Welcome to my Sabine ECL guide for the Legends of the Force meta!
I'm Jay, and I'm the dork behind JedhaCity - All of the JedhaCity decks on SWUDB, and the fabulously undercooked Jedhacity.com website. I've been playing TCGs for basically my life, and started with the original Star Wars CCG back in good ol' '95, and am still an aficionado of that gloriously lopsided game. The rules are wonky, the cards are downright weird, but the game system is one of the most elegant ever made to this day. But I digress, I'm here to talk about Sabine!
I took Sabine to the Galactic Championship, thinking that it would be better to play a deck I was intimately familiar with, rather than learn and rush a bunch of reps with a new deck. I think I chose alright, but I was definitely the weak point in this plan. I was very nervous, and wanted to do well after I came in 22nd in Denver back in April.
I battled through day 1 of the Galactic Championships with Sabine ECL, a deck that still has legs, though I haven't seen a lot of results coming up after the GC. I think a lot of people are focusing on new decks, and the impression of the quality of decks and cards often leads the meta to go in ways that aren't always the best. For example, the impression that Jango was crazy buh-roken led too many people to play the deck. It was certainly good, but far from unbeatable. I did very well against it at Denver after all!
Back to the GC - After an abysmal 1-2 start, I went through 5 rounds undefeated to make day 2. Unfortunately I scrubbed out day 2, losing my 4th round (And 3rd loss) to the lunch timer and long Vegas food lines. It put me in a bad mood, and I dropped or side events. Those ended up being fun, and I got most of the stuff I wanted from the prize wall, so it was in fact a really great experience.
Day 2 would have been a long shot anyway, starting at such a bad record, and I was really tired after day 1. I thought I had some solid tech for some of the more frustrating matchups. A lot of people seemed surprised at the maindeck Red Five, which was there specifically for the Han matchups. I ended up not playing Han until day 2.
Onto my guide!
Why play Sabine ECL? And how do you play it? Are there any guidelines to what to do with the deck?
Sabine ECL is undoubtedly still one of, if not the fastest deck in the game. You can often win on 5 or 6 resources. If the game goes longer than that, it's going to be a tough game and tough to win. It packs a punch, and can do (What one of my friends calls) Infinite damage. Wrecker and Poe close out the game very well, and your ECL will often be used for them. There are several other ways to give units Ambush, or use units with Ambush to get through tough units. The synergy of this deck can really get going if you play it right, and if they let it.
Sabine is a deck that has a tight card pool, but there's a lot of flexibility in it, to the point that you can basically play whatever card you want to try, and you'll still win a lot of games if you're practiced with it.
Though there will be a lot of decks where you have to be aware of specific things, keep in mind these simple concepts:
Turn your guys and gals sideways. You can race most decks.
If their base is under 30HP, you really just need to get them to 18 damage and let For A Cause do its work. Be more hesitant to resource them early if they have a low HP base. If it's more, For A Cause will be much more out of reach, so you can resource them - Holding them for 6+ turns is pretty terrible, when you could have units that actually matter. It should be a game ender card, not something you do early. Prioritize playing and attacking with units in the early to mid game. Get them down to For A Cause range, and then use it to finish them off.
Get efficient fast damage in by attacking first, taking the initiative (If the choice is to ping or claim initiative, it's almost always right to claim), and trying to mash as many actions together as possible. Try not to use multiple units to defeat one guy if you can help it, this is negative card advantage, and since we have so little draw, it just makes things awkward. If you need to race a large guy, you can try to get in there with a unit or two with some Wing Leader upgrades, Fleet Lieutenant power, a Darksaber, or preferably a Wrecker or Poe, and that should swing it back to your favor. A turn 1 2-drop followed up with a Wing Leader or Fleet Lieutenant is always one of the best plays, and if they survive you can do an insane amount of damage on turn 3 (The 4-resource deploy turn) with Rebel Assault. The wild thing is, playing the Fleet Lieutenant combo lets you claim before them, and should let you Rebel Assault right away on turn 3. But also anticipate what your opponent is going to do. Don't hold a bunch of Fleet Lieutenants and Wing Leaders, if they take out your 2 drop they'll just be wasted. Try to have a backup plan if they do that, and play a Fighters for Freedom, Cassian (Exhausted, since you can't smuggle him out yet), or whatever else costs 3. Save your Fleet Lieutenants and Wing Leader in this situation for the 4-resource flip turn, so you can use it on Sabine. If you get a Darksaber, play it on her. If you don't, the rebel attacker package will get her some firepower. It's a lot harder to remove a leader (Most removal says "Non-leader" So they'll have to punch into it or have something else for her), so putting the upgrades on her will give you a better opportunity for longevity of the upgrades. But again, the more you attack and durdle before you deploy, the more stuff they're going to do and the more resources they'll use so you can get your attack in free. And if there's a sentinal that you can't get around, there's no shame in picking the deploy for later and just claiming initiative.
