Rogue One took us to Jedha, a holy site for devotees of the Force. There we met a pair of characters perfect for Epic Duels: Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus!
These Guardians of the Whills once protected the Kyber Temple and now resist the Empire any way they can.
Chirrut is a blind warrior-monk who turns prayer into strength and protection. Baze is a crack shot who mows down Stormtroopers with his heavy repeating blaster. Together they’re a dangerous combination and potent teammates for any Force faithful.
“I’m one with the Force and the Force is with me. I’m one with the Force and the Force is with me. I’m one with the Force and the Force is with me.”
Chirrut Imwe – HP 16 – Blue Deck – Melee
Baze Malbus – HP 9 – Strong Deck – Ranged
Chirrut Imwe
Mantra
A4/D4
Until the end of your next turn, all your and your teammates' Special cards are treated as Power Combat cards with attack and defense values of 2. Their effects are activated after attacking or defending.
Hearts of Kyber
Special
Until the end of your next turn, you and your teammates do not have to discard a card before drawing with 10 cards in hand. Draw 3 cards.
Pass in Peace
Special
Until the end of your next turn, Chirrut and all friendly characters may move diagonally. Move Chirrut up to 4 spaces. Then move Baze up to 2 spaces.
Blind Fighting
Special
Until the end of your next turn, any time an attack is played facedown, you may look at it. All enemy characters Chirrut can attack receive 3 damage.
Baze Malbus
Staccato Lightning Cannon
A3
Until the end of this turn, playing Baze Basic Combat cards do not count as actions and after any Baze attack, you may move him up to 2 spaces. He may not attack a major character that he has damaged this turn.
Anti-Tank Missile
A0*
*Increase the attack value of this card by 1 for every wound point above 10 the defending character started with. Draw a card.
3x Mantra
2x Hearts of Kyber
2x Pass in Peace
2x Blind Fighting
2x Staccato Lightning Cannon
1x Anti-Tank Missile
Chirrut and Baze each fight a little differently, but they both revolve around their respective activator cards, Mantra and Staccato Lightning Cannon. On a high level, the duo usually wants to get these cards with a big hand and challenge the opposing team to a battle of efficiency in the mid-game.
Mantra is a unique ability in Galactic Battles. For a full round, it turns all allied Special cards into 2/2 Power Combats that trigger their effects after battle. On the offense, this is a great way to apply some free pressure. It’s especially helpful against defensive decks since they may even be forced to over-defend. Naturally all of Chirrut’s Specials are designed to be very playable as attacks and many Specials don’t change all that much when they become kicker effects on an Attack 2.
Where Mantra really shines, though, is in letting you and your teammate play Specials as defense on the off-turn. Not only does it inherently save you the action, but it can also stymie an offensive if the Special involves movement like Grievous’ Crushing Leap, Qui-Gon’s Ataru Master, or Chirrut’s own Pass in Peace.
Speaking of Pass in Peace, the diagonal movement is not just flavor based on Chirrut’s movements in the film; it also limits how your opponents’ can set up their minor walls, lest you sneak through the standard formation.
I think Blind Fighting’s uses should be fairly easy to see, so the last note on Chirrut is a bit of clarity on Hearts of Kyber. In Epic Duels, hand limit is not checked as part of a gameplay phase. It is only checked when a player attempts to add cards to their hand. This means that if a player uses Hearts of Kyber to go above 10 cards, they can stay above 10 as long as they don’t do anything that would cause them to add more after Hearts of Kyber has worn off.
So if Chirrut’s path to victory is getting several Specials in hand and activating Mantra, then Baze wants to assemble several of his Basic Combat cards and activate Staccato Lightning Cannon. The cannon lets him play his attacks without spending an action, provided he is unloading on a minor character or a major one he hasn’t just damaged. The card even lets him adjust his position after attacking, so he can pick off enemy characters one-by-one with his repeating blasts. More than most, this means Baze can really leverage one-turn buffs provided by things like Yarael’s Rally the Troops and Krennic’s Peace and Security.
The final talent in the deck is Anti-Tank Missile. It’s a straight-forward attack that does what it says on the tin. Once Baze has cleared out all those minors, he can fire the missile at a beefy opposing major. It ranges from an A2 on Nute Gunray to an A10 on Darth Vader.
Chirrut and Baze can really amplify Special-heavy decks like Emperor Palpatine, Boba Fett, and Yarael Poof, giving them tons of extra power to wear opponents down. While they don’t have the same quantity of Specials, I expect Chirrut could also be a dangerous partner for decks like Agen Kolar, Count Dooku, Quinlan Vos, and Maris Brood that have Specials that don’t cost an action and/or could be seamlessly integrated into their combat loop.
When playing against Chirrut and Baze, remember that they are more about efficiency and tricks than raw power. Consider carefully before attacking while Mantra is active. The free defense and effective actions it provides makes attacking very unlikely to be profitable. You’ll have to evaluate what to watch out for based on the deck they’re paired with.
The duo doesn’t have a huge health pool and have no defense values greater than 4, so they are vulnerable to assassins and big attacks. At 9 health, Baze is also vulnerable to all the usual minor hate. A character like Anakin can be a problem for the deck because Lust for Power and Slaughter are hard to play around and Vergence in the Force absolutely shuts down anything Chirrut wants to do.
I’m excited to get Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus in the mix. I liked the couple in Rogue One and I hope this captures the right feel for both of them. By Creed, I’ll be back with a new deck next week. See you then!
Galactic Trivia! – The idea for the Mantra card was originally a concept for Emperor Palpatine’s Order 66 during development of Complete Circle. It sat in my notebook as “Call to Arms” for years before becoming the backbone of Chirrut’s strategy.
