I'm planning to play a game of epic this weekend for the first time. I'll be playing imperial, and my friend will be playing rebels including his shiny new GR-75. With the introduction of all the new stress dealing abilities I may be facing -- R3-A2, flechette torpedoes, and the GR-75's jamming ability -- I decided Captain Yorr might be a useful addition to my squad. Yorr's interaction with R3-A2 and the torpedo are quite obvious. His interaction with jamming has left me a bit confused as to the exact way it should function.

Yorr: "When another friendly ship at Range 1-2 would receive a stress token, if you have 2 or fewer stress tokens, you may receive that token instead."

Jam: "The GR-75's Ship card shows the (jam) action icon; this allows it to perform the JAM action. To do so, choose one enemy ship at Range 1-2 and assign it stress tokens until it has a total of two stress tokens."

The question is, in exactly what sequence do these two effects interact with each other?

A) This sequence is the way I intuitively feel the rules should work, but I'm not sure it is correct.

1) GR-75 jams the TIE fighter.

2) The TIE fighter has no stress to begin. Jam assigns 1 stress to TIE fighter.

3) Jam assigns 1 more stress to TIE fighter to total 2 stress.

4) Captain Yorr has no stress to begin. Yorr redirects first stress from TIE fighter to himself.

5) Yorr redirects second stress from TIE fighter to himself.

6) The TIE ends the Jam action with zero stress and Yorr ends the action with 2 stress.

B) This sequence kind of feels like it follows the rules more to the letter, but the outcome doesn't feel like the intent of the rules in my opinion.

1) GR-75 jams the TIE fighter.

2) TIE fighter has no stress. Jam assigns 1 stress to TIE fighter.

3) Yorr has no stress and decides to intercept the stress from the TIE. Yorr: 1, TIE: 0

4) TIE fighter has no stress. Jam assigns 1 stress to TIE fighter.

5) Yorr intercepts the stress. Yorr: 2, TIE: 0

6) TIE fighter has no stress. Jam assigns 1 stress to TIE fighter.

7) Yorr intercepts the stress. Yorr: 3, TIE: 0

8) TIE fighter has no stress. Jam assigns 1 stress to the TIE fighter.

9) Yorr can't do anything because he has more than 2 stress. Yorr: 3, TIE 1

10) TIE fighter has one stress. Jam assigns 1 stress to the TIE fighter.

11) Yorr still can't do anything because he has 3 stress. Final stress: Yorr: 3, TIE 2

My inclination is to play the Jam / Yorr interaction according to sequence A until I hear something different. Sequence B kind of feels like it follows the rules more to the letter by handling the stress on at a time to completion until the Jam action is complete. To me, it just feels like the jam completely overpowers / nullifies Yorr's usefulness in this situation and may not have been the intent of the rules.

I actually feel like it follows B, and may actually be intended. The action is intended to stress out a ship in totality, and may be designed to do so even in the face of Yorr.

I feel like it must operate this way, as Yorr nabs the tokens "instead" and the ship very specifically says to assign tokens until it has 2. If Yorr functioned by taking tokens after they had been assigned, instead of as they were assigned, I'd think it'd follow A more, but as it stands, B seems only logical, if a bit sad for good sir Yorr. I also say this as I tend to follow things as written, and not try to interpret intent/spirit of the rules, unless a FAQ comes along and explains things as such.

That said, Yorr is still strong in epic. You are correct that flechettes and R3-A2 will see a lot of play, and he also allows more liberal use of PTL.

Seems like B is the way it works.

Interestingly enough this can work out a few different ways because of the phrase: you may receive that token instead. The word may indicates you have a choice in the matter, but as you will see the options are NOT good for the imperial player

The other rub is that the TIE gets the stress token OR Yorr takes it instead. The TIE never has procession of the token if Yorr intercepts it. Unfortunately the jam action only ends when the TIE has accepted 2 stress tokens. I really wanted a scenario where the TIE ends with 1 stress and Yorr also ends with 1 stress but its not possible because Yorr's ability always resolves before the Jam action checks for completion.

I believe these are all the possible outcomes:

A)

1) GR-75 jams the TIE fighter.

2) The TIE fighter has no stress to begin. Jam assigns 1 stress to TIE fighter. (Yorr: 0, TIE: 1)

3) Jam assigns 1 more stress to TIE fighter. (Yorr: 0, TIE 2)

4) The TIE ends the Jam action. (Yorr: 0, TIE 2)

B)

1) GR-75 jams the TIE fighter.

2) The TIE fighter has no stress to begin. Jam assigns 1 stress to TIE fighter. (Yorr: 0, TIE: 1)

3) Jam tries to assign 1 more stress to TIE fighter to total 2 stress. (Yorr: 0, TIE: 2)

4) Captain Yorr has no stress to begin. Yorr opts to intercept the stress from TIE fighter to himself. (Yorr: 1, TIE: 1)

5) Jam assigns 1 more stress to TIE fighter to total 2 stress. (Yorr: 1, TIE: 2)

6) The TIE ends the Jam action. (Yorr: 1, TIE 2)

D)

1) GR-75 jams the TIE fighter.

2) The TIE fighter has no stress to begin. Jam assigns 1 stress to TIE fighter. (Yorr: 0, TIE: 1)

3) Jam tries to assign 1 more stress to TIE fighter to total 2 stress. (Yorr: 0, TIE: 2)

4) Captain Yorr has no stress to begin. Yorr opts to intercept the stress from TIE fighter to himself. (Yorr: 1, TIE: 1)

5) Jam tries to assign 1 more stress to TIE fighter to total 2 stress. (Yorr: 1, TIE: 2)

6) Yorr opts to intercept the stress from TIE fighter to himself. (Yorr: 2, TIE: 1)

7) Jam tries to assign 1 more stress to TIE fighter to total 2 stress. (Yorr: 2, TIE: 2)

8) Yorr opts to intercept the stress from TIE fighter to himself. (Yorr: 3, TIE: 1)

9) Jam assigns 1 more stress to TIE fighter to total 2 stress. (Yorr: 3, TIE: 2)

10) The TIE ends the Jam action. (Yorr: 3, TIE 2)

I do believe that all the responses are correct. Lorr simply isn't the all-purpose anti-stress Band-Aid that I want him to be.

We already know he can't help with opportunist or prevent Soontir Fel from taking stress while still taking advantage of his ability. Apparently, he is also of no use to counter jamming.

I guess on the bright side, there are quite a number of things he can help with:

Push the Limit

Expert Handling

Daredevil

Frequency Jammer

R3-A2

Flechette Torpedoes

Rebel Captive (why on earth would this affect an imp. shooting at the rebel captive in the first place?)

Kath Scarlet

Red maneuvers (including K-turn shenanigans)

This is not a comprehensive list -- just what I pulled from the top of my head. I guess the only real question is whether or not his ability in countering these effects is worth the cost of including him in the list.

I would say probably not in the course of a standard game, but in epic play? Probably.

Not only do you have more room to experiment with, but you also increase the chances of having uses for him by using more PTL, executing more red maneuvers, and by increasing the odds of your opponent having ways to "stress you out".