With each new batch of spoilers the synergistic possibilities presented in Way of the Force are making my mind explode. We already talked about Rex and his synergies with Static Effect Battlefields last week, and my plan was to dive into Plo Koon and Bo-Katan, but when Arihnda Pryce dropped I just couldn’t help myself. Villains have been waiting for special chaining for a long time, and with the release of this Unscrupulous Governor that power will finally fall into the hands of the Empire.

To go along with our new summer schedule, I wanted to make a video that delved into Pryce’s special chaining ability, and you can find that below, but I did want to put a few words down on paper about the second half of the ability and its abusive synergy with one of the most powerful battlefields in the game: The Emperor’s Throne Room.

Controlling the Battlefield and Pryce’s Special is Just Plain Busted

In my video below I solely address the special chaining possibilities of Governor Pryce, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. The bottom line is that Pryce and her special are so good they make literally every other Villain and Neutral die better. It would be exhaustive and boring to cite every single 1 she makes a 2, or 2 she makes a 3 because every single instance of her increasing a die side by one while instantly turning to it and resolving it is universally strong, thus they really need no further mention individually. The trick will be finding the decks that can actually take and keep control of the battlefield so that we can actually take advantage of this.

To begin with, special chaining decks are faster because they resolve most of their dice in one action. Yoda/Hondo has been lightning fast for the past few months because there are very few resolve dice actions being taken, as it does all its focusing and damaging at once. Pryce decks that are built to special chain will be able to take advantage of this speed, but there are other abilities that can give us the battlefield too. While not usually playable in competitive formats, Ground Battalion and Lockdown both give us control of the battlefield at will, which with Arihnda Pryce actually matters. Ground Battalion is especially saucy since once we control the battlefield we’ll have juicy damage sides to turn to and auto-resolve at +1; 5 indirect damage seems dece.

Having cards like this are also a deterrent from Pryce’s mortal enemy, Captain Rex, who would otherwise keep the battlefield out of her totalitarian grip.

[Note: Apparently there is some discrepancy in how people are thinking this will be ruled. Obviously if it gets clarified to not work as described in the WotF Rules Update, Governor Pryce gets a lot worse and all of this can be ignored. However, if it does work as described it is important to recognize the potential power here.]

This is where things really bust open for Governor Pryce. I talk about this in the video below, but when you claim this card with a Pryce die in your pool, you will be able to turn her die to a special no matter what, because even if it is already showing a special, you can always turn it to the other one. Then, because you control the battlefield when that special resolves, you’ll be able to insta-resolve another of your dice at +1, making this battlefield consideration #1 in any Pryce deck, and it might end up simply becoming an auto-include because of that power.

The final thing I’ll add is that because claiming this battlefield has such a powerful effect claiming early will be a super viable tactic, but it will also help ensure that we have the battlefield the subsequent round so that we can continue to abuse Pryce’s special side. This kind of compound interest will make any Governor Pryce deck immediately competitive and she could end up being as ubiquitous in the meta as other cheap and powerful special-chainers like Yoda and Aayla Secura, and with a 2X side (that will sometimes and often resolve as a 3X side) to boot.

The Pryce is Nyce

Below is a video I made featuring some cards that I think will synergize well with Arihnda Pryce; I tried to highlight cards that were both underplayed and have a lot of upside. As I said earlier, I think she makes literally every single die she can pair with better so there isn’t a wrong answer, and I can’t cover them all, so I picked some I thought were interesting discussions.

I’ve also included the image from the video that features every single Villain and Neutral die card below with a special side. I wanted to upload it as a .json file for TTS, but saving it crashed swdestinydb.com for me for some reason.

Thanks for reading (and watching),

BobbySapphire

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