As with many other games of it's kind, the most direct influence on your playing experience is the construction of your deck. It is important to make your own decks...much like the old Samurai whom had to learn the makings of their weapons to better understand it's nature, and the Jedi who construct their own lightsabers. This process helps sharpen skills and forces a person to think about the game.

This article assumes basic knowledge and an amount of playing experience on the part of the reader. In order to best learn how to build decks, one must play (sometimes a lot) to learn the basic game mechanics. Take those opportunities to see what other people include in their decks and why those decks do (or do not work. My intent is to heighten the awareness of concepts involved in building a deck.

Part 1. Theme
The goal of the game is to reduce your opponent's life force to 0. I define Theme as the manner in which a deck is designed to achieve this goal. The general means of accomplishing this are:

a) Force Drains. Force Drains occur when you control a location that has one or more force icons for your opponent. This simulates the military occupation of a strategic location. There are several strategies that focus upon building up bonuses to drain your opponent out quickly. To force drain, however, one must control the site, which leads to ...
b) Battle. Simply put, to overpower your opponent. Decks that focus on battle often include smaller 'side strategies' to make it more effective. Weapons and other cards can allow you to exclude or force the forfeiture of specific characters and vehicles (starships included). These add depth to the game and often are capable of dramatically tipping the balance of a game. Most decks mix aspects of both themes 'a' & 'b'. The third and most eclectic category is....
c) Other. This is the hardest category to define. Numbers/Odds, Turbo-Sanctuary, Surprise/Counter Assaults, Epic Events, Visage off the Emperor and other direct damage methods. I do not include Force Choke or manipulation here because they do not deal damage by themselves. Instead, they deny your opponent the cards necessary to effectively compete against a Theme. Theme is important. You needn't have more than a rough idea of what your theme is as you begin to construct a deck.... you can refine the concept as you go. However, you need to refer back to it at times in order to keep your deck focused.

Part 2. Environment.

Environment encompasses the 'game board' built by deployed locations, effects, and countermeasures and anything else that alters game conditions. The idea is to create an environment that hinders your opponent while providing you with an edge.

Examples of Environmental factors: Playing locations that offer no force icons for your opponent, limiting the number of battlegrounds they may deploy to. A lot of high forfeit characters can limit your losses to attrition. The objectives Hunt Down and Mind What You Have Learned stall the use of Sense/Alter for both players. Playing Profit and not being able to force drain on Tatooine. Playing Go Nee Tay and causing your opponent to pay extra for force sensitive and Jedi characters. Playing Rectenna or TIE Vanguard to allow deploying as a react in space. Scanning Crew (also known as Screw, and for good reason!). CCT and QMC flipped, each grant immunity to aliens. Perimeter Patrol on Endor.

I often consider Locations first. You need to insure that you will generate enough force for deploying with enough leftover to draw or pay for interrupts and other cards. You also need to guarantee the minimum battlegrounds necessary to satisfy certain effects (Battle Order/Plan, Honor of the Jedi, Come Here You Big Coward).

'Force Choke', choosing locations that do not generate for your opponent, could be an asset if you plan to go heavy on theme 'b' and take the fight to your opponent. Force Drain bonuses can be useful for theme 'a' and luring your opponent to locations where you have an advantage. Objectives & Epic Events, if chosen, will dictate some of your selections.

Next I look at Vehicles (includes starships). Sometime they become necessary by the locations you choose (Tatooine: Desert, Endor: Great Forest, Systems & Sectors). Some are desirable for their attributes, bonuses, unique properties (Sandcrawlers with Jawas, Dreadnaughts with TIEs, Immunities, 'react', permanent pilots with ability > 1), or high power/forfeit (AT-ATs & Star Destroyer).

Then, I pull characters. Many of the same concerns apply here as with vehicles. Look for people who gain bonuses at your chosen locations, with the selected vehicles, or with other characters (i.e. any Vader with Grand Moff Tarkin, Commander Igar with any non-unique AT-AT or Tempest 1).

Characters, Vehicles & Locations are the muscles, ligaments & bones of you deck & Theme. You should be able to justify the purpose of each one; even if it's just that you need the extra force, power, or forfeit to cover the weaker aspects of your environment.

Weapons are almost strictly for theme 'b' (b for Battle). They force specific characters or vehicles to be forfeited at the end of a battle, even when you lose or fail to inflict attrition by battle destiny. Some even make attrition more effective by reducing the forfeit of the target.

Devices are rarely used in some areas, but do not discount them entirely. Comlink and Wrist Comlink allow characters to react. Restraining Bolt prevents droids from moving and using game text (maybe useful to stall A Gift, Death Star Plans, the ASP droids high destiny setup or R2 & 3PO). If you haven't looked at what devices you own in a while it's time to go back through them and review.

Effects, and then Interrupts, make up the last part of a deck. These often enhance or further define the theme. They are also your best chance of covering up the weak points. This is also where you build Theme 'c'.... damage dealt by a method other than Force Drains or Battle.

