Star Wars LCG: "Imperial Entanglements" Deluxe Expansion Review - DS part 2

Phantoms of Imdaar (182-1): 18 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (4/5) – Solid effect and it works on attack and defense, what is a bonus.

doctormungmung (3/5) – TIE decks are a thing now, so having multiple fighters attacking or defending can be a fairly easy condition to meet. Getting a shield effectively for free is decent. It can help make sure that one of those fragile TIEs gets to strike before getting shot down, or on units like Vader’s TIE (number two) or a Phantom they get to strike with their tactics. Perhaps if this wasn’t competing with other objective abilities like the Tarkin Doctrine or Enforced Loyalty, I’d rate it a bit higher, but as it is, I feel that this one is the runt of the litter, sitting just behind Might of the Empire.

yodaman (3/5) – Usually shields are good, but this ability seems a bit too situational. You have to have 2 fighters declared as attackers or defenders and you only get one shield. I think I’d bury this objective more often than not.

pantsyg (4/5) – Fighters are inexpensive and weak individually, especially on defense, so I often find myself defending with at least 2 to get enough damage into a fight. Shields help keep them around to apply their damage to the bad guys—er, good guys. I like it, though obviously you need to be running fighters to get full value.

Majestaat (4/5) – My fighter deck loses a lot more when I don't see this objective. You get a free shield for doing what TIE fighter decks do. Works on offense and defense, and it has no limit, so if your swarm is big enough, you can get one shield per engagement in a single turn.


TIE Phantom (182-2&3): 19.5 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (3.5/5) – They are pretty pricey, but the ability makes them super hard to block.

doctormungmung (4/5) – For a TIE fighter, it’s sometimes hard to swallow a cost of three, but you get a lot for that cost here. Besides getting a fighter with three icons (one being a white tactics), you get a fantastic ability. They will always get to strike during an engagement. That’s something that you can’t overlook. Sure, losing edge will mean that they don’t get their tactics, but so what, they can’t be tactics-ed out themselves (prior to striking). And Navy has several ways to bump up their output, like with Imperial Entanglements, Talon Roll, All Out Brawl (technically not Navy), etc. They are a little squishy, though, so after they strike they can be kind of easy to remove from the board.

yodaman (4/5) – These units are pretty good and you get two of them. They’re fighters so they’ll probably work well in decks with Fel and/or Vader, but then you need to add some other sets with resources to help get them into play. They are a bit costly at 3, but the fact you can make them immune from damage and tactics when they’re ready and in an engagement is great. If you win edge, you’ve got a tactics icon to use too.

pantsyg (4/5) – I love these units. These care even less about edge than Decimators, as they won’t get killed or locked down until they get a chance to swing. Having a tactics icon is awesome, making them more versatile on defense and difficult to block on the attack. They’re double-dirty with Tallon Roll. The downside is their cost; 4 3-cost units in a fighter deck is quite a bump in the cost curve.

Majestaat (4/5) – My favorite non-uniques in the box. Sadly, units with a cost of 3 have a very negative impact on the economic curve of fighter decks. The Phantoms are certainly worth every credit though. They have some reliable damage for offense and defense, plus tactics, which are scarce in fighter decks. Their ability makes them very obnoxious to deal with, normally requiring 2+ units to take care of them. Being nigh invulnerable, they really like buffs to their damage. Imperial Entanglements and All Out Brawl make them incredibly threatening.


Enhanced Laser Cannon (182-4): 15 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (3/5) – More unit damage is always nice, but this card just doesn’t seem to do as much as other 1 cost enhancements. Plus it being limited to fighter units is a bummer.

doctormungmung (2/5) – Black unit damage for fighters isn’t nearly as useful or sexy as black tactics for capitals and transports. Still, an extra damage combined with the other sources of unit damage can quickly add up. Particularly when you throw Talon Rolls into the mix. The rider effect will also help out, making those LS shields somewhat less useful. Still, I’d rather drop the rider effect and get these for a cost of zero. They do make nice edge cards.

yodaman (4/5) – I like that Navy got some enhancements in this set which allows units to gain combat icons. This one gives a gun and only works on fighters (it’s a shame you can’t put it on a Decimator, but that have been might too good), but it only costs 1 and it has 2 force icons if you need it for an edge battle.

pantsyg (3/5) – Extra unit damage is always good. I like that it has 2 pips for when you don’t have the free resource or can’t afford the card disadvantage. Worth noting that the text means all damage, including blast, can’t be stopped by shields.

