Star Wars: Destiny like any other trading/collectable card game allows players to find cards they want, build their decks, test, adjust and keep on playing until they find the deck they love. Destiny adds an element of dice to the TCG formula which keeps games very interesting based on the probability of what you may or may not roll on a given turn. But one of the biggest advantages a player can give themselves is understanding their deck. This is a point that not many people attempt to breakdown, but I hope that this article will give players tips to increase their understanding of Destiny and overall gaming experience.

Know Your Deck

The first step in understanding the game state and where you stand at any certain point is understanding your deck. When you are facing an opponent, right off the bat you should know what cards you want in your hand turn one. Each matchup is unique but you should always know which options you need to best deal with the deck you are playing against. This comes from experience playing games with your deck over and over again until you know each card and how it works in a given interaction. Testing your deck at local game stores and talking with friends is how you begin to unravel what your deck is meant to do, what it is not able to accomplish, what deck(s) it is strong against and what decks are difficult to defeat.

When playing Destiny, every turn, every action is a part of a larger puzzle. The completed picture is winning or losing the game. Every action and decision is slowly placing one piece into that puzzle to determine a win or loss. Knowing your deck and how to overcome challenges is how players can defeat an opponent because they have a better understanding of what needs to be done and how their deck can accomplish that goal. For example, Force Throw allows you to remove any die and deal any character damage equal to the number on the removed die. This means you can remove your die or an opponent's die to deal damage. You can also remove modified die for the same effect. And you can remove those die faces that require a resource to resolve to deal damage without spending anything. If you know this and your opponent doesn't, you can surprise enemies with some easy damage they never saw coming because they didn't know the deck and what the cards do.

All of this understanding comes from playing games, lots of games. Knowing your cards and how they interact with and against other decks allows you to make better plays and win games more often. Yes the element of bad luck happens in a game using dice and cards as the primary game mechanics. Sometimes there is nothing you can do and bad dice rolls or bad card draw really hampers your chance to win. However you can still fight out of bad situations to a victory if you understand which cards to spend for re-rolls and which to discard at the end of a round in order to refill your hand. There will be times where very specific interactions take place and knowing how to give yourself an edge in those moments is key to victories in future matches.

Know The Game

Some of the best advice I can give a player after knowing their deck inside and out is to know the game. Read the rules, read the rules reference, visit a rules forum and see if you know the answers to the questions, judge a tournament, get your feet wet any way you can with the rules and card interactions. Knowing how the game works and how the rules work is a big advantage for any player. This allows you to know how the cards in your deck play against an opponent's cards and dice. The best players in any game are the most knowledgeable and experienced ones. They have played many games, learned all the rules and found out the unique interactions that they use to gain advantages while playing their games. Knowing the ins and outs of how Destiny works allows you to understand what you're looking at when playing a game. The opponent has 1 card in their hand, 1 resource and more ready characters than you do and for some reason keeps passing or not rolling their characters. This probably means they are sitting on a Flank in their hand, but your deck has ways to remove resources and/or cards from their hand. Having an understanding of the situation allows you to play around the suspected Flank and keep your dice safe while the opponent waits for a die they may never get the chance to remove.

Destiny introduced a very unique mechanic to the game that also challenges players' understanding and that is the Battlefield. Claiming the Battlefield at the right time is a little mini game within each round of Destiny. This is something that is much deeper than what players expect, claiming the Battlefield allows you to go first and claim a powerful ability, but the point you claim the Battlefield is especially important. Sometimes it is worth skipping dice resolution in order to go first or use the claim ability to your advantage. No single game instance is the same, but there is a lot of power for players who understand when and where to claim battlefields that will lead to victory in their Destiny games. Learning this very unique gameplay skill will aid you in many games because a lot of players rely on the Battlefield for card effects and going first to help push them to victory. Being able to disrupt an opponent's plans on claiming the Battlefield can give you not only an advantage but disrupt their game play and strategy. I highly recommend practicing when to claim the Battlefield with friends and then ask to see what cards they had in their hand, or just watch the next turn and see how the opponent has to play differently now that you are going first.

Understand The Game State

Knowing something and understanding something are two totally different things in Destiny. You need you know what cards are in your deck, what they do, and how you are working on a path to victory. You also need to understand what is going on in each round of Destiny. Just because you have X card in your hand doesn't mean you need to play it. Or if you have 3 resources and your opponent has 2 disrupt showing, you need to understand what the best play for that situation is. For example, in a game I had a damage lead and 3 resources on my side of the field, my opponent rolled 4 disrupt and no damage. At this point understanding the game helped me see what my opponent needed to do versus what he could do at that moment. So the opponent had the ability to remove all my resources, but one of my characters was2 damage away from death. Without understanding the situation, a newer player might panic and spend as many resources as possible to avoid seeing them removed. However I knew if my opponent removed my resources, I still had dice to resolve and damage to deal which could kill his characters. I also understood that it was to his advantage to re-roll both dice in an attempt to deal damage to me (It was a elite Vader he rolled the 2x disrupt sides). So I did have to take an educated guess, but i wagered the opponent would re-roll Vader in an attempt to kill me over giving me an additional turn with 0 resources. In this instance I was right and he did re-roll the Vader dice, but I had resources AND dice removal to keep myself alive and stop him from killing my characters.

These are little instances where understanding how the game works and understanding what the opponent wants to do helps you make good plays in your games. Now I will say it is entirely possible the opponent will do something you don't expect. If my opponent had removed my resources I had a backup plan, and I also would have been able to roll my dice and resolve them pretty freely. So as unlikely as it would be that he would have allowed that to happen, players will do things that may not make sense to you but they might have tricks up their sleeve as well. So stay on your toes and be aware that all your plans will not work 100% of the time but being able to look at the game state, your cards and what your opponent has on their side of the field can help you make educated decisions that favor you.

When playing Destiny there is a lot of game to experience and even more fun stuff to learn as you play more decks and learn play styles. The best thing any player can do to give themselves an edge is get out there and play games. You will see and experience unique card interactions, you will see how people value certain cards and die faces over others. Knowing your own meta and understanding how to beat it is one thing. But to know and understand what makes a deck tournament viable on regional and national levels is very valuable for local events and larger scale games. Get out there and meet new players, play games, discuss your good and bad plays, read forums and just learn as much as you can. These things will increase your knowledge of the game, your deck and increase your skill as a player. So good luck and may the Force be with you.