Shootout : R2-D2 vs Chopper

The battle of the astromechs. Ornery little fellas that would surely throw insults at each other given the chance and without whom the entire Star Wars saga surely just falls apart. Let’s take a look at the feisty rollers and see who might come out on top.

Both of these little cans come in at a one cost for deployment. R2 stacks up a little bit higher on the defensive side with the extra point of health. That extra point is a huge advantage as with 4 health, R2 can survive a swing from Greedo or absorb the damage from a Ma Klounkee and still stay on the board.

Chopper gains the Spectre trait of course so any deck daring enough to run a Hera leader could include him even if that deck is not using a Cunning aspect base. That extra aspect is probably one of Chopper’s biggest disadvantages and limits his inclusion in decks. The potential advantage of Raid 1 if he’s got some Spectre buddies along for the ride and a pretty unique on attack ability that could stymie your opponents by exhausting resources try to compensate for the extra aspect.

On the other side of this droid showdown, R2 shines on the aspect side as he can be tossed into any heroic deck without a problem. His dig ability on both coming into play and on attack is great for getting to those late game plays that are not in your starting hand.

Both get all the advantages of the Rebel trait package and can easily be targeted during round two by Fleet Lieutenant or Wing Leader. Either one of them as a first round play, with the Wing Leader and then a Medal Ceremony can make for some pretty fierce droids to slam into your opponent’s base.

Other miscellaneous things…

• R2 is the only character to appear in every main Star Wars saga movie in the same form plus has a cameo in Rogue One and shows up in a couple episodes of Star Wars Rebels.
• Chopper appears in all 75 episodes of the Star Wars Rebels show and in the live Action Ahsoka show as well, but so far zero main sage movie appearances. (**Pointed out on Reddit that he does indeed have a cameo at least in Rogue One approximately 1:35 into the film.)
• Both repeatedly though their onscreen appearances swear more than a drunken sailor that kicked a hornet’s nest but luckily it all takes the form of beeps and boops so the movies and shows can stay at a kid friendly rating.

So which rolling Swiss Army knife are you putting in your deck?

Don’t forget to check out our past card shootouts. You may have missed one or could also check back in on the voting.