It’s My Way or the Highway

Title: It’s My Way or the Highway
Author: Paul "Paul" Maholick
Date: Jan 20, 2000 Rating: 4.5

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Cards:

‘Objective (1) Hidden Base/Systems Will Slip Through Your Fingers

Locations (7) Alderaan (Hidden Base Marker) Dagobah Dagobah Yoda’s Hut Jabba’s Palace Audience Chamber Rendezvous Point Tatooine Cantina Tatooine Mos Eisley

Characters (16) B’omarr Monk x2 Ben Kenobi x2 Boussh Chewie With Blaster Rifle Han With Heavy Blaster Pistol x2 Jeroen Webb Leia With Blaster Rifle Master Luke x2 Orrimaarko Tawss Khaa Wedge Antilles Yoda

Starships (5) Gold Leader In Gold 1 Lando In Millennium Falcon Red Leader In Red 1 Spiral Tantive IV

Interrupts (25) Alter x2 Courage Of A Skywalker Don’t Forget The Droids x2 Endor Celebration Glancing Blow Nabrun Leids Narrow Escape x2 Put That Down x2 Rebel Barrier x2 Sense x3 Shocking Information Smoke Screen Sorry About The Mess The Signal x3 Transmission Terminated Weapon Levitation

Effects (4) Battle Plan Mantellian Savrip Order To Engage The Planet That It’s Farthest From

Weapons (2) Anakin’s Lightsaber Obi-Wan’s Lightsaber ‘

Strategy: ‘

Recently the DS EJP has become very popular, especially with all the new support cards that the DS has at their disposal. They have new characters with weapons, and can instantly capture your characters, turning even battles into lopsided beatdowns. The LS used to rule the ground and now they are on the run. But the DS can be overcome, if the LS is patient, and picks their opportunities to attack.

One tenant of playing against a capturing deck is not to lose any characters, otherwise they will fall victim to All Wrapped Up. So had to take precautions to deal with this. First, most of the mains in his deck already have immunity to attrition. Ben Kenobi and Master Luke get the call on this over their EPP counterparts. Boussh is included both for her spy ability and well as here immunity. Orrimaarko and Twass make the cut here as well. Second, Yoda at his Hut makes everyone immune to less than 2, and helps the characters who already have some immunity become even harder to get rid off. Finally, Mantellian Savrip makes its return. The Bacta Tank is not going to do it this time as the DS will grab the just forfieted character before they hit the tank. We must keep them on the table. To defend the Savrip we have three Senses. This is not as many as we would like, but there is only so much room to allocate to this. This is not a sense-everything-they-play deck. You must be selective and hold the Senses so that you have them to cancel a Masterful Move or a game breaking card like You Are Beaten or Hidden Weapons.

Now that we have defended ourselves against All Wrapped Up, we are left with the problem of weapons and instant capturing. First, most capturing occurs during battle, so we may want to avoid battle until we are prepared to deal with our adversary. Narrow Escape and Rebel Barrier help to ensure that the DS does not come calling without us being ready for them. Combined with Order to Engage, not only do you live to fight another day, but you can cause a solid 3 force loss as well. They drop something powerful, you Barrier it and they can’t attack – 3 force loss. The drop something else, Narrow Escape to where they have presence – 3 force loss. These used interrupts are high destiny (4 and 5) and are easy to track for when you strike back. And speaking of striking back, that is where Put That Down comes into play. You will find that the DS will take more risks if they think they can capture someone and apply beatdown. Ruin their plans with Put That Down. Good targets are 4-LOM to keep Ben’s or Luke’s text alive, and IG-88 to keep Han or Chewie in the battle. Of course it works just as well with sabers, blasters or the ever annoying Dengar’s Modified Riot Gun. The Senses can play a role here as well, ruining the plans of those who would Hidden Weapons their way into a beatdown. Without these tactics, the DS are no more powerful than they were before, in fact they are worse off, because they will take risks that you can exploit.

To round the interrupts out we have the standard dueling defense of Glancing Blow and Courage of a Skywalker. Note that the non-duel use of Courage actually works with Master Luke, making him power 11, very nice when at the same site as Ben. Endor Celebration is included because we do realize the space fleet is not going to defeat the Executor and the supporting ships that will enforce an occupation. This does not mean that the fleet can not be effective, it can hit and fade, and maybe cause some damage with Rebel Barrier and Order to Engage. But it will lose a war of attrition unless you commit all of your mains and ships with Savrip support. Remember that the ships can also serve as Savrip fodder if not needed in space.

Don’t Forget the Droids is numbers defense and a two nice destiny sixes floating in the deck. One Nabrun Leids can help get Ben off of Tatooine if need be or can be a beatdown card, just remember that Oota-Goota is free with All Wrapped Up in play. Shocking Info is anti-manipulation, and the Senses help too. If you see scanning crew draw for Yoda and use Sense, he can not get S-crewed because he is not a rebel. Smoke Screen is very useful with Boelo canceling draws in the AC. Sorry About the Mess is anti-spy or beatdown, depending on what you need most. The Signals help get Order to Engage or Savrip on the table and are high destiny. As mentioned before the Senses are here to either protect your key interrupts and effects or kill theirs. Alter, although less useful than Sense can cancel Lateral Damage, Bad Feeling Have I and Scum and Villainy if Jabba is not on the table or they do not control three JP sites. And lastly Weapon Levitation can be used to help ensure your mains get their sticks early. With all the fours in this deck, it should not be difficult to hit almost anyone. Once you have the sabers, you can use the card again to steal Mara’s or Vader’s.

Other than that, Battle Plan and PTIFF are here for Ops protection and the whole HB set up is used to gain force activation early. As a side benefit your opponent is less likely to start something like Bad Feeling Have I against a Hidden Base start. The Monks help in drain races and can use their ability for Sense and Alter as well. They also cancel JP gametext, which could be a plus.

Here is how it stacks up against popular DS decks.

Hunt Down – Dueling Defense cards are here, so draw for them and the sticks before you deploy Ben or Luke. If you have to choose, go with Ben. If they do not duel use the Monks, Sabers and Cantina shuffle to win the drain race. Your immunity to attrition will come in very handy here.

ECC Objective – you should be able to hold some CC sites if you need to do so. Try to get Lando in the Falcon out quickly and into the clouds. Occupation should not be a problem.

Big Blue – a tough one here, stay inside with the Monks and shuffle drain. Use their generally low destiny draws to their advantage, no large confrontations in space unless it is to fend off the effects of Imperial Decree. Boussh is a great undercover spy because you have to draw a zero for Bubo to eat her.

Ops – You can start Battle Plan or PTIFF, depending on the distance to the planet that they pick, then signal for the other. Use Order to Engage to harass them on their planet and Master Luke to bounce Operatives. Boussh will ensure you can drain on their turf. Monk drains will help as well.

Omnious Rumors – treat like Big Blue, but the lack of space in the deck will hurt. Commit your mains to space, but the Monks and Twass on the ground and hope for the best. Definitely this decks hardest matchup.

Overall – the deck is best suited to take on the EJP objective, although with Order to Engage, B’omarr enhanced drains and a host of annoying battle interrupts it is flexible enough to have a chance against anything. ‘