A Disturbance in the Force - a Star Wars Destiny Blog

Nick’s Tier List

A new content segment I’m going to start posting semi-regularly is my idea of the current deck tier list based on my play experience.  I’m lucky enough to have the ability to play a lot of different decks and you usually see me play a different deck every tournament.

This list is aimed at the more competitive-minded, but I think it’ll be a good exercise for everybody.

Also don’t take this list as gospel, it’s just my opinion.  Play what you think is fun, maybe you can change my mind about your deck and crawl it up my rankings.

Definitions

• Tier 1: The cream of the crop.  These are what I consider the best decks.  Most likely to win a tournament.

• Tier 2:  Really good decks, still able to win tournaments especially in the hands of a skilled player.  Usually just a notch less consistent or powerful than Tier 1 decks.

• Tier 3: These decks are good, but will lose frequently to Tier 1 decks even if piloted well.  Can still mix it up with tier 2.  The decks have design and purpose though

I’m only going to use 3 tiers.  Anything not on the list I feel falls somewhere under Tier 3.  I’m opposed to things like “special” tiers or “half” tiers (like 1.5 etc) cause I feel like it defeats the purpose of a tier list and makes it more of a deck ranking.

Tier 1: 

Jango/eBala/Trooper – This deck is just the top in both consistency and power right now.  I could go on and on about all the good cards in this deck and the strong character abilities.

eJango/Trooper/Trooper – This deck is best playing more economy and slower than Jango/eBala/Trooper.  Usually abuses getting out TIE fighters and using Endless Ranks to create an unwinnable attrition war.

eVader/Raider – This deck probably has the highest damage output, but at the expense of being less consistent than the Jango decks.  It really needs the Sith Holocron or It Bind’s All Things to get going, then watch out.

eKylo/eDooku – Similar to eVader/Raider, but sacrifices some damage output for a bit more consistency and survivability.

Tier 2: 

eHan/eRey – This deck has always been knocking on the door of Tier 1.  It has a really high ceiling, but a really low floor.  When it’s on, it’s tough to beat.

eAckbar/eLeia – This deck is basically the counter to the Jango decks and I think it might possibly be tier 1.  I need to test it in those eVader/Raider and eKylo/Dooky matchups to see if the lack of dice control and It’s a Trap! hurts it too much.

eJango/eVeers – The ultimate glass cannon deck – was the top deck out of the gate, but it’s low health pool caught up with it despite still being able to put out truck loads of damage.  Also relies heavily on rolls lacking the ways to fix consistency like the top tier decks have.

eAckbar/Hired Gun/Hired Gun – The ultimate economy deck, usually powering out Millenium Falcons and Launch Bays then riding them to victory on impossible to kill Second Chanced Hired Guns.  This deck I probably rate higher than a lot of people, but I don’t think it gets enough credit.

eQui-gon/eRey – This deck is packed with power plays, but it tends to be a bit too fair most of the time.  Runs into some resource issues too, but it’s sheer power is enough to get it to the win despite that.

Tier 3: (Got lazy with deck list links here) 

Sith (eDooku or Vader)/eJabba – Usually a control deck that goes for the mill, but I have seen some damage versions making waves lately.  This deck gets some strength in the fact that your opponent can’t really guess what you might be doing.  The control/mill versions tend to come up just short of winning a bit too often in my experience and the damage versions seem just weaker to the tier 1 options you can play.

Poe/Hired Gun/Hired Gun (Hyperloop) – The Hyperloop while highly annoying is also terribly inconsistent and doesn’t win you the game by itself.  This deck can still lock out any deck in this list and get there though in frustrating fashion.

eRey/Padawan/Padawan – Could possibly be tier 2 if the Padawans didn’t have such low health.  Makes better use of resources than Qui-Gon/Rey, but just lacks the survivability.

ePoe/eRey – This one might be tier 2, but it is just so swingy.  Higher ceiling, but even lower floor than Han/Rey.  Plus without yellow, it has even worse dice removal meaning you really need it to be running on all cylinders or your opponent is just going to destroy you before you get anything going.

eVeers/Bala/Nightsister – Probably the best villain rainbow deck.  Has a lot of the power of Jango/Bala/Trooper, but minus the Jango and health for a few blue tricks.  It’s just worse than the Jango decks, but the power in the cards it has access too can leave it competitive.

eLuke/Ackbar – Just kinda a worse version of Vader/Raider.  Has the ability to output a ton of damage, but against savvy players with lots of dice manipulation it just sits there and twiddles its thumbs.

eAckbar/eFinn – alternate version of Ackbar/Leia trading in consistency and a bit of power to get access to yellow cards.  Probably not worth the trade off, but at least Finn makes it into a deck on this list.

eJabba/Nightsister/Nightsister – Similar to Sith/Jabba decks, but the Nightsister’s ability can really make your opponent feel helpless.  Still comes up a hair short in the controlling/mill aspects like the other types of decks, plus come up a hair short on a turn and see a nightsister get wiped off the table with their low health.

eJango/eJabba – A deck that tries to really abuse fight dirty usually.  The problem with yellow villain is they lack guns they can play in the first set.  This deck could really get better in set 2 with some yellow villain guns and maybe a better match than Jabba for Jango.

eRey/Amidala/Trooper – Probably the best hero mill deck, patience can just be super consistent.  Always seems to come up a hair short a lot of the time.

eAckbar/eAmidala – Probably faster at milling than Rey/Amidala/Trooper, but at a cost of being a lot less survivable with less health, no access to blue cards, and no guardian character