The hype is already upon us it would appear, and the release date hasn't even been announced yet! It hasn't stopped more than one person from demanding the information from Decipher. Personally I think it will be out just before the Worlds this year. And with 324 cards to get, there will be more money flying around than usual. Certainly I will be getting at least 6 if not 8 boxes to guarantee enough of each card to play with.
But what would we all want to see come out of such an expansion? There will even be things to use that haven't appeared before, targeting the unreleased Endor and Death Star 2 expansions later. Will it be a success or just a bit of a mish mash of items? We already know some details about what is going to be roughly included, but no idea where the expansion may take the game. Here are my 5 thoughts for the expansion in what I hope it will do.
[5] Missing gaps
We all know there are cards that people wondered where they were when the
expansions were released first time round. I hope that Decipher puts in
enough material to cover up the gaps and give us more than we bargained for.
I am sure many players don't want as much filler as we usually get in
expansions now! We want (and demand) useful cards, cards that aren't just
there to make up numbers! Such cards we could expect are: Rogue 4, Beggar's
Canyon, Womprats and Red 10 to name a few. Maybe we can have Hobbie battling
Blizzard 1 at last, or race skyhoppers down Beggar's Canyon. And, naturally,
deploy Beggar for free to use the Dark Side's force :-)
And one word must go to the unique DS lightsaber mentioned. At least the forces of darkness should be able to make two characters forfeit = 0 in one battle, just as the Light Side can. Long time in coming that, and I welcome it.
[4] Give the LS a good kicking space wise
I like space... space is good. Space actually avoids some of the more tricky
DS decks at the moment. Drop a couple of undercover spies on the ground and
swarm decks get a little less powerful. The effect Ability, Ability, Ability
is reduced to nothing with sufficient ships in your deck (and you may even
get to cancel it with Haven's deployment bonuses). Manipulators have a
harder time because many space decks have few Rebels in them. But the main
problem with space is lack of draining potential. Besides Kiffex and Kessel,
you can only drain for one per turn unless it's your opponent system or you
have Revolution (which a certain Decree takes care of). Ditto for EBO,
unless you can defend it properly (not easy).
So what would I like to see happen? More powerful ships for a start. Okay so we have the Mon Calamari Cruiser now, but you need Second Anthology packs to get hold of one, and the deploy of 8 is just criminal. Then again, they said that about the Corvette's forfeit too! True, Corvettes can stand up to ISDs reasonably well, but it is all about card efficiency, and 2 SDs are more powerful than 3 Corvettes for only a few force more deploy. So how about a Nebulon B-Frigate or two? Power 6/7, Armour 5, Hyperspeed 3, Deploy 5, Forfeit 8 would suit me fine. And the ability to carry some fighters around with it too....
And speaking of fighters, following a close second behind Lateral Damage as my most despised DS space card is Tallon Roll. Now come on, this card has been abused SO much since the days of Premiere and the LS still doesn't have an effective way of dealing with it. Okay, there's Corellian Slip, but I am sure there are more Rolls in a deck than Slips. Playable at any time? Just pull one out of Reserve using Unexpected Interruption? Perhaps it should have been Lost originally. So if Decipher aren't going to counter it, then why not even the score? Give the LS a Tallon Roll equivalent! There might actually be a use for A Few Maneuvers outside of Asteroid decks (more of that now).
[3] Asteroid Sanctuary
Now Decipher did say they were going to do something about this now. But
how? Even with the errated card (I can't even believe they missed it the
first time... I didn't!) it is still very powerful, and unless Dark Side
decks stock some ships, then they are in trouble. There's Point Man and
Alter to use to cancel it, but I have seen Grappling Hook/Control used on
the later to slow cancelling down, and I hardly see the former played. And
if you chase after it, the LS can move it with I Have a Bad Feeling About
This to another asteroid sector.
Originally I wouldn't have minded seeing the card say "Deploy on a Big One you control....". That might have made it more balanced instead of just any asteroid sector. One idea I had a few weeks ago was for a card similar to this:
We are Afraid to.... Lost Interrupt Destiny 3 Lore: "I want results Admiral, not excuses!" "Don't worry my Lord, we'll find them". Text: Target a Star Destroyer at an asteroid sector adjacent to where Asteroid Sanctuary is deployed. Draw destiny. If destiny + ability of pilot on ship > 6, sector with AS is destroyed, and all cards at that sector are lost.
All I want is for Asteroid Sanctuary to either be less powerful or slower to start up.
[2] Bubo
A surprise entry? Perhaps! This is the creature from Hell for any respecting
Light Side player. Apart from Obi, Yoda and Chewbacca, this little beast can
munch up just about anyone else. Even Luke can be digested with a bad
destiny draw (and I've seen it happen). Hard to hit with a defence of 5,
even with a lightsaber. I do think Bubo should have been the same stats are
Wortt. Either way, it made people read the creature rules. Bubo + Banthas +
Yaggle Gakkle? No stopping the little bugger now, power 6... 8...?! Me eat
Obi, yum yum, Jedi sandwich!
There is only one proper solution I have seen to the problem, and that is Momaw Nadon. But not all decks use him, or can use him. And what if your Nadon gets munched or lost before he can snare? Then you are in trouble. The Light Side has enough problems getting into Jabba's Palace, let alone surviving there.
So the solution? Give the Light Side a creature of equal power and ability (Giant Womprat?). It may not be as devastating (many DS characters you could munch may get a destiny draw) but at least it evens things up a little in the "hard to get rid of" stakes. And why not introduce a couple of cards to "help" creatures if they attack another creature? There are cards to help in duels, so why not attacks? That way Wortt could overpower Bubo and win the day!
[1] Jabba's Palace/Expand the Empire
Yes, slow this down. But don't eliminate it! Numerous views are complaining
that Decipher shuts down successful strategies. In some ways, that is true.
There should be ways to counter or annoy certain methods of play, but never
removing them. Shocking Information is such a card, a good card, that can
stop Scanning Crew/M'iyoom Onith etc, but doesn't stop people playing with
them. I only hope the above combination is treated with the same respect.
One suggestion made by several people is debatable. The easiest way to stop this completely, they said, would be to errata ETE and make it cost one force to deploy (hence rendering it invalid for use with Twi'lek Advisor). But errating cards like that is a last resort for Decipher, and not likely to happen. At the moment many LS decks start with the Throne Room, but if your opponent is not playing JP then this can be a disadvantage. What I say is that certain strategies that are popular should not necessarily dictate where or how you begin a game. Freedom of choice is important, but sometimes if you play that way, you will be dumped on from a great height because your opponent is going with what works 90% of the time.
What the conclusion here is that as the LS player, you shouldn't feel you need to start with the Throne Room or put Monks in your deck because you think most opponents will go JP/ETE and have 8 force to use on their second turn. Just give us something we can use to slow down such a combination AND still start the game the way we would like. Maybe an Effect that means ETE can only be played if the DS has 3 or more sites on table? Just one possible example there.. guess we will wait and see what Decipher does.
Mayhem