With the wave 9 previews wrapping up yesterday, we are only left with a few more upgrade cards to speculate about. I wanted to go over what we know about one of those cards in particular.

The Black "Whatever" Slicer.

I have seen someone call it the Black Sun Slicer, but I do not subscribe to that idea, simply because the card doesn't have "scum only" on it. Whatever this card actually does is not gonna be limited to scum.

This... thing, for lack of a better word, has a dude on it, that much is obvious. But is it a crew? Most would probably jump to that conclusion. But think about this. We haven't had a non-faction specific crew in a long time (disregard tail gunner for now). And scum has never had a non-faction specific crew release in a set. Also, seeing as there are two copies of this card, it would seem FFG wants this card to "fix" something. Crew is (to a point) limited to a select few ships. They could still very easily frelease a fix in the crew slot, but I think it is also possible that this could be a mod or something else. Illicit even, which would make sense since they don't need to be faction specific.

Now, what the heck does this card do? Heck if I know. It's an action and it involves enemies and dice results. That's about all I got.

What do I think this card should have been? A scum only crew that worked as an illicit extra munitions. Think about it: comes with a ship with two illicit slots, would be used by lots of scum ships (justifying the two of), the Black Sun name would make a lot of sense.

But instead of that, we get (probably) another bad action illicit (or worse, crew). Hopefully it's better than Saboteur...

Black Market Slicer Tools is my guess for its name, it's almost certainly Illicit.

I'd guess it will be something to do with causing damage to stressed targets a la Epic Slicer Tools.

I mean, yeah, it's going to be a wasted opportunity

do you see those dice results on the card?

you know what that means

of course, there's always the hope that it'll be a chance of discard ala cloaking

why would I hope that when I don't like the utterly unnecessary RNG present in cloaking device?

because it's leagues better than ******* saboteur

Isn't there another unspoiled card? Gyro__ Targ___?

We'll know more by the time GenCon opens, hopefully.

Also, what's the deal with the two Tactical Jammers? Like, does FFG even play their own game? That card is a turd, not justifying one, let alone two in a new release.

I think I'm just salty that I'm gonna have 8 freaking Tac Jammers if I buy 4 Shadow Casters. That is an obscene amount of Jam.

might be something akin to slicer tools in epic.

Someone is stressed? Hack'm. Damage!

Isn't there another unspoiled card? Gyro__ Targ___?

We'll know more by the time GenCon opens, hopefully.

It looks like it will give free spins of the mobile arc based on movement speed.

might be something akin to slicer tools in epic.

Someone is stressed? Hack'm. Damage!

Would gimp every single PtL user in the game.

I approve.

Choose a stressed enemy ship and roll 1 red die, they take hits and crits. Seems likely.

might be something akin to slicer tools in epic.

Someone is stressed? Hack'm. Damage!

Would gimp every single PtL user in the game.

I approve.

Well, to an extent. If it's an illicit it will be limited to scum. If it's a crew, it will be limited to big ships. Also, it takes and action and is RNG dependant. If the dice is rolled by your opponent then they could even Palp it (which would still be nice I suppose to get rid of Palp for the turn). The only ship I can really see this working on is either Ventress if it's an illicit, or Palob either way.

It's also going to be highly PS dependent if it requires the ship to be stressed, thinking about it. A crew would be terrible in that context because of the relatively low PS of most crew carriers.

it wouldnt be PS dependant at all.

PTL one round, get stressed. Stress remains until you do a green move. Ship with slicers activates before you can perform your green move. Take damage. Now you activate and clear stress but wait you PTL'd again so youre stressed again.

though it would highly, highly encourage people to bring Epsilon Leader or at least a Wingman to destress that ptl user and hope the ship with the slicers didnt activate after the ptl ship did.

If this is another saboteur even at 1pt i doubt we'd see it used. However, if its something that just happens say at the start of combat or end of activation or even maneuver-dependent (green most likely), i could see it being all over the place. RNG is fine when it doesnt cost an action as well, unless the RNG simply CANNOT do nothing (which afaik everything with RNG in this game can wiff and do nothing)

Also, what's the deal with the two Tactical Jammers? Like, does FFG even play their own game? That card is a turd, not justifying one, let alone two in a new release.

I think I'm just salty that I'm gonna have 8 freaking Tac Jammers if I buy 4 Shadow Casters. That is an obscene amount of Jam.

I've not seen this card (no turds in my opponents' punchbowls). It means that one can't shoot through it at another ship, right, or gives the defender an evade roll?

And speaking of extra cards we know about, how sweet to get VI and Counter Measures!

Not sure we can call it a missed opportunity when we haven't seen the actual card yet...

Also, what's the deal with the two Tactical Jammers?

I'm guessing that the inclusion of the IG-88 crew might spur some who don't have one already to buy an Aggressor, and so this way they'd have a TJ for both the Shadow Caster and the Aggressor?

might be something akin to slicer tools in epic.

