Shatterpoint Unit Guide: MagnaGuard

MagnaGuard are crazy. Absolutely nuts. My gut tells me they’ll be mainstays in Separatist Alliance lists for years to come. Their main weakness is no ranged attack, but the rest of the kit makes up for that.

MagnaGuards are available in the Twice the Pride squad box.

Main card

Magnas are easily the best 3PC support we’ve seen yet, in my opinion. They pair great with Kalani, Super Tactical Droid so they have a place in squads with 8SP or 7SP to spend.

Abilities

With 10 stamina and 2 durability, magnas are the chonkiest support available at release. They are very difficult for even pretty good primaries to one-shot.

Protection Protocols is a key ability for MagnaGuards. They don’t have any in-activation movement in the early game they need help moving up the battlefield. If a primary and/or Kalani hasn’t gone to move them forward I’m usually putting magnas in reserve. Note that only 1/2 characters gets to move with this ability. Protection Protocols is a pretty easy one to miss the trigger for, so stay vigilant!

Bodyguard is fine. One extra defense die isn’t game breaking, but it’s free so why not? Note that a character can get Cover 1 from this ability, even if they are in range of both magnas.

Intercede is a great ability because it takes options away from your opponent. Sure it can often be avoided with the right positioning, but it may force them to spend extra resources finding the right position. If you really want to protect someone you probably need to keep both magnas close to them.

Defensive Programs

Now we see the reason magnas are so crazy: crits and shoves galore! MagnaGuards average 2.1 crits with 6 dice, which is enough for 3 damage and two shoves. Even Steadfast units are getting pushed back against that. Separatist Alliance units tend to give out lots of “free” 5 dice attacks and MagnaGuards are a great target. Easy crit generation raises the floor a lot when the dice pools are small. Even with 5 dice, magnas have a 91% chance to get at least one crit, or a 63% chance for 2+ crits. Even characters with crit mitigation tend to only cancel one crit max, so magnas can reliably get a shove off on such characters.

Defensively, magnas have the same expertise as the Beskar Armor sported by the mandalorian supports. Not too shabby.

Synergy & Wrap Up

MagnaGuards are a great choice in Separatist Alliance lists. All the out of activation attacks become very scary when it’s crit-heavy magnas making them. However, with no ranged weapon and no in-activation moves you do need to build in ways to get the magnas in position. I’ve seen people suggest putting them with General Anakin Skywalker or Darth Vader, Jedi Hunter because those units need a 3PC support, but I just don’t see it. Without the Separatist Alliance tag those primaries won’t proc Protection Protocols, which will delay the arrival of magnas into the scrum.

At release, Count Dooku, Separatist Leader is the prime candidate to pair with magnas. When he activates he can use Leader of the Separatist Army to dash one magna forward, then he can advance and the other magna can advance too, bringing both forward in the early game. Dooku also gives out lots of 5 dice attacks with Brave, but Foolish, which the magnas are a prime candidate for. If you want those 5 dice attacks to often be 6 dice attacks, Kalani, Super Tactical Droid is a great option for a secondary. He also has multiple abilities to move other units around which can benefit the magnas.