Star Wars Monday: Destiny ep. 1

This week, we’ll be talking briefly about Worlds, my recent experience with FFG customer service, the third set: Empire at War, and Store Championships.  However, the beginning and bulk of this article will be spent on how I think a new player can get a head start.  If you are reading this, and haven’t started playing yet, then this is the perfect time to get into this wildly popular game.  Unlike with X-Wing, I am not a new Destiny player, having played since it debuted in late 2016.

How I think a new player can get a head start

Destiny is known as a collectible card game (CCG) or trading card game (TCG).  I use both terms interchangeable.  This means that there is a randomization element to acquiring the cards.  You buy sealed, opaque packs and then open them up to see what you get. Having collected and traded for the past 5 months, here is some insight on how to start your collection the most efficient way possible:

The two Starter Sets: Kylo and Rey.

First of all, whether you want to buy a Starter Set or not is up to you.  I started off with 2 boxes and was able to build two separate, tournament-legal decks.  In fact, I still don’t own either of the Starter Sets.  I used the contents of those two boxes to trade for everything I needed.  The rules are online and you can use pretty much anything for tokens.

If trading with the Resident Evil merchant for an F-11D Rifle and using pennies (or in my case, Pokemon energy cards, lol) as tokens for the first few months doesn’t sound fun, there are some distinct advantages to purchasing the Starter Sets.

First of all, they contain everything, tokens, characters, dice, and half of a tournament-legal deck that you need to get your first couple of games in.

Second, there are certain cards that only come in the Starter Sets.  Most notable of which are two force upgrades: Mind Probe and Force Throw, and three characters: Rey, Kylo, and Finn.  The current “meta,” or tournament environment, makes good use of Rey and Force Throw, and to a lesser extent, Kylo and Mind Probe.  These decks include combinations of Han/Rey, Poe/Rey, Kylo/Dooku, Dooku/Grievous, and Vader/Raider.  For that reason, I strongly recommend the Rey starter over the Kylo starter.  You can find videos of how those decks play elsewhere on the internet.  If any of those decks look fun, go ahead and get the respective Starter Set.

Finally, unlike booster packs, your FLGS should have plenty of Starter Sets in stock by now.  If not, there are online retailers which have them in stock.

Booster Packs

The first set, Awakenings:

The order of rarity, from least rare to most rare, is: Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Legendary.

A box is 36 packs.  There are a guaranteed 6 legendaries per box. That means your odds of pulling a legendary is 1 out of every 6 packs. Uncommons (1 per pack, 36 per box) are almost as rare as rares are (30 per box).  An opened box with spare packs has the same “odds” as a legendary pull.  However, unless you watched the box get opened and the pulls from the first few packs, there is no guarantee that the box was not cherry-picked and only contains rares at this point.

It’s importasnt to note that the “best” cards are not always the rarest.  One of the most sought after cards is an uncommon called Electroshock.  I will teach you a trick on how to acquire a copy or two of that card in a little bit.  Moreover, the rare Holdout Blaster is worth more than some legendaries.

Unfortunately, this set is basically sold out worldwide.  If you manage to track down some packs at MSRP, then feel free to go ahead and grab them.  Just don’t pay a secondary mark up price.  A restock is rumored to be coming in June.

Whether you decide to buy a box or spare packs is up to you.  Right now, packs and boxes of Awakenings are scarce as it is.

The second set, Spirit of Rebellion (“SoR”):

By the time you read this, it will be May 1st.  You already missed the “preview” or “prerelease” events which were held at most FLGS on April 1st-2nd.  However, there are only 3 days left (ahh!!!!) until SoR officially hits the shelves on May 4th.  This set doubles the amount of cards in the game and some current players believe that, generally, the cards in SoR are more powerful than the cards in Awakenings.  This is called “power creep.”  As more expansions are released, the cards in the game get more and more powerful.

If you haven’t already, call your FLGS and reserve a box.  Now.

Tournament Kits

FFG releases alternate art and acrylic token Game Night Kits (“GNK”) for FLGS to use as prizes at small, casual tournaments.

