Miss Vader (with gameplay notes) 2.0

• Versões
• 2.0
• 1.0

A favorite from just Awakenings days.....

What's better than mitigating your opponents die...how about them MISSING the chance to mitigate yours cause they can't get to the cards in their deck fast enough.

This deck is designed to be played in such a fashion that you eliminate an opponents character at the end of turn two or the beginning of turn 3 before that character can resolve any dice. Often this is done without even using No Mercy. You must play Miss Vader differently than a normally paced game, every action you take and card you include is designed to give you bleeding edge aggression that is beyond fast. (That having been said you are going to need a few Vader dice to not completely fail for it to work, but that's true in any game.) The focus of the following explanation will focus on the priority of an aggressive turn one and two with either great damage or severe momentum going into turn 3. It will then explain the use of three cards not usually included: Pulling the Strings, Emperor's Favor, and Boundless Ambition.

First Theory, then Priorities, then Battlefeild choice, and finally fun card interactions or battle moments.

Theory: Normal games are composed of players taking turns, playing upgrades, activating characters and generally both players progress at the same pace. They have different decks but basically equal dice, equal resources, equal mitigation, and an equal amount of cards giving players an even back and forth match. In this match you want to win by breaking this pattern in 4 key ways, that is, you want to make each of those areas unequal.

1. You need to eliminate your opponents chance to consistently mitigate you by playing aggressive enough that they both use up the mitigation they have and also do not have enough turns to draw down into their deck to find more. You will use mitigation only when you don't have aggression and then only to stall damage to your characters momentarily so that you can get ahead in being more aggressive. Occasiaonally it will be appropriate to mitigate if they are actually rolling more aggressively or if doing so still leaves you with the chance to be aggressive or do a late turn move with Boundless Ambition to basically take a second turn. Having one mitigation card in your opening hand is ok but don't get too many as you won't have the luxury of saving them for later and don't be too afraid to use them for a reroll if needed. Deflect is an exception to this because it actually is out of hand damage that makes you even more aggressive in the opening two turns which is the priority for this deck. If your opponent has characters then look to use this card early.

2. You need to be very judicial in your use of resources especially at the start of the game as you have no wiggle room and purchases must be timed perfectly. In the course of the very short game you'll likely pay for one Kylo Ren's Lightsaber or Force Throw usually early and then use resources only for your events. Having one more dice out early puts the pressure on them to not have enough mitigation but there are games where you don't even need to put out an upgrade and can still blitz an opponents character down on turn two. A key card to mulligan for is Enrage so that you can have plenty of resources for turn 1 upgrades and tricks or if you are lucky you can get two Enrage and be able to comfortably play a Kylos light saber and still have a single resource to pay for either the Tusken Raider or lightsaber 3 side or for a turn one event. You should try to always have one resource available for those Melé sides or for mitigation unless it is the end of the turn. Another key resource moment is having 3 when you Boundless Ambition so that you can follow it with a No Mercy and a full hand. Your battle field Imperial Armory will help you get out a Kylo Ren's Lightsaber at the end of turn one if you save resources for it (and if you can get to the battle field first). In the right situation it can be worth skipping the Tusken Raider activation to make sure you get the battlefield discount as it can set up a turn two that has so many aggresive dice that it is too much to mitigate...possibly leaving an opening for No Mercy. You will need to play several times before you get a feel for how to use your resources well on turn 1. (And you won't be good with this deck until you can find that bleeding edge efficiently in turns one and two)

3. You need your dice to be naturally better than theirs at the begging of the game. Naturally better means you just need this to happen. You may or may not discard a card to reroll your dice turn one and it is rare you would discard more than one. During later turns 3-4 you can plan a turn such that it will give you the opportunity to reroll several times by discarding since you will have access to more cards with Boundless Ambition and possibly Emperor's Favor. On turn one, focus more on making sure you get effective use out of every card in your opening hand but know that if you don't resolve a 2 or 3 on at least one of your dice you may be getting into trouble and falling behind on the blistering pace you need to set. Force Strike can often find you that damage turn one when they have mitigated the other Vader die.

4. You need to use up practically all your cards every turn so that you move through your deck twice as fast as your opponent. By the time the deciding turns have happened you will usually be a full hand worth of cards deeper into your deck. This means that aside from the Backup Muscle and Force Strike in your deck, no card is sacred. You can't hold onto an upgrade hoping to play it later, you have to trust that if you discard and pitch it for a reroll that the empty slot in your hand will mean you get deeper into the deck and find the second copy of it. If my Sith Holocron doesn't pull my Force Throw out of my hand turn one then I'm probably pitching it to reroll so I can find more crazy damage cards that are going to do immediate damage the next turn. Same with Kylos saber, although in certain match ups you will need to prioritize an early saber because the opponent has 3 or more characters on the table and you'll need that natural dice damage advantage from turn one in order to not fall to their health endurance on turns 3-4. If I have Backup Muscle and Force Strike in my opening hand I will probably try to play them rather than a Kylo Ren's Lightsaber because it represents 5 immediate damage on turns 1-2 and the Kylos saber being discarded for a reroll could net me one more damage with Tusken Raider or something. In the end my hand is empty ready to receive 5 new cards with a good chance for more out of hand damage and killing a character mid to late turn 2. The other reason to dump cards as quickly as possible is that you will see more Enrage and Intimidate sooner which will clear away shields from the targeted character and give you much needed breathing space with resources. Sometimes a well played Boundless Ambition will fetch cards you can play out for free and ones you can throw for rerolls, allowing you to use up 9-10 cards in a turn and get even deeper into your deck for more consistent access to fast damage cards.

