Again.. after each new set it seems like we are always starting out with a fresh new set of cards getting the whole Meta figured out. So far I think there are going to be some FUN decks as well as some competitive ones out there from the days of old that might be able to come back to the top. Let’s go over some of the fun decks that I’ve found so far.
Hera’s Personal Fleet
First there’s this one.
http://swdestinydb.com/decklist/view/13374/holyship-1.0
This is my own version of Hera’s CRAZY combo with vehicles. For those that don’t know how it works, it’s quite simple: you roll in Hera (EW25), then if your opponent doesn’t mitigate her dice, you roll in Maz (SR45) and usually you’ll get a special so you can bring out one of your MANY vehicles that you can have in hand for the turn. Now normally that wouldn’t be that big of a deal so you get to roll out a big vehicle, then return it to your hand so you can bring it out next turn. You are in effect making it so that her specials are a temporary boost to whatever vehicle you have.
Here’s where the fireworks start to pop though, when you bring in the card Recycle (EW149) to make the new vehicle give us some resources. Even with paying the one, we are netting 4 resources back if we recycle the Falcon (AW49), so if we haven’t played anything else that means we’re up to 6 right now. The best opening hand to have is either Quadjumper (SR58) or Recycle with the Falcon, Ghost (EW28), U-Wing (SR31). You can also be okay if you want to replace into a Y-wing (EW29) for the Quadjumper as the Y-wing can get REALLY dangerous if your opponent doesn’t have a way to deal with its 4 damage a turn.
I played this deck to a 3-1 record at the local store recently and had a BLAST with it. The deck that beat me, a Vader/Phasma (which we will discuss below) rolled out MAX damage with the Sith Lord (AW10) and had Vibronife (SR57) out so Hera bit it by turn 2, and it was an uphill battle at that point.
Phasma’s Finishing Move
Second we have the previous mentioned Vader/Phasma.
http://swdestinydb.com/decklist/view/14065/vaderphasma-1.0
You might recall I did an article a few weeks back PRIOR to Empire at War getting released that had the 2-player set of Phasma (TP2) getting paired up with Big Daddy Vader himself. I have ALWAYS enjoyed Sith Lord Vader as he has a nice damage die as well as a built-in time limit for your opponents with his discard effect. When you see Vader sitting across from you, you are already at full guard as you know one of your precious 5 cards will need to be discarded and that really makes your opponent start to think about how to play around that effect. It makes it so they have one less card for a discard to reroll, as well as possibly taking out a situational card that could REALLY help them in the long run.
My original version had in Leadership (EW141), but I felt I was getting it as a dead card too many times. Also I would have a double activation which would make your opponent lose 2 cards, but again most opponents could just play around that as well. I removed it in favor of the Lightsaber Pull (EW130) card to bring in more of the Blue Weapons to the front, specifically Ancient Lightsaber (EW49) so that Big Daddy can heal as we all know he will be taking some of the major damage. One thing you might have noticed is the removal of Praetorian Guard (TP5) from the two-player set. It is a very good card to put on Phasma at the start to mitigate some of the damage, but since it’s a red card it doesn’t get used with Lightsaber Pull as easily. I also felt that there are much better cards out there to take the spot.
The Game is Afoot
Third we have the more famous ThrawnKar.
Now with the release of Empire of War, Thrawn (EW4) has become a huge “thrawn” in everyone’s side! HA HA HILARIOUS KEN!
Here’s my take on the Gruesome Twosome.
http://swdestinydb.com/decklist/view/14416/2menandaplan-1.0
What we have here is a deck that doesn’t put out actual damage, but has some options for different win conditions. Able to either play out Crime Lord (AW23) or Buyout (EW80), you can easily mill your opponent with the Buyout and Thrawn and Unkar’s (SR21) ability make the deck an easy choice to start the mill train. Typically you’ll want to start with Thrawn, call say, 2, and take a look at their hand. Now when you roll out Unkar, you can tell if it’s worthwhile to use his ability to grab one of their cards, or just resolve them to disrupt their resources etc etc. Rinse and repeat as well as gaining a BUTTLOAD of resources yourself with their sides and you can really punish your opponents.
