“In the days of the Kings most of the High Elves that still lingered in Middle-earth dwelt with Círdan or in the seawards lands of Lindon. If any now remain they are few.”
     –J.R.R. Tolkien, Appendix A

One of the greatest things about The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is the way it reinvents itself with each new cycle and each new scenario. The structural flexibility of the game’s quest and encounter decks permit a seemingly endless array of heroic quests, perilous dungeon crawls, epic battles, and sinister mysteries. From the shadows of Mirkwood, the game has delved into the heart of Khazad-dûm, traveled through the forests of Ithilien, and ventured into the tainted realms of Angmar.

Each new adventure has heralded new challenges and afforded new experiences. And each new Nightmare Deck has taken one of those experiences and rarified it into something just a little darker, a little deadlier, and a little bit more focused—filled with terrifying surprises certain to trip the unwary travelers who fall back to their tried-and-true strategies.

Now three more of these Nightmare Decks are available via FFG’s in-house factory. Combined in a single package of 62 cards, The Grey Havens Nightmare Decks hit like a sudden squall, dramatically changing the course of the nautical adventures The Grey Havens expansion first allowed you to enjoy aboard the Dream-chaser and west of the shores of Middle-earth.

For a more detailed look at how these Nightmare Decks modify the expansion’s three scenarios, we turn to developer Matt Newman.

Voyage Across Belegaer

The first scenario in The Grey Havens, Voyage Across Belegaer was originally designed as a tutorial to introduce the new rules for sailing, ships, and boarding that the expansion introduced. These new mechanics changed up the ways that players quest and the ways they perceive enemies in the staging area, so it seemed natural to offer players a chance to experience these new mechanics for the first time in a scenario that was basically “what you see is what you get.”

That said, the scenario had one more aspect of interest in its quest deck, which contained many different Stage 2 quests, and players needed to sail through them one by one, although they could skip one each time they completed a stage while staying on-course.

For the Voyage Across Belegaer Nightmare Deck, I had two primary goals, and they ensured the scenario would no longer—by any means—be considered an introductory tutorial.

• My first goal was to ensure confrontation between the players and the Corsairs, since the original version made it possible—desirable, even—to try to stay under the radar and avoid enemies.
• The second was to make Sailing tests more difficult. The gloves are off in Nightmare Mode, after all!

To that end, two new Stage 2 quests are included in this version of the scenario,

Corsair Confrontation

(Voyage Across Belegaer Nightmare Deck, 2) and

Lost at Sea

(Voyage Across Belegaer Nightmare Deck, 3), and each requires the players to deal with Corsairs or Sailing tests.

There are also new enemies, new ship enemies, and new locations that replace some of the easier cards from the original version. These cards test the players’ ability to manage their ships, their heading, their progress, and their threat simultaneously. Finally, there is a new treachery with a deadly effect that triggers not when it is revealed from the encounter deck, but when it is discarded during a Sailing test, dealing damage to every character committed to the test.

In the end, this scenario has been transformed from an introductory tutorial into a grueling and deadly voyage across the ocean that you will be hard-pressed to survive!

The Fate of Númenor

When we designed the Nightmare version of The Fate of Númenor, we knew we wanted to work with its double-sided locations, and we ultimately decided the best way was to create a whole new set of them, creating some new ones and reprinting some of the originals. The result is that you’ll recognize some familiar locations, but you’ll also stumble into such terrifying new locations as

Desecrated Grounds

(The Fate of Númenor, 7).

Another change in this scenario comes from the

Nightmare Setup card

(The Fate of Númenor, 1), which guarantees that players at Stage 2 cannot stumble into the Shrine to Morgoth too early. In Nightmare Mode, you must explore more of the uncharted locations in the staging area before you can find the Shrine.

Finally, many of the new enemy and treachery cards in the Nightmare version of this quest enhance its manipulation of the bottom of your deck, and these cards tend to become more powerful the lower the cost of the cards in your deck.

While this theme was explored in the original scenario, it really reaches critical mass in Nightmare mode, with cards like

Corrupted Flora

(The Fate of Númenor, 11), which removes characters from the quest and deals damage. My personal favorite is

Guardian of the Golden King

(The Fate of Númenor, 9), a powerful opponent who can remove attacking characters from combat.

When you play this deadly new version of The Fate of Númenor, you’ll definitely want to stick close to

Calphon’s

(The Grey Havens, 28) side.

Raid on the Grey Havens

The climactic scenario from The Grey Havens, Raid on the Grey Havens had players on the defensive, protecting the ships in the Grey Havens from attack by deadly Corsairs.

One of the things I loved about this quest was the Aflame version of the Dream-chaser that felt really tragic and personal to me. I wanted each of the players to feel this personal connection to the quest, so the first thing I did in the Nightmare version of this quest was add a new Aflame version of the rest of the Dream-chaser’s fleet—the

Nárelenya

(Raid on the Grey Havens, 6), the

Dawn Star

(Raid on the Grey Havens, 7), and the

(Raid on the Grey Havens, 8).

Each of these has a Forced effect that mirrors the ship’s original ability, dealing damage to the ship if triggered. These new locations also advance one of this Nightmare Deck’s greatest goals—to burn more ships to the ground! The more Ship locations you have in play—and the more you have damage dealt to them—the more likely you are to lose from

The Havens Burn

(The Grey Havens, 38), which amplifies the quest’s tension and excitement.

