Warning: The following content only applies to the Extended format

About the time I finished writing this article, Ryan Fleming said pretty much the exact same thing on a podcast. I decided to go ahead and publish, even though Fleming scooped me, because this is the only one of about 4 articles I’ve managed to complete recently.





I think Free Jamming Beams are great for the game





We all know points changes hit last week, and I think the general consensus is that FFG did a pretty great job. They weren’t shy about cutting the Phantom’s crew slot, they seriously ramped up Redline’s cost, and they made Supernatural Reflexes dependent on Initiative. These are all terrific things, but there’s another change that I wanted to highlight. This change has been mostly remarked upon with amusement, “this card is so bad they made it free” or “it’s still overpriced at 0 points”. I’m talking about Jamming Beam, of course. Range 1-2, knocks off tokens instead of doing damage. You know the card, even if you’ve never seen it on the table (and prior to February 4, 2019, you haven’t). It’s a garbage card, but it’s transition to freeness is something that I love, that I think can have a seriously positive impact on the game. What am I talking about?





Up to now, the initiative bidding meta game in X-wing 2.0 has been fierce. The reasons for this have been manifold. 1.) Turrets don’t exist in their 1.0 forms, so arc dodging matters against every ship. 2.) There were some excellent, highly maneuverable ships that were dramatically undercosted. 3.) Winning an initiative bid not only got you more information when deciding actions, it also enabled easy and effective use of Proton Torpedoes. The net result was ships that could both be more maneuverable than a ship of equivalent initiative and hit very, very hard for their points. The bid winner won on multiple fronts, and the power of the Proton Torpedo meant the bid winner often had an efficiency advantage even against ships of lower initiative. There was a huge amount of power in that bid, and the bidding wars in squads like Soontir/Redline/Whisper showed how important it was.





So why does a junk card like Jamming Beam matter if it’s free? At one point, nobody takes Jamming Beam. That point could be a bid, or an upgrade that will help you in every game. If it’s free that limitation is removed. Any open Cannon slot can be a Jamming Beam. Again, so what? Let’s look at two scenarios.





Scenario 1: Poe with Proton Torpedoes. Double actions, I6, practically built to fire massive and easy to use Proton Torpedo shots. The only problem is that Protons cost 12 points, plus the bid that you’d want to have against other I6 pilots. That’s usually not a big burden, though, because it’s easy for a Proton Torpedo shot to do 25 points of damage, or more, and you’ve got two of them.





Scenario 2: Poe with Jamming Beam. Same abilities as Torp Poe, but no 12 points in torps and no bid, so he’s got a lot more squad with him. Or he would, if that squad wasn’t hit with a Proton Torpedo on the initial engagement. But wait, this Poe has a Jamming Beam, and fires before any other Proton Torpedo carriers in the game. Odds are he Jams a lock off, as there’s not a lot of high defense Torpedo carriers. No damage, but his supporting squad is much more likely to make it to the mid game where blocking and efficiency can really be leveraged to their advantage.





The net result of this is that a squad that spends no points on a bid isn’t just eating an alpha strike if they're not perfect on the opening engagement. Just as importantly, Jamming Beam is absolutely not a silver bullet. Any Torp carrier that is at Range 3 of the Jamming Beam carrier still gets its shot off. Any Torp carrier that avoids the arc of the Jamming Beam carrier still gets its shot off. The presence of Jamming Beam introduces counter-play and skill requirements to opening Proton Torpedo salvos. It puts some burden of execution on both players.





Do I think that the occasional presence of Jamming Beam will radically shift the meta to do away with all Torpedo Alpha Strikes? No, and it shouldn’t, but it is an easily accessible tool to make matchups decided more on the table and less in the list building phase.





Hopefully we'll see the effect of strong alpha strikes tempered a bit, and expand the importance of proper maneuver selection into all parts of the game.





Addendum: A rundown of Jamming Beam carriers that might be relevant to the Extended meta:





Poe Dameron: The only I6 Jamming Beam carrier, and thus able to counter the primary I6 torpedo carriers, i.e. other Poes and Wedge Antilles.





Boba Fett, Rexler Brath, Nien Numb, Ello Asty, Serissu: Can jam away I5 or less Torpedo carriers, like Redline (who is still very good) or Luke. Luke may be equipped with Instinctive Aim, but a Proton Torpedo modded by a single Force is not nearly as scary as a double modded torp shot.