Edge of Darkness First Impressions

I've been fairly disheartened by the general lack of discussion on this board and especially when it comes to strategy and deck building. Rather than complain and add to the problem, I thought I would lead by example and offer my thoughts on the expansion I've been waiting for since I first finished reading the Core Set rule book! Here are my favourite cards from the long awaited Edge of Darkness deluxe expansion based on the photo spoilers others have graciously provided as I anxiously wait for my local gaming haven to get it in stock! Please share your own!

DARK SIDE

Bounty

Only time will tell how effective this

card ends up, but on paper it seems pretty awesome. It's kind of like a time-delayed Force Lightning in that it goes off after your opponent has had a chance to attack or defend with its bearer. At a fraction of the cost, I think this card rules. Having one hit the table can greatly complicate your opponent's plans, and I'm all about making their decisions as hard as possible.

Slave 1

As disappointing as Boba Fett is for a lot of people, his signature ship is a beast. I think a lot of Scum & Villainy decks will be based around the strategy of building up a strong "dungeon" of captured cards before slapping this ship down to get the game over as soon as possible. The lack of Elite hurts it a bit, but it would probably be kind of broken with it.

Jabba the Hutt

The mighty Jabba is a really flexible unit that can enable all kinds of nasty tricks. Two black tactics icons are the tops to begin with, but the sneakiness of his activated ability could very well prove to be a centre piece of the Scum & Villainy affiliation. As we get more "enters play" effects Jabba is only going to get better.

Jabba's Reach

The mind boggles at the potential for this objective. Ten card hand, anyone? Given the amount of excellent capture cards in this set, that could prove fairly common in the right build. Not much more to say than that!

Reversal of Fate

This is one of the nastiest tricks in the game for sure. Even if your opponent anticipates you have one

in hand, you have the advantage as trying to play around this card means they will likely be throwing their Edge Battles. 'Nuff said!

The Tatooine Crash

I hope this card is an indicator of "mill" strategies becoming a thing in the future. Aside from that, this objective rules because it greatly interferes with any Light Side deck since any and all cards it captures remain unknown to your opponent until they rescue them. Watch as your opponent tilts as they fail to draw key cards for their strategy because the jawas nabbed them from under their nose! Watch as they finally destroy this objective only to get a handful of cards they probably have to discard the next turn! Play two copies for even more shenanigans!

Bossk

Bossk is Force Lightning on a killer unit. You don't even need the wookiee trigger for this guy to be an extremely efficient card, but it definitely helps. The double focus does hurt, but signing this guy to a Lucrative Contract or two will greatly ease that burden.

Force Wraith

I've seen a few people claim this card is overcosted and to that I say "What?!" He is one of the few units in the game that can be used twice before refreshing without any Enhancements! His stats and icons don't even have to be so great for there to be a lot of value in that, but they're pretty great too so I love this guy.

Dark Memories

Free removal? Yes please! You could use this to help chip away at a bigger guy or you could use it to help manage your opponent's weenies. Your opponent can play around this card by using the attached unit in the Force Struggle instead, but forcing them to make unfavorable decisions like that is a big part of how this game works.

The Ghosts of the Dark Side

Jedi Training and Serve the Emperor are two of my favourite objectives in the game, but their lackluster pods have kept them from seeing much play in my builds. The ability to take control of the Force without hobbling a unit is amazing, especially for the Dark Side. The earlier you get this into play, the better. I'm a little disappointed we already have a duplicate objective in the game, but when it is something that wasn't very playable before I can't complain.

LIGHT SIDE

Wookiee Life Debt

The entire pod is gold as far as I'm concerned and the objective itself is the glue that holds it all together. If you are playing two copies, you're going to have at least six wookiees in your deck, which should be plenty to ensure that you get the most out of this excellent ability. The value of effectively choosing which characters your opponent can damage cannot be overstated. Also remember that your wookiees can protect each other to further ruin things for the Dark Side.

