Orbital Star Destroyer
By downed battle droid
Friday, March 30th, 2007

Early on in the history of the Star Wars Trading Card Game, speed was of essence. If you had faster units, you were bound to win.

With the induction of Stealth, however, having the fastest unit wasn't always the best choice, as those pesky Stealth units proceeded to simply thwart the attack and bide their time for striking.

Orbital Star Destroyer allows you to slow down your opponent's Light Side space force, with the exception of Stealth enabled units. With four copies of the Orbital Star Destroyer in your deck, you can revert to the old days and merrily drag your opponent's stacked Luke's X-Wing or Millennium Falcon to their doom. The speed deduction to opposing space units will allow your small intercepting units to get a hit in first before their protecting sacrifice. With the latest version of Luke's X-Wing, version (E), an extra hit or two will often find welcome! Orbital Star Destroyer isn't unique, so multiple copies can be played at a time unlike the countering R2-D2 (G).

In the next set, Battle of Endor, we can be sure to see a few more Imperial units that can ensure the Dark Side's victory over the infamous LXW or MF once and for all... in the space arena in the form of Imperial starfighters supporting their new Imperial Capital ships and in the character arena in the form of exciting, new Imperial Capital ship pilots.

Yavin Base
By Trent McCrow
Friday, March 23rd, 2007

Locations have changed the way the SWTCG is played. Until the game had locations, Missions and utility units were the only way to provide your units with a specific boost or provide you with another type of advantage. Missions only lasted one turn and utility units were very expensive. Locations however provided the balance between cost and an enduring effect.

The Location I want to focus your attention on this week is Yavin Base. As we draw closer and closer to the release of the IDC's latest set, Battle of Endor, we are going to feature cards that will tie in well with the yet to be released set. It would be a safe bet to assume that there are going to be at least some Rebel Space units in the BOE set and Yavin Base is a great card to boost your Rebel Space arena.

For 2 build you get a fairly simple location that doesn't do anything too special, but does provide something very useful. Each of your Rebel Space units gains 1 power and Critical Hit 1 as long as Yavin Base is in the Ground arena. At the moment Luke's X-Wing (E) is seeing a lot of play and this card can benefit it but it will also benefit cards such as Home One (A) and the rest of your Rebel space fleet.

With a large portion of the BOE set focusing on the space battle against the second Death Star, I'm hoping to see some A-Wings and some B-Wings as well as some decent Rebel Capitol Ships. If the IDC does give us what we expect, Yavin Base will be there to give your attack force a clear advantage!

Every time any SW:TCG player sits down to put together a deck, they look for that one card that will bring the theme of their deck together and create an unbeatable powerhouse. Sometimes players look for a card that most other players overlook so that they can surprise opponents with an unexpected move and proclaim their superiority.

This week's Card of the Week just might be that type of card. Luke's Wrath is a high risk, high reward kind of card. For only two force it can make a fully stacked Luke Skywalker an absolute damage dealing machine. Or how about a Luke Skywalker (K) after he has dropped off of a speeder and attack twice with Accuracy 2. Combine it with Cloud City Battleground and you can give Luke the Accuracy 2 for free! Then add in either A Bigger Fish or a See You in Hell and take down even your opponent's most powerful unit in one crushing blow!

However, the card's major drawback is that it only applies to Luke Skywalker, and is therefore only useful in a deck focusing around him. To date, Skywalker decks have not seen much play because there are simply better Character units to choose from. With the upcoming release of the IDC's third expansion, Battle of Endor, however; players are anticipating newer versions of Luke which will bring this mighty Jedi to the forefront. Just remember not to overlook this very useful card when putting together your own Luke deck. It may very well win you the game.

Rebel Scum
By Trent McCrow
Friday, March 9th, 2007

I want to bring to your attention my favorite battle card from Scum and Villainy, Rebel Scum. During my short stay in the Card Development department, during production of the SAV, I was playing a whole lot of Star Wars Battlefront and a phrase that stuck in my mind was the Imperials always cursing the Rebel Scum.

This battle card is a great addition to any deck especially with all the Luke X-wing decks going around at the moment. The ability to reduce your opponents attacking power is not something new or very exciting but it is a ton more effective then having to use evade. The way I look at it if you can reduce their attacking power you can seriously cripple their offense.

For just 1 Force you are able to lower a Rebels attack by 2 power, but for an extra 2 Force, a total of 3 Force, you can cripple most rebels entirely by reducing their power by 5! So whatever your strategy, Rebel Scum is a valuable addition to your deck. At the moment Luke's X-Wing (E) is hard to kill but if you can nullify it's offence you have a real chance!

Every time any SW:TCG player sits down to put together a deck, they look for that one card that will bring the theme of their deck together and create an unbeatable powerhouse. Sometimes players look for a card that most other players overlook so that they can surprise opponents with an unexpected move and proclaim their superiority.

With every set released there are certain cards that the public expects to see. With the upcoming release of the IDC's third expansion: Battle of Endor, this is no exception. One of those expected units is the all powerful Emperor Palpatine. While we eagerly wait what new incarnation of this wonderful unit the IDC will bring us, we take a look back at one of his earlier versions for the IDC's first expansion: Fall of the Republic.

Darth Sidious (H) is considered by most to be a classic "Beat Down" card. This means that he has enough sheer power to beat your opponent into submission. However, in the movies, Sidious was much more manipulative and cunning, and you can be too if you use him in conjunction with cards like Jedi Master's Meditation and Redoubled Effort.

Use Jedi Master's Meditation to tap Sidious during your build step for an additional 11 Force. Then when your opponent thinks he or she is safe to attack, activate Sidious' Retaliate ability and throw down Redoubled Effort to roll a whopping 8 Retaliate dice for the price of 2 Force. If you're lucky, you may even do enough damage to trigger Sidious' untap ability as well. Now your opponent is REALLY in trouble! Give this old school version of the Emperor a try in your Dark Side decks, and be sure to keep him in mind when the new school versions are released on May 2nd!