The Game - Past, Present, and Future
By C. J. Williams

With recent discussions about the power of the Republic at War (RAW) expansion, many seem worried about the future of the game, and some have refused to play. I myself, being the most vocal, had declared a protest that I later recanted. I wasn't so much wrong about the power as misunderstanding its effect on the game.

First, let me say that I used to be a member of the SWTCG Independent Development Committee (IDC), but have not been in some time. What I say here is based on an independent view of the IDC. I was not asked to write this article, but am writing it out of my own desire to speak to the community of fans beyond Rebelbasers.com.

Throughout Wizards of the Coast's (WOTC) position as custodian of the game, the Attack of the Clones (AOTC) expansion remained the most used set in the game. There have been few decks that didn't use at least one card from that set, if not several. When the IDC took over the custodian position, little changed for the first two sets they produced, and even after the Battle of Endor (BOE) expansion produced by the IDC, AOTC cards were almost as prevalent as ever. Is this really a bad thing? Not at all. But it demonstrates how powerful that first set was in comparison to later sets.

From time to time a game needs a booster shot; something to excite people. The SWTCG was, in fact, long overdue for such an infusion of energy. Enter RAW. While BOE had finally broke the old mold of WOTC's overly-conservative card creation style, RAW has matched, and even exceeded, the efficiency and power of the very first set in the game, AOTC. RAW is unabashedly a powerful set. Not so powerful that WOTC cards don't get used, but powerful enough that the RAW cards will be a vital part of decks for many sets to come in the vein of AOTC, assuming the IDC keeps at its task.

However, the worry presented at the outset is an important one. If a set is too powerful, then it is assumed that it retires old cards. In fact, the RAW expansion, in my own observation, has indeed permanently retired some old cards. This is unfortunate as some good cards could have been made better if they had not been replaced by units whose heightened effectiveness has been questioned. But this is no reason to stop playing with IDC cards.

Why Should Old Players Return?
There are several players of SWTCG who have chosen to only play with WOTC cards. The reason that is cited is because they feel that the IDC cards are replacing the WOTC-produced sets. Are they? Of course they are. WOTC was slowly replacing their own older sets with newer sets. This is called power creep. The RAW set, however, has caused some to turn to the old sets due to its intense boost in power.

Of course, power creep is to be expected in any set, and is essential to any game. So when a set like RAW comes out, making a bold push to greater heights of power, the replacing of old units becomes more pronounced. But when I thought about it, I realized that even if these units hadn't been as powerful as they are, the idea is to use the new units, so those units would have still been at least just enough more useful than the old units to replace the old units anyway. So in a set like RAW, the replacement is just more dramatic. However, there are times when such replacement can be avoided to a certain extent.

For instance, one of my complaints was about what happened with the Gunship subtype. The IDC produced an excellent card that could make the old Gunships playable again called Republic Command Gunship. This was a good, solid unit. Get a couple of those on the field and pilot older Gunships with Clone Trooper Pilots and suddenly the old Gunships would be viable. However, the IDC also released the Assault Gunship (AG). This unit would have been a competitive unit and comparable with Republic Attack Gunship (RAG) had its power only been 2. Why just 2 power? Every +1 power boost is like +2 power to this unit on account of the Double Strike ability. A +1 power boost would only bring the RAG up to 5 power, but would provide AG with essentially 6 power with the drawback that shields are doubly effective against it. But 4 power, while not too powerful, made all older Gunship options virtually obsolete, because now with +1 power boost it has 10 power to strike with. This overshadowing of the old Gunships could have been prevented by a simple power reduction in this one unit.

However, mistakes like these are minor issues. They shouldn't stop us from appreciating the work the IDC has done for us in keeping this game of ours alive. If it weren't for the work of the IDC, we wouldn't even have people to communicate with, and the thrill of the game would slowly wane. Strategies that we've known since the release of ROTS would lose their sparkle and bore us.

Of course, it would be a very bad idea if the IDC produced a set like RAW for every set, but they haven't. RAW is the first set of such power that the IDC has produced, and hopefully they'll go without producing another such power leap for another 10 sets or so (assuming the IDC lasts that long). This set was very daring, but I believe it is what the game needed. If you are a faithful player of the old game, give the new sets a try. These aren't just dream cards.

