The Mos Eisley Mafia: SWLCG "Galactic Ambitions" Deluxe Box Review - Light Side pt. 2

The Alliance's Elite (227-1): 15.5 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (3/5) – One of vehicles big weakness has been getting locked out by superior tactics. This objective helps counter that by allowing you to get an extra focus off of a fighter or speeder of your choice every turn. Unfortunately this doesn’t help with big hitters like Home One that tend to be focus magnets. Still, keeping Rogue Three up and running can help end the game quickly.

yodaman (4.5/5) – The objective basically lets you make one of your fighters or speeders elite since you get to take a token off one of those when you refresh. That’s a pretty good ability that will help keep at least one thing from being locked down. If you have both out you can trigger them both.

pantsyg (4/5) – Refresh effects are cool, and Fighters are weak to tactics, so this is welcome.

Majestaat (4/5) – More ready units means more attackers, which is crucial for fighter decks. Since they usually go all-out, it's then very easy for the DS to attack with tactics and lock you down, making this effect quite valuable. The extra refresh can even allow you to commit a unit every now and then without crippling your tempo.


*Rogue Squadron (227-2): 17.5 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – We get a five combat iconed fighter for five cost, with four health (someone dropped the ball here with not giving it five health). And it’s elite. Two blast, two unit damage and a tactics is a great spread, particularly when you have add icons to it via various droids, or multistrike with Wedge, or strike before edge with Farlander. There are tons of options here. And getting to draw a card when you enhance a fighter is just icing on the cake, as fighter/enhancement decks tend to use up cards at a rapid rate. By itself, five cost is a little steep (but at four it would be a steal). When you consider all the bonuses you can add, you get a very nice main for a fighter based deck.

yodaman (5/5) – For 5 cost you get a 4 health unit that’s elite and comes with 5 combat icons (2 black guns, 1 black blast, 1 white blast and 1 white tactics). Rebel vehicles seem to be lacking in the tactics department to the inclusion of one here is nice. Rogue Squadron is unique so you can only get one out on the board at any time though. The ability is great since you can use it to draw a card anytime you put an enhancement on a fighter once per turn. Might be worth trying to pair this Hero’s Trial so you could drop in an enhancement during your opponent’s conflict phase and still have the same number of cards in hand.

pantsyg (4/5) – 5 cost is a challenge in Fighter decks, which usually run light on resources. Elite is very welcome, though, as are the strong combat icons. Fighters like to gain enhancements in the form of Pilots, so Rogue Squadron is a fairly reliable card draw engine as well.

Majestaat (4.5/5) – All-around a great unit, which is sadly one force icon short of perfection. That's quite relevant on 5+ cost units. You can't usually play them turn 1, so you usually need them to compensate with strong edge. As said, it's not the case here.
Lots of combat icons, with tactics in particular being really appreciated, as Rebel vehicles are severely lacking in control options.
Built-in draw is very nice to keep using Defense of Yavin 4 or simply improve your edge. Works even when you're just moving the enhancement from one unit to another (synergy with Reassignment, Alliance X-Wing and future Wedge), making it rather easy to trigger it on both your and DS turns.


Alliance X-Wing (227-3): 13.5 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (3/5) – This guy is interesting. As a chud, he’s a standard two drop with two icons including a white blast and two health. But where you can pull some crazy things is with it’s text. Sometimes you won't be able to put a specific enhancement on the ship you want because you don’t have them both at the same time. This guy helps you remedy that. You can also get multiple uses out of things like Astromech Droid Upgrades by swapping it between striking ships in an engagement. You can also mess with your opponent by taking Mara’s saber and giving it to a Dark Side Apprentice, or sticking Vader on a focused ship before you make a big push against an objective. The cost of focusing the unit is a little tough, but with the dull icons, you aren’t missing out on all that much.

yodaman (3.5/5) – The chud fighter in the set is a decent 2 cost, 2 health unit with 1 black gun and 1 white blast. It does come with a pretty situational ability. If you focus this ship, you basically get a reusable Reassignment effect and can move an enhancement from one eligible unit to another controlled by the same player. However, if your ship stays locked down that won’t do you much good. It seems a bit too situational from when I’ve tried this set.

pantsyg (3/5) – I underestimated this card. On the surface it looks like a Kuati Security Team, but the attached Reassignment action is awesome. Being able to use powerful enhancements like Pilot Han or Tycho multiple times in a turn can make for huge turns, as can moving pilots into RSXs to give them more gas. They also fuel Rogue Squadron’s card draw ability.

Majestaat (4/5) – Very nice chud, synergizing perfectly with Rogue Squadron and how fighters usually operate. Moving pilots (ex: future Wedge) and other enhancements (Astromech) around can increase your damage output substantially.


