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Foz 1024

Current Version

As testing and discussion continues, my list continues to change. Check here for modifications to reflect my current build.

I swapped to Rejuvenate, and it just feels right. Deflect is out now - it is narrow, there are several good melee decks, and even in matches like Poe and Trap where there are ranged sides, it's difficult to put it to good use. High Ground also comes down to 1 for the same reason, it can sometimes be the wrong card to have. I brought in Overconfidence again to replace them, which I have been testing some more. Usually targeting 2 enemy dice, but if you have to use it on 1 enemy/1 of yours it's usually not too bad. It's not that it's strictly better; it's more flexible, can be used in nearly all situations. -1 Force Throw because it's just awkward in some matches, only 2 sides you really want. Great vs Throne Room though. Force Speed is the last new addition. It's not the greatest in Emperor builds like some people will tell you, but for free it's pretty solid. It helps race, and sometimes a reroll into resolve is just what you want. Mostly it's great because villain blue has a shortage of good 0-cost things, so grab up whatever you can get.

Watch List

Force Throw Could go up to 2, not sure what I'd cut to make room though. Maybe 1x Lure of Power. Doubt is also still a worthwhile card, but so far I personally prefer having all blue so I know any given hand can play No Mercy for the full 4 damage.

Synopsis

A midrange take on ePalpatine. I was tempted to call this control, but the inclusion of No Mercy and damage-oriented upgrades make it pretty solidly midrange.

There is a lot of mitigation here which certainly helps keep Palpatine's 15 HP intact. Turns are pretty easy to play most of the time - roll in, resolve things, and play removal whenever it's the best time. I recommend not being too fussy about what you resolve, it's usually better to get something resolved for Palpatine's 2 damage ability than trying to force perfect rolls. Usually anything you roll is relevant anyway.

Changes from version 1.0

-2 Now You Will Die +2 Mind Trick

Now You Will Die was difficult to justify. For 1 you get 2 damage in place of a 2 or 2. Both of those are already pretty handy, so NYWD wasn't seeing much use.

Mulligan

Holocron->Force Ability->Premonitions/Rise Again (most matches)

You're looking for Holocron. It's usually best to throw everything back if you don't have one in your first draw hand. Even if you put back a force ability, you're likely to draw more. Next try to lock up something to cheat in with Holocron. After that, Premonitions and Rise Again are good in basically every match where your opponent will try to win by damage. You could value these ahead of Holocron if you're worried the enemy is super aggressive, but I usually don't, relying on die removal to blunt such decks. Deflect and Mind Trick could also be reasonable keeps depending on the opposing deck's number and type of character dice. If opponent is likely to be mill instead of damage, you should ignore Premonitions and Rise Again entirely as you're likely to lose one of the Premonitions into the discard. In such matches I would look for No Mercy and play to do maximum damage since mill takes a bit of time to work and has fragile characters. A solid No Mercy turn can often end even a lightly damaged character in a mill deck.

Card Choices

This decklist presented some tough choices, I'll talk about them here.

Maz's Castle - Takodana - Battlefield is one of the most debatable slots in ePalpatine builds. I choose Maz's Castle because it digs for Premonitions or Sith Holocron if you didn't open with it. Other choices can make the deck more aggressive or generate resources, but likely none has as much utility.

Premonitions - I feel this is the real workhorse of the deck. You're probably going to need Rise Again in most matches, but if you need to play removal every turn you'll never afford it. Premonitions makes it free as long as you find the other copy. You can also put Force Lightning or Mind Probe here if you have to, but far and away Rise Again is the best play.

No Mercy - It's the reason the deck is entirely blue. You won't always need it or want it, but when you do it's all-star. Sometimes it just wins you the game, or crushes the character that was about to pile damage onto you. It's situational, but ultimately the upside is so much I opted to build so you could always play it if you draw it.