Majestaat (3/5) – This has a fair amount of good targets, but ultimately that extra damage shouldn't mean much of a difference on its own. It is when you have other source of bonus damage that it can become really relevant. Fortunately, it has 2 force icons.


Fighters Coming In! (182-5): 14.5 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (3.5/5) – Great way to get a surprise blocker in or bring in the extra fighter to blow up an objective when your opponent did not think you could.

doctormungmung (2/5) – There are some sneaky things you can do with this event. Throw a vanilla TIE at an objective, and if your opponent doesn’t feel like it’s worth their effort to block, use this to decloak a TIE Phantom and tactics out a key unit of theirs. If you really want to get combo heavy, you can use the same setup, then use a Talon Roll to ready a TIE Attack Squadron, bring it into the engagement, then targeted strike away. Still, in the grand scheme of things, most of the time this card will be going into the edge stack, which at one force icon, won’t be doing too much for you.

yodaman (3/5) – Another situational card. It allows you to bring an extra fighter into an engagement. Sometimes it may make a difference and the event is free, but more often than not, it’s probably going to be an edge card that only has 1 icon.

pantsyg (3/5) – It’s free, works on attack or defense, and can bring a Phantom into the fight, where they’re difficult to handle. With even one Phantom on the board, this card gains a lot of value. TIE Attack Squadrons also gain a lot from this card, since you don’t have to telegraph their attack by leading with them. I like it in an aggressive fighter deck, where it can turn a TIE Fighter feint into a dead objective. Obviously, value declines steeply the fewer fighters you have in your deck.

Majestaat (3/5) – Depends very heavily on the state of the board, but it's basically an insurance that allows you to play safer. You can use it to delay the strike of your Phantom, so they can survive even against several enemies. You can get the last ticks of damage to destroy something, or get a final body after everyone's focused to prevent unopposed damage. An extra edge icon would have likely been enough to make this a 4.


Heat of Battle (182-6): 20 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (3/5) – Always a good fate card for the Dark Side.

doctormungmung (4/5) – Heat’s are great. Particularly on defense, although TIE decks tend to be more of the offensive bent. Still, Heat’s are great.

yodaman (4/5) – A Heat of Battle is always welcome and it’s nice to see Navy fighters get one now since the other Navy sets that have them are Devastator and DTP. Sometimes the Navy fighters lack punch and this helps.

pantsyg (5/5) – Bonus damage! Fighters generally have one gun, so they love seeing these.

Majestaat (4/5) – Always useful. Can be a nasty surprise with the Phantoms since they don't mind losing the edge at all.


Overall: 18 out of 25 possible points.

chunkygorillas (3.5/5) – It’s a solid set, but it seems too expensive and slow to fit in a TIE deck, but to make use of the whole set it will have to be played with other TIEs, to maximize synergy.

doctormungmung (3/5) – I think there are some decks out there where this set will be a lynchpin and help to wreck face, but until those come out of the woodwork, it’s going to sit squarely in the “decent” pile. It probably doesn’t help that this is by far the Navy set I’m least interested in in this expansion. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad set, but more it doesn’t shine as bright as the superstars that just got released along with it.

yodaman (3.5/5) – This is probably the weakest DS set in the expansion, but it’s still decent in the right deck. The cost of the Phantoms doesn’t work as well with fighter swarms, and the fact the set doesn’t have a resource hurts a bit. Still, it does have 9 force icons that are spread out evenly.

pantsyg (4/5) – While the other Navy sets in this box are all competing for space in similar decks, this one is thoroughly oriented in the Fighter tribe. Despite the high cost of the Phantoms, I think they’ll be strong additions to Fighter decks, and they may have some fun interactions with sets like Imperial Entanglements, Guri, or Zekka.

