How To Cook A Chevin

Title: How To Cook A Chevin
Author: Steven "Sir Yoda" Lewis
Date: Nov 6, 2000 Rating: 4.5

--------------------------------

Cards:

‘Starting (9) Hunt Down Epic Duel Ex Holotheater Ex Meditation Chamber Visage of the Emp Prep’d Defenses Imperial Arrest Order Power of the Hutt Mobilization Points

Locations (3) Ex Docking Bay Carida D Docking Bay

Characters (11) Darth Vader Darth Vader, DLOTS x2 Lord Vader x2 Emperor Palpy x3 Tech Mo’r x2 Ephant Mon

Starships (4) Bossk in Tooth Suckass in MH IG88 in IG2K Fett in S1

Weapons (2) Vader’s Saber x2

Effects (12) Visage x2 Battle Order Reactor Terminal No Escape Secret Plans Presence of the Force x2 Security Precautions 3720 to 1 x3

Interrupts (19) Circle is Complete x2 Vader’s Obsession x2 Force Lightning x2 Holonet Transmission x2 Masterful Move x2 Monnok Sniper Imperial Barrier Focussed Attack Counter Assault Twilek Advisor Put All Sections On Alert You’re Beaten Weapon Levitation ‘

Strategy: ‘

The premise is simple. Deploy Ephant Mon to the Holotheater to protect Visage from your reserve deck (using Power of the Hutt). Then on your second turn (or as soon as you can) deploy Vader to the D*DB to flip HDADTJ. If your opponent has any doubts at first about inserts, he doesnt anymore (after all, who plays inserts with both Vader and Ephant Mon on the table?). Therefore, ideally, your opponent will toss YISYW for Honor of the Jedi to slow the Visage damage a few turns. Then, when you draw the cards you need, deploy the Emperor and Tech Mor to the Holotheater with Ephant Mon and play Force Lightning to cook Ephant Mon. Then insert 3720 to 1. Your total is 13 and the resulting damage is usually catastrophic.

Now, I know what your thinking. You are thinking, What if my opponent decides to be a punk and leave YISYW on the table the entire game? Well, in that case you have yourself a basic high-destiny Hunt Down deck that can still win most matchups. I played against two opponents who didnt toss their YISYW and beat the snot out of both of them (including a character-heavy Profit deck). Just let Visage do its damage while Vader drains for 3 at the Docking Bay. Also, your opponent should be impeded by your other efforts, such as your small starship package, Battle Order, the Counter Assault, etc. The deck still wins without the odds. I won the St. Louis Grand Slam with an almost identical Huntdown deck using only Vader (and no odds). The odds package is just a mid-to-late game surprise which can win close games by big diff.

I also realize how fragile the deck looks, but I assure you it is not. Believe it or not, Vader CAN hold a site by himself. You dont need anything else. If they drop Obi or Luke in front of him, they get dueled. If they drop Leia, they cant battle (thanks to HDADTJs flipside). If they drop Han, Chewie, Lando, Wedge or other big guys, use your saber, choke, and interrupts to deal with them. No amount of characters will ever off Vader (save a hoard or Chadra Fans or something, where Vader will still hold his own with such high destiny draws). If you are really worried about Vader getting beat down, then add a Ghhhk for emergencies, but I assure you it is not necessary.

What if the opponent tries to spread and drain? That’s what the Battle Order is for. Notice that you are only providing the opponent with ONE battleground site and ONE battleground system, so as long as you can protect your own locations, your opponent will have to provide and protect his own battlegrounds to cover Battle Order, and by then he will have taken too much damage from Vader’s drain, Visage, and Odds. And don’t forget, even if the battlegrounds are covered, it’s almost impossible to outdamage a Huntdown deck with Visage still operating. You have to not only drain for MORE than the Visage + Vader’s drain, but you also have to make up for all the Visage damage you’ve already taken. This is almost impossible without deploying lots of cards (i.e. losing even more force).

Why even bother with Ephant Mon at all? Well, protecting Visage is key. If the opponent got some spies into the Holotheater and sat there, then Emperor cant go there to clean house, and Tech Mor certainly isnt going to do anything. Therefore, the first-turn Ephant Mon stops worries of early spies. Also, as stated above, Ephants presence in the Holotheater further assures your opponent that it is safe to sack YISYW for HOTJ. Then when he does, you cook him with some Lightning and insert for a win.

Why the Holonets? Keeping Visage on the table is a must Therefore, since Ephant and/or Emperor are sitting in the Holotheater, its pretty tough for spies to do anything. So the only means of killing Visage is Transmission Terminated, and the Holonets + the Masterful Moves + the extra Visages should take care of that. Also, the LOST function of Holonet is good to find Vader or the Emperor or another Visage when necessary.