The other major goal we pursued with this version of the quest is to make the battle with

Captain Sahír

(The Grey Havens, 76) and

Na’asiyah

(The Grey Havens, 78) deadlier and more thrilling. The new version of Stage 2,

Sahír’s Advance

(Raid on the Grey Havens, 2), works toward this goal.

First, it does away with the ability to remove damage from locations by questing successfully, which means Aflame locations and The Havens Burn remain a huge threat during Stage 2. Second, Na’asiyah actually supports her captain during this stage, adding her resources to his throughout the battle. Finally, both Na’asiyah and Sahír must be defeated in order for the players to win. No longer can players effectively ignore Na’asiyah and go straight for Sahír; they must contend with both of them fighting in unison!

These new threats, along with those posed by its new Raider enemies, Aflame locations, and treachery cards, should make the scenario a harrowing experience even for experienced The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game players!

Face the Raging Seas

Continuing in the greatest traditions of The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, The Grey Havens Nightmare Decks build upon the game’s versatile framework—and the thrilling adventures from The Grey Havens expansion—to offer you bold, colorful, and thematic new experiences in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

Are you ready to face these deadly new challenges? Pick up your copy of The Grey Havens Nightmare Decks today!

“Taking risks is what makes it fun!”
–Kabonesa Wu

Life on Mars is defined by hardships. Mining accidents, radiation poison, and ancient grudges keep the life expectancy down. There’s simply not enough water to go around, and too much blood has been spilled over the planet’s red deserts. 

An outsider—someone accustomed to the on-demand comforts of life in New Angeles—might expect to find the citizens of Mars downtrodden and depressed. But unless you’re actually two klicks deep in one of Whampoa’s infamous mines, you’ll probably see more than a few smiles on the faces of the Martians around you that could rival the famous grin of Haarpsichord’s latest star.

Blood and Water, the fourth Data Pack in the Red Sand cycle for Android: Netrunner is on sale now and introduces sixty new cards (three copies each of twenty unique cards) that explore not only the everyday hardships of life on Mars, but also the exciting new thrills that can’t be found anywhere else in the galaxy!

Come for the Tech

The challenges of Mars can prove irresistible to runners with an innovative streak. And the hardware developed by these runners reflects the joy they take in overcoming obstacles. Both Los’ preferred console,

Maui

(Blood and Water, 63), and the mysterious

Daredevil

(Blood and Water, 66) console, reward players for running against servers protected by multiple pieces of ice. 

Criminals have always presented a significant threat to the Corp’s HQ. While cards like

HQ Interface

(Humanity’s Shadow, 85) and

Legwork

(Honor and Profit, 35) offer them multiple chances at finding an agenda, other cards, including

Political Operative

(Democracy and Dogma, 43) and

Emergency Shutdown

(Cyber Exodus, 43), let them wreak havoc on the Corp’s board state after they’ve made a successful attack. It’s no surprise, then, that most Corp players defend HQ as heavily as they can when they see a Criminal ID hit the table. 

Maui tilts this strategy against the Corp by giving the Runner a recurring credit for each piece of ice protecting HQ. These credits can only be used while running against HQ—and if you’re playing blue, you were going to do that anyway, right?—but advantageously, they can be used for anything, even if the ice protecting HQ isn’t rezzed. So, if your opponent can’t afford to rez those three pieces of ice you just

Exploited

(Daedalus Complex, 4), you have three credits for your first Psi-game to steal

The Future Perfect

(Honor and Profit, 7) or to pay for trashing any assets you find there.

Meanwhile, Daredevil rewards Shapers with two cards for running against any server protected by at least two pieces of ice. Although it only offers them this reward once per turn, the tempo advantage is significant for players who want to dig up some

Dirty Laundry

(Creation and Control, 52) and find their next

Sure Gamble

(Core Set, 50) simultaneously. It may be even more significant for Shapers like

Smoke

(Intervention, 66) who can use recurring stealth credits for their first run each turn. 

Stay for the Challenge

Runners aren’t the only ones having fun on Mars. Without the suits from Central breathing down their necks, corporate sysops are free to get creative too. And any sysop with the skill and free reign to do so would want to create a piece of ice like

Loki

(Blood and Water, 69). 

Like

Mother Goddess

(Upstalk, 10), Loki gains the subtypes of another piece of rezzed ice. Unlike Mother Goddess though, it only gains the subtypes of a single piece of ice, and it gains the subroutines of that ice! 

Of course, this means that some trickster playing HB could protect R&D with Mother Goddess and HQ with Loki—and no fracter, decoder, or killer would be sufficient for accessing those key servers. 

So, pick up your copy of Blood and Water (ADN46) today and start getting creative! 

“There be those who say that things and places have souls, and there be those who say they have not; I dare not say, myself, but I will tell of The Street.”
  – H.P. Lovecraft, “The Street”

Evil extends its reach and spills into the Streets of Arkham, the newest expansion for Mansions of Madness Second Edition! The city’s façade of normalcy fails as strange happenings begin to infect key places around town. You’re likely to find odd circumstances at many areas, including the Miskatonic University, the hidden gang-run speakeasies, and the curious storefronts that populate the once quiet neighborhoods. As an invested citizen with a penchant for noticing when “odd” becomes “too odd,” you gather a team of likeminded investigators to examine these supernatural threats. It’ll take all of your wits, grit, and the occasional bit of luck to do what needs doing, but somebody has to.