Majestaat (4/5) – The outcast of the Navy pods. It is by no means bad, but it's more limited in its use. You either go the full fighter route, which suffers from the Phantoms high cost; or you attempt to build "The Untouchables" deck that focuses on ignoring edge and dealing absurd amounts of unit damage.


Brothers of the Sith (183-1): 14.5 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (3/5) – There isn’t enough Sithspawn cards yet for this to be very powerful (yet), and right now the effect just does not make up for the Sith Affiliation only line. Shuffle effects are awesome though, especially when you are putting cards on the bottom of your deck with Fall of the Jedi; often cards that just aren’t needed at the moment, or you don’t have the resources for go on the bottom and this shuffle effect lets you get a chance of drawing them again.

doctormungmung (2/5) – Down the road, when there are more Sithspawn cards out there, this objective may be cost efficient. But as is, you’re giving up a resource to look and see if a total of maybe six cards in your deck are close to the top. Rahn’s Guidance lets you pull any unique Jedi unit, which will be at least six, and it’s free. I’m interested to see where they take the Sithspawn trait, but until it’s fleshed out more, this will most likely be a blank objective unless you are really desperate or just have a resource to spare. Although if you’re saving the resource for an event that you ultimately don’t need, you can dig through your deck for some pretty decent edge cards. Risky, but better than nothing if the situation calls for it.

yodaman (3.5/5) – Being able to search for cards is always good, but there are restrictions that make it not quite as effective as one would hope. You have to focus the objective and then shuffle the cards you don’t use back into your deck. It would have been nice if you could leave them there a la Rahn’s guidance. Also, the lack of available Sithspawn targets brings it down for now. The only Sithspawn cards currently available are in this set. It will be more useful when the Endor cycle comes out with the Sith Wyrm set, but that’s a ways off still.

pantsyg (3/5) – Spoiler alert, the Brothers are better when played together. If you have one without the other, one resource to dig for him seems pretty reasonable. I like how this backs up the theme of the set, but you’ll have to time this one right to get good value. Once more Sithspawn see print, this card could get much better.

Majestaat (3/5) – Very limited in use for now, you'll likely only use its ability if you don't have anything else to spend your resources on. The fact you draw any amount of Sithspawn cards you see can potentially make this very strong when we get more of those, especially if they have such good edge values as the ones here.


*Gorc (183-2): 25 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (5/5) – Great icons, with 3 force icons, and elite at 4 cost is amazing, and all that with 5 health! That is just incredible. The synergy with Pic is also makes him even better, but even without Pic Gorc is still amazing.

doctormungmung (5/5) – Gorc is beefy. Five health for four cost is unprecedented. On top of that, he hits like a ton of bricks with two black unit damage (and two white objective damage if he’s on the offense). He’s elite, so he’s hard to lock down. And he can not only protect his little brother, but also pull him back to hand, which leads to some shenanigans. But even without the combo capabilities, he’s totally worth his cost and then some.

yodaman (5/5) – A really powerful main. Gorc has incredible stats. For starters he costs 4, but has 5 health. Anytime a unit has more health than its cost, it’s a great thing. He’s Sithspawn so the objective helps find him. He’s elite, so he won’t get locked down easily. His icons are decent too with 2 black guns and 2 white blast. He gets to protect Pic and his reaction ties into that well. It’s a different type of Sith deck from before, but the Gorc/Pic combo can cause some serious headaches for the LS thanks to its synergy.

pantsyg (5/5) – Great value for the cost. The bouncing Pic ability will lead to some pretty crazy engagements, and even without Pic, he’s a sturdy, hard to lock down defender who can wield a lightsaber.

Majestaat (5/5) – One of the most efficient units in the game, nuff' said. He hits like a truck, laughs at unit damage and is a great Force holder. In an ideal world, he will also allow Pic to single-handedly get rid of a whole army. Fun times.


