Fall of the Republic: Design Notes - Part 1a
Individual Card Design
By Brian Weeks
IDC Card Development Chair on FOTR

Now that you know about how the Card Development Sub-committee developed the set, I will share my personal vision for this first IDC set and how closely the Card Development Sub-committee stayed within that vision. I'll also discuss some of my favorite cards and the cards that "almost were" but didn't quite make the cut.

My Vision List
Before the set really even began development, but after the expansion them was decided upon, I sat down and wrote down some thoughts on what card types I would like to see in the set. These were just my wishes, my vision list, and as CD Chair, I was able to make them a possibility. In this predetermined list, I concluded that the following card types would and could, make a balanced and exceptionally fun expansion set.

FOTR Card Type Possibilities
The BIG 4 (these were must haves)
General Grievous
Ubër Jedi (Anakin, Obi-Wan)
Clones
Wookiee's

Other
Assorted Jedi (Jedi who haven't been previously created)
Creatures
Diplomats
Droids
Pilots
Separatists
Utapaun's

I think FOTR follows this theme pretty well. Balanced and varied. And, if I can say so myself, I really think this first set is an example of how all the WOTC and IDC sets should be. It introduces cards of varying subtypes and deck styles so everybody can have fun playing their favorite deck.

The Big 4
These were the cards I thought must be included.

General Grievous
General Grievous was an obvious choice. Fans would have gone ballistic if he wasn't included. We had always planned for four Grievous' units. But, the pilot General Grievous (D) wasn't added until about 4 weeks before the release date. Not knowing when the IDC would once again visit the ROTS timeline, I felt it was necessary to add this unit. Though developed in about a week, I'm pretty happy with the resulting unit.

Ubër Jedi
Having Ubër Jedi was also a must. Many players complained about the lack of a high-build Anakin or Obi-Wan from the ROTS expansion. So I knew we needed to provide. I wanted to have an Obi-Wan and a dark side Anakin (aka Darth Vader) reflecting the final battle between these two 'brothers'. Easy to accomplish and both were designed to reflect their strengths. Obi-Wan (O) was equipped with his Parry and Darth Vader (T) with his powerful Retaliate.

But what about a high build light side Anakin? To produce this, CD had to temporarily break our set vision and step forward to the beginning of the movie. The only previous time Anakin was shown to be powerful and not a Sith, was at the beginning of ROTS when battling Dooku. Thus, Anakin Skywalker (N) was created. At 10 build, 50/8/7, Lucky 2, Evade 3 and additional damage prevention, Anakin (N) is a unit I think we'll see a lot in constructed decks and I hope the fans like it.

A Darth Sidious in his prime was also a necessity. Darth Sidious (H) definitely shows his power. Though expensive at 11 build, this unit is more than worth the cost with stats at 60/7/7, Evade X, Retaliate 4 and an untap ability. This is another card I think could see a lot of time in Jedi/Force Drain decks.

Clones
Next to the inclusion of Grievous, the Clones were the second most important part of this expansion. During development, CD had developed all of the major clone officers and multiple clone units. Out of the 30+ that were developed only about 15 made it to the set. This expansion also added the subtype 'Clone' to the Space arena. My belief was that it should be the next logical step in the subtype progression. There was some initial debate, but the subtype eventually made it into the set.

One clone of steady debate was Delta Squad (A). While the initial reaction was a definite 'no way', I was able to talk my Workgroup Leaders into allowing it into the set. While a cool card by itself, my ulterior motive for including this card was to test players' reaction to having an 'artwork' card. I knew in future IDC expansions we could be including Expanded Universe (EU) cards. Some future sets may be based on all EU. Therefore the card images would have to include either artwork, CG, fan art, comic images or even drawings. So far there has not been too much negative response to this unit and its card image. I was very pleased with the quality of the image.

Wookiees
Last, but not least, we had to have Wookiees. Considering that the Battle of Kashyyyk was the battle shown for the most time and in the most detail than any other in Revenge of the Sith, it seemed only natural to include our favorite 'walking carpets'. Though not many unique Characters were introduced in Revenge of the Sith (Chewbacca and Tarfful), CD tried to balance out the units by adding more non-unique units in Ground and Character. The Wookiee units in FOTR are complementary to each other and I hope to see more Wookiees in future sets.

