Megahaulin Blog for Star Realm Strategy: Recent Episodes
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by Scott Heise aka HomerJr and Rick DeMille aka Darklighter
[Updated 05/14/2025]
Updated to include the High Alert Invasion.
For a more detailed discussion of each card, and sortable lists, check out the Card Tier App, which can be accessed HERE.Tier List Methodology
The intent of these Tier Lists is to provide a quick reference to help players, especially newer or less experienced players, when deciding which card(s) in the trade row they should buy (or whether to buy a card at all). Every card included in the V, 1, B, H, F, R, 2, K, U, A, W, L, P, D, T, Q, O, I sets is contained within these lists and grouped into one of three tiers based on the overall value of the card relative to the cost of the card.
HomerJr originally wrote the Tier Lists for the V, 1, B, H, & F sets, and later added rankings for Colony Wars (“W”). I (Darklighter) have not changed ~~any~~ much of HomerJr’s original rankings, and have added rankings for the rest of the sets.
While every card in the game can be valuable and help you win, not every card will have equal value over the course of the game thus there are separate Tier Lists for different phases of the game (opening buys, mid game, late game). Furthermore, many cards are highly situational or valuable only in certain decks. Please note that this is all the personal opinion of the authors, so don’t take anything in here as law. We are always open to feedback, criticism, and discussion.
We rank each card into one of three tiers as follows:
- Tier 1: Strong value and/or agnostic to situation; beneficial in almost any deck; you almost always want to have it in your deck if you can
- Tier 2: Solid value and/or somewhat situational; may rely on ally ability triggers to be effective; generally a good buy if no Tier 1 card available
- Tier 3: Weak value and/or highly situational; may need exactly the right game circumstances to be effective; best to avoid buying except in rare cases
- Tier 4: Poor value in nearly all situations; buying this card will probably worsen your deck; you’re probably making a mistake if you’re buying this card
Please note that our intent is not for cards in the same tier across cost brackets to be considered equivalent in value. In general, cards in the next higher cost bracket have a value one tier higher. For example, a Tier 2 card in the $3-5 cost bracket would have a value on par with a Tier 1 card in the $1-2 cost bracket. Also, cards are listed within a cell by faction and cost; the order of cards within a cell is not meant to imply anything about the value of the card relative to the others in the same tier and cost bracket.
Card Set Legend
- no bracket = Original Core Set
- [1] = Year 1 Promo/kickstarter card
- [B] = Bases & Battleships expansion
- [F] = Fleets & Fortresses expansion
- [H] = Heroes expansion
- [R] = Frontiers expansion
- [K] = United Command expansion
- [A] = United Assault expansion
- [2] = Year 2 Promos
- [U] = United Heroes
- [W] – Colony Wars
- [L] – Stellar Allies
- [P] – Frontiers Promos
- [D] – Command Decks
- [T] – High Alert Tech
- [Q] – High Alert Requisition
- [O] – High Alert Heroes
- [I] – High Alert Invasion
NEW CARDS IN BOLD
Opening Buys (Deck 1)**I prioritize strong trade and scrapping cards for my opening buys, as well as bases that provide good long-term value. Combat cards are generally only valuable at this stage for destroying opposing bases, or for all-out rush strategies when the trade row is combat-heavy.
*NOTE*: The “Opening Buys” Tier List only ranks cards cost $1-5, which is the typical range of trade a player will have on their opening two turns. With the inclusion of Gambits and Events it may of course be possible, and advisable, to purchase cards that cost $6+ in Deck 1.
Updated 05/14/2025
| $1-2 | $3-5 | | Tier 1 – Must Buy | * Cutter ($2) * Trade Bot ($1) * War Elder [H] ($1) * High Priest Lyle [H] ($2) * Probe Bot [2] ($2) * Recycle Bot [P] ($1) * Cargo Launch [F] ($1) * Cargo Craft [R] ($2) * Frontier Hawk [R] ($1) * Imperial Smuggler [2] ($2) * Blockade Runner [P] ($1) * Blob Miner [R] ($2) * Unity Fighter [K] ($1) * Assault Pod [K] ($2) * Alignment Bot [L] ($1) * Guidance [T] ($1) | * Freighter ($4) * Starmarket [1] ($4) * Mobile Market [R] ($4) * Ion Station [R] ($5) * Frontier Ferry[W] ($4) * Ram ($3) * Blob Wheel ($3) * Nesting Ground [R] ($4) * Pulverizer [R] ($5) * Stellar Ray [2] ($5) * Cargo Pod[W] ($3) * Supply Bot ($3) * Fortress Oblivion [1] ($3) * Battle Mech ($5) * Enforcer Mech [R] ($5) * Repair Mech [R] ($4) * Cargo Mech [2] ($5) * Chancellor Hartman [U] ($4) * Confessor Morris [U] ($5) * Convoy Bot[W] ($3) * Mining Mech[W] ($4) * The Oracle[W] ($4) * Mech Cruiser[W] ($5) * Tanker Mech [Q] ($5) * Imperial Trader [B] ($5) * Farm Ship [R] ($4) * Jamming Terminal [R] ($5) * Orbital Gun Platform [R] ($4) * Orbital Platform[W] ($3) * Gunship[W] ($4) * Blob Bot [A] ($3) * Coalition Freighter [K] ($4) * Alliance Landing [K] ($5) | | Tier 2 – Good Buy | * Trade Raft [B] ($1) * Special Ops Director [H] ($1) * CEO Torres [H] ($2) * Federal Transport [2] ($2) * Solar Skiff [W] ($1) * Trade Hauler [W] ($2) * Cargo Rocket [P] ($1) * Corsair [Q] ($3) * Missile Bot ($2) * Patrol Bot [F] ($2) * Builder Bot [R] ($1) * Integration Port [R] ($3) * Plasma Bot [R] ($2) * Battle Bot [W] ($1) * Temple Guardian [P] ($3) * Blob Fighter ($1) * Trade Pod ($2) * Battle Pod ($2) * Ram Pilot [H] ($1) * Blob Overlord [H] ($2) * Stinger [R] ($1) * War Kite [2] ($2) * Swarmer [W] ($1) * Predator[W] ($2) * Plague Pod [P] ($1) * Admiral Rasmusson [H] ($2) * Lancer [W] ($2) * Cargo Raptor [I] ($2) * Trade Star [A] ($1) * Alliance Transport [A] ($2) * Pact Pod [L] ($2) * Administrator Tung [Q] ($1) * Bioform Freeman [Q] ($1) * Bio-Warrior Storm [Q] ($1) * Data Priest Kaufman [Q] ($1) * Doctor Clark [Q] ($1) * Pact Searcher Sheldon [Q] ($1) * Shield [T] ($1) | * Embassy Yacht ($3) * Barter World ($4) * Trade Escort ($5) * Federation Cruiser [R] ($5) * Long Hauler [R] ($4) * Outland Station [R] ($3) * Security Craft [2] ($4) * Bounty Hunter [2] ($5) * Patrol Cutter [W] ($3) * Central Station[W] ($4) * Freight Raft [P] ($3) * Blob Destroyer ($4) * Breeding Site [1] ($4) * Battle Screecher [1] ($4) * Burrower [R] ($3) * Crusher [R] ($3) * Moonwurm Hatchling [R] ($4) * Screecher [U] ($3) * Hive Lord [U] ($5) * Ravager[W] ($3) * Bioformer[W] ($4) * Parasite[W] ($5) * Sentinel [P] ($3) * Swarming Point [P] ($5) * Patrol Mech ($4) * Stealth Needle ($4) * Border Fort [F] ($4) * Mega Mech [B] ($5) * Conversion Yard [R] ($5) * Destroyer Bot [R] ($3) * Stealth Tower[W] ($5) * Space Station ($4) * Recycling Station ($4) * War World ($5) * Captured Outpost [R] ($3) * Hammerhead [R] ($5) * Knightstar [2] ($5) * Commodore Zhang [U] ($5) * Command Center[W] ($4) * Aging Battleship[W] ($5) * Heavy Cruiser[W] ($5) * Imperial Defender [P] ($3) * Midgate Station [P] ($5) * Hellfire [Q] ($4) * Alliance Frigate [K] ($3) * Coalition Messenger [A] ($3) * Needle Lancer [L] ($3) * Pact Warship [L] ($4) * Trade Hive [L] ($5) * Templar Brehmer [O] ($3) * Biodroid Otto [O] ($3) * Strategist Thompson [O] ($3) | | Tier 3 – Meh Buy | * Federation Shuttle ($1) * Frontier Runner [R] ($1) * Orbital Shuttle [R] ($2) * Storage Silo [W] ($2) * Voyager [I] ($1) * Defense Bot [B] ($2) * Repair Bot[W] ($2) * Warning Beacon[W] ($2) * Corvette ($2) * Cunning Captain [H] ($1) * Star Barge [W] ($1) * Spike Pod [F] ($1) * Stellar Reef[W] ($2) * Laser [T] ($2) * Explorer ($2) | * Trading Post ($3) * Customs Frigate [F] ($4) * Defense Center ($5) * Patrol Boat [R] ($3) * Chairman Haygan [U] ($3) * CEO Shaner [U] ($5) * Colony Seed Ship[W] ($5) * Assur 4 [P] ($5) * Trade Wheel [B] ($3) * The Hive ($5) * Battle Station ($3) * Mech World ($5) * Defense System [R] ($4) * Converter [P] ($5) * Operations Platform [Q] ($3) * Fusion Bot [I] ($3) * Survey Ship ($3) * Imperial Frigate ($3) * Fighter Base [B] ($3) * Starbase Omega [1] ($4) * Battle Barge [1] ($4) * Light Cruiser [R] ($3) * Falcon[W] ($3) * Arsenal [I] ($5) * Union Stronghold [A] ($5) * Bio-Captain Kalle [O] ($3) * High Admiral Shaner [O] ($3) * Pact Manager Scott [O] ($3) * Mercenary Garrison [2] ($4) * Stealth [T] ($3) * Stellar Link [T] ($3) * Processing [T] ($4) * Tractor Beam [T] ($4) * Warp [T] ($4) | | Tier 4 – Don’t Buy | * Imperial Fighter ($1) * Spike Cluster [R] ($2) * Warrior Pod [Q] ($2) * Swarm Cell [I] ($2) | * Merc Cruiser [1] ($3) * Commander Klik [U] ($4) |
Mid Game (Deck 2-2.5)I consider the mid game to be the period after the opening buys where there is still time for trade and scrapping to amortize, and both players have enough authority to survive through at least their opponent’s next shuffle and a full deck thereafter. During the mid game, I tend to value cards that help buy $6-8 cards (but also have late game value), strong bases, and cards that sow the seeds for big rallies in the late game (card draws, top-decking, etc). But be careful… often the mid game doesn’t last very long! If you’re not sure if you’re in the mid game or not, it’s usually best to play as if you’ve already progressed to the late game.