It's not uncommon to see 1/2 dozen or more effects on the table because of their impact on environment. Battle Plan and Battle Order are perfect examples. They directly influences themes 'a'&'b' by forcing your opponent to split their forces between space and ground if they intend to drain. Divided forces are easier to attack. This use can also be considered manipulation in the sense that if your opponent cannot play both arenas, then they are forced to pay to drain. The ability to battle for free is a boost to theme 'b'.

Interrupts are your surprise factor. Because they often do not require being played in advance, they can provide you with a last minute edge that your opponent did not expect (Dark Strike, Power Pivot). While they can be considered as part of the environment, their function is truer to theme.

Unconventional selections can confuse your opponents' perception of your deck and what it means to accomplish. Often many deck archetypes have signature effects and interrupts that blindly find their way into most variants. This isn't necessarily bad, since they usually represent the more effective side strategies, but it is predictable.

With Effects look for vulnerability to Alter and Control. Aside from that, once in play they generally stay there. With Interrupts look for 'used' vs 'lost', importance to the deck theme (because of grabbers), and vulnerability to Sense. Some effects and interrupts require a destiny draw to function. When you finish your card selection it's a always a good idea to compare the cards requirement against the average destiny of the deck.

In the case of a theme 'c' based deck, Direct Damage, you would probably consider effects and interrupts second (after locations). These types of strategies often place very specific restrictions on what you can choose for characters and vehicles/starships. Turbo Sanctuary, for example, is easily 1/3 to 1/2 locations, 5-6 Asteroid Sanctuaries, with a handful of ships to establish the Sanctuaries and protect them. Numbers/Odds require high destiny characters to be effective.

There are less card intensive ways of running direct damage. It often runs as a supplement to draining & battle. Orders to Engage, Limited Resources, and First Strike/Draw Their Fire are common.

After the initial card selection, take time for a reality check. Re-examine the themes in your deck. Make sure you can hold that key location or draw that combination your counting on. Many decks use objectives and effects pull key cards for themes. Look for weaknesses during the time it takes to set up your strategies in game. Look for higher destiny card with similar functions or that work well with your primary theme to trade in (example: Despair in a bounty hunter deck. Capture one rebel and drop Despair on another.. that rebel doesn't draw destiny. Destiny 6 card).

Generally speaking, higher destiny cards are preferred. Very few decks rely on drawing a low destiny these days. It is more useful and consistent to draw high for weapon and battle destinies. Low draws are generally only needed for Sense, Alter, and Nar Shadda Wind Chimes (and it's variants). When considering average destiny, remove all the cards you start with or pull with effects during the first 2-3 turns.

Cards that recycle themselves into your life force are also good for tracking. If you can track a card as it cylices through your life force you know when you are going to draw it for destiny or when it returns to your force pile to be drawn.

Part 3. Countermeasures.

Technically, countermeasures are a part of environment. The most obvious part, sometimes. There are many excellent articles buried on www.DeckTech.net and it's worth your time to seek them out.

Countermeasures are usually a function of the local Metagame. Metagame refer to what is being played by the majority of people in your area. Many decks are constructed to circumvent/confront the popular deck types or to copy them, hoping to duplicate their success. Without actual playing experience, Local Meta is difficult to prepare for.

You already may have addressed countermeasures while selecting cards to cover the weak spots in your deck. The same cards you worry about when you build your deck are sometimes the best counters: Sense, Alter, Control, Grimtassh/Monnok, and What Are You Trying To Push On Us/There'll Be Hell To Pay are all aggressive counters that attack your enemies supporting cards, weakening their strategies. They have a place in nearly any deck (including yours!), especially when 'bullets' may be hard to find or too specialized to be useful.

A 'bullet' is one card that specifically cancels another. Examples: Masterful Move is a bullet for Mantellain Savrip. Point Man and This Is Some Rescue each cancel several specific cards. Bullets are generally higher destiny cards and used interrupts, but are rarely useful otherwise. Sometimes a bullet is not an interrupt. The 'bantha' droid that cancels lateral damage, mercenary armor, and Jabba's Prize are non-interrupt bullets as is the Hunt Down objective (flipped to prevent Sense/Alter)

While counters and bullets exist for many strategies, sometimes it's better to find other ways to beat them. Killing or controlling a target of the offending effect often causes the effect to be lost. On the same line of thought, if the target does not exist, the targeting card cannot be played/used (no used pile, Visored Vision cannot be played. No reserve, Figrin Dan cannot be used). These opportunities come to you during game play, and sometimes require some improvisation.

By being aware of your local meta you can determine if your deck even needs specific counters/bullets to be effective. Certainly no need to play Crash Landing with your AT-ATs unless you expect to fight vehicles. Even if you did expect it, is Crash Landing necessary?

Now, will any of this guarantee you a killer deck? A win at the next tourney? Truthfully, no. These days it's the player and how well he plays the games. But understanding these concepts do help make you a better player and help you prepare a solid base for winning.