Bye Bye Boys Have Fun Storming The Palace
Title: Bye Bye Boys Have Fun Storming The Palace
Author: Devon "Devonator" Clark
Date: Aug 2, 2001
Rating: 4.5
--------------------------------
Cards:
’ Characters (17)
4-LOM With Concussion Rifle x2
Aurra Sing
Darth Maul x2
Darth Vader, Dark Lord Of The Sith
Dr. Evazan & Ponda Baba x2
Emperor Palpatine x4
Guri
IG-88 With Riot Gun
Lord Vader
Mara Jade, The Emperor’s Hand
Prince Xizor
Weapons (3)
Mara Jade’s Lightsaber
Maul’s Lightsaber
Vader’s Lightsaber
Podracer (1)
Sebulba’s Podracer
Starships (4)
Boba Fett In Slave I
Stinger
Virago
Zuckuss In Mist Hunter
Locations (6)
Death Star II Docking Bay
Executor Docking Bay
Jabba’s Palace Audience Chamber
Jabba’s Palace Dungeon
Tatooine Great Pit Of Carkoon
Tatooine Podrace Arena
Interrupts (17)
Elis Helrot
Force Lightning x3
Ghhhk & Those Rebels Won’t Escape Us
Omni Box & It’s Worse
Podracer Collision x3
Sniper & Dark Strike
Start Your Engines
Twi’lek Advisor x2
Vader’s Obsession
Weapon Levitation
You Are Beaten
Young Fool
Effects (10)
First Strike
No Escape
Oppressive Enforcement
Search And Destroy
Secret Plans
Security Precautions
There’ll Be Hell To Pay x2
Watto’s Box
You Cannot Hide Forever
Epic Evemts (1)
Boonta Eve Podrace
Objective (1)
Court Of The Vile Gangster/I Shall Enjoy Watching You Die
’
Strategy: ‘
PLEASE READ STRATEGY SECTION BEFORE REVIEWING
**Post-Coruscant Strategy Update 8/29/01**
Whoa I never expected this to make it back to the top 10. You can check my member page for the post Coruscant version of this deck, Court Racer, complete with strategy…it’s twice as good. But, I will post the changes here, also.
Post Coruscant changes
Out
Aurra Sing
Iggy
Vader Personas x2
Vader’s stick
Elis Helrot
1 Force Lightning
Twilek x2
Weapon Lev
Oppressive Enforcement
Grabber x2
YCHF
1 Dr. E & P.B.
In
Janus x2
P-59
EPP Vader x2
Maul’s Sith Infiltrator
new Tusken Raider
WMAOP x3
Maul Strikes
There Is No Try
Do They Have A Code Clearance
Allegations of Corruption
Come Here You Big Coward
**End Update**
RESPONSE TO REVIEWS
In regards to deck types that will beat my deck, honestly I think there are only 3 that conceivably have a chance Podprofit, WYS Racing, and EBO. However, this deck has the tools to beat every one of them if you have a plan and play it right. Remember, your cards don’t beat your opponents…you do. You have the tools to win every match-up. If you outplay your opponent, 9 times out of 10, you will win the game, and that’s why I like this deck. You’ve got the tools.
END RESPONSE TO REVIEWS
This is my NON-FLIPPING Court Podracer that went undefeated at the Atlanta DPC and single-handedly got me into the top 10 with wins of 38, 27, 24, and 30. (Since the DPC, I have made two changes to the deck Vader’s Obsession and Young Fool used to be Main Course and a fourth Podracer Collision).
The concept behind this deck is simple…direct damage, big mains, big drains, and an inevitable 22 force swing mean I win. This deck is so powerful it almost plays itself…almost.
WAYS TO BEAT THIS DECK
Why would anyone ever try to tell you how to beat his deck? Well, read on and I think you’ll understand.
1) Take away my direct damage…The only way you’re going to stop my direct damage is by deploying early to Tatooine. If you do this, you are hurrying your deployment, which leaves some of your forces under protected. When this happens, I will drop my mains on you and beat you down. You still lose.
2) Take away my mains…If you take away my mains, I commend you. Admittedly, the LS does have some character removal, but the DS’s is more powerful and more plentiful. This is the case in this deck. Force Lightning, IG-88, Choke Vader, Dark Strike, Dr. E, Darth Maul, and You Are Beaten are all powerful cards, and chances are you will see lots of them. So, if you try to battle away my mains, you’re probably going to get battled away yourself. In other words…You still lose.
3) Take away my drains…There are three ways to do this. You can battle away my mains, but I’ve already talked about that. You can play Menace Fades, but in order to activate Menace Fades, you have to control a system and a site. My strong ground and space forces WILL stop you. Or you can play Great Warrior. Great Warrior will work on me, but if you’re playing Great Warrior, you’re testing and that means that you’re suffering to my direct damage, so…You still lose.
