2006 Yavin IV Regional Brandon Ruck DS Ralltiir Operations

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2006 Yavin IV Regional Brandon Ruck DS Ralltiir Operations was the Dark Side constructed list played by Brandon Ruck at 2006 Yavin IV Regional; the list below is as posted on DeckTech by Brandon "Jabba_the_Ruck" Ruck (2006-05-08).[1]

Deck info

Decklist

Lines that could not be matched to a card page are printed as written.

Objective

Character

Effect

Interrupt

Admiral's Order

Location

Starship

Vehicle

Defensive Shield

Original post

Team TN Sim RalOps

  • Author: Brandon "Jabba_the_Ruck" Ruck
  • Published: May 8, 2006
  • Rating: 4.91
  • Description: The solid build of RalOps that went 2-1 for me and 2-1 for Micah Wooten at the Y4 Regional.

Strategy

UPDATED: To account for what some of you are saying. TRMs is the worse match up out of all of them, but it ISN'T unbeatable. The only reason it is the worse is because 1 - they don't give me any force and 2 - they don't search for that much. That is it. I promise you that this deck has beaten TRMs more than it has lost. Look at some of the players that have played it. Chu won his regional with it, and even said he beat TRMs with it.

Mace is not the end of the deck, this is why. Without Savrip, he is just one character. There is not a player alive that will leave him in play if you win the battle by 10. They will always lose Mace and 1 card over 10 cards. If I have 5 sites out all occupied and have a total power of 10 in battle with say Vader and 2 scrubs and I draw a 4 and add +5. They are going to lose Mace. Don't you think through Playtesting, we would have thought of Mace.

Finally, the deck is built the way it is for one single reason. First turn flip and Sim. If we change ANY of the cards used to do this. Then we will not be able to successfully do both in enough games to make it worth it. So, if you look at the cards in the deck. You can't take out ANY cards that have to do with that. So of the cards that can be changed out. You have to switch character for character or Interrupt for Interrupt. Nothing else will work if we change the design. Hope this makes more sense out of why the deck was built the way it was.

*********************************************************

Here it is, after popular demand. It took this long to post because so many wanted to play it in their qualifiers. I said I would wait until May, so here it is. Play it while you can before the revamp of V cards takes place.

Yes, you are looking at a RalOps deck. Only this time, it is a very solid DS deck that went 2-1 at the Yavin 4 Regional. I don’t think many players there can say their DS deck did this well. It is truly a Team TN creation with the main idea coming from Y4 Regional Champ Steven Lewis. He is letting me post it because he didn’t have the guts to play it at the Regional, too bad because he would have had better games with it than he did with his SYCFA deck. Through playtesting, the group created this version to be the most solid. DS finally has a deck that sets up fast and wins a good number of its games. And the best part is it does very well verse WYS (v).

The key is Sim Aloo (v) and Forced Landing (v), which the deck can set up first turn 4 out 5 games. The FL (v) allows you to use the search function of the objective in the same turn that you flip. So we built the deck to flip first turn consistently, then you search and find Sim if you didn’t get him opening hand. All the cards are very well thought out for each match-up. You will play almost all of them in every game should you get them in your opening hand.

The strategy is like this. You have to get 3 Imperials and 1 site or 2 Imperials and 2 sites in your opening hand in order to flip first turn. If they give you just 1 force, you can do Sim 100% of the time if you pulled the correct number of characters. If they don’t give you anything, then you will have to get lucky and get cheap deploy characters. Allow me to break down an average first turn.

First you use IAO to pull the <> DB and activate 3 force. So if they gave you just 1, you would have 6 now. Then you pull another site usually the Swamp with the Objective, activate 3 more for 9 Force total. The 3rd site comes from hand for 3 more Force giving you 12. If you get the characters, there are 6 that deploy for 1 or less, so you will most likely have at least one of those. Deploy one to each site and flip for 4 to 5 force total. That leaves you 7 or 8. You then use 2 to pull a card with the Objective. Take Sim (v) and deploy him to the Swamp. If you already have Sim, take either a defensive interrupt like Outflank (v) or Barrier OR go ahead and take Field Promotion (v) if they are playing Rycar (v). If you know they will not be putting Demotion down on their first turn. You can grab one of the three cards you need for the free Executor.

