Written by DarkAngelAz
Welcome back to the final issue of our look at Redemption Spoilers. Let’s drive right into these, cause it is going to be a long one.
Spoiler from I Rebel
If you aren’t aware of Star Wars: The High Republic, then please check it out. It is the newest part of the Star Wars Universe to be revealed and is to date, (and will be for some time) contained solely to printed media with books, junior novels and comics, all combining to form an integrated and interconnected storyline. This is set 200 years before the tragic destruction of the Death Star by rebel forces at Yavin 4. I won’t spoil any of those stories here but, Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule is one of the best Star Wars novels I have read. Ever.
In gameplay terms, Burryaga offers us the first Blue Wookiee, with a solid stat line and die for a lower middle character at 11/14. I don’t think he is amazing or top tier, but he certainly offers a different option at 14 if you want Blue. His die is one third unmodified damage and half overall damage, but it is his Power Action which boosts his value. Being able to mitigate big dice without necessarily having resources on the table, and being able to remove his die to do that, means a greater flexibility to play upgrades and supports.
Spoiler from Lanza’s Stream
At last the missing piece to the Hondo2 deck. Not a great die at all. 50 percent blanks. Two damage sides and a resource side. 7 points for 7 health and a Power Action that will cause rules consternation all over the place, especially in the mirror. That said, it will somewhat enable Pirate decks to use the tech available to them. Needing another Pirate to use the action makes it a lot less useful than it would have been otherwise I feel, but as extra die on a Hondo activation, they have considerable potential for a blowout. Or a misfire.
Spoilers from Destiny Junior
I absolutely love the design of this card. The huge health pool and constant adding of X-Wings every turn, until you reach critical mass, makes for a real feeling of time pressure on your opponent. Elite means he won’t be starting with any other characters, but there are a couple of plots that one might look at and see what value they hold for the big Mon Calamari tactician and his attack fleet. Grand Design won’t work in terms of drawing cards, as Ackbar is worded so that they are added to the play area, not played. But United and Destroy the Death Star both offer a small benefit or a distraction for one’s opponent.
In terms of helping him stay alive with only a small dice pool to begin with, it feels as if a lot of his resources should be spent on healing and mitigation. He has early access to some of the best in Assail and Eject. Feat of Strength becomes an auto include, as should Field Medic and First Aid for healing. It is not your normal kind of ramp deck though, as it builds slowly and inevitably towards the point of no return, where even a single X-Wing die can one shot a character.
It is a slow deck however, as each X-Wing need activating and resolving. Therefore, battlefield control should not be expected at many points in the game. Once we begin playing again in person, you will need to have enough actual X-Wings to put on the board from the set-aside zone.
In infinite he could be amazing with X-Wings being legal….
Rebel Sniper is a good non-unique character in the 8/11 range, that many of the non-unique character are at now days. The three damage sides don’t feel great with a modifier and a pay side among them, but they are all two value. The card also has a sneaky set of discard sides and shows mill a little more love than it got in Faltering Allegiances. I think this is a good thing. The 8 health for 8 points is standard and the Power Action is a nice little boost. Being a Trooper as well, means another potential target for Kamino Cloning Facility, if you are so inclined.
A mainstay of the armies of the Republic, these blasters exist everywhere, and being Red neutral reflects this. The sides for 1 resource are good with 50 percent damage potential and only one pay side. These kinds of cards seem to have fallen out of favor, but I wonder whether the limited card pool may see a return to more cheap upgrades and flooding the board with dice.
Spoilers from The Chimaera Cast
We all knew he was coming after Blizzard 1 was spoiled, but my word Veers offers a different set of options for the Red Villain player. 10 Health for 14/17 isn’t fantastic, but his after the first round of the game begins ability of paying two resources to add a Snowtrooper to your team is immense. Paying two resources to add eight health and an extra die is a huge gain. Huge, even if the die isn’t fantastic. This is worded this way to prevent an interaction with Allies of Necessity where you could sleaze an extra two squad points for a marginal cost of discarding a card.
His power action turns on a lot of options related to battlefield control, such as Cruel Methods. If the tactic is too slow to play and let the turn develop, then potentially always going first is something to build around. The list of pairings for Veers are made more complex by the plot, Relentless Advance. It is possible to pair him with Blue or Red, as both have Trooper options at seven or less.
7 points for 8 health is value, but the dice are worse than a First Order Stormtrooper. The ability of gaining an extra point of health when fighting on any of the Hoth battlefields, is a nice design touch. I don’t see this card seeing a lot of play outside of a Veers/Hoth deck however.
The most interesting plot in the game in my opinion. The 4 point cost is negated to a great extent by the Team Up 1: on Veers and Troopers, meaning if you can get a line up with three or four of them, then it has a net cost of one or zero. This plot feels thematically accurate, with your opponent taking one damage at the end of every round, at a minimum. But most likely, probably your opponent is going to take two or three damage each turn. Seeing this damage building up, will be a large elephant in the room for your opponent, something that will inexorably destroy the Rebel Base. The only question is, whether the transports will have gotten away in time. It is possible to have a 35 health start with this plot, by going with Veers/Snowtrooper/Imperial Death Trooper/Relentless, and then gaining your free Snowtrooper.
This card might find a home in ramp decks, where gaining two resources turn one allows you to drop something big, or pushes a deck over the top for a Blizzard 1 late on turn two or three. Red Villain has a few diceless non-unique characters such as Imperial Pilot, so there may be something there, but I doubt it.
