The Chosen One
by Clay O'Dell

There are many different ways to describe Anakin Skywalker: aggressive, outgoing, jealous, passionate, resentful, and more. However, there is one quality that many would think Anakin lacks: patience.

As the first Character preview card from the new Fall of the Republic set, Anakin Skywalker (O) exhibits the quality of patience. One look at the card's flavor text - "I say patience," a quote from early on in Revenge of the Sith - gives the reason why this version of Anakin reflects patience.

Many previous versions of Anakin have featured low health and aggressive abilities - for example, Anakin (E) can boost his own power by 5, but at the cost of doing 2 damage to his already delicate 4 health and Anakin (L) can also boost his power by paying Force. But Anakin (O) breaks a trend of aggression by being the first version to have two defensive abilities. Don't worry though - Anakin isn't straying too far from his angry roots, seeing as one of those defensive abilities is Deflect.

Viewing Anakin (O)'s stats and abilities, he's a solid unit. At 7 build, he's a moderately priced Character, and with 6 health and 2 defensive abilities, he should be able to stay around long enough to be worth his build cost.

Possibly the best thing about Anakin (O) is his high speed. Since the Dark Side wins ties for speed, many of your 50 speed Characters will be attacked - and possibly discarded - before they get a chance to fight back. With 60 speed and the ability to stack, Anakin should be one of the first Characters to attack.

Also, 7 power is not something to be trifled with. The highest power of any previous version of Anakin is 7, so this version fits in nicely. Quad-stacked, this Anakin will have 90 speed and 10 power!
Though Anakin's health is less than his build cost at 6, with his two "patient" defensive abilities, he can last longer than other 6 health units would.

The distinctive feature of Anakin (O) that sets him apart from his other versions is his patience. This version of Anakin is based on the scene in Revenge of the Sith where Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Chancellor Palpatine are imprisoned within a ray shield aboard the Invisible Hand. Faced with what to do, Anakin suggests patience. Very out of character for Anakin, his two defensive abilities are as well.

The two abilities that Anakin (O) has are Pay 1 Force -> Evade 1 and Pay 3 Force -> Deflect 1. Neither of the abilities is game-changing, but both are useful. Anakin's small Evade can help avoid the distraction of smaller and units as well as softening the blow from larger units. Since the Evade costs only 1 Force, it is feasible to use it multiple times (depending on how many times Anakin is attacked) in the same turn. Anakin's Deflect is somewhat expensive, but Deflect is an excellent ability. For 3 Force, which isn't too much in a good deck that can gather Force easily, Anakin can not only prevent 1 damage to himself (helping him last longer), but he can send that damage to another unit. Since Deflected damage cannot be intercepted, Deflect can be vital when playing against certain deck types. The Deflect is also useful against smaller units - Anakin's Deflect can discard units such as the Blizzard Force Snowtrooper or the Kouhun!

All in all, Anakin Skywalker (O) is a solid unit. As one of the highest costing versions so far (no Anakin unit has exceeded 7 build), when Anakin (O) contests with Darth Vader you'll be able to save a little bit on Force. Also, his high speed, strong stats, and two prevention abilities make him a unit that can help you hold the Character arena a bit longer. He is a great unit to be able to keep in a stack and pull out when you need him. With other cards from the Fall of the Republic, Anakin Skywalker may very well be a major Light Side Character, making Anakin (O) a great card to put in a Light Side deck.

In the FOTR set you can look forward to 3 Anakin Skywalker unit cards, one of them Neutral!!

With just over a week till the release of the Fall of the Repulic expansion, we have one more special Spoiler for you. Check back on Friday to see the one unit everyone has been requesting since the Revenge of the Sith expansion came out.

Thoughts or comments? Visit the message board thread for this article here.

About the Author
Clay has been a player and collector of the game since its release. He is currently the Research and Accuracy Workgroup Leader for the IDC Card Development Sub-committee. Clay is also a moderator and member of Rebelbasers.com and posts under the name Unduli.