So I've got two cores and the edge expansions coming Thursday. So what side is broken or is it pretty balanced? What are popular decks from these sets? I feel like a kid waiting for Santa, in this case UPS.

With what you are getting, Sith and Smuggler is the two factions you want to look at, but I will say that the last force pack just released is probably the best one released to date. I have not been more excited for one since the AT-AT force pack. I would suggest going at your pace to pick up all of the force packs (only need one a piece), and that will open you options to field any faction you'd like.

But to be honest, just have fun, make something crazy, and if it doesn't work, rebuild.

Of especial note is the fact that, as with FFG's other Living Card Game™ properties, the six packs in a cycle tend to synergize really well together. For example, the current cycle, Echoes of the Force, is very concerned with managing, and profiting from, the Force struggle, and many of its cards for each affiliation have effects tied into that. Similarly, the Hoth cycle has a lot of cards that interact with Hoth objectives, specifically which side controls more of them at a given time. Some of the LS units become insane if you have multiple Hoth objectives out, which in turn puts the onus on the DS player to demolish those objectives. So if you don't want to break your bank, it's generally best to focus on one of these cycles or the other to maximize synergy, then move on to the other cycle when you're ready to expand further.

For the Sith, a core of the following 6 objectives is pretty strong.

2x Fall of the Jedi (Darth Vader)

2x Emperor's Web (Emperor Palpatine)

2x Counsel of the Sith (Twist of Fate)

After that, you can tweak it with what you like. I like the control offered from Cruel Interrogations with the Interrogation Droids. You could also go with The Ghosts of the Dark Side for some more control of the Force. Other people really like to splash Navy as the last 4 objectives so you can get good resource acceleration. In this case, your affiliation would be Navy instead of Sith. You could add Imperial Command and Death and Despayre to get some resources from officers and a little extra punch from Devastator.

For the Light Side, mixing Smugglers and Jedi has been popular for a long time. With just the Core Set, people would run:

Smugglers and Spies affiliation

2x A Hero's Journey (Luke Skywalker)

2x Questionable Contacts (Han Solo)

2x The Secret of Yavin 4 (C-3PO and Jedi Guardians)

2x In You Must Go (Yoda)

I'm not sure what people liked to run for the last two, but Asteroid Sanctuary would be a good choice so you could get the Millennium Falcon.

A mono-Smugglers deck that I really like is:

2x Questionable Contacts (Han Solo)

2x Trust Me (Lando Calrissian)

2x Wookiee Life Debt (Chewbacca)

2x Asteroid Sanctuary (Millennium Falcon)

2x To Arms! (Han's blaster and Chewie's bowcaster)

This one is just fun. There are probably better builds, though.

Anyway, those are just some thoughts on what I remember people running in the early days of this game. As mentioned above, Sith and Smugglers & Spies are probably the strongest factions in the game, especially with the card pool you have. But don't neglect the other affiliations! They are really fun too!