Mama's Mandos - 16 man SC in Sarasota, FL. 3rd Place 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

So Close but yet so far.

This deck is my update on a deck that I was trying to make work before WTF came out. It used to be called Momma's Troops but we all know trying to make red aggro just doesn't do it these days. That, and I loves me some Mandos!

Not my typical playstyle, and I had to learn to slow down, but it was worth it. (I love me Sabine! Again, Mando) Finally made the top cut in a bigger tourney. This deck can either ramp up and roll or be the death of a thousand cuts. I wasn't going to play this at the tourney because I hadn't tested it fully, but when I saw it took second on day 2 of Gencon, I thought what the hell. Here's how it all went down.

16 men enter.. one leaves.

Round 1 - Tarkin Snoke (Vehicles) - OK, I played against this in St. Pete who first-turned me with Planetary Bombardment, so I knew what to hit... Tarkin the moneyprinter. Two damage by dropping a chance cube plus rolling well took out Tarkin quickly, and then killed Snoke before he could really ramp up the toys. WIN 1-0

Round 2 - Sabine Stands Alone - Like I said, I love Sabine and have been playing her since she hit the game. Tested this very deck thinking I would bring it, and in testing I had the perfect game with it, then tried it against Kylo/Snoke and got lit up. When this deck gets the wrong cards, 11 health just isn't enough, and that's exactly what happened. WIN 2-0

Round 3 - Kylo Snoke - This was my amigo and practice partner so I knew this deck almost as well as he did. It was just a matter of jumping into the rhythm and letting the dice fall as they may. I think my new deck factor might have kept him guessing a little, but the deck ramped well and Kylo missed every time (which beats his average against my Luke/Rey deck at 100%) WIN 3-0

Round 4 - Snoke Cad - This was the deck I was concerned about because it's just evil-Sabine and it can ramp horribly. I hoped my HP advantage might help. The card gods favored me, after he hard mulliganed and got no upgrades. He also forgot about my power action and left Cad at one health, so I killed Cad and then got Snoke. WHEW! WIN 4-0

Round 5 - Snoke Tarkin - OK, I played this guy in St.Pete and he was running the vehicle version if I remember correctly... but this version is better in my opinion, weapons weapons weapons. He sooooooo rolled me hard in the last tourney and I learned nothing from it so I knew it was going to be a tough match. Really hoping to go into the cut unbeaten. Went after Tarkin thinking it was a vehicle deck and it would cut off his resource supply plus what's a couple indirect from Snoke? Where's his supports? Why is he not playing supports? I killed Tarkin but where'd Snoke get all those sabers??? Oh crap I'm dead. LOSS 4-1. Hope I don't see that deck in the cut...

TOP 4 CUT - Best of 3 V.S....... SNOKE TARKIN, the dude I just played. OOOOOHHHHHHHHHH SHEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII....

Game 1 - Time to adjust my strategery. Kill Snoke first. Did I mention he has 2 Rise Agains in that deck? In retrospect that is a pretty big deal. LOSS 0-1

Game 2 - Still believing the path of a win is killing Snoke, I poured it on. Had a LOT of clutch removal to disrupt his cash ramp-up early and was able to get my ramp up going well. It was a SLOG with illusions and armor and witch magick. Took a lot of time, and with one card left in my hand I was able to vambrace-flip and get the kill. We were both mentally drained and had to play game 3 in like 4 minutes. WIN 1-1

Game 3. Like I said, 4 minutes. It was a sprint to do as much damage to each other, with illusions tossed, and Magick...... and time.... We both did 9 net damage to each other. Now to count the decks... he had 2 more. SO CLOSE yet two cards away. 1-2 and I'm out.

First time in a playoff (my tourney wins before came from pure Swiss). Winner was the Snoke Cad I beat before, so that means I actually won, right???

Right??? :D

The post game. What am I going to change?

First of all, I'm putting in another Vambrace. I didn't have it until tourney prize support. Going to pull the Relby because that never got played and Frighten because I met no shields all tourney. People question my Lightning. It's fun and I got a win out of it more than once. Well worth the even card.

So I will have one open slot. Was thinking about another Datapad. It was a champ in this deck when I swapped out the wrist rockets for it, especially when Mandos generate no cash. Probably dropping Force Rend for a plain-old rend. Again, cash. Hard to decide when we want to stay all-odd.

All in all, I like this deck. Mandos are my new go-to cheap card. Wish they were neutral.

Fun tourney. Great group of people. Maybe do better next time.