With the newest spoiled cards being dropped in the last few days from Fantasy Flight Games for the highly-anticipated Spirit of Rebellion (SoR) release, I wanted to acknowledge some ‘older’ non-unique cards that I have found incredibly fun to play with from the Awakenings set. Even with the hype surrounding the spoilers, I don’t think that SoR will lessen the value of these non-unique cards and they will still be used in the new decks that we are all frothing at the mouth to get our grubby, nerdy hands on.
I realize that you cannot play these two cards together as each belongs to the Hero or Villain faction, but I wanted to point out their intrinsic value to each of their respective sides in the battle. I truly believe that they are stellar second or even third character cards that allow you to build either a stronger mono-deck or give yourself an extra colour to utilise when considering your 30-card build.
Padawan (AW36) and Nightsister (AW12) are both cards that I personally play with in my Light and Dark side decks and I would like to analyse them as individual cards, and as part of larger deck options.
First up: Padawan
THE ART: B-e-a-utiful. I love this artwork not only because the Padawan is clearly female, but also her stance, her underhand hold on her lightsaber (shades of Ahsoka Tano anyone?) and her Twi’lek heritage. Having just finished reading Star Wars: Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp, I have no doubt that this Twi’lek Padawan would have kicked some serious butt in the Star Wars Universe.
POINT COST: The cost of this card is 8 which is on the lowest end of point costs, and can allow you to add multiple of this character to your deck should you wish. I have run two Padawans and eRey in the past and whilst the melee damage is something to behold, at this point (before the release of more card options with SoR), I don’t personally think that mono-decks are particularly strong when there are so many good cards out there in each colour to utilise.
HEALTH: The Padawan has 7 health, which is not at all meaty and could be defeated by a god-roll by Han or Jango for example. But, if you are able to get shields on her from the outset either by losing the initiative (and giving her two shields) or playing something like Jedi Robes (AW40) on her, you can boost her strength and allow her dice to really help out your side.
DIE: Padawan’s die is 1 Melee, 1 Melee, 2 Melee, 1 Focus, 1 Resource and a blank. Her die is all black and one blank. ALL BLACK AND ONE BLANK PEOPLE. Three sides of damage = a 50% chance for rolling damage. For a character with such low health and low point cost, it is a hell of a boon to have those sides when playing with someone like Rey (AW38) who has two modified sides to her die. I have considered pairing her with eLuke but again, I prefer a multi-coloured deck build and more characters that my opponent has to try to eat through.
ABILITY: The card reads, “While this character does not have an upgrade, the cost to attach a weapon to it is decreased by 1.” Whilst quite simple to understand, the implications are quite a bit more complex when playing the Padawan. I play my Padawan in a deck where I also use Rey (AW38) and their actions really work well together (more on that later) but it seems to me that depending on your opponent, it can be incredibly easy to get a Lightsaber (AW59) or Rey’s Staff (AW44) out on your board incredibly quickly, and importantly, cheaply.
Getting a Lightsaber out for 2 (instead of 3) in the first turn is brilliant, but even better for someone like me who runs One With The Force (AW42), for mid to late game overwrites should the Padawan be near defeat or if my other characters have been defeated and I haven’t been able to pay to get One With The Force out yet. Note that the ability states ‘weapon’, and other upgrades such as Jedi Robes, or Force Training (AW58), to name a couple Blue hero abilities, do not get to benefit from her ability. If you play the Padawan, be sure to mulligan hard for the weapons you want to get out on the board early.
DECK OPTIONS: There are several decks you can play the Padawan in; personally, I run an eRey/Ackbar(W27)/Padawan deck that utilises the massive amount of melee damage that Rey and the Padawan can deal out, with the tactical depth of the red cards provided through Ackbar’s presence. Totalling 30-point cost and 26 health that your opponent needs to eat through, it has been a stable and consistent deck for me that I come back to again and again. For a more mono-coloured deck, you could look at eLuke (AW35)/Padawan which would provide 7 die sides worth of damage (4 from Luke’s two dice, and three from Padawan’s one die). Smashing face might be a term best used for that type of combination.
For a more casual, fun playing deck option, why not use three Padawan’s? Again, it is a mono-coloured deck but with her ability, you would be able to get out weapons quickly, and with a few choice upgrades and mitigation cards, I do believe this plucky little deck would provide for a lot of fun with new players and multi-player matches.
FINAL THOUGHTS: For a non-unique, low cost card, the Padawan is one of my personal favourites. She brings a lot to the table, and usually is the last one standing when I face opponents. Underestimating her in a deck can be costly as she has been my MVP in nearly every match I have played. While I am not saying to target her first when facing Rey, Luke or any other heavily armed, high-health unique character (fan-girl squeal: ‘what about putting her with an eObi-Wan (SoR37)???’), be aware of what your opponent is placing on her, and be ready to face a fully loaded Padawan should the game come down to one of your characters against the her.
