EBO done RIGHT aka The Real Deal

Title: EBO done RIGHT aka The Real Deal
Author: Brian "HuntaWarya" Hunter
Date: Nov 19, 2000 Rating: 4.5


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Cards:

‘Locations (9) Hoth Main Power Generators Hoth North Ridge Hoth Echo Command Center War Room Hoth Echo Docking Bay Hoth Echo Corridor Hoth Kiffex Corulag Kashyyyk

Characters (8) Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight Zev Senesca Derek “Hobbie” Klivian Commander Luke Skywalker Obi-Wan w/ Lightsaber TK-422 Boussch Arcona

Starships (14) X-Wing x12 Lando in Falcon Spiral

Interrupts (13) Organized Attack x3 The Signal x3 All Wings Report In x2 Rebel Barrier Houjix Out Of Nowhere Transmission Terminated x2

Effects (14) Rebel Fleet x2 Incom Corporation x2 Ice Storm What Are You Trying To Push On Us? Do or Do Not Wise Advice Order to Engage Echo Base Garrison Echo Base Operations A New Secret Base Projection of A Skywalker Legendary Starfighter

Weapons (2) Anakin’s Lightsaber X-Wing Laser Cannon ‘

Strategy: ‘

And now for everyone’s favorite The responses to reviews.

To Johan I use jedi luke in place of epp luke because he makes beating BHBM even easier than usual (since jedi luke is impossible to cross, as there is NO chance of me losing 4 battles in the same game) He is also destiny 6 instead of 1, which is cool. Since I am using jedi luke instead of epp, the saber seems natural. it is not only good on the jedi luke, but is also good on commander luke (who ended up carrying the saber way more often than jedi luke), or I can even put anakin’s saber on Boussh if she breaks cover. And jedi luke carrying ani’s saber is no more vulnerable to disarmed than the epp luke. (since disarmed may be used on characters with permanent weapon icons)

To Molator I think the deck’s track record against Tie Swarm of EVERY variety, more than speaks for itself. It has become clear to me that x-wing swarm vs. tie swarm is a total mismatch. The ties have low forfeit, and no hyperdrive. With the benefits of ebo and incom corporation, things just shift further into my favor. with lower deploy costs, more ability, higher power, better mobility, and better forfeit, the x-wings just don’t lose to ties. And since I don’t think the SYCFA/manipulator you mentioned is actually good enough to compete at tournament level, I will not take it into consideration when choosing a light deck.

To Droid Pimp, RexBanner7, and Arthur So what if EBG gets altered? It is far from necessary. I do not need to have wise advice out before deploying EBG. If it gets altered, I do not care. Altering it will not, by any means, prevent me from deploying EBO. It seems that all 3 of you have forgotten that I can use x-wings at the docking bay to help me ”occupy 3 echo sites”. I do not need 3 characters, only 2. There are 8 in the deck, so I need 25% of my characters in order to set up ebo. I start 4 cards, get an 8 card hand, and activate a minimum of 3 force on my first turn. After drawing those cards, I have gone through 25% of my deck. Therefore, on average, by that time I will have 25% of the characters. Statistically speaking, by the end of my FIRST turn, I will often have 2 or more characters in hand. And I don’t even need those characters until 3rd turn, so I am way ahead. I have had my EBG altered before, and it never prevented me from deploying EBO however early I wanted. All the EBG does is allow me to choose WHICH characters I set up ebo with. The EBG lets me use Zev and Hobbie every game, instead of using obi and arcona (for example). But losing the EBG will NEVER stop me from setting up ebo on schedule.

To Droid Pimp Yes, monnok can be a problem, which is why I try to defend against it as much as possible by not drawing excessively in the early game, and by deploying surplus x-wings to the docking bay. I don’t play the 2nd projection because it is fairly useless against Hunt down (only uses mobile sites) and anything based around Jabba’s Palace (due to Hutt Influence) The POAS is mainly used to reduce drain on hoth if they take the MPG. I agree that Hyper Escape would be nice in this deck, but I prefer Out of Nowhere. And although visage damage is painful, I can usually make them start losing to it also, once Luke or Obi is at a battleground site that Vader has no access to. I have had to play games where the Visage stayed on table for the vast majority of the game, and although it was a little rough, this deck still pulled out the win.

