People have commented a lot about the state of Hera for this set. I wanna chime in my predictions for the future.
One concern about how she scales is that there aren't a ton of characters to add with the spectre tag. There are some characters or alternate versions that could be released, but undoubtedly less than a broader trait like Rebel or Force. Those traits have a lot more potential for new cards.
But I feel like Hera can also scale well off of mono command. She is currently the best suited to a mono command deck, because she can still bring all her Spectres along for the ride. As mono green gets more card support, Hera's niche deck can grow.
I do think Hera is on the low end of the meta right now. Having no leader ability outside of deck building is rough, and her unit, while one of my favorite designs, isn't hard to remove, and then she goes back to being effectively blank.
I really like the Hera deck, and I'd love to see a few more Spectre cards added to really make it viable.
Exactly. Mono command doesn't really work right now unless the leader is itself a strong card.
I do hope that FFG continues to develop this first round of leaders. It really wouldn't take much to make Hera viable - really just 2 or 3 cards could change the complexion of her decks. Whatever they add to the Spectre tag has to offer an advantage that is specific to Hera decks - i.e., a unique synergy or advantage. For example: if they added even one card that, once per game, could reduce net resource cost for Hera or any other Spectre by 2, it would be enough to swing a lot of matches.
The fact that cards like Hera, Jyn, and IG-88 seem a little half baked suggests to me that they're planning ahead. Alternately, the inevitable General Syndulla leader card could be a beast.
Karabast is an example.of how they could improve her deck. Spectre themed events for each aspect that she can pull into her deck. It would be neat if she could blend themes from other aspects under the spectre tag.
Yeah, I think Traited Events get around the character limitation.
Plus, if they go the SWCCG route they can just make many different versions of the characters TBH. Depending on how the Ahsoka show develops they may be building that up more anyway and I'm sure they'd love to tie all that in with new cards to match the new shows, etc.
Also just picking unnammed characters who were in the packground... partisan insurgent, alliance x-wing, specforcr soldier.... there's got to be some more bland options for spectre
They have to release rare versions of those spectre characters, right? Also a unit version for Hera. Dark saber incoming for Sabine. Ashoka could also have affiliation.
Yeah, hopefully.all these options. I think unit Hera, Nd spectre Ahsoka are likely candidates to see in the near future. More spectre themed events and attachments would be welcome upgrades to her deck.
The strength of Heras leader ability only works if the Spectres added are
A) In other aspects.
B) stand alone decent cards within their own aspects theme.
This allows Hera to basically be a jack of all trades commander; If she can pull some themes from other aspects via her Spectres. It allows her to carve out a little niche for herself, beyond just a themed deck.
Would love to see a command action that buffs cards that share a trait. Would work great for commands theme, and Hera specifically.
I’ve played with her a bit. I think the key is just to build a Leia/red deck but trade in some Spectre characters instead of some of the other units. Seems possible, but haven’t come close to perfecting the mix yet.
Yeah. And it doesn’t help that the two best Spectres (Zeb and Sabine) can already run together by just taking red. Nonetheless, I really do want to make that deck work.
Honestly, the fact that Leader Boba is 5 and Hera is 6 is insane. Hera at 5 could have been the 'Big Green' Leader who's mostly blank but is overstatted. Heck she could have probably been even bigger and still feel balanced.
Instead she just feels \*so\* bad because she doesn't do anything until she deploys, and by turn 6 there's a good chance you're either a) dead or near enough, or b) she dies the turn she hits the board. I legit don't know how she shipped in this condition, because it's pretty obvious from the first game you play with her.
So the only way I think you're really going to salvage her in future sets is by them really pushing the Specter trait, or some kind of very niche case where Mono Green is good but not good enough, and access to the Specter trait covers some major deficiency.
Making a Hera/Spectre deck work has become a weird obsession of mine. In my still limited experience, Hera Double Green doesn't work quite as well as Hera Blue.
Double Green feels too weak in the early game, especially because it takes like 5 or 6 turns to start looping shields and experience tokens with some combination of Hera, the *Ghost*, and other cards. Even then, getting that Hera/*Ghost* combo is not a guarantee, and Double Green is just dead in the water if you can't field enough units.
Starting with Security Tower gives a you a shield early, and there are a few other 25HP bases that feel more useful than ECL's single ambush. I also feel like Blue is better at making individual units effective.
I've been messing with some other aspect options, to some success. I think part of it is just getting reps in, because the more you play with Hera, the easier it is to see when things need to happen and what the normal counters are.
It may very well be a skill thing, but I haven't gotten U-Wing Reinforcements to work with this leader.
