Palp2 / Death Trooper 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This deck came about as a result of Julio challenging me to build something with Palpatine - Darth Sidious. He's been trying to make him work, and we'd spent a bit of time theory-crafting around him. On Sunday, Julio decided he wanted to see what I'd come up with on my own. Watching the Rockets lose by 40 was a good time to stare down at my phone and start to building.

General

The idea of this deck is to abuse the Palpatine - Darth Sidious Power Action to get big effects for much cheaper than you would otherwise. Two resources and a card for two damage might not be all that efficient, but simply a card for two damage is quite good.

Characters

Palpatine - Darth Sidious: He's the reason we are making this deck. Death Trooper: There are other 10 point characters, but none of them have four sides that juice the Palp Power Action. I briefly considered a yellow character in this slot, but the thrust of the deck demanded red cards.

Upgrades

We want the cheapest upgrades with the most damagiest sides we can get. DH-17 Blaster Pistol is a one drop that has three damage sides.Fragmentation Grenade is five sides of something other than ranged damage. Hunting Rifle is another one drop, but with only two damage sides it isn't going to pay off as often as we'd like.

The other two, Holdout Blaster and Hidden Blaster, have three sides each. We can accommodate the modified sides in them as well because we have so many gun sides.

Force Illusion is Force Illusion, and, well, you cannot justify having a blue deck that without it.

Events (Staples)

The staples in this deck are all of the two-ofs, as opposed to the silver bullets (singles) I will get to later.

Direct Hit/Imperial Might: These are the backbone of the deck. Unless you're attempting to save a character this is what you're trying to resolve. Make some die deal four damage to get a quick knockout blow.

Dug in/Mind Trick/Overconfidence/The Best Defense...: Removal these days is about negating multiple dice with one effect. Single die removal doesn't cut it any more. Hero has a plethora of options, but Villain has to really scrape to find some.

Rise Again: Palpatine - Darth Sidious is the core of the deck, and you almost cannot win if he dies. You need him to last as long as possible. Often you will use the upgrade retrieval part of this to recur a Force Illusion.

Events (Silver Bullets)

This deck runs a suite of single cards that have narrow windows of impact, but can be useful as incredible blowouts if the time is right. If it doesn't look like these are coming up soon do not cling to them. Pitch them for rerolls and refill your hand with something that will be more impactful.

Alter: Stops two dice. Or helps two dice. This should probably be a two of, but I convinced myself to try Crossfire.

Crossfire: Either stop a big resource sided die for free or possibly stop two for one resource.

Endless Ranks: Ten more health is a lot to chew through if they happen to go for the Death Trooper first.

It Will All Be Mine: Massive Blowouts are possible here. Two would be excessive.

Scorched Earth: In a close game you simply claim, and when they roll out you kill them. Two resources for four or more damage at the end of the game is a-ok.

Snare: It's back breaking to land this on someone's biggest character.

Playing

Mulligan

You want a one drop upgrade in your opening hand. If you don't have one ship everything to look for one. If you're playing a match up that can wreck you on turn one you can keep a single piece of removal and ship four cards if you don't have a one drop.

Rounds

Play the upgrades on the Death Trooper. Palpatine - Darth Sidious is the logical choice for them to hit first, and you want to spread the threat around. Also, with a Fragmentation Grenade on him, a single activation of the Death Trooper will hit a two resource savings a whopping 56% of the time.

Try to use your +2 damage cards early to kill someone quickly.

Taking resources with Palpatine - Darth Sidious is sometimes the correct play.

You don't have to Power Action everything. If you can pay two resources to play two +2 damage cards in one round to smack someone for 8, that's quite good.

Don't waste the Fragmentation Grenade, but don't be afraid to pop them for good if you hit a 3 side on it.

That's it. If you sleeve this one up and take it for a spin, let me know what you think and what you'd change.