Why Should We Trust the IDC to Produce New Sets?
The RAW set was produced by a group of individuals experienced in card design who made a decision that they still would have made had they been working for a large company. Just because these cards aren't produced by WOTC doesn't mean they have any less value. Instead of being produced for profit, these sets are produced for an intense and faithful love of the game.

In fact, most everyone felt that FOTR, the IDC's first set, was almost identical to what WOTC would have produced [Ed. (Skywlkr : CD Chair on FOTR
) - Thank you!!! That was my intent.] It was conservative and familiar. SAV was also conservative, but demonstrated an adventurousness only equal to that shown by WOTC, so again no great impact on our understanding of how WOTC produced sets. Of course SAV brought us the Stealth ability which turned unit speed on its head, and while it seemed like a great impact on the game at the time, the release of BOE showed us that Stealth wasn't as much of a threat as perceived and now SAV is easily comparable to a WOTC set.

The fact that BOE so easily controlled the effectiveness of Stealth should give us confidence in the knowledge and experience of the IDC to bring us sets that make the game fun and make each set something new and exciting for us. No two sets are alike, and each one has something great to bring to the table.

While BOE did not introduce any new keyword abilities, it reintroduced us to old keywords, a concept I campaigned for, and gave us a slightly more competitive atmosphere. This allowed the IDC to really explore what could be done with the concepts that already existed in the game, showing us how fun what we already had was and helping familiarize the IDC more with those mechanics in order to train them for what they could produce in future sets. And that is why this was the right time to produce a set like RAW which shakes things up.

RAW wasn't just tossed out to us 3 months after BOE. No, but it took a full year for the IDC to deliver this set to us. They went back time and again to make sure every card and ability would be valued. The first time they went back, it was because they asked themselves if what they had already produced for RAW was strong enough to satisfy the community. Yes, the power level was such that it felt too familiar. It maintained the status quo. So the IDC took the pleas of those members of the community, such as myself, who always complained that the sets, even of the IDC, did not feel new, that the sets just weren't exciting enough, and worked to up the power level. But, again, they didn't just hike power levels and toss them out to us. No, but five months after the first release date, and several delays later, they gave us a well-play-tested set.

When the IDC produces a set, they don't just sit down and create a bunch of dream cards and toss them at us. They have a very methodical process that has been refined and redefined over the last 4 sets and which was evident from the beginning. Let us examine the IDC's process of game development from start to finish, so that we get a better understanding that these are not simple dream cards tossed at us without consideration.

The IDC Game Development Process
Before each set is produced, the IDC has a powwow to discuss the theme of the next set. This usually begins a little before the end of the previous set. When a theme is chosen, then the direction of the set is discussed. The direction involves discussing if any keywords will be developed, what mechanics will be advanced or introduced, what the card count will be, and the general feel they want to convey in the set to express the source material. A release period is not generally talked about at this time, but is covered by a Board of three members. In fact, someone is often campaigning to develop a specific theme and/or set direction long before the powwow takes place. BOE was a prime result of both types of campaigning, and the name of the set was so obvious that it was never in doubt. RAW was the first time that a name was left up to the community.

When these things have been set in stone, the Card Development Sub-committee (CD) goes to work on the next set as soon as the previous set has been released. CD should already have keyword abilities in development and even being experimented with in the previous set. For instance, the Double Strike ability made its first attempt on two cards in BOE: Princess Leia (M) and Executor (C). However, the wording in the ability on those two cards produced an error state that CD found disconcerting and contrary to their original intent. This was corrected later, as discussed below.

When they have chosen any keywords they wish to develop in the set, they begin to furiously develop cards, as they have a very large set of cards to develop. They will develop the assigned number of cards and more, as several cards will be tossed out later. While they create those cards, the rest of the IDC continues in duties that advance the game. The Rules Sub-committee (RU) will continue to pour over the rulebook and seek out errors as well as make new entries that have developed over the past months since the last release. CD will pass any keyword to them that they need a judgment on. RU then carefully seeks to find the best wording for that keyword to make sure it works exactly the way CD intends it to and without letting a major loophole through. A sample card with the ability then gets passed to the Play-testing Sub-committee (PT) who are always at work trying to break cards from the previous set. When everything works out, the keyword ability is passed back to CD to add it to more cards.

The process for keyword abilities is also the same for every card and ability. Often a card will get passed back and forth between CD and RU many times before CD gives the go-ahead for play-testing. Then, if PT finds anything unpalatable about the card, they will pass it back to CD and the process begins again until PT finally passes the card. The Stealth keyword is probably the most notorious example of this. It went to PT three times before it was finally approved with the 40 speed minimum and acceptable wording and a particular card that abused it was dumped altogether, because there was no satisfactory fix. Several other cards have gone through a similar mill.