When flipping, remember to us the Objective pulls first always. If you get 3 or more sites/Voyeurs, then still use both IAO and Objective to pull stuff because once you flip you will have no way of finding sites. That is also why we have one non-unique Biker Scout Trooper because you can pull him with the Objective in place of a site if you get more sites than characters in your opening hand. Remember that cards that pull characters count as a character in your hand as well. Commander Prajji (v) counts as two characters because FL (v) lets you use his text on the same turn he is deployed, Endor Shield (v) counts for two as well. Imperial Command is also a character. Plus, if you do get the Field Promotion (v) and a character it goes on, then the Once Per Game can pull the Imperial Command.

The LS can’t search for anything during your turn. So they will be forced to use their first turn Force just to search and set up their deck. More than half the popular LS decks must search for things in their first few turns in order to set up their deck. So a first turn Sim/FL (v) will totally take away their first turn. So by the time they are ready to come to Ralltiir, you have fortified your sites with characters or more defensive cards. In 20 games with this deck, the LS has only come to Ralltiir on their first turn 2 times. And the only characters that can do it are Mace (v) and Obi, JK (v), which are 8 if they pull their lightsabers. Epp Luke and Obi are 7, so they could go down as well, but will not do much if you have a Cease Fire. So many LS decks have to set up on their first turn that you never have to worry about a guy getting a first turn beatdown.

Your next turns are spent deploying more sites, and getting an Imperial at each one. Depending on the match-up, you can leave just one character at each site and be totally safe with Outflank (v) and Barrier. After the flip, your next project is getting out your space. Because the deck doesn’t give you much Force. The best ship to play with is the free Executor. So you need to find the ship, Bespin, and TMNALTC Effect. Get Grand Admiral Thrawn on the Executor for an almost unstoppable starship in space. Combined with the additional bonus to your destiny total, Executor will be left alone all game.

Remember to always put out your two SAC Shields in any game that you know the LS is playing SAC because you want the LS to lose them fast so you can continue to protect your characters all game with your protective Interrupts. Also, remember to get out Field Promotion (v) onto one of your Captains or Commanders to either protect from or cancel Demotion. The perfect game you would put Captain Beweil (v) on the Executor so you could always get Interrupts into your hand for protection, and then use him as the FP (v) character. Try to put the character with FP (v) at the Swamp with Sim.

After that, the rest of the game is spent just defending and draining. RalOps can win by just leaving the opponent alone. Because you make all drains -1, they are forced to come after you. The free Sim Interrupts make it very difficult to flip the objective back. The deck will usually win by anywhere from 25 to 5. But that is all that matters for DS these days, just getting that FW.

Why is that in here??

Voyeur (v) – counts as a site because it pulls battlegrounds. We play three because really need them to consistently flip over and over again. Also a great card for game against LS deck with 3 or more non battlegrounds because the Used allows you to activate 5 Force, which can be played during either turn. Great for a surprise beatdown or for getting more cards in your hand during your draw phase.

I’ve Lost Artoo (v) – Excellent in this deck because you can find it. It provides the protection from Savrip, beatdown, or Hidden Base with Cannons all in one card slot. The majority of the time, you will use it for the Ghhhk combo.

Lt. Groud (v) – Great trick for canceling drains. If they provide the system like in Endor Mains or Speeders. You can send him to used pile to cancel a drain at a related location. Then pull him during your turn with Praji (v) or the Objective and repeat.

Captain Godherdt – Used to get the Executor to Ralltiir if you need to by adding 1 to Hyerspeed. Depending on the match-up, you will need to save him for the Executor and not deploy him to the planet. Save him against TRMs and WYS (v).

