Level One - Lesson 10
Comprehensive Rules: Section 7 - Abilities and Effects: Part 2
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Hello there and welcome back to the Judge Program for Star Wars™: Unlimited - Level One certification track lessons.
As always, I’m your host Jonah, and today we’ll be finishing up comprehensive rules, section seven - Abilities and Effects. We’re focusing on 7.5, which covers Keyword abilities, as there are quite a lot of them, and the list will grow as the game does. That does mean that this lesson won’t always be comprehensive, but we’ll release updates regularly, to keep this information fresh!
A keyword or keyword ability is a card ability that has bold red text and has a specific meaning in the rules. While abilities like Triggered Abilities have meaning in the rules, each one can be different and is written out completely. However, a keyword like ambush has six subrules, and including all of that on a card would be a little bit excessive.
The keywords that we’re covering in this lesson are those that were in sets one and two - Spark of Rebellion and Shadows of the Galaxy. We’ll add expansion lessons to cover the keywords that are released in upcoming sets. That list is:
- Ambush
- Grit
- Overwhelm
- Raid X
- Restore X
- Saboteur
- Sentinel
- Shielded
- Bounty
- Smuggle
Keywords can represent any sort of ability or effect, but it’s mostly triggered abilities and constant abilities.
Card abilities can give a keyword to a unit, either as a constant ability or a lasting effect. When a unit gains a keyword in this way, it’s considered to be part of the card and can be removed, ignored, or affected by other abilities. As a quick example, if you give a card Sentinel with Gladiator Star Destroyer, your opponent can remove it with SpecForce Soldier or ignore it with any Saboteur.
If a card ability grants a unit a keyword that it already has, the keyword doesn’t stack, unless it’s followed by a numeral (like Raid or Restore), in which case the values are cumulative and it is treated as one ability. If the keyword is followed by a cost (like Smuggle) or a dash (like Bounty) each repetition is considered a new ability.
Let’s just dive into the keywords!
Ambush
Ambush is a keyword that represents the triggered ability “When Played: If there is an enemy unit that this unit can attack, this unit may ready and attack that enemy unit.”
Ambush is one of the keywords that does not stack - so even if a card has multiple instances of Ambush, it can not attack multiple times.
A unit with Ambush enters play exhausted, like any other unit. If there is not unit it can attack, or it’s controller decides not to make the attack, it remains exhausted.
If an effect causes a unit to enter play ready, like Millenium Falcon - Piece of Junk or Triple Dark Raid, that effect will resolve before the When Played trigger.
An attack resulting from an Ambush is resolved like any other attack, with all of the steps, and is a nested ability for that turn.
Grit
Grit is a keyword whose effect is the same as the constant ability: “This unit gets +1/+0 for each damage on it.” and multiple instances of Grit do not stack.
When a unit with Grit deals and takes damage simultaneously (as happens during combat) it’s power does not increase until after damage is dealt. However, if the other unit deals damage first (either through an ability like on Shoot First or an On Attack trigger), the Grit unit’s power will update immediately before it deals its damage back.
Overwhelm
Overwhelm is a keyword whose effect is the same as the constant ability: “While attacking, this unit deals its excess damage to the defending player’s base.” Multiple instances of overwhelm do not stack.
If the combat damage from an attacker with Overwhelm would not kill the defender, then no overwhelm damage is applied. This may be because the unit has enough remaining HP, has a shield token, has a damage prevention effect like Boba Fett’s Armor or simply refuses to die, like Chirrut.
If the defender is defeated before the attacker deals combat damage - usually through an On Attack trigger, then all of the attacker's damage is considered excess damage. The attacker will deal its damage to the defending unit and the base simultaneously, and all of the damage is considered to be combat damage, even though the attacker is not considered to have attacked the base - even if all of its combat damage was dealt to the base.
Raid
Raid is a keyword whose effect is the same as the constant ability: “While attacking, this unit gets +X power,” where X is the number following “Raid.”
Raid does stack cumulatively. A unit with Raid 1 that gains Raid 2 now has Raid 3 and will get +3/+0 while attacking. The power bonus lasts for the same duration as other “while this unit is attacking” or “for this attack” abilities.
It’s important to remember that Raid is not a trigger - if a unit gains or loses Raid during an attack, its power is immediately adjusted accordingly. This is relevant for cards like Fifth Brother.
Restore
Restore is a keyword whose effect is the same as the triggered ability: “On Attack: Heal X damage from your base,” where X is the number following “Restore.”
Multiple instances of restore stack. If a unit has Restore 1 and gains an additional Restore 1 from Home One, when it attacks, it will trigger and heal the base for two. Because the abilities are considered one ability, it is one instance of healing for two, not two instances of healing for one.
