eVader/eKylo - Store Championship T4 (3rd/18) by ReadyToRole 1.0

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This deck was derived from a combination of joemasilotti's deck and /u/Bray182's deck. It's a fairly cheap-to-build, simple-to-play, mid-range aggro deck that is a great start for a new player who wants to dip their feet into competitive Destiny play.

I basically took both successful decks, put them side-by-side, and realized that they have 20-23 cards in common. The core of the deck is:
1 Force Push
2 Force Throw
2 Lightsaber
2 Makashi Training
2 Holocrons
2 Vibroknife
1-2 Meditate (which I strongly recommend as a two-of, as discussed later)
2 Deflect
2 Enrage
2 Feel Your Anger
1-2 Isolation (Basically a two-of if your meta has a lot of Poe or Palpatine)
1-2 No Mercy

That left 7-10 spots up to personal choice. Contenders that didn't make the cut for various reasons were The Power of the Force, Force Speed, Datapad, Dark Presence, Intimidate, Lightsaber Throw, Use The Force, Doubt, Kylo Ren's Lightsaber, Hidden In Shadow, Now I Am The Master, Rise Again, High Ground, Close Quarters Assault, Immobilize, Comlink, Mind Probe, Force Choke, Anger, It Binds All Things, and Lure of Power.

Force Illusion is essentially a removal event, spending one resource and a few cards to block 2-4 damage. Force Lightning is consistently more damage than Mind Probe. Manipulate is much-needed, albeit soft, removal in a mono-color deck that is limited in its choices. Overconfidence is useful to reroll one of your blanks and an opponent's good die, or two Poe/Palpatine dice. Finally, Trust Your Instincts is a free reroll that helps you dig for more removal.

After very minimal testing (4-5 days on TTS against randos), I found that the deck had favorable matchups against:
1) Poe Dameron - Ace Pilot/Maz Kanata - Pirate Queen (more on this later)
2) Unkar Plutt - Junk Dealer decks
3) Jabba the Hutt - The Great and Mighty/Director Krennic - Cruel but brilliant Villain Choke

Mixed bags were:
1) Palpatine - Galactic Emperor
2) FN-2199 - Loyal Trooper decks

and auto-losses to:
1) Hero Mill. Basically it came down to whether I could kill a yellow character per turn, force them to overwrite the Con Artist with Second Chance, or get them to use the Second Chances before they found their Ammo Belt, The Rebel Trooper version is much easier to beat than the Temmin "Snap" Wexley - Recon Specialist version.

Both of the articles linked earlier have a how-to-play guide. I urge you to review those articles in conjunction with this one. However, neither article focused on the actual die sides of the characters:

Kylo:
Use 'em!
2/ Use 'em unless you need the resource for Vader's dice, otherwise use them as Makashi Training-induced die removal or reroll them.
Keep 'em and put the shields on Vader or Kylo if they are focusing Kylo first.
His best side. Keep 'em.
Go for it. Use it as a chance to peak at their hand and maybe score a damage or two. Anything over two damage is a Godsend.
Don't forget that you can claim to use this as a special.

Anakin:
Reroll. You have a 2/3rd chance of the same or more damage. Reroll them URGENTLY if you are playing against an It's a Trap! deck.
2 Use 'em.
3/ Use 'em unless you need the resource for the other Vader die, otherwise use them as Makashi Training-induced die removal or reroll them.
This is a tough call. I'd say to reroll them unless your total discard sides showing from Vader, Vibroknives, or Force Push is equal to or exceeds half of your opponent's hand. In that case, let 'em rip. Especially against Poe/FN-2199 or if they have a lot of blanks showing and you expect them to discard to reroll.
His best side. Keep 'em.
Don't forget that you can claim to use this as a special.

....

18 people showed up the tournament. The store elected to structure the tournament as 4 matches of swiss with a cut to Top 4, best of one. Of the 18 decks, there were at least 5 Poe/Maz, ePalp, Kylo/Jango, Luke/Maz, Poe/Snap, Villain Choke, one other eKylo/eVader, an FN combo deck, and one Hero Mill player. I never found out / can't remember what the other 4 decks were.

Match 1 vs. eKylo/eJango: My opponent and I had met before in a match at a 28 person box tournament. He's a swell guy and a great player. I forget who won the roll, but we ended up playing at Mos Eisley Spaceport - Tatooine.
I got a turn one Holocron, but without any abilities. However, I was able to abuse the battlefield to bounce the Holocron to generate some much-needed resources in a usually resource-starved deck (courtesy of Anakin's lack of resource sides). He went for Kylo first, which I believe is a mistake. Jango went down either late round 2 or early round 3 which left me 2v1 against his Kylo for the win.
My opponent later explained to me that the deck was basically his deck from the Awakenings meta with Fast Hands thrown in. He hadn't gotten a chance to process his boxes of SoR which had arrived late courtesy of MM.
I also feel like Mos Eisley is no longer a "safe" battlefield with all of the Rey and 0 cost upgrades floating around.

