No matter if your reasoning is that set isn’t worth buying boxes of, you are new to the game / dabbling, or in general you just buy what you need, some cards in the set are going to be worth getting a hold of now before the prices go up. Having to buy Easy Pickings, Cautions, or Force Illusions for $8 a piece feels awful when you could’ve gotten them much cheaper because uncommon cards start off low priced before they are deemed to be “staples”. Let’s dive right into the ones that stand out to me the most, why I think picking up a couple for yourself makes sense, and whether I expect the price for them to go up (or down… not likely down for the most part). I’ll be using prices from The Game Haven and Coolstuff Inc. Going Alphabetically to match up with the websites as you potentially build your cart and I’m going to round $0.X9 up the penny because I can (that means 49 cents is 50 cents and 99 cents is a dollar). Super niche cards won’t be explored, because they probably only go in 1-2 decks and are useless otherwise normally (e.g. Bacta Therapy). Get what you need, but make sure you know that they exist!

Aggressive Negotiations

BobbySapphire wrote about it a bit. This could end up being a premier piece of mitigation for any damage based Hero decks that include Red. If the meta has aggressive roll-outs with several dice hitting the field at the same time, then this could end up being a new aged Defensive Positions without the Battlefield Requirement. For the sake of it, let’s assume that there are 3 damage dice showing and you play it. We are looking at anywhere from 6 Indirect being dealt adjustable to about 4-6 damage being mitigated. Those late game situations where you need to deal 4 damage to win but only have about 3 health yourself are going to be mighty scary. There is some drawback in that the card is useless against mill (for the most part) and if an opponent can roll out and resolve 1 die at a time then this does just about nothing. With Phasma and Megablaster troopers running around, I could definitely see this card having a place.

GameHaven: $0.75

CoolStuff: $1

My thoughts: $2-$4 is my expectation if it starts to see a decent amount of play. If the format is heavy aggression and rollouts with tons of dice then it could end up being over $5, but Hero + Red + Damage is a bit more niche.

Bounty Board

So this is niche since it is for decks running Bounty cards, but Death Mark and Wanted are 0-Cost bounties and then Enticing Reward could be good for getting a heavily discounted Upgrade (equipment or weapon) on someone like Vader3 since he could snuff out a 7 health character fast and get a Darksaber out. I could see a world where you run a small Bounty package for enabling your deck to snowball off of a kill. I now have to go build Bounty Board Vader and see if it can do anything fancy. This isn’t actually necessary but there is potential in any card that tutors and is cheap enough in the relative sense.

GH: $1

CSI: $1

Me: Bounty Board decks would really have to be strong for this to take off. $1-$2 is probably where it stays since it does require Villain Yellow and an aggressive deck.

Circle of Shelter

The card is quite good in Luke3 decks, but seems pretty mediocre elsewhere … maybe Qui-gon2’s partner can use it to help him out, but that sounds MEH! It shines in Luke3 decks because you can hide it under Lightsaber Mastery and jam damage in with the Luke die and then resolve the die again as damage on the next action. I’m not in love with it otherwise, so I expect prices to tank.

GH: $3

CSI: $3

Me: I expect it to drop down to like $1 as people realize that it isn’t very good outside of Luke Soresu decks and that Soresu is probably too defensive to really be used.

EDIT: I’ve been told that Circle seems to be a Short Print in some areas and that it was rumored to be a card that had to be purchased by a few of the online sellers to complete sets. Loops Discord told me!

Deflecting Slash

Now this “Move” card on the other hand is what nightmares are going to be made of. Activating, removing 2+ damage, and getting 2 shields in the process is just a blow out usually. It is much harder to use if you aren’t running 2 blue characters because you can see it coming from a mile away, but if the opponent has Lightsaber Mastery then it is nearly guaranteed that one of these is hiding under there at the start of the game. You need Soresu Mastery to get the 2 shields bump so it’s rough (because i dislike Soresu Mastery even though it is chock full of value), but when it hits, OH BABY!

GH: $1.5

CSI: $2

Me: How the hell is this cheaper than Circle??? I just about lost my mind when seeing that. If i’m wrong about Soresu and the deck is good then this will likely take off to around the $5 mark, but otherwise, $1-2 is probably about right. We do have Feel the Force with the same cost that just outright removes a ranged or indirect and has no requirements.

Flee the Scene

So I’m going out on a limb here, because i think this card is phenomenal. After it is played, your opponent can take two actions then pass and the round will end, or take one action then claim the battlefield and the round will end, so proceed with extreme caution. I’ve played it in two wide decks with decently fast resolutions / some minor action cheating and i’ve been quite content with it. I often find myself passing a few times in a row at the end of a round against slow decks, and just jamming this to take 2 of their strong dice is usually enough to make them sad. There is a lot of danger in an opponent being able to activate and resolve OR focus and resolve uninterrupted after you play this, so it definitely isn’t for the faint of heart.

GH: $1.5

CSI: $1

Me: I think this is pretty cheap for a card that could end up on the level of Easy Pickings which is sold out at GH and $6 at CSI. I think I can safely put Flee at about $3-$5 whilst be conservative just on my testing. Impulsive and Instigate help immensely when it comes to speedy Yellow Hero decks, so be on the lookout for this card ruining your day. NO FOCUS FOR YOU SNOKE!!!

