every playable 2-drop in the game. We’re an aggro deck, we need our units to survive so they can deal damage. Lastly, it’s only great vs. shields if we have the initiative. If we don’t, the shielded unit will simply attack into Ketsu and defeat her. It’s free, they were going to lose the shield anyway. In my opinion, Ketsu is not even a consideration when building this deck as the drawbacks are too severe and there are other, better ways of dealing with upgrades.

• Sundari Peacekeeper has a big body and seems great against aggro decks. Why is it not in the main deck?
  • Like Ketsu, this is another card that looks great on paper but isn’t as good in practice. First off, the restore 2 is only relevant against other aggro decks. This means there is a very large portion of the meta game against which this is mostly irrelevant. Secondly, like Ketsu, the Peacekeeper is not a Rebel. Unlike Ketsu though, this is less of a drawback on Peacekeeper because this is a 3r play and we always have a Rebel on 4r. Lastly, against decks that want to defeat Peacekeeper the 1 attack on defense is a serious drawback. Sometimes the Peacekeeper will be defeated, and the attacking unit won’t have enough damage on it for us to finish it off with something else. This provides an opening for opponents to get back in the game. Unlike Ketsu, I think Sundari Peacekeeper being in the main deck is metagame dependant. I think Fighters for Freedom and Sundari Peacekeeper compete for the same flex slots, and I can see Peacekeeper being in the main if there are a lot of Boba Fett1 Yellow and Villainy Green decks in the metagame.

• Wolffe, Suspicious Veteran seems like it would be a great card against decks with a ton of healing. Why is it not in the sideboard?
  • Wolffe, Suspicious Veteran has average stats for 2 resources. The deck really prefers units with 3hp as they do a much better job of surviving. At 3/2, he’s rarely going to be able to trigger his on attack ability. There are 2 forms of healing popular in the meta, restore and healing through events. Decks with restore are going to have units to defeat Wolffe and will be happy to do so as they want to control the board anyway, and decks with healing through events are usually going to have initiative, meaning they will usually be able to heal before we get to trigger Wolffe’s ability. Either way, Wolffe ends up performing worse than whatever 2 drop we would be playing instead of him. And let’s be fair, if we did play him, he wouldn’t really be a card we would want to play on turn 1. That means that somewhere down the line, we’re going to have a sub-optimal turn to prevent our opponent from healing, and even then we’re taking the chance that our opponent won’t have anything else to do that turn because if they do, they’ll take the alternate line and heal later instead.

• I see some lists with Medal Ceremony and some lists without Medal Ceremony. When should I put it in my deck and when should I play something else.
  • Some people are moving away from Medal Ceremony in the main to fit in more units and Heroic Sacrifice in the 50. The way I see it, Medal Ceremony has higher highs and lower lows than Heroic Sacrifice. However, Medal Ceremony makes a big difference when it is good and it’s easy to resource when it’s not. Heroic Sacrifice is a somewhat redundant effect and is much easier to play without. Because of this, I’d rather play game 1 with Medal Ceremony than with Heroic Sacrifice.

• U-Wing Reinforcements looks like it might do some work against Control, yet I don’t see it mentioned anywhere in this guide. Why not?
  • U-Wing Reinforcements is one of those cards which looks better on paper than in practice. Putting this in the deck lowers the consistency of the deck, and if you draw it in the early rounds of the game it will get resourced more often than not. Our power spike against Control is from 4r to 7r. On those turns we can play 2 cards a turn while our opponent is generally stuck playing 1 card and cannot answer all of our threats. come 8r, they will need a Superlaser Blast. Although U-Wing Reinforcements is a great response to Superlaser Blast, between smuggling Cassian and our hand we should have enough units to play.

Credits

• Bill (from the KTOD Discord): Formatting the pre-release version of the guide. Headers, colours, readable layout, all that is Bill. Thanks! 😊
• KTOD Discord, especially the Green Sabine forum, for being a great place to bounce ideas off other people who want to count to 25 or 30 as efficiently as possible and call it a day.
• Garbage Rollers, for hosting this guide! 😊

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