Sith Holocron - If you're playing enough removal, you probably can't afford many upgrades. Holocron gets them for free instead. Lure of Power notably cannot be played by Holocron , but it is efficient and can do work against decks where it's harder to utilize removal. Prioritize removal and survival above Lure, but it's a fine play if you have not needed elsewhere.

Mind Trick - Out again. It just isn't very good against the faster decks of the format, which comprise most of the field right now.

Force Speed - I'm now convinced this card is good enough, mostly because it's the right price. It helps race to claim, and sometimes the back to back actions help protect dice.

Abandon All Hope - I have seen this in a few lists. I don't like it. Giving your opponent choice usually ends badly for you, and the two resource cost generally leaves you with no other removal for the turn. Your opponent will probably drop his resources and then destroy you with rerolls and 0-cost cards while you can't remove anything.

Overconfidence - I've warmed up to this one too, mostly because it has broader use than some more narrow removal. It's a bit strange to use, but the fact it can most always be used gives it value.

Force Abilities

There is some debate in the community over which abilities to run. Force Lightning creates a huge amount of threat and often closes out games, essential to have in my opinion. Force Push is probably 2nd if we were judging strictly by how useful it is overall. That said, Force Throw and Mind Probe are in favor right now because Emperor's Throne Room - Death Star II is the battlefield of several prominent decks. The specials of these cards can be quite game-changing, and since you can use them with Throne Room they're probably both getting deck slots ahead of Push, which usually means Push is either cut or only at 1x. I'm valuing Throw over Push in the current metagame, but if a shift away from Throne Room occurs I far prefer the sides Push has to offer and would bring it back if Throne Room was less common.

Lure of Power is another card some people hate, others love. I have found it to perform adequately. In some matches you won't find enough times to play your removal, or will grab an extra resource or two on an early turn. Often the best value then is play Lure and get those juicy +1/+2 over the next few turns. + and + are both high-value plays, and Lure just brings a ton of versatility to the table.

Conclusion

That about sums up the theory behind all this. If you have any questions or comments, by all means feel free I appreciate the discussion/criticism.

64 komentarze

xinquisitor666x 1

How r u doing vs Poe maz? Thanks for deck and guide.

lordhinzor 37

Not as good as it could, I guess. One of my main decks is a Palpatine and there's one essential card that's not in this deck - Force Illusion. It's really important vs. Maz/Poe, because you can't use the usual control cards (as you know Maz/Poe resolves nearly every die in one round). I'd replace Mind Trick with Force Illusion. Another idea: Take Force Speed, so you can reroll and resolve in one round. Kick Dark Presence to get the deck slots, because you don't have enough discard sides to play it efficiently. Just a few ideas :).

Foz 1024

@xinquisitor666x Poe/Maz is tough, but it is certainly a winnable match. Frankly there basically aren't decks that have a great matchup against that; it's considered Tier 1 for a reason. Focus Maz in this match, her activate effect and focus are a large part of what prevents you from interacting with the dice. You can switch to Poe if enough damage piles up on him for something (probably No Mercy) to kill him.

Depending on the particular build, a large part of this match can revolve around the battlefield. They have a slight edge in the roll for battlefield choice, but you should expect to play on theirs eventually in either case since many are including New Orders. Keep in mind that if you choose your own battlefield, New Orders causes the claim effect when played so you need to be mindful that even if their battlefield isn't the one on board right now, at any moment 2 could both use Emperor's Throne Room - Death Star II and make it the active battlefield. You will need to work hard to control Throne Room since if they claim it w/ a Poe die in pool, you probably take 4 damage. Many are also packing Defensive Position and Dug in which require controlling the battlefield, and these cards are a significant pain that it's best to shut down if you can. In this match you should also get in the habit of thinking about how you can make use of their battlefield. It can force Holocron special which is huge. The other great interaction is probably Force Throw which both removes a die and flings the damage back at them. Mind Probe could also be a threat if in a position to kill a character.

