Weiss Schwarz: Star Wars Trial Deck Review

Greetings Star Wars fans! The time has finally arrived- Star Wars has come to Weiss Schwarz! This highly anticipated set has been released and as promised I will be discussing it starting with the trial deck. I am especially looking forward to discussing this set. Does this trial deck live up to the hype the set has received?  So are you ready? Let’s get started.

As usual all images and translations are from heartofthecards.com. 

Level 0

SW/S49-T01   “残されたジャケット”フィン “The Jacket Left Behind” Finn
	Trait 1: フォースの覚醒 (The Force Awakens)   Trait 2: None
[A] BOND/'”Attack by the Resistance” Poe’ [Discard a card from your hand to the Waiting Room]

SW/S49-T04   “レジスタンスの来襲”ポー “Attack by the Resistance” Poe
	Trait 1: フォースの覚醒 (The Force Awakens)   Trait 2: None 【自】 あなたがこのカードの『助太刀』を使った時、あなたの《フォースの覚醒》のキャラがいるなら、あなたは自分のバトル中のキャラを1枚選び、そのターン中、パワーを＋1000。 【起】【カウンター】 助太刀2500 レベル2 ［(1) 手札のこのカードを控え室に置く］ （あなたは自分のフロントアタックされているキャラを1枚選び、そのターン中、パワーを＋2500）
[A] When you use the BACKUP of this, if you have a ::The Force Awakens:: Character, choose 1 of your Characters in battle, and that Character gains +1000 Power for the turn. [S] [Counter] BACKUP 2500, Level 2 [(1) Discard this card from your hand to the Waiting Room]

We have another bond combo which is fairly common in trial decks. This one is for a level 2 3500 counter for “The Force Awakens” characters. The counter in itself is not bad in a deck with mainly characters when “The Force Awakens” for it’s traits. A 3500 boost is good- not much else to say about that. Is it worth bonding for? I guess so though it would be better if it was a costless level 1 counter. That way spamming the counter would be less of a strain on your resources. Overall though this combo isn’t bad. At least the bonder is 2k power meaning it will kill some level 0s.

SW/S49-T02   “英雄”ハン・ソロ “Hero” Han Solo
	Trait 1: フォースの覚醒 (The Force Awakens)   Trait 2: None
[A] When this attacks, choose 1 of your ::The Force Awakens:: Characters, and that Character gains +1 Level and +1000 Power for the turn.

Next up we have another trial deck staple. This card type I have talked about on numerous occasions in great detail, so I will briefly say that if you are running a deck which relies on reverse effects, this card will be useful to you. It can be a useful card. In this case the trait restriction hurts it a bit but still a solid card.

SW/S49-T09   “冒険のはじまり”レイ “Beginning of Adventure” Rey
	Trait 1: フォースの覚醒 (The Force Awakens)   Trait 2: None
[A] When this attacks, you may put the top card of your Library in the Waiting Room. If it’s a Climax card, draw a card, and discard a card from your hand to the Waiting Room. [A] When this becomes Reversed in battle, if the Level of the Battle Opponent of this is 0 or lower, you may put that Character on the bottom of the Library.

This card is the newest form of suicider, the bottom decker. This profile is not new (it started in Illya set 3 I believe) but there are solid arguments for using this type of bomb. It can cycle an extra damage back into the deck and it gets around encore and on death effects. This does potentially let your opponent recycle on play effects if they can pull it back from the deck but that is a relatively minor risk because it will likely take them resources to recycle such cards. This card has an additional bonus of being able to mill on attack for free (always good) and rewarding you with a hand fix if it is a climax. This effect is strong- it stops you from stocking climaxes and can give you additional chances to tailor your hand for future turns by possibly getting you characters or climaxes for combos (especially useful for level 1 and 3) for free. This will certainly see play especially in blue or blue/yellow decks (red has it’s own bomb which works better for decks with that color).

SW/S49-T10   ロア・サン・テッカ Lor San Tekka
	Trait 1: フォースの覚醒 (The Force Awakens)   Trait 2: None
[C] All your other ‘”Captured Pilot” Poe’ gain +1000 Power. [A] BOND/'”Captured Pilot” Poe’ [(1)]

SW/S49-T03   “捕らわれのパイロット”ポー “Captured Pilot” Poe
	Trait 1: フォースの覚醒 (The Force Awakens)   Trait 2: None －
–None–

Next up we another copy of the infamous Madoka apples combo. I believe I have discussed this previously as well and as was the case with some of those combos, this one can be awkward to play because of the inclusion of other useful backrow cards in the deck. It’s ok but not spectacular.

