The Mos Eisley Mafia: SWCLG "Aggressive Negotiations" Force Pack Review - Light Side

MEET THE FAMILY (aka - THE REVIEWERS):
-doctormungmung, Massachussets' evil genius;
-yodaman, he who you seek when numbers are involved;
-pantsyg, jankmaster general;
-Rio, prophet of falling and rising skies;
-Majestaat, the one to blame for typos and delayed articles.

THE RATING SYSTEM:
It's to be noted that due to the SW:LCG's unique way of deckbuilding, it's impossible to just pick the stronger cards. You're likely to stick with some undesirable cards no matter what. Hence, the different scores could be seen (more or less) as:
1 – Poor – Edge fodder. Drops the total value of its objective set.
2 – Bad – Most likely edge fodder. Either too situational or clearly not strong enough for its cost.
3 – Average – Not stellar but does its job decently.
4 – Good – Solid card with guaranteed impact.
5 – Great – Gamechangers you will always be glad to see and play, if able.
* = indicates unique card.


THE BIG DEALS:



Top 3 LS Cards (5 this time, actually):
1 – Battle Fury (Badge of Honor), with 23.5 out of 25 possible points.
2 – Stunning Blow (Trust in the Force), 23 with out of 25 possible points.
3 – Wookiee Chieftain (Badge of Honor), with 22.5 out of 25 possible points.
4 - Dense Wroshyr Forest (Badge of Honor), with 22.5 out of 25 possible points.
5 - Heat of Battle (Trust in the Force), with 22.5 out of 25 possible points.

Top 3 DS Cards:
1 – Security Alarm (Cell Block Detention), with 25 out of 25 possible points.
2 – Seeds of Decay (Shadowed Surveillance), with 23.5 out of 25 possible points.
3 – Security Protocols (Cell Block Detention), with 23 out of 25 possible points.

Overall best rated Objective Set:
Cell Block Detention, with 22.5 out of 25 possible points.


THE REVIEWS:

Trust in the Force (265-1): 18 out of 25 possible points.


doctormungmung (3/5) – I’m waffling a bit on this objective. On the one hand, it gives you a free unit. On the other, to get that free unit, you’re losing another unit that’s at least as expensive. So while you aren’t losing board presence, you are probably losing a powerful unit that has a big target on their head anyway. It’s not bad to trade Yoda for Chewie, less so trading Luke for the Hyperspace Marauder. The one place where you get to bypass the board presense issue is with Heroes and Legends. In that case, you can be getting some nuts units out for effectively free (kind of like Spark). The problem there is that neither of those sets have resources, which limit the rest of the deck building. So maybe I should rate this a four, but I’m feeling stingy.

yodaman (5/5) – Great objective text since it allows you to put in a non-Jedi unit for free after a Jedi character unit leaves play as long as the new unit has lower or equal cost. This can lead to some interesting shenanigans with Heroes and Legends if you can set it up. Has the potential to be crazy powerful.

pantsyg (3/5) – This is a strong insurance effect, allowing you to keep up board tempo when your units leave play. While the effect is strong, I give it a low rating because it’s subject to several kinds of variance, primarily the cost and affiliation of cards in your hand. If you hit the dream and get to replace a Jedi 4-drop with a Smuggler or Rebel 4-drop, the card is obviously insane. Otherwise, I mostly suspect this will be dropping in neutral chuds. Not bad value (see Spark of Rebellion), but not massive either.

Rio (3/5) – A new Jedi objective and its wacky sauce. Standard 5/1 with text that says: Reaction: After a [Jedi] Character unit leaves play, put a non-[Jedi] unit with equal or lower printed cost into play from your hand. The jank combo player in me immediately went to work when I saw that. Sooooo many applications! Heroes and Legends was the first thing that came to mind, followed by False Report, but then the non-combo player said, Are any of those good? Probably not, 9 times out of 10 you will be down grading a unit. Sure having a body on the board is good, but I don’t think this is something you build around.

