Cowboys From Hell TX State 3rd Place (Dark)

Title: Cowboys From Hell TX State 3rd Place (Dark)
Author: Michael "admiralpiett" Sneed
Date: Apr 7, 2001 Rating: 4.5

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Cards:

‘START (5)

ISB Ops

Coruscant Docking Bay

Prepared Defenses

Mobilization Points

Imperial Arrest Order

Opressive Enforcement & There Is No Try

LOCATIONS (5)

Carida

Hoth Docking Bay

Death Star Docking Bay

Tatooine Docking Bay

Yavin 4 Docking Bay

CHARACTERS (24)

Lieutenant Suba x4

Corporal Oberk

Sergeant Barich

Sergeant Irol

Corporal Drelosyn

Sergeant Tarl

Trooper Davin Felth

Sergeant Wallen

Snowtrooper Officer x3

Sergeant Narthax

Sergeant Major Bursk

Navy Trooper Vesden

Navy Trooper Fenson

Sergeant Torent

Sergeant Major Enfield

Emperor Palpatine

Darth Vader

Choke Vader

Officer Evax

INTERRUPTS (16)

Trooper Assault x5

Dark Jedi Presence x2

Point Man

Twi’lek Advisor x2

Full Scale Alert x2

Stunning Leader

Tactical Support x3

EFFECTS (6)

Imp. Decree

Grabber x2

Relentless Tracking

First Strike

Search and Destroy

STARSHIPS (3)

ZinMH

BFinS1

Chimaera ‘

Strategy: ‘

**UPDATE 4/10**

First of all, I’d like to thank everyone for reviewing my deck. It’s always nice to see so many people like it.

I’ve heard a lot of people claim Fallen Portal and Throw Me Another Charge will destroy this deck. That’s just not true. While these cards are nasty, that’s like saying Guri will destroy all WYS or Transmission Terminated is the death of Hunt Down. The truth is, Fallen Portal eliminates 2 characters AT MAX, and that’s assuming you get a relatively good destiny. That’ll help, but when I still have about 12 troopers left, it won’t be enough. Once it gets grabbed, it won’t be played too often, either; the most Portals i’ve ever had played against me is 2; it gets expensive when FStrike and grabber kick in. TMAC can cancel Trooper Assault, but to tell you the truth, I’m more afraid of Grimtaash; very rarely due I have only 1 trooper assault in hand, and they can only cancel it once (assuming they left a force). Trooper Assault, however, is non-unique.

I’ve also been told FSA doesn’t work as well at DBs; I beg to differ. I say it just works differently. Let me give an example in my game against Mike Patterson’s MWYHL mains, he put down Blount, Leia w/Gun, and I believe JPSD Lando to my Coruscant DB. I then consolidate ALL the troopers I have on table (I believe about 14) to the DB and, during his turn, FSAlert his movement. I then procede to end the game with a Trooper Assault and about 35 overflow damage. In other words, while I don’t isolate a single character to battle against, I get to consolidate ALL my troopers in the same battle.

In response to review by Eric

1) You are definately right; flipping HB is really mean, it’s one of the 3 decks that has beaten me (even that was only because my opponent Surprise Assaulted me for 10). However, I never see it around here anymore, and I never expected to see it at States.

2) Again, you’re right, good players will see the beatdown coming. However, it doesn’t really MATTER if you see it or not; you either come to the ground and get FSAlerted, or take 6 to 8 damage a turn from drains and another 2 from S + D. I have yet to see a good player not come to the ground, however cautiously, and still get beaten. Maybe if you saw it in action you’d understand.

In response to review by Rushe

”We built this deck several weeks ago using Nightfall and 2X droids along with all the Imperials and it looked real good. You must have had some real luck in matchups because it still lost to WYS…asteroids(dumb)…and barely lost to hidden mains. To get all your guys to one site and do a lot of damage is a lot harder than it looks and my deck deploys everything but thge mains for free The damage potential is really good and it does stop WYS retrieval so thats a real plus. Ijust dont see it as a tournament winning deck. To limited. ”

What? Nightfall? Give me a break; that deck would lose to anything. And if you’re afraid of Asteroids, your decks are gonna really suck. I haven’t seen Asteroids in…forever. That’s just stupid. You ”just dont see it as a tournament winning deck?” Well, obviously you didn’t read my strategy; I DID WIN TOURNAMENTS WITH THIS DECK In fact, I beat a lot of really good players with this deck, and won the tournament because of it

In response to review by Jigglypimp

I see what your saying, but here’s my reasoning behind the Tatooine DB. Around here, there’s a lot of people who still play Tat. sites w/o the DB; if I don’t have it myself, I can’t get to them. Even the DPC-winning Harvest deck doesn’t use it, and if I don’t get a stormtrooper to Tat., I’m screwed. As for Local Trouble, I did consider it once, but to tell you the truth, I just don’t need it. I’ve never lost to a WYS with this deck.

