Table of Contents
How has the fourth expansion, Jump to Lightspeed, impacted the Star Wars Unlimited Premier metagame thus far? We take an early look at the decks that have made Top 8 in the last few JTL-legal events.
Note that this snapshot is not big enough for a full meta report, and we will be adjusting and adding more decks throughout the week! We’ll have a better idea of the JTL metagame after the upcoming Sector Qualifier Milan and The Bothan Invitational: Atlanta have concluded this weekend.
Top 8 Decks
| Tier | Deck | Top 8s |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Jango Tarkintown | 9 |
| Han1 Yellow | 7 | |
| Quinlan Tarkintown | 6 | |
| Tier 2 | Sabine ECL | 2 |
| Han1 Green | 2 | |
| Palpatine1 Yellow | 1 | |
| Piett Blue | 1 | |
| Poe ECL | 1 | |
| Lando Green | 1 | |
| Gar Security Complex | 1 | |
| Thrawn Colossus | 1 | |
| Gar Yellow | 1 | |
| Qi’Ra ECL | 1 | |
| Anakin Security Complex | 1 | |
| Anakin Blue | 1 |
Meta Overview
It's no surprise that the well-established decks of the Set 3 meta are at the top, as players will default to their current decks and simply tweak it with a few new inclusions.
Jango Tarkintown, Han1 Yellow, and Quinlan Tarkintown are all heavily played decks in the previous meta, though they all sport some of the latest cards from Set 4.
More interesting are the rebel-based, space-heavy decks that take full advantage of the Piloting keyword from Jump to Lightspeed. New JTL leaders admiral-piett-commanding-the-armada-jtl-5, poe-dameron-i-can-fly-anything-jtl-13-, and lando-calrissian-buying-time-jtl-3 making the top 8 is also a welcome sight.
It's great to see essentially new archetypes emerge from a new expansion, though time (and tournament results) will tell how competitive they really are.
Tier 1
Jango Tarkintown
A slew of new Jump to Lightspeed cards have made their way into this already popular archetype, pushing it ahead of the rest in terms of Top 8 appearances.
With so many sources of pings, jango-fett-concealing-the-conspiracy-twi-16 can pretty much exhaust a key unit every turn for excellent board control pre-5 resources. Once deployed, however, he can exhaust an opponent's entire board pretty easily.
That's thanks to the new indirect damage and mass pinging cards from JTL. war-juggernaut-jtl-170, ig-2000-assassins-aggressor-jtl-140, and devastator-hunting-the-rebellion-jtl-143 can fire at multiple units. Indirect damage from guerilla-soldier-jtl-218 and droid-missile-platform-jtl-162 will leave them a tough choice in either sacking units or taking base damage.
sneak-attack-sor-219 and triple-dark-raid-shd-194 make these plays even more powerful, and all that damage piles up fast. This deck looks very strong right now and is definitely a top contender of the Set 4 meta.
Han1 Yellow
Han1 Yellow is not going anywhere. The deck is as strong as it's ever been even with very minimal gain from the new expansion. The disruption provided by Cunning cards along with beefy units and late game smuggle value is tough to beat.
There are a few JTL cards making some lists, such as commandeer-jtl-235, a 2-for-1 with the right opportunity; ahsoka-tano-chasing-whispers-jtl-201, another big discard unit; and jam-communications-jtl-207, a strong sideboard option for slower matchups.
Quinlan Tarkintown
Quinlan Tarkintown essentially takes the best Cunning cards and splashes strong Aggression cards such as force-throw-sor-167, sabine-wren-explosives-artist-sor-142, and green-squadron-a-wing-sor-141. This gives it a better aggro start, and can take out the opponent's early plays with its leader and base.
commandeer-jtl-235 and ahsoka-tano-chasing-whispers-jtl-201 also make a splash here, representing 2-for-1 value with the right trades. red-five-running-the-trench-jtl-151 works well with quinlan-vos-sticking-the-landing-twi-18 to bring down units without directly attacking them.