Up next: Nightsister
THE ART: Interesting. I must admit, I was not completely familiar with the Nightsister when Star Wars: Destiny came into my life (See Destiny Origins: Who are the Nightsisters?), and after some thorough research, not only can I appreciate the card and its abilities more, I am actually very keen to cosplay this character. Appearing in the third season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the art work is reminiscent of everything we saw in that animated series, and everything we know from canon, from the red hooded clothing to the facial tattoos of the Nightsisters led by the matriarch Zalem.
POINT COST: In the same fashion as the Padawan, the cost of this card is 8, and can be added as a multiple in a deck should you wish. Putting two Nightsisters with General Grievous (AW3) or Count Dooku (AW9), who both deal lots of melee damage, gives you more dice and more options for ranged weapons to use against your opponent. More on deck building options later…
HEALTH: The Nightsister has 7 health as well, which is less than desirable unless you are able to get shields on her from the beginning. But seeing as she is a non-unique low-health character in the same vein as the Padawan, your opponent will likely leave her alone and go for the meatier unique characters and deal with her last (or one-shot her and move on…).
DIE: The Nightsister’s die is 1 Ranged, 2 Ranged, 1 Disrupt, 1 Discard, 1 Resource and a blank. Her die is all black and one blank, but is the more controlling and well-rounded of the two compared with the Padawan’s die. The ranged damage is great but if you are looking to control your opponent through disruption and discards, you have the chance to really work that angle with the Nightsister.
ABILITY: The character text on the Nightsister’s card reads, “Action – Reroll a die. Deal 1 damage to this character.” This is completely different to the Padawan’s ability in that the Nightsister’s text takes up one of your actions. The important thing to notice here is the wording ‘reroll A die’. That means any die. Again, this brings me back to the aspect of control that the Nightsister brings to a deck, which in this case gives you the chance to do two things: it could allow you to reroll one of your die without having to discard anything from your hand.
Playing her ability alongside something like a support such as Power Of The Dark Side (AW89) allows you to (possibly) get rid of any pesky blanks and opens up more options for you to resolve from each die. It could also give you the chance to reroll one of your opponent’s die, something that could save your butt should you face the 4-ranged side of the Millennium Falcon (AW49) or anything else that might try to ruin your day. With this comes with the caveat of having to deal her one damage, however, it could be the difference between your (or your opponent’s) defeat of a character.
DECK OPTIONS: I know that I mentioned already the pairing of the Nightsister with Grievous or Dooku which I have personally done in the past, but considering her ranged damage sides, placing her in a deck with ePhasma (AW1), eVeers (AW4)/double Nightsister or eBala-Tik (AW19) could make for some interesting game play. With ePhasma, you have a similar situation to placing the Padawan with Luke. There is lots of ranged action with the tactical Red colour coming to your aid. eVeers/double Nightsister is similar, but with the added bonus of more character dice to start with and both characters give you the chance to mitigate any blanks you might have.
The Nightsister with e/Bala-Tik throws the weight of the Yellow colour behind you, which opens up a lot of sneaky ambush actions, upgrades and events such as Go For The Kill (AW96) that would give this lower health duo a lot of power. The Nightsister should not be underestimated in the same fashion as the Padawan. Bringing it forward into the new release of SoR, an eDarth Vader (SR10)/Nightsister might turn some heads if you could pay for Rise Again (SR76).
FINAL THOUGHTS: The Nightsister, for me, brings not only a well-rounded die and controlling force to the table, she also more importantly for a Villain deck, brings her colour. We all love and hate (and love to hate) the Sith Holocron (AW16). The Nightsister can bring that to the Red-Blue or Yellow-Blue decks I have mentioned above, giving your characters really powerful upgrades. Can you imagine Phasma with a Force Choke (AW13)? Veers with a Mind Probe (AW60)? Bala-Tik with a Force Throw (AW57)? Again, the Nightsister is likely not going to be your first target when facing her. But your awareness of the board must be there, to deal with her action and uprades should it come down to the end.
CONCLUSIONS: Padawan and Nightsister are great cards. They can be used in serious tournament play or just casual games with friends. And most importantly, I really believe they will still be great cards to play with going forward into new sets. Will they be around forever and in every deck I ever test? Likely not. But that is the nature of this game and the beauty of being able to test and play lots of variations of characters, and considering this dissection today, I hope the value of these low-cost non-unique character shines through and you will consider their insertion into your decks. You never know when they might help you win the day.
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