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Grand Master Yoda
Jedi Academy

#14/40

Date Reviewed: June 29, 2009

Ratings:  Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale 1 being the worst.
3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating.

100 pt: 3.00
200 pt: 4.50

 
Sith Dragon Grand Master Yoda
Republic
Points: 55
HP: 150
DEF: 22
ATK: 15
DAM: 20

Double Attack; Ataru Mastery(+4ATK and twin if one enemy is within 6)

Force 3
FR1; Force Defense; Lightsaber defense; Lightsaber throw 3(3F, replace turn, attack any enemy and all adjacent enemies)

CE: allies within 6 gain +3/+3.

Thought i would pop in from time to time on some of the more interesting Jedi. Today we finally get a new republic Yoda, the first since RotS. i dont know what Rob's hang up with 55pt Republic commanders is, but here is another one. He has Yoda's traditional beefy stats, augmented by the HP. The standard double is there, but he has Ataru mastery which means that if you can catch your opponent in the right spot with an isolated fig, Yoda will be a +19 with four attacks if he gets a double twin. It will be hard to pull off, but great when you do.

He has some nice force. Starting with three means he is ready to go with a cancel at any time and should have about two banked by the time fighting starts. He has renewal, so force will last awhile. He has his standard Force Defense, but he also has the new lightsaber defense that can stop any attack damage, save 11. A nice block/deflect all in one. What he also gets now though is throw 3, which allows him to make a line of sight attack against an enemy and every one adjacent to them. Not bad.

His CE, to me, is the big thing though. A +3/+3 to allies is much needed. There are no restrictions that Mas cant take care of (or well placed mouse droids), but why is this so big when we have GOWK? Well, let's put it this way. I would not plan on being able to play GOWK much longer in DCI play. This takes the sting out of losing GOWK's CE.

100pts: could be a force here. He doesnt dish much, but makes other allies hard to hit, and he can stop most force users or attack from across the board with throw 3.

Killer_Nacho
Grand Master Yoda, 55 points
Faction: Republic
HP: 150
Defense: 22
Attack: 15
Damage: 20

Abilities: Unique, Melee Attack, Double Attack, Ataru Style Mastery

Force 3, Force Renewal 1, Force Defense, Lightsaber Defense, Lightsaber Throw 3

Commander effect: Followers within 6 squares gain +3 / +3.

Grand Master Yoda is a piece that I'm personally looking forward to a lot in Jedi Academy. He is a powerful fighter as well as a good commander that may end up helping the republic a lot. As far as stats go, Yoda is among the creme of the crop. 150 hitpoints is excellent, 22 defense makes it tricky to hit, and with +15 attack, it shouldn't be missing all too often.

This Yoda is capable of doing some major damage to your opponent's squad with quite a few offensive abilities and force powers. First of all, Ataru Style Mastery gives you a +4 attack and Twin Attack when there is only one enemy in 6 squares. This is a nice boost since it will more often than not force your opponent to cluster their units, fearing a Yoda quadruple hit with 19 attack. But wait a minute. Yoda's Ataru Style Mastery works with one of his more interesting force powers, Lightsaber Throw 3! Lightsaber Throw 3 lets Yoda attack 1 enemy within line of sight (ignoring cover) and attack that enemy and every unit adjacent. So all you need to do is move Yoda so there is only 1 enemy within 6, then make your opponent pay for clustering his units. Because your opponent will not want to leave his units alone in the battlefield and that if he does he will most likely pay the price due to Yoda's Lightsaber Throw, this makes Grandmaster Yoda a tricky opponent, indeed.

Yoda's other force abilities help his longevity. While he is certainly no General Obi-Wan Kenobi, having both Lightsaber Defense and Force Defense will help him take both direct damage force hits and all attacks with a cost of some force points. With Force Renewal 1, this thing can really become a pain to kill.