Updated 10/6/2021
| | $1-2 | $3-5 | $6-9 | | Tier 1 – Must Buy | * Cutter ($2) * Special Ops Director [H] ($1) * CEO Torres [H] ($2) * Probe Bot [2] ($2) * Cargo Craft [R] ($2) * Frontier Hawk [R] ($1) * Imperial Smuggler [2] ($2) * Lancer [W] ($2) * Blockade Runner [P] ($1) * Predator[W] ($2) * Assault Pod [K] ($2) * Guidance [T] ($1) | * Starmarket [1] ($4) * Long Hauler [R] ($4) * Blob Destroyer ($4) * Breeding Site [1] ($4) * Pulverizer [R] ($5) * Stellar Ray [2] ($5) * Hive Lord [U] ($5) * Cargo Pod[W] ($3) * Ravager[W] ($3) * Parasite[W] ($5) * Stealth Needle ($4) * Battle Mech ($5) * Enforcer Mech [R] ($5) * Chancellor Hartman [U] ($4) * Confessor Morris [U] ($5) * Convoy Bot[W] ($3) * Mech Cruiser[W] ($5) * Recycling Station ($4) * War World ($5) * Imperial Trader [B] ($5) * Captured Outpost [R] ($3) * Farm Ship [R] ($4) * Commodore Zhang [U] ($5) * Orbital Platform[W] ($3) * Gunship[W] ($4) * Aging Battleship[W] ($5) * Heavy Cruiser[W] ($5) * Alliance Frigate [K] ($3) * Blob Bot [A] ($3) * Needle Lancer [L] ($3) * Pact Warship [L] ($4) | * The Colossus [P] ($9) * Central Office ($7) * Megahauler [1] ($7) * Command Ship ($8) * Federation Battleship [R] ($7) * Peacekeeper[W] ($6) * Factory World[W] ($8) * Trade Envoy [P] ($7) * The Ark [1] ($7) * Brain World ($8) * Nanobot Swarm [R] ($8) * Reclamation Station [R] ($6) * Assimilator [P] ($7) * Blob Alpha [R] ($6) * Plasma Vent[W] ($6) * Moonwurm[W] ($7) * Leviathan[W] ($8) * Imperial Flagship [R] ($8) * Imperial Palace[W] ($7) * Emperor’s Dreadnaught [W] ($8) * Demolisher [P] ($7) * Union Cluster [K] ($8) * Lost Dreadnaught [D] ($8) * Meganaut [D] ($8) * Super Carrier [D] ($8) | | Tier 2 – Good Buy | * Federal Transport [2] ($2) * Cargo Rocket [P] ($1) * Missile Bot ($2) * Defense Bot [B] ($2) * Patrol Bot [F] ($2) * War Elder [H] ($1) * High Priest Lyle [H] ($2) * Plasma Bot [R] ($2) * Recycle Bot [P] ($1) * Blob Fighter ($1) * Battle Pod ($2) * Ram Pilot [H] ($1) * Blob Overlord [H] ($2) * Blob Miner [R] ($2) * Stinger [R] ($1) * War Kite [2] ($2) * Swarmer [W] ($1) * Plague Pod [P] ($1) * Cargo Launch [F] ($1) * Corvette ($2) * Admiral Rasmusson [H] ($2) * Unity Fighter [K] ($1) * Alliance Transport [A] ($2) * Administrator Tung [O] ($1) * Bioform Freeman [O] ($1) * Bio-Warrior Storm [O] ($1) * Data Priest Kaufman [O] ($1) * Doctor Clark [O] ($1) * Pact Searcher Sheldon [O] ($1) * Shield [T] ($1) * Laser [T] ($2) | * Embassy Yacht ($3) * Barter World ($4) * Customs Frigate [F] ($4) * Defense Center ($5) * Trade Escort ($5) * Federation Cruiser [R] ($5) * Ion Station [R] ($5) * Mobile Market [R] ($4) * Outland Station [R] ($3) * Security Craft [2] ($4) * Bounty Hunter [2] ($5) * Chairman Haygan [U] ($3) * CEO Shaner [U] ($5) * Frontier Ferry[W] ($4) * Freight Raft [P] ($3) * Battle Station ($3) * Mech World ($5) * Fortress Oblivion [1] ($3) * Patrol Mech ($4) * Border Fort [F] ($4) * Mega Mech [B] ($5) * Conversion Yard [R] ($5) * Defense System [R] ($4) * Destroyer Bot [R] ($3) * Repair Mech [R] ($4) * Cargo Mech [2] ($5) * The Oracle[W] ($4) * Stealth Tower[W] ($5) * Temple Guardian [P] ($3) * Converter [P] ($5) * Tanker Mech [Q] ($5) * Ram ($3) * Blob Wheel ($3) * Battle Screecher [1] ($4) * The Hive ($5) * Burrower [R] ($3) * Crusher [R] ($3) * Nesting Ground [R] ($4) * Screecher [U] ($3) * Bioformer[W] ($4) * Sentinel [P] ($3) * Swarming Point [P] ($5) * Imperial Frigate ($3) * Space Station ($4) * Battle Barge [P] ($4) * Starbase Omega [1] ($4) * Hammerhead [R] ($5) * Jamming Terminal [R] ($5) * Light Cruiser [R] ($3) * Orbital Gun Platform [R] ($4) * Knightstar [2] ($5) * Falcon[W] ($3) * Imperial Defender [P] ($3) * Midgate Station [P] ($5) * Hellfire [Q] ($4) * Arsenal [I] ($5) * Alliance Landing [K] ($5) * Union Stronghold [A] ($5) * Templar Brehmer [O] ($3) * Biodroid Otto [O] ($3) * Bio-Captain Kalle [O] ($3) * Strategist Thompson [O] ($3) * Pact Manager Scott [O] ($3) * Mercenary Garrison [2] ($4) * Stealth [T] ($3) * Stellar Link [T] ($3) * Processing [T] ($4) * Tractor Beam [T] ($4) | * Flagship ($6) * Port of Call ($6) * Construction Hauler [B] ($6) * Transit Nexus [R] ($8) * Lunar Landing [Q] ($9) * Battle Blob ($6) * Obliterator [B] ($6) * Mothership ($7) * Blob World ($8) * Hive Queen [R] ($7) * Infested Moon [R] ($6) * Swarm Cluster [R] ($8) * Spawning Swarm [P] ($7) * Alpha Max [I] ($7) * Missile Mech ($6) * Machine Base ($7) * Neural Nexus [R] ($7) * The Wrecker[W] ($7) * Mech Fortress [I] ($8) * Battlecruiser ($6) * Dreadnaught ($7) * Star Fortress [F] ($7) * Siege Fortress [R] ($7) * Supply Depot[W] ($6) * Coalition Fortress [K] ($6) * Exchange Point [A] ($6) * Unity Station [K] ($7) * Embassy Base [A] ($8) * Merc Battlecruiser [2] ($6) * Missile Silo [L] ($6) * Summit Site [L] ($8) * Mech Battleship [D] ($8) * Mech Command Ship [D] ($8) * Mech Wurm [D] ($8) * Super Freighter [D] ($8) | | Tier 3 – Meh Buy | * Explorer ($2) * Trade Raft [B] ($1) * Solar Skiff [W] ($1) * Corsair [Q] ($3) * Trade Bot ($1) * Builder Bot [R] ($1) * Battle Bot [W] ($1) * Warning Beacon[W] ($2) * Spike Pod [F] ($1) * Trade Pod ($2) * Spike Cluster [R] ($2) * Stellar Reef[W] ($2) * Warrior Pod [Q] ($2) * Imperial Fighter ($1) * Cunning Captain [H] ($1) * Star Barge [W] ($1) * Cargo Raptor [I] ($2) * Trade Star [A] ($1) * Alignment Bot [L] ($1) * Pact Pod [L] ($2) | * Merc Cruiser [1] ($3) * Trading Post ($3) * Freighter ($4) * Patrol Boat [R] ($3) * Patrol Cutter [W] ($3) * Central Station[W] ($4) * Colony Seed Ship[W] ($5) * Assur 4 [P] ($5) * Supply Bot ($3) * Integration Port [R] ($3) * Mining Mech[W] ($4) * Operations Platform [Q] ($3) * Fusion Bot [I] ($3) * Trade Wheel [B] ($3) * Moonwurm Hatchling [R] ($4) * Survey Ship ($3) * Fighter Base [B] ($3) * Commander Klik [U] ($4) * Command Center[W] ($4) * Coalition Messenger [A] ($3) * Coalition Freighter [K] ($4) * Trade Hive [L] ($5) * High Admiral Shaner [O] ($3) * Warp [T] ($4) | * Capitol World [F] ($8) * Gateship [R] ($6) * Federation Shipyard[W] ($6) * Loyal Colony [W] ($7) * Naval Yard [I] ($6) * Blob Carrier ($6) * Death World [F] ($7) * Swarm Colony [Q] ($6) * Royal Redoubt ($6) * Warpgate Cruiser [R] ($6) * The Armory [Q] ($7) * Frontier Station[W] ($6) * The Incinerator[W] ($8) * Lookout Post [A] ($7) * The Citadel [L] ($7) | | Tier 4 – Don’t Buy | * Federation Shuttle ($1) * Frontier Runner [R] ($1) * Orbital Shuttle [R] ($2) * Storage Silo [W] ($2) * Trade Hauler [W] ($2) * Voyager [I] ($1) * Repair Bot[W] ($2) * Swarm Cell [I] ($2) | * Junkyard ($6) * Fleet HQ ($8) |
Late Game (Decks 4+ or Authority < 30)I consider the late game to be the point at which trade and scrapping no longer have enough time to provide value, and/or one or both players do not have enough authority to survive the next full play through of their opponent’s deck. During the late game, I tend to value cards that provide maximum combat in as few cards as possible and help fuel big rallies via card draws.
Updated 10/6/2021
| $1-2 | $3-5 | $6-9 | | Tier 1 – Must Buy | * Special Ops Director [H] ($1) * CEO Torres [H] ($2) * Ram Pilot [H] ($1) * Blob Overlord [H] ($2) * Predator[W] ($2) * Admiral Rasmusson [H] ($2) * Lancer [W] ($2) * Blockade Runner [P] ($1) * Assault Pod [K] ($2) * Guidance [T] ($1) * Laser [T] ($2) | * Chairman Haygan [U] ($3) * CEO Shaner [U] ($5) * Blob Destroyer ($4) * Breeding Site [1] ($4) * Pulverizer [R] ($5) * Stellar Ray [2] ($5) * Hive Lord [U] ($5) * Ravager[W] ($3) * Parasite[W] ($5) * Sentinel [P] ($3) * Stealth Needle ($4) * Mega Mech [B] ($5) * Enforcer Mech [R] ($5) * Chancellor Hartman [U] ($4) * Confessor Morris [U] ($5) * Mech Cruiser[W] ($5) * Imperial Frigate ($3) * Recycling Station ($4) * War World ($5) * Captured Outpost [R] ($3) * Hammerhead [R] ($5) * Knightstar [2] ($5) * Commodore Zhang [U] ($5) * Orbital Platform[W] ($3) * Aging Battleship[W] ($5) * Heavy Cruiser[W] ($5) * Imperial Defender [P] ($3) * Alliance Frigate [K] ($3) * Needle Lancer [L] ($3) * Pact Warship [L] ($4) * Stealth [T] ($3) * Stellar Link [T] ($3) * Processing [T] ($4) * Tractor Beam [T] ($4) | * The Colossus [P] ($9) * Flagship ($6) * Command Ship ($8) * Federation Battleship [R] ($7) * Peacekeeper[W] ($6) * Factory World[W] ($8) * Trade Envoy [P] ($7) * Missile Mech ($6) * The Ark [1] ($7) * Brain World ($8) * Nanobot Swarm [R] ($8) * Reclamation Station [R] ($6) * Assimilator [P] ($7) * Battle Blob ($6) * Obliterator [B] ($6) * Mothership ($7) * Blob Alpha [R] ($6) * Hive Queen [R] ($7) * Plasma Vent[W] ($6) * Moonwurm[W] ($7) * Leviathan[W] ($8) * Spawning Swarm [P] ($7) * Alpha Max [I] ($7) * Battlecruiser ($6) * Dreadnaught ($7) * Imperial Flagship [R] ($8) * Imperial Palace[W] ($7) * Emperor’s Dreadnaught [W] ($8) * Demolisher [P] ($7) * Union Cluster [K] ($8) * Merc Battlecruiser [2] ($6) * Lost Dreadnaught [D] ($8) * Meganaut [D] ($8) | | Tier 2 – Good Buy | * Battle Pod ($2) * Blob Fighter ($1) * War Kite [2] ($2) * Swarmer [W] ($1) * Corvette ($2) * Cunning Captain [H] ($1) * Frontier Hawk [R] ($1) * Imperial Smuggler [2] ($2) * Administrator Tung [O] ($1) * Bioform Freeman [O] ($1) * Bio-Warrior Storm [O] ($1) * Data Priest Kaufman [O] ($1) * Doctor Clark [O] ($1) * Pact Searcher Sheldon [O] ($1) * Shield [T] ($1) | * Barter World ($4) * Customs Frigate [F] ($4) * Defense Center ($5) * Trade Escort ($5) * Federation Cruiser [R] ($5) * Long Hauler [R] ($4) * Mobile Market [R] ($4) * Outland Station [R] ($3) * Bounty Hunter [2] ($5) * Freight Raft [P] ($3) * Battle Mech ($5) * Battle Station ($3) * Mech World ($5) * Conversion Yard [R] ($5) * Defense System [R] ($4) * Convoy Bot[W] ($3) * Stealth Tower[W] ($5) * Temple Guardian [P] ($3) * Converter [P] ($5) * Tanker Mech [Q] ($5) * The Hive ($5) * Burrower [R] ($3) * Screecher [U] ($3) * Cargo Pod[W] ($3) * Swarming Point [P] ($5) * Battle Barge [1] ($4) * Starbase Omega [1] ($4) * Imperial Trader [B] ($5) * Farm Ship [R] ($4) * Light Cruiser [R] ($3) * Commander Klik [U] ($4) * Falcon[W] ($3) * Gunship[W] ($4) * Midgate Station [P] ($5) * Hellfire [Q] ($4) * Arsenal [I] ($5) * Blob Bot [A] ($3) * Templar Brehmer [O] ($3) * Biodroid Otto [O] ($3) * Bio-Captain Kalle [O] ($3) * Strategist Thompson [O] ($3) * High Admiral Shaner [O] ($3) * Pact Manager Scott [O] ($3) * Warp [T] ($4) | * Central Office ($7) * Megahauler [1] ($7) * Construction Hauler [B] ($6) * Capitol World [F] ($8) * Lunar Landing [Q] ($9) * Death World [F] ($7) * Blob World ($8) * Infested Moon [R] ($6) * Swarm Cluster [R] ($8) * Swarm Colony [Q] ($6) * Star Fortress [F] ($7) * Siege Fortress [R] ($7) * Supply Depot[W] ($6) * Neural Nexus [R] ($7) * Mech Fortress [I] ($8) * Coalition Fortress [K] ($6) * Exchange Point [A] ($6) * Unity Station [K] ($7) * Lookout Post [A] ($7) * Embassy Base [A] ($8) * Missile Silo [L] ($6) * Summit Site [L] ($8) * Mech Command Ship [D] ($8) * Mech Wurm [D] ($8) * Super Carrier [D] ($8) * Super Freighter [D] ($8) | | Tier 3 – Meh Buy | * Cutter ($2) * Federal Transport [2] ($2) * Cargo Rocket [P] ($1) * Missile Bot ($2) * Defense Bot [B] ($2) * Patrol Bot [F] ($2) * War Elder [H] ($1) * High Priest Lyle [H] ($2) * Plasma Bot [R] ($2) * Probe Bot [2] ($2) * Warning Beacon[W] ($2) * Spike Pod [F] ($1) * Blob Miner [R] ($2) * Stinger [R] ($1) * Stellar Reef[W] ($2) * Plague Pod [P] ($1) * Warrior Pod [Q] ($2) * Cargo Launch [F] ($1) * Imperial Fighter ($1) * Cargo Craft [R] ($2) * Star Barge [W] ($1) * Cargo Raptor [I] ($2) * Unity Fighter [K] ($1) * Alliance Transport [A] ($2) * Pact Pod [L] ($2) | * Merc Cruiser [1] ($3) * Embassy Yacht ($3) * Trading Post ($3) * Starmarket [1] ($4) * Ion Station [R] ($5) * Patrol Boat [R] ($3) * Security Craft [2] ($4) * Patrol Cutter [W] ($3) * Central Station[W] ($4) * Frontier Ferry[W] ($4) * Colony Seed Ship[W] ($5) * Assur 4 [P] ($5) * Patrol Mech ($4) * Border Fort [F] ($4) * Destroyer Bot [R] ($3) * Repair Mech [R] ($4) * The Oracle[W] ($4) * Operations Platform [Q] ($3) * Fusion Bot [I] ($3) * Ram ($3) * Battle Screecher [1] ($4) * Crusher [R] ($3) * Moonwurm Hatchling [R] ($4) * Nesting Ground [R] ($4) * Bioformer[W] ($4) * Survey Ship ($3) * Fighter Base [B] ($3) * Space Station ($4) * Jamming Terminal [R] ($5) * Orbital Gun Platform [R] ($4) * Command Center[W] ($4) * Coalition Messenger [A] ($3) * Alliance Landing [K] ($5) * Union Stronghold [A] ($5) * Mercenary Garrison [2] ($4) * Trade Hive [L] ($5) | * Port of Call ($6) * Gateship [R] ($6) * Transit Nexus [R] ($8) * Federation Shipyard[W] ($6) * Naval Yard [I] ($6) * Machine Base ($7) * Frontier Station[W] ($6) * The Wrecker[W] ($7) * The Incinerator[W] ($8) * Blob Carrier ($6) * Royal Redoubt ($6) * Warpgate Cruiser [R] ($6) * The Armory [Q] ($7) * The Citadel [L] ($7) * Mech Battleship [D] ($8) | | Tier 4 – Don’t Buy | * Explorer ($2) * Federation Shuttle ($1) * Trade Raft [B] ($1) * Frontier Runner [R] ($1) * Orbital Shuttle [R] ($2) * Solar Skiff [W] ($1) * Storage Silo [W] ($2) * Trade Hauler [W] ($2) * Corsair [Q] ($3) * Voyager [I] ($1) * Trade Bot ($1) * Builder Bot [R] ($1) * Battle Bot [W] ($1) * Repair Bot[W] ($2) * Recycle Bot [P] ($1) * Trade Pod ($2) * Spike Cluster [R] ($2) * Swarm Cell [I] ($2) * Trade Star [A] ($1) * Alignment Bot [L] ($1) | * Freighter ($4) * Supply Bot ($3) * Fortress Oblivion [1] ($3) * Integration Port [R] ($3) * Cargo Mech [2] ($5) * Mining Mech[W] ($4) * Blob Wheel ($3) * Trade Wheel [B] ($3) * Coalition Freighter [K] ($4) | * Junkyard ($6) * Fleet HQ ($8) * Loyal Colony [W] ($7) |
There is a new version of the Megahaulin Card Tier “App”. The old URL no longer works.