*Pic (183-3): 19 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (4/5) – I don’t think Pic is quite as good without Gorc out, but still his stats are good. When you do have Gorc out though this guy is crazy, you can bounce him in and out of your hand getting multiple strikes in.

doctormungmung (3/5) – What Pic is is a potentially free white tactics. Getting to drop a unit in for free is nuts. Combined with Gorc’s ability to return Pic to hand, he can be bouncing in and out of combat multiple times per turn. If the DS has edge, that becomes a real pain, as Pic will be tossing focus tokens around like they were candy. I personally hate playing against Heroes and Legends because of the crazy stuff it can pull. Gorc and Pic are a less capable but more contained version of that for the DS. That being said, if you don’t see Gorp, Pic is just a Tusken Raider with an extra force icon, which, to be honest, isn’t bad at all.

yodaman (4/5) – For Pic to shine, I think you’ll really need Gorc out, since you can put Pic into play for free if Gorc’s in the battle. He only has 2 health, but Gorc can protect him. His white tactics has to be accounted for and the fact he can bounce in and out of play when Gorc’s in an engagement and taking damage, makes him hard to deal with. It should be interesting to see how people utilize Gorc and Pic. Oh, and he’s Sithspawn too which works with the objective.

pantsyg (4/5) – Decent on his own, but he definitely wants to have his big brother in play. Being able to enter an engagement at will is very strong, especially when you have a tactics icon.

Majestaat (4/5) – On his own he is a slighly above average 2-cost chud. When Gorc hits the table, Pic can surprisingly become even more threatening than him, especially with Telephatic Connection out, and maybe a lightsaber.


*Telephatic Connection (183-4): 17 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (3/5) – This card is obviously not great if you don’t have Pic and Gorc out, but if you happen to, this card is pretty powerful. It’s also free so it’s fine to play it early before you draw Pic or Gorc.

doctormungmung (3/5) – Here’s another situational card that goes with the Gorc and Pic combo. Giving Gorc the ability to pull in a defender, like a Nudj, or a protector or someone else who’s just sitting back holding the force can put the LS through some tough decisions. Giving Pic targeted strike can make him a serious threat if Gorc is around. If neither of them show up, this card is at least a decent edge drop. If it cost anything more than zero, it would be a pretty bad card. As is, it’s situationally decent.

yodaman (4/5) – It’s a free, unique enhancement that has the Sithspawn trait. Since it has 2 force icons, it’s a good edge card if you already have one out on the table. The static ability really synergizes well with the units in the deck. While it’s out, Pic gets Targeted Strike and Gorc can make a LS unit defend.

pantsyg (4/5) – Both of the abilities on this card are strong, but they depend on having Pic and/or Gorc (preferably both) on the table, making this a pretty situational card. I love the idea of Gorc forcing units into fights to crush them, though, giving him a sort of Targeted Strike.

Majestaat (3/5) – Extremely situational since it can't even become better in the future (unless we get extra Sithspawn tutors or more versions of the Brothers, which I doubt), but it does give Gorc and Give some pretty strong abilities. Furthermore, it costs zero, so you can just play it even if you don't have anybody to benefit from it, or make it useful in an edge battle.


Force Stasis (183-5): 22 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (5/5) – This is one of the best Sith events in my opinion, people have played Heart of the Empire just for this card, and now that it’s in a much better set this card will see a ton of play.

doctormungmung (3/5) – Here we get a reprint of a pretty solid card. Forcing Yoda or Luke or Obi-wan to sit out an engagement can go a long way to slowing the LS down. The cost is about right at one, as it’s not too hard to leave a single resource available.

yodaman (4/5) – A reprint that’s great to see here. Force Stasis was always a card that could be used to help deal with characters, but it was in a set that didn’t see much play before. It’s in a much better set here. Well worth the 1 cost and most Sith decks can afford it. Also, it can be free if you have Emperor’s Web out and chances are you’ll be playing this set with Palpy anyway. It is a dead card though if you’re facing a vehicle deck, so that’s a drawback.

pantsyg (5/5) – I love this card, and am happy to see it reprinted in a more efficient set. Figure out which opposing unit will do you the most harm in the conflict phase, and tell it to sit down.

