This article is a followup to two of my previous articles:

Light shield compendium
Dark shield compendium

I recommend that you read them for a general overview of all pre v13 shields. This article provides similar comments on the three shields and two "pseudo shields" that were released in v13-v15 as well as a new overview of six starting effects in light of the two new ones in v15. Finally, I provide new recommended "standard" sets of 10 and 12 shields in light of meta and card devlopments since my previous articles.


Shields

Virtual set 13 introduced two new shields, Abyss (v) and Chasm (v), which are the same text mirrored for both sides. Virtual set 14 introduced one new light side shield, After Her (v). v15 didn't introduce any new shields but the new starting effects turned two existing effects - The Professor (v) and Restricted Access (v) - into pseudo-shields so they are covered too.

Abyss (v) (Dark)
Substituted battle destinies do not count against battle destiny limits. If all your battle destinies were canceled (and not redrawn) your total battle destiny = 1. Once per game, may play a Defensive Shield from under your Starting Effect.

This shield has two functions. The first line effects a card-text reversal of a rules change instigated by the advanced rule book (AR). Prior to the AR, substituted destiny draws from cards like short range fighters/watch your back (srf/wyb) or Vader (v) were not considered "drawn" destinies (but, confusingly this was not the case with colo claw fish). This meant that if you had two scheduled battle destinies thanks to soemthing like Emperor's Power, you could get around destiny limiting cards like Evacuation Control (v) by substituting the first destiny and then drawing the second as normal. The AR changed this rule but the first line of this shield, in effect, restores the original situation (this was done deliberately - it was seen as desirable to effect this outcome through card text rather than by rule).

The only commonly used dark side destiny substitution card is srf/wyb. Decks that use that card will quite commonly add destinies using baron or bossk and there is a key LS deck that limits battle destinies in space - senate with Horox Ryder. Other decks may play Rebel Leadership (v) or Evacuation Control (v). Thus, if you play those cards, you should play this shield for this reason alone.

This dark side shield is a major blow to a number of light side destiny canceling strategies. It makes combos that involve destiny canceling and no immunity to attrition much more risky for the LS. These strategies include Bright Hope (v), Wedge Antilles, Red Squadron Leader, We Have a Plan (7-side), Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight (v) and I'm With You Too (v) (esp in combination with Luke (v) on a skyhopper or epps). There are some ways for the LS to get around a total battle destiny of 1 such as Yoda at his hut or the Capital Support admiral's order but those require quite a bit of effort for most decks to set up.

This is one of those shields whose effectiveness is so great that it's not essential to pack it. Due to the fact that it works so well against the above mentioned destiny canceling cards (in most situations) and can be played without cost - as it effectively doesn't count against your shield limit - LS decks have been forced to adapt and the old standard LS space package of tantive/bright hope v has all but disappeared. Luke (v) decks have also gone the way of the Dodo for various reasons, including this card.

One other thing to watch out for - if you play the AO We're in Attack Position Now, you give your opponent an easy way around this shield (wrt bright hope v or wedge in space).

Verdict: Definitely play this if you play srf/wyb and destiny adding pilots/ships. You should definitely think about playing it in other decks, especially because wedge is still used fairly regularly as a utility character, but very often it will not make the cut.

Chasm (v) (Light)
Substituted battle destinies do not count against battle destiny limits. If all your battle destinies were canceled (and not redrawn) your total battle destiny = 1. Once per game, may play a Defensive Shield from under your Starting Effect.

The analysis of this card is almost the opposite of its mirror. Whereas the last part of the text on Abyss (v) is its most powerful part due to the prevalence of LS destiny cancelling, it is the first part of Chasm (v) that is more useful to the LS due to it having more destiny substituting options and the DS not doing much battle destiny canceling.

