Ralltir done RIGHT aka The Answer (Retirement Party)

Title: Ralltir done RIGHT aka The Answer (Retirement Party)
Author: Brian "HuntaWarya" Hunter
Date: Sep 25, 2000 Rating: 5.0

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Cards:

‘Locations (11) Jungle Desert Spaceport Docking Bay Forest Coruscant Dagobah Cave Ralltir Kuat Wakeelmui DSII Docking Bay Kashyyyk

Characters (14) Lord Vader Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith EPP Vader Grand Moff Tarkin Mara Jade, The Emperor’s Hand Janus Greejatus Emperor Palpatine Admiral Ozzel Captain Sarkli Dr. Evazan Lt. Arnet AT-ST Pilot x3

Starships (5) Zuckuss in Mist Hunter Bossk in Hound’s Tooth Boba Fett in slave I Executor Chimaera

Vehicles (5) Tempest Scout 1 Tempest Scout 2 Tempest Scout 3 Tempest Scout 5 Blizzard Scout 1

Interrupts (11) Prepared Defenses You Are Beaten Alter x3 Trample Imperial Barrier Masterful Move Ghhhhk Monnok The Circle Is Now Complete

Effects (11) Mobilization Points Imperial Arrest Order There’ll Be Hell to Pay Oppressive Enforcement Search & Destroy Battle Order Secret Plans Imperial Decree Bad Feeling Have I You Cannot Hide Forever Failure At The Cave

Weapons (2) Vader’s Lightsaber Mara Jade’s Lightsaber

Purple Card (1) Ralltir Operations/In the hands of the Empire ‘

Strategy: ‘

Update After the tourney I played in today, this deck is no longer 21-0 in seven tournaments. it is now 24-0 in 8 tournaments. And to the people who complain about the lack of originality this deck is not called ”ralltir done different”, it’s called ralltir done RIGHT. Just because this is the best way to build it doesn’t mean you have never seen anything like it before. I never claimed to be the sole innovator of this decktype. When the cardlists for DSII came out, people all over the place came up with ralltir decks similar to this one. I was but one of many. You should bear in mind that the 5-star rating system does not make ANY mention of originality or creativity. it is based on whether or not the deck will WIN, and this deck has always won. so why would anyone give my ralltir deck a higher review than others like it? Because I give a more in-depth look at how YOU need to play the deck in order to win with it. And that is what the decktech submission wizard tells you, when you get to strategy, is that it is your responsibility to try and explain how the deck works, in order to convince the reader that the deck is good. So that is what I tried to do. End update.

I hate that Ounee Ta It will bury my ralltir deck for sure. So when JPSD comes out, I’m retiring this deck. And hence, I don’t mind showing it to all of you. Now, the Hunt Down deck I posted is certainly solid, but this is my #1 on the Dark Side, and possibly the best Star Wars deck I have EVER used. Since DSII came out, I’ve used Ralltir quite regularly. This incarnation of Ralltir has served me VERY well. I used it in 7 tournaments, and it went 21-0 for me. That includes the 3-0 performance it turned in for Day 2 of Continentals at GenCon, where it overcame strong players such as Ray Bordier and Clint Hays. Ralltir decks can solve any problem. No matter what your opponent throws at you, you’ve got THE ANSWER. It’s in there somewhere, and you can use 2 force to go get it. And that makes the deck virtually impervious.