*R3-A2 (227-4): 14 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (3/5) – Tactics on demand for fighters! That’s really good. Particularly when you can throw this on a RSX and pretty much guarantee that it’ll go off. Combine with Resupply Depots and you suddenly have a lot of tactics to throw around. Sadly you can’t get multiple uses out of it in a turn without having a way to refresh it. And being a reaction to focusing to strike, you don’t quite have the same flexibility that just having a tactics icon gives you. Still, this little guy can help make sure you get your key attacks in when you need to.

yodaman (4/5) – This 1 cost droid enhancement comes with another very interesting, yet situational ability. When the fighter it’s enhancing is focused to strike, you basically get a free tactics. Again, you have to make sure you can strike first in order to use the ability. If it gets locked down it won’t do you much good unless you have a way to move R3-A2 to a different unit. It has 2 force icons so you can always use it for edge.

pantsyg (3/5) – I play X-Wing as well, where R3-A2 can be a real annoyance. Here, he basically gives your fighter tactics once a turn. That’s a strong effect, but you do need to get your strike in to get value from it. Unless I have a clear board, I often find myself edging R3.

Majestaat (4/5) – Like getting black tactics, without the posibility to abuse it with multi-strike shenanigans (thank you, RSXW), which is what fighters want when they can't punch it with brute force. It's cheap, it's got two pips and it doesn't use the pilot slot. It's sadly unique, but overall a solid and much needed card.


Kill Marker (227-5): 14.5 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (3/5) – This is almost a strictly worse version of precision flying. It’ll help you more in the edge, but if you’re using it in an edge card then you’re not getting the most use out of it (recurring edge vs one time edge). If you haven’t experienced it, a board full of speeders and Hoth Ops on the table makes it very hard to win edge as a defender. This isn’t nearly as strong, but recurring edge for free helps. This would have a bigger impact if fighter decks weren’t so edge light to begin with, though.

yodaman (5/5) – A free enhancement that gives a fighter or speeder edge 1. Can’t go wrong with that since if you’re playing this set you’re bound to have fighters and/or speeders in play. Give it to the Speeder Bike and get Edge 2.

pantsyg (3/5) – It’s free, repeatable edge, and a cantrip if Rogue Squadron is out. It’s not a blowout card, but it’s a solid enough play.

Majestaat (3.5/5) – Weaker version of Precision Flying. Put it on a durable fighter and you'll definitely enjoy the bonus more than once. Free trigger for Rogue Squad, so it's got some potential to replace itself.


Corellian Slip (227-6): 12 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (3/5) – Being able to lock out a key defender before combat even begins is a strong effect. Especially as all your units get to remove a single focus during refresh. The difficulty there is keeping a resource open through your and your opponents turn, semi-telegraphing what you’re setting up. You’re also limited to focusing out a vehicle, which can be pretty worthless in the wrong matchup. At least in that case you have a two pip edge card.

yodaman (3/5) – This card is good, but way too situational. After you remove a focus token from one of your own vehicle units, you get to place a token on a vehicle unit. Unlike the other situational cards in this set, this one actually depends on what your opponent is playing. If you’re matched up against a vehicle deck then it will have some worth since you can lock down one of their vehicles while you unfocus one of your own.

pantsyg (2/5) – A little too situational for my taste. This is actually a neat control card against Navy, allowing you to prevent them from refreshing dangerous vehicles like DP-20s, Chimaera, or Gladiators, or locking those down when you refresh. Sadly, Fighters are often strapped for resources, so sacrificing one to play this can be too much. Against non-vehicle decks, which are more prevalent on DS, this is worthless.

Majestaat (4/5) – Honestly, this only suffers because the DS meta plays almost zero vehicles, because it's a really powerful effect. Fortunately (?) Might of the Empire is still a staple in Navy decks. Won't say no to a cheap way to lock down Chimaera or the friggin' Gunship.


Overall: 14 out of 20 possible points.

doctormungmung (3/5) – This is a decent fighter set, but it’s not fantastic. I like Rogue Squadron, but it’s on the expensive side. The rest of the set provides some nice support pieces, but each one doesn’t quite provided what is needed to push fighters up the ladder (in my opinion). I do like that it provides decent enhancements to make Tarkin have a tougher choice on what to blank when he shows up. But without a resource, keeping up with him is problematic while keeping the general unit threats high. Now that I write it, I kind of wish that Kill Marker was a resource.

yodaman (4/5) – A decent addition to the Rebel fighter deck archetype. You get a pretty powerful, elite main, some tricks, a card that gives edge and 8 icons total. Just watch out for Tarkin anytime you’re playing a deck with cheap units and enhancements.

pantsyg (3/5) – This is a fun fighter set with explosive potential, but it hasn’t found a place in any of my competitive vehicle decks yet. I do like it with Well Paid, Breaking the Blockade and RSXs, which gives you lots of ways to activate draw from Rogue Squadron and a solid offensive core with Duros-piloted X-Wings.

