In the last few days Fantasy Flight Games and Team Covenant posted a new video spoiling some cards from the upcoming set Spirit of Rebellion. Among the cards they spoiled was Obi-Wan Kenobi (SR37). To many older Star Wars fans, myself included, Obi-Wan was the first glimpse of the mysterious Jedi and the first time the words “the Force” were heard. What is the story behind the reclusive resident of Tatooine?
The first mention of Obi-Wan Kenobi comes in A New Hope when Luke Skywalker (AW35) inadvertently discovers the hidden message in the recently purchased droid R2-D2. Recorded by Princess Leia Organa (AW28), it begs ‘General Kenobi’ for help. The message ends with her pleading “Help us, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re our only hope.” Luke mentions the message to his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, speculating as to whether Obi-Wan might be a local hermit called Ben Kenobi. His Uncle quickly dismisses the idea, but Luke doesn’t notice the look of concern on his face.
Later Luke discovers R2-D2 missing and his companion C-3PO hiding. He quickly explains that R2-D2 has left to seek out Obi-Wan Kenobi and fulfill his mission. Luke follows, eventually catching up to R2-D2. A bad encounter with a Tusken Raider (AW22) follows, before a cloaked Ben Kenobi comes to the rescue, scaring off the Tusken Raiders and taking Luke and the droids back to his home.
Ben soon discovers the message from Leia and reveals he is in fact the intended recipient of the message, Obi-Wan Kenobi. He teels Luke that a former pupil of his, Darth Vader (AW10), betrayed and killed Luke’s father. He then gives Luke his father’s lightsaber (AW41) and asks Luke to join him on his mission to Alderaan. Luke declines and sets off for home, but on the way discovers the Jawa’s that sold the droids to them all dead at the hands of Imperial Stormtroopers. Shortly after he finds his Aunt and Uncle have met a similar fate. Luke decides to go with Obi-Wan to Alderaan.
The group head to Mos Eisley Spaceport (AW172) seeking passage to Alderaan. In the local cantina, where most pilots congregate, Luke draws some unwanted attention from Dr Evanan and Ponda Baba. Blasters are drawn, but Obi-Wan reacts quickly liberating Ponda Baba’s arm from his body with a sweep of his lightsaber. Trouble dealt with they meet with Han Solo (AW46) and Chewbacca to agree passage to Alderaan. They depart quickly when Imperial eyes turn their way, blasting away in the Millenium Falcon.
When they arrive at the coordinates for Alderaan, they discover an asteroid field and no planet. They are soon caught in a tractor beam by the Imperial battle station Death Star. Deciding to stow themselves in hidden cargo compartments, they soon find themselves in a hanger of the station. They hatch a plan to disable the tractor beam, which Obi-Wan volunteers for. After completing his mission Obi-Wan sets off for the hanger and escape only to find and old foe barring his path. Darth Vader.
A lightsaber duel ensues and during the battle Obi-Wan sees Luke, Han, Chewbacca and the droids making for the ship with the newly liberated Leia. In this moment Obi-Wan realises the only way they will escape is if Obi-Wan buys them time by creating a diversion. Mid-battle he gives himself up and lets Vader strike him down but in doing so he becomes one with the force. From this moment in he acts as mentor and teacher to Luke, guiding him from within the Force, ultimately aiding in the destruction of the Death Star. He continues to aid Luke in the future, sending him to Dagobah to train with Yoda amongst the pivotal events he has a hand in beyond the grave.
THE ART: Another familiar sight awaits us with the artwork for this card, something Imperial Assault players will recognise from Obi-Wan’s presence there. It seems Obi-Wan was ready for his close up in the SW:D Spirit of Rebellion release and we are all familiar with the ‘mysterious hermit’ and his story arch of being a wise, old guardian of the young Luke Skywalker from the original trilogy.
POINT COST: The cost of this card is 16 for one die, 20 for a 2-dice elite version, marking it on the higher end of point costs, similar to Vader (AW10) and Luke Skywalker (AW35). Running Obi-Wan may prove costly, but with his die and ‘Guardian’ text, I can see a lot of players testing with him furiously alongside Awakenings and Spirit of Rebellion characters.
