Written by Bill Yankosky (aka Yodaman)
Over 160 players took part in the 2019 European Continental Championships in August. Our friends at YOUR Destiny were kind enough to publish decklists for the Top 16. In this article we will again focus solely on cards in decks (namely downgrades, upgrades, supports and events) and not the characters, battlefields and plots which were used, just like we did for Gen Con.
Our Previously Defined Formulas
Typically Destiny decks consist of 30 card decks and can have up to 2 copies of a specific card (even though there are exceptions to these guidelines). An analysis of the decks that made the Top 16 from the European Championships (as provided by YOUR Destiny) showed that those decks contained, on average, about 18.125 different cards, ranging from 16 to 21 different cards in the decks.
When looking at diversity in top cuts, in the last article we wrote it is reasonable to think of the maximum number of different cards that we would expect appear in Top Cut decks based on the average number of different cards actually used by those players. We called that value M and defined it by the following formula.
M = Avg. # different cards of a type in deck * # players in Top Cut
For the 16 decks from the Euros top cut, we saw they averaged about 18.125 different cards. Using the above formula, we would expect a maximum of 18.125*16 = 290 different cards to have shown up in those decks. Overall, there are 718 different cards (downgrades, upgrades, supports and events) which can be included in Destiny decks in the Standard format. But our formula tells us it is more reasonable to use the value of M=290, which is about 40.4% of the available card pool when considering diversity.
We also defined the following simple formula to quantify diversity in our last article.
Diversity value = Total different cards actually used / M
A detailed analysis of the deck-lists from the Top 16 at Euros showed that 97 different cards (i.e. downgrades, upgrades, supports and events) appeared in the 16 decks. Using our simple diversity formula we get
Diversity value overall for Euros Top 16 Decks = 97/290 or about 0.334
By comparison, the 22 decks from the top cut at Gen Con had a diversity value of 0.291. While the sample sizes are slightly different, according to our simple diversity formula, Euros Top 16 was a slightly more diverse meta than the Top 22 at Gen Con.
Essentially, this diversity value represents the proportion of cards that appeared at least once in Top Cut, as presented in my last article.
Does this value indicate a diverse meta at Euros? Once again, that is up to each person to decide. But as indicated in the initial article I wrote about diversity, the formulas allow us to be able to quantify and compare diversity between events.
TOP 10 LISTS
We’ll break things down two ways for each category. First, we’ll list how many total copies of a card appeared in the 16 decks. Second, we’ll list how many decks included at least one copy of the card.
We start by looking at the top 10 cards overall (including ties).
Overall Top 10 cards by # copies played in the Top Cut (including ties)
- Euros Top Cut was 16 players
- Maximum number of copies that could be played was 32 (2 copies of each card)
| Card |
Total Copies |
% Max Copies played |
| Hidden Motive |
25 |
78.13% |
| Entourage |
18 |
56.25% |
| Fickle Mercenaries |
17 |
53.13% |
| Forsaken |
16 |
50% |
| Pacify |
16 |
50% |
| Automated Defense |
14 |
43.75% |
| Field Medic |
14 |
43.75% |
| Counterintelligence |
13 |
40.63% |
| Megablaster Troopers |
13 |
40.63% |
| Vader’s Fist |
13 |
40.63% |
For clarification, when we discuss % Max Copies played of a card, we’re assuming that the maximum that could have been played was 32 (2 copies of the card in each of the 16 decks). For Hidden Motive, the most played card, there were 25 copies of it played total out of a maximum possible of 32, which works out to 78.13%.
Overall Top 10 cards by Number of Top 16 decks card appeared in (including ties)
|
Total Decks Card was In |
% Deck Card was In |
|
| Hidden Motive |
14 |
87.5% |
| Fickle Mercenaries |
10 |
62.5% |
| Entourage |
9 |
56.25% |
| Automated Defense |
8 |
50% |
| Electromagnetic Pulse |
8 |
50% |
| Forsaken |
8 |
50% |
| Pacify |
8 |
50% |
| Chewbacca’s Blaster Rifle |
7 |
43.75% |
| Counterintelligence |
7 |
43.75% |
| Easy Pickings |
7 |
43.75% |
| Field Medic |
7 |
43.75% |
| Megablaster Troopers |
7 |
43.75% |
| Separatist Embargo |
7 |
43.75% |
| Vader’s Fist |
7 |
43.75% |
For clarification, the chart above is listing the number of Euros Top 16 decks that had at least 1 copy of the card in the deck. Some decks may have had 2 copies of the card while others only had 1.
