All Jedi Are Traitors to the Galactic Republic (I’m Fairly Confident About This)
Order 66 (SH15) is going to be a plot that people will experiment with when building Spark of Hope decks. There’s a lot to love here. The first thing I noticed about Order 66 is how far plots have come since Legacies – remember Fortify (LG169)? Plots have improved significantly from their initial release. They are now able to influence deck construction in a similar way to characters, which is a credit to the design team.
Order 66 states that each of your opponents’ characters gains the Jedi subtype. It also allows you to shuffle up to four copies of set aside Execute Order 66 (SH27) cards into your draw deck before you draw your starting hand. The “up to” portion of this effect allows you to run anywhere from a 30 to a 34 card deck. That means anywhere from zero to six copies of Execute Order 66 (six in a Blue/Red variant) can end up in your draw deck.
So What Does Order 66 Do For Deck Building?
To start, Order 66 will fundamentally change how decks that run it can set up their removal packages. Blue Villain already has access to Hidden Motive (RV5) and Forsaken (CV9). I don’t think it’s difficult to imagine a world where players include one or two other pieces of impactful removal and call it a day. Realize that because the extra copies of Execute Order 66 are added directly to the draw deck, you don’t necessarily have to partner Red with Blue to gain access to the card. Back in ye olden meta of summer 2018, this would have been a nice bonus against Kylo Ren (TP1), but now it’s just a fun anecdote. You’re totally free to play Red/Blue as the article described, and I’ll talk a bit about those spoilers below. However, take note that you can also play Blue/Yellow or mono Blue and still add your copies of Execute Order 66.
It’s Hard to Get Milled When You’re Out Here “Saving the Republic”
Order 66 gives you the ability to build around a slightly different deck size. Having a 34-card deck will provide a slight buffer against mill decks, because they now effectively have to mill four more cards to win. You can also build your deck with a little bit more flexibility in upgrade vs removal count, because 34 cards will draw differently than 30 does. Your mulligan will be a little worse (unless you’re trying to draw a copy of Execute Order 66), so depending on a specific upgrade or support will be less reliable. This leads me to want to pair Order 66 with consistent characters that don’t need to draw exactly one or two specific cards to win. It’s hard to say what that would look like with much of Spark of Hope left to be spoiled, but theory-craft away and let me know what you come up with!
You Get to Be a Jedi, You Get to Be a Jedi, Everybody Gets to Be a Jedi!
Turning all of your opponents characters into Jedi is a very unque effect. There are some cards your opponents may play that will benefit from you running Order 66. Ahsoka Tano (CV54), for example, gets to have her Fast Hands-esque ability live permanently. Opponents playing Blue Hero decks will also gain some other small advantages. Those running Channel the Force (CV60) or Disciplined Mind (CV62) will always be able to spot a Jedi. This guarantees them the full effect of those cards. Republic Jedi Armor (CV71) could give any of your opponents’ characters a shield. Jedi Holocron (CV68) can also always spot a Jedi. I’m not sure that last one is actually a good thing (because Jedi Holocron is NOT a good card). The only current character with a place in the meta that will be positively impacted by facing an Order 66 deck is Mace Windu (CV56). He would gain the freedom to play upgrades on his non-Jedi partner and still get the bonus shield.
Some other currently existing cards care about matching subtypes (but not specifically the Jedi keyword). Both Chalmun’s Cantina (AN19) and Military Camp (CV178) are battlefields that have effects based on subtypes. It turns out Convergence (CV93) is much a better card if all of your characters have been forcefully turned into Jedi. However, I doubt anyone would run Convergence if their subtypes didn’t already match. Opponents of Order 66 decks could also safely play Exterminate (CV43). Most people probably won’t be running mediocre cards to potentially counter Order 66, so that may not be relevant.
Ultimately, the downside of making your opponents characters all Jedi currently appears to be pretty minimal. I don’t think players will typically get punished by all of their opponent’s characters sharing a subtype, either. It’s hard to tell what the future holds, but the potential downsides of playing Order 66 don’t feel too overwhelming.
Order 66 Worked Out Pretty Well (If You Like Empires)
We’ve established that making your opponent’s characters share a subtype isn’t going to backfire on you. Now we get to talk about the advantages of all of your opponent’s characters sharing a subtype! We have to start with the newly spoiled Execute Order 66. This card is NUTS if your opponent somehow misplays and rolls out two elite characters against you (not likely). It’s still pretty good if they roll out one good elite character against you, which is a lot more likely to happen. I think this card is fine to play to remove two character dice and do two damage. Against three character decks that may only have one character die for each of their characters, deciding to play Execute Order 66 is a lot more complicated and becomes very situational. Against Blue Hero decks (sorry, Blue Hero) Execute Order 66 is probably always live and excellent, even without the Order 66 plot.
Chain Lightning (SH125) is another card spoiled in the article. Paying two resources to do three damage is under the curve I like to see on damage dealing cards. I always like it if a damage dealing event can do two damage for every resource spent on it. Chain Lightning does a little less than that, but that doesn’t necessarily make it a bad card. There will be some situations where it ends up being a bit of a blowout play. The most obvious of those is when your opponent has two characters low on health.
Rally the Troops (SH28) is an excellent card, mostly because of its flexibility. It operates as de facto removal in Order 66 decks, mimicking the effect of Shriek (AG149). It also gives access to action cheating, particularly when resolving focus or resource sides in combination with damage or removal. Keep in mind that playing any of these cards would require you to play a Blue/Red character combination. Red removal is generally really strong right now, though, so the pairing may end up being a great way to go.
Spoiler Season is So Exciting
I think Order 66 decks will end up being pretty good. If nothing else, the plot will be a fun excuse to build a thematic Episode III deck. I’m not sure that Execute Order 66 is playable outside of decks utilizing the Order 66 plot. That said, some of the other events spoiled do have potential uses outside of decks themed around the destruction of the Jedi Order.
I would like point out before I end this article that Sinister Ruse (SH12) reminds me a lot of Kylo Ren (AW11). Kylo was always a fun card to play. He could hit a big support when he selected a card from your opponent’s hand and hit for five damage! He could just as likely hit a zero cost event and do absolutely nothing! Sinister Ruse probably won’t see a lot of play in Standard, but there will be decks it has legs against. There’s a part of my soul that will always yearn to slam cards like this down on tables.
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