Wookiee Warrior

This guy may not be as flashy as Chewbacca, but he is pretty great in his own right. I'm not entirely confident in having his ability come into effect without the help of the rest of his pod, but the threat of him getting more dangerous should be enough to make your opponent think twice about how to interact with him. He is an unattractive unit to block when he is damage-free, which makes him a great candidate for solo engagements to get that ever-important unopposed bonus. Given the rest of his pod I think he will prove to be one of the stronger weenies in the game.

Chewbacca

At last we have the mighty Chewbacca and he does not disappoint. Aside from the more obvious combos from within his pod, one of my favourite plans is to have Chewbacca ambush enemies in the Echo Caverns to make sure he doesn't get hurt too badly before he starts pulling peoples' arms out of their sockets. Throw in one of the better icon sets in the game at an affordable cost and you have a real winner.

Millennium Falcon

Yet another long awaited card that doesn't disappoint. Edge is easily one of the most potent abilities in the game and the lack of Elite is negligible when you factor in the Falcon's swap effect. Need another attacker or defender after you finish its engagement? No problem! Need repairs or to brush off a barrage of focus tokens? Pull it back and play it again next turn token free!

Sabotage

This card is brutal. It can be tricky to use on offense, but it can make short work of a high-cost unit like Vader or even the upcoming Executor with ease when used defensively. The fact that it doesn't target can get around abilities like the one on Jabba the Hurt, which is a nice perk. I see this card being great in any match-up, but the card advantage it can give you over a swarm strategy when played properly may be one of its best applications.

Saboteur

As any Magic player can tell you, "enters play" effects are typically some of the most potent. Having a unit with an immediate effect is like playing an event at the same time. This guy's ability would be strong even if it were an event that did the same thing. There are only going to be more enhancements in the future, but for now this card can help mess up your opponent's resource acceleration base.

Lobot

He may be tricky to use, but the Smugglers & Spies affiliation has a lot of tricks to help ensure you win those Edge Battles. Attacking alone with him seems like a good plan if you aren't as confident in your potential to win the Edge, but pairing him with Lando to yank him when he backfires or to reuse his ability is where he can really shine. Backing him up with his fellow pod mates is just icing on the cake, as far as I'm concerned.

Lando Calrissian

Mark my words: Lando is one of the strongest cards in the game yet. Aside from his great pair of icons, his ability is downright game changing. Much like Echo Caverns before him, Lando is a card your opponent will have to play around as long as you are poised to activate him. Couple that with the incredible interactions he can have with your own cards and you have what could easily become an auto-include for his affiliation, especially when you factor in the other great cards in his pod.

Over My Dead Body

This card seems trapped with some rather inferior pod mates, but if you should find yourself playing it I expect it to be a top card in your deck. "Counterspells" of any kind are generally great in any game and this one has a lot of reach and flexibility. In a vacuum, this is another contender for the list of best cards in the game, but the weaker cards surrounding it have me holding back that acclaim for now. I could be wrong about Across the Anoat Sector, but Escape From Ord Mantell is the definition of underwhelming.

Cloud City Operative

Yet another excellent "enters play" ability. The use may be somewhat narrow, but considering how many two and lower drop units the average deck runs I expect most players to find immense value in the Operative's text. A more out of the box use for this card than focusing opposing weenies is to pull a token from one of your heavy hitters that is exhausted onto the Operative itself. Throw in some great icons and you have a fast favourite of mine.

Very nice break down of your thoughts on various cards. I just got mine last night so I'm continuing to study them. I'm interested in seeing the LS decks that start to come out now. Maybe it's just because I can't seem to find a LS deck that I really like, but now with the addition of Chewie and Lando I see some things that may be better suited for my own style of play. Sometime in the next couple days I hope to find a group to play with and test out the new cards to see how they actually play out.

Great summary, I agree with most of your points.

Suddenly the Sith seem weak(!).

Jabba the Hutt + Bounty == combo. But I'm not sold on Jabba's pack, or on running him just to fuel that combo. Not a huge number on "come into play" effects on darkside.