Majestaat (5/5) – With Jedi being now resilient against damage and tactics, this may be one of the best ways to slow them down. Do they sit back for a whole turn or risk attacking anyway without their best unit? Either way, you're winning.


Force Invisibility (183-6): 20 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (5/5) – This event is also super strong; it can save your best blocker from being locked down before they get a chance to strike.

doctormungmung (4/5) – While the cost is a bit high, the surprise factor and total tempo turnaround that can be achieved by protecting a unit from your opponent's combat icons can be huge. Just imagine blocking Echoes Yoda with Palp while the Dial is a ten. The LS is going to go all in to make sure they win edge and kill Palpatine. Then the Emperor just smiles, steeples his fingers, and tosses Yoda down a reactor shaft. Admittedly it’s only going to protect one character from one unit, but frequently that’s all you need.

yodaman (4/5) – This could be a money card as long as you have the 2 resources to play it. Your opponent might think they’re going to kill or lock down your one of your mains with only to have their unit’s combat icons all turned off. Seems like it would be ideal for keeping Palpy ready and alive so he can use his tactics icons or Vader with his saber to do a bunch of damage. It only works on Sith units, but that’s okay since this set leans towards a mono-Sith build.

pantsyg (3/5) – Without doubt this is a strong ability, but the cost is pretty high. I can see this card having a ton of impact saving expensive Mains like Palpatine and Vader from tactics or targeted stirke, but making sure to have the resources open will be a challenge. Compare this to Force Illusion from Mysteries of the Rim to see why this loses a point for cost.

Majestaat (4/5) – It's quite costly if you don't risk having The Emperor's Web out. However, you can get huge benefits out of this, probably saving your best unit while getting rid of your opponent's.


Overall: 20 out of 25 possible points.

chunkygorillas (4/5) – This set has a lot of internal synergies, but it’s also super solid on its own, I think it will be a staple in mono Sith decks, since that deck already has a lot of event synergy, and this set just adds 2 more super powerful events.

doctormungmung (4/5) – This set is pretty good and self contained, although it’s lacking a resource. As is, it’s kind of on par with Core Vader, although it gives up larger combo potential for being more self contained. Gorc is a beast in combat, and will do a lot of work for you. The events will also pull their weight, although finding the resources might be a bit tricky. As (hopefully) Sithspawn come a thing, this will start finding other deck types besides just standard Sith to slot into, and will likely go up in value.

yodaman (4/5) – It’s Sith only so you’ll probably want to play this in a mono-Sith deck to get the most out of it. It does have 9 icons too which is great for edge battles. Not quite as good as the main Navy sets in the box, but a nice addition to Sith that will hopefully lead to some other deck-types in the future when more Sithspawn cards are released in Endor.

pantsyg (4/5) – Sith get another very solid set, and one that seems really fun to play with to boot! I can see the Gorc-Pic-Telepathic Connection combo being very strong, and both Gorc and Pic are strong enough on their own to bring value even if they can’t combo. Best of all, this doesn’t really require synergy with other sets, so it can slot right into any Sith deck to bring some solid characters and events.

Majestaat (4/5) – Since you'll likely play this in Sith and with Vader as well, your main issue will be handling resources, similar to how it can be in Sith decks with The Reawakening. If you can solve the money's issue, you're good to go. The units and events are very strong, the objective and enhancement are really situational, but potentially powerful or easy to ditch anyway.


