Another year gone and another top 10 list! Over
the next two weeks we will review the top 10 minis
of 2009 as voted on by our pojo writers. At #9 is
the new Thrawn that came out in Imperial
Entanglements. While Thrawn did not make my personal
top 10, he was right there. To be honest he was
bumped out because i wanted a couple other figures
that would not normally be in the list. The new
Thrawn was very similar to the old Thrawn in stats
and most abilities. He lost his force immunity in
exchange for a commander effect that really added
fire power to the Imperial arsenal. While for 12 pts
less you could could get opportunist from Piett,
that was only for troopers. Thrawn grants it for
allies! This means most of the Vader's that were
powerful before now gain a +4 ATK and 10 more
damage. This led to some heavy hitting squads,
usually amplified by Ozzel.
Since he still has swap and master tactician, he
is an extremely good figure. The reason i did not
place him higher is because the imperials have
always had a hard time competing in the recent
meta-game more than anything. If you are running
Imperial at all, this is definitely a character you
want to get your hands on. Another thing i like
about this Thrawn is that it does not make the old
Thrawn obsolete. Ysalimari can be a huge perk with
all of the Jedi in the game.
Josh
Thrawn [Mitth’raw’nuourdo] (24/40, Rare—Imperial
Entanglements; HP 70, ATT 11, DEF 18, DAM 10, DEP
32)
Representing the famed Grand Admiral during his
early days of service to the Empire, this version of
Thrawn plays quite a bit differently from his Grand
Admiral counterpart. However, different is not
necessarily a bad thing. If you’re play environment
is not being dominated by Force-users, this version
of Thrawn may actually be the better one to run. He
deploys for five points less (for which he loses
10HP, a point on his attack bonus and the original’s
anti-Force bubble of Ysalamiri) but his commander
effect which is the standard “Thrawn swap” and
granting Opportunist to all his allies is pretty
impressive. While I personally miss Ysalamiri, it is
a very conditionally useful ability. His commander
effects are much more useful and can make for some
pretty nasty combos. Personally, I shudder to think
about Vader, Legacy of the Force having a triple
attack go off that is bolstered by Opportunist
(meaning he can do 90 points of damage in a single
turn against an activated character, even more if
you happen to have Imperial Governor Tarkin to grant
Extra Attack as well). Master Tactician is a staple
of Thrawn and can still be pretty useful if you’re
opponent doesn’t have anyone with Never Tell Me The
Odds or the Muun Tactics Broker to mess with your
roll and turn them into ones.
His loss of Ysalamiri is important, however, the new
commander effect definitely offsets that loss. This
version of Thrawn still winds up with the same
problems the Grand Admiral does. With the boom in
the number of characters with Disruptive and ways to
get around Master Tactician he does lose a bit of
effectiveness. While he doesn’t replace the original
Grand Admiral Thrawn, I think he definitely gives
you a much more tailor-made Thrawn build. If you
don’t need the Force bubble, take Thrawn out for a
spin but if you do, you still have the option of
running the Grand Admiral instead. Many times, when
Wizards makes a new version of a non-Trilogy
character, it often winds up completely
overshadowing the original. However, both versions
of Thrawn are still infinitely playable, just in
different circumstances.
100 POINTS: Partnered with the proper mid-level beat
stick (I’m thinking one of the more recent lower
cost Vader’s that still pack a pretty huge punch),
Thrawn’s commander effect giving Opportunist to all
allies can be brutal. SCORE: 3
200 POINTS: Here, in a format where you can bring in
a lot of support, Thrawn can become absolutely
deadly. Master Tactician can give you control over
initiative and who gets to go first and since you
can have Opportunist board-wide can be a pretty big
advantage. If you choose to go second every round
that means that there will
always be
two characters you can tee off on with Opportunist.
At the same time, though, if you find you
need to go
first on a turn providing your opponent isn’t
running someone with Never Tell Me The Odds you can
still do it unless you roll a one. SCORE: 4.5
Addendum for the Top 10 of 2009 List: It’s hard to
believe it’s been a year since this piece was first
released. While a lot of the squads that I posted on
various sites that used Grand Admiral Thrawn
garnered comments that I should replace him
wholesale with Thrawn (Mitth’raw’nuruodo), I still
feel the need to use the Grand Admiral but Thrawn
has definitely moved up in my esteem after more use.
Opportunist to all allies is pretty helpful, but sometimes, I
honestly found the Grand Admiral’s effect of +3 to
attack and defense to non-Unique
followers more useful just because it was slightly
less conditional. Still, Thrawn is a powerhouse and
has definitely given the Imperials much more power,
as if they really needed more of that.
RoqueSaber
Thrawn (Mitth’raw’nuruodo)
Cost: 32
HP: 70
Def: 18
Att: 11
Dmg: 10
Special Abilities:
Unique, Master Tactician
Commander Effect:
Allies gain Opportunist. At the end of this
character’s turn, 2 allies within 6 squares of this
character who are the same size may switch
positions.
Does blue skin make you smarter? I don’t know, but
Thrawn sure seems to make one think so.
Mitth’raw’nuruodo (try pronouncing that one!) came
in at #9 on my list too, what do ya know.
Thrawn is a flat out amazing piece. Even his
previous incarnation from Universe is amazing.
Firstly, his stats are very respectable for a
commander. 70 HP, 18 defense, and 11 attack are all
on the elite side. 10 damage leaves something to be
desired, but what can you expect. Thrawn returns
with his game changing Master Tactician ability.
Guranteeing initiative 95% of the time, Thrawn is
wonderful to play with and horrible to play against.
Unfortunately, he lost his pet Ysalamiri and so does
not retain that powerful ability.
His Commander Effect is where the difference
between Old Thrawn and New Thrawn
really stand out. Previously, GA Thrawn granted
+3/+3 to non-unique followers. Mitthrawn not only
raises the bar
to Opportunist but also grants it to allies.
Countless pieces are made much deadlier with this
universal damage booster.
Lord Vader can deal out a whopping 160 damage,
Noghri Assassins can deal 30 damage to enemies
regardless of whether or not they’ve activated,
Emperor Palpatine on Throne can even
shoot! For this reason, one of Mitthrawn’s best friends in Admiral
Ozzel. Ozzel will help you out-activate your
opponent so that Opportunist will come into play
more often than not. Lastly, Mitthrawn retains his
potent swap ability (remember to run Mas for
board-wide swapping).
Mitthrawn really brings back some life into the
Imperial faction. Although it makes Master Tactician
even more common, it also increases the
effectiveness of the Imperial faction as a whole.
There are few pieces who cannot benefit in some way
from his abilities or CE.
100: 2/5 As cool as he is, don’t run him here. You
can’t really afford spending 1/3 of your points of a
commander.
150: 4/5 His effectiveness skyrockets in 150. There
are literally infinite options of how to run him.
Ozzel is a strong partner to pair him with here.
200: 5/5 Few Imperial squads seem to leave Mitthrawn
out nowadays, and for good reason. It doesn’t really
matter what kind of squad you are playing, Thrawn
will help you out in some way or another. Some
squads, however, revolve around one of Thrawn’s
bonuses. Swap squads abuse his swapping CE, while
others abuse team-wide Opportunist. If you can play
one of these bonuses
for all it’s worth, you can probably get even more
use out of him.
