I think my dislike for Vader's deck is well-documented. I've tweaked and revised his deck many times and run into the problem Sultan suggests, which is that it's so far from working, making tweaks don't fix it. Eventually I just had to start over with Jedi Hunter Vader. I do have a tweaked one that we still play with and like, but it's still not a great deck.

I think Scott captured everything very well: He has 2 incongruent, poorly supported paths to victory that actually work against each other. As volleyballgy adds, he has no movement -- though I think if his direct-damage-from-a-distance path to victory were better supported, this wouldn't be so much of a detriment. He is also quite easy to kill.

One other problem with him is that he isn't FUN. You either try to rely upon direct damage, which to me sort of takes away the fun of the game: Choosing the order in which to play your attacks or defense, in an attempt to maximize your attack and defense values. You can't respond to direct damage in any way. It also encourages Vader to cower in a corner and avoid direct conflict. Is this what you want to see out of Darth Vader? The ATE path to victory is even less fun: It rarely works and when it does, frankly, it's anti-climactic. Ok, there's ATE, game over, that was fun.

Scott touches on a potential solution: Choose one of these 2 paths to victory and support it well by organizing the other special cards to support this path. The direct damage one is more attainable, and using it more effectively would diminish his lack of movement and defense. I already touched upon the problems with further supporting this path. Meanwhile, the ATE path could be supported with more attacks and enough defense to let him survive extended melee confrontations. To me, it's more of what I would want to see from Vader. However, as I stated, I think victory through ATE is anti-climactic.

The best path, to me, is one that is melee intensive without ATE, but that calls for another deck entirely.

"There is a sense of satisfaction in looking at your men all ready for the fray" -- W. Somerset Maugham

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