Overview
The biggest winner in this command card set is the Luke's Finest (Jedi Luke/Rebel Ranger) list. There are now more options for milling your deck to get to Son of Skywalker, especially Officer’s Training. There are also more ways to increase the damage output of the Rangers, such as Concentrated Fire. I've been a bit underwhelmed by the new deployment cards, so I don't think the meta will be toppled as much as it was after Jabba's Realm dropped. I expect Rebels to get a big bump, while the other two factions tread water. We may see a return of Imperial spies with a Clawdite flavor. I'd be interested to see if anyone comes up with a Mercenary Spy list too. Other than that I expect Luke's Finest and Mercenary Hunters to be on top.
Everyone's wondering what will happen with the Ugnaughts after this wave. As long as Luke's Finest is popular and Nal Hutta is in the rotation, Vader is not going to be a viable competitive figure. I think he will get played, mostly because of the coolness factor, but I don't expect him to single-handedly kill the Ugnaught swarm like many are expecting. Ugnaughts also get a useful card in Deathblow. I actually do expect Ugnaughts to go away, but only because people are tired of playing them, not because they aren't top tier. I still think they deserve some kind of nerf/rule change.
Essentials
Looking for a Fight (0 points, Brawler)
Fleet Footed was already a must include in Melee lists and this is a straight upgrade. One movement point +1 damage on your next attack, and it costs 0! Definitely a must have in any Brawler list.
Officer’s Training (0 points, Leader)
The real point of this card is to mill your deck to draw your expensive cards. It helps that this card is for leaders, which is a very common trait. A free re-roll is not a bad bonus either. This is a must include in Jedi Luke lists.
Solid Additions
Deathblow (1 point, melee unit)
Any card that adds damage is good and this is +2 damage for any melee figures (including the Junk Droid). It's not as essential as Positioning Advantage since it costs 1 and must be used when you declare an attack, instead of "while attacking", but it's still very strong.
Concentrated Fire (1 point, trooper)
It's Tools for the Job for Troopers and it costs 1 less. You do become stunned after you use it, but that is a low price for a red die. It also doesn’t cost an action and is easy to set up. Imagine this: Concentrated Fire + Tools for the Job and a power token on a focused, hidden elite Rebel Ranger for a b,b,r,r,g+1dmg+1surge attack and two rerolls. With assassinate and positioning advantage that’s a maximum of 19 damage and pierce 1. Throw in Heightened Reflexes for good measure. Later Vader. It's unrealistic to get all of that off at the same time, but Concentrated Fire does pair very well with all of the other Hunter cards already available.
Ready Weapons (0 points, trooper)
As if elite Rebel Rangers needed more firepower. One action for 3 power tokens is really good. The 0 cost is nice as well. This card is perfect round 1, but loses a bit of value afterwards, just due to the attrition of your rangers and the cost of an important action.
Collateral Damage (1 point, Heavy Weapon)
A great card for finishing off wounded enemies that are hiding. On a heavy stormtrooper or Drokkatta attack you could potentially do 4 damage to an adjacent figure with blast 2 and Collateral Damage. It also works with the AT-DP, Rebel Sabs, and BT-1.
Forward March (1 point, Vehicle)
This could be really useful round 1, giving every single one of your units a movement point (maximum of 25). This is like Hera’s Smooth Landing, except with a wider range. This can also be used during Overrun to give you an extra movement point.
Prepared for Battle (2 points, Leader)
The effect is good, and the fact that it’s a Leader card is good. It’s pretty comparable to Tools for the Job in value, so I’m sure it will get used. It costs 2 more points than Ready Weapons, but it doesn't require an action to use. They're both valuable cards.
Situational
Force Push (1 point, Rebel Force User)
2 Spaces worth of push on an unsuspecting target can be really useful. You can pull a priority target out of cover for the rest of your squad to focus on, not to mention it can get a melee attacker like Luke in range to attack. It doesn’t require line of site to use. You can also use it to give yourself cover by blocking yourself off with an exhausted enemy figure. Lots of versatility with this card. However, it does cost 1 and the usual effect is comparable to Force Rush which costs 0. It might be hard to justify this card over other 1 point options.
Dark Energy (1 point, Imperial Force User)
This card trades 1 space of push for 1 damage. The 1 damage is nice for finishing off wounded enemies, but it’s situational. The 1 movement point is always useful for getting Vader in range for an attack. Not quite as useful on Palpatine, since he can already deal damage from 4 range away. You can also use it to pull figures off of objectives or out of cover, but it's not quite as versatile as Force Push. If a figure is right on top of a terminal or objective, this card won't get them out of control. Imperials don't have the same range of options for force users as Rebels do, so I don't think this card will be used much.
Right Back At Ya! (1 point, Ahsoka Tano)
This is the type of card which forces your opponent to play cautiously. If it hasn’t been played they’ll think twice about attacking Ahsoka with a figure with less than 3 health. You could theoretically use this card to completely negate a powerful attack against Ashoka while finishing off an enemy figure. In reality, that is almost never going to happen against a good opponent.
