Mill You Must, Win You Will - eYoda / ePadme (w/Guide) 1.0

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• 1.0

Hello everyone!

Fresh off the heels of the Legacies pre-release I come to you with what myself, many of you who are in the subreddit, and my local group of Star Wars Destiny players have helped make.

Let me begin with saying that this guide is comprehensive in description, but not in combo. For specific interactions, you'll need to play the deck or play against the deck to learn them all. There are almost too many combos to count with this deck, as special chaining is such a wide ambiguous thing, that it's hard to pin down any best way to resolve things (although there always is a best way to resolve things). I don't see enough guided deck profiles on here, so I thought I'd take the time to make one for you.

I started off with cards like Jedi Robes, Tough Haggler, Sound The Alarm, Negotiate, Local Patrol, and Scrap Heap to name a few.

While not bad cards, there were either cards that did the same thing but better, the cards I chose were just bad, or the card was too expensive for what it was. Taking out Sound The Alarm hurt, but it was needed.

The choice to go with Padme Amidala - Queen of Naboo is an easy one, you can have her at elite, with room for profitable connection. Amazing starting potential there. she has the unique ability to special chain with yoda and gives access to the decent amount of yellow mill and mitigation. The only thing I do not like about it... is that I can't run our lord and saviour C-3PO. But, the deck is good without him and running a bad red card instead of that second Padme dice is not worth it..... Trust me I tried... (PTSD trigger event)

Command Center - Lothal is an easy and obvious choice. On the off chance that you roll out and go first, you will find yourself claiming a lot against slow decks and rainbow decks, but not against fast decks like eJango / ePhasma; and claiming about 50% of the time against other medium speed decks, like r2p2.

I played Thrunkar for a long time, as long as it was able to be played actually. So I was used to equal parts removal, resource, and mill. In Yoda Mill? You can't spend cards, time, or resources trying different avenues of control. With this deck you have to dedicate 90% of the deck to deck and hand mill. I feel as if the remaining is 5% resource building and 5% mitigation control. Regardless, the choices you see in the deck are made for the sole reason of the theme.

Let's get into specific card choices and some deck strategy:

A big part of the mill potential is special chaining, which I'll touch on first:

When I discovered special chaining, I thought it was a rules oversight, before I saw that the rules actually specify that it's a thing. Welp.. thanks FFG, you created an excellent mechanic here, and I'll use it to my advantage. Special chaining, for those of you who do not know about it, is when (for example) you start out with a Yoda - Wizened Master dice showing special, and a yoda dice showing blank. You choose to resolve special die, use effect to refocus the blank to a special (and mill a card), and then you're able to resolve the now special die as part of your earlier action (which was resolving specials). So the mechanic is pretty good, but it is made even more effective when you add in amazing yellow and blue upgrades with specials aligned with your theme of milling.

Con Artist is one of the cards most deadly gained early game. by round 5 you have 5 damage on it and have already used it to mill 15, which is nuts. it averages 6 mill for me if I get it out by round 3. With two specials showing, it's one of the most effective cards to special chain with yoda, since he can refocus any side to the special side. Definitely a 2-of.

Cunning has only one special side, but can be refocused into any special on board (meaning yoda or padme depending on the game state you're in). For a 2-cost, it's good, but the sides aren't amazing, and I want to see it once a game. 1-of.

Force Meditation is like Con Artist in that it has 2 special sides and they are specifically beneficial to our special chaining mill deck. For a 2 cost upgrade, you can use the special to mill 2 off the top of your opponent's deck; a free Padme Amidala - Queen of Naboo effect.

Force Speed is an interesting card, and was a hard choice. I playtested it about 5 hours playing it the wrong way (rolling out the character opposite of the one with force speed), and almost took it out completely. Previously, having been a red / yellow villain user, I didn't know that the best force speed play is to roll out the attached character before your other character(s), and then you can claim it to roll out and claim your other character during a special chain, which is pretty baller. I run this at 2 now, and will never not run this at 2.

Lone Operative is amazing. Remember when I said this deck has mitigation? this is it. Like with Force Speed and Con Artist, this has 2 special sides (see a theme here?).With 20 health you can seem like a house made of sticks. What your opponent doesn't know, is that there is a brick wall lining, and this is the brick wall. At one point I had two of these on Padme and special chained with Yoda to heal 4, mill 6, shield 1, 1 refocus (used to focus one of the Lone Operative dice to a special). Can be amazing, and keeps your characters in the game, especially if you get it round 2 or 3. Play at 2 because you have the resources, and the cost is worth it.

Maz's Goggles The cost to spot a yellow character can bite you in the ass, but we'll play it at 1 because dropping this out first turn is amazing for this deck, especially if your Yoda - Wizened Master rolls are sub-par. Run at 1 because at 2 you'll see it too much and really only want to use it as a stepping stone to cards like Con Artist, Lone Operative, and Cunning.

and of course:

Yoda - Wizened Master has 2 special sides, no blanks, and has one of the best specials I've ever seen in this game; not to mention his elite value is only 13. Just wow.