The Hutt's Menagerie (184-1): 17.5 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (4/5) – Recurring cards is strong, especially when there is a Protect unit in this set that you can keep bringing back.

doctormungmung (3/5) – Similar to the issues of Brother’s of the Sith, the Hutt’s Menagerie suffers from there not being all that many DS creatures you’d want in a single deck, although it’s certainly not as bad. It allows you to play Rancors that wind up eating themselves again, or cycle Ice Trompers all the live long day. Perhaps one of the sneakier thing to do with it would be to pull back Bubo after he dies and use his two force icons in a subsequent edge battle. But, as with Brothers, you need to keep the resource open, which isn’t necessarily efficient. Unlike Brothers, though, you are guaranteed to get back something that you want.

yodaman (4.5/5) – Sure, this ability is cool since it gives you a way to get a creature from discard, but the bottom line is it allows you to recycle Bubo over and over if the objective is it, and use him to protect your valuable scum units. This objective is understandably limit 1 because of the protect recycling ability. The fact the set is limit 1 brings it down a bit since that means it’s a bit less consistent.

pantsyg (3/5) – This will mainly be a Bubo rejuvenation machine, until more decent DS creatures emerge. When you do get to use this on Bubo a few times you’ll feel good, but otherwise just OK.

Majestaat (3/5) – While always having Bubo and/or Jabba's Rancor in play is sweet, it's rather hard to accomplish with all these cards being effectively singles. Wampas or Icetrompers could have been nice fits, but Scum does not even have Hoth objectives.


*Malakili (184-2): 19.5 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (3.5/5) – Since you can only run 1 of each creature in this set in a deck it’s super awesome that you can tutor out the one you want with this. He doesn’t do much else for the board after is reaction goes off though.

doctormungmung (4/5) – Creature search! I believe this is the first targeted search card for the DS. We all know how good Yoda, You Seek Yoda is. Now the DS gets a card that can pull out a Rancor, Bubo, a Dathomiri Rancor, Wampas, etc. You get to pick, which is great. Being in a limit one objective set, Malakili effectively makes it like you have two of Jabba's Rancor in your deck. And once he’s done his job, he can help shoot down any LS units gunning for a DS objective. Combined with Slimiest Scheme, you can pull several of your creatures to hand in preparation for a big next turn.

yodaman (4/5) – For 1 cost, 1 health, with 1 black gun, this is not the best unique. Where Malakili shines though is ability. Before you can start recycling Bubo to protect scum units, you need to find and play him. Malakili gives you a way to find him and helps mitigate the fact the set is limit 1. When you play Malakili, you can use his ability to bring any creature into your hand and since Malakili is so cheap you’ll most likely be able to play the creature the same turn. You can also pull out things like Jabba’s Rancor or a Krayt Dragon to get some powerful units in hand to deploy. Malakili’s technically a unit, but he probably won’t really play like one.

pantsyg (4/5) – He’s a tutor, which I like to see in one-of sets. Considering how strong Bubo and the Rancor are, it’s nice to have another chance to dig them up. As a bonus, you get a chud unit.

Majestaat (4/5) – Basically an event that also happens to give you an extra body on the field. He certainly helps to make the objective more consistent. Once in play, he's no better than cannon fodder, but at least he is unique, so he can trigger The Prince's Scheme. If there were more creatures, he would be an easy 5, but as it stands, it's even quite possible that you'll draw Malakili after Bubo and the Rancor.


*Jabba's Rancor (184-3): 23 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (5/5) – Probably one of the best blockers in the game, it has enough guns to kill Main Characters, and if you win the edge you can kill another unit!

doctormungmung (4/5) – Speaking of creatures, this one is a doozy. It’s not quite as straight up deadly as a Dathomiri Rancor, but it’s also never going to be a danger to your own units (or itself), so that’s a fair trade (if not even a better deal). Getting a bit of blast is nice for Scum, although they’ve started to get more in the recent sets, so it’s not as crucial. But with all of Scum’s edge tricks, it’s not all that hard to trigger his rider ability, and just eat a character or creature. He’s got the same bad matchup as his Dathomiri cousin vs vehicles, but in that case, he has his three black unit damage to swat Rogue Squadron X-Wings out of the sky. And at four health, he’s going to be sticking around a while (if he can keep from being buried under tactics).

yodaman (4/5) – Another cool scum card which is unique. You’ll want to win the edge battle to maximize its ability and potentially get rid of two units at once. Nevertheless, Jabba’s Rancor has 3 black guns so you can use it to potentially one shot Rogue Squadron X-Wings, Falcon, and most Jedi mains. Taking out two units sometimes is just icing on the cake. It’s a really good card since at a cost of 4 you could play it turn 1, and 4 health makes it hard to kill.

pantsyg (5/5) – This is a great card. With all of Scum’s edge tricks, winning an edge battle is fairly straightforward—and he’s unique, so he can trigger The Prince’s Scheme and help himself out. Even if you lose, this guy will eat any Main who doesn’t have the tactics to stop him.

