AT-OT
By Brian Weeks
Friday, February 29th, 2008

Republic units are about to get a "boost" from many of the new cards to be released in the Republic At War expansion. One such card was previewed today, Chancellor Palpatine (I). And one of the many cards that will benefit is the AT-OT, which was from the Fall of the Republic expansion. Let's take a look at how AT-OT will benefit.

AT-OT, at 6/40/4/5, also has the abilities of Armor and Critical Hit 1. But with Chancellor Palpatine (I), AT-OT can benefit you by costing 1 less build (through Palptine's build reduction ability) or through Palpatine's Reserve's, AT-OT would bump up to 6/40/6/5, Armor and Critical Hit 2. This would make AT-OT a pretty hardy unit for just general attacks or even for various Stealth units.

Another great addition to AT-OT would be Chewbacca (J). Chewbacca, as a walker pilot, would give AT-OT the additional abilities of: +10 speed, Accuracy 1 and "Pay 2 Force -> Retaliate 4". Wow. What a powerhouse. There may be more additional Republic units and/or Walker pilots in Republic At War. We'll have to wait until March 14th to see what the set may hold.

Orn Free Taa (A)
By Oren Weiss
Friday, February 22nd, 2008

Stealth: It seems to be a common theme in most of my COTW articles. I feel like Stealth's biggest benefit is that it forced players to search for new and interesting ways to beat it, allowing for cards once considered old and unplayable to be born a new. One such card that has been reborn in this manner is Orn Free Taa (A).

In today's meta, Orn Free Taa (A) is considered an infinitely useful unit. For 8 build, you get a neutral unit with 10 speed, 3 power, and 5 health. Pretty terrible, especially considering you can get considerably better stats for 8 build. However, as always, the ability makes it all worthwhile: Tap, Pay 1 build point -> Choose one of your opponent's units. Tap that unit. Play only during your build step. Whenever a unit attacks Orn, prevent all damage that unit would do to Orn this turn unless your opponent taps one of his or her untapped Characters. Orn's political power evident through his ability renders Stealth near completely useless. Not only does the Twi’Lek Senator work against Stealth wonderfully your opponent must tap at least 2 units to get a chance of damaging him!

Orn is most commonly used in build gain decks, alongside build gain units like Imperial Banker, San Hill (A), Pirate Swoop, and the Death Star II (D). Orn can also be used in conjunction with Jabba the Hutt (C). Whenever your opponent tries to attack another unit, you can just have Orn intercept, forcing your opponent to tap 2 units if they want to damage Orn. When facing any character tank decks, this strategy is really useful. Orn, unfortunately, has many enemies. Any unit that has unpreventable damage (like Darth Vader (R) and Luke Skywalker (S)), can place damage counters (like Darth Sidious (E)), or can get unpreventable damage through Vendetta or Meet your Destiny will destroy Orn fairly quickly. Though precautions can be made to account for these units, it's still something one must consider when building a deck with Orn.

But, even though Orn can be countered, he is still very powerful, and every deck builder should consider putting Orn in their decks.

Jedi Command
By Brian Weeks
Friday, February 15th, 2008

The upcoming Republic At War expansion will definitely introduce more Jedi units to the game. Players must then go back through previous sets and find any "hidden jewels" that may help in their deck. Today's COTW, Jedi Command, may be just that card.

Jedi Command, released in the Fall of the Republic expansion, is a Battle card with the text: Pay 4 Force-> Choose an arena. Each of your non-unique units in that arena gets +2 power until end of turn. Play only if you have a unique Jedi in that arena. While fairly pricey at 4 Force, this card can be a great boost to Jedi/Clone Swarm decks.

With the recent RAW preview, Skywalker's Battle Forces (A), you can fulfill the unique Jedi requirement of the card and give all your swarm starfighters a +2 power boost. ARC Fighter, Jedi Interceptor and Delta Six Jedi Starfighter are just a few of the units that could take advantage of this power boost.

Keep an eye out for other units that may benefit from Jedi Command in the new IDC expansion, Republic At War.

Nos Monster
By Brian Weeks
Friday, February 8th, 2008

One of the Scavanger Hunt Revealed cards, Underwater Tactics, has the potential to add some "umph" to your Aquatic Creature Decks. And with today's Card of the Week, Nos Monster, this "umph" becomes even more painful for your opponent.

Nos Monster, released in the Revenge of the Sith expansion, was a below average creature at best when it was released. At 3/20/4/4 and ability of "This unit gets +30 speed as long as there is an Aquatic Location in play.", the unit saw little play. But now, with Underwater Tactics, it's an incredible unit. Underwater Tactics, which has the game text of "Each of your Aquatic units gets +2 power and Critical Hit 1 until end of turn." would now make Nos Monster a 3/20/6/4 with Critical Hit 1. And if you have an Aquatic location in play, 3/50/6/4 with Critical Hit 1.

There are several Aquatic units available now and there may be more once Republic At War is released. A good Location that would complement this unit would be Utapua Sinkhole. It makes each Ground unit lose 1 power and 10 speed unless it's a Creature or Aquatic and, because of its Aquatic type, would give Nos Monster the +30 speed boost.

There are many other units that would work well with Nos Monster and Underwater Tactics; Malakili (A), Vicious Attack and Wampa Cave just to name a few. I look foward to seeing the new creature decks that appear because of this one new Mission card.

Trade Federation MTT
By Brian Weeks
Friday, February 1st, 2008

The new preview card today, B2 Super Battle Droid, from the Republic At War expansion, has the ability to deploy from your hand at the beginning of the Character battle step. A great way to get the B2 into your hand is by using today's COTW, Trade Federation MTT.

Trade Federation MTT, from the The Phantom Menace Expansion, has, in the past, been present in most Trade Federation swarm dekcs. I have a feeling that it will be making frequent appearances again in those decks.

Not only does the Trade Federation MTT have Armor, but has the ability "When you deploy this unit, you may search your deck for up to 3 Trade Federation Droid cards, show them to your opponent, and put them into your hand. Then shuffle your deck." For a six build investment, the ability to draw three cards (usually cheap, swarm units), is pretty decent. And with 10 speed, 4 power and 4 health, it could prove to be annoyance for any Stealth units out in the Ground arena.

The Trade Federation MTT has a Trade Federation Droid Transport subtype, so this unit can take advantage of such build reduction cards like Separatist Headquarters and Nute Gunray (C). And don't forget C-9979. This Transport will allow you to search your deck and draw out your Trade Federation MTT's. Look into the other Trade Federation and Separatist cards and ready yourself for the next IDC expansion, Republic At War.