These Guardians of the Whills once protected the Kyber Temple and now resist the Empire any way they can.
Chirrut is a blind warrior-monk who turns prayer into strength and protection. Baze is a crack shot who mows down Stormtroopers with his heavy repeating blaster. Together they’re a dangerous combination and potent teammates for any Force faithful.
“I’m one with the Force and the Force is with me. I’m one with the Force and the Force is with me. I’m one with the Force and the Force is with me.”
Chirrut Imwe – HP 16 – Blue Deck – Melee
Baze Malbus – HP 9 – Strong Deck – Ranged
Chirrut Imwe
Mantra
A4/D4
Until the end of your next turn, all your and your teammates' Special cards are treated as Power Combat cards with attack and defense values of 2. Their effects are activated after attacking or defending.
Hearts of Kyber
Special
Until the end of your next turn, you and your teammates do not have to discard a card before drawing with 10 cards in hand. Draw 3 cards.
Pass in Peace
Special
Until the end of your next turn, Chirrut and all friendly characters may move diagonally. Move Chirrut up to 4 spaces. Then move Baze up to 2 spaces.
Blind Fighting
Special
Until the end of your next turn, any time an attack is played facedown, you may look at it. All enemy characters Chirrut can attack receive 3 damage.
Baze Malbus
Staccato Lightning Cannon
A3
Until the end of this turn, playing Baze Basic Combat cards do not count as actions and after any Baze attack, you may move him up to 2 spaces. He may not attack a major character that he has damaged this turn.
Anti-Tank Missile
A0*
*Increase the attack value of this card by 1 for every wound point above 10 the defending character started with. Draw a card.
3x Mantra
2x Hearts of Kyber
2x Pass in Peace
2x Blind Fighting
2x Staccato Lightning Cannon
1x Anti-Tank Missile
Chirrut and Baze each fight a little differently, but they both revolve around their respective activator cards, Mantra and Staccato Lightning Cannon. On a high level, the duo usually wants to get these cards with a big hand and challenge the opposing team to a battle of efficiency in the mid-game.
Mantra is a unique ability in Galactic Battles. For a full round, it turns all allied Special cards into 2/2 Power Combats that trigger their effects after battle. On the offense, this is a great way to apply some free pressure. It’s especially helpful against defensive decks since they may even be forced to over-defend. Naturally all of Chirrut’s Specials are designed to be very playable as attacks and many Specials don’t change all that much when they become kicker effects on an Attack 2.
Where Mantra really shines, though, is in letting you and your teammate play Specials as defense on the off-turn. Not only does it inherently save you the action, but it can also stymie an offensive if the Special involves movement like Grievous’ Crushing Leap, Qui-Gon’s Ataru Master, or Chirrut’s own Pass in Peace.
Speaking of Pass in Peace, the diagonal movement is not just flavor based on Chirrut’s movements in the film; it also limits how your opponents’ can set up their minor walls, lest you sneak through the standard formation.
I think Blind Fighting’s uses should be fairly easy to see, so the last note on Chirrut is a bit of clarity on Hearts of Kyber. In Epic Duels, hand limit is not checked as part of a gameplay phase. It is only checked when a player attempts to add cards to their hand. This means that if a player uses Hearts of Kyber to go above 10 cards, they can stay above 10 as long as they don’t do anything that would cause them to add more after Hearts of Kyber has worn off.
So if Chirrut’s path to victory is getting several Specials in hand and activating Mantra, then Baze wants to assemble several of his Basic Combat cards and activate Staccato Lightning Cannon. The cannon lets him play his attacks without spending an action, provided he is unloading on a minor character or a major one he hasn’t just damaged. The card even lets him adjust his position after attacking, so he can pick off enemy characters one-by-one with his repeating blasts. More than most, this means Baze can really leverage one-turn buffs provided by things like Yarael’s Rally the Troops and Krennic’s Peace and Security.
The final talent in the deck is Anti-Tank Missile. It’s a straight-forward attack that does what it says on the tin. Once Baze has cleared out all those minors, he can fire the missile at a beefy opposing major. It ranges from an A2 on Nute Gunray to an A10 on Darth Vader.
Chirrut and Baze can really amplify Special-heavy decks like Emperor Palpatine, Boba Fett, and Yarael Poof, giving them tons of extra power to wear opponents down. While they don’t have the same quantity of Specials, I expect Chirrut could also be a dangerous partner for decks like Agen Kolar, Count Dooku, Quinlan Vos, and Maris Brood that have Specials that don’t cost an action and/or could be seamlessly integrated into their combat loop.
When playing against Chirrut and Baze, remember that they are more about efficiency and tricks than raw power. Consider carefully before attacking while Mantra is active. The free defense and effective actions it provides makes attacking very unlikely to be profitable. You’ll have to evaluate what to watch out for based on the deck they’re paired with.
The duo doesn’t have a huge health pool and have no defense values greater than 4, so they are vulnerable to assassins and big attacks. At 9 health, Baze is also vulnerable to all the usual minor hate. A character like Anakin can be a problem for the deck because Lust for Power and Slaughter are hard to play around and Vergence in the Force absolutely shuts down anything Chirrut wants to do.
I’m excited to get Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus in the mix. I liked the couple in Rogue One and I hope this captures the right feel for both of them. By Creed, I’ll be back with a new deck next week. See you then!
Galactic Trivia! – The idea for the Mantra card was originally a concept for Emperor Palpatine’s Order 66 during development of Complete Circle. It sat in my notebook as “Call to Arms” for years before becoming the backbone of Chirrut’s strategy.