November 19, 2019

As is well-documented, I’ve been on the Palpatine train since the Star Wars Destiny 2019 US Nationals at NoVa, taking him and Watto to a Top 16 finish there and a Top 64 finish at Worlds. I previously wrote about my journey to and at NoVa, but didn’t write anything after Worlds. However, my list changed quite a bit following NoVa. The list now is largely the same as it was at Worlds – I’ve effectively decided on 28 “core” cards – but I did change a few tech cards following Worlds.

As a quick point of reference, my list at US Nationals looked like this:

The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural

Though the list did well, after my defeat at NoVa I realized it didn’t pack enough “umph.” It was a bit too defensive and didn’t have enough tools to bring the pain to my opponents, and I wound up revamping the upgrade package quite a bit. In doing so, it also removed the need for Free-For-All because I no longer tended to have a lot of non-damage dice laying around with no way to end the game.

This is the list I took to Worlds:

As you can see, I added two Sith Teachings (a card I now believe I was insane for not playing at NoVa) to add more damage, and a second Niman Training to help add consistency to some of my other dice. I included exactly two one ofs, which I consider the flex or tech spots for the deck and have highlighted above. At Worlds, I anticipated a lot of Palpatine and Reylo, and Decisive Blow seemed a good card in either of those match ups. Forsaken, on the other hand, is just generally a good card, and having one of it still would force my opponent to play around it if they either knew my list (in top cut) or if I played it, they’d be left anticipating the second one.

Now, for the Nashville flavor (BBQ? Whiskey?):

Predictably, I left the 28 core cards the same, but changed the two flex spots. I no longer considered Reylo public enemy number one or likely to be my most common match up, and I anticipated Palpatine mirror matches to likely be few and far between. Instead, I predicted Chopper droids would be my most common (and one of my harder) match ups, and so I put in Improvised Defense and Electromagnetic Pulse, both cards that are effective in that match up.

The Nashville Prime

We had 25 players for the tournament. It certainly wasn’t the largest Star Wars Destiny tournament in the world, but it was a respectable number with a fairly competitive field. I didn’t play a person all day I would consider a poor player, and both Entourage Gaming and Team 3G out of Kentucky had strong showings.



(Side note: The Team 3G guys are very good players and fun to hang around. We will be watching their careers with great interest).

Game Cave in Hermitage (which I guess is a part of Nashville – hell if I know) was the venue, and it did a great job hosting, including providing very generous prize support beyond the official Fantasy Flight Games Tournament Kit. I also want to shout out to our very own Kroozin. He ran the tournament as the TO and it was the quickest, most efficiently run tournament I have ever played in.

I went 5-1 in Swiss and won all of my top cut matches 2-0. I’m going to list them out below, but some will have more details than others – this is a result of where my memory is better, but also to avoid too much repetition (I played against Chopper droids 3 times in Swiss and once in top cut, for example).

Round 1 – VS. Chopper Droids (W)

My first opponent’s deck was none other than public enemy number one. I can’t say I was thrilled to be facing Destiny’s robotic overlords ( though I for one welcome them), but I was also glad that I had included the tech cards I did. I was ready to show them that technological terrors are no match for the power of the Force, and I was able to come out victorious. Honestly, I cannot recall the details of this match, but the record books show I won.

Round 2 – VS. Chopper Droids (W)

Again, I was tasked with chopping down Chopper. This game was much closer – in fact, I only won after time was called by two points of damage which were resolved after my opponent claimed. This match was against one of the Team 3G guys, and it could have gone either way for sure. The game started out very rough for me; despite my best efforts and/or prayers, I could not keep Chopper from rolling discard sides . My opponent was able to resolve them effectively and devastatingly, taking key pieces out of my deck and severely slowing down my first few rounds. To make it worse, he also did what Chopper Droids does well and tanked up with shields, riot shields, and field medics.

To a certain extent, I lucked out because despite his discards I was still able to play a few key upgrades – notably a Force Wave, and later a Force Storm. However, I also did a couple of things that were important and are worth highlighting.

First, I played very defensively and took tons of preemptive shields to weather the droid assault. This is key in any Palpatine vs. Droid match up. Second, at about 20 minutes into the round I realized that he was either going to kill me or the game was going to time, but he had tanked up enough I was never going to kill him short of a miracle. This was extremely important as I started spreading damage around to take it where I could get it around shields and riot shields. I realized if I could get my damage in while soaking his, I had a chance to win on the tiebreaker – in other words, I played to the only win condition realistically available to me. It wound up paying off, but it was still very close, and I was fortunate to win.

Round 3 – VS. Jyn/Cassian Mill (W)

I’ve played against plenty of Jyn/Cassian decks in my day, but this one was the best built and piloted one I have faced. Instead of the usual kill/mill hybrid, this deck was built purely to mill. This was piloted by another one of the Team 3G guys from Kentucky, and once again it was an extremely close game – I won off of my final reroll, ending the game with no cards left.