Here are the reasons why I use certain cards Palpatine the extra activation is cool. his destiny is high. he holds a site by himself and helps you flip. and he enhances janus. Janus still a God. The ultimate destiny stacking weapon. with the emperor, deploys for only 1, has forfeit of 5, and adds one to drain. Sarkli Pilots the Executor at the operative planet, and makes them look dumb. control’s chief chirpa’s hut against TIGIH, and makes them look dumb. Furthermore, seems to be a spy. Circle Removing obi from the game=fun. if you can, initiate a battle first, with tarkin present. then, if they add a destiny to the duel with Courage, you can cancel it. Vaders Having 3 helps you get one early to escort luke against TIGIH. Also happens to be the ultimate character. 3 different versions makes him immune to grimtaash. and if you don’t want to pay 8 for lord vader, drop him to the DSII db for 6, and transit onto ralltir. Dr. Evazan 2 ability pilot. OR helps you put the pain on your opponent by making hit targets immediately lost. even though he is the only character in the deck that doesn’t help you flip, he is WORTH the card slot. 3 At-st pilots Because using only 2 just doesn’t make a lot of sense. 3 alters Because Bacta Tank/Projection of a skywalker/order to engage make me unhappy. also cancels sense, if your opponent tries to stop your barrier/monnok/trample/react etc. grabber Grabbing sense + 3 alters=no more senses. furthermore, It could be worse/on the edge make me unhappy Oppressive enforcement saves your stuff from alters. makes your 3 capitals destiny +1. let’s your grabber deploy for free. Desert The threat of the sandwhirl is huge. play the sandwhirl in your deck about half the time. the other half, they’ll still agonize over the decision to move or deploy to the desert. Arnet On Scout 1, he draws one destiny, even against jedi test 2. AND adds one to attrition. AND is immune to attrition <4. AND adds 3 to power. AND keeps your opponent’s arconas (and anything else) from reacting away. yowza. You are Beaten Uncontrollable Fury makes me unhappy. only one of my vaders is immune. also helps you murder your opponent’s characters. Masterful Move Recyclabe destiny six. gets the ghhhk. gets the monnok. cancels Mantellan Savrip since…yup, you guessed it, the savrip makes me unhappy. Kuat Playing Mob. Points with Wakeelmui but no Kuat would turn my stomach. If you can get them both out on turn one, that is immediately a pair of 2/0 locations where you can only be drained for 1 (zero after you flip) And it happens with some regularity.

I will now give you a general overview of how to play the deck. This progression will work very well most of the time, but of course, exceptions to every rule. Against some decks, you may not need to fortify your position during the mid-game. and in some games, you won’t need to deploy any ships to ralltir. so remember that these are just guidelines, and that is important to be flexible, and adjust your steps, according to the flow of the game.

Starting setup Start your objective, the ralltir system, prepared defenses, mob. points, and IAO. third effect will vary. Battle order vs. Ops. Decree vs. EBO. Secret Plans vs. Jedi Testing. Against most other decks, you’ll start either Oppressive Enforcement (if you suspect senses) or You Cannot Hide Forever. (vs. inserts and hidden base) You start only 6 cards, which is cool, since some decks start double digits nowadays. On turn one Check your hand for Kuat/Wakeelmui. if you have either, then grab the other from reserve. if you have both, go grab the executor. activate your starting force. Deploy the DSII docking bay from reserve deck, and go get a diamond site. (not the sp db) Check for Kuat/wakeelmui. If you have neither in your hand, but only one is in reserve, then you have one in your force pile. Deploy one from reserve, draw the other. If you have both in your force pile, pull the executor, then draw them both. If neither is in hand, and both are in reserve, then pull Wakeelmui and deploy it. If you have ozzel, go ahead and drop him to the DSII docking bay. Early game Deploy your diamond sites. deploy your at-sts. deploy at-st pilots from reserve deck onto your at-sts. (don’t forget you can deploy the sp db from reserve deck with IAO on the same turn you deploy an AT-ST pilot from reserve.) Deploy other imperials as necessary to flip. you can also deploy someone to the DSII docking bay (if you aren’t worried about them visiting you there) for extra activation, and transit them to the other db later to help you flip. if the ls takes a site early, well, that’s why you have 4, so you can flip without cleaning them off ralltir. Mid-Game Start using 2 force to get the cards you need. Fortify your setup on Ralltir. Start to set up your hand with beatdown cards for later strikes. Use up your massive activation by deploying a star destroyer to ralltir with a reliable pilot. Get your kashyyyk if playing against battle plan, or if you want to set up battle order. Late Game Send vader/tarkin/mara/evazan and those sort of goodies to obliterate your opponent’s ground forces. Send the bounty hunter ships to obliterate them in space. Move the Chimaera out to join the bounty hunters at kashyyk. Drain in space. drain on the ground. Win.

Sounds simple, right? But it is actually EASIER. Ralltir is so consistent, so reliable, and so overbearing that it is ridiculous. This deck can make your opponents cry. again and again. no matter what they are doing, you’ve got THE ANSWER.

Here’s the matchups

vs. Light Side decks Auto-win.

