Cinta’s Dance Partner ???

One of the most exciting cards we’ve seen from Secrets of Power is the uncommon Aggression unit Cinta.  What looks like a fairly innocuous 6-cost unit with below curve stats could actually turn out to be quite the problem in the upcoming meta.  

Her text is very simple:
“When Played: You may attack with a unit.  Plot.”

We’ve seen that first part many times before, but it’s that one word at the end that pushes Cinta into powerful levels.  

Cinta potentially turns your leader deployment into an unanswerable win condition.  Using the right leader means your opponent is essentially starting with 7, 8, 9+ health less than you.  We’ve seen Data Vault be successful with only a +3 health advantage.  If all you have to do is deploy your leader to deal 8 damage then an ECL or Tarkintown deck may as well say 17 starting health.  And the “great” part is, you don’t have to do anything other than play Cinta in your deck.  She requires no synergy or support cards.

There are a handful of leaders that stand out to really take advantage of this effect.  Some of the best ones are the Jump to Lightspeed pilot leaders, which have seen some success but have also struggled to take a large foothold in the meta., Cinta could be what pushes them over the edge.  One of the biggest issues with pilot leaders has been that after they deploy there are numerous ways to deal with them on the opponent’s next action before they could attack.  Cinta takes away the biggest downside of these leaders by taking away that response action.

Our top predictions for decks that will gain the most from Cinta Kaz…

#1 – Boba JTL

Boba Fett could be the best use of Cinta.  He’s going to give some ship a +4 power bump, does the 4 damage just from deploying which could clear out any pesky space sentinels, and depending on what he’s piloting could have some additional advantages as well.  If he pilots Fett’s Firespray JTL, the space unit is up to 8 power plus the 4 Boba does on the deployment, and another 2 indirect damage when it attacks for a total of 14 damage, with a minimum of 8 to their base.

If your opponent manages to survive the 8 to base and the loss of some units, Boba is still probably coming in for another 8 the following round, Cinta is nothing to ignore on the ground, oh and the deck is probably also chucking a Planetary Bombardment at you as well.

#2 – Luke JTL

Similar to Boba, getting an attack in with Luke right after he flips could be really amazing.  Going to a best case scenario, Luke is going to be most comfortable on his own ship, Red Five.  Already 3 power, with Luke at the controls the fighter goes up to 7 total power.  Not terrible, but not too great until you factor in the on attack abilities.  This combo is going to do 3 damage to some unit, another 2 damage to a damaged unit (potentially the same one), and then swing in for the 7.  This is potentially 12 damage total.  Adding in some other cards like a wingman in Red Three and it starts to get out of hand quickly.  If your opponent still lives through that round and can handle the potential loss of 1 to 3 of their units, you are sitting with a very formidable space leader unit, plus Cinta on the ground. 

Luke does not have the luxury of being able to clear out a sentinel in space, like Boba does, which is why we list him at number two.  His pure damage output however could turn the tides in your favor.

#3 – Anakin TWI

Anakin has the advantage of potentially coming into play with an extreme boost to his power and overwhelm to still hit the base through any sentinel units.  At 4/7 he isn’t all that impressive, however by the 6 resource turn you are most likely going to have some damage on your base.  Even figuring 20 points on the base is going to give him a +4/+0 and roid him up to 8 power. Anakin has the advantage of not needing another unit in play, like the pilots do.  He’s simple and aggressive.  Claim initiative on round 4, deploy round 5, deal 8 to base.  On top of that, he already has successful decks based around him, so sliding Cinta into his DMs shouldn’t be tough.

#4 – Vader JTL

The most widely used aspect combo for the pilot Vader leader has been Cunning.  What if he leverages Aggression instead just to get in on the Cinta party?

Clone Combat Squadron gets +1/+1 for every other friendly space unit.  Vader creates space units.  Synergy!

Obviously a variable as to how many space units could be in play on your side of the board.  The squadron is already 3/3 and Vader adds another 5 power plus creates two additional ships so the combined squadron unit is up to 10/10 at an absolute minimum.  That 10 damage straight to a base is nothing to overlook by a long shot, especially if you’ve been chipping away for some damage over the earlier rounds of the game.  Darth Vader could easily have the highest ceiling for immediately ending the game on deploy.

Ease of Use

Cinta is basically a one card combo since she’s going to work with the leader.  Using our trusty HyPORGeometric Calculator we know that the odds of drawing at least one copy of Cinta on or before the 6 resource round is just over 63% with 3 copies in your deck.  This means that you will draw her nearly 2 out of 3 games on average.  Which the Scientific Community of Porgs has told us should work decently in matches that are best of 3!

Answers

Since Plot cards are hidden securely away in your resource row, there is very little interaction for your opponent to deal with them.  At this point, Elia Kane is the only thing and that is only a Villain card.  Maybe we’ll see some more, but right now, Heroes have no way to deal with Cinta other than winning before turn 6 or hoping they survive her deployment as a plot.

Edit @ 4:24pm EST…
Pointed out to us by TowerNumberNine via Discord chat:
– There are a bunch of “silver bullet” options available: Regional Governor, Qi’ra unit, and the new Galen Erso can all block Cinta (or in Qi’ra’s case delay her past the planned leader flip)
– Then for pilots in particular there is “don’t let them have a ready ship to deploy onto” etc. but of course they could deploy to ground anyway in that case so that’s not a perfect counter, though it can force them into an inferior line

Poll

Who do you think will be the best leader to combo with Cinta?