Padme Amidala - Queen of Naboo has 2 special sides like YoGabbaGabba above, but can mill one, or two by paying a resource. With a double refocus side, and a hand mill side, this is one of the best hero mill cards in the game. Easy choice, easy elite, easy easy easy.

Resources:

Now, resources can be a tricky mistress, some decks give you too many, and you're stuck with 18 resources, but both of your buyouts in the discard pile. (PTSD Thrunkar memory). In this deck, I worked extra hard to make sure we could afford everything, and that the in game economy is extremely balanced.Take a look at the card cost graph below. You'll see a nice trend where there's almost a perfect balance of 0,1,2, and 3 value cards in this deck. Very affordable and very effective. But, how do we deal with getting multiple big upgrades on board by the end of round 2? Let me show you.

First is Profitable Connection. You have extra points left, use them. this card lets you start with an extra resource at the beginning of round 1. Cheers. That's a 3 drop on turn one if you're feeling frisky.

Next up we have Chance Cube.... with Yoda's ability to refocus on 3 sides of his die, and Padme's to do one double refocus... this is a no brainer. Like in Thrunkar, you play this and bask in the riches of in-game currency. (no stripper event card has been created for SWD so far, so you should be able to save them up for upgrades, just watch out on that death stick addiction, THAT will get rid of resources real quick).

Yoda - Wizened Master can, of course, provide you with a resource via his special if you need it badly or want to make an expensive drop on Padme before rolling her out. Look at the gamestate, and evaluate what's more important before using Yoda for resources. It's definitely not a bad thing, so don't be afraid to do it.

Double-Dealing provides a resource a round, almost guaranteed. You have around 50% of your dice sides as specials. That's nuts. This card takes advantage of that and plays itself for free for the round you put it in, and puts out like a beast later in the game (especially if you have two out... gg).

Truce... now.... I had this at 2, but one is good. Truce is a card that helps you turbo out cards when you have it in hand, and it is great! But you don't NEED it, it is a turbo card. helps you and gets you moving. It's simple, effective, and at one you see it occasionally and it's always a toss-up whether it's worth. Consider your opponent's resources and their type of deck. Against vehicles, giving the opponent a resource is sometimes the difference of them having Fang Fighter on board, or an AT-ST.... so yeah, watch out.

Shields and Health

So there not much in the way of shielding, but Yoda - Wizened Master provides them when needed during special chaining, and when you roll him badly you can just claim the shield sometimes.

Caution Provides you with much need love. When you roll badly with Yoda, you can waste his disrupt or shield side for a Caution, and gain 3 shields on Padme. This is great because Padme is the card that gets focused damage from the opponent 75% of the games I've played. This is mainly due to her presence, special, and the fact that 7 of your cards have either "spot a yellow" or "yellow character only" restriction. Caution is a mandatory 2.

Second Chance is a staple at 1. You'll see it every game eventually, and when you do, you can save it for high times, or drop it like it's hot. Heal 5 when about to die, epic (and cheap for this kind of effect).

Force Illusion is just a second chance, but cheaper, and instead of healing, it can absorb any one dice of damage attached character would receive by milling yourself that value. Mace can suck it with that 4 dmg.

Lone Operative, as I mentioned earlier, provides the ability to heal your character multiple times throughout the game, and end-game, kicks itself into overdrive and can heal for 3 during a special chain. We run this at 2, or else we die.

It would be neglectful of me to not mention that Force Speed and Force Meditation have a shield side. You know, worst case scenario and all that. I've been in the position where the opponent is completely milled out and I just need to last the round versus 15 indirect damage possible... so even 1 shield is killer.

Mitigation

There's enough mitigation to get rid of the big hitting dice, and that's it. You need to balance your mitigation, shields, healing, and special chaining to mill your opponent while also remembering to stay alive.

Electroshock, restricted to yellow, staple at 1. great card for cost.

Entangle An arguably better electroshock, just costs one more and can rid the field of your opponent's 3 and special , among other uses.

Krayt Dragon Howl, I had this at 2, but would CONSTANTLY SEE THIS AFTER I HAD ALREADY MILLED OUT MY OPPONENT. the stipulation with this card is that, your opponent can choose to "discard the top 2 cards of their deck" even without cards in their deck.It sucks, but we deal with it. Run 1 because round 1 through 3/4 you are likely solid.

Loth-Cat and Mouse, like Electroshock, it is a staple. But it's not restrictive. But it lets your opponent mitigate as well. It's a He Doesn't Like You for neutral yellow.

Deck and Hand Mill

It may seem obvious at this point, so I'll just list the mill cards with a sentence or two.

Yoda - Wizened Master has two specials on each die, with the ability to mill from deck. He also has a hand mill side for late game stubborn opponents.

Padme Amidala - Queen of Naboo Has two specials that can mill 1, or 2 by paying a resource. Like Yoda, she has a hand mill side as well.

Con Artist, two specials on each die, mills 1 for each damage on upgrade. Has Hand Mill side.

Cunning has a special that can be any of the above specials to mill, and has a hand mill side.

Force Meditation Has two specials on each die that let you mill 2.

Lone Operative has a double hand mill side that can be focused to by Yoda or Padme to really destroy the opponent's hand. Like a pseudo Jabba the Hutt - The Great and Mighty.