Now that TinyGrimes posted a Emperor's Throne Room - Death Star II build I expect it will be the de facto battlefield for the deck, but if for some reason they aren't running it, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Other battlefields are much less menacing in how much damage they can put down. Shutting down Dug in and Defensive Position are still relevant, but most other battlefields aren't so menacing that the game revolves around them quite as much as that one.

xinquisitor666x 1

Thanks. I found battlefield control to be super important in this matchup.

Foz 1024

@lordhinzor Force Illusion is good in some matches, but has terrible interaction with Premonitions. Lose your 2nd Premonitions to it sometime instead of getting to heal 5 and play Force Lightning for free, then tell me it belongs in the deck . Seriously you will straight up drop matches from the random discards by playing that card. It's a risk you can take if you want, but I feel the cards don't play well enough together in a deck to warrant having both, and I prefer the free 5 Rise Again play to what Force Illusion offers. The choice might also come down to what is played heavily in your meta; Force Illusion blocks, so if you face any significant number of Vibroknife decks, its value goes way down since it will be difficult to even block anything with it.

Foz 1024

As for Force Speed, I don't feel it pulls its weight at all. I don't often get removed after a reroll, and the deck has almost no other plays that benefit from the extra action. Use The Force is about the only other thing. I'm quite sure if I cut Dark Presence it will be for something better than Force Speed. As I said in the card choices section, it's not that it's bad - it simply doesn't do nearly enough in a 1-character list with hardly any tricks that actually benefit from it.

Zaqir 24

So I played at the Store Champs today, Poe/Maz was 3 out of 4 in top 4, Anyway a few things. 1)I agree with Force Speed, it doesn't go well with him, you put it on him and roll and they just get rid of your dice and you speed into nothing. 2)Dark Presence NEEDS Interrogation Droids, trust me even will go along way, if not ditch them perhaps for Now I am the Master or Pulling the Strings as I discuss below. 3)Don't think the lightning or force throw are what you want here. But that is me personally, Maybe 1 Throw, the lightnings are just rather costly, I might suggest force Choke or Immobilize. 4)Gonna try your mind tricks but with fast hands etc..it is 2 resource for a rather SLOW SLOW Card, Overconfidence as we discussed before has been riskier but better, I do 1 v 1 vs enemy dice vs Palp and "usually" win...sometimes you do get burned though 5)High Ground, well...Normally on a fast Palp I say yes, but you are playing slower deck (not as control as my own) It is a VERY good card though. 6)I cannot STRESS how amazing Pulling the String was for me, to help dig to get rise agains or ruining their next turn. I had a situation where i was able to sent a Second chance and ammo belt to the bottom, small sample but against Poe/Maz you can chuck some major cards to the bottom.

Foz 1024

@Zaqir Force Lightning and Force Throw are exactly what this deck wants. I intentionally play no upgrades that have reasonable costs - you're supposed to get them for free from Sith Holocron and/or Rise Again, or not at all. I almost never pay for any upgrades - rarely a 3-cost if my opponent had a really bad turn so I didn't play anything. Almost always resources are entirely spent on events. With that strategy, it hasn't been difficult to pay for the pay sides on Force Lightning; there really isn't that much I'm spending resources on.

I'm also amused that you call my build "slow." By comparison, you have a million things you're trying to do in a turn. My build has far less. I nearly always own the battlefield in matches. I don't even think I've had a time yet where I couldn't play High Ground because I didn't have the battlefield. It's not impossible, but usually I'm done doing things before opposing decks.

I probably will end up playing Pulling the Strings over Dark Presence. Rather than slow the deck down with Interrogation Droid, I'd rather find something that doesn't take up extra actions every turn. And maybe I'm wrong about that, who knows - my initial assessment is that I won't like having supports that have dice in this deck. If I get a chance I'll fiddle around with it anyway to get a better idea how it feels.

proxy 8

@Foz, what are your thoughts about Boundless Ambition? If you run it, you can run a different battlefield as well.

bbrodsky50 7

This looks fun. I built it last night. Between my son and I we should be able to pilot it. I like this deck for kids too, I think having just the single character will help younger players.

xinquisitor666x 1

I have moved away from the slow version of palp with dark presence and droids. Too slow have to wait for them to roll, then it's their choice plus u lose the battlefield that way most likely. I do lplay force illusion in this list as a last resort measure. I try to time it after the first rise again. Extra health is super important.

