Written by Andrew
Just for a bit of an introduction, my name is Andrew Carson from Toronto, Ontario and I’ve been playing collectible card games for 23 years now. I started with Magic the Gathering, but my first competitive game where I played in events was the original Star Wars: CCG from Decipher. I was quite young then so I wasn’t the most accomplished player, but I relished making new decks and sharing them on the now defunct Decktech.net. With the release of Star Wars: Destiny there is once more a Star Wars card game with a strong player base for organized play, which means I am frequently in the lab meticulously working on new decks and strategies. I am going to be sharing some of those decks and then following up the next week on them with a tournament report about how they did.
This is a deck I have been wanting to build since Legacies was first previewed. I am going to start with the list and then I am going to go over each card and explain why it’s in the deck. For some context, I do try to keep to some general rules when making a deck and this list is a good example. I try to play around 10 cards that cost 0, as well as 8-10 upgrades/supports with dice, and about 10 that interact with my opponent’s dice or provide some other form of defense. I find this gives my decks a lot of flexibility, and the ability to play more cards per turn than my opponents in a lot of cases.
Characters (30 points, 4 Dice):
eLando Calrissian – Galactic Entrepreneur
eLuke Skywalker – Unlikely Hero
Battlefield:
Port District
Upgrades (16 cards, 10 dice):
Canto Bight Pistol x2
DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol x2
Fast Hands x2
Force Illusion x2
Handcrafted Lightbow x2
Hidden Blaster x2
Holdout Blaster x2
Second Chance x2
Events (14 cards):
Caution x2
Easy Pickings x2
Electroshock x2
Friends in Low Places x2
Overconfidence x2
Sound the Alarm x2
Vandalize x2
Luke Skywalker – Unlikely Hero is quite efficient for his point cost. Even without an upgrade, Luke is capable of doing up to 6 damage on the first turn using both dice at 2 ranged damage and his Power Action. I want to keep him alive as long as possible since he is my primary source of damage and Lando can use Second Chance.
Lando Calrissian – Galactic Entrepreneur is the perfect pairing to fuel Luke’s Power Action. Starting the game with three resources tends to give you a big head start, so I chose my upgrades to take the most advantage of this. I pretty much always activate Lando first to try to get more resources to pay for upgrades on Luke and his Power Action. I want to keep Luke alive to close out the game, but if he goes first Lando can still dish out damage using his ranged damage, focus, and any upgrades he might have. His discard side is also very effective in situations where I want to cut off my opponent’s ability to reroll, interfere with my dice, or even try to get rid of a specific card I know my opponent is holding.
Port District is my choice of battlefield because of its obvious synergy with Lando. Giving Canto Bight Pistol or Handcrafted Light Bow Ambush can be a big deal, especially if one of them goes on Lando with Fast Hands.
Fast Hands is an obvious pick. Activating Lando into his 3 resource side, or focus to get it, builds up a lot of resources to pay for upgrades and Luke’s power quickly. Ideally, I want a copy out first turn, which means this is the only card I mulligan for other than a weapon.
Force Illusion is a staple for a reason. The ability to soak up big hits at the cost of cards you are not currently using cannot be underestimated. Usually this winds up on Luke, but it can also keep Lando going when I need to.
Hidden Blaster is pretty much as good as Holdout Blaster in this deck. With no pay sides, and a free shield removal, Hidden Blaster is an efficient upgrade that can help give my ranged sides more punch.
Holdout Blaster is another staple card and easily the best ranged weapon there is. At 2 resources with Ambush and Redeploy, Holdout Blaster can go in any deck that focuses on ranged damage. It’s a great play on Lando to activate him and roll into some damage or resources. I also want the Blaster on Lando so I can overwrite it with Second Chance in a pinch. An ideal opening hand has a Holdout or Hidden Blaster, Fast Hands, and a 3 cost upgrade. The idea is to play Holdout on Lando and activate him to try and score his three resource side to pay for the 3 drop.
Second Chance is another obvious choice with Lando. Getting this with Ambush via Port District is always nice and this deck gets Chance out easily enough with all the resources Lando brings to the table.
Handcrafted Lightbow is an extremely strong card right now with the increased ability to gain and use shields effectively the Hero side has received in recent sets as well as the errata to Vibroknife. Two solid damage sides pair well with Luke’s Power Action and the fact that its most devastating effect is a special makes it resistant to cards like Honor Guard.
DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol is a late addition to the deck and so far it’s been great. I generally want it on Lando for an easy swap with Second Chance if I need it. DL-44 also helps close a game out on Lando if Luke goes down first and the incidental removal can be powerful in the right situation.
Caution is great for turning pay sides I can’t afford and blanks into shields. I find I also tend to leave a Lando die around for it since in most cases even his 1 ranged damage isn’t as game changing as 3 shields for Luke.
Sound the Alarm is quite the expensive single, and with good cause. I say with no hyperbole it is one of the best cards in the game. It can go in literally any deck you make if you have the room. What deck doesn’t want to interfere with your opponent’s damage rolls? Sound the Alarm can undo an opponent’s entire turn of rolling and planning with one card and one action.
Friends in Low Places is a key card for Yellow in Destiny. Beyond learning what cards your opponent has for the turn, you can either help disrupt their game plan or prevent them from disrupting yours. Friends can hit most significant events that see play, which is why I think it will continue to prove invaluable in any deck that can fit it.
Vandalize is a format defining card. Finally there are more reliable ways to remove supports and upgrades in Destiny and Vandalize might be the best yet. Best used when it can turn a bad roll or two into a devastating effect on your opponent’s board.
Electroshock is Mislead with a spot requirement and it can hit any die. You know what it does. This deck also gets a lot of mileage out of Electroshock since Lando tends to last with how easily it plays Second Chance.
Easy Pickings is a strictly better card than Electroshock in most situations. Specials are especially popular in the game right now and being able to remove two for one resource and a card is extremely powerful. Aside from knocking out specials and damage, Pickings is also good for nailing resource or discard rolls. Resources in particular tend to come in 1s, which can make them a prime target for Pickings against strategies that rely on hoarding them.
Overconfidence is especially effective in the current meta game because specials are everywhere. This will be a standard card in Blue decks for the foreseeable future.
So that’s the deck. I am going to play it this week at Face to Face Games Toronto’s Destiny night and I plan to report back with how the deck did next week.
irebeldestiny.com 