We continue on with some initial thoughts on the most recent previews from A Lawless Time.

This set of previews brought to you by Strictly Casual plus of course FFG themselves.

Lando Calrissian

More fun leader design as FFG designers keep cooking…

Spending a resource to generate a credit is a great way to bank something that may have otherwise gone unused in one round for a future round.

A round one play of Unmarked Credits followed by using Lando’s ability to create another credit seems like a very fun way to play something for 5 cost in round two.  Saving up and using his when deployed at the 6 resource level could mean having at least 9 worth of resources and credits to spend after he flips.

A leader that deploys on 6 with stats of 4/7 is historically bad.  However when you add in being able to deploy a Bo-Katan on turn 5?!  Now you’re bringing some serious game-swinging power to the board!  Lando’s potential could be sky high.

The real trick with Lando could be his consistency in generating that credit.  Paired with a Cunning aspect base may not be the way to go as the loss of the Cunning legendary event from Spark of Rebellion is a bit hit to mono-yellow.  The consistency could come by way of the double colored cards that we now have.  Pairing with Vigilance would get us some interesting cards such as Kanan and Rio that could likely get played in round 2, plus Hondo and Finn coming in later rounds.

Tier 1 meta deck?  No idea.
Fun design for a scoundrel and gambler?  Absolutely!

Finn

The unique Finn from Twilight of the Republic has ok-ish stats and a narrowly usable ability but then was saddled with double Vigilance aspects that made him basically unplayable.  The Finn leader from Shadows of the Galaxy has really never seen high levels of competitive play and quickly became Porg Depot’s meme for bad leaders and cheap showcases.

So this new card is easily the best Finn we’ve gotten so far for Star Wars Unlimited.  Of course this is somewhat by default because he’s actually playable.  

Ambush is a key here and makes Finn a worthwhile unit in the 6+ cost range as he can impact the game state immediately.  He gives Hero Cunning decks a nasty 1-2 punch with Finn on 6 and Qui-Gon on 7.

One interesting note is that Finn does not have a heroic aspect on him.  Guess that means he combos well with Darth Vader – Twilight of the Apprentice from Legends of the Force.

Backed By The Hutts

Stockpiling credits will matter at least for this card.  Open Fire is a 3 cost event to do 4 damage, so you need to save up for a bit to be that efficient.  Of course Open Fire is an Aggression card and this new one is Cunning.  Some amount of penalty for having direct damage from a Cunning event is probably fine.  3 cost for 3 damage is still pretty good, although 3 cost for 2 damage starts to feel horrible.

The question is, what else are we hoarding credits for?  So far, this is the only payoff for hoarding.  If we are given a few more cards that benefit from holding all the credits, then maybe a deck can start to form.  Without that, spending your credits will most likely be the best thing to do with them.

The Blade Wing

The cost seems high on this until we break it down.  A cost of 3 for a 3/3 unit in space isn’t terribly out of the ordinary.  For that same 3 resource cost we’ve already seen 3/3, 2/3, 3/2, 3/4 etc. so this is right in that range.  The bounce effect is then the remaining 3 cost, which coincidentally is exactly a Waylay.  Adding it all up it’s easy to see how the designers got to the 6 resource cost total.

However, while the 6 cost is likely correct and probably fair, it also may be too high for what you are getting.  When units start to push into the 6+ cost range you tend to want them to be game swinging cards.  It remains to be seen if at 6 cost playing a Waylay with a 3/3 space unit all within the single card is good enough.  In a super tempo deck it likely works, but for anything else it may not make the cut.