Stay On Target - Rochester Regionals and Self Preservation

Welcome to Stay on Target, a new recurring column focusing on Star Wars: The Card Game. The goal of this column going forward will be to provide some decklists/ strategy and metagame discussion, focusing on everything from tournament winning decks to individual cards and strategy.The end result, hopefully, will be increased discussion and debate about decklists, metagame calls, as well as some good tips and ideas for newer players. So please, leave your feedback and comments on whatever topics happen to emerge! Without further ado, let’s dive in with a quick look at our recent local Regional here in Rochester, NY this past week and shed some light on one of the most polarizing Objective Sets to come out lately.

Regional Info

We had 14 players for our Regional event, some coming from as far as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Ontario to shuffle some cards. As always, I enjoyed meeting everyone from out of town, and I really appreciated everyone making the drive to be with us (hopefully I’ll be seeing you all again soon!).

For the Light Side, there was a good mix of Jedi, Smuggler, and Rebels, with all three affiliations getting some love. The eventual winner of the event, Josh Johnson, played a very ballsy, all-in Rebel/Jedi deck (featuring Hit and Run) that either won or lost big (deck list to follow). In a tournament format where time is a factor and killing Objectives matters, a handful of Target of Opportunities can go a long way, and more than one game ended soundly on turn 3. If your opponent's opening hand does not contain the necessary cards to deal with lots of small, suicidal vehicles, it can be game over pretty quick. Sometimes the Sith would sit there with a hand full of Force Chokes and expensive units as a Yavin 4-fueled barage of vehicles laid seige to everything they held dear. If the initial push didn't work, it was downhill in a hurry though, as Palpatine and a protector could easily take over the game. Either way, there was always plenty of time for game 2! In the end, it was enough to push through for the title.

For the Dark Side, variety was, sadly, not much of a factor. Of the 14 players in the event, 100% of them built the core of their decks around the Sith, and while all three affiliation cards made an appearance, every deck, without fail, was sporting Fall of the Jedi, the Emperor’s Web, and Counsel of the Sith. The top 4 was split evenly between Scum and Villainy and Imperial Navy for splashes, with Josh and Terry opting for the versatility of the Weequay Elites, while Patrick and I chose the closeout potential of Devastator. For me, especially playing such a control-minded deck, Devastator adds a way to get an Objective or two under your belt if the game comes down to a tie-breaker situation. As the Sith have notoriously small amounts of Objective damage, I feel that some form of aggression is necessary in a tournament format that goes to time as often as SW does. The extra Control Rooms don't hurt either, as the deck has a larger than average cost curve.

Regarding The Killing Cold: Even in a deck that does not really make superior use of its ability, I was still impressed by what The Killing Cold and Shadows on the Ice could do. Wampas and Trompers did amazing work all day long and Sucumb to the Cold is an all-star calibur card. I can't wait to see what will happen when 8 Hoth Objectives are playable with this. The amount of control provided by The Killing Cold is absurd. If the LS player cannot one-shot an Objective with a character straight up, chances are you can do some crazy tricks to keep it alive. Any break in damage (Target of Opportunity, Trust Your Feelings, etc.) will result in time to heal the Objective through Action windows, making the LS attacks much more complicated and clunky. Even the threat of Desolation of Hoth is enough to make a difference as well. Leaving 4 damage on a Hoth Objective will be dangerous business going forward. I'm definitely excited to see how the Hoth Objectives will pan out in the end. Hopefully, with the release of some new Hoth Objectives and the new Edge of Darkness deluxe set, the Dark Side will open up and see the same variety enjoyed by the good guys.

The Top 4 decks consisted of the following lists:

1^st Josh Johnson

Light Side: Jedi. 4,4,8,8,11,11,12,18,38,38

Dark Side: Scum and Villainy. 19,19,20,20,23,23,24,24,47,47

2^nd Patrick Pulvino

Light Side: Smugglers and Spies. 8,8,10,10,11,38,38,44,44,45

Dark Side: Imperial Navy. 19,19,20,20,23,23,26,29,29,46

3^rd/ 4^th Terrence Hasseler

Light Side: Jedi. 1,1,2,2,3,3,4,5,48,48

Dark Side: Scum and Villainy. 19,19,20,20,23,23,24,24,47,47

3^rd/4^th Jim Despaw

Light Side: Jedi. 1,1,2,3,3,4,4,5,48,48

Dark Side: Imperial Navy. 19,19,20,23,23,29,29,40,40,42

Both the 3^rd and 4^th place decks in the event were sporting one Jedi Objective set that has caused a bit of a stir lately. Although I was playing one of those decks, I’m still not entirely convinced of Self Preservation’s value as a whole. Let’s take a closer look…

