It’s that time of the year and Store Champs are in full swing! We are here to take a closer look at store champs decklits and will be taking a different approach this year, instead of spamming all the winners we will be taking a closer look at a couple of decklists per post so we can fully examine the ins and outs. This will be a dissection and we will speak specifically of cards and talk about possible inclusions that the decks could make. You’ll be able to click on either decklist to be taken to the DB.

Lets first look at a our new Latin lover. He didn’t take much time to make a splash. I’m speaking specifically of Cassian which won an 11 person Store Champs in Norton, MA.

Yodor (Yoda + Andor)

You might be thinking that an 11 person store champ where the player only played three games isn’t much data and you’d be right. However, this is TheHyperloops home state and The Worst JRod is a solid player. None of the loops were able to attend this event but the local scene, while small, is full of great players. I had every intention of going but I woke up with a migraine and since the event was slightly far away I didn’t want to chance my medication not working or my migraine getting even worse. Shout out to anyone who gets bad migraines, I feel your pain.

The deck is certainly the real deal but It can struggle discarding the last few cards from hand. That’s where the battlefield shines. Because of Hyperspace Jump the deck will always have access to it if it wants it.

Counterplay: Keep cards in hand whenever you can. Rerolls that have an expected value of 3 or higher are probably too good to pass up but 2 or less is probably not worth it. This is all contextual because if a reroll will kill one of their characters most of the time you should take the shot. Just remember that the clock favors non mill decks. If you make them have to go extra turns they might run out of time to kill you. I’m not telling you to slow play but just remember that you aren’t in any rush to kill them. Play tight, play around Hyperspace Jump, Easy Picking and Mind Trick. If you have run out of cards in hand and in deck and have an Ancient Lightsaber you might want to put it on top of your deck at an odd time if they haven’t played a Hyperspace Jump. When playing your upgrades you want to place different symbol things on each characters and play upgrades on both characters to make their Mind Trick, Easy Pickings and In The Crosshair worse. These are little things you can do to give yourself extra percentage points in winning. Sometimes its right to run into those cards and playtesting the match up should give you experience in knowing when its right and when its wrong. You might want to consider spreading your damage if they play Dex’s Diner as healing 1 health for one resource isn’t great.

Who to go for: While I think Cassian is the most important character Yoda is easier to kill since you won’t run into a Second Chance. Eliminating Yoda will turn off all of their Mind Tricks and Overconfidence as well as make it harder for them to make money. I have also switched targets based off of Force Illusion placement. If they place an upgrade on a character I am more likely to go after them.

Possible Additions: If you want to play mill you should consider Scrap heap . One way that decks can attack you is by going after Yoda’s dice and choking your resources which will result in a smaller snowball mill effect. I will admit that this isn’t for the faint of heart but if your opponent is only using their starting dice for mill and not gaining resources to build up their mill and discard power you’ll probably win. Scrap Heap on turn one will gain about four resources by the end of the game which is good for two Mind Tricks or whatever combination of events helps me convince you that its worth it to have four extra resources. All those extra resources will help the snowballing. Dex’s Diner seemed to be awesome for him and second one would make it more likely that you would draw it. Flames of the Past might prove to be too good if Ancient Lightsabers prove to be a problem but a second copy might not be necessary. If you find yourself having a problem discarding the last card in hand you can consider some Bespin Wing Guard.

This deck is certainly good as it plays top notch characters but its certainly beatable. I’m interested in seeing those Cassian aggro decks, where you at?

KRAP (Kylo Ren and Ariana Grande)

Another small turnout has yielded another great deck. This list was played by JRB106 at a 10 person SC in Pennsylvania. It’s a small turnout but the list is solid. Kylo will be a force to reckon with especially since he has a better partner and access to different color. Playing mono color decks will be even harder now a days and if you’re going to play one it better be good.

Counter play: Pick a deck that is at least 50/50 on colors. Playing mono color is really tough right now because everyone knows this deck is solid. If you read BobbySaphire’s article yesterday he talks about how he doesn’t want to play against Kylo2 since its ability is so good and he also has a penchant for playing mono colored decks. The Kylo vs mono color decks dance will be an interesting metagame consideration which I think will warp the fomat for the time being. I’m not considering mono colored decks right now. There are plenty of good multiple color decks out there and why make myself a huge underdog in a match up I’m sure to face? Some will be brave and go mono because of the payoff cards and I wish you good luck.

Who to go for: If you aren’t playing mono you can go for Ari first. This will make the Best Defense worse and turn off Tactical Mastery in the late game where it’s the most devastating. If you are mono, Kylo must die. Kylo is the best but the extra health will keep him alive longer and make it more likely that they will draw Force Illusion which is the card that just crushes the aggro mirrors.

Possible Additions: Shoto Lightsaber is missing from this list and while I know it was omitted because it doesn’t work with Z6 and Vibroknife the card is really good with Kylo since he can activate, strip a shield and do 2 damage as a first action. That can be devastating and it’s a life I certainly want to be living. Force Speed seems like it could be something else as it’s only playable on Kylo and he will quickly be losing spots. Even Edwin Chen’s World Championship winning list didn’t have any and he had two blue characters!

Thanks for reading. I hope this gave you some food for thought. We will be covering more Store Champ decklists in this fashion. Let us know what you want us to cover or if you know of any decks you think are sleeping in the wings and waiting to claim a store champ win. Take care and as always…

May The Rolls Be With You!

@NJCuenca

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