Star Wars LCG Progression, Part 3

Alright, I've written up everything where I currently stand with the Dark Side part of things, so I figure it's a good time to write up everything Light Side.  I eventually do need to make a new Light Side deck, but I'll get there eventually.  As a reminder, I'm only working with Core Set, plus the first cycle, and the Edge of Darkness Deluxe Expansion.

So, let's look at a deck that, at one point, I am pretty sure was extremely strong in the meta (as in, during this point during the game's life, it was pretty strong).

RA Sleuth Scouts:
Total Cards: (50)

Affiliation:
Rebel Alliance

Objective: (10)
2x The Defense of Yavin 4 (Core 8-1)
2x Renegade Squadron Mobilization (The Search for Skywalker 44-1)
2x Prepare for Evacuation (A Dark Time 49-1)
2x Raise the Stakes (Edge of Darkness 70-1)
2x Across the Anoat Sector (Edge of Darkness 74-1)

Unit: (28)
2x Red Two (Core 8-2)
2x Y-Wing (Core 8-3)
2x Renegade Squadron (The Search for Skywalker 44-2)
2x Renegade Squadron Operative (The Search for Skywalker 44-3)
2x Munitions Expert (The Search for Skywalker 44-4)
2x Renegade Squadron Escort (A Dark Time 49-2)
2x Renegade Squadron Escort (A Dark Time 49-3)
2x Action-series Bulk Transport (A Dark Time 49-4)
2x Blockade Runner (Edge of Darkness 70-2)
2x Cloud City Operative (Edge of Darkness 70-3)
2x Bothan Spy (Edge of Darkness 70-4)
2x Sleuth Scout (Edge of Darkness 74-2)
2x Sleuth Scout (Edge of Darkness 74-3)
2x Undercover Operative (Edge of Darkness 74-4)

Enhancement: (8)
2x Astromech Droid Upgrade (Core 8-4)
2x Hidden Outpost (Core 8-5)
2x Echo Caverns (The Search for Skywalker 44-5)
2x Smuggling Compartment (Edge of Darkness 70-5)

Event: (10)
2x Rebel Assault (Core 8-6)
2x Ion Cannon Burst (A Dark Time 49-5)
2x Swindled (Edge of Darkness 70-6)
2x Smuggler's Run (Edge of Darkness 74-5)
2x Over My Dead Body (Edge of Darkness 74-6)

Fate: (4)
2x Target of Opportunity (The Search for Skywalker 44-6)
2x Battle of Hoth (A Dark Time 49-6)

The object of this deck is to buff up those Sleuth Scouts with Raise the Stakes and Across the Anoat Sector to really hammer your opponent's objectives, and use a variety of cards, like Echo Caverns, to control what's available to defend them.  It's a deck I know did well, once upon a time, and it's a deck I've personally done well with, playing against Eric, as well as before.

For my second deck, I wanted to use at least a few of the Jedi objectives, and ended up with the following:

Jedi/RA Hoth Speeders
Total Cards: (50)

Affiliation:
Jedi

Objective: (10)
2x Hoth Operations (The Desolation of Hoth 38-1)
1x Echo Base Defense (The Desolation of Hoth 39-1)
1x Preparation for Battle (The Search for Skywalker 45-1)
2x Attack Pattern Delta (The Battle of Hoth 59-1)
2x A Hero's Resolve (Escape from Hoth 64-1)
2x Evacuation Procedure (Escape from Hoth 65-1)

Unit: (31)
2x Wedge Antilles (The Desolation of Hoth 38-2)
2x Rogue Three (The Desolation of Hoth 38-3)
2x Snowspeeder (The Desolation of Hoth 38-4)
1x Wilderness Fighters (The Desolation of Hoth 39-2)
1x Wilderness Fighters (The Desolation of Hoth 39-3)
1x Wilderness Fighters (The Desolation of Hoth 39-4)
1x Hoth Scout (The Search for Skywalker 45-2)
1x AAC-1 Speeder Tank (The Search for Skywalker 45-3)
1x AAC-1 Speeder Tank (The Search for Skywalker 45-4)
1x Tauntaun (The Search for Skywalker 45-5)
2x Rogue Leader (The Battle of Hoth 59-2)
2x Rogue Two (The Battle of Hoth 59-3)
2x Snowspeeder (The Battle of Hoth 59-4)
2x Luke Skywalker (Escape from Hoth 64-2)
2x Snowspeeder (Escape from Hoth 64-3)
2x Tauntaun (Escape from Hoth 64-4)
2x Han Solo (Escape from Hoth 65-2)
2x Toryn Farr (Escape from Hoth 65-3)
2x Bright Hope (Escape from Hoth 65-4)

