LCGs, or Living Card Games, despite what the term might bring to mind, are not from the imaginations of Sid and Marty Krofft.
Lets talk about Netrunner first.
If there's one thing you take away from reading this, let it be that THIS GAME IS FRIGGIN' AWESOME. Seriously, it's really growing on me. I'm note sure how many rounds Jeff and I played yesterday. I lost count after the third. I was the Corp player again, only this time I used a Haas-Bioroid deck Jeff found online. I'm definitely getting the hang of things, as I ended up winning all of our games except for one. That's no fault of Jeff's, really, more the experience factor. The game has a learning curve, no question about it, and while I do think the Runner is significantly easier to play, both sides take some getting used to.
I started using some of the tips I read up on for when you're playing the Corp. First, take mulligans. If you don't have any ice or if your hand is loaded up on agendas, take it. You'll typically come out for the better for doing so. Second, if possible, your first turn should be spent icing HQ, icing R&D, and taking a credit. Along the way, I started seeing the importance of icing your Archives. There were plenty of things that Jeff played that caused me to discard from the top of my deck. If that goes the wrong way, making a run on Archives could win the Runner the game in one go.
I'm anxious to play the Runner now that I have a firm grip on how the Corp works, though I'm just as excited to play some of the other Corp factions. I think this is a game that really benefits from playing it in person, face to face. I love the bluffing aspect, trying to keep a confident attitude, all the while knowing that if the Runner doesn't buy what you're putting on, you could be totally sunk. Deception is fun on its own, but the tension and paranoia that Netrunner injects into it really seals the deal for me.
Still feeling intimidated by building my own decks. I think I'll be ready to take the plunge once I see what all the factions in the game have to offer.
THE VERDICT AS OF NOW
Netrunner has really worked its way under my skin. I need more. Sooner would be better than later.
On to Star Wars: The Card Game.
I love Star Wars. I like most of the other games that Eric M. Lang has designed (Chaos in the Old World is undoubtedly in my top 5 of all time). Yet now that I've played it, I'm glad it was Netrunner that I went all in on and not Star Wars.
That's not to say it's a bad game, though. It is very casual however. It doesn't have the same strategic meat on the bone, and while it does do Star Wars some justice, it is pretty silly in a few areas. As far a gameplay goes, it doesn't bring a whole lot new to the table. It's your pretty standard assigning guys to fight/assigning guys to defend, exhausting cards to play resources, etc. The classic tropes of the customizable card game genre. That's not a complaint, as it does that stuff well enough, it's just that those mechanics don't grab me as they once did now that I've seen them so many times. I do like that it lifts it's "exhaust/tap" bit from Heroclix. You assign what's called a "focus token" your cards as you use them, and you only take one focus token off of each card at the start of your turn. Some game effects add more focus tokens, so what you get is a neat cool-down time mechanic.
Deckbuilding, on the other hand, is pretty unique. You make a small deck of Objective cards, which represent events, locations, and missions. Each Objective card is tied to five cards, and it's those five cards from each of your Objectives that make up your traditional player deck. This makes deckbuilding much more casual and much less about ratios. While everything about the game seems a bit too streamlined for my personal tastes, I am glad that they went that route. Star Wars is a name that sells itself, and it makes sense for designers to do their best to make games based on the licence as accessible as possible. It's just too big of a property to keep it languishing at the hobby shop level.
Jeff played Jedi, I played Sith. There's apparently some hubbub about Jedi being vastly underpowered, but I have yet to see it. I will say that Darth Vader is beastly. If he's out, you've got to do your best to kill him or tie him up. And if he gets his lightsaber...forget it. Despite Vader taking out just about everything the Jedi had to send at him, Jeff managed to squeak out the win. He took the last Objective he needed to win the game just before my Death Star became fully operational. Enjoy your win, Jeff, just keep the yub nubbing to a minimum.
Again, it's not a bad game. If you've ever been put off by the deckbuilding or the money pit aspects of CCGs, and if you love Star Wars, the game is certainly worth a look.
THE VERDICT AS OF NOW
I really wanted to fall head over heels in love with Star Wars: The Card Game, but that didn't happen. Yet neither have I written the possibility off. There's definitely something good going on in it and I want to explore it more. I love the simplicity of the deckbuilding in concept, but without really knowing everything going on in the game, it's too early to say how much depth there is to it. It does seem that Star Wars takes the same approach to the CCG genre that X-Wing took to miniatures, and that's to take out the fuss.
Sorry, Al.
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