One of the really nice things we have seen in this set is the consistency of design and stories being told through the card choices and a definite focus of the design team.
This is one deck archetype I am looking forward to playing a lot.
Spoilers from On The Sensors
Will we finally see a version of the big Wookiee that is actually playable? 14/17 for 13 health is very good, although not as good as Chewbacca – The Beast, but his ability is better. The constant ping of damage, if you can get a couple of guardians to power it, will wear opponents down. His Power Action to move damage around is excellent, but his points don’t really work with any of the other Wookiees, to allow the best use of Valorous Tribe. That said, he partners well with Old Han or the Han Solo – Cool and Confident, which makes sense thematically, as it should.
This is the support event that Guardians decks need to do damage to opponents as opposed to simply survive. In any number of Wookiee decks, especially those with Chewbacca and/or Tarfful, this card could be immense. It does cost one resource, but removing a die and potentially defeating an opponent’s character (it does not have to be the character whose die is removed, as it is any die) who takes the backlash.
Spoiler from Parker Simpson Artwork
Well hello there! For anyone who hasn’t seen the Clone Wars, this is an alter-ego used by Obi-Wan on clandestine missions during the fight with the Separatists. This version of Obi is a big bad for heroes. His points at 15/19 offer up some interesting pairings – Ahsoka2 at 11 jumps out as an obvious one for Blue, but this version would also go nicely with R2. Galen or Cassian2 will work with Intelligence Operation, and Satine Kryze pairs nicely with United for a love story of sorts.
He has an array of subtypes to work with, and offers heroes access to Bounty Hunter as well being a Spy and a Jedi. Two damage sides, coupled with a 2 focus and a 2 shield side, make this a very good die, plus he has three abilities. Playing Blue upgrades just makes thematic sense, but Detect 2 is a strong ability. His after activate ability of potentially gaining resources if your opponent has a detected event, will probably make consistent money if paired with a good spy. I think this is the kind of character who can spark creative deck building on the Hero side, in a way that for whatever reason, that seems not to happen as much as it does for Villains.
Spoiler from A Rewnewed Hope Article
Headstrong looks to be a very good event for yellow. The two cost and spotting Yellow is fair for the ability of removing two dice no matter what their value or sides. The caveat being that those dice had to have been rolled into the pool last turn isn’t much of a deterrent as, lets be honest, if you can mitigate a die, you aren’t going to wait around and give them chance to resolve it. A good card for Yellow decks everywhere.
Force Reflexes is another 2 cost removal that can remove up to two dice, this time for the cost of having a Blue die in your pool. I think this is very strong, as the die you choose is not removed. This could potentially be a 3 or 4 value side, meaning two 2s could be going for your opponent. Expensive, but good and consistent with how the design team are doing removal cards.
Rising Whirlwind is an interesting card for sure. I generally like anything associated with Ahsoka Tano (well except Anakin {the character not the card}) and this card here is no exception. One cost is alright but having to have two weapons and be Blue, while thematic, will limit the use of it a lot. However, if you can meet the requirements, it works as removal or a hail mary re-rolling combined with removal. It is a weaker version of Overconfidence in truth, but that was probably too good, even back in the day. It is a Move as well, so it will definitely have more of a niche place under Lightsaber Mastery, or being shuffled in with Form Drills.
Two resources to flat out remove a die, then presuming you are playing this in a Trooper, Wookiee, or Spy deck (as these seem to the prime Red tribal archetypes), you can remove a second die. This is conditional on the second die being a different side and value, but often times that will be case.
Fury is one of the few cards designed solely to help ‘big’ decks. Needing a character of 17 points or more to play. It is a generic Gray-Neutral-remove a die for one. I think this will see play in those decks that can play it. Solid.
Rallying Cry is my favorite of all the mitigation cards here because it is free. Zero cost mitigation is so rare in the ARH: Standard meta, that is generally a good thing, as no one wants a return to the days of decks being able to play 10 or more free mitigation cards. Yes, it is only playable after you have taken damage, but your opponents will have to play around this card with their lines of play. It won’t work however if you cause the damage to yourself, which is probably a good thing.
Spoilers from MyFireVideo
A big Hero for Blue, with a stat line and abilities to match He is able to wield as many lightsabers as General Grievious and can have up to four shields. His cost to health ratio certainly makes him viable in a 2 wide deck at 15/19 for 14 health. He would partner well with Ahsoka2, and her tendency to gain shields at a rapid rate. His fifty percent damage sides mean a consistent damage output and his Power Action is a built in Adapt. I think this might be the key to his deck turning the shields into more upgrades.
An interesting event to turn a die to a special side and then resolve it. It needs a Blue character to play, but doesn’t need to be a Blue die. Reylo(eRey3/eKylo3/Temp) is a deck type which could use this a lot, as could Luminara. It will be fascinating to see if it has a place in decks.
Conclusion
Thank you so much for joining us for this and/or our past 3 issues of Redemption Spoilers. The ARH team are doing a great job, and we hope you are excited as we are for this set to be released tomorrow, January 29th.
If you love what they are doing as much as we do, we recommend checking out their Patreon page and supporting them if you like what you see.
One last thing, if you haven’t signed up to play in the Release Event this weekend, then please do if you are free. Stay tuned for more exciting announcements about Organized Play and the future…
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