Sergeant Barich & Elsek – They pair with the non-unique Biker Scout Trooper as well as each other. Elsek is a built in Ghhhk, and Barich allows you draw destiny and subtract that amount for attrition and total power. Very strong in this deck with you adding to battle destiny.

Executor – Strongest Imperial Starship, has the ability to deploy free, and very hard to knock off the table with this Objective. Space is very important in this deck, so the Executor provides the staying power that the deck must have to win.

Vader's Personal Shuttle - Needed a cheap ship that could move between Bespin and Ralltiir and be used to flip if the LS came to the Ralltiir system on their first turn. Also great to put with one of the 2 ability pilots for fighting in space with a destiny. One of the slots that could be changed out since it never gets played after Executor hits the table.

Cease Fire – Protects your characters forfeit and can be played for free. Also cancel Blaster Proficiency, so SATM Combo can’t be used to kill your space or flip you back.

Outflank (v) – Awesome card for this deck. With one free Interrupt, you can protect ANY site from beatdown. Favorite thing to do is use Blizzard 2 (v) with General Veers (v) to knock Mace off the planet. An average battle with the two of those cards almost always reaches 20+ in this deck.

We’re In Attack Position Now – Took the place of Overseeing It Personally because it was too hard to set up in every game. This AO provides the extra direct damage the deck needed to win the game as well as giving the deck a way to knock NQA (v) off the table when you play against WYS (v).

Imperial Decree (v) – Added for both the direct damage against Speeders and WHAP as well as to start against TRMs so you can have consistent activation all game.

Masterful Move (non Combo) – Savrip really hurts this deck, so we play both one in the deck for high destiny and another combo version under your SE just in case.

Imperial Arrest Order (non Combo) – You want to play the non combo because you are playing with SO many low ability Imperials that the +2 to forfeit is a must. Combined with Cease Fire, and it you don’t have to fear a beatdown.

Levitation Attack (v) & Def Shield (v) under the SE– These cards are only here for the HB Cannons deck because your space is so important with this deck that you have to protect the Executor from death. The Def Shield (v) provides all the protection by keeping both the Quad Cannons and Power Pivot are useless with this Device in play. So it had to go in. Can be auto set up by pulling the I’ve Lost Artoo (v) with the Objective.

Resistance or Secret Plans – Both these Shields have their uses. I usually prefer the SP because with RalOps the majority of drains are not going to reach higher than 2 with the -1. So it seemed like you wouldn’t need it. Until I played against Combat and a drain of 4 just became a 3. So if your area has a lot of Combat, make the switch.

Firepower (v) or Its Worse Combo – Another choice we went through because Its Worse is such a great card to have under I’ve Lost Artoo (v) as an auto win when the LS plays It Could Be Worse. The only down side is that it still doesn’t happen that often. So if you would rather not play it, Firepower (v) is great with this deck because once the Executor is set up with Thrawn. You will have total control of that system. So any turn that goes by with no battles, you get a card back.

FAQs

Why no Imperial Domination (v)? Two reasons; Zuckuss in Mist Hunter and Maul with Stick. Playtesting taught us that you will use them more than the retrieval of ID (v). So often we needed the force to move characters and didn’t want to spend it to retrieve. Plus this deck really needs the duel swing to kill Mace. There are almost no 1s in this deck. So you have a good chance of hitting someone with your sticks.

Why only one copy of each character (besides Sim)?? Insignificant Rebellion (v) allows to you exchange ANY card with ANY card of the same type from your hand when you draw destiny. So with all the crappy cheap characters, you can easily just take the Vader with Stick back into hand just by battling. It makes more since to have more copies of different characters to exchange rather than have multiples in your opening hand when you are trying to flip. If this deck was taking the fortify approach like most RalOps decks do, then I might have need for 2 Mauls.

