Guarded Supreme Leader w/ Store Championship Write Up 2.0

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This is a deck I have been play testing for a couple weeks and finally played at my local Store Championship on 8-5-18. The deck is pretty straight forward and I was rather shocked when I realized there was not already a version of this deck on SWDestinydb.com. In fact, that is the only reason I am doing a write up on it. The plan is to use Snoke's power action on the 50% damage sides of the Guard or the 33.3% damage sides of the Executioner while building a board state that can be punishing mid game. Getting It Binds All Things or Enrage early is paramount in the deck's success as it does get resource dependent rather quickly. This is offset to some extent by turning a 2 damage side to a 4 damage side with Snoke, but you still want to jam down at least one weapon per turn if possible.

I ended up finishing 3-2 in the Swiss and made the cut in 5th place. My two losses came to eTalzin/Mando/Mando being piloted by one of our locals (Dustin) and to eLuke3/Rey1 being piloted by a really nice guy from a couple cities over.

Game 1 - W - eYoda/Cassian/Anakin - I knew there was a good chance I would see this deck as it had just won GenCon a couple days before the event. Sure enough, it was the first deck I faced. My biggest concern was being able to burn through two Second Chances and two Force Illusions. He was only able to get one Second Chance down before I had killed both Anakin and Cassian. I was fortunate to get both Ancient Lightsabers on the table early and last round I just had to cycle them as the game went to time. That deck is scary to play against, but if you can get the yellow off the board quickly turning off Second Chances and Easy Pickings it balances out.

Game 2 - W - eTalzin/Mando/Mando - Another deck I knew I had to be ready for and had play tested a little bit against it. I didn't feel like this was an overly favorable match up for me and it was a very close game. I don't remember the details of this one terribly well, but I know I burned down Talzin quickly and this just plugged away at the two Mandos. Their ping damage can be brutal, but I used Snoke's power action on the Royal Guard's shield side twice this game to absorb that damage. From there, it was just a normal game of play big sticks and roll out heavy damage. In this match up, you very much have to play around the Guardian battlefield as they will snatch your base damage die away from the big modifiers on Maul's Saber, Ancient, etc.

Game 3 - L - eLuke3/eRey1 - Outside of my list, surprise deck of the tournament for sure. Two of us, me included, were confused when we say Profitable Connection on the table; "that doesn't fit in Luke/Rey?...OH!!!, that is Rey1?!?!?" This was one of my favorite games of the day as my opponent was super friendly and the game was extremely close. We went back and forth slinging damage, healing with Ancients, slinging more damage, for several rounds. I made a very costly error holding a Force Illusion in hand going into round 4 and he played a Swiftness into a weapon on Rey and rolled out lethal. I didn't see the play coming and was holding the Force Illusion because he was at about mid health with Rey and I was planning to play a Maul's Saber and go for the kill. Never got that chance and took the L to a good play.

Game 4 - L - eTalzin/Mando/Mando Second time seeing this deck and it was a decent game, but I was unable to get to my ramp early enough and my Royal Guard died first action round 2. It was an uphill climb from there and while the game evened out some by the end of round 2, I was in a big enough hole early that I was unable to climb out of it. Dustin took this one down pretty easily all things considered. He had mitigation when he needed it, I was unable to protect either the Royal Guard or Executioner and this one ended as quickly as it began. Good job, Dustin.

Game 5 - W - eYoda/eReikan - I knew this match up was bound to happen in the final round as my play testing partner, Chris, was also 2-2 and we ALWAYS get matched up in tournaments. This pairing was not ideal as I was pushing for both of us to make the cut and this match ensured that wasn't happening. I had pretty extensive experience playing against this deck and I hadn't lost to it yet running eSnoke/Royal Guard/Executioner. Chris was actually way out in front through two rounds and my deck was already extremely thin. However, he didn't hit many of my upgrades and I was fairly loaded by midway through round 3. He played a little too aggressive at the end trying to finish off deck rather than mitigating and it allowed a truck load of damage to come through for the win.

Top Cut - L - eLuke3/Rey1 - I had the rematch against this deck first round of the cut and it did not go well. He found his upgrades much earlier than the previous game and came out swinging hard. I took a ton of damage through the first two rounds and was not able to overcome it. It got close towards the end, but he made another really good play having a 1 melee side showing and claiming his battlefield, which increased it to 2 since he controlled a Plot. Through two games he was a great opponent who played well and I really enjoyed the match ups. P.S. - this deck went on the finals and lost to an Aphra support deck. Don't sleep on Rey1.

All in all, I think this deck has the potential to be really good and I think if it gets some minor tweaks here and there, this could be a very viable Snoke deck. My play testing before the Store Championship saw very few losses against a wide range of deck types. Let me know what you think and what you would change. Thanks for reading!

Steve