**END UPDATE**

This is the deck I decided on for the Texas State Championship. Even though this deck went 2-1 and my light went 3-0, this took all the tough matchups and is much more solid. It helped me place 3rd (behind Justin Warren and my brother), with wins over Joseph Amaya (1817) and Mike Patterson (1917, but he was rated 2000 going into the tournament). I’ve also beaten my brother John (1970), Jason Green (1807) and Rich Glasscøck (1957) with it. I’ve only lost 3 times with it (including States), but one of those losses was because I made a stupid mistake involving Order To Engage (don’t ask). Overall, I believe the record is about 15-3, which is probably the most solid record I’ve had with any deck.

I first conceived the idea for this deck a little while after David Irvine and Martin Falke posted their Worlds decks (major props to them). ”So,” you might ask, ”Why play ISB troopers, instead of Rallops or BHBM, like they did?” First of all, I personally cannot play BHBM…either the objective is inherantly weak, or I am inherantly weak with it, but I cannot see the advantage in dealing yourself 1 damage a turn. Call me old-fashioned, but I believe in causing the damage, not receiving it. Rallops is another excellent platform for this deck, but I am stared to death of Ounee Ta; besides, ISB also deals the opponent a force drain -1, which is probably the best part of Rallops flipped. ISB is probably my favorite platform for troopers; it gives you an automatic advantage in the drain race, as well as provide a little retrieval, and since a great deal of your troopers are ISB agents, it seemed like a no-brainer to me. Besides, the only time I’ve ever seen Matt Lush loose a game was to my brother’s ISB trooper deck, and that was a long time ago.

Since you’re probably not familiar with a great deal of these cards, I’ll explain. I’m not going into great detail, just explaining special abilities and such. I suggest David Irvine’s ”Deploy and Die” deck strategy for more in depth detail.

Sergeant Torent and Major Enfield add a battle destiny together. Add 1 to your total battle destiny together. Torent is an ISB agent.

Sergeant Irol and Corporal Drelosyn add a battle destiny together.

Sergeant Barich Subtracts a destiny from opponent’s total power and attrition (sort of like a defensive battle destiny) when with a biker scout (Irol, Drelosyn and Oberk are all biker scouts).

Segeant Wallen deploys free to a battle you just initiated.

Snowtrooper Officer your troopers may move to same Hoth site as a ’react’. An ISB agent.

Sergeant Major Bursk While on Hoth, adds 2 to attrition and is immune to attrition <3.

Sergeant Narthax While on Hoth, adds a battle destiny when with another Snowtrooper (there are 4 others in the deck) and makes your Snowtroopers immune to Ice Storm.

Navy Trooper Fenson Subtracts 3 from On/Off The Edge (huge).

Navy Trooper Vesden Adds to your characters destiny against Odds. An ISB agent.

Sergeant Tarl Subtracts 3 from Noble Sacrifice. An ISB agent.

LIEUTENANT SUBA This guy is so HUGE Makes your troopers deploy FREE to a Death Star or Executor site, pulls a Tactical Support (once per turn) for 1 force, and your troopers are power and forfeit +1 at same DS or Executor site. And so, the deck is officially überfast

Full Scale Alert I’ll assume you no what this one does, but in case you don’t, check out Martin’s and David’s explaination in their strategy. The reason it works so in my deck is because the deck has the ability to consolidate EVERY trooper on the table to the same site (due to the DBs) pretty easily. After that, it’s game over for the opponent.

Stunning Leader This was the most recent addition, but it has proven to be worth the slot. It can easily reduce a seemingly favorable position for the opponent to an utter beatdown on a lone Blount or Chewie. Also good for getting around Order To Engage. Also good in preventing mains beatdown.

Imperial Decree Easily set up with the Rebel Base db’s. Stops Midge, lightsabers, and other various crap, like Tessek. My main defense against EBO as well.

First Strike The main reason this is in here is to prevent my opponent from playing various crap, like Houjix and On The Edge (to end the battle).

Point Man Because I hate Scramble, Demotion, and most of all, Order To Engage.

Relentless Tracking Great against Undercover spies; instead of a drain of 2, it turns into a drain of 3 that can’t be cancelled Also good if a opponent’s character is actually chasing you around, but I’ve never had to do that.