The kit for Q1 was lackluster.  Kylo, TIE Fighter, and Resource tokens.  Tokens are cool, but both alt-art cards require dice.  They were like “skins” in Overwatch.  Just an aesthetic modification to something you already had to own in order to use.

The recently released Q2 kit pictured above contains alt-art Jango, 1 Damage tokens, and the door prize is an alt-art of arguably the best uncommon card in the game: Electroshock.  Remember when I said I was going to teach you a trick?  Over the next few months, go to two GNKs at your FLGS. Lose, learn, and leave with a playset of free Electroshocks.

The upcoming Q3 kit is rumored to contain Guard as a door prize and Finn and Shield Tokens as the rewards for doing well.  Again, Finn will not come with his die, but at least Guard is usable right out of the gate.  Don’t expect the Q3 kit until September.

Singles and “Saga” complete sets on the secondary market

I wouldn’t recommend going these routes until you know how to play first and are certain that this is the game for you.  During Awakenings, many players tried to complete “playsets” of two of every card.  As more and more sets are released, this will become more and more expensive to do.  Long term, as cards rotate out of playability, this is a losing strategy.

Takeaway

If I was starting the game right now, I would buy the Rey Starter ($15) and a box of SoR ($110).  Then, I would build a deck and use that deck to play in at least two GNKs.  By that point, the SoR meta should have settled and you can trade your unused cards to finish off a couple respectable decks.  Then, you’ll be ready for Store Championships this Summer!

Tournament Reports and Store Championships

Credit: Carl Matherly

The Store Championship prizes are close to my heart: a Phasma playmat and a “spot-glossed” (holographic? effing sweet-looking? idfk) Phasma promo card.  Although she got very little screen time in The Force Awakens, it looks like she is going to play a larger role in The Last Jedi.  Also, if you don’t think Gwendoline Christie is doing a great job as Brienne of Tarth then you are just straight-up wrong.  Most importantly, I think Phasma is going to have a strong place in the upcoming meta.

There are going to be some other prizes, but these are leaked photos as it is so I don’t have all of the photos for you yet. I have heard from a reliable source that the door prize is an alt-art “The Best Defense…,” which is a playable card at the moment.

Two weeks from now, I will have competed in two Q2 GNKs, including one in which SoR will be tournament legal.  At that time, this segment will contain tournament reports on my road to the several Store Championships in my area.  My goal for this Summer is to Top 4 a Store Championship so I can get one of those sweet mats.

World Championships

For various reasons (logistics, cost, time, I’m a scrub, etc.), I will not be attending Worlds. I suggest that you look elsewhere on the internet for how to prepare for Worlds. However, I DO have a link to the prizes for you, and they look sweet.

Third Set, Empire at War, leaked

Credit: Knights of Ren

It’s Sabine!  I love the Rebels show and the above card reflects the role Sabine plays in the show.  FFG has also confirmed that Grand Admiral Thrawn will be in the third set. Along with the name of the set, this leads me to believe that the whole set will be Rebels themed.  Is the set icon in the bottom right of Sabine’s card the Grand Inquisitor‘s TIE Advanced Prototype fighter?  That could mean anything.  Please give us a C1-10P “Chopper” support!

My recent experience with FFG customer service

I’d like to end this week’s article on a happy and casual note.

You may have seen on our Facebook page that I recently discovered that my Grievous die was misprinted, and not in the good way!

Two disrupt sides and no 3 damage side??? Barf!!!

In the past, I had a problem-free experience getting a replacement X-Wing ship sent to me when I accidentally bitchslapped it off of a table in the middle of a tournament broke it.  This was no different.  All it took was a form submission, a photo of the die and card, and a copy of the receipt.  My receipt was even like 5 months old from an online box order.  I was notified a day or two later that a replacement booster pack was on the way.  Hopefully I open something better than a Grievous…

I particularly enjoyed the final remark. Nice touch, FFG.

Takeway

So there you have it: how to get into the game, upcoming events, upcoming releases, and a feel-good story about quality customer service.

See you in two weeks for an SoR box opening, what I opened in my Grievous-die-replacement pack, and some Q2 tournament reports.  Thanks for reading and please make sure to follow us on all of the different social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Patreon, and share this article with friends who you think might also enjoy the game.

Credit: Best of Star Wars Memes