[Star Wars: The Card Game] ...What do you mean, "They blew up the Death Star!"?

The Ender · January 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F1d3QWsyk0

There have been a few CCGs released over the years with a Star Wars license attached to them. The most well known is probably Decipher's effort: a CCG with some really brilliant mechanics, crafted in the same spirit as Magic: the Gathering, which collapsed as a result of Decipher's mismanagement & increasingly clunky card interactions as new sets were released. It's not a pretty or smooth game, but it still has a few players and the cards are all dirt cheap these days.

This is probably my favorite article about Decipher's game, as an honest to goodness fan of it (even if some of it's parts were clearly broken).

Fantasy Flight Games has more or less just released Star Wars: The Card Game; a 'Living Card Game', which is sort of like a collectible card game except there is no 'card hunting' element to it; all cards have basically the same print rarity, and you get every card if you buy the base set (and you can expand this set later with non-randomized 'battle packs'). I love this model.

I also love this game. If you enjoyed Decipher's offering, you'll feel right at home (...after your home has undergone a serious makeover & luxury renovation). There is a lot that happens in a turn (flipping the balance of The Force in your favor, striking at objectives, playing characters & military assets, etc), and the game is strictly a 2-player affair (you could theoretically tweak it for larger multiplayer games, but there would be so much downtime with any more than 3-4 players that it wouldn't be much fun).

The economy mechanics work just like they do any other Fantasy Flight LCG: Any card with a special resource icon on the right side can generate a number of resource tokens each turn equal up to the number shown on the icon, and every playable card has a resource cost in the top left corner. It's elegant, and it gets around the problems had by some other card games that choose to use special resource-generating cards where players can be hosed at the outset by drawing no resources or nothing but resources.

There are no card drawing cards in the game. You have a fixed hand size that you will always draw up to each turn, preventing 'draw, go' nonsense and the balance issues surrounding card advantage generating cards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9dWPwoUQ-Y

This 20~ minute tutorial will teach you everything you need to know about the game.

If you're into the competitive CCG / LCG scene, Fantasy Flight is running a tournament ladder for now. It's up in the air how long any official tournament environment will last, however; FFG makes great products, but they aren't known for supporting them very well after release.

FFG supports it's products pretty darn well after release, so start throwing bills at your screen right now.

InkSplat · February 2013

Actually, there are quite a few card drawing cards in the game. Dark Precognition, Forgotten Heroes, Counsel of the Sith are the ones off the top of my head. And I know there are a couple units that let you draw cards when you play them. But it definitely isn't as big of an advantage as in other games--instead Reserve (Hand) size is the big benefit you should be aiming for.

Anyway, I just grabbed this a bit ago. I grabbed a single core mostly for the art and a desire for it to be good. I had previously nabbed Netrunner instead of it, but finally caved. However, to my surprise, my wife ended up really enjoying the game, so I've been a little less regular in the Netrunner thread and not really playing on OCTGN as much, because, well, an in-person game will always trump online for me.

My wife is a bit narrow in what she wants to play, however--she enjoys getting the characters she knows out, and right now is running a 2x Luke/Ben/Yoda/Leia 1x C3PO/R2D2 deck that I'm not sure how effective it'll shake out to be. We've only gotten to play it once since I just got the second core, but she made a couple mistakes early on that allowed me to beat her up pretty bad.

I'm running a "Sith" deck, which is really an Imperial Navy TIE deck led by Vader's Advanced TIE and Black Squadron.

Really looking forward to the Hoth Cycle and Edge of Darkness though.

Edit: Also, I just noticed your comment about FFG not supporting their LCGs? Huh? They still have official tournaments for all of them. I don't understand?

Heir · February 2013

@Klivian and I were REALLY into the Decipher game in High school. I think I stopped playing around the time Jabba's Palace came out. I loved my Son of Skywalker.

ObiFett · February 2013

Decipher's SWCCG is still my favorite CCG of all time. But I stopped playing shortly after Operatives came out.

I am pretty pissed that FFG just didn't rerelease that game and do balancing on their own and smooth out the mechanics.

I will play anything Star Wars, but I can't bring myself to play this new CCG. Mechanics look so disconnected from theme that it bums me out everytime I watch someone play.

InkSplat · February 2013

ObiFett wrote: »

Decipher's SWCCG is still my favorite CCG of all time. But I stopped playing shortly after Operatives came out.