Someone is stressed? Hack'm. Damage!

Would gimp every single PtL user in the game.

I approve.

Well, to an extent. If it's an illicit it will be limited to scum. If it's a crew, it will be limited to big ships. Also, it takes and action and is RNG dependant. If the dice is rolled by your opponent then they could even Palp it (which would still be nice I suppose to get rid of Palp for the turn). The only ship I can really see this working on is either Ventress if it's an illicit, or Palob either way.

It's likely going to be a crew or an EPT based on its placement in the spread.

If Saboteur was a constant effect, it would see use. (limited use, but some) I.E if it was, "at the beginning of the combat phase, pick a ship within range 1 that has at least one facedown damage card assigned. flip a random facedown damage card face up and resolve it. "

This is going to suffer the same issue, it IS an action, it DOES have random chance of effect and it is likely going to be:

Action: Choose 1 enemy ship at Range 1-2 that has an assigned stress token and roll 1 attack die, the target suffers any hit or crit results rolled.

2 points - illicit

(range 2 is a serous push, likely going to be range 1 only.)

Now, if it is not limited, you may have some troll matches whereby you have a Lancer with two and then a "slicer swarm" but I just don't see it beating Feedback Array unless this is 0 points.

another form of RNG that isn't so entirely god awful worthless is one that has a chance at a negative effect provided the actual effect of the card is guaranteed

for example, if it's a slicer tool like from the gr-75 but crappier (because it's black market stuff; never know how reliable it actually is) it could be (paraphrased)

ACTION:

deal 1 damage to a stressed guy

roll a red die; suffer any hit or crit result rolled

I'd be alright with that (for 1 point)

doesn't seem to be the case, though, as the "roll 1 attack die" seems to be built right in after the "Choose 1 enemy ship"

If this is another saboteur even at 1pt i doubt we'd see it used. However, if its something that just happens say at the start of combat or end of activation or even maneuver-dependent (green most likely), i could see it being all over the place. RNG is fine when it doesnt cost an action as well, unless the RNG simply CANNOT do nothing (which afaik everything with RNG in this game can wiff and do nothing)

It is clearly something that is an action. You can read that in the spread. You can also read that it does something on a hit or crit result.

If it is just a straight up 50% chance to inflict damage without any other requirement other than the opponent needing to be stressed, it will be better than Saboteur (assuming it has a reasonable price). Saboteur sucks because it takes an action, has a range one requirement, needs the target to already have a facedown damage card, and has a random chance to get a random chance to be useful.

Also, what's the deal with the two Tactical Jammers? Like, does FFG even play their own game? That card is a turd, not justifying one, let alone two in a new release.

I think I'm just salty that I'm gonna have 8 freaking Tac Jammers if I buy 4 Shadow Casters. That is an obscene amount of Jam.

Low PS blockers think Tac Jammer are like a handful of flowers.

the problem with tac jammer is the large ship is ALWAYS the first target. Ive only gotten use out of it by bumping with Oicunn and they had to fire at my tie's behind him since they couldnt hit him.

Also, what's the deal with the two Tactical Jammers? Like, does FFG even play their own game? That card is a turd, not justifying one, let alone two in a new release.

I think I'm just salty that I'm gonna have 8 freaking Tac Jammers if I buy 4 Shadow Casters. That is an obscene amount of Jam.

Probably to compensate for the loss of all those asteroids.

Just learned what Slicer Tools does..

And if this upgrade in fact damages stressed ships, it would absolutely change the landscape (depending on cost and upgrade slot). This card might be the evolution of the Bug Zapper...

Hit List:

- Dengaroo

- Overclocked R4 users (i.e. Torp Boats)

- Stressbot

- Soontir Fel

- Inquisitor

- Tycho Selchu

- Anyone using Zuckuss crew, or Rage, or Cool Hand, or...

Who'd I miss lol

Literally any PTL user, potentially Keyan depending on PS, someone with Hera crew (usually the ghost), anyone doing the EI+Gonk strat, TIE Shuttles w/ Fleet Officer

Theres a plethora of self-stress out there. In fact its quite rare i run a list that doesnt have at least 1 guy that stresses himself out somehow.

It's funny, because Tactical Jammer has been used to competitive effect in Kanan/Biggs lists. And countermeasures (another card continually labeled as binder chaff) is a key component of Dengaroo.

Why two tact jammers though is anyone's guess... I guess with two large bases you could screw with target priority a bit.

Edit: sorry for continuing an off topic discussion, but I think calling Black Sun Slicer Tools a missed opportunity is a bit premature since we don't know for sure what it does. Fickle correctly notes the reasons to be cautious (Action dependent RNG effects are generally bad), but until we know for sure it's only speculation. If it does deal damage to stressed targets, even if it is random, it may be worth it. Especially for rebel builds with smuggling compartments.

but I think calling Black Sun Slicer Tools a missed opportunity is a bit premature since we don't know for sure what it does.

That has never stopped us before.