Casual SWLCG player here. Played this challenge deck last night and got totally trounced. 2 dark side players (navy and scum) and together we killed one LS card, and destroyed 2 objectives and revealed 2 more.

EVERYTHING we played was countered with events. The LS unit cards punished us. We didn't even find Luke. Which reading jus card I'm kinda glad we didn't find him.

Is a DS victory possible possible?

How?

Get a 3rd DS player, maybe.

BLUF: Hunt For Skywalker is beatable, but requires a particular deck-building and play strategy that combines a series of hand manipulation, removal of key cards from table and attack pattern.

BACKGROUND: Hunt for Skywalker does a fairly decent job handling two single player decks that are played together against it. This is fundamentally because 1v1 decks are designed to revolve around a few key characters and a host of support characters. HfS is designed to directly counter that with its fairly accessible "bounce & mill opponent" strategy. It is important that DS players be aware of this and tune their decks in order to veer away from traditional build strategies and become more aggressive and less dependent on a few key strikers to win.

Deck construction is vital to DS victory in this format. It is my opinion that the strongest cards in the HfS deck are: 1) Secret Hideout, 2) Command Center, 3) Red 5, 4) Special Forces Commando, 5) The Force is Strong, 6) Wedge Antilles, 7) Bothan Infiltrator and 8) Run Luke, Run!. Of notable mention is Premonition of the Future, but the LS already moves through cards quickly, so this is of limited usefulness. Unfortunately two of these, The Force is Strong and Run Luke, Run! are events and there is little the DS can do against them unless you can either keep them from drawing them or remove them from hand before they get to use them to their full potential. The two strongest cards - again in my opinion - are listed first. Since they are non-limited enhancements, there are ways to deal with them. My preferred method is AT-ATs as they work well as both aggressors, enhancement killers and as defenders. It is important to note that if you are just looking for damage soak on defense, they can kill enhancements in defense. Other ways, however, include Utinni! from Tatooine Crash and the Explosive Charge from Lucrative Contract (both of which also include Twist of Fate!). Even Turbolaser Battery can be helpful (from Veers set), though it will take out your enhancements as well so use it with caution. The next batch of power cards are units, and the DS already has plenty of tools to deal with units; just pick the method that works best for you. Sith are particularly good at this, but surprisingly Boba Fett is very good against hunt for Skywalker, especially against those pesky commandos and Bothans (as the only protect is for unique units/Luke with the objective). Vader popping extra damage can also be pretty important to the overall strategy for the DS, but is by no means an auto include or absolute answer to defeating HfS.

Lastly, and important enough to deck construction to warrant its own paragraph, you will want at least some mix of character and vehicle units. You don't want to have to play around the objectives that cannot be struck by characters/vehicles respectively.

Where hand manipulation (of the opponent) is concerned, each DS affiliation does it in their own way, each with their benefits. I would say that close to the top of the list are Vader's Fist, the General's Imperative, Recon Mission, Cruel Interrogation and Hunt for Han Solo. The first three are pretty clear cut; they increase your reserve or decrease opponent's reserve. Seeing an extra hand or two worth of cards over the course of a game can be pretty critical to ANY card game, and this format is no different. The last two are included as examples of ways to get rid of pesky cards before they hit the table. There is one more set that is pretty fun to use, Jabba's Orders, but it is really not that great unless you are doing some capturing. If you can get 2 cost Weequays, and you have not seen a commando, infiltrator or rogue squadron in a while, it is a solid bet they have one in hand for Get me Solo! to ******: and who wouldn't rather see that card be the target of Run Luke, Run! than something altogether more devious. A less direct way of hand manipulation is - again - character removal. Remember that if they are placing units on table that means fewer cards in hand. Every game I have seen successful for the DS has come as the LS has run out of cards to play. If they cannot win Edge battles then the game ends quickly so long as the DS players keep back some defense.

Attack Pattern is the last of the trifecta in my strategy for beating HfS. It is simple; only strike what you plan on destroying. If you have followed the previous two suggestions, then only flipping half of the objectives in the game is okay. Burrow a tunnel to where you feel Skywalker's hideout is located. It will almost always be in the last row, and generally away from Dagobah Refuge. If you are trying to kill their resources by taking out all the objectives, it is my opinion that you will lose quickly. You should instead focus on picking a point and killing only the objectives needed to get there. You will have seen 1/3 of their objectives (most likely) if you get it wrong the first time, but will have strike access to all but two of their objectives. If you get it wrong, regroup and get ready to flip objectives until you get it right.

Pace is also important. Your mindset for the DS in this matchup should be similar to the LS in most matchups: strike hard. If you are crushing an objective each time you strike, then you will do just fine. The AT-AT Assault Formation, Orbital Bombardment, units from Dark Time for the Rebellion and Imperial Darth Vader are all really good at making this happen as there are very few tactic icons for the LS and all these cards add black objective damage. (NOTE: I have not had a chance to play with the new H&L cards, but the DS Imperial set also looks pretty promising.)

RECOMMENDATION: So what should your decks look like? That is for you to decide. Here is a list of the Objective Sets I have mentioned, by affiliation:

-Sith-

Vader's Fist

Fall of the Jedi

Cruel Interrogation

-Imperial-

Unstoppable Advance

Lord Vader's Command

The General's Imperative

Dark Time for the Rebellion

Imperial Command

-Scum & Villainy-

The Bespin Exchange

Hunt for Han Solo

Jabba's Orders

Lucrative Contract

Tatooine Crash

-Neutral-

Recon Mission

SUMMARY: If playing against the challenge deck, it is important to remember that you are trying to strike objectives. To do so, you will need to employ more than just a small cadre of heavy hitters with a large support team, but something more diverse in its ranks. Take into consideration the heavy hitters for the *fixed* LS deck and plan accordingly. Balance the denial of your opponent's cards in hand and units on table. Focus fire on objectives you plan on destroying and have a plan to remove key cards - both enhancements and units - from play. As you do this, you will find success against HfS to be much easier!

MJA

Thank you very much Master Jedi Adam, that was incredibly in-depth. I'll test it out and see if I have any greater success. Much obliged.

By the way, I have no idea why what I wrote got starred in one paragraph. I am assuming it is some sort of filter, but it must be pretty wide as I didn't include anything I thought would be offensive or lewd in nature to anyone.

By the way, I have no idea why what I wrote got starred in one paragraph. I am assuming it is some sort of filter, but it must be pretty wide as I didn't include anything I thought would be offensive or lewd in nature to anyone.

I never knew there was an automatic filter on this site... Automatic filters are stupid: they're too wide (they usually catch perfectly innocent words along with offensive ones) and too narrow (once you know what is filtered, it's easy to get around them) at the same time. Also, some people get offended at the drop of a hat.