Though Jyn Odan had seen niche competitive success in the vanilla skirmish game with some players, there was a push in IACP Season 2 to update the 4 Core Box heroes besides Gideon and Mak to make them more competitive viable so that new players could build a more functional Rebel skirmish list with only a Core box if they printed out the IACP versions of the cards.
There were 3 upgrades made to the original version of Jyn Odan to bring it in line with the rest of the game's power creep that FFG had begun with Jabba's Realm and onward expansions. Health was increased from 6 to 8. Nimble was replaced with the Sidewinder ability. And her attack received a +2 Accuracy and +1 damage bonus.
Her Sidewinder ability is almost identical to the ability of the same name, but limited to once per round and it costs a strain to use. This added strain cost was actually part of a design theme that all 4 of the upgraded Core box heroes share, which is that they have to suffer strain to use one of their abilities. This was an intentional nod to the campaign game where the heroes often have to suffer srain to use abilities, though of course strain works differently in skirmish than it does in campaign, but it's a neat little design note that I appreciate about these early IACP designs.
Her combination of high movement speed, Hair Trigger, Sidewinder and surge for Pierce 1 and Stun can make her an extremely fun figure to play and sometimes frustrating to play against. She excels at being a lone-wolf figure takes a Focus round 1 and then goes and harasses the opponent's figures while using her fancy movement abilities to stay just out of the opponent's reach. It's important to keep in mind though that the opponent can counter Hair Trigger by activating a figure out of Jyn's line of sight and then moving that figure to block Jyn's line of sight for the next figure that activates, though Marksman is a great card for countering this strategy.
However she also does well in her old strategy called the Smuggler Box, thanks to retaining her Cunning defensive ability. She loves to stay next to figures like C-3PO and Onar Koma that can give her an evade modifier to trigger Cunning, which can make her surprisingly durable. Figures that can give her an evade token to go such as Ko-Tun or the Clawdite Shapeshifter are also appreciated as well. Smuggled Supplies can give her an extra evade to trigger Cunning for the rest of the round.
And as a Smuggler, Jyn gets access to some great Command cards, including On the Lam, Tools for the Job, and Run for Cover, as well as more niche options like Pickpocket, Black Market Prices, and Slippery Target. Even outside of a dedicated Smuggler list, Jyn Odan is a solid and efficient option in any Rebel list at just 5 points, so long as you have a way to Focus her and maybe give her a bonus evade, she can be extremely effective for her points cost.
Check out all the cards listed here over at https://classic.tabletopadmiral.com/imperialassault/ and start building your next IACP list.
