The Mos Eisley Mafia: SWLCG "New Alliances" Force Pack Review - Light Side

MEET THE FAMILY (aka - THE REVIEWERS):
-chunkygorillas, host to the Ion Control Podcast;
-doctormungmung, Massachussets' evil genius;
-yodaman, he who you seek when numbers are involved;
-pantsyg, jankmaster general;
-Majestaat, 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 5 Cards:
1 – Sith Lightsaber (Merciless Plans), with 25 out of 25 possible points.
2 – The Spice Trade, with 24.5 out of 25 possible points.
3 – Force Persuasion (Out of their Element), with 23 out of 25 possible points.
4 – *Tydirium (Secret Weapons), with 23 out of 25 possible points.
5 – Dark Genocide (Merciless Plans), with 23 out of 25 possible points.

Overall best rated Objective Set:
The Spice Trade, with 22.5 out of 25 possible points.


THE REVIEWS:


Out of their Element (190-1): 14 out of 25 possible points.


chunkygorillas (4/5) – It is a very good effect, especially since making a mono Jedi deck is very easy to do, but as always the undamaged text knocks it down a point.

doctormungmung (2/5) – Beyond the vanilla stats, the text on this objective is incredibly situational. FFG is continuing to push multi-affiliation “hate”, although really some of the strongest decks are mono affiliation. When this objective is out and you’re facing a standard multi-faction deck (where the affiliation matches the lower represented faction), it’s going to thoroughly hose your opponent. At least until they put a single damage on it. And considering how little healing the LS has available to it, that’s likely to keep this shut off. So at least half the time, this will be a blank objective. The rest of the time it will cause your opponent a round or two of pain. That pain will be pretty excruciating, though. In the end, I think this objective is just too situational to warrant a higher rating, but if your meta is dominated by multi-affiliation DS decks, it might be worth looking into trying to fit this in. Unfortunately the rest of the set makes that kind of difficult….

yodaman (3/5) – Interesting ability that is a bit too situational for my taste. It really only has any benefit if your opponent is playing a true multi-affiliation deck. However, in that situation this objective along with Hidden From the Empire and cards like Harassment and Rash Action could just completely shut down certain types of deck if the situation occurs. It does have the Endor trait which could come in handy in the right build.

pantsyg (3/5) – This is a very strong but situational effect. Not that it says “card,” not “unit,” and since DS has no way to damage objectives on the first turn, this will always be active during their first deployment. Of course, this will be bear-useless against mono decks.

Majestaat (2/5) – DS affiliations work very well in mono-builds, especially Scum and Navy. Sith still like splashing (yet that is likely to change once Galactic Ambitions is released), but it's usually just 2 out of their 10 objectives. And in Guri's case, for example, her set is barely affected. All this makes Out of their Element pretty much inconsequential, even when at full HP.


*Luke's Speeder Bike (190-2): 11 out of 25 possible points.


chunkygorillas (2/5) – This card isn’t the worst thing ever, but I could never see myself being happy having to pay 3 for it...

doctormungmung (2/5) – For three cost, you can have edge 1 in all your battles. All, that is, until you win one. And then you get some underwhelming icons. It feels like FFG realized that the Speeder Bike in Endor Luke’s set was too powerful, but liked the mechanic, and reworked it. But they pulled it too far back, in this case. It is really hard to pin down, but the first time that it faces someone with tactics, it’s not likely to come back for any other engagements until the next LS refresh phase. For three cost, I’d like to see one more icon. I’d be more than willing to give up one health for that. But as it is, this unit is just too expensive for what it provides.

yodaman (3/5) – Edge 1 is certainly good and the fact you can remove from an engagement if you lose edge gives you the chance to use it to possibly strike somewhere else when that happens, but for 3 cost it seems to be a bit lacking in the combat icon aspect. Definitely a bit underwhelming for the main in the set.

pantsyg (2/5) – I’m sure there are some tricks here, but this thing is just overcosted.

