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Are you a new Destiny player who has outgrown their starter sets and are ready to begin their collection? Hopefully you’ve read our New Player Buyer’s Guide for some basic advice on collecting and are now ready for some more directed guidance on what cards we think you should be adding to your collection and running in your decks. Unlike our New Player Buyer’s Guide, this guide focuses on competitive deckbuilding and assumes the player wants to run the most optimized version of a deck as possible.

Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to.

– Kylo Ren

In a galaxy far far away, Kylo Ren is prepping himself for the release of [insert next Destiny set here]. He is bone-weary of the current meta and is ready for it to die. But until rotation kicks in with the [insert number here] base set the cards seeing heavy play in the current meta aren’t going anywhere. Until the meta develops further with the next Destiny set, we can’t give solid advice on which cards to chase. But we can steer you toward the cards that are good now and that we think will be good all the way up to, and sometimes beyond, rotation.

The Decks of the Meta

Our analysis begins with a catered selection of successful decks in the current meta and digging into their decklists. These decks have won big tournaments, performed consistently well at the top tables, or in the case of a couple are here because they represent the best of a particular archetype. Most of these decks will be found in gauntlets posted by content creators and competitive Destiny teams and you can find many of them on our own gauntlet page.

Breaking down the cards and mechanics of each of these decks would require a novella’s worth of text. Fortunately most of the decks have explanations for how to pilot them on swdestinydb.com (just click the deck name and you’ll be taken to the list) or have videos and guides posted online.

Representative Meta Decks

Digging into the Numbers

We pulled down the decklists and compiled them to see what revelations fell out of the numbers. At a glance you can see that Force (blue) dominates the field and is accounted for in over three quarters of the decks we selected for our analysis.

Top 10 Most Represented Cards

Popularity Card % Decks Used Card Type Rarity Color Faction 1 Force Illusion 63% Upgrade Uncommon Blue Neutral 2 Friends in Low Places 38% Event Common Yellow Neutral 3 Easy Pickings 38% Event Uncommon Yellow Hero 4 Heirloom Lightsaber 31% Upgrade Starter Blue Neutral 5 Caution 31% Event Uncommon Blue Hero 6 Overconfidence 31% Event Common Blue Neutral 7 Force Speed 25% Upgrade Legendary Blue Neutral 8 Ancient Lightsaber 25% Upgrade Legendary Blue Neutral 9 Truce 25% Event Common Yellow Neutral 10 Hidden Motive 25% Event Starter Blue Neutral

Looking at the top 10 most represented cards in the decklists, three cards really stands out: Force Illusion, Ancient Saber and Force Speed.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=”7758,7757,7759″ posts_number=”3″ orientation=”portrait” show_title_and_caption=”off” show_pagination=”off” _builder_version=”3.2.2″ max_width_last_edited=”on|desktop” custom_margin=”|||” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”fade” custom_css_main_element=” margin: auto;|| width: 80%; ||padding: 10px;”][/et_pb_gallery][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.2.2″] Ever since Vibroknife got its faithful nerf, Force Illusion has been a mainstay of blue decks. It is one of the few cards in the game that effectively adds health to a character and is an excellent defense against big hits that include modified dice. It isn’t rare for Force Illusion to be blocking three or more damage and when paired with a single removal card it can prevent all the damage from an entire round.

Ancient Saber brings value to the table with its three damage sides and its ridiculous +3 damage. While it lacks Redeploy it can be used to prolong the life of the character you’ve attached it to. Playing Ancient Saber round one on the character your opponent was probably going to defeat first has set them up for quite the long slog of health to get through and probably ruined their day.

Force Speed is the action cheating card in the game and it is FREE to play. Once you begin playing more competitively you’ll see the value Force Speed brings with getting around your opponent’s mitigation and control. And if you’re real lucky that Force Speed die will land on Focus right when you need it!

This paints a fairly simple picture: you should just play blue. Unfortunately the economics of the game are going to make that rather expensive: Ancient Lightsaber and Force Speed both sell for around $50 and Force Illusion for $10. While it is possible to field the decks without those cards, chances are the deck is going to be sub-optimal and struggle competitively.

Even if your budget allows for the purchase of these cards you need to be aware that Force Illusion, Ancient Lightsaber and Force Speed will all be rotating out with the release of the third base set (we assume this is around Q1 2019). Budget and rotation be damned? Then by all means, pull up a popular blue list and collect away. These expensive cards are used in many different decklists, its why they cost so much. Buying them will open up many deck building options and should see use throughout the rest of the cycle.

