Hi
I just wanted to share something that I think is important when discussing getting into this game. There have been a few comments about needing to drop hundreds of <insert local currency here> to get started and the randomness of getting characters. I don't actually think it's as big a problem as some people are claiming and this is my experience.
I've bought both starter sets and 2 boosters. Sadly I can't remember what the 'dice' card was from one of those boosters but I did pull Sith Holocron in one of them. I guess I could work out what the other one was by deduction but I don't have access to my cards right now. It wasn't a character I know that.
I figured out that by adding a single Bala-Tik to what I had I could build a legal constructed villain deck. Sure I was lucky in that a player just gave me the Bala-Tik but checking locally I could have bought it from a dealer at the cost of a booster pack. So now I have a legal deck, how is it going to play out as there are certainly a few cards I'm playing because I have to rather than want to?
Last night I played two games against people with large collections. I lost the first and won the second. Both of the games were close and I'd say that I lost the first because my opponent was just a better player with more experience not because his deck crushed mine. I won the second and it was one of those games where I either won that turn or lost on the next so very close and great fun to play. Just for the record my Holocron never showed up in either game so it's not like that was a pivotal part of my results!
It's not a lot of evidence but I now really believe that it's possible to play and enjoy the game with one of each starter set and Bala-Tik. Maybe I used a couple of other cards from my 2 boosters I can't be totally sure without checking but I do have a couple of cards that could legally go in the deck left over. At the moment the price of Bala-Tik is low enough not to add any significant amount to the cost but even if it somehow spikes in price you would in theory at least have the hero side of the starters to trade for it.
So yeah, you can play for an almost fixed cost of roughly the total price of the starters and a booster. You may want Vader/Raider or some other deck design but it's possible to have fun without immediately having to buy boxes of boosters.