Majestaat (2/5) – If you have tactics you can shut it down easily. If you don't, just block it and take that one damage. Will only be annoying if you try to stop every possible point of damage. Don't. You would be doing your opponent a huge favor playing by the Bike's strengths.


Believer in the Old Ways (190-3&4): 10.5 out of 25 possible points.


chunkygorillas (2.5/5) – This card has been around forever, and they are just meh. They have vanilla stats, but in this game just vanilla doesn’t normally cut it, especially in Jedi. I can’t see why I would want to run a set with 2 of these in it.

doctormungmung (2/5) – Just about the most vanilla of chuds, and you get two! You couldn’t ask for a better bargain… Well, actually, you could easily do that. I don’t think anyone was clamboring for a reprint of the Believers, and getting two of them here pretty much religates the set to a one-of at most. Unless a Jedi-weenie-swarm archetype develops.

yodaman (3/5) – Many of the most commonly played Jedi sets only have 2 units so even though you do get 2 of these chuds, that’s actually not a bad thing for Jedi. Having two Believers gives this set 3. They do come with white blast and since Jedi doesn’t usually have trouble winning edge battles, you’ll often be able to take advantage of it. They are force sensitive so you can drop some enhancements like Jedi Lightsabers on them.

pantsyg (2/5) – Standard 2-drop chuds, pretty uninspiring.

Majestaat (1/5) – A super average unit shouldn't be getting such a low score, but you already have an underwhelming unique in the set. Now you get TWO units with only one white blast and almost zero synergy with the cool Jedi stuff. If they were Force Users, at least they could go in the Forgotten Heroes swarm deck, but as it stands, they're mostly terrible in every Jedi build.


Ambush Point (190-5): 19 out of 25 possible points.


chunkygorillas (5/5) – It’s pretty much just a straight upgrade from Dagobah Training Grounds, but it does also effect you, not much though, since if you are playing mono Jedi you are unlikely to have many non Jedi cards, seeing as how they don’t have many neutral cards.

doctormungmung (3/5) – Now here we have a card that’s interesting. One for one resources aren’t particularly common, so anytime one shows up, it’s worth looking at. And on top of the efficiency of it, it also has a secondary effect that doesn’t cost it to focus (like so many other resources with secondary effects do these days). And it’s a pretty powerful effect. Lowering edge counts for out of faction cards can be significant, and this one reduces neutral cards as well (except Fate cards). But, there’s a downside, and that this affects you as well. Now, you can play around that to some extent, as well as build the deck to minimize the impact, but even the most mono deck will have neutral cards in it. Jedi don’t really have much trouble winning edge, so this card isn’t really needed. But in the right deck, it could be the nail in the coffin of DS edge victories.

yodaman (4/5) – In general, 1-1 resources are among the most efficient in the game and always welcome. When they also come with an extra passive ability it’s usually just gravy. But in this case, you get an ability that causes your opponent to have to change how they might play an edge battle it because it removes a force icon from all out-of-faction, non-fate cards in their edge stack. That is pretty powerful. Could be interesting to pair this with Hero’s Trial and possibly drop the enhancement in during right before an edge battle to mess with DS batter math.

pantsyg (2/5) – I haven’t played with or against this enough to know if it has a big impact. There are usually enough neutral cards in a Jedi deck that I think I’d be bummed to have this on the table, though there will be games where it hits the opponent harder. Edge battles are super important, so against the right deck this could do work, but I generally don’t like cards that are dependent on my opponent’s deck.

Majestaat (5/5) – Most cards in Jedi pods are affiliated to them, so the double-edged nature of this enhancement doesn't really impact you much, if at all. Your opponent will generally suffer from this a little bit more than you in mono-builds. If he went duo, this card just single-handedly destroyed his edge for the whole game. Low risk, potentially huge reward.


