As I type this, we’re 48 days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes away from the official release of Star Wars: Unlimited. And, if you’re planning to attend a pre-release event the weekend of March 1st, you have even less time to wait. Get hyped!
The launch of a new game, especially a Star Wars CCG from Fantasy Flight Games, comes with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. As thrilled as we are about the idea of cracking packs with our friends, making pew pew noises when some of our favorite SW characters attack, and dropping a capital ship that turns the tide in the late-game, it’s perfectly reasonable to have some concerns as well.
Will Fantasy Flight Games be able to avoid the same product shortages and rampant scalping that impacted the launch of Disney Lorcana with SWU? Has FFG learned important lessons from their approach to organized play with their LCG line (Android: Netrunner, Star Wars, Legend of the Five Rings, Game of Thrones, Warhammer, and several others), as well as the short-lived Star Wars Destiny CCG?
Thankfully, all early indications point to the answer to those two pressing questions being “yes”. The question that remains for me, and which won’t be answered for months after the launch of SWU, is: how healthy will the meta be?
History and Destiny
Traditionally, the release of a new competitive card game sees an early meta dominated by aggro decks; glass cannons that sacrifice the ability survive long-term for fast, direct damage that overwhelms their opponent before they have a chance to stabilize. Over time, as players gain more experience, and discover more nuance in both deckbuilding and strategic decisions in-game the meta shifts, game speed slows, and provides time for control decks to emerge. The rock-paper-scissors matchup adds both lizard and Spock, and the pool of playable cards and characters expands to address the broadening threat.
To reference a game that many SWU players will be familiar with, Star Wars Destiny, the early Awakenings meta was heavy with Jango/Veers (piling upgrades on Jango to maximize on his action cheating ability) and Vader/Tusken Raider (Vader was a brute with high damage output, and eliminated mitigation and re-roll options with his discard ability).
As the player base gained reps, it became clear that adding additional characters to the lineup was more valuable (in many cases) than the value brought by adding a second character, and Jango/Veers became either x/Bala/Stormtrooper (with x being either Jango or Captain Phasma). That change also allowed slightly slower decks, like Han/Rey to emerge.
With the release of “Spirit of Rebellion” (Destiny’s second set), the number of possible character combos increased substantially, and the meta reverted to lightning-fast aggro: Rey decks gained even more ambush cards to action cheat damage, Poe gained Maz to throw starships at you (don’t ask), and a new Vader paired with Kylo Ren to create the Emo Kids (#hothtopic). Where did that meta end up? FN-2199 grinding games out slowly just before the allotted time expired.
The Meta in a Release Far, Far Away
In the pre-release phase of Star Wars: Unlimited, the strongest decks appear to be Sabine Burn (using her ability to put your opponent’s base on an aggressively speedy timer) and Vader Ramp (generating additional resources ahead to get Vader onto the board ahead of schedule).
We would expect that, as more cards are revealed, and players actually have cards in hand and games under their built, the same meta evolution would take place. What does that look like two months after release?
Will games have slowed enough to reliably be able to play a capital ship (or two) before the outcome is effectively decided? Or will the ability to attack an opponent’s base directly, and the unique checkmate condition it creates, keep games from reaching a length that allows that meta shift to occur? Only time will tell how the Meta will be shaped in Star Wars: Unlimited.
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