"ePoe/eMaz ain't dead" Store Championship Winner 1.0

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Let's be honest Poe Dameron - Ace Pilot with Fast Hands in combination with Maz Kanata - Pirate Queen was the strongest, most consistent deck to be discovered in the SoR meta. The Fast Hands "nerf" (nerf in the loosest term) hurt Poe. But the likes of Darth Vader - Sith Lord and Luke Skywalker - Jedi Knight were hurt more. Yeah, Luke still has Rey - Force Prodigy shenanigans and Vader has the villain event suite. But Poe Maz without a Poe "vehicle only" nerf, can still throw a thermal detonator from almost no where into your face! and with Hit and Run on at least 2 occasions you may not have the opportunity to mitigate this result from occurring.

All this said the in-ability to place fast hands on Poe results in your opponent having the opportunity to remove Poe's die the majority of the time. Meaning it is highly probable that you will only get the opportunity to claim one of Poe's specials per-turn. A smart opponent will also realise this opportunity is solely based on you either rolling a special on Poe out-right (that is not mitigated) or as is the majority of the case you roll Maz...resolve a focus...to Special a Poe die...and then claim it! Therefore Maz is now the heart of this deck in relation to consistency. For this reason the new age Poe Maz player must consider how you will reach a win scenario in the event of an early Maz loss?

It was due to this question i have made major changes to this deck and the way i play it. I was top seed after swiss at the European Championships. Crediting Cunning and "Fair" Trade as the tech that helped make this deck better than those taken by my competitors. However, with Maz becoming the primary target it is risky spending the two resources for an early Cunning knowing that she may bite it in the next round. With Maz now as the primary target, Second Chance is essential and apart from a play Cunning on Maz, roll, resolve, cunning special, over-right with Second Chance for safety. Cunning takes a slot for what i feel is now a one off scenario.

I therefore dropped 2 x Cunning for 2 x Maz's Goggles. A choice i didn't take likely as i had removed Maz's Goggles previously due to it being too slow in my opinion. However i found out through play testing that with a early Maz death with the Battlefield i required a focus method that toolboxes additional scenarios should they be realised. Now most people would reply "C-3PO" with shrugged shoulders. For the specific purpose of Poe Special's i agree, but in the event of losing Poe without something else Maz can fail to get over the line. The power of Maz's Goggles i feel changes in the early to late game. On Maz, Early Game: its an extra focus die for Poe. Late Game: its an event removal system (Rise again specifically). On Poe, Early Game: its an extra special side to be claimed with Emperor's Throne Room to remove events. Late Game: with the loss of Maz it can be an essential focus method in the absence of C-3PO.

For Euros i had 2 x "Fair" Trade, 2 x U-Wing, 2 x Field Medic and 1 x Dug in. I dropped a "Fair" Trade and a U-Wing for 2 x Second Chance. As discussed this is to keep Maz functioning for as long as possible. I also dropped the Field Medics for a Friends in Low Places and Confidence. Friends is great for event removal but the real greatness of this card is gaining the knowledge of your opponents hand. I have on occasion kept Friends in Low Places in my hand for a turn or two awaiting either the opportune moment or for that turn when the knowledge of the mitigation in a opponents had can be key to understanding if a kill scenario can be realised. Confidence is not essential and a flexible slot. But for my play style the zero cost force an opponent to use a die to prevent more unblockable (such as vibroknife) or without the option of modifiers can be pivotal. Finally, i decided that the pause to heal scenarios was counter-intuitive to claiming the battle field. Through testing i discovered that the more i took my actions first every turn. The more match control i have. With this said i also decided to remove Dug In for one of the greatest EoR cards.. C-3PO.

With Poe alive C-3PO can give you another focus method for Poe's Special. But i have also used C-3PO to claim a Maz's Goggles Special and Changed a Millennium Falcon 4 damage into 4 discard to hit an opponents hand to remove a Rise Again. Ensuring a win scenario is still close and preventing another free Blue Upgrade hitting the table,

So with the adjustments discussed here is a few additional thoughts on how i pilot this deck that haven't already been covered. For the my initial hand i'm looking for one card that can be thrown with Poe's special, mitigation and/or a Hit and Run. An early hit and run into throwing a thermal detonator can be pivotal. This i am sure has been said before. But for me i have kept a early C-3PO or a Maz's Goggles to set up for the situations detailed earlier in these notes. The additional reason i am happy with this over say paying 2 for Cunning as in the old days, is that you have a resource spare for mitigation or to roll over to turn 2 for a Second Chance.

With Fast Hands now a Maz only card. The way fast hands plays is completely different and some would say not essential. But i have had numerous scenarios whereby i claim a Maz die post activation to turn a Poe die and then claim two of the pool die through her ability. In this situation i have claimed two Poe Specials or a Poe die and a special. Also with Maz's Goggles' 2 Focus i have focused both Poe's die to claim two specials. Situational but possible i have played two fast hands on Maz to fast hands a Maz Focus into the 2 focus on goggles for the same scenario as above. Not often but in the last SC against a early claiming Palp i did it twice!

So in addition to Confidence, the other two cards that people question are "Fair" Trade and Flank.I have tech'd in "Fair" Trade for the obvious reasons of resource denial. With Maz's Goggles now able to remove the Rise Agains that i used "Fair" Trade to deny at Euros. I felt that i could drop the number to 1. I didn't want to cut it as i have also used fair trade to prevent an opponent fully loading out 9s post a good pull with Unkar's ability. Finally, Flank. This card can in my mind be the extra mitigation card that can be pivotal against Palpatine - Galactic Emperor and the Mirror. But in most cases its can be a dead card that never finds a situation for its use. Therefore this can also be a flex slot. But for me i'm a fan of Flank.

Looking forward to discussing my build. Whilst awaiting those anti-Poe Maz comments that i am sure will come. During the last SC i won i could hear moans about me playing Poe Maz. However with the errata to Fast Hands i have placed in numerous scenario's that required a level of skill not associated with the Old Poe Maz build to dig yourself out of the situation.

Final comment: I really do believe that with the release of EaW, Poe will be errata'd to vehicles only and despite enjoying running this deck. I think this is needed to prevent future scenarios where Poe will thrive. For now it can be beaten and it is no longer the sole tier 1 deck. Enjoying this last outing at a SC prior to embarking on a new meta in a months time.