Force Persuasion (190-6): 23 out of 25 possible points.


chunkygorillas (5/5) – It’s pretty much Jedi Mind Trick what is also an amazing card. Anytime you can focus out a unit as an action it’s pretty amazing. You can use it to stop an attacker or blocker, or even use it to win the force.

doctormungmung (4/5) – This is a different version of Jedi Mind trick, but instead of having a rider on holding the force, this rider is on out of faction units (not surprisingly, considering the set). JMT is great, so this is likely to be just as great. Considering that the only real characterless or creatureless DS deck archetype is the TIE deck, there should be plenty of opportunities to control the weak minded.

yodaman (4/5) – Essentially a hybrid version of Jedi Mind Trick that lets you always put at least one focus token on an enemy character or creature and actually put two on it if it’s out-of-faction. Much like JMT, it doesn’t help against a vehicle deck, but unless you’re playing against a TIE based deck, you’re really unlikely to be facing a DS deck that has no characters or creatures.

pantsyg (5/5) – Easily the best card in the set, basically a Mind Trick reprint.

Majestaat (5/5) – I guess we got the Jedi Mind Trick reprint we wanted, kinda. With the very low force count on this set's units, I can see why a real reprint would have been a poor choice. Anyway, this is still an outstanding event with a plethora of uses.


Overall: 12 out of 25 possible points.

chunkygorillas (3/5) – All the non units in this set are pretty amazing, but sadly it’s balanced out by a pretty mediocre set of units. There are cards from this you want 2 copies of in your deck, but it is not worth running 2 copies of it since you will just have so many mediocre units in your deck because of it.

doctormungmung (2/5) – There’s one very good card in this set, and one good card that has a downside that you either risk or build your deck to minimize. The rest is pretty lackluster. But then, considering the amount of quality sets that Jedi have gotten over the past couple of years, getting a dud every now and then isn’t the worst thing. And I think that given the right deck, having this be a one-of wouldn’t be a terrible decision. Until something that has tremendous synergy comes out, though, it’s likely relegated to the fun deck arena.

yodaman (3/5) – After a string of powerful Jedi sets for what seems to have lasted forever, Jedi gets something that is certainly more of a support set since the resource and event may be the best 2 cards in the set. With so many good options for Jedi, this may not see a ton of play and when it does, it will probably be better as a 1 of, but that’s ok. It does have a 1-1 resource and 3 units, but only 6 force icons.

pantsyg (2/5) – I don’t expect to use this set any time soon. Double chuds and effects that depend entirely on the opponent’s deck choices turn me off. Also, I don’t get the theme of this set. It’s Endor, but it has 2 Believers? And Force Persuasion is a scene from Jabba’s Palace?

Majestaat (2/5) – Missed opportunity for some sort of LS Mission Command, a versatile multi-affiliation-hate pick. You can't use it in Rebels or Smugglers without suffering as much or more than your opponent. In Jedi decks themselves... simply put, you have way better sets to choose from.


Secret Weapons (191-1): 18 out of 25 possible points.


chunkygorillas (4/5) – Super solid effect, but with the undamaged text it will just get targeted early and shut off.

doctormungmung (3/5) – This objective provides an interesting effect. While it’s undamage, you can make all your Smuggler vehicles immune to card effects. That includes things like Force Lightning, Vader’s reaction, and perhaps most interesting, both Tarkin’s and Mithel’s text. That can be very significant, particularly if you’re running unblockables. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to keep a smuggler objective undamaged (you could run the Pilot Lando set, but that’s probably not worth it). Also, you may not be running full on vehicles with this set (or full on smugglers, either), thus reducing its effectiveness.

yodaman (4/5) – This is a pretty powerful ability and it’s not surprising it’s restricted to while undamaged. You could make sure to get an unopposed damage with something like Falcon and not worry about a Force Lightning. It also keeps those lower icon ships immune from things like pilot Boba’s reaction. Cool objective text.

pantsyg (3/5) – Great effect, but naturally it paints a target on itself, and DS likes to attack these days.

Majestaat (4/5) – In a vaccum this is one pretty strong effect. When you consider a whole deck though... it loses some effectiveness, likely dropping to a 3. Vehicle decks in general are terrible at defending, so this will get deactivated fast. You do have a tool to let it stick around for longer with pilot Lando's pod, but that one's pretty bad. You wanna strike fast and hard, making some blastless ships a very bad inclusion. Then, if you're running a mixed deck with characters, you're not benefitting form this objective quite as much.


