Star Wars CCG: 1996 Dark Side Champion Decklists

Continuing with the quest for balanced decks from 1996 is a look at the Dark Side decks from the 4 top finishers in the first Star Wars CCG Worlds tournament in December 1996.

Like the light side decks from the previous post, the dark side decks are also extremely similar.  Perhaps the only the notable differences lies in the location types selected by the players.  A couple players focused primarily on pilots, systems, and starships.  While others built a mix of pilots and ground oriented characters along with ground locations.  Here are those decks.

R Asselin (1st)

B Sorgjerd (2nd)

Characters 2 Admiral Motti 1 Chief Bast 1 Commander Praji 1 Danz Borin 3 Darth Vader 1 Dr Evazan 1 DS-61-2 1 DS-61-3 2 DS-61-4 1 Garindan 2 Grand Moff Tarkin 1 Labria 1 Officer Evax 1 R3-T6 1 Tonnika Sisters 1 U-3PO Weapons 1 Vader's Lightsaber Used Interrupts 4 Alter 5 Sense Lost Interrupts 1 Charming to the Last 2 Gravity Shadow 2 I have You Now 1 Nevar Yalnal Effects 1 Lateral Damage 2 Presence of the Force 1 Undercover Locations 1 Death Star 1 Kashyyyk 1 Kessel 1 Kiffex 1 Tatooine 1 Yavin 4 Ships / Vehicles 1 Black 2 1 Black 3 1 Black 4 1 Conquest 1 Devastator 1 Imperial-Class Star Destroyer 1 TIE Scout 2 Vader's Custom TIE 4 Victory-Class Star Destroyer

Characters 2 Admiral Motti 1 Commander Praji 1 Danz Borin 3 Darth Vader 2 Dr Evazan 1 DS-61-2 1 DS-61-3 1 DS-61-4 1 Garindan 2 Grand Moff Tarkin 1 Mosep 1 Officer Evax 1 Ponda Baba 2 Reserve Pilot 1 U-3PO Weapons 2 Vader's Lightsaber Used Interrupts 3 Alter 2 Boring Conversation Anyways 2 Elis Helrot 1 Evader 3 Sense Lost Interrupts 1 Charming to the Last 1 Dark Collaboration 1 I Have You Now 1 Nevar Yalnal 1 Sniper 1 The Circle Is Now Complete Effects 1 Disarmed 2 Presence of the Force Locations 1 Death Star 1 Eriadu 1 Kashyyyk 1 Kessel 1 Ralltiir 1 Tatooine 1 Tatooine: Lar's Moisture Farm 1 Tatoone: Mos Eisley 1 Yavin 4 1 Yavin 4: Jungle Ships / Vehicles 1 Black 2 1 Black 3 1 Black 4 1 Conquest 1 Devastator 2 Imperial-Class Star Destroyer

J Alread (3rd)

K Reitzel (4th)

Characters 1 Admiral Motti 1 Chief Bast 1 Colonel Wulf Yularen 1 Commander Praji 1 Danz Borin 2 Darth Vader 1 Djas Puhr 1 Dr Evazan 1 DS-61-2 1 DS-61-3 1 DS-61-4 1 Garindan 1 General Tagge 2 Grand Moff Tarkin 1 Hem Dazon 1 Kitik Keed'kak 1 Labria 1 Lieutenant Tanbris 1 Officer Evax 1 Prophetess 1 Tonnika Sisters 1 Trooper Davin Felth 1 U-3PO Weapons 2 Vader's Lightsaber Used Interrupts 7 Dark Maneuvers 1 Evader Lost Interrupts 1 The Circle Is Now Complete 1 Your Powers Are Weak Old Man Locations 1 Death Star 1 Death Star: Central Core 1 Death Star: Dentention Block Corridor 1 Death Star: Level 4 Military Corridor 1 Death Star: War Room 1 Eriadu 1 Kashyyyk 1 Kessell 1 Ralltiir 1 Tatooine: Jundland Wastes 1 Tatooine: Mos Eisley Ships / Vehicles 1 Conquest 1 Devastator 6 TIE Advanced 4 Victory-Class Star Destroyer

Characters 1 Admiral Motti 1 Captain Khurgee 1 Commander Praji 1 Danz Borin 3 Darth Vader 1 Djas Puhr 1 Dr Evazan 1 DS-61-2 1 DS-61-3 1 DS-61-4 1 Garindan 2 Grand Moff Tarkin 1 Labria 1 Officer Evax 2 U-3PO Weapons 1 Vader's Lightsaber Used Interrupts 4 Alter 2 Monnok 3 Scanning Crew 4 Sense Lost Interrupts 1 Charming to the Last 1 Gravity Shadow 2 I have You Now 2 Nevar Yalnal Effects 1 Reactor Terminal 2 Undercover Locations 2 Dantooine 1 Death Star 1 Kashyyyk 1 Kessel 1 Kiffex 1 Tatooine 1 Yavin 4 Ships / Vehicles 1 Conquest 1 Devastator 6 Victory-Class Star Destroyer

Time to discuss the differences.

R Asselin's deck is focused on providing itself with systems, starships and pilots looking to battle in space or just go for force drains across systems.  Gravity Shadow helps keep the light side from moving ships between systems and cards like Charming To The Last and I Have You Now help in the inevitable battles with light side Characters.  If this deck needs to go to ground for some force drains then Tarkin, Vader, and Vader's Lightsaber are strong options here.

