Kenobi’s Focus 2.0

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This is an experimental control deck based around Kenobi.

Section 1: Deck Overview

Kenobi and Maz each come equipped with a pair of sides dedicated to focusing dice. Because Maz can, on activation, resolve any two dice in the order of your choosing, it is easy to consistently deal damage off by rolling in Kenobi, who will be followed the next round by Maz, allowing for the immediate resolution of damage sides (if present) or focus sides to set up damage against which your opponent cannot respond, if they have not removed the damage dealing dice already. The deck includes options to remove your opponent’s dice (including Kenobi himself), as well as heal your characters enough to stay in the fight long enough to bring down your opponent.

Section 2: Why Kenobi and Maz?

Kenobi serves several functions in this deck. First, he is a constant damage removal engine thanks to his guardian ability (which allows you to force your opponent to deal suboptimal damage, or removes their ability to modify their higher rolls). Second, his focus sides enable him to turn dice to their best possible results. Third, Kenobi has a powerful 3 melee damage side, which can be modified or made unblockable via vibroknife. Finally, Kenobi can play a blue card for free from either your hand or discard pile, allowing you to get away with discarding your more expensive upgrades or events when needed to reroll dice.
Maz brings action economy to the table by allowing you to resolve two dice after her activation. She also provides access to useful events and supports, and Thermal Detonator against 3 or 4 character decks. Both Kenobi and Maz come with two individual focus sides on their dice (including Kenobi’s 2 focus side). Since the dice are rolled independently of each other, we have a 1/3 chance on each die to hit the focus side. With three dice, this probabilistically ensures that we will have at least one focus side available to resolve when Maz activates.

Section 3: Main Plaza

Praise be to Empire at War for this lovely gift of a battlefield. The plaza serves two functions: it heals our characters, and it allows us to dump damage onto an opponent’s character (of our choice!) at a key moment later in the game. Of course, this is a double edged sword-our opponent may be able to claim and slam that damage down on our characters as well. However, this deck tends to finish rounds quickly thanks to having few characters and supports to activate (and Maz’s impressive ability to resolve dice on her activation). Having so many focuses available also decreases the number of turns needed to reroll dice to desired results, and Force Speed can also increase the efficiency at which the deck can progress through the round.

Section 4: Card Choice Rationale

Upgrades:

Ancient Lightsaber: 2 resource upgrade with a potent +3 side and the ability to heal 2 damage off of attached character AND be played without restrictions. Dangerous to our opponent and potentially life saving. We need 2.

Force Illusion: This one is a bummer to draw if your opponent has Vibroknife, but failing that, it is a life saver. It also secretly empowers Kenobi’s death trigger by filling the discard pile with (potentially) more blue cards for him to play. 2 is suggested, but you might prefer dice removal instead.

Force Speed: 0 cost upgrade that enables us to move even more efficiently through a round. Can also help to establish Kenobi as a threat to protect Maz. Definitely need 2.

Lightsaber: The key here is the redeploy ability, which means that we can stick it on either character and make our opponent hesitant to strike at them. You may wish to replace it with Rey’s Lightsaber if you want more consistent melee sides and don’t care about the special. Either way, we want 2.

One With The Force: A potent upgrade on its own, given its considerably powerful focus sides, OWTF is the classic choice for Kenobi’s death trigger. If it’s already on the battlefield when he dies, even better-it’s not unique, so you could have two at once or play a card more suited to the situation. 2 please!

Thermal Detonator: This is our best tool to deal with decks that throw 3 or more characters into play and expect use to reasonably deal with them. It’s also a great way to avoid guardian effects (as it has no damage sides). I use 2, but you may want 1 if you want to substitute in more dice removal.

Vibroknife: Ambush, a wicked combo with Running Interference, and the ability to bypass shields with melee damage (when the vast majority of our deck is melee damage) make this a must-run-2.

Supports:

Running Interference: The definition of a control card, and amazing to play with the ambush cards at our disposal, RI is crucial to keep our opponent from acting efficiently. If we play Vibroknife, we can then activate RI on the “play a card” action, and then roll out whoever we want. Our opponent will then not be able to play a card, ensuring that they will not be able respond with removal cards from their hands until you’ve had a chance to resolve your dice. It can also slow down activations from your opponent’s characters. 2 copies are strongly recommended.