I am pretty pissed that FFG just didn't rerelease that game and do balancing on their own and smooth out the mechanics.

I will play anything Star Wars, but I can't bring myself to play this new CCG. Mechanics look so disconnected from theme that it bums me out everytime I watch someone play.

Having played it, I can say that you are wrong in your assumption, at least in my opinion. The mechanics are great.

The Force Battle a great mechanic, and really demonstrates the struggle and the balance needed between withdrawing and furthering schemes behind the scenes, or being on the front lines.

The Edge Battles really capture the whole idea of each side trying to outmaneuver the other with information and small skirmishes that lead up to the bigger fight that you're initiating.

The back-and-forth of the combat really creates a great feeling of the fast action of the movie. When you send in 3 TIEs and have one get blown out of the sky as the other gets off its shot followed by a third being focused out of the fight, it just feels right. Or when you have Luke enhanced with Shii Cho form and a Lightsaber cut through three units because they lost the Edge Battle.

Yes, sometimes those units are TIE Fighters, but it really doesn't bother me, because it still feels really good, and as long as you accept that the combat is abstract and can represent anything from Luke's battle with Vader on Bespin to the Battle of Hoth with tons of people even if you're only representing a few of them, its easy to accept and just enjoy the flash and excitement of the battles, which is what Star Wars has always been about in that regard.

I can honestly say that I don't feel bad having set Netrunner aside for it, and I fucking love Netrunner. Star Wars manages to create stories in your head, which is pretty great, and something I think the LotR LCG failed to really accomplish.

When I have Boba Fett drop in his Mandalorian Armor, flanked by some Stormtroopers, going after Rumors in the Cantina. Darkside wins the Edge Battle, allowing Fett to get the drop on Obi-Wan, capturing him, while a Twi'lek Smuggler manages to take out the Stormtroopers, followed by a group of Rebels sneaking onboard the Death Star to rescue Ben next turn? That is awesome, and is totally Star Wars.

The Ender · February 2013

Edit: Also, I just noticed your comment about FFG not supporting their LCGs? Huh? They still have official tournaments for all of them. I don't understand?

I was informed by other folks that their only beef with FFG's products is that FFG stopped supporting them in terms of official tourneys (Warhammer & Lord of the Rings, specifically).

I just looked on their Interzone page and, yup, they do in fact still run tournaments.

My bad; maybe the guys meant 'at the FLGS' or were just being especially grognardy that day.

Will fix OP.

Decipher's SWCCG is still my favorite CCG of all time. But I stopped playing shortly after Operatives came out.

Decipher's game would probably be my favorite CCG, simply because of it's sheer magnitude... if it wasn't so damn broken. Before Operatives, you had the problem of extreme rarity for certain named characters, followed by a 'fix' that added the sub-par versions of those characters as much more common prints (which took away from the flavor of the game, for me).

Then Operatives happened, and the game just flat-out broke. Apparently there was some other bullshit that happened after Operatives, before Decipher tanked due to embezzlement / fraud / whatever, but I bailed after Operatives. Shit was dumber than Memory Jar.

EDIT: Just checked and, wow, I stand corrected: Decipher didn't actually tank after that embezzlement fiasco. Apparently they're still around, mostly publishing crappy novels.

Klivian · February 2013

Heir wrote: »

@Klivian and I were REALLY into the Decipher game in High school. I think I stopped playing around the time Jabba's Palace came out. I loved my Son of Skywalker.

@Heir, yeah you getting him and his lightsaber out on the first turn was pretty devastating.

But the LCG: The art looks amazing and I'm a sucker for all things Star Wars, but the mechanics this video shows doesn't make me want to rush out and buy it. I'd definitely have to play another friend's copy or something before I'd take the plunge.

The Ender · February 2013

Definitely do that first: the mechanics used by FFG in their LCG lines are really hit or miss for different people (I love them, personally, but I know a lot of guys who despise the way that, say, resource generation works. Or the weird stuff like Luke somehow attacking TIE Fighters, like @InkSplat mentioned).

InkSplat · February 2013

I think people take the hatred for lack of theaters way too far, personally. Especially now that I've played it. Decipher's CCG could easily turn into two people playing solitaire, and that's just no fun for anyone.