*Tydirium (191-2): 23 out of 25 possible points.


chunkygorillas (5/5) – I really 2 don’t see anything wrong with this card. It’s got amazing stats, it basically has Edge(1) since in most cases your opponent isn’t just going to through multiple units in front of it since then they’ll never win the edge. I just keep looking at this unit and basically seeing a better version of Speeder Bike, what is something.

doctormungmung (4/5) – What a great unit! Three cost gives you two edge enabled tactics, at least edge 1, and a potential dial reducer. It is slightly squishy for its cost, but that’s where the dial reducer comes in, most likely giving you an extra turn. I feel like this is what the Speeder Bike in Endor Luke’s set should have been, as this is a bit more balanced. You’re opponent will need to defend against it, but they’ll not want to do that too heavily, as the larger the defense fleet, the less likely they are to win edge. So unlike most tactics chuds, you might consider not sending in Tydirium in alone, to make your opponent want to throw more defenders in the way. Being a smuggler vehicle, it can get bonuses from Across the Anoat Sector, making it a nice addition into an unblockables build. This unit will give your opponents significant headaches. Just watch out for boosted Decimators asking for clearance codes...

yodaman (4/5) – Anytime a unit has 2 tactics, even if both are edge-enabled, it’s worth considering in a build. 3 cost for 2 health may seem a bit steep, but that’s why you want the objective out to help protect it a bit. The edge bonus is great since it depends on how many defenders the DS uses so they’ll have to pick and choose carefully. Then, if Tydirium happens to get destroyed, you get to bump the dial back down 1 like a Nudj. The fact it doesn’t have any blast icons is a drawback since LS needs to blow up objectives to win, so it might be worth running this with Dash or Anoat in order to get some blast.

pantsyg (5/5) – I love this card! Double tactics on a platform with edge is really good. If you manage to get it going unopposed, it will put a big sad face on your opponent.

Majestaat (5/5) – So... somehow the Speeder Bike and Dagobah Nudj had a child. It's lowerish HP aside, it's actually a pretty amazing child. Good in life, good in death. In the later stages of the game you can send it with the rest of you army and gain a massive edge bonus. 4 is my record so far.


Stolen Speeder Bike (191-3): 17 out of 25 possible points.


chunkygorillas (4/5) – This unit may end up being a little lower, but so far it’s ability has been amazing. Plus Vehicle and Speeder are both very good traits to have.

doctormungmung (3/5) – Now here’s an interesting trick to give to smugglers. They already have at least one method for messing with the focus tokens on enhancements (from Talon Karrde’s set). Now they have a direct method to accomplish this. Instead of resolving the combat icons, the speeder can focus the engaged objective. Locking out an opponent’s resource is huge! What’s great is that you can do this even if you lose edge. It’s actually a nice bonus, as the combat icons are edged enabled anyway. But with such a potentially huge impact, this unit will get a lot of attention, and the chance of it getting to strike, or stick on the board for a while, is rather slim. And locking out a resource becomes a diminishing return the further into the game you are. After your opponent has set up a resource base, losing one isn’t as significant. The same can be said if they’ve got a big board presence as well. If you want to use the speeder’s icons, it then devolves into a rather poor chud of a unit.

yodaman (3/5) – Fits well with the overall theme of the set. It’s too bad the combat icons are edge enabled, but if you lose the edge battle and get to strike, you have the option of placing a focus token on the engaged objective and potentially depriving them of important resources on their next turn. Not a bad chud unit that fits in with tricks of smugglers.

pantsyg (3/5) – I was excited about this card, but so far it’s seemed just OK. I like the bonus effect if you lose edge, but haven’t yet had a game hugely impacted by the resource choke.