The featured deck below has more Jump to Lightspeed goodies in the sideboard. electromagnetic-pulse-jtl-230, cham-syndulla-rallying-ryloth-jtl-164, and tantive-iv-fleeing-the-empire-jtl-252 look good for aggro, ramp, and space-heavy matchups, respectively.
Tier 2
Sabine ECL
There's very little Sabine ECL placing Top 8 in the events we've seen so far, though a very fresh take did manage to do well as you can see below. We've featured similar looking ECL lists in our pre JTL release deck brews from content creators, which had luke-skywalker-hero-of-yavin-jtl-12 and poe-dameron-i-can-fly-anything-jtl-13- at the helm instead.
The strategy is essentially piloting the best vehicles in red and green to unleash quick, hard-hitting threats at the opponent. black-one-straight-at-them-jtl-147 and blue-leader-scarif-air-support-jtl-96 are great with or without a pilot. luke-skywalker-you-still-with-me-jtl-94 and chewbacca-faithful-first-mate-jtl-103 are arguably the best pilots because they can get around the inherent weakness of piloting, which is being vulnerable to 2 for 1 trades.
r2-d2-artooooooooo-jtl-245 is simply a cheap value pilot that's also a rebel, so it's fine on its own with leia-organa-pilots-to-your-stations-jtl-97, fleet-lieutenant-sor-240, and rebel-assault-sor-103 in the mix. Whether this becomes the new direction of Sabine ECL decks remains to be seen, but it looks quite promising.
Piett Blue
admiral-piett-commanding-the-armada-jtl-5 can make capital ships operational very quickly but this deck doesn't rely purely on his cost reduction ability. It has the usual green ramping tools into overwhelming-barrage-sor-92, which is incredibly effective when fired by a city-size spaceship.
Vigilance removal and base healing are essential to ensure that you live to get to the late game, where your capital ships reign with terror. Notable additions to the selection from Jump to Lightspeed include resupply-carrier-jtl-119, fleet-interdictor-jtl-40, and annihilator-tagges-flagship-jtl-41.
no-glory-only-results-jtl-43 is an interesting answer for cards with useful When Defeated abilities, though it's also a straightforward way to deal with any non-leader unit, no matter how large.
Poe ECL
As mentioned above, the aggressive space rebel shell works with a number of leaders. Well, this one can fly as many ships as needed no matter how many times he gets shot down.
With poe-dameron-i-can-fly-anything-jtl-13- always around, black-one-straight-at-them-jtl-147 gains extra ping value. The veritable fleet of Set 4 space units in the deck ensures the leader has one to climb into. phoenix-squadron-a-wing-jtl-95 and red-squadron-y-wing-jtl-149 are cheap piloting targets while millennium-falcon-get-out-and-push-jtl-249 and red-leader-form-up-jtl-101 really want those pilots around.
With almost all fighter ships, biggs-darklighter-theyll-never-stop-us-jtl-150 can power through sentinels, especially with power-boosting effects. planetary-bombardment-jtl-181 is an inspired sideboard choice for slower matchups. It can either clear the way or be enough to finish off a stabilizing opponent.
Lando Green
This defensive deck delivers on the full flavor of lando-calrissian-buying-time-jtl-3: turtling up with shields, restores, and sentinels until the opponent gives up and goes home.
Base healing units like hera-syndulla-weve-lost-enough-jtl-45, leia-organa-pilots-to-your-stations-jtl-97, and sabines-masterpiece-crazy-colorful-jtl-250 can keep your base healthy while whittling down the opponent's. Lando can give these and your sentinels shields, simply by playing a space unit when you already have a ground unit, or vice versa.
If frustrating someone into making inefficient plays sounds like your idea of fun, give this one a spin.
Final Thoughts
We're excited to see more Jump to Lightspeed cards find a home in competitive decks. Hopefully the upcoming events this week showcases the potential of the newest expansion and brings us a fresh, healthy metagame.
