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Table of Contents

• A Better Tomorrow Set Release
  
• The Shadow Academy Set Revisited
  
• The Great Hutt Expansion Revisited
  
• Simplified Sample Decks
  
• Merchant Store Updates
  
• Attack of the Bots
  
• I Want A Card!
  
• What's Next?
  

A Better Tomorrow Set Release

It's been a labor of love and, if my counting is correct, a bit over a year of effort to complete the A Better Tomorrow expansion set for the Dark Brotherhood: Customizable Card Game!

This 212 card expansion allows you to take command of the Odan-Urr forces during their battle on Quermia while fighting off the droid invasion of the Vauzem Dominion.

Will you choose to side with Turel Sorenn as he fights on behalf of the Quermian senate to free their planet or will you side with Duke Airron Uleich to conquer the planet?

For those of you familiar with the original SW:CCG game, this release is similar to the Naboo Invasion decks and are meant to be played against each other for a balanced gaming experience. You'll find pre-made decks available to you from the library which contain all the necessary cards to jump into the action immediately!

You'll also find in the Deck Builder a variety of Odan-Urr themed cards such as the Resurgent Nebula-Class Star Destroyer, Captain Skoo-Wah Nock the leader of Colo-Claw Squadron, Raava Squadron 13.

For a full list of cards added visit the DB:CCG - Scomplink.

The Shadow Academy Set Revisited

While I was working on the A Better Tomorrow expansion I found myself with time during the Great Jedi War XVII: Animus that allowed me to revisit The Shadow Academy set.

This was the second set I released and, similar to the DB Core set, was focused on my testing how to code existing card types and create net new cards such as the Sith Tests. The results were...successful and lacking at the same time.

Therefore, I've made some quality of life improvements to this deck to make it more playable now that I understand the code while also improving some of the original artwork which was sourced from the internet and did not best represent the Shadow Academy locations.

Most impactful for me was redesigning Alethia Archenksova, Headmistress. To be consistent with the original SW:CCG game rules, a non-Jedi/Dark Jedi character's ability cannot exceed 4. Usually this is not an issue until we came to the situation of a Headmistress who was not a Force user and the game utilizing the character's ability to score in determining if they can train an apprentice.

The result being that Alethia was a useless card when seeking to train any of the potential Dark Jedi level cards.

I've been able to modify the game text of Alethia Archenksova, Headmistress to apply a modifier of ability +3 when assigned as the mentor. This'll make it far more useful to utilize Alethia in a Sith Test themed deck.

In addition, The Force Shall Free Me now allows you to relocate your Sith Apprentice into your hand to deploy elsewhere. A functionality that I did not know how to code for when I was originally designing the Shadow Academy set.

To go along with these changes you'll see two new pre-build decks in the library. One that allows you to pick your own Sith Apprentice and another that is themed to Komilia Lap'lamiz.

The Great Hutt Expansion Revisited

As I was designing The Great Hutt Expansion I created the same problem that existed in the original game. What happens to your objective if it relies upon your opponent playing, or having in their deck, a specific card? Just like the original player base grew frustrated with having an objective that could never be met, so too were players of the Hostile Takeover objective often stuck unable to fulfill the requirements to flip the card.

Therefore, I made the same fix that Decipher did all those decades years ago. I created a Dark Side card that may be deployed from outside your deck to enable you to fulfill the objective.

I also went through a couple cards and updated the graphics so that our Chiss friend Locita didn't look like such a haunted vampire compared to the smooth (clearly not Henry Cavill} look he was always intended to have.

Simplified Sample Decks

With the previous release, I created sample decks that were pre-built for people to utilize. I named these decks after the objective cards, which is how professional players tend to look for sample decks. Upon reflection, I've simplified these to align to the name of the set being released.

That means if you're looking to play a themed deck built to play against another deck you just need to find the match light/dark named deck for that release. There was not a light side version of the Shadow Academy set, though there were light side cards you could choose from to build your own decks.

Merchant Store Updates

With the release of The Great Hutt Expansion I introduced the ability to purchase Booster Packs from the Merchant store. This was a pathway for people to collect cards and turn them in for foiled version.

In this release I've included four Alternate Image Booster Packs for purchase. If you login weekly you'll earn coins in game which you can use to purchase these packs which will give you a chance to obtain the alternate image versions of some of the cards in game.

To be an honest salesmen, I'll point out for that for Series 1 and Series 2 you may only need to buy one or two packs to get them all.

Attack of the Bots

Artificial Intelligence has struck here as well. With a recent release from the SW:CCG Player's Committee there are now three bots available to select which corresponds to easy, normal, and hard modes. While this will not allow you to earn Clusters of Fire it will allow you the opportunity to test out decks you're building and learn the game.

The great thing about the bots is that you can select which deck you want them to play with. So if you're curious if the deck you've built will work well against another deck you can test it before playing against a member.

DBCCGb0t

I'd also like to introduce DBCCGb0T, a Discord Bot that will allow you to view cards from the original SW:CCG, the SW:CCG Players Committee, and DB:CCG cards. It's utilized by typing /ccg and the bot will prompt you with available cards to display.

This gives you the option to easily share or look-up a card that's been created for DB:CCG. No more trying to remember where you saved your card to show to your friends. Currently the bot is in the General, Art, and Gaming channels.

The Consuls have been notified that they may choose to have DBCCGb0t in their respective clan channels.

I Want A Card!

By now, hopefully, you're well invested in the desire to play this wholly unique gaming experience that puts YOU in the middle of the action. You don't have to wait for the next set to come around to your specific Clan.

You can request a card to be created of yourself or your alternative character!!

Within the Admin section of the Brotherhood site navigate to Profile and Custom Graphics -> Request Custom Graphics -> Create Graphics Request -> CCG Cards

From here you can provide your suggested Card Title, Lore (e.g., the information at the top of the card), your preferred image, which side (Dark or Light) and general comments.

These cards will then be designed for inclusion in the next set of DB:CCG. Bringing YOU into the action!

What's Next?

I am going to borrow from Bubba's page book and setup a competition for you all to find bugs. Remember, the best way to #beatkam is to force me to do more work and point out my shortcomings. Look for this competition to appear soon!

I am going to take a short break to invest time in the DB:CCG Wiki and bringing the game to all of you. After that, I'll be reaching out to the Consuls whose Clans do not yet have a DB:CCG set to see what options are available for building the next set.

Stay Connected!

There is a DB:CCG thread on Discord located under the gaming-chat channel. I post infrequently to this location while building cards, discussing the game, or engaging with new members who have an interest.

This is also where I post when custom requested cards are completed. Currently 24 members are following this thread and I look forward to seeing more join in the discussion.

DB:CCG Creation Rules: Feel free to review if you're interested in the 'science' behind creating the DB:CCG.

Until next time, Shuffle up and Deal!