Why no Broken Fett?? He is nice, but paying 2 can hurt. Plus he’s not useful when flipping in the beginning of the game. Oh, and he is not an Imperial. If I had a few more card slots, I might find room. But right now, it’s too tight.

Doesn’t Mace (v) and Obi, JK (v) hurt you?? Well Mace is my worst enemy, but he is not superman. He doesn’t like power. So once you can get Blizzard 2 and Veers out, power 25 to 9 will make most players lose him. It happened when I played a Combat deck at the Regionals. I killed a few Maces and Qui-Gons, and still won the game by 9. Just keep track of your defensive cards (Outflank, Cease Fire, and Barrier). That is why they are there.

Why no AT-STs and/or Bikes?? This deck was built to flip and set up Sim every game. Of course, it might not happen every time, but that is the design. If you choose to play with Vehicles, you will not be able to do this set up consistently.

Why is Emperor Palpatine in here?? We needed a few Imperials that could draw destiny. He just happens to be totally Immune to Attrition as well. So once you have total set up, he is not going to be easy to kill. Plus, he is a floating 6 in your deck.

Why no WMAOPs?? It was in here for many games. Even with 2 copies. But in the end, we needed the slots for other cards. You really only use it for set up. Once that is over, they would just go lost. So we decided to just take them out. If I was going to add a card, 1 of these would be it.

Match-ups

Endor Mains

Literally one of the most popular decks for LS, if you get the first turn Sim. They will have a long road ahead. If you look at the average Endor Mains deck, they do a good 6 searches on their first turn. You have 2 with Strike Planning, 2 with Rycar (v), Mothma (v), General Solo (v). Then you also have Quick Draw (v) pulling Sai Tor (v). And then each Stick that is pulled, plus Obi, JK (v) has a search and of course Mace (v) has two as well. So you can see how having to pay +2 for each and every one of those searches really slows down what their deck can do first and even second turn. Because of this, you will have 2 to 3 turns to fortify your sites and set up the Executor. You don’t have to worry about space in this deck. So you should be able to take hold of Endor and cancel at least one drain a turn with Groud (v). If they come to your planet, just play smart and always make sure you have a protection card. They may or may not be playing SAC, so start out by play just the Oppressive Shield and wait to see if they play a Sense. If they don’t have any SAC, you should have no problem keeping your guys alive. A few drains of 7 and the direct damage from the AO will take its toil and you should come out on top.

WYS (v)

Normally this would be the toughest match-up for a DS deck these days, but not with RalOps. The Sim and FL (v) provide what you need to set up faster then WYS (v) because they don’t get much force and don’t get to search during your turn. So you literally take away their first turn by them having to pay +2 just to take into one of their site. Once you get your AO out and have Thrawn on table without Ozzel, they will never have NQA (v) in play to drain you, so combined with the Objective. Their drains on Corellia are a big fat 0. Most WYS (v) decks use the majority of their slots for space. So they will run out of characters to throw at you on Ralltiir. Your strategy must be to keep the Executor alive. Do your best to stay away from Dash and put as many high forfeit guys on the Executor as you can so that you can absorb them breaking your Immunity. Getting two destinies with Thrawn and adding 4 to 7 to your total battle destiny will hurt them too. So in time, they will run out of stuff leaving you the victory. The key with this game is causing damage the whole game while they are draining for nothing and doing all they can do knock you out of space. If you are playing against a ground based version with a lot of characters, then you can turn your focus to the ground and not worry about the Executor. Of course, your draw will be the most important thing in this game because some players might try to move Dash over to Ralltiir to keep your from flipping past first turn. If the deck wasn’t built to flip first turn consistently, you would have more to worry about. Remember that you will more often get the flip over the first turn Sim only because of the amount of force the opponent gives you or if you have to use force to deploy a higher cost character to get the flip. There will only be a hand full of games that you won’t have the flip. This Objective combined with Sim and FL (v) is all you need to totally destroy WYS (v).

