SWTCG: Jedi Hanless

Everyone loves Han, his pod is great, Questionable Contacts has strong utility,Crossfire can give you that extra blast icon you need to win, Twi'lek Smuggler is a solid 2 for 2 icons, and swindled always has its uses. However, since lasts weeks CincyCon tournament I am cutting the pod from my Jedi deck. I was running the popular 2x Heroes Journey, 2x Forgotten Heroes, 2x In You Must Go, 2x The Secret of Yavin 4 and 2x Questionable Contacts.  Now the deck performed well but I found myself relying on Han and struggling to maintain board control against Sith. After long deliberation I decided to drop Solo and add 2x Jedi Training, I know, youre thinking "wow that pod is in no way as good as Questionable Contacts, its got no heavy uniques, I want to shoot stuff in the face." and you would be correct. Side by side Hans pod is stronger, however I feel that Jedi Training in conjunction with the other Jedi pods offers amazing utility. Lets take a look.

The objective itself has a decent ability especially if you are matched against a Sith deck. This could be the card thats keeps the balance in your favor. 

I like Ancient Monument, not for its text but for its force icons.  Keep it in your hand, win some edge battles, and you'll start to get excited drawing this card.  In Hans pod Han was the only 3 force icon card and he was hitting the table. I firmly believe that having a strong edge hand and one heavy hitter on the table is better that two on the table and a crap edge hand, especially as the lightside because you need to attack every turn and you need to win edge to destroy objectives.

Believer in the Old Ways is solid. I like her better than the Twi'lek Smuggler, she has a blast icon and can take 2 damage before kicking it. Shes a good play that can add some damage onto the objective and by playing this pod you'll have access to 4 of her (assuming you are playing In You Must Go).

Jedi in Hiding is good. Really good.  Sure shes no Obi Wan or Luke but for 2 resources you are getting 2 blasters and an edge blast.  Shes a Force User so she is triggering Forgotten Heroes card draw and she can equip the Jedi Lightsaber, meaning for 3 total resources your getting a miniature wrecking ball that your opponent is going to have to deal with. Also by adding this pod you now have access to 4 of them.  The obvious downside is she can only take 1 damage but with Guardians of the Peace she should be able to stick around.

Recursion. This card is great and it doesn't see much play because the pod is underplayed.  This card is going to let you attack then grab at least one card (two if you have balance!) out of the edge stack to use on defense during your opponents turn. Or just Jedi Mind trick your opponents board twice. With so many cards hitting your discard pile during edge battles and solid playable events this will rarely be a dead card.

This card is the Jedi answer to Palpatine, Vader or whatever big nasty unit the Dark Side is throwing out. The pod itself is worth playing just to give you access to 4 of these (with Forgotten Heroes).  Its only drawback is its only usable on Creatures and Characters. While thats not a huge deal right now, with the upcoming force packs I think well see a lot more Imperial Navy on the field and with their vehicle units you could be sitting on a dead card waiting for Tarkin or Motti to hit the table. Mind Trick competes with Swindled out of Hans pod and I think its just a better card. I really dont need to get around low costs units as much as I need an answer to Vader and Palpatine and seeing as Swindled only hits 2 cost and under units its not going to be as helpful.

Of course with Desolation of Hoth upon us my entire deck could change. I look forward to testing this out and seeing if its possible to achieve the same level of success without depending on Harrison Fords stunning jaw line for victory.