In all of this it is key to have good momentum going into turn 3 such that you can fell a character immediately with Backup Muscle or Force Strike or Tusken Raiders ability. Doing this means you gain almost a full turn advantage in dice resolving. Since you've already (or soon will) cheat out more card advantage and a few "free" resources you can conceptually see how you are about 3/4 of a turn ahead in dice, cards, and resources. Vader's massive health and his ability forcing them into less cards effectively doubles down on this "I have more sooner" strategy and gives you a clear natural edge with very little room for Lucky dice to be determine your fate. When the Tusken Raider gets lucky and gets it's 3 side it's just gravy on the top.

If you win the roll to decide battlefield you will almost always let them have the battlefield while you take shields (and put them on Vader) because this plays into your strategy of needing to kills a character ASAP. There are some very strong exceptions to this rule. NEVER let them have Frozen Wastes which can remove your character die. It's free mitigation against you and fast decks like jango veers will shut you down. If they do get it in play you will probably have to skip some Tusken Raider actions to keep the field from working against you. Also don't let Poe decks have Emperor's Throne Room or Rey decks have Starship Graveyard. When you do have to give them shields you just have to go through them or have already mulliganed for an Intimidate in your opening hand (which is basically out of hand damage at that point).

Much of the play in this deck is intuitive once you commit to its turn 2-3 kill strategy but knowing how to prioritize the off beat cards can be tricky. You don't usually want to play a turn one Emperor's Favor as this is not an aggressive enough play, however when combined with other defensive cards in an opening hand and a Boundless Ambition and an Enrage you can make a strong move by slowly playing out your upgrades and events while mitigating opponents dice and follow it with drawing up to a hand of six cards, activating and then getting some good rerolls in. Follow that by ending the turn and drawing back up to 6 cards. Done correctly. You will now have seen half of your deck while stalling your opponent on the first turn. Additionally you will have had a chance to play Pulling the Strings which allows you to look for mitigation cards on the top of your opponents deck and put them at the bottom, leaving expensive upgrades on top which won't have time to be used for full value against you. Alternatively a monster hand turn like that on turn one or two can get you access to both back up muscles which really turns up the clock for your opponent to have to not take any other forms of damage from you. Pulling the Strings is also useful for burying Rey cycling cards and for taking a stab in the dark at trying to stop a Hyperspace Jump deck from getting at its Millennium Falcon or Hyperspace Jump. You can also Pulling the Strings right before you Boundless Ambition if you know that getting another Backup Muscle or Force Strike will give you an almost certain victory or if you want to find a Force Throw to go with a Sith Holocron special that you've already rolled. There is also oblivious synergy with setting up a 5 card No Mercy at the beginning of the next turn. You will often find your Vader dice mitigated but the Tusken has a %50 chance at damage that can be increased by No Mercy if you've saved a resource from the previous turn (in case it rolls the 3).

Two cards Miss Vader hates are Probe and He Doesn't Like You. Nothing can really be done about probe except that you can make sure to get needed events like Enrage and Force Strike played quickly and not put down holocrons right off the bat if you expect to be probed. He doesn't like you is just going to get you unless you got lucky with a Pulling the Strings or against a non jango deck you can make sure to roll out Vader before your opponent activates a character. You can get past it with your out of hand damage.

Two decks Miss Vader hates to face are Han/Rey and Poe Hired Guns. If Han Rey your resources turn one you are seriously hampered and unless you can get to Han before he Second Chancees then it's going to be a tough fight. Good news is that you can get to Han very fast and if you look for the shield killers like the Intimidate and Kylo Ren's Lightsaber and follow through with Backup Muscle you can decide the match before Han can get going. Against high health decks like Poe/Hired gun or against mill decks you want to make sure you get a lightsaber out early so you can go the distance eating through their characters. Against a mill deck you want to get upgrades down and then back off on going through your deck quite so quickly.

