Welcome back everyone to this latest card dissection. A lot has happened since I brought to you my last dissection, including Launch Events and tournaments. For the first time, I actually have the card in my hands while writing about it. In deciding which card to talk about for this article, I decide to talk about one of the most hyped up cards right now and one of my favorites. Is it worth the hype? Why is it Hyped? What do I think about it? Those questions and more will be answered as I dive into this article’s card… Darth Vader.
Let’s break down this card by looking at various categories:
The Art: The art is simply Vader with his lightsaber drawn in his right hand, while his left hand in his signature pose of force choking someone. The art is classic Vader, to be feared and powerful. The art is well colored, detailed, and well-lit. You almost get the feeling that Vader was fighting someone and he finally had enough and decide to force choke his opponent. One thing I would like to point out is how Vader’s lightsaber reflects off of him, very nice touch. One of the best character pictures for sure.
Health: Vader health is at a very meaty 13 points, you are going to have a challenging time plowing though his health without doing a lot of damage to him. If you add in shields, he become even harder to kill. He can be challenging to kill or you can use him yourself to frustrate your opponents. Currently, he has the highest health in the game, which is one of the best things about this card
Point Cost: Vader’s cost is 16 for one die and 21 for two dice, making him both the most expensive character card for both normal and elite versions.. While his cost is the highest right now, as we get into him more you’ll see why he is so expensive. If you do choose to play as Vader, you’ll have 14 or 9 points left. That isn’t much to work with, but you still have plenty of options.
Die: Vader’s die is 2 Melee, 3 Melee, 2 Disrupt, 1 Shield, 1 Resource, and a blank. The first thing we notice about this die is that it has no sides with a cost or modifier, meaning that whatever you roll minus the blank, is a side that you can choose to resolve without waiting. The only draw back might be Vader’s disrupt side, however rolling it as your first action puts that pressure on your opponent. Never underestimates the power of not only a disrupt side, but that disrupt side being at two instead of one. Vader’s Shield and resource sides are both at one, however you’ll see that both sides are useful as you play. The shield side will help make Vader harder to go through and the resource side will help you play cards you want in your deck. Vader’s best sides are his melee damage sides. These sides as mentioned before, don’t have any drawbacks and can quickly put the hurting on your opponent. Vader at two dice takes my points mentioned above and doubles them. When you roll him at the beginning to determine what battlefield you play on, his range is 0-3 at one die and 0-6 when he is at 2 dice, with his average being 1-2 at one die and 2-4 at two dice. Needless to say, his die is very helpful to get you to pick that field you want, not accounting for the other die/dice you pair him with of course. Vader’s die is a very good die.
Ability: Vader ability is quite simple stating “After you activate this character, you may force an opponent to choose and discard a card from their hand”. It is a simple effect, however it can be great at affecting you opponent in a way that they most likely will not like. When you force them to discard a card, you are taking away an option for them later that turn or even later in the game. Even if they discard something that is dead at the time, you are taking away a card that they could throw away for rerolling. Not to mention, you are helping them speed through their deck, by having them draw to replace that card that they had to discard. Note that Vader’s ability states “may”, this mean you have to call his effect and not assume that your opponent will do it on their own. If you play Vader get into the habit of saying “to discard”, the last thing you want is forgetting Vader’s effect to come back and haunt you.
Deck Options: I am not going to spend a lot of time with every pairing in detail, but I am going to pick out three decks to go over. The first deck is Elite (Double Dice) Vader and nightsister, totaling 29 points. This deck is straight Blue, which is a more control based deck. The next deck is Vader and two First Order Stormtroopers, totaling 30 points. This build is a Blue/Red mix and would lean more towards locking your opponent down and draining their deck. The final, and most talked about deck at the moment is Elite Vader and Tusken Raider, totaling 30 points. This build is a Yellow/Blue mix and is more aggressive. While I didn’t go into much detail, it is important to note that you can build a deck towards any play style you like, and aren’t even limited to that style with that pairing.
Final Thoughts: Hopefully I gave you enough of an overview on this card that you can decide if Vader is worth the hype or is overhyped. Personally, this will be a card that I will be trying many decks out with. Later, I am hoping to go into deck breakdowns featuring him, getting into more details. Meanwhile, I hope I helped you off to a good start with this dissection and hopefully now you will look twice at Vader’s card and die.
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