We have another weekend of PQs in the books and even a 509 person Sector Qualifier in Berlin, Germany.  It’s safe to say that the Ashes of the Empire meta is pretty well established and in case you’ve been vacationing on Ach-to at the Blue Milk Bungalow for the past 4 weeks, the meta is Cad Bane.  You are either playing Cad Bane or trying, often unsuccessfully (we know it lost in Berlin but the point still holds true), to beat Cad Bane.  Over the last 2 weeks Cad Bane has a 57.7% win percentage.  That’s incredibly high.  

Why is that a problem?

There is a long list of leaders that are not viable because of Cad Bane’s oppressive numbers.  So what?!

Everyone has different play styles that they prefer to play, many of which, like aggro, are mostly pushed out of the meta by the power level of Cad Bane and a handful of Vigilance Villain cards.

Who cares?!

The best way to have a perfectly balanced meta game where everyone entering a tournament has a chance to win, and only truly the best players can prove their skill is if everyone sucks it up and plays Cad Bane.  That’ll bring his win percentage straight down to 50% overnight.  

There are no galactic rights saying you have to be able to win with your favorite character, Rio Durant.  If you want to play competitively and have a perfectly balanced meta, all we have to do is require people all play the same deck.  How do we require that?  Well, we print cards in those aspects that are so far out of balance with the remaining options that if you play anything else, you will likely lose and print a leader that is significantly better than the other 17 leaders in the format.

We can very obviously see that here in the stats from Berlin where Cad Bane was approximately 46% of the day 2 meta with an absolutely absurd 73.7% win percentage during that time.  How do we get that number down?  If the other 44 players would just get with the program and play Cad Bane then that plummets right down to 50%.  Problem solved.

OK, but why is that actually a problem?

I was briefly talking with another friend and creator RTChompGG, who I highly recommend you check out (Rated R for language).  He mentioned how chess is an extremely balanced game.  I know what my opponent has available and they know what I have available.  No secrets, no variance, just 1v1 and the better player wins.

While that’s completely true, Star Wars Unlimited is a TCG.  There is an expectation that someone playing a TCG has the option to play different decks that fit their play style.  Some people prefer aggro, some like control.  Decoding the meta game is part of the fun that a TCG brings.  That’s something chess, for example, can never offer.  

In the case of SWU, this is an IP driven game. Some people also have an emotional connection to certain characters that they love to play, and while they can always play them at the kitchen table, it is also fun to ride your Finn leader into battle.  If you don’t do it no one else will!  Most leaders of course have to stay on the kitchen table and that’s fine.  All the leaders in a given meta won’t be and shouldn’t be viable, but there should be a feeling of choice. Right now there little feeling of choice.

So, do we need to fix anything?

Everyone has an opinion on this.  Do nothing and let Cad battle it out?  Ban one or both of the best 2 legendary cards they’ve printed in years, which are the main things finally bringing value to SWU product?

Neither of those feel like great options.  If I wanted to play mirror matches all day I’d just play chess.  Part of the fun of a TCG is sitting down across from your opponent with some anticipation of seeing what leader they pull out, executing your gameplan and navigating different scenarios throughout the day.

On the other side, the community has been complaining about the lack of playable legendaries since set 1.  Rightly so.  The overall power level has been weak and card/product values have suffered.  Stores can’t sell product, and support in some areas has dwindled.  FFG has finally printed some powerful cards, can we really tell them “No, those are too powerful.  Go make worse cards”.  Every FFG set concept presentation will start with a picture of Chimaera as a reminder of how powerful not to make cards.

So what do we do?  Banning Cad seems like the most obvious fix.  The game will still be a bunch of different shells to play Chimaera and Pre Vizsla, but there would at least be a bit of choice as to the delivery system.  It’s not a great spot to be in, but here we are, between a porg and a hard place.  I don’t know what the answer is.  Whatever answer is chosen, some number of people will not be happy.

Or just suck it up and play Cad Bane!