The new APP can be accessed HERE. All of the Megahaulin blog pages that linked to the app have been updated with the new URL.
If you didn’t know there was an “app”, now you do! If you use the Megahaulin Card Tier List, we had created a quick access “app” you can save to your phone/tablet (or access via a browser on your computer). Here are a few screenshots.
To install on your phone, simply click this link on your phone, which will open it in your phone’s browser. A prompt should appear for you to Install the app, click “Install” and it will add the icon tot he home screen. If “Install” prompt does not appear, open your browser settings and choose the “Add to Home screen” option.
Why do I keep putting “app” in quotes? Because it’s not actually an “app”; you can’t find it in the app store. But it’s designed for phones. You can save it to your home screen so it opens on your phone like an app.
Suggestions for features for the “app”? Let us know in the comments below.
NOTE: this “app” is hosted by Glide, which has some limitations so not all your suggestions may be possible. If you’re aware of a better (and free) place to host this info, let us know!
Stay tuned for an updated list with High Alert Invasion and First Strike!
On August 24th, the Star Realms Fan Created Community Facebook Page commemorates its 10th Anniversary!
To celebrate, the FB page admins are hosting an online Tournament (starting Aug. 24th) with an awesome prize provided by WWG!
Tournament DetailsTournament Format/Rules Sets Required: Base Set Only (“V”) * Eligible Participants: You must* be a member of the Star Realms Fan Community FB page (feel free to join if you’re not a member!) * Double Elimination (all matches are Best of 1 until the Top 8/Top 4, then it’s best of 3, and the championship is best of 5) * Pace of play: expected to complete a match within 3 days (additional time granted for Best of 3 matches)
How to Join the 10th Anniversary Tournament * Click this link to join. * The Tournament is hosted through Challonge, so if you don’t have a Challonge account you will need to create one. * On the registration page, if your challonge username is different than your Star Realms IGN (in-game name), you’ll need to click “Sign up with an alternative name” and enter your Star Realms IGN.
The Prize!WWG has announced it will send an uncut foil sheet of Star Realms cards to the winner.
Any questions? Contact Dustin Brehmer, one of the Facebook Group admins.
Sorry to have kept you waiting so long for part 2 of this series, but I figured I’d be on the same publishing schedule as the Megahaulin podcasts
If you haven’t read part 1 of this series (or if you don’t remember what all it said), you should start with that article. Trust me, it’s really good.
This article uses the same methodology as part 1, with the difference being that bases are now included in the dataset for a more wholistic view of the Start Realms universe.
Let’s Get Right To It
Blockade Runner, darling of the ships-only analysis, has been dethroned! Long live Brain World!
by Scott Heise aka HomerJr and Rick DeMille aka Darklighter
[Updated 02/05/2024]
Updated to include the High Alert Requisition and Heroes.
For a more detailed discussion of each card, and sortable lists, check out the Card Tier App, which can be accessed HERE.Tier List Methodology
The intent of these Tier Lists is to provide a quick reference to help players, especially newer or less experienced players, when deciding which card(s) in the trade row they should buy (or whether to buy a card at all). Every card included in the V, 1, B, H, F, R, 2, K, U, A, W, L, P, D, T, Q, O sets is contained within these lists and grouped into one of three tiers based on the overall value of the card relative to the cost of the card.
HomerJr originally wrote the Tier Lists for the V, 1, B, H, & F sets, and later added rankings for Colony Wars (“W”). I (Darklighter) have not changed any of HomerJr’s original rankings, and have just added rankings for Frontiers (“R”), Year 2 Promos (“2”) & United Command (“K”), Heroes (“U”), Assault (“A”), Stellar Allies (“L”), Frontiers Promos (“P”) using HomerJr’s methodology (as best I could).
While every card in the game can be valuable and help you win, not every card will have equal value over the course of the game thus there are separate Tier Lists for different phases of the game (opening buys, mid game, late game). Furthermore, many cards are highly situational or valuable only in certain decks. Please note that this is all the personal opinion of the authors, so don’t take anything in here as law. We are always open to feedback, criticism, and discussion.
We rank each card into one of three tiers as follows:
- Tier 1: Strong value and/or agnostic to situation; beneficial in almost any deck; you almost always want to have it in your deck if you can
- Tier 2: Solid value and/or somewhat situational; may rely on ally ability triggers to be effective; generally a good buy if no Tier 1 card available
- Tier 3: Weak value and/or highly situational; may need exactly the right game circumstances to be effective; best to avoid buying except in rare cases
- Tier 4: Poor value in nearly all situations; buying this card will probably worsen your deck; you’re probably making a mistake if you’re buying this card
Please note that our intent is not for cards in the same tier across cost brackets to be considered equivalent in value. In general, cards in the next higher cost bracket have a value one tier higher. For example, a Tier 2 card in the $3-5 cost bracket would have a value on par with a Tier 1 card in the $1-2 cost bracket. Also, cards are listed within a cell by faction and cost; the order of cards within a cell is not meant to imply anything about the value of the card relative to the others in the same tier and cost bracket.
Card Set Legend
- no bracket = Original Core Set
- [1] = Year 1 Promo/kickstarter card
- [B] = Bases & Battleships expansion
- [F] = Fleets & Fortresses expansion
- [H] = Heroes expansion
- [R] = Frontiers expansion
- [K] = United Command expansion
- [A] = United Assault expansion
- [2] = Year 2 Promos
- [U] = United Heroes
- [W] – Colony Wars
- [L] – Stellar Allies
- [P] – Frontiers Promos
- [D] – Command Decks
- [T] – High Alert Tech
- [Q] – High Alert Requisition
- [O] – High Alert Heroes
NEW CARDS IN BOLD
Opening Buys (Deck 1)**I prioritize strong trade and scrapping cards for my opening buys, as well as bases that provide good long-term value. Combat cards are generally only valuable at this stage for destroying opposing bases, or for all-out rush strategies when the trade row is combat-heavy.
*NOTE*: The “Opening Buys” Tier List only ranks cards cost $1-5, which is the typical range of trade a player will have on their opening two turns. With the inclusion of Gambits and Events it may of course be possible, and advisable, to purchase cards that cost $6+ in Deck 1.
Updated 02/05/2024
| $1-2 | $3-5 | | Tier 1 – Must Buy | * Cutter ($2) * Trade Bot ($1) * Patrol Bot [F] ($2) * War Elder [H] ($1) * High Priest Lyle [H] ($2) * Probe Bot [2] ($2) * Recycle Bot [P] ($1) * Cargo Launch [F] ($1) * Cargo Craft [R] ($2) * Frontier Hawk [R] ($1) * Imperial Smuggler [2] ($2) * Blockade Runner [P] ($1) * Blob Miner [R] ($2) * Unity Fighter [K] ($1) * Assault Pod [K] ($2) * Alignment Bot [L] ($1) * Guidance [T] ($1) | * Freighter ($4) * Starmarket [1] ($4) * Mobile Market [R] ($4) * Ion Station [R] ($5) * Frontier Ferry[W] ($4) * Ram ($3) * Blob Wheel ($3) * Nesting Ground [R] ($4) * Pulverizer [R] ($5) * Stellar Ray [2] ($5) * Cargo Pod[W] ($3) * Supply Bot ($3) * Fortress Oblivion [1] ($3) * Battle Mech ($5) * Enforcer Mech [R] ($5) * Repair Mech [R] ($4) * Cargo Mech [2] ($5) * Chancellor Hartman [U] ($4) * Confessor Morris [U] ($5) * Convoy Bot[W] ($3) * Mining Mech[W] ($4) * The Oracle[W] ($4) * Mech Cruiser[W] ($5) * Tanker Mech [Q] ($5) * Imperial Trader [B] ($5) * Farm Ship [R] ($4) * Jamming Terminal [R] ($5) * Orbital Gun Platform [R] ($4) * Orbital Platform[W] ($3) * Gunship[W] ($4) * Blob Bot [A] ($3) * Coalition Freighter [K] ($4) * Alliance Landing [K] ($5) | | Tier 2 – Good Buy | * Trade Raft [B] ($1) * Special Ops Director [H] ($1) * CEO Torres [H] ($2) * Federal Transport [2] ($2) * Solar Skiff [W] ($1) * Trade Hauler [W] ($2) * Cargo Rocket [P] ($1) * Corsair [Q] ($3) * Missile Bot ($2) * Patrol Bot [F] ($2) * Builder Bot [R] ($1) * Integration Port [R] ($3) * Plasma Bot [R] ($2) * Battle Bot [W] ($1) * Temple Guardian [P] ($3) * Blob Fighter ($1) * Trade Pod ($2) * Battle Pod ($2) * Ram Pilot [H] ($1) * Blob Overlord [H] ($2) * Stinger [R] ($1) * War Kite [2] ($2) * Swarmer [W] ($1) * Predator[W] ($2) * Plague Pod [P] ($1) * Admiral Rasmusson [H] ($2) * Lancer [W] ($2) * Trade Star [A] ($1) * Alliance Transport [A] ($2) * Pact Pod [L] ($2) * Administrator Tung [Q] ($1) * Bioform Freeman [Q] ($1) * Bio-Warrior Storm [Q] ($1) * Data Priest Kaufman [Q] ($1) * Doctor Clark [Q] ($1) * Pact Searcher Sheldon [Q] ($1) * Shield [T] ($1) | * Embassy Yacht ($3) * Barter World ($4) * Trade Escort ($5) * Federation Cruiser [R] ($5) * Long Hauler [R] ($4) * Outland Station [R] ($3) * Security Craft [2] ($4) * Bounty Hunter [2] ($5) * Patrol Cutter [W] ($3) * Central Station[W] ($4) * Freight Raft [P] ($3) * Blob Destroyer ($4) * Breeding Site [1] ($4) * Battle Screecher [1] ($4) * Burrower [R] ($3) * Crusher [R] ($3) * Moonwurm Hatchling [R] ($4) * Screecher [U] ($3) * Hive Lord [U] ($5) * Ravager[W] ($3) * Bioformer[W] ($4) * Parasite[W] ($5) * Sentinel [P] ($3) * Swarming Point [P] ($5) * Patrol Mech ($4) * Stealth Needle ($4) * Border Fort [F] ($4) * Mega Mech [B] ($5) * Conversion Yard [R] ($5) * Destroyer Bot [R] ($3) * Stealth Tower[W] ($5) * Space Station ($4) * Recycling Station ($4) * War World ($5) * Captured Outpost [R] ($3) * Hammerhead [R] ($5) * Knightstar [2] ($5) * Commodore Zhang [U] ($5) * Command Center[W] ($4) * Aging Battleship[W] ($5) * Heavy Cruiser[W] ($5) * Imperial Defender [P] ($3) * Midgate Station [P] ($5) * Hellfire [Q] ($4) * Alliance Frigate [K] ($3) * Coalition Messenger [A] ($3) * Needle Lancer [L] ($3) * Pact Warship [L] ($4) * Trade Hive [L] ($5) * Templar Brehmer [O] ($3) * Biodroid Otto [O] ($3) * Strategist Thompson [O] ($3) | | Tier 3 – Meh Buy | * Federation Shuttle ($1) * Frontier Runner [R] ($1) * Orbital Shuttle [R] ($2) * Storage Silo [W] ($2) * Defense Bot [B] ($2) * Repair Bot[W] ($2) * Warning Beacon[W] ($2) * Corvette ($2) * Cunning Captain [H] ($1) * Star Barge [W] ($1) * Spike Pod [F] ($1) * Stellar Reef[W] ($2) * Laser [T] ($2) * Explorer ($2) | * Trading Post ($3) * Customs Frigate [F] ($4) * Defense Center ($5) * Patrol Boat [R] ($3) * Chairman Haygan [U] ($3) * CEO Shaner [U] ($5) * Colony Seed Ship[W] ($5) * Assur 4 [P] ($5) * Trade Wheel [B] ($3) * The Hive ($5) * Battle Station ($3) * Mech World ($5) * Defense System [R] ($4) * Converter [P] ($5) * Operations Platform [Q] ($3) * Survey Ship ($3) * Imperial Frigate ($3) * Fighter Base [B] ($3) * Starbase Omega [1] ($4) * Battle Barge [1] ($4) * Light Cruiser [R] ($3) * Falcon[W] ($3) * Union Stronghold [A] ($5) * Bio-Captain Kalle [O] ($3) * High Admiral Shaner [O] ($3) * Pact Manager Scott [O] ($3) * Mercenary Garrison [2] ($4) * Stealth [T] ($3) * Stellar Link [T] ($3) * Processing [T] ($4) * Tractor Beam [T] ($4) * Warp [T] ($4) | | Tier 4 – Don’t Buy | * Imperial Fighter ($1) * Spike Cluster [R] ($2) * Warrior Pod [Q] ($2) | * Merc Cruiser [1] ($3) * Commander Klik [U] ($4) |
Mid Game (Deck 2-2.5)I consider the mid game to be the period after the opening buys where there is still time for trade and scrapping to amortize, and both players have enough authority to survive through at least their opponent’s next shuffle and a full deck thereafter. During the mid game, I tend to value cards that help buy $6-8 cards (but also have late game value), strong bases, and cards that sow the seeds for big rallies in the late game (card draws, top-decking, etc). But be careful… often the mid game doesn’t last very long! If you’re not sure if you’re in the mid game or not, it’s usually best to play as if you’ve already progressed to the late game.
