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#45 Blaster AND
#119 Blaster
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Entry: 28 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@yahoo.com.au, and I will update it accordingly.
A Light side and a Dark side card review in the same entry? Am I nuts? Well, no. They are exactly the same, and I can't imagine myself saying anything different in the Dark entry for Blaster when I finally get to it. So...here goes. Expect a similar treatment for Blaster Rifle as well.
jinnandtonic's Grades:
Economy: D-
Ho, ho ho. Economy. What is economy? The trusty Blaster is free to Deploy, but has a miserable Destiny of 3 and gives a Destiny ? draw to any character in the game. So which would you prefer, one extra Deploy or 3 extra Destiny. Hmm. Let me think. Wait, I am *still* thinking......*still* thinking.....(etc, etc.} I challenge anyone to win a tournament or construct a really competitive deck by using Blasters instead of Blaster Rifles.
Decipher: F
Sorry, Decipher, but you know you really had it coming this time. The Blaster Rifle is a much more economical and useful card in YJCCG. Okay? Then why doesn't every cool character in the Star Wars saga have Blaster Rifles slung over their shoulder? Why do most of them use Blasters? Are they all stupid? What's going on here? An explanation is required, now.
Overall Usefulness: F
Usefulness? Neglegible. Why on Earth would you use this card instead of a Blaster Rifle? Benefits? Cheaper deploy - it deploys for free rather than one. Big deal. Costs? It has a pathetic Destiny of 3, compared to the Blaster Rifle's 6. In other words, Blasters are totally redundant. There is no real thematic use for them, and they are certainly in no way as effective as the Blaster Rifle. It is a bit like the dual Obi-Wan cards and the dual Darth Maul cards, but much, much worse because both Blaster and Blaster Rifle are common! The only theme that I imagine you may want to use this card in is a 'cheap' theme, where you try to include only cards that Deploy for 1 or for free (generally as little as possible). But I can't imagine such a theme being very effective. It is so annoying! (Shoots himself in the head.)
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CARD FACTS:
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COMMON, ORANGE-DOT, NON-STACKABLE WEAPON
Deploy: Free
Destiny: 3
Game Text:
Adds ? to any character in battle. (Destiny ? draw)
Light Flavor Text: The blaster is the basic sidearm for soldiers and citizens throughout the Republic.
Dark Flavor Text: The blaster is a standard issue weapon throughout the many worlds of the Trade Federation.
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SPECIFIC INTERACTING CARDS:
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It interacts with everyone. Very very poorly. And not at all specifically.
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IN BRIEF:
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The Blaster is one of those rare travestys committed by Decipher: one of those few cards in the YJCCG card library that you wil never, ever use if you are sensible. There is no possible reason for using this card. Okay, what if you are just starting out and don't have 10 weapon cards? Well you are excused. What if you decide to make an ultra-cheap deck, with cards that either Deploy for free or for 1? Well I suppose you are also excused, although you should be committed. But really now people, the thing that bugs me about this card is that it should be effective! It should be the Blaster Rifle of YJCCG, and the Blaster Rifle should be a little more useless. But Decipher have got it around the wrong way. Bizarre, and I don't know how this could possibly have slipped through the net.
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GENERAL PLAY TIPS:
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* Alright, lets have a *very brief* look at your Light and Dark 'cheap as chips' decks, starting with Light. For red you will use Jawa / Bargainers, for orange you will use those wonderful Blasters. Blue will feature...um... Ric Olie / Ace Pilot, I guess, and green is exclusively for R2-D2 / Astromech Droid and C-3P0 / Anakin's Creation. I would suggest that yellow should use The Negotiations Were Short and maybe Counterparts.
* The Dark 'cheap as chips' deck. Red will revolve around Neimoidians, orange will feature a slew of wonderful, wonderful Blasters. Blue is somewhat troublesome again, so you will have to make do with Battle Droids and/or Gardulla the Hutt, and green should be owned by the mighty Sith Probe Droid / Spy Drone. Yellow should contain mostly Opee Sea Killers. For both of the decks you are going to have to work out a way of limiting the Destiny you draw, because otherwise you will be out of a deck before you even win a planet. Typical.
* Style Tip: Don't use this card at all. Really, don't. Why not burn your Blasters in protest against Decipher?? I didn't say that.
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ADDITIONS:
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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@yahoo.com.au and I'll add it here. Whoever mails me the best way to cook a fistful of Blaster cards, without making yourself sick in the process, wins absolutely nothing. I suppose you can have my Blasters, but it is not worth the mail costs sending them to you.
Jason adds (1/9/99): I think you were a bit too hard on Blasters in your review. They can be
useful, especially when using lots of 6 deploy characters (Maul, Mace,
Qui-Gon). Deploy a blaster with one of these guys, so they don't go
weaponless. Their destiny still sucks, but I'm just saying they can be
useful.
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