The meta in any collectible game is always shifting. It doesn’t matter if it’s a few weeks after a product release or a few months, players always find a way to incorporate new deck strategies, which in turn leads to other players creating strategies to beat those. The change can be as simple as replacing a card or two, or even revamping an entire deck archetype. It is a vicious cycle that many, including myself, love. It applies to a whole lot of games, from Magic: The Gathering to X-Wing to Destiny. This two-part blog will highlight several current meta decks that I encounter (or play) frequently, what makes them popular, and why they work. Their viability in a tournament setting is a rating out of 10 stars. Now, any deck can get lucky once, so this rating is based on consistency of the deck.
Elite General Veers (AW4) / Elite Jango Fett (AW21)
My personal go-to deck if I am looking for some fast-paced aggro action. Jango’s ability here cannot be overstated, and the abundance of ranged weapons and equipment in the game makes high burst damage not only possible, but likely. Very susceptible to bad dice rolls, this deck can go from being a monster to a nightmare quickly if you don’t know what you are doing. However, even in the hands of a novice player this deck is potent. The basic strategy is simple: play upgrades on Jango to maximize his ability’s usefulness, and deal as much damage as possible as quickly as possible. Ace in the Hole (AW92), Armed to the Teeth (AW93), and Fight Dirty (AW95) are some Yellow Events that help maintain consistent damage throughout the game. While I don’t believe that Jango Fett will be going away anytime soon, his partner might change up depending on meta shifts. Right now, with the abundance of Red ranged weapons, General Veers is a great option, but two Stormtroopers (AW2) isn’t unheard of in this product supply shortage.
Stars: 9
Elite Darth Vader (AW10) / Tusken Raider (AW22)
Another tournament staple, this deck focuses on burst melee damage. The Tusken Raider allows you to resolve a single crucial die when you roll one of its dice into your pool at the cost of discarding a card from your hand. With the extensive use of force powers and a Sith Holocron (AW16) you can play upgrades on the cheap, which is good as this deck is usually found to be resource poor. Adding in the recently spoiled Rise Again (SR76) to keep Darth Vader alive longer will only increase the power and effectiveness of this deck build. The point of the deck is to not only get out force powers, but melee damage weapons as well. The idea of the deck (burst melee damage) will stay around, however, the included characters may change. The new Darth Vader (SR10) would be a worthy replacement to the current Darth Vader. Which is a good thing as he is a Rare, not Legendary, and he has effectively four damage sides to his die, not just two.
Stars: 9
Elite Jabba the Hutt (AW20) / Elite Jango Fett (AW21)
The deck that I really started playing the first few weeks past release day. Jango is, of course, everyone’s favorite (currently released) bounty hunter, and his ability is amazing. Jabba is a great support character and his ability to reroll a die every activation makes him a great asset. And yes, that is any Yellow die in play. However, the biggest drawback to this deck is that Jabba has no inherent damage ability, so you will need to play upgrades on him that deal damage, as Jango is almost always the first target. I like to think of this deck as the Villain version of the Luke Skywalker (AW35) and Admiral Ackbar (AW27) deck. The purpose of the deck is to make Jango Fett more effective with Jabba’s two Focus sides, and his ability. This deck does rely more on dice control events, and it is not unheard of to see versions of this deck where the entire purpose is to utilize Crime Lord (AW23) to win the game. The jury is still out on the staying power of this deck specifically, however many players do play with Jabba and Darth Vader.
Stars: 7
2 First Order Stormtroopers (AW2) / Nightsister (AW12) / Bala-Tik (AW18)
I have a lot of experience, and fun, with this deck, as noted by my recent deck journey and analysis article shows. The beauty of this deck is that a player can modify it in so many different ways to suit their specific play style. I focused on maximizing the Nightsister and her ability with my deck. Others can focus on weapons and damage, or card manipulation. No matter the type of deck, each one will benefit from more ranged weapons with redeploy that will hopefully come in future sets. Again, this is a deck archetype that can be made cheaply, depending on the cards a person owns. I do see this rainbow-type of deck continuing on in the future, changing with each release depending on what new low-cost characters are available.
Stars: 5
4 First Order Stormtroopers (AW2)
The most basic of the 4 character deck, this mono-color build is currently lacking many parts to make it truly effective in the competitive arena. Plenty of weapons to add, this is a damage heavy deck. However, this deck suffers greatly because of only 1 expansion release. Squad Tactics (AW143) and All In (AW152) is a surprising one-two punch that can surprise the unexpected opponent. Like the rainbow deck above, this deck can also be made incredibly cheaply. Many of the cards can be found in the Kylo Ren Starter, and others are not hard to come by.
Stars: 5
Elite Captain Phasma (AW1) / 2 First Order Stormtroopers (AW2)
A play on the 4 Stormtrooper deck, this one adds an Elite Captain Phasma. This deck is slightly better as giving Guardian to the two Stormtroopers allows them to absorb a single non-modified damage. It forces them to reroll or even change their plan entirely (as a single example). It does still suffers from many of the same flaws of the 4 Stormtrooper deck, but the release of future sets could make this deck more viable in the future.
Stars: 4.5
So, these are the Villain decks I have most encountered and know the most about. Sure, other decks are out there. TinyGrimes was talking the other day about a Jabba/Dooku (AW9) deck which is a great sounding experimental deck. Other people are still trying to get seldom used characters into a deck, like General Grievous (AW3) to limited success. Other are still trying to find the perfect deck of cards to go with their Vader/Raider deck. Thankfully, no one has yet devised the perfect deck, and the draw and roll variance means every deck can win. Some just do it better than others.
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