ISB Up All Night v2 0
Title: ISB Up All Night v2 0
Author: Reggie "Harkov" Martin
Date: Aug 5, 2001
Rating: 4.5
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Cards:
‘Start (6)
ISB Operations/Empire’s Sinister Agents
Coruscant
Prepared Defenses
Imperial Decree
Secret Plans
You Cannot Hide Forever
Locations (6)
Hoth x2
Hoth Defensive Perimeter x2
Hoth Ice Plains
Hoth Wampa Cave
Characters (18)
Darth Vader
DVDLOTS
Vader W/Saber
Grand Moff Tarkin
General Veers
Admiral Ozzel (ISB Agent)
Snowtrooper Officer x3 (ISB Agents)
Sergeant Tarl (ISB Agent)
Navy Trooper Vesden (ISB Agent)
Corporal Oberk (ISB Agent)
Sergeant Torent (ISB Agent)
Lieutenant Renz (ISB Agent)
J’Quille (Spy)
Mara Jade, The Emperor’s Hand (Spy)
2X-7KPR x2 (Nighttime Droid)
Ships (6)
Flagship Executor
Devestator
Bossk In Hound’s Tooth
Zuckuss In Mist Hunter
Boba Fett In Slave I
Dengar In Punishing One
Weapons (2)
Vader’s Saber
Mara’s Saber
Interrupts (12)
Twi’lek Advisor
You Are Beaten
Sniper & Dark Strike
Elis Helrot x2
Trooper Assault x2
Dark Jedi Presence x2
Sense
Sense & Uncertain Is The Future
Alter
Effects (10)
Sunsdown x3
Presence Of The Force x2
Rebel Base Occupation
Lateral Damage
Reactor Terminal
First Strike
Battle Order
’
Strategy: ‘
I don’t play too much but this deck has played several chubby guys with Japanese Vaders and is 7-0 in tournament play. The idea is simple, really. You draw lots of cards (hence the traffic control) and play sunsdown and beatdown your opponent with swarms of free trooper/agents who deploy for free and are power 12. Okay, so maybe it isn’t so simple, but it’s easy to pull off
Many of my ISB agents also happen to be troopers (7 of them and renz is power +2 when with either of my stormtroopers) so trooper assault works on them. The nighttime droid makes everyone else power +2 on planet sites (darn cloud city). So basically I have many characters power +4 when I play Dark jedi Presence. The effects Snowtrooper Officer (usually laughable) is now a mighty power 12, and that’s just one of my characters It’s not uncommon for me to get power 100+ or to inflict 60+ battle damage. Needless to say, unless my opponent has Houjix, I don’t care how many EPPs fire weapons.
If needed, I can dish out a decent amount of drainage on Hoth, with POTF, sabers, ISB bonus drain for 5 at the Perimeter is easy to accomplish. Imperial Decree cancels their bonuses; not bad.
I don’t mess around in space. Lateral Damage does the job (and inflicts battle damage) while Zuckuss is awesome… etc.
Specific cards
Nabrun Leids Sure I know everyone plays Insurrection, but even then Nabrun is useful. If they don’t I find many of my opponents aren’t prepared for this premiere card.
J’Quille though not an agent no an imperial he is a spy and he can exclude people like Chewie. Good enough for me
Mara Jade unstoppable when she deploys for free. Best of all she is an imperial so I can make her power 12
Devestator Well if you like the Chimera better you can use it but I like the Devestator more so no comments about my choice.
Sense/Alter I know that I would lose a massive Sense/Alter war but if I do so what? My plan is to cancel that one key interrupt or effect. If I don’t, well, no big deal and I didn’t use too many card slots anyway.
First Strike Hopefully, this will be a surprise as I don’t start with it. If I can play right before I battle, wonderful I can also pull it with Twi’lek. Anyway, this is my anti-Houjix/Are You Brain Dead card. If I see they didn’t save any force and I play this card, I know I will win. Of course, it won’t always work, but it’s worth the card slot.
You Cannot Hide Forever To pull Battle Order when I want it. Sometimes it works against me if I start with Battle Order so I pull it.
You Are Beaten Sure, it can be canceled by a number of things, but it’s awesome and increases damage dramatically when I exclude Luke or whoever.
Coruscant replacements
Replace Vader w/Saber for Coruscant Maul
Replace doubles of Hoth and Defensive Perimeter for Nemodian Advisor x2
Matchups
Vs any Jedi Council Well, since I start with Coruscant, all I have to do is deploy sunsdown, a spy, Vader, and then everyone else, and I win. Are You Brain Dead? can be a lifesaver if I don’t sense it and it gets by First Strike, but even if the Jedis somehow escape my power, I have a nice drain location and have messed up my opponent’s strategy. In sum, I can’t wait until Coruscant is out
Vs Profit Since this deck never plays insurrection and usually plays the system, it’s easy to set up a beatdown with either Elis or Sunsdown on Tatooine. I win fairly easily.
Vs RST If they go to blow up the bunker sunsdown on Endor and beatdown in the bunker. I have to watch out for the explosive charge at the end, though. I can then go back to Hoth and finish off my opponent with drains at the Perimeter if necessary (or beatdown a second time if he doesn’t play insurrection). I could also attempt to simply outdrain this deck because (correct me if I’m wrong) imperial decree still works against their drains. Pretty easy.
Vs QMC Well my droid doesn’t work here but that doesn’t mean power 8 free characters are bad. This deck rarely plays insurrection so Elis is good. Beatdown in the clouds with lateral damage if possible. If all else fails, I can fall back on my Decree. Similar to RST only no bunker to save.
Vs MBO Sunsdown, kill techs, end.
Vs MWYHL Ok this could be a pretty good matchup if they play smart. If my drains are canceled by test 1, I don’t get much (though potf helps). If they are foolish enough to go to Hoth or some other ground location, I will probably win. Else, it could be a space war with neither side draining for much. However, I beleive my Battle Order would give me the edge. Not easy but in my favor.
Vs Hidden Base Same as MWYHL only I get better drains.
Vs Operatives or DBO Please.
Vs WYS Well my Secret Plans helps alot here (I guess it always does). I can beatdown on Tatooine or try to drain on Hoth (who can stop me?). Could get annoying because I can be slow if I don’t pull locations (Nemodians will help me so much), Play Battle Order early if they go to drain you and they will have to use all their force to pay for Kessel Run and to drain. Tempt them to deploy to the Cantina and Elis if possible. Not the easiest but I don’t see what could go wrong.
It is late and I probably forgot some matchups so I will edit this later.
In conclusion, I love this deck I still use my 1995 bb Vader I pulled in my first pack and he is the cornerstone of my deck. It’s fun to see your opponent deploy a lone Jedi Luke to the Cantina along with the Tatooine system and know the game is yours. Disadvantages this deck doesn’t win by too many cards unless you win in a fairly early beatdown (which is common, actually). I have in reactor terminal because I pick up most of my cards during the game. Jedi Test 1 is annoying to my drains and could be decisive if played well. And I don’t have any podracing-relevant stuff except Secret Plans, but 6 force lost isn’t so bad. Other than that I thank you for reading this and I hope you like my deck (I had this deck WAY before Kim’s Agents Are Landing was posted and probably before she made hers).
Thanks again
Admiral Harkov ‘