Drawn to Change
By Clay O'dell

If there is one thing representative of Scum and Villainy in the galaxy, it would have to be Tatooine. A backwater planet covered in dry, scorched desert; it offers neither attraction to tourists or respite for lost travelers. This ball of scum and villainy has its own hotspots of unsavory places, ranging from illegal game arenas to sand-strewn cantinas to disreputable stores.

The shop of Watto, the Toydarian, is no exception with its dirty counters, dingy interior, and disorganized scrapyard. Surprisingly, Watto’s disorderly backyard translates into a useful Location for the Star Wars Trading Card Game.

Inspiration
The idea for the text on Watto’s Scrapyard was inspired by the Fall of the Republic card Last Hope. A seemingly innocuous Mission, in the correct deck, Last Hope could easily be abused. The IDC Rules Sub-committee issued an errata toning down the card significantly, but the original intent for the card was something that Card Development wanted to revisit.

Card Development did not want to simply copy and paste Last Hope’s text onto a new card, so we went in a new direction with the drawing mechanic. First of all, the new fulfillment for drawing was met by the discarding of a Ground unit instead of a Character unit. Secondly, it changed from a one-turn Mission to a game-long Location. Since Watto’s Scrapyard is a Ground Location, it focuses directly on the arena it’s played in, helping to keep your Ground arena full.

The final wording on Watto’s Scrapyard was only slightly different from the original submission. Rules cleaned up the wording a little bit, but the intent on the card was the same, an accurate reflection of the fixed wording for Last Hope.

With its game text of drawing a card when one of your Ground units is discarded, it can perhaps help with replacing your recently discarded Ground unit, but most of all can help with drawing.

A Change for the Better In development, Watto’s Scrapyard suffered a unique problem – a problem with the Graphic Design side of the card. Normally, Rules or Playtesting will bring up problems with cards that Card Development then corrects, but for once Graphic Design had to step in and request a change.

Originally, Watto’s Scrapyard had the same game text, but a different name. It was called Ord Mantell Junkyard, with a complementary flavor text about Dash Rendar’s fight with IG-88. Unfortunately, Graphic Design was not able to find a useable image for the card, so they requested us to either change the name or scrap the card entirely.

We tossed around ideas for a new name, mostly revolving around Tatooine areas. Ord Mantell Junkyard was just one of many changes made in the set. Several cards were merged, changed, or replaced entirely. We had quite a scrap heap of cards to look back on, so in a spark of tongue-in-cheek, Card Development settled on Watto’s Scrapyard and came up with some new flavor text to match the name. Graphic Design found an excellent image for the card, and everyone was well pleased with the final result.

All in all, we were happy with the way Watto’s Scrapyard ended up as a playable card with a fun history to look back over.

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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.