I think it would be helpful to expand this to include multiple actions and order of resolution. For example activating Energy Conversion Lab to play Fleet Lieutenant. There is a lot going on in this interaction and new players could benefit from knowing how to unwind this kind of interaction
I did not realise that boba's damage happened before the attack damage, I thought they would be simultaneous, so thanks for the lesson, this has helped me avoid a future embarrassment :D
Thank the force for your videos! I missed out on pre-release (being new to CCGs didn’t even know it was a thing). You’ve been a great help in catching up to the more experienced players.
Great video idea. Be nice to see more of in the future. clarify that aspects are by symbol not by color (double aspects of the same color may require the +2 resources), correct? Ie a two green and I only have one green on my leader and none on my base- would be +2 aspect penalty.
Very helpful video. I have a question. Darth Vader (Leader Unit) attacks a unit with a shield token on it. Vader uses his ability to deal 2 damage to it and lose its shield and then deal the whole 5 damage to it. Is that correct? Also, if that unit were to die from Vader's ability, does the attacks still resolve or is it abandoned?
That's correct, the On Attack trigger resolves first and separate from the Attack damage. If the On Attack trigger defeats Vader's target, unless Vader has Overwhelm from some other effect, Vader's attack damage isn't dealt as the Target is no longer in play. If he DOES have Overwhelm from something, then, with his target gone, all of his attack damage would be considered excess and go to the opponent's base.
This is probably the same as the on attack wording you already mentioned but with Bossk it says “when you play an event: you may deal two damage to a unit”. You can deal the two damage before you resolve the event, correct? For instance, if Bossk is in play but exhausted and I have Syndicate Lackey who is ready. And I am against Leader Vader with eight health. I can play event “shoot first”, deal two damage to Vader from Bossk first, then apply “shoot first” to Sydicate Lackey and defeat Vader while taking zero damage?
This is a little different actually! The answer to this comes down to when the game resolves "When you play an event" triggers. The event is not considered "Played" until it has been placed in the discard pile after using its effects, and a trigger also cannot interrupt a non-attack action. So Bossk's trigger to deal 2 damage won't happen until AFTER the Event played fully resolves - meaning your (really cool idea!) play unfortunately doesn't quite line up - the Shoot First would have to fully resolve before the 2 damage can be dealt. The lackies will have to die to do it!
Something that is so basic but my son and I got confused about is that units can attack the base directly without getting rid of all units in that arena first like you would in Magic. (Unless a “def being” unit has Sentinel) We played our whole first game and it took so long because we kept trying to whittle down the defenders first. I know “read the rules!” But it was an oversight and I feel like I can’t be the only person to make this mistake
I think we need an official rules clarification for Energy Conversion Lab from the devs themselves. Seeing as you're talking about not being able to use the once per game ability until round 7 and all this epic once per game action, that I am sacrificing 5 health for, is to give that card ambush? That seems woefully useless. 5 HP can make the difference between a match so the one time use thing should be worth it. Hell, I can't even tell you how many times that I've played where the winner had 1 hp left.
I think you've misunderstood something I've said - Energy Conversion Lab can be used any round of the game. You simply have to pay the cost for the unit you play with it. We actually have a very complete understanding of how ECL works, and it's widely regarded as the best of the 25 HP bases! Is there anything more specific I can help clear up about it?
Question on Chirrut Îmwe, I found in the rules that a unit can not be healed past it maximum value for life, but can one be damaged past zero into the negative. Example - Chirrut does not die during the action phase if he is reduced to zero life. If he would be sitting at say 5 life left and he gets hit for 7, would he be considered to be at zero or -2. Reason im asking is lets say he is considered to be at zero, then on my next action I give him an experience counter, he would get +1/+1 and then not die, but if he was at -2 he would still die. Guess a long winded way to ask does a unit go into the negative for HP or be considered at zero.
He would have 7 damage counters in that case, totaling -2. You'd have to use a bigger HP upgrade like Resilient or Entrenched, multiple Experience upgrades, or healing like Repair or Redemption to make him survive the turn. One interesting quirk is that if that 7 damage was dealt from an attack from a unit with Overwhelm, any damage past what would bring him to 0 would go to the Base instead. So in that case, 5 would be dealt to Chirrut, 2 would go to base, and then your Experience upgrade would actually allow him to survive past the end of the turn.
I’ve heard mixed perspectives of unit abilities that affect other units; do the affected units have to be in the same arena as the unit with the triggered ability? Or in any arena?