Armed Escort (1 point, Vehicle or Droid)
If you're running IG-88 you can use this to get some extra evades for the units around you (like Ugnaughts). If you have Han or Jyn in your list you can use this card with 3P0 to get them an extra Evade + Block. Nexus have cunning, so a Merc Droid list with Nexus would definitely use this card. In Imperials you could use this card on Jet troopers for some extra protection to whoever is around you. It does require some specific setup to be useful, or else the figure that used it will be targeted down.
Battle Scars (0 points, Wookie)
If Chewie is the only Wookie you're running I wouldn't take this card, but it is a useable addition if you are running a list with multiple Wookies. Positioning advantage is better, just because you can use it "while attacking" instead of as a power token, and any figure can use it. If you already have Positioning advantage and you're running multiple Wookies, then this card could have some use.
Field Supply (1 point, Ko-Tun Feralo)
Two surge power tokens could be really useful in the right list. The other part of this ability applies to everyone using power tokens this round, not just the two you distributed with the card. This pairs well with other power token distributing abilities like Ready Weapons, Arms Distribution, and Prepared for Battle.
Arcing Shot (1 point, Drokkatta)
Like most unique cards, this suffers from being very situational. If it buys you an extra attack with Drokkatta it's worth it. It won't always do that though.
Face to Face (1 point, brawler)
It's basically Urgency but costs 1 point more. There are situations where Face to Face is more versatile than Urgency, namely if you have a melee figure with special actions. Face to Face can allow you to use an action to Slam, then move 2 spaces and attack, while Urgency forces you to waste an action on movement. If you do a move action, you can spend movement points before and after the Face to Face action has been completed, which is better than Urgency which forces you to use all of the movement points at once. Looking for a Fight and Fleet Footed are more versatile than both of these cards but only give you 1 movement point instead of two. Unless you have Chewbacca or Vader, I don't see any reason to take this card over Fleet Footed and/or Urgency.
Below Average
Heavy Ordnance (0 points, Heavy Weapon)
It’s positioning advantage with a Heavy Weapon limitation. The reason positioning advantage is so good is that any figure can use it, so it will almost always guarantee a lethal attack. When you limit the ability to only your heavy weapons, it loses a lot of value.
Dual Bladed Fury (1 point, Maul)
This card is probably too situational to be useful. It's very comparable to Shyla's Bladestorm. It has a good effect, but there are much more consistent options available.
Droid Mastery (0 points, Jarrod Kelvin)
I have a hard time justifying unique command cards for any 5 cost figure, especially a melee attacker. A focused J4X-7 attack has a 50% chance to do 3 damage against a black die, but you’ll have to keep both Jarrod and J4X alive in order to use it.
Fool Me Once (0 points, Spy)
Returning your opponent’s Command discard pile to the box is pretty worthless right now. Only Leia, Shared Experience, and Targeting Network allow re-drawing. The second part of the card, drawing a card if you’re a spy, is useful for milling your deck to get to your expensive cards. There's no reason to take this card over Officer’s Training. If it didn't cost 2 strain it would be a lot more useful.
Garbage
Force Jump (1 point, Force User)
Palpatine is really the only force user that benefits from this at all. Terrain is very easy to play around on all the maps in the current rotation, so mobile doesn’t buy you a whole lot. Most of the time you’ll be better off taking any of the other movement command cards.
Chaotic Force (2 points, Mercenary affiliation only)
If strain lists were good then there would be a place for this card. Until there are some other good strain units in Mercs, this card has no value.
Balancing Force (2 points, Rebel affiliation only)
This card would only be useful if you had figures with significantly better defensive abilities than your opponent. I don’t see any time you’d want this in your deck even for 0 points.
Corrupting Force (2 points, Imperial affiliation only)
I don’t see why you’d put this in any competitive deck. Imperials have some of the best defensive abilities in the game between Vader’s 2 black dice, Zillow Technique, and the jet trooper’s Agile ability. There’s almost no reason to trade unmitigated damage as an Imperial player, especially for 2 points. I don’t think this card has any use in any of the factions, but especially not as Imperials. The only time you'd actually use it is for finishing off a 1 health unit, but there are lots of better options for that besides this card.
Unlimited Power (2 points, Palpatine)
The “Emperor” ability doesn’t cost an action so Palpatine can double move and still get it off. If he’s not double moving he’s probably using Force Lightning, which means he’s close enough to the action that an ally should be within 4 spaces. If Palpatine is more than 4 spaces away from a figure you want to attack with, then you’re probably using him wrong.
Conclusion
These are just my first impressions, they could change as I start to see these cards in action. As always I'm open to hear everyone else's thoughts. Hope you enjoyed!
-Brett
Edited by brettpkelly
