Shootout : Dodonna Vs Yularen

The General versus The Admiral.

We’ll consider the pros and cons of General Dodonna from Spark of the Rebellion and the new Admiral Yularen from Twilight of the Republic as they would relate to inclusion in a heroic leader deck.

The quick tale of the tape lays out some simple stats where we can start. Obviously for the extra point of resources spent, Dodonna comes out swinging with the extra point in total stats, 8 to 7. The “Official” trait is unlikely to matter much at present. Rarity could be a factor, however the cost to get either in standard version is currently under $1.

Aspects play a bit of a role in which you would choose. Yularen gets a little constrained by having that extra Command aspect slapped on him. That alone is enough to likely not use him unless you are already playing green since it’s not worth the aspect penalty to play him for 5.

Dodonna with the Rebel trait on himself and the bonus he grants for other Rebels means you are likely building around that component of the card. Without even considering the second aspect you are also getting access to Wing Leader, Fleet Lieutenant, and Medal Ceremony.

Playing Yularen doesn’t mean you have to ignore the Rebel package and could still easily play tons of Rebels and associated enhancements for them. Instead it means you just don’t need to since his bonus will impact Rebels and non-Rebels alike. Solid heroic top end cards like Poe Dameron and Wrecker also benefit from this. A good example of this is Alessandro Sutton’s Sabine deck from the recent Birmingham, UK event.

Of course moving away from Command as the second aspect throws things fully back Dodonna’s way. Cunning aspect for either the leader or base opens up some interesting options for Rebel units. Leia Organa, Lothal Insurgent, Ezra Bridger, Chopper, and Rogue Operative are all low on the curve units with the Rebel trait. Just be careful as cards like Millennium Falcon which you would figure could be a Rebel unit based on the movies is not actually going to get the bonus from Dodonna.

What about Republic as a trait? It may be a bit early in the Twilight of the Republic meta to know for sure. Additionally, since Yularen is granting the bonus to heroic units and not Republic ones, it also may not matter. It’d really be a factor of there being something that gives Yularen himself a boost. There are other Republic units that still benefit from Yularen just based on the heroic aspect such as the new R2-D2, Ahsoka Tano, and Plo Koon to name a few.

Cost is another big factor…

Already mentioned the extra stat point for the extra resource cost on Dodonna. The likely bigger thing to consider though is the extra cost as an opportunity cost of not doing something else. Playing Dodonna on the 4 resource turn means that is the only thing you are doing. With the same resources you can be playing Yularen plus something else for one cost like the first R2-D2 unit, a SpecForce Soldier, or perhaps an event like Heroic Sacrifice.

The other thing the cheaper cost on Yularen allows for is coming out a turn sooner. This can be vital in trading units. Consider you have initiative on turn one and play a Battlefield Marine, and then your opponent follows up with a Viper Probe Droid. Claiming initiative and then as the first action slamming Yularen down means that the Probe droid cannot trade with your unit since the Marine is now effectively a 3/4 and the droid would only do 3 points to it before being defeats itself.

Other miscellaneous things…

• Yularen has the benefit of “Restore 1”. Something like this even if it repairs a couple points on your base could be very helpful in an aggro mirror match.
• Both have similar poses in their artwork so the commanding presence of viewing a hologram sphere is a wash.
• Steve Morris and Eric Hibbeler each created some nice artwork for these guys so this one is a net even as well.
• Dodonna had an alternate art in the Spark of Rebellion organized play packs.
• Yularen also has a Colonel instance of himself on another card so don’t get confused with that.

So which are you choosing to help command the battlefield? The General or The Admiral?