The game manages to still keep a nice bit of separation while allowing a decent amount of room for any two decks to actually interact. Jedi Mind Trick only works on Characters and Creatures, "I'm on the Leader" only effects Fighters. With the specific card effects, they made sure they made sense--that's really only broken when it comes to the conflicts and units in general, because they are meant to represent something more abstract. Luke's character damage is as much his ability to lead troops as it is his ability to bullseye a stormtrooper in his speeder back home.

But, eh, all I know is that I really enjoy it. I was surprised how much, actually.

Tomanta · February 2013

I, too, was a huge fan of Decipher's game. I still have all my cards and am pretty reluctant to get rid of them, even though I doubt I will play it again. It is terribly dated.

I love Fantasy Flight's version. I'm trying to sell some of my other CCG stuff to get a second core set and am going to try and demo it at my FLGS to get some other people interested. You have to be a little abstract with the theme, but that's fine. (I also need to get people into the Game of Thrones LCG).

InkSplat · February 2013

Jesus, when my Black Squadron deck gets rolling, it is absolutely brutal. With the right cards it just blows huge holes in Lightside Objectives.

Orbital Bombardment + Tallon Roll + Just about any TIE.
Black Squadron Assault/Tallon + Any Black Squadron TIE + Black Squadron Pilot.

Defense Protocols is great fun.

Tallon Roll just makes TIEs ridiculously deadly.

This last game me and my wife played, I was able to take out 3 Objectives in a single turn, using a TIE Bomber and a TIE Advance with Orbital Bombardment. Had 2 Tallon Rolls in my hand, and just swept her.

Game before that was a first turn TIE Advance + Black Squadron Pilot paired up with Black Squadron Assault, and she didn't get any of her major characters in time to stop 6 Objective Damage a turn.

That is something I really love about this game--I can go "I want to make a Black Squadron deck", build it in 2 minutes, and it is effective enough to be fun thanks to the Objectives being pre-constructed to have synergy.

InkSplat · February 2013

I am attempting a 3-Faction deck for the hell of it.

Faction: Scum & Villainy
2x Bespin Exchange (Scum)
2x Looking for Droids (Neutral)
2x Take them Prisoner (Imperial)
1x Imperial Command (Imperial)
2x Cruel Interrogations (Sith)
1x Counsel of the Sith (Sith)

So far I've only done test draws from the Objectives deck, but every time so far I've either had a Looking for Droids, or both a Sith and Imp Objective available, so, I'm hopeful it'll be a fun Capture/Trooper hybrid.

Tomanta · February 2013

Finally picked up a second core set and am putting some decks together.

Here's my take on a Sith deck. Main goal is to take control of the force and start harassing the hell out of the enemy.

Faction: Sith
2x Shadows of Dathomir
2x Cruel Interrogations
2x The Emperor's Web
2x Counsel of the Sith
1x The Heart of the Empire
1x Reconnaissance Mission

I'd run 2x Heart of the Empire but I wouldn't want to risk having it as a starting objective.

Now to figure out a light side deck...

Athenor · November 2013

Rise from your Grave!

So I have a little bit of a problem. When I go for a game, I go in whole-hog. It's why I've been avoiding Game of Thrones.. and why just getting a paycheck was DANGEROUS for me.

Tuesday, I had the game more or less demo'ed for me. I bought a core set. I studied the cards, figured out the rules I was unclear of...

And yesterday, I bought the entire Hoth cycle and the deluxe expansion, as well as some custom tokens from Team Covenant. Hoo... Boy.

So where does the game stand now?

As I said, the Hoth cycle is out, as is the first Deluxe expansion (which fleshes out the Smugglers & Spies / Scum and Villany "core" cards). Judging from articles on BGG, at Worlds it sounds like the Sith faction is OP, though I haven't dug much into that. The Multiplayer Deluxe set is scheduled to hit December 13th, and the Echoes of the Force cycle will begin in January.

So I'm new to the game. What should I expect?

Due to the nature of how FFG puts out Living Card Games compared to the nature of Star Wars' deckbuilding mechanics, there are some things to be aware of.

