Marka Ragnos, from Vengeance





At 76 points, Marka Ragnos is one of the most expensive pieces in the game. You could argue that he's only 59 points, since he's replaced by the 17 point Marka Ragnos Dark Force Spirit when he's defeated, but that only works if Marka Ragnos isn't the last unique force user to be defeated, and in any case you don't get the benefit from Marka Ragnos DFS for the whole game.

As you'd expect, Marka Ragnos offers a lot for 76 points - Lightsaber Assault, twin, and Poison ensure he can do plenty of damage on the move, while he's also a practitioner of Sith Sorcery. He's also defensively stout with good stats, Melee Duelist, and Lightsaber Defense with Master of the Force 2. He also has a commander effect that allows you an extra activation in Marka's round - so you can activate two pieces if you go first; this synergises well with the Sith method of hitting hard at the start of a round.

Despite his high cost, Marka Ragnos is a very good piece for the Sith - 76 points is a fair cost for everything he brings to the table. He's not particularly playable in the current meta as he'll get pwned by swarms and by force immune shooters, but if the meta ever comes back to Jedi he could be an option, 7/10.

One of the objectives for vset 7 was to try and create even playing field (or at least a chance to compete) against some of the match ups that were formally nearly auto losses for the Vong. Seers helped vs disruptive, shaper adepts helped vs droids, Zenoc Qua helps vs shooters, and of course this piece helps versus strafe and galloping attack. Although it's not quite as effective vs galloping attack as it is versus strafe, taking 2 or 3 of these guys to block a key door or hallway could certainly help give you at least a round or two of aid versus Yodabuck.

Full disclosure; we knew the general mechanic we wanted and had to search for the creature that would fit the use. The Tso'asu was really obscure, but the little we know about it was close enough, and so we made it work. There probably was more written about the Tso'asu in the post above than from the actual source material.

We spent a bit of time fine-tuning defensive reflex, and we were just about all set this send it to the printer (without nonsentient existing). It was a last-minute catch that it's main functions (Quorreal reinforcement, therefore having aggressive negotiations, and MEANT to be attacked) worked at odds with each other. Thus non-sentient was born. Side note, I had long felt that we needed an ability like that. Not all creatures were aggressively Savage. An ability that prevents these types of creatures from gaining CEs, but doesn't force them into the aggressive action or give them boosts like savage does. The second part was obviously purely to make it functional with Quorreal, although a non sentient creature not becoming a diplomat does make perfect sense. It's an ability that could certainly be used in the future.

Yeah, SOMEBODY said they would quit if kid Anakin was made....


Since then we got Luuke Skywalker, and then One-Arm and Sebulba. Is it really jumping the shark if you never come down?

Peace Brigade Thug, from Jedi Academy





As one of the cheapest shooters in the game - it only gets beaten by other 4 point pieces with access to rapport like Battle Droids with Gha Nachkt and Mon Calamari Tech Specialists with Admiral Ackbar - the Peace Brigade Thug is useful anyway. As the cheapest Fringe shooter, it can get some play via Lobot to combine fire, while it also provides a useful damage boost to Yuuzhan Vong, with the unusual range of 4 squares. So while it wasn't a power piece, it actually stood a chance of seeing table time, and would have maybe received a 6 or a 7.

But it has recently seen a boost from the Peace Brigade Commander, from the most recent set. The Peace Brigade Commander gives it a big boost to make a swarm of Peace Brigade Thugs tournament playable - they gain Stealth, so they can pick up Superstealth and Self Destruct 20 from Nom Anor, while he also gives them twin. While their attack still isn't high, they can pick up commander effects like Jabba Crime Lord's Cunning and +2 attack from Viqi Shesh to boost it up; you basically get Nom bombs that can shoot. While they haven't popped up in a major tournament yet, I think Peace Brigade Thug builds have some potential to be interesting, 8/10.

They are an interesting option with the new commander, curious that no one has brought them yet

After the last Indiana Jones craptacular movie, the new phrase is

"Nuke the fridge"

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/nuking-the-fridge

. . . and that happened for us when One-Arm was made.

Maybe we should have a poll, but I think the worst v-set offender for non-canonicity is the Ugnaught Jedi.

I don't mind One-Arm at all - boosting an interesting, unplayed WOTC piece is good, and she is the best known Wampa.

Ugnaught Jedi just seems like a v-set in-joke, and it's not really a playable piece.

My big issue with One-Arm was it taking up a valuable unique fringe slot. A republic non-unique slot is not nearly as fought over (as admittedly silly as an ugnaught jedi is).

Everyone wants to do uniques. In my experience making set lists it's always the uniques that have to get cut down and non-uniques that have to get pulled up.