So Way of the Force is coming to a close and Across the Galaxy will be hitting stores on November the 8th. On top of all the excitement of a new set, we often forget that the holocron will be updated. The question is always asked, who should get added? and should we take any off? Let us dive into that

Current Roster:

Captain Phasma, Ruthless Tactician:

Phasma dropped in the Two-Player set last September along with a new Kylo. This was just before we had our first Balance of the Force and we saw Phasma added to that list. At the time her and Kylo2 were a force to reckon with at a 4 dice start. Their output of damage was crazy. An upgrade on Kylo, a correct Kylo call, and resolving 2 dice already could put a character at 6 damage which turned up Phasma’s special. Along with certain red cards like Tactical Mastery, it could really sneak in high amounts of damage. It was a good deck at the time, would it be as good now? No, I don’t think so. A good deck? Probably. One that requires a +1 to Phasma? Nah. I would vote to take her off the BoF and let her shine again, as she has seen no play outside of the odd Boba/Phasma lists that floated around Worlds but have died off recently. She would be a solid character at 9/13 and maybe open a 3 wide aggro option that competes against 3 wide vehicles. Some other pairings that were good for her were Cad and Vader2. I think Vader2 has phased out and Cad is probably just better off with Snoke. Off

Aayla Secura, Jedi General:

She was printed at 9/12 but was given a +1 on the most recent holocron. Now she falls into the pit of “Well just run Yoda at 13” and I don’t think I need to discuss why Yoda is amazing. I really doubt she will ever see much play because of a far better option. Sure she has damage sides and could try to punch you in the face quicker than Yoda, but I would even argue Yoda ramps so quick he can punch you in the face just as hard by Round 2. Luke3/Yoda passing around a Force Wave is no joke. Now my only concern with Aayla being taken off would be the resurgence of the Aayla/Rose/Ezra vehicle deck. When that was good, it didn’t even have the Crait Speeder. I think that deck would be really powerful in the current format, but I also haven’t play tested it so who knows. It is a shame that Rey/Aayla/Profitable got hit as I felt that was a good but fair deck, I think the nerf came from Aayla opening up so many options on top of a potentially broken vehicles deck. I think there could potentially an issue if she was taken off so I think I would leave her at the +1 but wouldn’t be upset if she was taken off. Now if her green friend got a +1, I think we see her return a bit to the meta. Stay

Sabine Wren, Explosives Expert:

Oh Sabine, come back to me. Maybe I am biased, but I don’t think Sabine was overly broken but she did have a lot of very powerful cards that worked with her. In that Sabine/Ezra deck you had 2 errata’d cards in Hyperspace Jump and Running Interference. It also got hit with the Overwrite rule, even if that was intended for Rey1 and FN a bit more. So a deck that ultimately ended up with 2 card changes, an overwrite rule and a BoF to one of the characters might’ve been a bit too strong. I think over all it was more of a Negative Play Experience more than a top tier deck in the current meta. I could see Bazine/Snoke making this deck sad as it disrupted 3 resources or discarded my Jumps. I think the +1 to her was fine, taking her out of the local scene is a good thing. I have seen many new players get frustrated at all the action cheating just to have Hyperspace Jump played on them. It certainly didn’t get them excited for next week’s locals. Again, I think it came more from trying to stop a NPE, rather than taking down a top tier deck. I think she would struggle in this meta but maybe could have sneaked a good showing at GenCon if all that mill was there. If you hate mill, you probably hated this BoF. Stay

Unkar Plutt, Junk Dealer:

Unkar was originally hit with a +2 right before Thrawn/Unkar became too big. I think that might’ve been a bit too much but Unkar was just ahead of his time. His ability to generate resources was unheard of at the time, hence the FN/Unkar/FOST decks being so powerful. They turned out weapons like it was their job. Now Snoke and Yoda kind of laugh at him. Eventually he was brought down to a +1 and he should 100% stay there. Sadly I don’t think he will ever see much play again but I can promise you that keeping Thrawn/Unkar out of the game is a good thing. That pairing alone is reason to keep him at 11/14. Stay

FN-2199, Loyal Trooper:

If you missed the era of FN/Bala/Nightsister, I envy you. That still might be the best deck to hit the meta, or at least was the most winning deck. With FN being at 10/13 and having unlimited overwrites, you could see your 10-12 health character dead turn 1 with a timely Boundless Ambition. I think it was an over-reaction though. Introducing the overwrite rule was enough to balance FN in my opinion. They ultimately slapped a +2 on him which he still has today while his buddy Unkar got knocked down to the +1. I would honestly love if they gave FN one last go and took him off BoF, or even dropped him down to +1. At 12/15 he is almost impossible to pair with, despite Talzin and Snoke really trying. A eSnoke/FN/FOST deck sounds like fun to me. I do not think he would be as oppressive as he once was if they took him off BoF. His big play was Boundless into 3-4 more weapons to hit you with while pinging the Nightsister to make sure you got damage. Now you can only do that once, which is still powerful but not broken. #FreeFN Off

Poe Dameron, Ace Pilot:

Poe/Maz was another dominate deck before FN really blew up. It was similar to how Sabine worked and its damage output was way above the curve at that point in the game. Being able to throw a Thermal Detonator for 6-9 damage was hard to come back from, along with the fact Poe could have Fast Hands on him before that was changed to Yellow Character only. So he had the Fast Hands to cheat out dice and Maz to cheat out dice. It was hard to stop what he was going to do. Some turns you got lucky, he didn’t have Fast Hands and now you got to The Best Defense and remove both. Even removing one wasn’t the best because Maz just focused the other. Add cards like Planetary Uprising and you had a deck that was crushing everything in its path. Now with the meta catching up to his damage output, I am not sure Poe would be the powerhouse he once was. He joins FN in the +2 club making him 16/20. I also think he could be dropped back down to +1 or off the BoF. Sure he would probably be good but doing 12 damage by Round 2 is something a lot of decks can do, while a lot of Poe’s big plays are spreading out damage (Thermal Det). He did get some new toys from the past few sets, but nothing to make him broken. Maybe 3PO might be a bit too much. I think in the current meta we should bring him back, maybe he might help against the rampant 3 wide decks that have been everywhere. Off

So I originally wanted to cover who was on the BoF and who I think should be added but being over 1,000 words now I will split the article into two. I think some of this characters could be taken off without too much worry, they were oppressive when all the stars aligned in that current meta. With how different the games is, maybe we could see a few of them coming back. So far no one has been taken off a BoF list, only Unkar was lowered. We will see how this plays out once AtG hits. Be on the lookout for part 2!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on these characters and if they should stay or be taken off the list! Let us know in the comments!

-JustJack