Saboteur
Saboteur is both the constant ability “This unit may ignore Sentinel when choosing what to attack” and the triggered ability “On Attack: Defeat all Shield tokens attached to the defender.”
To ignore sentinel means to determine the legality of the attack, as though no enemy units in the arena had sentinel. They still have sentinel, so something like Boba Fett - Daimyo would still grant them +1/+0.
Sentinel
Sentinel is a keyword whose effect is the same as the constant ability: “Units in this arena can’t attack your non-Sentinel units or your base. Abilities this unit gains can’t prevent this unit from being attacked.” This last rule isn’t included in the reminder text for Sentinel but is why Sabine Wren - Explosives Artists has her reminder text.
If a unit could have both sentinel and an effect that prevented it from being attacked, your opponent wouldn’t be able to attack at all, except with Saboteur units.
If there are multiple Sentinel units in the arena, the attacking player can choose which one to attack.
Shielded
Shielded is a keyword whose effect is the same as the triggered ability: “When Played/Deployed: Give a Shield token to this unit.”
Shielded does not stack, so a unit with multiple instances of shielded will only receive one Shield token. However, a unit can have multiple shield tokens on it, and only one will be destroyed when the unit takes damage.
It also resolves in the same window as other When Played abilities, so if a unit has both Shielded and Ambush, you can choose the order in which they resolve.
Bounty
Now we get to the simple keywords... “Bounty” is a keyword followed by an em dash and ability text whose effect is the same as the triggered ability: “When Defeated/When Captured: An opponent may resolve the following ability. That opponent is considered to control this ability.”
If a unit has multiple bounties, each is independent and resolves separately. A unit can have the same bounty ability multiple times. These triggers resolve in the same window as other “When Defeated” or “When Captured” abilities. Of note, IG-11 doesn’t have a When Captured ability, but a replacement effect that resolves before he can be captured. The subtitle really does say it all.
The phrase “collecting a bounty” means “resolves a triggered bounty ability.” Now, while resolving a Bounty is optional, and the player who resolves the bounty is the opponent of the player who controls the unit with the bounty, it is the responsibility of the owner of the card that gave the unit the bounty ability to make sure that the player who can collect the bounty actively makes a choice. It is not necessarily the controller of the unit with the bounty that has to announce the trigger.
That may sound like unparseable nonsense, so let’s go through a few examples.
Alex plays a Hylobon Enforcer, which Nico immediately attacks and defeats. Alex owns the card that granted the Enforcer the bounty ability (the Enforcer itself) and so must remind Nico of their opportunity to collect the bounty.
Alex plays Hylobon Enforcer, which Nico immediately plays Traitorous on, and takes control of it. Alex then attacks and defeats the Enforcer. Alex is still the player who owns the card granting the Bounty ability, and so Nico doesn’t not have to remind Alex of the Enforcer’s bounty, even though they currently control it.
Finally, Alex plays Public Enemy on Nico’s Alliance X-Wing. Despite Nico owning the X-Wing, which now has the ability, Alex still owns the card that granted the ability, and so Nico does not have to remind Alex of the Bounty trigger.
Smuggle
“Smuggle” is a keyword whose effect is the same as the constant ability: “You may pay cost Y to play this card from your resource zone, replacing it with the top card of your deck. This ability is active while this card is a resource.”
The total cost is determined by the cost of the smuggle ability, and all cost modifiers, including Aspect Penalties, must be accounted for. It is a modification of the “play a card” action, that allows the player to play the card from their resources, rather than just their hand. The card is considered to be played like any other card - going into play if it’s a unit or upgrade and going to the discard pile before resolving if it’s an event.
Smuggle is also an exception to the rule that facedown cards in the resource zone have no abilities - Smuggle continues to function. Each Smuggle ability (granted from a card like Tech) is considered to be an independent ability and either cost can be paid.
While playing a card with smuggle, it is still in its owner’s resource zone, and consequently, if it is ready, it can be exhausted to help play its own smuggle cost. As the card enters play or is put into discard, the top card of the deck is put into play as a resource, exhausted, at the same time.
A player can even Smuggle a card into play if they have no cards in their deck - they simply just don’t add a card to their resources - that is part of the effect of the ability, not a cost that needs to be paid. This doesn’t count as trying to draw a card, and their base won’t take any damage from this event.
And with that, we’ve wrapped abilities and effects up. The next set of lessons will encompass the over thirty “additional rules”. Many of them have been covered to some extent in our exploration of the comprehensive rules, but some of them will be new! As always, if you have any questions, comments, or insights, be sure to join the Judge Community Discord and make your voice heard. Until next time, good luck and have fun!