Deflector Surge

? Points, Rebel Only, Small Ship Only

At the beginning of the combat phase you may spend one shield token to assign one reinforce token to your ship.

I've been trying to think of things just for the Rebels that might help them keep up a bit. Lately I feel they've been left in the dust by Empire and Scum, but it seems as though just a few cards could get them back on track. I mean, all the Defender needed was a couple of titles and they're absolute beasts now.

Here's one of mine to start the thread off. My thinking with this one was that some bold Rebel pilot might have figured out a way to jerry rig their ship to get extra power to the shields by overexerting their engine somehow, so there's the 'fluff' element. In terms of gameplay I wanted a card that was classic Rebel regen but wasn't too easy to get and had a mild disincentive (although it does take a little bit of sting out of a desperation k-turn or talon roll), and tying it specifically to manoeuvres meant that it couldn't come from ptl or some other stress invoking card from either friend or foe. Seems balanced in my head. People often complain about Rebel regen, but aside from R2-D2, R5-P9 and Miranda, is there that much really?

This is a neat "outside the box" thought approach on a new card.

However, I'm not sure I agree the Rebels are so behind; least behind the Empire that is...Scum? Yes, that faction got the crazy knee-jerk push on their new ships and catapulted them from last to way, way, way first overall. I have been listening to quite a few podcasts (linked on this forum) and it seems Rebel lists are doing quite well in the top 8 and better; lists like: E/X list with regeneration and Biggs, Double Ghost w/Y, 4 Y-Wing TLTs, etc. The Empire seems to be kinda stuck with slight variants of the same Palp list at the top. And the Scum have by far the highest percentage of tourney entries with Jumpmaster variants gliding along the under-costed Dengar, Zuck, etc. crews.

But on to the card....maybe it is a card that is not faction specific but is only tied to small fighters supported by shielding and the TL in their action bar. I think it could be useful to other fighters of different factions that see far less tournament table time that the X-Wing (which I think is just fine, I love flying my X lists...shoot the messenger, I know).

Just a thought....

Deflector Surge

? Points, Rebel Only, Small Ship Only

At the beginning of the combat phase you may spend one shield token to assign one reinforce token to your ship.

The shield spending is a good idea. However, I think it would be better olimited to attack from the front arc only.

Rebels are poor and simple minded. That is a card obviously developed by the Empire and as such should be placed on my Defenders. Dismissed.