I run 6/4 splits pretty regularly. There's a 1/200 chance of getting resource locked out the gate. I'll probably get screwed at some point, but it hasn't happened yet.

but then you have the Times that you draw 3 of your lesser affiliated objectives and 1 of your main, so your stuck with a single resource for your higher represented faction. not an auto loss as with being resource locked, but can certainly put a damper on things. I was running the smugglers cavern deck for a while and I would get 3 S&S objectives and a single Jedi objective pretty regular and that really hurts when you need to put out multiple Jedi units/enhancements/events and only have a single resource.

having said that, a 6/4 split is acceptable, just be prepared for a tough game every once in a while.

I run 6/4 splits pretty regularly. There's a 1/200 chance of getting resource locked out the gate. I'll probably get screwed at some point, but it hasn't happened yet.

but then you have the Times that you draw 3 of your lesser affiliated objectives and 1 of your main, so your stuck with a single resource for your higher represented faction. not an auto loss as with being resource locked, but can certainly put a damper on things. I was running the smugglers cavern deck for a while and I would get 3 S&S objectives and a single Jedi objective pretty regular and that really hurts when you need to put out multiple Jedi units/enhancements/events and only have a single resource.

having said that, a 6/4 split is acceptable, just be prepared for a tough game every once in a while.

That's been my issue. Yes, there's a very low chance of not drawing any of your "main" affiliation objectives, but having just 1 resource generating of your main affiliation likely results in losing the game. Considering scattered neutrals, 50% of your command cards may have to be played from a single resource.

Okay, after reading this post, I am thoroughly confused. Let it first be known that I am extremely new. Just got the core set a few weeks ago, and aside from trial plays, have yet to find anyone else that plays in my area.

But rereading some rules has clarified a couple things. So is the reason you would choose the smaller group for your affiliation so that you always have at least one of that resource (as long as it's not exhausted) available when one of those cards pops? Meaning the affiliation card itself? Otherwise, I totally don't get the splits and why it's advantageous to go small.

Okay, after reading this post, I am thoroughly confused. Let it first be known that I am extremely new. Just got the core set a few weeks ago, and aside from trial plays, have yet to find anyone else that plays in my area.

But rereading some rules has clarified a couple things. So is the reason you would choose the smaller group for your affiliation so that you always have at least one of that resource (as long as it's not exhausted) available when one of those cards pops? Meaning the affiliation card itself? Otherwise, I totally don't get the splits and why it's advantageous to go small.

ok so lets put together an easy example so you can follow the philosophy of the splits.

lets take an example 8/2 split deck, with 8 sets being sith and 2 sets being imperial navy. so you you have to choose an affiliation for your deck, so you are deciding between sith affiliation and imperial navy affiliation. lets say you decide to go with the Sith affiliation because your thinking you have more sith cards in the deck so you need more sith resources.

so you set up for your game, shuffling your command deck and then your objectives. you draw 4 objectives, you get 4 sith objectives, which is certainly not unheard of since there is 8 of them in the objective deck. then you look at your affiliation and realize you have choosen sith affiliation, and you have NO imperial navy resources, which essentially locks you out of being able to use ANY imperial navy cards what so ever, at least until one of your objectives are destroyed and a possible navy objective drawn.

now in that same scenario, had you went with imperial navy affiliation, which is your lowest represented faction, and what is advocated by everyone, then you ALWAYS know you will have at least 1 navy resource regardless of which starting objectives you draw.

now when it comes to what your split should be, there is obviously a debate. 10/0, 9/1, 8/2, and 7/3 guarantee that you will NEVER be resource locked with your starting objectives. reason being, you draw 4 and choose 3, so if you have less than 4 sets of your smaller faction, and the affiliation of the smaller faction, you are guaranteed to draw a single resource of your main faction. Where as, if you run 6/4, or 5/5 splits, there is a small chance that you will draw all 4 of your smaller faction's objectives, so along with the smaller factions affiliation card, you will be resource locked from your main faction, which likely will result in a loss since you can't play any of their cards. As was posted above, the chance of getting resource locked with a 6/4 split is 1/200 games, so pretty low but thats up to you to decide if thats too high for you, and as i just stated in my last post, getting resource locked isn't the only issue, having to deal with a single resource for your main faction can really slow you down and could easily cost you the game.

having said that, i have plenty 6/4 decks, and i rarely run into the issue, but it can happen.

You hit it Derek. You run the minor as your affiliation so that you won't be resourced locked out of those cards. 6/4 splits are "risky" because there's a chance of drawing all four of your minor during the flop and not being able to play any cards from your major. The probability of this happening, however, is quite small (1/210) and rewards in some builds far outweigh the risks. What's more likely to happen with a 6/4 build is getting 3 of your minor and only one objective from your major. Then you're stuck only being able to play one card per turn from your major affiliation unless you have resources in your deck that can provide affiliation matches. The probability of this happening in a 6/4 build is 24/210 which is large enough to cause some hesitation.

Devastating Sith (aka Big Red Bus) and Smuggler Caverns were popular 6/4 builds. Devastating Sith dealt with the off chance of being stuck with only one Sith resource a little better because often times you were only playing one card per turn anyway. Emperor, Vader, maybe a Star Destroyer. The rest of it was edge battles and zero cost force chokes. Only occasionally did you want to play a guard and force lighting someone, or deploy Vader and his lightsaber at the same time and swing.

Smuggler Caverns, while also a great deck, suffered more than Big Red Bus from the 6/4 split and the off chance of only getting 1 Jedi resource. Often times I found myself wanting to play a guardian of the peace and a trust your feelings, or one of those and hold another resource back for a counterstroke. Jedi had more little things it wanted to do with their resources.

funny thing, i just played a game on octagon with my 6/4 smuggler/jedi split and drew 2 hero's journeys, and 2 secret of yavin 4's, so there ya go......

Well...now you've gotten that rare game out of the way... ??

Thanks guys, I appreciate the clarifications. Now, I'm ready to start experimenting with deck builds. Hopefully, I'll also find or convert some other players from around here. Of course, I've only got the one core set, so I need to decide if I want to get a second, or go for the expansion, or some force packs. I know having two cores is pretty essential, but man, I'm so behind, and I just want to have ALL the cards in my hands!

Thanks again.