Lightning Court
Title: Lightning Court
Author: Patrick "Fiftytwo" Mathieson
Date: Feb 15, 2001
Rating: 4.5
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Cards:
‘-Starting (8)
Court
JP Audience Chamber
JP Dungeon
Tat Pit of Cark
Prepared Defenses
No Bargain
TINT/OE
Power of the Hutt
-Locations (4)
Tat JP
JP Lower Passages
DS2 Docking Bay
Executor Docking Bay
-Characters (22)
Mighty Jabba
Equant Mon
Boelo
Boba Fett w/ Gun x2
Jodo Cast
Mara Jade, TEH
Dr. Evazan & Ponda Baba x2
IG-88 w/ Riot Gun x2
Snoova x2
Dengar w/ Gun
Bossk w/ Mortar Gun
Prince Xizor
Guri
Gailid x2
4-LOM w/ Gun
J’Quille
Darth Vader w/ Lightsaber
-Starships (5)
Bossk in Hound’s Tooth
Zuckuss in Mist Hunter
Dengar in Punishing One
Virago
Stinger
-Weapons (2)
Mara Jade’s Lightsaber
The Snoova Stick
-Effects (5)
Scum and Villiany x2
Bad Feeling Have I
Search and Destroy
First Strike
-Interrupts (14)
Projective Telepathy x2
Masterful Move x2
Ghhhk x2
Twi’lek Advisor
Control/Set For Stun
Sniper/Dark Strike x2
Hidden Weapons x2
None Shall Pass x2 ‘
Strategy: ‘
Ok, every card in this deck has been picked for a certain reason. The way to win is simple, use the effects of and built in weapons of the characters and also utilize the interrupts to surprise the opponent and win battles that you shouldn’t have. The deck obviously works around getting out Scum and battling as much as possible. That way you can get your characters and starships out easily and retrieve force when you battle. The characters are very powerful and can win battles easily.
Activation
There is more than enough force to activate in the deck, even though it may not look that way. You start out with five force, and the first two turns you pull one of the two docking bays. That’s a guaranteed 7 force a turn for the rest of the game plus what the opponent gives you. The other 2 locations make it 11 force a turn. With Scum out you’re paying less for the already low deploy costs of your characters, so it’s all good.
Retrieval
Scum of course is going to get you back 2 force each time you battle, 3 with First Strike out. Use Projective Telepathy with IG-88 out at a site alone with some rebels and you get to retrieve 3 force a turn and make them lose 1. If the going gets tough in the late game and you still have some captured characters hanging out with some bounty hunters then you can put them in the Dungeon and of course the LS can’t deploy the character because it’s on table But beware of spies pulling them out. You remember what happened in the movie…
Battles
Each of the characters (except Gailid) is a good fighter and has many special effects than can turn battles your way. And then there’s Sniper/Dark Strike and Hidden Weapons… it’s all good. Anyway I included Vader because he’s just so awesome and he can help out in a beatdown w/ Dr. E and his little bud, and you can sack him to soak up damage anyway. I had to include him )
In space you have lots of power even in only 5 ships. The bounty hunter ships can handle themselves, and as soon as you get Xizor or Guri in hand just pull the Virago or Stinger from reserve deck and that’s your powerhouse right there.
And even if they don’t come to you put down Gailid and drain them out.
Masterful Move/Ghhhk/S&V tech
Ok, everybody knows how this works, you pull out the useful destiny 1 card from deck and replace it with a destiny 6 card that you can track. Duh. But here’s the thing, whenever you don’t need Ghhhk, just toss it into the lost pile as force drain fodder. When you retrieve with Scum when you battle, it will cycle back into your deck. By now you’ve probably got at least one of those Masterful Moves back in hand, so do it again This way you’ll always have one when you DO need it, and the recycling continues. If I could put anything else in the deck I’d put in one more of each. And you can use Ghhhk for almost anything, doesn’t matter if you have to lose 3 extra force or 26. You want it in the lost pile.
Other stuff
Well anyway first turn you deploy Mighty Jabba to the chamber, get a DB. Next turn Ephant, and the other DB. Third turn Boelo goes down and you’re free to kick butt and do what you want.
Well there’s the objective to hurt the opponent directly, and it pulls BH ships from deck. Plus bounty hunters are forfiet +2. I love this objective
Then to add to all that there’s Bad Feeling Have I to stop their deployment, No Bargain as well. Search and Destroy to hurt space decks… this deck isn’t that hard to play just play smart.
Matchups
Vs. Profit I’ve played this before and let me tell you that this is EASY. Since they mostly rely on mains then Bad Feeling hurts them, and No Bargain keeps them out of the palace for a little. None Shall Pass, well, you know when to use it. From what I’ve seen they’ll decide to stay out of the palace for a while. That way you have time to fortify the palace, and they’ll have to come or else they can’t drain on Tatooine. Easy as pie.
Vs. Hidden Base From what I’ve played they like to spread out to maximize their drains, which is when you want to burn their 1 or 2 X-wings with 2 or 3 ships. If they’re Houjix-less then they’re… well… dead.
Vs. TIGIH They won’t be expecting Vader to come by so they might pair him with Solo or something. That way you can surprise him with Vader, he grabs Luke so Solo’s all alone, then BEAT ON HIM.
Vs. MWYHL Most of the time you see them playing EPP Beatdowns but it will take them a while to get set up. Unfortunately GAILID IS WORTHLESS and if they’re hiding then Scum is mostly useless for it’s retrieval engine. So the trick is letting them win a battle so that some of their characters DON’T die then they’re free beats. But BE CAREFUL, make sure you know what you’re up against.
Well that’s my deck. Not hard to play but is extremely effective. And anyway if you’re going to rate this less than a five then at least give me a reason, you’re only allowed to say “neat” or something if you give me a five, otherwise I want advice.
Patrick “FiftyTwo” Mathieson ‘