Data Vault continues to take the SWU competitive scene by storm winning an astonishing EIGHT PQs this weekend.  Even Admiral Ackbar joined in the fun, winning a 55 person PQ in Torino, Italy!  

Is this success coming strictly from the extra 3 starting hit points or has Data Vault forced players to build decks in a way that not only mitigates the “disadvantage” from having to play 60 cards, but turns it into an advantage?

It’s likely a combination of those two factors.  It so happens that our very own Albert Porgstein had earlier created his landmark Theory of Porgativity, going through in painstaking detail, which you should read in full below.

To attempt to summarize Dr. Porgstein in my own words.  For a deck that is not based around drawing one particular card, it’s more useful to think about cards in “buckets”.

Some example buckets may be:

• Turn 1 plays
• 7-cost units
• Upgrades
• 3-cost removal

Some decks may greatly benefit from drawing the round 2 Power of the Dark Side.  In a 50-card deck, including a mulligan, you have a 54.34% chance of drawing it in your opening hand and then an additional small chance to draw it in the next round.  One way to ensure you draw it more often is to just add 3 Merciless Contest and play 53 cards.  You then have a 78.12% chance of drawing one of those 2 cards in your opening hand.  A significant increase!

There are enough cards available in SWU now, with 4 sets released, that we can easily fill these buckets to not only mitigate the disadvantages from playing 60 cards, we can actually build decks in a way to take advantage of the extra cards.

Han Solo, Worth the Risk is a good example of this.  It doesn’t rely on drawing any single card.  Instead, it plays a lot of good cards in specific buckets that it can then play either with Han’s discount or full cost.

Han Solo’s top end bucket cards include:  General Reiken, Rebellion Hammerhead, Mace Windu, Home One, Reinforcement Walker, Krayt Dragon.

Sure, his chances of drawing the Krayt Dragon are much lower than in a 50-card deck, but his chances of drawing any one of these cards by round 5 is much higher.  In a 50-card deck, you would only be able to play with a limited number of cards from that bucket, but with 60 cards, you can play them all and give yourself a better chance to draw them.

Another interesting thing with Data Vault is that the more prevalent it becomes the less of an advantage the 3 health becomes.  In a field full of ECL and TarkinTown, the 8-life advantage is big.  In a field where the average starting health is over 30 the advantage is less so.  As that happens, the decks playing Data Vault start to rely more on the deck tools and less on the health advantage.  We may even start to see 30 health bases playing 55-60 cards!

Now for your reading pleasure, the full Theory of Porgativity from Albert Porgstein.

Forward

I would like to dedicate this work to my mentor, Sir Isaac Porgton whose early work on gravitational deck theory launched this field (and, in one ill-advised experiment, a porg from a catapult). Your pioneering equations on mass and consistency laid the foundation for everything that followed. If I have seen further, it is only because I stood on the shoulders of giant porgs — though they did wobble considerably.

Thank you for helping the rest of us understand that sometimes, to draw the right card, one must first let go of the need to control the draw.

— Albert Porgstein

The Theory of Porgativity: How Data Vault Warps Deckbuilding Math

Abstract:

In Star Wars: Unlimited, deckbuilding is a delicate balance between consistency and flexibility. The introduction and success of Data Vault fundamentally challenges conventional assumptions about optimal deck size, card ratios, and statistical draw probability.  This disruption — or gravitational pull, as we’ll call it — can be likened to a porg-shaped singularity in deck construction logic, giving rise to a new framework we call The Theory of Porgativity.

This article will explore how Data Vault bends the mathematical “space-time” of deckbuilding:

1. Probability Mechanics – How adding more cards traditionally dilutes consistency and the exact math behind that, compared to how Data Vault compensates for it.
2. Search and Filter Synergy – The interactions between Data Vault and tutor/search effects, and why the value of draw smoothing increases logarithmically with deck size.
3. Redundancy and Ratios – A breakdown of how redundancy in deck design (e.g., having 2s, 3s or how to compensate with more of a key card) changes when operating under the Porgative Field.
4. Optimal Deck Size Curve – Using hypergeometric distribution, we’ll show how decks with 50, 55, 60+ cards can actually gain consistency under certain build conditions.
5. Inverse Law of Porgodynamics – Does adding cards actually add order as opposed to chaos?  We will extrapolate this data to determine if playing up to 60 cards in a deck can be ideal even for a non-Data Vault deck.  (i.e., does this break the 2^nd law of Porgodynamics?)
6. Deck Archetypes Most Affected – Midrange “value engines” vs. low-to-the-ground aggro, and how the Vault favors porgodynamic deck elasticity.
7. The Risk of Overreach – At what point the gravitational pull of the Vault collapses under its own mass, dragging consistency to a porg hole.

With Data Vault, you get a deck size paradox:

Your deck is bigger — but it feels smaller, because Data Vault increases your ability to find key cards more often than you would expect, especially with good deck construction.

