Grouchy old uncle owen Third Watch: Fire-fighting, Sith style (HD)

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grouchy old uncle owen Third Watch: Fire-fighting, Sith style (HD) is a Dark constructed list published on Game Players Network.

Deck info

Introduction

Hunt Down, the best objective ever, teched to beat LSC. Heavy on strategy...

Decklist

Objective

Character

Weapon

Starship

Location

Effect

Interrupt

Epic Event

Strategy

For some time now I've wanted to put together a Hunt Down deck...actually, ever since Hunt Down came out in Special Edition. One small hitch, though...I never actually managed to get my hands on Hunt Down itself. I finally found an oversized Hunt Down, and to my surprise it's actually considered tournament legal. Unfortunately, Hunt Down is more difficult to build than ever now, thanks to Reflections III and Lightsaber Combat. This is my answer to Lightsaber Combat...a Hunt Down dueling deck that stands toe to toe and smacks the lightside around in every matchup.

Dueling Hunt Down...ah, what a deck. Now with a little R3 tech, like Deep Hatred and Blow Parried, dueling has never been easier. stack a couple combat cards, find a Jedi, and engage in a little firefighting. it sounds easy, but dueling does have a few hang-ups, which make some players a little leery of it. I'll explain:

--hang-up number 1: A Jedi's Resilience (AJR). this card truly bites, but there are ways around it. the best way is the simplest: before you initiate a duel, with two 7's stacked, track a 1 to the top of your deck and make sure you're holding a sense. if they play AJR or Blow Parried, Sense it. your objective will be on the 0 side (since they obviously must have a Jedi out if you're dueling), so you add 4 to that 1, and it's less than your Sith's ability. problem solved.

--hang-up number 2: What Was It? this card makes it a little more difficult to duel, especially since you don't get to keep your lost interrupt that initiated the duel. and there's no easy way around this card since you can't cancel. the only solution is to play it extremely safe with your duel destinies...make sure you're only using 7's, make sure you've always got the lightsabers, make sure you throw Darth Vader's saber. just play smart. luckily this card isn't nearly as popular as AJR.

--hang-up number 3: all the other "A Jedi's..." cards. if you actually bother to read them, they make dueling suck. the worst (IMHO) is A Jedi's Concentration, which makes you lose 4 Force or cancel the duel. tough choice...luckily i've never seen anyone pack most of these cards in their decks.

--hang-up number 4: Glancing Blow. this card just plain sucks against Vader. luckily it's not all that popular lately...and Blow Parried cancels it just in case you do see it. whenever you duel you should hold onto Blow Parried, its a game-winner.

--hang-up number 5: Strike Blocked. this card can give you major trouble if you didn't bother to track some other cards to the top to back up your combat cards. this card is why you always play smart and take nothing for granted. this card is also why you play your grabber immediately vs. Lightsaber Combat...and grab it first time you see it.

--hang-up number 6: Qui-Gon Jinn. the Tatooine version of this guy is mean on dueling. luckily, not too many people play him anymore, usually opting for the safety of R3 Qui-Gon's game text or the card efficiency of EPP Qui-Gon. but if you run up against him, it be safer to battle than duel this guy unless your opponent has demonstrated his lack of tracking ability and low destiny average. the only bonus is that he can't make you redraw a combat card duel destiny because you don't "draw" it. but in combo with Strike Blocked he's just mean.

--hang-up number 7: Epic Duel. yeah, this card is actually a hang-up for some people. Some people (not mentioning any names cough*Jason*cough) tend to forget that playing Circle or Obsession without invoking the Epic Duel POOPs your objective. that's bad. Visage loss, for you, sucks. Don't be tempted by the cut-and-dried simplicity of Circle Completion or the retrieval from Vader's Obession (except in VERY special circumstances, like when your opponent has only one card left anyway and you can actually pay for the retrieval...but don't forget Obsession figures power, not ability, so be ready to draw high...even then this is a very last resort and should not be attempted unless you know EXACTLY what's in your opponent's hand...one ARJ will rip you apart.) As i said, never forget that you must Epic Duel when you duel with Vader.

--hang-up number 8: Maul dueling doesn't cause "enough" Force loss. i don't know about you, but i'm willing to trade a little bit of Force loss for the peace of mind knowing that Jedi are dead and not coming back. part of the way around this is to drop Darth Sid on the Blockade Flagship and methodically POOP e1 Jedi and Luke after they've been lost from a duel. when they're out of play, they don't come back, and you stay flipped. simple, easy, and fun. just watch out for the sudden beatdown from Boushh and friends...luckily Boushh is falling out of favor and Bad Feeling makes her terribly expensive.

