The Dark Path to Ultimate Power

Title: The Dark Path to Ultimate Power
Author: Brad "Admiral Twk" Reinhold
Date: Aug 2, 2001 Rating: 4.5

Cards:

‘starting6 [8 with other two effects]

SYC

Death Star

Death Star DB

Alderaan

Prepped defenses

A Million Voices

[effect varies]

[effect varies]

Characters12

Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith

Vader with Saber

Emperor Palpatine x2

death star gunner x3

admiral chiraneau

Darth Maul

Captain Godherdt (may be replaced by

              ghhhk/TRWEU)

grand admiral thrawn

U-3PO

locations5

hoth

endor

tatooine

death star conference room

kuat

Ships11

devastator

executor

avenger

zuckuss in boat

vengeance

chimaera

tyrant

conquest

TIE Interceptors x2

Effects12

hell to pay

mob points

kuat drive yards

come here you big coward

something special planned for them

secret plans

there is no try/oppressive enforcement

crush the rebellion

lateral damage

bright center to the universe

broken concentration

dark path

epic events1

commence primary ignition

weapons3

superlaser

SFS 9.3 LS Cannons x2

interrupts10

force lightning

imperial command x2

twilek adviser x2

put all sections on alert x2

evader/monok

Tarkins Orders x2 ‘

Strategy: ‘

Update For those of you who thought the deck can’t play in tournys…you’re wrong. Its record of 27-4 is IN tournaments. If I added all the other games it won…

ALSO, a few cards need to make their way into the deck…take out broken concentration, add resistence or bespin. The card was supposed to help against MWYHL, but only slow the fip, and not enough to make a difference. Resistence will help all around, and bespin will give you another drain location besides teh other 3. The deck DOES work…try it out, and you will see

This is definately not the best deck out there, but I honestly believe it is the best SYC flip out there. IF you play it smart, you should win most of your games. The key is not to hurry yourself. Both of the games I lost, I hurried too much, and it probably cost me the game.

starting against decks where you think they will need all their starting effects, and if you are feeling brave, start mob points. This pulls kuat, which allows for quick setup of the retireval loop. deploy emperor or gunner to DB to increase activation. Once you have the superlaser (usually turn 2) you need to concentrate on 2 things protecting your gunners and getting dark path into play. Dark path, a seldom used card, lets you look at the top 3 destinies of your deck, and place any 2 in your lost pile. Sound bad? it is. Usually. With htis deck, however, once you flip, you retieve phenomenal amounts of force, so a pidly 2 to guarantee a flip when you need it is well worth it.

midgame after blowing away alderaan, concentrate on the opponents game. If they are playing EBO or MBO blow them away asap. If EBO, don’t blow alderaan til the return trip. your immunity to battle damage is key. send your gunners to the used pile if there is nothing else you want to blow up, and get emperor + another DJedi to the DB, to satisfy Battle Plan. Also use your characters to disrupt the opponents ground, then retieve them with a SD. deploy systems from reserve deck, drain away.

lategame retrieve and drain, cancel drains. If they kill your ships, you retrieve them by deploying another, ten deploy the retrieved ships using KDY.

I won’t go into matchups, but you are advantaged vs. WYS. The laser cannons + ties hurt them very badly, so save them for surprise beatdown. The objective protects you from ground beats early. Maul and guri own palace raiders. The deck has beaten every single WYS it has played. QMC goes the same way, and endor ops should be ok. the massive retrieval helps in most situations, but flipping wont win you the game. The deck is kinda easy to play at first, but in order to play it at a tourny where you expect stiff competition requires mental effort. Its fun to play, and the levels of thought involved and skill put into playing make it suited for almost any player.

If you have a suggestion or comment, or even a question (sorry I didn’t go into too much detail…its 340 am and I’m a bit tired…just look at the other SYC flips on my page. Everything that applies there applies here, but more so) don’t hesitate to ask. I appreciate any and every review, and thank you again for taking the time to read this.

Brad Reinhold ‘