abUse the Force - Heroes and Legends

Heroes and Legends has been delayed for what feels like forever. This has been a source of frustration for the SWLCG community and also for Fantasy Flight. But, many of you out there in Internetland have been proxying these cards up and testing them out, as have we here in the frozen north. Since the first Force Pack of the Echoes of the Force cycle, Heroes and Legends is due out soon, lets take an in depth look at the next Jedi objective set, Heroes and Legends.

The 5/1 damage capacity/resource generation is the game standard, so in and of itself warrants no comment. However, that Action: screams for attention! When I first read that, I nearly lost it. That is an awesome ability. Simply awesome. This ability has loads of applications. Let me take a shot at a general list, and I will let you readers add to it and/or correct me in the comments.

1) Remove damage from a character that has taken a beating
2) Remove focus tokens from a character buried in focus tokens
3) Strike with a unit, focus Heroes and Legends, put another copy into play and strike again (in a later engagement, of course)
4) Lose an important edge battle? No problem. Bring the important main back to your hand and drop in a fresh one, ready to attack or defend. This is especially important if you have lost an edge battle and also taken damage from one or more Heat of Battle cards
5) Swap out different versions of cards with the same name, such as Rebel Alliance and Smugglers and Spies versions of Han, or the two Jedi versions of Luke (although I see less point in that)
6) Uncommit a character from the force, should your opponent commit them with a DS fate card or card effect
7) Win an edge battle, strike, but then swap out a character before it receives damage from a return strike



Now, here is a more specific list of potential uses (applications not covered under the general uses above):

1) Double Ackbar assault: you could play Ackbar and then trigger the ability on Heroes and Legends to swap him with one in your hand, doing an additional dmage to each participating enemy unit. You do not, of course have to swap him out right after playing him, but that is one possibility.
2) Make Chewie stick around for a long, long time. You could keep swapping him out, which will be a huge pain for DS, especially so if you have Wookie Life Debt revealed as an objective.
3) More attacking and pinging with S&S Han Solo
4) More card tutoring with RA Han Solo
5) Use Lobot’s resource, swap him out by using the Jedi ability on Heroes and Legends, and then use his resource again, essentially creating a S&S resource out of a Jedi resource
6) Use Mon Mothma’s resources, swap her out and then spend them again
7) Swap out your Obi-Wan Kenobi so that he can force the DS to keep placing cards into edge stacks face up
8) Swap Toryn Farr to place one focus token on a target enemy enhancement
9) And, of course, swap Kyle Katarn himself, in order to place one focus token on or remove one focus token from a target unit that is committed to the force.

I’m relying on you, readers, to correct me and let me know if I missed anything interesting. Needless to say, this objective’s ability is quite versatile, and will only continue to get better as the card pool expands. I usually do not comment on artwork. But, I have to admit feeling like the art on this objective, and in this objective set in general, is a bit lacking. The colors simply do not pop, and poor Kyle’s anatomical proportions on the objective itself seem amiss. Of course, perhaps I am missing something from the books and games and poor Kyle really does have a right arm that looks like a plump little sausage that is squealing in a pan about to burst, and is short and putty-like? The art is adequate, but relative to many other cards it is substandard, in my opinion.

The other thing to consider about this objective and its ability is the fact that you will not always see it during a game. However, most of the time, with two copies of the objective in your objective deck, you will draw at least one of them in your opening objective draw of four cards. Don’t believe me, see below:

Four cards are drawn during setup, without replacement (i.e., we do not draw one, put it back, draw another, etc.). The probability of drawing AT LEAST ONE copy of Heroes and Legends is equal to 1 minus the probability of NOT DRAWING ANY. These “at least” probabilities can seem tricky to calculate at first. But, when we step back and think about it, they are relatively simple. Think about it this way; what we want to do is not not draw any, which would mean that we drew at least one. So, we want to do anything besides not draw any. So, once we find the probability of not drawing any, we know what the probability of anything else is (i.e., its compliment), simply 1 minus the probability of not drawing any, since that represents the probability of anything else (i.e., of not not drawing any) happening.

1) The probability of not drawing either of the two objectives with the first card is 8/10, or .80.
2) The probability of not drawing either of the two objectives with the second card is 7/9, or .7778, since after the first card was drawn there are only 9 left, and seven of them are not Heroes and Legends, for instance.
3) The probability of not drawing either of the two objectives on the third card is 6/8, or .75.
4) The probability of not drawing either of the two objectives on the fourth card is 5/7, or .7143

So, the probability of NOT drawing either copies of the objective of interest is the product of the above probabilities, since all of those events would have to happen in order for your opening objective draw to NOT contain at least one of the objective of interest. The probability of NOT drawing any of the objective of interest = .80*.7778*.75*.7143 = .3333. Thus, the probability of drawing AT LEAST ONE of the objective of interest is equal to 1-.3333, which is .6667. So, over large numbers of trials, you will draw at least one copy of the objective of interest most of the time. However, .6667 is far from something like .80, .90, etc. 33% of games you will not draw either copy of a given objective in your opening draw. This is a significant portion of the time. The probability of seeing at least one copy of the objective over the course of a given game increases, given that that Dark Side destroys at least one objective over the course of the game. But, letting your objectives be destroyed in hopes of flipping a copy of a specific objective seems slightly counter productive; hopefully your build is resilient and well-rounded, the ability on any single objective not being the linchpin of victory. So, the take-home message after all of that is this: the ability on Heroes and Legends is amazing and you will see it enter play quite often, but obviously do not build and strategize specifically around being able to use it – consider it a piece of excellent synergy. Now, let’s move on to the other cards in the Heroes and Legends objective set.