Sabine can lane dodge very effectively. If the ground gets too crowded, move to the air, and just use what else you have on the ground to keep them doing as little as possible damage. You can get through it when you get to 5-6 resources and have ECL ready. You can ambush a Blue Leader onto the ground as well, with 2 experience counters, which will clear many roadblocks.
A couple more things:
Remember than your deck is not 50 cards plus a sideboard. Your deck is 60 cards, which includes a sideboard. The distinction is really crucial. Your sideboard must be built with synergy and deck plan in mind. It's an art, and it's not always easy, but the more you do it, the more you figure it out.
Remember that you don't "Have to mulligan." You "Get to mulligan." Magic: The Gathering pro player Mark Pelland coined the phrase as a way to remember that mulligans aren't frustrating setbacks. They're an opportunity to get a good hand and increase your chance of winning. In our case, we want to have a curve that gives us a solid first couple of turns, and time to draw into big threats.
ABC - Always Be Counting - Be counting how much damage you have left and can afford to take, how much you can do, how much they can do, and how close you are to their HP total. With the different base HP numbers, make sure you are aware of where you're at.
Read "Who's the Beatdown."
Matchup Strategy, Sideboarding, and a few tricks:
I'll go through the top decks that I see are popular. There will undoubtedly be more versions of this deck based on the meta that I see, and I'll
Vader JTL Yellow (Aggro)
You're going to play control in the sky. This deck can absolutely outrace you - It's one of, if not the only one that can. You get to be the control deck here. They aren't going to play anything on the ground, so while controlling the sky you just need to find a chance to drop a threat on the ground. Leader deploy gets you an easy one but if you can get one or two other guys on the ground and hit them you can get there. You absolutely need to hit their vehicles, especially non token vehicles in the sky and prepare for them, they'll get out of hand. Poe is going to be key but you won't be able to ambush him into anything - This will be a normal hard deployment. You really want to make sure that on 5r you play him. You never will need Wrecker in this matchup. Do not attack with Poe until they deploy their Vader on a ship, or claim initiative trying to get around him. Use your ECL to ambush into their ships, and make Clone Combat Squadron and Victor Leader your priority.
Cards that are good: Poe, Kit Fisto's Aethersprite, Disabling Fang, Green Squadron A-Wing, Blue Leader, Sabine's Masterpiece, Red Five, Timely Intervention. I don't think Bright Hope is crucial to this matchup but it does help slow them down. With Sabine's Masterpiece, if you have a Battlefield Marine on the ground and play leader Sabine on 4r, you can ECL or Timely a Sabine's Masterpiece into their board, ping a 1-HP ship and take out a ship up to 4 HP, giving you some great value and a 2-for-1. Blue Leader kills almost all of their ships. Flip Sabine on 4r, play a Wing Leader and put the counters on her (If you don't need them on another ship) and you have a solid ground threat that will do a lot of work.
Kylo Blue
Kylo's goal is to get incremental damage and control the ground until Kylo can deploy, and grab a bunch of upgrades and slam into your base. In addition, they will play Force Throw, Force Lightning, and Power of the Dark Side to kill your units. The answer to that is twofold - Play more units (Going wide, not tall), and having the initiative so you can attack. Using Fleet Lieutenant and Rebel Assault will be really potent. You may also want to hold and lose Rebel Assault and Timely for their Force Throws, so you don't end up losing your units. Taking the sting out of Power of the Dark Side will get you far in the matchup.
Most decks have relatively few to zero space units. While you're spending time on the ground fighting past their ground units or taking them out before they can turn into problems, get something into space that can put them on a bit of a clock.
Lots of players overtarget Sabine as a leader, and I think this is likely one of those matchups. When you deploy her, they'll target her. If you have the chance to safely use Darksaber, you might get away with it, but putting K2 into play will probably be better. You want to try to go with more units. Having them eat up your early units with removal will help you in our mid-game. Remember, we need to get a LOT of damage in before Kylo flips over. Use Sabine on Secretive Sage, Motti, and Witch of the Mist. Karis and Migs are big targets that are important to take out, especially a Migs. If you have a Timely + 2-drop ground unit, and another turn 1 drop, I'd hold those for Migs. Otherwise you're going to take a lot of unnecessary damage from him when Kylo does his action every turn.
They'll try to take your tempo away with Tarkintown. Be ready to get your attack in beforehand. If they choose not to discard/draw, all the better for you.
At the end of the day, focus down their base, take care of threats, and bring in Kit Fisto's Aethersprite and Aggrieved Parlimentarian to take care of their discard pile. Keep an eye out for Pillage too.
