Hey, all.

I was thinking the other day (and it's dangerous when I think), and I thought about all the synergies and munchkining we can do with various objective sets, and I thought…why can't we just put a deck together and have fun with it? Don't get me wrong--there's nothing wrong with building a Sith deck that will CRUSH a Rebel deck. But what would it be like to occasionally take a more narrative approach to the deck and let the game play out? For example, if you wanted to try reenacting the Battle of Hoth as the Empire, you have mostly Snowtroopers, a couple AT-ATs, the 501st, etc., and that's it. Then the Rebels play a speeder-heavy deck, and it's on. You can see how things play out with the two players at the helm of the battle instead of George Lucas.

Don't think I'm trying to sway y'all one way or the other. I'm just trying to get some opinions. Do you like the idea of a more 'cinematic' deck, or do you prefer a more 'strategic' one?

This is the main way I play. The current cycle and the first one means that we can play the most dramatic battles in A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. The next cycle sounds like it will do the same for Return of the Jedi.

You've asked "why can't we just put a deck together and have fun with it." There is no reason we can't. There never has been. Either get a buddy on board or bring a few thematic decks from both sides along to game night. This game is hugely thematic and has a lot of character. The fact that Jedi are so powerful currently is one of the things I find most disappointing about this game because it means we don't see more interesting stuff in tournaments. Then again, last time around it was Smugglers, so we've never really had a space for interesting decks.

And I guess that's the issue I run up against. Jedi are really powerful in the current meta. It used to be Smugglers. You're right in that the game is very cinematic in its feel, gameplay and tone, but when everyone in a tournament has essentially the same deck, it seems to lose a lot of its *umph* to me.

To me, a tournament should be something that allows the best player to do well, not the person who's just bought all the cards and has the best deck in the current meta. Anyone can do that.

I don't know how my brain got to that thought from thinking about cinematic play, but oh well. Thoughts? My train of thought derailed.

I thin you'd find that the game does an excellent job of allowing the best players to consistently do well. Just take a look at how many repeats there have been at the top cuts of big events. Plus, unlike the TCG distribution model, this game gives basically everyone equal access to cards, so it's not at all about who spent the most money on the expensive, mystic rare cards.

I've actually seen a surprising amount of diversity in decks I've played against personally, despite the complaints that everyone is playing the same deck. Maybe I'm just lucky. Still, there a pretty decent number of LS decks I'd be willing to play right now.

We can also look at the diversity within affiliations that are showcased at tournaments, rather than calling all Jedi decks the same. For example, Heroes and Legends or "Bouncyhouse" as my friend calls it, is a popular archetype that enables players to "reset" their main characters each turn with the objective, while the new Jedi Luke encourages builds that load him up with enhancements, a strategy which runs directly counter to Bouncyhouse. I think the new LS restrictions may help encourage more diversity; at the very least it opens up some discussion on which Yoda is appropriate for a given build.

I always default to fun over strategy. I play the game to have fun, and pulling off silly things is what I like. When I was a league organizer, we gave points to pulling off thematic or cinematic stuff; and in fact I won the whole league once because I got tarkin down and superlasered a Yavin 4 location. It was pretty awesome.

I always play for fun and the "feel". I love this game too much to get competitive with it. Every game ive been competitive at, mad eme love the game less because it stopped being about the game and fun, it turned into winning versus losing. Didn't like the attitudes. But ive got some amazing decks. Outcast jedi with outer rim smugglers. Rebel spies and commandos with scoundrels. Star destroyer decks. Its too much of a fun game to get serious with.