As I write this article we are less than a month from the release of the latest set of Star Wars: Unlimited, Twilight of the Republic. And with most of the set spoiled at this point, we thought this would be a great time to discuss cards in the previous two sets that will get better with the release of the new set. Specifically we wanted to look at some previously overlooked cards that will get better with the new synergies and mechanics offered by Twilight of the Republic.
Without further ado, here are my picks for ten cards that will get better once Twilight of the Republic is released!
At first glance General Tagge might seem like an odd choice to get better in the new set. He’s a Villainy card, aren’t clone troopers Heroism? Yes, but troopers are getting even more options in Twilight of the Republic. At the time of writing this article we have already seen spoilers for 13 trooper cards that are either neutral or Villainy. If go wide strategies are truly viable in the new set, General Tagge could easily become a staple in trooper synergy decks. Additionally, cards in the set seem to support go wide strategies that may help General Tagge and his army of troopers. He’s about to “get in his boat and head up river to kick the M. Bison wannabe’s…” — oops, sorry, wrong movie.
Everyone’s favorite Mon Calamari is up to his old tricks and if go wide strategies do actually become viable in Set 3, Admiral Ackbar only gets better. As armies grow in size in both space and ground arenas, playing the Admiral as single target removal becomes even more formidable. Already a popular toolbox card in Heroism decks, Ackbar’s stock goes up in set 3 to support your clone trooper armies and foil your opponent’s coordinate or exploit plans.
Speaking of removal, Ackbar may be able to hit their single target big units, but when looking for solutions for wider boards look no further than Bombing Run. It can hit both arenas, and it does enough damage to kill clone troopers or battle droids. At 5 cost it might seem a little too expensive for removal, but round 4 may be a pivotal turn for exploit or coordinate strategies — only time will tell. How do you do a bombing run in zero gravity? Shhh, you ask too many questions!
Did you forget about Motti? I did. Remember starter decks in Spark of the Rebellion, those were the days. We were young, we were innocent, and we loved playing Motti in our Darth Vader decks. Well, with the exploit mechanic, McMotti-BoBotti, as I call him, is definitely on the come up. It was confirmed on the developer livestream today that Motti’s ability triggers after the unit utilizing exploit enters play if Motti is used to pay the exploit cost. Then Motti can ready the exploit unit that just entered play as long as it is Villainy. Spicy indeed!
Precision Fire has always been a cheap and effective pump. When I played my first 1k for Star Wars: Unlimited I ran into a very fast Sabine Green deck using Precision Fire to punch through sentinels, and ever since I have kept the card in the back of my mind. As I mentioned above when discussing General Tagge, the number of trooper cards already spoiled for the new set may be reaching a critical mass to make a trooper deck more viable. I am also sure that token units will cause people to rely even more heavily on beefy sentinels to hold off the deluge of 1/1 and 2/2 units. Precision Fire seems like a perfect way to punch aggro trooper decks through for the last little bit of damage to base, ironic the art is a Stormtrooper.
Are clone decks going to be a thing? Maybe? Seems like this might be the set that brings a tribal clone deck into focus. Omega makes that idea seem much more viable. With 17 more clones already spoiled for the new set, Omega is looking more, and more interesting. An ability to tutor and help with off-aspect penalties might be just what players need for that Bad Batch deck we’re building. Even on a 2/2 body this card may see some play. (Insert Omega joke here — I’ve never watched these cartoons.)
Wild Rancor hungry. Wild Rancor eats clones and droids. Wild Rancor happy. Another removal option for those go wide board states, but this one has a 6/8 body and Overwhelm. It is probably relegated to fairly niche decks since it is a double aspect card, but powerful nonetheless.
Second Chance? Isn’t that like a crummy Legendary from Shadows that doesn’t see play? Yes, okay, Second Chance is, well, not particularly great — it’s slow, and other than in my niche double Vigilance Gar deck, it’s pretty unplayable. But hey, give it a second chance. This pick is a bit of speculation, but I feel that if the exploit mechanic can take advantage of “when defeated” abilities we may see a world where Second Chance is on the come up. It’s still slow and heavily costed, but it’s a Legendary for a reason right? Right?
We haven’t talked about any Leaders yet! There are some obvious choices like Hunter (wait, what does he do again?), but my pick for most likely to improve in set 3 is good ol’ IG-88. He’s the king of go wide right? He was going wide before going wide was cool. Well he wasn’t, but he wanted to be. Maybe IG-88 will finally be a viable aggro deck. He also has a droid tag, so that’s something!
Capture may be a mechanic that didn’t see a lot of play outside of limited formats, but assuming token units are defeated in the same way they are when bounced back to hand when captured, Rule with Respect becomes an interesting removal option for the player looking to destroy a swarm of token creatures. Your opponent will have to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of attacking into your base with their token units as you casually sit back on your throne of melted blasters — shoot, wrong franchise again!
And that about wraps it up! Of course there are some more obvious choices for cards we will see improve in the next set, such as Supreme Leader Snoke (he makes all the token decks cry), but I thought we should revisit some of the less talked about cards in the previous two sets and explore new possibilities with the new set in mind. What cards do you think are on the come up? Please comment below!
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