What about Revolutions? The original version of this deck had Crush the Rebellion and an Evader in the deck instead of the Ephant Mon package, but I soon discovered that early spies were much mroe threatening than Revs so I took Crush out. Basically, if someome Revs the Holotheater and tries to beat me down, they have to do so (ideally) without Luke, Leia, or Obi (thanks to Huntdowns flipside) and without Han, Lando, Chewie, and a host of other characters (thanks to Ephant Mon). If they do get some guys down and battle you, forfeiting Emperor will cover most damage. If they are able to both get lots of power in the Holotheater AND Clash out Emp, then that sucks. If you are really worried about all of this, put Crush and Evader back in.

Why IG88 and not Dengar in P1? You need to be able to draw destiny in space. If you cant you get hammered. Therefore, since Dengar is only useful when with other ships, I opted for a ship that can work by itself instead. Besides, Dengar’s no immunity text isnt all that useful anyway since all your destiny draws are 5s, 6s, and 7s usually anyway.

Why not Mara Jade? She hurts the odds. If you decide to play without the odds package, put a couple Maras and her saber in. Otherwise, she hurts your deck.

What about Courage and Glancng Blow? You have a Monnok in the deck which is great for checking the opponents hand for duel defense just before youre ready to duel. Also, if you dont get the Monnok off, you can stack some big destinies with Reactor Terminal to where some dueling defense usually wont make any difference. If your wary of losing a duel anyway, just dont duel at all and fight Obi and Luke as normal.

Now for the matchups …

VS. PROFIT Start Secret Plans instead of Power of the Hutt (getting out Ephant is no big deal since most Profit decks are slight on spies anyway). Usually put Emp and Vader in the Audience Chamber to flip HD and let Visage do damage. Draw a big hand until you get your dueling stuff and your support interrupts and take out his mains as they come down. Eventually, you will want to put Presence on Carida and drain there with a couple Bounty Hunter ships. If your opponent puts out Leia, Force Lightning her immediately (i.e. dont let your opponent free Han with SWLY if you can help it). If your opponent DOES happen to free Han despite your efforts, simply find a nice place to drain and try to outdamage your opponent with Visage / Drains / Duels. I played against a good Profit deck in Phoenix and wrecked it by 20+ (without the odds).

VS. HIDDEN BASE Play as usual, but make it a point to find the Security Precautions to support your Bounty Hunters when its time to probe. Visage will do LOTS of damage, so Secret Plans can be key to preventing big locks of HB retrieval to counter the Visage damage. Hopefully you will get the odds off and it wont really matter, but in case you dont, just play smart and probe his base careful not to get beat down. Battle Order is a key helper too. I played vs. a HB deck in Phoenix and wrecked it by 20+ (once again, without the odds).

VS. EBO Come down quick with Vader to the D*DB and back him up with Presence and a Saber for a drain of 3 (do NOT ever go to the 4th Marker for fear of an Ice Storm, which could lose you the game). Visage will do bunches of damage and you will usually get the odds off (since most EBO decks start ANSB and not YISYW). Once again, I played vs. an EBO deck in Phoenix and wrecked it.

VS. AGENTS / SPEEDERS This is your toughest game. You will almost always have to rely on Visage and odds to win this game. Put Vader to the D*DB as quick as you can for some early damage, but when Maneuvering Flaps comes down, I would probably run to the Executor to hide fromt he speeders. You can put a Presence of the Force on the Med Chamber to keep Huntdown flipped and then drain at Carida (hopefully with Presence) for two while VIsage and odds do damage. Dont try to tackle the speeders unless you are desparate. If you are really worried about speeders, put in a Tatooine Cantina and sit Vader there.

VS. AGENTS / ALIENS Usually no problem. Choke Vader is a beating. Sit at the D*DB as usual to drain and let Visage wreck. Do NOT go to the Hutt Trade Route for fear of Sandwhirl, which could lose you the game. Back up Ephant as quickly as possible with the Emperor in case your opponent is harboring a few Chokes and spies to wreck you with. Visage and the Carida drain will usually win you this game (assuming the odds never come up).

VS. DAGOBAH / TESTING Visage is wrecking. Vaders drain is wrecking. Odds are wrecking. MWYHL is usually no big deal. If for some reason, your opponent finishes testing and starts coming after you, DONT duel. Use your back-up interrupts (like Put All Sections and Barrier and Sniper and Weapon Lev) to help protect Vader. You will usually win this game.

VS. Y4 MAINS Start No Bargain instead of Power of the Hutt (only if your opponent starts <> sites). Otherwise just play as normal and you should do fine. The duels will be key and Visage damage will usually push your opponent over the edge.

This deck was 4-0 at the Phoenix Megatourney and beat a QMC Sabac deck, a quick Profit deck, a basic EBO deck, and a quirky Hidden Base deck. It is super solid and has a quirky twist which can easily win games.

Please, constructive criticisms only. If you don’t understand something or the deck doesn’t make sense, d-mail me about it instead of jumping to conclusions and throwing out a crummy rating.

Give it a try and let me know what you think, Steven Mr 2nd Place Lewis ‘