Ah, Leia Organa. For many of us she was a first: first crush, first heroine, the first one we wanted to be in our imaginary Star Wars battles as we played with our friends growing up, the one we wanted to fall in love with over and over again with her whip-like wit, devilishly cute smile and absolute bravery in the face of impossible odds. I have always been a sucker for a strong female lead, and Leia Organa has always been at the pinnacle of that honoured mountain, with many new characters in the Star Wars Universe joining her over the last couple years. That is why, when Leia was a part of the Awakenings set, I immediately set out to get an elite version of her, and pair her with as many possible female characters as I could. And, as her character is in the films, books and countless side stories we have all grown to love (in old and new canon which our Canon Captain Steve McGillivray has showed us this week), she is a complex card to play with and is not as straightforward as she might seem.
THE ART
This is classic Leia Organa. Standing her ground, looking determined in her Hoth uniform from The Empire Strikes Back. No famous buns, but rather a more mature looking braid rings her head as she holds an E-11 blaster rifle. It’s a pretty soft look for her, but considering Red cards are all about tactics, invoking the Battle of Hoth and her role there is very appropriate.
POINT COST
Leia has a 12 cost for a single die, and 16 cost for two dice. It is a middling range of point costs considering her health and puts her on a similar (if not identical) point cost level to Captain Phasma (AW1), Jango Fett (AW21) or Qui-Gon Jinn (AW37).
HEALTH
Leia has 11 health, and of the four Red hero characters, she is on the top end with Poe Dameron (AW29) who has 12 health. As mentioned above, Captain Phasma, Kylo Ren (AW11), Jabba the Hutt (AW20), and Qui-Gon Jinn (AW37) all also have 11 health, which seems to bring a lot to the table in Destiny matches, whether you pair Leia with another unique character or more than one non-unique characters.
DIE
Leia’s die reads 1 Ranged, 2 Ranged, 2 Modified Ranged, 1 Focus, 1 Resource, and 1 Blank. As an all black die, this is really consistent and dangerous when paired with other ranged damage dice. Throwing out damage 50% of the time is no laughing matter and even if you get one of the other sides, the die can be removed to reroll other die on your board, more on that below.
ABILITY
The card reads, “Remove this die to reroll up to 2 of your dice.” This is an incredibly powerful ability, allowing you to keep the cards in your hand instead of discarding them for a reroll. Running eLeia also allows you to utilise this action twice should you need to, over the course of two action turns. I have been on the opposing and receiving end of this ability of Leia’s and used at the right moment, could turn a bleh-roll into a god-roll. While rerolling your own dice doesn’t mitigate any damage that your opponent may throw at you, it is extremely useful in throwing it back.
DECK OPTIONS
The deck options for Leia are appropriately quite wide ranging. You could run her with Han Solo (AW46), Admiral Ackbar (AW27), Rey (AW38), Padme Amidala (AW48) and even the Padawan (AW36) in elite or single die form. The strongest decks I have seen her in however, are those that run a lot of ranged damage. We all know and love multi-coloured decks. I loved running Leia and Rey together, but they were inconsistent. On the other hand, I personally believe that eLeia/eHan is incredible and probably Leia’s strongest pairing in a multi-coloured deck build. It consistently throws out damage when utilising the yellow ambush cards in tandem with the tactical red cards. The Scout (AW33), DH-17 Blaster Pistol (AW54), Field Medic (AW105), Its A Trap! (AW107), and Leadership (AW141) are all must have Red cards for my Leia decks, even if I load the rest of my build with other coloured cards.
In terms of mono-decks, Leia and two Rebel Troopers (AW30) would work quite well as a ranged agro deck, especially considering the Troopers carry the guardian keyword. ELeia/eAckbar is another interesting deck, one that would run a bit slower and would rely on mitigation cards and a dual front of throwing out damage and milling your opponent down with Akbar’s ability. Playing Leia with Poe Dameron is a tricky one; no matter who you chose, one character would have to be elite and the other with a single die. Personally I might run Poe as the elite in this pairing but it would be interesting to test it both ways. The problem you might face with a mono-red deck is the expense of some weapons (read IQA-11 Blaster Rifle (AW55)), and honestly the lack of them. There are only two red neutral weapons (the IQA-11 and DH-17), and other supports such as Launch Bay (AW31) and Black One (AW32) are 5 and 4 cost respectively. I point this out not to deter people from playing a red-mono deck, rather the opposite. It promotes a really strategic deck build and the realisation that Gray neutral cards like the Hold Out Blaster (AW63), Daring Escape (AW126), Aim (AW151) and Datapad (AW62) will help in getting out those high cost cards, as well as help your cause in the mean time while you are building your resources.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Leia is powerful. She throws out damage but as a red card, does it with a tactician’s mind. Pairing her with yellow characters, and more importantly, characters that also roll with ranged damage is her best pairing. She is a lot of fun to play with, and can really ruin your day with her strong reroll ability.
I am sure you are all aware, but it is something I feel I must mention before I end, that Carrie Fisher, our Princess Leia and General Organa, will be in Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi but that will be her final appearance in the cinematic Star Wars Universe as she sadly passed away December 27, 2016. Carrie was beloved by all and is sorely missed. It is a different world without her but as I am sure we can all agree, her memory lives in all of us who love and adore the Star Wars Universe.
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