SWLCG Core Box Review: Sith

Introducing the new Reviewers:

CobraBubbles:
I’ve been playing on and off since around the start of cycle 2. Unfortunately there are very few players in my area so I don’t get too many games in these days, but I’m an LCG nut and like the mechanics of SW a lot so I do spend plenty of time thinking and theorycrafting about the game. When I do get to play I like to experiment with pods and decks that aren’t considered tier 1 - if you’ve ever heard of me, it’s probably because I gained some notoriety by taking a Sith deck with Virago in it to the top 8 of UK nationals last year..
In writing my reviews I’ll be judging the design of the pods as well as their competitiveness, trying to highlight what was good about the design of good pods, and how bad pods might have been better design. I’ll also be looking at how these old sets are/might be used in modern decks and what new pieces could be released to make them more viable. And finally, as a regular AGoT and Netrunner player, I’m hoping I can bring some insight by comparing this game to the other LCGs. Looking forward to it!

BakaMatt:
I'm a passionate casual of the game who has played since the start, although I've been constrained to a very small playgroup and haven't once taken part in any tournament level. I originally got my ears wet with a little-known game called Magic: The Gathering in the 90s and have been a card game fan ever since, naturally gravitating to Decipher's Star Wars CCG when it arrived on the scene and dabbling into other games along the way, like the old VS System, the Lord of the Rings LCG and 1st edition Game of Thrones. I describe myself as a "passionate casual" because despite my limited direct involvement in the competitive scene, I am still very much on top of the latest news - what's making rounds in regionals/nationals/worlds, what's being said amongst numerous podcasts and what is up-and-coming in the future. I'd like to think what experience I have is made up with heart.


THE RATING SYSTEM:
We'll only be rating the pods as a whole in these series. No in-depth analysis on the individual cards, as everyone already has an established opinion on them and it would take more time than what we can afford. Sorry to disappoint.
While the following isn't particularly precise, the different scores could be seen as:
1 - Poor - Probably a combination of subpar cards, low edge and lack of synergy. Should prove to be a weak addition to a deck even when building around it.
2 - Bad - Overall a weaker pod that can have its moment when properly supported, but usually stays within the realm of "just fun".
3 - Average - A fair choice that is simply outclassed by other options in most cases. May prove to be the superior pick in very particular decks.
4 - Good - All-around solid and can most likely pull its weight by itself.
5 - Great - Cohesive set with with several strong elements which can fit in a plethora of decks. Or it may be somewhat niche but incredibly strong in certain archertypes.


THE REVIEWS:

Fall of the Jedi: 12 out of 15 possible points.


CobraBubbles (4/5) – Sith came bursting into the game with this ferocious portrayal of the dark side’s most famous adherent, the man in the mask himself, Darth Vader. I love what FFG did with the flavour here. Rather than the cold, calculating Vader we see through most of the original films, we get Vader’s aggressive, deadly side. When Vader hits the table, he inspires fear in all who would oppose the might of the Sith, which is very appropriate and super cool.
Design-wise there’s not a great deal interesting to say here, other than we get our first taste of Sith’s event-control theme, which is a perfect fit for the figures that manipulate the galaxy from the shadows. The many sources of direct damage in the set play together very well, and Fall of the Jedi helps you bring them all together so they can be most effective. This has often been cited as one of the best sets in the game, just on its own merits, but these days it’s also a good anti-meta choice. Since the release of GA Vader people have been playing less of this version (not least because the GA version has a resource where this one doesn’t), which in turn has made LS players more comfortable fielding a lot of low-health units. And of course, the more that happens, the better Core Vader gets.

