Rogue Squadron- The Sky is Falling

With the GenCon release of X-Wing’s Wave IX the final bits of unspoiled content were revealed. There wasn’t a lot that hadn’t already been announced in FFG’s preview articles; mostly just ship dials. But one unrevealed card created a lot of buzz: Black Market Slicer Tools.

Illicit Slot- 1pt

Action: Choose a stressed enemy ship at Range 1-2 and roll 1 attack die. On a (Hit) or (Crit) result, remove 1 stress token and deal it 1 facedown Damage card.

I admit, at first I was with the “OMG! This is OP!” crowd. At first glance this upgrade does indeed feel overpowered. For 1 point you can take an action for a 50% chance of dealing a damage to a ship through their shields. There are a lot of ships with just 2-3 hull that often intentionally give themselves stress. Soontir, Keyan, Ezra, Tycho, or really anyone with PTL. These ships are often hard to hit with attacks and suddenly there is now an ability to bypass their shields without making use of their high defense. For some, it’s a double whammy as it negates their ability (Keyan, Ezra, anyone with Wired).

A swarm of Z-95’s with this upgrade suddenly look very threatening. Of course, since this only works on stressed targets and it removes the stress there is no way to chain it with a swarm. Unless you have some way of dealing double or triple stress. But even if it can’t be swarmed this card still has a lot of potential to change the meta.

At only one point it’s very easy to just throw onto any ship with an illicit slot. It doesn’t even really have a very high opportunity cost as there are only two other illicit upgrades that cost one point. And both of them are one time use cards. That is the biggest strength of this card really. Most illicit upgrades are one time use. That this card is now the cheapest illicit and one of only two that you can get more than one use out of makes it a prime candidate for best in slot.

So you may very well end up seeing it a lot. Will it live up to the hype as a meta changing Ace killer? If you are flying anything with two hull you’re going to have to very cautious about getting stressed and close to any ship with this upgrade. It only needs to trigger twice and you’re dead.

The biggest balancing factor is the the fact that it costs an action and requires a dice roll. Those dice gods are fickle. And this is the reason I don’t think it will be as big of a deal as some people are making out. Think about all of the other cards that require actions: Saboteur*, Lando Calrissian, Expose, etc. You almost never see them on the table.

Actions are valuable. This is the real opportunity cost of the card. Sure, you might see it a lot as it’s cheap filler upgrade if you aren’t using your illicit for something else. But will it be used a lot? It’s a gamble if you are just throwing away an action. If Soontir Fel is at one hull, sure it’s worth the potential loss of your action to kill him. But if it’s not a killing shot you have no tokens and face the wraith of the Baron.

It will most likely affect the meta as this will be a completely new thing to be cautious of. But I don’t think it’s going to push aces off the table.

*Speaking of Saboteur these could make a fun combo. Saboteur, Black Market Slicing Tools and Experimental Interface. Six points for a high risk, high reward style. Get a stressed Corran Horn at range 1 threatening you? Take an action for a 50/50 chance to give a damage card and then take a second action for a 50/50 chance to turn that damage into a crit. If that turns out to be a Direct Hit, suddenly Corran Horn’s dead without ever being hit and all it cost you was a stress token.