So you want some strategy now that I'm done with the article bit? well here you go: first turn, pull out your Back Door and drop Vader there. not enough Force? no Vader in hand? not my fault...draw and wait a turn. against LSC, you might want to hold on to Vader for a turn, see how your opponent sets up on Naboo, get your act together and engage him in sweet and glorious battle. second turn, pull out your Blast Door Controls so you can drop and battle whenever the hell you want to. get your proper interrupts and your force generation set up correctly, and enjoy draining the crap out of your opponent, plus damage from S&D; and Visage. Hunt Down excels at causing amazing amounts of damage with a minimum of cards on the table. quite amazing, but such is the most famous deck in Dark Side history.

you want me to explain my card choices? here you go...

They Will Be No Match For You - Maul dueling is fun. Maul dueling is easy. Maul dueling doesn't miss with this effect. i like to make sure its on the table early so i don't screw up and POOP my objective by accident. besides, what's not to like about this card? i especially love saying the title in a menacing voice to my opponent...

Conduct Your Search/Endor Back Door - I hate docking bay decks. They seem so pointless, and i have an irrational fear of Fallen Portal crushing my beloved Sith warriors. plus, i am too easily angered by people who think a lone Janus Greejatus is safe at the Executor docking bay just because its not a battleground. i choose to rely on myself for force activation, and i generally don't need much of it, so Back Door fits perfectly with my style. some people say it gives up too many icons. maybe in a Combat deck, when you already give up 4 icons at the start, but not in Hunt Down. when i drop this first turn, i have 5 icons and i give my opponent 2, plus i can drain 2 off of icons, no bonuses, on my second turn. that's good, IMHO.

Blaster Rack (V) - In case you've been hiding under a rock, the (V) is for Virtual. If a tournament does not allow Virtual cards, it's not sanctioned. so this card is pretty safe. What does it say? "Deploy on table. Once per deploy phase, if you just deployed a unique (*) character, may deploy a matching weapon on that character from Reserve Deck; reshuffle. (Immune to Alter.)" this card single-handedly rocks. Combined with the nice bonuses of Epic Duel, They Will Be No Match For You, and Darth Vader's Lightsaber, this is the Duel-breaker. you can't miss.

Naboo: Theed Generator - why, you ask? because i need a nice spot for my Sith to hang out and drain. this is a pretty safe site, i'd say...they're power +2 in case somebody wants to beatdown, and if i lose control my opponent only drains 1. and once again, i'm draining 2 off of icons. that's important when Menace Fades has a reserve slot in most decks in my area. against LSC, this is the one site i really want to replace...draining 1 sucks when you can see 2 icons on the other side.

Imperial holotable - when i have 3 cards that pull it, why not? "but transmission terminated is such a risk" you say, i saw pshaw. ok, i only say pshaw because they'll probably be targeting Visage instead...plus the generation is really nice when my opponent can't deploy anything but Projections or houjixs there, whereas i can drop a nice Phantom Menace and Visage OTE for another impregnable drain of 1 every turn.

Why so many different Vaders? Can't I make up my mind? - you try losing your hand to Grimtaash and then ask me this again. doubles of non-interrupts scare me if i can't clear them out of my hand quick. plus, its protection against that stupid fish and Chasm. you wanna know why i chose those Vaders? Lord Vader because he's immune to UFury, which is a nasty card to see on Vader when Arica is already on table and i can't get rid of a Boushh or another spy at Vader's site. DVDLOTS because he just plain rocks. and EPP Vader because he's good for a quick battle, i don't have to worry where his saber is.

Darth Maul, Young Apprentice - I just like saying that. Darth Maul, Young Apprentice. Is this not the coolest card in all of Star Wars CCG history? Regular or Alternate Image, take your pick...this guy is awesome. I wanna get it autographed...by the way, in battles he eats Jedi alive, which is sometimes better than dueling them (not often).

Tat Maul/Maul's Infiltrator - this guy in his ship is a must for any deck. especially with VirtuaLuke breathing new life into Hidden Base flip, this guy is a just a bit better than ZiMH because he is truly the master of space. i call it the Probemobile...