Tat Beats CP (v) and Combat

Currently, there are two versions of this CP (v) set up. Once is the Non-Hyperdrive version that we have seen on here for over a year, and the other is with Tosche Station start which has come back to power since its worse match up (Huntdown Beats) is currently dead. Both decks will put out a Jedi to Tatooine. Usually it’s Mace but it could be Obi, JK or a version of Jedi Luke. That is good for you because that means that is one less Jedi you have to worry about coming to your planet. The biggest difference after the set up is the Hyperdrive will fortify and try to hold their Watto’s Junkyard drain, while the Station version is meant for battles and beatdown. The good news is you are starting IAO, so you don’t have to worry about a Nabrun Leids on turn 2 or 3 coming and killing you early. You want to play the Hyperdrive version like you would Combat, because both decks will leave one Jedi on their planet while the others come to your planet. You defensive cards are enough to protect you from each attack, and once you have all your sites set up. You can battle the Jedi on Tatooine / Naboo and add +7 to your battle destiny. I was able to beat Combat without even going to Obi who was there draining for 3 all game.

Speeders

A match up you might not see everywhere, but still needs to be addressed. Speeders is still a solid deck because they can set up with big drains and don’t have to come to you at all. Plus their limit 1 to direct damage can hurt many DS strategies. This game will be much more relaxed because you really don’t ever have to worry about them coming to your planet. You also have the benefit of slowing their flip down at least 1 extra turn, sometimes 2 because they MUST search in order to flip. All of their searches happen turn one during one phase, so they will get caught with cards they need in their force pile. With Imperial Decree (v) in play, they will only be hitting you for 1 in direct damage and 1 from the +1 drain at the 3rd marker. You can dish out 5 to 7 a turn plus 1 more with the AO out. Because of ID (v), you really don’t have to do much. By the time they are ready to do T-47 Battle Formation, you would have been dealing a good amount of damage because of how long it takes them to set up with both Sim and FL (v). When you have a stacked Executor, don’t be afraid to take over the Hoth system. This would allow to you to also use the Groud (v) trick to stop their drain of 1 on the ground. If you play smart, this should be an easy win.

Hidden Base with/without Corvette Cannons

With: This game all comes down to rather or not you can keep presence in space. Once you flip, you can spread out like no other because this deck has NO GROUND. That means as long as you can get around Battle Plan, you will have consistent drains while they are setting up. This deck usually takes 3 turns to flip, but you might slow them down to 4 turns with FL (v). Once you get the Executor out, get the Def Shield (v) out with I’ve Lost Artoo (v) and Lev Attack (v). As long as they don’t Sabotage (v) the Shield, they will never been able to shoot down the Executor. That means they would have to try and out power you. This is hard because with Thrawn and the DS (v), you are power 17 with 2 destinies and the RalOps Bonus. Plus, all their drains are -1, so they will not start doing any damage to you until they have flipped. If their HB is Datooine, you should be able to prob and knock out their objective. All in all, this whole game comes down to rather or not they are able to knock you out of space. If they can’t, you win.

Without: Any other HB deck is going to be just about anything. One guy even played the Jedi Luke beatdown with the HB objective at the Y4 Regional. So you really have to look at what they are starting to get an idea of where their HB deck is going to go. This match up plays much like the Cannons only you don’t have to be as worried about the Executor getting shot down. It is already the hardest ship to hit. So only us the DS (v) if they are using starship weapons because you don’t want to get Power Pivot played on you. Just get your space set up and don’t spread out on the ground until you have an idea of their ground forces. Once they have flipped, do your best to probe and battle. There is no ship for the LS that you won’t be able to break the immunity of with the Objective. Just don’t get beatdown by a surprise React or one of the Bad Feeling cards. This deck is also one reason we put the Code Clearance shield in because I played against an Our Most Desperate Hour retrieval deck that totally took me off guard. With limited ground, any HB games is going to come down to your ability to stay alive in space. That is all you have to do.

