Deck Spotlight: All the Duchess’s Men

All the Duchess’s Men Printable PDF

All the Duchess’s Men is a 60-card Jedi/Mandalorian/Clone hybrid deck, centered on 2 key cards from the Battle Lines expansion: Obi-Wan Kenobi W and Duchess Satine Kryze C. While the (A) and (B) versions of the Duchess are primarily meant for pure Mandalorian decks, her (C) version in this deck is designed to buff Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan’s W version is the heart of this deck, as his Armor and 9 health makes him a stable presence in the Character arena. Satine significantly buffs his offensive capabilities, giving him both Critical Hit and Fury. Obi-Wan’s (U) version can be used for an additional stacking buff, and he also works well with both the Duchess and Anakin. Anakin Skywalker (X) adds some Stealth and even more Protection. Rex and Gregor offer great offensive and defensive flexibility. Most Characters here have a Protect ability that will help keep the Duchess alive. In the Ground arena, you have a bunch of cheap, fast Mandalorian speeders offering even more damage prevention, and the 501st as your main fighting force. The AT-RT Squad and Speeder Subordinates offer support. In Space, both versions of Coronet act as support cards, for either build point/Equipment gain or boosts for Obi and Satine. Hand of Justice gives you Force and card draw capabilities, along with a useful captivity counter removal. Twilight is great defensively and can shut down your opponent’s Battle card capabilities for a turn if you have 2 leftover build points to spend.

This deck also includes non-unit cards such as Shield Gauntlets, which help shield both your Clone and Mandalorian units, and its Deflect will work great with your AT-RT squads. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Resolve is the perfect addition to Obi-Wan W, as it makes him stronger even if your opponent is hitting him hard. For Battle cards, Anakin’s Methods is useful to see what cards your opponent has, and if you should bother paying for Twilight‘s Battle card stopper. It will also tap a damaged unit, which pairs well with the 501st’s “move a damage  counter” ability. Qui-Gon’s Guidance increases your Focus, can’t be disrupted with Obi-Wan, and also contains a useful Meditate option. Several Resources could work well with this deck, but the most straightforward is Clone Production Line. This will give you access to Hidden Cost for your Clones, which you’ll be able to afford with the extra Force generated by the Festival of Light Event. Remember, your Event and all Subordinates are stored off to the side in your supply, opposite your deck. For a counterpart Dark Side deck focusing on Maul, check out the Shadow Collective deck.

Rogue One – You Make the Card Part 6

After your votes, the fans’ choice K-2SO will have Armor, Intercept and/or Protect, and Alt or Hidden Cost. What other game mechanics, if any, should the fans’ choice K-2SO have? You can leave your comments below, and also vote on whether he should have the new Resilience keyword or not.

Card of the Week: Resilience + New Card Type: Traits

This week’s card is another preview of the Rogue One expansion. As Rogue One is the first “Star Wars Story” film, the IDC wanted to do something special for this set. So, this expansion will introduce 2 major updates to the game: a new keyword and the Star Wars Trading Card Game’s final new card type!  The new keyword is Resilience X (As long as this unit has at least X damage counters on it, it gets +X power.) Its effects are cumulative, so a unit with Resilience 3 that gets an additional Resilience 1 would have a total of Resilience 4. If the unit does not have the stated minimum number of damage counters on it, then it won’t get the effects of Resilience.

The new card type is Trait, a subtype of Equipment cards. Trait cards are bronze, while standard Equipment is silver, and Skills are gold. Traits share the same special rule as Skills. Unlike regular Equipment cards that can have multiple copies attached to one unit (with the exceptions of unique cards), Equipment cards with the “Skill” or “Trait” subtype are limited to one copy per unit. You can still have multiple Skills and Traits in play but only one copy of the same Skill or Trait per unit. Skills and Traits can’t be detached from units in play. If a unit is discarded/moved/returned to your hand, etc. discard/move/return any Skills or Traits attached to it.

Traits are also different from all other Equipment because they have no equip cost and are instead attached to units when its triggering conditions are met (even during the battle phase). When its triggering conditions are met, you choose whether to attach the Trait or not. If you choose not to attach it, its triggering conditions must be met again before you can attach it.

In this way, Traits operate very much like Traps. They both rely on triggering conditions to work, and both can trigger even during the battle phase. Thematically, Traits are natural attributes (like Courage, Intelligence, Strength, etc.) that are part of a person’s/unit’s being. In the context of this game, a unit develops Traits over the course of the game that are attached to (and become a part of) that unit.

Star Wars Trading Card Game RO043_Resilience