Stunning Leader
| Title | Stunning Leader |
|---|---|
| Side | Dark |
| Type | Interrupt — Lost Interrupt |
| Set | A New Hope |
| Publisher | Decipher |
| Era | Decipher era |
| Rarity | C2 |
| Uniqueness | Unrestricted |
| Destiny | 4 |
| GEMP ID | 2_140o |
| Versions | Decipher — this page (2_140o)PC Errata — Stunning Leader (PC Errata) (2_140)Virtual Original — Stunning Leader (V) (Virtual Set 15: Galactic Frontier) ( 1115_64)Virtual Legacy — Stunning Leader (V) ( 1240_46) |
Stunning Leader is a Dark Interrupt (Lost Interrupt) from A New Hope.
Card Text
After a battle at an interior site is initiated, use 1 Force to cause all leaders and all characters with ability > 2 (on both sides) to be completely excluded from that battle.
Lore
Stormtroopers are trained to stun, not kill, priority targets in order to split enemy forces and hold the leaders for interrogation. Stun effects wear off, requiring efficient action.
Strategy
By Andrew Kato, Red 54[1]
This is another equalizer for you anti-Mains and Toys players
out there, especially with the release of Cloud City. Two things in
Cloud City made this card especially great: interior draining and
Since Stunning Leader only works indoors, most people found
little use for it before Cloud City. After all, the best draining
sites for the Dark Side were almost exclusively exterior! Virtually
every Dark Side site with a drain for two or more was an exterior
site like the Lars' Moisture Farm, Jundland Wastes, or Defensive
Perimeter. No longer. With the release of Cloud City, the Dark Side
now has a set of interior sites with decent draining opportunities.
Unlike the Death Star or Executor sites, these have Light Side icons
allowing a modest drain. Adding Dark Deal to a Cloud City deck could
be devastating to an ill-prepared Light Side deck. With lightsabers
and Dark Deal, Cloud City is an okay place to drain for the Dark Side.
Oh, and don't forget about Bounty Hunting opportunities.
Along with Cloud City's interior sites came a nice Used Interrupt
called Trooper Assault. This card simulates the endless hordes of
troopers the Imperial Army seems to muster by making all Dark Side
troopers in a battle power +2 and immune to all attrition. This one
interrupt almost single-handedly made troopers viable again.
So where does Stunning Leader fit into the equation? Well, consider
a Cloud City draining deck with troopers as its primary site defenses.
Every site (don't use the Docking Bay) is interior, meaning Stunning
Leader can be played at a site battle anywhere. All troopers are ability
2 or lower, so they won't be excluded from the battle when Stunning
Leader is played - this interrupt isolates your troopers against the
Light Side's non-mains. Sound good?
Suppose the Light Side deploys Obi Wan (and lightsaber), Han Solo
(and heavy blaster), Wedge Antilles, and Major Bren Derlin to attack your
squad of 4 Stormtroopers and General Tagge (with lightsaber) in hopes of
a massive slaughter. Dark Side reacts over 4 Stormtroopers from another
site via a Lift Tube to increase to 8 Stormtroopers. Dark Side plays
Trooper Assault to boost all 8 Stormtroopers. Dark Side plays Stunning
Leader to exclude Tagge, Obi-Wan and Han Solo from the battle. At this
point, things look grim for Wedge and Bren, who must face 8 immune, power
+2 Stormtroopers by themselves. On the Dark Side player's turn, Disarmed
is played on Obi-Wan and another battle is intiated, hopefully with a
big power win as well.
These are the kinds of mismatches you can set up with Stunning Leader,
especially since the Light Side relies heavily on Main Characters and
other high ability characters most of the time. With the newfound power
of troopers and interior sites on Bespin, a well timed Stunning Leader
could give you a massive battle victory.
Combos:
Cloud City Sites + Lift Tubes + Stunning Leader = A great point defense system that'll allow you to spread a bit thinner than normal and still be able to bring all your low ability characters to brawl in a mainless battle.
Ability > 2 Imperials + Stormtroopers + Trooper Assault + Stunning Leader = This is awesome because you get a speed gain and a defensive gain; the Stormtroopers deploy for free and Stunning Leader excludes the high ability Imperial, leaving only totally immune troopers in the fight. Add a Comlink for more fun.
Cloud City Troopers + Imperial Trooper Guards + E-3P0 + Stunning Leader = Bring out the odds cards! With this kind of Cloud City defense force, you could have a blast with Light Side Mains. Trooper Assaults would make the power here obscene. Don't forget the E Chu Ta for maximum insult to injury.
IT-0 + IG-88 + Probe Droid + Stunning Leader
How about a droid strike team? Exclude all their mains and send your
droids on suicide missions. Retrieve with the Cloud City: Incinerator and
repeat ad infinitum. With a spy on the team, it can't be kept out of the
action.
Combos
- Stunning Leader + Cloud City sites + Lift Tubes A great point defense system that'll allow you to spread a bit thinner than normal and still be able to bring all your low ability characters to brawl in a mainless battle.[2]
- Stunning Leader + Ability > 2 Imperials + Stormtroopers + Trooper Assault This is awesome because you get a speed gain and a defensive gain; the Stormtroopers deploy for free and Stunning Leader excludes the high ability Imperial, leaving only totally immune troopers in the fight. Add a Comlink for more fun.
- Stunning Leader + Cloud City Troopers + Imperial Trooper Guards + E-3P0 Bring out the odds cards! With this kind of Cloud City defense force, you could have a blast with Light Side Mains. Trooper Assaults would make the power here obscene. Don't forget the E Chu Ta for maximum insult to injury.
- Stunning Leader + IT-0 + IG-88 + Probe Droid How about a droid strike team? Exclude all their mains and send your droids on suicide missions. Retrieve with the Cloud City: Incinerator and repeat ad infinitum. With a spy on the team, it can't be kept out of the action.
Rulings
- Any additional characters of ability > 2 or leaders who arrive at the battle after Stunning Leader has been played are also excluded.[2]
- To initiate this Interrupt, there must be at least one character targeted to be excluded.
Canceled by
Also known as
- SL
Counterpart
Underlying card for
Sources
- Original printed face: Stunning Leader, Decipher (archived 21 October 2006).
- Complete Card List (Decipher PDF, archive 28 September 2007) — Dark Interrupt: Stunning Leader, A New Hope, C2
References
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20040811123219/http://www.decipher.com/starwars/cardlists/anewhope/dark/small/stunningleader.html
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Players Committee, swccg-card-json Dark.json, Stunning Leader (GEMP ID 2_140, commit d4e661ec735dcb111266fbda98704f2181e1cfab), records the four strategy recommendations and both later rulings on additional arrivals and a required target. These are attributed recommendations and rulings, not a transcription of the original face or a guarantee of every tactical outcome. The 2023 Advanced Rulebook, p. 129, gives the later "for remainder of battle" wording. Decipher's Glossary Version 2.0 (November 1998), p. 126, clarifies exclusion from the battle but does not contain that explicit duration phrase. Original-era applicability of the later-arrival ruling is not established by this citation. Preserved data copy: Internet Archive (20 October 2026). Lookup: Scomp: Stunning Leader.