The basic strategy of this deck is to force opponent to come to the ground (using your drain +1, opponent’s drain -1, Imperial Decree, and Search & Destroy), and then destroy your opponent by consolidating your troopers from different db’s and Full Scale Alert to stop his movement. Start Coruscant DB, Prep. Defenses, IAO, Mob. Points and Oppressive Enforcement & TINT. Before activating, pull Carida. If you got a Suba in your starting hand, and your opponent gave you an icon, pull the Death Star DB and deploy Suba (along with any trooopers in hand) there. If opponent gave you two or more icons, throw down Suba and pull a Tactical Support, and pull some troopers. If opponent didn’t give you any force and/or you didn’t draw a Suba, drop a cheap trooper at the Coruscant DB and wait. It isn’t uncommon to get a first turn flip; all you need is a Suba and a trooper agent, and opponent to give you two icons. Anyways, start getting troopers out using Suba’s gametext to pull TSupports, and drop them to the Death Star DB and spread. Which troopers you get when depends on the situation, as well as personal preference. I usually get Torent and Enfield first, since Torent is an agent and they add a destiny together. another couple of troopers I get early are Barich and Oberk, since they subtract a destiny together and Oberk’s an agent. Basically, drain at a few docking bays, use Search And Destroy, and wait for your opponent to deploy to the ground, all the while picking up for Trooper Assault (shouldn’t be too hard) and Full Scale Alert. If you get Vader and a DJ Presence, it’s just gravy, but it happens more often than you’d think. Usually, one battle is all you need to finish them off; if not, retrieve the FSA using First Strike, track, pick it up, and repeat.

Explanation of cards not in the deck Counterattack I originally played this card, but found that I never used it. Usually, I do the battling, and rarely does my opponent initiate a battle. Even when he does, I usually do not want to eliminate all his characters in a battle that doesn’t do much more then that.

Stormtrooper Cadet I play 5 Trooper Assaults; satisfying remaining attrition is rarely useful. Besides that, they are ability 1, power 1, and a forfeit of 1.

Secret Plans and/or SSPFThem I must admit, I find it hard to believe myself that I would play a deck without Secret Plans, especially with all the LS retrieval running aobut. But think about it - what retrieval is popular right now? Harvest is impossible when stormtroopers run about; On/Off The Edge is stopped by Navy Trooper Fenson; Tatooine/Cloud City Celebration is gonna be hard for my opponent, figuring he usually doesn’t occupy hardly more than 1 site. Even Noble Sacrifice is reduced by Tarl Basically, nothing is left for the opponent to pay for to retrieve.

Now for specific decks Watch Your Step - This is one of the major reasons I decided to play this deck, since it’s basically an auto-win against WYS. They can’t play Harvest, On/Off The Edge (Fenson), and they’re gonna have a very difficult time occupying any sites to pull off Celebration. If they play Nightfall, have even more fun All your agents deploy for free Even Full Scale Alert is great, since it still blocks Patrol Crafts, Owen & Beru, non-smuggler spies, and Luke from moving. Their added battle destinies really doens’t hurt at all, since your troopers will be immune to attrition. Just make sure you grab Fallen Portal

Mains (Throne Room, Dagobah/MWYHL, Hidden, etc.) - Deploy to two or three different docking bays, no more than that. Pick up FSA. Wait for them to deploy (they’re gonna have to, since you’ll have drains for about 6 not counting S + D). FSA them. Kill them. Fenson any funny On/Off The Edge. Against Hidden Mains, make sure you grab Throw Me Another Charge (an evil card cancels Trooper Assault and DJ Presence) and Fallen Portal. DON’T GRAB ANYTHING ELSE UNLESS YOU’RE SURE THEY AREN’T PLAYING THOSE CARDS

TIGIH scouts - I’ve never actually played against this deck in a tourney, but since I play with it, I’d just suggest playing against like a Mains deck, but grab Insertion Planning. An early ISB agent + beatin’ crew could mess up Gen. Crix at the Home 1 DB if your opponent isn’t careful. In fact, if you have the opportunity, FSA Crix after you’ve thrown down a great deal of troopers.

MWYHL testing - You’d think this would be a difficult matchup because of Test 1, but in reality, it isn’t. S + D plus four drains of 1 catch up very fast. Eventually, every MWYHL will attempt to contest on the ground (especially if you spread to all four db’s). Once they do that, it’s usually game over.

EBO - The toughest matchup. Start Imperial Decree instead of OE&TINT. Use Suba to pull your Snowtroopers; set them up, along with a few others (probably Irol, Drelosyn and Barich) and set up on Hoth. Twi’lek for S + D asap. Remember, Arrange your troopers with one Snowtrooper Officer and another unique trooper under the shield, with a good beating crew at the 4th Marker. Remeber, the Snowtrooper Officer allows your troopers to move as a react, so you don’t need to fortify too much. Spread and drain as necessary, Relentless Tracking any undercover spies. If you can actually set Full Scale Alert, use it, but it isn’t as effective as it usually is, since you must divide your forces.

That’s pretty much it. Just try it out, and you’ll find that the LS walks in to more traps than you think.

Michael ”admiralpiett” Sneed ‘