This is the foundation for Porg Dilation:
The perceived size of the deck is compressed relative to its actual size due to Vault’s consistency compensation.Through this lens, we aim to prove that Data Vault isn’t merely a fringe enabler — it’s a deckbuilding paradigm shift, demanding not just a reconsideration of numbers, but a whole new dimension of strategic thinking.  The Theory of Porgativity isn’t just about making your deck fatter — it’s about understanding how mass warps consistency, tempo, and tactics in the expanding multiverse of deck construction. Or, as Sir Isaac Porgton once quipped: ‘In the vacuum of variance, let consistency be your center of mass.’

The Porgability Constant and Porg Dilation

To expand our deck building theories into Data Vault and 60 card decks, we first must set a baseline value that can be compared to as deck size increases.  Star Wars Unlimited has a minimum card limit of 50 cards that every deck must abide by as well as a 3-card limit on copies of any single card.

This leads to the Porgability constant (𝓟)

Definition:

The Porgability Constant (𝓟) is the baseline probability of drawing at least one copy of a 3x card in a standard 50-card deck after a full mulligan.  This takes the following parameters into account:

1. 50-card deck
2. 3 copies of a card
3. Draw 6 cards twice including a mulligan

This acts as a fixed reference point — the gravitational center of traditional deck building consistency.

A simple hypergeometric calculation will prove the Porgability Constant.

Therefore, the chance to find 1 copy in an initial 6 card hand is ~32.45%

Taking the mulligan into account will provide the true Porgability Constant

Adjusting any of the initial parameters will lead to a deviation from 𝓟, resulting in a Modified Porgability Constant, 𝓟’.  

The ratio of the Porgability and Modified Porgability constants give the true Porg Dilation Factor.

The Porg Dilation Factor reflects the warping of draw probability as deck mass increases.

A deck with increased card counts and a Porg Dilation Factor greater than 1 is considered to have achieved Porg Compression — an advanced state where deck expansion increases draw consistency through duplication.

“A rare compression event has occurred — a sign of exceptional porgodynamic construction.”

Porg Dilation Factor in Real Deck Scenarios

To understand how p plays out beyond theory, we’ve analyzed some basic scenarios to measure the practical effects of Porg Dilation.  In each case, we calculate the baseline Porgability (𝓟), the modified Porgability (𝓟′), and the resulting PDF (φ).  Once we’ve gone through basic examples, we can then take this from theory to your next tournament

The scenarios to examine are:

1. Raw Expansion (No Compensation)
2. Strategic Redundancy
3. Inefficient Expansion Collapsing into a Porg Hole

Raw Expansion (No Compensation)

An example of this scenario would be Player A building a Han Solo, Audacious Smuggler Green deck and realizing they forgot to add U-Wing Reinforcements, so they add 3 copies to their deck and play 53 cards.

In this case, the deck’s modified Porgability would go down to 0.521 because of the added cards.  Player A should be aware that the 3 cards they are adding do not compensate for the extra deck size in any way.  

This shows a clear decrease in the Porg Dilation Factor, leading to a slight decrease in consistency.  It is up to you, as the player, to decide if this PDF is a value you are comfortable with.  The player should be aware that as more cards are added, your Porg Dilation Factor will continue to decrease.

In the case of Data Vault, adding 10 extra cards with no compensation would lead to:

A contraction to this level most likely will not compensate for the 3 extra starting health points.

See Figure 2 below to see how Porgability and Porg Dilation Factor changes with deck limit when no compensation is added.

Strategic Redundancy

This is arguably the most important way to increase your PDF while also adding additional cards.  This deck building theory compensates by adding additional cards within the same subset of existing cards in the deck.  This could be in the form of adding a second card with a similar effect to the first (e.g. 3 Merciless Contest and 3 Power of the Dark Side)While this would increase your deck, the Modified Porgability Constant would effectively increase leading to an expansion in the Porg Dilation Factor for that card.

Here, we can see that the PDF shows extreme expansion for that card.  As we showed in the previous section, a side effect of this may be reduced PDF for other cards.  In the case of Strategic Redundancy, it is important for the player to strategically increase the PDF for the cards that they want to have at various points in the game.  If done correctly, the beneficial effects may be counterintuitive but should not be discounted as an effective strategy.

Looking at Dava Vault again, if a player can create Strategic Redundancy with all 10 cards then the negative effects of the extra cards, along with the 3 extra starting health points, can produce a large advantage in tournament scenarios, which matches what has been observed in field testing.

See Figure 1 below to see how Porgability and Porg Dilation Factor change over time with Strategic Redundancy included.

Inefficient Expansion Collapsing into a Porg Hole

While still theoretical, experiments are underway to determine the outcome as the deck size approaches the limit of infinity with no compensation occurring.  This should lead to a theoretical consistency singularity where φ→0, otherwise known as a Porg Hole.  There is no return in deck building mass, beyond which even Porg Compression cannot escape. Survivability drops. Synergy frays. Key pieces vanish into the void. On the edge of a Porg Hole lives the Porg Horizon, which we define as any φ<0.5 meaning the deck functions at less than half the consistency of baseline 𝓟. Such decks must be aggressively rebalanced or face implosion.