Foz 1024

@proxy There was some discussion of Boundless Ambition on one of the other Emperor deck threads. My feeling is it's not nearly as good in this deck because it hardly runs any 0-cost events. So you can pay 1 to draw a new hand of cards... but what will you do with that hand? You probably don't have the to play any of it. The reason the card worked so well in Vader/Raider is they played a huge stack of 0-cost events, and it primarily fueled a big string of free card plays in that deck. In this deck, it basically just draws you next turn's cards a little early, with you unable to afford to play any of them. It could draw you up for No Mercy, but you'd have to have 3 to make that work in the first place, and odds are you won't.

proxy 8

@Foz That's fair.

What about Use The Force? It feels bad playing this card. What replacements would be good for this?

Foz 1024

@proxy Do you think so? I haven't really had much issue with it. Might depend what you're doing with it - I typically use it to turn my own dice, not as disruption to the opponent. So you fix a blank Emperor die into 3, or turn an ability to the side you need. I just ended a game with it the other day by turning Force Lightning to 4.

If I had to replace it, top picks would probably be Pulling the Strings, Now You Will Die, or Overconfidence. NYWD hasn't impressed me. Overconfidence and Strings both seem perfectly playable though, depending on your taste.

Foz 1024

Glad you're enjoying the deck @bbrodsky50. I can see how it might simplify the whole learning experience - definitely less decisions to make when you only have one character.

Foz 1024

@xinquisitor666x Likely the direction I'm headed in too. I do see that Force Illusion is helpful in some matches. It might be worth including even in spite of the conflict with Premonitions. If you're going to die from a Fast Hands die, it's one of the only things that can prevent that. Better to have it there and risk losing Premonitions from the discards than to be dead.

proxy 8

@Foz I guess I just have to hope they're not going to respond by removing the die. You need to weave it in at JUST the right time so you can hopefully claim shortly after resolving the die.

The point I'm trying to get at is using it on your own dice feels super slow and vulnerable to blowout.

However, I'm willing to give it more of a try.

bbrodsky50 7

@Foz I threw in 1 copy of Force Illusion with 2 copies of Rise Again and 2 copies of Boundless Ambition...Those cards become rerolls or plays of the cheaper cards...Just to try, but the framework of your upgrades and Dark Presence stays the same. Boundless + Maz's Castle = redonkulous cycling....Lol

Zaqir 24

I was debating boundless vs Pulling the Strings and I kept Pulling over boundless as it has been useful in setting up a turn to send key cards away, Ie tucking removal or second chances to the bottom etc. I do like the battlefield choice.

bbrodsky50 7

`@Zaqir that is an interesting choice...I will give it a run through. I am trying to keep my mitigation/damage reduction/shields/deck manipulation to 0-1's to save for upgrades and Rise Again...

xinquisitor666x 1

I find pull the strings way better than boundless. It costs zero and lets you manipulate the draw. I am having difficulty with mindtrick. The whole meta here is maz Poe so it's totally useless. But if I replace it with doubt it would probably be as uslesss just cheaper.

Foz 1024

I would tend to agree that Pulling the Strings would be far better than Boundless Ambition in this deck. I don't often end up with 1 I'd even want or be able to use on Boundless Ambition, and getting the benefit now instead of when you draw up is only really useful to No Mercy - which you would then need 3 to Boundless->No Mercy. Not likely that you have both cards and the resources and want to do it, all at the same time.

The Battlefield, we have Sinrin to thank for that. I was skeptical at first. You think "surely getting extra resources or damage must be better." But then I tried it. The amount of hand manipulation you get is just staggering.