Kyle Katarn

The Heroes and Legends objective set comes with two copies of Kyle Katarn, which plays into the ability on the objective itself; we are more likely to be able to swap out a character with the same name if we have more copies of characters with the same name in our deck. Running two of this objective gives you four copies of Kyle Katarn, and thus a higher probability of being able to use the objective’s ability. First, let’s discuss the basics. Four-cost is a good thing. This means that LS can drop Kyle Katarn into play on turn one, regardless of objective draw. Four-cost also allows for the possibility of playing Kyle Katarn and some other unit on turn one, which helps against things like Aggression. Katarn has three health, which is nice. A single Force Choke over the shoulder of an in-play Vader will not send him to the discard pile. He can also withstand a direct hit from something like a Heavy Stormtrooper Squad or Darth Vader, given no other additional damage.

Katarn has three force icons, which are great for edge battles or for controlling the force during the force struggle. Given that his objective might not be in play, edge battles are a great outlet for the extra Katarns clogging up your hand. With four in a deck, you will draw into them quite often. And, if you do not have the ability to swap them out, or do not want to, dumping the extras into edge battles is a great option, and an effective one, given his three force icons. Kyle’s ability can help the LS push through damage. DS has traditionally been fond of committing its Elite-wielding main units to the force; dropping Katarn into play has the potential to incapacitate something like Vader, Emperor, Emperor’s Royal Guard (another DS force-commit favorite), or some other minor unit. His ability also has the power to mitigate the negative effects of your units being buried by DS focus tokens.

One downside is Katarn’s single edge-dependent blast damage icon. He has the unit damage to kill off DS units, but does not have much offensive power, other than his high probability to kill whoever defends in the engagement. Would more blast damage (instead of some of his unit damage) have made him overpowered or even broken? I’m not sure. This would be a good issue to discuss in the comments. That said, the single edge-dependent blast damage is nice, if for nothing else than shutting off DS “While this objective is undamaged…” effects while also killing off defenders. Even going up against a 501^st Legion defending Vader’s Fist, Katarn could win an edge battle, deliver three damage to the 501^st Legion, shut off the ability on Vader’s Fist, and then retreat using the ability on Heroes and Legends before the 501^st can deliver its return strike. So, Katarn is great for pushing through some damage, and the three unit damage icons make unopposed damage more likely as well. Katarn also has the Force User trait, which means that he will trigger the ability on Forgotten Heroes, and can also bear all of the attachments that require the Force User trait, as well as be the target of event cards than target that trait.

Ataru Training

I have mixed feelings about this card, but it certainly has the ability to be deadly. For instance, attached to Luke Skywalker (Core), winning an edge battle by two force icons would mean having the ability to destroy a participating unit and then use Targeted Strike to damage a non-participating unit. Sith had better hope that they win that edge battle (or at least not lose it by two or more force icons) when attacking or defending with its main units. Ataru training works on offense and on defense, which is also a plus. That said, two-cost is significant, and something to consider. In You Must Go brings it down to one-cost, of course. But, it does sport two force icons if you decide that, at any given moment, it works better as edge fodder. This is going to make DS think twice about what to block with.

Speaking of enhancements, Katarn certainly ups the value of Makashi Training (one-cost enhancement that gives enhanced unit targeted strike), and also Secret Gaurdian, since Katarn’s ability is not a “when you play” ability, but a “when this unit enters play” ability. Thus, the value on the Embers of Hope objective set goes up with the release of Heroes and Legends. Targeted Strike on Katarn is a serious threat, and cycling him in and out of play has its benefits.

Rahn’s Guidance

This card is nice. No one can argue with the price tag, certainly. This obviously plays into the theme of the objective set as a whole; find powerful Jedi main units and cycle them in and out of play with the ability on Heroes and Legends. But, it also lets you rearrange the top of your deck, even if you do not find a Jedi unit. If you do not find a Jedi unit, then you essentially took a loss with respect to card advantage. But, whether you find a Jedi unit or not, you get to do some rearranging of your deck, which is nice. Given that the card has only one force icon, one could make the argument that you are not losing much by way of edge battle advantage, even if you do not find a Jedi unit. Yes, sometimes that one force icon could be crucial in a high-stakes edge battle. But, that is a decision to be made by you, given the state of all of the other variables in any given game. This is a solid card. I love the zero-cost.

Echoes of the Force

It is difficult to say how this fate card will affect the game until more of the next cycle of Force Packs have been released, and it has seen a significant amount of play. One obvious use is committing a currently attacking or defending DS unit to the force, forcing it to double focus when it strikes. Another use is to commit some currently unfocused DS unit to the force, perhaps making your opponent less likely to attack or defend with said unit. With the number of ways to commit and uncommit units to the force that are on the way, I cannot hope to scratch the surface of potential scenarios and applications of cards like Echoes of the Force. I am excited to see how this dynamic shapes the way that we play.

Do not despair, SWLCG players! The next Force Pack will be in your hands soon enough. The drought is almost over!

Thank you for reading abUse the Force!