Monkey TIE s

Title: Monkey TIE s
Author: Steven "Sir Yoda" Lewis
Date: Aug 15, 2000 Rating: 4.5

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Cards:

‘Starting (4) Set Your Caourse for Alderaan Death Star Alderaan DDB

Locations (9) Wakeelmui Sullust x2 Kiffex x2 Endor Kashyyyk Kessel Asteroid Field

Characters (4) Emperor x2 Lord Vader x2

Starships (19) Dreadnaught x2 TIE Vanguard x6 TIE Fighter TIE Advanced TIE Scout TIE Interceptor TIE Defender Mark 1 Black 11 Obsidian 7 Obsidian 8 Scimitar Squadron TIE Emperor’s Sword Emperor’s Shield

Admiral’s Orders (2) Fighter Cover x2

Effects (9) Mobilization Points (starting) Resistance (starting) There Is No Try (start vs. everything but Profit) Battle Order (start vs. Profit) Pride of the Empire Ability, Ability, Ability Lateral Damage Sienar Fleet Systems x2

Interrupts (13) Prep’d Defenses (starting) Short-range Fighters Operation as Planned x2 Masterful Move Ghhhk x2 Twilek Advisor Imperial Barrier x2 All Power to Weapons x3 ‘

Strategy: ‘

First of all, I realize how junky this deck looks. It looks like a scrubbish pile of cards. But trust me, it wins like a champ

Drop Emperor to the D*DB as soon as you can (since he’s taking no battle damage, he’s invincible there save a lucky saber swing). If your opponent goes there first, drop Vader in stead and back him up with your Admiral’s Order. Drop whatever systems you get as soon as you can and dump one TIE Vanguard at each system. Save about 5 Force every turn. Once Sienar comes down, start backing up the Vanguards with miscellaneous TIE’s and retrieving Force. Your drains are enormous once you get 3 or more systems out and your opponent will usually be unable to do anything about it. If you get attacked, either react with a few more TIEs and an All Power to Weapons OR just Ghhhk out of the battle and wreck him on your turn with a massive Lateral Damage + Dreadnaught + TIE beatdown. You’ll find that most of the time, your opponent will be too scared to attack your Vanguards anyway. Evetually, drop AAA and use Vader to impede your opponent wherever he goes on the ground. Don’t drop your Dreadnaughts until you’re ready to attack your opponent (a Landing Claw or two could be devastating). This deck has lost only once in two major tournaments (Days 1 and 2 of Continentals) and gave me a 2nd Place finish.

Why the junky TIE’s and not just Vanguards? Grimtaash immunity. Don’t be afraid to draw several cards (you will need to). When your opponent gets a Grimtaash he will most likely play it LOST, which will only get a few of your interrupts and won’t touch any of your TIE’s. Besides, some of them are quite good in and of themselves (like the ability=2 TIE’s and the squadrons). Some of you will argue that playing ALL Vanguards is better, but I assure you, retrieving more with Short-range is not worth risking a lost game to a LOST Grimataash.

Why the junky Admiral’s Orders? These are in the deck primarily to stop I’ll Take the Leader, which can be quite devastating. They are also good for boosting Vader’s immunity at the D*DB if you can’t get the Emperor down. They are also trackable 6’s (which you can track with Operational As Planned or through your retrieval engine). They are also a scare tactic (when your opponent sees the weapon-boosting ability on it, he may think twice before dropping a wreckless superfalcon).

Why Operational As Planned? It is a trackable destiny 5 which you can use any time. It is great for Grimtaash defense (putting a card like Ghhhk or All Power back down to avoid LOST Grimtaash devastation). But it is primarily in there to give you another Force in case someone tries to Frozen Assets you so you can still play your interrupts in battle (like Ghhhk). This card is phenomenal in this deck.

Why the Asteroid Field? It is another place to drain and also a way to kill your own TIEs to your Used Pile (with Sienar). You can also cancel your opponent’s drains at the related system if he gets a large space package out. But mostly, it is to give your lone, hyperspeedless Vanguards somewhere to run to avoid a beatdown.

Now for the match-ups…

VS. Profit This is your only hard match-up. Start Battle Order in stead of There Is No Try, but deploy TINT as soon as you get it. Drop Emperor / Vader as soon as possible and drop TIE’s wrecklessly (most Profit decks usually don’t have space anyway). Draw like a madman for your systems and establish your drains fast. I played against a Profit at Day 1 Continentals and wrecked it. You can usually outdrain him.

VS. Dagobah Training Play the deck as normal. Most Dagobah decks are slow, so your lightning-fast drains should do them in. Watch for a beatdown, though, especially if he flips.

VS. EBO Wreck him in space. Use the Asteroid Field to cancel one of his drains. Watch for an opportunity to drop Pride of the Empire for some constant Force loss. Should be an easy win.

VS. Hidden Base Play as normal, but be more conscious of a possible beatdown. Probe like mad whenever you can and use your Battle Order to slow his drains. You should wreck him.

VS. TIGIH/ICSH Do NOT pick up Luke with Vader under ANY circumstances Don’t even put Vader down until late-game. With the Emperor on the Death Star, your opponent will be winning many battles, so it’s not too hard to convert Vader. Just let Luke drain and outdrain him with your TIE’s. Pick up the Emperor with a Dreadnaught if you start losing too many cards to I Feel The Conflict.

VS. Eloms Are you kidding? Auto-win.

VS. Throne Room Be much more cautious with your TIE’s since your opponent gets such a big Force jump on you. Deploy TIE’s with backups and protect Sienar against a possible Alter. Mid-game spread and drain quickly and your opponent should not be able to handle it.

Once again, this deck looks junky, but of all the TIE decks out there, this one beats EVERYTHING more consistently than any other I’ve seen. This deck was developed while trying to find a Dark TIE deck that can beat Profit. My deck testing buddy Clint Hays suggested Vanguards and I came up with this. If you doubt me, build it and try it.

Lastly, why do I call it “Monkey TIE’s” you ask? Because following the simple strategy above, a monkey could play with this deck and win. It often requires very little cognitive ability to be effective. Just work your deck and the opponent gets wrecked.

2nd Place 2000 Continentals, Steven Lewis ‘