Majestaat (4/5) – While it's a strong set, current fighter builds don't favor edge-dependant, expensive units. A lack of resources to play said units doesn't help either. And while the current builds can benefit a lot from the support tools here, I expect this to be the foundation for new Voltron decks focusing in 3+ cost fighters. Its strong focus on unit enhancements may prove quite powerful in the Opposition cycle, as it seems it'll provide extra support for that (ex: Well Equipped).


Capital Cover (228-1): 14.5 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (3/5) – As mentioned previously, one of vehicle’s big weaknesses is getting focused out and thus unable to strike. This objective helps alleviate that in a different way from the Alliance’s Elite. Here we get to give all our capital ships shielding! That’s pretty great, actually. It’ll let the big guns like Home One, or the smaller big guns like the Corellian Corvettes get their black icons in even if they lose edge. It also keys nicely with the event in this set. Unfortunately, there are two caveats to getting this shielding: one, the ship needs to be undamage, which can be challenging as the game progresses, and two: the objective needs to be undamaged. The second one is the real kicker, as capital ships are pretty lousy defenders (although not so bad when they have shielding). Still, they don’t like to sit back and defend, which means usually the DS has an open board on their turn, which makes it trivial to turn this objective off.

yodaman (4/5) – A great objective since while it’s undamaged all your capital ships gain shielding. The difficulty though is keeping this turned on long enough to make use of it since it’s hard to swarm the board with capital ships early in the game.

pantsyg (4/5) – Shielding is super strong, especially on expensive investments like capital ships. Expect this objective to be targeted hard early in the game; I’ve had trouble keeping it active for more than a turn. It’s amazing to flop this in the mid-game when your fleet is ready to attack, though.

Majestaat (3.5/5) – Amazing effect, and if you can afford leaving one of your undamaged ships for defense, it can use its shield on the objective as long as it can survive the enemy guns. This can make it deceptively hard to deactivate if your opponent doesn't really commit to it.
The tough part is managing to play defensively with an archetype that wants to go ham against DS objectives.


*Defiance (228-2): 17 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – Speaking of defenders, we get a decent one in the Defiance. Three guns, elite and three force icons point to a unit that likes to sit back and wait for trouble. Still, no tactics means it’s only ever stopping a single unit. When the time to go on offense comes, it has a black blast to contribute to the cause. It also help with the fleet support theme of the set by granting protect to all undamaged vehicles. That’ll help those that are on their last legs get their strikes off. Now those B-Wings can act as pickets for the capital ships. Or X-Wing Escorts can suddenly have a real easy time triggering their effect.

yodaman (4.5/5) – The newest capital ship main is pretty beefy. It costs 4 has 3 health and has a great ability in that it gives undamaged capital ships protect vehicle. Even being able to protect 1 unit damage can be helpful in getting a bunch of damage in on LS objectives. The combat icons are decent with 2 black guns, 1 black blast and 1 white gun, so if you win edge the 3 guns can most likely take out something and clear the way for your other units.

pantsyg (4/5) – Defiance’s icons are quite light for a 4-drop, but I actually rather like it as a defensive unit to hold the line while heavier bombs attack. The text is far better than it seems at first blush, allowing your undamaged vehicles to soak hits for others. I’ve won games by using my other ships, like MC80s and Defiance herself, to absorb damage that would destroy hard-hitting units like Home One or Corellian Corvettes. This ability also increases the value of your Resupply Depots by helping ensure that a vehicle will be around to deliver a boosted strike.

Majestaat (4.5/5) – Well, we just got what we needed to keep the objective online for a while. At three pips, elite, three guns and a sturdy body, this is the perfect unit to leave behind holding the Force and punishing possible DS attackers.
Protect for every vehicle is very nice. It is likely working once per unit, but that's enough to make a big difference. If you feel like going wacko, play this with Rogue Squad X-Wings. They protect, they heal up, they protect again. Very annoying.


MC40a Light Cruiser (228-3): 9 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (2/5) – Speaking of tactics, capital ships finally get some native combat icons (as opposed to those from their various Resupply Depots. Unfortunately, the ship doesn’t bring much else to the table. The tactics is edge enabled, and the ship costs three while having only two health. It can steal shields, which is situationally good, but frequently it’ll be blank. At least the shield theft is at action speed, and it doesn’t need to be in the engagement. But for three cost, I’d like to see at least one more icon. This unit reminds me of the chuds in Solidarity of Spirit: pretty disappointing for the cost.

yodaman (3/5) – I’m still not quite sure what to make out of this ship. It seems overcosted for what it does at 3 cost for only 2 health. Being able to move a shield to this unit could be useful, especially if you can steal it from the DS, but if they’re not playing shields it won’t do as much good. At least it has 2 force pips so you can always toss it in edge and an edge-enabled tactics.

pantsyg (2/5) – I find myself rarely playing this ship unless I can get it discounted. It feels overcosted, and it’s difficult to get value out of the ability unless you’re stealing a shield from an enemy unit. Capitals can struggle in edge, making its tactics hard to use.

