Cover art: Rogue 3 in action during the battle of Hoth

In the first of our series of card analyses on Faltering Allegiances, today on echobase we’re looking at the rogues of the game.

We’ll be giving everything a score out of 5 which represents how powerful we think the card is. These scores are not however a reflection of how well designed we think the card is: that should hopefully be obvious from the text.

First up, villain characters:

Yellow villain got a generous 4 characters in this set, equaled only by hero yellow and villain blue, and twice what red villain and hero blue were given. We’ve already reviewed Bazine: 3/5

Our new big bad, with a points value topped only by Jyn, is… Bala Tik? OK, so I was a little surprised by this choice, but then again, he is a negotiatior for the Guavian Death Gang.
At 14/17, those are some pretty good, if mixed sides, and 12 health is decent for the cost. The 2 resource base side though! This is only the third character ever to have this side. He also comes with Detect and an ability which could easily be worth 1 or 2 free shields per round.
His points value sets him up perfectly for a pairing with the other two unique yellows: Bazine, who we’ve talked about before, and Bing, the former requiring a -1 plot, either Intelligence Operation or Extremist Campaign. I’ve got to say, eBazine/eBala/IO looks to be a really strong pairing, with a lot of money sides. This deck will love Reap. Overall: 4/5

Bing (from Fallen Order) is a curious character, who really needs a partner who’s detecting cards to pay off. If you can Detect a card before activating her, she could be dealing 6 or 7 damage on activation thanks to her built in action cheating. Sure, you can play around it, but you’re forcing the opponent to discard or play their detected card as their next action, which can really mess with their sequencing: 4/5

Finally, the Haxion Brood Droid, also from Fallen Order. I like the concept behind this character because it just presents you with your lineup straight-up (2 x elite). 4 damage sides is very aggressive, but you’re going to be hitting yourself for a lot of damage in the process if you can’t afford the paysides (and you’re only allowed 2 copies of Rendezvous in your deck). I personally haven’t tested these guys, and wasn’t going to rank them very well, but I’m told they’re actually quite good: 4/5

Villain upgrades and downgrades:

The Kyuzo Petar is slightly worse than Overkill for melee damage, but on a yellow character those modifiers become free base sides and that makes it above curve for the cost. The only problem is most yellows have ranged or indirect sides damage, so even if you can resolve this as a base side, it’s going to slow you down. This could be really neat in a blue/yellow pairing, and Maul likes it too: 4/5

We already looked at Extort Cooperation in a previous article, but it’s worth adding that ARH have said that they’re keeping an eye on this card and will errata it if someone finds an efficient and consistent way of pulling it off: 2/5

Yellow events:

Booby Trap feels like an OK include for a yellow detect deck, but is just so match-up dependent. I think realistically you’re not likely to get more than 2 damage of this card at most, unless you could somehow choose which card is detected, but I think that’s limited to hero red and Rebel Schemes. However, the ability to discard the detected card is handy: 2/5

Bounty Averted is a good card to get some value out of bounties in the late game and could literally be game winning if timed really well. I think this is a well balanced card that will see some play in bounty hunter decks, especially 4-LOM decks utilising 0 cost bounties (of which there are 4) as he can bounce them back to your hand then play them again for free: 3/5

Rotten Deal we’ve already discussed in detail here: 2/5

Next up, hero, and characters:

Hmm, these all look familiar. Yep, these have all been previously spoiled. See here for Saw (5/5) and the Rebel Partisan (2/5).
Greez paired with hero droids and a deck of 1 cost cards just went undefeated in the recent release party tournament, piloted by Joe of the Hyperloops. He decided to drop before the top cut. It looks like hero droids have found a new partner, and now have the ability to turn 3 dice to any side each round…: 4/5

We didn’t get around to reviewing Babu Frik. This little guy’s passive ability would be super strong against a vehicle rich meta, but I don’t think there’s enough direct damage dealing vehicles in the format to make this even a remote possibility. I would have liked it if it hadn’t been a blanket ban on direct damage though, as a just-in-case, such as a high penalty for dealing him damage, like discarding a card for each die resolved.
His Power Action is pretty amazing in the right built. I was already looking at droid support decks, and he could be used to guarantee the best sides on an LR-57 Combat Droid or Mr Bones, or to pull them from your discard pile. A 2 shield side and a resource side are just icing on the cake. In the right build, Babu could be mighty, despite his small stature: 3/5

One thing that’s noteworthy is every single one of these characters have damage sides, and all of them are indirect.

Now, on with upgrades and supports:

We’ve seen and reviewed the bizarre Rocket Launcher (0/5) already, but the Stinger Mantis was only spoiled very recently and the DL-18 Blaster is new.

The Stinger Mantis is Greez’ ship, and it looks really good. It has solid sides, even if none of them are damage sides, but it’s Power Action makes it extremely versatile. If you have fewer characters than the opponent and you get control of the battlefield, you can open each round by making them lose 2 resources. This feels… not great. I worry that this may create a NPE (Negative Play Experience) for the opponent. I’m going to keep an eye on this one, and I would suggest that this may be an early target for an errata: 4/5

I love the DL-18 Blaster. What a great card. 2 cost, 3 damage sides, and they can be pay sides or modifiers, your pick. Nothing complex. Simple, effective, and not overpowered: 3/5

Next up, a generous 5 hero events:

We’ve seen Reckless Ambush (3/5) before, but the other 4 are new.