Enhancement: (8)
2x Hoth Survival Gear (The Desolation of Hoth 38-5)
1x Subzero Defenses (The Desolation of Hoth 39-5)
1x Subzero Defenses (The Desolation of Hoth 39-6)
2x Snowspeeder Launch Bay (The Battle of Hoth 59-5)
2x Buried Outpost (Escape from Hoth 65-5)

Event: (1)
1x Shelter from the Storm (The Search for Skywalker 45-6)

Fate: (10)
2x Target of Opportunity (The Desolation of Hoth 38-6)
2x Battle of Hoth (The Battle of Hoth 59-6)
2x Battle of Hoth (Escape from Hoth 64-5)
2x Heat of Battle (Escape from Hoth 64-6)
2x Battle of Hoth (Escape from Hoth 65-6)


The goal of this deck is to put out a bunch of Hoth objectives, gain advantages from that, and use the speeders and synergies between everything to push through the damage needed to win.  I've only managed one game with these guys, and I did win, after wearing my opponent down enough to get some opportunities, but I'd need to play it a few more times to see how I can improve this.

So that's where I'm currently at.  One deck I want to play a bit more, to tweak, and one deck that seems to be exactly where I want it.  So let's look at where I am with the Light Side objective sets.

Jedi:
A Message From Beyond
Embers of Hope
Knowledge and Defense
Self Preservation

Rebel Alliance:
Alderaan's Promise
Sensors are Placed

Smugglers and Spies:
Asteroid Sanctuary

Escape from Ord Mantell
Last Defense of Hoth
The Defense of Cloud City
Trust Me
Undercover Dealings
Wookiee Life Debt

Light Side Neutral:
Frozen Refuge
Hold the Line!
Opening Moves
To Arms!

So still, quite a few objective sets to use.  I'm going to play a game or two more with my speeder deck before I delve into these and make some new decks, however.  Hopefully I'll play soon, and start getting some new decks built!

Star Wars LCG Progression, Part 2

Well, it's been a bit since my last post on this, but I'm hoping to start playing this again with Eric, so I figured I'd finally sit down and get the next post up, and figure out a deck or two to build.  I focused on what I was playing with the Dark Side in my last post, so for this one, I'll look at the objectives I've not used yet, and build a deck using some.

As I've mentioned, I consider all of the Core Set objective sets 'played', as I played a decent number of games solely with them.  So I'm just considering the first deluxe and first cycle- so Edge of Darkness, and the Hoth Cycle.

Looking at the decks I put up in my last post, these are the objectives I've not used so far:
Imperial Navy:
A Dark Time for the Rebellion
Lord Vader's Command
The General's Imperative
Unstoppable Advance

Scum & Villainy:
Carbonite Transport
Hunt Them Down
Jabba's Orders
The Hunt for Han Solo
The Shadow of Nar Shaddaa

Sith:
Serve the Emperor
The Ghosts of the Dark Side
The Killing Cold
Vader's Fist

DS Neutral:
Across the Jundland Wastes
Asteroid Pursuit
Endless Reserves
Sabotage in the Snow
Shadows on the Ice

So still quite a few.

I am replacing my Imperial Navy/Sith capital ship deck with an Imperial Navy deck, and I see a bunch of walker cards, so I'm going to go with a Walker deck.

In the Core and first cycle, the following objectives seem to have Walkers and cards that work with Walkers:
The Endor Gambit- Two Walkers, and some cards that improve your Vehicles (shielding and focus removal).
Unstoppable Advance- Three big Walkers (with Shielding) and a cost reducer for them... and this one is Imperial Navy only.  Given that I am going to need to play IN to run all these walkers anyway... this is looking like a mono-affiliation deck.
The General's Imperative- A unit that buffs your Walkers (giving them another unit damage), two more Walkers with shielding.

