This past weekend saw the heavy shield meta solidify itself as public enemy number 1. I am nowhere near at a place where I will be calling for any erratas or what not. R2P2 and QuiKanan are beatable, we just need to exploit their strategies and weaknesses.

Anti-Shield Technology

Of these Sustained Fire and Jedi Rival are the deepest cuts. Both costs one resource which generally will make it a worse than Intimidate but for those without access or just wanting to supplement they are becoming reasonable inclusions. Sustained fire is super conditional but in this metagame its not crazy to have situations where your opponent has 3 to 6 shields. Jedi Rivals in particular will be devastating on turn 1 for the rest of the game vs the shield decks. There might be some awkwardness when deciding when to activate your character but overall its a card I’d want in my opener in all of those match ups- It also plays extremely well with It Binds All Things.If you have a fast clock and some anti shield cards you should do fine vs them.

Last week I wrote about possible Kylo2 decks and this is the one which I liked the most. This is an extreme anti shield version which might be going overboard- after a while the amount of shield hate saturates your deck into a pile of do nothings. Still, this deck is doing some powerful stuff and does some good damage. What I love the most is putting Crossguard Saber on Kylo which will give it redeploy due to the Servant of the Dark Side ability. Price of failure is particularly gross when you move over the upgrade onto another character do to the Hood’s ability. As an alternative you can try a variation of this with 7th sister instead of Kylo, that’s definitely in my testing queue. With so much R2P2 Kylo might not be as hot as he once was.

I’d like to thank some commenters for pointing out the possible pairing of Kylo2 and Cad Bane. I tried that deck out and even though Cad is powerful the big issue is that a 1 die Cad is somewhat sad after Kylo dies. I have come to the conclusion that playing two die Kylo decks is probably wrong and that 1 die Kylo with 2 other dice will be better. Jango and Bossk are both solid options if you are looking at yellow villain stuff.

I chose Bossk because of the extra health, the three base damage and the fact that he helps you win more rolls than Jango. BD-1 Cutter and On the Hunt are trying real hard to be great in this deck. I chose to go all in on my events either being resource generating or free. With all of the pay sides in the deck doing what you want can be a bit of an issue. You can also take a Holocron approach to building these decks but Bossk’s plus 2 really wants some base range help. Bossk’s ability is more helpful than most realize. Early on you can place 1 or 2 damage on both characters and eventually they will have to choose which character they want to start placing upgrades on, at that point you can switch all the damage on to them to gain a good bit of value. From then on out it won’t help generally but in a world of ridiculous amounts of shields popping out of nowhere its possible that you’ll want to switch targets and Bossk’s helps there beautifully.

Who Gives a Flying Shield!

Sometimes it’s best to attack with strategies that just don’t give a damn about their defensive cards. In the pre nerf world I wouldn’t dream of playing too many cards that were specifically dead vs Thrunkar. Now, its acceptable to do so because there doesn’t seem to be any go to mill deck. Mill decks are hard to play in this game since they require you to know a lot about the format. If you do know how to play your deck and how to beat the top and random things then you will be successful. The issue is when you are in the first round and have to play against a deck like Baze/Snap you’re going to wonder why you made your life so much harder. It doesn’t matter that you playtested 10 games vs R2P2 and went 9-1 if you can’t beat the guy who decided to play all of their favorite cards.deck. The key is that you need to have something that not only is good vs the meta but is also good vs random things.

For those into the whole durdling business this will surely peak your interest. This is the prototypical mill deck which doesn’t care about doing damage in the slightest. Ezra is pretty bad in that he only has 3 sides you care about but he gives you more health, helps mill via Rieekan and can wear Maz’s goggles and Second Chance. Maz is key for getting up in actions so you can play your powerful claim cards and claim your useful battlefield. Dug In is an all Star and a card I would keep in most of my opening hands- you either get the shields from the roll or you get them from Dug In. Setting up an Honor Guard lock is going to be hella annoying for your opponent and if they claim you can then mill or make them discard. Its important to note that this is the same battlefield R2P2 uses which will guarantee that you will be using it. Spy Net is definitely not a card I play lightly but here you have a way that you can play it for free via Docking Bay, getting the field will be easy once you draw Hyperspace Jump. Against Qui Gone their battlefield will be better for them but paying 1 for a shield isn’t the worst if you have the money to spare since it will help you mill with Reiken. Loth-Cat and Mouse is a card to consider here, perhaps Hidden Agenda and All Quiet end up being too cute? AQOTF is necessary if any other lunatic is playing a mill deck but in this meta Loth Cat will probably be better most of the time. Loth Cat can be a bummer if you will be rolling in Rieken first since his dice are very good, if you can afford to roll in Ezra often then it will be a worthwhile card. I do want to test AQOTF since it can speed you up a lot in final turns but I don’t know if its realistic that you will have enough shields to be worth it.

I WANT IT ALL!

This last idea is an oldie but a goodie. It might be time for those fools who haven’t played since Awakenings time to dust off their cards. If you are the kind of person that likes to kill with damage or mill this might be up your alley.

Both R2P2 and QuiKanan are pretty slow. This deck tries to capitalize on that fact and it plays a powerful battlefield while also being able to win the roll half the time or better. This gives them a tough choice. Most of the mill decks are pretty slow but this one is pretty fast and can make you discard rather quickly. This also has the opportunity to win with damage so they will have to interacting with your damage via mitigation. On the Hunt is exceptional here since it removes shields and mitigates dice- both things you want to be able to do. The only true mill cards this deck plays are Lying in Wait and Loose Ends, both of those are extremely powerful and I think are worth it. Confiscation might be an odd choice but considering the meta and that you are playing with Infamous it should be great.

Conclusion

It might be tough fighting the damage battle vs the shield bearers of the format but if you consider cards that are powerful in the meta or alternate strategies you can crush them. Its important that your deck do something powerful regardless of your match up because it doesn’t matter if you can only beat the top decks but lose to random ones you’ll face in the first rounds of the tournaments. Since both R2P2 and QuiKanan are slow, having a battlefield that you can exploit will get you some added value- if you can build decks that abuse their battlefields better than they can even better. Since both decks want to start with shields its important to be competitive on the roll. The decks I presented here don’t do a great job of beating them but they at least stay close or have abuseable battlefields.

Good Luck in your regional and as always,

May The Rolls Be With You!

…especially the first one.

-NJCuenca

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