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Well it’s finally here. We have been waiting, asking and expecting a rules update. And we finally got a pretty impactful one. Now without ample time and testing it’s a wild Wild West for Destiny. Lots of characters and decks now have a chance to be the “meta deck” and it’s going to be fun trying to find out what’s powerful and what wins games.

Right now there are a lot of things we can say that the game is and is not going to be. Now this is my opinion and we will definitely spend the next episode of Knights of Ren discussing this errata in great detail. But for those of you going to a local event or a tournament this weekend I wanted to drop some ideas for you and cover things that should be happening in the tournament scene.

How the mighty have fallen

FN was the hot topic for months. He was too cheap, too efficient and too dangerous. Decks winning in the meta HAD to have FN in order to come out on top. And the community asked for a nerf and we saw 2 that would impact his presence in the meta game.

With a point total of 12/15, FN has now been severely limited in teams he can not only run with but teams consisting of 4 good/amazing dice. This is important because FN can still run a 4x die team, but none of them are as potent or flat out oppressive as the previous rainbow 9’s or FN/Kylo 2.

The second rule change takes an approach at the core rules of the game. No longer can you play, overwrote, overwrite, overwrite, boundless, overwrite and then roll FN with a top end for massive damage. FN has to play fair and that means you can actually play the game.

These rules don’t make FN trash tier, but they do make playing him much more difficult and his consistency and top end damage levels drop significantly. Is he unplayable? Maybe. What’s more important is that he won’t be the dominant deck anymore. So your locals should have some variance in decks now. And that’s fun!

Let the past die….

Here is a card we all thought was fake when it was spoiled. And here we are today with annoy fake card that was really making the meta boring and forcing players to abandon their favorite decks out of fear. Well now fear not. Kylo is still around and kicking, but with a 14/17 point cost, he no longer has a 13 point elite pairing.

What does this mean? He dropped in value. Kylo 2 can be a deck still but he no longer can run with a 4x dice team at the same level as FN and that’s impactful. First of all whoever he takes as his partner, he will almost always be the primary target. No longer will he be a threat and a game closer if left alone.

I don’t think Kylo 2 will be as dominant in the local scene this weekend as he was previously but he might return someday (cough cough Anakin). But he is definitely taking a hit with both the FN and Phasma point increase. He still has a great die and a powerful effect, he’s just not able to pair with a super powerful elite partner.

That just won’t cut it

This was a pretty big change that I personally believe is one of the best changes for the game. The errata for this card now makes the Vibroknife die damage unblockable OR the Vibroknife die modified side plus the die it modifies. Gone are the days of dice wide unblockable damage while this die shows blanks.

I did some test games with Jay from Double Blanks Gaming and we saw that Vibroknife has clearly dropped off in damage output and massive wave clearing. The damage is still there and potent, but shields matter now and that’s what’s most important!

Gone are the days of shields being practically useless and here are the days where unblockable damage is useful but not the dominant force. Having a card totally invalidating one complete aspect of the game and an entire die side is unhealthy. I know shields are powerful but being able to just ignore them is not fun.

You will still see this card in your locals, it’s not dead but it’s not going to be as powerful as it once was. We also discovered in our testing that shields are still viable and now very very useable.

Too little, too late

Phasma was another card we all thought was a lie. She is too cheap, amazing die sides and a bonkers ability. Once again we were wrong. Although she isn’t as oppressive as FN, Kylo 2 and Vibroknife, she is unfair. The new errata moved her into 10/14 which now puts her in a fair point cost and removes some of the crazy teams she could slot into with 2 dice. This does not mean she is unplayable and trash, no she is still very very good. She just no longer can pair with teams where she doesn’t really belong. She should absolutely hit the tables this weekend but with some new and exciting pairs.

Phasma is still good and should be seeing play in your local scene, but she won’t be filling in those weird gaps only specific teams wanted. She offers extremely good value for her points but she no longer teams up with Cad Bane or Darth Vader for some wild combos. I don’t think this was a high impact change (except for Cad bane) compared to FN, but I fully expect to see some fun villain ranged decks now that she has to be paired with other characters.

One quarter errata

This one I didn’t see coming but I understand why it happened. Now I will openly say I’m not happy with this because if you listen to the podcast, this was my favorite character in the game because of his utility and high end play by forcing players to make good choices. Moving Unkar into 12/15 does a few things for the game I believe FFG wanted to avoid.

