---------------------------------------
#31 Royal Guard, Leader
---------------------------------------
Entry: 20 July 1999
The Unofficial Jedi's Guide to the YJCCG Galaxy.
Compiled by jinnandtonic, July 1999.
Thoughts? You like this? You hate this? Email me!
The Unofficial Jedi's Guide to the YJCCG Galaxy is THE card strategy reference for Decipher's Young Jedi CCG. Starting with the first expansion, 'The Menace of Darth Maul', each individual card will be discussed until it can be discussed no further. Nevertheless, if I have missed something, email me at jinnandtonic@angelfire.com, and I will update it accordingly.
jinnandtonic's Grades:
Economy: B+
Royal Guard / Leader is a nice, economical card. For 2 Deploy, you get Power 2, a Damage of only 1 and a location bonus of Power +2 at Tatooine/Podrace Arena. With an okay Destiny of 4, this card will not ruin your deck's Destiny average either. Probably the Light card of choice on Tatooine, along with those ever capable Ishi Tib / Warriors.
Decipher: C+
Well, it does strike me as very odd that this character has a location bonus of Power +2 at Tatooine/Podrace Arena. You may argue that guards would be 'used' to to guarding such public places and therefore would be 'more powerful' at the Arena. I think that is stretching it. Come on Decipher, can't you make those ties to the movie more direct? A universal light character with these stats could well be a Spectator. (there's an idea!) Anyways, otherwise okay.
Overall Usefulness: A-
Just a handy card, the Light side equivalent of your typical Dark Battle Droid. There is also some nice Battle card support for this card, which helps when making a theme. What about Royal Guard Versus Ishi Tib? Thankfully, seeing they have different stoplight colours, you can use both. Especially useful at the moment because Tatooine/Podrace Arena is the only Light site available.
FLAVOR TEXT: Royal guards protect the Queen against would-be assassins and rabble-rousers.
--------------------
CARD FACTS:
--------------------
COMMON, BLUE-DOT, NON-STACKABLE
Deploy: 2
Power: 2
Destiny: 4
Damage: 1
Power Bonuses:
Tatooine/Mos Espa: +0
Tatooine/Desert Landing Site: +0
Tatooine/Podrace Arena: +2
------------------------------------------------
SPECIFIC INTERACTING CARDS:
------------------------------------------------
There are a few handy specific interacting cards:
Naboo Blaster
(#44, Menace of Darth Maul, Common, Orange-Dot)
- This universal weapon gives a Power bonus of +2 and a Destiny ? draw to any universal Royal Guard, Bravo Pilot or Naboo Security, or a Destiny draw to any other character. A nice card for a theme deck, though it would be even nicer was a bit higher (Destiny = 3).
Security Volunteers
(#58, Menace of Darth Maul, Common, Yellow-Dot)
- This Battle card gives a Power bonus of +2 to any universal Royal Guard in battle. You will have to work out the proper balance of versatility versus economy when working our how many copies of this card you want in your deck (especially with 'The Negotiations Were Short' also available).
The Queen's Plan
(#62, Menace of Darth Maul, Common, Yellow-Dot)
- This Battle card allows any three of the universal Royal Guards, Naboo Security and or Bravo Pilots to fight together in battle. While versatile and nice for a theme deck, you will have to judge just how likely it is that (a) you will have the right cards out and (b) you will need that much Power.
-------------------
IN BRIEF:
-------------------
Royal Guard / Leader is an all-round useful Light card. The backbone of any Light deck focusing on Tatooine, this card is even more useful when combined with the supporting cards available. Also acts as an effective foil for the Dark Battle Droid legions based on Tatooine. Included in every MoDM starter deck, it is one of the few cards in the deck that you will continue to use prolifically after you have the entire set of cards to work with. Nice.
-------------------------------
GENERAL PLAY TIPS:
-------------------------------
Some repeated stuff here from earlier entries. Joy!
* Your standard Queen's Plan deck? Mix in copies of Bravo Pilot / Veteran Flyer, Naboo Security / Guard and Royal Guards. Depending on what mix of cards you settle for, you will likely want to include The Queen's Plan (der), The Negotiations Were Short and Security Volunteers in your Battle card selection. For weapons, a mix of Naboo Blasters and Blaster Rifles is the way to go. I think you should stick with all universal characters, even for your red-dot category. That way you can include 7 Naboo Starfighters in your purple-dot category, which has a Destiny of 6. Ithorians or Ishi Tibs for red-dot? I am not sure - try a half-half selection: while Ishi Tibs are superior in play, Ithorians are a nicer Destiny draw.
* Protect the Queen! For this theme, you will obviously need the various versions of Queen Amidala, say three of each, for the green-dot category, and also four Royal Guard / Veterans. Next, for the blue-dot category, you will need a few copies of Captain Panaka / Protector of the Queen, and the rest of that category packed with Royal Guard / Leaders. Yellow should be full of Security Volunteers, The Negotiations Were Short and Enough of this Pretense, orange should have Captain Panaka's Blaster, Blaster Rifles and maybe Naboo Blasters. As for red, go the Jedi!
* The Force Quotient (FQ, like IQ) of Royal Guard / Leader is 6. I've heard better. The same as Jawa / Bargainer and a bunch of other universals. I'd just like to mention that Royal Guard / Leader is identical statistically to Battle Droid: Officer / MTT Division. Bah.
* Style tips:
- Another cross-CCG deck, although currently impossible. Think Royal Guards. Think Episode I, Return of the Jedi, and Magic: The Gathering. I really hated those Light and Dark Guards in Premiere SWCCG, anyone agree?
- Obviously, don't let the Queen die. And play God Save The Queen on your walkman at tournaments. If they let you.
------------------
ADDITIONS:
------------------
Up to you. Think of anything else cool about his card, or combos that you have used to great effect? What about a particular game in which this card made you win? Send anything like that to jinnandtonic@angelfire.com and I'll add it here. Why is it that the Dark side are always cooler? Think about those Royal Guard from Return of the Jedi: now they were Guards!
Back to The Unofficial Jedi's Guide to the YJCCG Galaxy
