All aboard the Red Hero hype train. Shane here again, come with me as we break down the most recent Way of the Force spoilers and discuss what decks we could be seeing them in when the set drops.

If you have listened to any episodes of Golden Dice, you know that I love Red Hero. It was the least represented color/faction at this years Worlds, and I love an underdog (Go Eagles). I have loved Red hero from the beginning when I ran Poe, Ace Pilot, and Leia. That love kept growing when Snap Wexley dropped and continues to this day. These most recent spoilers contain two Red Hero cards, and a really unique battlefield, all of which have me excited.

Bendu’s Lair is the first battlefield to drop that comes with a die, and I love it. On Episode 11 of Golden Dice, Jack and I discussed the upcoming WoF set when it first got announced. They teased a battlefield with a die, and we discussed the possibilities of this. We were on the right track thinking it was going to be something along the lines of a Wampa Cave that came with that creature’s die, but being such big fans of Rebels I am very pleased to see Bendu coming into the game. We also discussed how a battlefield like this could work, and in that discussion we brought up the possibility of it being a power action that allowed you to roll in the die. Turns out we were pretty close! Obviously when you control this battlefield, your turns are going to be slower because you need to use an action to roll the die in and then possibly an additional action to resolve the die unless you are doing so with along with other dice of the same symbol. The sides are not crazy powerful, but are also pretty solid. I would argue they are around the same value that a 2 cost upgrade provides, maybe slightly below (But it has a 2 shield side!!). It does seem difficult to have a deck fast enough to consistently have this battlefield and use it to its full potential while staying fast enough to secure control over it every turn. Could cards that help you keep control over the battlefield help in this sense? Enter Rex…

Rex is one of my favorite Star Wars characters, and this card looks like a blast and also a really solid competitive option. 11/14 puts him right in the Middle-Middle deck range and that is something Red Hero has very much needed. This new set seems to be giving Hero a lot of good options in this general slot, with Cassian, Old Man Luke, and now Rex. I can’t help but compare Rex to Aayla, their damage sides are identical with range replacing melee. Rex also has a focus which Aayla’s special acts as but with a little more going for it. Rex sits nicely at 11 health and also an ability that seems extremely useful. This in my opinion is why we see his points going up by 2 compared to Aayla, but is it worth it? In my opinion control of the battlefield is most definitely worth it. His ability can be extremely versatile depending on the battlefield in play, who is having initiative for the next turn, and also depending on what is in your hand. Red Hero has access to two of the most powerful events that require battlefield control in Dug In and Defensive Position. Imagine a Hit and Run with Rex into Defensive Position for some seriously surprising removal. But with all characters the question comes up… Who do you pair him with?

Option 1: 2x Clone Troopers, or 1 Clone trooper and another 8 point character for access to another color. This seems like a solid choice, especially with a battlefield like Fort Anaxes. Running a Clone Trooper allows you to use Rex’s ability without having to pay the resource for it. Keeping control of Fort Anaxes allows you to have guardian on both wing characters prolonging the life of Rex, and allowing you to run some powerful events like mentioned before. But Rex’s ability could be good in certain situations even if you have to pay for.

Option 2: Finn, Soldier of Necessity . This would be a mono deck but possibly make a viable deck with Finn2 since he has yet to hit the competitive scene. Rex offers 2 black ranged sides to pair with the modifier problem Finn has. Will it dominate the meta? Probably not. Will it make Finn2 slightly more playable? I hope so!

Option 3: Chirrut Imwe. He’s elite for 16 points. Rex is 14 points. This is fate. This is also a joke. Or is it….*

Option 4: Aayla Secura. In my opinion, Rex and Aayla could offer up a play style quite like R2P2. Both of these characters have some serious potential so why not pair them up? And if you do this you have 4 extra points to play around with. Enter Long-Term Plan…

Long-Term Plan comes in at 3 points and offers a unique game play mechanic we have not seen on plots before. Each turn you can exhaust this to add a resource to it, or resolve one of your dice increasing its value by the number of resources you have built up on this plot. So round 1 you have to take a resource with the action, but then as you move onto future turns you choose to either keep ramping the token count on the plot, or start reaping the benefits of your earlier actions. Late game you can potentially resolve some dice increasing the values by some high values. Realistically you are never going to get 10 tokens on this plot, but just 2 or 3 tokens can seriously enhance your turn. You can use this action to increase the value of a focus side to pretty much pick your dice sides. You can also ramp by resolving a resource side with this action, or you can quite simply amplify your damage. One question that some people may be thinking (because Jack and I were thinking it) is why use resources as the token and not damage like they have done before on some cards? Well making it resources makes sure other cards can not effect this, such as Finn2, who could potentially break this card if it were that way. Overall I love the introduction of this mechanic. This set really seems to be opening up the possibilities when it comes to plots and a lot of other mechanics we have yet to see.

So what are you most excited for? Currently Rex might be at the top of my list for cards I am excited for. I am equally as excited to see huge changes to game mechanics that we already know, such as battlefields and plots.

As always keep tuning into everything Golden Dice for all your Star Wars Destiny content.

-Shane

*Editor’s Note – I want to distance myself from this pairing idea -Jack