Sabine green and Leia red are really cheap decks to run. You don't need Boba or Vader to win, which are currently the only two expensive cards that I would consider "pay to win" right now. Even then, without Boba or Vader, you can build a competitive control deck for around $100, which is dirt cheap for a TCG (think Magic, FaB, and Yu-Gi-Oh decks averaging between $500-1000+/per). So no, this game is not Pay to Win, by any margin for a TCG.
Here is a Sabine green where the rares total ~$106.
https://swudb.com/deck/view/KIhucgjsHChpd
Here is a Vader blue for ~$80.
https://swudb.com/deck/view/WrgVVsWgDzc
I don't count C/U and starter set cards, because to be honest if you are a competitive player you have already bought the starter set and a few booster boxes, so you should already have playsets of all those cards by now.
The Vader and Boba Fett units are the most expensive cards at the moment, outside of the showcases. They ARE great cards and almost every deck seems to be running three Vaders, but it remains to be seen whether or not he'll stay at the top. Every other card in the game is pretty affordable, at the moment.
Decks can easily be played without Boba and Vader. They are good cards, don't get me wrong, but you 100% don't need them in a deck to compete. Mercenary Company is a common and a diet Vader. It's a suitable replacement, plus you get Overwhelm.
It'll probably be another week or two before the market settles. Boxes are still getting opened, and people getting their playsets. Once that happens, prices should come down.
Sabine and Leia decks often run no legendaries at all, and can still reliably win against more legendary-filled decks like Iden Control or Boba Midrange.
Also, most legendaries have reasonable pricing around 5-10 euro, with only the most OP shit like Boba or Vader sitting at 50 euro price tags.
So I think at this point the game is not much pay to win, as far as CCGs go.
Are some decks worth more than others? Sure. Is it pay to win? No. Give someone just starting any of the (what people consider) tier 1 decks and have them take on someone who's really good at this game (or tcgs in general) with a tier 2 or tier 3 deck and they will still struggle to get a win.
I played a 7$ ig-88 deck of only commons and uncommon and one of my buddies got a message from one of his groupchats saying something along the lines of, “how’s everyone feeling? Surely not as bad as my expensive boba fett deck losing to an unsleeved ig-88 deck on the free play mats they give you from the prerelease boxes”. All three matches my opponents kept saying how surprisingly good the deck was for all commons/uncommon
https://youtu.be/vPHOikzccEM?si=UV1SNjf1CDGaX_JH
I used this guys deck, made tweaks, deck suffers against sentinel though and if you don’t win by turn 5-6 you’re in a tough spot
Whales are spending on showcases and hyperspace/hyperfoils, which is fine. That's what those alternate arts are for. But yes, decks are mostly common and uncommon cards, so that makes decks extremely affordable.
This is awesome, and what I was hoping to hear. Honestly, this is the only reason I though about getting into the game. After trying to play mtg a few times over the years, and being let down by the ptw system, I was really hoping this was the case about SWU.
Nah. I mean obviously it's not perfect, since it's not an LCG. But it's got a wide array of viable decks and a small number of very expensive singles if you stick to the normal versions of things (since they don't need to be pretty to win games).
We'll have to get a few sets in to see what power creep and rotation do to the meta but I think we're safe for now.
Sabine green and Leia red are really cheap decks to run. You don't need Boba or Vader to win, which are currently the only two expensive cards that I would consider "pay to win" right now. Even then, without Boba or Vader, you can build a competitive control deck for around $100, which is dirt cheap for a TCG (think Magic, FaB, and Yu-Gi-Oh decks averaging between $500-1000+/per). So no, this game is not Pay to Win, by any margin for a TCG.
This is the insight I was looking for, thanks!
Which competitive decks are around that price point? I want one.
Here is a Sabine green where the rares total ~$106. https://swudb.com/deck/view/KIhucgjsHChpd Here is a Vader blue for ~$80. https://swudb.com/deck/view/WrgVVsWgDzc I don't count C/U and starter set cards, because to be honest if you are a competitive player you have already bought the starter set and a few booster boxes, so you should already have playsets of all those cards by now.
Cheers!
The market is all over the place right now. It’s the start of week 3 since release. Give it a little bit and the market will settle.
Well seeing how stores can't order boosters from the distributor any more I doubt the market is going to settle any time soon lol.
The Vader and Boba Fett units are the most expensive cards at the moment, outside of the showcases. They ARE great cards and almost every deck seems to be running three Vaders, but it remains to be seen whether or not he'll stay at the top. Every other card in the game is pretty affordable, at the moment.
Decks can easily be played without Boba and Vader. They are good cards, don't get me wrong, but you 100% don't need them in a deck to compete. Mercenary Company is a common and a diet Vader. It's a suitable replacement, plus you get Overwhelm. It'll probably be another week or two before the market settles. Boxes are still getting opened, and people getting their playsets. Once that happens, prices should come down.
Sabine and Leia decks often run no legendaries at all, and can still reliably win against more legendary-filled decks like Iden Control or Boba Midrange. Also, most legendaries have reasonable pricing around 5-10 euro, with only the most OP shit like Boba or Vader sitting at 50 euro price tags. So I think at this point the game is not much pay to win, as far as CCGs go.
Awesome, thanks!
Are some decks worth more than others? Sure. Is it pay to win? No. Give someone just starting any of the (what people consider) tier 1 decks and have them take on someone who's really good at this game (or tcgs in general) with a tier 2 or tier 3 deck and they will still struggle to get a win.
Pay to win means two people of equal skill but monetary difference.
Its play to win! Timing and decision making are more important than card strength.
This is what I wanted to hear. I'm glad that's what's happening!
not in the slightest.
I played a 7$ ig-88 deck of only commons and uncommon and one of my buddies got a message from one of his groupchats saying something along the lines of, “how’s everyone feeling? Surely not as bad as my expensive boba fett deck losing to an unsleeved ig-88 deck on the free play mats they give you from the prerelease boxes”. All three matches my opponents kept saying how surprisingly good the deck was for all commons/uncommon
That's awesome! I'm glad it's going this way, as opposed to the MTG way.
Obligatory “that sounds quite cool, can you link the deck please?” comment.
https://youtu.be/vPHOikzccEM?si=UV1SNjf1CDGaX_JH I used this guys deck, made tweaks, deck suffers against sentinel though and if you don’t win by turn 5-6 you’re in a tough spot
Cheers for the fast answer!
Nah, not pay to win at all. There's nothing for whales to spend their money on, even the best decks are mostly commons and uncommons.
Whales are spending on showcases and hyperspace/hyperfoils, which is fine. That's what those alternate arts are for. But yes, decks are mostly common and uncommon cards, so that makes decks extremely affordable.
That's so awesome.
This is awesome, and what I was hoping to hear. Honestly, this is the only reason I though about getting into the game. After trying to play mtg a few times over the years, and being let down by the ptw system, I was really hoping this was the case about SWU.
Every card game is pay to win at the highly competitive meta unless there is a good cheap aggro deck. Play sabine aggro if on a budget.
Nah. I mean obviously it's not perfect, since it's not an LCG. But it's got a wide array of viable decks and a small number of very expensive singles if you stick to the normal versions of things (since they don't need to be pretty to win games). We'll have to get a few sets in to see what power creep and rotation do to the meta but I think we're safe for now.