BakaMatt (3.5/5) – This rating is probably going to seem to low for anyone reading this at first glance. In fact, before I started writing out this Sith review, I personally expected Core Vader to easily slide in at a 4/5 or higher rating. Yet when I look at the set with a critical eye, it has enough flaws to keep it from scoring higher. Darth Vader himself is amazing and a perfect 5/5 card. If you're running this set, he's obviously your motivation. The objective is also great at providing a redraw. Heat of Battle is a solid fate card. The rest of the set is where it falls off. The Dark Side Apprentice is horribly average. The Force Choke, once a powerhouse in a field of low damage capacity light side characters, is no longer as effective in today's meta that either features characters shored up with three or more capacity, or vehicles that can't be targeted to begin with. Vader's Lightsaber is a weak play on anyone but Vader himself, and can lead to situations where one will just pitch it to edge (or worse, make the mistake of holding onto it in hopes of playing it later). The biggest omission of the set, though, is failing to include a resource. Vader is expensive enough to warrant one, or even to justify the objective as a two resource producer. Without the resource, the set has to fight for the very limited non-resource spaces in a deck. In the early Core days, that sometimes meant splashing the resource-rich Imperial Command in the Sith deck. In fact, if I may be so bold to day it, I think Vader would have been a tough sell in the "Sith Core" days if Dark Counsel wasn't so good at filling the gaps (the core being two Vaders, two Emperors, two Counsels). Around the time of Jerec's release, Vader was more often starting to slip out from the "Sith Core", or even being reduced to a one-of set. When Plan of the Prophetess hit the scene, it became more regular to see Vader-less decks in the Sith Control builds. The set is still above the average and I wouldn't bat an eye at seeing it played at the tournament level today, but there are some flaws that show this design's age in comparison to more "modern" Star Wars LCG objectives.

Majestaat (4.5/5) – A bit of a combo set, with Vader wanting to show up as soon as possible to abuse his reaction, and perhaps even get his lightsaber for added removal. The objective helps to cycle your cards and find what you need much faster, which is crucial here. It's an effect that felt only okay when I started playing, but I've got to recognize how strong it actually is.
Even without Vader in play, Force Choke is still a very strong and efficient card. Couples with Heat, even your mos unimpressive units can easily dispatch an LS main.
As strong as the set may be, it does have its shortcomings. Firstly, despite how pivotal Vader is for the success of the set and usually decks in which he's in, there's no resource to even make him playable later into the game. Secondly, the man is either a 0x or 2x. You really want to build around him. If you don't have enough cheap (preferably free) Sith events, or Vader only shows up after you've burnt most of your tricks, then he won't get to make that much of a difference.


Counsel of the Sith: 14 out of 15 possible points.


CobraBubbles (5/5) – Another great pod that has fallen out of favor a tad of late. Counsel is pretty much the gold standard of support sets, providing multiple resources, plenty of card draw and some conditionally useful if boring units. Most people who come to SW having played other card games initially assume that card draw effects won’t be as important, given that you refill your hand every turn. This set shows them just how wrong that assumption is. Having an extra card for edge every turn makes a HUGE difference, and anyone playing with Counsel for the first time realises that pretty quick.
Anyway, you don’t need me to tell you that extra resources and card advantage are good. And Counsel brings an ever-valuable Twist as well. Sure it won’t win you games by itself, but it’ll certainly help your other cards do that.

BakaMatt (4/5) – Here's the second set from Core that comprised the Sith dominance of the early meta. While it's not winning any games on its own from its cards' individual power level, Counsel is a veritable swiss-army knife pod that would be played everywhere if it were neutral. Twist of Fate, check. Resources, check, check. Card draw, double check. All that keeps it from being the complete nuts is a horrible raw edge count and weak units. But, really, who needs high force icons or units in the set when you can draw them up from other objectives via Counsel of the Sith and Dark Precognition, both at no cost? It's boring, but solid and effective. It's also still one of the best sets in the game today because of the flexibility it affords you in a game where deckbuilding is constrained.

Majestaat (5/5) – The premier utility set for Sith, with two resource cards, card draw and a Twist. Its low edge isn't an issue at all when you consider those factors, leaving its lack of important units as its only clear weakness. The Kuati can rack in some objective damage over time, but you're only playing them when you're having really terrible draws. The Advisor, while a nice and versatile utility unit, is more vulnerable than it used to be, courtesy of BtS Luke and Brainiac, so you may find him to be unplayable every now and then. Its two pips will save him in those scenarios.
Though it's still a really strong pod, it's not ubiquitious anymore. Imperial Bureaucracy fills a very similar role, and I personally prefer it, but I'll also admit that Counsel still feels and likely is stronger in most builds.
The resources, strong card cycling and free event is what make this such a great fit with Fall of the Jedi.


Black Squadron Assault: 9.5 out of 15 possible points.