Seems like I'm starting with two copies of each of these, and to make it even sweeter- two of them are objective sets I've not used.  Sweet!

Next, resources are going to be an issue, due to the high cost of some of the vehicles.  I'm already playing Imperial Navy, which has one of the best resource objective sets at this point- Imperial Command.  It's got Motti, after all.  So why not include two of those, as well.

For the last couple of slots, I'm a bit torn.  I want to include The Ultimate Power, as it provides good resources, and some crunch power for killing objectives.  I also want to include Sabotage in the Snow, since the Forward Command Posts provide resources AND buff my Walkers, who should be able to shields easy.  Another Hoth objective is nice, too, as it provides a bit of synergy with other cards.

Since I can't decide between them, I'll include them both for now, and go with 11 objective sets.  I'll trim after a few games.  So, that leave my Walker deck as follows:

Imperial Navy Walkers 
Total Cards: (55)

Affiliation:
Imperial Navy

Objective: (11)
2x Imperial Command (Core 26-1)
2x The Ultimate Power (Core 28-1)
2x The Endor Gambit (Core 31-1)
2x The General's Imperative (Assault on Echo Base 56-1)
1x Sabotage in the Snow (Assault on Echo Base 58-1)
2x Unstoppable Advance (The Battle of Hoth 63-1)

Unit: (34)
2x Admiral Motti (Core 26-2)
2x Duty Officer (Core 26-3)
2x Heavy Stormtrooper Squad (Core 26-4)
2x Heavy Stormtrooper Squad (Core 26-5)
2x Grand Moff Tarkin (Core 28-2)
2x Superlaser Engineer (Core 28-3)
2x Stormtrooper Elite (Core 28-4)
2x AT-ST Commander (Core 31-2)
2x AT-ST (Core 31-3)
2x AT-ST (Core 31-4)
2x General Veers (Assault on Echo Base 56-2)
2x Blizzard Force AT-ST (Assault on Echo Base 56-3)
2x Blizzard Force AT-ST (Assault on Echo Base 56-4)
1x Snowtrooper (Assault on Echo Base 58-2)
1x Snowtrooper Vanguard (Assault on Echo Base 58-3)
2x AT-AT (The Battle of Hoth 63-2)
2x AT-AT (The Battle of Hoth 63-3)
2x AT-AT Assault Formation (The Battle of Hoth 63-4)

Enhancement: (12)
2x Orbital Bombardment (Core 26-6)
2x Control Room (Core 28-5)
2x Aft Armor Plating (Core 31-5)
2x Turbolaser Battery (Assault on Echo Base 56-5)
1x Forward Command Post (Assault on Echo Base 58-4)
1x Forward Command Post (Assault on Echo Base 58-5)
2x Orbital Resupply Station (The Battle of Hoth 63-5)

Event: (4)
2x Superlaser Blast (Core 28-6)
2x Aggressive Assault (The Battle of Hoth 63-6)

Fate: (5)
2x Target of Opportunity (Core 31-6)
2x Battle of Hoth (Assault on Echo Base 56-6)
1x Battle of Hoth (Assault on Echo Base 58-6)

I've got a lot of bodies, including 14 Walkers, but very little that I can do to surprise my opponent... four Events and five Fate cards might make a lot of the game predictable.  We'll see.  Like I said, I'll take it for a go in its current state.

Also, this removes a few unused objectives, leaving me with the following unused:
Imperial Navy:
A Dark Time for the Rebellion
Lord Vader's Command

Scum & Villainy:
Carbonite Transport
Hunt Them Down
Jabba's Orders
The Hunt for Han Solo
The Shadow of Nar Shaddaa

Sith:
Serve the Emperor
The Ghosts of the Dark Side
The Killing Cold
Vader's Fist

DS Neutral:
Across the Jundland Wastes
Asteroid Pursuit
Endless Reserves
Shadows on the Ice

Next time, I'll write about what I'm doing with my Light Side decks.

Star Wars LCG Progression, Part 1

So, I love card games for many reasons, but a big one is that I love the deck-building side of things.  Sitting down with an idea, fleshing it out with a variety of cards from the card pool, and then taking your ideas and throwing them against your opponent's ideas?  Well, it's just fantastic.

