It's a Brave New World!

Welcome back folks! We just got some exciting news that FFG released a FAQ which took the nerf bat to many of the top decks. Let's all be clear that this nerf is 100% targeting my Kylo/Unkar deadly hate deck for being too OP!

Let's start with a brief moment of silence for

• Kylo/FN (Fn costs more, pairing doesn't work with both elite)
• Kylo/Phasma (Phasma costs more, pairing doesn't work with both elite)
• Cad/Phasma (Phasma costs more, pairing doesn't work with both elite)
• ThrawnKar (Unkar costs more, pairing doesn't work with both elite)
• Poe/Maz (Poe costs more, pairing doesn't work with both elite)

This is specific to Character Nerfs and their points. But, there are other nerfs and buffs as well. Let's look at what is hit by other changes.

• An upgrade can only be overwritten once a turn. This nerfs action cheating characters tremendously. This term is also called "replacing" (not super important, but it is good to call things by their name). 
• Nerf
• Cad
• Sabine
• OG Rey
• FN
• Buff
• Slower decks like a support/vehicle deck
• A general buff to control cards since you will have more chances to interact with an opponents dice. 
• Running Interference took a hit because you can now discard to reroll 0 dice, even while in the RI lock. For those of you that don't know, if my first action is to play an ambush card and activate a character, and play RI for both of those actions, your opponent can only pass or claim. Now they have a third option to pitch and reroll 0. It is still good, but this is a straight up nerf to RI. 
• Nerf
• Sabine/Ezra
• Han/Snap
• Hero Yellow
• Buff
• This buff is a little confusing if you haven't played against this lockout a lot. The first buff is to control cards having a chance interact with dice. The second buff is to big characters. People like Mace and Vader are the main damage sources of decks, but they are useless if they get locked out and killed before being able to do anything that you sank those 21-22 points into. They now have a chance to activate before getting double passed, or passed and then killed next action. 
• It's a Trap got hit really hard. This will hurt ALL aggro hero red. Some people seem confused about this one. But, the reality is that It's a Trap is always threatening to make Hero Red overpowered. This will free up a lot of design space for that color. 
• Nerf
• Hero Red
• Buff
• Future Hero Red
• Imperial Inspection only works once. This will hurt Villain Red's favorite 0 cost support. I think it is still good, but it is not easily abused.
• Nerf 
• Villain Red
• Buff
• Delicious cost upgrades
• Vibroknife. Only this die resolving goes through the shield (and, if it is modifying, that other damage goes through as well). This will hurt ALL melee decks. This will help many hero decks with their love for shields. 
• Nerf
• Melee 
• Buff
• Shields

Looking over the buffs and nerfs, I see the biggest buff going to control cards. Limiting action cheating is going to give control cards more opportunity to do what they are made to do. To me, that means the game is going to go much slower than we are perhaps ready for.

Now, let's compare to see if any of our new potential top decks take a nerf from this.

• Vader/Raider (Vibro)
• Cad + new friend (Replace mechanic)
• Sabine/Ezra (Replace mechanic and RI)

I think Vader/Raider will be fine because still has so many things going for it. I would really just be okay switching out vibro for Ancient Sabers and call it a day.

I think Cad is going to struggle. He lost his perfect partner and took a hit with the replace mechanic. It think he will still be fine, but it will take someone finding out the new way to build him.

Sabine will struggle to get her weapon on her and in her discard pile without just abusing the overwrite. She will also struggle slightly with not being able to lock an opponent with RI. That being said, the way I build her, I don't think the hit will be significant. It will give counterplay, which is not a bad thing.

To me, that means the top decks would be something like

• Vader/Raider
• Sabine/Ezra
• Palp
• EmoTwins

Some wild card decks that I could see rising once refined

• Rey2SO
• HeroMill (3 characters)
• Mace with Padawan or Ezra
• Qui or Ahsoka with Kanan 
• Vehicle/Support (3 characters)
• Han/Snap (I've been playing this, it running slower than Sabine/Ezra will now not hurt it as bad).

What is going to rise? How do I get ahead of the meta and strike first? The answer is related to my last article. The next big deck, and my top 4 old decks that might rise, have low variance. Vader has a great ability, holocrone is consistent, and yellow control momentum and pace. Kylo/Anakin have a deck full of ways to activate the specials. Sabine/Ezra still has its true combos (Activate into ambush weapon into Hidden Agenda+Never Tell Me The Odds+ Infamous for 100% chance of 9 free damage costing 2 resources). Palp just wants to resolve his dice, so his rolls don't actually matter as much. 

All of these decks are very consistent. I could easily see cards like Deadly, Hate, or NTMTO being in the next big deck because of the known damage. I could also see Ahsoka rise with Diceless upgrades like Thermal Paint and fearless to get consistent results through reactivation, regardless of dice rolls. Qui-Gon is also in a strong spot to make a move with his 80% damage die sides. 

Who knows though, maybe the game will be just slow enough for vehicle decks to set up their alpha strikes. Looking back at X-Wing, the game completely changed when big alpha strikes had both enough time to get it off and control enough to get consistent damage (Wave VIII when Guidance Chips were introduced). I think the same thing is happening in Destiny, and we are getting closer to that shift. Don't get me wrong, rolling well will always be really strong. But, you won't win an all day tournament if you are relying on rolls. 

I know you are all in morning of Kylo/Unkar no longer being a thing. Fear not, because I have the new and improved Dooku/Unkar.