Friday, July 27th, 2007
  
   

Skywlkr's Deck Vault #4
by Brian Weeks

Greetings! After a few weeks of hectic Public Affairs scheduling, I finally have the time to write another Deck Vault Article. Here's another deck of mine that favored pretty well at past tournaments and it's a Dark Side deck as well. This deck centers around the abilities of the Lambda-Class Shuttle and the Executor Hanger. Because I love pilot decks so much this one just fit naturally into my archive. So, on to the deck.

Vader's Fury (Original Pre-IDC Deck)
 
   
 
   
 

      Totals:
14 Character
13 Ground
14 Space
9 Battle
6 Mission
6 Location
0 Equipment
61 Total Cards

The basic premise of the original deck above was four fold:

  1. Have at least 1 Lambda shuttle and two starfighters (preferably the Inferno (A) and Vader's TIE Fighter (A)
  2. Have Darth Vader (D) (pilot) in the Character, and
  3. Have the Executor Hanger location out.
  4. Have a Vader's Fury and Jedi Master's Meditation in hand.

Then the strategy was to:

  1. Tap the Vader pilot stack for Force using Jedi Master's Meditiation,
  2. Move Vader pilot to a starfighter at the end of the build step,
  3. Play Vader's Fury to attack every opposing unit in the Space arena,
  4. Move Vader to another starfighter (using the ability of the Lambda-class Shuttle) and attack again.
  5. Play another Vader's Fury if available.
  6. At the end of the Space Battle Phase, move Vader to the Character arena if there is a danger of loosing him in the Space arena (or if was still untapped by not using step 1.), move him to Character to attack units there.

That's basically it. Rinse and repeat. But now, with the relase of the Battle of Endor expansion, there is reason to return to this fun and exciting deck. There are new starfighters to use and there is now an even better Dark Side pilot alternative: Baron Soontir Fel (A). So, let's take a look at the revised deck.

Fel's Fury
 
   
 
   
 

      Totals:
14 Character
12 Ground
14 Space
9 Battle
6 Mission
6 Location
0 Equipment
62 Total Cards

Download these decks and other deck articles for LackeyCCG here.

    
   
   
   

Character: (14)
3x Baron Soontir Fel (A)
2x Darth Vader (D)
1x Darth Vader (I)
1x Darth Vader (T)
1x Darth Vader (X)
3x Imperial Banker
3x Kouhun

The primary goal of this deck is to have a pilot on a starfighter, attack with it, move your pilot to another stronger starfighter (using the Lambda-class Shuttle's ability) and then play Vader's Fury to attack ever Light side unit in the Space arena. If you have more than one Lambda out, then you can move your pilot again to another starfighter.

The goal remains the same, we just have a new pilot to use in this deck. Baron Soontir Fel (A) is now the "ultimate" pilot unit working for the Dark side. His abilities are amazing a will take advantage of Vader's Fury and take control of the Space arena. And with his damage being unpreventable, this could be the the end of the Light side starfighter domination.

The Darth Vader stack provides a powerful Character for attacking, but is also a multipurpose unit. All three Vader's cost 8 Build, so rearranging the stack with cost you zero. Darth Vader (D) gives you another pilot to use for the powerful Vader's Fury. His abilities: +20 speed, +2 power and Pay 2 -> Evade 2 are a great addition to any of the starfighter's in this deck.. Darth Vader (I) will help you draw out that Vader's Fury you need and Vader (T) is just a great preventative unit. Vader (X) is just there for stacking, but could be great against Luke (S).

The Imperial Banker helps give you a build or take a build from your opponent.

Kouhun's deploy cheaply and if protected by the Elite Guardian, can provide you some quick damage..

First turn setup, you must get at least one pilot out, either Fel or Vader (D). This will allow you to use the Lambda Shuttles and Vader's Fury.

    
   
   
   

Ground: (13)
3x AT-AT
4x Endor Scout Walker
3x Imperial Scout Bike
2x Jabba's Sail Barge (A)

The Ground units in this deck are pretty straight foward. The Imperial Scout Bike is there for a first strike in the Ground arena. The AT-AT gives you unpreventable damage in the Ground arena and the Endor Scout Walkers help boost the Speed and Power of all your Walkers. Straight foward attacking here. Then Jabba's Sail Barge (A) helps you draw your cards faster.

