2005 U.S. National Championship Brandon Ruck DS Combat Readiness (V)

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2005 U.S. National Championship Brandon Ruck DS Combat Readiness (V) was the Dark Side constructed list played by Brandon Ruck at 2005 U.S. National Championship, finishing 2nd; the list below is as posted on DeckTech by Brandon "Jabba_the_Ruck" Ruck (2005-07-09).[1]

Deck info

Decklist

Character

Effect

Interrupt

Location

Starship

Weapon

Original post

2nd Place Origins 2005 Vane (V) from Hell

  • Author: Brandon "Jabba_the_Ruck" Ruck
  • Published: July 9, 2005
  • Rating: 4.92
  • Description: My very power Weather Vane (V) start with the Chasm that has gone 37-3 over the past 9 months.

Strategy

Finally, I am posting the deck that I have been playing since before V set 8 even came out. It started with the Cloud City objective, and then changed to be made with the Combat Readiness (V) card that came out with V8. Then, even after V9 was released, the deck has continued to win me games no matter what I come up against. Its current total game record including both tournament and fun over the past 9 months is 37-3, with two of its losses coming at this year's Nationals at Origins.

Much like Jared Lockwood, and his Rebellion's Graveyard dark deck, this deck lost in Nationals because of my own mistakes during the game, not the all around game play of the deck itself. Both games in Nationals could have been won if I myself had not played like a scrub and lost them with a bad mistakes. You can read about them in my TR about Origins currently posted.

I will now break down this deck, and why it has been so powerful for me for the past year.

The Set Up:

This deck is super fast. You get plenty of activation early, and are never choked no matter where the game goes. This deck has always been a space based deck, putting Maul at the Chasm to drain and wait, and putting everyone else in space. It has changed and Evolved so many times to what it is today.

To start the game, you always find Executor from Reserve with Mob Points Combo, then activate one force and pull TWNALTC, then continue to activate. If the lightside gives you nothing, you will still have enough force to deploy a Maul to the Chasm with the Free Executor to Bespin, don't forget to grab his stick with Blaster Rack (V). Then, during their turn, you can set up Firepower (V) and Battle Order. If they give you any force from their starting, you can put out Mii'yoom Onith to Executor or Lando (V) if you draw either of them.

The rest of the game plays as a react to what the lightside is doing. You want to get the Blockade Bridge out asap to have no 0s in your deck. In most games, the lightside will throw a Jedi to you at the Chasm, now a days is it Mace (V). Barrier them if you have it, play Disarmed during your control phase and then get out one of the droid Bounty Hunters to cause any character on the Weather Vane to be captured. This can only be done by the darkside though, because as you know, the act of capturing is only done by the darkside. I have captured Mace (V) so many times, I forget to count.

Once Mace is captured, you will have a chose to either stay there and drain, or use the card you got on Firepower to relocate Maul to a different location the lightside is hanging out. That is the reason for playing with Mauls that have immunity verses just playing with Maul with Stick. I used to play with Maul with Stick and just use The Phantom Menace as a form of protection. But I found that I like not having to lose him to a drain of 1 if they should deploy 3 characters that are not Jedi to battle him. If you can gain control in space to get around Entrenchment (V), it is also nice to drain for +2 with Maul's stick.

The main reason this deck wins is because of Mii'yoom Onith. If you can get this chick working early. It will completely change how the lightside can play the game. You have the power to literally remove 90% of the characters from an average lightside deck. Meaning, you will only have to deal with Mace, Qui-Gon, Leia, and maybe Yoda. So many decks for lightside relay on their (.) unique male Rebels and Aliens to play their deck that just getting to place them in lost pile is almost broken. Plus, you get to consistently know what's in your opponent's hand.

Try to set them up for a beatdown in space. Besides WYS (V), most light decks will have a standard space package of capitals and the Falcon. Pick the right time, and drop Mist Hunter (V) with anyone of the different characters that add destinies. Try to time it with a Lateral Damage and you can get a good 10 card overflow. Darkside usually wins by simply overpowering the lightside when they are not prepared.

Now, to breakdown some of the card slots:

Darth Maul, YA - I chose to play with Young Apprentice because I was having problems ALWAYS hitting the characters at the Chasm. Most of the time you will just draw a 4 and a 5, but it is nice to play with this one, which has the same deploy cost as Maul with Stick, and has a base of +3 with Mob Points Combo out.

Darth Vader with Stick - Over time, the Vader slot has gone from Vader (V), to Choke Vader, to this one. So many times, I want to use Maul to battle somewhere else, but I need to make sure to hold a battleground site. I am probably going to add another one of these and just start always putting him on the Chasm when Maul is needed elsewhere.

SAC - The Senses and Alters are used to protect you from Goo Nee Tay being out, as well as keep any other unwanted cards away. I use the Uncertain is the Future part to change up the lightside's hand right before they need it. Great for playing against WYS (V) and MBO to put the cards they need to flip back in their deck for them to re-find all over again.

Saber 1 & the Baron - This was a last minute edition the night before Nationals. For months, this spot was being taken up by Hound's Tooth (V) and Bossk (V). I replaced them for a cheap ship against WYS (V), but will be returning it soon to have 5 ships in the deck. To have a chance against WYS (V), you almost have to have 5 ships in your deck.

Presence of the Force - Normally this card is placed on Bespin for a consistent drain of 2 all game by Executor, I usually only play it when the lightside doesn't give me a system to take over, or sometimes, it will got to the Chasm.

Blockade Flagship: Bridge - This is the only additional site mainly because with all the changes I have made, I have found that I don't need more than 11 activation on my own. This deck already crushes TRMs, so I don't have to worry about any other deck type not giving up some force if I need to deploy some large beat squad.