Majestaat (4/5) – Resources sabotage, yay! This chud sacrifices a black icon in order to allow you to lock your opponent's economy. I'll take that, especially early game. And you can use it even when losing edge, granted you're not getting intantly blown up. Later into the game, this could prevent your opponent from playing that mid-battle event.


Stolen AT-ST (191-4): 17 out of 25 possible points.


chunkygorillas (3/5) – I think this unit is a little over costed, it could really use 1 more icon or a keyword. Despite that though it’s still really good, they can’t tactics during your first couple engagements if you chose to strike with it last.

doctormungmung (3/5) – This unit has the same ability as the TIE Phantom, which until I faced one I was rather meh about. Then in a couple of games I went up against a few, and I saw their potential. Similar to how Decimators don’t really care about winning edge, neither does the AT-ST. And what’s more, it doesn’t really care about Decimators either. It’s going to get to use it’s icons pretty much no matter what. Now, they aren’t anything special (and really, it is a bit overcosted for what you get in that department), but they are at least black, and smugglers have several methods of bumping up the blast on it’s units, so force multipliers do exist. It does lack any force icons, so you really want it on the table, which can lead to some awkward deployment turns (three cost units are a pain for efficient deployment).

yodaman (4/5) – The ability on this unit is great since if it’s in the engagement you’re basically guaranteed to get in some objective damage as it can’t be affected by enemy combat icons when ready. That also means your opponent can’t focus it down while it’s just on the board either. 3 cost for 3 health is fair value for the combat icons and its ability.

pantsyg (4/5) – It’s unblockable! In the sense that it will always get to use its icons, at least. A pretty solid unit, but 3 is a lot to ask for 1 blast. Obviously gets much better if you can pump its damage.

Majestaat (3/5) – I'm a huge fan of TIE Phantoms. This one gets close enough. No tactics and is only protected from combat icons, but it's ability works even outside combat, and it's a little more durable. While more expensive, it is potentially a better Sleuth when you have Anoat out. Sleuths care about edge, this walker doesn't. So why not a higher score? 3 cost and zero force icons are a bad combination. A bit pricey to put in play alongside other units, and it won't contribute anything to edge battles if you don't.


Hiding Among Enemies (191-5): 22 out of 25 possible points.


chunkygorillas (4/5) – Just an amazing card to play before going into an engagement, gets a shield on whatever S&S vehicle you want, and it negates the card disadvantage you get from playing an event by forcing your opponent to lose a card to, and not a card of their choice.

doctormungmung (4/5) – Shields are good. And so are discards. Getting both for the cost of a resource is very solid. Having to save one resource to do it though can be a bit problematic. But then, that’s what units like the AT-ST are for. This is a great card to play after your opponent picks defenders, as you can get some tactics protection while also thinning their edge hand.

yodaman (5/5) – I love this event. As the game has evolved, it’s become apparent that shields are extremely valuable. For 1 cost, you get to add a shield to a smuggler vehicle AND discard one card from your opponent’s hand. That’s a pretty powerful ability and even though it’s restricted, if you’re playing this set, you’re probably going to use other vehicle sets as well. Put a shield on that Sleuth Scout, Blockade Runner or Falcon and go to town.

pantsyg (4/5) – Action speed shields are good. Use it in combat to shake up math, or alternatively after the opponent’s draw as a choke with a bonus shield. I like it.

Majestaat (5/5) – This one has huge value. Action speed, costs one, grants a shield and forces a discard. That's a lot of safety before going for an important edge battle. You may just win it if you discarded a 3+ icons card. Even if you lose, you have a shield to protect you from tactics, allowing you to deal some more blast damage regardless.


Target of Opportunity (191-6): 18.5 out of 25 possible points.


chunkygorillas (4/5) – Always a great fate card for the Lightside.

doctormungmung (4/5) – Targets are great, and there should be more of them. Objective damage wins games, and getting 1/15 of the way to victory from a free card is definitely worth it.

yodaman (3.5/5) – As I’ve said before, Targets are always nice since LS needs to get objective damage into win games. It really fits in well here based on the combat icons on the units. Extra blast is always welcome.

pantsyg (3/5) – ⅘ in aggressive decks, which I can see using this set.

