Light Side – Shore Up Your Defenses!
By C. J. Williams

Okay, what business do I have writing a deck article, right? Trust me, I’m the first to ask that question. The answer, though, is confidence in that what I have to present is effective.

When I first started playing the Star Wars TCG (SWTCG), I was a defensive player when playing Light Side (LS), and despite having a deficient card collection, I had a 100 card deck that actually held its own, though it could never break even (Some have claimed to do it, but it still has yet to be proven). The part I misunderstood and thought was bad, was that my LS decks dragged the game on forever. Little did I know that this was a good thing. However, for the past year, I had apparently changed my strategy and become an offensive LS player, and for the last year I’ve been losing...a lot.

However, while working on the IDC, I had the privilege of trying out a special tool provided to the IDC that gave me clear insight into the differences in Light Side and Dark Side playing. While we were asked not to share the tool with anyone until it’s out of the testing stage, it was quite useful, and I would like to share with you, not the tool, but the results of my discoveries in using the tool.

My most successful deck ever, now almost two years old, blitzed its first couple of online tourneys before decks adapted, and that deck demonstrates what I have recently learned using the above-mentioned tool: A defensive LS deck is best. Here’s why...

The First and the Last
While WOTC may have been deficient in card development in many ways, they were experienced card developers (being purveyors of the very first TCG ever), and what I learned proved WOTC’s card development trend.

Since the beginning of the game, people had complained about how the Light Side units were always strong, stand-alone units, while Dark Side (DS) units were weak and dependent on synergy (my own complaints not withstanding). After dealing with the above tool, I found out why: DS goes first in just about all things, meaning LS goes last.

What is the result? DS has around a 33% advantage over LS. Therefore, if DS was made with the same strength and stand-alone capability, it would easily slaughter LS decks the majority of the time. So, clearly, power is the DS’s advantage. A little power goes a long way for the DS.

As a consequence, DS works best under blitz conditions, trying to get a field advantage as quickly as possible. LS, on the other hand, needs to survive as long as possible, whittling away at the DS. Thus, long games favor the LS, while the DS favors short games. Therefore, if you’re playing LS, your goal should be to drag it out.

Conversely, if they switch roles, DS loses its advantage when playing defensively and LS loses its survivability when going on the offensive. LS, going second, needs to be able to survive DS’s ability to go first in all things, meaning LS should almost always be defensive, surviving the first wave, the second wave, and the third wave.

In fact, when you take a look at all the great LS decks and strong card strategies, they have a defensive bent. Chewy Reanimator was dependent on bringing units back for free, meaning they never really died. This, in a way, demonstrates a defense: defense against discarding units. Han’s Promise and Second Wave demonstrate this. Units are thus made hard to stay dead. As the accompanying Grk’Urr’Akk article shows, Parry and other defensive abilities are effective for LS survivability. Why did Duel of the Fates prove so effective? It depended on the LS being able to survive in the arena. As long as LS survives, DS dwindles.

Drag it Out
The sum of these things is that, for a LS deck, a player should focus on good health, damage resistance, and recursion. These things will help the LS survive wave after wave of powerful DS attacks. I have also discovered that Stealth and Hidden Cost favor the LS as well. Both abilities allow the LS not to be damaged or destroyed before they’ve had a chance to strike, even if DS is using the same abilities. It is for this reason that WOTC’s LS Hidden Cost units were made weaker than DS’s Hidden Cost units, because of the advantage Hidden Cost gives to the LS units.

Another thing that benefits DS more is build gain, which is why LS has the majority of the generic build reduction and build gain, so that DS doesn’t receive too much of an advantage. However, LS is in more dire need of build gain for defensive purposes, so be sure to have plenty of build gain in your LS deck. Force gain, however, favors the LS, because of how much defense is required to protect the LS. So, again, be sure to have your build gain ready, especially since Force denial favors the DS (Surprise, surprise, my best DS decks have always been Force denial with an emphasis on aggressive attacks).

A Good Start
While I haven’t had the means to play the game with anyone in a while, I have finally built a tweakable deck that I feel will be able to hold its own, because it utilizes these things nicely.

The principles I had in mind when making this deck are damage prevention, repair, build-gain and reduction, and backup firepower. The theme is focused around making my units extremely hard to kill.

Space
This deck was originally inspired by the article X-Factor, about Luke's X-wing (E). So I will start with Luke’s X-wing and go from there.

First, Luke’s X-wing has excellent defenses. Its Armor and Lucky alone make it extremely hard to hit. However, stick a Pilot version of R2-D2 on it and it can now remove 2 damage as well! Stick Luke Skywalker (E) on there and you give it “Pay 2 Force -> Evade 2”, maxing out its defenses, and even give it the ability to do some real damage with Critical Hit 4. Could this get any more rediculous? Yes. Because this bomb X-wing is also a Jedi, which makes it eligible for protection from Republic Hyperdrive Ring, making it virtually impregnable. Then, stack up your Luke’s X-wing with its other versions to max out its health and power. Go ahead, you can breath now.

My next choice of Space unit was the Millennium Falcon. Yes, this has become very cliché, but effective. In this incarnation, I have also focused on defensive capability as well as utility. My Falcon stack features Millennium Falcon (B) for its Evade 2. I also stacked in Millennium Falcon (A) for damage removal. Millennium Falcon (D) is in there in case I can’t draw anything else, or I have the opportunity to stack it up (only if my build can’t be used for anything better). Millennium Falcon (L) is in case I am lacking useful cards and need to dig for something.

And for the garnish in tune with the deck’s principles, I included a couple Kessel Runners for some build gain. It can also serve to draw fire away from Luke’s X-wing and the Millennium Falcon as further protection.

