My FLGS is getting a bunch of decks and boosters in this weekend. What is the minimum I need to have fun and play this with my wife? I'm thinking getting one of each starter and 10 boosters. Will that give us enough variety to play some different decks and try new ideas?
Minimum Needed to Play...?
I'm not the right guy to answer this question. I think "Search" can be your friend here. Variations of this question have been asked and answered several times. Even though I'm not the right guy I'll give you my personal thoughts. 10 boosters will LIKELY be a little low. I've seen folks with a starter and 6 boosters come up with a pretty viable deck. I've also seen that same load out struggle to make a legal deck, regardless of quality. Pooling 10 packs should give both of you a good chance of making a pretty decent deck but won't likely leave room for a lot of variation.
I sense that at its heart, this is a budget question. I would suggest instead toe-dipping unless you AND your wife are experienced gamers. Buy 1 of each starter, play the intro game a few times and then go from there. While the variety will be lacking, you will pretty quickly decide whether you are all on, will keep dabbling, or maybe just keep it basic.
TL;DR: While possible, it isn't likely. My personal opinion is that while 10 packs may give each of you a decent deck, there isn't enough there for a lot of variety.
Hopefully others more experienced can explain why I am wrong.
Edited by EyegorIf you want to build two tournament-legal decks, it might be able to give you two legal decks, but not many options for decks. If you want to build ~25 points with 20 card decks (what the starters offer), you could probably make a few different options for each of you with that purchase.
Personally, I would recommend more boosters.
One of each starter and 21 boosters was enough to have fun with two people I found.
But that kind of depends on how many characters you pull.
One of each starter and 15-20 boosters will get you a bit of variety and some options. Hard to say how balanced it will be though. Might get really good options for Hero and crap for Villan.
I found that both starters and 36 boosters was enough to build one truly competitive deck.
I think both starters and maybe closer to 20 boosters coul get you the minimum necessary to play depending on pulls.
Our group found that a Starter Deck plus about 10 boosters was sufficient to build a standard deck, which is to say a 30 card/30 character point deck.
A main issue is going to be character availability. The Rey deck comes with elite Rey (two dice) and Finn. That's 25 of your 30 points. The Kylo deck comes with elite Kylo and First Order Stormtrooper. That's only 20 points. Statistically, you'll get about one character per three booster packs. Remember that statistics breaks down with small samples. If you open 10 packs, you might get 10 characters and you might get zero. The characters you pull will dictate what sort of decks you're able to build.
If you buy some boosters and don't get a good assortment of characters, consider spending a couple of bucks to acquire some via buying singles. An extra $10 could really open up your deck building options.
Other things to remember...
1. You don't need to get to 30 points of characters for a standard deck. You need at least one character and you can go up to 30. If 25 is all you can field, it's all you can field.
2. You DO have to have exactly 30 cards in your deck. The starter decks come with 20 cards. An extra 10 packs will give you 50 extra cards to work with, so that shouldn't be an issue.
EDIT #1 - Lots of people are saying two boosters plus ~20 packs. I'm saying one booster and ~10 packs, but that's for one person. Seems reasonable to say that one of each starter and ~20 boosters with the intention to share cards should easily support two people to start with. More packs from there just means more cards and more options.
Edited by KrisWallI did ok from a starter and a booster box (36 boosters). Made a couple of trades to boost the deck, but I have probably enough for one very good deck and one mediocre one. I have enough in trades to build on the middling one though.
If you are playing on a tight budget why not get 2 of each starter, then each payday get 2 boosters each and trade with each other?
Except for that first buy, everything else is in the realm of coffee money, or throw you coins in a jar at the end of each day.
If playing what you have gets predictable swaps cards, and rebuild your decks with your wifes cards and she with yours.
I'm going to go the other way and say two of each starter as well, then go down the rabbit hole if you both like the game. Two of each starter lets you field eKylo/Trooper/Trooper, and eRey/eFinn, which are more balanced against each other than eKylo/Trooper vs eRey/Finn. Two of each starter also gives you both 2x of each Fixed rarity card, some of which are very competitive (Mind Probe/Force Throw/F-11D Rifle/Aim/Use The Force etc...)
Two copies of each starter is the cheapest and most reliable way to build legal decks in this game. Boosters can come later, once you're both sure you want to play.
All you NEED to play this game is a Starter for each player. At launch, I recommended that people by 5 or 6 boosters per starter. All of them were able to build 30 point decks after doing so. If you're not looking to spend a lot of money then just buy the starters and see if you like the game (you will). If you want to jump in then buy 12 or so boosters to go along with your two starters.
I would say that you can have fun with two starters and 10 boosters.
First the game is fun with just the two starters.
Of course nobody knows what you will get from the 10 boosters beyond the fact that it will add 50 cards to your collections. Out of those cards, the Rey Starter would be able to use directly any hero blue or yellow cards + neutral and battlefields cards.
The Kylo Ren starter will be able to use directly any villain blue or red cards + neutral and battlefields cards. So we can safely bet that you will be able to bring some new tricks into the starters.
You might get some characters but you are supposed to match them with cards of the same faction (hero/vilains) and the same color (blue/red/yellow).
Personally, I would not be bothered by the 30 cards per deck rule. You can play with 25 cards in your deck if you want (I know I am a heretic).
Here is of my initial purchase went (of course it has no impact on what you will get from your boosters)
I purchased initially 2 starters and 7 boosters. Out of those 35 cards, I got 11 cards that I can use directly with Kilo and 11 cards that I can use directly with Rey. I got 2 battlefields that can also be used. So that's already 24 out of 35
To concluded I would say that if you are not aiming to build a complete collection and not aiming to play competitively, then 2 starters and 10 boosters are a good way to go.
Of course, If you can I would buy 2 starters and a display box of 36 boosters. By doing that you are sure to get more cards (obvious) and 6 legendaries.
Edited by wirbowsky2 starters and 10 boosters will almost certainly be enough. I had JUST enough to make a 30 card deck with a starter and 4 boosters. (I had the cards but couldn't use certain faction-specific and color-specific cards).
Also you COULD just use the starter decks also, but it's more fun to open boosters so do that! 10 boosters will work just fine. More fun to buy more though... just saying!