Majestaat (4/5) – Great to finish objectives or deactivate those "while undamaged" ones. Every time I tell myself I don't need them in my decks, a Target of Opportunity wins me a game.


Overall: 18 out of 25 possible points.

chunkygorillas (4/5) – I think this set is overall solid, it’s a bit limited in that it want to be played with S&S vehicle primarily, but it could still work in a deck that is splashing another faction.

doctormungmung (3/5) – This set has a lot of promise with its vehicle tricks. Unfortunately right now smuggler vehicles are pretty much focused around unblockables, which aren’t that consistent. Still, if you want to give up on some utility from the objective, you can branch out into other deck types. All of the units are more utility units, and are less likely to be your main source of blast damage, but the utility that they provide can be significant. Like most smuggler sets, the edge count is terrible, and there isn’t a resource here, continuing the trend of smugglers having the worst access to resources (and thus the most difficult to build mono-faction). Still, Well Paid will get all the units out for five resources, which is a bargain. I think in the right deck, this set will shine. I’m just not sure what that deck is right now.

yodaman (4/5) – The set has great internal synergy with the stolen vehicle idea and, in my opinion, is one of the better smugglers sets released in quite awhile. The main drawback is the fact it only has 6 force icons and doesn’t include a resource card. That might make it trickier to find the right build for this set, but I have feeling there’s a good one out there somewhere.

pantsyg (4/5) – I like this set a lot. The obvious place for it is a vehicle rush deck, but I could also see using it alongside traditional Smugglers for the choke tools in the Speeder and Hiding. Combined with Rash Action and focus movement from CCOps and Bamboozle, you could have a lot of lockdown potential here.

Majestaat (3/5) – Tough one. Really want to give this a 4, but I'll play it safe. I think the set is good, yet I haven't been able to make it work. Having three units in the set is nice, but with two of them being 3-costed, I've had some very poor openings when not drawing a Well Paid. This has led me to believe that I should play this as a 1x in a more standard, character deck, but I haven't tried that yet. I sure hope we see more Smugg vehicles love, because this one has potential and definitely should belong in such a deck.


Courage of the Tribe (192-1): 19 out of 25 possible points.


chunkygorillas (4/5) – A Super solid effect in a heavy ewok deck, helps you keep your best ewok from getting locked out.

doctormungmung (4/5) – Giving your best Ewok elite is pretty solid. Giving your second best Ewok elite is pretty solid. Giving your worst Ewok elite is not bad. Basically, what this objective does is guarantee you’ll have at least one Ewok ready for the turn, as your opponent isn’t likely to be able to double focus all the members of your horde. Where this gets even more interesting is with the enhancement from Wicket’s set. Now you can make Chewie elite. Or Leia. Or Rahn. The only real problems with this objective is that it really wants to be in an Ewok heavy deck, which is still hard to do due to resource availability, and that it’s limit one per deck (which in turn doesn’t help with the resource availability, as there are a couple of resources in this set).

yodaman (4/5) – We’ve seen this type of ability on other cards, like Endor Gambit and Nar Shaddaa Drift. Great ability since it allows you to free up an important Ewok like Wicket that may have been focused down more. It’s a shame this set is Limit 1 .

pantsyg (3/5) – We’ve seen this effect before. It’s pretty OK.

Majestaat (4/5) – We've seen such abilities in Endor Gambit and Nar Shaddaa Drift. It's good. Allows Ewoks to keep the pressure up despite enemy tactics. It's nothing fancy, but it works well.