Now, as part of this, I really enjoy exploring the whole card pool.  That card that no one ever throws in their decks?  Yeah, those are the cards I like looking at, and seeing if I can't get some mileage out of.  It's a big part of the enjoyment for me.  So LCGs are really a natural fit- I always get a full playset of the cards with my purchases, and with no rarity, the companies should have a disincentive to printing 'bad' cards.  Every card should have a role to fill in the meta and the card pool.  Otherwise, what was the purpose of printing that card?

When the Star Wars LCG came out, I played a decent amount of it, especially when the only product out was the Core Set.  Now that the game is 'complete', however, I look back and realize there were a LOT of gaps in my experience with the game, and I played a bunch at the very beginning, some after about cycle three, and a few games at the very end.  That's great, but wouldn't it be great if I could take my time through the game, really get to enjoy it, and really get to explore the card pool?

Well, looks like I'm getting a good chance to.  My friend Eric picked up the complete set after trying the game, and we've agreed to go through the game, playing it slowly, and deliberately.  Spend a bit of time with each cycle, trying out some new decks, and actually getting to enjoy the game without the rush to 'solve' the meta, and without the need to play only the top tier stuff.  So, I'm going to blog about this, as it'll be good to help me keep track of what I've done, and hey, maybe someone else will find it useful too.

At this point, he and I are playing with the Core Set, first deluxe expansion (Edge of Darkness), and the first cycle (the Hoth cycle).  We've played a few games, re-invigorating my love of it, and hopefully giving Eric a lot of enjoyment, but as we prepare to play some more, I have decided to push myself to actually use EVERY objective set in at least some decks, so that I can explore the card pool.

This post, I'm focusing on the Dark Side decks I'm running.  Also, I'm going to consider the Core Set objectives 'played' already- I played a lot of Core Set only games, and I guarantee I've used them all at some point.  Also, just because I use an objective set doesn't mean I won't use it in the future.  I just really want to force myself to look at all the cards, and give serious consideration to using them.

So, let's look at the decks I've used so far, and how they've done.

All of my decks, by the way, I've built using the CardgameDB Deck Builder.

Sith/Imperial Navy Capital Ships
Total Cards: (50)

Affiliation:
Sith

Objective: (10)
2x The Emperor's Web (Core 23-1)
2x Imperial Command (Core 26-1)
1x Death and Despayre (Core 29-1)
2x Deploy the Fleet (The Search for Skywalker 46-1)
2x The Executor Arrives (Escape from Hoth 66-1)
1x Imperial Blockade (Edge of Darkness 88-1)

Unit: (29)
2x Emperor Palpatine (Core 23-2)
2x Emperor's Royal Guard (Core 23-3)
2x Admiral Motti (Core 26-2)
2x Duty Officer (Core 26-3)
2x Heavy Stormtrooper Squad (Core 26-4)
2x Heavy Stormtrooper Squad (Core 26-5)
1x Devastator (Core 29-2)
1x Imperial Officer (Core 29-3)
2x Death Squadron Star Destroyer (The Search for Skywalker 46-2)
2x Death Squadron Star Destroyer (The Search for Skywalker 46-3)
2x Fleet Navigator (The Search for Skywalker 46-4)
2x Executor (Escape from Hoth 66-2)
2x ISB Liaison (Escape from Hoth 66-3)
2x ISB Liaison (Escape from Hoth 66-4)
1x Captain Needa (Edge of Darkness 88-2)
1x Imperial I-class Star Destroyer (Edge of Darkness 88-3)
1x Imperial I-class Star Destroyer (Edge of Darkness 88-4)

Enhancement: (10)
2x Sith Library (Core 23-4)
2x Orbital Bombardment (Core 26-6)
1x Control Room (Core 29-4)
1x Defense Upgrade (Core 29-5)
2x Death Squadron Command (The Search for Skywalker 46-5)
2x Sith Holocron (Escape from Hoth 66-5)

Event: (10)
2x Force Lightning (Core 23-5)
2x Force Choke (Core 23-6)
2x Admiral's Orders (The Search for Skywalker 46-6)
2x Aggression (Escape from Hoth 66-6)
1x Apology Accepted (Edge of Darkness 88-5)
1x Tractor Beam (Edge of Darkness 88-6)

Fate: (1)
1x Heat of Battle (Core 29-6)

I've played this twice so far, both times against Eric's Rebel Alliance Snowspeeder deck, and both times I won.  I'm able to get at least one capital ship out pretty early, within the first two turns, and although I generally lose an objective, I usually have enough muscle to power through to the end game. 