B Sorgjerd's deck contains both ground and system locations.  The interrupts are tooled to counter common light side characters.  Its basically a brute force deck for force drains.

J Alread's deck is the most unique of the bunch sporting Death Star ground locations, a large variation of characters, and seven copies of Dark Maneuvers.

K Reitzel's deck also follows the brute force starship and system drain design similar to R Asselin's deck.  He was the only top place finisher to run Monnok and Scanning Crew.  It is hard for me to understand how Monnok might have been useful in the championships.  His opponent's decks didn't seem to run a lot of duplicates.  I suppose as the game lengthened he could use it to lure out any Sense and Alters the opponent may have been holding in reserve.  Scanning Crew is a pretty good card however and I've heard of players running several copies back in the day.  Scrye only listed 58 out of the 60 cards he should have had in his deck.  My guess is the other 2 cards were Ties of some flavor.

So which deck do I like the most?  This is difficult because I really like J Alread's deck because I find the Death Star locations to be thematic.  His design was unique in that he carried no Alters or Sense and minimized his Effects and Interrupts such that an opponent's Alter and Sense cards would be useless.  Since I want balanced decks I also want a small amount of Alter / Sense wars between the light and dark sides.  Therefore I ultimately choose second place player B Sorgjerd's deck as my dark side match for R Asselin's light side choice.  After looking over Sorgjerd's deck I see cards in there that are not very useful against R Asselin's deck so I will make the following adjustments just to keep things a bit more balanced.

-2 Boring Conversation Anyways
-1 Sniper
+1 Djas Puhr which combos well with Presence of the Force
+2 Victory Class Star Destroyer

Star Wars CCG: 1996 Light Side Champion Decklists

A couple posts back I outlined my plan to find balanced decks for Star Wars CCG limited to the Premiere, A New Hope, and Hoth sets.  I had no idea where to come up with balanced decklists and having navigated the interweb I wasn't sure I would find them.  I certainly did not have the time to play test and build them myself.  So I settled on using the wayback machine and bought several issues of Scrye Magazine from the 1996 - 1998 timeframe and found what I was looking for.  I found a time capsule of articles, deck lists, and tournament reports.

For today's post I'm looking at light side decks from the 4 top finishers in the first Star Wars CCG Worlds tournament in December 1996.  And here they are:

R Asselin (1st)

B Sorgjerd (2nd)

Characters 1 Biggs Darklighter 1 C-3PO 1 Chewbacca 1 Han Solo 1 Jek Porkins 2 Kal'Falnl C'ndros 1 Leia Organa 2 Luke Skywalker 1 Momaw Nadon 2 Obi-Wan Kenobi 2 R2-D2 1 Wedge Antilles Weapons 2 Obi-Wan's Lightsaber Devices 1 Restraining Bolt Used Interrupts 4 Alter 1 Grimtaash 4 How Did We Get Into This Mess 1 Nabrun Leids 5 Sense Lost Interrupts 1 Double Agent 1 Gift of the Mentor 2 Houjix 1 Jedi Presence 1 The Force Is Strong With This One Effects 1 Lightsaber Proficiency 1 Mantellian Savrip 1 Revolution 2 Undercover Locations 1 Dejarik Hologameboard 1 Tatooine: Lar's Moisture Farm 1 Tatooine: Mos Eisley 1 Tatooine: Obi-Wan's Hut 1 *Yavin 4: Massassi War Room 1 Yavin 4: Massassi Ruins Ships / Vehicles 4 Corellian Corvette 1 Gold Leader in Gold 1 1 Red 6 1 Red Leader in Red 1 2 Tantive IV

Characters 1 Biggs Darklighter 1 Chewbacca 1 Figrin D'an 2 Han Solo 1 Jek Porkins 2 Kal'Falnl C'ndros 1 Leia Organa 3 Luke Skywalker 2 Obi-Wan Kenobi 1 R2-D2 1 Red Leader 2 Talz 2 Wedge Antilles Weapons 1 Jedi Lightsaber 1 Obi-Wan's Lightsaber Used Interrupts 3 Alter 2 Grimtaash 2 Nabrun Leids 3 Sense Lost Interrupts 1 Don't Get Cocky 1 Double Agent 2 Gift of the Mentor 1 Houjix 1 Sorry About The Mess 2 The Force Is Strong With This One Effects 2 Demotion 1 Lightsaber Proficiency 1 Mantellian Savrip 2 Revolution Locations 1 Dejarik Hologameboard 1 Tatooine: Cantina 1 Tatooine: Lar's Moisture Farm 2 Tatooine: Mos Eisley 1 Tatooine: Obi-Wan's Hut 1 Yavin 4: Jungle 1 Yavin 4: Massassi War Room 1 Yavin 4: Massassi Ruins 1 Yavin 4: Massassi Throne Room Ships / Vehicles 1 Luke's X-34 Landspeeder 1 Millenium Falcon 1 Red 6 1 Tantive IV

J Alread (3rd)

K Reitzel (4th)