Mind Trick can do miracles, or clog your hand. Against Poe, if you see Fast Hands come down, I would pitch it - odds are it will never get more than 1 die. If they play an upgrade and have no fast hands though, you probably get two dice, which is good enough, especially if that upgrade is Cunning which probably would have become Poe's .

For deckbuilding purposes, I would consider Mind Trick and Deflect the slots most open for metagame considerations. My local isn't overrun with Poe yet, but I will probably go down to 1 Mind Trick; it's good, but in some matches you just don't want to see it. We've talked about most of the other viable options earlier, so folks should have a good idea what they might be able to bring in instead.

Current changes from this list:

-2 Dark Presence -1 Mind Trick -1 (some removal card) - leaning toward Feel Your Anger.

+2 Force Illusion +2 Pulling the Strings

There has been a lot of discussion about Force Illusion, but ultimately it can block anything Poe throws (4 damage often) or even more against some decks. The upside is just too good to leave it out. Bear in mind it does interact badly with Premonitions, so try not to use it unless you've 1) seen your 2nd premonitions already or 2) it makes a really big play or avoids your death.

Foz 1024

Force Illusion also interacts with other removal to some degree. A lot of decks run piles of modified sides. If you get in a situation where they have 2 unmodified sides and a pile of modified, you can remove one of the regular sides to force all the rest of the damage into Force Illusion.

sinrin 170

Force Illusion is just so bad in a Palpatine deck. You get 3 upgrade slots, you're going to let one of them get eaten up the whole game waiting for the damage to hit you the right way? Not to mention that mill is a clear hard counter to Palpatine, so you're just helping all of those strategies.

Foz 1024

You act like you'll be waiting a long time. Most games I've played don't even make it to turn 5. I almost never have 3 upgrades on Palpatine. If you run 2-cost upgrades or Force Speed you might be concerned about upgrade slots. I do not, and therefore am not. This deck nearly always has a slot for Force Illusion to sit in.

sinrin 170

Well if you're only getting up to two upgrades onto Palpatine every game, that should be a red flag right there.

xinquisitor666x 1

@sinrin this version of the deck does not hurt for slots. I rarely have to worry about illusion clogging up the queue. Illusion is immensely important vs Poe and is meaningless vs mill so I wouldn't care to lose it.

Zaqir 24

I agree illusion doesnt sit and clog a slot and you can always replace it

Foz 1024

@sinrin Not a red flag at all. You make the assumption that being full built is the goal. It isn't. I ran the 2-costs you run for a while before I posted this list. They weren't working. The problem is that paying for upgrades precludes the possibly of making removal plays that turn. With only 15 HP, you never want to be in the position of being totally at the mercy of whatever your opponent rolls. If you play them before you roll you won't yet know if you need the for removal. if you play them after, well you probably won't find the 2 because you'll have made other plays. That problem, more than anything, is what led me to cut them.

Foz 1024

You also seem to enjoy comparing the value of things, so let's look at that. At the speed the game is currently playing, Immobilize and Lure of Power are inefficient compared to Force Illusion. The total of Immobilize sides is 6. The total of Lure of Power is 5. That means they give you an average of 1 and 5/6 respectively per turn. If you reroll a lot it's going to be slightly higher than that, but not a ton. That means 1 Force Illusion play that blocks 4 damage is worth 3 or 4 turns of resolving a 2-cost upgrade's die. Given many of my games barely last that long, even if you're dropping those turn 1 they probably aren't pulling their weight, and that's far worse if they show up any later than that. They are 2 instead of 1 and likely costing you extra actions to resolve their dice on many turns. On top of that they have WAY less value later into the game, where Force Illusion is just as capable of blocking huge damage, likely even more so, late in the game. I just don't see the argument that these things are in any way worth playing.

