Written by Jack of The Golden Dice Podcast
Feburary 5th’s Tournament Report
So lately with Hondo and vehicles on the rise I started to worry a bit about whether or not my eAayla/Rey/Wookie deck could stand up to all the resource stealing and the flood of strong dice. I struggled a bit with resources as it was, now you add a character that either steals them or does 3 damage and I am in a world of hurt. Add either Poe Dameron – More Than a Pilot who can burst out a lot of damage or Yoda who can help himself or his partner stick around with shields and consistent dice. It was just not a matchup I was looking for, especially having a pay-side on one of my characters. I felt good against a decent amount of the field, Kylo -Tormented One decks, Tarkin decks, mill decks but Hondo and vehicles made me a bit nervous. Especially knowing that they could potentially be played a lot coming off some Regionals which both decks did very well.
This led me to play-testing Hondo myself, with both Yoda and Poe – More Than a Pilot. It seems both partners are legit, Poe maybe a bit more aggro and Yoda a bit more survivability. I tended to favor Poe a little bit more since he actually had damage sides and his gun was too good to pass up with Cunning. After a few games of testing I made just small changes to the Portland winner, changes he even felt he would do after playing in a regional with it. Mainly dropping both Planetary Uprisings for two X-8 Sniper Rifles. I’d even wager putting the Verpine Sniper over the X-8’s once Rivals is legal. I also dropped a Sound The Alarm for a second Easy Pickings as I felt there might be more special chaining decks than anything.
So after testing it was obvious that it was a strong deck, especially out of the gate when people had little testing against Hondo. I wanted to give them a real try so I brought them to my weekly tournament. Sadly we only had 6 people (even after Legacies?!?) so it was on the smaller side but the decks there were eHondo/ePoe2, eZeb/eRey, eTarkin/eSeventhSister, 5 Battle Droids, eFinn2/eLuke2 and eZeb/eKanan.
Here was what I had run for my decklist:
CHARACTERS (30 points, 4 dice):
eHondo Ohnaka – Respected Businessman
ePoe Dameron – More Than A Pilot
BATTLEFIELD:
Emperor’s Throne Room
UPGRADE (14 cards, 10 dice):
Canto Bight Pistol x2
Cunning x2
DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol x2
Fast Hands x2
Poe Dameron’s Blaster x2
Second Chance x2
X-8 Night Sniper x2
EVENT (16 cards):
Defensive Position x2
Easy Pickings x2
Electroshock x2
Field Medic x2
Hit and Run x2
Retreat x2
Vandalize x2
Well-Connected x2
It is a very standard build of eHondo/ePoe2 but I have also seen people go with Y-Wings also for an extra special to get off with Cunning, along with potential resource disruption to clear the way for Hondo.
Round 1 vs eZeb/eKanan:
This was a super close game simply because he was able to get off both Second Chances and heal Zeb twice with the Ancient Lightsaber. That is a staggering 26 health Zeb, if I can do math right. While getting the extra focus and damage from Kanan it brought it down to the wire. Luckily I was able to get a lot out of Poe before he went down and I was able to load up Hondo with Second Chance, X-8 and a DL-44. It is a pretty deadly combo because if you pay to remove the X-8 or DL-44, then you get hit with Hondo, if you pay Hondo I have money to flip the X-8 to consistent damage. Overall it came down to a slow and grindy game where he had to Force Illusion his last three cards, two of them being his Ancients which just about sealed the deal.
WIN: 1-0
Round 2: eZeb/eRey:
The Last Lasat shows his ugly head again. The Zeb pairing with Rey relies a lot more on rolling than focusing like Kanan so I just had to hop he didn’t roll well before I burned down Zeb. He took an aggressive route early spending his two resources the first two rounds so I was able to burn Zeb down fairly quickly with Hondo’s specials and Poe’s damage sides. Having Poe roll double 2 focus and having that Easy Pickings really hurts by the way. Overall once Zeb went down Rey is usually easy to take care of without too much of a hassle. She started to hurt once she got a Heirloom Lightsaber on her but with Field Medics and Second Chance I was able to hang on and ping her away with a Canto Pistol and Cunning.
WIN: 2-0
Round 3: eFinn2/eLuke2
eFinn/eLuke was actually the first deck I played with in Legacies so I knew how quickly it could get dice and damage out on the board. I also knew that Finn could struggle a bit when Luke went down, leaving his +2 with not much to link with. Luke can also be very scary late game with his power action. He had a much better first round than me, with paying for one of Hondo’s get the DH-17 down and putting 6 on Poe. Luckily I clawed my way back, and it was eventually a fully loaded Finn vs a Hondo, Cunning and Second Chance. He picked my battlefield in the beginning and I had a Defensive Position in hand, so I claimed early to do 3 damage with Hondo and took my mitigation into the next round, and boy was I lucky. He rolled out both 2 range on Finn’s Dice, +3 on overkill, +2 and the DH and 2 for 1 on another DH. I was so happy I claimed to have Defensive Position online. Played that and removed all of his dice and I was easily able to get back out ahead in the game and closed in early next round. Finn and Luke can be super scary when they want to but don’t have too many tricks up their sleeves. I also think him taking my battlefield was his downfall in the end.
WIN: 3-0
You probably don’t need me to tell you that Hondo is good, but he is. He offers that mid-range type deck that I loved playing with eHan/eRey but much more consistent it feels. I think you always have to deny Hondo the Throne Room and kill Poe first to have the best chance. Although even if you have just Hondo late game, he can be scary even with just a DL-44 and X-8. He is definitely a tricky character to play against but I am sure once he is played more he will get found out and beaten by experienced players. Now that I got my hands dirty with Hondo, time to go back to my cuddly Wookiee!
If you enjoyed this come check out my podcast called Golden Dice where me and my co-host Tommy talk all about Destiny as he prepares for his Regional this Saturday in New Jersey. Till next time! https://www.facebook.com/goldendicepodcast/
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