Building on a Budget

Vehicles

Budget not be damned? Just because the core of the two character blue decks are expensive doesn’t mean you can’t run blue at all. Two very popular decks include budget blue characters and not a single Legendary card. Let us introduce to you Hero Vehicles! It comes in two flavors, a three character variant called #RallyAid and a more robust four character version called Space Elevator. These decks rely on their characters to ramp into a fleet of vehicles to take down their opponents. Keeping characters alive is less important so these decks don’t run Force Illusion, dropping the price of putting these decks together down even more. Better yet, the dice cards that go into these decks aren’t really used by other deck types which keeps their cost pretty low. Your friends will curse you as you use some of the strongest control against them with Easy Pickings (#2) and Into the Garbage Chute removing their dice left and right.

Where is the downside? Well, we’ll give it to you straight. These aren’t easy decks to pilot. Most of the two character decks you just play an upgrade, activate your characters, play a removal and discard a card or two for rerolls and begin resolving dice. Simple, sweet, even a wookie could do it. There are far more decision points going into piloting Vehicles, but that isn’t a bad thing. Play these decks and you will be forced to become a better, more aware player.

The other downside is its yet to be proven if Vehicles will survive the new release. Our guts say yes, but if there are meta defining cards that hate three and four character lists then Vehicles might be in trouble. Still, with the low cost of collecting these decks we feel comfortable prodding the new player to pick them up for a try.

Pew Pew Blasters!

Another option for the budget minded is the very aggressive Boba/Phasma deck. This deck does some real work with just its character dice and those dice come from the starter sets you probably already own! This deck is a lot simpler to run than Vehicles (at least we think so) and is budget friendly for the same reason: a lot of these cards just aren’t found in other decks.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=”7771,7772″ posts_number=”3″ orientation=”portrait” show_title_and_caption=”off” show_pagination=”off” _builder_version=”3.2.2″ max_width_last_edited=”on|desktop” custom_margin=”|||” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”fade” custom_css_main_element=” margin: auto;|| width: 80%; ||padding: 10px;”][/et_pb_gallery][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.2.2″] You’re really only looking at two money cards in Boba/Phasma: Holdout Blaster and X-8 Night Sniper. Holdouts are going to set you back about $10 each and the X-8s about $20 (pro-tip – people selling playsets usually list at a discount). The major downside of collecting this deck is that quite a bit of it will be rotating out with the Awakenings-cycle, however, the characters that are the aggro back-bone of this deck aren’t. They are such a strong pair that we think they’ll see play past the rotation, making this a deck to hone over time.

An even cheaper option is the depressingly named 17th Place Sadness, better known as five die villain. A variant of this deck has been around for a long, long time. It works well because you overwhelm your opponent with cheap character and upgrade dice, they just won’t have the cards or resources to mitigate them all. This deck also sips on your budget and runs without a single Legendary or chase rare and its most expensive card is Force Illusion. You’re going to see a good amount of this deck rotate out, but its such a cheap buy that we still recommend it as a deck to kick off a collection with.

Finding the Good Cards

If you’ve evolved past looking online for completed deck lists and want to begin assembling your own decks you might be a bit overwhelmed by the huge card pool. Where to start? You could take the easy road and begin with a netdeck but maybe your work blocked swdestinydb.com and Artificery is all you’ve got. Well, in a minute here we’ll share the table of all the card data from the meta decks. If the deck you are putting together can legally use a card on that list, then it probably deserves consideration. Want to run a card not on the list over a card that is? You need to really consider if the utility of the card in question is better than the list card. Are its play restrictions tight? Does it cost an additional resource? Does it need an intricate combo before you can play it? Ask these questions before you slot it into a deck.