SW/S49-T11   “ジャクーの地へ”BB-8 “To Jakku” BB-8
	Trait 1: フォースの覚醒 (The Force Awakens)   Trait 2: None
[C] All your other ::The Force Awakens:: Characters gain +500 Power. [S] [Rest this] Choose 1 of your Characters, and that Character gains +500 Power for the turn.

A global assist to every character in this deck-nice! The secondary effect is nothing to write home about however. An additional 500 power really won’t make a difference in many cases except maybe at level 0. This is an ok card.

SW/S49-T12   “再会”C-3PO “Reunion” C-3PO
	Trait 1: フォースの覚醒 (The Force Awakens)   Trait 2: None
[A] When this is placed from hand to the Stage, look at the top card of your Library and put it either on top or bottom of the Library. [S] BRAINSTORM [(1) Rest this] Flip over the top 4 cards of your Library and put them in the Waiting Room. For each Climax card revealed this way, draw up to 1 card.

I can remember the days when brainstorm effects were never included in trial decks or if they were they were ones which granted power or something like that. They certainly didn’t plus you cards like this one. Granted this is the weakest of the plussing brainstorms since you can’t pick what you get. But it is still a plus and could be a means of getting needed climaxes or events for combos. This brainstorm also does not have specific requirements like some others so it could fit into a few different decks. The second effect is really quite useful however with you being able to use that to move off climaxes if you want to or for confirmation that there is indeed a climax on the top of your deck. A decent card for sure.

SW/S49-T13   “長い眠り”R2-D2 “Long Sleep” R2-D2
	Trait 1: フォースの覚醒 (The Force Awakens)   Trait 2: None
[C] If there are no other Characters in your Front Row, this gains +1500 Power. [A] At the start of your Opponent’s Attack Phase, you may move this to an empty Front Row Center Slot.

Beaters have become less and less commonplace of late with the dominance of runners, reversers, and other utility. This card might find room in some decks with it being able to fill a couple of roles. This card can essentially sit at 3500 or more plus has a running ability. It is not a pure runner but even an ability of running to the front center slot has it’s merits. It still can potentially stay out on the field for multiple turns especially if intially played on one of the side slots. And it will eat up most zeros except for 4ks and reversers. Easily an option for decks which run blue.

Level 1

Besides the 5500 vanilla already shown, we also have a few more cards.

SW/S49-T14   “ささやかな食事の為に”レイ “For a Small Amount of Food” Rey
	Trait 1: フォースの覚醒 (The Force Awakens)   Trait 2: None
[C] If you have 2 or more other ::The Force Awakens:: Characters, this gains +2000 Power. [A] CX COMBO [(1)] When this attacks, if “Escape From Jakku” is in the Climax Zone, you may pay cost. If so, this gains +2000 Power and the following ability for the turn. “[A] When the Battle Opponent of this becomes Reversed, you may draw a card.”

SW/S49-T18   ジャクーからの脱出 Escape From Jakku
	Trait 1: None   Trait 2: None
[A] When this is placed from hand to the Climax Zone, choose up to 1 BLUE card in your Waiting Room and put it in your Stock, and all your Characters gain +1 Soul for the turn.

This combo would be amazing if it didn’t have the trait restriction. This is another great card for “The Force Awakens” decks but useless everywhere else. So many decks would kill for a combo like this which also has it’s characters get big. This card can easily top 8k which will mean success in pulling off the search most of the time. The climax is also a good climax to include a deck- stock souls have certainly proven their worth in other sets and it essentially means that the 1st activation for this combo is free- not bad. The main drawback are the trait requirements for power and search targets.

SW/S49-T15   “廃品回収の日々”レイ “Scavenger Days” Rey
	Trait 1: フォースの覚醒 (The Force Awakens)   Trait 2: None
[A] When your other ::The Force Awakens:: Character attacks, this gains +1000 Power for the turn. [A] ENCORE [Discard a Character card from your hand to the Waiting Room]

Next up we have our main beater for the deck. It gets to sizable numbers on attack but could run over on defense on a somewhat regular basis meaning that the encore effect might be used a fair amount. An ok card but nothing special.

Level 2

Besides the counter that was already discussed, we have…

SW/S49-T05   “執拗な追跡”フィン “Stubborn Tracing” Finn
	Trait 1: フォースの覚醒 (The Force Awakens)   Trait 2: None
[C] ASSIST All your Characters in front of this gain +X Power. X = 500 times Level of that Character. [A] When your Climax is placed in the Climax Zone, choose 1 of your Characters, and that Character gains +2000 Power for the turn.