Updated 10/6/2021
| $1-2 | $3-5 | $6-9 | | Tier 1 – Must Buy | * Cutter ($2) * Special Ops Director [H] ($1) * CEO Torres [H] ($2) * Probe Bot [2] ($2) * Cargo Craft [R] ($2) * Frontier Hawk [R] ($1) * Imperial Smuggler [2] ($2) * Lancer [W] ($2) * Blockade Runner [P] ($1) * Predator[W] ($2) * Assault Pod [K] ($2) * Guidance [T] ($1) | * Starmarket [1] ($4) * Long Hauler [R] ($4) * Blob Destroyer ($4) * Breeding Site [1] ($4) * Pulverizer [R] ($5) * Stellar Ray [2] ($5) * Hive Lord [U] ($5) * Cargo Pod[W] ($3) * Ravager[W] ($3) * Parasite[W] ($5) * Stealth Needle ($4) * Battle Mech ($5) * Enforcer Mech [R] ($5) * Chancellor Hartman [U] ($4) * Confessor Morris [U] ($5) * Convoy Bot[W] ($3) * Mech Cruiser[W] ($5) * Recycling Station ($4) * War World ($5) * Imperial Trader [B] ($5) * Captured Outpost [R] ($3) * Farm Ship [R] ($4) * Commodore Zhang [U] ($5) * Orbital Platform[W] ($3) * Gunship[W] ($4) * Aging Battleship[W] ($5) * Heavy Cruiser[W] ($5) * Alliance Frigate [K] ($3) * Blob Bot [A] ($3) * Needle Lancer [L] ($3) * Pact Warship [L] ($4) | * The Colossus [P] ($9) * Central Office ($7) * Megahauler [1] ($7) * Command Ship ($8) * Federation Battleship [R] ($7) * Peacekeeper[W] ($6) * Factory World[W] ($8) * Trade Envoy [P] ($7) * The Ark [1] ($7) * Brain World ($8) * Nanobot Swarm [R] ($8) * Reclamation Station [R] ($6) * Assimilator [P] ($7) * Blob Alpha [R] ($6) * Plasma Vent[W] ($6) * Moonwurm[W] ($7) * Leviathan[W] ($8) * Imperial Flagship [R] ($8) * Imperial Palace[W] ($7) * Emperor’s Dreadnaught [W] ($8) * Demolisher [P] ($7) * Union Cluster [K] ($8) * Lost Dreadnaught [D] ($8) * Meganaut [D] ($8) * Super Carrier [D] ($8) | | Tier 2 – Good Buy | * Federal Transport [2] ($2) * Cargo Rocket [P] ($1) * Missile Bot ($2) * Defense Bot [B] ($2) * Patrol Bot [F] ($2) * War Elder [H] ($1) * High Priest Lyle [H] ($2) * Plasma Bot [R] ($2) * Recycle Bot [P] ($1) * Blob Fighter ($1) * Battle Pod ($2) * Ram Pilot [H] ($1) * Blob Overlord [H] ($2) * Blob Miner [R] ($2) * Stinger [R] ($1) * War Kite [2] ($2) * Swarmer [W] ($1) * Plague Pod [P] ($1) * Cargo Launch [F] ($1) * Corvette ($2) * Admiral Rasmusson [H] ($2) * Unity Fighter [K] ($1) * Alliance Transport [A] ($2) * Administrator Tung [O] ($1) * Bioform Freeman [O] ($1) * Bio-Warrior Storm [O] ($1) * Data Priest Kaufman [O] ($1) * Doctor Clark [O] ($1) * Pact Searcher Sheldon [O] ($1) * Shield [T] ($1) * Laser [T] ($2) | * Embassy Yacht ($3) * Barter World ($4) * Customs Frigate [F] ($4) * Defense Center ($5) * Trade Escort ($5) * Federation Cruiser [R] ($5) * Ion Station [R] ($5) * Mobile Market [R] ($4) * Outland Station [R] ($3) * Security Craft [2] ($4) * Bounty Hunter [2] ($5) * Chairman Haygan [U] ($3) * CEO Shaner [U] ($5) * Frontier Ferry[W] ($4) * Freight Raft [P] ($3) * Battle Station ($3) * Mech World ($5) * Fortress Oblivion [1] ($3) * Patrol Mech ($4) * Border Fort [F] ($4) * Mega Mech [B] ($5) * Conversion Yard [R] ($5) * Defense System [R] ($4) * Destroyer Bot [R] ($3) * Repair Mech [R] ($4) * Cargo Mech [2] ($5) * The Oracle[W] ($4) * Stealth Tower[W] ($5) * Temple Guardian [P] ($3) * Converter [P] ($5) * Tanker Mech [Q] ($5) * Ram ($3) * Blob Wheel ($3) * Battle Screecher [1] ($4) * The Hive ($5) * Burrower [R] ($3) * Crusher [R] ($3) * Nesting Ground [R] ($4) * Screecher [U] ($3) * Bioformer[W] ($4) * Sentinel [P] ($3) * Swarming Point [P] ($5) * Imperial Frigate ($3) * Space Station ($4) * Battle Barge [P] ($4) * Starbase Omega [1] ($4) * Hammerhead [R] ($5) * Jamming Terminal [R] ($5) * Light Cruiser [R] ($3) * Orbital Gun Platform [R] ($4) * Knightstar [2] ($5) * Falcon[W] ($3) * Imperial Defender [P] ($3) * Midgate Station [P] ($5) * Hellfire [Q] ($4) * Alliance Landing [K] ($5) * Union Stronghold [A] ($5) * Templar Brehmer [O] ($3) * Biodroid Otto [O] ($3) * Bio-Captain Kalle [O] ($3) * Strategist Thompson [O] ($3) * Pact Manager Scott [O] ($3) * Mercenary Garrison [2] ($4) * Stealth [T] ($3) * Stellar Link [T] ($3) * Processing [T] ($4) * Tractor Beam [T] ($4) | * Flagship ($6) * Port of Call ($6) * Construction Hauler [B] ($6) * Transit Nexus [R] ($8) * Lunar Landing [Q] ($9) * Battle Blob ($6) * Obliterator [B] ($6) * Mothership ($7) * Blob World ($8) * Hive Queen [R] ($7) * Infested Moon [R] ($6) * Swarm Cluster [R] ($8) * Spawning Swarm [P] ($7) * Missile Mech ($6) * Machine Base ($7) * Neural Nexus [R] ($7) * The Wrecker[W] ($7) * Battlecruiser ($6) * Dreadnaught ($7) * Star Fortress [F] ($7) * Siege Fortress [R] ($7) * Supply Depot[W] ($6) * Coalition Fortress [K] ($6) * Exchange Point [A] ($6) * Unity Station [K] ($7) * Embassy Base [A] ($8) * Merc Battlecruiser [2] ($6) * Missile Silo [L] ($6) * Summit Site [L] ($8) * Mech Battleship [D] ($8) * Mech Command Ship [D] ($8) * Mech Wurm [D] ($8) * Super Freighter [D] ($8) | | Tier 3 – Meh Buy | * Explorer ($2) * Trade Raft [B] ($1) * Solar Skiff [W] ($1) * Corsair [Q] ($3) * Trade Bot ($1) * Builder Bot [R] ($1) * Battle Bot [W] ($1) * Warning Beacon[W] ($2) * Spike Pod [F] ($1) * Trade Pod ($2) * Spike Cluster [R] ($2) * Stellar Reef[W] ($2) * Warrior Pod [Q] ($2) * Imperial Fighter ($1) * Cunning Captain [H] ($1) * Star Barge [W] ($1) * Trade Star [A] ($1) * Alignment Bot [L] ($1) * Pact Pod [L] ($2) | * Merc Cruiser [1] ($3) * Trading Post ($3) * Freighter ($4) * Patrol Boat [R] ($3) * Patrol Cutter [W] ($3) * Central Station[W] ($4) * Colony Seed Ship[W] ($5) * Assur 4 [P] ($5) * Supply Bot ($3) * Integration Port [R] ($3) * Mining Mech[W] ($4) * Operations Platform [Q] ($3) * Trade Wheel [B] ($3) * Moonwurm Hatchling [R] ($4) * Survey Ship ($3) * Fighter Base [B] ($3) * Commander Klik [U] ($4) * Command Center[W] ($4) * Coalition Messenger [A] ($3) * Coalition Freighter [K] ($4) * Trade Hive [L] ($5) * High Admiral Shaner [O] ($3) * Warp [T] ($4) | * Capitol World [F] ($8) * Gateship [R] ($6) * Federation Shipyard[W] ($6) * Loyal Colony [W] ($7) * Blob Carrier ($6) * Death World [F] ($7) * Swarm Colony [Q] ($6) * Royal Redoubt ($6) * Warpgate Cruiser [R] ($6) * The Armory [Q] ($7) * Frontier Station[W] ($6) * The Incinerator[W] ($8) * Lookout Post [A] ($7) * The Citadel [L] ($7) | | Tier 4 – Don’t Buy | * Federation Shuttle ($1) * Frontier Runner [R] ($1) * Orbital Shuttle [R] ($2) * Storage Silo [W] ($2) * Trade Hauler [W] ($2) * Repair Bot[W] ($2) | * Junkyard ($6) * Fleet HQ ($8) |
Late Game (Decks 4+ or Authority < 30)I consider the late game to be the point at which trade and scrapping no longer have enough time to provide value, and/or one or both players do not have enough authority to survive the next full play through of their opponent’s deck. During the late game, I tend to value cards that provide maximum combat in as few cards as possible and help fuel big rallies via card draws.
