Completing our Redemption set review today, we’re looking at the general (grey) cards within the set, of which there are a mere 6, and we already reviewed Perimeter Outpost in our red review:
96. Fury – More mitigation, and more great mitigation at that. I’ve never been much a fan of 1 for 1 mitigation with no die requirement that is 100% alive for the whole game. Cards like Automated Defense or Indifferent in the right builds were just annoyingly consistent, and sort of feel like cheating the system in Destiny.
What I like about this card is that no (sensible) deck can keep the spot requirement alive for the entire game, except in 40/40. But as your 17+ point character will be alive for most of the game, it’s still a pretty safe include, safer than the very popular Near Miss.
1 for 1 mitigation with a safe spot requirement that’s alive from turn 1 is rare, and for that reason, this card gets: (4/5)
97. Mandalorian Executioner Vibro-Ax – this has to be one of the best 2-drops in the game right now, and a much needed one given how few decent ones there are in standard. Sure, it’s got 2 blanks, but it has 4 non-pay non-modifier damage sides for 2 resources, plus redeploy. Also, you can redeploy it onto any character, not just one with 13 or more health.
It really is just the play restriction that is going to keep this card from being very common, as 13+ health characters is limited in standard to a few Wookiees, some big blues (Anakin, Luke, 2 Mauls, Qui-Gon and Vader) and some miscellaneous extras (Hondo, Jyn, Obi-Wan and Thrawn). The fact this is grey is a little annoying for BDLuke decks, but that aside, a solid weapon: (4/5)
On to the battlefields of the set:
73. Defensive Perimeter – Our first hero battlefield for ARH, this one lives up to its name, turning any die into a 2 shield side. This is incredibly powerful for hero decks, especially blues that have ways of weaponising their shields, or Guardian decks. However, like all good battlefields, you’ll need to play it in a fast deck or risk the opponent reaping the benefit: (4.5/5)
98. Cloud City – If you’re running a pilot deck, and since Benthic and Dak are cards there’s good reason to, this is sort of like a built-in Friends in Low Places, but not quite as good. The power of this ability will depend hugely on your match-up, but if you can discard a Nullify, Reap, Forbidden Lore or Kamino, it could be game swinging. However, in some circumstances it might actually be quite annoying to drop an inconsequential 0 cost, then not get to see the card the opponent has just drawn. As such, I really wish this had been a ‘may’ ability. As it is, if you have a pilot and there’s a 0 cost in the opponent’s hand, you have to discard it.
However, just getting hand knowledge can be a huge game swinger, as it makes it much easier to plan your round, and allows you to get the most out of your dice. There’s also quite a few cards in standard that could combo very nicely with this card for various reasons, such as Probe, Mastermind and Counterintelligence. My personal favourite combo though is Sliced Terminal. The downside of that card has always been that you don’t know what the opponent is holding when you say “nope” to a card they just played. If you can PA this battlefield each round, you can really make that card work for you: (2.5/5)
99. Cyber Center – This is a slightly odd battlefield, since it has 2 good, but very different benefits. Draw and healing are both strong, and also are both pretty rare on battlefields. To have them both makes this another strong asymmetric battlefield: (4/5)
That’s the end of our set review for Redemption. Overall, we think this is a great new set from ARH, and can’t wait for the next one:
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