Majestaat (5/5) – Now here's something that will make the LS wet its pants in the worst possible way. Your opponent will do his best to focus the Rancor before swinging with his most valuable units, because even minor mistakes will spell death when facing it, especially since it can trigger The Prince's Scheme on his own. If Behind the Black Sun is out winning edge is even easier.


*Bubo (184-4): 22.5 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (4/5) – Protect is something Scum really needs, and giving them a slightly worse Royal Guard will help the faction out a lot.

doctormungmung (4/5) – If the Rancor wasn’t what you wanted, you could always play Bubo, and protect all your important characters, like Jabba, Xizor, Snoova, Boba (core), etc. Scum getting some protect is what many people have been clamoring for for a long time. While it’s not in the form of cheap palace guards, being on a three health unit that’s recyclable is pretty good. What’s also interesting is that it can protect any Scum unit, including Jabba’s Pleasure Barge, Slave One, etc. To top it all off, Bubo is cheap and has two force icons!

yodaman (5/5) – Scum finally gets a protector and Bubo is great at the job. He costs 2 and has 3 health so he’s similar to a Royal Guard. He does have 1 less gun, but since the objective allows you to potentially recycle him and protect some more, he’s an outstanding card. Great addition to every possible scum deck since Bubo can protect Scum units. That means he can protect not just characters, but droids like IG-88 and vehicles like Slave I!

pantsyg (5/5) – I’m predicting that at least one of my fellow reviewers will say, “Finally, Scum gets Protect!” My money is on Yodaman. Bubo isn’t much of a fighter on his own, but he is the in-faction Protect Scum have needed for awhile. He’s great for keeping Xizor around, or preventing Galactic Scum to succumbing to lost Force struggles.

Majestaat (4.5/5) – This is what the Emperor's Royal Guards looked like early in the evolutionary chain. Not too threatening with only one gun, but it's high HP and two force icons still make it great to stay back and hold the Force while receiving punches for your other units. Such is the life of the interior crocodile alligator.


Underground Entertainment (184-5): 21 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (4/5) – This is a great way to protect your best objectives, plus you get to put it back in your deck to use again.

doctormungmung (3/5) – It’s an Icetromper in enhancement form. Except it’s even better, because it’s free, and shuffles itself back into your deck after use. And it can be used for both attacking and defending units! Now you can send a Jawa or four in at an objective, and now your opponent needs to defend with at least two units. It’s also great for pinging damage on a unit that needs to die. And if you find yourself up against a vehicle deck, it’s got two force icons.

yodaman (4/5) – You basically get the Icetromper ability, but on a card that recycles itself. Everytime you use it, you shuffle it back into your deck so you could potentially use it again. Like other cards in this set, the ability for it to recycle helps mitigate the fact it’s a limit 1 set. The enhancement only works on non-vehicle units, but since it’s free you’ll pretty much always want to put it out and hopefully use it to remove something from an engagement. Coupled with cards like Guri you could potentially remove things, drop in Guri and then use a more powerful unit like Jabba or Xizor to focus the removed unit down.

pantsyg (5/5) – It’s free, recurs itself, and kicks enemies out of fights you don’t want them in. Great for stopping attacks that would destroy an important or nearly-dead objective. The damage is just sort of a bonus.

Majestaat (5/5) – I only see good things here, quite literally. Free, 2 pips, deals damage, protects your important objective, auto-recursion, and probably allows you to lock down the opposition because, you know, you're Scum and have tons of tactics. If the LS attacks with a single unit, block with a Jawa, for example, and trigger this enhancements before the edge battle.