Match 2 vs. ePoe/eMaz: This match was against the eventual winner of the tournament, fellow X-Wing player, and all-around-good guy BobbySapphire of The Hyperloops. We both brought the same battlefield, and I won the roll-off, so I took the 2 shields.
I had great success in testing this deck against randos on TTS. However, I was outmatched by a top-tier player who had made a split decision on the drive to the store to replace his Holdout Blasters with Cunnings.
After mulligans, my opening hand was 5 abilities with no Holocrons. Moreover, he got a first turn Cunning out, which for those who don't know, deals 3 damage to one of my characters and then 1 to Anakin, for a swing of 4 total damage. I believe I took somewhere in the realm of 15 damage by round 2. I hadn't tested against a deck that ran Cunning.
I followed my plan of racing Poe's damage output as the correct play, but perhaps if Maz gets a first-turn Cunning that changes things. Regardless, I was handed my first loss of the day. Thankfully, my opponent went on to become the #1 seed and helped me limp into the Top 4 via tiebreakers.

Match 3 vs. ePoe/eMaz:
In the third match, my opponent was a player who I had played against several times at GNKs before. He's a great guy and we always have a ton of fun playing. It was also my second chance of the day to do my best (read: terrible) C-3PO impression. "IT IS EYE, SEE THREE PIO. HUMAN CYBORG RELATIONS. U MUST NOT RECOGNIZE ME BCUZ OF MAH RED ARM."
Anyways, I was hot off a loss to the "same" deck and eager to redeem myself. However, my opponent, who is friends with The Hyperloops, was unable to locate Cunnings in time to replace his Field Medics. The battlefield was once again two Throne Rooms, I won the roll, and elected to take the shields on Anakin.
My opponent elected to focus Kylo first, presumably out of fear that he may Special-side a vehicle. Again, I would dissuade one from killing Kylo out of the FEAR of threeish damage when Anakin is basically a GUARANTEED 3-6 damage per turn. Especially, since Anakin helps kill himself.
When piloting this deck, my favorite moment is when an opponent plays Planetary Uprising. That changes the entire pace of the game. Instead of durdling around and taking 2 damage from Uprising, I just start to claim way too early to deal 3 damage and take 1. 3:1 > 0:2.
At one point, he claimed too early and I was able to reroll into lethal. He immediately lamented that he could have overwrote his weapon on Maz with a DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol so as to make me remove one of Anakin's dice. However, had he done so, I would have just claimed, rolled out Vader, and then claimed FTW in the next round. It would have only delayed the inevitable, but it would have made me earn it in real-time instead of unopposed rerolls.

Match 4 vs. the "mirror" match:
In the last match, I was 2-1, and knew that I had to win to make the small top cut of 4. My opponent was a local to the store who was one of the most welcoming and enthusiastic players I met when I first heard about the store a few months ago.
His deck was more upgrade-heavy than mine, which I believe is questionable. This deck, courtesy of Anakin's lack of resource sides, cannot afford to play cards like Lightsaber Pike.
For the third time of the day, I won the roll off and chose my opponent's Throne Room, giving my Anakin two shields. Throughout the day, whenever Anakin started the game at 13 health, my opponents focused Kylo first. This is your best-case scenario. That gives you time to put a redeploy on Kylo and prepare Anakin for the end game with a Vibroknife or Makashi Training.
Speaking of Makashi Training: it's NUTS in the mirror match. My opponent was discarding to reroll his Kylo's 2/ side while I was using mine to remove his sides.

...

After that win, I was 3-1 and the #3 seed. The top 4 decks were my match 2 opponent, another ePoe/eMaz deck, and ePalpatine!

Semifinals v. my Match 2 opponent (ePoe/eMaz):
As discussed in my article here, my goal for this Summer was to win a playmat. I had accomplished this at the very. first. Store. Championship. Anything further was gravy. But that didn't mean I wasn't playing to win.
Although I was able to draw some removal and put some serious hurt on Poe, this game went much like match 2. My opponent informed me that he had mulliganed hard for a first-turn Cunning and boy-oh-boy he got it. Regardless, I cannot give my opponent (who by the way won the whole thing in a hotly contested finals match against Palpatine. Congrats!) enough credit. I was outmatched and outplayed.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
-I never once used Force Push.
-I never once used Overconfidence, but maintain that it is a good one-of.
-Meditate is a MUST-HAVE 2x. Turning Holocron's die sides into 50% focus is insane.
-Force Lightning is good, but resource intensive. Although, it can help blast through those Second Chances.
-I never once used No Mercy. You can usually do 6-7 damage without discarding your hand and it is a dead card in the Hero Mill matchup unless you get the opportunity to erase a yellow character before the Second Chance hits.
-Force Illusion is on the chopping block if you switch Kylo for Jango or FN-2199. The addition of red or yellow gives you additional removal options which are much better.
-Palpatine is the tier 2 gatekeeper of the meta. If your deck can't consistently beat Palpatine: pack it up.