Ket's Deck Clinic #3
By Nathanael Tripp

Today we will take a look at a deck sent in by Marconis Maximus. I will provide my usual witty insight :) and rework the deck to make it run a little smoother.

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Character: (13)
1x Luke Skywalker (K)
4x Nien Nunb (A)
4x Ric Olie (A)
1x Wedge Antilles (B)
2x Dash Rendar (A)
1x Sebulba (A)

Ground: (13)
2x Anakin's Podracer (A)
2x Luke's Snowspeeder (A)
3x Unmodified Snowspeeder
4x Bespin Twin-Pod Cloud Car
2x Sebulba's Podracer (A)

Space: (12)
3x Eta-2 Squadron (A)
1x Millennium Falcon (A)
1x Millennium Falcon (B)
3x Millennium Falcon (D)
4x Millennium Falcon (E)

Location: (3)
1x Rebel Hangar
1x Asteroid Field
1x Podracing Course

Mission: (11)
3x 2-1B's Touch
4x Lando System?
4x Slumming on Coruscant

Battle: (8)
4x High-Speed Dodge
4x Jedi Piloting

"In setup, I generally try to scare my opponent into not building in space by building Nien Nunb and another pilot with Millennium Falcon D before building my ground units. If this succeeds, I can build the Millennium Falcon E at the end of setup or on the first turn, which gives me a huge advantage. If my opponent does build in space, then Asteroid Field is critical because so many decks run Tie Interceptors and Droid Missiles or other swarms (Ric Olie's Lucky helps keep my Millennium Falcon from taking damage from Asteroid Field). In addition, a piloted Millennium Falcon E is quite powerful.

The Eta-2 Squadrons work well with HSD and Jedi Piloting. In ground, I went with quick low cost speeders. If I have a couple 2-1B's Touch (admittedly, this is the only deck in which I run this card) in my hand or Rebel Hangar in play, then my Unmodified Snowspeeders and Sebulba's Speeder become pilotable (and of course Anakin). In addition, I find that many DS decks have dropped powerful ground units (ie. PMVD), in favor of running low cost Bespins, Jawa Sandcrawlers and other similar units. Against these decks, the ground units do quite well. Against decks running PMVDs and other powerful units, I run Podracing Arena (I think this card needs more playtesting). Also, if Millennium Falcon E as already demolished the DS character arena then Luke Skywalker K's speeder becomes almost untouchable.
I only play for Character if the Millennium Falcon E controls space and there are no DS units in the character arena (of course you always have to be weary of Vader R and Boba Fett H). I usually try to avoid moving Wedge, Luke or Sebulba into character and instead move Nien Nunb, Ric Olie or Dash Rendar (whoever I have an extra copy in my hand or preferably already built in my build zone).

Ultimately, the deck runs pretty well and wins more than it loses against decks that, at least to me, are quite good. The main problem with the deck is the lack of drawing ability. However, the deck's aim is grab an early advantage so the problem is generally not major. However, since the deck needs to grab an early advantage I dropped Dismiss and added Slumming on Coruscant as it allows me to play battle cards on the first turn without the fear of Down in Flames or Imperial Misdirection.

Thanks,
Marc (Marconis Maximus)"

Critique and Analysis
OK. I will be honest I really do not like pilot decks. I have never been a fan of the pilot ability; it just seems like too big of an investment into such a small bonus. However, when Marc sent me this deck something sparked my interest. It has a very interesting concept, and with a little polishing, it could possibly be even more deadly than it already is. So lets do a breakdown of the deck by arena's and see if there are any changes to get this deck into tip-top condition.

Character
Really what could be changed with the character setup? Not only are some of the best pilots used, but they are used in almost perfect numbers. The only minor tweaks I would do are take out one copy of Ric Olie (A), Dash Rendar (A), and Nien Nunb (A) in order to include one copy of Princess Leia (G), Jocasta Nu (A), and Yaddle (A). While not powerhouses, these three cards will greatly increase the card cycling and build gain, as well as give a presence in the character arena for a small build investment, with benefits of course.

Ground
This is where my philosophy of deck building differs from a lot of people. I do not like running multiple unique Ground units if they do not stack. Yes it will help your draw consistency, but you can offset this by having cards that increase the amount of cards you draw. This being said I also am greatly opposed to Luke's Snowspeeder (A). It will hurt you too much if you lose it first turn. I would drop both Luke's Snowspeeder's, one each of the other unique Ground units and one of the Bespin Twin-Pod Cloud Cars. This frees up four card slots in the Ground arena for us to use. With the pervasive pilot theme, Luke's Skyhopper (A) is a good choice, more often then not you will gain the +1 Force bonus for having a pilot on this unit, and force is something you really need in this deck. In addition, Jabba's Sail Barge (A) is a great unit. Not only is it a speeder; which means it can be piloted, but it also helps you with your draws. I love Wedge's Snowspeeder (A) in swarm decks; it just lets you wreck your opponents' bigger units by making the most of your attacks. This still leaves us with two open spot in the ground arena. It may seem odd to run Rebel Armored Freerunners in a deck where you are attacking in ground seeing as how their tap ability will be used more often. Nevertheless, it is that ability that makes them amazing. Being able to spread around assured damage is always a plus and being able to put Wedge on one really gives them staying power.

