Hello all and welcome back to another janky deck breakdown! This time, I have a mono color deck based around a Set 1 Leader – Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith (SOR 10)!
Click here to view this deck on SWUDB.com
The inspiration for this deck comes from a couple of different things:
First off, once I saw Bo-Katan Kryze, Fighting for Mandalore (SHD 157) and the Wild Rancor (SHD 158) get revealed during spoiler season, I instantly made sure I had three copies of Aggression (SOR 155) ready because I knew I would be making a double Aggression deck.
Secondly, Kylo Ren, Killing the Past (SHD 141) seemed to complete a nice curve of Force units in Aggression Villain. I wanted to try out using all three events – Force Choke (SOR 139), Force Throw (SOR 167), Force Lightning (SOR 138) – that require (or have a bonus for) having control of a Force unit.
Pick Your Poison
So what kind of deck is this, exactly?
Well it lands somewhere between a midrange and a control deck, and that honestly depends on your play style and what you’re playing against.
Let’s take aggro decks, for example. You’ll need to lean hard into your control cards such as removal events – Open Fire (SOR 172), Force Choke, etc.
However, against control decks that are trying to ramp resources to be able to play huge cards, you will want to play more on the midrange side, pushing as much damage through as possible before attempting to end the game with your very own huge cards!
Against other midrange decks, you will most likely want to go with a mix of these two strategies.
Bringing the Pain
So let’s talk about what this deck does best: going toe-to-toe on curve with most other decks!
Most of our units here have high health with some really fun bonuses on attack. On top of that, we can throw one of the best upgrades in the game – Fallen Lightsaber (SOR 137) – on a lot of different units and get its maximum benefit since we have so many Force units.
Beyond that, we have great removal in our cards and in Vader’s Leader side ping ability to help keep our units on the board. Of course, Darth Vader is one of the most powerful Leader Units in the game once he deploys at 7 resources.
I don’t think I need to convince anyone of just how powerful he is when he flips. He is certainly capable of ending games himself, but you can also always bring in Emperor Palpatine, Master of the Dark Side (SOR 135) to back him up!
Aggressive Options
I now want to take a moment and talk about why I love the card Aggression, especially now with Shadows of the Galaxy out. This is a card that I believe has just gotten so much better with the release of a new set, particularly a set that cares so much about upgrades!
One of Aggression’s four options is to defeat up to 2 upgrades. This could be used against key upgrades such as The Darksaber (SHD 126), any lightsaber, or even a bounty! And don’t forget that Experience and Shield Tokens are also upgrades and could also be defeated as well.
Another one of your Aggression card options is dealing 4 damage to a unit. This has always been good, but it goes amazingly with the rest of our removal package.
The most simple card option is to simply draw a card, which is always beneficial but nothing too crazy.
Lastly, readying a unit with 3 or less power won’t be used too often, but in certain situations can be extremely powerful – readying either Fifth Brother, Fear Hunter (SOR 131) or Seventh Sister, Implacable Inquisitor (SOR 133) can lead to some crazy turns.
Sideboard Protection
Let’s move onto the sideboard before I talk about both some drawbacks of the deck. As with most sideboards, this one is trying to help boost our odds of winning against particular matchups.
The three units here – Kylo's TIE Silencer, Ruthlessly Efficient (SHD 135), Black Sun Starfighter (SHD 237), and Cell Block Guard (SOR 229) – are to help against aggro decks or space heavy decks. They are mostly sentinels to slow down the opponent, or just a 3 power space unit to kill those pesky Green Squadron A-Wings (SOR 141).
The events, however, are specifically to help you win against heavy control decks like Emperor Palpatine, Galactic Ruler (SOR 6). Even though The Chaos of War (SHD 159) and Pillage (SHD 181) work against each other, they are both very good against control matchups, helping you either get some final damage through or remove key cards from our opponent’s hand.
When Aggression is a Weakness
So that brings us to the big con of the deck and my tips to try and deal with it. Running double Aggression cards can make being able to use Vader’s leader ability consistently more difficult, as it requires you to have played a Villain card to activate. This can lead to some clunky turns where you aren’t able to utilize all of your resources.
Now this won’t always be a big deal, but that 1 damage ping can be extremely important. To counter this, we are running quite a few low cost Villain cards. There is a bit of a learning curve to this particular aspect of the deck, particularly determining what to resource. If you think you’ll need to have access to Vader’s ability on a certain turn, you might want to hold onto that Death Star Stormtrooper (SOR 128) to enable it!
Now, Release Your Anger.
Overall this deck has not only been a blast to pilot, but a serious contender against a variety of matchups! I’ve been taking it to my weekly tournaments and having success, all while having my opponents say they’ve never seen this deck before, which is always a personal goal of mine!
If you’re looking for a new and different deck to try out, give this one a shot!
Shane
Twin Sunz
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