Ground
With Ground, I returned to one of my favorite units, Forward Command Center (FCC). I used to love to couple it with AT-TE Walker 23X or Rebel Armored Freerunner. My son used it with AT-TE Walker 71E to good effect. This time, though, I’m changing up. The Infiltration Team is a good candidate for the FCC’s assistance. And in case it’s needed, I even added a copy of Coruscant Emergency Ship to make sure a Speeder is always available and even be able to bring in some late game protection.

In the background, I provided Pirate Swoop for some build gain, and Coruscant Air Bus is still my favorite for inexpensive LS drawing power. An effective build/draw engine is vital to every deck.

The pièce de résistance to a defensive deck is going to be Anakin’s Podracer (A). With a Wedge piloting, this baby is sure to fit right in. It is also a candidate for FCC’s assistance. Having first strike capability second only to Sebulba’s Podracer (A), it is sure to wreak havoc on your opponent’s hard core units with its Lucky 1.

Character
Since I’m putting so much into the Space and Ground arenas, I think my chances are best if I provide Pilots for the units, and we have some real beauties available.

First, as I mentioned above, is Luke Skywalker (E). His Evade and Critical Hit are monsters on any unit. However, I didn’t stop at (E). I also included Luke Skywalker (G) and Luke Skywalker (K) for stacking and Piloting versatility. To make sure I always have a good Luke available, I also included Luke Skywalker (A). And, in case I should have to fight in the Character arena, Luke Skywalker (P) can steal one of your opponent’s non-Jedi weapons, reducing their power and increasing Luke’s own.

For R2-D2, I provided a range of stackable versions. R2-D2 (D), R2-D2 (H), and R2-D2 (J), each Pilot, and each remove damage to give your opponent a real headache against Luke’s X-wing. I also included R2-D2 (B) for some extra damage removal. I was originally going to include R2-D2 (E), but then I figured it would be more effective to use Yoda (E) instead, while R2 pilots. Yoda (E) with the stacked and piloted Luke's X-wing (E) I menationed is just adding insult to injury.

As I mentioned, Wedge Antilles (B) will be the real jewel for the Ground arena when put on Anakin’s Podracer (A).

Mission
Battle cards, for me, are always pretty much a given, so I tend to go for Missions next, as I can always take out anything for Battles, but I figure if I do Missions first, I may come across something indispensable. Battle cards become the flexible commodity and are really the last thing I put into my decks (though I always keep Dismiss at the back of my mind).

That being so, I figure I need some protection for my Ground units, so I included Return to Spaceport for staying power.

Locations
Next up, I kept the Locations simple, providing the obvious Lars Homestead to bring down costs and making Pirate Swoops and Kessel Runners more effective. I put in enough of it to fight replacement.

Battle
For Battle, as could be expected, I included Dismiss in case someone pulls a Droid Missiles, Separatist Buzz Droid, or Buzz Droid Swarm. I also included Fly Casual to help slow my Infiltration Team down if it is under threat.

Equipment
Since I’m not putting much emphasis on Character, and there’s not a whole lot of cheap Space and Ground Equipment to help out, I did not include any Equipment, though I am anxious to create a good deck with Equipment.

With no further ado, here is the deck. Read further for a summary of how to use it.

	The Brush Off
	1 Luke Skywalker (A) 3 Luke Skywalker (E) 1 Luke Skywalker (G) 1 Luke Skywalker (K) 1 Luke Skywalker (P) 1 R2-D2 (B) 1 R2-D2 (D) 1 R2-D2 (H) 1 R2-D2 (J) 1 Wedge Antilles (B) 2 Yoda (E)   2 Anakin's Podracer (A) 3 Coruscant Air Bus 1 Coruscant Emergency ship 4 Forward Command Center 4 Infiltration Team 2 Pirate Swoop   2 Kessel Runner 1 Luke's X-Wing (A) 1 Luke's X-Wing (B) 1 Luke's X-Wing (C) 1 Luke's X-Wing (D) 3 Luke's X-wing (E) 1 Millennium Falcon (A) 2 Millennium Falcon (B) 1 Millennium Falcon (D) 1 Millennium Falcon (L) 2 Republic Hyperdrive Ring   4 Dismiss 2 Fly Casual   4 Return to Spaceport   4 Lars Homestead     Totals: 14 Character 16 Ground 15 Space 6 Battle 4 Mission 4 Location 0 Equipment 60 Total Cards

Download this deck and other deck articles for LackeyCCG here.

The Deck in Action
Be sure to focus on the damage prevention and removal, as that is the theme around which this deck was built. Use FCC at every opportunity. Put Wedge on Anakin’s Podracer and R2 on Luke’s X-wing, with its (E) version on top. Use the Falcon only for backup and use Luke where he’ll be the best use.

Use Dismiss against pesky tapping units and Down in Flames. Luke’s X-wing and Anakin’s Podracer are your best units. Save Yoda and the Hyperdrive for last, and use Yoda where he’ll be of best use (either reducing how much Force you spend, or protecting whichever arena is weakest of Space or Ground).

I hope this article has been informative, and since I have no one to play against, I would like to know how the deck works for anyone. Be sure to let me know.

Thoughts or comments? Visit the message board thread for this article here.

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About the Author
C. J. has been a player of the game since 2003 and was the Text Finalization Leader of the IDC Rules Sub-committee during FOTR and SAV. He is currently the Public Affairs Editor. C. J. has written many other articles for the IDC and Rebelbasers.com and has been a member of both the Wizards and Rebelbasers forums since January of 2004, posting under the name Corjay.