Characters 1 Biggs Darklighter 1 BoShek 1 Chewbacca 1 Commander Evram Lajaie 1 Commander Vanden Willard 1 Dutch 1 General Dodonna 1 Han Solo 1 Jek Porkins 1 Kal'Falnl C'ndros 1 Leia Organa 1 LIN-V8K 2 Luke Skywalker 1 Momaw Nadon 2 Obi-Wan Kenobi 1 Owen Lars 1 Pops 1 Red Leader 1 Tiree 1 Wedge Antilles 1 Wioslea Weapons 1 Jedi Lightsaber 2 Obi-Wan's Lightsaber Used Interrupts 7 A Few Maneuvers 1 Sense Lost Interrupts 1 The Force Is Strong With This One Effects 3 Revolution Locations 1 Alderaan 1 Dantooine 1 Kashyyyk 1 Tatooine 1 Tatooine: Lar's Moisture Farm 1 Tatooine: Mos Eisley 1 Tatooine: Obi-Wan's Hut 1 Yavin 4: Jungle 1 Yavin 4: Massassi War Room 1 Yavin 4: Massassi Ruins Ships / Vehicles 5 Corellian Corvette 1 Tantive IV 6 X-Wing

Characters 1 Biggs Darklighter 1 BoShek 1 Chewbacca 1 Figrin D'an 1 Han Solo 1 Jek Porkins 1 Kal'Falnl C'ndros 2 Luke Skywalker 1 Momaw Nadon 2 R2-D2 1 Wedge Antilles Used Interrupts 4 Alter 2 Grimtaash 4 Sense Lost Interrupts 2 Don't Get Cocky 2 Double Agent 2 The Force Is Strong With This One Effects 2 Demotion 1 For Luck 1 Revolution 1 Traffic Control 3 Undercover Locations 2 Dantooine 1 Kashyyyk 2 Kessel 1 Tatooine 1 Yavin 4 Ships / Vehicles 5 Corellian Corvette 1 Gold 2 1 Gold Leader in Gold 1 1 Millenium Falcon 1 Red 6 1 Red Leader in Red 1 1 Tantive IV

In looking at these decks one sees they are extremely similar.  This is not too surprising as the pool of cards was limited in 1996.  Competitive decks were largely comprised of "Mains and Toys" supported by Alter and Sense.  What is interesting to see is the unexpected quantity of different characters in these decks.  I had expected to see a lot of duplicate Mains in each list (like 3x Luke Skywalker, 3x Han Solo, 4x Obi-Wan, and so forth) and yet there aren't many.  

After thinking it through this may make sense.  You can only have one of a unique card in play at any time.  Stuffing a deck full of duplicates means you'll have a handful of duplicates you cannot deploy, limiting your options in battles.

Let's move on to some differences.

R Asselin's deck is ground drain based but it carries a strong complement of starships to deploy to systems owned by the Dark Side.  In an interview after the tournament he praises the card How Did We Get Into This Mess.  That is a terrific card that reminds me of Wheel of Fortune from Magic the Gathering.  I wonder if that card gave him enough of an edge to win the tournament.  It likely allowed him to dump non-optimal hands and cycle until he found what he needed.

B Sorgjerd's deck is another ground drain deck with starships to meet The Empire in space.  His deck doesn't really stand out in comparison to the others.  Its just a strong deck.

J Alread's Deck is really interesting with the high numbers of characters.  His deck is geared toward draining in space as well as on the ground.  He included 3 copies of revolution and 7 copies of A Few Maneuvers!  The card obviously helped his space combat but the real reason I suspect he chose it was for the 6 destiny value.

K Reitzel's deck is the only Light Side deck designed for space combat.  Scrye magazine didn't list the entire deck as the card count is only 55.  This is likely an error in printing or copying the contents listed from the tournament.  What were the other 5 cards?  We may never know.

Well I have to pick one as my light side deck for my balanced deck experiment.  So which deck do I like the most?  I like R Asselin's deck for the use of How Did We Get Into This Mess.  I'm a big fan of card cycling and that one card, IMO likely contributed to his success in the 1996 Worlds tournament.

Star Wars CCG: Battle Phase Explained

I recently read the rules on the Battle Phase for the Star Wars CCG. Its a pretty complicated sequence of events that I thought could use some clarification. I managed to get confused multiple times with the concepts of weapon hits, attrition, and battle damage. I'm writing this for me but since you've dropped in maybe you'll find it helpful as well.

As is typical with the internet you can find this information in several places such as Boardgamegeek.com or the Star Wars CCG Community. Why would I bother to write it down if examples exist elsewhere? Well its for me really. The internet does a great job of providing information but not such a great job organizing information and since this is my gaming blog I'm putting it here.

How Battle Works

To even start a battle the attacker needs to spend 1 Force (moving from Force pile to Used pile) and both players need to have presence at the location, meaning an ability of 1 or greater.

Before we get into the details of weapon hits and attrition lets just focus on the basic mechanics. Battle is resolved by comparing Power to Power. Each of you adds up your power and adds any "battle destiny" to achieve their total. A player may draw one "battle destiny" if they have a total Ability of 4 or greater present at the site. To draw battle destiny flip over the top card from your Reserve pile (to your used pile) and note the number in the upper right corner, that value is your battle destiny number.

Total Power = Power + Battle Destiny

The loser of the battle loses Force equal to the difference of (Power + Battle Destiny) versus (Power + Battle Destiny).

