[Editor’s Note: Nary a 6 hour span goes by where NJCuenca doesn’t bug me about putting a Mace deck in our Gauntlet . My issue was that we hadn’t seen a good Mace deck yet, played by anyone in any significant way, whose decklist we could use.

In preparation for my appearance on The Smuggler’s Den Podcast I decided to hit up all of the undefeated players in the TTS League Season 3 to see what they were playing. Merlinus, at the time of this writing, is the only 7-0 player, so when he told me he’d played Mace/Padawan in all seven of those games I was not only shocked, but I knew I could get Nick off my back about the Gauntlet. Below is written by Jose Guerrero, AKA Merlinus. We hope you enjoy. -BobbySapphire]

Mace-Wan

Click here to see Merlinus’ swdestinydb.com post

Let me preface this with saying that I love blue hero. I have since the beginning of Destiny, so take my opinions of this deck with that in mind.

I am not saying that now blue hero is the best, but I believe that they are in a better place and offer lots of interesting choices.

When Mace was released I knew that I wanted to make a deck with him. I knew it would be difficult. He’s over-costed, that pay side; It’s true.. all of it. I tested several of the possible variants (like eMace/Rebel Trooper & eMace/Maz), and believe eMace/Padawan to be my favorite iteration of it. I have to give a nod to Jay from Double Blanks Gaming who kept pushing out Mace and inspired part of this deck. So without further ado…

Deck Concept

What I loved about Mace the incorporation of his Shatterpoint ability as his action gametext. With Mace on the field our opponents’ characters effectively all have 2 less health. However, I knew a major obstacle was Mace’s 4X pay side. I couldn’t ensure that I would always be able to pay to do the four damage, so I wanted to make sure that I could at least always do something with it other then just re-roll.

I also had to decide on a partner. In testing this deck and variants I knew that everyone would target Mace. My first thought was Trooper for the Guardian and the defensive cards. After pushing through the guardian to kill Mace the Trooper was useless. Nevermind that I could never afford all the red cards. Maz was a little underwhelming for me as I always wanted two dice for Maz and she didn’t protect Mace as easily. Money was still an issue. Goggles helped, but if I didn’t draw it early I was in trouble. Enter Padawan.

Once I settled on Padawan I started to look at the deck like I would for eVader/Raider. Raider was not so much protection for Vader as he was another target. If you left him alone then he could still do damage. He made the opponent choose. I saw that in Padawan. She allowed me to throw a quick weapon for cheap on her, and her die was good. If left alone then she becomes quite strong. Just her and a Rey’s Lightsaber means she can hit for 3-5 damage easily as she has 3 damage sides as does the lightsaber. Making her also a good option for Close Quarters Assault or Guard once she has 1-2 upgrades, as the opponent is usually saving mitigation for Mace. Throw a Force Speed on her for the action chaining to roll Mace and you can then resolve for damage/Guard/Destiny.

Also, this deck is low on mitigation, but blue hero was never great at mitigation. They are better at shields and sustain, so I built around that to rather try to keep them alive long enough to win.

So lets discuss the cards …

Card Choices

Ancient Lightsaber – This card is amazing and a must. Two cost saber with decent damage sides. And a built-in field medic. AND a built-in anti mill strategy. AND a built-in way to break the current RI loop. This is great for keeping Mace alive longer. Two in the deck no questions asked.

Force Illusion – More protection for Mace. Great to stop damage and even save shields.

Force Speed – 0 cost. Already good. Then put it on the Padawan for action chaining to allow Mace to not be mitigated. Shield and focus are also good.

Master of the Council – This I know is debatable. I look at this as a one-of. It can finish a game quickly. Game ender. And if they keep hitting Mace then even putting it on Padawan works as then all the resources go to Padawan for more damage.

Rey’s Lightsaber – Even if it is unique you want 2 in the deck. You want this out on Padawan as soon as possible. The redeploy and the shield make it so that Padawan lives longer and now they may not want to target her so quickly for fear of giving the weapon to Mace.

Shoto Lightsaber – Underrated in my mind. 2 cost which is good. Damage sides are ok but there 3 again and even modified can be used to fuel Destiny if needed. The giving a shield is great for Padawan or Mace.

Vibroknife – To deal with those pesky shields and Force Illusions that other decks may have.

