This week’s format is the most direct format we’ve seen so far in the Star Realms Arena. The Scenario card’s rule is as simple as it can get: Once per turn each player may spend 1 trade to gain 3 combat. The complexity comes not in the rule, but in the effect of the rule. Playing this Scenario well requires knowledge of the Colony Wars deck, the flow of the game, and of the expected meta. In this week’s article, I break down what worked for me and what didn’t, and as always I’ll give the data that you can use to stay one step ahead.

Route One: Aggro

This week uses Colony Wars, which is seen by many to be a faster format than “Vanilla” (aka the Star Realms Base Game). Colony Wars features several cards that go into your hand when you purchase them. It also features several common and uncommon cards that generate 3 trade. This tends to bring games to an explosive conclusion two or three turns faster than in Vanilla.

With the Scenario, you can knock off an additional two turns. Assuming both players go full aggro, games can end on turns 14-16 on average. That’s 7 or 8 turns per player – you might not even shuffle a third time!

Players are avoiding scrapping cards, and that is pretty smart. Deck scrapping is not that powerful when you are shuffling only two or three times. Players are also avoiding bases, because they are extremely likely to be destroyed as soon as your opponent begins their turn. As most bases are costed to assume they have a survival chance, buying bases is usually not the best play.

Most people are going to chase after the Star Empire and Blob cards that deal damage quickly. Ravager is a great card in this all-aggro format, both because of the damage it deals and because of the trade row-control it provides. Since most people are not building towards a late game, it is possible to deny any viable purchase options by scrapping low-cost cards from the trade row. It is possible to force your opponent to buy no cards at all this way. You can do this in the midgame, and it is usually backbreaking!

Because this format leads to an aggro state faster than normal, most people will choose quick damage as their primary option. To borrow a phrase from soccer, this is “Route One” as it is the obvious go-to. Most of the Scenarios do not point people to a particular strategy quite like this one does. How do we take advantage of this meta? Absorb the damage and fight back big.

Absorb and Respond

If everyone is bringing rocks to the fight, it is time to play paper. In this case, paper is authority-gain. While the bases in Colony Wars are priced assuming multiple uses, the authority gain cards are still available at a reasonable price. (No, there is no Cutter, but Trade Hauler isn’t too bad.) In fact, the Trade Federation was my main route to victory. Almost no one went for it, assuming that Route One was the only way.