Now instead of losing Force from your hand or one of your piles you may forfeit a card on the table to reduce the loss of Force by that card's forfeit value. The forfeit value is located in the lower left in the black rectangle. If the forfeit value is greater than the Force loss required then you still forfeit the entire card (goes to the Lost pile) and the difference in value is lost. If the forfeit value is less than the Force loss required then you must make up the difference by losing additional Force or forfeiting another card from the table.

Now lets talk attrition. Do you remember the Battle Destiny draw earlier? Each player's total Battle Destiny causes attrition for the other player. Each player must forfeit enough cards (including hit cards - we'll get to that in a bit) to satisfy attrition. Even the winner is affected by attrition. If you have no cards left to forfeit or your remaining cards are immune to attrition then any remaining attrition is ignored. Note that some cards say "immune to attrition < x". In this case "x" is the total attrition value.

Weapon hits are resolved at the beginning of the battle phase. You do not need a weapon to initiate a battle. If a character, starship, or vehicle is hit by a weapon then it is turned sideways and must be forfeited as part of battle resolution. Any cards forfeited as a result of weapon hits also count their forfeit value toward attrition.

I'll give some examples shortly but first I want to clear up some confusion I had about weapon hits. When I read the rules I was concerned about weapon hits being too powerful. I mean couldn't I lose Vader to a blaster shot? Well you could but not likely. Weapons are pretty well balanced because of the way they work. Most weapons require you to draw destiny (note this is not destiny that counts toward Battle Destiny). If the destiny drawn + some modifier is greater than the target's defense value then your target is hit and turned sideways. The defense value of a character is equal to its ability. Lets look at the Vader example. Let's say I use my blaster rifle to target your Vader. I need to draw a destiny value of 6 to remove Vader from the table. The average destiny value of a card from Premiere is 3. Odds are pretty good that your high Ability characters are going to be safe from unmodified blaster fire.

Before we move into examples i wanted to mention something about destiny modifiers. Some cards allow you to modify the destiny value by either drawing another card or modifying the number. "Add one destiny" means that an additional destiny card is drawn and added to the total destiny. "Add 1 to destiny" means that +1 is added to the total destiny.

Battle Example 1

I took this example from a post on Boardgamegeek because I thought it was pretty clear.

Let's say you attack me with Darth Vader (Power 6, Ability 6) and a Stormtrooper (Power 1, Ability 1). All I have at that location is Luke Skywalker (Power 3, Ability 4). We each check to see if we have Ability of 4 or greater; we both do (you have 7 total, and I have 4).

You draw your Destiny, and pull a Location card. Notice that Location cards have no Destiny number on them; this translates to "0". However Vader adds 1 to destiny so your Battle Destiny is 1. Luke gets lucky and pulls a card with "2" as its Destiny value. We each place our revealed Destiny in the Used Pile. Your total Power is 8 ( 7 + 0 + 1 ); mine is 5 (Luke's 3 power plus the "2" for Destiny I drew). Subtracting 5 from 8 is 3 which is the amount of Force I have to lose for the difference.

I do not have to lose force, I could choose to sacrifice Luke, who has 7 Forfeit. This doesn't allow me to win the battle; the extra Forfeit is lost...but all I lose is Luke, and no cards from Hand or one of my piles. I will probably chose to lose 3 Force just the same as I like Luke.

Next up is attrition. Your battle destiny was 1 and mine was 2. I have attrition to satisfy but Luke is immune to attrition < 3. You also have attrition to satisfy. You must forfeit a value equal to or greater than 2. Now Vader is immune to attrition < 5 so you are not required to forfeit him. The stormtrooper on the other hand is not immune to attrition and must be forfeited.

Battle Example 2

Now lets say you attack me with Darth Vader (Power 6, Ability 6), two Stormtroopers (Power 1, Ability 1) one equipped with a blaster. All I have at the location is Luke Skywalker (Power 3, Ability 4) and Kal'falnl C'ndros (Power 1, Ability 1). We resolve weapons first. You activate your blaster, target Kal'falnl C'ndros and draw destiny getting a value of 2. Kal'falnl is hit and turned sideways for later resolution.

Next we draw battle destiny. You draw your battle destiny and pull a 3 and then add Vader's 1. I draw battle destiny and also pull a 3. Your total power is 12 (6 + 1 + 1 + 3 + 1); mine is 7 (3 + 1 + 3). I lose and need to pay 5 force either by losing cards from my pile or forfeiting cards in play.

Since Kal'falnl is hit I must forfeit her even if there was no attrition for me to pay; i do not have a choice. When I forfeit Kal'falnl her value will count toward attrition and battle damage. She has a forfeit value of 5. Your battle destiny total of 4 means I must forfeit a card worth at least 4 to cover attrition. Forfeiting Kal'falnl will satisfy this since she's worth 5. Since I lost the battle by 5 forfeiting Kal'falnl will also satisfy my battle damage total.

You must also satisfy attrition by forfeiting cards worth at least 3 due to my battle destiny draw. Since Stormtroopers only have a forfeit value of 2 you must forfeit both to satisfy attrition.

Nostalgia Strikes Back: Star Wars CCG

I imagine every game player goes through this. At some point you think back to games gone past and wistfully wish you could experience or play them again. There are a lot of games from my early days of game playing that I think back fondly on. Some of them were just plain terrible but I enjoyed them just the same. I remember playing a lot of The Dragonriders of Pern Boardgame, Dungeon!, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (first and second editions), Talisman (I had all the expansions except the Dragons one), and Battletech.

