Dark Deal done RIGHT aka This is NOT yo mamas Dark Deal

Title: Dark Deal done RIGHT aka This is NOT yo mamas Dark Deal
Author: Brian "HuntaWarya" Hunter
Date: Sep 28, 2000 Rating: 4.5

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Cards:

‘Purple card (1) This Deal is Getting Worse All the Time/Pray I Don’t Alter it any Further

Locations (9) Cloud City Upper Walkway Cloud City Dining Room Cloud City Security Tower Cloud City East Platform (docking bay) Cloud City Downtown Plaza Cloud City West Gallery Bespin Bespin Cloud City Executor Docking Bay

Characters (14) Commander Igar Emperor Palpatine Janus Greejatus Admiral Piett Captain Sarkli Admiral Ozzel Darth Vader, Dark Lord of The Sith EPP Vader Lord Vader Grand Moff Tarkin Mara Jade, The Emperor’s Hand Lt. Commander Arden Bane Malar Brangus Glee

Starships (7) Executor Bossk in Hound’s Tooth Zuckuss in Mist Hunter Boba Fett in Slave I Os-72-1 in Obsidian 1 Os-72-2 in Obsidian 2 Chimaera

Vehicles (2) Blizzard 2 Tempest 1

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

Interrupts (10) Twilek Advisor Imperial Command x2 Prepared Defenses Talon Roll Imperial Barrier x2 You Are Beaten Ghhhk Masterful Move

Effects (15) Cloud City Occupation Dark Deal x2 Crush the Rebellion Search & Destroy Imperial Arrest Order Security Precautions Mobilization Points Battle Order You Cannot Hide Forever Lateral Damage Secret Plans There’ll Be Hell to Pay Oppressive Enforcement There is No Try

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Strategy: ‘

Response to some reviews To mrmastadon I rarely see boushh in my area. she is either training on dagobah, or running around in the super falcon. If I wanted undercover spy protection, I would probably choose sniper before hutt smooch, since it is more versatile. To Mark you just want me to take out security precautions because you like playing hidden base. ) To C’Boath test 2 does nothing to the obsidian ships. they draw if not able to otherwise. I don’t see how you can say they are ineffective, when they have such monstrous power. To people suggesting carbonite chamber/all too easy yeah, it is cool, but who is going to come battle my vader WITH his saber if he is IN the carbonite chamber? If my opponent is silly enough to walk into that trap, then I can beat them WITHOUT that trap. to loaf and MadDog Yeah, Mosep and ephant mon would both be usable in this deck. Thanks for the suggestions, I will keep those two characters in mind. and finally, to Jet jaguar I will lose to a Profit/menace fades deck??? Well, as soon as I EVER see a profit deck with menace fades in the decklist, I might start to worry….nah, probably not. Has anyone else heard of a Profit/menace fades deck??

Well, Hunt Down was my #3 ds deck. Ralltir was #1. This was #2. With Ralltir on it’s way out, I guess this may be my deck of the future, unless My Kind of Scum turns out to be REAL good. what I like about Dark Deal is that it can win all the matchups that ralltir sometimes loses. What I don’t like about dark deal is that, although it beats every light side strategy under the sun, it doesn’t beat them EFFORTLESSLY, the way that ralltir can. in the matchups it hates, Ralltir can really struggle. But in the matchups it likes, Ralltir barely has to pay any attention to it’s opponent at all. Ralltir wins by totally shutting down your opposition. Then, Ralltir does just a LITTLE bit of stuff to win the game. But a little is all it takes, since the opponent is prevented from doing anything at all. Dark Deal, meanwhile, pretty well allows your opponent to set up their strategy if they think they can afford to. which means you will lose force. Unlike Ralltir, Dark Deal actually lets your opponent do some things to win the game. But also unlike ralltir, Dark Deal does a LOT of stuff to win the game itself. The force drain + direct damage potential in this deck is just enormous. which is why the light side usually cannot set up their strategy, because they must allocate all their resources to stopping the dark deal deck from setting up its own strategy, since dark deal is just so overbearing. So, to review, disadvantage of playing dark deal instead of ralltir? you don’t have as many ”auto-win” matchups, where you don’t really have to do anything to be victorious. Advantage of playing Dark Deal instead of ralltir? NO BAD MATCHUPS AT ALL. Playtesting this deck against anything I can think of, it always performs well. And played correctly, it gives you an excellent chance of defeating anything the light side has to offer right now. So I’m submitting the deck here to see if anyone has thought of something I might have missed. Some hole in this deck that still needs to be patched. Because based on my experience with the deck so far, it simply WILL NOT be denied. most important thing to do when playing this deck is to KNOW ALL YOUR GAME TEXT. Don’t forget that your opponent’s deploy costs are +1 when you control the bespin system. don’t forget that you are power +1 for each ship at the cloud sector. don’t forget that you are power +4 because of the dark deal. don’t forget that your battle destiny draws are +2 when you have an imperial/alien pair. don’t forget that your force drains can’t be modified where you have an imperial. don’t forget to retrieve force with the downtown plaza. And don’t forget that Bane Malar, brangus glee, and even the Dark Lord himself, are all immune to goo nee tay. If you can keep track of all the game text, there is really no way for the light side to have any fun.