2 Sids and 1 Palpy? - well, for starters i only have 1 palpy and 2 sids, so don't start with me. secondly, and i know i'll take some flak for this, but palpy is just a little overrated in my mind. sure, he's got force lightning and janus and sim and mara to back him up, but Sid POOPs Jedi! he POOPs Jedi! can i say that again? he POOPs Jedi!! Palpy needs Young Fool to do that, and the Jedi has to be at same site, which is tough since that means they have to come to him, and that's always bad news. Sidious is a Jedi-killing machine, that's all their is to it. when Sidious is on the table, you know those Jedi aren't coming back...its almost scary. drop him on the Holotheater and he doubles as Visage protection. and oh by the way Palpy has that horrible restriction of never deploying to a site opponent occupies. more than once i've accidently given my opponent a glimpse of my palpy because i forgot that simple fact...

Arica instead of Mara? - sure Mara can Epic Duel, but let's face it, she's not very good at it. and with Blaster Rack, Arica is now my answer to Deep Hatred's rejection of Sniper. deploy her UC, put her saber on her, and next turn cut somebody up. fun and easy. just don't forget to back her up after she breaks cover.

Janus Greejatus - there is a god of dark side tracking, and Janus is his name. he makes it so simple...and tracking is a definite must in this deck. did i mention he adds to force drains with Palpy? that's a plus.

Dre & Panda - I still plan on battling once in a while, and with all the sabers flying around, these little guys are awesome. Blaster Rack almost makes me wanna put Dre's Sawed-off Blaster in here...almost.

Darth Vader's Lightsaber - for those tough times when you don't think you can pull it off. remember, losing an Epic Duel is tantamount to suicide...painful bloody embarrassing suicide. and we can't have that. this saber makes sure you win. don't forget you have to throw this thing before drawing your destinies.

2 Maul's sabers? - have you read Maul YA's game text? he must have his saber if he is going to rip Jedi apart left and right...and he's pretty good at it. plus, against LSC this is a must so you can compete with their insane combat cards...and maybe even come out on top.

Dark Rage - pull Deep Hatred. duh. this is a must...get this card as soon as you possibly can. after Deep Hatred is on the table, this card loses most of its value except against LSC. sorry.

Masterful Move - i can't be the only one who loves putting 3 of these babies in my Sith decks. to start: it's destiny 6, what's not to love there. it's easily trackable, as long as you're smart about when you play it and don't let your opponent grab it. it pulls Ghhhk, which is always a game-saver. it pulls your 4 combat card candidates. oh, and it pulls your Holotable for added generation goodness. what's not to love about this card? did i mention its a freakin' USED interrupt?! i love this card! even the title is cool! i only wish it was a hologram so it could pull itself...

We Must Accelerate - always pull Bad Feeling first, then the Flagship Bridge. Bad Feeling is the most wonderful card the dark side has, even if it does pale against Goo Nee Tay. since you only give up 5 icons with all your sites totaled, BFHI is going to have a major effect on your opponent. the generation would be nice to have early game, but remember, screwing your opponent over always comes first! the obvious exception is if your opponent dropped Honor OTJ in the first couple turns...then grab No Escape ASAP. the only time i'd say grab S&D; first is if you're playing something non-interactive like MWYHL or Hidden Base flip.

Sense non-combo - the combo doesn't cancel reacts or Alter, which I very much like to cancel, especially against reactionary QMC or an Alter targeting Bad Feeling or Blast Door Controls.

Visage OTE x2 - that's right, 2 extra Visages, that makes a total of 3 in this deck. believe me, they're necessary, not only as combat cards, but to back up the damage you give out in case a TT slips by or Corran or Boushh set up shop in the Holotheater.

The Phantom Menace - I prefer to use the AI, myself...oh wait, that's not what you want to know. I say never deploy this effect, always hold on to it for use as a combat card. sure, making Maul immune is nice, but its more important to win those duels, and you're not going to win duels if its stuck to the table instead of being drawn for destiny.

Blast Door Controls - half the fun of a Sith mains & toys deck is seeing Darth Maul step out of nowhere and whip up a big batch of whoopass. that doesn't happen when barriers are in the way. Conduct Your Search pulls it, Hunt Down protects it from Alter, so why not? also cancels that pesky Narrow Escape and Blast The Door Kid, which some opponents will forget...and you have Sense to cover Dodge.

No Escape - i don't start No Escape because i like retrieving a card into hand so much. is that just me? i don't think so. the obvious trade-off is that your opponent might get Honor up and running quickly, which is a distinct possibility (especially in my region). but since Visage rarely hurts me without hurting him, i don't mind trading retrieval for a turn or two of no damage.

Search & Destroy - a no-brainer. more damage is always good, and Hunt Down has a way of clearing your opponent's characters off the table.

ok, so now you want some match-ups? well i'm one step ahead of you...