The topic for today harkens back to my college days and it is none other than Decipher's Star Wars Collectible Card Game. This came on the scene when I was heavily into Magic The Gathering and as a result I never played a lot of Star Wars as my slim hobby budget went to Warhammer 40K and collecting the MtG power nine and every multiland I could get my hands on.

A friend of mine really got into Star Wars CCG and as a result I played a decent amount using his cards and I really enjoyed the game. A big part of that enjoyment comes from the mix of design and theme. I really like the hand management and using cards as currency aspect. Add in a theme that works well with that mechanic and you've got a pretty well designed game.

Late last year I made a decision to resurrect this game within my local gaming group. This was purely going to be my pursuit as my gaming buddies were busy chasing other gaming goodies like Android Netrunner and Warmachine / Hordes. I did get commitments that they would play the game if I put together some balanced decks so I set off to plan on putting the Star Wars CCG into my collection.

So how does one set about the task of re-introducing a game of this magnitude into his group? Very carefully. The first thing I decided on was how much of the game I wanted to tackle. The game boasts somewhere around 2500 unique cards. Fortunately I only wanted to play the game I remember from its early days in 1997. I settled on limiting the game to its initial releases Premiere, A New Hope, and Hoth. As a stretch goal I am considering adding Jabba's Palace and Special Edition for the extra aliens and "tutor" cards. I think the dark side should get to play with the Executor from Dagobah as well but I don't want the set as Dagobah wasn't good for the game IMO.

I was happy to discover that the game is not dead. There is a small community supporting the game and they still run tournaments and produce virtual cards. The articles there are pretty good like this little gem on getting back into the game. So armed with determination I set out on my mission. There were two hurdles I had to overcome, the first was getting cards and the second was building balanced decks my group could play.

I thought about buying a bunch of sealed boxes and assembling sets but quickly threw that idea away when i calculated how random (and expensive) that could be. Instead I focused on buying completed sets, that way I could control my costs and card count. Sets of unlimited Premiere sell on eBay for around $65 so getting enough to build the kinds of decks I wanted to play was going to take time and money.

I ended up buying 4 complete sets of Premiere to ensure I got the rares needed to build thematic decks. Nobody wants to play without the main characters so I needed at least three to four copies of certain core characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Vader. I supplemented this with two additional sets of Premiere Commons & Uncommons. Sets of common and uncommons are very cheap and I'm thinking about adding more. This provided me with a solid base of Alters, Senses, Corvettes and other basics.

I am still working on assembling sets of A New Hope and Hoth. A New Hope looks to sell below $50 but Hoth is pricey landing in the $60 to $70 range. I believe I only need two sets of A New Hope and three of Hoth. This trip into nostalgia isn't for the feint of heart.

Building balanced decks based on cards from Premiere, A New Hope, and Hoth is the bigger challenge. I have little game experience and don't have buckets of time to experiment. Even if I did there isn't a large, accessible community where I live that can help me hone my decks. There are decks posted at Star Wars CCG Player Committee and Deck Tech, however is very difficult to find designs using cards only from Premiere, A New Hope, and Hoth. I found a few on Deck Tech and I'll give them a whirl but I'm not sure they are balanced against each other. To ensure balance my plan is to research decks that were at the top of the tournament scene in 1996 - 1998. In theory the top players from that period should have produced the most balanced, competitive things around.

Finding information on those early decks wasn't as easy as I thought. Google searches only yielded decklists for the winner of each Worlds tournament. I could not find any information online about the runners up who must have had some decent decks. Even Decipher's old site is gone and would be gone if it hadn't been for one fellow who reproduced it here and even he wouldn't have been able to do that had he not found another who saved the content on his hard drive. In the days of the internet nothing is forever. If you see anything you like on the old Decipher site you should copy it because who knows how long the mirror is going to exist.

To help me in my quest for competitive decks from 1996 - 1998 I researched the dates of some issues of Scrye magazine and bought them from Troll and Toad. Chronologically issues #14 - 20 represent the timeframe I am interested in. I am not sure if they will yield anything helpful. A couple of the covers claim to have winning deck lists. If I find anything useful I'll post it; perhaps some enterprising soul may find my backwater blog and use the info.

As for the decks I want to build. I figure two from each side is a good goal. When Hoth came out the game divided into ground and space decks. I like that and want to put together a ground and space deck for each side.

Thunderstone: The Best XP Cards

This is my second look at Thunderstone cards from a utility perspective. My first look was posted as an analysis of cards that offer an Additional Buy. For this analysis I wanted to take a closer look at cards that grant more XP.

XP is one of the resources in Thunderstone we all wish we could get more of. XP translates into more powerful heroes and eventually we can convert XP into VP by leveling our heroes to 3 (in most cases). It is also the most expensive resource.

Think of it this way. There are four key resources in the game. Gold, Attack, Light, and XP. To get Light you spend Gold and a turn. To get Attack you spend Gold and a turn. To get XP you spend Gold and a turn for Attack and then Attack and a turn for XP.

As a visualization: Gold + turn --> Attack + turn --> XP. From this simple illustration you should see why spending XP to upgrade Militia to a hero is not efficient.

Since its harder to get than other resources then it would behoove us to find ways to get it quicker and cheaper within the game economy.

The following is my evaluation of the usefulness of XP granting cards in Thunderstone. The evaluation is based primarily on the ability of the card to grant XP and do so repeatedly over the course of the game.