Fantasy Flight Games is excited to announce Streets of Arkham, a new expansion for Mansions of Madness: Second Edition. Three new digital scenarios build upon the Arkham Files universe with yet unseen tiles, mythos events, investigators, and cards to expand upon your investigations.

Assemble Your Team

Ancient supernatural forces have abandoned the confines of the dark mansions and gloomy crypts, and the once peaceful streets now serve as a battleground. A new team of investigators joins the fray as the battle to quell the Ancient Ones spills out into the open. Streets of Arkham unites four new investigators with a wide range of backgrounds, including a rookie cop, a bootlegger, an entertainer, and even a reformed cultist.

Each new investigator comes with their own unique ability to align with the backstory detailed on the back of their character cards. Finn Edwards’s past as a bootlegger has prepared him to be quick as he moves about the shadows, allowing him to move an extra space before or after performing a search action. The reformed cultist, Diana Stanley, has seen more terrors than any other investigator of the Arkham universe. As such, when she would suffer two or more horror, she suffers one fewer horror instead. Officer Tommy Muldoon of Boston always has his trusty rifle, Becky, at his side, which he can use on any test. And last but certainly not least, the enchanting singer Marie Lambeau can use the skills learned from her grand-mere in the bayou to cast a spell without spending an action.

Taking the action outside the confines of the mansion forces investigators to adapt and learn on the fly. After all, the only way to forge a weapon of great power is by hammering it into shape. With Streets of Arkham, players can now strengthen their investigators with new Improvement tokens. When as investigator is instructed to improve one of their six skills, he or she claims an Improvement Token associated with that skill, placing it on his or her play area. This increases the printed value of their corresponding skill by one. A skill cannot be improved more than once, but these boons will benefit the entire investigation in ways previously impossible.

Fortify Your Being

Beyond Improvement tokens, Streets of Arkham also introduces a new item to aide investigators in their mission in the form of Elixirs, fortifying potions that can improve a player’s skill… for a price. Elixirs are chemical concoctions the investigators encounter during their investigation. In addition to encountering the potions throughout their searches, some effects in Streets of Arkham cause investigators to gain Elixirs.

When an investigator first gains an Elixir, they draw it faceup and treat it as an item. As such, they can be dropped, picked up, or traded. However, these tricky elixirs are double sided. If an investigator flips an elixir facedown, they must immediately resolve the effect described on the card, and it is no longer considered an item.

Explore Arkham

Streets of Arkham comprises of three new adventures with various levels of difficulty that draw investigators across the city. The first of these, Astral Alchemy, leads investigators to Miskatonic University where strange beasts from beyond the stars are stalking the shadowy halls. With help from the academic elite, players may just be able to push the astral abominations back from whence they came.

In Gangs of Arkham, investigators must solve an inhuman murder to prevent an all-out war between the Sheldon and O’Bannon gangs. Each gang accuses the other as the culprit, but the real killer may be something more sinister, something unnatural. The stakes are high; if investigators fail, innocent lives can be lost in the crossfire and the true murderer will be free to continue tormenting the citizens of Arkham.

Finally, Ill-Fated Exhibit takes place at the Miskatonic Museum where the opening of a new exhibit featuring several ancient artifacts is marred by a series of impossible accidents. After several deaths, the assistant curator has called in the investigators to determine which artifact is cursed and destroy it before anyone else gets hurt.

Within these perplexing scenarios, Streets of Arkham includes a new digital game to further puzzle the investigators. The tower puzzle consists of three columns with randomized blocks of various sizes stacked atop one another. Players must move the topmost piece of one column to the top of any other. The puzzle is solved when each piece of the puzzle is on the correct position in a single column and the tower is properly displayed with the largest piece on the bottom and the stack descending in block size to the top.

Save the City

The citizens of Arkham need your aide. Otherworldly terrors stalk their streets and prey upon their sanity. The inexplicable is slowly becoming undeniable and reality itself is beginning to unwind where all can witness. The danger is only escalating, and there are few who can rise to meet the danger. Except you, of course. Always you. Answer the call, journey outside the mansion, and defeat the forces of darkness.

Look for Streets of Arkham (MAD25) at your local retailer in Q4 of 2017!

The latest version of the Star Wars™: Armada FAQ is now online! This update contains the usual streamlined rules, clarifications, new questions, and other minor changes that come with refining the rules. In addition, today’s update includes errata to a couple of cards that players should be sure to read about. Learn why these changes were made directly from the developers in the paragraphs below, and then download the new FAQ to see all the changes for yourself!

Click on the image above to see the new FAQ. This update goes into effect 6/26/2017.

Star Wars: Armada Developers

The Star Wars: Armada development team is excited to release FAQ Version 3.2.1, an update that contains five errata to existing cards, a rules errata for flotilla ships, and several updates to existing clarifications.

Card Errata

The card errata found in FAQ Version 3.2.1 are updates for balance. These changes are intended to help promote greater list parity and diversity for competitive-tier Star Wars: Armada fleets. To support this, the

Bomber Command Center,

Demolisher,

General Rieekan,

 and

Turbolaser Reroute Circuits

upgrade cards and the

Major Rhymer squadron card

all have updates to the wordings of their abilities. Overall, these changes reflect an effort to introduce additional risk and decision-making for abilities that previously enabled extremely powerful combos or repetitive use with no downside.

Bomber Command Center

Bomber Command Center

has provided reliability to bomber squadrons, especially squadrons with a single die in their battery armament. This has had the positive effect on squadron-focused fleets that we sought. However, the efficiency of overlapping Bomber Command Centers combined with the inherent benefits of flotillas has reinforced the dominance of fleets that deal damage primarily through squadrons.