Majestaat (4/5) – Potentially abusive if you make an effort to build around it. But even in more flexible Jedi/Neutral or Jedi mixed with Rebels or Smugglers, just getting to keep a board even after the DS goes ham with removal is super good already. Granted, it can easily be blank. Hopefully, it is because your Jedis aren't getting removed in the first place, in which case they should be dealing damage and you're a happy panda. Worst case is not drawing proper replacement units, which should be fairly rare, as you don't necessarily need to replace a main with another. A chud will do well enough.
On a side note, it's hilarious to think Yoda or Chirrut are being reincarnated into Ewoks thanks to this.


*Chirrut ÃŽmwe (265-2): 19.5 out of 25 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – The blind monk kicks arse. He’s got fairly standard four drop stats, with perhaps the more dull mix of edge enabled icons (one of each isn’t very impactful, were as two of one is). He’s solid and generally worth his cost. But what makes him stand out is that he’s super hard to lock down. He can straight up prevent a focus being placed on him once per turn (yours and your opponents). That’s really good. Add to that that he’s elite, and you’ve got someone who’s likely to be ready for action whenever you want him to be. What that really means though, is that he becomes a target for more direct forms of control (ie damage).

yodaman (5/5) – A great addition to Jedi mains. For 4 cost, you get an elite character that has 4 combat icons (2 black and 2 white). On top of that, he’s usually getting a shot off since you can prevent a focus token from being placed on him by an enemy card effect or combat icon. Solid card.

pantsyg (3/5) – This rating may seem odd for a perfectly serviceable 4-drop, but Jedi already have a million of this particular unit. It’s true Chirrut adds to the diversity of big drops in a deck if you want to minimize repeat draws, but unlike BTS Luke his ceiling is too low to replace other mains.

Rio (3/5) – I am one with the Force and the Force is with me. Another Rogue One character makes his way into our game, 9 months after the movie was released. Chirrut comes to us as a 4 cost 3 health 4 icon elite main, he is another Jedi main that looks like every other Jedi main in the game…. YAWN. Who does he replace in your deck? Luke? No. Yoda? Hell no. Ahsoka? Maybe? He is however perfect in a Dark Lord meta (which I think we are in now) due to his ability. Interrupt: When an enemy card effect or combat icon would place 1 or more focus tokens on this unit, prevent the placement of 1 of those tokens. (Limit once per turn.) So they trigger DLotS and you just prevent it on Chirrut, so he is a solid turn 1 play in a sith environment. However beware he IS NOT a force user, just force sensitive. He is decent but who does he replace? Not being a force user hurts a bit.

Majestaat (4.5/5) – All around a solid main, only hurting because he has 2 black icons, whereas most 4-costers have 3. Lack of force user trait means Chirrut can't use every effect in the Jedi arsenal, but it shouldn't matter too much since he wants to play in a 50/50 build, more or less.
His interrupt can be super annoying for the DS, especially early in the game if they don't have the guns to kill him. Block Dark Lord of the Sith, tactics, etc, making him a reliable striker and virtually impossible to keep focused down.
Yes, he is outclassed by many Jedi mains, but he is no slouch by any means.


Mirialan Mystic (265-3): 17 out of 25 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – A two drop chud with tactics and two health is fantastic. Jedi are still solid in edge, so having the tactics edge enabled doesn’t reduce its threat value by much. Two health means that he’ll stick around after getting choked, or any other form of ping damage. And the black gun means you can at least move forward with any strike vs a defender, albeit slowly sans edge. While I was perhaps stingy with the objective, I’ll be generous here with this guy. Yin-yang and all that.

yodaman (4/5) – Cheap 2 cost, 2 health chud that has a white tactics. That always is worth something in my mind.

pantsyg (3/5) – A 2-drop with tactics is always a solid card. Jedi-affiliated to synergize with the objective, but sadly no Force Sensitive or User trait.

Rio (2.5/5) – This chick is alright as 2 cost unit with 2 icons, one being white tactics. I would want to play her every time she was in my hand. Solid chud, and Jedi need solid chuds. Not much else to say…

Majestaat (3.5/5) – Tactics makes any unit relevant. Lacks any relevant traits, but since it's Jedi affiliated, it can trigger the objective to be replaced by another chud. Good enough.