Rather than building using individual cards, you build a deck by picking an objective set - an objective card and 5 regular cards. This is fixed. You can only have two of any given objective in your build, and some are marked as "limit 1" to make it even tougher.
The core set comes with ONE of each objective set for the faction in question. The only exception to this, strangely enough, are the neutral "Limit 1 objective" sets, which are 2 to a core so that you can build all four starting factions at once.
Edge of Darkness, the first deluxe, is specifically designed to give you the starter decks for the Light Side's Smugglers and Spies and the Dark Side's Scum and Villany factions. This means that it also only provides you with ONE copy of each objective set.
Not so subtle subtext - to get a full playset, you'll need 2 cores and 2 of the first deluxe.
With the Force Packs, you are still looking at 60 cards, just like any other game. However, because objective sets are in groups of 6, this means you'll get a total of 10 objective sets per pack. Typically, this means 2 each of 5 objectives. This can be mixed up if there are any "limit one objective" sets, where they'll then include a limit one for both light side and dark side.
The above distribution means that in general, each Force Pack brings less flexibility than, say, a Netrunner pack, where you can get 9-11 cards per side, broken down for each faction. Then again, the nature of Objective Sets means that you still get a lot of unique cards in each pack.. They are just linked together. This also helps with theme, and synergy.
The multiplayer expansion is going to introduce 2-3 on 1 and 2 on 2 playstyles,with the singular player always being the dark side in the form of Challenge decks where the single player goes against the others with a light side/dark side challenge deck. This is a lot closer to the original vision for the game. All objective sets will be fully legal in normal decks There will also be 1 unique "limit 1" objective set for each allegiance, but the challenge decks will not be tourney-legal. (Edited because I actually checked the previews for the set!)

I fell in love with this game pretty quickly due to seeing its similarities to Legend of the Five Rings. While not exactly equivalent, the idea of using your hand to bid on force battles (like duels), the going after objectives (like provinces), and the character-driven nature just spoke to me. Plus, having more flexibility in games in the area is a good thing.

I also love how the first cycle builds up and tells the story of the battle of Hoth, with the side-dealings of the criminal faction going on at the same time. By the time the Executor arrives on the scene, things seem desperate.. but not hopeless.

My intention is to try to build the community around my local town. Right now, you see Game of Thrones and Netrunner played, but I have to figure there is a market for Star Wars.

Of course, there is one problem I'm facing right now -- namely, I'm completely brand new at this game, and thus don't have a good feel for deckbuilding yet! I'm gonna play some games with just the base faction, but even with that I was hoping someone out there would have experience, or be able to point me towards some "beginner" resources. I'm going to pour over cardgamedb, but in general I'd love to hear what people have learned over the last year!

First thing's first, though - As I haven't exactly played a ton of games, I am looking for a place to start with

Athenor · December 2013

Aw man.. there has to be someone here who plays this, right?

Last night I played my first "real" game of Star Wars, still using someone else's deck because I haven't spent the time to try and put something together (and I still had everything in "starter" configuration).

I was rebel (half smugglers and spies), versus a scum and villany deck that ran a lot of sith. Force lightning's a bitch of a card, guys. So's the ability to instantly kill Home One.

Still, I managed to win.

I started with the card that let me play vehicles for cheaper by discarding from my hand, and the card that adds an objective hit if a unit runs alone. I pulled out Home One, Red Two, and a Blockade runner, as well as a few other fodder vehicles. I also had a heavy repeating blaster encampment. He got out two Darth Vader TIEs, but I kept managing to kill them and his draws sucked. Plus on a critical turn I managed to play the card that meant he couldn't attack with Vader, and it was the only card he had. He also drew the absolute bad luck of getting two of those fall of the sith objectives that require him to discard a card from his hand (first in the opening play, second when I killed his S&V objective that had a saarlac pit attached to it).

It surprises me how fast and brutal this game is. Juggling stopping the death star dial, protecting your objectives, and keeping enough stuff alive to strike at your opponents is a hell of a thing. Still, I'm probably going to look into the game's OCTGN support.

Athenor · December 2013

So it turns out we were playing Fall of the Sith wrong.

Basically, he was discarding at the end of his DRAW phase, when he should've been discarding at the end of his REFRESH phase. So he should have had his full hand going into the next turn. That probably crippled him. I saw that card played in a worlds recap vid on Team Covenant.

I'm ready to go for tomorrow with my first two real decks. I think the Rebel one is solid, though obviously I'm new at this. The imperial one... I'm not so confident in. Thoughts?

Light Side - speeder-focused deck:

Dark Side - Imperial Navy (I wanted to focus on AT-ATs and ended up focusing on Star Destroyers...)

mightyspacepope · January 2014

My buddy and I got copies of the core game over the holidays. I've played a few games with the starter decks (mostly Jedi vs Sith) and I'm really digging it so far.