For abilities, they will *always* specify if there is a particular arena they effect. If an ability says something simple like "Deal 2 damage to a unit", that unit can be in ANY Arena!
For example, AT-AT Suppressor - When played - Exhaust all GROUND units. Sentinel - Units in THIS arena can't attack other units the Base. Blizzard Assault AT-AT - When attacking and defeating a unit - you may deal the excess damage to an enemy GROUND unit. [this prevents you having to put it on your own units if no other enemy are in the GROUND arena] 7th Brother, 5th sister and the Fallen and Vader's Lightsabers all restrict to Damage to GROUND units. Bombing Run - CHOOSE an Arena (Ground or Space) Deal 3 damage to each unit in that arena. [Including any of yours] Outmanoeuvre - CHOOSE an Arena (Ground or Space) Exhaust all units in that arena. And then, Strafing Gunship - This unit can attack units in the GROUND arena. This is pretty much examples of any arena specific effects you will find at present
Can you deploy an exhausted leader unit? Like can I use Sabine to ping both bases then deploy her later in the turn as an action? When leaders return after being defeated, do they return exhausted?
Yes, you can deploy your leader after exhausting it for an action, and it will deploy ready as usual! When a leader is defeated, it returns to the Leader zone exhausted no matter what.
Thx alot! This was the only thing I was wondering about the game. Me and my wife played it correctly then. In some of the ffg games the keywords are very strict.
If my opponent is attacking with a space or ground unit, why can I not defend with ready space or ground unit, as a attempt to block the damage, chances are my defending unit will die, why can’t I toss a Tie fighter in the way of a attack?
There is no rule that you can block with units. Your opponent can choose to attack any unit in the same arena, or attack your base, unless a unit has Sentinel - then they MUST attack it. So the reason you can't choose to block is because - well, you can't, it's not an allowed action in this game!
Something that came up in play a couple times for me: If you play Pirated Starfighter with no other units in play, does it force itself back into your hand? I believe the answer is "yes" but I'm not 100% sure.
Some fun ones that I see too are Leaders are considered in play since the start of the game. Also some interesting interactions with cards like Guerrila Assault Pod with ECL, basically you can choose order of Ambush, and Enter Play Ready trigger from him to attack 2 times. Run it into something for some grit buffs then swing at base.
@@roka102 So, as far as I understand this is because of timing windows and Triggered abilities. If you are playing with ECL and use the ability to play Guerilla Attack Pod you give the unit an Ambush and you can attack immediately. Because of how timing structure works you get to choose if you are resolving Ambush or When Played ability first, so if you decide to use Ambush you attack immediately (either a Unit for extra dmg from Grit or base) and then if ANY of the bases has 15 dmg or more you can use When Played ability and ready GAP. Then, it's their action and after that you can attack with GAP once again (provided it wasn't destroyed by your opponent).
I had someone have a tantrum and claim I had triggered their anxiety and quit when I played Overwhelming Barrage on my 907th and did NOT exhaust them. I tried to explain that it was damage from the secondary card using their power rating, not an attack, so they were free to attack that phase and not exhausted. They were trying to equate that effect with Leia's double attack ability, which was their leader.
@@JustinKSweet Plot twist:- I was asked not to go in last week to the games store because, apparently, I had made the experience unbearable for the other player. AND, apparently, my son and I were cheating in the pre release by swapping cards with each other. I know for a fact that this did not occur, and would not tolerate it for an instance. How I made the game unplayable for the other player, by pointing out that the cards did not just do as she wished them to do, I do not yet know. That comes down to a meeting with the game store owner to assess whether we are allowed back in. Regardless of the outcome, I will not ever be a paying customer of theirs again. To say I made someone's game unplayable is one thing, though I do not know how, HOWEVER - to accuse me of cheating, another level altogether, with no proof as none can exist. THAT I will not tolerate. I do not steal, lie or cheat. Especially when all the prizes were the same, a couple of boosters if you went 3/0 or 0/3 did not matter. So why cheat at all? If you are interested, I will let you know the outcome of my meeting with the store owner, which should be interesting lol.
More cards to play. Say you have 7 resources down, and draw two with an empty hand - you might want to just keep the 2 to play them both that turn. @@KuneTear
What happens when I play a card like Tactical Advantage which gives a unit +2/+2 for this phase, I use that unit (it’s original stats being 2/2) to attack and the unit takes 2 damage. Would the unit be defeated at then end of the phase because it loses the +2/+2 buff and therefore becomes a 2/0 unit. Or would it remain in play?