DIGGING DEEPER AGAIN
In addition to looking at decks as a whole, we can also use the simple formulas to breakdown the data into smaller categories. Namely, we can look just at downgrades or just at upgrades, etc.. in the Gen Con Top Cut decks.
DOWNGRADES
The only downgrade that appeared in any Euros Top 16 decks was Target Acquired. 1 copy of that appeared total.
For the 16 decks from the Euros Top 16, an analysis of the deck-lists showed they averaged 0.0625 different downgrades. Using the previous formula, we would expect a maximum of 0.0625*16 = 1 different downgrade to have shown up in those decks. Overall, there are 20 different downgrades which can be included in Destiny decks in the Standard format. But our formula tells us it is more reasonable to use the value of 1, which is just 5 % of the available downgrades in the card pool, when considering diversity just for downgrades.
A detailed analysis of the deck-lists from the Euros Top 16 showed that only 1 downgrade appeared in the 16 decks. Using our simple diversity formula we get
Diversity value for Downgrades at Euros = 1/1 or exactly 1.
Since there was only 1 downgrade which appeared at all, there are no Top 10 lists for downgrades. There’s just a #1. Given there was only 1 downgrade total, it was as diverse as it could have gotten, but the small sample size definitely affects things here.
UPGRADES
For the decks from the Euros Top 16, an analysis of the deck-lists showed they averaged about 3.625 different upgrades. Using the previous formula, we would expect a maximum of 3.625*16 = 58 different upgrades to have shown up in those decks. Overall, there are 163 different upgrades which can be included in Destiny decks in the Standard format. But our formula tells us it is more reasonable to use the value of 58, which is about 35.6% of the available upgrades in the card pool, when considering diversity just for upgrades.
A detailed analysis of the deck-lists from the Euros Top 16 decks showed that 26 different upgrades appeared in the 16 decks. Using our simple diversity formula we get
Diversity value for Upgrades at Euros = 26/58 or about 0.448.
By comparison, the Diversity value for the Top 22 decks at Gen Con was about 0.342, so according to our simple formula, the Euros Top 16 decks were more diverse in terms of upgrades than the Top 22 decks at Gen Con.
The following charts give the top 10 upgrades in terms of # of copies played in total as well as the # of decks that included the upgrade.
Top 10 Upgrades by Number of Copies Played in the Top Cut (including ties).
| Upgrades |
Total Copies |
% Max Copies played |
| Chewbacca’s Blaster Rifle |
12 |
37.5% |
| Riot Shield |
10 |
31.25% |
| Handheld LS-1 Cannon |
8 |
25% |
| Dagger of Mortis |
6 |
18.75% |
| Salvaged Arm |
6 |
18.75% |
| Ezra Bridger’s Lightsaber |
5 |
15.63% |
| Grappling Arm |
4 |
12.5% |
| Rex’s Blaster Pistol |
4 |
12.5% |
| Rocket Booster |
4 |
12.5% |
| Niman Mastery |
3 |
9.38% |
Top 10 Upgrades by Number of Top Cut decks card appeared in (including ties).
| Upgrades |
Total Decks Card was In |
% Deck Card was In |
| Chewbacca’s Blaster Rifle |
7 |
43.75% |
| Dagger of Mortis |
6 |
37.5% |
| Ezra Bridger’s Lightsaber |
5 |
31.25% |
| Handheld LS-1 Cannon |
5 |
31.25% |
| Riot Shield |
5 |
31.25% |
| Salvaged Arm |
3 |
18.75% |
| A300 Blaster |
2 |
12.5% |
| Grappling Arm |
2 |
12.5% |
| Han Solo’s Blaster |
2 |
12.5% |
| Niman Mastery |
2 |
12.5% |
| Rex’s Blaster Pistol |
2 |
12.5% |
| Rey’s Lightsaber |
2 |
12.5% |
| Rocket Booster |
2 |
12.5% |
SUPPORTS
For the decks from the Euros Top 16, an analysis of the deck-lists showed they averaged 4.625 different supports. Using the previous formula, we would expect a maximum of 4.625*16 = 74 different supports to have shown up in those decks. Overall, there are 150 different supports which can be included in Destiny decks in the Standard format. But our formula tells us it is more reasonable to use the value of 74, which is about 49.3% of the available supports in the card pool, when considering diversity just for supports.
A detailed analysis of the deck-lists from the top cut at Gen Con showed that 22 different supports appeared in the 16 decks. Using our simple diversity formula we get
Diversity value for Supports at Euros = 22/74 or about 0.297.
