SWLCG "A Wretched Hive" Force Pack Review - Light Side

MEET THE FAMILY (aka - THE REVIEWERS):
-doctormungmung (codename: Salty), Massachussets' evil genius;
-yodaman (codename: Candy), he who you seek when numbers are involved;
-pantsyg (codename: Spicy), jankmaster general;
-Majestaat (codename: Bitter), the one to blame for typos and delayed articles.

THE RATING SYSTEM:
It's to be noted that due to the SW:LCG's unique way of deckbuilding, it's impossible to just pick the stronger cards. You're likely to stick with some undesirable cards no matter what. Hence, the different scores could be seen as:
1 – Poor – Edge fodder. Drops the total value of its objective set.
2 – Bad – Most likely edge fodder. Either too situational or clearly not strong enough for its cost.
3 – Average – Not stellar but does its job decently.
4 – Good – Solid card with guaranteed impact.
5 – Great – Gamechangers you will always be glad to see and play, if able.
* = indicates unique card.


THE BIG DEALS:


Top 3 LS Cards:
1 – Resourceful Survivors, with 15 out of 15 possible points.
2 – Improvised Defenses (The Last Warrior), with 14 out of 15 possible points.
3 – Well Equipped (The Last Warrior), with 13.5 out of 15 possible points.

Top 3 DS Cards:
1 – I Don't Like You Either, with 15 out of 15 possible points.
2 – Coerced (I Don't Like You Either), with 15 out of 15 possible points.
3 – He Doesn't Like You (I Don't Like You Either), with 15 out of 15 possible points.

Overall best rated Objective Set:
I Don't Like You Either, with 15 out of 15 possible points.



THE REVIEWS:

Resourceful Survivors (236-1): 15 out of 15 possible points.


doctormungmung (5/5) – Speeding past the generic statline, we get to an effect we haven’t seen before to this level: event recursion. Now, Sith has been digging events from the discard pile for a while, and it’s been doing that to good effect. Now the Rebels get in on the love. What this objective does is effectively double all the Rebel events in your deck. You can play it once, or discard it to edge or just card draw during the draw phase, and still play it later in the game. Always wanted more Rebel Assaults in your deck, but didn’t want to load up on Rookie Pilots? Here’s your answer (while eight Rebel Assaults are tempting, you’ll need to play those over eight turns, which is quite a long time for the DS to steal the show). But getting another pair of Scouting Ahead, or even a second Undercover could be game changing. And the best part, there’s no added cost to these events or using the ability.

yodaman (5/5) – A really powerful objective ability since it allows you to play a Rebel event from your discard pile once per turn. This will certainly lead people to try decks meant to get off 8 Rebel Assaults although there are other Rebel Events like Scouting Ahead, Rapid Fire and Infiltration that can make use of this. The objective seems like it would naturally pair with Turning the Tide and or the newest Mon Mothma to help get discounts on events.

Majestaat (5/5) – Great objective. Discard those situational/expensive events if drawn early, knowing you can still use them afterwards. Or get double the value from those you'd always play anyway. Though a bit limited, this may be one of the best recursion tools in the game, as it doesn't have any associated additional costs. Just make sure you're not focusing super heavily on this ability (Rebel Assault spam, anyone?), because you'll really hurt if your deck can't work properly when you don't see the objective in time.


*General Vanden Willard (236-2): 12.5 out of 15 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – Most of the General’s score here comes from his stats. Three black icons, three force pips, three health, all for three cost is a great deal. As long as he gets to strike (ie, isn’t focused down) he’ll be doing work. And if you’ve got any events in your deck, you get to replace it once per turn. Card draw is good. Similar to Dodonna, you’re not going to break the bank here, but keeping your hand up while cycling through your deck is a long term investment that usually pays off. He’s also another Rebel Leader to help trigger the multitude of effects, like getting those Rebel Tacticians into two cost glass cannons.

yodaman (4.5/5) – A very good Rebel Character main. He’s great value at 3 cost for 3 health and he has all black icons (2 guns and 1 blast). His ability lets you draw a card after you play an event card once per turn which helps keep cards in your hand for edge battles. He’s also a Leader so he can help take advantage of the Rebel’s Hope fate card or Hope of Rebellion in certain situations. Lack of elite is a downside, but he does have 3 pips.

