Stay On Target - Consistency, Impact, and Value... Oh My!

In a few days, Edge of Darkness will be upon us, and a whole myriad of new deck ideas will flood the world of Star Wars. Heck, Scum and Villainy might even be playable! In light of EoD’s release, I’m going to stray from any decklist discussion this time around – there will plenty of that later. Instead, I want to take a quick minute and address a simple concept that takes on a few added dimensions in Star Wars: Value.

Any given card can be valuable in Star Wars, given the right circumstances. Powerful characters can rule the game state; high Force icons can be beneficial in your hand for Edge Battle; and even situational cards like Imperial Officer can win the game if the stars align. So how do we judge value? Let’s look at two ways we can measure value in Star Wars.

The Value of Consistency

Star Wars is very, very swingy game. Often times, you are one play mistake, one bad draw, or one poor attack result away from losing control of the game in a hurry. One of the most important concepts of deckbuilding in any game is consistency – having a deck that can reliably handle the many situations that come up during a game. Given the nature of Star Wars, this can determine how many games play out, even before a match ever starts by offering answers to your opponent’s problems and curbing poor draws on your part.

There’s a reason that Sith control is the most popular Dark Side deck. It’s not just a little more popular than the next best thing – it has dominated events since the game’s release. Why? It has great value in both impact cards and consistency. Sith decks (whatever your affiliation flavor may be) are loaded with value from top to bottom. Sporting crazy amounts of character control (4 Force Chokes, 2 Force Lightnings) and some of the heaviest hitters in the game (Palpatine, Vader, maybe a Devastator of two), the Sith can reliably deal with whatever threats emerge during the game. A lone Darth Vader and one or two events can take complete control of a game, and Palpatine can easily stop Rebel decks in their tracks with only the power of his maniacal laugh. In other words, the Sith have a wide selection of impact cards that directly answer whatever problems may arise. Cards like Dark Precognition and Fall of the Jedi can help cycle away your more underpowered cards, and Counsel of the Sith adds card advantage that some decks just cannot compete with. They do not have to worry about situational usefulness nearly as much as The Imperial Navy and Scum and Villainy because they have value cards that can answer anything, as well as ways to dig for them if necessary. They have consistency.

The Value of Sets

Another measure of the value can be the quality of an objective set overall. This is another area the Sith excel in. Let’s take a look at a sample objective set, one which is clearly one of the best in the game: The Emperor’s Web. It contains:


The Emperor's Web (23-1) – A very strong objective, making Interrogation and Force Lightning into incredible values

Emperor Palpatine (23-2) – Arguably the strongest Dark Side unit. Can shut down entire Light Side Conflict phases

Emperor's Royal Guard (23-3) – Helping the Emperor and Vader stay alive. Also sports a robust 3 health.

Force Choke (23-6) - Free, versatile unit control. Tauntauns don't stand a chance

Force Lightning (23-5) - Spot removal for any threat...period. In terms of value, it’s hard to beat

Sith Library (23-4) – Basic resources are always strong.

Playing two of this set ensures 10 quality cards. There isn’t even anything close to mediocre in here; it’s all solid gold. The Imperial Navy and Scum and Villainy cannot come close to matching the overall value of a set like this one. In order to play a card like Devastator, you must also include cards like Imperial Officer (affectionately known as “Mustache Man” or simply “The Mustache”) and Defensive Upgrade. These cards, while occasionally valuable, don’t come close to the level of value of any card in Palpatine’s set, let alone most of those found in Counsel of the Sith and Fall of the Jedi. When you really need to draw out of a bad situation, The Mustache is not the man you were probably hoping to see.

In Practice

Let’s take a look at one of the newest objective sets through the lens of “value” and see how it measures up. The Last Defense of Hoth, the new objective set featuring Col Serra, has gotten its fair share of negative press lately, and after playing several games with it, I have to admit I am definitely not a fan either. Let’s make a quick examination of The Last Defense of Hoth from a value standpoint to illustrate why it is an underpowered set.

Consistency: This is a set that screeeeeeeams situational. Its objective turns off when damaged; Col Serra is only effective if you win the Edge Battle; Don’t Get Cocky has a stiff play restriction. The amount of hoops you have to jump through and the obstacles you have to dodge to make these cards valuable is just too great. At least the X-Wing will usually be a valuable addition to your board when played. Overall, it is very hard to count on these cards to have an impact on any consistent level.

Impact Cards: At 4 cost, Col Serra is a poor substitute for high value cards like Luke and Han and will rarely have the impact on the game that you want him to. The requirements for full use of the cards in the set if simply too great, and their impact is dulled by their inability to help you out of tight situations. The best you can hope for is Col Serra consistently winning the Edge battle to survive the likes of Palpatine and Vader to deliver some objective damage. Hardly the impact that the Light Side needs to punch through much of the DS defenses. None of the other cards (even the X-Wing, which I do really like) have the power to elevate this set's overall impact on any given game.

Overall Set Value: When the set is examined overall, the cracks really begin to appear. While, on the surface, The Last Defense of Hoth and Col Serra add value in the form of Edge manipulation, the extreme lack of Force icons in the set decreases the impact of this advantage. A whopping 5 Force icons is a real beating, particularly when Col needs to win the Edge Battle so badly, and Bothans the world over should be embarrassed by their only contribution to the game so far. There is also no resource in a faction that is left wanting for resources already. It is easily the Smuggler’s worst overall set to date and loses a lot when taken as a whole. Unlike many of his contemporaries, like Luke, Han, or even Yoda, Col is simply not powerful to carry these problems on his back and make the bad parts worth inclusion.

Next week, we will plenty to talk about with the release of Edge of Darkness and the new availability of its 22 new objective sets. Hopefully it is a set chock full of some of the value mentioned above.

Until next time!