Am I the only one not impressed by Slave 1 and the Falcon? Slave 1's stats aren't good for the cost, even with extra blast icons, and the rest of the pod is nothing special. Same with the Falcon. The rest of the pod is lackluster, and for 5 resource I want something that can deal more than 3 damage to an objective. or at the very least give it some tactics. Light side has no units that cost more than 5 that you can cheat into play with it either.

What I do like are Greedo's and Trask's pods for the dark side, along with the jawas. Greedo's pack has one great and 2 solid 2 drops, and two good control removal cards. I think Bounty become better in a deck with lots of tactics, where you can drop it on a unit, then drop double tactics on it, so it's exhausted until it dies. The objective is lackluster, though. Trask's pod produces 2, he's great character removal and has good stats afterwards. The other two drops are solid, a strong removal card, then (if I recall correctly) a good fate card. Also, wookie hate is golden, since Chewie's pack is so amazing. Jawa pack has free units with white tactics, good enhancement removal, a sandcrawler that I could see being part of something tricksy, and the best fate card in the game. And the objective fuels the weequay pod. I'm going to run Lucrative Contract to fill out my scum deck. I'll post more once I've got some games in with it. I am tempted to sneak in Cruel Interrogation probably instead of Lucrative Contract, since it has more tactics, good tricks, and much synergy with the weequay pack.

There are also going to be some killer sith/scum hybrid control decks. I know that Trask's pod fills out my ideas for a sith control decks resource curve much better than most other options (Dathamir? Yuck?) And scum has more control than navy splash, and you even get some objective damage in the deal.

I also have a creature deck swirling around in my head, with wampa's, kryaat dragons, and those pigmen guards. Focus on throwing out the strongest one drops, and what not. It would work better with more options for sith hoth objectives, though navy might work with the blizzard ATST's and the snow trooper neutral pod. it would have lots of low cost chumps for Jabba to drop, too.

Smuggler side, Chewie pod is amazin. Lando pod is also amazing(The objective is crazy good). I also really like the 2 pods with vehicles that can't be blocked on solo runs by units that cost more than 2. That should throw a monkey wrench in Sith control, and the objectives they come in are amazing. Extra blast damage when sneaking them in? Yes please. Doubling unopposed damage? That's insane. I'm going to make a vehicle deck with those two pods, Prep for Evacuation, The Rebel Fleet, and the Defense of Yavin IV. It will have all the Y-Wings ever. I'll probably also make a smuggler deck with Han, Chewie, Lando, and those two vehicle pods. Lots of tricks, lots of ways to sneak in objective damage, lots of ways to throw around unit damage to control the board.

The Navy Pod is icing on the cake for capital ship decks, though they have to watch out for those new smuggler ships sneaking past them. The last 2 slots in capital ship decks were pretty fluid, but the new pod with Reconnaissance Mission will fill those out in my deck. The star destroyers are a little weak, but they patch a decent punch for their price, and an opponent's board filling up with star destroys is a very hard thing to deal with.

I can't decide if I like the jedi pod. The targeted strike lightsaber form is neat, but there are already so many other good pods with good enhancements, I don't know if it makes the cut. However, I do see the weapon's based neutral pack making it into some yoda based decks. Those guns are like lightsabers with out the force user restriction, and apparently Yoda is just as good with them as with the traditional and elegant jedi weapon. Throw in Luke, Chewie, and Secrets of Yavin 4 and you have lots of protect character, some shielding, and the chance to give Chewie his Bowcaster, which gives him bizzaro targeted strike, and a lot of unit damage to throw around. It would be weak to Scum Capture, though, with only a couple of counterspells.

I really want to figure out a way to use the new Sith pod. It's lack of resources makes it hard to work into a vader deck, but I think all the cards in it are strong, and the event card is nuts. 1 damage to every unit not commited to the force? that's going to cause problems for ship and speeder swarm decks. Maybe I should try a sith deck that doesn't go for the early darth vader (or include darth vader at all).