Change of Plans is a card that makes me want to play yellow hero. Not since the days of C-3PO have we been able to resolve a die as any side we want, but that’s what this lets you do, meaning you can resolve the blank on Entourage for the special, or that 3 indirect side for 3 money. Other than Entourage, there’s not many obvious targets for this, but this does make cards like Hired Muscle, Mining Guild TIE Fighter and Canto Bight Security look not half bad, and you could even resolve any non-special side of Chirpa’s Hut as a non-pay special side. OK, that last one isn’t terribly likely, but it does highlight some of the versatility of this card: 5/5

Explosive Cocktail is one of very few removal cards in this set, and given the number of indirect sides floating around, could be quite effective. It costs 1, but you get to resolve your die at the same time. In the right build: 4/5

Hey Hey! is a great way to turn resources into damage, and could be clutch late game for some surprise damage, so long as you have an engineer such as Babu. I could see this being especially good with Mr Bones in order to trigger his ability to ready himself: 3/5

Scrounging Parts seems a bit odd. If you’ve got 2 engineers (such as Greez and Babu) it nets you just one resource, but you have to show the opponent your hand. However, if a 3 engineer lineup ever becomes feasible, this card will be golden: 1/5

Neutral upgrades and supports:

Incendiary Stockpile makes Saw even more powerful, but is very susceptible to being trashed. This could be really strong in a eBala/eBazine deck too, to utilise those disrupt and excess resource sides to push through some late game damage: 3/5

Sliced Terminal looks a little confusing initially, but just follows the templating of Stifle. However, unlike Stifle, this card is not limited to events and is a may ability, meaning you can wait until the perfect moment to trigger it. Basically, your opponent plays a card, and you say “Nope”. It’s the counterspell of Destiny. Their card gets discarded, the resources remain used.
But, and it’s a big but, the opponent then gets to play a card for free. This could hugely backfire, so you really only want to play it if you know the opponent has no other good options in their hand, either because you’ve seen their hand, or because it’s the last card in their hand. This is another card that Thrawn/yellow or Detect decks are going to love. I am so glad this is unique: good catch team: 4/5

Saving the best for last, Vibrosword is an absolutely immense upgrade. There’s 3 bonuses listed on this card: 1 cheaper on yellow, +1 resolve on unique, +1 resolve on elite. I think this card is a bargain if you hit 2 out of 3, but if you’ve got a unique elite yellow character this card is perhaps the best upgrade ever. The modifier side might get stranded, but it effectively boasts a 4 melee base side and a 3 discard side. Did I mention it also has redeploy? This will be in all my yellow aggro decks from now on: 5+/5

Neutral downgrades:

Cassian will be happy. Two cheap yellow intel cards.

Burned is just straight up Admiral hate: it not only will discard titles on play, but is an ongoing effect so all future titles on attached character will be discarded. Just play it when the opponent doesn’t have 2 resources. Or even if they do, to burn their resources. Realistically though, I don’t think Admiral is going to be so prevalent that this is necessarily going to be a common include, but it’s nice to have for the metagame: 1/5

Tailed I do love. If the opponent rolls a blank with one of their character dice, you’re probably not going to trigger it, but if they roll anything other than a blank with both character dice, and you have an exhausted character to spot, you get to blank a die of the opponent’s choice as an after affect. I think this is going to be strong in a fast tempo deck where you can get your character activated first. Combine it with Hex (which is going to be getting some Inquisitor love anyway) and it’s free removal every round. It’s a boon to Trandoshans, as it’s a downgrade that is highly functional rather than just to proc their Power Action. And it’s also decent anti-Second Sister tech so long as you control the battlefield. I’m so glad Easy Pickings has rotated out: 3/5

Neutral events:

2 seems like a lot for Demand Tribute in a world that is strongly encouraging mono decks, but nevertheless would be decent against rainbow: 1/5

Faltering Allegiances is just perfect for the eponymous card of the set. Free damage against rainbow or in colour-mirror matches. Terrible if you’re playing rainbow and the opponent is mono. Well played ARH: 2/5

We’ve seen Forewarned (4/5), but Selling Intel is new, and it’s another yellow intel card, perfect for Cassian. It’s a clever way of monetizing the Detect keyword, and is amazing if the card costs 3 or more: 4/5

Trash to Treasure looks really good for yellow and/or scavenger decks. Most decks are going to be packing at least one of weapons or vehicles, and if you’re playing 3-wide yellow you can play one of the many 3 cost unique upgrades or a Vibrosword for just the cost of the event from the opponent’s discard pile. The presence of this card also means you’re going to have to make sure you have a die for every upgrade in your deck like you’re supposed to, even on casual night, rather than just one copy of each of the unique dice (and 3 Cal’s Saber dice if you want to use its Power Action, though I don’t believe your opponent could use the PA unless they too had that card in their deck and therefore had their own copy of the die set aside). I normally would never give a situational card a high rating, but I think this one deserves it: 4/5

And finally, the yellow plot:

This had been spoiled already, but again we didn’t get around to looking at it. This is a really interesting card: dilute your deck, but with decent and out of rotation cards, lose the battlefield roll-off and get -1 for your team:

This plot makes eSaw/2Rebel Partisan possible (and makes the Partisan ability make more sense as you’re milling a 36 card deck) but really just allows any mono yellow deck to go to 31 points, which is pretty interesting. I love that the this plot is nicely thematic too: you have to play with rogues only and the cards that get added to the deck feel appropriate for an insurgency; plus the partisans are forced to fight in occupied territory, so lose the battlefield roll-off.
Quick note here: just like in diceless mirror matchups, if you’re both playing this card you settle the roll-off with another random method, e.g. dice roll/coin flip: 4/5

That’s all for now, but keep an eye out for our red, blue and grey articles, coming soon.

---

If you like what we do, please consider becoming a Patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/echobasedestiny