Anyone have any suggestions for building a Bounty Hunter deck? As of right now, you can have Boba Fett, Bossk, and Dengar, so I'd love to build a deck around them. I think IG-88 has been spotted in the promo materials for the next cycle, so now I just need to wait for 4-LOM and Zuckuss!

Athenor · January 2014

IG-88, or at least an IG model, appears on Dash Rendar's card.

Do you have the Edge of Darkness deluxe? It only gives 1 copy of each objective (as it's essentially a mini starter), but it does provide the rest of the tools for the Scum and Villany faction. I.. haven't tried making a bounty hunter deck yet, because I hear they are very difficult to play.

mightyspacepope · January 2014

I picked up Edge of Darkness, Balance of the Force, and Battle of Hoth.

Athenor · January 2014

Played the challenge deck today. I was the Dark Side, versus the players' light side decks.

We couldn't see anywhere where the Dark side's reserve was, so we assumed it was 6, boosted by the # of players in the game. Probably need to get clarification on that, as the dark side doesn't have an affiliation card.

Regardless, it was just.. brutal. Because one of the starting objectives eats resources, and I pulled the cards that allow you to cause damage when an objective enters play, and a whole bunch of other stacked effects that were just evil... well, it was pretty decisive. Darth Vader with 9 character damage is sick.

mightyspacepope · January 2014

Is there any specific reason to splash into a second affiliation?

Athenor · January 2014

More flexibility, I'm sure. It appears that Jedi/sith are about manipulation of the board, rebel/imperial are about direct damage and defense, and smuggler/scum are about wildcards and wild edge mechanics that aren't fully formed.

If you are going to splash, you need to do it in such a way that you are likely going to see a card of your splash faction in your initial draw of 4. That puts it somewhere around 3-4 objective sets, from what I've seen.

My "baby's first dark side" deck is pure imperial. My rebel deck has 3-4 Jedi in it. It's... well, I need to learn the game better, is all.

Athenor · January 2014

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4615

"It Binds All Things" was just announced.

I am utterly terrified of IG-88's objective set.

mightyspacepope · January 2014

Woo! I am pumped to play a Fett, Bossk, IG-88, Zuckuss, 4-LOM, and Dengar deck. I don't even care if it sucks.

Athenor · January 2014

So what does everyone here use for deckbuilding? CardgameDB's implementation of the pod system seems really hard to use, due to how cards aren't shown always or need to be clicked on. It makes it hard to look for a specific card and then figure out if the cards it is with are worth it.

InkSplat · January 2014

Once you see how I have the cards organized, you'll be hooked, @athenor

I have each pod sleeved and spread out across two card pages, so you can see 3 pods at once, and then you just pull them out of the pockets.

Made deck building so quick and easy.

Athenor · January 2014

Heh. I've never used card pages. Though that does make sense.

OptimusZed · January 2014

That's exactly how I have mine arranged, InkSplat. It's amazingly useful, whether you're looking to build for unique combos or just trying to figure out how many named Empire Strikes Back characters you can cram into the same deck.

Athenor · January 2014

Well, that is probably a good argument for leaving the game in its sleeves, then! With something like Netrunner, I still kind of prefer the shoebox, just because of the quantity of cards. But.. yeah. I just have a hard time visualizing things. Monday can't get here soon enough!

Athenor · March 2014

Finally, today starts a new cycle!

And hoooly SHIT does it change things.

There's only 5 new objective sets in this pack, all doubled up.

The Sith get a Sith-only objective. The elite unit is a Dark Side Inquisitor that causes a unit to be removed from the force when he strikes. This is followed up by a card that removes focus on it when an enemy is removed from the force.. and he gives money on top of the 1 blaster icon! And then there's Force Storm.. which is expensive, but hits so many goddamned units, especially in multiplayer. Sadly, it also hits you too. Echos of the Force is a nice new fate card too.

Dark Troopers. Units committed to the force without needing the card. Phase 1. Oh man.. if they keep playing out the plot of the Dark Forces games in this cycle...

Speaking of which.. Jedi side. hi Kyle Katarn! That inquisitor just committed people to the force? Natch! You get to manipulate their focus!

Then there's the unbridled insanity of the Smuggler set. The Team Covenant guys spent an hour going over just those 6 cards, they are so insane.

I.. I am not sure how I feel about the rebel set. Maybe I'm just not getting it? I'm not sure. But anyways.

Awesome set. God I wish I were better at this game.

Penny Arcade

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