Star Wars: Unlimited focuses on combat between ground and air units, but within the first ten minutes of A New Hope we see that there's another way to deal with your opponents: Capture them. Thankfully, the second set, Shadows of the Galaxy, introduced the capture mechanic, allowing you to take your opponent's units out of the arena until they can muster a rescue mission.
The capture mechanic works differently than defeating your opponent's units, because they have ways to get them back as long as they can defeat your guards. How does it work, and how can you use it? We've got the answers!
What Is Capture?
First appearing in Shadows of the Galaxy, capture is a temporary removal mechanic in which one unit can remove another from play until the capturing unit leaves play itself. So if you play a Discerning Veteran, which captures another non-leader unit when it comes into play, you remove an opposing unit from play until your opponent defeats or captures your Discerning Veteran.
Magic: The Gathering players should be very familiar with this mechanic, since it functions almost identically to classic cards such as Faceless Butcher, Journey to Nowhere, and Worldgorger Dragon.
When one unit captures another unit, the capturing unit is said to be 'guarding' the captured unit. Some cards allow you to 'rescue' your captured units, putting them back into play under your control without defeating or capturing the guarding unit first.
Rescuing a captured unit does not count as playing it, so you can't trigger When Played abilities by rescuing your captured units.
Capture can be a strong mechanic, as it allows you to remove opposing units from play without having to defeat them first. However, since your opponent can get their units back by capturing or defeating the unit guarding them, you'll need to protect your units or risk the captured ones returning to play.
How To Use Capture
The fundamental way to use capture is to remove major threats on your opponent's side of the arena. But there are some additional options available. For example, if your opponent has a unit guarding one of your units, you can capture the guard to get your own unit back.
With a little help, capturing your opponent's units can also be a way to permanently remove them without damaging your own units in the process. For example, if you capture a unit and then play Altering The Deal, you'll be able to send a captured card directly to your opponent's discard pile.
Another way to permanently remove your opponent's units is to recruit them to your own cause. Dryden Vos has a unique When Played ability that allows you to play an opponent's captured unit for free. This play nets you two units while preventing your opponent from rescuing theirs.
Better yet, Dryden Vos's ability counts as playing the captured unit, so you get to trigger any When Played abilities on that unit!
You should also be mindful of ways to deal with your opponent's guards. You can always attack them, but that might not be your best option, especially since it puts some amount of tactical control into your opponent's hands. Another option is to use Unexpected Escape to rescue your unit, or Detention Block Rescue to defeat the guard.
You could also capture the guard, rescuing your own unit in the process!
Best Cards With Capture
As the name implies, Finalizer is likely to end most games soon after being played. With a massive 11 Power and HP, it can defeat almost any unit and take a huge chunk out of your opponent's base, but that isn't even the scary part: When you play Finalizer you can have each of your units capture an opposing unit in the same arena.
If you have more units than your opponent, this will leave their base defenseless. They'll also struggle to recover, giving you another turn or two to finish attacking their base.
Ephant Mon can provide a consistent source of captures, punishing your opponent for attacking you by capturing an attacking unit each time you attack with it.
Depending on your opponent's playstyle, this may act as more of a deterrent than as a source of removal, but if your opponent isn't attacking then you're the one that gets to make the decisions. It's an appropriate flavor for an Underworld Command card!
Rule with Respect has a similar effect to Ephant Mon, punishing your opponent for attacking your base, but without the board presence as a deterrent. If your opponent attacks your base with multiple units (or with one problematic unit), you can use Rule with Respect to have one of your units capture all of the non-leader units that attacked your base.
If your base survives the initial assault, this could be the way you turn a Finalizer assault back into your favor.
If you're playing a Bounty Hunter deck, Relentless Pursuit is an excellent addition: For three resources you can capture any non-leader unit with lower cost than one of your units, and then put a Shield token on your unit if it's a Bounty Hunter. That Shield token will make it harder for your opponent to rescue their unit, so you can keep it out of reach longer than most other guards.
