Poe Dameron is a hotshot Resistance pilot tasked with retrieving the map to Skywalker. When Stormtrooper FN-2187 helps him escape the First Order, he gives him the moniker “Finn” and the two become fast friends.
The two friends pass the spotlight back and forth as they set each other up for big moments on the battlefield. As an ace pilot, Poe expertly weaves in and out of danger while Finn lines up shots as his proverbial gunner.
“Why are you helping me?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do.”
“You need a pilot.”
“I need a pilot.”
Poe Dameron – HP 13 – Yellow Deck – Ranged
Finn – HP 13 – Minor Yellow Deck – Ranged
Poe Dameron
I Can Fly Anything
A4
Until the end of your next turn, your characters treat any movement die result as an "All." If Poe is your major character, move all enemy characters up to 3 spaces each. When this card is discarded, Finn becomes your major character.
Bombing Run
Special
Move Poe up to 2 spaces, then any number of spaces in a straight line. He may move through enemy characters. Characters he moves through receive 2 damage. If Poe is your major character, choose a friendly minor character and repeat this effect as if they were Poe. When this card is discarded, Finn becomes your major character.
Wing Commander
Special
Choose any teammate. That teammate may immediately take one action. If Poe is your major character now, on that teammate's next turn, you may also move your characters as if you rolled their movement die result and take one action. When this card is discarded, Finn becomes your major character. You may use an action and discard this card to draw 2 cards.
Flight Jacket
A6/D3
Finn may play this card as if it were his own, even if Poe has been destroyed. After attacking or defending, you may exchange spaces between Poe and Finn. When this card is discarded, choose Poe or Finn. That character becomes your major character.
Finn
Gunner Seat
Special
Choose any character Finn can attack. That character receives 3 damage. If Finn is your major character, choose a different character Finn can attack. That character receives 3 damage. When this card is discarded, Poe becomes your major character.
First Order Defector
A4
Draw a card. After attacking, if Finn is your major character and has attacked a minor character this turn, choose any character Finn can attack. Attack that character with this card a second time, now face-up. When this card is discarded, Poe becomes your major character.
Flexpoly Bacta Suit
Special
Redistribute current wound points between Poe and Finn as you choose. If Finn is your major character, Poe and Finn then recover up to 2 damage each. When this card is discarded, Poe becomes your major character.
2x I Can Fly Anything
2x Bombing Run
1x Wing Commander
2x Flight Jacket
2x Gunner Seat
2x First Order Defector
1x Flexpoly Bacta Suit
When I told a friend I had designed a deck for this pairing, he asked, “Who’s the major?”
“Exactly,” I replied.
Poe and Finn are a must in a Disney-era expansion. Since they play off one another so well on screen, I thought they should play off one another on the board as well. But as supporting characters of similar importance, it wasn’t obvious who should be the major and who should be the minor. As we joke at my day job, I decided to turn that from a bug into a feature.
As the very first line of the rulebook tells us, “Each player controls one main character and 1 or 2 minor characters.” Fair enough. Since Poe kicks off the events of the film, he starts off as the main character of the deck. However, when a talent is put into the discard pile, either directly from your hand or as a result of playing it, it can change which of your characters is the major and by extension, which is the minor.
That has some implications on its own, such as determining eligibility for cards like Darth Vader’s Apology Accepted or Director Krennic’s Peace and Security. But it’s also important because if the character using an ability is currently set as the major, they get a significant bonus!
Since Poe is the best pilot in the Resistance, naturally he’s focused on movement. I Can Fly Anything is a great maneuvering tool that ensures you can move both your characters next turn, similar to Barriss Offee’s Unity. But if Poe’s the major, it can also help set up shots for Finn, as he did in their daring escape in a stolen TIE Fighter.
Bombing Run lets Poe blast through enemy lines and if he’s the major, he can bring a wingman with him on his attack run. The two spaces he gets to move before his straight shot can make a big difference because with the right setup, he can both get behind the opposing team and rocket himself to safety.
Wing Commander is Poe’s one-of and it’s pretty unique. Originally conceived as another version of Rey and Kylo Ren’s Dyad in the Force, this card lets you integrate your turns with your teammate for interesting coordinated tricks. Your partner gets an action right away in place of your own. But if Poe’s the major, you also get to move and take one action as part of their next turn. If I Can Fly Anything’s buff is active, that movement is even treated as an “All” for your purposes. I won’t go into specific cases here because there are too many, but getting an out-of-turn-order action can really open up some possibilities when trying to make plays.