Majestaat (2/5) – Quite mediocre unit, with low damage capacity and weak icons for its cost. It's fortunately got two force pips, so edge it without regret.


MC30c Frigate (228-4): 15 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – These guys, on the other hand, are models of efficiency. Two blast for two cost, with two health. And being a vehicle you get all the inherent protection that provides (these guys are intrinsically better than say the Duros (barring text) just because there are fewer things that can remove them from the board). If the 40s could be the same as these guys with the icons switched, then I’d be much happier with all the units in his set.

yodaman (4/5) – Cheap blast is always welcome on the LS. For 2 cost, you get a 2 health capital ship with 1 black blast and 1 white blast. Since it’s a capital ship you can shield it if Capital Cover is out and undamaged. Defiance can help keep it alive too as long as there are ships eligible to gain the protect ability.

pantsyg (3/5) – A 2-drop with 2 objective damage always feels like a good play, especially if you can clear the way to let it strike unopposed.

Majestaat (4/5) – 2 blast with 2 health for 2 resources is great value. Despite it being that cheap, it's still allowed to have the capital ship trait, synergizing with all your other cards.


Concentrated Firepower (228-5): 17 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – This is a killer event. For one cost, you can turn even a lowly MC40a into a beast. You just need to make sure you have that shield when you go to strike. Living the dream you get Home One with an Astromech and get to one shot two objectives simultaneously. The fact that you also get two black unit damage on top of black blast also means you can likely take out any other defender you want. The trickiest part of this event will be getting a keeping the shield. As a result, this is Indepence’s favorite event.

yodaman (5/5) – The money card in this set without a doubt and is amazing for just 1 cost. If you remove a shield from a capital ship that’s focused to strike, the ship gains 2 black blast and 2 black guns! Live the dream and get the new Home One to go off using this and you’re probably taking out 2 objectives in one shot, especially if you have an Astromech on Home One or Resupply Depot out. The biggest issue is trying to make sure the unit has a shield on it when you focus to strike, which can be a bit tricky, but doable as long as you build the deck accordingly.

pantsyg (3/5) – An amazing burst damage event that’s held back by the difficulty of keeping a shield on a capital ship. If you’ve kept Capital Cover undamaged you’ll get this off easily, but otherwise I’ve found it actually quite difficult to get enough shielding AND capital ships into a deck (and onto the table) to consistently get value with this, and it can be shut down by a single tactics icon. Winning the edge battle is crucial to making this event work, but it’s crushing when it does hit.

Majestaat (5/5) – Your opponent better have enough tactics/guns, because if he can't get rid of your shields, he'll be cast into a world of pain. If you can fire it with Endor Home One, you may just win the game right there, but no need to hold the card waiting for that perfect play. It will be strong any time you get to play it.


Protection (228-6): 18 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – More shields for a shielding based capital ship set. Seems good to me. Particularly I’ll take as many ways to enable Concentrate Firepower as possible so that I can play it when it shows up. And in general, a surprise shield can really throw off your opponent's combat math.

yodaman (4/5) – I’ve always been a fan of this fate card. Free shields in the middle of an engagement can really mess with your opponent’s plans. Great synergy by including it here since the set really wants to make use of shields.

pantsyg (5/5) – Shielding is way underrated. This card helps protect you from tactics, makes Defiance’s ability stronger, and can set up Concentrated Firepower.

Majestaat (5/5) – Protection is always solid, as shields do a lot for you, especially combined with big bodies like those of Capital Ships. It's particularly strong here, allowing you to play Concentrated Firepower out of nowhere or keep the objective online for longer, and that's why its bumped to a perfect score.


Overall: 16 out of 20 possible points.

doctormungmung (4/5) – This set is almost a perfect capital ship set. The one thing it’s really missing a resource. Since most capital ships like to sit in the three to four cost range, it’s difficult getting enough of a board out to keep up with the DS and still get your attacks through. But for a couple of turns, now that’ll be easier with all the shields you can get from this objective. It might take something of a paradigm shift in how caps are played, in that it’s more of a "build, build, build" then attack once the fleet has been massed, instead of playing a few and attack with a few. The MC40a is lackluster, but the rest of the cards in the set are good to great.

yodaman (4/5) – A decent new set for Rebel Capital Ship builds. There’s no resource but the set does have 9 force icons which is great for Rebels since they always seem to be lacking. Clearly you’ll want to try to pair this set with things like Solidarity of Spirit and Command and Control and build from there. Just make sure to include other sets with shielding if you want Concentrated Firepower to have a chance of working.

pantsyg (4/5) – I like this set quite a bit. The MC40 is a bit of a drag, but the rest of the cards range from solid to awesome. I was down on the set at first, but with further testing I’m seeing how it helps bring a midrange Capital Ship deck together. While earlier Rebel vehicle decks focused on rushing out as much blast as possible, I’m enjoying the slower, build the board style this set allows.