CobraBubbles (3/5) – This was most certainly a sleeper set - it took a damn long time for the Black Squadron deck to be a thing. It was a bit of a strange one to print in the Core, as although the objective and pilot are both great in a dedicated Black Squadron deck they would often have been useless in DS decks at the start of the game.
In the right deck, the cards here are all pretty good, opening up some nice aggressive options. I must say though that I wish Vader’s TIE had been a different ship. For one thing it’s annoying to have 3+ of it in modern Black Squadron decks with pilot Vader, but more to the point it just doesn’t feel like Vader. The Darth is renowned as the greatest starfighter pilot in the galaxy, and always executes his plans with deadly precision, so it’s kind of annoying that his ship has such randomness built into it. Would have been cooler if it let you pick a combat icon for each force icon on the discarded card (probably to a max of 3 for balance reasons).
I’m On The Leader is a pretty strong meta card, but in a way it’s a shame it got printed in such a niche set. If you want to give DS players an answer to LS fighters, better to put it in a set that can fit in multiple DS builds, not just one. It’s certainly thematic though. Anyway, long story short, this set’s time finally arrived with the Rogue Squadron cycle and then GA, and now I think it’s a very good 1-of in the Black Squadron deck, which is itself pretty strong in the right hands.

BakaMatt (3.5/5) – Black Squadron Assault is an objective that manages to put together a lot of average or slightly average cards together. There isn't anything particularly exciting about the units, but they are efficient at what they do. TIE Advanced is equally good at objective cleanup or drawing out defenders. Vader's TIE Advanced requires a little build around or deck manipulation to truly turn it into a terror, but isn't terribly overcosted. Black Squadron Pilot makes a decent enhancement for any fighter. The objective is great at providing elite or double-strike on demand for units. Things are on a whole, well put together, yet lacking one powerful card that would lift it from a just a good set to a great one. It's also obvious, but worth mentioning, that this plays very nicely with the rest of Black Squadron in the Rogue Squadron cycle.

Majestaat (3/5) – A sad pod. Was subpar early in the game due to lack of Black Squadron units, the pilot being too expensive and LS vehicles being too weak to make I'm on the Leader useful. Nowadays, it's eclipsed by the newer fighter sets. Having tried various different combinations, I see little reason to run this over other available options.
The objective is still pretty strong though.


Heart of the Empire: 8.5 out of 15 possible points.


CobraBubbles (2/5) – Heart of the Empire is the first core Sith set that feels fragmented in the way of some of the Rebel sets. The events don’t really make sense here; there are no force users to be using the Stasis ability, and There Is No Escape is more suggestive of a trap like Endor or Bespin than Coruscant, which the empire genuinely wants to defend. (Sidenote - does it bother anyone else that we’ve had two Maras released since Force Stasis was printed and neither of them come with a copy of it? She’s right there on the art!)
With the objective, the designers have circumvented the major problem with introducing additional win conditions through cards, although not in a very interesting way. In most cases you’d expect a card that gives your opponent an extra way to win to be either stone unplayable, because the associated risk is too high, or seriously overpowered, because the designers had to make it broken-good to compensate for the drawback. Heart of the Empire falls somewhere in the middle. The objective selection system means that the text on Heart is often not that relevant. And a 3-resource card with no refresh ability is good, but self-balancing given the slow reuse rate. So we end up with something that is not unplayable, not broken, but instead just kind of meh.
That said, the set as a whole is pretty close to unplayable when you take the rest of the cards into account. None of them are quite good enough for you to want them in your deck. The Fleet is a reasonable defender, but only if you win edge, and anyway it will only prevent one enemy unit from striking which is not great value for 5 cost. As Sith events go, Stasis is solid but unspectacular, while There Is No Escape is far too conditional to be a reliable board reset. Though none of the cards here are completely awful, there are other sets that can do everything it’s trying to do, but better.