Thrawn/Unkar oppression was already something players were experiencing. With a vehicle build, choke build and mill build, this team has options and oppressive cards to play against you. Buyout, imperial inspection, turn 1 Friends in high places and the possibility of making a TON of resources….. Unkar was the primary way to make all of those things happen. With this update that team is a 3 die team and honestly very much weakened.

The best control deck in the game took a hit, yes. But the most NPE experience outside of FN was very clearly Thrawn/Unkar. Moving him into a 15 point cost is annoying sure, but it makes the meta open to anything now, not the second fiddle to FN (in terms of NPE decks). I’m not happy, but I do understand the approach, although I don’t agree with it. So to all the Unkar players out there we are challenged to find a new team to work with but thank goodness he isn’t unplayable (kinda).

The good, the bad, the ugly

Now that we have discussed the nerfbat bruises to cards we all wanted hit (except Unkar?), let’s talk about cards that got significant playability boosts.

Magnaguard was never bad, but he was overshadowed by a much better deck with much better characters. Now that they are less playable he is now a viable character with a powerful pairing. An elite Darth Vader (awakenings) and magnaguard is a very nasty combo. With the best defense and cannon fodder, this card is a damage sponge with a very good die to boot. He fills in a lot of gaps and offers some significant value out of your removal cards, but he’s just hard to kill and offers great red cards for your deck. I expect to see this card hit the tables soon.

Qui-Gon has always been a favorite of mine since awakenings but he never fit in. The awakenings meta was too powerful for him. Spirit of Rebellion introduced Vibroknife and empire at war gave us more tools for FN to dominate with Kylo 2.

Now that those issue have been adjusted, this card now has the tools and the pairings to become a powerful deck. With cards like fearless, Luke’s protection, shoto lightsaber and many other shield generating options, Qui-Gon is now able to sustain and deal enough damage to be a threat.

I don’t know if he is the best hero out there, but I believe he is viable now. As a midrange deck Qui-Gon has options for damage and good removal events. He also can pair with bigger threats than him so your opponent has to remove the larger threat allowing him to shield up and become a game closer. he cannot go double elite with an equal level partner, but at 1 die he is still a force to be dealt with.

Since Spirit of Rebellion Count Dooku fell off the face of the earth. He was a victim of Vibroknife and just being kinda useless in the meta. With the new errata I believe he has a chance to come back to the tables in full force. His effect is now relevant since Vibroknife is no longer ALL melee damage becomes unblockable. He has a good die and still one of the best sustain effects in the game. His health is not amazing but he can pair well with other melee characters and has the tools needed to threaten damage and mill in games.

Will he be a powerful character in this new meta? That is unclear, but his ability is now useful since his shields aren’t worthless and the meta won’t crush him into the ground. Dooku has some lists with Jabba where he can run a sustain/mill option or perhaps we will find him with new Phasma or FN elite. The options are now open and he fills in some gaps we might never have considered before and I think that’s enough of a chance to try him out again.

What’s the point?

The errata is now available and officially goes into effect 11/6, but some stores already announced they are using the new rules immediately or by this weekend. So I recommend looking at all of them and seeing what adjustments are now in place. The exciting part about this errata is how wide open the game is. Yes FFG should have done better testing, yes they made mistakes, yes yes yes. But past all those issues is the current place Destiny is in, a good one. We are in a place where we are no longer going to see a 1-2 deck meta. We will finally and hopefully see hero decks begin to emerge as viable decks we can play. We are about to see (for the first time in a LONG time) a resurgence of players talking about Destiny, working together to find new decks and teams, players and content creators going to the lab and searching for new ideas and cards that have shifted in value.

Is this update perfect, no. But I can say this is a good step forward.We can see that FFG (although slow) is willing to make necessary adjustments to Destiny so that its healthy and not a single deck game. We now have time to practice before PAX, regionals and any other major tournaments coming up. We now have a reason to show up to weekly events and hang out with friends and test test test. I am personally excited because a lot of overlooked cards now are going to be reevaluated and put into some new decks. I am excited to see what players come up with because no single person will be able to find the perfect deck anymore (or at least I hope). I am excited because we are going to see some crazy ideas and find new teams we never considered before. But most of all I’m excited to see people happy and ready to play. This is an amazing game and I believe we have some of the best community members out there and now we all get to come together and build and play decks.

-Sugi

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