Images courtesy of Fantasy Flight Games
It looks like the only thing that changed in the Star Wars Unlimited (SWU) Premier format is that Jump to Lightspeed (JTL) dropped 18 leaders and 255 cards into the format. Unlike his nemesis who got chucked into the proverbial Sarlacc pit, Han1 has escaped being frozen in carbonite… for now. What does that mean?
Danny Schaefer, SWU Game Design Lead, wrote an article discussing Fantasy Flight Games‘ (FFG) team view on the meta. Long and short of it: people are going to have to plan to see Han1 in PQs, Sector Qualifiers, and Regional Qualifiers. Don’t forget about ECL and Tarkintown either. We know our girl Sabine will be paired with ECL, and why wouldn’t she? Sabine will get a chance to ambush with a War Juggernaut or MC30 Assault Frigate;
Top 3 Leaders from Last Season
The power trio (Han1, Sabine, and Jango) are going to hold their positions until someone dethrones them. I’d be dishonest if I didn’t take a beat and mention that Quinlan was just 2.1% behind Jango in top finishes. However, in my humble opinion, I don’t see him cracking the top three anytime soon. Why? People tend to play the decks they’re familiar with at competitive events during set rotation, with maybe a couple new cards slotted in, because experience usually edges out novelty.
Also, Jango got a ton of gas in JTL. The word on the streets is that Jango is the deck to beat. With that said, let’s see what new toys Clone Dad got.
Leader/Base
Jango Fett – Concealing the Conspiracy
Ground Units (11)
Space Units (25)
3 Kylo’s TIE Silencer, Ruthlessly Efficient
3 IG-2000, Assassin’s Aggressor
2 Fett’s Firespray, Pursuing the Bounty
2 Devastator, Hunting the Rebellion
Events (14)
First, if you have a flipped Jango and throw out a War Juggernaut and exhaust your opponent’s board, then they probably won’t be too happy. I like Guerilla Soldier a lot and I’ve seen a few deck lists with them. It kind of forces the opponent to accept an indirect damage to a unit (which Jango can exhaust) or allow GS to ready and attack. Maybe throw in a copy or two of Jump to Lightspeed? TDR Ruthless Raider then you can play JtL on it, then lay it for free?
I’m probably being too cute here, but that’s gross work.
Many people are saying Jango TT is going to surpass Han1 as the top deck. I don’t think it’ll happen, but it is possible. Han1 is yellow is pretty tuned as is. I could see Commandeer and Sidon Ithano, The Crimson Corsair in the sideboard. I’ve perused Han1 Green lists that are topping out with Starhawk. That’s a huge payoff if you can get there.
Again, I don’t see Han1 losing the top spot.
Sabine is probably being threatened by Jango to maintain the second spot. Jango kind of puts pressure on Sabine because it can slow Sabine’s aggro down by its space units, making the Sabine player choose indirect base damage or having damage go to a unit and Jango follows up to exhaust it. I’m seeing Sabine Blonde (yellow base) creep around a bit. That’d be a flashback to Spark of Rebellion PQs. Let’s see what the Sabine diehards can do to fend off Jango.
Which Jump to Lightspeed Leaders Might Pop?
I got my eyes set on three leaders who might crack the Top 8 regularly of the Premier format. Kazuda Xiono, Best Pilot in the Galaxy (affectionately known as as “Kazoo” around my play group), Boba3, and I know people are going to jam Admiral Piett, Commanding the Armada just to windmill slam Red Devastator on turn five (if you’re playing green, of course).
A Reddit user went 4-0 in a 16-person Premier event to kickoff JTL piloting Boba3 Yellow. There’s a lot of non-combat damage in this deck to hurl at your opponent and activate your leader. Not to mention, having Boba3 pilot a readied Fett’s Firespray, Feared Silouhette is attacking for eight with two indirect damage. Your opponent better hope they have a unit with Sentinel in the space arena.
Leader/Base
Boba Fett – Any Methods Necessary
Ground Units (11)
3 Boba Fett, Feared Bounty Hunter
Space Units (25)
3 Fett’s Firespray, Feared Silhouette
2 Fett’s Firespray, Pursuing the Bounty
3 Devestator, Hunting the Rebellion
Events (14)
Sideboard (10)
3 Kylo’s TIE Silencer, Ruthlessly Efficient
3 Sidon Ithano, The Crimson Corsair
Kazuda is one of those leaders that’s going to blow up the spot or is a trap. The big synergy everyone is salivating over is Kazuda’s leadership ability and Trench Run (TR).
