Into the Garbage Chute - 1 or 2?

Into the Garbage Chute - 1 or 2??

Welcome back to Into the Garbage Chute. This week I'm going to examine the difficult choice of running 1 or 2 copies of a particular pod. I feel this is one of the more difficult aspects of deck building. Common wisdom says if you want a card in the deck you should be running 2 copies of that pod to ensure you draw it. Therefore, in theory you should be running 2 copies of 5 objectives. However, if you read my tournament report from my regional winning Hoth Lockdown deck you will already know I do not always subscribe to this conventional wisdom. So the question looms, how does one decide if 2 copies of a pod should be included?

2 of a card: One of the primary methods for identifying a pod that you can run a single copy of is whether or not it has 2 of a critical card. There are a number of pods that contain 2 copies of useful cards. By having 2 copies of a card in a pod, it negates the necessity of have 2 copies of the pod to ensure you draw it. Now if you loooove the card then you should be thrilled with the opportunity to have 4 in the deck. However, some cards are situational enough that 2 is plenty. The primary example of this category is the Icetromper (40-1). They are amazing against Jedi but nearly worthless against Rebels. Thus, in many decks I have taken to splashing one copy of the pod for some nice Jedi hate.

Resources: If you are including a pod primarily for its resources you can usually get away with one copy of the pod. For example, Admiral Motti's pod is excellent for the resources it contains. However, in many decks I don't need 2 copies because I have enough resources. If you are running Motti for his insane ability, you may want to run two copies to ensure that you draw him specifically.

Deck synergy: If a pod is critical to what your deck is trying to accomplish you need two copies of that pod. For example, if you are running a trooper deck you want to have 2 copies of trooper assault. Additionally, if you are running a speeder deck you want to have 2 copies of Hoth Operations. This may seem obvious just from Rogue 3 alone, but the objective itself is critical to the success of the deck as it increases the effectiveness of speeders.

Big Characters: This category is a bit trickier and will change as the card pool grows. Right now if you want to run big Sith characters you really need 2 Vader and 2 Palpatine pods. However, as the card pool grows I could see a day where one of each might be fine depending on the goal of the deck. This is already the case with Jedi. I could easily see a build of the Smuggler's Den is which one copy of Yoda is taken out for a copy of Obi-Wan. Both are big characters and their pods support the deck in different ways.


Examples:

The Killing Cold (40-1): While I love rocking two copies of this and one copy of Shadows on the Ice for the full Hoth goodness, this objective works well with a single copy. In my estimation this pod gets run for the Ice Tromper. Since there are two copies of the Tromper in the set it works just fine as a one off. Additionally, one copy of Twist of Fate is always welcome and Fear is still useful. Although it is unlikely you will use Desolation of Hoth, its 3 force icons make it a wonderful edge card.

In You Must Go (2-1): Personally I prefer running 2 copies of this pod in every Jedi deck for the resources and the cancel, it would work just fine as 1 copy. Assuming you are running pod 5 you are looking at 3/4 cancels. Either works, though 4 is a bit more redundancy. The pod has a resource which is great in single or duplicate form. Unless you are planning to run Message From Beyond to specifically load up Yoda, you aren't running Yoda in hopes of making him the ultimate beat stick. Usually he gets used to own the force or in edge battles. In fact, if this pod wasn't one of the few to have a resource and a cancel I would ditch it altogether in most decks. But if you do choose to use it 1 or 2 copies will both suit your purposes just fine.

Message From Beyond (37-1): This to me is the perfect example of an all or nothing pod. While I love Obi Wan's Spirit, what makes it so strong is the ability to loop it over and over. By running one copy of the objective you do still get 2 copies of Obi Wan's Spirit but your chances of being able to loop it are quite slim. The rest of the pod has no resources and since both weapon mastery and calm require enhancements, this pod seems like a 2 or 0 to me.

Cruel Interrogations (24-1): This is one of those pods that is entirely deck dependent. If you are running it as the seed objective for a capture deck featuring the Weequay Elites then you want 2 for sure. If you are using it as the lynchpin of a hand control deck then you want 2. However, if you are simply running it because you want some high quality cards and tactics icons then 1 copy will suffice. Since it contains two copies of the Interrogation Droid you don't have to run 2 copies to ensure you draw one.

The Secret of Yavin 4 (5-1): Personally this is a 2 copy in every character deck I play, but I can see the value of this pod as a single copy as well. If you are already running one or two copies of Yoda then you have a cancel. So, one copy of C-3P0 could be sufficient. Since if comes with two copies of the Guardian of Peace it is possible to say "that is enough protection, I would prefer to add more big characters that can actually win the game." For me the sticking point is Lightsaber Deflection. That card is a soul wrecker but it could still be a powerful tool as a single copy. Much more so as a card your opponent fears than as a card that you actually play.

Counsel of the Sith (20-1): Another pod whose 1 or 2 copy status is entirely dependent on what you want from the pod. If you want to guarantee card draw and deck cycling you want 2 copies. However, if you just want some solid cards including resources, one copy can easily be included in a deck.

Bottom Line:

In my opinion, at this point, almost any pod can be included as a single copy. In any deck in which I include Han or Luke I include two copies. However, that is not because they are bad pods to have a single copy of, rather they are just really good cards I want to see during a game. It will be very interesting to see how this changes as the card pool evolves. We may start seeing more decks with 8 different pods containing big characters. It will depend on how much synergy characters have with other cards. For example, Luke doesn't really synergize with anything other than just random characters. He's a beatstick and his pod includes enhancements for characters. That is not restrictive. One or two copies will always be easily dropped into any character deck. Thanks for peeking inside the Garbage Chute that is my brain this week.

Tiny Grimes has been playing Star Wars LCG since its inception. He won the first Star Wars Regional. He also has lost far too many AGOT regionals to count. Ok fine, it's 4, are you happy now!