Saber Combat done RIGHT aka No Mans Land
Title: Saber Combat done RIGHT aka No Mans Land
Author: Brian "HuntaWarya" Hunter
Date: May 26, 2002
Rating: 4.5
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Cards:
‘Objective (1)
Let them make the first move/At last we will have our revenge
Starting Effect (1)
Fear is My Ally (w/10 shields of your choice)
Epic Events (1)
Deep Hatred
Locations (5)
Theed Palace Generator
Theed Palace Generator Core
Executor Docking Bay
Fondor
Endor
Characters (16)
Lord Maul x4
Lord Vader
Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith
Emperor Palpatine x2
Janus Greejatus
Admiral Piett
Admiral Chiraneau
Grand Admiral Thrawn
Guri
Prophetess (Virtual version)
Arica
Commander Merrejk
Starships (5)
Executor
Chimaera x2
Stinger
Zuckuss in Mist Hunter
Weapons (3)
Darth maul’s double-bladed Lightsaber x2
Vader’s Lightsaber
Effects (9)
Imperial arrest order/Secret plans
Mobilization Points/You Cannot Hide forever
Blaster Rack (virtual version)
Crush the Rebellion
The Phantom Menace x3
Qui-Gon’s End
Lateral Damage
Interrupts (19)
Imperial Command x3
Blow Parried x2
Stunning Leader x2
We Must Accelerate our Plans x2
Masterful Move
Masterful Move/Endor Occupation
Ghhhk
Monnok/Evader
I Have You Now x2
Force Field x2
Maul Strikes
Prepared Defenses ‘
Strategy: ‘
Amendment to the decklist Admiral Ozzel was somehow mistakenly omitted from the decklist. He should be included in the deck. He could replace one of the copies of ”I Have You Now”.
After seeing the ”Lordi Mauli” deck that Mike Gemme created at Freedom Con, I was convinced that he was onto something. So after arriving home, I decided to make a ”few changes” to his deck, and see what I could come up with. Well, a ”few changes” ended up being just over a third of the deck, 22 cards. But I did have something that looked super-solid. I used it in 3 tournaments, where it posted a combined record of 8-0. After the virtual card set came out, I revised the deck into what you see today, and the deck’s tournament record improved to 11-0.
Who are the biggest, meanest dark side characters in the galaxy? Vader and Maul. What are the biggest, meanest dark side ships in the galaxy? The Executor and the Chimaera. So let’s use ’em all, and make sure the Light Side sticks to their own locations, because our territory will definitely be ”No Man’s Land”.
The 2 virtual cards used in this deck are truly fantastic additions. The Blaster Rack can really speed up your drain potential (since your drains can’t be cancelled), and the Prophetess helps against an opponent who is either tracking, or is just lucky enough to have a high draw on top. These two cards can make a remarkable difference, as you will see.
How to play the deck…
Starting Setup
Start the Objective, Deep Hatred, the 2 naboo sites, and fear is my ally, with your shields. Play Prepared defenses, starting the IAO combo and the Mob Points combo, along with the new Blaster Rack.
Early Game
Use Mob Points to grab the Executor, then Imperial Command for Piett if possible, then activate and pull the exec docking bay. For your first turn, you’ve got options. You can either try to set up Piett and Merrejk at the docking bay, to pull your systems for an early Executor, or you can drop the first-turn maul if you’ve got him. (you often will, with 4 in the deck.) When taking the docking bay, you’ll be able to see whether Merrejk/systems or Maul’s saber are in there. If you drop Maul (to the core, preferably), use the rack to pull his saber, and you’re set up for a drain of 4 on turn 2, which cannot be cancelled. (huge) Whether you pull systems first, or put Maul down first, either way you should have Maul and the Executor out fairly soon. Once the Executor is down, you’ll generally want to move piett/merrejk to the bridge, and mosey on over to Endor. (unless your opponent has already provided you with a good drain system that it would be advantageous to control, like Tatooine vs WYS or Bespin vs QMC) Using early Imperial commands will help you pull guys like Thrawn or Chiraneau. Try to use them when the opponent has not saved force for their def shield grabber. Dropping the early Maul with his saber will often force people into pulling the battle plan shield, which will save you from pulling battle order yourself (a good card for this deck, since you are so powerful both on the ground, and in space) That allows you to use 3 shields on other things as necessary. Their other option would be trying to kill maul, which is bound to get them killed. They can’t ”scrub rush” him at the core, because he’ll send low-ability characters to the used pile when he hits them. And if they bring big mains, that plays right into your hands, because of cards like Force Field, Phantom Menace, I have you Now, etc.
Later Game
With Maul locking down the generator core, it is vader’s job to either garrison the other naboo site, or attack the opponent. If he’s on the warpath, let the Emperor (and Janus, if he’s around) handle the generator. Either way, the Blaster Rack can allow you to pop out Vader’s saber too. Vader isn’t a one-man army (okay, maybe he is…but still), so you can sometimes use Arica to block another ground drain. Eventually you’ll find one of the Chimaeras, so Thrawn can take his business to Fondor (or any other system that seems convenient, if your opponent has put any out), and Chiraneau can make for some big drains in space with only two systems. IF you were to have Janus/Emperor/Vader/saber at the generator, with Maul in the core, you might drain up to 5 in space, and 8 on the ground, all on your own locations. Not bad, with just 4 battlegrounds in your deck. Stunning Leader/Force Field help keep your dark jedi alive, while Imperial Command/Lateral damage can do some damage in space.