BakaMatt (3/5) – This is a resource set with good events and above average edge counts. The objective itself can allow some explosive openings, but be mindful of long lockout period if you tap it out for three resources. The drawback can be a risky proposition with a lot of heavy blast, especially with the advent of Endor's Han Solo and Secret Objectives with the ability for the opponent to make multiple runs at it in one turn. Coruscant Defense Fleet would be terrible due to it's edge dependency and lack of Elite at its cost investment if not for its Shielding and Protect Coruscant ability. It ends up being about average, working to offset the penalty on the objective by providing an additional five damage capcity. If we see much more Coruscant in Sith's future, this unit's stock could rise. Kuati Security Team returns as a bad unit. What is propping up the set from low scores are the events. Force Stasis is a decent control card for stalling out a turn against charcater decks. A well timed There is No Escape can swing the game. It has the disadvantage of high cost meaning it's usually telegraphed to an attentive opponent, but resolving it during their Force phase means a full turn of guaranteed board dominance. Board wipes tend to be fairly recoverable with the high rate of card turnover in the game, although buying a single turn busting to make or prevent a run against objectives can sometimes decide the win.

Majestaat (3.5/5) – kudos to BobaFett for motivating me to try this pod again. It's actually quite a solid pick, with the objective playing a major role in what Sith want to do: pump big mains out fast. Or simply have a standard opening while keeping enough free resources to threaten with the likes of Force Lighting or Deadly Sight.
The bonus win condition presented by Heart itself isn't all too tempting, with LS probably sacrificing some valuable unopposed damage if focusing on it. And if the Defense Fleet happens to hit the table, then victory might simply be out of reach. Regarding the Fleet, between its shielding and five guns, LS must be very cautious when attacking with their best units. It will all come to edge, which, unfortunately, is very poor in this set.
The events allow you to stall, always good for the DS. However, I've tried to get mileage out of There Is No Escape time and again, and I simply can't make it work. If it had a third pip, and we had a more inspiring unit instead of the Kuati Security Team, I think this would have the potential to see decent amounts of play.


The Emperor’s Web: 14 out of 15 possible points.


CobraBubbles (5/5) – When I was discussing Vader above, I mentioned how thematic it is that Sith run the game from the shadows through their events. This set really hammers that home, and gives new players a very strong idea of what to expect from the Sith affiliation going forward.
The main thing to talk about here is the main, of course. Although I do enjoy the huge blowout potential that Endor Palpatine offers, this version of His Imperial Highness remains my favourite. His combat icons are so evocative of the sheer political power he holds. When the LS player sees what a huge impact he can have on the board, it really makes them wonder what they’ve gotten themselves into. It can be a negative play experience getting 3 of your units locked down every turn, but it’s one of the most thematically appropriate NPEs in gaming. On top of that, his text plays very well into the Sith event theme, and his 5 pips perfectly express his mastery of the dark side.
All the other cards in the set are above the curve, providing great economy, game-ending removal, and the best value protector in the game. This pod was 2x in every Sith deck for a long time, and for good reason. As with core Vader, the modern cardpool has allowed Sith players to move away from playing double Web every time, largely because we have other good Emperors now. But there’s no question that you should consider this pod every time you’re building with the black and red cards. A game-definer.

BakaMatt (4/5) – We come to the last of the objectives that made up the "core" of Sith control in the games infancy. Emperor's Web contains what many were decreeing was the single most dominating card in the game for the game's first year. I'm talking about Emperor Palptine himself, who can vomit out tactics like nobody's business while also keeping a tight hold on the force struggle, alternately swinging in for a late objective kill to snatch victory, allowing Sith events to see double duty, or even just showing up in the edge stack to ruin your opponent's day. There is an incredible amount of power in Emperor Palpatine, and very few missteps in the rest of the set. Aside from Palaptine, we get the most efficient Protect unit in the game, Emperor's Royal Guard. There is a resource enhancement. There is an almost unconditional unit removal in Force Lightning, which synergizes well with Palpatine's massing of tactics, the objective's cost reducer, and Palpatine's event retrieval from discard. All there really is to complain about is the objective having lower damage capacity and Force Choke's limited reach (which I already touched upon with review of Fall of the Jedi). This is hands down the best set in the entire Core box, and very much playable to this day.