sinrin 170

@Foz, with that argument, Force Illusion is a 0 for every turn it sits. 3 or 4 turns of resolving a 2 cost upgrade? I'm a scientist and that just doesn't make sense. First of all, you're paying 1 for the slot. Force Speed + Use the Force is a 5 damage swing for one resource. That's already more impact than a Force Illusion can possibly give you. I've played hundreds of games with Palpatine, and I can see you built this based off of my list. So when I tell you that you're just rolling it back to my early, less optimal iterations of the deck with lower win rates, I probably know what I'm talking about. You can choose to listen to me or not, that's fine, but stop arguing stuff that simply isn't so. It's not good for the game.

sinrin 170

Lastly, Force Illusion can only block one source of damage. There isn't a source of damage in the game worth more than 4, unless you get a lucky modify moment which doesn't happen in the current top tier meta.

sinrin 170

Lure of Power? Use the +2 on Holocron or Force Speed's focus side and win the game in one turn.

You didn't make plays like that, so obviously you didn't see the true value in the cards.

bbrodsky50 7

Okay people, let's be respectful...everyone runs different things for different reasons. That's why they make many cards....

xinquisitor666x 1

Pls keep this civil. Let's not make personal insults.

sinrin 170

Certainly agree that Immobilize doesn't pull its weight, but it helps curve out the deck. Force Throw might be better. You're definitely on the right track with this list, Foz. I'm only trying to help. Hopefully we can work together on this.

Zaqir 24

Force Illusion helps with a curve and it can prevent enough damage to keep you going, 3 dmg is quite a fair amount. Again we are all allowed our opinions and no one can force anyone else what to use I just feel that running Palp out there without doing some major hand disruption first is asking for trouble.

Zaqir 24

@FozI disagree slightly with your comparison on cards like Lure. the values are "low" in context of maybe straight up, and with 2 blanks it is a risk but the Variable nature of how it can provide a bonus to anything cannot be denied, a +1 or+2 to a discard roll or a resource roll/ a dice that can be resolved ontop of anything rolled is powerful, turn a holocron focus roll into double focus to make 2 palp dice into +3 ranged each presents 10 dmg. etc. So it is not as efficient but it has great versatility.

Foz 1024

Certainly Lure of Power is by far the better of the two. That still doesn't necessarily make it good enough. I'm attempting to ballpark the opportunity cost of playing a 2-cost upgrade, because you have to know that in order to determine if it makes sense to do so. You can get a lot done with 2. Against meta decks, a 1 removal card probably blocks 3-ish damage. This wouldn't be the case against some decks, but since we only have 1 character Poe will throw 4 sides instead of the specials he would throw against multiple characters. That probably about makes up for the number of times you remove 2 damage instead. Conservatively, call it 2.5 dmg average. Then, you have to basically say I am willing to take 5 damage in order to have Lure of Power. Is it worth that? I grant that it can make some big plays. I still doubt that I want to make no other card plays that turn except that, though. Far too much can go wrong.

sinrin 170

That's exactly the thing. You don't just turn 1 Lure of Power. You play your removal card and then you probably will have one resource to float into the next round or you might roll a resource on Palp and just play it and the end of the round to stack your board state. Sure, in theory, 2 events per round is what you want, but in practice you get much more out of your board than you do the events.

Foz 1024

Granted. I haven't seen much of the unused you're talking about here, but it can happen. I don't hate Lure of Power, I actually really wanted to love the card. It just hasn't worked out in my build so far. Maybe I just didn't hit enough times where I couldn't play 2 of events and also was holding Lure of Power. I definitely don't think Immobilize is good enough to play, though. At least Lure does things when it's in play. Immobilize gives you like 1 most of the time. It feels so bad.

Also, there's a different Palpatine list on the front page. It looks a bit scattershot to be honest. He validates some of the points each of us have made, and invalidates others. It's a list with 3 colorless cards alongside 2x No Mercy, Enrage, Force Speed, Force Throw, Lure of Power, and Force Illusion.

Enrage is probably the most daring of all that. The thought had crossed my mind to run it before, but I decided it was probably bad to eat 1 of only 15 HP. I guess it depends just what that 1 does for you, though.