Profit - Why do i still put a matchup for profit? I dunno. start Arica in the AC, undercover of course. if you get backup on the first turn, break her cover and fortify. they'll come at you, probably with Massa Luke or some other version of him, so be ready with Obsession or possibly Maul Strikes if they're bold enough to bring Jedi Luke into the fray. don't forget that if you're flipped, Leia can't init battle, because they'll sure try. if they do free Han, kill him. with Ben being Circled and dueled, it should be easy.

RST/Boom Race - if it's Boom Race, you don't have a racer but you do have insanely high destiny. with a little attention to your deck, you might even win...but not likely. remember the Bunker's not a battleground, so keep Vader out of there if you can help it and stay flipped. but don't just give them the flip...defend it with Maul and everybody else. tough deck to beat if they do it right, but you should be able to knock them around quite a bit, and with smart playing pull out the win. i'm almost tempted to put in a Closed Door just in case...but i don't see RST in my area. which is odd, since my Decktech Group is the Rebel Strike Team...

MWYHL - if you don't know what you're doing, this deck will eat you alive. the best full training decks will pull shields out of you like you will not believe, so be ready for it. get your Coward shield out ASAP, because retrieval is always a big part of this deck and you should be able to kick them off of any battlegrounds fairly easily...unless they go to space. in that case, focus on your game and let the damage pile up. I'd almost recommend starting No Escape over No Match, because Honor is usually a big part of this deck, hitting the table second turn at latest. another word of warning: always move Jedi Test 2 off the Jungle, even if you have to move it to Luke's site. no mercy.

Hidden base flip - another nasty deck. luckily they'll give you a lot of icons, which will be their undoing. keep Maul for his ship, and take off as soon as they flip, flitting around and probing, cloaking if need be (but you shouldn't need to in most cases). if they put Luke up at a system, try not to scoff openly because VirtuaLuke is fairly good in space. focus on your game and get the damage rolling, and they shouldn't last long enough to do significant damage.

MWYHL/HB/TR Mains - oh fun. if you go back over the cardlist you may notice i forgot barriers. this was a meta choice, because most decks in my area are not geared to battling, rather they focus on strategic draining and damage, which Hunt Down breaks apart. but if you see a lot of Mains decks in your area, you'll probably see something you can take out for a barrier or two. don't hesitate; barriers win games against mains decks.

Rescue the Princess - its been a while since i've faced this deck, but i'll give you some free advice right now: don't try anything at the docking bays. that will just bring a Fallen Portal down on you. instead, set up shop in the War Room and just wait. Leia has to come there eventually, and when she does, be ready to battle the hell out of her. a good deck won't even give you a chance to battle anywhere else, moving Leia along a well oiled track of lift tubes, speeder bikes, and who knows what else until she's safe in the War Room and they're flipped. Dre will be instrumental, with him and Maul you can drop Jerus first and Leia second, flip them back and have a good laugh. conversely, if you're not worried since they can't force drain with a Skywalker when you're flipped, just focus on keeping Jedi and Luke off the table, but don't ever forget that with them on side 7 you have no immunity. that's bad. so taking out Leia is a good goal to have when playing this deck.

TIGIH - could they hand the game to you? quite possibly. put down the Back Door, put down Vader, and move him over to take custody of Luke first turn. even though it'll probably take you until turn 2 to get him due to bad generation starting out, they will have it even worse. without the force to mount a beatdown on Vader, let alone win a battle, they'll have to wait until after you've reinforced him with Maul or Fett or whatever. after that, your job is to not lose any battles. watch your opponent closely...if you see a build up of force, fortify your positions and get ready. this will be a close thing, but they'll need to win 3 battles to have a chance at crossing Vader, and that's not going to happen if you play smart. not to mention, scouts are fodder for lightsabers...

MBO - what? MBO? what? trying to blow away the Disco Ball? what? MBO? once you finish laughing at your opponent, drop Maul on Yavin and party on. ok, but seriously, MBO can be dangerous because it will rob you of your differential if you let it blow away the Death Star. so don't let that happen. the most obvious thing that comes to mind is take over Yavin 4, but that'll be a tall order since they generally flip third turn. luckily, they'll probably want VirtuaLuke in the sky, so you should be able to stay on side 7 most of the game...which means odds are they'll lose something they need to blow away the Disco Ball early on, and they'll be screwed. Hunt Down wins fast, MBO wins (when it wins) slow, Hunt Down comes out on top.

