Aspects of Twilight: Villainy

The release of Twilight of the Republic—the epic third set of Star Wars™: Unlimited—is on the horizon! Recently, we provided a glimpse at the different deckbuilding aspects’ “focus” while paired with Heroism in this set. Today, it’s time to take a look at the Villainy side and see how each aspect differs from its heroic counterpart. What sort of threats do the Separatists command in Twilight of the Republic? Read on to find out!

Where the Heroism cards in Twilight of the Republic were all about teamwork—exemplified by the Coordinate keyword—the Villainy cards are all about clawing their way to victory at any cost, even if it means sacrificing their own forces. This is best demonstrated by the Exploit keyword, which we touched on in the first look article for the set. Only Separatist cards can have this keyword, and many of the Villainy cards across the set are designed with the disposability of units in mind.

To demonstrate this, let’s start with a look at the Vigilance aspect. Say you wanted to play a Hailfire Tank (Twilight of the Republic, 233) using its Exploit ability. With the Vigilance aspect, you’ll find cards that encourage the blatant sacrifice of your own units to further your goals. Take the Wartime Trade Official (Twilight of the Republic, 32), for example; its low cost coupled with its lower stats allows you to exploit it for the Hailfire Tank without losing too much value, and the best part? It creates a Battle Droid token when defeated, giving you another unit on the field that you can use for another Exploit later. Pair this with a Calculating MagnaGuard (Twilight of the Republic, 33), and you’ll have a Sentinel unit online to help keep the tank healthy and put your opponent in a tough spot!

Since the Separatists are so focused on exploiting their units for big plays, they need to make every attack with their units count, which is where the Command aspect comes in. To get the most use out of every unit before it is inevitably sacrificed, Command-Villainy cards focus on two things: buffing attacks and consolidating actions. A great example of the former is Kalani (Twilight of the Republic, 85), who can grant a solid boost to the power and HP of up to two friendly units each time he attacks. This pairs well with the MagnaGuard Wing Leader (Twilight of the Republic, 82), which allows you to attack with up to two Droid units as part of a single action. Have Kalani attack first, apply his buff to another Droid unit you control, and then attack with that unit for a potent one-two punch! Best of all, the MagnaGuard Wing Leader’s ability is an Action that it can use without exhausting (or while exhausted), giving you even more options at your disposal.

Rapidly attacking your opponent also falls within the realm of Aggression. When paired with Villainy in this set, the Aggression aspect is all about hitting hard and fast. The OOM-Series Officer (Twilight of the Republic, 131) is a low-cost unit and a reliable source of early game damage. Thanks to its ability, the Officer is almost guaranteed to deal at least 2 damage to your opponent’s base, even if you choose to Exploit it on your next turn. On the topic of Exploit, you can potentially play the Squadron of Vultures (Twilight of the Republic, 136) for free if you have enough units to sacrifice for it, granting you a high-powered unit in space well before your opponent has anything ready to deal with it. 

Speaking of dealing with problems, the Cunning-Villainy aspect combo in Twilight of the Republic opts for controlling your opponent’s actions, preventing problems before they even have a chance to become problems. Use the Exploit ability on the Tactical Droid Commander (Twilight of the Republic, 184) to get it out early, then utilize its other ability to keep your opponent’s forces exhausted as you gradually build your Separatist army. If that isn’t exhausting enough, Ziro the Hutt (Twilight of the Republic, 185) can exhaust a unit when he enters play, and then exhaust a resource every time he attacks. Your opponent will have to deal with these annoyances if they want to get anything done, which, of course, can play right into your plan!

With a heavy emphasis on the Exploit keyword and lots of abilities that benefit from the loss of your own units, the Separatist side in Twilight of the Republic has no shortage of ruthlessness to face down their foes. Look forward to more previous of this set in the coming weeks!