TRMs

Of course, this is the deck’s worst match up, go figure. The main reason is because they get to go first and don’t ever give you any Force. So in this match up only, you will start Imperial Decree (v) in place of IAO because this is the only match-up where it is just not possible to flip first turn. By using Imperial Decree (v) on your first few turns to activate off their icons, you will have enough Force to set up and flip. The best strategy is to deploy the Swamp with the Objective on your first turn and if you can put a guy that draws destiny there. Because it will only be the LS second turn, they will not have enough Force to both deploy and battle over the swamp. So you should be safe there. Then on your next turn, you can set up the other two sites with guys and flip. If you have the force, get out Sim to the Swamp and do your best to have destiny at each site. That way, Mace will be the only character that doesn’t have to be lost with your Objective adding to destiny. Space is key. Once you have the ground, you must set up the Executor. In my game verse Pistone, he was sitting next to me during my first game, so he knew I was playing the Executor and started The Professor (v). This will slow it you down a turn. Also, this is THE match up for your extra Voyeur (v) to get +5 activation during either turn. Get them to waste their SAC and don’t get beatdown, and you can win this game. Once the Executor is set up, they will never have enough to take it down. Make sure not to get beatdown in space. That is why I lost the game to Pistone, he kicked the crap out of a lone Zuckuss in Mist Hunter after he took back into hand his Tantive IV (v) the turn after I had killed it with Strikeforce (v) and came down with HC&F, drew a 6 and 4 while I drew a 0, darn Ozzel. That one battle caused me to lose both Bespin and the Free Executor Effect. I never had enough after that to deploy the 15 cost Executor. With no space, I never drained once. So he won by 35. It will never happen again because Strikeforce (v) can't do this anymore, and because it no longer grabs your Interrupts, no one is going to start it. That one card cost me the game. You don’t have to play speed against TRMs, just pick your battles and don’t get beatdown. That is it. Since the tournament, TRMs has not beaten this deck easily.

There you have it. Let me know how it does at your tournaments,

Ruck

Original card list

As posted on DeckTech
Starting: (7) Ralltiir Operations Objective Ralltiir Prepare Defenses Imperial Arrest Order (non combo) Forced Landing (v) Insignificant Rebellion (v) Fear Is My Ally (Under Fear):10 Levitation Attack (v) Def Shield Gen (v) Ghhk Combo Masterful Move Combo Secret Plans or Resistance Both SAC Shields Grabber Shield Code Clearance Shield Firepower (v) or Its Worse Combo Locations: (8) <> Swamp <> Jungle <> Forest <> Desert <> Spaceport Docking Bay <> Spaceport Prefect’s Office <> Spaceport Street Bespin Characters: (23) Sim Aloo (v) x3 Darth Vader w/ Lightsaber Darth Maul w/ Lightsaber Emperor Palpatine Captain Beweil (v) Commander Praji (v) Lt. Groud (v) General Veer (v) Lt. Endicott Trooper Davin Felth Lt. Commander Ardan Motti (v) Officer Evax Janus Grand Admiral Thrawn DS-181-3 Captain Godherdt Biker Scout Trooper Sergeant Barich Sergeant Elsek Admiral Ozzel Starships & Vehicles: (5) Executor Zuckuss in Mist Hunter Vader’s Personal Shuttle Blizzard 2 (v) Blizzard 4 Effects: (1) TMNALTC (Free Executor) Imperial Decree (v) Endor Shield (v) Field Promotion (v) I’ve Lost Artoo (v) Interrupts: (11) Cease Fire x2 Outflank (v) x2 Imperial Barrier x2 Voyeur (v) x3 Masterful Move (non combo) Imperial Command Admiral’s Order: (1) We’re In Attack Position Now

See also

Sources

References

  1. ↑ Team TN Sim RalOps. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
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