When a small list of cards comes to RU, they are excited. I know because I was there for two sets. They are happy just to see what CD has come up with and to witness the new possibilities and to be a part of their development. If it was exciting for CD to have the privilege of creating the cards; it is equally exciting to make those cards work if they have any kinks. CD are the mad scientists, but RU are the tinkering engineers that make the machine work properly, getting their hands dirty in the thick rules grease. They will hammer out the problems and send it back to CD for approval. Of course, CD doesn't always like the changes, so RU has to try again, and this may go on and on, but there is almost always a satisfactory resolution.

However, when RU is stumped, they may call in for outside help. This is what happened with the Double Strike keyword. CD had already sent them two cards in the previous set that had text they thought would work as they intended, but which turned out not to do what they were hoping. So a group of us rules reservists were called together to discuss how to carry out CD's wishes. CD stated that they wanted the ability to allow a unit to make two attacks that each got all the benefits and drawbacks of a complete attack without untapping. In a moment of clarity I provided a text that would be the basis for a very long discussion that resulted in the end text that was rules-flawless and did exactly as CD intended. Everyone in that group with RU worked very hard to make sure we came out with the right text, and we are more certain than ever that we did it right.

When a card is passed to PT, they, too, are very excited. They are looking at a small list of cards that has been brilliantly executed and hammered out. It's like being a car maker and seeing the very first prototype come off the line. They are eager to get to playing those cards, and being the first to play those cards is a privilege in itself. They take those cards and they play and play with them and create many decks. As they play the cards they will have questions for RU about how certain abilities are used. If there is a need for clarification on the card itself, the card will be passed back to RU for clarifying text. RU may choose to provide a ruling in the Rulebook instead of text on the card.

Besides looking for errors and rules clarifications needed for the cards, PT is trying hard to break those cards. Now mind you, when PT gets those cards, the set has already been in production for up to two months. They are the last to see these cards. They actually have the most work to do in the littlest time [Ed. - Next to Graphic Design], as it takes the creation of many, many decks to find errors and especially to find an unobvious broken unit, and even then it might still escape their notice. But when you compare the record of PT's efforts to that of WOTC, you will find that their record is at least as good as WOTC if not better. That's where RAW comes in.

Many have cried abuse and brokenness in RAW, but no one has found it. In the beginning I thought Grievous was broken because of how much average damage he can do. But when you try to make his high cost and low health work, you realize how many resources it takes to make him a viable character. I still have the feeling there's a way to break him, but I haven't found it yet, and neither has anyone else. So claims that any card is broken without proof and that PT did not do its job are unfounded. Even though RAW is the most powerful set ever produced, it is also one of the most balanced. Cards in RAW that seem abusive are easily countered.

What Frontiers Have the IDC Pioneered?
The IDC paved the way for the future of the game with many innovations that have made the game fun and almost every previously underdeveloped aspect playable. For instance, before the IDC's courageous efforts towards Equipment, it was virtually unusable. The Equipment that WOTC gave us rarely, if ever, saw the light of day. This didn't change much with the release of the IDC's seminal set, FOTR. However, as other sets were released, we saw more playable equipment, until the release of RAW Equipment, where Equipment is now an almost vital part of game play on par with Locations, which was another latecomer to the game that became an integral part of it, and which everyone came to love.

Besides making Equipment playable, RU, at the time made up of Len Fowler (RedneckJedi) and myself, developed the concept of unique Equipment. In one of those moments of clarity, the secondary benefit was introduced allowing a large group of individual units to have the opportunity to benefit from copies of the one text, while allowing a smaller group, or just one individual unit in the case of unique Equipment, benefit from additional text. As we developed the rules for Equipment, Len very wisely stuck to his guns on how stacking unique Equipment should take place, and after much debate and looking at many, many alternatives, we put it to vote with CD, and Len's idea won out to what we have today, and I think it works well. You can read more about this issue on Equipment in the article Rule-ing the Galaxy.