Majestaat (4/5) – As it's often the case for Rebels, we're getting a 3-cost, non-elite main. Despite that and his subpar combat icons, I think Willard is still rather solid with his 3-pips, 3 HP, all black icons and built-in draw. Given his icons spread, deciding whether to have him for offense or defense may be one of his biggest issues.
Worth noting that between him and Dodonna, it's perfectly possible to keep a strong edge hand without compromising your deployment phase. Resourceful Survivors has the Yavin 4 trait, and Willard is a leader, so you've got good enough synergy there.


Alderaanian Survivor (236-3): 9 out of 15 possible points.


doctormungmung (2/5) – This guy won't do much for your after he hits the board, but digging for any event (Bamboozle seems like a good option, or perhaps something with three pips) is a solid effect. Essentially you get a warm body to go with a one cost Rahn’s Guidance for events that then shuffles your deck. If you could return the cards back in any order, I’d be able to give him a three rating, but as is, there’s just a too little return for paying his cost. Perhaps when Hera shows up, he’ll get a bit of a bump by becoming a pretty cost efficient defender. Too bad her set doesn’t have an event...

yodaman (3.5/5) – For 1 cost you get a chud with 1 health and 1 black gun that synergizes well with the set because it lets you search the top 5 cards for an event card. You then shuffle the remaining cards back in your deck. The fact it doesn’t have to be a Rebel event card certainly helps the usefulness of this unit.

Majestaat (3.5/5) – Cool ability, mediocre stats, which is way many people don't consider this guy a unit at all. Still, he's a cheap body that accelerates your deck a bit and probably replaces itself with a better edge card.
Should've probably had a white blast instead of that gun. This guy could become more relevant if we see more sacrifice events.


Peaceful Resistance (236-4): 11 out of 15 possible points.


doctormungmung (3/5) – LS get’s access to it’s own “Tear This Ship Apart”. There are a lot of great non-limited enhancements these days on both sides of the board, so paying one to get rid of something like Fortified Holding Cells or Early Warning System is well worth it. And in the off chance that they don’t have something worth destroying, it’s got two force pips, which makes it a decent edge card.

yodaman (4/5) – A neat event that may be a bit too situational to get a 5. For 1 cost you get to discard a target non-limited enhancement. While you won’t be able to do much about most resources, if you draw this at the right time and get rid of a lightsaber, Promotion, Fortified Holding Cells or even Underground Entertainment, it will be well worth it. With 2 force icons, it’s decent in edge if you have no good targets.

Majestaat (4/5) – Although it won't always come as efficient, there are enough annoying DS enhancements to make this really useful. Lightsabers, Bones of a Fallen Master, Early Warning System, Forward Command Post, Fortified Holding Cells and Abandoned Hideout are some examples of stuff I'll be really glad to remove. Special Mention to Underground Entertainment. No more recycling for you.


A New Hope (236-5): 12.5 out of 15 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – Here’s a reprint that’s the LS has needed for a while. With all the direct and indirect removal floating around these days, the DS frequently gets to build up a pretty sizable board while the LS is left with only a few units. This can at least help even the odds. Played at the right time your opponent will be left with a tough choice: keep a few defenders around to try and hold off an assault, or keep their big units that have been attacking around because they are a significant investment. It’s not a total board wipe, so there’s a significantly less chance of a blowout turn, especially since you’ve now padded the DS’s edge hand, but it’s still a better position than facing down 6-10 enemy units. And because you can pull your own units back to hand, you can do sneaky things like clear up a locked out unit, or trigger Leia, or get another deployment of Jedi Kyle. There’s a lot of versatility here, and it’s something that the LS has needed for a while.

yodaman (3.5/5) – Board wipes are usually most effective when you time them right. This one can be a bit tricky to get the maximum effect since each player gets to choose up to 3 units to keep on the board. However, it can help your LS deck deal with a DS swarm and put things back on even footing. Nice to see this reprinted in a more playable set. 2 force icons make it useful in edge battles if all else fails.

Majestaat (5/5) – Rating probably conditioned by the current meta, in which DS has many removal tools, both in the form of events and units. In such a world, it's hard to mantain a decent board and even harder to push through the ever increasing dark side army. This is where A New Hope shines with all its glory.
It's a very big deal that, unlike most other resets, this one's got no restriction to when it can be played, and it's also rather cheap. If you've got the resources to spare during the DS turn, you can then make a big play in yours.


