IP Class Deck Review: Imperial Black Ops

We’ve looked at all three of the Imperial Class decks from the Core Set (Tech Superiority, Military Might, and Subversive Tactics), as well as one Class deck from each of the expansion boxes EXCEPT the Bespin Gambit (Inspiring Leadership, Armored Onslaught, Nemeses, Power of the Dark Side). Today, we finish off the list by reviewing the Class deck provided in the Bespin Gambit: Imperial Black Ops. I’ll say from the get-go that of all the class decks released thus far, this one ranks near the bottom of the list (down there with Power of the Dark Side, if you read our last post in this series).

Imperial Black Ops: Hiding In The Shadows

Like we talked about with Power of the Dark Side, Imperial Black Ops focuses on a new element of the game and seeks to maximize benefits from it: the Hidden condition. If you can’t tell, I’m not a big fan of these kinds of decks – this is not only because few units innately benefit from these kinds of abilities (generating Damage Power Tokens or making themselves Hidden), but also because these game mechanics are only part of the game (and if you’re not playing the campaign from the expansion that they were released in, you’re hard-pressed to see the units that use these abilities in your starting/reserved units).

It’s hard – and I don’t think it’s worth it.

That being said, today I’m going to try to do due-diligence to what is good about this deck – and make no mistake, it isn’t a bad deck (I just think there are better ones). To get us started, we’ll be looking at what is involved in the Hidden condition and what kinds of units we’re looking for to make it useful.

As a condition, Hidden is not complicated: while you’re Hidden, you apply a -2 Accuracy penalty to any attack results that target you. If you attack while Hidden, you discard the token and add a static Surge result to the attack results. This incentivizes two kinds of units to become Hidden: those that need protection and those that have good surge abilities (or have an attack pool that doesn’t surge well). Most of the upgrades in this Class deck rely on doing something with Hidden – giving the Hidden condition to people, making it harder to hurt you whilst Hidden, or being able to turn that Hidden ability into a Focus condition. With that in mind, units that can become Hidden on their own will increase the effectiveness of your list, as you can ensure everyone becomes Hidden and benefit from all of the universal bonuses available in the upgrades.

Another distinctive quality of the Imperial Black Ops Class deck is that it has the second largest number of ATTACHMENTS out of any Imperial Class deck (second only to Technological Superiority). While the universal benefits to your team might be appealing, some of the upgrades in this deck (very powerful upgrades indeed) are limited to a single group. While you can put multiple ATTACHMENTS on a single deployment card, make sure any attachments you choose will be triggered often enough by the group you wish to enhance – upgrades like Execution Squad (which we’ll view in a bit) are phenomenal, but you need to be able to generate enough Surge each time you attack to make it worth it!

End-Game Build #1 – Upgraded Units: In The Shadows, Stealth, Execution Squad, True Shadow

In all of the Imperial Black Ops builds, you have access to In the Shadows, which is good because it ensure that you can give the Hidden condition to units that came before the release of the Bespin Gambit (to say nothing of many units that were released with/after the Bespin Gambit).
To supplement this upgrade, we're taking three attachments which help your units do more while hidden. Our first is Execution Squad, which allows the deployment group to trigger their surge abilities twice. While this has obvious benefits for units who generate a lot of surge, but it also allows hidden units to get a free copy of a surge ability they're already triggering.
The other two upgrades are defensive: Stealth and True Shadow. Stealth is a cheap, niche upgrade that requires melee units who attack the deployment card to have at least 1 Accuracy (which becomes 3 Accuracy if the target of the attack is hidden). While this won't matter against range units or melee weapons with a Blue die or Green-Green attack pools, it's great against most Red die weapons. You can also exhaust the upgrade at the end of your activation to become Hidden - perfect for getting maximum damage out of Hidden as well as protection.

The other upgrade is True Shadow, which requires you to keep the Hidden condition all the time and allows you to deplete the upgrade to add a Dodge result to your defense results. While keeping Hidden is great (and you still get that free surge result), the general lack of White dice available to Imperial figures makes the chance at having a free Dodge very tempting. While this is great on Villains, it's also great on units who don't surge well, since you keep getting that free surge every turn.

Best IP Units:

·         Nexu (Core) – Nexu benefit a lot from being Hidden (Red-Green doesn't get a lot of Surge) and in my opinion, he's best equipped with Stealth (though Execution Squad can generate a lot of Pierce). Unlike most of the other options provided here, he don’t need True Shadow (since you already roll a White die).

·         ISB Infiltrators (ISB Infiltrator Villain Pack) – while these guys can benefit from Stealth (their health is low), they really just need to be Hidden, since they can use the Hidden surge to re-Hide (though the Elite ISB Infiltrators get a lot more out of the bargain than the regular squad does). Like the Next, they don’t need True Shadow.

·         AT-ST (Core) – I don't normally recommend expensive units, but this guy is probably the best candidate for receiving all three attachments: thanks to Awkward, melee attacks are brutal, but with Stealth, your opponents need Accuracy (but you kinda need Red dice to crack through the Black-Black defense pool). With both True Shadow and Execution Squad, you get a static surge (which is great, since your attack pool doesn't surge well) to trigger Blast 2 twice OR Pierce 2 twice. Execution Squad might be overkill, but still...

·         Wing Guard (Bespin Gambit) – Wing Guard gain huge benefits from Execution Squad (either for damage OR healing, depending on what you need), so the important thing is to get them Hidden as fast as possible. Besides that, they can benefit from other attachments, but it isn't necessary.

