Welcome back Hyperloops readers! This is my second article here on the website, and this article will focus on my feelings regarding the advanced strategy level that is brought to the game by the powerful cards from the latest set, Across the Galaxy. (With a few “hot takes” on some of the new cards as well)

First off, full disclosure, a few months ago, I limited all of my destiny time to the trilogies format. All of my testing, building, and live tournaments is 100% trilogies based. I wanted to have a jump on the format when it becomes the new standard, and to go back over a larger card pool made no sense to me with rotation not so far away.

Even with the limited playing I did in the standard format, it was obvious that cards like Force Illusion, Second Chance, Ancient Lightsaber and Force Speed were so obviously better than 99% of the rest of the card pool, is was almost silly. Those cards were just strictly better than similar cards, and there was no need to evaluate situational circumstances where different cards would give a player an edge. You played those cards, because no situation could present itself to make other cards equal in value. In a format like that, you play the best cards.

Additionally, the characters were so vanilla (minus Snoke, Aphra and Yoda) that deck design was severely limited by which characters could net the most health, or greatest percentage to roll damage, etc. Now enters Across the Galaxy.

Even prior to this new set, the trilogies format, compared to the standard format, actually has more complex deck design decisions because cards were comparatively even and situationally better. As an example, you could look for removal that only removed damage dice, or pay a little more to remove any type of die, or pay even more to remove several dice of the same symbol. In that environment, you don’t just pick the best card, you determine how many of each will suit the meta and choose between various options. Strictly better cards leads to a lack of necessity to make tough decisions in deck design. And taking that one step further, game play becomes very predictable. When decks would have the same 25-27 cards out of 30, there were no surprises, making it easier to play around your opponent’s best cards.

Increased deck design space due to Resource availability

This latest set now opens up the viable card pool for trilogies, not just in sheer number, but in the playability of more expensive options. Despite the existence of pure resource producing cards (ie Well Connected) there are now characters who can “net” you resources. Tobias Beckett, Val, Boushh, and Han Solo. Previously Yoda, and to some extent Hondo, were the primary characters that generated resources, now there are far more options.

Access to resources through your characters, who are always available, not just possibilities in your deck, open up a lot of deck design space to where I believe the game always intended to be. A game filled with weapons, vehicles, ships, and the like, remind players of the movies we love. Not just two characters with a weapon or two battling it out with measly resources for an event or two per turn. Playing a game with a squadron of Tie Fighters against the Millenium Falcon is more likely to inspire players to play more of this game.

Action Cheating without Ambush

My favorite card of the new set is Grappling Boa. You want this card in your opening hand, every single game. You want it to be the first card you play. You want to activate the character it is on first, every round. Why? Because it has a 50% chance of hitting a side that can remove an opponent’s character die. That’s removal, built into an upgrade, that, oh by the way, does damage while removing your opponent’s best die.

This weapon has built in “card advantage.” It may only inflict one damage, but that damage (and the subsequent removal of a die) only costs you one action. Not only does it perform two functions necessary to win, it combines them into one action to help speed up your decision tree, and possibly lead to claiming before your opponent, which will net you another advantage through claim. The sheer power level of this card, compared to any weapon upgrade previously printed, revels that of Ancient Lightsaber.

Card Advantage

Next, the most obvious addition,Tie Fighters. The ability to play one and pull one, adds so much depth to how you play out each turn of the game. Whether the Tie Fighter you pull hits the table, or is used as fodder to discard, it still adds a resource to your arsenal. The overall consistency in your draws having four copies provides is also a new variable that deck builders have to consider. In a 30 card deck, four copies of a card adds incredible consistency to your opening draws, especially with such a flexible mulligan rule.

My first attempt at abusing the Tie Fighters was with a Beckett/Mauler/Profitable Connection start. I wanted Profitable over Armored Reinforcement, because I didn’t need the ability to pull a tie fighter with four in the deck. Additionally, if i opened on Beckett’s Rifle, I wanted to be able to play that first turn without using Beckett’s power action first, as that would slow me down one turn to activate him. An even better start is Donderbus Blaster Pistol on Beckett, activate, and threaten resources immediately. If your opponent doesn’t use them with their first turn action, they stand the chance of not only losing them, but giving them to you.

