Critical Mass 1.0

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Welcome to Critical Mass

I built this deck while looking to use some game theory concepts applied to Destiny in ways I'd rarely seen. In this particular case I wanted to build upon the concept of "Quantity" over "Quality". While I have built decks on this concept before, the current set brings new tools to make it work, most notably Flanking Maneuver, Deploy Squadron , and Z-95 Headhunter.

I'll cover card choices as usual, and dig a little into the general game plan once that is done.

The Characters

Lando Calrissian - Galactic Entrepreneur the smooth operator himself. Like many deckbuilders I've been looking for a good spot to fit Billy in, and he's the total package here. Great generation for playing out all our supports, while also having some nice high value sides to enable Planned Explosion plays.

Rookie Pilot - The ugly guy that brings new meaning to the face Lando is making. The Rookies are the textbook definition of "just ok". They slot nicely into this deck because the re-rolls they provide for the various vehicles in the deck is actually relevant.

The Battlefield

Weapons Factory Alpha - Cymoon 1 was the obvious first choice here. With the overall strategy being to flood the board with support dice, turn 1 becomes a vital time in the game plan. Playing a Z-95 Headhunter or a T-47 Airspeeder turn 1 for only 1 is huge progress in that game plan. While contrary to the common logic, I suggest that we take our field. It's extremely useful to us on turn 1, and generally useless to our opponent for the rest of the game, additionally we will almost never claim.

The Fleet

I'm going to present the card choices a little differently than I usually do in my deck guides as many of the choices don't have their own specific reason for being in the deck, outside of just being another dice being added to the board.

BB-8, Chopper, R2-D2,Smuggling Freighter, Supply Line - All here because they provide dice. While the dice are sometimes useful and sometimes useless, they are still dice, and are here just to build the overall mass of dice.

C-3PO however deserves special mention as it's a huge play maker in this deck that is often overlooked by less savvy opponents. Resolving a 2 from a Smuggling Freighter as or has turned more than one game in my direction.

Stolen Cache is here as protection from the Sabine Wren - Explosives Expert lock style of play. If that deck isn't a factor in your local meta, by all means replace this card with Truce.

Y-Wing, Z-95 Headhunter, and T-47 Airspeeder are the business supports of the deck, and where all of the more incidental damage will come from. Keep in mind that while I'm using the term Incidental, that does not mean insignificant. I'm just trying to remind everyone that rolling on these supports is not the main focus of the deck. Just a benefit.

The Tools

Deploy Squadron is one of the main cards in this deck. This is how we throw more than our opponents can handle at them, all at once. Typically by the start of turn 3 this card is good for 7-9 dice in the pool all at once.

Flanking Maneuver is the card that just wins games. Because many of our dice aren't worth removing on their own opponents often won't bother with spot removal against us. This is how we punish them for that. The 7 to 9 dice by turn 3 that I mentioned earlier, now is 7 to 9 damage, before resolution.

Speaking of massive amounts of dice leading to huge damage Planned Explosion is also a card we have in here, and can sometimes be accomplished as early as turn 2!

Don't Get Cocky is here because we're occasionally going to need to draw into one of our business cards, and between this, and the on the T-47 Airspeeder, we have the ability to draw up when we need to.

Heat Of Battle is a card that I keep going back and forth on in this deck. When it works, it REALLY works. When it doesn't, it's usually because we don't have the resources to resolve all the faces we flip to after paying for it. I call this the flex slot, between this and All In.

The Plan

The base game plan of critical mass is to play as many dice bearing supports as possible in the shortest amount of time possible for the purpose of blowout plays. The deck tends to start from a position of weakness at the start of the game, often taking large amounts of damage while building it's board.

I most often mulligan for a 5 support hand, ideally one with 2 supports that cost 2, and 3 supports that cost 1. The "Perfect Hand" would be C-3PO, Supply Line,BB-8,T-47 Airspeeder, and Z-95 Headhunter.

I shoot for my own battlefield when at all possible, and usually roll Lando in first in an attempt to build more resources. Typically the first turn is about building the biggest board possible, with the most amount of resources left at the end of the turn. However, when faced with opposing characters at greater than 10 health you will want to snipe them down into Planned Explosion range if the opportunity presents it's self.

Turn 2 is generally spent placing 1 to 3 more supports down and trying to get one more chunk of money out of Lando Calrissian - Galactic Entrepreneur before he dies, however it isn't always possible. The game plan from here is largely draw dependent.

If you pull a Deploy Squadron you are going to want to pair it with either Planned Explosion or Flanking Maneuver, with the latter being the preferred card late turn 2 forward.

If you have to go the slow route, protect your dice as much as possible and hope to pull off a late turn Heat Of Battle for as much damage as possible.

If you don't pull any of the business cards, (Planned Explosion, Heat Of Battle, or Flanking Maneuver) don't be afraid to go fishing with the T-47 Airspeeder and Don't Get Cocky. You are aiming to kill their main by the end of turn 3.

Lastly - There are a lot of different interactions in the different facings available on the support dice in this deck. Take your time when you are playing and don't get too focused on one single plan. I've missed the fact that I had lethal showing many times because I was so focused on trying to play Planned Explosion.