Way of the Force is almost here and its time to build with one of the most evil dudes in the galaxy. Unlike in the movies, Snoke will certainly make an impact in the Star Wars Destiny metagame (thanks Rian Johnson!) Let’s look at old baldy.

It might seem odd to do a build a round for a support character but as far as characters go Snoke is very powerful and his cheap cost will have him fit in a lot of places. I want to leave no stone unturned and I want to do a thorough investigation.

Blue Buddies

Some of these characters are more playable than others but for the sake of being thorough its important to be sure that we don’t miss anything. For example, I don’t think Fifth brother is better in a vacuum than Kylo2 but his saber is a beast and that one discard side goes up a ton in value when you are using Snoke making all of Brother’s die a solid hit and arguably better when you consider Snoke’s ability. Mother Talzin’s die might give us the best value with Snoke for the simple reason that we can run a First Order Storm Trooper or Bazine/Greedo with her giving us more HP to use Snoke’s ability. Force Sensitive Outcast is interesting when you consider her ability in relation to Snoke, however, that deck is going to look real weird. Seventh sister is incredibly flimsy and will die to a stiff breeze but her shield side will be interesting with Snoke and using her will allow you to use Profitable Connections which can start you off with a Maul or Heirloom Saber. Seventh Sister will be a bold choice and will present a suicide blue angle which will also be interesting with someone like Vader2 but with his special I can see him dying too quickly for him to be worth it. Maul is a small consideration although he has done nearly nothing so far and I don’t see him being worth it compared to the other options.

In a big/little pairing among these four Kylo has the best chance of winning the roll off (unless you count Maul) which will make it more likely for you to grab shields which will increase his total HP. That’s really important given Snoke’s ability. Right now I’d give the edge to Kylo as he is a proven commodity but Fifth Brother isn’t too far behind although his die side makes it unlikely that you will win the roll off.

Red Rockets!

I included anyone who is new, I think is reasonable or characters who aren’t used too often. Some of these might see some play in Trilogies but are probably completely unplayable in Standard. Krennic is probably unplayable but he has high health and all of his sides are pretty good to use except for the disrupt. Firmus Piett might be interesting in a Snoke vehicle deck, all of his sides seem pretty good to use. FN-2199 is always a threat to be busted and with an elite Snoke you can also use a plot for some extra value. FOST is someone you will plug into a lot of potential lineups, the three wide decks will have the most HP which will help abuse Snoke for longer. Thrawn will give you a bevy of potential options, most notably a vehicle route. I’m not too high on that since its going to take a long time for you to kill and none of Thrawn’s sides are directly offensive. I love Tarkin but I don’t think he will be better than a lot of the other options but it won’t be embarrassing. Veteran Stormtrooper and Extortioner are just random guys which might be descent if the build call for red characters of that cost. I’m looking forward to trying Executioner since his ability, unless his die is in the pool, will go off regardless of whether he is exhausted or not. I’m not sure how good that is but free two damage seems strong.

This is certainly what I am the most excited to try of the red characters. Glancing shot and Dagger of Mortis are cards that I would consider but they aren’t on the DB yet. The extra card from Stolen Intel is probably better than the shield although considering Snoke’s ability it is pretty close. With all the 0s in the deck that extra card will probably be better than a free shield. I like Honed Skills in theory but we’ll see how it works in practice. It could just be a do nothing or it can let you overpower opponents going late, its also nice to have the late game option of playing a Force illusion on a character without having to discard an upgrade. I’m sure the weapon suit isn’t perfect but I took some time to look through everything and it seems like a reasonable starting point.

Yellow Mellow

We have the random cheap characters like Bazine and Greedo. Those will give you access to yellow. At 7 Greedo does seem better but its close because Bazine has one more health and appears to be holding a Sentinel Sphere from Phantasm. The options at 8 are pretty bad, Guavian is usually a fine card but is real bad with Snoke. Bala-Tik is probably the best 8 but you’ll have to build around his modifier to make him shine. At 9 Mandalorian Super Commando is pretty great with Snoke, all of its sides are good hits except for the blank and its ability is pretty great although you’ll probably have to build around it and at that point there are probably better weapon/equipment decks. At 10 you can go for elite Bazine or Gamorian Guard. The guard is real big and can protect someone who’s your real build around guy but Issue is that from a value perspective Bazine is probably better and the Guard has 4 sides which are just terrible hits when you are playing Snoke. Doctor Aphra is pretty great and can drag the game out in a very positive way but the math for pairings doesn’t look great. DJ and the two Fetts are in that 16 spot and they all seem somewhat meh compared to pairing him with Cad Bane.

Snoke is certainly an upgrade to pairing him with Lobot (BWAHAHAHA!). The biggest problem here is that we need to have enough money to get action cheat and resolve one of Cad’s pay sides. The deck building here reflects that as I have gone very deep with the free money cards. You’ll be losing 4 cards in hand without response very soon and you’re not going to like it.

Three Wide Special

Because Snoke is so cheap you can fit him in a 3 wide deck with either 2 or 3 other dice. You’ll have more health although you will be slow as balls.

This deck looks like a lot of fun. Probably too much fun and not enough winning. I just want to bomb people to death, is that so wrong? I have some new cards in here that seem questionable but I just want to try them all! I’m sure there will be a Bombardment deck just from the fact that people really want there to be a bombardment deck. It’s a style of deck that we haven’t had yet. I wish I could link these decks to the DB but alas the set isn’t out and they won’t let you publish ILLEGAL decks. Soon, though, very soon.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this article. Let me know how you want to use Snoke in the comments or on social media – there’s a lot to try. Take care and as always…

BOMB YOU!

-NJCuenca

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