Plays vs specific decks:

Vs Jango Veers a turn one activation of Vader denies Jango the chance to have an upgrade on him when he activates and also threatens their resources with disrupts but isn't always the right move depending on your hand. It might also force the jet pack onto Veers. Mulligan for deflects, and back up muscles, keep anything that gives you turn one aggression (like an enrage/lightsaber draw). Your deck can drop Jango quickly and decide the game before he can activate a third time, look for the Tusken Raider to get a quick kill if Jango has one health left and you are out of back up muscle, this will deny Jangos dice the chance to resolve. If one of the two has a jet pack and you haven't started in on them it's probably safe to assume you need to get that one.

Vs Mele heavy decks a turn one force throw upgrade and making sure you continue to go first can slow the game down but increases your ability to not be given the same treatment you are giving...alternatively you can put down a saber and race them. Vs the mirror match make sure you are going first on the turn when both of your Vaders are within reach of killing the other.

Vs Bala-Tik. You need to get 2-3 damage on him turn 1 and then finish him turn 2 before he can reactivate from a Tusken Raider death. Mulligan for back up muscle and hope to draw a turn 2 No Mercy or force strike after getting a few damage on him turn one.

Vs Mill. Be lightsaber aggressive early and slow down on the discards once you have them down to one character.

Vs Jabba/Vader. Kill Jabba first. Don't let Jabbas discards and focus continue at length. Raider can be rerolled by Jabba.

Vs Dooku/Kylo. Kill Dooku first if he has upgrades, No Mercy and backup muscle will be instrumental.

Vs Dooku/Jabba. You must kill Jabba very fast.

Vs Hyperloop. If you can have force throw on Vader and roll him out each turn your ability to discard one of their cards combined with naturally aggressive dice will win the day. Force Throw will give you the option of resolving his/her Falcon. Pulling the strings their happy cards to the bottom.

Card Comments followed by cards you don't need:

Sith Holocron is in mainly because it costs no resources, has a focus side, and it is blue for No Mercy. It can also come out of your hand easily when looking to make your next Boundless Ambition card more effective. If you want to open with it look for an opening 5 card hand of holocron, force throw, enrage, and Kylos lightsaber. This will set you up for two possible upgrades on Vader turn two after having swung with a light saber turn one. That along with out of hand damage will get you to the quick kill. Holocron acts as a mitigation distraction for their Electro Shocks and He Doesn't Like You but it is not fast enough to warrant going out of your way to use. It can also be useful for a Hail Mary play with Force Throw hoping to continue to resolve the special if it gets rolled out. (No this doesn't combo with Tusken Raiders ability). If you get it back using its special then toss it for a reroll of get it back down (if your opponent already claimed) so it can hit its focus side.

Kylo Ren's Lightsaber is in twice with no Lightsaber to be seen. This is because Kylos is more aggressive and we are committing to the early win. If you want to garuntee an early saber add one and drop a Force Choke.

Force Choke is almost never played in this deck. Never keep it in an opening hand. Use it only if you happen to have a special up on Holocron or at the end of a turn if you have been backed into a corner where you really need a lot of control to keep Vader alive and can roll him out first the next turn. The real usefulness comes from the unblockable damage if you are trying to finish off a pesky character like Han or Dooku and your Back Up Muscle can help.

Force Throw if you pay full price for this you also need to be activating Vader before your opponent the next turn. Don't be looking for this in your opening hand unless you've already got the holocron or need it to deal with a mele aggro deck. Bad against Jango Veers.

Emperor's Favor you don't need it to win, it just helps out sometimes if the cards are forcing you to be defensive or you have excess resources. Don't be afraid to toss it for a reroll.

Feel Your Anger and Isolation slow your opponent down if you have one in hand you probably need to use it at the precise moment on turn one for it to be effective so save a resource to use it. You can make an exception to the need for blistering speed rule if your dice are naturally doing well and you can turn his average turn into a poor one with mitigation. But remember, the longer the game goes on the more resources and card variety come to bear on your team which will be its down fall.

Use The Force is the worst card in your deck but it's blue and can set up a late game No Mercy if you happen to be flush with resources and your opponent has claimed. It gives a good player options.

An alternative battlefield might be Rebel War Room but a few decks will hammer you with it.

Cards to swap out:

The only legendaries you really need are the Vaders. Kylos Saber becomes normal sabers, force choke becomes force training. You do need all the uncommons but you could cut one No Mercy as it really only gets played in about half your games but you are starting to take away deck potential if you do. You can add extra Use The Force or a second Emperor's Favor if you really like to go for the turn one card increase. If you are missing some of the second copies of things Disturbance in the Force is blue and is an expensive way to try and rescue the board state when they're hot and you're not. Do not put in any more yellow or neutral cards.

If you start to lose there are very few good moves late but many times a Tusken Raider No Mercy with your useless cards or a quick resolution and your back up muscles can save you. Holocrons can go on the Tusken but you always want them on Vader early so you can find that focus with one activation in the event you choose to claim before activating/resolving the Raider.

So far this deck has lost to a well played Han/Rey and a Dooku/Kylo but has beaten everyone else. It is 11-1 in tournament matches (16 player tournaments) and has come in 1st twice.