Preparation and Planning (236-6): 11.5 out of 15 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – You know that event that I was just talking about? How about getting to play it for free? Or a free Bamboozle? Or Rebel Assault? That kind of boost can turn games. Particularly if your opponent isn’t expecting it. Did they under defend a chump attack? Lock out their best remaining defender with a Bamboozle? Of use that surprise Outmaneuver to send Palpatine back to hand with a locked down Freeholder. There are a lot of combo plays that this enables. Heck, you can even get a free Yoda on the board after all their ready defenders decided to block your apparently only two engagements that turn. Admittedly, there will be times when this card is blank, but two force pips are nothing to sneeze at.

yodaman (4/5) – I really like this fate card and it synergizes well with this set. You want to be playing events if you’re playing Resourceful Survivors and this helps you get them at a discount, although you have to wait until after edge battles to take advantage of that and also hope the card doesn’t get twisted.

Majestaat (3.5/5) – Remember what I said about having the resources to play A New Hope in the DS turn? Well, you've got them here, unannounced. This card goes from okay to good depending on your build. Firstly, it's a combo card, so you always need an additional asset to make it work. Secondly, if you're really focusing on this, you need enough events with a cost to make it relevant, but that presents a new problem itself: you'll depend too much on this card and your deck will become much more expensive.


Overall: 12 out of 15 possible points.

doctormungmung (4/5) – I think this is a very solid support set. At the moment I’m not seeing it run as more than a single, but maybe someone will find an abuse that makes having two worth it. But even as a one of, you get a very solid unit and a couple of good events, with a great objective effect. The main thing holding it back is the lack of resources (that happens all too often), so it’ll have to compete with your other non-resource objective sets for a spot in your deck. And if you’re going to rely on those sets to do the heavy lifting it may be hard to justify a spot for Willard and crew. Still I wouldn’t be surprised to see this set become a common sight in just about any LS deck that runs good events.

yodaman (4/5) – A very good Rebel character set that will probably get people to try some new ideas and bring back some older sets. 10 force icons is outstanding although the lack of resources hurts a bit since you’ll want resources to be able to play your events and get units out.

Majestaat (4/5) – Even though I rather like the individual cards and they do have some good synergy, the set is simply lacking in the combat department, with only a total of 3 black guns and 1 blast divided among two units (yes, the Survivor is a unit. FACE IT). If Willard sacrificed a gun for a tactics, and/or the Survivor had blast instead, this set would be a really strong contender in some Rebel decks.
In its current form, you'll probably build around it or completely ignore it, though there's enough value on A New Hope itself that you could squeeze in a single copy if you feel like you really need it.


The Last Warrior (237-1): 12 out of 15 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – Influence is becoming a more common keyword, and that’s a good thing. It really helps smooth out resource match issues in multi-affiliation decks. And considering it’s looking like if you want a full Specter deck, you’re going to have to go tri-color, then the more influence the better. On top of that, this objective will shut down a lot of the DS card draw if you can keep one of your Specter units on the board. Now that we have three Specters and some situational search for them, it’s getting easier. And being able to say “No” to Mouse Droids, Inquisitors, Council of the Sith, Dark Precog, etc is a powerful effect.

yodaman (4/5) – Influence is an outstanding keyword and the objective text keeps your opponent from drawing cards through card effects if a Spectre unit is out. Now that we have more Spectre units thanks to the last couple of packs, the objective’s text is more likely to be turned on. That means you can stop DS from gaining card advantage from Counsel or Mouse Droids or recycling their deck using the Inquisitor. It also shuts off Masterful Manipulation since part of the effect of its ability is to draw a card. Still, if your opponent isn’t making use of repeated card draw, there are probably better objectives to start with than this one.

Majestaat (4/5) – First we have Influence, an amazing keyword for you creative deckbuilders who really want to mix things up. Then there's conditional draw denial. While you'll need an expensive Spectre to activate it in the first place, and there's not a whole lot of draw outside the draw phase itself, this can bring the pain to old-school Sith decks with Counsel; shut down Masterful Manipulation (this is huge); and make the weak edge in Enforced Loyalty more noticeable by effectively deactivating the Mouse Droid.
Alternatively, you could try to take the reins of this effect yourself by playing, for example, with Holding All the Cards.
Like the other Spectre objectives, this could likely become a perfect 5/5 by the end of the cycle, depending on how synergistic the pods are and how good the Spectres themselves prove to be. So far, so good.