Poor Additional XP Cards

Tavern Brawl [wote]

Cost 4.
VILLAGE: Discard one Hero and choose another player. Draw and discard cards from the chosen player's deck until a Hero is revealed. If your Hero's Strength is higher, destroy the opponent's hero and gain 1XP.
VILLAGE: Destroy this card and one Hero. All other players discard two cards from their hands

This is a terrible way to gain experience. You're betting that you have higher strength heroes than your opponent does, in a game where you are drafting from the same card pool. If an Outlands is on the table you can bet your opponent is buying them too.

Far too conditional to be a reliable source of XP.

Mediocre Additional XP Cards

Now we get into the Heroes that produce XP. I rank these as mediocre ways to attain XP mainly because you must get them to Level 3 which takes time. This means less time in the game for their XP generation to make a big impact. In addition all players are in competition for the Level 3 versions, of which most Heroes only ever have two copies available.

Veteran [ds] – (Fighter) – Cost 8

Level 1: STR 6. Attack +3
Level 2: STR 7. Attack +4.
DUNGEON: Destroy a Hero for an additional Attack +2
Level 3: STR 8. Attack +5.
DUNGEON: Destroy a Hero for an additional Attack +4.
SPOILS: Gain 1XP
Level 4: STR 10. Attack +6.
Additional Attack +10 if you reveal only level 3 or higher heroes.
SPOILS: Gain 2 XP

Veteran by himself is a pretty good card. Its nice to have a Hero that generates unmodified Attack +3 out of the gate. Even better to have one that thins out Militia and can later grant XP. I just don't consider them a fast, reliable XP source.

Feayn [ts] – (Fighter / Archer) – Cost 7

Level 1: STR 4. Attack +2. Light 1. Cannot attack Rank 1.
Level 2. STR 5. Attack +3. Light 1. Cannot attack Rank 1.
Level 3. STR 6. Attack +4. Light 2. Cannot attack Rank 1.
Gain +1 XP if you defeat a monster in Rank 3

I have a love / hate relationship with the Feayn. When Thunderstone first came out I used him quite often as a Light source and XP source. He did work really well in that regard, when my opponent wasn't busy chasing the same strategy. The Feayn's inability to attack Rank 1 is an annoyance at times. Also forcing you to attack only Rank 3 to get XP is limiting.

Thornwood [tws] – (Archer) – Cost 6

Level 1: STR 4. Attack +1.
Additional Attack +1 for each Rank of the monster being attacked
Level 2: STR 5. Attack +2.
Additional Attack +1 for each Rank of the monster being attacked. Light +1 against Rank 3 only.
Level 3: STR 6. Attack +3.
Additional Attack +2 for each Rank of the monster being attacked.
Gain 1 XP if you defeat a Monster in Rank 3.

A Feayn cousin, Thornwood suffers the same problem Feayn does. Namely you have to take out Rank 3 to get XP. It assumes you can take out whatever is in Rank 3 and that what is in Rank 3 is the best monster on the table to take.

Good Additional XP Cards

Grognard [hod]

Cost 4. Gold 2. VP 1.
Gain 2 XP when purchased.
If you are the active player and you trigger a trap, choose another player to suffer the trap's effects.

I like the design of this card. You can just buy XP in the Village at the price of 2 Gold per XP. That is a great price. Grognard adds 2 Gold to your hand so trips to the Village are not a waste. Unfortunately you want to be rid of him when you go to the Dungeon, VP and all. You can only do this by resting or finding another card that lets you discard him. I would not buy many of these without another source of card destruction on the table.

Drill Sergeant [tws]

Cost 4.
VILLAGE: Draw 1 card (maximum 5) for each 2XP you have.
DUNGEON: Destroy a Militia to draw 2 cards and gain 1XP.

Drill Sergeant is a good card, a really good card. He helps get pesky Militia out of your deck and then turns them into cards and XP to boot. When you go to the Village you can use that XP to trigger additional card draws. This is a good card design but once you've chewed through all your Militia he is then stuck in your deck not contributing much to your Dungeon runs. Like Grognard I would not buy many of him without another source of card destruction on the table. Given the choice between the two I prefer the Drill Sergeant.

Great Additional XP Cards

These XP granting cards are the ones I feel are the best in the game. I doubt you will be too surprised by the lineup.

Bluefire [hod] – (Cleric / Wizard) – Cost 4

Level 1: STR 2. Magic Attack +1. DUNGEON: Gain 1 XP.
Level 2: STR 3. Magic Attack +2. DUNGEON: Gain 2 XP.
Level 3: STR 4. Magic Attack +3.
DUNGEON: Level up one Hero (paying all costs), add the new Hero to your hand.

Bluefire is one of the best because he offers an unconditional source of XP. You simply take him to the Dungeon and he gives it to you. No discards or other prerequisites. Get him to Level 2 as quickly as possible. At Level 2 he gets to Strength 3 allowing him to handle Hatchets and other light weapons. If you see a board with low Weight weapons or Strength augmenting cards (Runespawn) buy him because he will synergize better.

Sage [wote]

Cost 4.
VILLAGE: Destroy one card. If it is not a Hero, gain 1 XP.
VILLAGE: Destroy this card. Gain 1 Gold for each Hero revealed from hand.