For that reason, this card’s effect gains an additional restriction that reads “A squadron cannot resolve more than 1 ‘Bomber Command Center’ card per attack.” The effect remains a powerful base-level benefit, but having multiple Bomber Command Centers now provides redundancy rather than certainty.

Demolisher

Demolisher

is a powerful card and has been part of the game’s competitive scene from the beginning. While this card is unique, when combined with the

Engine Techs

upgrade card it enables one of the game’s most powerful combos. This factors heavily into both factions’ list-building and initiative considerations, so much so that opponents must plan to sacrifice ships rather than outmaneuver Demolisher.

The update to this card is minor, but introduces some additional counter play and risk. The card now reads: “During your activation, you can perform 1 of your attacks after you execute your first maneuver.” This change means that Demolisher can no longer perform its attack after the maneuver granted by Engine Techs. Demolisher can still pounce from long range and attack, but it is much harder for it to avoid all attacks before doing so.

General Rieekan

General Rieekan

has become a popular choice of competitive players in Star Wars: Armada. His ability radically alters sacrifice play and—when paired with ace fighter squadrons—has created one of the game’s defining fleet archetypes. While this is very thematic, it has further combined with the activation benefits of flotillas to make General Rieekan lists extremely difficult to defeat in competitive play as well as crowding out other fleet-building choices for both factions.

The change in General Rieekan’s effect wording is minor but significantly increases the risk involved in using him: “Once per round, when a friendly ship or friendly unique squadron is destroyed, it remains in the play area and is treated as if it was not destroyed until the end of the Status Phase.” This change doesn’t negate Rieekan’s utility, but requires more careful management of casualties. It especially changes some of the tactics for confronting Rieekan fleets that use multiple small ships and aces, as destroying more than one unit during a round will overwhelm Rieekan’s effect.

Turbolaser Reroute Circuits

Turbolaser Reroute Circuits

have dramatically increased the value of small ships’ attacks, especially the

CR90 Corvette A

and

MC30c Scout Frigate.

 However, this has also compounded the power of fleets focused around multiple small ships, which already enjoy a significant activation advantage. Bringing two arcs to bear on an enemy is a major tactic in Star Wars: Armada, and nimble CR90’s and MC30’s are able to further exploit Turbolaser Reroute Circuits as a dramatic force multiplier. The cost of spending an additional evade token is minor compared to guaranteeing an additional four damage across two attacks.

The change to this card is minor but adds an additional restriction: “While attacking, you may exhaust this card and spend 1 evade defense token to change 1 red die to a face with a crit icon or 2 hit icons.” This effect’s guaranteed damage is still powerful, but this change provides more firepower parity between fleets composed of many small ships and those focused around fewer, larger ships.

Major Rhymer

Major Rhymer

is the single most indispensable unit for squadron-centered Imperial fleets for good reason. His effect enables an extremely long threat range for squadron commands as well as setting up a dangerous passive-threat zone during the Squadron Phase. While this effect gives the Empire’s bomber squadrons their own signature anti-ship tactic, it also combines with the intel and escort keywords to dramatically reduce counter-play strategies. Major Rhymer’s ubiquity also prevents alternative fleet-building choices for the Empire.        

This squadron’s effect now reads: “Friendly squadrons at distance 1 can attack enemy ships at close range using all dice in their battery armament.” This substantially reduces Major Rhymer’s range benefit and makes opponents’ interception strategies easier. However, Major Rhymer’s bombers can still outrange the engagement distance of enemy squadrons.

Flotilla Rules Errata

Of all the additions to Star Wars: Armada’s competitive scene, flotilla ships have had the greatest underlying impact since their introduction. Flotillas have provided inexpensive additional activations, an additional source of squadron commands, and significant effects through Fleet Support upgrade cards. While they have proven to be vital support ships, the effect of flotillas on activation economy has undermined the competitive value of many fleet combinations. This tendency has only been compounded by the ability of flotillas to serve as flagships and allow the game’s commanders to avoid the main battle with little cost.

For these reasons, the rules for flotillas now include an additional restriction for this ship type: “A flotilla cannot equip a commander upgrade card.” Although this is a minor change for flotillas, it restores much of the risk to commanders and raises the effective price of keeping a flagship out of danger.

Download the new Star Wars: Armada FAQ now to read the entire update before it goes into effect on June 26th. If you’re planning on playing in a Store Championship, make sure to read the errata so you’re prepared! Players attending a Store Championship before June 26th can still find the previous FAQ on the Star Wars: Armada page..

As always, game rules, tournament regulations, and other support materials for Star Wars: Armada can be found on our Star Wars: Armada page.

“The way I’ve lived, I know I’m lucky to be alive.”
     –Doctor Aphra

Allies of Necessity, the first Force Pack in the Alliances cycle for Star Wars™: The Card Game, is scheduled to arrive at retailers in just a couple weeks!

While many of its objective sets and cards explore the bonds of friendship that shaped the Star Wars galaxy, there are plenty others that turn their attention toward the tenuous bonds formed by credits, blackmail, and the fear of death.

