Ket's Deck Clinic #9
By Nathanael Tripp

The guys that I play with in my area and I had so much fun doing the sealed draft for the last article that we decided to do three more drafts. This week we will go over the Phantom Menace draft. It was really fun and challenging and a few of the guys came up with some really neat tricks for their decks. Here is the pool of cards that I received for my draft:

** Before reading on after the card pool, try your hand at building a deck to see how close you get to what I ended up running for my deck **

Drafted List

Battle:
1 A Bigger Fish
1 In Disguise
1 Let the Cube Decide
1 Sneak Attack

Character:
1 A’Sharad Hett (A)
1 Aayla Secura (B)
1 Anakin Skywalker (J)
1 Ann and Tann Gella (A)
1 Dark Woman (A)
1 Darth Sidious (D)
1 Durge (A)
2 Finis Valorum (B)
2 Obi-Wan Kenobi (K)
1 Qui-Gon Gin (C)
1 Rune Haako (A)
1 Sebulba (A)
1 Sith Probe Droid
1 TC-14 (A)
1 Vilmarh Grahrk (A)

Ground:
1 Anakin’s Podracer (A)
2 Colo Claw Fish
1 Eopie
1 Falumpaset
2 Flash Speeder
1 Gian Speeder
1 Gungan Catapult
1 Trade Federation MTT
1 Trade Federation STAP
1 Sebulba’s Podracer (A)

Location:
1 Corridors of Power
2 Swamps of Naboo
1 Theed Power Generator
1 Theed Royal Palace
2 Mos Espa

Mission:
2 Blockade {TPM}
1 Melt Your Way In
2 Podrace

Space:
1 Cloakshape Fighter
3 Delta Six Jedi Starfighter
1 Jedi Transport
1 Royal Cruiser
1 Marauder-Class Corvette
3 Yinchorri Fighter

First of all, I just want to say that The Phantom Menace is all about the unit cards, there are very few Battle, Mission, or Locations that truly shine in this deck. However two of the guys; along with me, were able to get multiple Blockades and those tore people up in Sealed. Also, there were people running large build units just to be able to use A Bigger Fish, this worked but it just seemed like a waste to me, I would rather run more efficient units than big units just to get use out of one card. But enough blabber. Lets take a look at how I went about making my deck for this week’s sealed draft. This week, to mix things up I am going alphabetically to get out of my rut of going arena by arena.

Battle Cards
First up are the Battle cards, which are rather unimpressive. A Bigger Fish is great in constructed, especially coupled with the Death Star II, but in draft it is just too limited. In Disguise is a weird card to play, and I was rather tempted to play it, but it just seemed too situational for my tastes. Let the Cube Decide is way too random, while it doesn’t cost anything to play, it doesn’t “do” enough to make it worth playing. Sneak Attack on the other hand is a great card, especially in a set that lacks many direct damage effects.

1 Sneak Attack

Character Units
Character had some great cards in it that, in and of themselves, could win an arena. Dark Woman (A) and A’Sharad Hett (A) fall into that category. They are such efficient cards that it is hard to even consider not running them. Ann and Tann Gella (A) is a very solid unit in a set with rather low powered units. Rune Haako (A) and Finis Valorum (B) are great for card drawing and build gain, though they are a little weak. Aayla Secura (B), Obi-Wan (K) and Qui-Gon (C) are good efficient units that can put up a good fight. Sebulba (A) and Anakin (J) are two of those units that are awesome in a deck that centers on speeders. As you will see, I got lucky in my pulls for the Ground arena and this just so happened to be the case.

1 Finis Valorum (B)
1 A’Sharad Hett (A)
1 Aayla Secura (B)
1 Ann and Tann Gella (A)
1 Dark Woman (A)
1 Rune Haako (A)
1 Obi-Wan Kenobi (K)
1 Qui-Gon Gin (C)
1 Sebulba (A)
1 Anakin Skywalker (J)

Ground Units
I think, other then having a constructed ground arena, I got the best possible setup I could have asked for in Ground. With both Anakin’s and Sebulba’s Podracers I have two of the strongest ground units in the set. Sebulba’s damage placement is just amazing. My other Speeder units include the Flash Speeders and Gian Speeder, which gain bonuses from Naboo Locations being in Ground. Since I pulled two Swamps of Naboo, they fit perfectly. The reason the Colo Claw Fish were included is because I needed something to deal with MTT’s, which can be devastating in this set since they have Armor.

2 Flash Speeder
2 Colo Claw Fish
1 Trade Federation STAP
1 Gian Speeder
1 Anakin’s Podracer (A)
1 Sebulba’s Podracer (A)

Locations
My Locations were solid, especially since I opened a few Naboo Locations for the Ground arena. Since I didn’t get any Location searches, I decided it was probably best to run both Swamps just so I had a better chance of being able to get it into play. I considered running Theed Power Generator, but I did not want to give my opponent an extra build point, so I decided against it.

2 Swamps of Naboo

Missions
My Mission cards were what really helped me in most every game I played. Being able to clear an arena and then play Blockade is just too powerful to pass up. Fortunately, I pulled two of these little gems, thus it made for a really nice two turn lock when I could get it to go off. My other Mission card was Podrace; I was pretty confident that by having both of the 80 speed units in the set that I could win every time I played this card. And that confidence paid off perfectly, netting me about 36 Force and 18 cards over the course of the tournament.

2 Blockade {TPM}
2 Podrace

Space Units
I about flipped when I looked through my space cards. Not only did I get three Delta Six’s, but I also got three Yinchorri Fighters (although I only played two). Coupled with the Marauder-Class Corvette that I also got, I can have a pretty sweet setup; being able to retaliate all around. I also ran the Jedi Transport just so that if it’s taken out, I get to look for one of my Jedi units. This can come in handy to grab out one of my Delta Six’s to reinforce space after losing a unit. In addition, its Shields 1 can come in rather handy as well.

3 Delta Six Jedi Starfighter
2 Yinchorri Fighter
1 Jedi Transport
1 Marauder-Class Corvette

I was able to struggle to a first place finish, even though it was one of the hardest drafts I have EVER done. I narrowly escaped a loss with a well-timed Blockade two turns in a row. Here is the completed deck I ended up playing:

Deck List

Character: (10)
1 Finis Valorum (B)
1 A’Sharad Hett (A)
1 Aayla Secura (B)
1 Ann and Tann Gella (A)
1 Dark Woman (A)
1 Rune Haako (A)
1 Obi-Wan Kenobi (K)
1 Qui-Gon Gin (C)
1 Sebulba (A)
1 Anakin Skywalker (J)

Ground: (8)
2 Flash Speeder
2 Colo Claw Fish
1 Trade Federation STAP
1 Gian Speeder
1 Anakin’s Podracer (A)
1 Sebulba’s Podracer (A)

Space: (7)
3 Delta Six Jedi Starfighter
2 Yinchorri Fighter
1 Jedi Transport
1 Marauder-Class Corvette

Battle: (1)
1 Sneak Attack

Mission: (4)
2 Blockade {TPM}
2 Podrace

Location: (2)
2 Swamps of Naboo

Total Cards: 32

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.

Download this deck and other deck articles for LackeyCCG here.

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

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About the Author
Nathanael has been a player since May 2002 and is currently taking time off from the IDC and Playtesting for personal reasons. 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 also been a member of both the Wizards and Rebelbasers forums since January of 2002, posting under the name Ketricel.