Thanks for the video. Thought my son and I were playing the game correctly, turns out we were. We have been looking for clarification about units exhausting or not when another card allows them to attack.
Great, well thought out run down! I think another area that would be a good idea to go over the idea of 'soft passing' before initiative has been taken, why you might want to do it, and what happens if you soft pass and your opponent takes initiative. I feel like this whole area has lead to some confusion among some players.
another common rule question I am seeing these days is taking initiative counts as passing. If you pass and your opponent takes the initiative you move onto the next round you don't get to keep playing.
The Uniqueness point seems like a visual design failure then, the icon is on the name suggesting that's what you have to check to be unique, if two cards are called exactly "Luke Skywalker" with the unique icon on it I would die on the hill that they are not to be played concurrently, if the leader version is supposed to not be unique with the unit Luke than call it "Leader Luke" on the name, or "Jedi Luke Skywalker" or any other name. Lorcana for example has a name AND a title on the name space of the characters (e.g. Tinker Bell tiny tactician VS Tinker Bell giant fairy), and I guess Lornada doesn't even have a unique restriction.
Very helpful information. When most YT videos baiting viewers with box openings, meta decks and card rankings, you made an effort to help new players to play the game correctly. Looking forward for more SWU videos in future.
Question regarding Relentless Card. "The first event played by each opponent each round losses all abilities". Does this mean if the opponent already played an event this round before the card was in play, it will not nullify the second event being played in the round by each opponent after the card comes out that round? Since those events are not the first event cards being played in a round even though the card was not in play yet
That's an excellent question! Yes, the opponent only has one "first event" each round, regardless of when Relentless was played. If they already played an event before Relentless was played, the effect of Relentless won't be useful that phase and any other events played that phase will still have their effects.
At the prerelease, I won one match by unintentionally cheating. I'm pretty new to card games (competitively) and I misinterpreted the cards that allow a unit to attack. Live and learn! There are a lot of rules in games like these that assume players will already know some things and that's not always the case.
How does takedown work? Does the opponents card need to be damaged or can it simply take out a card of cost 5 or less without it being damaged, its a question that came up last game
Question: can a Ground Unit deal damage with card text (not by attacking) to a Space Unit.. For example "ISB AGENT": you play him in the Ground Arena (duh), you reveal an Event, can you then deal 1 damage to a Space Unit, for example kill of a "Patrolling V-Wing"??
I have scrolled through the comments but can’t see the question I have which is; The when played deal damage ability. Does the unit get damage back like it normally would when attacking or not? Great video by the way
Unique cards are unique cards, no matter what card type they are - if you had a Vader's Lightsaber on Vader and played a second one, you would have to defeat one of them - but you would still get the When Played ability, so it can be worth it as a way to remove a unit still!
When Outmaneuver is played (choose an area, space or ground. All units are exhausted) would Leader cards played that round be exhausted as well if ground is chosen as the exhausted area?
If the Leader Unit is already in the arena when Outmaneuver is played, it would exhaust it as well. But if the Leader was deployed AFTER Outmaneuver is played, it would still enter ready.
This did help. I thought Leia Leader was awesomely overpowered, but I wanted to be certain. Sure enough, you answered my question first thing. Leia is still pretty great; A tier for sure.
To be fair you contradicted yourself by stating for the resource on resupply doesn't come in active cause it doesn't mention so like superlaser technician does when talking about energy conversion lab and a card like admiral ozzel specifically stating you have to pay the cost.
Admiral Ozzel is an example of reminder text - the parenthesis and italics indicate this - which means its not a special part of his rules, it's reminding you about the *regular* rules for how to resolve this effect. Reminder Text is not shown on higher rarity cards! So it's not really a contradiction once you understand that. Similar to how paying the cost is inherently part of the rules of Playing cards, entering exhausted is inherently part of the rules of Resourcing a card!
I’m sure the answer is obvious, but what if during the action phase, your opponent runs out of things they can do, but I still have plenty of things to do?
The action phase does not end until both players pass (or take the initiative) consecutively. Your opponent can either pass until you pass also, or Take the Initiative which will then force them to pass continuously, allowing you to take as many actions as you want until you also choose to pass.
That is legal - Ambush and Fett's Firespray's trigger to Ready are both "When Played", so as with all triggers with simultaneous timing, the player playing it gets to choose the order they resolve in. They can resolve the Ambush first, readying Fett's Firespray and then attacking with it. Then, they can resolve the norma "When Played" to ready it again.