I have to read this one carefully to appreciate it. It says destroy one card. You can turn any non-Hero card into XP. This means junk like Diseases, Daggers, Torches, and Iron Rations can be converted. He can get rid of Grognards and Drill Sergeants when they've outlived their use. He can also destroy himself, making room for other cards. I cannot think of a situation when you should not buy a couple Sages when they show on the board. His ability to convert anything firmly sets his position as one of the best. But the ultimate title goes to...

Trainer [ts]

Cost 4.
VILLAGE: Destroy one Militia to gain 2 XP.
VILLAGE: Destroy this card to gain 2 Gold.

No surprise here I suppose. When you do the math you see that the 6 Militia dealt at the start of the game are now 12XP you can farm out of your Deck. Trainer solves two problems for you in one action. Then when she's burned through Militia she respectfully leaves your deck so you have room for combat cards. When Trainer is on the table you need to buy her quickly, likely over any other choice on the board.

Thunderstone: The Best Buy Cards

There are great reviews of Thunderstone cards around.  One of my favorite reviews is by BlueTorch over on BoardGameGeek who does a fantastic job of outlining a core strategy for Thunderstone and provides a solid review of a large portion of available cards.  That said there are still some topics I want to explore.  I like to think in terms of "what does X best".  With that in mind I'm setting forth to analyze which cards, if any are good at providing an additional Buy.

First we need to understand if an additional Buy is even feasible.  Many cards in Thunderstone are fairly expensive considering the game's economy.  Every turn you draw 6 cards.  The most common Gold value in Thunderstone is 2, making a 12 Gold hand the most you can assume to get (without adding additional draws and such).  When it comes to buying cards, the average Weapons and Heroes tend to be in the 5+ range, while a lot of support cards tend to cost around 4.  The majority of "great" cards cost 6, 7 or more.

Is it really possible you'll buy more than one thing in a turn given the cost of the more desirable items? Yes but its going to depend upon the tableau.  If I could buy two Loriggs in a Village trip I would.  With that in mind lets assume, given the right tableau, a Gold value of 10 is in the area of interest for an additional Buy to be useful.  That's still not easy to do. If you were to get a 50/50 split in your starting hand you would have 5 Gold so you have a bit of work to do.

Ok so getting to 10 is a challenge but not insurmountable.  The first hurdle is that Heroes you buy, with the exception of Thieves, do not help in the Gold area.  This is one of the reasons why a good early buy is a Thief because they usually provide gold.  When buying early items you should also be aware of cards that provide 3 Gold like Short Bow, Short Sword, Feast, and Lightstone Gem.

Perhaps the best way to get a strong Gold hand is to do something we already know we need to do - rest out Militia.

Factoring in everything said so far, it looks like an additional buy is reasonable to attempt but not something you should expect to work in your favor every turn.  Most of the time you'll want Heroes and weapons.  Together these items can be expensive making that Additional Buy card a dead card in some cases.

All right so lets say we want the flexibility of an additional Buy.  What should we value most in a card that does this?  Cards that provide draw abilities would be handy as they replace themselves instead of taking up a slot that could just be another Gold card.  Cards that provide their own gold would be handy.

What we really should look for are cards that let us buy from the Dungeon and skip the Village altogether. This reduces the need to draw into 10+ Gold.

The following is my evaluation of the usefulness of Buy cards in Thunderstone.  This is an evaluation primarily based on their ability to give you an additional Buy, not necessarily how good they might be in the game due to other factors.

Poor Additional Buy Cards

Highland Officer [tws]

Cost 3.
VILLAGE: Draw 1 card. You may purchase a Militia in addition to your buy.
DUNGEON: Draw 1 card for each Militia revealed.

This is a seductive card until you think through what he makes you do. This fellow forces you to adopt a pure Militia strategy. The goal is to populate your deck with multiple Highland Officers and Militia so you can trigger additional draws and go to the Dungeon with an army of Militia. Its all or nothing with this card. Put too few in your deck and imagine the turn where you draw into a handful of Militia and this guy fails to show up. Put too many in your deck and you dilute your attack and Gold value.

Blacksmith [wote]

Cost 3.
VILLAGE: Draw one card. You may buy one additional card if you buy a Weapon.
VILLAGE: Destroy this card to gain 2 gold. Place one Hero from your hand on top of your deck.

The design of the Blacksmith follows what I would want in a Buy card, except for the restriction on buying a Weapon. If there's an Elf or Lorigg on the table I want my extra Buy to let me buy two of those fellows, not force me into a purchase of a Weapon. I need weapons, but not a deck full of them.

Situational.

Good Additional Buy Cards

Barkeep [ts]

Cost 2. Gold 1.
VILLAGE: You may purchase one additional card this turn.
VILLAGE: Destroy this card to gain 2 gold.

As extra purchase cards go this one is ok. He clutters your deck a bit but does add Gold on trips to the Village. So he helps Buy another round, so to speak. He can be destroyed for 2 Gold. This is rather thoughtful of him because he knows he's going to clutter your deck when you need to go to the Dungeon.

Chalice [ts] – (Fighter/Cleric) - Cost 7

Level 3: STR 7. Magic Attack +4.
DUNGEON: Draw one card.
SPOILS (Village)

The Chalice is a card you probably wanted anyway and offers a rare unrestricted Spoils ability. You have to get him to Level 3 however and this is why he is ranked as a good additional Buy card but no higher.