Majestaat (4/5) – Lack of resources is the crippling factor here. In a way, it's good the Light Cruiser is such an edgeable card, as that reduces the total cost of the set considerably.
All the shielding and protection the pod provides makes Capital Ships incredibly resilient, and while the units here don't pack as big a punch as the ones in Command and Control, Concentrated Firepower certainly makes up for that.


Spark of Rebellion (229-1): 18 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – Some people love Attack Pattern Delta, some people hate it. I was kind of indifferent. It always felt too random, and never worked well for me. But I’ve seen it be explosive for others. Here we get APD for characters. So, it’s the same, right? Not quite. There are a lot more character decks, and most of them fall into main plus chuds or just chuds. So you can build your deck mostly the same as you would have, and throw this in, and get the chance at free units, whereas to get work out of APD you needed to build specifically for it. Thus Spark will fit into a lot more decks that APD can (and still get a reasonable effect out of the objective). The other thing that Spark has going for it over APD is that it’s a lot easier to make a deck that can drop in lots of two drops while also still being reasonably good at edge, which makes the swarm a lot more dangerous. It’s also not tied to Hoth, and can’t be shut off by the random person playing walkers. And let’s not forget that as more Specters come out, the chance for some really big turns grows significantly.

yodaman (5/5) – So LS gets a version of APD for characters, but this is actually slightly better since you can not only put characters that cost 2 or less into play you can also put Spectre units in as well. For now, that’s just Kanan, but once the Opposition cycle comes out there will be more Spectre targets for Spark that cost more than 2. Even if you don’t hit with Spark you’ll at least know what the next card is and that means you can plan for it when it comes time to draw or even know what a Gamor flip will be if you’re pairing Spark with Along the Gamor Run. Great objective with no real downside and lots of potential upside. Plus, if you have both out, you can trigger both since they are limit once rather than limit 1.

pantsyg (4/5) – Like the infamous Attack Pattern Delta, if you run this objective, you’ve likely built around the ability. 2-cost characters are easier to find however, as strong mains in all factions often come with 2-cost chuds of varying quality, so Spark should be more reliable than APD on average. An APD effect in a Mains-style deck is actually quite good, allowing you to get free support units while you spend money on your Mains.

Majestaat (5/5) – I have yet to lose when this objective starts on the table. In the proper deck, this can make or break your game. Yeah, you don't usually want to fill your deck with chuds, but there are some rather high quality ones nowadays, and as opposed to APD and vehicles, characters decks are overall more stable, having better edge, tactics, extra tricks.
As if that wasn't enough, it also gets you Spectre units for free, no matter their printed cost.
All things considered, this gives you a very strong economic and board advantage.


*Kanan Jarrus (229-2): 18 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – Except for the fact that his combat icons are a bit weak for a four drop, Kanan is a very solid unit. He doesn’t care about resource match when you play him, which allows for some serious splash potential. He’s a LS Motti with his resources and ability, so he can basically pass elite to a unit each turn (including himself). In a pinch he can do some work in combat, and he’s both a leader and a specter, so he can even be dropped into play by his own objective.

yodaman (5/5) – Kanan is a very versatile main. For starters he’s 4 cost, has 3 health and generates 2 resources. Like Motti way before him, Kanan has a built in ability that lets you remove a focus token from any unit after you refresh. However, Kanan has a much better stat line than Motti since he comes with 2 black guns along with the white blast. Plus, Kanan doesn’t require a resource match to play so you can always get him out even if you don’t have an Jedi resources available. To top it all off, Kanan has a bunch of traits – Force User so you can put lightsabers and other enhancements on him, he’s Spectre so you can put him into play with Spark, he’s also a Leader which means he can couple well with Leia’s Heroes of the Rebellion objective. You’ll probably never be disappointed to draw Kanan cause he’s useful on the board and also has 3 force pips if you have to toss him in edge.

pantsyg (4/5) – A Motti who can fight. Blast is a little light for his cost, but he’s highly versatile, coming with a form of Elite for himself or a friend, or the ability to ramp resources. His ability is even slightly better than Elite, as he makes your already-Elite units even more difficult to lock down.

Majestaat (5/5) – Slightly more expensive Motti, that compensates with respectable combat icons. He usually goes unnoticed because he doesn't have huge impact right when he hits the table (unless you got him for free with Spark). In reality, he does A LOT as the game goes on, all thanks to his incredible flexibility. Early game, he usually works like an elite resource. Midgame he becomes a force holder/defender that will refresh your most important unit as needed. Lategame, he offers a bit of extra punch to seal the game.
Also, he's the best character in the series. There, I said it.