Also at some point you should post your new list @sinrin. I'm curious just what it looks like now. You are correct that I started out running your list, but certainly we have different views on some things and I expect our lists will remain at least somewhat distinct, with points of contention over Overconfidence, Force Illusion, and probably No Mercy to name a few. I think we're closest to seeing eye to eye on Overconfidence. I also may give Lure another try, I do like the card and see the potential plays, it just feels like the window to play it is so small.

proxy 8

I played a slightly modified version of this last night and went 3-1, only losing to Poe/Maz.

My modifications were:

-2 Dark Presence

-2 Mind Trick

+2 Force Illusion

+2 Pulling the Strings

Force Illusion was crucial in winning the other Poe/Maz game, and was helpful in stemming the bleeding in my loss against Poe/Maz. Pulling the Strings was awesome. Dug me into Rise Again Premonitions at just the right time.

As a note about resources, I rarely just had free resources floating around. It would have been difficult for me to spend any amount of them on non-Illusion upgrades. I spent most of them on removal.

Foz 1024

@proxy In many matches that's exactly how it goes regarding resources. Even if you get an extra odd resources here or there, you have Force Illusion and Use The Force that aren't removal to potential use them. Still, in some matches, depending on what cards come out, you can be left over and over with too little opportunity to play removal - like if Poe/Maz finds Fast Hands, which means 3 of their dice are out of your removal window. That can pile up extra resources, and Lure of Power could be an outlet for them.

sinrin 170

@Foz,

Here's a video of my current list as well as some gameplay so you can see what a typical turn looks like and some of the approaches I take. Unfortunately I could only include gameplay for one video but I recorded plenty more.

www.youtube.com

Foz 1024

Yeah, close game. Your opponent misplayed a few times; definitely shouldn't have let his entire turn rest on a single unmodified side. It's like he had never heard of removal before. He also misplayed his combo by using Hit and Run without It's a Trap!, leaving windows for removal all over the place - the whole point of that Trap deck is to do it all in one go so your opponent can't remove any of it. I don't know if he was ever holding All In, but due to how much focus he was rolling that card would have ended or nearly ended the game - turns that instead ended with him doing nothing due to a single removal play.

You may have undervalued your sides in the match; that deck is almost always holding key pieces in hand, and you basically want to hit it with as much discard as possible to hunt them down, it's Palp's most reliable way to break up the combo since we don't get cool toys like Friends in Low Places.

I expect Doubt will lead to two different main build lines for Palpatine decks; No Mercy decks without any colorless, and decks that omit it to play Doubt and possibly other colorless things. They both have their merits.

I also saw you added Abandon All Hope which is a card I haven't typically liked. What are you trying to accomplish with it?

As for my own build, I may actually pull Force Throw out of it to make the room for Lure of Power. Throw's non-special sides don't wow me, while Lure has 4 sides I can easily use, and 3 guaranteed to piggyback on another resolve action. That means Lure likely requires less rerolls than Throw and often 1 less action to resolve, so I expect Throw is too slow for me to want it most matches. Throw also doesn't interact well with the amount of action cheating going on; another effect to compete for the limited windows to play removal is probably not the optimal thing.

sinrin 170

Abandon is really good because it sets up a round where you know they pretty much can't control your dice. It allows for a max damage round to set up your finish more easily.

Foz 1024

That probably depends on the composition of their deck. Cards like Loth-Cat and Mouse and He Doesn't Like You are staples, and many decks are packing multiple 0-cost removal. The newest Vader/Raider on the front page has 8 zeroes that remove or reroll. On the other hand TinyGrimes' Poe/Maz list has almost no zeroes, but then again it doesn't have a lot of removal period. Its two best plays, Dug in and Defensive Position, are also prevented when you own the battlefield, which should be easy enough to do if you're mindful of it. So then that leaves you playing Abandon All Hope in that match to shut down Electroshock, Field Medic, and New Orders, and any pay sides Poe may roll that turn. I don't know if that's worth it.

