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Fantasy Flight Preview – Way of the Force – Red Villain

One of the scariest villains in the Star Wars universe, General Grievous – Fearsome Cyborg (WF21), is making his second appearance in the upcoming Destiny release Way of the Force. And boy is he better. The Fearsome Cyborg also gets to bring along his favorite mode of transportation, the General Grievous Wheel Bike (WF31), a support vehicle that packs a punch. No Grievous appearance would be complete without an event that supports his penchant to wield lots of weapons, Furious Assault (WF23). These 3 cards round out the first set of Red spoilers we saw from FFG this week. Let’s take a second and really dissect these awesome Red Villian cards.

Card Art

Red Villain has always had some amazing art and these three cards are no exception. General Grievous has always seemed like such an evil being and the art really portrays how menacing and evil he is. The style Matt Bradbury uses on the General Grievous’ Wheel Bike is so simple yet detailed and I really enjoy all the vehicles he illustrates. Overall I love the art and hope to see some full art cards later down the line.

Dice

Let’s start with Grievous first. 2 of his dice at 20 points plus 4 upgrades and his power action is going to very nasty. He shows 3 melee sides with a max potential of 6 just from his die, now theoretically pair that with a maul saber and ancient and you are instantly looking at 13 damage and he’s not even fully loaded yet.  He also has that ever important resource side that can be used with a Bait and Switch if pair with a yellow character. The wheel bike is not as exciting but still boasts a 2 melee and a +3 melee , but I don’t think that’s the reason it costs 3 resources. Overall both are solid dice with 5 viable sides each.

Abilities

General Grievous has a ton of abilities so lets break them down. First, he ignores all play restrictions on weapons. This is huge, it doesn’t just open up doors for deck building, its also more thematic. Who doesn’t want to see Grievous wielding 4 lightsabers? Secondly, Grievous can now hold the proper amount of weapons, 4 arms equals 4 upgrade slots. Again, thematic and opens up more deck building options. Finally, his Power Action. At first glance it looks like 4 damage every turn but remember you need to get 4 weapon upgrades out and avoid mitigation while they sit in your pool. I think the answer will be cheap ambush weapons to start and later overridden. The Wheel Bike power action is totally geared to play with Grievous and I couldn’t be more happy. I think it’s more incentive to build thematically and save a resource. Lastly lets take a look at Furious Assault, another card built to be played in a theme deck with Grievous. I believe this card is a must in any Grievous build, the cost is right and the condition is perfect. I couldn’t be more happy with the abilities and power actions we have see from this set so far.

Cost

This is the section I really have the least opinion on so far. Personally I think the costs look spot on, especially for General Grievous himself and for Furious Assault. The price of 3 for the bike seems high but that may prove to be incorrect once we see how its played with Grievous.

The new meta

General Grievous is a game changer. Unless we see a direct counter to him he will shake things up quite a bit. The only other way I see him flopping is if he doesnt find a good partner, 10 points isn’t a ton of room to work with. The Wheel bike may see some play but support vehicles still haven’t found their footing in the meta. Furious attack like I stated earlier with be played in all Grievous decks, the cost is perfect and the effect could be devastating. Look to see 2 of these 3 cards played alot!

Overall

This set has me excited. They look to be introducing new mechanics, card types and injecting the game with even more theme. I’m pleased with the cards that have been spoiled so far and look forward to seeing what comes next!


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