Starting setup Start the Upper Walkway in most cases. it has good ds text, and is force drain minus one if you ever lose control of it. also start your objective and secret plans. then play prepared defenses for IAO and Mob. Points. as usual, third effect may vary, but in most cases, you will start either Oppressive enforcement or you cannot hide forever. why start the enforcement instead of there is no try? Because ds decks with sense/alter still play Oppressive Enforcement routinely. Hence, starting with it does not tell your opponent that you aren’t playing a SAC deck yourself.

Early Game Get Bespin and Bespin cloud city from reserve deck, along with Dark Deal and CC occupation, using your objective. deploy the executor docking bay and CC docking bay from reserve, using IAO. Pull the Executor from reserve, using Mob. Points. If you want, you can drop a guy or two to the Executor docking bay early for extra generation from mob. points. later, you’ll have the option of either moving them onto the bridge of the executor once you deploy it, or transiting over to the CC docking bay to reinforce your position on Bespin. Now all you need to get your deal going is a ship, some ground stuff, and any one of your other sites (since you get to start one, and pull one with IAO) In the first few turns, when you are yanking all that stuff out of your reserve deck, it will be easy to see whether or not you have activated some of your sites, and if so, you can draw them. if you have one or more sites in opening draw, that just makes things all the easier. in most cases, you should NOT try to setup dark deal, or flip your objective, in the first few turns. this is NOT a quick flip deck. it is not designed to set up dark deal as fast as possible, and start causing as much damage as you can, as fast as you can. no, this is not a speed drain deck, it is a ”power drain” deck. Meaning that you set up your drain slowly, and in the mid-game it becomes massive, but the ”power” part is that your forces are so strong, your opponent cannot STOP the massive force loss once it has begun.

Mid-game After the first few turns, you should be all set to start the deal. so go ahead and get it going. a turn or two after the deal is on table, you should be ready to deploy to the bespin system, flip your objective, and drop the occupation. At this point, in almost all cases, your opposition will have to do something to slow the bleeding. and they will NOT enjoy battling you on Bespin.

Late game there is no late game. at the time that most other games are moving into the late game, your game is finished. go report your win to the tournament director.

Explanation of card choices non-battleground CC sites these are excellent. give up no force. opponent can’t deploy here unless they have a spy. nabrun can’t get in, since you started IAO. but you can still drain for 2 with dark deal, and Honor won’t stop you from doing so, since you occupy all sorts of battleground locations. Piett add one destiny with imperial command, or stop the opponent from drawing more than one, with imperial command. or, you can go get him, with imperial command. he also lets you get commander igar from your reserve deck. don’t forget that he deploys -2 to the executor docking bay, if you want to use him as your ”activation boy” early on. 3 vaders Because capturing luke with vader against tigih is important. and because the drain potential of this deck will usually force your opponent to come to Bespin. Once they do, drop the ultimate battling character on their head. Arden Draws destiny by himself, even against jedi test 2, for only 3 force. quite a bargain. Bane Malar immune to goo nee tay, and is an alien, which is good, due to the text on the 7 side of the objective. Brangus Glee Also immune to goo nee tay, also an alien. makes your docking bay transit from the east platform free. the obsidians clearly the best ships in the entire game to hold the cloud sector with. you can use bounty hunter ships as back up, if necessary. Tallon Roll When an obsidian is at Bespin cloud city, it can pulverize even the super falcon with a tallon roll. but if you’re tallon rolling wedge in red squadron 1, you may want to lateral damage him first. ) Imperial command good destiny draw. used interrupt destiny adder? sweet. good defense against ships that draw more than one destiny? sweet again. lets me get ozzel and piett from reserve? I would have to say that’s…sweet. Ghhhk Usually not necessary. with ships at the cloud sector, and the dark deal running, any character alone would have good power. But just in case your opponent drops jedi luke with his saber, epp han, and epp leia on you, all in one turn, and senses your imperial barriers, well…bail yourself out. Oppressive Enforcement/There is No Try/There’ll Be hell to Pay stop them darn senses and no, Honor of the Jedi won’t keep them from losing two to There is no Try, since you’ll occupy plenty of battlegrounds. 2nd dark deal sometimes your opponent will go ahead and spread out to cancel dark deal, at the expense of most of their characters. If so, then the turn after you are finished killing their martyrs, just deploy another dark deal. have the spare in hand by grabbing it as SOON as you deploy the first one. but not before. you wouldn’t want your dark deals grimtaashed. Imperial Barrier there aren’t many decks ANYWHERE that benefit from the barrier more than dark deal. your huge drains force them to come to you when you spread out with people like bane malar, brangus, arden, palpatine, ozzel on a walker, etc. so they’ll come down to hurt you. barrier. your turn, deploy the big stuff you’ve been holding, like jade, or vader/tarkin, and punish them for trying to crash your party. Crush the Rebellion Keeps your opponent from using destiny adders, allowing you to make sure that it is a POWER game, not an attrition game. and you have advantage in the power game. also protects you from clash of sabers. and if you start this against a revolution deck, it will make them think twice, since you can bluff the ability to pull an immune to sense evader from reserve.