There are a number of common LS cards which substitute destinies. Smoke screen is a very versatile card which makes its way into many decks with jedi in it. All wings report in/Darklighter spin is a crucial card in the ever popular WYS and HB decks and there is even an entire LS deck pretty much built around destiny substitution (Mind What You Have Learned & Test #5). There are quite a few commonly played DS cards which limit destinies too. Endor Operations' 7 side effects a global limit, Imperial Command and Imperial Justice (v) work on both space and ground and Battle Deployment and the senator Edcel Bar Gane limit them on the ground (note: this card + substituted destiny does not get around watto). In short, if you are playing destiny substitution, and many LS decks do, you should seriously consider playing this shield.

On the other hand, there are only two DS cards which cancels battle destinies that are played with any degree of frequency - My Kind of Scum 7 side (very uncommonly played) and Boelo (fairly uncommon nowdays). Given that weapons are better than destinies than aliens in general and barring some change in the PC's apparent decision to move away from the destiny cancelling mechanic, this part of Chasm (v) is pretty much dead letter.

Verdict: If you use destiny substituting cards as well as cards which add destiny in the relevant theatre (eg. lando scoundrel for ground, captain han for space) you should seriously consider playing this shield. If not then don't bother.

After Her (v) (Dark)
Plays on table. Unless she is present at a site, (Reflections III icon) Leia's game text is canceled. Each Amidala stacked on a Political Effect is a senator. Once per game, may take (V3 icon) Astromech Shortage into hand from Reserve Deck; reshuffle.

The first part of this card was designed to kill a silly little combo (Leia, RP on board a vehicle at a <> desert with a sandwhirl was almost untouchable) and has little use beyond that - although stopping leia from cancelling your drain when she is on board a ship at a system related to a site you control is kind of cool.

The rest of the text is more subtle. The second sentence is sort of ok and sort of not. Multi-looping amidala on political effects - which can be done in the absence of this card - can get really abusive. It used to let the LS player get away with canceling 3 drains a turn or neutering all of the DS's multiple battle destinies in a battle, and multiple turns in a row late game when they could be tracked back around. So this text prompted some move away from amidala in LS senate decks, but not all that much becuase she's still powerful and any way, it turns out that LS senate is still really strong even if it just uses other senators.

It's the final part of the text that might prompt you to use this card. Astromech shortage (v) cabn be a good if very expensive bullet for LS senate. But for canceling a senator's game text to be REALLY useful you need to combo it with still more cards, such as The Emperor (v) who can fry senators if Mon Mothma (v)'s game text is canceled (if he draws high enough) or boba fett, bounty hunter in space after you kill Horox Ryder's text. But Astromech Shortage (v) on its own isn't going to win you games against senate - especially if it gets altered as it might (fun fact of the day - LS senate decks have REALLY high destiny avg but only when drawing weapon/battle destiny so mothma or leia actually have a decent chance of altering on their own).

Verdict: If your deck has some synergy with Astromech Shortage (v) then play this shield and Astromech Shortage (v) to help you beat senate. But in most instances Come Here You Big Coward will be a more effective shield on its own against senate, so don't just play this shield without thinking about it carefully.

Restricted Access (v) (Dark)
Deploy on table. I'd Just As Soon Kiss A Wookiee may not be played. After starting hands are drawn, to deploy a character for free (or 0 Force), opponent must first use X Force, where X = half that character's printed deploy cost (round up). (Immune to Alter.)

There's quite a few strategies or cards that this card potentially hurts. The biggest is wys panic, but free master luke in profit or free pilot luke on r2 in red 5 and spies in wys nightfall are also played fairly regularly. The problem is that there are simply too many DS shields that you want to play and the damage this does to any deck except wys panic is too small to justify using it generally.

Verdict: If you have a wys panic deck in your meta and want to kill it, play this, otherwise don't bother.

The Professor (v) (Light)
Deploy on table. It Can Wait may not be played. After starting hands are drawn, for opponent to deploy a card with ability for free, opponent must first use X Force, where X = half that card's printed deploy cost (round up). May not be canceled. (Immune to Alter.)