Light side players can celebrate the heroic partnerships formed out of desperation and shared by such characters as

(Allies of Necessity, 262-2) and

(Allies of Necessity, 261-2). But there are plenty of other ways that characters and agencies can come to work together. The Empire’s hierarchical structure may force “alliances” upon Officers such as

(Allies of Necessity, 264-2) and the Troopers under their command. And Rogue Archaeologists such as

(Allies of Necessity, 263-2) may simply stumble into the paths of Sith Lords willing to allow them to continue breathing so long as they can make themselves useful.

And in Star Wars: The Card Game, Allies of Necessity allows you to celebrate all these fateful partnerships not only by introducing a good number of the parties involved, but also by introducing two new affiliation cards for each affiliation. These come with potent abilities, but—in turn—require you to find creative means to satisfy their unique deck-building requirements.

In order to get a better handle on just what these new affiliation cards might mean for the game, we asked two-time World Champion Mick Cipra to share his insights. As we expected, he had a lot to offer.

Two-Time World Champion Mick Cipra on the Art of Deck-Building

For me, the deck-building of Star Wars: The Card Game is a way to explore different ideas. The gameplay is a puzzle that I can spend hours enjoying. But I see both as ways to express my creativity.

I’ve been playing regularly since the game’s launch in December 2012. In the beginning, I would often build two decks and mash them up against each other to see how things would play out. This, of course, made edge battles rather interesting, but as long as you’re willing to entertain the idea of a split personality, I think it’s something anyone can do. By playing against myself, I was able to freeze at any point and think about all the different decisions each player has.

And there are so many decisions during every game.

One of the things that keeps me coming back for game after game of Star Wars is the vast number of choices each player has on every single turn. The fact the game allows players to draw to their hand size of six at the start of each of their turns means there’s always a multitude of options. Even the cards that don’t get played can be bid in an edge battle. And sometimes you have to choose whether you should play less so you can bid more.

The most competitive decks, of course, each have a game plan of what they want to play each turn and how they want the board to develop. But between the sheer variance of draws and the fact that no plan survives first contact with the enemy, I can confidently say no two of my competitive games have ever played out exactly the same. And I love it when games are so back-and-forth that neither my deck nor my opponent’s can hit its stride.

What Drives Deck-Building?

The two most important tactical skills a player has to hone in Star Wars: The Card Game are 1) risk analysis and 2) order of operations.

The same could probably be said about any card game, but it’s different and perhaps doubly important in Star Wars because of the uncertainty introduced by the edge battle, and the alternating striking of units in combat.

When players start out, they tend to risk too much in engagements and get blown out when the edge battle doesn’t go their way. Or they strike in an order that produces a suboptimal outcome. If you’re starting off, I encourage you to think of the game primarily as a game of board control. If you control the board you can, as light side, destroy three dark side objectives or, as dark side, tick that dial up to “12” at your leisure.

Everything you do should be about maintaining your board presence and controlling your opponent’s. Don’t risk too much too early, and look for the most devastating way to resolve your combat icons or play an event. It’s ok to play your game at a measured pace. If your chances for success this turn look grim, you can always get a new hand full of options next turn. You’re not trying to win a battle; you’re trying to win a war.

This type of work on your tactical play will take you far in the game, but at the highest level of competition it’s not enough…

In Star Wars: The Card Game, the most strategic choice you’ll make in an event is which decks you’ll bring. There are hyper-efficient units and super-synergistic sets out there, but even if you have perfected when to attack and how to resolve your icons, you might lose to an opponent who hasn’t if you’re simply not playing the best cards.

So why not just run all the best cards? Because… IT’S A TRAP!

Ok, now that I’ve got that out of my system, what does it really mean? There are very powerful cards in the environment that will make up the core of any champion-caliber deck. But they can’t fill the deck. They still need support in the form of economy or events or fate cards. No archetype is pigeonholed into 100% of their slots. There are always flex choices and different lateral moves to make, and this is where I see the most creativity happening in Star Wars: The Card Game. I love seeing what other players bring in to flesh out their World Championship decks. Do they go for raw efficiency, pod synergy, or surprises? Personally, I love a good surprise.

Surprising Deck-Builds in Star Wars: The Card Game

It’s the idea of a good surprise that brings us to my World’s winning light side deck.

Just like my 2014 Worlds light side deck, my Worlds 2017 light side deck was built off a known archetype. The 2014 deck was built off a slow-build Jedi

Leia

(It Binds All Things, 117-2) deck that tries to control the board, and the 2017 deck grew from a Spark of Rebellion deck that tries to build a massive board.

Total Cards: (60)

Affiliation:
Smugglers and Spies

Objective: (10)
2x May the Force Be With You (Join Us or Die)
2x Sacrifice at Endor (Between the Shadows)
2x

Spark of Rebellion

(Galactic Ambitions)
2x The Last Warrior (A Wretched Hive)
2x Haunting the Empire (Power of the Force)

Unit: (24)
2x

Yoda

(Join Us or Die)
2x Dagobah Nudj (Join Us or Die)
4x

Ewok Hunter

(Between the Shadows)

2x

Kanan Jarrus

(Galactic Ambitions)
4x

Children of the Force

(Galactic Ambitions)
2x

Zeb Orrelios

(A Wretched Hive)
2x Freelance Slicer (A Wretched Hive)
2x

Hera Syndulla

(Power of the Force)
2x Ghost (Power of the Force)
2x Phantom (Power of the Force)

Enhancement: (10)
2x Dagobah Training Grounds (Join Us or Die)
2x

Funeral Pyre

(Between the Shadows)
2x Bo-Rifle (A Wretched Hive)
2x Improvised Defenses (A Wretched Hive)
2x Hidden Outpost (Power of the Force)

Event: (8)

2x Yoda, You Seek Yoda (Join Us or Die)
2x Unexpected Assistance (Between the Shadows)
2x Retreat to the Forest (Between the Shadows)
2x Kanan’s Concentration (Galactic Ambitions)

Fate: (6)
2x Seeds of Decay (Join Us or Die)
2x Target of Opportunity (Galactic Ambitions)
2x Well Equipped (A Wretched Hive)

Mission: (2)
2x Call to Action (Power of the Force)

The surprises in the decks were the inclusion of

Deep Commitment

(Darkness and Light, 122-1) and

Mobilize the Squadron

(Core Set, 13-1) in 2014, and Sacrifice at Endor and—to a lesser extent—Haunting the Empire in 2017.