Children of the Force (229-3&4): 12 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (2/5) – Of course, with an APD for characters, we need to start packing in the chuds. Which is what these units are. Their icons are identical to the standard two drop. Nothing exciting, or special. Blast that needs edge, minor unit damage. Their text doesn’t cost anything, but it doesn’t do much either. You can tell if you want to trigger Spark or not, which can help it’s consistency, but there’s only so much card draw/deck shuffling you can induce, so sometimes the knowledge just saves you an action, and nothing else.

yodaman (4/5) – The chuds in the set fit nicely. They cost 2 which means they can be put into play with Spark and have 2 health. They have a black gun and white blast so you can do some damage with them if you win edge. Also, knowledge is power and the Children’s ability allow you to look at the top card of your deck. You can use them to see if Spark will hit on something or help figure out you’d want to risk a Gamor draw.

pantsyg (3/5) – Kuati Security Team. The ability to peek the top of your deck helps you time your Spark triggers, improving reliability.

Majestaat (3/5) – Average chuds with an ability to improve Spark. Couple them with mid-turn draw like Dodonna's and you really improve your chances of the objective hitting the correct cards. Force Sensitive trait allows them to use lightsabers in a pinch.


Kanan's Concentration (229-5): 17 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (3/5) – Here we get a decent edge card, and further expansion of Kanan’s Motti ability. Getting an extra focus off of a character unit for free is nice, but being limited to the deployment phase means most of the time you’re just unlocking a single unit. You can do some resource expansion by playing it after you’ve used a living resource (such as Kanan). But I think more often than not, this will be used in the edge battle, which with two icons isn’t a bad call.

yodaman (5/5) – Regular readers of this series will know I really am a fan of free events. This one is no different. This one lets you remove a focus token off any friendly Character unit during the deploy phase. Now you can free up that Luke or Yoda who’s been locked down a lot easier and attack.

pantsyg (4/5) – I love focus removal events. This one’s timing restriction made it seem weak to me at first blush—until I remembered I could play it in the opponent’s deployment phase as well.

Majestaat (5/5) – Some countermeasure for when DS is going aggressive with tactics; or a perfect way to keep a defense after you went all-in, as you can also play it during the DS deployment phase.
Nothing to dislike here with its zero cost and two pips.


Target of Opportunity (229-6): 14.5 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – Targets are great. Objective damage is what the LS is going for, and as long as it doesn’t get twisted, you get one from this card. It’s two pips are also decent. Play it, love it, fear the twist.

yodaman (3.5/5) – Light side needs to blow up objectives so an extra blast is always welcome. Nice to see another Jedi set get a Target.

pantsyg (3/5) – Generally I think Targets are on the weaker side, as they lose a lot of value if you don’t attack when they’re in your hand. Jedi generally don’t run Targets, though, so you can get some surprise value.

Majestaat (4/5) – These are always super valuable in LS. You need blast to win the game, and this is free blast.


Overall: 17 out of 20 possible points.

doctormungmung (4/5) – This set provides an interesting set of options. It can be included in most decks as a way to keep units from being locked down while also providing an always playable Jedi resource. It can also be build around to get a deck that spams out chuds and Specters, biding time and then picking off objectives in massive attacks. There are plenty of tactics chuds out there, which makes the swarm aspect more viable than the APD swarm. Also, the set has solid edge sitting at nine. While perhaps not the most exciting set out there, it’s got solid utility, and I think we’ll be seeing a lot of it for the time to come.

yodaman (4.5/5) – This set is a really nice addition to the cardpool. It’s Jedi, but nothing in the set actually requires a Jedi resource to play. Thematically, it makes sense that this set actually may pair better with some of the GA Rebel sets like Hope of the Rebellion and Planning the Attack which have 2 cost units and can make use of Kanan having the Leader keyword. It’s got 9 force icons and a built in resource with Kanan. I can see this set getting a lot of play in different types of decks and it will probably be even better when more Rebels related cards are released in the Opposition cycle.

pantsyg (4/5) – At first this seems like an APD-style set, but I think it’s fairly solid overall. Kanan plays well in decks that are fairly defensive or want to bide their time, making standard Jedi even harder to lock down. In that style of deck, Spark helps build the board by making your chuds free—sometimes. There’s potential for swarm decks as well, though I played enough Wookie Life Debt to be wary of relying on an objective to make a deck function. While the set isn’t flashy, it’s versatile and slots well into many builds from Jedi to Rebel Leaders to tri-color Leia Cracken decks.

Majestaat (4.5/5) – High edge, resources, plenty of units and internal synergy make this a very nice support set with decent punch.
I'm more than happy paying full cost for Kanan. For the Children... not so much. And this may depend too much on the objective when taking a swarm build.