Advanced Topics 

Extended Porgability Values

There are situations where a player may want to evaluate more than a single card with 3 copies, or less than 3 copies of a card.  In these cases, a Porg Dilation Factor can still be obtained using the same strategies.  

Extended Porgability accounts for any scenario where the count of the desired card is less than or greater than 3 and is denoted by ε₀.

Let’s look at the example of Sabine ECL or any aggro deck that wants to ensure a round 1 play (a unit of 2-cost or less).  

If a deck plays 15 round 1 units, they will have a 0.9896 Porgability Value for that subset of cards.  Adding 10 cards to play Data Vault, without taking Strategic Redundancy into account gives:

Where we define:

ε=Initial Porgability Value

ε’=Extended Porgability Value

This leads to less contraction than intuitively expected.  Taking some Strategic Redundancy into account and adding 3 first round units as part of those 10 cards in turn gives:

A nearly perfect balance leaving 7 other card slots to balance out other aspects of the deck!  Going back to Sabine ECL, you can add 3 round 1 units, 2 General’s Blades, 2 Medal Ceremonies, increasing your PDF for round 1 units, an upgrade for Sabine and Rebel Assault and still have 3 cards to add.

Figure 1: Porgability (𝓟) and Modified Porgability (𝓟’) with Strategic Redundancy.  1 redundant card added for each card added to deck.

Figure 2: Porgability (𝓟) and Modified Porgability (𝓟’) with no compensation.  Deck size increases with no compensation.

Conclusion: A New Gravitational Constant

The Theory of Porgativity challenges long-standing assumptions about consistency, optimal deck size, and card selection in Star Wars: Unlimited. Through our exploration of the Porgability Constant (𝓟), the Porg Dilation Factor (φ), and advanced concepts like Strategic Redundancy and Extended Porgability (ε₀), we’ve revealed that deck size is not a fixed truth, but a variable that bends under the right gravitational forces.

The key findings are clear:

• Raw expansion leads to predictable consistency loss — a drop in φ that must be acknowledged and accounted for.
• Strategic redundancy is a powerful tool, capable of not only maintaining but increasing consistency when used with intention.
• Data Vault, when utilized effectively, offers not just health and space, but a portal to a new kind of deck flexibility — and in some cases, Porg Compression.
• Failure to compensate for mass increase leads to gravitational collapse — the formation of a Porg Hole, from which no key card can escape.

What began as a simple observation about deck size has grown into a porgademic field of its own. The implications of Porgativity are far-reaching — not only for competitive deck builders but for anyone interested in how statistical structure can be stretched, stabilized, or sacrificed.

In the words of Werner Heisenporg:

“We cannot know what the card is, nor why we didn’t draw it — only that something went horribly wrong in the porg field.” So the next time you’re tempted to add “just one more card,” remember: it’s not just about what you’re putting in,  it’s about how far your strategy can stretch before reality starts to warp. Let your Porgability be your compass. Let your φ guide your mass. And if you feel yourself slipping… beware the pull of the Porg Hole.

Citations:

1. Porgton, I. (2 BBY). Principia Porgatica: On the Mass and Momentum of Midrange. Canto Bight Institute of Deck Theory.
2. Porgstein, A. (0 ABY). On the Statistical Mechanics of Opening Hands. Journal of Galactic Card Sciences, 44(2), 113–128.
3. Heisenporg, W. (3 BBY). The Uncertainty of Topdecks. Proceedings of the Dagobah Academy of Inexact Sciences.
4. Yodari, M. (896 BBY). Draw, or Draw Not: There Is No Mulligan. Jedi Quarterly Review, Vol. IX.
5. Ackbar, G. (4 ABY). It’s a Trap: Common Pitfalls in Deck Expansion. Mon Calamari Press.
6. Maul, D. (revised 11 BBY). Split Decisions: The Duality of Aggro-Control Archetypes. Sith Review of Tactical Research.
7. Porgsbottom, B. (1 ABY). The Elegant Art of Valuation. Unpublished monologue delivered during a tea service at PorgCon ’24.
8. Kenobi, O. (ret.). More Cards? That’s… Not the Way. Private correspondence archived on Tatooine Holodisc B.
9. All calculations verified by porgs pecking repeatedly at a spreadsheet. 

Credits:

Porgability values can be easily obtained using the Porg Depot HyPORGeometric calculator found here https://porgdepot.com/hypergeometric-calculator/

To Barnaby Porgsbottom — whose unwavering dedication to valuation, gravitation, and monocled contemplation continues to inspire porg thinkers across the galaxy. Though he contributed no equations, drew no charts, and frequently napped during our seminars, his presence alone reminded us that true consistency begins with confidence — and a well-groomed top hat.

To Porgcrates, the great contemplative porg of Ahch-To, whose method of endless questioning once delayed an entire tournament round. It was he who first asked, “What is a good hand?” and, more importantly, “Can a card truly be drawn, or is it simply revealed?”

In the end, as he often reminded us: “The only thing I know is that I probably should have mulliganed.”