To say these were surprises is a little misleading because there’s so much information available in a game of Star Wars: The Card Game, that very early in a match, my opponent would know I’m playing these cards and my deck’s general plan. It’s not like the surprise offered by one-card counters in other games. The surprise is that I would even bother to run these objective sets in a Worlds-level event to begin with… and the reason for that is three-fold.

• One: The objective sets were very synergistic with other things the core of the deck was already trying to do.

Back in 2014,

Asteroid Base

(Darkness and Light, 122-5) could turn any shield into a blast or a gun without limit, and the Deep Commitment objective set plus four

Guardians of Peace

(Core Set, 5-3) ensured there were plenty of shields to go around. Because all of the deck’s sets had lots of very cheap, small units, I could build the deck until I hit a mass shielding event and go crazy with bombs galore—all funneled into one glorious

Trench Run

(Core Set, 13-4).

My Spark deck wanted more targets it could Spark into play—which meant Hera Syndulla and Ewok Hunters.

Ewok Hunters provided a nice synergy because they could change the top card of the deck resetting my opportunities to hit something with Spark of Rebellion. They also worked well with Hera because she would get them up to two guns, which helps when you need to attack an otherwise overwhelming Navy fortress. The Phantom and the Ghost, too, offered nice layers of protection to keep my big units on the board, and Unexpected Assistance worked well in the few instances where I needed to strike big with a main.

My personal favorite inclusion from the Ewok set, however, was Funeral Pyre. It added a lot of control, and in a Spark deck, there’s no lack of units who can be put on the pyre. Sacrificing your Ewok Hunters to reset the top card of your deck is just pure synergy.

• Two: The inclusions actually are surprising.

Unless a player has dug really deep in their playtesting, they may not have come up with the idea to include such sets to flesh out their core strategies—much less actually play any games with them. Of course, the sets have to be strong enough to hold their own if people know what you’re trying to do, but by running unusual sets, you can sometimes force people to confront situations they hadn’t planned for. The more chances I have to create a situation where my opponent makes a mistake, the better.

• Three: The inclusions are funny.

Hurling Ewoks and lizards into the Death Star’s exhaust port or inconveniencing Emperor Palpatine by burning the fallen on a Funeral Pyre appeals to my sense of humor. Star Wars: The Card Game can be a funny game, and players should revel in the bizarre situations they are able to create.

Springing the Ambush

So how do you find these hidden gems and determine if they’re good enough to include in your worlds deck?

You play a lot of games. You play a lot of games with as many different cards during the competitive off-season as you can.

I had been working with Funeral Pyre for awhile and had been revisiting the idea when

Ithorian Junk Dealers

(Galactic Ambitions, 230-3) and

Search Your Feelings

(Redemption and Return, 212-4) came out last summer. Those decks didn’t quite pan out, but they made me more familiar with the Sacrifice at Endor objective set, so when Haunting the Empire came out, it seemed like a natural inclusion to finish out a tri-color Spark deck.

Plus, Ewoks are funny.

What Will You Make of Your Alliances?

Let me ask you this: When new cards come out, what do you see? The light? The darkness? The balance?

As we are nearing the release of the Alliances cycle, FFG asked me to see what creative deck ideas it might open up, and man—oh man!—are we in for a great Force Pack!

When I first get any new pack, I tend to mash several of the sets together—just to see how the cards play. But I also throw in some older sets that have fallen out of the competitive scene to see if their time has come. My goal is first and foremost to get a working experience with the cards. If you do this, you won’t come up with the greatest deck right away… and will likely lose a lot. But some cards might surprise you, and that’s what you want to store in your memory to look for synergies later.

As for me? This will be where I will start with Allies of Necessity.

Total Cards: (60)

Affiliation:
Scum and Villainy: Promise of Power

(Allies of Necessity)

Objective: (10)
2x

Rogue Archaeology

(Allies of Necessity)
1x The Emperor’s Web (Core Set)
2x The Droid’s Task (It Binds All Things)
2x Nar Shaddaa Drift (Chain of Command)
1x The Droid Revolution (Solo’s Command)
2x The Emperor’s Shadow (Technological Terror)

Unit: (25)
2x

BX-series Droid Commando

(Allies of Necessity)
2x

Doctor Aphra

(Allies of Necessity)

1x Emperor Palpatine (Core Set)
1x Emperor’s Royal Guard (Core Set)
2x

IG-88

(It Binds All Things)
4x Reprogrammed DRK-1 Droid (It Binds All Things)
2x Race Circuit Champion (Chain of Command)
4x Racing Swoop (Chain of Command)
1x