Space
I like the use of the Millennium Falcon (E) it is one of the most versatile units ever in my opinion. Any unit that can attack in two arenas for no cost is a star in my book. Add a pilot or two to the equation and you have a real beat stick of a unit. The Falcon (D) is a great unit, but three just seems like overkill. I would reduce the number to two. In addition, three ETA-2 Squadrons is a little excessive seeing as how you are unable to stack them. I would cut all but one of them. This gives us three slots to play with for space. The first choice is one of my all time favorite cards, the Modified YV-330 (A). This card is spectacular, it cripples swarms with its Shields 2 and it has a blistering 50 speed. Hound's Tooth (A) is necessary for a pilot deck. It lets you gain the bonus of any pilot while that unit is in the character arena. This works great in combo with Dash Rendar (A) since he is one of the best "combat" pilots in the deck. The last unit is a little odd, but it should fit in nicely. The unit is Padme's Yacht (B). At first glance the stats of this card are a little sub par; where this unit really shines though is in the ability. It lets you look at the top three cards of your deck and put a character card in your build zone with one build on it. So not only does it help with build gain, but it also helps with card drawing. Additionally it gives you deck knowledge by letting you see the next two cards you are going to draw, something that has proven invaluable time and again.

Battle, Mission, and Location
There aren't any changes to Locations. I'm not usually a fan of Podracing Course, but in this deck it actually works quite well.

The Mission selection seems a little unstable though. Four Lando System? is way too many and also not the best choice for location searches, I would cut all four. Instead, I would run Explore the Swamp. Not only does it play into your deck much more effectively, but it also works great in combo with your pilots. Have a pilot in the character arena, play Explore the Swamp, tap the pilot, then move the pilot to a unit of choice. It all but negates the cost of the card, and with the +1 build point that Explore gives you, it helps to lower the overall cost of your deck. Slumming on Coruscant is a great card, but I am undecided on how great it is in this deck. I would not cut them all, but I would reduce the number you are running by two. This still allows you to hamper your opponent's plans, but it doesn't overfill your hand with dead cards. 2-1B's Touch… I have yet to understand why this card was ever made. It does not really help you. Sure, it lets you heal up your units, but it also heals your opponents units. I will be honest this card is utter rubbish in my opinion, it just doesn't give you enough of a boost to be worth playing. I would much rather run Luke's Repairs or Visit the Lake Retreat. Sure, they cost more, but they give YOU an advantage, and don't help your opponent. I think that Visit the Lake Retreat is the best option for this deck, it will help in all three arenas and its cost is very affordable. In addition, Meditate will help with both draw and force gain, two things this deck really needs more of.

Battle cards are what will help you the most in winning your games, so you need to focus on these. The two that you are running now are the best of the best for this deck; and I would only make one more addition of three copies of Discuss it in Committee. Attack first, play Discuss it in Committee, and be free of any and all attacks your opponents slower units have.

Modified Deck
So let's take a look at the deck, with the few minor tweaks that we have done to it:

Character: (13)
1x Jocasta Nu (A)
1x Yaddle (A)
1x Princess Leai (G)
1x Luke Skywalker (K)
1x Wedge Antilles (B)
1x Dash Rendar (A)
1x Sebulba (A)
3x Nien Nunb (A)
3x Ric Olie (A)

Ground: (13)
1x Jabba's Sail Barge (A)
1x Sebulba's Podracer (A)
1x Anakin's Podracer (A)
1x Luke's Skyhopper (A)
1x Wedge's Snowspeeder (A)
2x Rebel Armored Freerunner
3x Unmodified Snowspeeder
3x Bespin Twin-Pod Cloud Car

Space: (12)
1x Padme's Yacht (B)
1x Modified YV-330 (A)
1x Hounds Tooth (A)
1x Eta-2 Squadron (A)
1x Millennium Falcon (A)
1x Millennium Falcon (B)
2x Millennium Falcon (D)
4x Millennium Falcon (E)

Location: (3)
1x Rebel Hangar
1x Asteroid Field
1x Podracing Course

Mission: (8)
2x Meditate
2x Visit the Lake Retreat
2x Explore the Swamp
2x Slumming on Coruscant

Battle: (11)
3x Discuss it in Committee
4x High-Speed Dodge
4x Jedi Piloting

The typical mulligan would be to pitch all Mission cards. You will want to keep any Locations you get, as you only have one copy of each. Your Battle cards are iffy, it really just depends how many you have in hand compared to how many units you have. During setup, as Marcus said, you want to wait to deploy the Millennium Falcon (E). Otherwise, you could tip your opponent off and scare them out of Character and into Space, which is not a bad option, but it would be easier to keep them in Character. If you play Wedge's Snowspeeder you want to make sure to swarm Ground with your Unmodified Snowspeeders and Bespin Twin-Pod Cloud Car's to get the max effect. Be careful that you don't over commit though. Jocasta is a great setup play as you will get her effect first turn. You will want to have Leia piloting something as soon as she hits the board so you can get the most out of her. Other then that it's pretty simple, just swarm your units and spread the pilots out freely.

Until next time May the Force be with You.

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.