Effective from September 22, the card Force Throw will no longer be legal in Star Wars Unlimited's Premier constructed format. The card has gone from mediocre to massacre since the most recent set Legends of the Force was released, appearing in over half of the top 64 decks in the Galactic Championship, and 35% or more of the top eight decks in Planetary Qualifier events.
Force Throw is a one resource event that causes a player to discard a card, and then - if you control a Force unit - may deal damage equal to the resource cost of that card to a unit. Why was this card so forettable before, and why is it dominating the Star Wars Unlimited meta now?
Across the first four Star Wars: Unlimited sets there were 39 Force units, and not much reason to build around them - it was very hard to build a workable deck that would be able to deal damage with Force throw. When Legends of the Force released there was a real awakening in the Force, adding 74 units with the Force trait to the game, plus plenty of support for an aggressive Force deck archetype to emerge.
It's incredibly easy to build a deck packed with Force units, ensuring that you always get to deal damage with Force Throw on top of stripping a card from an opponent. While the worst case use of the card remains a one for one card trade that leaves you slightly behind on resources, the best case will eliminate an enemy unit. Ouch.
Writing on the Star Wars Unlimited website, designer Aaron Miles says the design team is banning Force Throw now "before Sector Qualifiers and Regional Championships for this set kick off… to give some breathing room to archetypes that either feel held down or outclassed by Force Throw, as well as to give more non-Aggression Force decks some room to shine".
He adds that the team want the new Disclose mechanic coming in Secrets of Power - which gives a player bonuses for showing off what's in their hand - to have "a chance to shine in an environment not warped by a ubiquitous event that reduces both players' hand size in most games".
Lastly, the previously suspended cards - the Leaders Boba Fett (Collecting the Bounty) and Jango Fett (Concealing the Conspiracy); the event Triple Dark Raid; and the unit DJ (Blatant Thief) - are not coming off the banlist any time soon.
Are you sick of the Force Throw aggro dominating Premier, or do you think aggro decks need this kind of value to maintain presence? Come and let us know in the Wargamer Discord community.
For a Star Wars tabletop experience that isn't upset by periodic bans or overpowered cards, check out Wargamer's guide to the best Star Wars board games.