*Handcrafted Light Bow (265-4): 17.5 out of 25 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – This one is on the cusp as well. Extra unit damage is ok (Luke’s saber adding two is great, other things adding one is more situational). But extra health is fantastic. Especially if the main unit you’d like to put this on is a damage target to begin with. But there are several units that could use the damage buff (wookies, Yoda, Luke, etc). The damage explosion when put on Chirrut is nice, but in practice, you’re not going to be getting much bonus damage from that, because the DS will be scared to put that many units in harms way. Even still, if just the mere presence of this card on the board forces your opponent to change how they want to play, that’s a plus.

yodaman (4.5/5) – A really good enhancement since you can put it on any character and give it and extra black gun and also +1 damage capacity. If it’s on Chirrut, he also gets to do 1 damage to each participating enemy unit a la the Flamethrower.

pantsyg (3/5) – Usually I’m not a fan of 1-cost enhancements that don’t add bombs, but one point of additional health can really change combat math in this game and I’ve been coming around to the idea of scaring off blocks by having a ton of unit damage, or being able to remove defenders permanently through combat. Ultimately, though, every Jedi enhancement of this type is basically just Luke fuel. If you do get it on Chirrut, he becomes a pretty scary attacker.

Rio (2/5) – Chirrut’s bow here, I saw him take down a TIE with it. Cool. A 1 cost enhancement that grants anyone who welds it an extra point of health? Odd. Not sure why a gun give you health but whatever. It also gives a unit damage. That makes sense. If Chirrut happens to have it equipped it gains "Reaction: After this unit is focused to strike, deal 1 damage to each participating enemy unit". That’s pretty good. I like damaging things. Each participating unit is cool, this is an ability we’ve seen on the Darkside a couple of different times. None of them game breaking or really useful.

Majestaat (4/5) – After playing so much with Sabine's Armor lately, I've grown fond of HP buffs, making this a good card in my book. Doesn't provide as much durability as the armor, but it does give a black gun instead, being all around a very balanced enhancement.
If equipped to Chirrut, it's virtually providing yet another gun, with the possible upside of making a real mess if the DS dares put several units in his way.


Stunning Blow (265-5): 23 out of 25 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – Free focus is great. Especially if it’s a surprise. What this card really says is give any unit with unit damage a black tactics as well. Strike with Chirrut, and focus out their big hitter because they didn’t see you with any way to stop their strike. This also triggers off of other sources of damage, like Heat of Battle, or Lightsaber Deflection. Go nuts with creating the openings that only a blind man can find.

yodaman (5/5) – Wow. This event is incredible as it allows any source of damage (combat icon, LTWW, Luke’s reaction, Heat of Battle, etc.. also turn into a tactics for free.

pantsyg (5/5) – Bonkers in combination with many effects, including Heat, Let the Wookiee Win, Battle Fury, BTS Luke, or any direct-damage ability. With this and a Heat you can lose edge, but still focus the most powerful defender. With LTWW, it can lock out a defender before you even attack. Very strong.

Rio (4/5) – This card is awesome. A zero cost event that can focus a dude when he is damaged, AND it’s a reaction. So you can play it when a Heat of Battle triggers! Or when your wookiees wookiee it up. Very good card.

Majestaat (5/5) – Simple and effective, I love it. Best used with pinging effects like Heat of Battle or BtS Luke. Allows you to go safer into an edge battle or ignore it altogether, depending on the timing of your damaging effect.


Heat of Battle (265-6): 22.5 out of 25 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – Speaking of damage sources. Heats are good. Especially when you have lots of other ways to get more damage tossed over to the DS. Or things like Stunning Blow to get double duty and turn it into a Vader’s Visage substitute as well.

yodaman (4/5) – Very appropriate fate card based on the rest of the cards in this set, especially Stunning Blow.

pantsyg (5/5) – I love Heat so, so much, and this Heat is better since it comes with Stunning Blow.

Rio (4/5) – Great fate card.

Majestaat (4.5/5) – Speaking of Heat, we get one here, which is fantastic for combo purposes or to pile it on top of the damage already provided by the Bow. For those reasons, I'm giving it an extra 0.5 here.