This match has a lot of things to worry about. If you can keep them in mind and play with an understanding of when it's OK to just let the thing happen, and when you can just allow it and push past it, you have a better chance of winning this matchup.
Mother Talzin (Tempo)
You'll want to be ready for their unit abilities that shrink your units. Be ready for Power of the Dark Side. You'll probably want to evade to space and race them there if possible. They're going to try to control your units with theirs, so don't be afraid to get something big into play and use your other units and cards to keep them off their game by making valuable trades.
Obi-Wan (Midrange)
This deck heals - A lot. Be keenly aware of the base they're running and try to keep them off of the force. They should have a slow space arena package so this is another chance to dodge. They have several options for Sentinel units, so be sure to have access to Saboteur units.
The Mirror Match (Aggro)
Go fast. If they go first, take out their first turn play by using ECL into theirs, as long as it doesn't kill your unit. Take initiative over pinging. The more things you can chain together in one action, the better. Rebel Assault is your friend in this matchup.
Boba JTL (Tempo)
Keep them off their ships and units that push out indirect damage. Set up a threat or two on the ground and just pummel them while managing their ships. Ambush ships like Blue Leader are great against decks that have low cost space synergies.
Grand Inquisitor (Aggro)
Same as Boba
Iden (Control)
Go fast - Control is easier than the midrange matchups we see a lot these days. Aggro beats up on control all day.
Thrawn (Control/combo)
Same as Iden
Quinlan (Tempo)
They're going to make you struggle on the first turn, but that's OK because they're going to also likely use their Tarkintown epic right away. Your first action in this match is usually to Sabine ping. If they pass again, you can either sacrifice your worst 2-drop unit to their Tarkintown, or take initiative. If you make it through turn 1 without them using their Tarkintown, get down a unit with a 5-HP booty so its out of range, and they have to work harder to destroy it. Keep them down to 1 unit if possible so you don't get Plo-ed on the 5 resource turn. This is a matchup that leans in your favor but it's not always a walk in the park. You'll want to outpace them.
Han Blue (Midrange)
I really love Red Five for this matchup. It really punishes their units, and they don't have a ton of space. Beware though, that they go fast, and getting to Redemption and stabilizing comes 1-2 turns faster than normal. When you're trying to end the game with Poe and Wrecker, they're playing Redemption or Krayt Dragon to punish you. They have a lot of removal too, so going wide is an excellent plan here.
Anakin Blue (Midrange)
Basically the same plan as Han. The decks are very similar in that they get an advantage that lets them trade up. Ani isn't as fast at getting units out, but its smaller units can take out yours, so try to avoid getting taken out by Anakin-buffed units. Take them out first if you can, and get your damage in as effectively as possible. Going wide and not tall will help a lot. They're also doing damage to themselves, so For A Cause might get you just close enough. This and Han are hard matches though.
Qi'ra Green (midrange/Control)
It's a green/blue midrange deck. When they deploy Qi'ra it won't be that big of a deal, but you do want to have a plan. Do your best to outrace them, they'll have bigger units and will stall you until the Avenger turn. Go wide if you can, don't commit to one big unit.
Jank (The rest of the pack)
There are so many decks that it's hard to guide for each of them. This also isn't comprehensive, it's the start of the strategy, but it takes practice and patience to work against any deck, especially a deck that you're struggling against.
One of these days I'd like to get together a card by card analysis that will help with understanding the why of each card. In the meantime, here's the list I'm currently running, though it changes regularly:
Leader
1 | Sabine Wren | Galvanized Revolutionary
Base
1 | Energy Conversion Lab
MainDeck
3 | Rebel Assault
2 | Timely Intervention
3 | Battlefield Marine
3 | Green Squadron A-Wing
2 | Phoenix Squadron A-Wing
3 | Sabine Wren | Explosives Artist
3 | Blue Leader | Scarif Air Support
3 | Cassian Andor | Rebellions Are Built On Hope
3 | Fighters For Freedom
3 | Fleet Lieutenant
3 | Sabine's Masterpiece | Crazy Colorful
3 | Wing Leader
3 | For A Cause I Believe In
3 | K-2SO | Cassian's Counterpart
2 | The Darksaber
2 | Chewbacca | Faithful First Mate
3 | Poe Dameron | Quick to Improvise
3 | Wrecker | BOOM!
Sideboard
2 | Aggrieved Parliamentarian
3 | Red Five | Running the Trench
3 | Sundari Peacekeeper
2 | Bright Hope | The Last Transport
I know a lot of people are going to judge my continued use of Darksaber over Yoda's Lightsaber. It has yet to impress me. I keep trying it, and just keep going back to Darksaber. I did enjoy the Jedi version from the Gdansk PQ recently though, there was some cool out of the box thinking in there.
Till next time, which I hope won't be long, and hopefully have another sweet guide!
Play well, turn cards sideways, and be kind.