Ket's Deck Clinic #2
By Nathanael Tripp

Originally this article was supposed to be creating a deck for fellow TCG player, Mengo, using the following cards:

Delta Six Jedi Starfighter
X-Wing Escort
Rebel Scouts
Jawa Sandcrawler
Yoda (J)
Boba Fett (H)
Anakin Skywalker
Ground Damage Battle Cards
Ground Damage Missions
Ground Damage Locations

However, as I am prone to do, I took the idea that Mengo proposed and went wild with it. Not only did I create a deck using most of the cards Mengo suggested, but I also went off on a tangent and made a deck centered on Battle/Mission based damage tricks. This deck may not be the ultimate be all end all of the game, but they are a unique look at alternate win conditions. So what follows is more of a trip into my twisted thinking than an actual deck critique. So join me on a journey to the land of junk inside the mind of an insane deck builder.

Character
Character is pretty twisted. Never before has a LIN Demolitionmech tried to blow up Yoda. The beauty of the character setup is that it's totally off base from the norm. Sure you see Yoda (J) being run in almost every deck, but when you attach a Jedi Lightsaber to him he now has the ability to Deflect damage all over the character arena. But who in their right mind would attack Yoda? Not many, so what good is Deflect going to do when you never get attacked. That's where the LIN comes in. Not only will he be doing two damage to all Characters, but he will also fuel Yoda's Deflect. Also if your opponent tries to attack someone other then Yoda you can always Hidden Cost in Jabba (C) and screw everything up by forcing them to attack Yoda. The rest of the units are pretty straight forward, either having cheap Deflect or Hidden Cost.

Ground
Ground is where the insanity really starts seeing as how you are running seven utility units and two units that have zero power. It seems like we are just conceding ground, but in reality we have more than enough fire power to win the arena and gain ourselves a few nice bonuses in the process. While Light Side has generally had an easy time winning Space, there have been a few kinks thrown into the mix, mainly Endor Imperial Fleet. That is where Planetary Ion Cannon comes in. Clocking in at an amazing Ion Cannon 10 it should make short work of even the biggest Dark Side Space units… with the exception of the Death Star. While it lacks the ability to attack in ground, its high health makes it a good damage sponge which is what we are looking for in our ground units. Card advantage has always been a key, so Jawa Sandcrawler is a perfect fit for the deck. Anything that provides a global cost reduction is good and Tatooine Hanger fits the bill very well by reducing the cost of all space units by one build point. The last unit in the Ground arena is Rebel Scouts. This is one of my favorite cards to date because of its low cost, Hidden Cost and Accuracy 1 to boot.

Space
Space, the final frontier, these are the voyages of the Marauder Class Corvette… ok, so maybe a Star Trek reference is a bad idea for this article. Really though, the Marauder Class Corvette is insane. As I brought out in my last Deck Clinic this card thrives in multiples, you can wipe out your opponents units all before your first attack. The rest of the Space arena is pretty typical with the Falcon (E) leading off the line-up. Luke's X-Wing and Obi-Wan's Starfighter are both solid units, and their built in evade comes in very handy, as does the Shields 2 on the Modified YV-330 (A).

<Insert Evil Laughter> My precious… I loves the precious. No, I'm not talking about a ring, but about the abundance of Battle cards that fuel this deck. You have nine battle cards that all cause damage, either direct or in the form of rolling dice. Because of these cards you can get away with running seven utility units in ground. Couple these with Homing Missiles and you have more than enough damage to spread around. Seek the Council's Wisdom is in here to give you enough force to Deflect and play your Battle cards, while Dismiss is used to protect those abilities. The Equipment can attach to either Yoda or one of your other Jedi so that you can gain Deflect and start spraying damage everywhere. Speaking of damage, Mustafar Battle Ground is great in this deck. Just put a few Tatooine Hangers in the Ground arena and your opponent will have to commit a few resources to take out the Hangers. Or just retreat your Hangers and let your opponent feel the burn.

Here is what the deck looks like:

Download this deck and other deck articles for LackeyCCG here.

There really isn't a set mulligan condition for this deck, unless your hand is overly flooded with non-units you will generally want to keep anything you get. Also playing this deck gets VERY complicated because you have to use retreats wisely and you have to make your opponent feel like he has the game under control before busting lose some massive damage.

As always if you have an interesting or quirky deck, one that utilizes a forgotten subtype or an overlooked strategy or interaction, or if you just want to make your deck better please e-mail it to me at ketricel@msn.com.

Don't worry about polishing the deck too much before you post - the thing I'm most interested in is a novel idea, a hook for the deck to revolve on.

Until next time May the Force be with You.

Extra Credit - Ket's Deckbuilding Contest

Deck Builder Challenge #1 - Dark Side Damage:
I thought this would be a fun idea and help get some idea's flowing. Basically you build a deck with the requirements I set out. Then the decks are posted and the community votes on which deck they think is the best and most creative. There are points awarded and the winner after six rounds will receive a prize (haven't figured out what it will be just yet, but they will get something). Well, enough of my blabbering. Let's get to the requirements for the first challenge:

Theme:
For this challenge your deck should have one purpose and one purpose only, doing damage. Battle cards, Mission cards, Locations, anything is fair game for this challenge. Be creative with how damage is done, don't just focus on doing damage through combat.

Restrictions:
Normal deck building rules apply.
Banned/Restricted List is in effect.
You must use at least one copy of Tyranus's Geonosian Speeder (A) and Unfriendly Fire.

Point Scale:
1st Place - 5pts
2nd Place - 3pts
3rd Place - 1pt

Please submit all decks to me either by sending me a PM at rebelbasers.com or by e-mailing it to me at Ketricel@msn.com.

Thoughts or comments? Visit the message board thread for this article here.

About the Author
Nathanael has been a player since May 2002 and is currently the Playtesting Chairperson and a member of the IDC Board. He has written a number of articles for Wizards of the Coast and has been very active with the SWTCG Hope of the Jedi tournament. Nathanael Tripp has been a member of both the Wizards and Rebelbasers forums since January of 2002, posting under the name Ketricel.