I've played a lot of FFG's board games since I started college and they have yet to disappoint me with anything they've released. A few weeks ago I started looking into their LCG's as I was a big fan of MtG in high school but quit due to the astronomical cost to stay even semi-competitive for even Standard. I really like the idea of non-random packs and the game mechanic really interest me.

As of right now the two I've really been looking at are LotR and Star Wars. The latter because of the solo/ Co-Op play and the former because I'm a big fan of the franchise and the game's features seem easy to get into yet deep enough that there's a wide variety of strategies to do.

What do you guys think? I have a lot of friends who game but many live a town away from campus or are heavily invested in other games such as Pathfinder or X-Wing. Would a competitive game like Star Wars lose its appeal if I can't get atleast a couple of people interested or would 1 core set along with expansions be enough for a play group to have the decks they want?

Maybe you should ask the friends you are planning to play with what they would like?

The difference is quite simple: VS or Co-Op.

You can build multiple decks starter decks out of each core, and with expansions several fully playable decks are available.

Where you could run into some trouble is if more than one player wants the same type of deck, or need the same cards to build the deck they want. But, hey! If they get to that point, they probably really like the game, and should look at getting their own set of cards.

But to answer your question, yes, whatever you purchase will be enough for you and your friends to play a game.

I have experience with two of FFG's LCG's: Android Netrunner and Star Wars. To make a long story short, I'm more of a fan of Star Wars than ANR. I grew up with Star Wars. I watch all six (yes, all six) at least once a year. Bias ensues.

Star Wars surprisingly has more choices on any given turn than Netrunner while remaining simple enough to learn after one game. The theme is in full force (yes that was a pun, forgive me) in Star Wars. Every single turn, edge battle, interaction feels so much like an interactive form of the classic Star Wars trilogy with you and your opponent representing the light and dark sides of the force. It is my favorite tabletop game ever.

I have no experience with the LotR LCG and I'm sure I would enjoy it as well, considering I like LotR and FFG is the best at tabletop games. I just haven't gotten into it yet due to financial concerns.

I'm not going to outright tell you what game I think you should choose as that would be rude. What I will say is make sure you do your research beforehand. I certainly did with Star Wars and I have never regretted getting into it

Watching both Fantasy Flight's tutorial and Team Covenant's tutorial helped me make my decision about Star Wars The Card Game. Maybe that will aid your decision as well. They can both be found on YouTube.com

Well after trading in a bunch of games that I hadn't touched in quite some time I ended up having enough to get started in both games along with plenty of sleeves. Thank you all for the great advice and y guys were right SW is a lot of fun and easy to ick up for my friends when they swing by and LotR is a great way to kill an hour or so when I don't feel like logging into League between classes.