I'll post more thoughts when I see more of the cards in action.

After seeing the spoilers... we are going to finally see some crazy Smuggler and Scum decks. I am excited.

i have actually play tested a lot with the new cards ,

lando is crazy good. o-set and all. not a bad card in it. cant tell you how my games alone Lando won me by him self.

Wookie life debt is really good also. a 2 cost 3 health unit hat only gets stronger as he is damaged, ill take that. AND CHEWIE well lets just say he took out vader several times.

Falcon=amazing. not a effect you want to activate every turn but when the time is right, bam theres han, chewie, lando, or even another great drop in Col sera. do it right you know you'll win the edge. after all with all the tactics this deck has and 4 swindals , Lando to keep big threats out and 4 operatives to keep little guys down and out.

combined with Col's o-set and its almost like you get to choose who gets o block or attack. Haven't played the DS much but I will be testing them all out. seems like the capture deck will be fun. not sure how strong it will be but sure will be funny watching your opp squirm in there set when you take there heavy hitters captive. liking the new imperial set also. and the sith o-set well the jury is still out on that one, not looking good for it tho.

Here are some Dark side cards that I really like that have not been mentioned.

Spice Vision

The Dark side finally gets a Double Strike/Trust your Feelings type effect. Playing this with the Emperor on defense and some guardian back up will lock a board down. Playing it with Vader and his lightsaber will make you feel like you are playing the LS. So many good things can happen with this card.

Capture

I feel this is better than Bounty even though it costs 3 resources and Bounty is free. The only way it gets stopped is by a counter and I dont need to worry about losing an edge battle.

Across the Jundland Wastes

I feel like this with Navy vehicles is going to provide the push that Navy needed. Navy vehicles will be unaffected by the Wastes while character base decks will slow to a crawl. If you have Motti and Endor Gambit in play then you are assured of not getting your key units locked down.

LIGHT SIDE

Trust Me

The best objective the Light side could have asked for. If you can protect it and keep it from being destroyed and get a few uses out of it then its worth blowing it up, especially if you use it to stop a Capture or Force Lightning.

Smuggler's Run

A really good way to screw with the dark sides resources.

Cloud City Guest Quarters

I honestly think this is the best new card for the light side! It fixes so many problems for Rebel decks, Jedi deck and anything else. It also helps that its in the best pod ever.

Blockade Runner/Sleuth Scouts

These two units are the reason why vehicle based decks will be a threat. Between the Cloud City Operatives and Swindles you should be able to clear a path for these guys.

Across the Anoat Sector

This is a really good objective in a rebel/smuggler vehicle deck. The Sleuth Scouts are dealing 3 unopposed with this in play, Blockade Runners are dealing 4 unopposed.

The more I think about it, the more I think The Tatooine Crash is my favourite new Scum pod. The objective itself and Utinni are probably the fastest ways to get a card captured within the affiliation, which helps trigger stuff like Slave 1 or Weequay Elite. Utinni is also amazing at interfering with your opponent's resource expansion, or stripping a heavy duty unit like Yoda of a key Enhancement. The Jawas themselves are incredibly versatile, if not a little tricky to use and the Sandcrawler is similarly good. Overall an amazing pod that I am starting to think could become the glue that holds Scum together.

Aside from that, I've been surprisingly impressed with the entire Feeding the Pit pod. Not a single bad card in it. Krayt Dragon is a great finisher because like most other heavies it is non-unique so you van run rampant with both!

Across the Jundland Wastes

I feel like this with Navy vehicles is going to provide the push that Navy needed. Navy vehicles will be unaffected by the Wastes while character base decks will slow to a crawl. If you have Motti and Endor Gambit in play then you are assured of not getting your key units locked down.

I agree. I'm looking forward to adding that to my Navy deck.

I second the vote of confidence for Feeding the Pit. At first look I didn't like it. I was wrong.