Its all about the question - can you get him to Level 3 quickly enough for the extra Buy to make a difference? If Chalice is out then other players want him. There are only two Level 3 cards available so you and your opponents are competing for them. You also have to give up his awesome Level 2 ability. I'm not sure the extra buy is worth that.

Trader [ds]

Cost 4.
VILLAGE: In addition to your buy, you may destroy 1 card to take any non-Hero card worth up to 2 cost more from the village.
DUNGEON: Draw 1 card. If it is a Monster, draw another card.

I like the Trader. His ability to trade up is unique in the game. Daggers and Torches can be converted into decent things like Flaming Swords.

He has two drawbacks. Once he’s traded off your starting items he becomes less useful because scaling into higher cost cards means you’re probably getting rid of something you wanted to keep in the first place.

His second drawback is the board. There may not be any decent items to trade your Daggers, Torches and Iron Rations for.

At least if you tire of him he can trade himself in for a Short Sword. The non-hero restriction also stinks although I understand why they did it.

Better Additional Buy Cards

Doomgate Squire [dg]

Cost 5.
VILLAGE/DUNGEON: Draw one card.
VILLAGE: You may purchase one additional card.
REPEAT DUNGEON: Discard 1XP to give one Hero Attack +1.

I've warmed up to this card after playing with it for a bit. In both the Village and Dungeon he makes sure he's not a clog by letting you draw into another card. The Dungeon effect is a bit underwhelming but hey, we were looking for an additional Buy here. He does that without complaint.

Guide [ds]

Cost 4. Gold 2. Light 2.
VILLAGE: You may buy an additional card.

With Two Gold and two Light you can think of a Guide as a replacement for that Torch you’ve been trying to dispose of.

As Buy cards go, this is a good one and positioned in the "better" category simply for the 2 Light. If you're not sure my ranking, think of Guide as Attack +4, just add Hero.

The Best Additional Buy Cards

Elite Militia [tws]

Cost 3. STR 4. Gold 0. Attack +2.
When purchased you may make an additional buy and may destroy 1 Militia.

I'm not keen on Militia but with this one I'll make an exception. You want to rid your deck of basic Militia anyway. If you arrive at the Dungeon with 8-9 Gold you can upgrade your Militia and get a good Hero or weapon to boot. This is an excellent card that turns an otherwise useless card into something that can wield a Short Sword and keep the early to mid-game Dungeon trips going. Also only needs 2VP to convert into a more useful Hero.

Highland [hod] – (Fighter / Thief) – Cost 7

Level 1: STR 5. Attack +2. Gold = 1.
VILLAGE: Destroy this card to take a Treasure from another player.

Level 2: STR 6. Attack +3. Gold = 1.
DUNGEON: Buy 1 Hero.

Level 3: STR 6. Attack +3. Gold = 2.
DUNGEON: Buy 1 Hero and add it to your hand.

What is the one thing you want to buy more of if you can? Heroes of course. Well the Highland lets you do it. In addition she produces Gold and has good Strength and Attack value. A fantastic card if buying Heroes is what you want to be doing more of.

Isri [hod] – (Fighter / Archer) – Cost 7

Level 1: STR 5. Attack +2.
DUNGEON: Destroy a revealed Item or Weapon to gain Attack +1.

Level 2: STR 6. Attack +3.
DUNGEON: Destroy a revealed Weapon to gain Attack equal to its Weight.
SPOILS: Buy a Weapon.

Level 3: STR 7. Attack +4.
DUNGEON: Destroy a revealed Weapon or a Weapon from the village stack to gain Attack equal to the Weapon’s Weight.

Is Isri nice or what? She lets you destroy your Daggers, Iron Rations, and Torches early. At Level 2 she lets you buy more Weapons. Level 2 is very achievable for a Hero. At Level 3 she doesn't trash your hard-earned weapons, she trashes the ones from the Village. This is a very well designed card.

Village [hod] – (Thief / Hero) – Cost 6

Level 1: STR 4. Attack +1. Gold = 1.
DUNGEON: Buy 1 Village card.

Level 2: STR 5. Attack +3. Gold = 1.
VILLAGE/DUNGEON: After buying a card this turn, take 1 village card of lower cost than the purchased card and place it in your discard pile.

This is a great Additional Buy card. At Level 1 he lets you Buy from the Dungeon while providing Gold and Attack value. His strength is enough to wield a Short Sword, a Hatchet, or other decent weapon. At level 2 he becomes amazing for a few reasons. There is the obvious Buy One Get One Free ability but he's also Attack +3 and maxed to his Victory Point value. A normal hero takes two trips to the village to convert to VP. This fellow takes a single trip making him a bit easier to convert to VP.

Honorable Mention

These are all heroes whom I did not mention above. I consider them poor choices for additional buys, assuming that is the goal here. They are poor choices because they limit what you can Buy. They are poor choices due to the Level 3 prerequisite and the time required to upgrade a hero to Level 3. Consider when Leveling up one of these Heroes you are choosing to not Level up a better Hero. Then there's the arguable point that you might not want to buy some of these to begin with.

Cabal - Level 3 - Spoils (Spell)

Clan - Level 3 - Spoils (Weapon)

Flame - Level 3 - Spoils (Light Item)

Magehunter - Level 3 - Spoils (Mercenary)

Terakian - Level 3 - Spoils (Villager)