It Was A Fucking Trap 1.0

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• 1.0

Can you explain battlefield choice? I play a lot of this combo and I found I very often do claim the battlefield, so i'm using either Echo Base, Frozen Wastes or Imperial Armory. Can't really decide what's best.

+1 i also thinks frozen wastes is better here.

@jpingus and @Wosho - I updated the description with a section on Battlefield choice. Tldr; Frozen Wastes is good, but it made for too many close games against certain decks that I took it out.

@pearlyeti I have a deck basically the same as this save for a few differences:

1.) Scout is sloooooow. Sure, it may help with knocking out cards, but it doesn't push you forward in your own goals: killing off people. I am playing two commando raid presently, which I use to clear their hand and get some errant damage. It has been very good. Sure, Scout works with Rearm and all that jazz, but it's just too low impact overall. I do not miss it.

2.) We all know red hero is lacking in die removal/manip. To this end I am playing 2x Rey's Staff over IQA. IQA is slow and unreliable. Sure, you can overwrite and rearm, but it's just not as good of a card as Rey's Staff--even with being melee. It has three damage side. I play Rebel War Room, which is great in rush resolution. It also helps to make that one +1melee side on Promotion less of a drag.

I tend to get the most bang I can out of my Leia and whatever upgrades I get on her. I have played this in my league and haven't lost a game yet.

@Book - I've done some play testing with the Launch Bay, Commando Raid and Rey's Staff versions of this deck. I find that all three of those flavors slow down this deck, and that Scout and IQA-11 Blaster Rifle help keep it aggressive.

Every side of Scout is immediately usable, and I rarely use re-rolls or to fix it. If your opponent is sitting on 2 , the 2 is worth using to slow down their ramp or cripple that round's removal and answers. The side helps get Ackbar rolling, especially on those important All In plays. Lastly, the is great to use before you spend a turn using to find sides. At the least, you'll get rid of a cheap event, like Probe. And if you're lucky, you'll sniff out a possible Dodge so you don't waste all your dice after a turn.

IQA-11 Blaster Rifle's utility comes into play in not only It's a Trap! damage, but also in its 's ability to get around shield stacking opponents. Given the low cost of events and upgrades in this deck, I usually have an IQA out on whichever character is the secondary target by the 3rd round.

@pearlyetinot my experience on the aforementioned cards. Yes, the focus result is nice on Scout, and sure, if they are hoarding resources or playing poorly, you can snipe their cache, but, alas, it does not deal damage UNLESS you peel away their last card. It's just slower and less impactful than wiping with a surprise Commando Raid.

IQA-11 Blaster Rifle is something I don't want to cut, but it just is so iffy. My deck is all about tempo and optimization. I don't require another red die for It's a Trap!; I have 4 dice for my peeps, DH-17 Blaster Pistol, Promotion, etc. Again, tempo. Rey's Staff is not ideal, but cost-wise, damage-wise, and manip-wise, it does more than IQA-11 Blaster Rifle and helps shore up some of the deficits.

It's worth mentioning I also play Survival Gear--which I usually drop in Jango/Veers or other high damage yield matches to get shields. It's just a solid utility card.

This might come down to playstyle, but I can tell you with certainty: I do not miss IQA-11 Blaster Rifle nor Scout.

@Book I just want to chime in here on scout. In an aggro deck, it's pretty much the perfect special ability. You get to see their hand and get rid of one of their mitigation cards. This allows you to know what their options are, not get your damage removed, allowing you to do maximum damage. In addition, you get closer to triggering Ackbar's ability.

It's better to remove a card that could potentially take away one or more dice, rather than putting more damage which will just get removed. He Doesn't like you, defensive position, use the force, electroshock, force isolation are all targets that can mess up your damage potential if you are showing mostly modifier sides.

If you can take out a take cover, defensive stance or dug in, it's effectively 1-3 damage on it's own.

Just because it's not direct damage, doesn't mean it doesn't contribute to the aggressive style of the deck.

@Belal, I really appreciate your comments. Personally, when I first started with this deck I took out Scout. It just isn't a very flashy card. I tried a handful of other cards in its slot, and finally brought it back to give it a second try. The deck immediately began performing more consistently and predictably, which is my major goal in deck design.

Did you face any melee decks? How you deal with them if you are geared towards guns.. By the way I love the deck.

@teslatrooper, melee decks are definitely not the easy win that blaster decks are. Melee tends to have more control too, since they tend to be slower. Because of that, I usually resolve damage as it comes up. You also have to think outside the box on your combos. A lot of people think It's a Trap! becomes worthless against melee. Just not true. Using it on their , especially if you've got All In to combo off of, is a great play. Versus special heavy decks like Vader/Raider or anything Kylo, I'll dig for IQA and Scouts so I can It's a Trap! and do some damage and card removal all at once. Worst case scenario, I'll It's a Trap! and turn some useless dice to get resources to put me ahead for the rest of the game.

Played and loved it, awesome deck, felt a bit the lack of red gunz wich i hope we will get with next set.

I have done another week of games in league and in testing, 13 in total with the deck--my version--and dropped one game to a god roll Jango/Veers that was two damage away from dying. I am really liking Rey's Staff a lot. I think the key difference in our builds is I am whole hog on trying to win by turn 5-6 at latest. There is no contingency. I want to deal 6+ damage each full round and manage to do so.

