Mara Jade
Skywalker
New Republic
Cost: 49
HP: 120
DEF: 20
ATK: +13
DAM: 20
Double Attack; Cunning Attack; Stealth; Mettle
Force 1; FR1
Deflect; Force Push 2
The new Mara is an interesting piece. She is a
pretty good Jedi, is very similiar to her older
piece, but just doesnt quite seem to out do the old
version. For four more points, you get +10HP
and +1ATK. Her damage is now 20 instead of 10,
but you are now dealing with a melee piece instead
of someone who can shoot. Both versions have
stealth, but the new one has double where Jedi Mara
has twin. Jedi has deadly, but that will
rarely matter. The one thing that Skywalker
has is mettle. This can be very good if you
build around it, but i will get back to that.
Jedi has fixed force, while Skywalker has renewal.
That is always a plus. Jedi has block where
Skywalker has deflect. Personally i would
prefer block because she can effectively gain
deflect with a reroll by bringing in a Bith Vigo for
evade. The really big separation point for the
two red heads is push vs assault. Force push 2
can be useful, but when you are a double attacking
Jedi, you generally want your target coming to you,
excluding of course other multi attacking Jedi.
Assault is so much better. Jedi can do 120 DAM
with her cunning, while Skywalker can do only 60.
Also Jedi can block against other Jedi where
Skywalker is just screwed.
The single advantage Skywalker has is her mettle.
Give her evade with a Bith and you only need 7s on a
reroll. Rerolling an attack will maker her
either a +17 or a +21 with cunning, which is pretty
solid. Is that enough reason to run her?
Probably not unless you dont have Mara Jedi.
Is Mara Jade Skywalker a good Jedi? Yes, she
is a very solid piece. Is she as good as her
Jedi version? not really. The only difference
is that Skywalker can do more damage on a crit, but
ironically its Jedi that has Deadly. In the
end if Skywalker was four points cheaper instead of
more expensive there would be more argument to run
her.
100pts:
She cannot do enough damage here to do anything.
150/200pts: In either of these she can be a very
solid Jedi. She would fit in a Jedi squad with
Garm double attackers. She should cross the
board fairly safely with a Bith in tow. In the
end, Mara Jedi is a better piece, but if you do not
have her, the wife of Skywalker is still solid.
Force 1:
Force Renewal 1
Lightsaber Deflect
Force Push 2
Today we have a somewhat controversial piece. I'll
explain why in a moment. For 49 points we get
decent stats. 120 HP is always a a solid number.
The defence and attack are pretty average for a
melee beat. Special abilities are nothing we
haven't seen before either. Double and Cunning will
max out her damage at 60 Damage a round. Stealth
gives her ranged protection and access to evade (Bith
Vigo) and mettle will help on re-rolls (attack,
evade, etc.) Force powers are decent, if not a
little underwhelming. She only starts with one
force point, but renewal takes care of that.
Deflect will add yet another layer of ranged
protection to her arsenal. Finally, Force push 2 is
tacked on cause hey, why not, right?
So, why are so many people down on her? Is she a
bad piece? Well no, not really. But, her other
version, Mara Jade, Jedi, almost totally eclipses
Skywalker and cost 4 points less to boot. First of
all, what does Skywalker have that Jedi does not?
Well, we get +10 HP, +1 attack, Mettle, Renewal,
Deflect, and Push. Sounds good right? Well, look
at what we loose. We loose Jedi's twin attack and
Lighsaber Assault dropping the damage output from
120 max to 60 max and also robbing us of the
ablility to move and attack more than once. We are
now restricted to melee, unlike Jedi. We loose
block, and thus have no defence from melee pieces
whom we now have to base to attack. Also, spotter
no longer works.
I'm not quite sure what the point of this piece is
in terms of competitive play. We double up on
ranged defence and totally forgo the melee defence,
but in turn we make her have to base in order to
attack. It seems very counter-intuitive and
contradictory to me. She may be able to make her
mark someday, but today I'd be very surprised to see
her run anywhere in favor of her alter-ego.
100pts 2/5: She can do alright if: 1.) You're up
against ranged opponents 2.) You can boost your
damage somehow (can't fit Han RH and Jaina in, so
I'm not sure if you can, off the top of my head) 3.)
You can win init, like, every time. In other words,
you have a lot working aginst you.
150 pts 3/5: You'll see more ranged opponents which
helps her odds at survival. Run her with a Bith
Vigo and you have three layers of ranged protection
(Stealth, evade with mettle, deflect.) You can also
fit Jaina and Han RH in to pump up her max damage to
80 a round. Not bad.
200pts 3/5: It's pretty much the same strategy
here. Unfortunately, her other version works
remarkably better using the same strategy. And
it'll save you 4 pts.