Overall: 17.5 out of 25 possible points.

doctormungmung (4/5) – This set is a very solid control set, with a good chunk of the control coming in unit removal through direct damage. But Stunning Blow and the Mystic help with the focus control, and even the staff helps with longevity of your own characters. What’s also nice about it is that it has good blast from a control set, in a beefy, hard to lock down main. The biggest problem the set has is the lack of resource, and potential dead objective (although even straight Jedi have enough neutral units to get you something from it).

yodaman (4.5/5) – Overall great Jedi set. It does lack a resource, which means that has to be taken into account along with building a deck that uses non-Jedi units to get the most out of the objective. However, Chirrut is powerful and Stunning Blow is awesome. 9 force icons is good too. Should see a decent amount of play.

pantsyg (3/5) – This pod offers a lot of what many other Jedi sets do: a sturdy Main, reasonable chud, and some tricks. I feel that the tricks are the reason to take this set as Stunning Blow is insane and Heats are always welcome in a LS deck. It just doesn’t scream build-around, but it’s decent value.

Rio (2/5) – Overall, Chirrut’s set is ok. I’m just not sure what it replaces, Chirrut looks like every Jedi main ever, and it lacks a resource. The objective is cool, but it’s not something you build around. The best card is the Stunning Blow, but I think this set will forever be a 1x or live in a binder. Jedi just has soooo many other better options. If it had a resource in it then maybe it could be built around.

Majestaat (4/5) – Wouldn't consider it for mono-Jedi, as the objective would be really unreliable unless you're running Ewoks, and Chirrut, while good, is simply outclassed by other mains out there (though he has his niche by being incredibly resilient against focus-tech).
Better in mixed-affiliation decks, like the rest of the Rogue One heroes, but not necessarily great, because the only real synergy with other affiliations is in the objective, and you may not see it at all.


Badge of Honor (266-1): 22 out of 25 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – Wookies can be annoying to deal with at times, because even without their protect, they tend to be pretty hardy. Their two drop has three health, which is significant. Now they can be four to five health depending on the flop. But the really serious contender is having a five health core Chewie first turn. That’s a lot of counter damage available to you from the get go. There are a handful of enhancements that will also bump health, so you could theoretically be looking at a 13 health Chewbacca. Time to break out your Force Lightnings. But seriously, this objecting makes it damn near impossible to contend with a LS board of wookies in direct conflict. You’ll need damage multipliers or other methods of control. Which, well, still exist in good numbers. So the unstoppable wookie army isn’t quite there yet, at least with just the objective.

yodaman (5/5) – Give all your Wookiees an extra health when it’s out. What’s not to like if you're playing Wookiees? EoD Chewie gets even scarier then with his reaction.

pantsyg (4/5) – Additional health is excellent, especially on units that often activate only when damaged. A 4 or 5-health Chewie is pretty scary!

Rio (4/5) – It’s a 5/1 objective that gives all your wookiees an extra health. That’s good in a wookiee deck, but I don’t see its being good anywhere else. Good thing this pod is full of WOOKIEES! I would love to start this x2 and Wookiee Life Debt. Wookiees already have a lot of health for their cost and this makes them even sturdier.

Majestaat (5/5) – Unconditional, universal damage capacity buff for Wookiees, how crazy is that? Any unit in the game would like this, but Wookiees even more so, since they need to be damaged to trigger some abilities, and this will keep them outside kill range despite that.


*Wookiee Chieftain (266-2): 22.5 out of 25 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – The really sneaky thing about this unit is that it has four health. Most of the time, when you or your opponent drops a four drop main, you automatically think: “I’ll need to do three damage to get this guy off the board”. The Chief will mess with that mental math. For that four cost you also get a black tactics, which is always welcome, particularly if you want to get that wookie army, because tactics is something wookies don’t really concern themselves with. The rest of his stats are decent, but not fantastic in terms of objective damage. But then you get to his text, which solves one of wookies long time problems. All your damage wookie soldiers become elite, which makes it almost impossible to lock them down, which used to be the old way of dealing with them. So now the Chief becomes the target, and he’ll have elite and lots of health to try and stick around with. And with three force pips, you get a good force holder or edge card when needed. Overall, a good solid main that is a good force multiplier.

yodaman (4.5/5) – Solid 4 cost main with a built in 4 health (which could be more if the objective itself is out. He gives all your damaged Wookies elite so now you can benefit even more when you get damage on a Wookiee Warrior or use EoD Chewie’s reaction. The 4 combat icons are interesting with 1 black gun, 1 black tactics, 1 white gun and 1 white blast. Having a tactics Wookiee is a nice addition, but LS wants to blow things up so it’s a bit of a shame the blast is white on him. 3 pips and a fairly easy way to make him elite is good for helping to keep balance.

pantsyg (4/5) – A tanky unit that provides a tactics and pretty considerable upside to your damaged wookiees. His icons are a bit all over the place, though; I like the black tactics, but wish he had another black gun.