*Zeb Orrelios (237-2): 12.5 out of 15 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – Zeb is a situational beast. Four cost for three black icons is a bit steep, but he’s got a lot more going for him than that. If your opponent doesn’t have any cards in hand when he strikes, of if they don’t want to give up one of the cards they do have, Zeb actually has four black icons. That’s really good for a four cost unit. Add to that if you have more enhancements out (iffy, but getting easier these days), he gets targeted strike. That can put your opponent in a difficult position. They might need to pitch the card to keep a key unit alive, but then they’re hurting their next edge hand, or just losing options for their next turn. Combo him with Han and you get a Targeted Striking monster that can be hitting for three! Ignoring all that, he has two black blast, which is great, and what you need to win. His only real failing is that he isn’t elite, which means he’s susceptible to getting locked down. That’s where the likes of Kanan or Bamboozle come in.

yodaman (4.5/5) – Zeb is a pretty good main although he seems a bit pricey for what he does. He comes with 3 health, 2 black blast and 1 black gun. He also has targeted strike although he’s better if you can get him to have more unit damage. Fortunately, Zeb’s ability is that he gains a black gun if you control more enhancements than your opponent. However, the DS player can turn that off by discarding a card at random. Lack of elite is certainly a downside, but being a Spectre unit means you can hit Zeb with Spark of Rebellion.

Majestaat (4/5) – That's some great art, I must say. Zeb is a heavy-hitter with potential unit removal that is sadly a little too restrictive for his cost. You'll need a good deal of enhancements (so Sabine's pod may be high in your priority list) to gain targeted strike. At least you control that part, more or less. Then, to gain the extra gun to make your targeted strike relevant, you depend on your opponent not discarding a card, which won't even be random if he's pitching the rest in edge.
Fortunately, there are already some great options to buff Zeb's damage output: Opps Han, the DL-44, Echo Caverns, Bo-Rifle. Also Hera in the not so distant future.


Freelance Slicer (237-2): 12.5 out of 15 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – Talk about a support chud with an upside! First off, on stats alone you get an efficient black blast for two and two health. That means striking gets you a good return on investment. But what really shines is this guy’s ability. As a free action (once per turn, meaning once on your turn and once on your opponent’s turn), you get to do the APD/Spark shuffle and potentially get a free enhancement. Like, say, a free resource enhancement, get a big resource ramp and getting around limited. Or drop a weapon onto a unit just about to strike. Or get a free Hidden Grove, boosting your reserve. It’s a gamble, sure, but when it hits, it can pay off big. If the LS ever gets a way to stack their deck, this guy can really go to town.

yodaman (4/5) – A useful chud for 2 cost and 2 health. First of all, black blast is always welcome. Then his ability is that once per turn you can look at the top card of your deck and put it into play if it’s an enhancement. If you build your deck accordingly you can get a lot of mileage out of this unit.

Majestaat (4.5/5) – Always good to have black blast on our chuds, though the real value on this one is its ability, not its stats. Granted, it shouldn't trigger too often, but having success just once or twice is a huge swing. Get a quick ramp on your economy without even sacrificing your hand.


Bo-Rifle (237-4): 13 out of 15 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – Smugglers get some weapon love, and this one’s a good one. Extra unit damage is pretty good when you have access to targeted strike (Zeb and Han). That’s particularly true if you have No Match for a Good Blaster out, because that extra unit damage equates directly to extra blast damage. And on top of that, you get edge enabled blast. By itself, that set of icons is a solid addition, but you also get to play this card from your discard! So anytime you have a Bo-Rifle in your hand, you can either use it for a bluff in the edge, or more likely, pitch it during the draw phase. Now you’ve just turned part of your discard pile into part of your hand, effectively expanding your reserve value. The only real downsides to the rifle is its lack of edge pips and being limited to going on Smuggler or Specter units. But considering it’s a card that you want to discard anyway, having force icons would probably be just too much of a good thing. And besides, Luke’s Saber might get jealous.

yodaman (4/5) – This is a really good enhancement. The only downside is that it can only be played on a Spectre or Smuggler character. However, being able to play an enhancement from discard that gives someone a black gun and white blast is great since you can pull it back out during an engagement and catch your opponent off guard. Lack of force icons is offset by the fact you can play it from discard. There’s really no reason to ever leave this card in your hand.