Data Dump

Popularity Card % Decks Used Card Type Rarity Color Faction % One Copy % Two Copies 1 Force Illusion 63.00% Upgrade Uncommon Blue Neutral 0.18 0.82 2 Friends in Low Places 38.00% Event Common Yellow Neutral 0.17 0.83 3 Easy Pickings 38.00% Event Uncommon Yellow Hero 0.14 0.86 4 Heirloom Lightsaber 31.00% Upgrade Starter Blue Neutral 0.6 0.4 5 Caution 31.00% Event Uncommon Blue Hero 0.17 0.83 6 Overconfidence 31.00% Event Common Blue Neutral 0.4 0.6 7 Force Speed 25.00% Upgrade Legendary Blue Neutral 0 1 8 Ancient Lightsaber 25.00% Upgrade Legendary Blue Neutral 0 1 9 Truce 25.00% Event Common Yellow Neutral 0.5 0.5 10 Hidden Motive 25.00% Event Starter Blue Neutral 0.5 0.5 11 Entangle 25.00% Event Starter Yellow Neutral 0.75 0.25 12 Flank 25.00% Event Uncommon Gray Neutral 0 1 13 Holdout Blaster 25.00% Upgrade Rare Gray Neutral 0 1 14 Feel Your Anger 25.00% Event Common Blue Villain 0.25 0.75 15 DH-17 Blaster Pistol 25.00% Upgrade Rare Red Neutral 0 1 16 Ezra Bridger, Force-sensitive Thief 25.00% Character Rare Yellow Hero 0.5 0.5 17 Frozen Wastes 19.00% Battlefield Starter Neutral 1 0 18 Hyperspace Jump 19.00% Event Uncommon Yellow Hero 0 1 19 Hasty Exit 19.00% Event Common Yellow Neutral 0.33 0.67 20 X-8 Night Sniper 19.00% Upgrade Legendary Yellow Neutral 0 1 21 Force Wave 19.00% Upgrade Legendary Blue Neutral 0.67 0.33 22 Weapons Factory Alpha 19.00% Battlefield Uncommon Neutral 1 0 23 C-3P0 19.00% Support Rare Red Hero 0.33 0.67 24 Y-Wing 19.00% Support Rare Red Hero 0 1 25 T-47 Airspeeder 19.00% Support Rare Gray Hero 0 1 26 Rally Aid 19.00% Support Uncommon Red Hero 0 1 27 R2-D2 19.00% Support Rare Gray Hero 1 0 28 Resistance Bomber 19.00% Support Rare Red Hero 0.67 0.33 29 Pinned Down 19.00% Event Common Red Neutral 0 1 30 Into The Garbage Chute 19.00% Event Uncommon Gray Hero 0.33 0.67 31 On The Hunt 19.00% Upgrade Rare Yellow Villain 0.33 0.67 32 Backup Muscle 19.00% Support Common Yellow Villain 0 1 33 Witch Magick 19.00% Event Common Blue Villain 0 1 34 Shoto Lightsaber 19.00% Upgrade Rare Blue Neutral 0 1 35 Close Quarters Assault 19.00% Event Starter Gray Neutral 0 1 36 Doubt 19.00% Event Common Gray Villain 0 1 37 Tactical Mastery 19.00% Event Uncommon Red Villain 1 0 38 The Best Defense… 19.00% Event Uncommon Red Villain 0.33 0.67 39 Probe 19.00% Event Common Red Villain 0 1 40 Yoda, Wizened Master 19.00% Character Legendary Blue Hero 0 1 41 Mother Talzin, Nightsister Matriarch 19.00% Character Rare Blue Villain 0 1 42 Handcrafted Light Bow 13.00% Upgrade Legendary Blue Hero 0.5 0.5 43 Maz’s Goggles 13.00% Upgrade Legendary Yellow Hero 0.67 0.33 44 Vibroknife 13.00% Upgrade Rare Gray Neutral 0.5 0.5 45 Vibrocutlass 13.00% Upgrade Rare Yellow Neutral 1 0 46 Maz’s Vault 13.00% Support Uncommon Yellow Hero 0 1 47 Loth-Cat and Mouse 13.00% Event Yellow Hero 0 1 48 Sound the Alarm 13.00% Event Starter Gray Neutral 0.33 0.67 49 Second Chance 13.00% Upgrade Uncommon Yellow Hero 0 1 50 Determination 13.00% Event Common Blue Hero 0 1 51 Defend 13.00% Event Common Gray Neutral 1 0 52 Tech Team 13.00% Support Common Red Neutral 0 1 53 Armor Plating 13.00% Upgrade Uncommon Yellow Villain 0 1 54 LL-30 Blaster Pistol 13.00% Upgrade Rare Yellow Villain 0.5 0.5 55 Frighten 13.00% Event Common Blue Villain 0 1 56 Mislead 13.00% Event Common Blue Neutral 0 1 57 Ewok Village 13.00% Battlefield Common Neutral 1 0 58 Maul’s Lightsaber 13.00% Upgrade Legendary Blue Villain 1 0 59 Intimidate 13.00% Event Common Blue Villain 0.5 0.5 60 He Doesn’t Like You 13.00% Event Common Yellow Villain 0 1 61 Mind Trick 13.00% Event Uncommon Blue Neutral 