Rio (5/5) – This dude is boss (Majestaat's note: literally). He is 4 cost and has 4 icons and 4 health. Wow, and one of his icons is a black tactic. But he also gives all your damaged wookiees elite, and has 3 pips so he is a good force holder as well. I think this guy is a solid attacker and blocker, he can attack and your opponent will need to decide if they want to block with a chud that will ping him for 1 giving all your other wookiees elite. Solid card.

Majestaat (5/5) – He has black tactics and 4 health, so I guess it's only fair he doesn't get a third black icon. Lack of a keyword from the get-go hurts a bit, but his elite is pretty easy to activate overall. What's more, he shares the love by giving all your damaged wookiies elite.
Likely to see combat early to be damaged, then sit back on the Force. He's really good on that role with his 3 pips.


Wookiee Champion (266-3): 18 out of 25 possible points.


doctormungmung (3/5) – This guy is a great utility piece. I’ve always been a fan of the Interdictors. Being able to pull a specific unit into a conflict on your terms is great for dealing with troublemakers that you need off the board. While Tom here doesn’t have an Interdictor’s tactics, he does have edge 1, which helps make sure you can fully deal with whatever. Or just win an important edge battle in general. The rest of his stats are decent. Two pips, three cost and healt. The only thing that’s a bit lacking are the icons. For three cost, you generally want three icons. Here there are only two, and they’re black guns. So Tom likes to kill units, but not destroy objectives, which is a bit problematic for a LS unit.

yodaman (4.5/5) – It’s only fitting 2015 World Champ Tom Melucci helped design a “champion” card. He may cost 3, but he has 3 heath, 2 black guns and his reaction lets you pull in a defender that your opponent may not have wanted to use (like the “Crusiers” from Endor Entrapment) as long as he’s damaged. He also comes with Edge 1 which is nice. However, it’s a bit of a shame that he has no blast.

pantsyg (3/5) – All hail the chief! As a fan of LS removal effects, I really like this unit. He’s there to call out baddies and make them pay, and sometimes just dragging a defender in, even if you can’t kill it, opens future attacks. Because he’s while damaged, though, he’s often doing it with just 1 health unless you have buffs on him--not a terrific deal for 3.

Rio (4/5) – Look at Tom in all his majesty, seriously that card looks just like him. Tom Mellucci designed this card, and he did a good job. It’s a good “chud” with a solid ability. 2 black guns, Edge (1), and while it’s damaged it gains "Reaction: After this unit is declared as an attacker, a target enemy unit must declare as a defender for this engagement, if able". That’s a solid ability that we have seen on the darkside before, but I believe it’s the first time on the LS. This works really well with EOD Chewie, since he can only bounce damage back to units in the engagement and it works well with the fate card in this set. The wookiee has 2 pips so he isn’t a great force holder but with cards like Loyal Companion he isn’t worthless in that department either. Good job Tom! Long live the wookiees!

Majestaat (3.5/5) – If this is Tom in a bad day, you don't want to make him angry. The champ is a solid utility unit with its bonus edge and potential to pull enemy units into the engagement. As much as I'd like to give him a better score, paying 3 for no blast is often a weak proposal for the LS. And since he requires to be damaged to gain his ability, the DS can just ignore him until you're damaging him yourself.