Majestaat (5/5) – This is definitely the star of the set. Generally speaking, unit enhancements aren't quite a convincing proposition in a world where DS has so much direct removal, as you'll just lose more cards/resources by the same, single enemy trick.
Bo-Rifle not only offers good combat icons for a cheap price, the fact it can be recycled means you can attach it even on your chuds if needed, knowing you'll likely get it back afterwards to put it on a heavy hitter. And being able to come back during any Action window is hugetastic. Any unit could potentially gain an extra gun and blast, so the DS must have much more care when deciding on its attacks/defenses. If you have free resources in a big fight, you could keep buffing your units as others are being shot down.
Lack of force icons does hurt a bit, but in the grand scheme of things, it's no big deal. If anything, it being restricted to Spectres and Smugglers is a bigger downside, but as I guess we can all agree, that's more of a countermeasure to keep it balanced and avoid expanding the restricted list.


Improvised Defenses (237-5): 14 out of 15 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – Affiliated resources are nice, especially when they’re one for one. Here we get one that also has the bonus of increasing the health on an objective. That’s solid in this day and age of aggressive DS builds. It does mean that your opponent can more directly try to affect your resource base, though, which can slow you down in key turns. But, if that’s the case, the card goes back to your hand, to either let you replay it, or get a bomb of an edge card with three pips. One interesting interaction this brings is in conjunction with Trust Me. Besides helping you keep it available even with DS attacks, because Trust Me is an interrupt, I think that it lets you get a third use out of it’s ability, meaning more cancels for those pesky Captureds or Force Lightnings.

yodaman (5/5) – An incredible resource. It’s 1-1 and Smuggler affiliated. On top of that, when you attach it to an objective, the objective gets +1 damage capacity. Normally, having enhancements on objectives is risky, but this one has that downside mitigated by the fact if the objective leaves play, the enhancement just goes back to your hand. That means you can play it again pretty easily. It also has 3 pips which is useful if you’re playing against a DS deck that is not attacking and you don’t need to worry about increasing the health on any of your objectives.

Majestaat (5/5) – Affiliated, efficient resource, objective buff (hey there, Trust Me!), three pips, built-in recycle. What's not to like? Only the fact it's not super consistent for your economy as the objective can (probably will) get destroyed. Especially if facing those Promise/Superlaser decks. On the bright side, you get to draw some attention away from your most important objective.


Well Equipped (237-6): 13.5 out of 15 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – I’ve covered this fate card before, but it goes very well with this set. You get a lot of enhancements, both unit and objective, meaning the possibility of multiple attacks, or unit or objective healing. The aforementioned Trust Me loves to get some health back, along with while undamaged objectives like Planning the Attack. It’s still a little tricky to use to it’s fullest effect, but as the Smugglers get better at edge, you get more opportunities to hold back on fate cards for a second (or third) edge battle, which is really what you want to use this for. It can also help alleviate some of the pain you might feel about Zeb not being elite. Toolbox utility is less consistent, but can be much more impactful than a single damage here or there.

yodaman (4.5/5) – I still really like this fate card and it synergizes well here since the set comes with 2 enhancements.

Majestaat (5/5) – A perfect score in this set, due to the nature of the enhancements it includes. Both are reusable, so it's pretty easy to have one in play and make this fate card playable. More importantly, particularly to Bo-Rifle, you have amazing control as to when to play the enhancement, which allows you to gain maximum value from Well Equipped.
Furthermore, because one card enhances units and the other objectives, you're also in for some versatility as to what you want to do, be it extra strikes or open resources for events.


Overall: 13.5 out of 15 possible points.

doctormungmung (4/5) – This is a very solid set. Pretty much all the cards can be very powerful in the right situations. And when those situations aren’t around, everything is still pretty good. This feels like a very well designed set: great effects and abilities with some minor limitations and setbacks sprinkled around. And really, the only real major setback is not having elite on Zeb. So just be cautious about throwing him into a pig pile of tactics if you’re not running refresh abilities in your deck. It’s even got decent edge (at a count of eight), although unless you are resource flush, it’ll be difficult pitching the resource into an edge battle.

yodaman (4.5/5) – 8 icons, a resource, along with a solid main make this a really good addition to Smugglers. Seems like it will pair well with sets like No Match for a Good Blaster or even Hero’s Journey.

Majestaat (5/5) – A HUGE boost for Smugglers. I like that every card here has some sort of weakness without being bad or too situational. You just need to pay some attention to your deckbuilding, which is a fantastic way to keep a set within acceptable parameters.
That said, this is still an incredibly strong set, further pushing yellow where it wants to be. With Falcon, Opps Han and Zeb, you've already got a very solid core for a Smuggler deck, with heavy hitters, enhancements, resources and acceptable edge.
If building for Spectres, between Spark and the Slicer, your whole deck becomes virtually free. Just trust your luck... or Children of the Force sticking around long enough.