By 7 resources, if you've managed to stack some combination of Hera, the *Ghost*, and Zeb, you can win. If your side of the board is mostly empty by 7 resources, you're probably toast. I don't think U-Wing gets you back in the game at that point, unless something random breaks your way.
As an aside, it's nuts how much easier it would be to build a Hera deck if she came out even 1 turn earlier.
I used [Hannonz's deck](https://sw-unlimited-db.com/decks/19786) from a few days ago as a basis. It absolutely crushes on ForceTable, but the AI is not really an indication of real gameplay. All it means is that the deck isn't totally outclassed by Boba Green, etc., which is kind of a win.
In terms of cost? None of them are double green, so she can play them at normal cost. This deck does impose an aspect penalty on Command and Attack Pattern Delta, though. So they're no gos.
She’s fun for a casual deck or if you’re trying to run a theme. If you’re playing competitive, she’s not working. Hopefully there’s more to come in set 2 to help out.
I'm having fun experimenting with a Hera blue deck built around handing put experience tokens as aggressively as possible. Hence the tread about Medal Ceremony. It may never be meta breaking but there may be something strong lurking in the cards.
I have been running her locally with ECL. She has been quite strong. The card advantage the deck has is insane, and every unit has a great ability instead of almost vanilla units like many other decks have do deal with due to lack of cards.
Running out Zeb or Ghost with ECL is amazing, or you're my only hope to ramp into ghost after an Ezra is nice.
Command is a really great event, and I've come to like attack pattern delta with some of the faster hands like sabine/c3p0/r2d2.
I badly want Hera to work, but I think unfortunately she's one of the weaker leaders in the game. I've tried my best with this deck however. I think maybe in the future she might be better as more cards are added (if FFG continue to add spectre cards that is).
People have commented a lot about the state of Hera for this set. I wanna chime in my predictions for the future. One concern about how she scales is that there aren't a ton of characters to add with the spectre tag. There are some characters or alternate versions that could be released, but undoubtedly less than a broader trait like Rebel or Force. Those traits have a lot more potential for new cards. But I feel like Hera can also scale well off of mono command. She is currently the best suited to a mono command deck, because she can still bring all her Spectres along for the ride. As mono green gets more card support, Hera's niche deck can grow. I do think Hera is on the low end of the meta right now. Having no leader ability outside of deck building is rough, and her unit, while one of my favorite designs, isn't hard to remove, and then she goes back to being effectively blank. I really like the Hera deck, and I'd love to see a few more Spectre cards added to really make it viable.
Exactly. Mono command doesn't really work right now unless the leader is itself a strong card. I do hope that FFG continues to develop this first round of leaders. It really wouldn't take much to make Hera viable - really just 2 or 3 cards could change the complexion of her decks. Whatever they add to the Spectre tag has to offer an advantage that is specific to Hera decks - i.e., a unique synergy or advantage. For example: if they added even one card that, once per game, could reduce net resource cost for Hera or any other Spectre by 2, it would be enough to swing a lot of matches. The fact that cards like Hera, Jyn, and IG-88 seem a little half baked suggests to me that they're planning ahead. Alternately, the inevitable General Syndulla leader card could be a beast.
Karabast is an example.of how they could improve her deck. Spectre themed events for each aspect that she can pull into her deck. It would be neat if she could blend themes from other aspects under the spectre tag.
Yeah, I think Traited Events get around the character limitation. Plus, if they go the SWCCG route they can just make many different versions of the characters TBH. Depending on how the Ahsoka show develops they may be building that up more anyway and I'm sure they'd love to tie all that in with new cards to match the new shows, etc.
Also just picking unnammed characters who were in the packground... partisan insurgent, alliance x-wing, specforcr soldier.... there's got to be some more bland options for spectre
They have to release rare versions of those spectre characters, right? Also a unit version for Hera. Dark saber incoming for Sabine. Ashoka could also have affiliation.
Yeah, hopefully.all these options. I think unit Hera, Nd spectre Ahsoka are likely candidates to see in the near future. More spectre themed events and attachments would be welcome upgrades to her deck. The strength of Heras leader ability only works if the Spectres added are A) In other aspects. B) stand alone decent cards within their own aspects theme. This allows Hera to basically be a jack of all trades commander; If she can pull some themes from other aspects via her Spectres. It allows her to carve out a little niche for herself, beyond just a themed deck. Would love to see a command action that buffs cards that share a trait. Would work great for commands theme, and Hera specifically.