Updated 10/6/2021
| $1-2 | $3-5 | $6-9 | | Tier 1 – Must Buy | * Special Ops Director [H] ($1) * CEO Torres [H] ($2) * Ram Pilot [H] ($1) * Blob Overlord [H] ($2) * Predator[W] ($2) * Admiral Rasmusson [H] ($2) * Lancer [W] ($2) * Blockade Runner [P] ($1) * Assault Pod [K] ($2) * Guidance [T] ($1) * Laser [T] ($2) | * Chairman Haygan [U] ($3) * CEO Shaner [U] ($5) * Blob Destroyer ($4) * Breeding Site [1] ($4) * Pulverizer [R] ($5) * Stellar Ray [2] ($5) * Hive Lord [U] ($5) * Ravager[W] ($3) * Parasite[W] ($5) * Sentinel [P] ($3) * Stealth Needle ($4) * Mega Mech [B] ($5) * Enforcer Mech [R] ($5) * Chancellor Hartman [U] ($4) * Confessor Morris [U] ($5) * Mech Cruiser[W] ($5) * Imperial Frigate ($3) * Recycling Station ($4) * War World ($5) * Captured Outpost [R] ($3) * Hammerhead [R] ($5) * Knightstar [2] ($5) * Commodore Zhang [U] ($5) * Orbital Platform[W] ($3) * Aging Battleship[W] ($5) * Heavy Cruiser[W] ($5) * Imperial Defender [P] ($3) * Alliance Frigate [K] ($3) * Needle Lancer [L] ($3) * Pact Warship [L] ($4) * Stealth [T] ($3) * Stellar Link [T] ($3) * Processing [T] ($4) * Tractor Beam [T] ($4) | * The Colossus [P] ($9) * Flagship ($6) * Command Ship ($8) * Federation Battleship [R] ($7) * Peacekeeper[W] ($6) * Factory World[W] ($8) * Trade Envoy [P] ($7) * Missile Mech ($6) * The Ark [1] ($7) * Brain World ($8) * Nanobot Swarm [R] ($8) * Reclamation Station [R] ($6) * Assimilator [P] ($7) * Battle Blob ($6) * Obliterator [B] ($6) * Mothership ($7) * Blob Alpha [R] ($6) * Hive Queen [R] ($7) * Plasma Vent[W] ($6) * Moonwurm[W] ($7) * Leviathan[W] ($8) * Spawning Swarm [P] ($7) * Battlecruiser ($6) * Dreadnaught ($7) * Imperial Flagship [R] ($8) * Imperial Palace[W] ($7) * Emperor’s Dreadnaught [W] ($8) * Demolisher [P] ($7) * Union Cluster [K] ($8) * Merc Battlecruiser [2] ($6) * Lost Dreadnaught [D] ($8) * Meganaut [D] ($8) | | Tier 2 – Good Buy | * Battle Pod ($2) * Blob Fighter ($1) * War Kite [2] ($2) * Swarmer [W] ($1) * Corvette ($2) * Cunning Captain [H] ($1) * Frontier Hawk [R] ($1) * Imperial Smuggler [2] ($2) * Administrator Tung [O] ($1) * Bioform Freeman [O] ($1) * Bio-Warrior Storm [O] ($1) * Data Priest Kaufman [O] ($1) * Doctor Clark [O] ($1) * Pact Searcher Sheldon [O] ($1) * Shield [T] ($1) | * Barter World ($4) * Customs Frigate [F] ($4) * Defense Center ($5) * Trade Escort ($5) * Federation Cruiser [R] ($5) * Long Hauler [R] ($4) * Mobile Market [R] ($4) * Outland Station [R] ($3) * Bounty Hunter [2] ($5) * Freight Raft [P] ($3) * Battle Mech ($5) * Battle Station ($3) * Mech World ($5) * Conversion Yard [R] ($5) * Defense System [R] ($4) * Convoy Bot[W] ($3) * Stealth Tower[W] ($5) * Temple Guardian [P] ($3) * Converter [P] ($5) * Tanker Mech [Q] ($5) * The Hive ($5) * Burrower [R] ($3) * Screecher [U] ($3) * Cargo Pod[W] ($3) * Swarming Point [P] ($5) * Battle Barge [1] ($4) * Starbase Omega [1] ($4) * Imperial Trader [B] ($5) * Farm Ship [R] ($4) * Light Cruiser [R] ($3) * Commander Klik [U] ($4) * Falcon[W] ($3) * Gunship[W] ($4) * Midgate Station [P] ($5) * Hellfire [Q] ($4) * Blob Bot [A] ($3) * Templar Brehmer [O] ($3) * Biodroid Otto [O] ($3) * Bio-Captain Kalle [O] ($3) * Strategist Thompson [O] ($3) * High Admiral Shaner [O] ($3) * Pact Manager Scott [O] ($3) * Warp [T] ($4) | * Central Office ($7) * Megahauler [1] ($7) * Construction Hauler [B] ($6) * Capitol World [F] ($8) * Lunar Landing [Q] ($9) * Death World [F] ($7) * Blob World ($8) * Infested Moon [R] ($6) * Swarm Cluster [R] ($8) * Swarm Colony [Q] ($6) * Star Fortress [F] ($7) * Siege Fortress [R] ($7) * Supply Depot[W] ($6) * Neural Nexus [R] ($7) * Coalition Fortress [K] ($6) * Exchange Point [A] ($6) * Unity Station [K] ($7) * Lookout Post [A] ($7) * Embassy Base [A] ($8) * Missile Silo [L] ($6) * Summit Site [L] ($8) * Mech Command Ship [D] ($8) * Mech Wurm [D] ($8) * Super Carrier [D] ($8) * Super Freighter [D] ($8) | | Tier 3 – Meh Buy | * Cutter ($2) * Federal Transport [2] ($2) * Cargo Rocket [P] ($1) * Missile Bot ($2) * Defense Bot [B] ($2) * Patrol Bot [F] ($2) * War Elder [H] ($1) * High Priest Lyle [H] ($2) * Plasma Bot [R] ($2) * Probe Bot [2] ($2) * Warning Beacon[W] ($2) * Spike Pod [F] ($1) * Blob Miner [R] ($2) * Stinger [R] ($1) * Stellar Reef[W] ($2) * Plague Pod [P] ($1) * Warrior Pod [Q] ($2) * Cargo Launch [F] ($1) * Imperial Fighter ($1) * Cargo Craft [R] ($2) * Star Barge [W] ($1) * Unity Fighter [K] ($1) * Alliance Transport [A] ($2) * Pact Pod [L] ($2) | * Merc Cruiser [1] ($3) * Embassy Yacht ($3) * Trading Post ($3) * Starmarket [1] ($4) * Ion Station [R] ($5) * Patrol Boat [R] ($3) * Security Craft [2] ($4) * Patrol Cutter [W] ($3) * Central Station[W] ($4) * Frontier Ferry[W] ($4) * Colony Seed Ship[W] ($5) * Assur 4 [P] ($5) * Patrol Mech ($4) * Border Fort [F] ($4) * Destroyer Bot [R] ($3) * Repair Mech [R] ($4) * The Oracle[W] ($4) * Operations Platform [Q] ($3) * Ram ($3) * Battle Screecher [1] ($4) * Crusher [R] ($3) * Moonwurm Hatchling [R] ($4) * Nesting Ground [R] ($4) * Bioformer[W] ($4) * Survey Ship ($3) * Fighter Base [B] ($3) * Space Station ($4) * Jamming Terminal [R] ($5) * Orbital Gun Platform [R] ($4) * Command Center[W] ($4) * Coalition Messenger [A] ($3) * Alliance Landing [K] ($5) * Union Stronghold [A] ($5) * Mercenary Garrison [2] ($4) * Trade Hive [L] ($5) | * Port of Call ($6) * Gateship [R] ($6) * Transit Nexus [R] ($8) * Federation Shipyard[W] ($6) * Machine Base ($7) * Frontier Station[W] ($6) * The Wrecker[W] ($7) * The Incinerator[W] ($8) * Blob Carrier ($6) * Royal Redoubt ($6) * Warpgate Cruiser [R] ($6) * The Armory [Q] ($7) * The Citadel [L] ($7) * Mech Battleship [D] ($8) | | Tier 4 – Don’t Buy | * Explorer ($2) * Federation Shuttle ($1) * Trade Raft [B] ($1) * Frontier Runner [R] ($1) * Orbital Shuttle [R] ($2) * Solar Skiff [W] ($1) * Storage Silo [W] ($2) * Trade Hauler [W] ($2) * Corsair [Q] ($3) * Trade Bot ($1) * Builder Bot [R] ($1) * Battle Bot [W] ($1) * Repair Bot[W] ($2) * Recycle Bot [P] ($1) * Trade Pod ($2) * Spike Cluster [R] ($2) * Trade Star [A] ($1) * Alignment Bot [L] ($1) | * Freighter ($4) * Supply Bot ($3) * Fortress Oblivion [1] ($3) * Integration Port [R] ($3) * Cargo Mech [2] ($5) * Mining Mech[W] ($4) * Blob Wheel ($3) * Trade Wheel [B] ($3) * Coalition Freighter [K] ($4) | * Junkyard ($6) * Fleet HQ ($8) * Loyal Colony [W] ($7) |
This entire episode is a special response to a fantastic new strategy article posted by our favorite Regression Tester, Corybear!
To follow along, check this Link to CoryBear’s article:
https://megahaulin.com/2024/01/15/an-analytical-approach-to-valuing-cards-part-1-of-n/#more-4205
Over the last month or two or three, I’ve been inspired to grow my skills with the analysis program R. As I thought through what kind of project/dataset I could use to hone those skills, I had 2 options: work related stuff or Star Realms related stuff. You know how that went:
The specific analytical toolset I had used elsewhere and wanted to learn in R is a multiple regression analysis. And to get this party started, the question I’m trying to explore is: how can we objectively quantify the value of cards?
The key number to think about when it comes to card value is the cost Wise Wizard assigned to each card. My goal in this analysis is to see how well they did when choosing those costs in comparison to the card’s abilities.
As anybody who is reading this post already knows, one of the great things about Star Realms is that the value of cards is situational. That first turn Freighter is enormously valuable, while that late game freighter can be the card that keeps you from drawing the one damage you need to win (amirite Deon?).
What is regression analysis? Regression analysis is a tool to understand and quantify the relationships between variables.
In Star Realms terms, the basic question I’m trying to explore is: given the features of any particular card (econ/combat/draw/etc) what would the fair cost be for that card given the known costs of all the other cards? Later in the article’s Appendix I give a detailed example on how this process works.
The Star Realms cards are reasonably well suited for this analysis since they have a set of relatively common attributes/abilities, and each card has a single variable (the cost of the card) for us to compare to.
What did this regression analysis find?Here’s graphic which shows how much each card’s calculated value differs from the cost (the higher the cards is on the graph, the more it is under-costed). Note: for this first analysis I limited the dataset to ships only. A card at or near 0 has a fair cost. If you want to see this broken out for each individual card cost scroll down to the bottom of this post.
My R skills were barely enough to get the color coding for single-faction cards. Try as I might I couldn’t figure out multiple colors so those are all black.I doubt that Ark and Cutter being near the top of the distribution will surprise too many players. And, to me, it helps validate the analysis.
But helllllllooooooo blockade runner.
And on the bottom end, I knew Mech Battleship (the 8 cost card added to Le Commander games) was lousy but I don’t think I fully appreciated what an absolute stinker it is (with a card value of close to 6).
Here are the Top 10 cards with strong positive relative value:
| Ship Name | Cost | Relative Value | | Blockade Runner | 1 | 1.8 | | The Ark | 7 | 1.4 | | Cutter | 2 | 1.1 | | The Colossus | 9 | 1.1 | | Blob Bot | 3 | 0.9 | | Peacekeeper | 6 | 0.9 | | Predator | 2 | 0.9 | | Solar Skiff | 1 | 0.8 | | Recycle Bot | 1 | 0.7 | | Crusher | 3 | 0.7 |
Generally makes sense, and actually quite an interesting mix of cards and card types in here.
Most of these names are no surprise at all to me. If there’s anything on here that surprised me, I would have to say Crusher. Clearly a solid card, but I wouldn’t have thought it was a top-10 value buy.
Possibly conspicuous in its absence here is Fred (Federation Battleship). The challenge with Fred is that there are no other ships in the analysis which have a “scrap to heal” ability. And since the rest of Fred’s abilities are worth 7 according to this analysis, the regression program would give the result that Fred’s scrap ability doesn’t add any value. Would the “Scrap to heal for 10” ability be worth at least the 0.7 trade to get it onto the list? In Dodgeball and Endurance and other differential-based formats, almost certainly.
And here’s the bottom 10:
| Ship Name | Cost | Relative Value | | Mech Battleship | 8 | -1.8 | | Explorer | 2 | -1.2 | | Survey Ship | 3 | -1.2 | | Merc Battlecruiser | 6 | -1.2 | | Battle Mech | 5 | -1.1 | | Blob Alpha | 6 | -1.1 | | Battlecruiser | 6 | -1.0 | | Supply Bot | 3 | -1.0 | | Flagship | 6 | -0.9 | | Mech Command Ship | 8 | -0.8 |
A couple comments on this list:
- The Vanilla set is heavily represented here, especially in the mid-cost range. There’s probably a correlation between that fact and the fact that Vanilla is the slowest set.
- It was certainly surprising to me that Supply Bot was on this list. It is such a strong early-game buy in V format games.
- The analysis had trouble with the “scrap this card to destroy a base ability”. That one has a negative coefficient, which is nonsense. If that were valued more accurately, battlecruiser wouldn’t be on this list.