Explanation of Card Choices
Force field - Since Phantom Menace makes Maul immune to attrition against Jedi (and it WILL find its way onto the table), that means that Jedi have to use their sabers to kill him. Simple use of this card makes it impossible for the likes of epp qui-gon, epp obi-wan, or Jedi Luke to knock Maul down. Can also be used to protect your other dark jedi, if needed.
I Have You Now - Your Accelerates will help you find Crush. Crush pulls I have you now, which can be used as a backup saber combat card if you aren’t finding your 6’s and 7’s easily enough. Since the Jedi have a tough time taking maul down when the phantom menace is out, people will often use epp luke to take care of Maul. If you don’t have the force field, this plan might work. However, with I have you now, you can really make them pay for it. With 2 swings, Maul will almost surely hit Luke, and then you draw 3 battle destiny when he’s forfeit zero (and you had more power to start with) This could mean HUGE battle damage, with all the 5s, 6s, and 7s in here.
Maul Strikes - Monster card for this deck, when Phantom Menace is (for some reason…timely TT maybe?) not on the table. They suddenly think it is safe to attack Maul with epp qui-gon (he gets 2 destiny against Maul, right?) but they’re wrong. You can either try to hit qui-gon, then play this card to add 2 destiny, OR, just duel qui-gon with this card, and use your ”combat” cards for duel destiny. Nice.
Qui-Gon’s End - Guarantees victory in matches vs. Light-side saber combat. Drop the fanfare shield and pull this card from reserve deck. Now all you have to do is win ONE lightsaber combat against qui-gon (by even the slimmest margin, and even if you fail the first couple of tries), and bam, qui-gon is out of play. Now, obi-wan will be a combat machine…but only at the site where you play this card. So just move to the other site (it’s not like Obi-wan can drain you in this match, right?). Easy win.
Prophetess - This card is so mean for this deck. She single-handedly prevents the jazz where your opponent sets up a pair of destiny that will either tie you in saber combat, or lose by little enough to keep their jedi on the table. Even if they don’t know what their destiny is, this card is still great. Take a look, if it’s bad, they’re doomed, if it’s good, shuffle it, and now they may be doomed. This also protects your big ships from darklighter spin tricks designed to get around your imperial command or guri. (”I only get to draw one destiny, so I’ll darklighter spin for my first one, then draw my tracked high destiny for the second one, since I haven’t drawn one yet”) The Prophetess can help get rid of that tracked destiny.
2 Masterful Moves, & 2 accelerates - Granted, Crush lets you pull IHYN, which is decent destiny for saber combat. But wouldn’t you rather have 7s? All 4 of these cards can pull the Phantom Menace for you, and make sure that you keep your saber combat totals even higher. The Moves can also pull your ghhhk in a tight spot, and your accelerates pull things like Lateral Damage if you need it. Besides, all 4 of these cards are also destiny 5 or 6 themselves, if you are in a pinch for high-destiny combat cards, but don’t have enough force to search for the phantom menace. And they are very easily recycled. Don’t worry about them being grabbed, either. Any LS saber combat deck will grab your ”blow parried”, and almost any other deck will want to grab ”imperial command”. So you should be able to abuse these interrupts to the fullest.
Janus/Blow Parried - Aside from the fact that Janus can help you set up great battle destiny, and aside from the fact that Blow Parried helps you against other saber combat decks, these cards are also great to help you keep the 7s stacked on your dark jedi when you’re having to use saber combat against other decks. After you’ve used a 7 that you stacked as a combat card, and it goes to your used pile, then either activate until it is on top of your deck, and Janus for it, or activate it to the top of your force pile, and play blow parried to get it. Now it’s ready to be restacked. sweet. Another good ”activate and grab” card is the stunning leader. Your opponent comes down with a big mean nasty jedi (flipping your objective), and battles you. You cancel the battle with stunning leader, and on your turn, you combat their jedi out of there. This flips you back, and you retrieve one. (the stunning leader) On your next turn, if you activate down to the stunning leader, you can use Janus or blow parried to get it back again. Now you’ll be ready when the next guy comes charging at you. Sweet again
Possible card additions - If light side combat is a true rarity in your area, you could consider pulling out cards like Qui-gon’s end, or Blow Parried. Or your meta might make it okay for you to pull out certain other cards instead. If this is the case, here are some top-quality cards you could consider using as replacements.
1) Unsalvageable - Maul likes to get placed out of play by OOC, and this card stops it. This card also cancels power pivot, just in case there is some rogue player in your area that still uses that card for some reason. Also destroys unpiloted starships once the attrition you drew forces them to lose the pilot.
2) Imperial Barrier - If people in your area do not use ”barrier cancellers”, then by all means, play this card. It is quite good when it goes to used pile rather than lost pile.
3) Bad Feeling Have I - This deck gives away a multitude of icons, so a BFHI won’t stop your opponent from deploying their mains against you in the long-term. But it could conceivably deter them from attacking you in the first few turns of the game, buying you time to draw any of your many cards that prevent battles/cancel weapon targeting/otherwise punish your opponent for trying to battle you on Naboo.
All in all, the deck is just beastly. Played properly, it should be virtually impossible to beat. ;)
Brian Hunter ‘