I think some questy-type objectives that you can fulfill would be a good addition. I don't think they all need to, but having a few would make it more interesting. It would also let you cycle through your deck, which you don't seem to be able to do at the moment. If you can't cycle your objectives, and one has an effect that really helps pull your deck together, you're only going to see it about every 1 in 3 games you play. I suppose the lesson there is, "Don't build a deck around an objective bonus."

At the same time, I don't want a single card that cycles your objectives because I feel like everyone would be playing that card. Unless it's expensive.

I really don't know what I'm talking about though, since I haven't played and the game essentially doesn't exist yet.

Budgernaut said:

Well one of the objectives we've seen (A Journey to Dagobah) let's you search your objective deck and choose which one to play next when it's destroyed. And maybe there will be other ways in the future.

spalanzani said:

This is exactly how the winners of all the tournaments are going to do it. It's just like people counting cards at Casinos - only much easier. That's what I would do.

herozeromes said:

The thing is, even if you knew every single card your opponent had in their deck, it still comes down to how you play the cards. Do you want to keep Vader in your hand to deploy this turn, or keep him in your hand and try to bait your opponent into an attack where you can use his 4 edge dots to bluff him into thinking you're not going to respond with anything too strong?

There's a lot of situational things that can come up where you can play the same decks against each other several times and still have different outcomes based on luck of the draw, and taking calculated risks against your opponent's play style.

Added to this, for a Core Set, you're not going to have too many options anyways, but I doubt it will play poorly out of the box.

I'm not sure how long we will wait before the first wave of expansion packs come out, but if you're fortunate enough to have a big competitive scene in your area right at launch, you're all going to be playing with the same tiny pool of cards for a while, regardless of how you build your decks.

Compare to the Netrunner Core Set, which had a tournament last weekend. Sure, you can pick an Identity, and with the Corp, have 4 factions to choose from to mix your cards, plus neutrals. Without having it all in front of me, I'd imagine that while many combinations are "possible", not all of them would be "viable" at a tournament level if you were playing to win.

I'll wager that bluffing your way through an edge battle becomes a vital part of the game, when you consider that the same powerful cards you would want on the table will also win you an edge battle, but which way do you go with it?

In the example I gave above with Vader, let's assume that in the Objective set that he is attached to, you can have two copies of the Objective in your stack, and thus have 2 Vaders in your 50 card reserve deck. (60 cards total: 10 Objectives, with 5 cards belonging to each; 10 Objectives, 50 "player cards")

So lets say you draw out the top 3 cards on the Objective Deck, and you get both Vader Objectives, so your opponent is thinking "oh noes! 2 Vaders!!!1"

At no point will they know exactly how and when you're going to deploy him, if you ever do at all. He could be the last two cards in the stack, he could be used as an edge card, he could come down on the ground the first turn, or be held back for "just the right moment" later on.

A good player will take note of the possibility and be aware of it in their decision making process for how to play their own cards, but it won't guarantee anything critical, in terms of having a huge game advantage.

A more inexperienced, or unaware player may not connect the dots and eat some kind of Vader beatdown, but then those same "noobs' can surprise you by doing something nobody in their right mind would try (which is sometimes why it works). But then, if you're the best Star Wars LCG player, would you be spending all your SWLCG game time carving down new players, beneath your skill level, or would you try and teach them the ways of the Force and help them game better, assuming that was their goal, and not to just have fun playing cards as they feel.

cleardave said:

I will say this. I want to play the game to see what it is like. It's just very difficult to find players where I'm at.

herozeromes said:

Exactly. My bigger concern would be IF there would be a competitive scene where I live, Toronto, and if that's happening, then I'll worry about how the game does or does not function at a higher level.

As it stands, the deck building mechanics will be more appealing to my gaming friends, and make it easier to get an opponent, even if its just with my own card pool. I'd rather play 20 fun sessions on my dining room table with a buddy than a couple of organized matches one day at a store.

Ideally, both, but you take what you can get. This isn't the 90's where it was CCG madness and you had your pick of the litter in terms of which game to play, AND which game to play competitively, especially since you were on the relative ground floor, experience-wise. I couldn't imagine trying to play competitive Magic Constructed today, even with the card cycles meaning I wouldn't have to go back too far to stay current, there's just no substitute for someone who's been at it for 10+ years.

I just hope that the Community Wizard that they are working on is able to pair up people by actual proximity and not just state.

So, You can make a storm trooper 'force sensitive' and give him Vader's lightsaber? Really?

Doc9 said:

I don't think there's any way yet to make a character 'force sensitive', which is just a bold word, so no. You might be able to put one of those 'committed to the force' cards on a stormtrooper, but I don't think that would be very worthwhile, nor let them use Vader's lightsaber.

I've just been looking through the pics posted on cardgamedb.com and saw something I didn't see before. The objective titled Cruel Interrogations states: Reaction: After this card enters play, take 1 card at random from each opponent's hand. Capture those cards at this objective.

I don't know about you guys, but it seems pretty clear to me that they're preparing for some 2v2 gameplay. Thoughts?

Budgernaut said:

I saw that too. I'm sure that's just a smart move to cover all your bases, so for what will likely be the "official" tournament structure of 1v1, you can also provide guidelines in the rules for 2v2 teams, without making unnecessary errata later. It also saves arguing with "that guy" in your group if if just wanted to house rule a 2v2 structure if one isn't officially provided for in the rulebook.

Doc9 said:

I don't know what card gives a Character the Force Sensitive keyword, but it is conceivable that, once conventional conscripts began to be added to the ranks of the previously-clonal stormtrooper corps, a few of them exhibited Force sensitivity, and were promptly brought into the Emperor's cabal while retaining their trooper status as a cover identity. Perhaps one of them showed particular promise, and managed to destroy and take the place of Darth Vader himself, claiming his saber as a trophy. This isn't canon, obviously, but part of the fun of movie- and lit-based games like this is getting to explore the implications of how things play out differently in your match, versus how they happened in the source franchise.

cleardave said:

Yeah, I noticed that as well, but after the initial "ooooh!", I remembered the multitude of cards in Warhammer that refer to opponents plural, but that is, to the best of my knowledge, a game with no official multiplayer variant.