IG-88B

(Solo’s Command)
1x Assassin Droid (Solo’s Command)
1x K4 Security Droid (Solo’s Command)
2x The Emperor’s Shuttle (Technological Terror)
2x Shuttle Pilot (Technological Terror)

Enhancement: (11)
1x Sith Library (Core Set)
2x Black Market Exchange (Chain of Command)

1x Illegal Modifications (Solo’s Command)
1x Prized Possession (Solo’s Command)
2x The Emperor’s Favor (Technological Terror)
2x

Secret Information

(Allies of Necessity)
2x Sensor Array (Technological Terror)

Event: (8)
1x Force Lightning (Core Set)
1x Force Choke (Core Set)
2x

Reconstruction

(Allies of Necessity)
2x Sonic Detonation (It Binds All Things)
2x Cut Off (Chain of Command)

Fate: (6)
2x

Allies of Necessity

(Allies of Necessity)
2x Echoes of the Force (It Binds All Things)
2x Well Equipped (Technological Terror)

I want to run this deck because I want to test how well this fifty-fifty, split-affiliation card works. For the deck-building puzzle, the affiliation card lets you remove an additional focus during refresh. This is a big effect for the dark side as it will make it harder for the light side to use tactics and strike sequences to lock down your best blockers for an additional turn. It will also let you commit any non-elite unit on your first turn and then block with it without it getting locked out on your second turn.

Promise of Power has additional synergy with Doctor Aphra. She isn’t elite, but she has a double-focus cost to bring Droids into play from discard. So Promise of Power allows me to pay this cost every turn, and if I’m trying to bring in Droids every turn, I want to have a good droid to bring into play. IG-88 fits this bill. He’ll often have three black guns and a black tactics, making him a great blocker.

The problem is that when IG-88 survives his engagement, he’s then put on the bottom of the deck. So how does a wicked smart Doctor get more than a single strike with the cold, metallic assassin? She sells him on the Black Market Exchange after he strikes!

By selling IG-88 to the discard pile, Doctor Aphra ensures she’ll be able to summon him again. And, accordingly, this deck has dreams of looping IG-88 and other Droids with a Doctor Aphra who has the Emperor’s Favor. Will it be a good deck? I don’t know, but it sounds hilarious!

Full of Surprises

Star Wars: The Card Game is full of surprises, and you’ll be able to pursue even more of them when Allies of Necessity. What else can you do with its cards beside tinkering endlessly with a psychotic assassin droid? The Force Pack’s ten new affiliation cards are sure to prompt all kinds of new deck-builds, and two-time World Champion Mick Cipra will be back with two more of them!

Allies of Necessity (SWC37) arrives at retailers Thursday, July 6th!

“We should have stayed well out of all this bloody foolishness if you ask me, but once the cow’s been milked there’s no squirting the cream back up her udder. After Lord Puff Fish put that crown on Renly’s head, we were into the pudding up to our knees, so here we are to see things through.”
   –Olenna Tyrell, A Storm of Swords

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce House of Thorns, the fourth deluxe expansion for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game!

At the time of Aegon’s Conquest, the Tyrells were nothing more than stewards to the Gardener Kings. Raised to lordship when the last of the Gardeners were burnt to ash on the Field of Fire, House Tyrell has grown from humble beginnings—and their ambitions stretch far higher. The lands of the Reach are famed for their bounty, the Tyrell knights are paragons of chivalry and virtue, and Highgarden is known as a place of light, beauty, and song. Yet there are hidden thorns beneath the golden rose of House Tyrell, and the intrigues of House Tyrell may be as devious as any Lannister scheme.

House Tyrell surges into the light with their deluxe expansion, House of Thorns! Within this box, you’ll find a wealth of new cards, bringing powerful new options to support and diversify House Tyrell’s most important themes, such as increasing the STR of their characters, removing characters from challenges, and winning challenges with the Knights and Ladies of Westeros. You’ll also find plenty of iconic characters sworn to House Tyrell entering the game, including Mace Tyrell, Brienne of Tarth, the Queen of Thorns, Margaery Tyrell, and the Knight of Flowers.

Though House Tyrell receives the bulk of the cards in this expansion, you’ll also find new non-loyal cards for each of the seven other factions, many featuring ways to counter the primary strategies of House Tyrell. And since Oldtown falls within the domain of House Tyrell, it’s fitting that this deluxe expansion includes a new agenda focused on the Maesters of Westeros, as voted on by players during the Battle of the Trident. With new Maester characters and a potent new agenda, the power of knowledge could soon become a force to be reckoned with. Completing the expansion, you’ll uncover new options for any deck with seven new plots (one loyal to House Tyrell and six neutral).

The Wealth of Highgarden

Though House Lannister’s position of wealth is undisputed, the gold of Casterly Rock is worthless without something to purchase. The verdant plains of the Reach, on the other hand, are the breadbasket of Westeros, and the food that flows through House Tyrell can support massive armies—or starve their enemies into submission. Whether the supporters that flock to the Tyrell banner are looking for food or glory, the courtiers and knights who swear fealty to Highgarden are an undeniable source of power.

That power finds its expression in the Lord of House Tyrell,

Mace Tyrell

(House of Thorns, 1). Mace Tyrell, the Warden of the South, commands massive armies of infantry and knights, and in the game, Mace Tyrell gains power as more characters gather beneath your banner. In fact, after a Tyrell character enters play under your control, you can pay one gold to have Mace Tyrell gain one power—allowing you to rush to fifteen power even faster. In most circumstances, you’ll reliably trigger Mace Tyrell in marshaling, but with ambush characters and cards like

The Queen of Thorns

(Core Set, 186) and

Bitterbridge Encampment

(Across the Seven Kingdoms, 5), your power may accelerate much faster.