Tossin’ Bombs
Fourth and counting we have a new contender, Sabine (EW40) and New Poe (TP25). No need to use that old crappy outdated Poe (AW29) when you can have a fresh new Poe from the 2-player starter!
http://swdestinydb.com/decklist/view/14417/epoesabine-1.0
This deck runs very similar to a typical Rey (AW38) build where you are going to be recycling your Thermal Paints (EW116) from the discard pile back onto Sabine. Notice I have decided not to run the Running Interference (EW115) card in this version, two reasons why; First, you need to basically get two copies of Holdout Blaster (AW63) or some other card that has ambush on it to start the cycle. Second, there are so many ways to counter it that it’s not a great loop IMO. So the optimal play here is to start with a Thermal Paint and Smuggling (AW134) in your hand. First action, gain a resource for Smuggling while getting Thermal Paint into your discard pile. Second action, activate Sabine, get Thermal Paint on her and go to town. Rinse and repeat as needed. You can also use the action cheat ability of her to bring in any weapon with ambush to get to resolve some dice if the dice gods are kind to you. Poe is there to make the deck a little more consistent as well as provide the Honor Guard (TP33) mitigation card for Red.
Master and Apprentice
Fifth is a new deck I’ve fallen back in love with, but probably won’t be a Tier one deck, Luke/Rey!
http://swdestinydb.com/decklist/view/14421/lukereyeaw-1.0
So just like most Rey decks, your bread and butter is going to be to go for the Ambush Weapons to get the most from Rey. Luke (AW35) is here to distract your opponent from going after Rey as you load her up with Force Speed (SR55), Vibroknife, Rey’s Lightsaber (TP30), or any other thing that could get redeployed to Luke if she dies. Most people will try to go after Rey if you get an early lead, but that’s why heroism is in there as it’s a hard removal of damage dice out there that can redirect it onto Luke. I have thought about taking out one Rey’s Lightsaber for a Luke’s Lightsaber (AW41) to get more shields on the board, but so far I’ve been too impressed with Rey’s. Ancient Light Saber is a sleeper hit, because of it’s built in ability to mitigate some damage, but really it’s there to push out more damage than your opponent knows what to do with it.
Honorable Mentions
Now we also have some other decks that I won’t give decklists on, but will give a short little write up about them.
eCad Bane/eNew Phasma: Like Sabine, he can bring in some ambush cards to roll in some dice and resolve them before things can really happen. Tactical Mastery (AW74) completes this ensemble and can make it a HUGE swing in the turn. Once they take out Cad (EW18), or Phasma, most of the redeploy weapons will get put over and you get to deal with them all over again.
eNewKylo/eFN-2199: New Kylo (TP1) is starting to really make a splash and for good reason, he makes it so going just one color is going to make your opponent go after him. Well the jokes on them as if they go after Kylo, their other characters are going to get some free mileage if you take the heat off of him and that’s what you want them to do. His die is actually quite good as well, and doesn’t suffer from his previous versions issue of low cost cards. His normal pairing right now is FN-2199 (SR2) and I don’t think he needs an introduction, but really.. you just puke out weapons and do damage. I could see him being paired with other characters and just being a one-of die as well, but right now with 2199 being so good pre-nerf, might as well use him while you can!
ePalpatine: While still a strong character, with the previous mention of New Kylo, this makes it a little harder to play him if you will see New Kylo in your vicinity. Since your opponent will have an easy time of calling blue, you’re basically on a timer until you can kill New Kylo. I still see him as being quite playable, and some of the cards we get in Empire at War will help him, Endurance (EW147) will be a staple in that deck as it basically reads “Punish your opponent for removing my die”. I also like some of the new abilities, especially Temptation (EaW 14) will be interesting cards to bring to the table that give your opponents choices, but really you are also gaining tempo.
With the release of Empire at War we have a new meta coming, and so far this seems to be a list of decks you can try out and adjust to your liking. Currently my favorite deck is still Big Daddy Vader and new Phasma. It’s the one that I’ve been in love with since I gave up the ghost on Han/Rey.
My next deck list to try will be a Cad/Phasma as it’s been called “The new Jango/Veers” and I LOVED that deck back in Awakenings.
Hopefully these deck lists will give you a starting point and will let you start making your own decks. Please feel free to leave comments below!
The Ken
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