Anyone have any input on cards that, at first glance, don't seem all that exciting?

Not having many games under my belt, I'm not always able to tell off-hand. Maybe I think something is garbage, but really has some value (looking at you, 2x Promotion from my last booster grabs), or maybe I'm not seeing an interesting combo, due to my limited card pool.

Will potentially use input if I cave and decide to start buying individual cards, instead of waiting for/suffering through boosters -- I'd like to start playing competitively ASAP.

I actually like Promotion. A cheap way to draw another card and add resources and such to your pool. I run 2 of them in 2 different decks.

But yeah, a lot of cards in this game are actually good, but not at first glance. It also depends on what you put them with. I thought Drudge Work was a meh card, but in my 4x Stormtrooper deck, it's invaluable.

The only card I can think of that's too situational to ever be good is The Force is Strong.

I happen to be a fan of just about every 1 point upgrade. They can be used to lessen the cost of a bigger upgrade in later rounds. It's much easier to destroy unspent resources than it is an upgrade that is attached to a character.

It is funny that you mention Promotion, because that is the first card I though of when I read the title of the thread. I love promotion, especially in my Dooku / Phasma / Trooper deck. It is cheap, every side is useful (at least in my deck). And later it can easily be overwritten for a more powerful upgrade.

I'll also mention The Best Defense... When you first start playing, it looks pretty meh. But when timed right, removing two of your opponents dice can be way more valuable than the 3 damage.

Promotion is great. Decent ability, card draw, solid early die.

Armed to the Teeth. I can't count how many times I'very finished off a character with a surprise 2 or 3 damage out of nowhere. Great on a character that is about to die and has limited amount of redeploy equipped.

It is funny that you mention Promotion, because that is the first card I though of when I read the title of the thread. I love promotion, especially in my Dooku / Phasma / Trooper deck. It is cheap, every side is useful (at least in my deck). And later it can easily be overwritten for a more powerful upgrade.

I'll also mention The Best Defense... When you first start playing, it looks pretty meh. But when timed right, removing two of your opponents dice can be way more valuable than the 3 damage.

The Best Defense won me a game last week. I had Vader with 2x Lightsabers and a Kylo Ren's Lighsaber and 1 health left/no shields. My opponent went first and rolled 2 dice with both showing damage. I used The Best Defense, took the damage on a Stormtrooper and then proceeded to win the game by rolling big melee damage with Vader. Every card can be a game winner under the right conditions.

I like drudge work and noble sacrifice in this category.

Noble sacrifice inparticular I thought was utter garbage when I first read it, but one of them has found its way into my blue hero deck, and has proven useful a few times.

Drudge work is just awesome in the right deck.

a lot of people don't seem to like negotiation but it can be immensely powerful especially with infamous in play. One of my favorite moves in my Ehan/Erey deck has been to play electroshock with infamous and then play negotiate usually sacrificing a rey die to essentially stop 2 of my opponents characters for a turn, (I'm looking at you vader/raider) while still allowing me to have 3 dice.

Negotiation is more powerful if your opponent doesnt get what he wants right away too and then spends rerolls/focus to get it then bam gone.

Promotion in a hero deck...especially with Ackbar....especially with Rearm....spicy. Very, very spicy.

The fact that you don't see a ton of cards and go "OMG, WTF?! SUPER GOOD!! BBQ DELICIOUS!" is like, a sign that things in the game are fairly well balanced.

a lot of people don't seem to like negotiation but it can be immensely powerful especially with infamous in play. One of my favorite moves in my Ehan/Erey deck has been to play electroshock with infamous and then play negotiate usually sacrificing a rey die to essentially stop 2 of my opponents characters for a turn, (I'm looking at you vader/raider) while still allowing me to have 3 dice.

Negotiation is more powerful if your opponent doesnt get what he wants right away too and then spends rerolls/focus to get it then bam gone.

1. GAH THAT TITLE TYPO!

2. I felt Promotion miiiight have a place, I didn't consider the upgrade cost reduction (a rule I've not had to make use of yet). THANK YOU, I feel better pulling two of those over six packs, now.

3. This topic is turning into exactly what I want -- Armed to the Teeth is something I actually saw and decided it'd be worthwhile to build for it a bit, focusing on cheap upgrades and some other cards that help get upgrades on the table, mostly for a possible surprise 6 damage (2x AttT, and junking a whopping six upgrades, of course).

Keep them coming, please! I'm very new, so anything that is obvious to vets will still be beyond my ken.

Check out the latest episode of The Smugglers Den, they do a whole segment on underrated cards.

It's funny that people mention Promotion. I just took it out of my 3 x Trooper and Nightsister deck as it wasn't pulling it's weight. It didn't help that I got it out at a crucial point and it's first die roll was....+1 melee damage (with no form of doing melee damage in my deck). I ended up dropping my 2x Promotion for the 1 pt Blaster pistol.

It's funny that people mention Promotion. I just took it out of my 3 x Trooper and Nightsister deck as it wasn't pulling it's weight. It didn't help that I got it out at a crucial point and it's first die roll was....+1 melee damage (with no form of doing melee damage in my deck). I ended up dropping my 2x Promotion for the 1 pt Blaster pistol.

Why not both?

The ability to upgrade upgrades changes the math on them in a lot of ways. Say you have a 3-cost you want to play... you can save a resource this turn so you'll have the 3 next turn. Or you pay for a 1-cost like Promotion, and then upgrade it next turn. Using the upgrade means the resource isn't vulnerable to disruption, and you get the benefit of the card this turn rather than just looking at that lonely resource token.

It so happens I'm still not a fan of Promotion (I think On the Hunt and the DH-17 are far more compelling in this role) but it does make the entire class better than it might be as just a standalone upgrade.

My current winner in this category is Play the Odds. At first look it's easy to look at the resource benefit and feel like it's not worth it... but if you look at it as just a free reroll each turn, it's good just for that. The resource boost is just gravy.

Cards like Promotion are never going to be amazing. But they're cheap, and you get what you pay for. You'll have to always think about whether there is a better card you could be playing, but they should always at least be looked at.

Also: Replacing upgrades is a really, really important thing to do in a lot of cases. The economy of the game is essentially two resources a turn, and upgrading breaks that by letting your get 3+ resources in a single turn. So does rolling resources, of course, but that means you're not rolling other faces.

Otherwise, I guess it comes down to what is 'non obvious'. I didn't rate the IQA Blaster Rifle at first, now I quite like it (I believe it's the only weapon that you don't have to pay to shoot). Leadership is really good in any deck running big guy/cheap red unique (So currently Ackbar, but even normal Leia). Personal Escort is good depending on your characters, and can be great if you're running Mos Eisley as your battlefield. Riposte has burst damage capability that can be surprising out of Blue. Scout, much like Promotion, is actually pretty useful with most die faces doing something you want.