If someone takes control of my unit, for example the Black one, who gets to do its effect when its defeated? me (owner) or my opponent who took control of it? 😊
As everybody else is saying, very great Video! Darth Vader as a Leader can deal damage to a unit. Does this mean he can deal it to air and ground? Does that change after he becomes a ground unit?
Yes, he doesn't specify an arena so no matter if he is in the leader zone or deployed as unit, his ability can target either. I go over this in part 2 as well! Thanks for the kind words!
Hello, Question regarding Damage on units provided by effects like Overwhelming Barrage. 1. Can this be applied to a leader in play? For example, opponent choosing Darth Vader leader unit (5/8) allowing to deal 7 damage to my units. 2. How do shields come into play/ can the same target be chosen multiple times? For example, My opponent plays Overwhelming Barrage and chooses a legal 5 power unit (if leader unit is not legal). If I have Chopper (1/3) and Ezra (3/4) with no shields, he kills both via damage. Understood. However, lets say both have 1 shield each. Can my opponent choose 1 damage to Chopper to destroy shield, One damage to Ezra to destroy his shield, And then go back and choose Chopper again to damage 3 for knockout with the remaining 5 damage? Thanks in advance
1. Yes, a Leader Unit is still a Unit so it's a legal target for overwhelming barrage. 2. You can't choose to deal multiple sources of damage to a single unit with Overwhelming Barrage. You choose any number of units and deal that much damage to them simultaneously. If they have a shield, the shield will absorb all the damage assigned from the effect. There's no way to choose the same unit twice to pop the shield and still damage the unit. A card like Maximum Firepower is worded to deal damage in two instances to a single unit, so THAT would be able to pop a shield and still damage the unit. Hope that helps!
Very helpful! One interaction I'm not sure about is if you're attacking your opponent's unit, can they attach a shield token to it in response, provided they can pay the shield cost?
Hey! I'm not 100% sure what you are referring to here - but no actions are done "in response" in SWU! If you mean using the Luke leader ability, that has to be done as an action just like everything else! Unlike MTG, there is nothing at instant speed and all actions are done back-and-forth in SWU. Our Ultimate How to Play video details the action system if that might help refresh anything as well!
WAIT!!! So, do all resources come into play exhausted? I come from Magic so if they ALL come in exhausted thats surprising to me! For example in Magic if I play a land on my turn it comes in untapped (not exhausted in SWU terms) and ready to use! Now should I play a card such as Rampant Growth, which allows me to search up another land, that does come into tapped (exhausted) but it usually says so on the card! Please help me clarify because I may be playing incorrectly!
They do all come in exhausted, but your untap step is right after the step when you play a resource, so it's not relevant with cards right now except for cards like Resupply that put a resource into play outside of the Resource step.
Hi, great video, thanks. Could you please help me with the following question: Darth Vader is attacking a base, before he does 2 damage to his Admiral Motti card. Can Admiral Motti ready Darth Vader card or Admiral Motti can ready only a card that is already exhausted?
Vader WILL be exhausted when the attack is declared - that happens before the On Attack trigger. So if he uses his 2 damage to defeat Motti, Motti will be able to ready Vader and he can attack again in a future action that phase!
I am so glad you led with the not being able to attack with an exhausted unit. It has become a pet peeve of mine seeing that question asked over and over in the fb group.
Question on Energy Conversion Lab. What is the point of using a base that allows you to play a card at cost? Don't you just do that anyways no matter what?
Very different games, but I love them both! SWU is more approachable overall, but interactive in a very different way. Grand Archive presents more options for play lines, while SWU is much more about timing and decision making. GA has more intricate rules situations while SWU is more straight-forward overall. At a competitive level, they will both be very skill intensive, but with GA having more focus on an overall strategy turn to turn and playing exact cards to stifle the opponent, and SWU more about tactics within turns and making key decisions at different actions.
The first two could easily be solved by changing the wording. They should be changed to “you may immediately perform an attack action” or “you may immediately perform a play a card action”.
You only have to worry about your own side of the field for Uniqueness. Your opponent's Luke Skywalker - Faithful Friend will not cause you to defeat YOUR Luke Skywalker - Faithful Friend.
Many people did. Confused, not guilty. :D Welcome to the world of card texts that do not explain what they could. People say, just read what is on the card, but, if you do not know the back rules, you can't hope to know how the triggers work. And then, as with Darth Vader, you CAN play the card free. The text specifies this.