After all that, however, Yoda's main purpose is his excellent commander effect, giving all ALLIES within 6 squares +3 attack and +3 defense... that's pretty good. Combined with Mas Ammeda or Mouse Droids to increase the radius of this effect, this can easily give you a great edge in battle. Espessially with all the talk that General Obi-Wan Kenobi may be banned on July 1, this piece becomes an excellent replacement.

100 points: 2.5/5, He's not powerful enough to hold his own against this format's larger beatsticks but you may be able to run a squad with him and a few minions to take advantage of his commander effect.

200 points: 5/5, Very solid piece for the Republic. Here you can throw him in with Mas and/or Mouse Droids and give him some nice support (the Republic has a ton of options) and Yoda can preform very well.

Sculpt: 2/5, Bah! Jedi Acadamy's obsession with not including lightsabers on their figures continues... at least this is Yoda, so that is somewhat acceptable.
Josh

Grand Master Yoda (14/40, Rare—Jedi Academy; HP150, ATT 15, DEF 22, DAM 20, DEP 55)

Again, since this figure hasn’t been released, I’ll give a quick overview of the card first.

Special Abilities: Unique, Melee Attack, Double Attack, Ataru Style Mastery (+4 attack and gain Twin Attack if exactly 1 enemy is within 6 squares)

Force Powers: Force 3, Force Renewal 1, Force Defense, Lightsaber Defense, Lightsaber Throw 3 (Force 3, replaces turn: Choose 1 enemy within line of sight, ignoring cover. Make an attack the chosen enemy and against each character adjacent to that enemy.)

Commander Effect: Followers within 6 squares get +3 Attack and +3 Defense

We finally get another Yoda with a Commander Effect and for a mere 55 points, you’re getting a pretty solid figure. While it is unfortunately limited to followers, his Commander Effect is still pretty strong considering it’s not limited to non-Unique followers or a specific faction of followers like other versions of the +3 Attack, +3 Defense Commander Effect usually are. With the number of solid Jedi followers the Republic has (coupled with Mas Amedda’s Booming Voice to remove that pesky “within 6” clause), this commander effect is a great boon for the Republic.

His special abilities are pretty mediocre, though the Ataru Style Mastery is an interesting way to go, giving Yoda both a boost on his attack score and the Twin Attack special ability if there’s only one enemy within six squares. However, the number of times that this will actually come into play is pretty uncertain so you won’t want to rely on this ability for Yoda. If you really look at Yoda’s card, he’s really not that great a fighter with only Double Attack.

His Force powers are where Yoda becomes pretty powerful. Force Defense, while expensive, can be a pretty nasty trick to bust out considering the Force points used on your opponent’s Force power are still spent. Using this against Vader’s Apprentice, Unleashed will really hamstring him unless your opponent also has a Force battery since his Force powers, while strong, are also very expensive. Lightsaber Defense (seen also on Grand Master Luke) is a very nice power since it will protect Yoda as long as the damage comes from an attack and not a special ability. Finally Lightsaber Throw 3 gives Yoda some ranged attack options and the ability to clear out clusters or at least force your opponent to break them up more.

100 POINTS: I just don’t know if Yoda has the damage-dishing capabilities to really hang out in this beat-stick dominated level. However, at 100 points, you’re much more likely to be able to take advantage of Ataru Style Mastery which increases his damage dishing ability a bit more. Paired with a couple of Jedi Weapon Masters and you could have a pretty powerful squad. SCORE: 3.5

200 POINTS: Here, this version of Yoda gets to really shine as a commander. With plenty of room for support, as long as you include Mas Amedda and a solid amount of followers, Yoda can be a real boon to your squad. At this point level, you won’t really want Yoda to be a fighter because his commander effect is too important to lose and with more figures to be fielded, the chance of being able to use Ataru is pretty slim and then Grand Master Yoda really doesn’t have the damage-dishing capabilities to hang as a fighter. SCORE: 4


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