The Gardener's Secret (230-1): 13 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (3/5) – This objective is a double edge sword, in that it gives your opponent a bonus as well as you. Most DS decks these days run a good amount of enhancements, either through standard resources, lightsabers, pilots, etc, and they can easily get a bonus of plus three more more. There’s a real danger that if this is out on the flop, the DS won't need to commit anyone to take the force. But the LS can counter this bonus by making sure it’s deck is chock full of enhancements on its own. Building with that in mind, you should be able to get the net bonus in the long run. That still leaves the problem of Smugglers being bad at the force in general, so the benefit might not really mean much. Luckily this objective splashes very well, and I can see this allowing Jedi to really get a hard lock on the force through most of the game.

yodaman (4/5) – This is an objective that you clearly want to try to build around and make sure that you have a lot of enhancements in this deck. However, because the set is limit 1, that makes it a bit harder to be consistent with it. The objective text says enhancements each contribute 1 icon to the force struggle for both sides so it can help you keep force even when your units are all focused. There is a bit of a downside in that your opponent gets the bonus too so if they’re playing a deck with a lot of enhancements, it could come back to haunt you.

pantsyg (3/5) – Decent if you can get ahead of your opponent on the enhancement count, but the possibility of giving your opponent an edge in the Force struggle makes me wary.

Majestaat (3/5) – Good to see Smugglers getting some alternate ways to contest the Force... except it works for both parties. Unless you're packing a lot of non-limited enhancements, it's probably not making any difference in the game. Thanks to new Han and Chewie, it's now more tempting to run their gun and crossbow, in which case you're already at a decent amount of enhancements for this to give you a small advantage over your opponent.


*Momaw Nadon (230-2): 18.5 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – Stats aside, his text is pretty good. Card search with a free (if you don’t count the cost for Momaw himself) deploy is great. You are rather limited to what you can actually get, particularly the combination of limited and smuggler/neutral. Still, this will pull an Echo Caverns, which will give your opponent all kinds of headaches. Dirty Secrets can turn off Enforced Loyalty. Or mixed into a fighter deck you can pull out Astromech Droids or Advanced Proton Torpedoes. Momaw himself gives a black tactics and two force icons, which are both good things to have on the board. Just looking at his stats, he’s a bit overcosted, but add in his text and he’s almost a steal.

yodaman (4.5/5) – Momaw’s combat icons, especially the black tactics he comes with, are okay for his 3 cost and 2 health. However, his ability is what makes him good since it provides a deck search mechanic. When Momaw enters play you get to put a non-limited neutral or Smuggler enhancement into play from your deck for free. Obvious things to get with Momaw are Echo Caverns, the Kashyyk Resistance Hideout, Asteroid Base, or neutral weapons like the Proximity Mine or a blaster. You can pick and choose which enhancement will do you the most good when Momaw hits the board. However, the fact the set is limit 1 brings the power level down a bit since it’s hard to make use of this more than once in a game.

pantsyg (5/5) – I may be rating this card too highly, but I’m a huge fan of Echo Caverns and Nadon makes them supremely playable. For 3, you get a black tactics body and an enhancement that lets you deprive your opponent of their most powerful icons at action speed. Also great with Shield Chewie to fetch his amazing enhancement as well.

Majestaat (5/5) – You're better thinking he costs 1 or 2 since he's getting your a free enhancement. The best targets are probably Echo Caverns or Kashyyyk Resistance Hideout. Digging for one of those is just incredible, but they're far from being the only worthy targets. Then you're also left with a black tactics unit. Definitely earns my personal seal of approval.


Ithorian Junk Dealer (230-3&4): 15 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (3/5) – Standard two cost chud stat line with an effect that works wonders. Since they put into play, you can get around the limited keyword (as you can only PLAY one limited card a turn), so you can really ramp your resources if you are careful with your discards. Also, you never have to worry again about losing a key enhancement. Sadly, you can’t actually pull pilots from the discard, as they are units there, and these guys specify enhancements. Did Tarkin pay one to get rid of your Jedi Lightsaber? Pay one to get it back. Rinse and repeat.

yodaman (4/5) – You get two of these 2 cost units which helps make up for the fact the set is limit 1 and both have a great ability. During any deploy phase (that means you can do this on your opponent’s turn too), you can pay the printed cost of an enhancement to put it into play from your discard pile. This means you can safely put things like a 2 pip lightsaber or 3 pip Chewie’s blaster into an edge battle and still have access to those cards later on and be able to get them into play. Unlike with Momaw, there are no restrictions on the type of resources the Junk Dealers can put into play so you can even toss some regular limited resources into discard if you have too many in hand at some point and then know you could actually put them into play the same turn as a limited resource because of how play vs. put into play works in terms of limited cards. The recent ruling that you don’t even have to use resources that match the affiliation when you use their ability makes them even better. They also come with a white blast and white gun so they could potentially get some damage in offensively, if you can win edge.

pantsyg (4/5) – These won’t single-handedly bust games, but I’ve been loving the ability to get my Cloud City Guest Quarters back after edging them. You can use their ability on both players’ deployments, so the resource ramp potential is real. The fact that they come with blast is excellent, making them more than just a utility card.

