In today’s article, I attempt a totally unscientific and doubtlessly premature ranking of the characters from Way of the Force, separating them into tiers based on how likely I think they are to find their way into Tier 1 decks. Let the speculation begin!
Elite – These are characters I expect to see in Tier 1 decks
1. Luke Skywalker – Very good sides for his cost, which are difficult to remove. 12 health and an interesting ability make him ultra efficient for his cost.
2. Cassian Andor – His ability means you are always getting great value out of his dice, whether in a damage deck or a mill deck.
Very Good – These are characters I think have a good chance to be Tier 1, but I’m not 100% sold
3. Arihnda Pryce – She is amazing when you control the battlefield. The only thing that might hold her back is if we see a meta full of fast decks (or Rex).
4. Snoke – Efficient health for his cost plus an abusable Power Action. Don’t sleep on that double focus either.
5. Mandalorian Super Commando – The math on this guy is nuts, assuming you use the Power Action every round.
6. Count Dooku – Really powerful ability, especially against melee decks. Action cheats and ready effects will be amazing with him.
7. Plo Koon – His dice aren’t amazing for the cost, but they’re solid, and his ability is just ripe for abuse with the right partners.
Solid – These are characters I think could be Tier 1 with the right deck/partner(s).
8. Rex – Good dice/health for his cost and a good ability. All around solid character.
9. Ezra Bridger – Good dice for his cost and a useful Power Action. A really good character for potential 5-dice starts.
10. Anakin Skywalker – Resource consistency to the max! The only thing keeping him from being higher on this list is that I’m not convinced Ezra1 isn’t just better.
11. Leia Organa – Immediately challenges Yoda and Riekkan for best mill character in the game. But how good will mill be? That’s the question.
12. Gungan Warrior – A solid throw in character for 6 points. All sides you don’t feel bad resolving. Easily better than Battle Droid.
13. Fifth Brother – Good health, but a pretty bland die for his cost. His special and his saber are potentially abusable.
14. DJ – Cool ability, but his die and health are only okay for his cost. He’s decent, but is he better than Boba?
15. Executioner – Melee version of FOS, with an extra health and an ability. Solid 8 cost support character if you’re looking for melee.
Okay – Unlikely to be Tier 1, but should see play in solid Tier 2 decks
16. Force Sensitive Outcast – Cool ability, okay die and health. 9 points for a non-unique is awkward though, and I don’t think she’s good enough to overcome it.
17. Trusted Informant – See above.
18. Firmus Piett – He’s all around okay. His ability is kind of useful to get resources round 1, but I don’t really see him shining.
19. Bo-Katan Kryze – Really good dice, but I’m convinced that big characters need good passive abilities to succeed in this game, and she doesn’t have it.
20. General Grievous – Good health and a potentially amazing ability. Unfortunately, I think it will be too hard to pull off for Grievous to be good.
Binder – Yah, these guys are terrible
21. Jabba the Hutt – His special could be fun to build around, but he’s definitely not good.
22. Boss Nass – He will be in fun Gungan decks, but nothing else.
23. Sebulba – He will be in fun podracer decks, but nothing else.
24. Jedi Sentinel – She will angrily block blaster bullets while sitting in your binder.
Overall, I like what I see in this set. At first glance, 15 out of the 24 characters seem like they could make their way into Tier 1 decks, and only 4 are truly bad. We’ll see how it plays out, but I expect that we will continue to see a diverse meta with the introduction of Way of the Force!
Thanks for the article!
But I disagree about Dooku.
Who to pair him with? Talzin seems like an obvious choice, but in this case you have 2 self-focusing characters. Dooku always wants to activate after an opponent’s melee character (if they present), otherwise it’s a waste of half of the clash ability. Talzin always wants to be the last character you activate to turn the best die to the best side. So this deck has to be slow. And how can it be? Using subpar supports? going 3-wide? I want to like Dooku for his consistency, but the cost so high…
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I think Dooku Talzin has some real legs. You don’t always get the most out of either character’s ability, but being able to Force Speed with either of them is really amazing – you can pull off some sick combos. And the deck is ultra consistent. Other than that, I’m not sure if Dooku has the best partner at this point, although Red unique set ups for ready effects are kind of interesting. We’ll see what happens – I’m not sold he’s Tier 1 either, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him in the top tables.
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