    
   
   
   

Space: (14)
2x Fel's TIE Interceptor (A)
1x Inferno (A)
4x Lambda-Class Shuttle
3x TIE Interceptor
1x Vader's TIE Fighter (A)
1x Vader's TIE Fighter (B)
2x Vader's TIE Fighter (C)

The key necessary unit in the Space arena is the Lambda-class Shuttle. This unit will allow your pilots to jump from starfighter to starfighter, pumping up their speed and allowing them to attack at will. You can only use their ability once per turn, but if you have two or more, you can move your pilot to multiple untapped starfighters. I suggest you put your pilot on one of the weaker starfighters first, so when your pilot makes his last move, he will be on the starfighter with the best evade ability to survive until the next round.

The Vader TIE Fighter stack, Inferno and Fel's TIE Interceptor (A) are the heavy hitters in this deck with some good prevention abilities. The TIE Interceptors are there for protection and intercepting.

After some playtesting, you will find your own preferred method of deploying your starfighters and pilots and discover the best way to move and attack with them. You'll also learn the right time to use Vader's Fury.

    
   
   
   

Battle: (9)
3x High-Speed Dodge
3x Jedi Piloting
3x Vader's Fury

High-Speed Dodge and Jedi Piloting are pretty straight foward. Prevention is the name of the game there.

But the key to this "pilot" deck is Vader's Fury. With this card you can attack every Light side unit in the Space arena. But with either Vader (D) or Baron Soontir Fel (A) on a starfighter, you can really deal out the damage and be sure something is going to be discarded.

Mission: (6)
3x Jedi Master's Meditation
3x Search for the Rebels

A Jedi Master's Meditation can be played in the first round on Vader to gain your Force. The great part is that even with Vader tapped, if Vader (D) is on top, you can still move him to a Starfighter to cause some damage in the Space arena.

Search for the Rebels, as stated in a previous article, is a favorite of mine. Light side thrives off of their locations. And you must keep them from getting any out. This is the card to do that. I usually like to play one of these first turn as well.

Location: (6)
2x Cloud City Battleground
4x Executor Hanger

Cloud City Battleground is there to give you "free" prevention with your Battle cards, make Vader's Fury cheaper and save your Force for Vader's multiple abilities.

Executor Hanger allows Vader to move back to the Character arena and attack again (if you didn't tap him for Force with Jedi Master Mediation).

    
   
   
   

So let's take a look at how it all sets up.

IDEAL SETUP
(Assuming a 30 build setup)


11 build

  


6 build

  


13 build
 
 
BUILD ZONE AFTER SETUP

 
 
 
HAND AFTER SETUP (And Drawing 1 Card)

 
 
FIRST BUILD STEP
 

(Assume a Build roll of 3 +1 for all three arena bonus = 4 Build)

+1 Build for Imperial Banker

Total Build = 5 Build

  



 


 

 

 


- Play Capture Obi-Wan (3 Build Left, +2 Force)


- Deploy Vader's TIE Fighter (A) under Vader's TIE Fighter (C) (2 Build Left)


- Play Executor Hanger (1 Build Left)


- Play Cloud City Battleground (0 Build Left)


- Play Utapau System (0 Build Left)

  
 
 
AFTER FIRST BUILD STEP

Move Vader (D) to Fel's TIE Interceptor (A).

When the Character battle step starts, move Vader back to the Character arena, untapped. Now he can attack here.

  



Depending on the Ground situation, you can fight or retreat here. The ideal situation would be to get the AT-AT out next turn to start dealing some unpreventable damage.

  

Depending on your opponent, Fel's TIE should be able to attack first (80 speed 5 power).

Then before the next attack, move Vader to his TIE Fighter using the Lambda Shuttle ability.

Play Vader's Fury for 4 Force. Vader's TIE can then attack every Space unit (80 speed, 7 power)
     
   
   
   
   

The great thing about this deck is its versatility. As long as you have the key units in the deck, the "accessory" Characters and Ground units could be swapped out for ones that you're comfortable with. Try it out and let me know what you think.

Thoughts or comments? Visit the message board thread for this article here.
    
   
About the Author
Brian Weeks (aka Skywlkr) has been playing the Star Wars TCG since its introduction at Celebration 2 in 2002. After playing the demo game and introducing it to RedneckJedi and Darthwalls, Team 'Dude Where's My Card' was created. He competed in three qualifiers, yet the closest he ever ranked was eighth. As a member on Rebelbasers, SWDuelist and a writer for the now defunct Diehard Online, he has tried to promote the game through information and interaction.

He is married, has a three year old son, is an architect, has been the Treasurer and Newsletter Editor for five years for JediOKC (an Oklahoma City based Star Wars Fan Club), was the IDC Card Development Chairperson for Fall of the Republic and is now the IDC Public Affairs Chairperson. Despite all that, he still has time to introduce the game to new players…KEEP THE GAME ALIVE!

    
     
         
 
 
 


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