Events:

At Peace: This allows us to turn all dice to blanks. Since we can usually get our dice resolved quickly thanks to focuses, this effectively blanks our our opponents. I run a 1 of, but going to 2 could be good in decks that focus on removal.

Block: Answers a crazy damage board state (ideal roll, focuses, pitch to reroll shenanigans, etc.). You usually don’t want more than 1, but it is a life saver. Dodge: See Block, but think ranged damage. 1 of is fine.

Draw Attention: The ability to move damage off of your opponent’s first choice to kill can break their strategy for dealing with your deck. Although you can proc Kenobi’s death trigger with it, this is usually not an ideal play. Use it to keep a character alive if your opponent has been focusing them. 1 of is fine. You might prefer impersonate, but the two resource cost is a bit prohibitive.

Electroshock: Get rid of specials, modified sides, low damage, or anything else you’d rather not deal with. Great removal...so long as Maz is alive. Definitely need 2.

Friends in Low Places: These occupy the slot formerly held by Fast Hands. Usually, you’re going to use FiLP to get rid of nasty removal cards (like The Best Defense) so that you can get a sense of how much removal you’re going up against and ensure that your dice resolve as optimally as possible. 2, for sure.

Loth-Cat and Mouse: A slightly worse version of He Doesn’t Like You. Just play it when you have no good dice or only one left that you don’t care about (usually, if you don’t need Maz’s character die, she makes a fantastic choice for this). This is probably your best removal card, so play 2.

My Ally Is The Force: Imagine the ode to joy sounding when you drop this card. Use it to turn a 3 damage side into at least 6 damage and watch your opponents cry if they see modified sides for the follow up resolution. This card enables explosive plays. Use 2.

New Orders: We don’t rely on our battlefield to win the game, but having Main Plaza helps to keep damage off of our characters and on our opponents’, where it belongs. Plus, if you can use New Orders and claim the battlefield in the same round, you can heal off 2 damage, or slam down one damage onto a character of your choice (unaffected by shields <3). We don’t really need more than one, though, since our battlefield isn’t the crux of our strategy.

Trickery: A fantastic removal card for Kenobi. It doesn’t require a yellow character, so Maz’s death won’t make it a dead draw. Trickery can remove several dice at once, and it can load up your discard pile with blue cards to resolve on Kenobi’s death trigger. That being said, it is situational-you never want it to be the last card in hand, and you don’t want to play it early on in a round. 1 of should suffice.

Section 5: General Strategies

At the start of a round, play upgrades or support first so that you can watch an opponent roll out. This will allow you to guard back any damage that comes up with Kenobi, if necessary, and will equip your characters with more dice to be greater threats when they do activate. Prioritize damage over any other sides when considering what to focus-two extra turns on Force Speed may not mean much if you have to pitch to reroll to get damage from Kenobi or another source. Once you’re done resolving dice, control your opponent as much as you safely can before claiming the battlefield.

An opponent utilizing damage to win the game might choose to target Kenobi first if they want to eliminate your consistent damage, or they may choose Maz as their target to reduce your action economy. No matter who they want to die first, do your best to heal that character as much as possible with Ancient Lightsaber and Main Plaza. If Kenobi is going to die, make sure to set up the board for Maz as much as possible-having her naked with no upgrades will all but ensure your loss.

Don’t be afraid to pitch to reroll expensive upgrades like One With The Force to get the sides you desire. You can always play them off of Kenobi’s death trigger if he dies first.

If Kenobi is the last character standing, ALWAYS ROLL HIM IN AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE. This will ensure that if your opponent can kill him as their first action, he may still be able to respond off his trigger. My Ally Is The Force WILL allow you to win if you can kill their last character off of its ability, since it triggers before Kenobi dies.

Lemme know what you think! This is an experimental deck, using my favorite character from the SW universe (Kenobi). I appreciate any constructive feedback. Thanks for reading! :D