You’re not limited to using other cards to give Mace Tyrell more opportunities to claim power, however. As an Action, Mace lets you kneel your faction card to remove another Tyrell character you control from the game until the beginning of the next phase! Obviously, this lets you claim more power for Mace Tyrell himself, but there are several other, subtler applications. For instance, Mace Tyrell gives you tremendous value from any Tyrell character with an “enters play” effect—potentially using a card like

House Florent Knight

(Wolves of the North, 37) or

Alerie Tyrell

(Lions of Casterly Rock, 37) over and over again throughout the game.

Temporarily removing a character from the game is also an ideal way to combat troublesome attachments such as

Craven

(Called to Arms, 26) or

Marriage Pact

(Guarding the Realm, 22). Because these attachments are terminal, they’re simply discarded when the attached character leaves play, letting you discard them for the simple price of kneeling your faction card.

And what better way to reap greater benefits than a location that rewards you when Tyrell characters enters play?

The Hightower

(House of Thorns, 17) costs four gold, but after a Tyrell character enters play under your control, it lets you gain one gold and draw one card. Combined with Mace Tyrell, The Hightower could singlehandedly supply you with gold and cards for the rest of the game.

The Valiant Never Taste of Death

Since the earliest days of House Tyrell, some of their greatest strengths have been intrinsically tied to their Knights and Ladies. Though chivalry is Westeros may be an ideal or a façade, it is still a useful tool for the Tyrells, and many of their most impactful characters bear these traits.

Tyrell Knights in particular are often rewarded for attacking alone, ranging from cards like

The Knight of Flowers

(Core Set, 185), to

Mare in Heat

(The King’s Peace, 44), to

Lady Sansa’s Rose

(The Road to Winterfell, 24). Now, you’ll find another way to make those Knights more impactful with

Ser Garlan Tyrell

(House of Thorns, 3). Ser Garlan is perfect for inspiring all of your Knights to great feats—during a challenge in which one of your Knights is attacking alone, you can discard a card from your hand to raise the claim on your plot by one until the end of the challenge!

Obviously, raising your claim is an incredibly powerful effect—and when you maximize the impact with two-claim plots, you could deal significant damage to your opponent with just a few challenges. Still, Ser Garlan Tyrell requires you to win challenges in which a Knight is attacking alone—and who better to clear the way for your Knights than Ser Garlan’s sister,

Margaery Tyrell

(House of Thorns, 6).

If there’s a troublesome character that would block the path for your jousting Knights, Margaery Tyrell is the perfect character to lead that character astray. After Margaery Tyrell is declared as an attacker, you can kneel one of your opponent’s characters and force it to participate as a defender, even if it doesn’t bear the corresponding challenge icon. If you add the kneeling power of cards like

Melisandre

(Core Set, 47) or

Even-Handed Justice

(Wolves of the North, 26), Margaery Tyrell should have little trouble clearing a path for a valiant Knight to follow.

The Power of Knowledge

In the world of Westeros, as in A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, knowledge is often equated to power. Few have more knowledge of the world and its workings than the Maesters, and in the House of Thorns expansion, the Maester-centric agenda voted on by the community during the Battle of the Trident events becomes reality.

One of the first lessons any player learns in A Game of Thrones: The Card Game is that you and your opponent each draw two cards near the beginning of every round. If you’re unable to gain a reliable source of additional cards, or if it’s late in the game and your hand has been depleted, drawing the right two cards has the power to make or break your chances for victory. With

The Conclave

(House of Thorns, 45), you gain a new level of control over what you draw.

First, this agenda is inherently tied to the Maesters of Westeros—you can include non-loyal Maester characters from any faction in your deck, and you must include at least twelve Maesters. Already, this allows you to bring efficient characters like

Maester Caleotte

(Core Set, 107),

Maester Aemon

(Core Set, 125), and

Maester Cressen

(Core Set, 46) together in a single deck, but there’s a far greater benefit to The Conclave than the options it opens up for deckbuilding.

After you’ve drawn your starting hand, but before you place setup cards, you must place the top seven cards of your deck facedown underneath The Conclave. Then, in the game, these cards will form a pseudo-sideboard—after you win a challenge with a Maester character, you can choose one card under The Conclave and switch it with the top card of your deck!

It’s easy to see the massive implications of gaining the support of The Conclave. Perhaps you’ve been short on economy locations throughout the game—chances are good that there’s one under The Conclave that you can bring in at will. Maybe there’s a specific event, such as

Tears of Lys

(Core Set, 44) or

Vengeance for Elia

(Calm Over Westeros, 96), that you wouldn’t necessarily want taking up room in your hand all the time… but it’s right there under The Conclave if you need it. And, of course, if you have a way to draw when you win a challenge, such as

Lannisport

(Core Set, 98) or

The Mander

(Core Set, 193), it’s easy to place a card on top of your deck and immediately draw it! No matter which faction you play, it’s worth considering the adaptability that The Conclave can bring to your games.

Growing Strong

The ambition of House Tyrell is yours to channel with the House of Thorns expansion for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game.

Stay tuned for more previews of the hidden thorns in House Tyrell, and look for House of Thorns (GT29) at your local retailer in the fourth quarter of 2017!