Jabba's Summons (184-6): 24 out of 25 possible points.



chunkygorillas (5/5) – Finding just the bounty hunter or mercenary you need is really amazing, grabbing something like Snoova or pilot Boba when the time is right is pretty amazing. Plus the art is amazing.

doctormungmung (4/5) – Not only do you get creature search in this set, you also get mercenary and bounty hunter search as well! Considering that just about any Scum unit worth caring about is either a bounty hunter or mercenary, that’s incredibly versatile. For one cost, you can pull exactly the unit that you need at the time you need them. It’s too bad you can ever only have one of these in your deck, but then, having two would probably just be too good.

yodaman (5/5) – Simply incredible event. For 1 cost, you get to search your deck for a Bounty Hunter or Mercenary unit and put it into your hand. The cost is low enough that you’ll often be able to play the unit you just searched for during the same turn. Now if you have Boussh, you can go find Snoova or vice versa. If you have pilot Boba, you can go find a Headhunter to put him on or vice versa. You can find Zekka to set up a board wipe. The versatility of this card is amazing. Sure you can’t get Xizor or Jabba with this, but who cares.

pantsyg (5/5) – A tutor for Bounty Hunters is great. Plenty of them are situational (Pilot Boba needs a vehicle, Snoova and Boushh want to be played together, etc), so being able to get them at the right time is strong. Worth noting that on top of the named Bounty Hunters, you can grab Black Sun Headhunters for Boba to ride or to finish off objectives, but you can’t grab Guri.

Majestaat (5/5) – Unllike a creature tutor, a bounty hunter/mercenary tutor has a ton of good targets, and will keep getting many more good targets since Scum mainly revolves around those traits for its more important units. If for some reasons you can't or don't want to play it, it's still got to force pips.


Overall: 23 out of 25 possible points.

chunkygorillas (4.5/5) – This set is amazing, and really helps the faction out a ton, the only bad part is that it’s limited to only 1 copy per deck *sad face*.

doctormungmung (4/5) – This is a fantastic support set for Scum, and can fit into just about any Scum deck you want. Protect your mains, swing for lots of unit damage with Guri at the Rancor’s leash, control who your opponent can include in an engagement, or search out the creature or main that you need. The versatility and consistency it brings to whatever deck it’s in is well worth the one slot it takes up.

yodaman (4.5/5) – An outstanding Scum set whose only real drawback is that it’s limit 1. Of course, it would probably be too powerful if you could run 2 of these so it’s understandable. Expect to see this objective in most future Scum sets since it’s so versatile. I love that it has 3 unique scum units since that gives more targets for The Prince’s Scheme. A deck with Xizor, Guri, Jabba and this probably will form a pretty good core since it gives lots of ways to mess with edge battle math and you can take advantage of winning or losing them to get the most out of your cards

pantsyg (5/5) – This set is an auto-include for mono-Scum decks. The creatures are very strong and can be tutored, and most Scum decks are built around strong but timing-dependent Bounty Hunter and Mercenary units anyway, so a tutor for them is very welcome.

Majestaat (5/5) – An auto-include for Scum decks. It provides a ton of diverse utility, and also one very scary defender in the Rancor.


FINAL WORDS:
The Light Side pods aren't as bad as people claimed them to be, but there's no doubt that the Dark Side was the big winner with this Deluxe Expansion, getting big boosts to preexisting archetypes and generating a whole new one revolving around Officers and heavy control, which works very differently to Scum's or Sith's own control tools. Props to the design team!
On the other hand, I'm still quite mad there were no Walkers included here, but seems like the Endor cycle will fix that, so I can forgive FFG this time.

Talking about the Endor cycle, that's what's next for us. Now we just take a short break and wait for Solo's Command to be released.

Random note: I think we should change the name of the "Top 10 cards", because they're never actually 10

As always, big thanks to the reviewers and readers who still keep up with this artciles. Everyone's invited to comment below, to share thoughts, maybe even bash or praise us for our opinions, but please do so respectfully.

If you want to check previous reviews, you can easily find them in our forum thread.

May the Force be with you all!