Special Guest Author: Kevin from Roll On
When I read that Brian was thinking of concluding his Well That’s Uncommon series, I was in denial. I didn’t want it to end! Turns out that was a microcosm of how that particular week in Star Wars: Destiny transpired, but I digress.
I slid into Brian’s DMs (yes, his Desperate Measures) and I asked – nay, pleaded with him to allow me to contribute once more to what I believe is an awesome concept. The master of jank, of course, obliged, and here we are once again. So thank you, Brian, for allowing me to pirate your web page yet again: I assure you, it is merely an expression of our shared excitement for the release of Covert Missions! Enough exposition, let’s get to this week’s uncommon!
Let the Wookiees Win
For me, like for most of those who attended, there were innumerable reasons to point to the 2019 Star Wars: Destiny World Championships as the most incredible weekend in the game’s short (and now short-lived) history. Pick a reason: Worlds had it all! Great community presence, awesome prizes, multitudes of side events, efficient location, you name it. One of the shiny new things to come out of Worlds that you couldn’t find in a blind bag, though, were the spoilers, namely our first real introduction to Wookiees in Covert Missions. Before the tournament had even begun, we were treated to the sight of the Kashyyyk Warrior on the Prize Wall, and soon FFG spoiled Tarfful and Fortitude during one of their livestreams.
(Fake editor’s note: Right now Brian is thinking, “Get on with it Kevin.”)
Fast-forward to January, when Matt Holland in all his splendor facilitates the release of all 160 cards from Covert Missions on Facebook, and guess what we see? Sk8er Boi rockin’ up MTV? No, not that one, the other one. A new Wookiee! But not just any Wookiee…an uncommon diceless character called Vengeful Wookiee.
Unlike the other Wookiees spoiled in CM, Vengeful Wookiee is Yellow, joining Chewbacca as the only two of that color. It also give us four total Wookiees to choose from in Standard. At 7 points, Vengeful Wookiee is one of the most expensive diceless characters we have seen in Destiny, along with the newly-spoiled Nar Shaddaa Thief. But instead of the 7 health you get with the Thief, Vengeful Wookiee gives you a whopping NINE!
Now, on the surface, the ability on this character may seem underwhelming. Before activation, you get to reroll a die, and then remove a die, but the latter only comes if your Wookiee has 6 damage (an ability shared with the other Wookiees in CM). Luckily, there are several combo pieces that you can use to give this Wookiee the revenge it so desperately seeks.
Wookiee-specific Combo Cards
You want the Vengeful Wookiee to have 6 damage so that you can use it to remove dice. That’s the best way to take advantage of your 7 points, unless you really need to splash yellow in your deck. The potential problem here is that it very likely won’t be your opponent’s first target. Enter Wookiee Protection.
Another uncommon in the Wookiee suite, this red support will give Vengeful Wookiee Guardian, allowing it to soak up a good chunk of damage and get it into die-removing range! Toss the aforementioned Fortitude on our raging friend, and all of a sudden, you have a 13 health shield for 7 deckbuilding points and 2 resources. That can be pretty useful when trying to keep your main strike force alive.
Not running Red? No problem. Wookiee Rage can ensure you get to remove the dice you need on activation for the price of just one damage instead of six. With plenty of indirect damage floating about, damaging your Vengeful Wookiee once seems like a reasonable eventuality.
Other Combo Cards
You may be looking at a deck for Vengeful Wookiee that doesn’t want or need to include a ton of Wookiee-focused cards for just one character. Maybe you’re just looking for more flexibility. There are events that have existed for several sets that can help you out here. Crash Landing is a reliable staple for turning your opponent’s direct damage into indirect damage. Need to turn on Vengeful Wookiee’s ability faster? Blaze of Glory and Karabast will put damage onto our furry friend in large chunks. An early Tico Pendant can provide a consistent flow of damage off of your main characters and onto the Vengeful Wookiee, and a Decoy in Round 1 can be just as effective as removing damage dice when placed on this character. Needless to say, there are plenty of ways to get you to that 6-damage threshold!
Ok, so now you’re thinking, “That’s great and all, but where do I fit 7 points of diceless Wookiee?” I’m so glad you asked…
Recently in Star Wars: Destiny, it has felt like Villain decks boast the greater popularity on game tables large and small. Villains have great supports, massive characters, and a ton of cost-efficient removal at their disposal. But one of the redeeming qualities of Hero characters – and the one that will allow us to find a good home for our WTU subject today – is that there are a plethora of low-costed Heroes that can give you plenty of value built into their affordable deckbuilding commitments. As such, you won’t have to look very far to find pairings that give you four starting character dice and still leave room for a Vengeful Wookiee. Pairings like this one!
eAayla/eKashyyyk Warrior/Vengeful Wookiee
Normally I would save the best for last, but this is easily my favorite use of Vengeful Wookiee, so my excitement won out over my restraint. Where else are you going to find 20 health and 4 dice featuring 3 damage sides each to go along with your new Yellow friend? This, combined with the fact that you can use both Aayla and Vengeful to control your opponent’s dice, makes for quite the spicy team indeed. Having a rainbow team gives you cause to include all the best of everything, and you can comfortably load up Aayla while drawing attention to either Wookiee to turn on their abilities. 29 health to start is a ton, so perhaps instead you’ll want to use the large amounts of health to put together a support-based deck? No problem.
eLor San Tekka/eBiggs Darklighter/Vengeful Wookiee
Rainbow? Check. High health? Check. Four dice? Check. Lor San Tekka’s power action will give your opponent plenty of tough choices to make, whether you’re forcing them to give you back a support, a piece of mitigation, or a Wookiee combo piece that can turn Vengeful Wookiee into a piece of mitigation later on. Biggs’ pseudo-Piloting ability will make sure that you don’t lose tempo, and he can even bring Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing to bear against your enemies thanks to the inclusion of Lor San Tekka!
Depending on the characters available to you, it’s pretty clear that Vengeful Wookiee can fit into a 4-die pairing pretty easily, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to make it rain(bow) either. But our angry friend is also at a point cost where pairing it with a larger character and only bringing 3 dice to the table isn’t to be scoffed at, either. Let’s expand on the support-based deck above and turn it into one that utilizes even more of the unique gameplay additions that Covert Missions has to offer.
eLuke Skywalker4/Kazuda Xiono/Vengeful Wookiee/Destroy the Death Star
Yep, we’re running the trench! There is probably a version of this deck that turns your Vengeful Wookiee into another character with a die, like Anakin Skywalker. However, your entire win condition with the Death Star Plot is keeping your pilots alive so they can get those shields off of the plot and make the space station go boom. Even if the Wookiee can take the heat for a round or two, that goes a long way freeing up Luke and Kaz for the killing shot, just as Han Solo did in A New Hope. In an interesting twist, you can also get the Vengeful Wookiee to 4 or 5 damage, then play Death Star Plans on it and dare your opponent to damage your Wookiee further. Sure, they’ll take the plans eventually, but now you have free dice removal at your disposal! You’re all clear, kid, now let’s blow this thing and go home!
Real editor’s note: Huge thanks to Kevin for this great look at Vengeful Wookiee. I’ll be back soon with my own new installment of Well That’s Uncommon. The series isn’t dead yet! – Brian
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Play some jank! Roll Some dice! Have some fun!