4) Win the race…This is the only real viable way to beat the deck. If you’re podracing yourself, you change my 22 force swing to a 12 force swing and that works in your favor, but that’s still a substantial force swing. Just playing Ani’s racer is not enough to win. You have to be DEDICATED to racing to beat Sebulba in a podrace. And even so, with my jumpstart, high destiny, and 3 Collisions to slow you down, the only podracer archetype that might win the race with any regularity is WYS, and this deck matches up surprisingly well against WYS. Therefore…You still lose.
So, what have we just learned? If you’re playing LS (say it with me now), you still lose…All right, I know this is an exaggeration of the truth, but honestly that’s how I feel going into every game, because this deck is that powerful. Your opponent cannot neglect all of the different powerful aspects of this deck. One of them will get through. I think you’ll find that if you play smart, EVERY match-up is a match-up you can win.
CARD CHOICES
Emperor Palpatine x4 / Force Lightning x3 In many ways Palpatine is the deck. His high destiny and ability to pull Force Lighnings are what will win you the…podrace. This might seem odd to you, but it’s true. With 4 Palpatines, you should have one by turn 3 (often in your opening hand). Then, just deploy him to your opponent’s site, and you have a relatively constant drain of 2. Back him up shortly thereafter and you’ve just about locked down a site. The threat of Force Lightning will often make them hesitate. And then, as I said, you can play those Lightnings used and track them for race destiny to make sure that you draw high for your race destinies (you will only need to do this in a drawn out race).
Young Fool Palpatine is shocking people left and right with 3 force lightnings. So, don’t just make those rebels lost. Make sure they won’t be making any return visits to Tatooine. And it’s a destiny 6.
Vader’s Obsession You don’t have to be playing Hunt Down to duel. Take Vader back to his roots. Your opponent won’t see it coming. (Well, maybe if you drew it for race destiny…speaking of which, it’s also a destiny 6.)
Ghhk & TRWEU Cancels Nabrun Leids, Cancels Reacts, Cancels big beatdown damage. I find that I’m never using this card, but I tried to play without it, and just having this as an option makes such an enormous difference. It allows you to play more aggressive, and this deck wants to be played aggressive.
Grabbers Okay, you know why I’m playing grabbers (or at least, you should). However, I wanted to spare a few lines to mention that good use of grabbers can be very powerful strategy. Knowing what interrupts to grab is very important for success. Retrieving interrupts are tops on the list. What follows is determined by game situations.
IG88 You might be asking, ”If this is a non-flipping court, why are you playing somebody that captures?” That’s a good question, but if you’ll remember our capturing rules, you will recall that when you capture a character, you have two options. You can escort the captive…OR you can send that character to the used pile. If you always select the seldom-exercised second option, you will never flip (well, maybe against TIGIH, but I’ll address that later), and it’s still a very effective means of character removal.
Slave I, Mist Hunter, Stinger, and Virago I chose these starships for multiple reasons. First, they are all immune to attrition (Zuckuss’s ability to reduce destiny is, in its own way, a limited form of immunity). They all provide destiny, and the Stinger and Virago actually add destiny. Plus, you can deploy them from your reserve deck. If you have Guri or Xizor in your hand, you can deploy from reserve their matching ship plus any starships you’ve managed to draw, and voila…instant system lockdown Hound’s Tooth and Punishing One did not make the cut because they had neither immunity nor decent destinies.
Aurra Sing / Weapon Lev I’m playing 3 sabers, so a Weapon Levitation makes sense. And with a Weapon Lev in a deck that boosts bounty hunters, Aurra Sing is a must. She’s a power 4, ability 4, saber stealing monster.
Oppressive Enforcement The combo version is destiny 1. Regular OE does everything I want it to anyway. It protects against Sense and makes my grabbers deploy for free.
Omni Box & It’s Worse One of the LS’s favorite ways around the race damage is ICBW. If they think that It Could Be Worse, show them that it is. They’ll regret even trying. And if they don’t try that, you can make them shuffle their deck to mess up their tracking. It’s an easily recyclable 5.
THE 61st CARD IS…Come Here You Big Coward. CHYBC will wreck so many deck types especially with these mains battling away your characters. I just don’t know where there is room.
GENERAL STRATEGY
Before you begin
There is strategy before the game even begins, and that is location deployment. Since, the podrace arena will not be a battleground, use it to break up the tatooine battlegrounds. That way, if your opponent wants to move from site to site (or run from your dark jedi), they must go through non-battlegrounds and therefore suffer to your direct damage.
Early game Start the race during your activate phase, so your first control phase action will be to sabotage Ani’s racer. Use your objective to pull DBs. You should have one of your 8 dark jedi in your opening hand. If it’s Palpatine, deploy him to an opponent’s location early and he’ll drain for 2 for almost the entire game. Then, fetch Force Lightnings for tracking purposes and the purpose of scanning your reserve deck. If it’s Maul or Vader, you must decide if they would be better deployed early for drains or later for a beatdown. If you really need to, you can deploy Mara with the AC’s text and pull her lightsaber. Don’t be afraid to be patient and take some Court Damage yourself when you consider your race retrieval.