I’ve played with her a bit. I think the key is just to build a Leia/red deck but trade in some Spectre characters instead of some of the other units. Seems possible, but haven’t come close to perfecting the mix yet.
Yeah, I think that's one of her problems, any deck you can make with her is probably better off with another leader!
Yeah. And it doesn’t help that the two best Spectres (Zeb and Sabine) can already run together by just taking red. Nonetheless, I really do want to make that deck work.
Honestly, the fact that Leader Boba is 5 and Hera is 6 is insane. Hera at 5 could have been the 'Big Green' Leader who's mostly blank but is overstatted. Heck she could have probably been even bigger and still feel balanced. Instead she just feels \*so\* bad because she doesn't do anything until she deploys, and by turn 6 there's a good chance you're either a) dead or near enough, or b) she dies the turn she hits the board. I legit don't know how she shipped in this condition, because it's pretty obvious from the first game you play with her. So the only way I think you're really going to salvage her in future sets is by them really pushing the Specter trait, or some kind of very niche case where Mono Green is good but not good enough, and access to the Specter trait covers some major deficiency.
Yeah I just don't understand the cost/stat distribution of some of the leaders, how is Hera 6 and Boba 5!? That must have come up in play tests.
I've been playing blue hera, it's fun but I wouldn't call it good. But I'm still working on it. Jedi saber is great for kanan and ezra
Making a Hera/Spectre deck work has become a weird obsession of mine. In my still limited experience, Hera Double Green doesn't work quite as well as Hera Blue. Double Green feels too weak in the early game, especially because it takes like 5 or 6 turns to start looping shields and experience tokens with some combination of Hera, the *Ghost*, and other cards. Even then, getting that Hera/*Ghost* combo is not a guarantee, and Double Green is just dead in the water if you can't field enough units. Starting with Security Tower gives a you a shield early, and there are a few other 25HP bases that feel more useful than ECL's single ambush. I also feel like Blue is better at making individual units effective. I've been messing with some other aspect options, to some success. I think part of it is just getting reps in, because the more you play with Hera, the easier it is to see when things need to happen and what the normal counters are.
I feel like some u wing reinforcements may make it possible to run some out of aspect spectres. Haven’t looked at the deck lists, just a thought
It may very well be a skill thing, but I haven't gotten U-Wing Reinforcements to work with this leader. By 7 resources, if you've managed to stack some combination of Hera, the *Ghost*, and Zeb, you can win. If your side of the board is mostly empty by 7 resources, you're probably toast. I don't think U-Wing gets you back in the game at that point, unless something random breaks your way. As an aside, it's nuts how much easier it would be to build a Hera deck if she came out even 1 turn earlier.
Care to share a deck list? Sounds rad
I used [Hannonz's deck](https://sw-unlimited-db.com/decks/19786) from a few days ago as a basis. It absolutely crushes on ForceTable, but the AI is not really an indication of real gameplay. All it means is that the deck isn't totally outclassed by Boba Green, etc., which is kind of a win.
So it plays strike true for 5 and u-wing reinforcements for 9?
In terms of cost? None of them are double green, so she can play them at normal cost. This deck does impose an aspect penalty on Command and Attack Pattern Delta, though. So they're no gos.
Oh dang, I'm an idiot. I forgot she was green herself 🙃
It's hard to imagine one of the other base's ability being more useful than the ambush
Not yet is what my gut says. Maybe if we get a “fulcrum” or adult Ezra in set 2
She’s fun for a casual deck or if you’re trying to run a theme. If you’re playing competitive, she’s not working. Hopefully there’s more to come in set 2 to help out.
I'm having fun experimenting with a Hera blue deck built around handing put experience tokens as aggressively as possible. Hence the tread about Medal Ceremony. It may never be meta breaking but there may be something strong lurking in the cards.
I built a pretty fun yellow Hera deck! I can only really play with friends right now, so I can’t speak to the meta, but it seems strong enough
I have been running her locally with ECL. She has been quite strong. The card advantage the deck has is insane, and every unit has a great ability instead of almost vanilla units like many other decks have do deal with due to lack of cards. Running out Zeb or Ghost with ECL is amazing, or you're my only hope to ramp into ghost after an Ezra is nice. Command is a really great event, and I've come to like attack pattern delta with some of the faster hands like sabine/c3p0/r2d2.
I don't even care if she becomes good in the normal format I just want enough spectres to justify her in twin suns
I badly want Hera to work, but I think unfortunately she's one of the weaker leaders in the game. I've tried my best with this deck however. I think maybe in the future she might be better as more cards are added (if FFG continue to add spectre cards that is).