0.5 0.5 62 Bait and Switch 13.00% Event Common Yellow Villain 0 1 63 Lightsaber Pull 13.00% Event Common Blue Neutral 0 1 64 Hidden Blaster 13.00% Upgrade Starter Gray Neutral 0 1 65 Fang Fighter 13.00% Support Starter Red Neutral 0 1 66 Field Medic 13.00% Event Common Red Hero 0.5 0.5 67 Scruffy Looking Nerf-Herder 13.00% Event Common Yellow Hero 0 1 68 Bartering 13.00% Upgrade Rare Yellow Neutral 0 1 69 Chance Cube 13.00% Upgrade Rare Gray Neutral 0 1 70 Rookie Pilot 13.00% Character Rare Red Hero 1 0 71 Aayla Secura, Jedi General 13.00% Character Rare Blue Hero 0 1 72 Boba Fett, Deadly Mercenary 13.00% Character Starter Yellow Villain 0 1 73 My Ally Is The Force 6.00% Event Uncommon Blue Hero 0 1 74 Concentrate 6.00% Event Starter Blue Hero 1 0 75 Impulsive 6.00% Event Common Yellow Hero 0 1 76 Cunning 6.00% Upgrade Rare Yellow Neutral 0 1 77 Verpine Sniper Rifle 6.00% Upgrade Starter Yellow Neutral 1 0 78 All In 6.00% Event Uncommon Gray Neutral 0 1 79 Millennium Falcon 6.00% Support Legendary Yellow Hero 1 0 80 Republic Cruiser 6.00% Support Rare Gray Hero 0 1 81 Modified HWK-290 6.00% Support Rare Gray Neutral 0 1 82 Crash Landing 6.00% Event Starter Red Neutral 1 0 83 Fast Hands 6.00% Upgrade Uncommon Yellow Neutral 0 1 84 Relby-V10 Mortar Gun 6.00% Upgrade Rare Yellow Villain 0 1 85 One-Quarter Portion 6.00% Event Common Yellow Villain 0 1 86 High Ground 6.00% Event Common Blue Neutral 0 1 87 Subdue 6.00% Event Common Yellow Villain 0 1 88 As You Command 6.00% Event Common Blue Villain 0 1 89 Coercion 6.00% Event Uncommon Yellow Villain 1 0 90 Obi-Wan’s Hut 6.00% Battlefield Starter Neutral 1 0 91 Profitable Connection 6.00% Plot Uncommon Gray Neutral 1 0 92 Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber 6.00% Upgrade Legendary Blue Hero 1 0 93 Rey’s Lightsaber 6.00% Upgrade Starter Blue Hero 0 1 94 Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Lightsaber 6.00% Upgrade Legendary Blue Hero 1 0 95 Force Misdirection 6.00% Event Common Blue Hero 1 0 96 Destiny 6.00% Event Common Blue Hero 0 1 97 Guard 6.00% Event Uncommon Blue Hero 0 1 98 Synchronicity 6.00% Event Common Blue Hero 0 1 99 Reaping the Crystal 6.00% Event Uncommon Blue Hero 1 0 100 Alter 6.00% Event Common Blue Neutral 1 0 101 Outer Rim Outpost 6.00% Battlefield Starter Neutral 1 0 102 DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol 6.00% Upgrade Rare Yellow Hero 0 1 103 Running Interference 6.00% Support Uncommon Yellow Hero 0 1 104 Never Tell Me The Odds 6.00% Event Uncommon Yellow Hero 0 1 105 Impersonate 6.00% Event Uncommon Yellow Hero 1 0 106 Vandalize 6.00% Event Uncommon Yellow Neutral 1 0 107 Rebel War Room 6.00% Battlefield Common Neutral 1 0 108 Crossguard Lightsaber 6.00% Upgrade Starter Blue Villain 0 1 109 It Binds All Things 6.00% Support Uncommon Blue Neutral 0 1 110 Enrage 6.00% Event Common Blue Villain 0 1 111 No Mercy 6.00% Event Uncommon Blue Villain 0 1 112 Decisive Blow 6.00% Event Common Blue Neutral 1 0 113 Imperial Discipline 6.00% Upgrade Rare Red Villain 0 1 114 Z6 Riot Control baton 6.00% Upgrade Legendary Red Villain 0 1 115 Rocket Launcher 6.00% Upgrade Legendary Red Neutral 0 1 116 Crystal Ball 6.00% Upgrade Rare Blue Villain 1 0 117 Rise Again 6.00% Event Uncommon Blue Villain 1 0 118 Snare 6.00% Event Uncommon Blue Villain 1 0 119 Spell of Removal 6.00% Event Common Blue Villain 0 1 120 Three Steps Ahead 6.00% Event Uncommon Red Villain 0 1 121 Law and Order 6.00% Event Common Red Neutral 1 0 122 Fort Anaxes 6.00% Battlefield Uncommon Neutral 1 0 123 Dark Counsel 6.00% Upgrade Starter Blue Villain 0 1 124 Free-For-All 