@Book, I'll have to tryout the Rey's staff version on TTS sometime. I'm hesitant to mess with the deck for local events as it is keeping me at the finals table consistently. My current dream card for SoR is a 1 or 2 cost blaster with a focus side. Mmmm.

@pearlyeti I think the differences we have don't massively impact the core conceit of the build. I think my deck is faster, but may have a tougher time in the late game--though it doesn't ever go late game anyway, so...

Rey's Staff, with the resource is a reliable three point bonk when you All-In, same as IQ, but cheaper and not dependent on another die for its modifier. The die removal is what this deck is lacking, and this gives us that option in spades. Sure, it's less stuff to Rearm, but Rearm is not what's breaking games wide open. I use it on Promotion and DH to push rerolls as needed.

I like Survival Gear over Scout bc it gives me the focus, has no misses, and also shields, those beautiful, beautiful shields. I can't count the times having 1-2 shields has made a gigantic difference in a game, esp. with so few HP in this build.

Commando Raid continues to spam and damage as needed. I typically get one off a game, it can wipe a player building toward a recovery or bigger damage turn. It cycles, so you can keep reroll aggression and potential defense up. And that 2 damage is often the difference in a win or loss. Having discard come at a 3 value is pretty substantial. It can catch a player on an awk roll with no rerolls. It can eliminate control cards en masse--though less selectively. Sure, I would rank it as a flex card, but man oh man, this is such a nice little tool in the box 9/10.

@pearlyeti love the deck. It's super strong. My only issue I'm running into is playing in a Vader and Kyle heavy meta. I want to put in Launch Bay x 2 (more damage) and Block x 1 (meta call).

Thinking -1 comlink -1 daring escape and -1 ????

I don't know what to remove... thoughts?

@Bonjoviisking try to mulligan for Scout. Getting them out against control heavy decks and forcing their special with focus. You'll eat up their control, and you can gauge when it's safe to work up to a big ranged hit. Daring Escape works against melee as well as ranged which is why I take it over 1 Block and 1 Dodge. Use it's a trap on specials and focus. Combo with All In to get control free damage. Launch Bay has never worked out for me in the deck, I just get beat to crap while I save up 5 resources and then I never hit it's damage side.

@pearlyeti thanks for the reply! I'll keep the list as is for now and try for that strategy. Looking ahead to set two, are there any cards you plan to add to this deck? Or will you play something new entirely?

@Bonjoviisking, Rebel Assault has me very excited. I think I will ditch 1 Defensive Position and 1 Comlink for it. Having a free way to shut down specials, focuses (foci?), and painful discard and disrupt sides is going to be awesome. Even denying a strong dice from a reroll to damage, like a non damage showing Vader, makes me happy.

@Bonjoviisking, I updated description with link to the new deck I'm working on - Kooku for Kokoa Puffs.

I hate this deck so bad.. i received the most sound beatdown of my young Destiny career this week at Rainy Day Games from it.

@pearlyeti I like this deck, a lot, I just deconstructed my eLeia/Han deck for this last week because my "I Know" deck is just doing average across the board. Now, my problem is that my buddy (whom I always playtest with) plays Vader/Raider) and our whole local meta is a majority of Vader/Raider. And it is the bane of my existence. I have beaten it with this deck but it only happened once out of like 4 or 5 times. I never beat it with Han/Leia. I have pulled off your aggro combo a few times thanks to Raider or Force Throw. I just, I can't definitively take down Vader/Raider and its crushing me.

@KonnorwithaK, Vaider/Raider is probably the toughest matchup this deck faces and a common complaint from people new to playing it. A lot of that difficulty is because your Vader/Raider opponent has probably run that deck for 2-3 months now, and while they are terribly bored, they also know how to pilot it pretty well.

Keep practicing the matchup and maybe shake-up your strategy. Lately I've been taking a more control approach to Vader/Raider and working to mulligan up for Scout. Using it to get out the control cards like Isolation and Electroshock really slows down the control against you. I do a little dance each time I Scout out a Backup Muscle. And if you're patient and your opponent makes a (what seems to be fairly common) slip, you can Scout out that darn Sith Holocron right after they have swapped it for a new ability.

Once you've got Scout out, work to get out your IQA. This might take some overwriting of another blaster, and in this matchup that is okay. You've now got out at least 2 dice with Specials on it, so your It's A Trap is going to be much more consistent. Dealing 2 damage, discarding a card, and seeing your opponent's hand for 1 resource is a strong play and most don't see it coming.

@pearlyeti I see. I'll have to try that. Almost every single game I'm able to pull IQA early with a rearm, that way when he activates Vader I discard IQA then immediately rearm for 2 (or 1 or 0 if Im overwriting a useless upgrade like Promotion or Comlink)

With Spirit of Rebellion, which way would you change this deck? Lots more firepower with Overkill, Rocket Launcher and alt A180 blasters? Wing man quicker activation? Planetary Uprising seems logical for quick claiming. Even quicker if Scarif secret facility used?

Also, have consider if Mon Mothma to replace Ackbar? Lose his range but more focus and ability to reroll red die with red events more often used? Need lots of testing of course

Ho Boy. It is about time to dust off this old deck and get it out into the meta! Ranged has made quite the come back in SoR recently, time to punish them! I have my experimental deck list ready to go and will post it up once I have a tournament result with it!

Needs updating with Spirit of Rebellion, replacing Ackbar with Mon Mothma. Lose the shooting but better focus. Ability to reroll dice with playing events is useful, triggers more often than Ackbar's.

Have you tweaked this deck with any cards from the Empire at War set?