Poe’s last card, Flight Jacket, is really a shared card that bridges the action between the two friends. It can be used by either character and lets you swap places either offensively or defensively. Not only that, but it then lets you choose your major. It basically does everything the deck needs. It sets up your positioning and ensures you get the full benefit of whichever talent you play next. It makes it difficult for opponents to focus one hero and reduces the punishment of losing one of your guys as the other still has access to 7 of the 12 talents. It’s definitely strong, but I think necessarily so to give the Poe and Finn player a higher degree of control over the game and mitigate lopsided draws. I also can’t overstate how much thematic joy passing the jacket back and forth brings me.
If Poe is playing the pilot role, then Finn serves as his gunner. Gunner Seat straightforwardly lets Finn hit someone for 3 direct damage. If he’s in the major role, he can hit a second target for another cool 3 wound points.
First Order Defector is a solid A4-Draw, but if Finn is the major and he’s turned on his fellow troopers, he can fire off an additional free A4, punching above the curve for a Galactic Battles shooter.
Finally, Finn can use his Flexpoly Bacta Suit to further the goal of keeping both Resistance fighters alive. It lets you redistribute damage between them as you see fit. For instance, if Poe is untouched at 13 health but Finn is near death at 3, you could set them both to 8 health. Then, if Finn’s got the major torch, they both recover an additional 2 and would go up to 10. It should be fairly obvious, but this ability cannot bring a dead character back to life.
On the flip side, if one of your characters has been destroyed, you can use a Heal Action to discard the other’s talent to recover the usual 1 point of damage and switch the major back to your active character.
This can come in handy, especially because both characters have low defense in the Yellow Deck and Minor Yellow Deck. Since Minor Yellow isn’t an established distribution, I chose to represent it by dropping a 3/1 from the normal Yellow Deck. This is probably the least disruptive card to lose and I wanted the pair to have the most similar combat options I could.
One final clarification on the deck is that the major and minor swapping can be a little tricky when it comes to tournament tiebreakers. A tournament organizer basically has two options, either one of which seems valid. They could award Kill Points based on the major/minor assignment at the end of the game. Meaning if the destroyed character is currently considered the major, they’re worth 11. If they were last assigned the minor role, they’re only worth 5. I’d consider this the default option since it most closely follows rules-as-written. The second option would be to award 8 Kill Points for Poe and 8 for Finn. This is probably more true to the spirit of the rule and leads to fairer outcomes and fewer perverse incentives toward the end of the match, so I tend to prefer it.
Poe and Finn are classic shooter types and don’t have a ton of defense, so they rely on spreading out the damage with Flight Jacket and Flexpoly Bacta Suit to stay in the game. They should have a strong showing if you can manage to cleanly pass the baton back and forth and maximize the bonus effects on their talents. If one goes down early, you’re in for a rough ride since you’ll need to rely on Flight Jacket or discard shenanigans to squeeze the most out of your remaining fighter.
They’ll likely pair well with other shooters and characters that have beefy minors to give them some early game cushioning. Commander Bly, Nute Gunray, Grand Moff Tarkin, Kazdan Paratus, and Lando Calrissian come to mind. Of course Cad Bane is also a classic shooter’s friend thanks to Aurra’s great movement-stopping abilities. Really Poe and Finn should be pretty flexible in terms of teammate selection.
Since they rely on one another for their combo cadence, punishing the duo is all about trying to take one down quickly. Assassins like Asajj Ventress, Maris Brood, and Galen Marek are dangerous, as is anyone with exceptional minor hate like Count Dooku or Darth Vader.
Enjoy this teamwork-focused take on Poe and Finn! Next week, the final Legacy deck will be unveiled. I couldn't face myself if I gave up now. None of us could.
Galactic Trivia! – I Can Fly Anything and Gunner Seat were originally called You Need a Pilot and I Need a Pilot, respectively. The card effects are meant to have organic synergy, so I liked them referencing one another, but it ultimately added too much confusion and never quite felt right on Gunner Seat’s effect.