The Trouble with Gotals

At 3:00 AM the night before the event, I put together a handy Smuggler/ Rebel vehicle deck that I was very happy with and was looking forward to playing. Naturally, I left said deck alone and abandoned on the kitchen table on my way out the door. The only other deck I had available was the Jedi/ Gotal monstrosity listed above that I had put together solely for good times. And while we can debate the merits of only including 1 copy of In You Must Go in a Jedi deck all day, I do want to talk a little about the deck and Self Preservation as a set. It’s fun; it’s, at times, very explosive; and, in the words of Admiral Ackbar:

It's a Trap!

Self Preservation (48-1) is very cool. It’s a well designed, very flavorful objective set that seemingly opens up a whole different style of Jedi play. Having so many blast icons in a Jedi deck adds a dimension of explosiveness, while still keeping many of the control avenues intact. And this deck has lots of avenues to attack from. Red 5 and Gotal Outcasts have plenty of objective destroying power; Luke and Obi-Wan still give a good measure of control; Double Strike and Trust Your Feelings can make even one crappy Gotal into a one-shot, objective-killing machine; Jedi Mind Trick is still a nightmare for the Sith; and Forgotten Heroes combos well with your 4x Outcasts.

What’s not to like?

The trap mentioned above is the situational disadvantages your cards can put you in, especially when compared to the more standard (and consistent) Jedi Smuggler’s Den/ Caverns builds. Star Wars is a very situational game, and while many card combos can be devastating in the right light, it’s the cards and deck synergies that impact ANY situation effectively that make for the best bets. Typical Jedi builds tend to play with sets that have high impact and/or utility on any situation that may arise. Before visions of controlling the Force with 3 Gotals in play or Yoda sporting double Soretsu Training and two Lightsabers get out of hand, think about the following factors, all of which were issues for me at the event:

• Forgotten Heroes seems to make Obi-Wan’s set a natural fit for Self Preservation’s Force User Gotals. Sadly, despite the fact that his abilities and icons are all useful, Old Man Kenobi is the very definition of slow. In addition to his 5 cost, he sports only a single white blast icon and no targeted damage. He often does not have the potential to win the game by himself, unlike Luke, Han, or even Yoda with some toys.

• With the addition of Forgotten Heroes and A Journey to Dagobah, the deck has a lot of units with one health capacity. When your board is R2D2/ C3PO/ Jedi in Hiding/ Twi’lek Loyalist and your opponent drops Darth Vader, you will be looking for the nearest Sarlac Pit to jump into.

• There are plenty of “My cards don’t fit the situation” moments: You have 2 Gotal Outcasts without control of the Force; you have Double Strike and Trust Your Feelings in your hand and only Red 5 and R2D2 in play; A lone Red 5 or Gotal Outcast stares down a Wampa, trying to fight back tears.

• Very rarely are Gotal Outcasts as explosive as you want them to be, particularly on your turn 1 (when they would be truly devastating). Barring a lucky Mind Trick on their only potential Force target, chances are you will have to wait and play Force roulette to optimize your attacks later.

• The objectives can be clunky. Capturing the Force from a Sith player is sometimes difficult without Self Preservation, and without Forgotten Heroes in play, Jedi in Hiding is not particularly thrilling, if not downright bad.

• You might realize at some point that you are not playing Han Solo and it will make you sad.

None of this is to say that the Self Preservation set is bad – it has its uses and is loads of fun. I’m just not quite willing to cast aside synergy and consistency for the promise of shiny Gotals just yet. What do you think about Self Preservation? Does it have its place in the metagame, or is its relevance overvalued? Weigh in!

With Edge of Darkness looming, the metagame is poised to shift dramatically in the next few weeks. Hopefully, the Dark Side will start enjoying some success across all of their affiliations and give Vader and the Emperor a break from all the heavy lifting. Next time around, hopefully we’ll have a host of new cards to look at and, with any luck, talk about some new Scum and Villainy builds that will finally raise Bounty Hunters from obscurity!