And to Arthur Yeah, of course people play alter here. But I think I explained why altering the EBG doesn’t worry me. not get EBO out until late game? that is crazy. I have never EVER been in a game where I could not deploy ebo on 3rd turn if I wanted to, whether the EBG had been altered or not. And yeah, people play sense here too. I have had my arcona’s react sensed on more than one occasion. And obviously, I won those games anyway. But it doesn’t really matter whether the people ”here” use sense and alter, because I didn’t just use the deck ”here”. I used the deck outside my own area, in tourneys with dozens and dozens of players. you say this is the worst deck I have ever posted. Just for the sake of argument, let’s say that it is. The deck is 16-0, but none of the other decklists I posted have cost me a sanctioned game yet either. So even if this deck were the worst I’ve ever posted, it could still be excellent. Congratulations on your high rating. I am sure you have earned it, because ratings do not make themselves. However, this deck has beaten down multiple players with ratings even higher than your own. you disrespect those players severely by calling this ”the worst ebo deck ever”. They are solid competitors, and surely would not have lost to this deck if it were not the REAL DEAL.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming. )


This deck also served me well before and after the Mega Weekend. It is currently 16-0 in Sanctioned play, and counting. And if wins over Clayton Atkin (rating about 1950), Ben Robinson (about 1960), Eric Olson (about 2050), Kyle Craft (about 2150), John Arendt (about 2120), and Kevin Shannon (about 2025) are not enough to convince you that this deck is the REAL DEAL, then build it yourself, play it against your favorite dark decks, and see what happens.

Starting Setup

Start the MPG, which deploys the north ridge. Play the Signal for ANSB.

Early Game

Use ANSB to get your echo sites, and your EBG. use EBG to get the 3 characters that it can pull from reserve. Deploy some guys to the echo sites, and maybe some x-wings to your docking bay. (to decrease your vulnerability to monnok) Use ANSB to get EBO and deploy it. Use ANSB to pull your systems. Use your spare signals to help you find rebel fleet and Projection (to survive early drains), and an incom corporation (since you will need that later) Put out your undercover spies wherever needed. Deploy your SAC protection if you think you want it. You have Do or Do Not, Wise advice, AND the grabber, so sense/alter will generally not be too detrimental.

Mid Game

Deploy x-wings for dirt-cheap to your 4 systems. Usually 2 per system, since incom corp. will let them draw destiny. Your opponent will also often give you systems to drain at (mob points decks will give you rendili or carida. Sycfa will give you alderaan and the death star. anything space-based will give you a plethora of systems to drain at) Move your echo guys to the docking bay, so that they can transit out to challenge your opponent at their docking bays if necessary (for battle order, search & destroy, or a big drain) Or you can move the guys all the way out to the north ridge instead. you can also use Luke at the ridge to occupy a battleground. Use your mains, your scrubs, and your arcona to prevent any possibility of decree. Your drain potential is insane, so your opponent will almost surely be forced to confront you in space. and this deck has no equal in space. Use organized attacks/spiral/out of nowhere to destroy them when they battle you. If they come down REAL hard on you, use the barrier and the houjix to keep from getting hurt too bad. Then use Lando in Falcon and x-wing cannon for your counterattack. Legendary starfighter on the falcon is crippling.

Late Game If your opponent survives to the late game (often this deck can win games in under 30 minutes), continue cancelling their drains with rebel fleet. Chase around the shattered remnants of their fleet and make them lose force to order to engage. Retrieve 6-10 with all wings report in, and go report your win.