First, let’s look at TR. You get a +4/+0 and the fighter unit gains, “On Attack: Discard 2 cards from the defending player’s deck. Deal unpreventable damage equal to the difference in the discarded cards’ costs to this unit.” So, theoretically, your unit can blow up before it deals damage. However, Kazuda’s ability lets you remove the abilities of a friendly unit then take an extra action after this one.
Now, let me put on my judge hat here and post a rules clarification:
Also, removing all of the abilities means the unit can’t further gain any abilities this round either. Thus, you activate Kazoo’s ability on a Cartel Turncoat, it loses the Bounty, then take an extra action, then you play TR on it, and you only get the +4/+0 and can attack for six. Another synergy is with Fireball, An Explosion With Wings (which makes sense because that’s his fighter in canon).
Last, Admiral Piett (or Piety on Reddit) is really the first “stompy” leader out there. “What’s stompy, Dan?” you may ask. It’s slang for decks, usually with ramp (ways to get more resources out there quicker than normal, like Resupply) that go for big units to bring big damage. Piett reduces the cost of Capital Ships by one, so you can get an Outlaw Corona on turn one, a Resupply Carrier on turn four (or three if you ramped), and then drop the big guns after that.
The question is, will this deck be able to contain the aggro decks enough to go over the top of them?
Dark Horses From the Past
Hopefully everyone knows I am quite high on Gar Saxon, Viceroy of Mandalore. Players snuck in Gar Yellow to a top spot and couple Top 8s during the Twilight of the Republic (TWI) PQ season. Can it get upgraded to be more than fringe competitive? Every pilot counts as an upgrade so it’ll get +1/+0 on top of whatever else it brings. Also, don’t forget that a flipped Gar will return a pilot to your hand if the unit is defeated.
I’m not gonna lie, playing Iden Versio, Adapt or Die and swinging for five (because the unit is upgraded with a shield), then playing Corvus, Inferno Squadron Raider and “picking up” Iden to now have an 8/8 shielded Restore 2 unit is filthy. Another option is going Gar Blue. Hondo Ohnaka, Superfluous Swindler steals other non-Pilot upgrades. Also, playing Second Chance on Supercommando Squad with a flipped Gar is kind of a soft lock on your opponent. A hard hitting Sentinel Unit, with a Shield, and if they happen to destroy the unit (somehow) it can be played again and Second Chance comes back to your hand? Crazy work.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Leia Organa, Alliance General and Grand Moff Tarkin, Oversector Governor are getting a ton of new tools to use. There are 38 units, events, and upgrades with the Rebel trait in JTL to be used with Leia, compared the 51 that existed in the previous three sets. Likewise, Tarkin had 65 Imperial trait cards in the previous three sets and JTL added 27. I have faith someone will jam those leaders into a couple Top 8 finishes in the near future, and there’s already some Tarkin decks that placed so there’s some foundation already there.
Some news some of you may not have heard about is there are going to be showcase versions of Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith and Luke Skywalker, Faithful Friend for special awards/prizes at Galactic Championships. That’s huge incentive for someone to place in the Top 64 with either of those leaders. Considering Vader topped once and Luke got a couple Top 8s, I fully expect people to be trying hard with these two leaders. If you didn’t catch it, No Disintegrations and an activation of Vader’s ability smokes anything.
Last, there’s a glass cannon fringe deck making some rumblings. Captain Rex, Fighting For His Brothers paired with Droid Manufactory and Unity of Purpose can, in a perfect world, slam for 30 damage on turn four. I’m sure people will be trying that out, but the bigger question is: anyone dare to try Finn?
Full Throttle in Jump to Lightspeed
There are still great leaders outside of the top three I mentioned. Quinlin Voss is still going to be good. The tournament regulations change for draws (one point instead of zero points) is going to have people still pushing hard control with Bossk or Iden. Cad Bane TT got 19 on-aspect units to insert into the deck, and I’m not gonna count out Anakin Blue or Qi’Ra Green.
As you can see, the meta is still wide open in the JTL Premier competitive scene. I know another deck I’m going to be playing…Did someone mention Separatists?
Be cool to your fellow players, be cool to your judges, hydrate, eat well, exercise, and wear clean socks. Hit me up anytime on Bluesky @TheFlyingWriter or Reddit at u/TheFlyingWriter
Looking to see all the new cards in Jump to Lightspeed? Then check out our card image gallery.
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