4-Lom with Gun & IG with Gun - Most of the time, I will be putting them on the Chasm for capture, but sometimes, they will go in space for additional destinies. These are multi-use card slots.

Pinned Down (V) - Normally, I wouldn't put this in a deck, but in a tournament like Nationals, I was not about to get beat by an Agents deck when there were 3 cards that were made to shut it down.

Always Thinking With Your Stomach - This card needs to be in all dark decks. There are so many times I have completely changed the lightside strategy because they spend like 3 turns trying to free the character that went missing at the site. Great way to knock Qui-Gon or Mace out of the game early, and end that drain of 4 from Watto's Junkyard.

Monnok - I put one of these in here for two reasons. One is it has to be played with Mii'yoom Onith when they try and draw too many cards for me to pay for. Second was for playing againts Lightside Senate. Nothing will hurt them more than to lose 2 of their Queen Amidalas from hand before they can play them.

Imperial Decree (V) - I really hate indirect damage from Profit and WHAP, so I will always play with one of these in my tournament dark deck. Also comes in handy against TRMs.

No Moletor (V) - Now, I know this card alone can get Mii'yoom Onith around Goo Nee Tay, so you would think it would be an AUTO card for this deck. But I didn't even know about it until like a few weeks ago, so I was already used to playing with 3 Alters. They helped me win SAC wars too, so I kept them in over playing with this card, but now that WYS (V) has become so powerful. I will be dropping down to just one Alter to put this card in as well as an Admiral's Order of my own.

No Admiral's Order?? - Well, I did have one in here the night before the tournament, but just completely over estimated the power of NQA (V). It is pretty much standard to have some kind of Admiral's Order in your dark deck. One will be added back in for future tournaments.

Cards that could go in:

- Admiral's Order: either Black Sun Fleet or Fighters Coming In are both good choses. Battle Deployment could also work if I also included some AT-ATs.

- Moletor (V): auto protection of Onith's text

- Dengar with Gun: Corellian Vehicle Shooter

- Control / Set for Stun: Combo with Onith to bounce Corran Horn into hand and the make him auto lost in the same Control phase. Auto tech against WYS (V).

- Combat Readiness (V): used text can set up death for any character combined with the Set for Stun Combo

- Rendelli: Need a system to run to from Corellia if I need to, plus it can be pulled with Mob Points Combo if I get Executor in my hand.

- U-3P0 & Arica: Combined with the Set for Stun tech, they can stay out all game to block drains.

- Blizzard 4: Deck needs some kind of ground force to attack WYS (V). Always great for pulling Vader for free.

- Cloud City Occupation: I have also thought of putting this in with the Docking Bay or the Downtwon Plaza and a Voyuer (V) or two. I would have to change the deck some to include more ground forces, but it would not be a bad idea to add some indirect damage.

- Ellis Helrod - came and went. I have found that I don't use it enough to warrent the slot, with Maul in an interior Mobile site for most of the game. Never a bad idea though.

Cards that could be dropped:

- Dengar (V) and Punishing One (V): played it for awhile, but I think he needs to be moved to the ground.

- 2 Alters: as explained previously

- Maul or Maul, YA: The strategy of this deck DOES NOT relay on a specific type of Maul. So you can build it with your own personal favorite. Depending on the tournament, I might go back to Maul with Stick to free up some card slots.

- Pinned Down (V): I really never had any problem beating Agents with this deck. So I don't really think I need to keep the counter card.

- Imperial Barriers: I started playing with these because it seemed to make since with Maul being on the defensive of an attack by a Jedi, but if I get The Phantom Menace out, they are not going to have an easy draw anyway, and it is only a force that I am going to be getting back anyway when I battle if I played with Ability, Ability, Ability (V) in place of them. So I will have to consider which will be over all the most powerful throughout a whole game.

- Boba Fett, BH - there are times that I have wanted to change out one of these for the Special Edition (V) version for V8. Capturing is very powerful in the game today, and another weapon against WYS (V). So one of these cards might get switched.

That's pretty much it. The deck has proven itself time and time again for me, and did have my own undefeated WYS (V) deck beaten in Origins (READ THE TR!!) so you will know what I mean. Understand that before you rate this deck low. It is a very strong alternate to playing Scum. There is NO way to tech this deck like there is Scum.

Original card list

As posted on DeckTech
Starting: 9 Drop (V) (12 Shields) Bespin Bespin: Cloud City Cloud City: Chasm Walkway Combat Readiness (V) Weather Vane (V) Blaster Rack (V) We're the Bait (V) Mob Points Combo Locations: 1 Blockade Flagship: Bridge Characters: 18 Darth Maul, Young Apprentice x2 Darth Maul Darth Vader with Stick Mii'yoom Onith x3 4-Lom with Gun x2 IG-88 with Gun Boba Fett, BH x2 Zuckess (V) Dengar (V) Lando (V) Dr. E & Ponda Baron Fel J'Qualle (V) Weapons: 3 Maul's Double-Bladed Stick x2 Laser Cannon Battery Starships: 4 Executor Mist Hunter (V) Saber 1 Punishing One (V) Effects: 8 Presence of the Force They Must Never Again Leave Imperial Decree (V) Combat Response Lateral Damage Disarmed Pinned Down (V) The Phantom Menace Interrupts: 16 Masterful Move Combo x2 Short Range Stafighters Combo Always Thinking With Your Stomach Defensive Fire / Hutt Smooch We Must Accelerate Our Plans x2 Alter x2 Alter (Cor) Sense / Uncertain is the Future x3 Monnok Imperial Barrier x2 Limited Resources

See also

Sources

References

  1. ↑ 2nd Place Origins 2005 Vane (V) from Hell. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
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