Mid game Win the race. You’re probably either slightly ahead of or about even with your opponent’s force losses. That 22 (or 12) force swing will make you turn the corner and push you into the home stretch. Reinforce Palpatine. He’s great by himself early, but he gets kind of antsy if left alone for too long. Evaluate your opponent’s strategic weaknesses and prepare for a beatdown.
Late game Battle, drain, damage, win
MATCH-UPS
Podracing (any kind) You reveal starting interrupts at the same time, so if you see Podracer Prep, start Oppressive Enforcement instead of Watto’s Box (even against WYS…especially against WYS). The reason you start OE is not to protect against Sense and Alter, but rather to be able to make your grabbers deploy for free. Catching ASB and TCFC will be key. With 35 destinies of 3 or greater, you should have no problem stacking good race destinies. Use your Collisions wisely. Track a Force Lighning in a drawn out race, and you can propel yourself past the finish line at the right time. There’s a lot of luck involved, and that’s why you don’t start Watto’s Box, but the odds are in your favor. The only deck that will win the race with any regularity is WYS Racing…but this deck matches up very well against WYS.
WYS Palpatine’s favorite nightspot is the Cantina. He just loves the juri juice. Palpatine, Maul, and Guri wreck smugglers. Character removal is easy when they have low defense values. If they try to Celebrate, wait until you have a starship in hand, deploy it, a starship from your reserve deck, Maul and/or Guri to the system. Tatooine is yours. Play smart, because WYS is a good deck-type, but not a hard match-up.
WYS beatdown Do the math…Palpatine is power 4. Han is power 4. That means no bad feelings. Your character removal can save you from the big beatdown. In this match-up, it is imperative that you make no mistakes, because any strategic error can easily lose you the game, but that 22 force swing can get you right back into the thick of things. At the DPC, Mara and 4-LOM got jumped. I lost Mara, 4-LOM and 14 overflow…and I still won that game by 27. Still think this deck isn’t good?
Mains (any platform) Mains is always a tough deck. Just beat them down with your better mains and some sick character removal. Play this match-up intelligently and you should walk away with the victory.
Profit Start Mara and Dr. E in the Audience Chamber. If you get Palpatine first turn, have him join them. Leia has to deploy or move to the Audience Chamber before she can give Han any love. You have an action in between those two actions. You can fry her, or if you have Young Fool, you can wait to Fry Han. If they can’t free han (or can’t keep him in play), they can’t win the game.
TIGIH This is the only deck that can actually flip you. Keep Vader and Palpatine together. If Luke moves to your site, fry him. TIGIH is a strong battler, so keep your forces well protected.
QMC You might have noticed that this deck doesn’t run a Tatooine DB. This will actually help you in this match-up. Deploy Mara or Palpatine to Tatooine early to satisfy court. Back whomever up shortly thereafter. Save Maul and Vader. If your opponent doesn’t deploy to Tatooine, they will eat direct damage for a long time. Then use Maul and Vader as your Cloud City task force and disrupt them while your Tatooine drains and 22-force swing eat them alive. If they do deploy to Tatooine to stop the damage, they have no way of getting off Tatooine, so isolate and destroy. In most cases, no direct damage is BETTER than direct damage because of that hurried deployment. If your opponent tries to Celebrate, treat Bespin like Tatooine vs. WYS. QMC has lots of tricks at its disposal, so this can still be a tough match-up, but it shouldn’t be that difficult.
RST The direct damage will affect RST the same way it affects QMC. If they deploy to Tatooine, isolate and destroy. If they don’t deploy to Tatooine, your direct damage will tear them apart. If they’re blowing the bunker, Maul and Vader can stop them. Again, can be a tough match-up, especially if they do blow the bunker, but if you play smart, you should win this one, too.
Hidden Base Without Security Precautions, this match-up was your one loss. With Security Precautions, this should be an easy win. Remember that you can deploy Starships directly from your reserve deck, and then when you probe their system, they’re going to take even more damage. But remember that, just because you play Sec Precautions, you’re not automatically going to win. You still have to play smart, or your bounty hunters will get smacked in space.
EBO Definitely your toughest match-up. Huge drains in space and big space power will be problematic. However, you still get to deploy your starships from your reserve deck and with Maul co-piloting, you can lock down some of those big drain systems and use their own systems against them. Avoid Hoth sites for fear of Ice Storms. This one will be tough.
MWYHL Another potentially difficult deck if played by the right opponent. However, your direct damage will put so much pressure on your opponent, that when it comes time to retrieve for completing Test 5, he probably won’t have the force to pay for it. Again, this is another game that you can win.
The Pile This is essentially Mains with force choke. It’s a good deck, so you will have to play smart. But Court is so fast, that it can usually speed past the choke. Then it’s just a matter of holding onto your sites and draining big and finishing that race. (My favorite strategy…first turn, deploy Palpatine to theGreat Pit of Carkoon, move him over to Shmi’s Hut, then Fry Shmi before she can fetch 3PO.)
Anyway, that’s all of the deck types I can think of. Enjoy the deck Any questions, d-mail me.
Devon ”Devonator” Clark
’