Bespin Wing Guard, a new card that I loooooove. Pay one resource to make your opponent choose a card in hand to discard. (PLEASE NOTE THAT UNTIL RIVALS IS LEGAL, THIS CARD WILL BE REPLACED BY X2 Pickpocket )

Friends in Low Places, staple at 2, can remove a potentially devastating event, which in turn is a hand mill. The best part about this card is it's your choice, and you get to see their entire hand to plan around. Play first at the beginning of the round.

Maz's Goggles is fun. one special side that let's you discard any event from an opponents hand and you get to look at their hand. Cheap and effective.

Krayt Dragon Howl Mills your opponent for two if they really don't want to remove a die. Happens a lot that they will mill instead.

Command Center - Lothal is a card you'll be able to claim sometimes, and when you do it's always a good time. Your opponent will sometimes waste a die to get he battlefield if they see you are close. Love it.

So there's one card I haven't talked about yet and that's Determination. Determination is an amazing card with this deck. Besides Specials, the second most prevalent die side is refocus, so you have an excellent chance of being able to use this card in most any round of the game. For the same reason we run Chance Cube, we run Determination. You can resolve a blank as a special since they both have a value of 0.

As far as strategy goes, I went into such detail for my card choices, that i if you read through up until this point, you'll know exactly what to do in each situation. I won't tell you which cards to pitch for mulligan, and which cards to play on who (I lied, put force speed on Yoda). While I always recommend rolling out Padme first, that's only when Force Speed is not on Yoda yet.

Last thing I'll touch on is card type ratio. You'll notice that half of the deck is dedicated to upgrades. This is because we need this deck to do what it does, and do it fast. Special chaining is not only good because it prevents your opponent from removing your dice, but also because you can quickly get what you need done. This is important. Force Speed isn't just there because it's a "staple", it's to speed your deck up and make sure you have a chance to: shield up, drop support, mitigate, gain resources, and all of the lovely specials the deck has. Making the choice of WHICH upgrade to use at any given time as the game progresses is the real strategy.

Let's take this starting hand, post-mulligan, for example: (Force Illusion), (Chance Cube), (Force Meditation), (Force Speed), (Krayt Dragon Howl

Let's also say that you're going second and you put the two shields on Yoda to encourage your opponent to target Padme, what I generally do.

They spend 2, and drop a holdout, and then roll out, and roll a 2 indirect damage, 2 modified indirect damage, and a resource.

You're thinking, wow, this is going to get messy real quick. You see you have Krayt Dragon Howl, which seems the obvious best choice. But then you see Force Illusion and see that no cards the opponent has in play have anything higher than 2 damage and +2 damage modifiers. So you have a choice to make. The "correct" answer in this situation, would be to drop a force illusion on Padme. What happens is when they claim the 2 and +2 indirect damage you discard the Force Illusion and mill yourself for 4, not 2. Since the +2 on the indirect is a modifier, the original 2 BECOMES 4, meaning you can block all 4 damage; leaving your characters untouched and shiny.

Following this, you see your Chance Cube and your Force Speed for your 0 drop and again, we have a choice to make. Initially, and as a general rule of thumb, if you have two 0 drops, put the lesser valued one down before the better one. This assures that if your opponent has a rend in hand, they will use it on your Chance Cube and not your god like Force Speed. Depending on the game state though (always can change), you may need those resources from Chance Cube and don't need the speed and round ending potential of Force Speed. Regardless, if they have a rend, they'll use it, because they know they are playing a deck and hand mill combo, so it won't last long in their hand anyway. Use it or lose it mindset usually sets in about round 3 I've noticed, when they are just going full turbo on drops before they get milled.

I could go into where to go from here, but it gets pretty obvious. Slap down Force Meditation, slap down force speed, roll out Yoda,Force Speed resolve with other specials, roll out padme, special chain like a boss. That has a mill potential of 8 right there in the first turn. If you get your opponent with Krayt Dragon Howl, they'll usually choose to mill round 1 and 2 instead of remove (which is a mistake on their part, but it always happens I swear...). THEN, if you claimed, you made them mill 2. So that would make 12 mill, which is more than half of their deck provided their hand is empty now. Do something similar to this the next round and you've won the game.

I'm always open to talk scenarios and card values versus other card values in certain specific situations, just hit me up :)

If anything I've said doesn't sound right, let me know. This is the effort of about 30 hours of play, so it's in its infancy and may very well have room to improve. So, if you're interested in having some direct input to the future of this deck, play it. Play it and tell me your experiences, likes, dislikes, and suggestions for improvement. I will defend my choices only as much as I see their usefulness. I'm always open to constructive criticism.

I'm here to give pointers, have discussions on card choices, and to play this game as well. You can add me on Tabletop Simulator (Supaidaman on Steam) if you'd like to test the deck with me. I'm a decent pilot of mill, but only because my previous experiences give me a good basis to start from (Thrunkar PTSD occurs).

Cheers guys! Let me know what you think in the comments below.

TL;DR - "Claim your specials, Stay alive" - Abraham Lincoln