Yoda (J) is a card most players are familiar, considering it is one of the most commonly used units in the entire game.For 6 build, you get a Light Side character with 40 speed, 5 power and health, Lucky 2, Pay 2 Force ---> Evade 2, and an ability that allows you to look at the top 4 cards of your deck and put one of them into your hand.

Yoda (J)'s abilities make it a very useful unit, despite the fact that its stats fall short of the other Yoda units. Because of its draw ability, Yoda (J) is one of the most powerful draw engines the Light Side player has at their disposal. With the Evade 2 and Lucky 2, Yoda (J) can easily survive 2 or 3 attacks, aiding the draw engine even more. And finally, it has some decent health, and it is likely to do 3-4 damage each attack.

Unfortunately, Yoda (J) has some enemies. Darth Vader (S), with his damage placing ability, can easily take down Yoda (J) with one attack, barely helping you draw the cards you need to win the game. Darth Sidious (E) and Lightsaber Throw present similar problems with their damage placing abilities.

So, even though it has its enemies, Yoda (J) is still one of the most useful units you can use in your decks, and I would suggest that you add at least 2 copies of this card to each of your Light Side decks.

In the days before Scum and Villainy, a deck that didn't revolve primarily around high speed found itself begging for mercy at the hands of its faster opponent. The general rule seemed to be that he who didn't attack first didn't attack at all. Pilot decks used by the Light Side serve as the epitome for this rule; a Piloted Millennium Falcon or Luke's X-wing would wipe the Space arena clean before the Dark Side player could so much as even blink. The Independent Development Committee's second set, Scum and Villainy, toppled this idea and turned the game on its head. The keyword Stealth was introduced, which prevented faster units from attacking the lower speed units that utilized Stealth's magnificent power. Light Side players found that they could no longer rely entirely upon the speed demons found in Luke's X-wing and the Millennium Falcon to win the Space arena; frantically, they scrambled for a cure to this ailment. What they found shocked them.

There are very few low speed Light Side Space units that would be able to survive in the current gameplay, but one old, nearly-obsolete card seemed to stick out more than the others. Republic Light Assault Cruiser, from the set Jedi Guardians, proved itself worthy to stand against the dark tide of Stealth and prevail for the Light Side. An average unit with a good stats-to-cost ratio, the Republic Light Assault Cruiser is a perfect addition to any deck worrying about running into the shadows of Stealth in the Space arena. Plus, only a fool would think that the Republic subtype - of which Republic Light Assault Cruiser sports - wouldn't benefit from the upcoming set, Clone Wars: Republic at War.

As mentioned before, Republic Light Assault Cruiser sports decent stats for its cost of 5 build. 4 power is enough to drop the Dark Side's Slave I (G), especially with the added Accuracy 1 that the card features. The card's health of 4 can also survive the patrol ship's onslaught when combined with the Shields 1 that is also present on the capital ship. Battle of Endor benefited the card with a new Capital Ship Pilot: Admiral Ackbar (B). Admiral Ackbar (B) can increase the Republic Light Assault Cruiser's Shields from 1 to 3. On top of that, he can add offensive firepower to your Rebel units by granting them Critical Hit 2 when attacking a Space unit of your choice. This can help you overrun your opponent's behemoth Death Star II (D) or even their Vader's TIE Fighter (C)

Altogether, Republic Light Assault Cruiser combines to form a solid, average unit that can be used both offensively and defensively. For any player looking for a good unit to add to their decklists, be sure to look into using the Republic Light Assault Cruiser!

In the coming weeks, as the IDC gears up for the release of it's fourth expansion, Republic At War, it would be prudent for players to go back to previous sets and explore the cards that have been released in other expansions. This is one such examination.

Released with the Fall of the Republic expansion, Po Nudo (A) didn't see much play at the time. The "Separatist" subtype was introduced in the Revenge of the Sith expansion and expanded upon in Fall of the Republic. But it still didn't see much play. Perhaps with this new expansion, it will.

With it ability reading:
"Tap --> Choose an arena. Remove one damage counter from each of your damaged Separatists in that arena. Play only during your build step."
it provides the opportunity to remove damage from your Separatists. This could be very helpful in "repairing" your droids before battle.

We may even see some new Separatist units that may benefit from this ability even more. And with Separatist Headquarters, this unit would cost one less build and be even more useful. With the RAW expansion release on the horizon, you should go back and look at these older cards and you might just find a gem for your new Trade Fed/Separatist deck.

Falcon's Needs is one of the most powerful and influential card in the game. Before it was restricted by WOTC to just one copy in each deck it, dominated the Meta and a deck that wasn't playing it wasn't winning. Even today, with usually a one in sixty chance of pulling it from your deck, it is still a great addition to your deck and changes the tone of the game when it is played. The Card of the Week follows the trend set by Falcon's Needs.

As you will read in the latest Behind the Cards article, the idea of ‘negative Equipment’ has been with the IDC since Scum and Villainy, but only emerged with the release of Battle of Endor. Almost all the Dark Side decks that have ever dominated the SWTCG Meta have been ‘control decks’. Force denial, build denial, card denial and even decks that block all 3 of your most important resources have seen the top of the charts when it comes to best Dark Side deck. Wristcuffs adds to the Dark Side player’s armada!

Just like Falcon's Needs, Wristcuffs adds an Upkeep to one of your opponent’s units. Thankfully the Upkeep is not as potent as the ability Falcon's Needs crippled your opponent with, but it is still a great deal. By spending two Build to Equip Wristcuffs to one of your opponent’s Characters, they must either tap that Character or pay 1 Force during their Upkeep step. It might not seem like much, but when your opponent is already strapped for resources it might be just the thing you need. Your opponent does have the option of paying 2 Build to make you remove the Wristcuffs from their Character, but yet again they have spent their valuable resources.

Because this card is Neutral the Light side can also benefit from Wristcuffs and for the Light Side player the benefits are greater! As the Dark Side player always goes first when they Equip a Light Side Character with Wristcuffs, the Light Side player has the opportunity to remove Wristcuffs the turn it was Equipped, but when the Light Side player equips a Dark Side Character that Character must remain ‘tied up’ until the Dark Side players next build step!

Wristcuffs is the first Equipment of its type and is valuable in almost any denial deck. Next time you want to control your opponent, why not try tying them up with some Imperial Wristcuffs!