*Chief Chirpa (192-2):19 out of 25 possible points.


chunkygorillas (3/5) – Going to be really important to get this guy out in ewok decks, he can really help, espcially when dealing with things like force choke, it’s a shame you can only have one of him in a deck. He probably needs elite, and the resource he has seems totally pointless… with his decent stats you won’t want to exhaust him just for one resource.

doctormungmung (4/5) – Ewoks tend to be squishy. Many of them have one health, which is a death knell vs Sith (and Vader in particular). With Chirpa out, the average health of all your Ewoks increases by one, which is significant. This gets even better if Rahn is a part of the tribe. And that’s not all you get with the Chief. He also lets you focus an ewok each phase to draw a card. If you’re not ready to go on the offensive with who you have on the board, spend a turn cycling through your deck until you find that key card that you need. And he also gives you a decent combat icon spread, with both blast and tactics. AND he provides a resource. That’s a lot of ands for a single unit. Which, sadly, is his big problem: there will only ever be one of him in your deck. And that makes Ewoks sad (Majestaat's note: I feed on their sadness).

yodaman (4/5) – He may cost 4, but he has 3 health and comes with a resource. Plus he’s critical to your Ewok swarm since, like Renz does for Troopers, Chirpa boosts the health of each of your Ewoks. The reaction is cool even though you have to focus an Ewok to use it. Sometimes you might want the extra card though for a critical edge battle and if you focus the Ewok just so you can sack it to trigger something like Funeral Pyre, it’s well worth it.

pantsyg (4/5) – Cool effects, but he often gets stranded in my hand. There are a lot of good plays on 4, so unless I have a good board of Ewoks he often doesn’t make the cut. When he does come down, though, the draws are real.

Majestaat (4/5) – Blast, tactics, resources, global buff, card draw. You won't always be using all of this, but it's still a lot. The extra HP for your furballs is especially valuable, as most of them have a poor cost to health ratio. Overall, Chirpa does many things for you, but still needs a good amount of Ewoks in play to shine.


Ewok Horde (192-3&4): 16 out of 25 possible points.


chunkygorillas (3/5) – These guys are quite hard to get out, most other ewok units have low health so it’s hard to keep them alive. Also Ewok decks are quite low on resources what also doesn't help this unit.

doctormungmung (4/5) – Here’s what Freeholders should have been. At full cost, these guys are wildly overcosted. But with just two Ewoks out, they’re about what you’d expect for five cost. With three Ewoks, they become a bargain. (Un)fortunately they are capped at costing at least three (unlike the Freeholders). Four health and five combat icons will go a long way. While the icons are solid, they could be a bit better, swapping out a unit damage for either another blast or a tactics, though.

yodaman (4/5) – The Ewok Horde proves FFG learned from their mistake in not putting a minimum cost on the Freeholders. You get 2 of the Hordes in this one set and they’re pretty powerful considering you can potentially get them into play for 3 cost. They have a great spread of combat icons (5 to be exact with 2 black guns, 1 white gun, 1 black blast, 1 white blast) and 4 health which makes them tough to remove once they get on the table. If Chirpa’s around they have 5 health!

pantsyg (2/5) – I thought I’d like this card more than I do. Unfortunately, I can never seem to get enough Ewoks to stick on the board to bring this guy in for a reasonable cost. I think resources have something to do with that.

Majestaat (3/5) – These gangs can give you the extra punch you need lategame. They're great at 3, good at 4 and barely average at 5 cost. Because it's not easy to get big discounts when Stormtroopers and Chokes are making coats out of Ewoks, their single force icon make them really poor outside ideal scenarios. So they're some sort of "win more" card. You're doing okay? You can do even better by dropping one of these. You're getting choked to death? These become dead weight in your hand.


*Bright Tree Village (192-5): 21 out of 25 possible points.


chunkygorillas (4/5) – This is a super solid 2 for 1 resource, since it’s not limited, and has a really super good effect, but since there is just 1 copy of it, couldn’t it just be a 1 for 1 resource and gain the limited tag. Ewok sets are so light on resources, they could really use it.

doctormungmung (4/5) – Yay Ewok resource! And it’s got a pretty great passive! If you’re running a lot of ewoks, having this card out pretty much just doubled your potential edge hands, as well as giving you a solid shot at holding the force. It’s not an efficient resource the turn it comes out, but the investment should be worth it, unless it shows up late game. Unfortunately, like the Chief, you’ll only ever have the one, thus hurting the deck’s consistency that it’s in.

yodaman (4/5) – One thing most Ewok sets are missing is a resource. This set does include 2 resource including the one on Chirpa. While this is a 2-1 resource, every resource helps and most ewoks are cheap. The passive ability is also welcome since it can help in edge battles and Force struggles.

pantsyg (5/5) – This card is sweet, turning all your Ewok chuds into pretty decent edge cards. If your deck has a few Ewok sets, suddenly it gets a big edge boost.

