With the release of the Invasion of Naboo expansion approaching, Trade Federation decks may soon return to the meta. With this in mind, I've been looking at Trade Federation units to place in a TF deck and I found the Separatist Buzz Droid. There is a lot to like about this card. For starters, it is very cheap. In a Trade Federation Deck, cheap can easily mean free with the number of TF Build reduction units. So this means that we can deploy it for minimal cost by using Nute Gunray (C) and Trade Federation Hanger. Secondly, it has a great tap ability for dealing damage against Starfighters with Armor or Lucky. However, that is not what I like the most about this card. It's the second ability that I really like:

"Discard this unit -> Discard an astromech droid from the Space arena. Play only when this unit would attack."

R2-D2 (J) is an incredibly powerful unit, which causes problems to any Dark side player. Between R2's damage removal and Lucky 3, he is a big problem. Partnered with Nym (A), starfighters can become tanks. Without R2-D2 (J), the fighter will become much easier to deal with.

Because the Separatist Buzz Droid has to attack before it can activate it's abilites, speed is an issue. Although 60 speed is high, Azure Angel pilot decks are partial to Starfighter Modifications. Between this and the Azure Angel (B)'s bonus from equipment, Azure Angel (B) will likely hit first. However, a Trade Federation deck will run Nute Gunray (C), so Nute will get one of his fighters, like the tried and true Droid Starfighter DFS-1VR, to intercept. Trade Federation decks are a swarm deck, so I don't believe that there will be too much of a problem sacrificing a fighter, especially if it stops R2-D2 (J). When has Trade Federation struggled with the Discard pile? When they use cards like Hatch a Clone or Take the Initiative. In a Trade Federation deck, you will have spent nothing to get those cards up, and your opponent will have spent 3 on R2-D2 (J). That is a pretty good value for the cost.

I believe that Separatist Buzz Droid is going to become very useful when ION is released.

Nute Gunray (E). This Trade Federation unit will soon strike fear in the hearts of your opponents when he hits the table. For one build point, one of your Trade Federation units can tap and do X damage (where X is half of that units power). Powerful enough for many of the Trade Federation units with 3-4 power, but extremely powerful for any of the large build Trade Federation core ships, such as Trade Federation Control Core. Now, how do you maximize that damage?

This weeks COTW, Hoth Battle Plains, will do just that. Introduced in the Empire Strikes Back expansion, it never saw much play because it gave both you and your opponent the opportunity to do double damage. But now, with Nute Gunray (E), this damage (and subsequent double damage) can be inflicted during the Build step. And with A Bigger Fish or Furious Charge, you can give your Trade Federation Control Core Overkill. Or better yet, play Battle Droid Division (instead of the Trade Federation Control Core) because it has a built in Overkill ability.

To gain build points, play Death Star II (D) and your Trade Federation units will be decimating the Light side Ground units all day long.