- Congratulations to Mech Battleship on being the only card which is a worse relative value than an explorer.
- For cards that have either/or abilities, like Patrol Mech, I put them in twice. Once for each of their abilities. “Patrol Mech A” is the trade version of the patrol mech. I’m not happy with this methodology, as it totally misses the fact that the card gives you an option to pick whichever works better each turn. I also included a “PatrolMech AB” which treats the card as having both abilities, but that obviously overstates the power level of the card.
Here are a few specific card comparisons. Discuss amongst yourselves:
| Ship | Absolute Value | | Cutter | 3.1 | | Patrol Cutter | 2.2 |
One is a 2-cost and one is a 3-cost
| Ship | Absolute Value | | Viper | -0.1 | | Scout | -0.5 |
Chalk one up for team #scrapscouts
| Ship | Absolute Value | | Ark | 8.4 | | Nanobot Swarm | 8.6 |
One factor not accounted for in the analysis is Nanobots being the “heaviest” card
Key Takeaways1. Overall, the cards in Star Realms are very fairly valued. 2. The best value cards are generally already well understood. 3. Remember, the value of a card varies from game to game and even within a game. Buying the best “value” card on this list every time is not a recipe for success. 4. Beware of the implied precision of these results, especially those in the appendices. This analysis isn’t robust enough and makes too many simplifying assumptions to have high precision results.
What’s next?As the article title suggests, this is not the last of what I hope to do with this analysis. There is plenty more to dig into with this analytical approach.
- Perform a similar analysis for bases, and then integrate that with the ships analysis
- Figure out a better way to handle (assign different values to) scrap from hand only vs scrap from discard only vs scrap from anywhere
- Apply this methodology to heroes and gambits
- Develop a better understanding of the implications of the -.5 intercept value in the regression analysis.
- Add a methodology to value triggering ally abilities.
- Include estimated values for unique abilities to enable valuation comparison of all cards
- Breakouts by set (V/W/R) to quantify power level differences between the sets
- Breakouts by factions
- Applying judgement to come up with value/rankings
- Do a similar analysis for hero realms
I’d be happy to discuss in more depth with anyone who is interested in further analysis or anyone who has ideas on other directions to take the analysis.
How long will it take for the follow up analysis and write-up to happen? Good question.
Appendix Some more details on the regression analysis process and the results are included below
A simple regression exampleBlob fighter has two abilities, one primary (3 combat) and one ally (draw). Regression analysis will determine a value for each of those features, which you could then plug into an equation to get the “Calculated Value” for the card.
For this example, we’ll use the equation: Calculated Value = -.51 + 3Combat + AllyDraw (I’ll explain the -.51 later)
If the value of 3 damage is 0.84 and the value of an ally draw is 1.34, then equation looks like:
Calculated Value of Blob Fighter = -0.51 + 0.84 + 1.34 = 1.67
Since a Blob Fighter is a 1-cost card, a value 1.67 says that the a blob fighter is a good value as a 1 cost, but would be over-priced as a 2 cost.
What is and isn’t in the analysisFor my first pass at this analysis, I simplified it by just included ships. No bases, no heroes.
This analysis attempts to quantify the relative value of the cards based on the card costs. The basic assumption is that the cards are generally fairly costed and in particular, there aren’t any glaring mistakes in how certain attributes are costed. For example, if Wise Wizard mis-priced a feature like forcing a discard, but did so consistently across all the cards with those abilities, then this type of analysis would say the card is fairly priced even if it didn’t play that way.
There are also some small dataset issues. The overall population of a couple hundred cards may not seem small, but there are so many different possible attributes on the cards (and enough of them are very rare) that several parts of the analysis ran into challenges. As features get more rare, the reliability of this type of analysis can break down.
Also, by its nature this type of analysis is not well suited to unique variables, so I excluded all cards with one-of-a-kind abilities. As I do more to flush out this analysis, I expect that judgement could be used to assign values to some of those abilities. That would enable the inclusion of the rest of the cards in the dataset.
A comment on linearityIn a regression analysis the simple way to structure the analysis it is to use a linear assumption. For example, you find the value of a single point of combat and then multiply that value by the combat on that card. You’ll see throughout the article in this analysis that I treat a number variables (such as healing) that way.
The mechanics of Star Realms game play includes a limited hand size, which introduces scarcity. And due to that scarcity having 2 of an ability on a card is generally more than twice as beneficial as just having one.
Unfortunately, to really get a good understanding of non-linearity you need alot data. For the Star Realms universe there are only three attributes for which we have enough data:
- Primary ability trade (1 to 10)
- Primary ability combat (1 to 4)
- Primary ability scrap (1 to 2)
After I present the analysis results I’ll talk in some more detail about trade and combat.
Detailed Regression ResultsFor those of you who are familiar with regression results, I’ll now let you dig in. If the section immediately below this looks like intelligible nonsense, skip past it and I will explain how it works and some of the key takeaways.
Estimate Std. Error t value Pr(>|t|)
(Intercept) -0.51375 0.46790 -1.098 0.275505
ToPlayCombat1 0.39263 0.66318 0.592 0.555497
ToPlayCombat2 0.61347 0.56521 1.085 0.281015
ToPlayCombat3 0.84112 0.40325 2.086 0.040178 *
ToPlayCombat4 2.03056 0.46094 4.405 3.24e-05 ***
ToPlayCombat5 2.78293 0.44613 6.238 1.98e-08 ***
ToPlayCombat6 3.63929 0.46333 7.855 1.56e-11 ***
ToPlayCombat7 4.70369 0.54094 8.695 3.49e-13 ***
ToPlayCombat8 4.60244 0.63754 7.219 2.68e-10 ***
ToPlayCombat10 5.44246 0.68455 7.950 1.01e-11 ***
ToPlay1Trade 0.05942 0.49853 0.119 0.905421
ToPlay2Trade 0.96109 0.44914 2.140 0.035415 *
ToPlay3Trade 2.55651 0.45560 5.611 2.79e-07 ***
ToPlay4Trade 3.73785 0.57304 6.523 5.76e-09 ***
ToPlayHeal 0.40583 0.05643 7.191 3.04e-10 ***
ToPlayDraw 1.71419 0.14558 11.775 < 2e-16 ***
ToPlayCycle 1.12348 0.28778 3.904 0.000196 ***
ToPlayDiscard 0.66209 0.40966 1.616 0.109993
ToPlayPunch 0.22466 0.26812 0.838 0.404574
ToPlayScrap1 1.05551 0.24364 4.332 4.25e-05 ***
ToPlayScrap2 2.88745 0.35342 8.170 3.76e-12 ***
ToPlayDestroyBase 1.59219 0.57684 2.760 0.007160 **
ToHand 1.21684 0.65022 1.871 0.064940 .
Requisition -0.24252 0.43593 -0.556 0.579550
AllyCombat 0.26403 0.06542 4.036 0.000124 ***
AllyTrade 0.28704 0.14217 2.019 0.046839 *
AllyHeal 0.21588 0.06797 3.176 0.002122 **
AllyDraw 1.34081 0.23334 5.746 1.59e-07 ***
AllyCycle 1.80380 0.72806 2.478 0.015336 *
AllyDiscard 0.65139 0.35979 1.810 0.073975 .
AllyScrap 1.10044 0.30744 3.579 0.000589 ***
AllyDestroyBase 0.96937 0.32960 2.941 0.004277 **
AllyShipToTop 0.94887 0.47677 1.990 0.049984 *
TrashCombat 0.15757 0.06119 2.575 0.011860 *
TrashTrade 0.18047 0.15378 1.174 0.244052
TrashDraw 0.50271 0.26406 1.904 0.060537 .
TrashDiscard 0.52969 0.34641 1.529 0.130184
TrashScrapAny 0.50031 0.53759 0.931 0.354833
TrashDestroyBase -0.16443 0.42411 -0.388 0.699261
—
Signif. codes: 0 ‘’ 0.001 ‘’ 0.01 ‘’ 0.05 ‘.’ 0.1 ‘ ’ 1
Residuals:
Min 1Q Median 3Q Max
-1.76561 -0.31745 -0.06696 0.32501 1.79519
Residual standard error: 0.6956 on 80 degrees of freedom
Multiple R-squared: 0.9392, Adjusted R-squared: 0.9103
F-statistic: 32.52 on 38 and 80 DF, p-value: < 2.2e-16
Using these values and applying them to the cards gives an output that looks like this:
Two quick things to notice on that graph
- The upward linear trend and reasonably tight grouping says that this model generally works quite well at using the card attributes to predict the cost.
- You can see there is a spread with a range of 1-2 in value for each of the card costs, which will let us highlight some relative values.
Making sense of this by tying this back to the Blob Fighter ExampleAs you look through the table, focus on the first two columns. The first one has the variable name, which I used to describe the attribute. The next column is the estimated coefficient for that variable. Going back to the blob fighter example, you can find the 3 terms of the equation from that example. Specifically: the intercept (-.51), 3 combat (.84), and ally draw (1.34).
Estimate Std. Error t value Pr(>|t|)
(Intercept) -0.51375 0.46790 -1.098 0.275505
ToPlayCombat3 0.84112 0.40325 2.086 0.040178 *
AllyDraw 1.34081 0.23334 5.746 1.59e-07 ***
Another ExampleOk, hopefully this is making some sense at this point. Let’s get a little more complicated with another example: Ram
Estimate Std. Error t value Pr(>|t|)
(Intercept) -0.51375 0.46790 -1.098 0.275505
ToPlayCombat5 2.78293 0.44613 6.238 1.98e-08 ***
AllyCombat 0.26403 0.06542 4.036 0.000124 ***
TrashTrade 0.18047 0.15378 1.174 0.244052
| Ability Type | Ability Detail | Regression Coefficient | Calculated Value | | Primary | 5 combat | 2.78 | 2.78 | | Ally | 2 combat | 0.26 | 0.52 | | Trash | 3 trade | 0.18 | 0.54 |
Note that only primary trade and primary combat have the non-linear factors. Ally trade/combat and trash trade/combat are set up as linear variables so the ally and trash abilities for the ram are multiplied by the quantity of that attribute.
Calculated Value of Ram = -0.51 + 2.78 + 2(0.26) + 3(0.18) = 3.34
Sanity CheckOne of the things I like to look at as I’m trying to make sense of an output like this is to do a common sense check.
More trade is valued higher than less trade? Check.
Draw is worth more than cycle? Check
Primary abilities are worth more than the same ability when ally-triggered? (mostly) Check.
No negative values? (mostly) check.
For the more statistically inclined of you, the other set of columns to note is the far right numbers as well as the stars next to them. These show the statistical significance of each variable. The easy way to think about that is the more stars you see, the more reliable the results. If it doesn’t have stars, it was either a wide range of values for that attribute or (more likely) a limited number of samples.
Some Observations on the Results TableValue of Draw (1.71)– a draw ability on a card is worth a little less than 2 to the value of the card. Having draw be the most highly valued abilities makes a lot of sense. It also aligns with Admiral Rasmussen hero.
Value of Scrap (1.05) – given the value of scrap in Star Realms, this valuation for the scrap ability may seem a little low. However, keep in mind that while machine cult cards are often great value early in the game, they can easily become dead weight later.
Scrap from Hand / Discard / Any – one important note on scrap. I treated any ability to scrap a card as the same ability, even though they are CLEARLY not. There just weren’t enough cards to make the analysis work for the scrap from hand only and scrap from discard only cards. So if I were going to tweak the values, the value for a scrap from anywhere would be higher, the value of scrap from hand would be about the same, and the value of scrap from discard only would be lower.
Value of Discard Primary Ability (.66) and Discard Ally Ability (.65) – this one is interesting in that they’re valued very similarly. Given the real value of discards is when you’re able to stack multiple discards, this does make some sense to me that they would be closer in value than some other abilities.
Value of Trade from Trashing a Card (0.18) – this value feels quite low.
Making Sense of the Intercept – a negative value for the intercept is a quantification of the scarcity of a star realms hand. A card which had no abilities would be worth less than 0 in your deck.
TradeLets dig deeper into trade, as this is quite interesting. Given that you can only play 5 cards per hand and that the big bomb cards cost 6 or more, being able to pack a lot of trade into a single card should be very valuable. And, in fact, that’s what we see.
Estimate Std. Error t value Pr(>|t|)
ToPlay1Trade 0.05942 0.49853 0.119 0.905421
ToPlay2Trade 0.96109 0.44914 2.140 0.035415 *
ToPlay3Trade 2.55651 0.45560 5.611 2.79e-07 ***
ToPlay4Trade 3.73785 0.57304 6.523 5.76e-09 ***
Having a single trade on a card doesn’t do much. This makes sense to me, as this is amount of trade you’re getting from a scout and in a vacuum having one trade on a card isn’t particularly valuable.
Jumping from 1 trade (0.05) to 2 trade (0.96) is an increase of almost 1 in the value of the card. This seems reasonable at a glance and is probably what you’d expect if we just continued a linear model.
Jumping from 2 trade (0.96) to 3 trade (2.55) is where we really see the non-linearity in the value of trade. Adding that one trade increased the card increased the value by almost 1.6.
We continue with a large increase when jumping from 3 trade (2.55) to 4 trade (3.73). I find it interesting that the step is not quite as large as it is from 2 to 3 – I suspect there is some sample size issues at play with this result.