Okay, so it isn’t quite THAT easy. hehe. )

vs. EBO. start decree. set it up (you don’t even need a battleground system, just use ralltir and wakeelmui if you want, plus a ralltir site) Let search and destroy work on them. use battle order too, if you get a chance. after you flip, they can’t really drain at all. win

vs. Ops. start battle order. flip. set up decree if possible, or rely on sarkli. win

vs. TIGIH. deploy an imperial to their docking bay on turn one to hurt their activation. if they use docking bays/staging areas in a desperate attempt to get some force, jade can really screw them up. if sarkli shows up in the hut on turn two, that should be game. 3 vaders to escort luke with. use search and destroy if they’re playing a speeder version. don’t go to space too early, if you suspect x-wings. trample the asp droid to stop them from stacking the catapult. win. but the pace will be slow, so watch the clock.

vs. Hidden Base. flip. watch their drains go away. add in battle order and s&d just for insult. trample undercover spies if necessary. go to space and kill all their ships, if you get that bored. win. this matchup is so easy, that over time, I pulled the lateral damage out, THEN the dreadnought, and THEN security precautions.

vs. QMC send the hit squads to disrupt their character selection. use the executor/chimaera to control bespin, and keep them on the zero side (this also cancels the celebration). send bounty hunters to the clouds (if there are any) win

vs. Eloms. what? did somebody say elom? even if you haven’t flipped yet, those eloms are DOOMED. use monnok if you want. but I prefer not to monnok their eloms, and just let them deploy them all, then watch them blunt themselves on my forces. and even if an elom follows a bothan spy into the DSII db on turn ONE, they will still have to draw a battle destiny of at least FIVE to force any battle damage over ozzel. and if I barrier that elom, watch out…Later in the game, if the eloms come in big swarms, I promise not to care. In theory, this deck could kill 9 eloms in a single battle choke one with vader. hit two with sabers. trample one. draw masterful move for destiny, add 5 with objective, add 1 to attrition with arnet, add 1 to attrition with AT-ST pilot. 13 attrition = 5 eloms die to attrition after losing the other 4. win. I’ve mentioned a few cards that make me unhappy. Eloms DO make me happy. )

vs. jedi-testing. set up s&d to do some early damage. get out kashyyyk as your top priority. you need it so you can stop paying for battle plan. it is also your jump point for landing bounty hunter ships on Dagobah. time your drop so that they have deployed test 5, but not attempted it yet. use failure to buy you a little time. (if you have oppressive enforcement out, then when the alter the failure, it just recycles, and you can use two to go get it again the very next turn) Bring vader, tarkin, evazan, mara jade…whatever you can spare. track your masterful move, either to draw a ton of attrition (so yoda’s forfeit won’t cover it, and they have to lose the apprentice too), or to slash the apprentice with a saber. win. UNLESS you get outplayed. a really good MWYHL player WILL beat you, if you aren’t careful.

vs. Profit. start jade and evazan against ”alien han/bo shuda” versions, and run out to drain at jabba’s palace. start NO aliens against a battling version. instead, start secret plans as your third effect to stop their retrieval. this one is a bit tough. Jon Arendt’s Profit deck gave me my closest call out of the 21 wins this deck has. I don’t like Profit too much, but the benefits of that objective (namely the direct damage) match up fairly well against Ralltir. As others have said, the person who plays best will usually win this match, barring some freakish catastrophe (like vader getting placed out of play by out of commission, or something ridiculous like that) Go ahead and concentrate on the flip early game, and eat the early force loss. go to space ASAP, to make them pay for battle order. Later on, challenge them on tatooine. all of your strikes should be aimed directly at Han. If he’s outside, trample him. If he stays in the chamber, bring the choke vader, and strangle him. if all else fails, utilize the sabers, but you may need to knock off the old man first. (easier said than done) Winnable, but like the MWYHL game, you’ll get beat if your opponent is better than you.

vs. RST done RIGHT. oops crash and burn. lose. not even I can beat my RST with Ralltir. Okay, so you lose one matchup, but no deck is perfect, right? besides, this match is no fair, since RST done RIGHT was built specifically to defeat Ralltir. But nobody plays my RST deck but me anyway, do they? ;)

Well, there you have it. My favorite deck of the year 2000. May it rest in peace. thanks for reading.

Brian Hunter ‘