Majestaat (5/5) – Still one of the top 2 Sith pods in the game, with incredible individual cards. No need for fancy combos. Palpatine is strong at every stage of the game. Even when you don't have the resources to pay for him, he's an "I win edge" button. Never forget his reaction. You don't get to trigger it all that often, but recyling Chokes and Lighting is just what you need to keep the enemy ranks low.
The Royal Guards are still one of the best units in the game, and make up for Palps' weak cost to health ratio.
The objective may be about the only weakness in this pod, as the Web + Fall + Counsel core doesn't actually benefit from the discount outside Lighting. And you don't want to build around costly events you may not even get to play, but 1-cost events love Web, and if you have enough, the risk is well worth it. Although they're not the most popular choices around, you may want to consider The Reawakening or The Emperor's Cabal if you want to see how huge Web can actually be when you give it a chance.


Cruel Interrogations: 10.5 out of 15 possible points.


CobraBubbles (4/5) – This set often gets dismissed, but I’m a big fan, and I’m gonna tell you for why. A lot of people will argue that hand control effects are largely irrelevant in a game like Star Wars, because your opponent will just redraw a card to replace the one you removed, and because the pod system means you’re more likely to hit a low-value target. However, in my experience the objective, the Droids and Interrogation really reward good play and good memory. You should never underestimate random or targeted discard in any card game, especially in a game like this which makes it harder to build high redundancy into decks.
An anecdote to demonstrate my point: at the first round of UK nationals 2015, I was paired against a very good player and his Rebel pilots deck (these were the days before The Tarkin Doctrine). My Cruel Interrogations trigger captured a copy of Desperation, which I was very happy about. This led my opponent to go all-in on blowing up that objective, letting my Counsel of the Sith live for longer than it usually does. He successfully rescued Desperation, but ended his turn with 2 cards in hand, so on my turn I played 2 Interrogation Droids to clear it out. When the dial hit 8 I Interrogated on my turn to be safe, and found the second copy of Desperation. With 1x Vader’s Saber being the only unit enhancement in my deck, I would certainly have lost that game if he’d gotten to play the reset. Admittedly this is a best-case scenario, but I found that the set did work for me throughout that day (I ended up making the cut).
I honestly think that playing Interrogation in your opponent’s draw phase is one of the strongest plays you can make in this game. It clears out their best card before they can play it, gives you a serious advantage in upcoming edge battles, and sets you up to have a lot of control over their hand with the Droids over the next couple turns. On top of that, you get two units with black tactics, cheap shielding, and a surprisingly useful enhancement. If you still think I’m rating too high, put 2x of this in an old-school Sith deck and try out some of the tricks I’ve mentioned. I guarantee it’ll have you interrogating some of your assumptions about this game.

BakaMatt (3/5) – Another decent, not stellar objective. This objective set features a good helping of hand disruption, most of it done randomly. The randomness keeps the discard from being too oppressive, but one can't help but look at this set and see that a few little tweaks would have made it more appealing. The droids aren't terrible, since black tactics are good, but three cost is a little high for a single icon. Yes, they discard a card as well, though a boost by adding a second edge-enabled icon wouldn't have been too much to ask. Likewise with the ISB Interrogators, who bring shielding but no actual icons. On a whole, the units aren't terrible, yet incredibly average in performance. Intimidated is unimpressive, but at least it's free to deploy. Interrogation is the best card in the mix, both giving out full information of your opponent's options and then letting you remove the best one. This isn't a terrible support set, but given the cost ratios, it's likely seen as a one-off in a deck.

Majestaat (3.5/5) – Boy was this an annoying pod when it was played. The objective isn't stellar unless you have some ways to make that captured card useful. My pick of choice is Jabba's Orders. Make those Weequays cheap right off the bat.
Interrogation Droids are the original, balanced black tactics guys. They're a bit on the expensive side of things, but really, that's how valuable black tactics are, and their discard ability can't be underestimated. Except for turn one, perhaps, you're discarding something very valuable more often than not. As Flip showed long time ago, that's particularly powerful against decks that highly dependong on a few powerful mains, like it can be the case in some Jedi builds. If what their offer for their cost doesn't convince you, two pips still make them useful. The ISB are the DS Ewok Companion. Can't complain about a cheap body with shielding.
Intimidated works great coupled with the stalling provided by the Droids. Keep the board locked, hold the Force, advance the dial. If an elite is commited, even he'll have trouble with this card.
Finally, there's Interrogation. If there's anything you can't lock down, discard it. Also get all the necessary information to face edge battles with utmost confidence.
What brings the set down are its lack of resources for its rather high cost, and its overall playstyle working only to keep enemies incapacitated, but not removing them or accelerating your win condition in any way due to lack of blast, so it's quite possible you'll be overrun sooner or later if you're focusing too much on exacervating the strengths of this pod.


