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#102 Battle Droid: Security, AAT Division
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Entry: 2 November 1999
The Unofficial Jedi's Guide to the YJCCG Galaxy.
Compiled by jinnandtonic, November 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.
Battle Droids? Sheesh, they're all pretty similar, and so are the entries for them!
jinnandtonic's Grades:
Economy: B
Battle Droid: Security / AAT Division is standard, fairly economical, battle droid fare. Deploying for the standard 2 Power, for the standard 2 Deploy, this card is undistinguished as far as Battle Droids go. Location bonuses equate to Power +2 at Tatooine / Mos Espa, and a Damage of 1 is also standard issue for budding non-unique YJCCG characters everywhere. A Destiny of 3 is one less than that of this card's blue-dot equivalent, however. Boo, hiss.
Decipher: A-
Just one minor quibble here. While the idea of a Security-type Battle Droid being a stronger character in public places seems logical, why not any locations then, at Tatooine / Podrace Arena? I am not really a fan of the front-on Battle Droid images, although that may just be an indication of my own warped aesthetics, but it isn't a tragedy or anything (certainly better than the image for #100 Battle Droid: Officer / MTT Division). As you may have noticed, this card bears a great resemblance to #98 (Battle Droid: Security / MTT Division), although the latter has one more Destiny and is blue-dot.
Overall Usefulness: B
Battle Droid: Security / MTT Division would be the key Battle Droid in the green-dot category in a hypothetical Dark deck focusing on Tatooine / Mos Espa (Dark). While that location card is not quite in free distribution as yet, it will become available eventually, at which point this card will become quite useful. Until then, in your Battle Droid Dark decks, persist with variants such as the Battle Droid: Infantry types (#99, #103) for Tatooine / Desert Landing Site and the Battle Droid: Officer types (#100, #104) for Tatooine / Podrace Arena.
FLAVOR TEXT: Security battle droids are distinguished by the red coloring of their body armor.
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CARD FACTS:
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COMMON, GREEN-DOT, NON-STACKABLE
Deploy: 2
Power: 2
Destiny: 3
Damage: 1
Power Bonuses:
Tatooine/Mos Espa: +2
Tatooine/Desert Landing Site: +0
Tatooine/Podrace Arena: +0
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SPECIFIC INTERACTING CARDS:
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Battle Droid Blaster Rifle
[#118, Menace of Darth Maul, Common, Orange-Dot]
The Battle Droid Blaster Rifle is an integral part of any Battle Droid theme deck, giving your faceless minions Power +1 and a Destiny ? draw in battle. A Destiny of 4 is good enough, although you will probably still want to squeeze a couple of Blaster Rifles in just to give your deck's Average Destiny that additional boost.
In Complete Control
[#125, Menace of Darth Maul, Common, Yellow-Dot}
The card that was the staple of Starter Deck-fresh YJCCG decks is still fairly good. It gives Power +2 in battle to any non-unique Battle Droid. Sure, not as much as Opee Sea Killer, but arguably just as good due to the flexibility it allows. One of these can be just enough to knock over that Qui-Gon and claim a planetary victory. Bwah-hah-hah!
The Invasion Is On Schedule
[#131, Menace of Darth Maul, Common, Yellow-Dot}
It is unfortunately a bit Gungan Curiosity for my liking (being essentially the same as that Light card), but this card is still worth including. It allows any three non-unique Battle Droids to fight together in battle. 1-2 copies maximum, I would suggest - it is still a card that can win you a game from nowhere.
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IN BRIEF:
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Battle Droid: Security / AAT Division is the kind of card that Dark players might like to draw in tournaments nowadays. Why? Because when the Dark side is getting pummeled at Tatooine: Mos Espa by Gungan Chuba Thieves and Handmaidens, you might wish you stacked your deck with cards like this with location bonus sweeteners at that site.
Of course, when you get lucky and get first choice at Tatooine, or have an opportunity to change the current Tatooine location in play to Tatooine / Podrace Arena (and have a fistful of Podracers in your deck), you could well feel like shooting yourself, drawing Battle Droids with all these location bonuses at Mos Espa. Is this a Kobayashi Maru, a no-win scenario? Spoil or no-spoil? Most successful YJCCG players will tell you that you are usually best off concentrating on your own strategy rather than what your opponent's will be. Hence - stick to your guns and use Battle Droids with location bonuses at either Podrace Arena or Desert Landing Site on Tatooine. Until the next expansion, in any case...
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GENERAL PLAY TIPS:
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* A Battle Droid theme? You mean you aren't sure how to slap one together?? Oh, alright. Briefly, and you can see how a slightly different deck is built in more detail in The Deck Theme Dictionary. Lets focus on Tatooine: Desert Landing Site, including two copies of that for starters. Green is nice and easy, and we will throw in multiples of both Battle Droid: Pilot / MTT Division and Battle Droid: Infantry / MTT Division. Blue is also a snap, with multiples of Battle Droid: Pilot / AAT Division and Battle Droid: Infantry / AAT Division mandatory. Red is a touch more difficult, but needless to say that copies of Battle Droid Squad / Assault Unit and perhaps everyone's favorite bounty hunter are ripe for the challenge. Mix in Battle Droid Blaster Rifles and Blaster Rifles for your arsenal (say, 5:5, or 6:4 / 7:3, depending on how many droids you wind up using),and In Complete Control (2-4), The Invasion Is On Schedule (1-2) and Opee Sea Killer for your Battle Card support. Have fun, conquer some planets, and say 'Roger Roger!' a lot.
* If you know which locations your opponent will be using, then by all means, stack in those duplicate sites and build an anti-strategy. But this is not always the case. If you are going to try to spoil, I would advise you to just throw in a couple of spoiler cards here and there, rather than making your entire strategy a spoiling strategy. And yes, you are going to have to have a solid idea of at least one location your opponent will be using. And a lot of luck as well. With the release of Jedi Council, and the Light side probably favoring Mos Espa on Tatooine now (especially with all those Dark Podracers), maybe a 2-3 of either Battle Droid: Security / MTT Division or / ATT Division could come in handy. Just don't blame me if (when!) it backfires!
* Battle Droid: Security / AAT Division x3 + The Invasion Is On Schedule + Battle Droid Blaster Rifle + Destiny = 6 at Tatooine / Mos Espa: 19 Power. With the prerelease of Jedi Council, much talk has been of rampant Jar Jars tearing the Dark side to pieces. Not likely.
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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. Don't worry, only two Battle Droid reviews left in Menace of Darth Maul. Phew.
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