By comparison, the Diversity value for Supports in the Top 22 decks at Gen Con was about 0.293, so according to our simple formula, the diversity of the supports in the Euros was basically the same in terms of diversity as those in the Top 22 decks at Gen Con.
The following charts give the top 10 supports in terms of # of copies played in total, as well as the # of Top Cut decks that included the support.
Top 10 Supports by Number of Copies Played in the Top Cut (including ties).
| Supports |
Total Copies |
% Max Copies played |
| Entourage |
18 |
56.25% |
| Fickle Mercenaries |
17 |
53.13% |
| Megablaster Troopers |
13 |
40.63% |
| Vader’s Fist |
13 |
40.63% |
| Separatist Embargo |
9 |
28.13% |
| Umbaran Hover Tank |
7 |
21.88% |
| Hired Muscle |
6 |
18.75% |
| Resistance Crait Speeder |
6 |
18.75% |
| It Binds All Things |
4 |
12.5% |
| Mr. Bones |
3 |
9.38% |
| Republic Cruiser |
3 |
9.38% |
Top 10 Supports by Number of Top Cut decks card appeared in (including ties).
| Supports |
Total Decks Card was In |
% Deck Card was In |
| Fickle Mercenaries |
10 |
62.5% |
| Entourage |
9 |
56.25% |
| Megablaster Troopers |
7 |
43.75% |
| Separatist Embargo |
7 |
43.75% |
| Vader’s Fist |
7 |
43.75% |
| Umbaran Hover Tank |
5 |
31.25% |
| Hired Muscle |
4 |
25% |
| Mr. Bones |
3 |
18.75% |
| Resistance Crait Speeder |
3 |
18.75% |
| Count Dooku’s Solar Sailer |
2 |
12.5% |
| It Binds All Things |
2 |
12.5% |
| On the Mark |
2 |
12.5% |
| R2-D2 (Legacies) |
2 |
12.5% |
| Republic Cruiser |
2 |
12.5% |
| Senate Chamber |
2 |
12.5% |
EVENTS
For the Euros Top 16 decks, an analysis of the deck-lists showed they averaged about 9.8125 different events. Using the previous formula, we would expect a maximum of 9.8125*16 = 157 different events to have shown up in those decks. Overall, there are 385 different events which can be included in Destiny decks in the Standard format. But our formula tells us it is more reasonable to use the value of 157, which is about 40.8% of the available events in the card pool when considering diversity just for events.
A detailed analysis of the deck-lists from the Euros Top 16 showed that 48 different events appeared in the 16 decks. Using our simple diversity formula we get
Diversity value for Events at Euros = 48/157 or about 0.306
By comparison, the Diversity value for Events in the Top 22 decks at Gen Con was about 0.276, so according to our simple formula, the Euros Top 16 decks were slightly more diverse in terms of the events than the Top 22 decks at GenCon were.
The following charts give the top 10 events in terms of # of copies played in total, as well as the # of Top Cut decks that included the event.
Top 10 Events by Number of Copies Played in the Top Cut (including ties).
| Events |
Total Copies |
% Max Copies played |
| Hidden Motive |
25 |
78.13% |
| Forsaken |
16 |
50% |
| Pacify |
16 |
50% |
| Automated Defense |
14 |
43.75% |
| Field Medic |
14 |
43.75% |
| Counterintelligence |
13 |
40.63% |
| Desperate Measures |
12 |
37.5% |
| Easy Pickings |
12 |
37.5% |
| Electromagnetic Pulse |
12 |
37.5% |
| Delve |
10 |
31.25% |
| Probe |
10 |
31.25% |
Top 10 Events by Number of Top Cut decks card appeared in (including ties).
| Events |
Total Decks Card was In |
% Deck Card was In |
| Hidden Motive |
14 |
87.5% |
| Automated Defense |
8 |
50% |
| Electromagnetic Pulse |
8 |
50% |
| Forsaken |
8 |
50% |
| Pacify |
8 |
50% |
| Counterintelligence |
7 |
43.75% |
| Easy Pickings |
7 |
43.75% |
| Field Medic |
7 |
43.75% |
| Desperate Measures |
6 |
37.5% |
| A Sinister Peace |
5 |
31.25% |
| Delve |
5 |
31.25% |
| Probe |
5 |
31.25% |
Looking at the Top 10 lists of cards played in the Euros Top 16 decks and using the diversity formula defined in my previous article to compare the diversity of decks in Gen Con Top Cut vs. Euros Top 16 has been enjoyable. Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this article and look at the data and numbers involved.
Thanks again to I Rebel for allowing me to contribute this article.
May the Force Be With You!
irebeldestiny.com 