Forsaken

Are you familiar with my love for Flank??? You’ll be seeing me erecting a monument in Forsakens name as that is how much love I have for this card. Although I don’t have enough love for it to start running Double Down to have 3 of it and 3 Entourage (hmmm….), this thing has been absolutely BANANAS!!! As you know by now, I’m usually on some 3 wide ramp deck and it is so hard to go wrong with this in that archetype. Own 4 (your other villain deck) now or you’ll be paying a steep price later.

GH: $1.5

CSI: $1.5

Me: BUY BUY BUY!!! If I wasn’t so lazy, i’d have bought out both of GH and CSI at that price as well as every other store. If this doesn’t sit at a $5 minimum whilst in rotation, then there is something wrong with the world. Look around for a store to not be in the know but still in stock, because it is likely that most of your friends or group will need 4 of these. If it was Neutral then I can’t even imagine what they’d be going for.

Hampered

GH: $5

CSI: SOLD OUT

I’m not sure how or why this is happening. Cocaine is one hell of a drug??? (photo for those who don’t understand). You still get to resolve elite character dice, just very slowly and the character’s die can’t be modified, but it can be used to modify other dice if the character die is a modified side. It annoys the living hell out of Vader3 if he’s carrying a Vader Saber or Maul Saber, but holy shit does this seem insane.

Me: SELL SELL SELL – I’d be moving mine for $3 each and buying them back for $0.50 to $1 later on.

Riot Shield

In most cases, this is just an Armor Plating, but if you run Troopers then it kind of ends up replacing Force Illusion as a block 3 damage upgrade. We don’t have many options to help protect us pre-emptive against action cheat damage, so that is where most of it’s usefulness is residing. I run 1-2 also and it’s been helpful enough, but it definitely isn’t Force Ilussion by any means.

GH: $2

CSI: $4

Me: I didn’t expect the price to be at $4 for CSI, but that $2 at GameHaven is a pretty good deal if you need more of these. It’s quite hard to speculate on this because Armor Plating wasn’t very good, but if the Phasma (or other trooper based) decks end up seeing play then it is an auto 2 of include there and splashed in other decks with a single trooper. $4 maximum seems reasonable FOR NOW, but $2-$3 is probably where it actually ends up sitting. If Phasma as a Red Deck Wins type deck takes off then we could be seeing that $5-$7 cost in the near future.

Rout

This card is quite amazing if you are running the decks that can Military Camp and put a bunch of dice in the pool all at once, Phasma, or Megablaster Troopers. Getting 2 dice is strong and hitting more than that is a blow out! 1 cost removal with potential is pretty nice.

GH: SOLD OUT

CSI: $4

Me: I didn’t expect to see this at $4 based on just itself, but it seems reasonable. Another thing to note, is that it seems to be the short print Uncommon like Art of War was last set. Some of the print runs just don’t have them. I got exactly 2 in an entire case. Being short print, the $4 is actually a decent price, because there aren’t a ton running around. I would’ve put it at $2.5 – $3 otherwise.

Salt Flats

I just wanted to point this out as a strong card to replace Theed. It’s not in every deck, but it’s been nice having that PA focus for me to flip to a Resource, 2 Focus, or max damage as well as my opponent having to play around it the entire round waiting for me to use it so their character die doesn’t get blanked out. It’s not on the Theed of old power level, just a strong new BF you might see more of.

GH: $1

CSI: $2

Me??: It’s a battlefield so I don’t have a thought on price. I’ll make sure to have a few as a backup at tournaments in case my battlefield doesn’t get returned by my opponent. I’m not even sure how much Theed’s were going for.

Target Acquired

Be happy that this wasn’t Neutral or Villain because Aphra would make you rage. Pretty useless outside of the decks where you need it, but turning all of your Indirect into Direct damage is going to be 100% worth it for those decks.

GH: $0.75

CSI: $0.40 (they listed it as common, not uncommon if you don’t see it)

Me: The price seems reasonable for niche decks since there isn’t a ton of Hero decks that deal with purely or mainly indirect. The Padme life will be real though and it makes those 3’s hurt like the dickens! $1 is probably where it maxes out at unless Padme decks take off, in which case we might see it at $3.

We’re Home

Alright, so we’ve ventured into super niche again, but it’s a card that untaps your vehicle at the cost of 2 Resources (1 Resource + 1 dice showing resource) which is probably still good enough. You might be trying to think of which vehicle to untap and there are two that really come to mind: Shadowcaster and Firespray (close mention: Falcon3). “But HonestlySarcastc, it’s a Hero card and Firespray is Villain!” … Marauder + Armored Reinforcement = Firespray tutored in Hero deck means the untap vehicle life fear should remain in each and every one of you!!!

GH: $0.75

CSI: $1

Me: It’s really not worth much, but I had to list it because the potential is there for it to come down and ruin a life. The price won’t likely go past the dollar, but this isn’t just a pricing article.

Reprints / Other Formats

I really don’t bother counting the reprints which is bad because newer players likely need those. Check out It Binds All Things $1.50 , Electroshock $1.50, and No Mercy $0.50 as potential cards you’ll want for decks, but check back for the Awakenings versions to see if they are cheaper since I only quickly checked Convergence on GameHaven.

For Infinite, you may want to look into Forbidden Lore $1.5 (Also good for Palp3), Mean Streets (Battlefield), and Exterminate $0.75.

Hopefully I was able to point out some cards that you hadn’t noticed before and that my overall thoughts were useful to you. Please do comment and share your thoughts as we enjoy hearing back from our readers whether it be in agreement or disagreement.

~HonestlySarcastc

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