HEALTH: Obi-Wan has 11 health, again comparing him to what we know of our current set and the spoilers we are all anxiously waiting for, Captain Phasma (AW1), Kylo Ren (AW11), Jabba the Hutt (AW20), Leia Organa (AW28) and Qui-Gon Jinn (AW37) all also have 11 health, but for his cost, he is lower than Vader’s 13 and Luke’s 12 health. I for one, am hoping the choice in health stats by the designers between Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon is purposeful, considering their relationship in the SWU. Interestingly, you could in fact play 1 die Obi-Wan and 1 die Qui-Gon, but more on that below…
DIE: Obi-Wan’s die is 1 Melee, 3 Melee, 1 Focus, 2 Focus, 1 Resource and 1 Blank. As an all-black die, this is not a character to mess with when it comes to rolling damage, or the ability to rework your other character’s rolls should those prove to be less than desired. This is a consistent character, one who can whip out damage 1/3 of the time, focus his second die (should you choose to run him as elite) or other character’s die 1/3 of the time and give you an extra resource on a (somewhat) unlucky roll.
ABILITY: The card reads ‘Guardian. Before this character is defeated, you may play a Blue card from your hand or discard pile for free.’ The dual nature of this text necessitates a longer exploration of Obi-Wan’s card abilities.
First, according to the official FFG Star Wars: Destiny Rules Reference, “Before a character with Guardian activates, its owner may remove one die showing damage (melee or ranged) from their opponent’s dice pool to deal damage equal to the value showing on the die removed to the activating Guardian character.” (Pg. 16) While the ‘Guardian’ keyword can be incredibly powerful, and puts the decision in your hands should you choose, it is a weird choice for such a costly character. Usually, you would be happy to have the guardian keyword on cheap, expendable, non-unique character that allows your heavy-hitters to do their job. Phasma’s ability is a great example of this as all non-unique characters placed with her hold the guardian keyword. Thematically and canonically, the guardian keyword here makes perfect sense, but it will be interesting to see how Obi-Wan tests with that ability.
The second part of his card opens up a lot of options for placing powerful Blue cards out on the board, whether they are in your hand or discard pile. Cards like One With the Force (AW42) or a Lightsaber (AW59) for free at this point would be a boon to your game play. There has already been discussion on the possibility of pulling out a sneaky Willpower (AW122) as your Blue card from your hand or discard pile and saving Obi-Wan from defeat, however (and bar any official changes/FAQ’s/rulings from on high at FFG), this would not follow the game’s queue mechanics (Rules Reference Guide pg 16). Whilst the event will resolve and 1 damage will move from Obi-Wan to your choice of opponent, at no point has Obi-Wan’s ‘defeated’ status been changed (The only card in the current pool that does change a ‘defeated’ status is Second Chance (AW137) which specifically reads ‘Before attached character would be defeated…’ and this being a Yellow card is not something that Obi-Wan can use with his ability). In short, if you trigger Obi-Wan’s ability he should be defeated, whether you can heal him or not.
DECK OPTIONS: Based on what we know already from the Awakenings set, and the minimal spoilers from Spirit of Rebellion, the cheaper one dice Obi-Wan will likely prove to be a steady and useful ally to many of the Awakenings unique characters, such as Admiral Ackbar (AW27), Leia Organa (AW28), Poe Dameron (AW29), Qui-Gon Jinn, Rey (AW38), Finn (AW45), Han Solo (AW46) and Padme Amidala (AW48). Obi-Wan’s focus centric dice will do a great job in supporting those characters in play. However, because elite Obi-Wan costs 20 points, you are restricted as to what you can pair with him. I am expecting: 1 dice Ackbar, 1 dice Rey, 1 dice Padme OR non-unique characters like the Rebel Trooper (AW30), a Padawan (AW36) or a Hired Gun (AW47). Personally, I would want a higher health character to play alongside Obi-Wan should I choose to use his Guardian keyword at any point. In SoR spoilers, we have seen Jyn Erso (SoR44) and Chirrut Imwe (SoR?) that we think Obi-Wan could very easily be paired with. His all black die alongside Chirrut’s die (at least the melee side) would be a powerful output of damage; add in the expanded pool of weapons we should expect after SoR, the possibilities are well worth testing for.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Honestly, Obi-Wan is a strange one. His elite form is very expensive, his health is fragile and (currently) he cannot pair with many other characters well. There are definitely options, and I am sure there will be more options once SoR is fully released in April. He is, and will be, a great supporting character with a useful mix of raw damage, Guardian control and focus abilities. I expect his one dice to support other characters on the path to victory, whether in an agro or control deck, but until we see the whole of SoR, the speculation on his part in our decks will be interesting to follow.
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