Disclaimer: This buying guide is for competitive players only. Collectors and Competionists that are just going to buy everything obviously don’t need advice on what to buy. However, you may find the card evaluations interesting, especially if you’re thinking of selling cards you’re not interested in, even if they’re very good competitive cards.

I got into Star Wars Destiny a bit late, but that’s not an excuse for why I didn’t buy any packs of Awakenings: ripping packs is terrible EV. It’s fun as hell, and I used to be legitimately addicted to cracking packs and Mountain Dew Code Red in college when I worked at a comic/hobby store in Poughkeepsie, NY. I used to crack soooo many packs while pounding Code Reds. I was in charge of the entire CCG department as a 19 year old, and I ripped anything from Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh to Star Wars CCG and, of course, Magic the Gathering. I actually have a talent for pulling niceness, my friend Andy carried around a single pack of Worldwake for an entire year once, and at Grand Prix DC I snagged it while he was in the bathroom and cracked it. One Pack. One Jace.

As talented as one human can be at opening the goods, we should still never, ever crack a pack. Magic players don’t have to crack packs because the draft, and thousands of people draft, and then sell all of the cards they open to shops, and there’s tons of cards for everyone to buy second hand. Star Wars Destiny doesn’t have this benefit, there’s no incentive to open packs after a player/collector has 2 of each card, so less gets opened, so less gets bought, and less gets printed. Simple supply and demand. Couple that with extra cautious print runs by FFG because they didn’t think the game would take off, and finding cards has been a real challenge for some.

Even I, the person who has overcome his proclivity for cracking packs non-stop, bought 2.5 boxes of SOR. Until SOR I’d never purchased a pack of Destiny, I was hyped for the set, and there were precious few boxes to go around upon release. If I wanted to be competitive in the following weeks I had to get in on the ground floor. I felt like I got extremely fortunate opening my boxes. I got my 2 Riot Batons, 2 Rocket Launchers, 2 U-Wings, and 2 Vibroknives. I traded Legendaries I didn’t want for FN-2199s, C-3POs and Maz and called it a day. I had preordered a third box, but returned it to the store. I was good. Escaped without opening a single Quadjumper! By the way, does anyone have any Quadjumpers for sale/trade?

I won’t be ordering any boxes of EAW. The set doesn’t seem that great, and I have no interest in tilting off from opening two Hound’s Tooths, which I know is going to happen if I cave. And, since we no longer live in a world where Magazines can thrive, so must we also live in a world without one of my favorite all time ‘zines:

So, without further introduction, here’s everything I’m buying from Empire at War:

A 2x Common/Uncommon Playset

The most important things we’ll need from the new set are 2x of each common and uncommon. In some cases we’ll probably want 4x, but we can certainly start the season with two of each. These shouldn’t be hard to come by, I had a 2x of each C/UC of Spirit of Rebellion listed on my post in the Star Wars Destiny: Marketplace on Facebook for a month, for $8, and nobody so much as inquired. I’ll be actively searching for people and stores who bought a ton of boxes and are willing to ship these to me ASAP.

Legen– wait for it…

I’m not picking up very many Legendaries. I find most legendaries are overrated, and very few have had a major impact on the competitive game. Only four Legendary characters from Awakenings have competitive decks built around them (though Jabba and Han held it down proper in the Awakenings only meta), and only the Millenium Falcon and Thermal Detonator are must have non-characters. There are practically zero Legendary upgrades from AWK that see play right now (though we’re likely about to see a major uptick in Crime Lord play, so pick those up if they’re cheap).

Remember, I’m talking about competitive decks only. I don’t care about your Launch Bay/Luke deck that draws a million cards. I’m glad you have fun playing that thing, but I’m not about that life.

SOR was even worse for Legendaries, outside of Z6 Riot Baton and Rocket Launcher, every other Legendary was nigh-unplayable. U-Wings went in Poe/Maz, and maybe a Maz’ Goggles, but every other Legendary is niche or junk. You could make a case for Force Speed and maybe Light Bow, but Spirit of Rebellion was filled with awful, awful Legendaries, so my advice above stands. When it comes to Legendaries, wait for it.

I am going to pick up a few out the gate though:

Grand Admiral Mitth’raw’nuruodo

This art is so much better than the Rebels art it’s silly. But, I digress. This card is obviously the real deal. Everyone and their Great Aunt Cecilia has sent me their draft of a Thrawn/Unkar list, and most of us have heard about an FFG employee tormenting the shit out of would-be pack-winners at NOVA with an Unkle Thrawn list that mills for 15 using Buy Out. Thrawn is a stud, and his 2Resource side legitimately arouses me.