·         Elite E-Web Engineer (Core) – E-Webs, like AT-STs, benefit from all three attachments (though we'll just be focusing on Execution Squad and True Shadow): a static surge guarantees Damage 2 or Recover 2, while your Yellow die can trigger the surge ability a second time, making health recovery incredible or your damage output ridiculous. True Shadow makes you incredibly hard to kill and guarantees the Hidden condition remains.

End-Game Build #2 – Augmenting Offense: In The Shadows, Shadow Corps, Surprise Attack, Execution Squad, Versatility

With our focus turning to offense, a few of our upgrades we've already seen: In The Shadows and Execution Squad. We're adding three more upgrades to make our units even more lethal. The first is Shadow Corps, which allows each Hidden figure to make an adjacent figure Hidden. Unlike most upgrades, this upgrade can be used more than once each round and since this upgrade isn't an attachment, every deployment card can use it.
We're also taking Surprise Attack, which allows you to add an extra 2 Accuracy and 1 Damage to one attack each round so long as the target wasn't in your line of sight at the start of the activation. This not only adds the equivalent of a low-scoring Blue die, but combined with the Hidden condition, you can get even more free damage.
The final upgrade is Versatility, which not only allows one figure to surge for Hide, but also allows you to swap beneficial conditions. This not only allows units who are Focused to become Hidden (for defensive benefits), but also allows units who don't surge for good things to turn their Hidden to Focused.

Best IP Units:

·         Trandoshan Hunters (Core) – You cancgan a crazy amount of damage from Surprise Attack, but I highly recommend that you turn Hidden into Focus for additional damage. Unlike most other units, these guys don't benefit from Execution Squad.

·         Greedo (Greedo Villain Pack) – Greedo can be deployed via an Agenda card and benefits greatly from Surprise Attack. You have a free surge (or convert to a Focus) to get good damage for your attacks.

·         Grand Inquisitor (Grand Inquisitor Villain Pack) – like Greedo, the Grand Inquisitor can also be deployed via an Agenda card. He benefits greatly from Surprise Attack (especially if he's using Saber Throw) and gets wicked good out of surging for Cleave 3 twice via Execution Squad.

·         Tusken Raider (Twin Shadows) – because you can’t surge for Accuracy with your Tusken Cycler, it helps to be able to add some extra Accuracy if you can’t get adjacent to the target via Surprise Attack (and naturally you’ll get more power out of the Elite Tusken Raider). You'll also want to swap Hidden for Focus with these guys.

·         Heavy Stormtrooper (Twin Shadows) – these guys have great offense, but won’t often benefit from Execution Squad (though when they do, they’ll Blast really well). Instead, making sure they're Hidden not only helps on offense (since you surge so infrequently), but also helps against range attacks.

End-Game Build #3 – Overlord’s Control: In The Shadows, Stealth, Shadow Armor, Strategic Redeployment, True Shadow

Our final build focuses on the control aspect of the deck. Besides In The Shadows, we've included four upgrades, two of which we've already discussed. Stealth and True Shadow are defensive attachments that make one or two of your deployment cards much harder to kill. 
In addition to these upgrades, we're adding Shadow Armor and Strategic Redeployment. Unlike the previous two upgrades, Shadow Armor isn't an attachment, so you can reduce the Damage, Surge, or Accuracy results against one of your figures. While Shadow Armor is dependent on the Rebels attacking, Strategic Redeployment allows you to deploy/reinforce units once per round by spending surge (instead of Threat). Your hope is that by using units with a lot of Surge potential (or having Hidden figures who can reinforce cheap units), you can maintain an advantage over the Rebels with raw numbers (and not with your surge abilities).

Best IP Units:

·         Agent Blaise (Bespin Gambit) – No one generates as much Surge as Agent Blaise, and while there is no easy way to field him in this deck, you want him (he is included in this expansion after all). Blaise allows you to reinforce/deploy a cheap unit when he attacks with Strategic Redeployment and then deploy a different group as his second action. This can be a game changer late in the campaign.

·         Elite Probe Droid (Core) – Probe Droids surge better than anyone except Blaise, but you will be torn between deploying new units vs. recovering/dealing damage. On the positive side, the Targeting Computer makes it more likely that you get the surge you need for whatever you want.

·         Jawa Scavenger (Jawa Scavenger Villain Pack) – Jawas are blissfully cheap and generate almost as much Surge as Blaise/Probes. It's best to use the regular version instead of Elite version (as the Elite Jawa Scavenger surges for better things), though you can use both...

·         Hired Gun (Hired Gun Villain Pack) – these guys reliably surge, their surge abilities aren’t that good, and you should be able to get 2 surge results (which can reinforce his own group OR reinforce a Stormtrooper/Wing Guard squad). Besides the ability to deploy/reinforce new units, these guys benefit greatly from all of the upgrades.

·         Elite Clawdite Shapeshifter with Scout Form or Streetrat Form (Heart of the Empire) – because figures don’t block LOS to Scout Form, you can hit targets that don’t have LOS to you (making it hard to kill you). True Shadow is really good for this unit as it keeps you from being shot at, though Stealth might be better (True Shadow isn’t going to help against melee attacks). The Streetrat is an alternative for melee attacks – recommend it only because the surge abilities for that Form are bad (excluding the Red die worth of damage you can do to an adjacent figure).

        In our next post, we’ll be examining Hutt Mercenaries. While many of the recommended units in this post turned out to be Mercenary figures, there be no Imperial Class deck that rewards you for running Mercenary figures as the Hutt Mercenaries deck. Until next time, happy gaming!