Ket's Deck Clinic #12
by Nathanael Tripp

The following deck was actually submitted by a friend of mine who was part of my Playtesting group back during the 2003-2004 Qualifiers. This is somewhat of a pet deck for him as he has played it in some form ever since AotC. Now though with the launch of Scum and Villainy this deck gets a new breath of life. Here is the original deck concept sent in by SWarsManiac:

From first hand knowledge of this deck I know that SWarsManiac sells the deck short, it can beat big time and hard. What it really lacks is a central theme though, and it's more a fault of not having any cards that support that then from a lack of trying. Xizor is great for powering everyone up, but with the lack of good Ground and Space units really all he is doing is allowing you to power-up your Characters. The Gungan theme in ground is good, but it doesn't mesh well with the Upkeep/Bounty theme the rest of the deck is running. Probably the biggest downfall of this deck though is the lack of Build gain or cost reduction. You have a few Characters that gain build through their abilities and Ord Mantell System helps, but really you are putting too many resources into the deck to deal with Character. Thankfully with S&V Bounty Hunter decks got a major boost in all departments. Let's take a look at a few changes that can be made to the deck:

Character: (12)
3x Prince Xizor (A)
1x Boba Fett (H)
1x Boba Fett (D)
1x Boba Fett (G)
1x Boba Fett (I)
1x Boba Fett (J)
1x IG-88 (A)
1x Zutton (A)
1x Leebo (A)
1x Guri (A)

The biggest change in character is the addition of two new versions of Boba Fett. This guy just seems to get better and better. The basic concept is the same, lots of Bounty Hunters dealing lots of damage and collecting lots of Bounty. Xizor is here to boost all neutral units with Upkeep and keep them from having to pay their Upkeep. Leebo and Zutton are great for their tap abilities and IG-88 and Guri are beasts. So really all I have to say is great job in getting a solid and well thought out Character arena.

Ground: (12)
4x Bounty Hunter Team
4x Jabba's Guards
2x 501st Clone Legion
2x Jawa Sandcrawler

This is where we see one of the biggest additions to the deck in the Bounty Hunter Team. Not only does this card benefit from Xizor but it is also a Bounty Hunter meaning that it benefits from Call for the Hunters and Ord Mantell System. The Bounty ability on the Hunter Team is amazing, it lets you put on build on each of your partially built cards. This could be decisive in the build gain department. The other addition to ground is the 501st Clone Legion, this units Hidden Cost ability is fantastic and opens up a whole new can of worms that LS will have to deal with.

Space: (14)
3x Pirate Raiders
2x Endor Imperial Fleet
1x Modified YV-330 (A)
1x Slave 1 (A)
1x Slave 1 (B)
1x Slave 1 (D)
1x Slave 1 (E)
1x Slave 1 (G)
1x IG-2000 (A)
1x Virago (A)
1x Millennium Falcon (K)

Space is where the Bounty Hunter deck gets the biggest boost in two new units Pirate Raiders and Slave 1 (G). First up is the Pirate Raiders, what can be said about this card besides that it is amazing. For only six build you get a huge eight power unit and six health all on a unit with the Bounty Hunter subtype. The icing on the Pirate Raiders is that it also doubles as a healing unit; letting you remove three damage from any of your other Bounty Hunters every time it kills a unit. This could prove invaluable in your attempt to win Ground and Character. The other addition to the Bounty Hunter lineup is Slave 1 (G). Again we get a loaded unit that come equipped with both an amazing Bounty ability and Stealth. The only down side about Slave 1 (G) is that it lacks an Upkeep so it will not get the bonus from Xizor, but that is ok because you don't want to raise Slave 1 (G)'s speed too high or it loses the benefit of Stealth. Lastly we have the Millennium Falcon (K). This little beauty is exactly what you need to deal with Stealth Space units. It has a starting Speed of 40, but you can increase that to 60 if need be or you can give it Lucky 2. Also this is a great card for contesting Light Side versions of the Falcon. So as we can see Space got a much needed boost from Scum and Villainy.

Battle: (11)
3x Fett's Determination
3x Lando's Trickery
3x Discuss it in Committee
2x Trap Door!

Fett's Determination is just an outstanding card when played in a deck that has 12 units (not counting cards that can stack) it can be played on. Also since it does not care what the units' power or cost is you are free to use it on any Bounty Hunter unit. Yet again I have a deck running Discuss and Trap Door! two of my favorite cards of all time… but what's new there lol.

Mission: (5)
3x Wretched Hive
2x Call for the Hunters

Call for the Hunters are good, but Wretched Hive is even better. It lets you search your deck for a Bounty Hunter card and put it into your build zone with one build on it. Combine this with the number of Bounty Hunter units in the deck and you will see just how amazing this card is. Also Call for the Hunters still makes an appearance in the deck; it is still just as powerful as before letting you search out any four Bounty Hunter units.

Location: (6)
2x Mos Eisley Cantina
2x Ord Mantell System
2x Cloud City Battleground

The locations stayed pretty much the same except for the addition of Cloud City Battleground. With the number of Battle cards you are running it seems like a good idea to include CCBG as it will reduce the strain on your Force and allow you to play multiple Battle cards per turn as well. Also Ord Mantell is invaluable for this deck, now that it has a three arena effect it will really help lessen the build curve of your deck.

Equipment: (2)
1x Boba Fett's Armor (A)
1x Boba Fett's Jetpack (A)

These two Equipments are actually an optional addition to the deck. Without them you would lower the card count of the deck to 60. However, I think they deck gains a decent boost from having them included. Being able to make Boba Fett even bigger is a major plus, and since these can be attached to any of your Bounty Hunter Characters they shouldn't ever be dead cards in your hand.

The basic strategy for this deck stays the same, get out Xizor and swarm with Upkeep units. Hopefully you will be able to get him out in setup, or at least get close to having him finished by your first turn. If not then you will feel the effects or all the Upkeep units. Use your Missions at every chance you get, being able to thin your deck AND have solid units in hand to play is always a bonus. One last reminder is to always try and make killing attacks with your Bounty units; they do no good if they only damage the other unit.

Also for anyone that is curious this deck is very easily made into a Light Side deck. And it looses next to nothing in transition. In fact it may be a little stronger as a Light Side deck because you gain access to C-3P0 (C) who reduces all your Neutral units cost by one, thus making the decks build curve even less. Additionally you gain the Unmodified Snowspeeder in Ground which is just ridiculous if you don't have to worry about its Upkeep. As a side not the Gungan themed Ground in SWarsManiac's original build perked my interest… who knows maybe one of these days I will do a Gungan Deck article. With that I will be signing off, until next time May the Dice be with you!