Wookiee Warrior (266-4): 17.5 out of 25 possible points.


doctormungmung (3/5) – Just in case you thought there weren’t enough wookiees in the army, here we get another grunt. The Wookiee Warrior really wants to be damaged, but if they flood the board, that’s not terribly hard to do. Plus, you know, having a dedicated wookiee set can help that along… Even without being damaged, they’re cheap and sturdy, and can toss ping damage your opponent’s way, or wait back and defend. Of course, if you have WLD out, they’ll be damaged as fast as you need them to be.

yodaman (4.5/5) – This chud was bound to see a reprint and it’s certainly going to pull its weight here. As long as you can get him damaged (and there are ways you can do that yourself), he gets and extra black gun and a black blast to help on both offense and defense. 2 cost for 3 health is still great. As with all 2 drops though, beware of Moment of Triumph.

pantsyg (4/5) – One of my favorite units in the game. I just find these guys’ design so cool. They’re tough and overstatted once damaged, which is pretty easy to do. Often when attacking with these you want to lose edge so the defender has to take a poke and piss him off. Plenty cheap as well, making it easy to snowball Lowhrrick’s buff.

Rio (2.5/5) – I’ve always been a fan of these dudes, it’s been a long time since I played them. The only issue with them is that they were really hard to damage and they weren’t worth paying 2 for unless you could damage them which then makes them a 2 drop with 3 icons and 2 health. Only slightly above the curve. The issue is that your opponent on the darkside was always too smart to fall into your wookiee trap and just let them go unopposed or tactic-ed them down so they can’t block. They needed Life Debt to be good…I wish there was a way to damage these dudes without seeing Life Debt….

Majestaat (3.5/5) – Glad to see these guys back, especially since I got to talk about them just a while ago in the Edge of Darkness re-review. Then I said they were unfortunately too easy to ignore since the LS was lacking in enough self-damaging effects. That's no longer the case, making them much more reliable, which makes for very efficient units. They lack the utility of the Chieftain or Champ, but they're cheaper and do get to pack black blast.
Still susceptible to Moment of Triumph, however.


Dense Wroshyr Forest (266-5): 22.5 out of 25 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – Thinking you need help damaging your wookiees? Well, look no further. We 1-1 limited resource, that, if you can spare the resource, will damage your wookiees and simultaneously help make sure they get to strike by giving them a shield. Normally trading a damage for a shield isn’t all that great. But when that damage turns on a bunch of icons, or elite, or just straight up kills defenders, it is totally worth it. The only negative here is that you can’t use the ability and the resource. So really it’s a bit more of a utility enhancement that allows you to build a board until you see the wookiees you are looking for, at which point it helps find the “go button” for the army.

yodaman (5/5) – It’s great this set has a resource that is also Smuggler affiliation matching. It is limited, but the best part about it is that you can use it in an alternate way. Rather than taking the resource, you can essentially pay 1 to give one of your Wookiees a damage (to get various bonuses) and then a shield (so it basically hasn’t lost any health). Great inclusion here.

pantsyg (4/5) – A 1-1 resource is great, and the text helps you activate Wookiee synergies. I like that it also grants a shield, allowing you to trade damage for tactics resilience if needed. Hugely scary with Chewbacca in play, or when Warriors get to slip in unopposed.

Rio (4.5/5) – Found it! This card is the missing link for the wookiees, it’s a 1//1 smuggler resource card that says: "Focus this enhancement to deal 1 damage to a target Wookiee unit you control. Then, place 1 shield on that unit". This card makes sure you’re not dead in the water if you don’t see Wookiee Life Debt on the opening flop. You can damage your wookiees to turn on the fun abilities, and give them a shield. Awesome. But it essentially makes the wookiees cost 1 more, since you lose that resource for other things. You can play Wookiee Warrior for 2 focus this to damage him so you’re paying 3 for him and I’m not 100% sure that’s worth it. This is a plan B card, but a good plan B card nonetheless.

Majestaat (5/5) – Probably the best thing to ever happen to Wookiees. Not only is it a non-unique 1-1 affiliated resource, it's also a source of repeatable self-damage to make your wookiees angry. Even though you will be losing on the resource, it can often be well worth the cost.
And while your units will lose some life, that's compensated by a shield, which is stronger short-term, as it can either stop damage or focus effects.


