Old Rules Don't Apply Here
by Cody Barnett

Across the expanse of space, the furious battle rages. Capital ships - large, lumbering beasts of burden - continue to rip each other apart, exchanging furious turbolaser blows until there is nothing left but scrap and metal, dilapidated detritus. Nimble starfighters weave through the chaos, adding their own firepower to the fray.

Above the unknown moon of Endor, the climax of the Galactic Civil War is slowly unfolding in a bloody game of life and death. Winner take all. This week we introduce two new preview cards that make up the latest IDC expansion Battle of Endor.

The first card we are going to examine is B-wing Squadron. This new Space card from Battle of Endor features a decent build cost, especially when compared to the hefty 50 speed, 6 power, and 5 health the card spots. On top of that, the card also features a mechanic previously seen on popular cards such as the Virago (A) and IG-2000 (A). At the beginning of the Space battle step, the Light Side player will have the option of either Accuracy 1 or Shields 1 for the Squadron. This puts the player at a great advantage - they can either attack viciously and thus go offensive with the Accuracy 1 or hold the arena and stay defensive with Shields 1.

The B-wing Squadron is also a Rebel, making it able to gain benefits from cards such as Mon Mothma (A) and Yavin Base. Imagine this card with 8 power and Accuracy 2! Very few Dark Side Space cards could hold against the might of such a unit. B-wing Squadron will make a great replacement for X-wing Red Squadron in the typical Rebel deck.

Equipment is still fairly new to the game. Few in number and in play, it has become the underdog of all the cards. Battle of Endor looks to change that and in several ways! The set features a whopping twenty Equipment cards. The particular one we've decided to enlighten you on is Hold-out Blaster.

One of the first things that should be noted about Hold-out Blaster is that it changes the current rules on not one but two issues. First, it allows Ground Pilots to gain benefits from the card. This makes it a perfect Equipment for decks that take advantage of Wedge Antilles (B) and Luke Skywalker (K). Not only does it bend the previous rule for equipment, but it also does something equally outstanding. Hold-out Blaster gives Pilots the opportunity to get into the fight while Piloting units instead of sitting idle. With an attached Hold-out Blaster, the Pilot is treated as a Ground unit and can thus attack and be attacked. Its text and subtype are suddenly applicable again, allowing it to gain bonuses
from Battle cards as well as other units. Best of all, it gives you one more card to help push for the Ground arena, all at the cheap price of 1 build and an Equip cost of discarding the top card of your deck. Hold-out Blaster works in perfect combination with Luke Skywalker (K). If you play your cards right, you can get a total of 3 attacks in the Ground arena and 1 attack in the Character using only three cards!

As if this weren't enough, this piece of Equipment also has benefits on a Pilot in the Character arena. Hold-out Blaster gives Pilots in the Character arena the option of attacking Pilots that are on units in the Ground arena. This helps Dark Side tremendously - now you'll have a chance to pick at Wedge Antilles (B) from the safe distance of the Character arena.

With the release of Battle of Endor, the entire gameplay will be turned upside down. The revival of old decktypes will have players thinking twice about what they put into their deck. Several new concepts and tricks will be introduced that will go against everything the game has previously dealt with.

Six cards down and four to go, so far we have seen Space, Ground, Character, Battle, Equipment and Location cards. Join us next week as we preview the a famous Jedi and his elegant weapon.

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