This impacts many dark side cards and strategies. This includes They Must Never Again Leave This City (free executor), Blizzard 4, isb spies w/sunsdown, bounty hunter ships, the watto objective, and a bunch of random stuff like lt arnet on blizz scout and pellaeon on a ship with thrawn. Due to this, it's a versatile card which will be useful in many situations against a range of decks.

Verdict: You might not always want to pull it in-game, but it's powerful enough to pack under your (v15) SE most of the time.

Starting Effects

With the release of two new starting effects in v15 there is more to think about in the choice of which start effect to use than there ever has been in this game. The following provides a brief overview of this choice.

An Unusual Amount of Fear/Fear is My Ally

Set: Reflections III
Card type: Any
Card #: 10
Plays: 3 shields
Pulling penalty: None

There are very few instances when you will want to play either of these starting effects. Their
unrestricted card choice has been duplicated by the v15 effects and their only "benefit" (no penalty or bonus to opponent for pulling) is eliminated if your opponent plays either of the other shield types. The ONLY reason you would play this is if you are playing a deck that is hurt particularly badly by the v15 starting effects and absolutely HAS to play non-shields under your starting effect. I can't think of any such decks, but if there is one, you should play with these SEs beause the pull-penalty from Drop/Thrown Back (v) is generally less harsh than that from the v15 SEs (which is your only other option if you have to play non-shields under your SE).

Drop (v)/Thrown Back (v)

Set: Virtual Set 8
Card type: Shields
Card #: 12
Plays: 4 shields
Pulling penalty: Opponent activates/draws one after your first search in a turn.

These shields are still a valid choice for a number of decks. Despite the prevalence and usefulness of the two shield-pulling interrupts (Cold Feet (v)/I Don't Need Their Scum Either (v)), being able to play 4 base shields is substantially better than being able to play 3 in many situations. There is something of a light/dark split here in that the light side is more likely to play the v15 effects due to the versatility of The Professor (v) (cf Restricted Access (v)), which lets more dark decks get away with the benefit of more shields without giving up the choking text on the v15 shields.

If you find that yourself regularly needing to do more than three shield pulls in a game (and you don't NEED non-shields under your SE) then your thought process should go something like this:

1) Am I wasting shield pulls? Many people waste shield pulls. Battle plan/order may hurt you more than your opponent, so perhaps you should let your opponent drain for free this turn and then they will have to pull it later. Secret plans/Aim High are not good against every deck. Maybe you don't need that Imperial Atrocity (v) early and should wait to see if you draw it. Perhaps you should wait until your opponent is likely to be doing any retrieval until you pull Come Here You Big Coward. Maybe your opponent actually doesn't have any particularly abusive interrupts in their deck so you can save your grabber. Maybe you can slow down on your pulls until you get your shield pulling interrupt in hand. If you are using your shield pulls carefully and conservatively then think about...

2) Have my recent experiences been warped by playing against a particular deck? Certain decks force you to pull more shields than normal against them either due to the nature of the deck or because they are dedicated shield busters. If your shield pulling stress is just because your playtesting buddy is playing one of these decks then you possibly shouldn't worry about it and just take your chances in the wider field. If not, then...

3) Maybe you should play Drop (v)/Thrown Back (v). It's quite possible that your deck naturally pulls a lot of shields. There's a number of reasons why a particular deck may need to pull a lot of shields, either becuase it satisfies bplan/order early and so always needs to pull it or because it uses a key immediate effect. If playing 4 shields instead of 3 will win you games b/c of the nature of your deck then play a v8 SE.

You may also want to play one of these SEs if your deck is hurt fairly badly by the v15 SEs. Obviously if your deck is crippled by those SEs you probably shouldn't be playing it, or should modify it, but if it just has a preference for seeing a v8 over a v15 SE then you might as well play a v8 one yourself and hope that you hit a few players who have done so as well.