With 29 units, I usually can keep a good board presence, and with an objective reducer, 12 cards capable of generating resources, a few other cards that reduce the cost of capital ships, and the Sith Holocron to help get the Executor out... well, I seem to have the resource curve covered.

I don't really know what more I could do to improve this one, at the moment, but it does have at least some problems with the force struggle if Palpatine isn't on the board.  I'll use it from time to time to see how it plays as Eric's decks change, but at least for now, I'm happy where it is.

Mono Scum and Villainy... Control?
Total Cards: (50)

Affiliation:
Scum and Villainy


Objective: (10)
2x Lucrative Contract (Assault on Echo Base 57-1)
2x Hive of Scum and Villainy (Edge of Darkness 80-1)
2x Jabba's Reach (Edge of Darkness 81-1)
1x The Tatooine Crash (Edge of Darkness 82-1)
1x Trandoshan Terror (Edge of Darkness 85-1)
2x Feeding the Pit (Edge of Darkness 86-1)

Unit: (30)
2x Outer Rim Space Pirates (Assault on Echo Base 57-2)
2x Corrupt Official (Assault on Echo Base 57-3)
2x Corrupt Official (Assault on Echo Base 57-4)
2x Greedo (Edge of Darkness 80-2)
2x Paid Informant (Edge of Darkness 80-3)
2x Paid Informant (Edge of Darkness 80-4)
2x Jabba the Hutt (Edge of Darkness 81-2)
2x Jabba's Pleasure Barge (Edge of Darkness 81-3)
2x Gamorrean Guard (Edge of Darkness 81-4)
1x Jawa Scavenger (Edge of Darkness 82-2)
1x Jawa Scavenger (Edge of Darkness 82-3)
1x Sandcrawler (Edge of Darkness 82-4)
1x Bossk (Edge of Darkness 85-2)
1x Trandoshan Hunter (Edge of Darkness 85-3)
1x Trandoshan Hunter (Edge of Darkness 85-4)
2x Bib Fortuna (Edge of Darkness 86-2)
2x Krayt Dragon (Edge of Darkness 86-3)
2x Gamorrean Guard (Edge of Darkness 86-4)

Enhancement: (7)
2x Bounty (Edge of Darkness 80-5)
2x Prized Possession (Edge of Darkness 81-5)
1x Bounty (Edge of Darkness 85-5)
2x The Almighty Sarlacc (Edge of Darkness 86-6)

Event: (9)
2x Explosive Charge (Assault on Echo Base 57-5)
2x Captured (Edge of Darkness 80-6)
2x Reversal of Fate (Edge of Darkness 81-6)
1x Utinni! (Edge of Darkness 82-5)
2x Spice Visions (Edge of Darkness 86-5)

Fate: (4)
2x Twist of Fate (Assault on Echo Base 57-6)
1x Twist of Fate (Edge of Darkness 82-6)
1x Heat of Battle (Edge of Darkness 85-6)

One nice thing about this idea of a progression series is that I can spend some time REALLY getting to know some of the stuff I didn't get a chance to before.  One part of that is the whole Scum and Villainy card pool.  I really didn't play a lot of green cards during the game's lifespan, except rarely when I threw things together.  Now, I'm going to force myself to do so.

This deck has only been played once, against Eric's Rebel Alliance Speeder deck.  I ended up winning, primarily on the back of the two Reversal of Fates.  So I really need to get it on the table more before I try to tweak it any, so I can figure out exactly what it is good at.  It does capture cards occasionally... but not super effectively.  It has a lot of tricks, but it feels like it's lacking focus.  That may be what I try to build into it, going forward.

It has plenty of units, and six resource cards.  Eight units with Tactics icons.  I feel like I do struggle with resources, thinking back... but yeah, really just need to play it again.

Okay, that's it for this post.  Next post, I'll look at which Dark Side objectives I still need to play, and build a new deck using a bunch of them (something Imperial Navy or Sith focused, most likely).