Black 4

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Info
Title	Black 4
Side	Dark
Type	Starship — Starfighter (TIE/LN)
Set	A New Hope
Publisher	Decipher
Era	Decipher era
Rarity	U2
Uniqueness	Unique
Destiny	2
Power	2
Deploy	2
Forfeit	3
Maneuver	3
GEMP ID	`2_151o`
Versions	Decipher — this page (`2_151o`) Decipher (Japanese) — Black 4 (Japanese) (`1302_151o`), A New Hope (Japanese), September 1997 PC Errata — Black 4 (PC Errata) (`2_151`)

Black 4 is a Dark Starship (Starfighter) from A New Hope.

Card Text

May add 1 pilot. May deploy with a pilot as a 'react' to a battle initiated against a TIE (for free if TIE is Black 2 or 3). Must have pilot aboard to use power or maneuver.

Lore

TIE fighter flown by DS-61-4 at the Battle of Yavin. Scored a hit on Red 5 during the confrontation.

Strategy

By Dan Holmes, Red 31^[1]

Black 4. Just another TIE that is no more useful than the others, right? Wrong! Black 4 should be considered one of the best secret weapons that the Imperial Navy has.

Just imagine this. Both sides are playing space. You have Grand Moff Tarkin on Black 2 alone at Kessel. The Light Side plays Han Solo on the Falcon and initiates a battle. Normally, Tarkin would get beaten up, but not today. Because he is on Black 2, Black 4's game text allows it to deploy with a pilot for free. So now Vader comes out of nowhere against the Falcon for a change. The tide of the battle has turned and the universe is one step closer to eliminating the Rebel threat.

Rulings

To use the react text, you must have a piloted TIE there. It's even possible that other TIE was itself just deployed as a react a moment earlier.^[2]
When using the react text to deploy for free, the pilot is also free.
When using Black 4's text to deploy it and a pilot for free, and Goldenrod on table, must use 2 Force for the pilot (but 0 for Black 4).

Pulled by

Commander Brandei
Short Range Fighters & Watch Your Back!

Matching

Characteristics

No Hyperdrive
Imperial (starship)

Sources

Original printed face: Black 4, Decipher (archived 12 May 2008).
Complete Card List (Decipher PDF, archive 28 September 2007) — Dark Starship: Black 4, A New Hope, U2

References

↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20040811123219/http://www.decipher.com/starwars/cardlists/anewhope/dark/small/black4.html
↑ Players Committee, swccg-card-json Dark.json, Black 4 (GEMP ID 2_151, commit d4e661ec735dcb111266fbda98704f2181e1cfab), records the three later react and pilot-cost rulings. Its revised text permits a react to a battle "where you have a TIE"; the original face instead says a battle "initiated against a TIE." The record supports the later ruling about a TIE arriving by an earlier react, not proof that the original wording had the same timing. The Goldenrod interaction refers to the separate Goldenrod record in LightPreErrata.json (GEMP ID 200_27), whose pre-22 July 2024 text charges 2 Force for deployment made free by another card. It is not a substitution of Yavin Sentry & Goldenrod for that historical card. Preserved Dark data copy: Internet Archive (20 October 2026). Lookup: Scomp: Black 4.

[decipher-strategy-1] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20040811123219/http://www.decipher.com/starwars/cardlists/anewhope/dark/small/black4.html

[scomp-2] Players Committee, swccg-card-json Dark.json, Black 4 (GEMP ID 2_151, commit d4e661ec735dcb111266fbda98704f2181e1cfab), records the three later react and pilot-cost rulings. Its revised text permits a react to a battle "where you have a TIE"; the original face instead says a battle "initiated against a TIE." The record supports the later ruling about a TIE arriving by an earlier react, not proof that the original wording had the same timing. The Goldenrod interaction refers to the separate Goldenrod record in LightPreErrata.json (GEMP ID 200_27), whose pre-22 July 2024 text charges 2 Force for deployment made free by another card. It is not a substitution of Yavin Sentry & Goldenrod for that historical card. Preserved Dark data copy: Internet Archive (20 October 2026). Lookup: Scomp: Black 4.

[1]

[2]