Tempo Advantage from Turn One and Beyond

Having opening turn options like these as a deck designer, really forces your opponent to make difficult decisions. If they don’t use their resources immediately, they risk losing them to Beckett (or Val, or both if you are so inclined). If they spend their resources, they no longer have them available to play removal events that cost 1 or 2 resources, and now my dice become far more likely to be resolved for maximum impact. Additionally, having your opponent spend their first turn playing an upgrade or support, and not rolling dice into their pool, gives you a tempo advantage. This isn’t as important round one, as it is round two or three when characters are close to being killed. Getting your dice in the pool, and forcing your opponent into tough decisions, is where you want to be. Forcing your opponent to react to your dice rolls, limits their ability to make decisions that advance their plans to eliminate your characters. Tempo.

But back to the Beckett/Mauler/Profitable start. With Beckett’s power action as my fourth opening turn resource, I could play at a minimum, two Tie Fighters every first turn. If I was able to steal my opponent’s last resource with one of his dice, I would net two resources off of that one die, which would allow me to play a third Tie Fighter, turn one. And all of that would only cost me one of my five starting cards. Because of this, other deck decisions became easy as I would need zero cost removal/disruption for turn one such as crash landing, nature’s charm, and doubt. Again, nothing like this type of consistency existed prior to Across the Galaxy.

Control Options

The next advancement in strategy is highlighted by two more of my favorite cards in the new set, Stifle and Improvised Defense. From playing magic, I always gravitated towards control decks. Both of these cards add that element to Star Wars Destiny. Previously, I was limited to cards like Scruffy Looking Nerf Herder, Probe, or Friends in Low Places to pre-emptively remove an event from my opponent’s hand so they couldn’t use it to remove my dice. Nothing in this game frustrated me more than knowing I could discard card after card to get the roll I wanted, only to roll right into my opponent’s removal card. The sheer card advantage that this would provide my opponent was unnerving. Similarly, spending one die to focus a second, to have that die removed by my opponent is equally frustrating and created an instant 2 for 1 for my opponent. Again, leaving me disgruntled.

Because this is a dice-based game, there is a component to the game that involves manipulating or re-rolling dice. The risk of doing these things was hardly ever worthwhile when there was no defense to the resulting die. Now Stifle gives a reasonable assurance to successfully resolve my die. Why even bother spending seven resources for Planetary Bombardment to have the die constantly removed?

Improvised Defense is the first card to give players the opportunity to stop special action chaining. Yoda is by far the biggest offender in this category. To disrupt Yoda’s ability to chain his special into some abusive special is liberating. It reminds me of Suppressive Fire. This card was uniquely designed to stop Sabine’s static ability. But again, it allows mitigation without costing an action. You get to remove a die and take the next action. That was really the first time I felt the game designers were looking to open up design space. Previously, only ambush allowed this effect.

Increased Level of Decision Making Per Round

Lastly, if this set truly does lead to increased resources available to players per turn, not only will that open up deck design space, but also decision tree analysis every round. Every round, truly strategic players are planning several actions in advance, and changing those decision trees in their heads based on the next action their opponent takes. With fewer resources available, each player has fewer actions to consider per turn as there will be less cards on the table to interact with, fewer options available to play with the cards in your hand, etc. Greater amounts of resources will lead to more interactions, and every one of those choices will become progressively harder to order as more variables come into play.

Plots Increasing Point Totals

One additional point for deck design might not seem like a significant change or improvement at first glance. But for me, it allows me to combine Arihnda Pryce with an 18 point villain instead of warping my whole deck around odd numbers and Mother Talzin. I remember trilogies decks that got wrecked when Aayla Secura’s point total was increased. Guess what, if you are willing to sacrifice two starting health, you can have her back in that deck thanks to Bitter Rivalry. I can only imagine what people are planning to do with that extra point and Snoke or Yoda as they both allow the use of Bitter Rivalry as well. The other minus plots introduced will have limited applications at best, mostly with the new characters. They will hinder deck design so significantly, I doubt they will see Tier 1 play, but expect multiple builds with Bitter Rivalry at the tier one level, especially vehicle/support/mod decks.

Less Predictability in Opponent’s Actions

Additionally, the fact that more cards become viable deck options, means that playing around your opponent’s best tricks becomes more difficult. Every competent player, tries to play around Easy Pickings, because every yellow hero deck plays it. This is not advanced strategy. When there are so many options that your opponent could be playing, that you can’t accurately predict their next move, adds a level of difficulty to the game that doesn’t currently exist.

I, for one, look forward to these strategic challenges that Across the Galaxy now introduces. Greater flexibility in deck design, more strategic options, and a game that could better resemble the movies we cherish, all spells the possibility of a future with hope for Star Wars Destiny.

Thanks for reading!

-John Lolli

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