I wasn't all that surprised when I heard that Decipher was making the manipulator a big force to be dealt with in Special Edition. But nonetheless, it prompted some serious thoughts on my part about Decipher's history in similar situations. I make the claim that manipulation has only become too strong with the advent of Jabba's Palace. We must examine the cards that made this strategy so strong in order to decide the appropriate way to fix it.
Decipher must also make a choice as to whether manipulation should be allowed to continue. Depending on how they treat this, manipulation could become so dangerous and undesirable that it could be removed as a viable strategy for a long while. Decipher may be teetering on a disasterous decision if they destroy this strategy entirely. It could reinforce a precident that could mean bad news for this game. But I will talk about that later.
It is not the first time that a particularly potent strategy has been on such a list. In truth, Decipher has done an excellent job of keeping all cards playable. But Decipher is treading on new ground. But I will get back to that. First lets look at some of the things that got whacked by Decipher in one way or another.
Cantina Shuffle
Remember when you could shuffle out during your control phase and then waltz back into the cantina during your move phase. While this strategy wasn't a game breaker, there were some conflicts with the rules that Decipher cleared up rather nicely. Now characters can only use their landspeed once per turn.
Echo Base Operations
This was one of my favorite strategies. It was cheap for newbies to play, yet required skill to keep from getting whacked in space. Dagobah did a great job in balancing this strategy with the addition of "Those Rebels Won't Escape Us." But the big D nearly creamed this strategy with the inclusion of Imperial Decree in Cloud City. In truth, EBO was a bit too strong, but the point was that Decipher has nearly wiped this strategy from our minds. I would give decipher minus points for this one.
Asteroid Sanctuary
No one can deny that this card needed errata immediately. Nice move by Decipher. I think they have done a good job at balancing this deck strategy. Unfortunately, I think one of the major factors keeping the balance is the presence of the strong JP manipulation deck. It seems rediculous that the Executor can be taken out be an asteroid. Without the manipulator, this strategy could redominate the tourney scene because of the strength added to it in Jabba's Palace. (These comments were written before I found out that Asteroid Sanctuary has been declared #1 on Decipher's hit list. Do I see a pattern emerging? Hmmm.)
Dagobah Clouds
Phooey! Dagobah was bad enough with its nearly impossible Jedi Tests. Clouds came along and suddenly another potent non-interractive strategy became strong. Next set... whammo! Imperial Decree. Dagobah clouds pretty much had it. But if that wasn't enough... POW, Cane Adiss. Now I would like to pose a good question to Decipher. How in the hell are we suppose to pull of a training strategy now? I won't complain too long on this. Jedi testing has always been a particular thorn in my side because of how nearly impossible it is to make a competeive strategy using it. Cane Adiss is nasty, but fairly balanced. And since Imperial Decree can be extremely hard to cancel (while Jedi Test 1 is just the opposite) I hope Decipher makes Jedi Training more viable in Special Edition! (hint hint!)
Shot in the Dark Deal
Another example of a job well done by Decipher. While it took some time for them to address this problem, it was finally handled properly with card eratta. This strategy of getting Dark Deal going on the second turn was crazy. It seemed nearly invincible, and had claims to be the most broken strategy since Asteroid Sanctuary first came out.
JP Manipulation
So here we are... in the present with a strategy that seems nearly invincible, and has been proclaimed as number two on the hit list for Special Edition. And here I will leave it for Part Two of my article on the JP Manipulator.
Beakman