Battle Fury (266-6): 23.5 out of 25 possible points.


doctormungmung (5/5) – Ok, this card is just nuts. Another way to deal damage to your wookiees, while simultaneously damaging multiple enemy units. In most circumstances, this would be really good. But coupled with core Chewie, and you get a borderline broken combo. For the cost of a fate card, you can do four damage among two to three units. That’s just nuts. Chuds melt under Chewie, and even established mains drop like flies if the battle has been going for any amount of time. Couple that with heal enhancements, protect, LTWW, and Chewie will just decimate an opponent’s board.

yodaman (4.5/5) – This fate cards is great as it gives you a way to damage one of your participating Wookiees (as with the resource card this lets you turn on bonuses like Elite or extra blast, etc..) and also essentially get 2 Heat of Battles at the same time, albeit on 2 different enemy units.

pantsyg (4/5) – I love this card; but not giving it the 5 because the current pool of playable Wookiees is small enough to cause concern about activating it while it’s in your hand. One damage to a Wookiee is usually a bonus, while distributing 2 damage to defenders often means the difference between life and death for them.

Rio (5/5) – The wookiees have a fate card now. It has 2 pips, and is a more powerful Let the Wookiee Win. You can deal a damage to a wookiee (turning on its awesome abilities) to deal a damage to 2 participating enemy units. It’s a Heat on crack! I can’t wait for the game that the darkside is playing Black Krrrrsantan and drops Hallucinations into the edge battle with this card. Lolz all around!

Majestaat (5/5) – Gain bonuses for your units while bringing the pain to the DS ones. This is a very powerful fate with a decent edge value. Even if you don't come along the following scenario, it's worth noting that, unlike Heat, this card resolves before the DS version of Protection.
More importantly, it also goes off before the DS Heats, so you can deal the damage before your opponent gets rid of your Wookiee.
Not relevant for the score, but I do love that art. With anger comes table-flipping... or trooper-flipping in this case.


Overall: 22 out of 25 possible points.

doctormungmung (4/5) – This set was taylor made for turning wookiees into a viable decktype. Prior to this, they could almost get there, but not being able to damage the bulk of your grunts stopped them from really taking off. Now that’s not much of an issue anymore. And you get to have all these other benefits from damaging them as well. Just about every card in this set alleviates a problem that wookiees have had. Elite, edge, self damage, shielding, resources. You name it, this set does it. Really I think it’s just a matter of time before someone finds the right set of non-wookie supports to make the wookiee army real and deadly.

yodaman (5/5) – Wookiee players – this IS the set you’re looking for. The set is bound to be a staple of Wookiee decks going forward as it synergizes well internally and also with other Wookiee sets, most notably Wookiee Life Debt. 9 icons is always good, especially in Smugglers. The only drawback is that the set is relatively light on blast, but coupled with other sets that aspect can be dealt with and overcome. Expect to see a lot of this as people try to unleash their inner Wookiee.

pantsyg (4/5) – This set definitely puts the Wookiee tribe on the map, with plenty of support for the old-school face-stomping, arm-ripping Chewbacca. Any decently deck built around this, OG Chewie, and 1+ Lowhrrick is a pretty reasonable contender, with plenty of staying power and damage to take games. I don’t think the deck reaches the top tiers, hence the 4 rating for the pod, but I could easily be wrong there.

Rio (4/5) – Overall, I think this pod is well made and it really makes the wookiees good. I’m not sure if they are top tier or not, but damn they are close. I still think they live and die by seeing either Life Debt or the Wroshyr Forest, but at least they have options now and it’s nice to pull EOD Chewie out of the binder again.

Majestaat (5/5) – There's always potential for bricking with Wookiees, as many of them can be below average units when they're not damage, so you absolutely need to draw your self-damage or rely on your opponent giving you a hand, damaging your units without killing them instantly.
But I like that part about the Wookiees' identity, and this set plays nicely around it, providing more units with that feature, and more importantly, more ways to trigger them yourself, so you're not busted if not seeing Wookiee Life Debt and your couple copies of Let the Wookiee Win, which admittedly weren't enough.
We also get tactics, a resource and 9 pips on top of all that, making this an essential Wookiee pod.
You always want to couple it with EoD Chewie because of all the insane synergy, and there are also strong arguments for Lowhhrick, especially if you want to keep it tribal. Perhaps even a single copy of IE Chewie.
But you can get a more versatile deck filling with strong non-Wookiee pods.