Hey everyone, I'm new to Star Wars: The Card Game and I just got totally wiped out by my opponent in the last game I played. I played with a Jedi deck and he played with a Scum and Villainy deck, both using only the core set. (That's the only set either of us owns.)

Within his first two turns, he had Defense Protocol, Darth Vader, and Vader's Lightsaber in play. Anytime I played a unit with 1 damage capacity, he'd destroy the unit with Defense Protocol on his next turn. When I played a unit with 2 or 3 damage capacity, he'd use Vader's targeted strike to destroy it.

I wanted to build up several units and split my attacks between multiple objectives. But I was forced to either play a unit and immediately attack with it that same turn. (Whether it had a chance of doing any real damage to his objectives or not). Or else he'd destroy it in his next turn, in which case the unit would go completely to waste.

I couldn't destroy Vader on my opponent's turn, because I had no units available to defend. (They were all either destroyed or focused.)

And I couldn't destroy Vader on my turn, because my opponent never used it to defend. The only unit I had with targeted strike was Luke Skywalker, but my opponent used Interrogation to discard Luke before I had a chance to play it.

Here's my deck build:

A Hero's Journey

In You Must Go

Forgotten Heroes

A Journey to Dagobah

The Secret of Yavin 4

Last Minute Rescue

Jedi Training

The Defense of Yavin 4

The Rebel Fleet

Hit and Run

Can anyone tell me what I can do differently next time?

I know that many people who have been playing the game for a while claim that the Light Side can win just as many games as the Dark Side. But I'm one of the people who can't seem to make it work.

With the core set, my opponent and I have played 5 games so far. And he's won them all with the DS. Even he admits that he has no idea how he would win if he were in my shoes. Any help?

With only one core set any of the big guy units like Vader Luke Han etc. are super powerful and harder to deal with. Han or Luke would be good options. Han shoots first and has tactics and targeted strike. Lock down Vader before he strikes and shut him down. Then use TS to damage him.

Agreed. You need to tactic him out and then work to damage him through targeted strike or Rebel Assault.

often times, focusing out a big unit can be more effective than killing them, because if you just kill him and they have another in their hand or top deck another copy, he'll be right back out. Having said that, keeping Elite units locked down isn't the easiest thing to do but many LS decks these days do have access to alot of tactics icons.

All of the above is good advice. Playing with just a single core set (and thus only 1 copy of each objective set) will make the game a little more swingy though as drawing great hands will be less likely. That means that when somebody does get a fast start (early Vader and his lightsaber, for instance), the other player is less likely to find an answer in a timely fashion.

If you do have some resources saved up though, here's a pair of combos that can kill Vader in 1 turn, assuming that Vader is the only unit they have out:

Twi'lek Loyalist + Han

Twi'lek Loyalist + Luke + Jedi Lightsaber

Add Trust Your Feelings to either combo for more insanity.

In order to kill Vader, you'll need to win an edge battle, which can be tough, but the Loyalist + Han can come pretty close either way. You attack with the Loyalist first, forcing them to defend with Vader or have him locked down with the tactics anyways. You then attack with your targeted strike unit, free to hit Vader without him being able to block. If Vader is committed to the force and you have Han around (or anyone else with more tactics) you don't even have to win the first edge battle to neutralize Vader. If he wins the first edge battle then Vader will have 2 focus from his strike and you can place the 3rd focus token pretty easily. Of course, having some Guardians of the Peace around to protect your big units would also be a good idea.

That works.