Behind the Card - Chewbacca's Ewok Squad (A)
by Len Fowler

The Battle of Endor set provided a number of challenges for the Rules Sub-Committee. Not the least of which was Chewbacca's Ewok Squad (A). For this unit card selection by Card Development, our favorite Wookiee and intrepid little band of Ewoks steal an Imperial Scout Walker. Though not Piloting the stolen unit itself, Chewbacca's Ewok Squad, instead, allows any of your Pilots to "steal" an opponent's Ground unit that it can Pilot until end of turn. This ability was originally submitted to the Rules Sub-Committee as:

Tap -> Choose one of your Pilots and one of your opponent's units that your Pilot can Pilot. Gain control of that unit and put your Pilot on it. If it is tapped, untap it. When the Ground battle step ends, return that Pilot to the Character arena tapped.

The wording seems all pretty straightforward. The "theft" is accommodated by taking control of the unit. The effect then allows the Pilot to move during the battle step, since the ability is played during battle. If the unit was already tapped, you can untap it in order to attack with it. Once the Ground battle step end, the Pilot is returned to the Character arena and tapped (that's only fair, isn't it?).

Unfortunately, there were a number of loose ends involved. The first two sentences of the effect only specified units, but not any particular zone or arena. This means that the effect would allow you to move a Pilot from any zone or arena to one of your opponent's units it can Pilot in any zone or arena. This seemed much too broad, considering what actually happened in the movie, plus there were a large number of gameplay considerations to take into account for this. Another problem, as written, was that the chosen unit might already have a Pilot on it. Instead of creating an issue within the game for what would happen if two Pilots under different control attempted to Pilot the unit, we decided to ensure that it couldn't readily happen. One might say that "one of your opponent's unit that your Pilot can Pilot" covers not only the type of unit it can Pilot, but also multiple Pilot situations. However, Rules tries to remove the ambiguity from such situations.

Moving along, the third sentence states "If it is tapped, untap it." This is also ambiguous in the context of the effect. If what is tapped? The Pilot or the unit the player gained control of? That needed to be specified.

In the final sentence of the effect, the Pilot is returned to the Character arena tapped. Fair enough. However, we had another ambiguity: What happens to the unit that was stolen? The Rulebook states that continuous effects with no given duration last until end of turn. Players could properly assume that control of the stolen unit returned to its owner when the battle phase ends. Otherwise, it could be improperly assumed that the unit was taken control of permanently.

Here's how we fixed the problems. First, we specified that the Pilot and Ground unit each be in an arena, specified there not be a preexisting Pilot on the Ground unit, and that the subtype was proper:

Choose one of your opponent's units with no Pilot on it in the Ground arena, and one of your Pilots in the Character arena that can Pilot the chosen unit's subtype.

Next we fixed the "If it is tapped…" statement to be specific to the unit. Finally, we included a statement in the last sentence of the effect to include returning control of the Ground unit to the player's opponent when the Ground battle step ends:

When the Ground battle step ends, return that Pilot to the Character arena tapped, and your opponent gains control of that unit.

The end result:

Tap -> Choose one of your opponent's units with no Pilot on it in the Ground arena, and one of your Pilots in the Character arena that can Pilot the chosen unit's subtype. Gain control of that unit and move that Pilot onto it. If the unit is tapped, untap it. When the Ground battle step ends, return that Pilot to the Character arena tapped, and your opponent gains control of that unit.

Yay! We're finished… or so we thought. Near the very end of production on Battle of Endor, we realized there was a loophole in the ability that unraveled a lot of that ambiguity we were trying to avoid. Return of control of the "stolen" unit was once again left open to interpretation, as was the status of the Pilot on it. Since this activated ability can be played anytime during battle, it could also be played during the Character battle step IF Chewbacca's Ewok Squad (A) was somehow untapped after the Ground battle step concluded. The trigger "When the Ground battle step ends…" wouldn't go off again this turn, and the player would have control of their opponent's Ground unit with their own Pilot on it until end of turn. Then we get back to the players properly interpreting what would happen.

Quickly, Rules offered a number of fixes to the IDC sub-committees involved. Card Development and Play-testing would need to evaluate the scope of the changed effect. Graphical Design would need to evaluate the impact of additional wording, as the game text box was already full. The first fix was to ensure the activated ability was only played before the Ground battle step ends. This could be stated at the very end of the ability any number of ways:

• Play only during your build step.
• Play only when the Ground battle step starts.
• Play only before the Ground battle step starts this turn.

Another option, which became the chosen option, was to change when the Pilot moved back and unit control was returned. So, we have the final version as now shown on the card:

Tap -> Choose one of your opponent's units with no Pilot on it in the Ground arena, and one of your Pilots in the Character arena that can Pilot the chosen unit's subtype. Gain control of that unit and move that Pilot onto it. If the unit is tapped, untap it. When the Character battle step ends, return that Pilot to the Character arena tapped, and your opponent gains control of that unit.

As you can see, this was just one card among the 181 cards in the Battle of Endor set the Rules Sub-Committee validated against current rules and precedent. Something that really makes Rules out to be the "bad guy" within the IDC is how we are sometimes given, short, implicity understood effect text, and oft times turn it into long, drawn out effect text to cover all the appropriate bases and eliminate ambiguity. In my next article, learn about the evolution of Fel's TIE Interceptor (A)'s unique ability from its "You Make the Card" winning submission to final incarnation.

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