Matchups

vs. Hunt Down Hunt Down is one of the decks that actually has a prayer against you. 2 TT gives you a shot against the Visage. you’ve also got undercover spies that can go straight to the holotheatre. once vader has been committed elsewhere, you can use your mains at the north ridge to flip them back. If they pick up vader, then move the duel target under the shield. When Vader deploys to the ridge, the barrier/ice storm combo can end the game. and if you don’t have the ice storm, and vader starts chasing you under the shield after being barriered, just transit out once you get to the docking bay. Vader won’t be able to transit out after you from under the shield. if they pick up vader again, just transit back to hoth, and vader has to start all over again at the ridge. it is virtually impossible for vader to duel you if you don’t let him. Hunt down doesn’t run too many ships, so you should be able to severely out-drain him, especially if your undercover spies hold up.

vs. Big Blue Space Whether its SYCFA, or Ominous Rumors, you can use rebel fleet to cancel a force drain, and they should not be able to hold more than one system against the swarm. you’ll be able to chase them around, and order to engage can be key. A well-placed legendary starfighter will speed things along as well. Big blue really has no chance against a good x-wing swarm, and never has.

vs. Ties This matchup may be even easier than the previous one. Take over Wakeelmui, and their ships will cost them extra. Especially if they try to deploy them anywhere BUT Wakeelmui. They will practically be forced to come to that system, so be waiting for them. grab all power to weapons, and the attrition from your high destiny recycling interrupts will hurt them badly. Use order to engage to force them into suicide battles. And once you have depleted their numbers a little, spread out in space. They won’t be able to chase you down, since most ties have no hyperdrive. the x-wing cannon can help out, but really isn’t necessary. This deck gets auto-wins over any dark side space deck, ties OR capitals.

vs. ISB another easy one. Use rebel fleet and projection to stop drains at the deserts, then use undercover spies to eliminate drains at the locations where a sandwhirl cannot be deployed. your space drains are just too much. there is nothing they can do.

vs. BHBM Who? What? Where? Only once has this deck failed to beat BHBM by more than 25. that one was only 21. all good light decks beat BHBM with ease. Bring Him Before Me is EASILY the most overrated objective in the game. I do not understand how people manage to lose to it. I’ve seen plenty of decklists for BHBM, and I’ve playtested them, and tweaked them, and done all I can, but even the best BHBM I ever built is STILL not good enough for use in an actual tournament. For a while, BHBM was the most popular dark side deck in the world. But I have still never lost a single tournament game to it, no matter which light deck I was using. The objective is WEAK. get over it. If your opponent has the DSII throne room in their starting cards, the game is yours. All you need to do is deploy ebo and some x-wings, and wait to see how much you win by.

vs. My Kind of Scum this deck also has a prayer against you. Hutt Influence will keep you from cancelling drains with Rebel fleet, or reducing them with Projection. However, starship power in their deck will be minimal, so you will easily rule in space. Use your character assortment to try and hold the north ridge, to satisfy battle order and/or search & destroy. Boussh can be of great help, so try to keep her away from anyplace she can be snipered. When they deploy Jade for extra force drain, you can drop TK-422. Then you can hope they don’t have the Bubo in hand. don’t try to contend with them for any tatooine sites. In general, if you deploy to tatooine at all, your lightsaber wielding mains should be used for kamikaze strikes against Gailid. Arcona/order to engage is a thing of beauty inside Jabba’s Palace (still worth it, even if Scum & villainy is out. do the math), but again, Bubo is the counter. They can use Resistance, their objective, and Den of Thieves to slow your drains, but you can still win the drain race. Their deck has the potential (with an excellent draw), to set up too fast for you to deal with. But if you play well, you should win this match-up more often than not.

If you want more information on how this deck plays against popular dark side strategies, then you can just look at some of the tournament reports on my member page. I try to post reports frequently, so that there are concrete examples of how my decks perform in actual tournaments. I include as much detail about the games as I can remember, so reading the reports might offer excellent insights on how to use the deck against whichever dark decks are popular in your own local meta.

So just remember

1) Incom Corporation is broken. )

2) This deck is the REAL DEAL.

So give this a shot, lay waste to your local tournament scene, and if you score more wins with this deck than I have, be sure to let me know, so I can congratulate you personally. )

Thanks for reading.

Brian Hunter