Table of Contents
How to Use the Meta Snapshot
This snapshot, or tier list, shows the best decks to play in any particular event to give a player the highest chance of winning the event.
Here are the various decision points that go into forming the Meta Snapshot and how to properly use and follow it:
- Introduction: This is just an overview of the snapshot; a guide on how to use it.
- Thoughts and Observations: A general summary of the current meta with commentary about notable points including influencing events or new cards or any other important information regarding the meta.
- Deck List: A sample list, maybe from a featured event, in most cases, or from my own testing gauntlet, if necessary. Will feature some of the most popular and newest decks, not necessarily all of them.
Legend - The Ranking System
- S-Tier: Overtuned decks that warp and control a large part of the meta. May not always be in the meta snapshot.
- Tier 1: Well-optimized decks that can consistently top and/or win an event. Not a perfect deck, but a solid deck with few weaknesses and a gameplan against most everything.
- Tier 2: Competitive decks that have a few glaring weaknesses but can still compete with some, or most, of the top decks with some solid tech options and sideboard plan.
- Tier 3: Average deck that isn't bad but also not well-equipped to top or win an event without a lot of breaks going your way. Poorly optimized decks, linear in nature, and easy to attack.
- Tier 4: Inconsistent deck that may be built around a specific card or multi-card combo that doesn't end a game. Overly niche deck that won't win against the top, well-refined decks.
Thoughts and Observations
Welcome to the first edition of the Meta Snapshot! Each month, or as needed when there are a large density of large events, we'll release a tier list detailing all of the meta decks. For this first one, we have results from online league play to factor in, as well as the most recent 220 player event in London and the 90 player event in Poland. In the next update we'll also have results from several $1k-$5k events in the US over the rest of March and into most of April.
Right away we can see that boba-fett-disintegrator-sor-179 is the clear leader of the meta. Where Boba Fett goes, the meta follows. It was largely believed by the online community that the meta was initially a paper, rock, scissors format, and while I do still believe this to be the case, early results point to Boba Fett as being the paper, the rock, and the scissors. I would look for the larger events in the US to bring balance back to the force now that we're deeper than 2 weeks into the game and once again show that more than 1 deck is in the running for "best deck." That said, we use the information that we have in front of us and go with the saying, "numbers don't lie." While it may appear that Command as a whole dominates the meta, with Energy Conversion Lab in particular leading the charge, all 4 primary aspects are represented in tier 1 denoting a balanced game as a whole.
Let's take a dive into the tier list, then dive deeper into each archetype.
The Tier List
| Tier | Cards |
|---|---|
| S-Tier | • Command Boba Fett |
| Tier 1 | • Command Sabine • Command Iden • Command Krennic • Aggression Iden • Cunning Boba Fett |
| Tier 2 | • Aggression Leia • Command Darth Vader • Aggression Chirrut • Forms of Palpatine Control |
| Tier 3 | • Command Luke Skywalker • Aggression Luke Skywalker • Forms of Grand Inquisitor • Forms of Han Solo, Vigilance Thrawn • Forms of Grand Moff Tarkin • Command Chewbacca |
| Tier 4 | • Everything else |
The Decks
Command Boba Fett
The defacto top deck at the moment. There isn't a lot to be said about Command Boba Fett that hasn't already been said. It's powerful, it's consistent, it just plays the most powerful cards in the game and jams them into a single deck with consistency and synergy created by the Boba Fett leader itself. You have the best stats on a leader per deploy cost and combine it with the best units per cost by power level. Early set 1 metas are typically dominated by well-tuned midrange decks and Star Wars: Unlimited is no exception.
Command Sabine
The most "budget friendly" deck in the tier list just also happens to be one of the most powerful. Due to the back and forth nature of the game, aggro decks are a bit more difficult to play properly because if you sequence incorrectly, or attack improperly, an aggro deck can be severely punished. I'm not sure what issues caused Command Sabine to not do as well as expected in the UK launch event, but if I had to guess I'd say it was simply player experience. Sabine has a close to 50/50 matchup against Command Boba Fett and is an overwhelming favorite into almost every control deck that the game has to offer (Command Iden being the exception) so I'd expect it to rise back up into the top cut when the next round of events come around and players get to practice more with the deck.
Aggression Iden Versio
It was incredibly surprising to me to see Aggression Iden as the highest placing Iden lists. While I in no way think Aggression Iden is a bad deck (the opposite, in fact), I firmly believe that the Command version is better suited to exist in the current expected meta. Regardless, both decks are solid as restoring a large amount of health makes it difficult for any deck, including Boba Fett, to deal upwards of 35 or more damage over the course of a game.
All that said, the deck I'm spotlighting this time is the very event heavy Aggression Iden list from the UK Event top 16. This is a unique take on the deck and sacrifices a decent amount of percentage points in the Sabine matchup to gain that much against the sea of control decks that are seemingly overplayed at the moment. Let's take a look at the deck.
Aggression Chirrut
A bit of an underdog story right now, we have Aggression Chirrut. Objectively the best current deck for Force Throw, Chirrut is unassumingly the midrange killer. What the deck does better than any other deck, with the exception of Boba Fett, is control the midgame with a very hard to remove Leader as well as Force trait units backed by upgrades and Force Throws. There's a lot of untapped potential with Chirrut, despite having a very underwhelming Leader side, and I'm excited to see which direction the deck goes in the future. For now, let's take a look at the highest placing list.
Cunning Palpatine
The last deck we're highlighting for this snapshot, Cunning Palpatine, like Chirrut, does what no other deck can do - steal a lot of your units and use them against you. It's an incredibly slow and meticulous deck which leaves itself open to be overwhelmed by Sabine or Leia, but it's devastatingly potent against the slower control decks of the format. It's my thought that it did well in the UK event strictly because of matchups and the lack of aggro decks doing well, but it's still a deck that you need to respect and have a plan for if you want to play something like Iden or Vader at a large event.
Conclusion
The meta is far from stabilization and decks that are currently in Tier 2-3 can adapt to become tier 1 decks over time and with the right tech choices. It's of an opinion that the meta is "solved" but the fringe decks from the UK Launch Event prove that the meta is always evolving and changing and anything can happen. Early league play has also shown that Boba Fett isn't some unbeatable force with Darth Vader taking a win as well as Iden and Sabine consistently finishing toward the top of the standings and bracket. Furthermore, Director Krennic has shown promise with a win in a 90 player Polish Launch event.
If Boba Fett is dominating your local meta, I'd point to decks like Darth Vader, Iden Version, and even a well-piloted Sabine to knock it down a peg. Good luck in all of your games and I hope to see everyone soon at the $1k-$5k events over the next month!