Shadows of Dathomir: 6.5 out of 15 possible points.


CobraBubbles (2/5) – This is another rather fragmented set. The Nightsisters (who I’m convinced must secretly be a soul group with that name) and Disturbance create a sort of Force-matters theme, but the Rancor and the Blessing don’t really fit with that. The Blessing is a solid anti-tactics cards, but the set comes with no good targets for it.
The Rancor is really fun, and the high overall cost of the set makes sense given its ability, but it’s hard to justify playing this set for a 4 cost double-edged sword with 1 pip. The main thing that lets this set down is the 1 health on the Sisters, which always makes me unhappy to play them. If they were 3-for-2 or 2-for-1 the set would have been a good bit better.
Last random thematic observation of the day: although Disturbance is a pretty good and unique card, it really annoys me that the art doesn’t fit with the title or flavour text at all. It’s such cool art too - would have much rather had it on I’m On The Leader or I Have You Now.

BakaMatt (2.5/5) – Speaking of expensive units that aren't worth their cost, Shadows drops in two more of them with Nightsisters. For the high cost of three resources, you get a fragile unit that you usually wouldn't want to run into battle, with a decent one-shot reaction that fits Navy's aggressive stance more than Sith's. When committed, they let you ping an objective, and two combat icons isn't terrible, but these really needed more damage capacity or a discount on their cost. There are just too many better cards to invest three resources in that these often become edge cards. The Rancor turns out to be a decent defender with good icons and capacity. It would actually be one of Core's best units if the Forced Reaction didn't ignore vehicles or affect itself. The Hand's Blessing is a great card to throw on any powerful unit either just to get Elite or to keep it free from tactics lock - just don't waste it on any in this pod. A Disturbance in the Force is also great, whether just throwing it into edge for three pips, leveraging it to take the Force, or squeaking through to victory. The cards here range from terrible to good, but we're lacking any real synergy. It looks like the Nightsisters took a hit in cost in order to work alongside the Rancor, instead landing it in the unplayable pool. The overall set is not very strong, even by Core standards, and hasn't seen any real play as a result.

Majestaat (2/5) – I like to give this a chance every once in a while, generally trying to find new ways to abuse the Nightsisters, using their ability to take objectives down even in the most defensive builds. I usually have fun, but suboptimal results. It so happens the tempo loss for playing them is too hard. They don't really provide enough for their cost, and are way too vulnerable, especially with BtS Luke running wild. I wouldn't mind if they had less or even no combat icons at all if that made them cheap enough. The Rancor is in a tough spot now, with its ability as double edged as ever, and DS having plenty of choices high on unit damage, like Jabba's Rancor, Terentateks, Golans.
The Hand's Blessing is solid on powerful Sith Mains. Shame there're none here. Personally, A Disturbance in the Force is the star here. It's a 3-pips card in the worst case scenario. Best case, you're focusing down up to 3 important LS units at a very reasonable price. It's even easier to achieve this thanks to newer good sets including Echoes of the Force, like Hunter for Hire and Power of the Dark Side.
In the end, it's way too expensive a set without a clear identity. It's like it wants to do a bit of everything, but ultimately fails in all departments. A 2-resources objective and overall high edge count keeps it somewhat relevant despite its shortcomings. I know some people like it, but I for one wouldn't recommend it.



FINAL WORDS:
After a delay of a whole whooping week, the Sith core review is finally done. Sorry it came in so late. Sudden Thunderstorm made my internet go wacko for a couple days, and then University stuff caught up with me.
We're on to tackle the Imperial Navy next, then Boba and neutrals to wrap up the Core Box and proceed to the Hoth cycle.

I extend my gratitude to the review team and the readers who motivated us to do this. I'm sure there's room for improvement. If you got any ideas, feel free to comment or PM me so we can make the next article even better.
I must say, however, that there's a limit to how many images can be uploaded. That's why I only selected a few images per pod.

If you're looking for more reviews, you can find them in our forum thread here.

May the Force be with you all!