So we have a level assist with the possibility of an additional power pump. While this card isn’t terrible, it could be better. First off level assists are inconsistent since their strength is based on the cards played in front of it. As such, the secondary effect needs to be great to make the card worth playing (like the Aqua from my last TD review) and this effect is not great in the context of the card. Let me clarify.  I have said that such effects are great on the level 0 assists  such as the Asuna and Aqua assists and they are. So why are these effects not as good on a level 2 assist with more of a power pump? The cost and the fact that those assists pump any characters are the key differences. With the 2 aforementioned examples the cards cost nothing to play, this does cost a stock. You do have to invest more in playing a card like this and as such you want to get something great out of it. And while you get something good, it’s not great.

SW/S49-T06   “新たなる決意を胸に”ハン・ソロ “New Determination Within Him” Han Solo
	Trait 1: フォースの覚醒 (The Force Awakens)   Trait 2: None
[C] This cannot Side Attack. [C] If you have another ‘”New Determination Within Him” Chewbacca’, this gains +2000 Power. [A] [Discard a ::The Force Awakens:: Character card from your hand to the Waiting Room] When this is placed from hand to the Stage, you may pay cost. If so, choose a ‘”New Determination Within Him” Chewbacca’ in your Waiting Room and put it in any Slot on the Stage.

SW/S49-T07   “新たなる決意を胸に”チューバッカ “New Determination Within Him” Chewbacca
	Trait 1: フォースの覚醒 (The Force Awakens)   Trait 2: None
[C] If you have another ‘”New Determination Within Him” Han Solo’, this gains +2000 Power. [A] When this is placed from hand to the Stage or via effect of [A] ability of ‘”New Determination Within Him” Han Solo’ to the Stage, this gains +X Power for the turn. X = 500 times # of your ::The Force Awakens:: Characters.

This card combo is the deck’s main level 2 game and well it’s not great. Alone each card is only a 2/1 7k- some level 1s and any level 3 will kill these cards. Yes the Han can help you get the Chewbacca but you can still have consistency problems getting this combo off. One main problem could be getting both of these in hand. It is possible that you have Han in hand but Chewbacca is not in hand or waiting room, the Han does nothing. If you have Chewbacca only then you are really struggling. These cards are also relatively weak on defense at 9k being easy targets for early play level 3s. Granted the deck by itself doesn’t really have any recourse but to play these, however they just aren’t that great.

Level 3

SW/S49-T16   “守るべき存在”レイ “Something to Protect” Rey
	Trait 1: フォースの覚醒 (The Force Awakens)   Trait 2: None
[C] If you have 2 or more other ::The Force Awakens:: Characters, this gains +1000 Power. [A] When this is placed from hand to the Stage, you may put the top card of your Clock in the Waiting Room.

The final character card to discuss is the deck’s level 3 and it is standard fair for a trial deck level 3- healer that gets some sort of power buff. These cards can have a niche roll in some decks, especially those who need a healer. Obviously this card would work best in “Force Awakens” decks.

Events

SW/S49-T17   BBユニット BB Unit
	Trait 1: None   Trait 2: None
Search your Library for up to 1 ::The Force Awakens:: Character, reveal it, put it in your hand, and shuffle your Library. Choose 1 of your Characters, and that Character gains +3000 Power for the turn.

This event gives you two benefits for 1 stock, a hand fix and power buff. There are situations where this could be useful, the key question is whether you would really need in a deck. We do have a search climax combo which plusses you instead of hand fixing. The event is fine, but the character search options available will prove to be more beneficial.

Climaxes

Besides the climax combo climax, we also have…

SW/S49-T19   フォースを持つ者 Force Wielder
	Trait 1: None   Trait 2: None 【永】 あなたのキャラすべてに、ソウルを＋2。
[C] All your Characters gain +2 Soul.

 

SW/S49-T08   森の中の死闘 Duel in the Forest
	Trait 1: None   Trait 2: None
[C] All your Characters gain +1000 Power and +1 Soul.

Finally we have the remaining climaxes 2 each of +2 soul and the bounce 1k1s. In addition to the 4 stock souls used for the climax combo we have a solid lineup here. This is also pretty standard fare for a trial deck so I won’t go into much detail on these.

Overall, the Star Wars trial deck has some worthwhile cards especially if you are building a deck centered around The Force Awakens characters. If you are looking to build that deck, then you have some nice pieces for that here including a level 1 combo, level 2 counter. some level 0 utility and a healer. For the other decks you have a few options including the lvl 0 bomb and runner. While the not the most original TD out there, this trial deck definitely has some merit. A must buy for Star Wars players.

This concludes my thoughts on the Star Wars Trial deck. What are your thoughts on the deck? Please comment below. I will be rotating between further Star Wars analysis and Konosuba over the coming months. Konosuba is a fascinating set and getting an English release in August so I want to give English players a preview as to what to expect.

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