Fearless and Inventive - Edge of the Galaxy

Hello everyone and welcome to the second installment of Fearless and Inventive. In the last article we took a look at some underused Scum objectives and found a good use for them. This week we are going to be looking at a new combination for some Light Side objectives all focused around doing one thing, winning edge battles and striking first and hard.

Since Balance of the Force came out, I have been testing numerous decks with all of the new objective sets, excluding the Mara set. This is mostly because of the drought of new cards to begin with, which I hope FFG can remedy this year(Heroes and Legends is just around the corner!). One of my favorite, and a lot of other peoples favorite is Watchers in the Wasteland. It contains 5 very good, usable cards that can fill gaps in a lot of decks, also, new Obi-Wan people! Better still is the two units that have the fantastic keyword, Edge. So I started thinking, "How can I really use this set to its maximum potential?". The solution I came to was to just abuse those Wolfmen, and the Edge keyword.

The Core of The Deck

The first thing we are going to discuss is the core of the deck itself, which focuses around 5 objectives. When paired together we are going to have 6 units that have the keyword that we want most in this deck which is Edge(1).

• Watchers in the Wasteland x1
• Asteroid Sanctuary x2
• The Last Defense of Hoth x2

Edge, in my opinion, is the second best keyword to have next to Targeted Strike for the Light Side. It is something that the DS really doesn't have a counter for. You can always protect Targeted Strike, or lock down the unit with tactics if you strike first. Edge will always be there, taunting that Twist of Fate in the DS players hand. Asteroid Sanctuary contains everyone's favorite unit with Edge, the Aluminum Falcon, wait Millennium Falcon. The objective itself will pair very nicely with the whole scheme of the deck in winning edge battles, and having a large hand size is pretty crucial to that. Best of all it comes with the best card to actually use with Edge, Twist of Fate. Every DS player knows how fun it is to place 1 edge card down and pass, well, we are turning the tables. We can attack and pass, giving us the upper hand in card advantage.

Our next objective revolves all around winning the edge battles as well, Last Defense of Hoth. Here we get yet another great unit that has Edge, Col Serra(no relation). This guy is going to be an offensive juggernaut, and very hard for the DS player to kill having that 3 health. One very nice combo we have with just these sets is tossing Force Cleansing on him. Now we have a 3 health character that has Edge, will refresh to defend, and heals up if he acutally does take damage? Wow. The event, Don't Get Cocky is going to do some serious burst damage if your opponent is not expecting it, or thinks you are saving a resource for Swindled. Our actual objective itself is really the best card here for the deck purpose. Consider it giving every unit in the deck Edge(x). With this you can really give your opponent headaches if they forget about its ability. Scenario, I swing into my opponents Council of the Sith with a Wolfman and only 3 cards in hand to his 5. One of mine is a Twist of Fate however. I get to pass because of Edge(1), my opponent places a card. I then trigger Last Defense, saving a card in my hand. My opponent places another card as do I, but its my Twist. He can pass here or add another card, not thinking I played a Twist. If he does play another card, we are now even in cards in hand, with my Twist yet to trigger. Once it does, I'm back to Edge(1) and can trigger Last Defense again! Yes, its once per edge battle, making it incredibly usefull with Twist.

Filling out the Rest

So we have a very solid foundation for our deck and are halfway to our 10 objectives. If you notice, a lot of our units are characters. We are also running Jedi which happens to have the best objective in the game at protecting characters, Secret of Yavin. The real bonus here is that the objective's ability will come in very handy because Last Defense of Hoth needs to be undamaged to use, so deflecting attacks will be very crucial. Also, another Twist of Fate! This objective is a perfect compliment to the whole strategy.

At this point, you have 3 Jedi objectives and 4 Smuggler objectives, we have come to the point where we need to decide which affilitation we will focus on. We can run a 7/3 split with Jedi Affiliation, or a 6/4 split with Smuggler. For this article and most testing, I decided to go with the 7/3 split, favoring the resource matching(If requested I will post the 6/4 split list in the comments below.). Either way, of the three remaining objective slots, we are going to have to have some resources. Since we went Jedi Affiliation, this will rule out Lando, which leaves us with the nerf herder himself, Han. Now, Questionable Contacts may not really add to the edge battle focus, but it does add more control events, and the objective will be another way to heal up your characters. It is also the only other option for resources.

We are down to our final objective spot, so why not go back to where we began, Balance of the Force. Rendar's Wrath is such a fun objective and can mesh well with a lot of the cards in the deck. The objective itself pairs so well with Han, his objective, and lightsaber deflection. Dash is such a force. He provides the deck with another 3 health unit, that happens to also be elite, and has those nice black blast icons. His acutal ability might not be used that much because we may be a little tight on resources sometimes. Another great candidate for Force Cleansing as well. The arcona's? O man, these guys are great with half of the events in your deck. Your opponent doesn't declare any defenders? Okay, I will win this edge battle by two and Get a little Cocky, or Crossfire to add a tactic icon. Your opponent only has two defenders and is saving them for your bigger units? Stinging Insult will force them BOTH to defend. Some argue that the 1 health is a downside, but if your opponent wants to use a Force Choke on them instead of someone else, be my guest. Supporting Fire is another great way to make sure you win those edge battles as well.

Another option that we could use for the final set is Frozen Refuge. This set is mostly about resources, which the deck is a little short on, but can still run rather well. It does have the two droids that can be useful in some situations as well, like healing damage on Last Defense of Hoth, or a unit that may be focused down. The Battle of Hoth is always a nice addition as well.

The full decklist shakes down like this:

• Watchers in the Wasteland x1
• Secret of Yavin x2
• Rendar's Wrath x1
• Asteroid Sanctuary x2
• The Last Defense of Hoth x2
• Questionable Contacts x2

Strategy and Tips

Whenever choosing your starting objectives, you should know what the "nut" draw is for the objective setup. Having Secret of Yavin, Last Defense of Hoth, and Asteroid Sanctuary is the best you can hope for. Another great combination is Rendar's Wrath and Questionable, with one of the other three. As far as opening hands go, seeing a resource is usually a keeper, since there are only four. Guardians are also always a plus, especially if you see Sith coming. Attacking on your first turn isn't always necassary. Setting up your board is never bad, and always consider your match-up. Don't drop one of your mains against a Sith deck if he is the only guy on your board. Aggression will say hello. Against Navy, you can defend pretty well, considering they will be hard pressed to win edge battles, and Han can do some serious work against them. Scum...it will really depend on what they are doing. If you see Lucrative Contracts, always be wary of those annoying Corrupt Officials. Reversal of Fate can really ruin your day as well. Do not be afraid of losing your good cards to Last Defense of Hoth. Every card is worth something on the board or in the Edge and if you win an edge battle because Han was placed in there, he still did his job.

Another article in the books, and just as always comments are always appreciated. Can't wait for those Freeholders to go in this deck...

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