CombatAs the most common ability, combat provide a bit more depth of data to play with.
Estimate Std. Error t value Pr(>|t|)
(Intercept) -0.51375 0.46790 -1.098 0.275505
ToPlayCombat1 0.39263 0.66318 0.592 0.555497
ToPlayCombat2 0.61347 0.56521 1.085 0.281015
ToPlayCombat3 0.84112 0.40325 2.086 0.040178 *
ToPlayCombat4 2.03056 0.46094 4.405 3.24e-05 ***
ToPlayCombat5 2.78293 0.44613 6.238 1.98e-08 ***
ToPlayCombat6 3.63929 0.46333 7.855 1.56e-11 ***
ToPlayCombat7 4.70369 0.54094 8.695 3.49e-13 ***
ToPlayCombat8 4.60244 0.63754 7.219 2.68e-10 ***
ToPlayCombat10 5.44246 0.68455 7.950 1.01e-11 ***
In fact, there is enough data and enough variables that we can graph the value of combat as it increases.
A few things stand out to me here.
- The big step up from 3 combat to 4. I believe this is intentional by WWG and reflects the fact that 4 combat ships can kill many bases on their own that 3 combat ships can not.
- The line clearly has a different slope from 4-and-above than it does for the first 3 combat. For the first 3 combat, the slope is about 0.3 (each additional combat is worth 0.3 trade). For 4-and-above, the slope is 0.56
- There is an outlier at 7 combat. It clearly doesn’t pass the smell test that 7 combat would be worth more than 8, and if we’re making common-sense adjustments to the values we’d probably drop that one by about 0.6 to fit it into the trend line.
Breakdown of Cards of by Cost
We kick off our 10th year podcasting with the discovery that there is a brand new leader on the lifetime leaderboards. The Mysteriouos “Toyman”. Who is Toyman? Do they eat brussel sprouts even without access to dijon mustard? We must know!
Rick and Dustin also discuss our most exciting aspects of Star Realms! Should be a good time!
This week Dustin and Rick ramble about baseball, review the recent goings on at GenCon and discuss the changes connected to the ongoing First Strike Heroes expansion beta! Get your first look at the new changes coming right here!
https://traffic.libsyn.com/megahaulin/Megahaulin_116.mp3
This week Dustin and Rick talk about Summer, GenCon and High Commander Valken. We also get an incredible interview with Star Realms Legend and League Commish Deon Lunsford who brings amazing Commander-centric stats to the show!
https://traffic.libsyn.com/megahaulin/Megahaulin_115.mp3
Written by Jay Lansdaal
Editor’s Note: This is Part 6 of our Command Deck Strategies Series. We also recommend:
- Part 1 on Fleet Director Nandi
- Part 2 on BioLord Walsh
- Part 3 on Overlord Newburg
- Part 4 on High Admiral Jochum
- Part 5 on Hive Admiral McCready
- Part 6 on Divine Admiral Le
Introduction
Finally, the long-awaited Valken article is here!
Why did it take so long? To answer that, let’s check in with the notes from the other Commanders’ articles on their Valken matchup:
From Nandi: “…,this matchup should go your way”
From Walsh: “Walsh naturally preys on…”
From Newburg: “We open hitting harder, although we may be outgained in authority…”
From Jochum: “This is a good matchup for Jochum.”
From McCready: “This matchup is really good for you.”
From Le: “Another good matchup for you, …”
Ah. I see.
Obviously, after reading all that, there was a lot of enthusiasm among many Star Realms players to give my favorite commander a whirl in the ol’ space combat game. Newburg even left the door somewhat open on whether Valken could get a win! Exciting!
And thus, the age of Valken had begun, and many players had so much fun scrapping and building base-walls together, that everyone forgot there was a missing article!
Editor’s note: …Jay, what did I tell you about lying to our audience??
Right, right. Sorry. That didn’t happen. In fact, most people assumed Valken just wasn’t very good, and only played her when the “?” button cursed them. And why write an article trying to help people play a commander only to have their win% go down after reading your advice? Who wants to tie their name to that?
Well, luckily – Rick and Dustin allowed me to write under a false name!
Editor’s note: We most certainly did not. I just called you Jay also.
No one reads editor’s notes, it’s fine. And honestly, among non-promo Commanders, I do believe Valken is a solid choice! If you play any Commander Skirmish, it’s frequently right to pick her when you get the option. We’ll get to why a little later, but let’s start by taking a look at Valken’s starting deck.
Valken’s Starting DeckLike most commanders, Valken starts with 12 cards in her deck, 2 Gambits, and an 8-cost ship that gets shuffled into the Trade deck. She draws the usual 6 cards each turn and starts at the second lowest authority total of all commanders: 62.
Mech Command Ship
If you can afford it, you should probably buy it. It just about always draws, and it provides scrap, something Valken almost can’t have too much of. In general, the card is pretty good (as is every card that allows you to scrap up to two cards every time you see it), but the healing it provides is not as useful, given that you can already convert scraps into heal with the next card:
Coalition Efficiency
This Gambit is not the most powerful of all the gambits. You need to use it twice to get your authority up to what some other commanders start with, and (almost) every time you use the gambit, you are making your deck worse. There’s not a single other commander that has a downside to their continuous Gambit. For example, compare this to Newburg’s gambit, who gets rewarded with 3 damage (probably more valuable than 5 authority) every time he gains authority (which isn’t a resource people tend to fight over like scrap, and he has multiple ways to trigger his gambit in his starting deck, whereas Valken only has one), and even he doesn’t have to forego the authority when using his gambit!
Valken’s Enterprise
To make up for having probably the worst continuous Gambit, Valken also has the worst consumable Gambit. Putting a sort of “hidden base” into play sounds exciting until you realize it’s the same crappy base every time, and the app hides the description not because it might be different next time you use it, but out of shame.
(In case you haven’t seen it yet: it’s a 6 defense, Cult-Federation dual-faction Outpost, that can gain you 2 authority or 2 damage each turn it sits in play – not good, but excellent with Missions!)
The main disappointment with the base is that it doesn’t get you any extra trade to buy bombs (7-8 cost cards) off the trade row. Every other commander gets a consumable Gambit that gives you a draw, direct trade (Walsh), or can take a card out of your discard for extra trade (Jochum). Therefore, for most bombs on the opening row, Valken is not the favorite to buy them first.
Then, the cards in her deck:
Cargo Boat
2 Trade with the ability to upgrade into a Frontier Runner if you have another blue card. As maligned as the Frontier Runner is, when you start with them instead of Scouts, it’s pretty solid! Starting with a Cargo boat also means that Valken can get to 8 trade with her starters.
Federation Scout
This is the only card that can make “extra” trade with Valken’s consumable Gambit, but it only works on Trade Federation cards. Nice when it happens, but not something you can count on. Other than that, it’s a Scout.
Frontier Tug
The Tugger is one of the top reasons Valken isn’t just straight up bad. Being able to keep your deck small with scrap and being able to slide extra bases into your next hand is a great way to build up a base wall, set up big trade turns, or just to put up enough roadblocks along the way to survive the onslaught from the likes of McCready.
Salvage Drone
And this is the top reason Valken isn’t just straight up bad. Starting with a scrapper before buying anything is a big deal, and having a leaner deck in the later stages of the game is almost always the key to your victories. Don’t let the 1 trade tempt you, you should almost always be scrapping early. Unless it lets you buy an actual bomb, or it’s the only way you can afford a scrapper your opponent would otherwise definitely buy, choose to scrap!.
Laser Drone, Ranger, Viper Bot
I put these three together because I want you to see that if you hit your ally abilities and scrap at the right time, you have a lot of damage already in the starting deck. While this allows Valken to focus on just picking up scrap and bases – trusting that the starters will be able to get rid of the occasional base on the opposing side– it also allows you to take another route: monopolize the damage on the row and rush your opponent before they can stammer “M-M-McCready?!”.
Looking at this all together, Valken’s starting deck’s potential is high: she and Le are the only decks that start with scrap, and she has some of the highest amount of trade and even damage in her deck. Because of this, she can be flexible on how to approach the game, and can often dictate how long the game is going to last. Valken can buy a lot of scrap and bases and make heavy use of her gambit to make the game go long, or rarely use the gambit and push for damage, or something in between. This sounds very appealing, and it’s part of why Valken isn’t as bad as advertised.
Flexibility does come at a price – for one, it’s not always clear which path to go, and even if you commit to one, depending on how the trade row changes, you may have to switch mid-game. This makes playing Valken difficult (but rewarding). You constantly have to be thinking about the endgame. What does my deck look like when the fireworks come up? Will this next purchase get me to that deck?
On top of that, a lot of her plans rely on certain conditions to be met outside of the trade row cooperating. Viper Bot is great at helping rush your opponent IF you always draw it with a scrapper. Frontier Tug is fantastic at setting up base-walls IF you can ally it (and draw it with trade to buy bases).
Lastly, even the best-laid plans may not come together if you cannot seem to get a hold of scrap. Then suddenly all you have is a deck with the worst gambits and the lowest authority among commanders.
The PlanUnlike some of the other commanders, Valken’s set of cards isn’t a clear one-way street to “the ultimate Cult-Federation strategy”. Healing nor scrapping wins you a game, so being The Best at it doesn’t mean much, unless it’s part of a plan that will actually defeat your opposition. I’ll give some general tips that can be applied in every match here, but the meat of this article will be under “The Opposition”.
Step 1: Acquire more scrap.
As soon as possible, over nearly anything. When in doubt, definitely take the scrapper. This becomes less true as the game goes on, but early on, don’t let your opponent be the one buying the scrap – away goes the big advantage your deck has. Games where you get some early extra scrap are much easier than the ones where you don’t.
The bar for when you’re buying “too much” scrap is much higher for Valken than for your average game of Star Realms as you can convert extra scraps to authority. Especially early on, leaving scrap on the row for your opponent is worse than having a couple too many in your deck. If they can keep up in the scrap division, you’ll have to beat them with better cards, and your gambits aren’t helping you get those, nor power cards up as much as some of theirs do.
As for what you scrap: generally the Viper goes first, then Scouts, then the weaker other starters. Federation Scout being practically a Scout tends to leave first, but don’t be afraid to scrap a Cargo Boat or Laser Drone if they don’t fit into your long-term plan. Definitely don’t waste your scrap just because you’re attached to any of the special starters!
Step 2: Don’t buy things that don’t fit your plan.
Every card you buy that you don’t want to have in your deck towards the end of the game undoes a scrap. When that’s your main advantage, you have to lean into it, not undo it. In regular Star Realms, you may be able to get away with “if I just buy more good cards than my opponent, eventually I’ll keep drawing enough of them together to beat them” – that’s much rarer against Commanders. Games go too fast.
Step 3: Reassess your plan as the game goes on.
What’s your opponent working towards? What works well against that? Again, think: “What does my deck look like when the fireworks come up?”. If you keep your deck lean, it’s easier to pivot. I highly recommend being the one that makes your opponent wonder what happened, and not have it be the other way around.
On Gambit usage: for Coalition Efficiency, ideally you don’t touch this gambit early. Later in the game there’s a few reasons why you would:
1) You can scrap something, but you don’t want to (Hello Neural Nexus!)
2) You have more scrap coming in upcoming hands that will want to scrap the same card
3) The only thing that matters is staying alive
To give an example for #2, there will be cases where you know you have a Repair Bot or something like that coming up in your next hand, but there’s only one Scout in your hand to scrap with your Battle Bot now, and none in your discard. You may as well get back that Scout even if you don’t want or need it, because you’ll be able to scrap it for good next turn.You could also scrap something else with the Repair Bot and get that back (a #1-scenario), but remember you can only use Coalition Efficiency once a turn. If you had another scrapper in the hand with the Repair Bot, you’ll regret not having gained 5 the turn prior. This comes up more often when you have a lot of scrap – try to not let any go to waste.
When #3 becomes true depends on the opposition. Against McCready, it might be from the start.
For Valken’s Enterprise, try squeezing as much value as possible out of it. Don’t just put it in play immediately for what ends up amounting to just +8 authority – you’ll be able to do that at any point during the game. Find opportunities to hide valuable non-outpost bases behind it, use it to trigger Embassy Yacht-like abilities, or to trigger critical ally abilities. Be patient.
The OppositionLet’s start with your worst matchup:
Jochum
Jochum has more trade than you. Jochum has more authority than you. Jochum draws more cards than you. Jochum’s dog craps on your lawn. His kids drop Legos for you to step on. It’s miserable.
If Valken is the planet’s end-game Queen, Jochum is the galaxy’s end-game Emperor. Drawing more cards a turn means he’ll have more damage than you can put down bases, he’ll have more bases than you can tear down with damage, and he’ll be able to buy and see more game-ending bombs than you will ever dream of acquiring.
There are some ways to win, mostly leaning on Jochum’s lack of damage among his starters:
Your opponent uses their gambit for too little value, and you can out-value them with some trade-generating bases that stick in play for a while, letting you buy bombs first, and hopefully keep you ahead in scrapping. This may overpower them before they can claw their way back in.
Your opponent sets up for the long game because you are Valken, while you pretend to be McCready and buy every card that says “+ combat”, with just enough scrap to get you over the finish line.