6.00% Event Uncommon Yellow Villain 0 1 125 Otoh Gunga 6.00% Battlefield Common Neutral 1 0 126 Scout 6.00% Upgrade Rare Red Hero 0 1 127 Force Meditation 6.00% Upgrade Rare Blue Hero 0 1 128 Spy Net 6.00% Support Common Red Hero 1 0 129 Your Eyes Can Deceive You 6.00% Support Uncommon Blue Hero 1 0 130 Medical Droid 6.00% Support Starter Red Hero 1 0 131 Emergency Evacuation 6.00% Event Uncommon Red Hero 1 0 132 Spirit of Rebellion 6.00% Event Common Red Hero 0 1 133 Krayt Dragon Howl 6.00% Event Common Blue Hero 0 1 134 Strike Briefing 6.00% Event Common Red Hero 0 1 135 Strength Through Weakness 6.00% Event Uncommon Blue Hero 0.5 0.5 136 Imperial Palace 6.00% Battlefield Uncommon Neutral 1 0 137 Crime Lord 6.00% Upgrade Legendary Yellow Villain 0 1 138 Blackmail 6.00% Upgrade Legendary Yellow Villain 0 1 139 Ascension Gun 6.00% Upgrade Rare Yellow Neutral 0 1 140 Cable Launcher 6.00% Upgrade Rare Yellow Villain 0 1 141 EMP Grenades 6.00% Upgrade Rare Gray Neutral 0 1 142 Probe Droid 6.00% Support Rare Red Villain 1 0 143 Hound’s Tooth 6.00% Support Legendary Yellow Villain 1 0 144 Ace in the Hole 6.00% Event Uncommon Yellow Villain 0 1 145 Lying in Wait 6.00% Event Common Yellow Villain 0 1 146 Well-Connected 6.00% Event Common Yellow Neutral 0 1 147 Aftermath 6.00% Support Common Red Neutral 0 1 148 ETA-2 Interceptor 6.00% Support Rare Blue Hero 1 0 149 Hired Gun 6.00% Character Rare Yellow Hero 1 0 150 Jedi Temple Guard 6.00% Character Rare Blue Hero 1 0 151 Maz Kanata, Pirate Queen 6.00% Character Rare Yellow Hero 0 1 152 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master 6.00% Character Rare Blue Hero 0 1 153 Hondo Ohnaka, Respected Businessman 6.00% Character Rare Yellow Neutral 0 1 154 Rose, Skilled Mechanic 6.00% Character Rare Red Hero 0 1 155 Aurra Sing, Deadly Shot 6.00% Character Rare Yellow Villain 0 1 156 Seventh Sister, Agile Inquisitor 6.00% Character Legendary Blue Villain 0 1 157 Rey, Finding The Ways 6.00% Character Starter Blue Hero 0 1 158 Sabine Wren, Explosives Expert 6.00% Character Legendary Yellow Hero 0 1 159 Kylo Ren, Tormented One 6.00% Character Starter Blue Villain 0 1 160 Anakin Skywalker, Conflicted Apprentice 6.00% Character Starter Blue Neutral 0 1 161 Thrawn, Master Strategist 6.00% Character Legendary Red Villain 0 1 162 First Order Stormtrooper 6.00% Character Rare Red Villain 1 0 163 Bala-Tik, Gang Leader 6.00% Character Rare Yellow Villain 0 1 164 General Rieekan, Defensive Mastermind 6.00% Character Rare Red Hero 0 1 165 Jabba the Hutt, The Great and Mighty 6.00% Character Legendary Yellow Villain 0 1 166 Tarkin, Grand Moff 6.00% Character Legendary Red Villain 0 1 167 Captain Phasma, Ruthless Tactician 6.00% Character Starter Red Villain 0 1 168 Emperor’s Throne Room 6.00% Battlefield Uncommon Neutral 1 0 169 Dug In 6.00% Event Uncommon Red Neutral 1 0 170 Scorched Earth 6.00% Event Uncommon Red Villain 1 0 171 Quick Draw 6.00% Event Common Yellow Neutral 0 1

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About Sean Founder and Crew member of Artificery, Sean has played CCGs since the mid 90’s when his friend gave him a starter and then destroyed him with a Millstone deck. After an-off-and-on relationship with MTG, Sean stumbled across Destiny during the pre-release event in a sleepy game store in Portland and fell in love. Sean runs weekly Destiny events at The Portland Game Store and enjoys organizing Regional events at historic Portland venues. When not chasing wins at tournaments across the country you can find him in the Artificery Discord under the made-up-name Pearl Yeti.