Majestaat (4/5) – Tarkin gets his counter, sorta. Even though they're pretty average chuds statwise, they've got great potential for abuse. They allow you to freely edge your enhancements and then get them back. Keep lightsabers on your units despite the casualties; keep cycling expendable enhancements like the DL-44 in the new Han/Chewie set.
Obviously, they will just be as good as the enhancements you put in your deck allow them to be.


Hidden Grove (230-5&6): 15 out of 20 possible points.


doctormungmung (4/5) – These enhancements are a bit tricky to use, but once you figure them out, they are investments that pay off. Every deck lives and dies by the cards that they see. If they can see more cards in a game, they usually get a considerable advantage. Here we get an enhancement that basically gives you extra reserve. Put a card in at the end of your opponent's turn, and voila, when you draw back up you’ll now have seven cards “in hand”. Although, not quite. You can’t bound a unit from under a grove with the Falcon, or trigger/target other effects that look for a “card in hand”. But you still get to play it, or use it in an edge. If you’re weird, and don’t like seeing more cards, use the Grove in an edge battle, as its two force icons aren’t bad when it comes to that.

yodaman (4/5) – Fitting in with the theme of the set, we get 2 enhancements that are pretty interesting and only cost 1. How many times have you drawn a card early that you know may come in really handy down the road, but you really don’t want to hang on to it for too long. The Hidden Groves basically allow you to save that card until you can make the most use of it. Stash a Bamboozle, Swindled or even My Ally is the Force under this to use when it will have the most impact. Essentially these cards let you increase your hand size and that is never a bad thing. They have 2 icons too which means they are good for edge and then they can be retrieved with the Junk Dealers if needed.

pantsyg (3/5) – Potentially really good if you have an opportunity to get them out, effectively increasing your reserve by 1 and protecting your cards from discard effects or the ever-present Xizor capture. At 1 cost without a resource, it’s hard to play them unless you’re already ahead or have resources to spare. Worst case, they’re 2 edge pips.

Majestaat (4/5) – Holding cards for long is usually a quick way towards defeat. Unfortunately, sometimes you have a single copy of a card that you just know will be crucial later on. Enter Hidden Grove and solve that problem. It's a pretty cheap way to gain some advantage with the objective, save your niche cards for when you need them or simply increase your edge for when it really does matter to win it. If it's too slow for your taste, the 2 pips will still make them useful. And then the Junk Dealers can retrieve them if you have a resource to spare.


Overall: 16 out of 20 possible points.

doctormungmung (3/5) – This is a great support set, although it doesn’t fit into every deck. You’ll want to include either a LOT of enhancements, or some targeted key ones (like Echo Caverns). And you’ll be living a bit dangerously your first few turns if you decide to put the objective out in your flop. But in the right deck, all the enhancement protection and bonuses will pay in spades over the long run.

yodaman (4/5) – The set has some interesting tricks and synergy that will fit in well with lots of different types of decks. Limit 1 is a bit of a drawback as is the lack of a resource. However, the set does come with 8 icons which is decent for Smugglers. You'll definitely want to carefully build with this set to make sure you can get use out of the objective text, but Momaw definitely gives you a way to take advantage of having some sets only be included as a 1 of in your deck since he can search for certain enhancements that may come in sets you don't really want to run as a 2 of.

pantsyg (5/5) – While none of the effects seem huge, this has been the biggest auto-include set in the box for me. I really enjoy mono-Smugglers, and Gardeners Secret + Renegade Squadron has quickly become a go-to package for those decks. Being able to reliably find Caverns really helps Smugglers get the sort of control they need to push damage.

Majestaat (4/5) – Although the set is rather synergistic, I don't see it as being especially powerful with itself. Instead, the individual cards can make the rest of your deck much more reliable, with Momaw searching for key enhancements, the Junk Dealers recycling them as needed and the Groves safeguarding your advantages.


FINAL WORDS:


So we're halfway done with the newest Deluxe box. Because most pods this time are heavily combo-orientes, it shouldn't come as a surprise they would get a lower score than usual. The new cards are definitely good, but it they take much more effort to figure out than what the other affiliations received in their respective boxes.
Dark Side is next. Some reviewers have already submitted their parts, so I expect that article to be finished soon.

The Core box review is also coming along with a separate team. Our first results should be uploaded next week, I hope.

You can check past reviews in our forum thread here.

If you're into listening instead of reading, chunkygorillas' Ion Control Podcast may be just what you need. Be sure to give it a chance.

Meanwhile, yodaman has basically turned his home into a cinema. If you're interested in watching SWLCG matches, pay a visit to Yoda's Hut.

May the Force be with you all!