If you didn’t see the Star Wars Celebration Spoiled Maul from the next set Spark of Hope check him out below!

There he is, the Maul that everyone has apparently been waiting for but I don’t get it. Let me break down why I think this card isn’t good in Standard.

Cost

His cost is prohibitive at 20 elite currently allowing him to only be paired with a single die character. This will make him the target for sure and since his ability incentivizes you to put great upgrades on him your deck will probably lose when he dies. Vader, TTB is similar but Vader has better sides, has more health and his power action protects his dice, something that Maul’s does not. At a single die he starts to get more interesting since you can pair him with a 14 point threat like Captain Phasma, Ruthless Tactician or a support character that can make money like Watto. This doesn’t seem awful but its not like “OMG this is busted.”

Randomness

His power action is still random and hitting 50% of his die is going to be a bad hit. With two rerolls you are looking at a 75% chance to hit one of the 2s or 3s. That’s admittedly pretty good but 25% of the time its going to not work and its going to feel bad. If you say do roll out a 2 and a 3 from his initial roll you are pretty much pricing yourself into having to reroll the two to get some more value which also feels kind of bad but if all you are doing with your 20 point character is resolving 2 damage sides you’re not going to win the game.

Maul’s Lightsaber

The fact that you can remove modifying melee sides makes Maul’s Saber perfect for Maul. This admittedly could be the saving grace of Maul. If we can get enough money to power out/rebuy Maul’s Saber and make sure we draw Maul’s Saber this where I think he could shine. This is why I think a single die Maul is all we really need since this die is good enough to make we want to go for the wombo and it can protect itself. If you do hit on Maul’s Power Action from his die alone you can pop off shields from multiple characters to make sure you will be able to rebuy his Saber’s die…

BUT…

This is all expensive and for a character that can only realistically play a 3 die start that’s a lot to ask. Also, the whole drawing Maul’s Saber isn’t slam dunk in Standard because Lightsaber Pull rotated.

This card is like a Maul’s Saber but without being able to protect itself. I do find it interesting that the threat of his Power Action will force your opponent to have to mitigate your large saber die before you get a chance to use your power action but if they do then you are left with your character die which isn’t the worse but…

Is 2 damage off of his power action really that good?

Kylo Ren, Tormented One has an ability that does 2 damage a turn to mono color decks. That’s where Kylo shines and he exceeds his costs value when he does. As a 20 point character having a power action that deals 2 damage honestly seems about par. I think this because you are essentially giving up the chance to play a 4th die for the juicy Power Action.

What about 3 damage off of the Power Action?

Clearly 3 damage off of the Power Action is gross. I’d never argue that. The one thing I will point out is that getting 3 off of it is going to happen less than you think. Not because its one of the six sides but because if you a hit a 2 off of the first reroll you are going to stop rerolling. That’s going to make the prevalence of hitting 2 way more common than 3.

There’s a chance that Maul will be playable but between Palpatine, Unlimited Power and Darth Vader, TTB in the Standard format I think the space for big blue villain decks is full. This could obviously change with other cards that haven’t been spoiled but as of right now I’m keeping it in my pants and not getting too excited.

Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think about Maul in the comments or on Social Media and as always…

-NJCuenca

For those looking to be ahead of the competitive curve, do consider signing up for our Patreon. We’ve got a 250+ person discord channel that boasts a near constant discussion of competitive Star Wars Destiny playing. In addition to that, we release dozens of extra videos to our $10 tournament prep tier, as well as exclusive articles, deck lists, and primers. It’s a wealth of information, and I challenge you to ask around among our subscribers to see if they think it’s worth it. I have an idea of what they’ll say. Not only do you get all of that, but you also get this dope playmat after 2 months of being on the Tournament Prep Tier OR instead you can receive a set of our POWER ACTION tokens.