Deck ID: 4640

Author: Chris "Lt. Cabbage" Moore

Title: Vader s Court

Side: Dark

Date Published: 2000-03-24

Description:
The deck aims to get a quick presence in space by getting ships out the reserve deck. Undercover spies hinder the opponent's ground drains.

Rating:
3.5

Cards:

'Objective (1)
Court of the Vile Gangster

Locations (9)
Tatooine Great Pit of Carkoon
Jabba's Palace Audience Chamber
Jabba's Palace Dungeon
Executor docking bay
Coruscant docking bay
Kessel
Kashyyk
Endor
Kiffex

Characters (15)
Darth Vader x2
Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith
Grand Moff Tarkin x2
Jabba the Hutt
Mara Jade, the Emperor's Hand
Boelo
Dr. Evazan
Gailid
J'Quille
Garindan
Fozec
U-3PO
4-LOM

Starships (6)
Boba Fett in Slave 1
Zuckuss in Mist Hunter
Dengar in Punishing One
Bossk in Hounds Tooth
IG-88 in IG-2000
Executor

Weapons (3)
Vader's Lightsaber x2
Mara Jade's Lightsaber

Effects (8)
Security Precautions
Undercover x3
Battle Order
Reactor Terminal
There'll be Hell to Pay
Bad Feeling Have I

Interrupts (17)
Ghhhk
Monnok
You Are Beaten
The Circle is Now Complete
Sense x3
Alter x3
Twi'lek Advisor x2
Elis Helrot x2
Imperial Barrier x2
Nevar Yalnal

Creatures (1)
Bubo

'

Strategy: '

This deck basically aims to set up at a couple of space and/or ground locations and then use the Undercover spies to limit damage on the ground.

First, the starting stuff
The objective and locations are set, so you just have to choose the effect. The usual starting effect is Bad Feeling Have I. Against Ops the starting effect is Battle Order and against Hidden Base use Security Precautions. All that's fairly self-explanatory, so I shan't indulge.

Right at the start of the game, playing the deck is pretty easy. Get out the 1/0 docking bays in the first couple of turns to boost activation. This deck doesn't need a huge amount of force, so there aren't any 2/0 sites. You'll find you're saving a lot of force so the Executor is still playable.

First turn you want to get a character to a Tatooine site, so Court isn't damaging you. A first turn Vader is quite common. Using the Audience Chamber to get either Mara or Jabba is the other option.

Once you're feeling safe enough on the ground (Senses, Barriers and the other interrupts mean Vader's usually fine on his own) it's time to pull the ships out of the reserve deck and start draining in space. Against Profit decks just doubly reinforce the Audience Chamber. The space force isn't huge, so if much resistance is encountered/expected you've got to be careful. But a couple of any of the bounty hunter together is a pretty strong force. Watch for X-Wing cannons, though.

The last principal strategy point is the Undercover spies. These guys are you're only hope against Ops and Ewoks. Battle Order will slow them but you still need to get these guys out to limit the damage.

Lastly, we have a few goodies. Nevar Yalnal goes with all the spies. The Circle has been incredibly useful for me. I've Ben Kenobi almost every other game just by getting him without his saber. 4-LOM can be called upon to help if Ben does have a saber. Sense and Alter deal with anything too nasty. There are as many Alters as Sense because the weenie decks that use effects are a bigger threat than Mains decks with interrupts. I've not included numbers protection, as I haven't been troubled by any really. If you want you can always make room for a Resistance.

In summary, the deck is not a vicious all-out attacker. You go for slow, steady control of the game. It's done well for me.


RESPONSE TO REVIEWS

Thanks for the thumbs up guys I just thought I'd comment on a couple of points that I thought people might bring up. I would normally put in a Dreadnought or 2-ability Star Destroyer over the Executor. But in this deck there are very few pilots. Basically you have the Mains and Fozec and Gailid. The latter two are both ability 1, hence I wanted the Executor's 3-ability. Also (if you're really desperate) you can Elis, say, Vader and Tarkin to the docking bay and put them on the Executor's bridge. It's only for emergencies, but I have pulled it off before.

The second point is regarding the lack of ships. You're not really trying to control all the systems with this deck. 1 or 2 is enough, and the spies will sort out the oppponents drains. Against Ops you would spread out more, while against Hidden Base you tread much more carefully and hope Sense and Alter can disrupt the LS enough.

'