Other Units
Assorted Jedi
Many Jedi were listed in 'Preliminary Development List (PDL)'. But several, such as Mace Windu and Yoda, were created in the ROTS expansion. I wanted to see Jedi that hadn't been created previously and therefore decided not to include them. Stass Allie, Plo Koon and Zett Jukassa also made appearances in the PDL. But in the end, I think we presented the best choices with Luminara Unduli (A), Barriss Offee (A) and Cin Drallig (A).

Creatures
In order to facilitate some of the decks I've seen in the past, I thought we had an opportunity to introduce some new creatures and some units which give bonuses to creatures. Boga (A), Gelagrub and Lava Flea all make appearances in this set while Can-cell, Dactillion and Dragon Lizard were all cut from the final list. The creature pilot versions of Obi-Wan Kenobi (P) and the Star Corps Gelagrub Rider help individual creatures directly, while the Utapau Dragon Wranglers can help out indirectly by giving your creatures +10 speed.

Diplomats
There were so many diplomat units and diplomat affecting Battle and Mission cards that probably 75% of the ones that were developed were cut. But I really feel that we included the best ones in the set. Chancellor Palpatine (F), Mon Mothma (B), Sly Moore (A), and Preservation of Democracy are a few of my favorites. Of the diplomats that were cut, a Bail Organa speeder pilot, Garm Bel Iblis and a Loyalist Committee Ground unit were the most difficult to not include.

Droids
Of course we had to have droids. Some were similar cards that have been seen in previous sets, just renamed and 'buffed up' a bit. But some key units (and my two personal favorites) are the IG-100 and IG-101 Magnaguards. One shows its ability to keep fighting even after being discarded and the other shows off its bodyguard ability. Both are pretty cool cards.

Pilots
My favorite deck type incorporates pilots. And this set doesn't disappoint. Clone Pilot, General Grievous (D), Obi-Wan Kenobi (P) and the Star Corps Gelagrub Rider are all personal favorites. Units that didn't make the set included AT-TE Gunner, AT-TE Pilot, C-3PO (transport pilot) and Captain Raymus Antilles. I would really like to include these four in a future expansion.

Separatist
I knew that I would also like to incorporate this new subtype. Out of the 30+ Separatist units that were developed, 15 or so remained. I think we included the best units in this set. General Grievous, Invisible Hand (A), Po Nudo (A) and the various droid Space and Ground units are all excellent. Of the units that didn't make the set, most were rehashes of previous droid units and diplomats (I adamantly protested the addition of another Nute Gunray).

Utapaun's
Lastly, we sprinkled in a few Utapau units for good measure. You will probably never see an all Utapau deck, but Tion Medon (A) is already making appearances in some decks. Utapau units could also bring a resurgence of all Neutral decks. We'll just have to see.

In Conclusion
I really hope that you've enjoyed my two part diatribe on the development of FOTR. I tried to give you some insight on the development process and how much work was put into this project by all the members of the IDC. FOTR was created by players for players and I hope it shows.

Also, I enjoyed sharing some of my favorite FOTR cards with you and the cards that 'almost were'. Maybe Revenge of the Sith can be revisited in a few years so these orphaned cards can be made a reality. Keep playing the TCG and share the word!!!

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

About the Author
Brian Weeks (aka Skywlkr) has been playing the Star Wars TCG since its introduction at Celebration 2 in 2002. After playing the demo game and introducing it to RedneckJedi and Darthwalls, Team 'Dude Where's My Card' was created. He competed in three qualifiers, yet the closest he ever ranked was eighth. As a member on Rebelbasers, SWDuelist and a writer for the now defunct Diehard Online, he has tried to promote the game through information and interaction.

He is married, has a three year old son, is an architect, has been the Treasurer and Newsletter Editor for five years for JediOKC (an Oklahoma City based Star Wars Fan Club), was the IDC Card Development Chairperson for "Fall of the Republic" and is now the IDC Public Affairs Chairperson. Despite all that, he still has time to introduce the game to new players…KEEP THE GAME ALIVE.