Yesterday I went over what I thought were the characters that gained the most from the nerfs in relation to the power level of the previous format. Today I’m going over non-character cards. I’ll try to pick cards that drive archtypes but some cards will be so ubiquitous that there influence will be undeniable.

Sith Holocron

Previously this card took splash damage hate from players looking to deal with Imperial Inspection and Running Interference via Rend. Those cards are less of a problem now and with the format losing power Sith Holocron can still save you 4 resources. When that happens its easy to see why you’d want to put it in your deck. It’s too early to say what incarnation blue villain will take but there’s a good chance Sith Holocron will be involved.

The Best Defense…

This is one of only two red cards that got a bump from the nerfs mostly due to FO Stormtrooper being in a lot of lists and big character dice decks making a comeback. Before the red characters were too good to want to damage them consistently but now you’ll have more three character decks that can spread the damage. Red was nerfed pretty hard across multiple archetypes but it had its day in the sun and now things will be a little more fair.

Shoto Lightsaber

Shields are better and this archetype wasn’t hurt too much from the nerfs. This card is way better than I thought it was and its going to be in a lot of spots. The big issue it has is that it competes with Ancient Lightsaber and that competition isn’t very close. Still, this card will drive that specific archetype and that archetype will be good.

Force Illusion

This is probably one of my favorite defensive cards in the game and it got an obvious bump from the Vibroknife nerf. If you have this in your deck you need to be managing your deck size. If you play against it you might want to ignore that character until their deck has ran out or until you can do a big enough damage blow that they won’t be able to mill enough to prevent it- this usually is accomplished with modifiers. All of that is situational but those are ways you can play around it.

Caution

Shields are better and blue hero is better. if you’re playing blue hero and aren’t playing this card you’re going to get a weird look from me. Even in those three die two character Luke decks people were still using their one crappy die to protect their Luke.

Negotiate

Things are way fairer now and with decks trying to go wide with modified damage this is going to be a blow out in a lot of spots. My inclusion of this is also a nod to Ezra not being in my top 10 yesterday. Ezra is going to be important since it pairs with both Elite Poe Dameron, AP and Sabine for 2 dice. Not sure the former is real but I already lost to it in testing and any 4 dice Poe Dameron deck has my attention. Between Ezra and Rey this card has some good low cost fodder.

Endless Ranks

The format has slowed down quite a bit and this card looks to capitalize on a game that drags on. I think people have become wise on how to play around this card but its still powerful. You can pile on damage onto characters without killing them and then try to kill them both before your opponent takes an action or has enough money to play it. You can also track your opponents hand to see if they have been keeping cards in their hand for most of the game and then make them discard cards from their hand once they have gone down to the last few. This lets you gain insane value from your discard sides that you may usually reroll. There is a really interesting bluffing game that goes on here so if you are the person who’s playing the Endless Ranks make sure to not give away that you are worried that your opponent might make you randomly discard cards from your hand.

Deflect

Blue is much better as a whole and with Sabine, Han, wide villane range and maybe Palpatine being players you’ll be seeing plenty of Deflects around. Before FN/Kylo2 and Thrunkar were top dogs but now things are open and it seems most blue players are going back to old upside. This may be less important if the metagame heads in a heavy melee direction but for now expect the Deflect.

Fast Hands

I have no idea where this goes (Jabba I’m looking at you little BIG buddy!) but I’m sure someone will use the once ban worthy Fast Hands in a great way. It’s not crazy for Han to pick up some Fast Hands and start doing first action damage, I’m not exactly sure why he stopped in the first place. There is a world where Aurra Sing aka Hangela Palmer makes an appearance and she certainly loves Fast Hands.

Salvage Stand

With things getting fairer and slower mitigation becomes better. Salvage Stand was played in many of Thrunkar lists but I see it serving a different roll in the mid-claim range, choke and mill decks. This card makes it harder to resolve pay sides on cards and also will protect your dice from mitigation that costs a resource. If this and Holocron are everywhere you will see a return of Rend into the mix.

Thanks for reading. I hope you have fun exploring the new format. What cards are you excited to play now that the nerfs have happened? Let us know in the comment section. Your insights helps us write these articles and plan for the future. Take care and as always…

May the Rolls be with You.

-NJCuenca

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