I actually have a couple questions I’ve been wrestling with. The first is Fifth Brother. If you ready him with the Grand Inquisitor’s ability then attack with Fifth Brother in your next action, does the attack resolve? He’s dealing 1 damage to himself and another ground unit ‘on attack’ so would he just… defeat himself before the attack goes through? Or does the attack happen even though he’s defeated as a result? Second is just a wording clarification. You can’t attack units in other zones. But can you deal damage across zones with cards like Strike True? So using your friendly ground unit to deal its power to a space unit? Usually the cards will specify if it needs to be a ground or space unit but I wanted to be sure.
Fifth Brother actually has 4 HP, so if he is totally undamaged, he wouldn't defeat himself from this play - Inquisitor deals 2, and he deals 1 to himself if you choose to use his ability (which is optional as well!), so he'd still have 1 HP left (and because of his ability, he'd have Raid 3 for that attack as well!). But in any situation where this would come up and he would defeat himself from his on attack, his attack wouldn't go through after that. The combat would simply proceed to the end with no attack damage dealt. For the second question, yes. Effects can always target units in either arena unless it specifies an arena.
Thank you for the video, help a lot 😊 One more question, about the event card, like Rebel Assault, when we use it's ability and attack a unit, do we get attack back from them?
I played in a SWU draft recently and attacked Chewbaca (Leader) who has Grit and Overwhelm. The player indicated that means the Grit bonus applied to the overwhelm on the attack. I'm not sure that is how it would work, but wanted other opinions. What do you think?
Grit will increase the units power in any circumstance - including when it is defending in combat. However, Overwhelm only applies when the unit is Attacking, not when it's defending, so no excess damage is dealt to an attacking opponent when an Overwhelm unit is defending.
Need a bit more clarification of “On Attack” effects if you don’t mind.. Namely in instances where the effect is damage “On Attack” (as in your Sabine Wren example), would that 1 dmg “On Attack” trigger and remove an opponent unit’s Shield token? Or is it immune to shields? Also, would that “on attack” dmg trigger the unit’s simultaneous defensive dmg equal to their power? Thx
The On Attack damage would remove a shield before you move to Attack damage, yes! ALL sources of damage will remove shields, there is no damage that Shields are immune to. And no, the only time the defender deals damage back is during the actual attack resolution. That's why Boba Fett - Disintegrator can sometimes destroy exhausted units before they even have a chance to deal any damage back, as long as his On Attack's 3 damage is lethal to them.
This is correct. The relevant section of the comprehensive rules is 8.30.4, which I've pasted below: A player can only control one copy of each unique card at a given time. If a player ever has more than one copy of a unique card in play under their control at a given time, they must defeat one of them. Defeating one of the copies occurs immediately and is not a triggered ability. The player still must resolve any abilities that trigger upon either copy being played or defeated.
Great video! Question though…with Vader’s “on attack” ability, can he attack a shielded unit and use the on attack to damage it with the two….remove it….then do his attack damage?
That's exactly something he can do, yes! The On Attack is a separate damage source so it will defeat the shield and allow Vader's attack damsge to connect!
A question I haven’t seen an answer for yet is: My opponent plays Maximum Firepower to try and have two imperial units do their damage to my unit, but my opponent only has 1 imperial unit in play. Will the one imperial unit deal damage and the second ability fizzle or can they not play the card because they just don’t have two Imperials?
You would "do as much as you can" in this case - so you can play Maximum Firepower with only a single Imperial in play, and only get that Imperial's power dealt to the target. The second part of the effect would have no legal sources for damage, so it would "fizzle".
Rules question on damage to "any unit". I'm still not clear when damage can be dealt to any arena, and when it can be dealt only in one arena. As a leader, Darth Vader can deal 1 damage to any unit, i.e. any arena. As a unit in the ground arena, however, my assumption is that he can only do his 2 bonus damage to an opponent's unit on the ground. I say that because, there are cards which specifically state when a unit can do damage in the opposite arena. Because Vader's ability does not say ground and space, I assume it's only ground because that is where he is deployed as a unit...
The default for any effect is that it can target *any* arena unless it says otherwise. Thus, Vader's On Attack can be directed to a unit in any arena since it does not specify. But if an effect can only target a specific arena, it will *always* list that arena. For example, Vader's Lightsaber says "Ground Arena". If you don't see an Arena listed, it can target any. For another example, look at Admiral Ackbar - who deploys to ground, but lets you do damage to any unit "equal the number of units you control in its arena". He doesn't specify an Arena, so it can be any unit in either arena, and the damage is equal to the number of units you control in that arena. That wording wouldn't make any sense if he could only target Ground units! Hope that makes it a little more clear!