However, against strong Jochum players who pay attention to what you are trying to do, you will not win very many games. In fact, Jochum is probably the main reason Valken has such a bad rep. She’s seen as a late-game commander, but Jochum is just better at that, while not really being weaker in any area. Why would you ever play Valken?
Luckily, in Commander Skirmish (and in many fan run tournaments), Jochum cannot be played, and many people consider Newburg the commander to beat, so let’s look at that one next.
Newburg
Among the commander articles, Newburg was the one commander where the expected result against Valken was left clearly open-ended, and for good reason. I think Valken is well set up to defeat Newburg. You’re ahead on two key elements: trade and scrap. Newburg has little of the first and none of the other. Now, it’s no cake-walk – Newburg is one of the favorites among non-promo commanders for a reason – but your starting cards line up in an advantageous way.
In most cases, Newburg tries to win by a large differential. By the time most opponents manage to take substantial chunks out of his sky-high authority, they’re already near-dead. However, the overall damage output of Newburg isn’t exactly overwhelming. He’s not often hitting you for 30-40+ damage a turn. You can very well set up a base-wall and heal your way out of the danger zone, while building a lean deck that will get to work on Newburg’s authority.
In some cases, you can even race! While Newburg is favored in the damage department, if your opponent isn’t healing as much because they are focusing on preventing you from building a base-wall, you may be able to surprise them by buying aggressive cards and using the healing from your Gambit to stay just out of their reach. This is not the easy path, but it’s good to recognize it when it’s there.
In general, try not to let Newburg buy Burrowers and Parasites and other things that increase his maximum damage per turn output (letting him steal scrap is similarly bad for you – try to keep him drawing some starters all the way to the end). Make sure you’re not too singularly focused on setting up a base-wall either. In many cases you need some damage to prevent the differential from getting too high, unless you’re very confident in your ability to lock Newburg out entirely with your wall.
McCready
While the McCready article claims this matchup is strongly in their favor, I am not sure I agree. Not that I think Valken is a strong favorite instead, but you win your fair share. The trick is to keep the game a close race, and buy accordingly. You won’t get much time to stack up a pile of bases, so instead fight them over the cheap damage, and use your healing to swing the race in your favor. McCready has a surprising amount of trade, and there will be games where they buy some big guns and just run you over, but in the close races? You might be surprised how often +5 authority here and there wins the game.
That’s not to say you never buy bases, but be selective. They likely won’t stay in play, so which ones are still good assuming they don’t? High defense ones might help in a race, but weigh it carefully against the available ships. Would you buy the base if it was a ship that just gained you its defense in authority when playing it? If yes, great! If not, probably don’t buy it in this matchup.
For using Coalition Efficiency, this is where you’ll use it most aggressively. You still want to look for reasons not to use it, especially in the very early turns as it’ll just make every next shuffle better when you don’t, but more often than not you’ll use it. Don’t think it’ll keep you alive though – you’ll still succumb to the yellow-green army if you don’t punch back.
Le
Mr. Bicycle himself! Another confident commander that claims to eat Valken for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And, well… it’s indeed a tough matchup for Valken. Good Le players will make their deck even smaller than Valken’s, and then bombard her with discards and/or a continuous stream of high-damage output. In some ways, Le has a stronger “long game” than Valken – it just looks different than Jochum and Valken’s long game. Le seems to not do much early but spin his wheels, but once the engine comes online he starts flying through his deck and dealing a ton of damage, leaving you standing on scorched earth while he blasts off to the moon.
However, not all hope is lost. You can try to outrace Le by buying aggressive cards. Ideally yellow ones, as they serve the dual-purpose of you not-getting-discard-locked, while discards can slow Le down also (less cards to cycle through). Aggressive cards that self-scrap are valuable too – again, they would be good for Le – as they keep your deck lean. The problem with “counter-buying” is that it often bloats your deck, and that’s the opposite of how you win with Valken, so any way to minimize that is good.
There are rare games where you leave Le so little to work with (most often when you manage to monopolize scrap, or they over-scrap too early with too little damage), you can overpower them with a base-wall. Keep good track of what ends up in Le’s deck to spot these opportunities. You might not be able to follow their turns very well, you can always look at the result.
Trying to beat Le is you kicking the chain off their bike, then challenging them to a race as you run away. If you execute it well, and they aren’t too adept at bike repairs, you can turn that head start into a win. But if they are skilled (or the trade row has too many good Le-cards for you to counter-buy while keeping a semi-coherent deck together), you might be racing up a hill.
Walsh
Base-wall Willy is a tricky opponent. His gambit makes your long term plan of base-walling more complicated, but not impossible – and letting Walsh take all the bases is not a recipe for success either. Luckily, you start with scrap and they don’t. Keep that advantage, and you should be able to build a better deck than Walsh, who is somewhat hampered by the amount of damage in his deck when it comes to playing a “straight-up” game of seeing who gets the better cards.
Walsh does have a one-time guaranteed trade boost to get to a bomb early, and some row control, but in most games those don’t beat a scrap advantage. The tough games are when Walsh manages to get some early scrap also, or where the gambit is converted into a scrapping bomb like their (or your) 8 cost ship – now you’re in trouble.
When it comes to using Coalition Efficiency, look how your opponent is approaching the matchup. If they are trying to set up a wall of bases, don’t use it until it’s “free”. If they are instead trying to aggro rush you, you may want to use it a little more aggressively to not get run over. Still, don’t overdo it – Walsh isn’t McCready.
Nandi
Comparing gambits here shows one thing: Nandi will be much better than you at getting the trade for bombs together. Especially early on in the game, it may feel like you are losing horribly. However, this is where you get to feel like Jochum’s little cousin. As the game goes long, you draw more cards, so it’s easier for you to build a base wall than for Nandi to knock it down, and you can absorb a discard or two without much issue, while it can cripple Nandi. Don’t lose your nerve early on, focus on keeping scrap away from Nandi, and cash in later on, having a much leaner deck while drawing more cards every turn. The longer the game goes here, the more likely you are to win.
Do make sure to pick up some extra trade in this matchup – it’s not a great idea to leave all the top cards to Nandi – but try to make it trade that doesn’t clog up your deck. Cards like Farm Ship, Mining Mech, and bases that provide trade are all good ways to be able to acquire some 7 or 8-cost cards yourself. Discard is extra good against Nandi, so if you can scrap down to a deck that hits her with 2-3 discards every turn, you’ll be in good shape.
Valken
Good news, I can confidently say this is a 50-50 matchup!
Putting that all together, maybe it makes sense now why you would frequently pick Valken in Commander Skirmish. There’s no chance your opponent is Jochum (by far your worst matchup), there’s a good chance your opponent picks Newburg if they have the option (a favorable matchup for you), and there’s not that many splits possible where it makes sense for your opponent to take Le (an unfavorable matchup) given Le’s weakness to McCready and Newburg, who are both popular picks (and most non-hardcore cyclists would pick them over Le also).
(Oh, you wanted actual advice for the Valken mirror match? Buy more scrap than your opponent early in the game. You both have scrap and heal, and enough damage that it’s unlikely an early base will run away with the game. This means the game is likely to go somewhat longer, and be decided by better scrap access for one, or by a better “end-game” deck (a bigger base-wall; more card draw; a bunch of dockers; discards overwhelming the other; etc). Just like in regular Star Realms, it is sometimes possible to buy all the aggro cards and rush the opponent, it’s just not super likely here if your opponent is paying attention.)
Whatever I Couldn’t Fit in the Rest of the ArticleOverall, I recommend you keep two things in mind with Valken:
Your biggest advantage in most games is a starting scrap advantage. This is very powerful, so try to take advantage of it, and don’t undo it. Buying cards that don’t fit your plan really hurt. Letting your opponent buy scrap early helps them make up for the disadvantage. Don’t let either of these things happen without thought.
You don’t always have to shoot for a “long game”. Your ability to heal and a surprising amount of damage often let you control the pace of the game. By using your gambit(s) strategically, you can make a game last longer, but you can also focus on dealing as much damage as you can and only healing to win a tight race to 0.
How to best use your ability to control the pace of the game is not something I can easily explain, without resorting to not-so-useful statements like “if you’re more likely to win if the game goes long, try to push in that direction”. For now, just try and see if you can notice the pace of the game while playing Valken, and adjust to what the trade row offers you, keeping in mind what’s most effective against your opponent. A short game is fine, assuming you’ll win the race to the bottom! With experience, you’ll get better at recognizing when to go aggressive and when to turtle-up.
I know I also referred to “your plan” a lot, often without further explanation. The matchup section should have given you an idea of what plans are more likely to work out than others in those matchups, but I cannot give you a step-by-step for every game. The trade row influences too much, and it will affect what your plan needs to be. Some games you have no option but to try and win a long game against Jochum. Sometimes you have to try to rush down Newburg. I can’t tell you up front, but I can tell you that if you make your purchases with a plan in mind, you’ll do better with Valken than if you just buy whatever the “strongest” card is. With experience, your plans will get better.
Now, go forth and show people they were wrong to dismiss Valken!
Star Realms Fans! We’re back after a bit of a hiatus. Come find out where in the universe Dustin and Rick have been!
https://traffic.libsyn.com/megahaulin/Megahaulin_114.mp3
In this awesome episode of Megahaulin, Dustin and Rick are joined by the amazing Derek Aldaryn Thompson who talks about the Requisition Beta, Commander Skirmish Meta Impact and more!
Also, it’s time for the Name That Card Showdown between Rick and Derek. Listen In for all the fun!
https://traffic.libsyn.com/megahaulin/Megahaulin_113.mp3
This week, Dustin and Rick talk to STAR REALMS and HERO REALMS Legend, Silent Al. Topics range far and wide as we really get to know Alex. If you like gushing about how awesome the Star Realms Community is, this is the podcast for you!
This episode, Dustin and Rick respond to numerous mailbag inquiries. What would we do to improve Star Realms 2.0? Is it still right to scrap vipers first in 2022? What cards would be Nerf? All this and more answered in this episode!
This week Dustin and Rick talk about QR Codes, Collectible Pins, Comic-Con and of course, Star Realms. Time is short of the Rise of Empire Kickstarter. Don’t miss out:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1172937197/star-realms-rise-of-empire
This episode is dedicated to the upcoming Kickstarter, Rise of Empire. Wise Wizard Games CEO Rob Dougherty joined us to tell us all the details!
This episode, Dustin and Rick talk about a plethora of News, including an upcoming interview with WWG CEO Rob Dougherty! All this plus the latest updates in digital competivie play news. Enjoy!
by Rick DeMille (aka Darklighter) Ok, Stellar Link isn’t that bad, except when it is. I have found Stellar Link to be the only Tech card that, when used, might turn on you. My therapist said I should write about it, so here I am. I previously published the article, “Tech Support“, describing my initial […]
By Connor AKA Connor Editor’s Note: This is Part 6 of our Command Deck Strategies Series. We also recommend: Part 1 on Fleet Director Nandi Part 2 on BioLord Walsh Part 3 on Overlord Newburg Part 4 on High Admiral Jochum Part 5 on Hive Admiral McCready Introduction One year has passed since the release of Command Decks […]
Rick and Dustin cover the upcoming Star Realms Digital Update as well as a brief revisit to the High Alert: Tech cards ahead of their pending release!
It’s 2022 and Rick and Dustin are back to talk about all things Star Realms. On this episode, deep discussion of the Universal Storage Box with detailed reviews of the bonus cards included in the box. We have a NEW LEGEND: Congrats Thestral! A new Star Realms comic is on the scene! The bounty on […]
I’ve always been a fan of comics. I had a bit of time and decided to think through what a ”Star Realms” Comic might be like. This was fun to make and I hope you enjoy!
In today’s Legend Tournament, held 12.26.21 in the Star Realms Digital App, Thestral defeated MauveTurtle in a one game playoff. At a time when Jochum is largely considered overpowered against most foes, the Commander makes his appearance vs. McCready in a game for the ages. Usually, we’re not luck enough to have documentation of the […]
This time Dustin and Rick get back together to celebrate a great dodgeball victory and determine if Jochum should be banned from competitive play. Rick puts a bounty on Corybear88!
Bit of a delay here in posting this episode – BUT ITS WORTH THE WAIT! We’ve got newly minted Star Realm Legend EAN TEAGUE aka AgentSeto. Yes, that AgentSeto from Ep 103. This is a great conversation that is not to be missed! If you’re curious about the Dodgeball format mentioned, take a look here. […]
Everything you need to know about the Unicorn Format By Cory Thomas (IGN corybear88 and known on the Facebook as Daisy Tom) Why is it called unicorn? A unicorn is a rare and mythical creature. Winning a star realms game by completing missions on your first 3 turns is a rare event (possibly also mythical, […]
An astute reader pointed out that the first several episodes of Megahaulin Classics were not available in the public feed. It was learned that this was due to some content expiration configurations on the podcast hosting side. It looks like the only way to bring this missing episodes back from the grave is the republish […]
There are numerous tournament formats to be found in Star Realms. We’ll start covering these a bit more as their popularity has increased quite a bit in recent years. If you ever get bored with “basic” Star Realms, just know that there are a myriad of options available and today we’ll introduce Dodgeball. Dodgeball was […]
This week Rick and Dustin catch up on the last month of Star Realms Activity including Legend and Community events at Origins and GenCon. We also get into a detailed review of the upcoming Star Realms Digital App changes including the High Alert: Tech expansion https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/megahaulin/Megahaulin_103.mp3