Caution – More protection for Mace. Great to remove the Padawan die if needed to get 3 more shields on Mace. I have even done it on Padawan with a Mace die when Mace rolled poorly.

Close Quarters Assault – Mitigation/Control that people tend to forget about. Its not about getting the whole hand. If I roll out Padawan with Rey’s Lightsaber I can still remove 2 cards. Removing 2-4 cards for free depending on hand is pretty good.

Deflect – Just so good against ranged damage. Pretty standard.

Destiny – This ensures that you can still do something if your base die are mitigated or if you don’t have resources for Mace. Destiny for even a 2 cost weapon is great as they can all help ramp faster.

Guard – So good for almost mitigating a whole round. The best is with a Mace 4 side but even a Padawan 2 side or the Rey lightsaber 3 side is good. I will gladly trade 3 damage to remove 3 dice that could have done double that to me.

Lightsaber Pull – Love this card. Being able to draw a weapon when needed for free is amazing in this deck. Need healing …Ancient Saber. Need the redeploy…Rey’s. Then the added function of thinning the deck to get what you need faster. I have already done this with Ancient Saber to heal Mace for 4-6 in a game.

Reaping the Crystal – This I could see testing to remove. Right now I like it as a 1 of. There are only 2 items usable on it but lightsaber pull helps make this more usable. The use for free and saving a resource is key and has saved me more then I thought it would. There are times that it does become re-reroll fodder.

Rend – This is critical to protect the deck and thank god for it. This deck with all the two cost upgrades is EXTREMLY prone to imperial inspection. Rend helps that. Then the added bonus of stopping holocrons, salvage stand and opposing force speeds.

Willpower – The secret tech that I love for Mace. Provides healing and the little bit to kill a character. Willpower into Mace ability to kill character that has 3 health and 3 shields.

Rebel War Room – Rarely will you want to have your own battlefield but if you do get it then this allows for another method to use that 4 for 1 Mace die. More often there are characters without pay sides and even those that have one, like Cad, then if they claim for this you have less worry from mitigation.

Deck Strategy

This deck usually doesn’t claim and wants to go second for the shields unless the battlefield really helps the other deck or if you are facing Mill/control.

The best starting hand is Rey’s Lightsaber, Reaping the Crystal, Force Speed, CQA, Guard/Deflect. You want to mulligan for Rey’s Lightsaber in starting hand, or a Lightsaber to pull it. Getting that on Padawan early is big. Otherwise an Ancient Saber will be OK to at least offer healing. I love CQA early as usually the best hand you will have to disrupt is the starting hand because of Destiny’s very advantageous mulligan system. So removing cards from that opening hand is almost always good. Force speed is best on Padawan and I have even put 2 force speeds on her for just more action chaining. Being able to roll Mace and resolve his dice can be such a huge play.

Mace wants Ancient Saber and Force Illusion on him. I often will keep the Force Illusion in my hand until needed as simply having resources showing makes Mace so much more threatening. Adding Shoto Lightsaber to an Ancient Lightsaber equipped Mace can also lead to some massive damage turns.

I generally save Willpower for when an opponent’s character has 3 health left to set up using Mace’s ability for the auto-kill. Being able to do 3 damage through shields and other protection effects leads to some huge blowout plays.

I use Deflect when needed and didn’t worry too much if using it meant not playing an upgrade on Mace. Having the other resource available for his pay side or Force Illusion is a fine way to play the turn.

The rest is up to knowing the matchups…

Weaknesses & How to Combat Them:

Kylo2 – Kylo from the starter set hurts this deck quite a bit being mono blue. When facing him you need to have/keep 1-2 grey cards in hand until he is dead. Focus him quickly even if FN is the other character.

Thrawn/Unkar – Mace-Wan is sadly a 3 dice and that hurts against the current Thrawn/Unkar with Prized Possession and Detention Center. Try to ramp up quickly so you have more dice. Rend Imperial Inspections and kill Unkar as fast as possible.

Vibroknife – Just as we use it we are also weak against it as it cuts through our protection. Kill the wielder quickly and always try to mitigate it.

Thanks for reading. I hope this deck inspires others to give Mace a try, even if it’s with some of the other character pairings available to him.

Jose Guerrero, AKA Merlinus