matchups

vs. TIGIH as with any dark side deck, sarkli can help a lot in this match, if you get him to chirpa’s hut early. start the west gallery instead of the upper plaza (since it is interior, keeping the speeders from getting in). It is possible for this deck to set up dark deal using only interior locations, but you should be able to hold down at least ONE exterior site, if you concentrate your power there. that one exterior site will probably be the CC docking bay, so DO NOT stand around at the endor docking bay. After you’ve captured luke, going into chirpa’s hut is okay, especially if you have sarkli. But anyone who isn’t going into the hut should just transit over to the CC docking bay immediately. Battling on bespin is much better than battling on endor. don’t deploy the cloud sector until you are ready to deploy dark deal, because otherwise they might deploy some x-wings there, which could slow you down. TIGIH decks usually have no way to prevent force loss, and no retrieval either, so the huge drains at the interior sites will punish them.

vs. jedi testing Okay, so dark deal isn’t going to help your drains. no big deal. go ahead and set up the deal anyway, to get the power bonus, and so you can flip. these decks are fairly slow, so you’ll have plenty of turns to chip away at them with the drains at your sites, especially if you get the downtown plaza. better yet, they can’t use projections to stop your drains, since your sites are mobile. use search & destroy (you can go get it with the You Cannot Hide Forever) to go with the direct damage caused by CC occupation. honor won’t help them since you’ll occupy all sorts of battlegrounds. and battle plan won’t slow you down much either, since the deck is designed to go to space and ground anyway. you get to start secret plans without it even being one of the 3 effects you get with prepared defenses, and that should be adequate to ensure the win.

vs. Hidden Base again, no projections. you can go get security precautions with you cannot hide forever. and once they flip, if you probe bespin, the executor is immune to battle damage. it’s already immune to attrition, so….the occupation cannot be cancelled, and they can’t flip you back. and the occupation will murder them. if they give up on bespin right away, then go ahead and probe them at your leisure, using the bounty hunter ships.

vs. RST again, no projections. RST forces you to come to IT, by draining for a lot. And once you go to them, they beat you up with close air support. however, dark deal drains for MORE. so you don’t have to go to them. so you’ll win.

vs. Ops ops drains for a lot. dark deal drains for MORE. and once you are flipped, their ”force drains -1” thing won’t affect you. and if you get sarkli to their system, well, better yet.

vs. mains and toys battle decks when they come down, use your barriers, and then deploy your big guns and battle back. lots of death and destruction on both sides, but their deploy costs are increased, and you get extra power from the cloud sector. you may also get extra power from the dark deal. they will probably cancel it at least once, maybe both of them, but the power bonus can make a big difference during the time that it lasts. and as long as the deal hasn’t been canceled yet, you can also get the bonus to your battle destiny draws, which helps. and the occupation will be plinking at them a little bit, while you guys are slugging it out, since you only have to occupy sites, and not control them. try to lure them outside, where you can put tarkin on a walker, with vader outside. I LOVE games like this. bottom line they’ll have to come fight you on your turf, and battling dark deal on bespin is just no fun. remember your text, do some good destiny tracking late game, and eventually you will outlast them.

vs. profit again, you get to start secret plans for free, preventing them from getting the early retrieval for freeing Han. Profit causes direct damage and can drain. you’ll drain for MORE. and still no projections. so they will, once again, have to come to you. when they move over to the tatooine docking bay, preparing to transit onto your territory, pile up some stuff at the CC docking bay, and then when they come over, deploy the rest of your beatdown from hand. don’t use your tracked destiny for battle destiny, use it for weapon destiny, to try and rid yourself of ben kenobi. use vader/tarkin and tempest 1/igar and most of your other battle cards to fight them when they come to bespin. but save at least ONE thing (bane malar or mara jade or something) to make a strike against han if they leave him on tatooine.

vs. yo mama’s Dark Deal well, this should be an interesting match, since you’ll both be playing dark side. But let’s face it your mom kinda sucks at star wars, so you should be able to pull out the win. )

Seriously though, I cannot think of a light side deck that really worries me. although this deck doesn’t get the auto wins over certain light side strategies, the way ralltir can, it is capable of beating anything, if you pay attention to detail. and if you can play with confidence, no matter WHAT ls deck your opponent just pulled out, well, peace of mind counts for a lot. Enjoy using the deck. I know I will. ;)

Hunter ‘