Hey all!

We are back with our Top and Bottom lists. They seemed to be enjoyed last time around and it was fun blasting each other at the end of the set, to see who was far off (looks at Brian). Hope you enjoy them! Also just a reminder that these takes aren’t us saying that these cards are the absolute best or worst, sometimes we are just pushing back against popular opinion or just deviating from the obvious choice. I hope you enjoy these and look for articles from Scott, Tommy, Brian, Shane and Eldis coming out as well!

Characters:

Top Character: C-3PO

This guy is BUSTED! I wrote an article a few weeks back about how busted this guy is with his little buddy and Military Camp. Even without Military Camp he still packs a punch and can let you grab 4 resources very quickly. C-3PO is very close to Snoke levels of ramp while being 3 points cheaper, sure you need to run R2 and the plot with him to get full benefit but that doesn’t seem to be too big of a downfall yet. C-3PO’s biggest issue? That hero doesn’t have any super impactful supports they can play just yet. Falcon3 is nice, but not quite the level of Fist or Megablaster. Entourage package is obviously a solid option.

Bottom Character: Thrawn

I do think Thrawn is actually a awful character but right now I just don’t see a place for him. 19 points is just too awkward of a cost. Future sets can easily make him more relevant if he finds a better partner. Just right now there are people who do damage better than him for around the same cost or control better than him for a cheaper cost. The issue is team pairings, not Thrawn himself. A 2Melee and a 3Melee is solid, topping that off with a 2Focus and 2Discard make his dice very powerful but not enough to carry any of the 11pt or below options.

Supports:

Top Support: Mr. Bones

Value town! I think? He really isn’t anything amazing but for 2 cost, this is a really solid die. Then you add in the fact he has a chance to reset to add some more damage. Ultimately the 1’s and non-melee sides feel like blanks. We have seen the past few metas have several 3 wide decks and Mr Bones can really help you get value against them. I do want to clarify that I don’t think modding him up is the way to go. I think Mr. Bones as a one of in hero supports can be very helpful in combating a 3+ wide team. I firsthand saw Bones kill 5 Ewoks, Chirpa and a Gungan…

Bottom Support: GH-7 Droid

So I feel like each block we get a hero red droid that heals 1 for its special and it never gets played. I expect this to fall in line. Although it is updated to say discard a downgrade from it I still feel like it is too slow to really get what you want out of it. On top of the fact that is costs 2 to play. You would need to heal 4 damage to get value from this, or heal less but discard a downgrade as well. So far downgrades haven’t been overly relevant and even if they become huge there are better ways to deal with them that isn’t a 2 cost support that requires a special.

Upgrade:

Top Upgrade: Han Solo’s Blaster

Guns are back! Kind of? This is a good step in the right direction for middle-middle guns being viable again. It really does hurt that this 3 drop has a 1 range and no re-deploy but having built-in removal is always a bonus. It is probably better with the Across the Galaxy Han but still seems solid on Spark of Hope Han we will be getting. The biggest draw back is that it cannot be used in Han/Qira as Qira only lets you bring hero/villain events. Despite it being my favorite upgrade I do have a hard time seeing where it fits. Both this and Chewie’s Blaster are solid guns but I am not sure what middle/middle gun deck can afford these. Would love to see Han4 be relevant too but I think he will have the issue of finding a spot in the meta.

Bottom Upgrade: Talisman

This thing just seems so weird. I mean sure, 2 two resource sides is baller, as is a double focus and a 2 shield side. The issue? It is on a non-redeploy upgrade that has to go on a witch. Dooku’s Sailor and Padme’s Ship are great because they get played and stay on the board, have extra use out side of having a 2 resource side and focus. One gets you shields with your leader, the other lets you draw a card. The Talisman has to be activated with your character and if they die, this is gone. Sure bringing back a character would be huge but even 7 to bring back a FOST feels like it would be a lot. Villain already has a tough time sporting a Built to Last deck and not sure this really helps it in anyway. So I am still struggling to see where this fits. I think you honestly just ignore the fact this can bring characters back and use it as resource gen but even then, there are better ways to do that.

Event:

Top Event: Clever Distraction

I think this card just helps mill even more (like it needed it right?). I think this will be a solid spot and ALMOST brings villain mill into the fold. Of course I am really only looking to do the “Discard the top 2 cards of a deck” option. Villain mill now has characters like Motti, Sly, Wullf, and even Watto can be solid there. On top of that they have the No Answer, Bartering, Bardottan Sphere and Hatching A Plan to all help the mill game. It feels like a solid package but still just a bit too slow. Addin in Clever Distraction is big but I don’t think Villain is there just yet. Hero? They are so tuned that this might not even make the 30 but certainly has to be in conversation when building a mill deck. I hate that I am picking this but as one of my favorite CCs, Drew from ABG, said “I love playing mill”.

Bottom Event: Heroic Stand

Uhh not really sure what to do with this card. This would be great with Vader or Palpatine but villain doesn’t need any more help right now. Resetting a buffed up Qui-Gon would be solid but if they are showing damage, his ability is probably not on. There are a lot of bad cards in every set, especially commons, so you can argue plenty of cards should be in this spot. Someone like Yoda can probably make the most out of this as despite them showing 3 damage dice, you could be sitting at 6 shields to soak it all and get another activation. Very niche situations this could be good but doubt it ever gets played outside of kitchen table games.

Wild Card:

Top Wild Card: Dead or Alive

Really like this bounty. This could help propel the bounty theme into slight relevance. The earlier you play this the better, feels similar to IBAT and Tech Team in that regard. It just has that extra bonus of getting another resource when the character is defeated. Bounties still seem in a weird spot due to them not having a huge impact and the deck slots that they take up. Time will tell if they can be relevant but this bounty has come a long way since Scott wrote a thesis on how bad bounties are.

Bottom Wild Card: Any Means Necessary

Did I say bounties were getting better? Well I think this isn’t a factor into it. Overall this plot isn’t garbage but with the other 2pt plots out there I think this gets picked 3rd or 4th. I would much rather have Double Down or Lightsaber Mastery (yes I understand you would need blue). Using it on blanks is always going to be value but the fact it has to be Bounty Hunter dice is a bit annoying. I would want to be able to use this on some of the bad equipment I am using with Jango, not his character dice that I would use for Fatal Blow.

-JustJack