Pilot (2). (While enhanced unit is participating in an engagement, an opponent cannot initiate card effects.)

What exactly are card effects?

Fate cards game text? Key words like targeted strike, protect etc.? Interrupts? How about cards that gain icons like Yoda, wookiee warrior etc.? What about Dash Rendar because that seems pretty crazy.

Thanks!

Almost everyone is a card effect outside of things in the flowchart in the rule book (meaning resolving combat icons is not a card effect).

Vader stops all of these which have a start point. That includes all triggered abilities (actions, reactions, interrupts), fate cards, and most relevant keywords (he doesn't stop edge and he can't stop shielding when defending because it happens before he enters the engagement).

Pilot (2). (While enhanced unit is participating in an engagement, an opponent cannot initiate card effects.)

What exactly are card effects?

As far as I know, Key Words, Actions, Reactions, Interrupts and Constant Effects (Always "on" powers) are all considered to be effects.

An important qualifier though is that LS cannot initiate Effects. this means that Constant Effects are not impacted (This includes constant (conditional) bonuses/penalties).

You would also still need to resolve Forced Reactions and Forced Interrupts, because you don't initiate those. (So Core Leia will still be Captured if she leaves play during an engagement where Pilot Vader participates)

I also don't think this impacts the effects of Fate cards since you don't initiate them, they are part of the framework, but I could be wrong there.

You will however be unable to use Keywords that are actively "triggered" like Protect, Shielding and Targeted Strike ... which makes Darth Vader very useful as an aggressor against Asteroid Base decks (unfortunately not as a defender, because the LS will already have used their Shielding when declaring attackers, before DS can declare defenders).

Almost everyone is a card effect outside of things in the flowchart in the rule book (meaning resolving combat icons is not a card effect).

Vader stops all of these which have a start point. That includes all triggered abilities (actions, reactions, interrupts), fate cards, and most relevant keywords (he doesn't stop edge and he can't stop shielding when defending because it happens before he enters the engagement).

Do you mean everything? What do you mean he doesn't stop edge? You mean the keyword Edge? If so, I disagree with you about Edge. Here is the text specifically from Col Serra: Edge (1). (While this unit is participating in an engagement, add 1 Force icon to your side during edge battles.) Why would this magically trigger when you declare an attacker? Seems like this only triggers when an edge battle is taking place.

What is your opinion about Yoda: This unit gains [unit Damage] for each point on the Death Star dial. OR Luke's Lightsaber: Enhanced unit gains [unit Damage] ([unit Damage]). Would I gain those combat icons?

Dash Rendar is similar but it seems like you trigger his abilities: While this unit is attacking alone, it gains [blast Damage] for each card in the defending player's hand. How about when you attack with two units and one dies and then does he "trigger?"

Edge(X) and the above examples of extra Combat Icons are constant effects (even though they are only relevant when combat icons are resolved) and thus are not initiated by the card's controller.

On the other hand, an effect like Rebel Red Five 's " [...] may assign its [blast Damage] damage to a target participating enemy unit instead of the engaged objective " is an Interrupt that needs to be activated.

Dash 's power is not triggered by the controller. A unit's Combat icons are only checked when you resolve the strike. At that moment, Dash 's constant effect will either give the bonus [blast] or not depending on your opponent's hand. And yes, when all units around him have left play before you resolve Dash 's combat icons, he's considered to be attacking alone.

Lots of things to address here... I'll do my best:

- Darth Vader stops all effects that "initiate,' that is, all effects that have a defined starting point.

- This includes all Triggered abilities (Actions, Reactions, Interrupts, Forced Reactions, Forced Interrupts).

- This includes constant abilities that have a start point (including Core Leia). It will affect Dash if he becomes attacking alone while Vader is participating (but if declared alone, the ability will initiate before Vader is in the engagement and won't be stopped)

- He won't stop icons being added by various card effects as long as those effects began before Vader was participating in the engagement (remember, while most of the time icons only matter during strikes, they are always present)

- He does not stop edge because edge is always on but only matters when resolving edge battles (similar to combat icons, see cgdb rulings thread for response from FFG specifically addressing Vader's interactions with keywords and other abilities, btw)

- He does stop fate cards as those are card effects (resolving fate cards is part of the framework, but the fate card effects themselves are card effects, hence why Target of Opportunity cannot damage a Death Star Dial enhanced by Trench Run)

Anything I missed in there?

Keywords were mentioned, just emphasizing how piloting Vader stops Targeted Strike and Shielding as attacker. He'll definately be the defender you want against Mission cards.