Another concern - is this a card you will play on turn 1 or 2? If it isn't, then even if it's sometimes good, 2 copies is probably too many. I feel things you don't want during early setup turns are better at 1 copy - you still find them many games, especially games that go long, but they less often interfere with those early turns. That's one of the main reasons I brought Mind Trick down to 1 in my list; in some situations it does amazing things, but in most games you don't want it turn one.

Depending on your take, No Mercy could be a card like that too, but given how good Doubt is, if I were going to lower No Mercy to 1, I'd probably just remove it entirely and play Doubt.

ChewieWins 1

Played Poe/Maz in store championships & only loss was to ePalpatine. Not sure how close to this built but did have Force Speed, Force Illusion & Rise Again. First loss was brutally quick. However replay after cut off, because of Defensive position played opening two rounds, his dice nullified and rest was easy win with planetary uprising out.

Still this is a deck I want to try build to try too so will keep an eye on these discussions.

Foz 1024

I have just posted some updates, and will be tracking my alterations at the top. Latest change:

Throw frequently felt slow, while Lure is both faster and more versatile.

Foz 1024

Now I just have to keep tabs on whether I have enough Sith Holocron targets.

proxy 8

I'm curious as to why you kept one copy of Mind Trick, as opposed to ditching both and keeping both copies of Mind Probe. What's the reasoning? It seems like Mind Trick would be tougher to play, and with 2x Pulling the Strings, you can dig to your premium removal quicker.

Foz 1024

Tougher to play depends on the matchup. Some decks (Poe, Trap, sometimes Rey) are resolving without showing most of the dice for removal. Others (either Vader, Unkar, many others) are doing less of those shenanigans and Mind Trick is good in those matches. Still, many of them are not the tougher matches, and 1-die removal cards do well in those matches anyway. You're probably right that it's the better cut.

Foz 1024

I feel like Rejuvenate just beats Strings, 1 life is a lot when you only have 15. Deflect and High Ground are narrow, and neither works very well against Poe w/ Fast Hands. Replaced by Overconfidence, which is sometimes odd to use but useful in most situations. Force Throw down to 1, it's good against Throne Room but only has 2 good sides in other matches. Cut to help make room for Force Speed. I still don't think this card is the best thing ever, but for free it does give you some alright value.

sinrin 170

After our Store Championship, I have a lot of new insights.

Biggest one: -2 Lure of Power, +2 Interrogation Droid.

Absolute game changer.

sinrin 170

Also agree with Rejuvenate. I've since put that in and switched to the Otoh Gunga battlefield. Highly effective.

proxy 8

I think it might be worthwhile to publish 3.0 to continue this discussion, taking your changes into account.

Foz 1024

@sinrin I just don't see the value in Interrogation Droid. Several people have mentioned it, yet no winning lists ever have it. My assessment is the time investment is not worth it. If you throw an extra action away every turn to use it, you probably lose the battlefield several times that game b/c of it. That's healing you gave to your opponent, or worse yet Poe/Vader specials that you let happen. It can't be worth it unless the meta you expect to play in is super slow or playing lower impact battlefields, neither of which is generally the case right now.

Foz 1024

@proxy I expect you're right. Will update as soon as I can perform upkeep on the official list.

Zaqir 24

Even without dark presence the droid isnt slow since it has the look at card remove event chance, which is amazing and with dp its insane

Foz 1024

It takes an action to roll the Droid no matter what you do. Upgrades roll with their character, which gives all supports with dice a big action cost disadvantage - every one you put in play costs you at least one action every turn, forever.

Foz 1024

Version 4.0 is posted now (thanks to a decklist error I had to delete 3.0)

sinrin 170

My list is currently beating the store champions in our area. Posting a video later with several games with the most recent winner.

Foz 1024

@sinrin I'll definitely be interested to see it.

bas_ten 1

No force speed? Dude, that would be awesome in a deck like this!