Mill is typically a tough match up for Palpatine, and it is virtually unwinnable if they get their battlefield (Occupied City). Thankfully, Palpatine/Watto has a very high average Battlefield roll off, and I was able to win the roll off here.

Round 4 – VS. Chopper Droids (W)

Chopper again! I don’t remember too much of this match because it blurs together with the Top Cut games (I faced the same opponent again in Top 4). However, it was on stream if anyone wants to check it out on Entourage Gaming’s Twitch channel.

Round 5 – VS. Vader/Greedo (W)

This game was against my Entourage Gaming team mate, Lanza. Vader can absolutely steam roll Palpatine (or any deck) if he gets a hot start. Fortunately for me, Lanza did not, and as soon as I got a couple of upgrades out I rolled out straight fire.



This match was also on stream if you have any interest in the VOD.

Round 6 – VS. Vader/Greedo (L)

A repeat of the last match up, I faced Entourage Gaming’s Jimmydehand in this game. Jimmy’s Vader did what Lanza’s did not, and that was roll me off of the board. In the second round he rolled out a 3 on Vader and a +4 on Vader’s Saber. I had no way to mitigate it other than a Watto Power Action. Because I also needed money, I decided to use the power action on the +4 to call melee and because the result could not get worse than a +4; Unfortunately, it could stay the same, and it did. Vader put Palpatine down to 2 HP and still had a die in the pool, and we were on his battleground. In other words, rolling out all but guaranteed death in The Fighting Pit.

I didn’t really have a way out. If I double passed to get to next round for more upgrades and HP (I only had two upgrades and even drawing into a bacta would not have been very effective), Vader could roll out again and kill me. Likewise, I couldn’t claim because he still had cards to reroll his last die. I ultimately opted to play to win rather than to not lose and rolled out, hoping he’d hit the 1/6 on the fighting pit and blank, which would give me a chance to get some shields. He hit the 5/6 instead.

Top 8 – vs. ePalpatine/Yularen/Lightsaber Mastery (W: 2-0)

I sat down against another player from Team 3G and at this point I’m pretty sure they were due a win against me. Fortunately, I was able to come out on top. This deck was unique but looked to play the best of both of Palpatine’s worlds with Admiral and being able to fit in an on demand Fatal Blow under Lightsaber Mastery. I liked what it looked to do and my opponent played it well. Unfortunately for him he made a key mistake the round I finally drew my fatal blow – he opted to Yularen Power Action instead of playing the Counterintelligence in his hand. I had already rolled out, so all the power action let him do was stare death down before it came for him.

The second game, I hit a 1/3 to discard his Admiral early on and he never drew the other one one. Deprived of his primary weapon, he fell too far behind and I was able to win.



These games were streamed.

Top 4 – VS Chopper Droids (W: 2-0)

My Top 4 match-up was against my opponent from Round 4 of Swiss. Though I remember the Swiss game being anyone’s match-up, I felt like I was in the driver’s seat most of these games. One thing that worked to my advantage was that my opponent’s list was less control-heavy than most modern Chopper lists – it did not feature Entangles or Flee the Scenes that I recall. In other words, though he could remove one die at a time fairly consistently, I was able to achieve UNLIMITED POWER with my upgrades and roll out more dice than he could handle.

Finals – VS eGrievous/Aphra/Sentinel Messenger (W: 2-0)

The Sith believe in revenge, and I was ready to exact it for my teammates Lanza and Jimmydehand, who had fallen to this opponent in the Top 8 and Top 4, respectively. This was the final member of Team 3G I would face (I think I played all but one of them throughout the day). This round was streamed. Going into it I felt that it was a favorable match for me, and it played out that way. Game one I was able to choke him out with Watto Disrupts and he simply could not get anything going – I don’t think I even let him get to three resources for a delve, and I stole his Fickle Mercenaries and beat him over the head with it without ever giving him a good chance to buy it back.

In the second game, I lucked out and discarded his Vader’s Fist from his hand in Round 1. I believe he had the delve too, because the next round he delved out his second fist. Unfortunately for him, I had a Desperate Measures standing by, and he fell too impossibly behind to come back.

I spent most of both games playing around Scorched Earth – I recognized it was one of the few ways I could lose – but it turned out he did not run it. Regardless, we did not exchange decklists so I had no way of knowing that, and I was not going to risk it since it is such a blow out against a fully loaded Palpatine.

Palpatine may not be the most popular deck list, and he’s only taken a handful of Primes this season. However, I believe that when he is piloted well he is as much a powerhouse as any other deck in the format, and can be used to usher in 10,000 years of peace and prosperity for Star Wars Destiny under his Galactic Empire.

WRITTEN BY:

MOOPHISTO