Majestaat (4/5) – This has huge impact when played early, making the Force contestable without relying completely on Sacrifice at Endor and giving you a decent edge boost, which is great when you're absolutely depending on the extra blast from Warriors of the Forest. But important than all that, it's a resource, something Ewoks needed badly, even if they don't depend on expensive units. This won't solve all your economic problems, but it helps.


Battle of Endor (192-6): 21.5 out of 25 possible points.


chunkygorillas (5/5) – This is super solid, since you will almost certainly be running a lot of Endor objectives if you are running this set. A 4 pip card is something this tribal deck really needed.

doctormungmung (3/5) – This is an interesting take on a location specific fate card. Like the Battle of Hoth, it can be really good if you’ve got some Endor objectives out, but if you don’t it loses a lot. It’s actually worse than BoH, as BoH will always give you three edge icons. Battle of Endor can get you up to four, although that’s in a very specific deck. I feel like a lot of the time, it’ll be giving you two to three. Which isn’t bad, but for a fate card, you want a bit more consistency, and not having any rider effect hurts.

yodaman (4.5/5) – The newest fate card has an incredible ability. Clearly it’s meant to work well with the cycle and encourages playing Endor objective. But you get the icon bonus for Endor objectives and enhancements on either side. It’s a good thing they limited how many icons you can gain so it’s at most a 4 icon fate card because with decks that use this set it's likely to hit that +3 bonus pretty easily.

pantsyg (4/5) – I like this Fate card because it can get up to 4 pips, the magic number that no DS player expects if you aren’t running Jedi.

Majestaat (5/5) – Every Ewok objective is Endor-traited, their resources are Endor-traited, their missions are Endor-traited, so this is pretty much guaranteed to have 4 icons at every time, without depending on what your opponent is playing. That's huge for edge battles, and you need to win edge to deal your blast damage.


Overall: 19 out of 25 possible points.

chunkygorillas (3/5) – I think this set is an auto include for ewok decks, but honestly still it still isn’t a very good set. It gives you 3 very pricey units in a deck type that lacks resources, and doesn’t give you a really good resource to help with that. It is also a limit 1 per deck set what hurts it, and it will only be good if you are playing mostly Ewoks. So it’s a very limited set.

doctormungmung (4/5) – This set goes a good way to helping make an Ewok deck work. It’s got resources, health and force icon boosts, as well as some beefy units. But it’s limit to one in a deck really holds it back as well. You want to see all the cards in this set, but that’s hard when there’s only one of them. And even with a pair of resources, Ewok decks are still hurting for cash. I think if they can find a way around that hurdle, they should really take off. Well, except for direct counters like those found in the next set…..

yodaman (4/5) – Someone did win a store championship with an Ewok deck and that was before this set came out. This is another set that set ticks all the boxes you’d want to see for Ewoks. It does only have 6 icons, but it comes with 2 resource cards and the fate card can really make this a potential 9 icon set. It’s a shame it’s limit 1 as the set could have added consistency to Ewok builds if you could run 2. Time will tell if we start seeing a lot of the little furballs around, but this certainly helps make them more viable.

pantsyg (4/5) – The set is good, but I’m not convinced that an Ewok tribal deck is worth it yet. I will say that splashing Ewoks into other decks is a great idea, as all the Ewok sets provide very worthwhile support options.

Majestaat (4/5) – Auto-include for Ewoks. Completely worthless everywhere else. Despite all its pros and synergy with furballs, it's still a set with only very expensive units in an archetype that's swarm-based, so I wouldn't be surprised if it gets replaced in the future.