The Ghost

The Ghost is great. I could be a sucker for Star Wars animation, but between Poe Maz and Hera this card has multiple reasons to hit the table. Shout out to the Phantom One chilling aft (rip). This isn’t the most legit throw target for Poe, but if he were to get the vehicle nerf I could see this making the cut, especially since it’s much easier to cheat into play due to it’s cost of 4. You wouldn’t need to generate or save any resources other than the two you start your turn with to resolve it’s 2 Resource side with Poe, triggering his play a vehicle ability. Having a vehicle with no blank sides is always a sweet proposition.

Ancient Lightsaber

I actually don’t think this card is that good, but its neutrality and the fact that you don’t need to spot a blue character to play it really pushes it over the edge when it comes to playability, especially since FN-2199 can utilize it. Combine all that with the fact that you can use lightsaber pull to grab it from your deck and I think this card’s price has a potential to skyrocket. I’d like to get in on the ground floor before it does.

Watch List:

Ahsoka Tano

LR1K Sonic Canon

Seventh Sister

Coordination (Not Legendary, but still on the Watch List w, Rieekan)

Ahsoka and Seventh sister are both decent characters, but 7s especially wants to be played at elite, and I’m not sure the investment will be worth it if they don’t actually fit in any decks. I think both cards are good, but not good enough or point-costed low enough to allow them to take over the meta. I plan on playing extensively with both on TTS, but doubt I’ll ever actually sleeve these two up despite my love for each (did I mention I love the cartoons?)

Coordination I’ll pick up if Rainbow Rieekan is a thing, but I’m the only person who seems to think it is. The Sonic Canon could just be absolutely bonkers, and it is the card closest to actually making the buy list simply because of Imperial War Machine and other red shenanigans between Hux and Imperial Backing; but, that deck might be one of those that falls apart if you don’t draw everything in the right order, so I’d rather see if it’s any good first.

Not So Rare

I’ll generally be more aggressive with my rare purchases as they are cheaper and allow for greater deckbuilding flexibility in most cases. These are the ones I’m going to order immediately.

Ciena Rae

When FFG gives you an 8/11 character with 9 health, you buy two. Even though her game text is mostly blank, she’s an 8/11 with 9 health. She also has TWO resource sides, which is freaking great. Also, she costs 8 (11 at elite) and also has 9 health. That’s good.

Magnaguard + Electrostaff

I was definitely NOT going to purchase this guy until I saw the Electrostaff. Not having to pay for your pay sides is really freaking good. Electrostaff is Neutral so it could one day go into a Hero deck, but likely not (though Mace is kind of interesting now). Magnaguard could be really good with Darth Vader, Sith Lord, but I’m not sure he has many more places. Maybe some kind of a Grievous deck, or any deck with a Riot Baton. Either way, both of these will see play, and I’ll be grabbing two of each.

Non-Unique Characters

Apologies for the crazy pictures, but not all of the cards are officially spoiled on the mothership.

All of the non-unique characters are really solid in Empire at War (or at least have a place in the meta; I’m looking at you Rookie Pilot). I could see any one of these being played in a tier 2 or higher deck, and some could even break into that top tier. Rookie Pilot gives you a 5-dice start with Hera and eMaz, and the rest are all very well costed for their benefits: Servant has great game text despite shitty health, and the others are very well rounded. I’ll be grabbing 2x of each, but only 1x of the pilot.

Hera and Stuff

I don’t think the Z-95 will be good enough to pick up, but these vehicles are, especially since I’ll be picking up Hera. Going into SOR I was 100% certain Poe/Maz would be a top tier deck and made sure I picked up everything for it immediately. I feel the same way about Hera and her vehicles. I’ll be grabbing 2x of all of these, sleeving it up on day 1, and it’ll likely never get unsleeved, just like my Poe/Maz never did.

Relby-V10 Mortar Gun

This gun holds a special place in my heart because it was one of our exclusive spoilers, but independent of that this card is just fucking absurd. It’s a 10/10 3-cost weapon. It has a resolvable blue side that does anywhere from 3-12 damage. It’s amazing. I’m buying 2 immediately.

For those counting, that’s 15 out of 60 of the Rare/Legendary cards from Empire at War I’m recommending for purchase. There are still a few cards left to spoil, and if you’re wondering whether or not they are a buy for me, feel free to comment below or on facebook. For the duration of the NFL season I’ll be taking a break from discord (other than our Patreon channel), but feel free to PM me on there as well.

Good luck with your purchases, and especially with your pack-cracking. You’ll certainly need it.

-BobbySapphire

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