Under Siege
by
Adam Nelson
Besieged (V)
Effect
Deploy on table. Whenever opponent forfeits a character or unpiloted starship at same system or sector as your Imperial capital starship, you may draw destiny. If destiny > target's destiny number, you may capture that character or starship. (Immune to Alter.)
This startable effect can be very useful in any ?Big Blue? deck, such as Walker Garrison decks with Star Destroyers, or the popular Set Your Course For Alderaan decks involving another virtual effect, Fear Will Keep Them In Line(V).
Though Light Side decks that do not use much, if any, space will not be seriously affected by this card, people who play space-heavy decks, like Echo Base Operations and Hidden Base, should be wary of it. This card forces an opponent to decide between getting the maximum value for forfeiture of ships with matching pilots by forfeiting the pilot, then the ship, and risking their capture, or forfeiting the ship first, causing the pilot to be lost, and preventing the ship?s possible later use against him or her. The latter choice may force your opponent to lose Force from his or her hand or decks to satisfy battle damage, perhaps helping you more than if your opponent had risked your capture of characters. Neither of these options is all that good for your opponent, which can possibly keep him or her out of space entirely unless he or she focuses on space, making Battle Order a very helpful addition to a deck, assuming your deck can hold a site as well. If you do capture one of your opponent?s important ships (Red 5, Falcon, etc.), it doesn?t actually matter if you use it, because as long as you have it out, your opponent can?t deploy another copy, which can seriously hurt, especially if that is the only ship your opponent can find.
The main drawback of this card, the inability to capture ships with permanent pilots, can mostly be counteracted with the use of a tractor beam and support cards, such as the destiny 6 used interrupts In Range and Our First Catch of the Day, which each add 2 to destiny. In Range also allows the use of the tractor beam during the weapons phase of a battle. If successfully used on a ship that only has generic permanent pilots, the tractor beam allows immediate use of the ship against your opponent. At the very least, a successful capture with a tractor beam will reduce your opponent?s ability to satisfy battle damage with forfeitures, even if it won?t come into play until the next battle.
Another good card that can be used with Besieged(V) is another card from Virtual Set 3, Reegsek(V), who can, if at a battleground site, steal any starfighter your opponent does forfeit, as well as ay weapon, vehicle, or device, which will deny your opponent the chance to retrieve and reuse them. One potential difficulty with this combination is the weakness of Reegsek, who can easily be hit with a weapon and must be guarded from a beatdown, due to his low power and forfeit values.
Though not always reliable, Besieged(V) can be used by decks with Star Destroyers in them to force your opponent to make tough decisions and potentially deny the reuse of key starships.
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