In a later article, I will discuss corruption counters. But allow me to give a brief overview. Corruption counters as a viable strategy was never fully explored by WOTC. They produced only two cards with corruption counters: Dark Cave and Emperor Palpatine (E). However, the CD chair, Cody Barnett (Grand Moff Nicodemus Fett) had a vision of seeing corruption counters developed into a viable strategy, culminating in 13 new corruption cards in BOE and 5 new corruption cards in RAW. While there wasn't enough room in these sets to explore every possibility, he was able to lay the ground work for future sets. We certainly have only seen the beginning of corruption counters as more effective corruption cards are developed.

Subtypes make card creation difficult. It is very important to produce many viable strategies and to keep old strategies alive. Many old subtypes were lacking at the time the IDC took on the development of the game. Jedi Ground was barely playable at that time, LS Clone strategy was virtually non-existent, Republic synergy never even existed, and the Separatist subtype had only one card. While these things were still being worked on previously through FOTR, in one fell swoop, RAW corrected all those deficiencies and made those four subtypes competitive, while introducing a competitive new lesser subtype of Gladiator. That makes RAW the most successful set ever in regard to subtypes. This subject will also be given greater detail in a later article.

Besides developing WOTC's abandoned keyword, Parry X, the IDC also developed Stealth, Fury X, and Double Strike - keywords that are each well thought out and balanced, though even the most balanced keyword can be made unbalanced through an overpowered unit. However, thankfully, no units utilizing these abilities have been shown to be broken, though a couple are very powerful. RAW provided not one, but two keywords that have balanced out well. These keywords have been a vital part to making the above-mentioned subtypes a strong part of the current game atmosphere. This, too, will be examined more closely at a later time.

In the 2 1/2 years that the IDC has had the game development mantel, they have provided more articles than WOTC did for the 4 years they produced the game. Among those articles are the new type of article called Battle Reports which are easily the most popular articles of all, and which have a readership that exceeds the current players of the game.

The IDC has also taken up the tournament scene by providing support through prizes as well as hosting files for online play and posting rankings. We should soon have a reliable and attractive means of staying connected in online games without crashes that will surely bring in more players. The current tournament for the RAW expansion is the Fog of War tournament. Considering the continual increase of cards, changes in tournament options will undoubtedly come. Things like various ban/restricted lists have recently been discussed and will undoubtedly be seriously considered by the IDC. You can read more about this in a later article.

Finally, under Nathanael Tripp's ambitious pursuit of the project, the IDC is sponsoring the new weekly podcast called Rebel Radio. Maybe this will bring in new players. Who knows?

The Future
If a game doesn't ever introduce something to shake up the game, the game stagnates. Keywords are the most common way of shaking up the game, but there's only so many keywords you can introduce before the game gets too bogged down with keyword rules. The same is especially true for card types. Subtypes don't have quite the same restriction, but it is very hard to make a new subtype work. And sometimes having just one or two of these little shakeups just isn't enough to make the game interesting. You get to feeling like things are in a rut. RAW, on the other hand, gave us two new keywords and made a new subtype work well, but to really shake things up, it gave us a power boost. A power boost of this magnitude should most definitely be a last resort, but let's face it, the game was stagnating. For a whole 3 months last year the game was all but dead because of stagnation. RAW shook things up, and the game itself, if not the community has been revived to something new and challenging.

Considering the above information, RAW is actually having a very positive impact on the game. Now that RAW exists, what of the future of the game we love so much? Has the increase in power cut off avenues for older, more familiar decks? Not at all. Instead, as shown above in the strengthened subtypes, a foundation has been laid for building on those subtypes as well as providing a blueprint for the introduction of future, lesser subtypes, which are the fundamental key to any strategy. Many new mechanics, such as the use of counters and the turning of classic standbys on their heads, has opened the door to a huge variety of new concepts that we have only begun to explore.

RAW has granted a life to the game that will make it a breeding ground for new strategies and new ideas in coming expansions. Please don't blame those who have kept the game alive by producing new very well-produced sets for any decisions to stick with WOTC-produced sets. Those who prefer the WOTC expansions prefer them for reasons other than the IDC's management of the game, because the game has not broke and continues to be very fun, and the game has not been altered from its original direction. It is still clearly recognizable as the same game we were playing when WOTC was producing it.

In the next few articles I will provide looks at the past, present, and future of particular aspects of the game, including various mechanics, strategies, and the tournament scene. I will also discuss strategies to make old cards playable that haven't been seen in a long time, and many new mechanics that can still be had. Stick around and stay tuned, and most importantly, give RAW a chance. I assure you that you won't be disappointed.

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