EBO - they need turns to set up. you take those turns away by rolling your damage right along. they may get some good force drains set up, but it'll be too late. if they run Menace Fades to stop your drain bonuses, their bg site will probably be 4th Marker with EBSensors...which is not a problem despite its quasi-Barrier text. just take over the 4th Marker and don't let them have any sites. S&D; will help finish them off as they lose around 6 force from drains, not to mention 2 every turn.

QMC - this is a dangerous deck, dangerous because it looks so simple. in my experience, this is an intensely reactionary deck...they will react to everything you do. react to force drains, react away from battle. and if you don't go to them, they'll drop Celebration and retrieve everything you make them lose, plus On and Off the Edge for even more. in the end, they'll slowly ping you to death. so how do you fight it? the best way is to drop Tat Maul in Ship at the system ASAP so they have to put up the big guns just to occupy it to flip. until then they get no big drains and Celebration is canceled. make sure your Code Clearance shield is out to stop their other retrieval methods. unfortunately, Hunt Down punishes you for trying to use Sense to stop reacts, so that's out of the question. instead, be patient, control adjacent sites so they have nowhere to go, and eventually they will make mistakes. fortunately QMC Celebration decks aren't popular in my area because they're very hard to pull off consistently, but if you run into them often, replace a few Masterful Moves with the Combo so you can get rid of Celebration quickly and easily.

Hyperdrive's Gone - i've never seen anybody play this, but i'd say it shouldn't be too hard. with their limited character base, you'll have to rely heavily on Maul's dueling. with Dre and some sabers at the Junkyard, you shouldn't have too much trouble keeping them from winning battles, but make sure you also don't let them spread out and drain everywhere else. shouldn't be too difficult because this deck has a lot of restrictions built into it that will help you.

Senate - oooh fun. most Senate decks don't run Guards, so if you don't see one and Blast Door Controls is on table, don't be afraid to send Maul with saber into the chamber for a massacre and pretend it's Episode III...Light side senate isn't as good as Dark is at being a mains deck, but you really need to knock out Palpatine, Valorum, and maybe Liana Merian to stop them from messing with your battle destinies. other than that, you shouldn't have too much trouble keeping their Jedi off the table, and they'll have problems causing force loss.

We Have a Plan - don't let them fool you, they don't got no plan. pray they're stupid and didn't pack a Nabrun Leids, but set up in the Throne Room anyway, and be ready for anything. this deck will actually hurt you if you let it run its own way, b/c they'll knock off your battle destinies and limit your force drains, and that will do you in. usually maul w/saber and dre in the throne room are enough to keep them away, but be active. duel their jedi and keep them on the 0 side, and you will win.

and last, but definitely not least...

We'll Handle This, AKA Lightsaber Combat - thanks to this objective, Hunt Down lost a lot of the magic it used to have. not being able to force drain anywhere but Theed interior sites is not good for Sith...they enjoy their freedom. rather than face LSC head on, many Hunt Down players turn to Let Them Make The First Move, choosing to fight fire with fire. However, when played right, teching hardcore against LSC, Hunt Down is definitely the premiere Firefighter of the Universe...their fire will go out of the universe when you play this deck right. try to get the jump on them by being the first to drop Sith on the Theed sites, get their objective flipped so they can't drain but instead have to get rid of you. get Sidious on the Executor ASAP because you'll need to be POOPing Jedi left and right...we're talking Sith Diarrhea here. get your combat cards ready, but don't give them the chance to lightsaber combat you, duel before they get a combat card on the jedi they just deployed. remember the order of actions: they get an action, you get an action. placing a combat card is a topmost action, so after they deploy, ask for your action, and play your dueling interrupt. but remember that they are of course going to play AJR once the duel's over, so remember to have your 7's tracked to the top, and duel again. by the way, tracking is going to be a necessity in this matchup, so if you can't track, sit down and play a few games with a friend, and learn to track. use whatever it takes to help you learn, play lots of used interrupts, janus, whatever else you need. but learn. and learn it well. tracking will save your game. anyway, sure the first duel turned out to be just for practice, but the next duel will be deadly serious and its the one you have to win. they got a combat card on between duels, so they might have a bit of an advantage against you. but have faith, your destiny is great and your tracking is flawless right? well, it better be. the key here is not to let them combat you. duel first, knock them off the table as soon as they come at you. grab AJR or Strike Blocked, whichever comes up first, because both are going to hurt you sooner or later. stay on top of your game, don't let them get ahead in the count. if somehow they do manage to get a Jedi set up on Naboo and you don't have the means to duel them, make sure Blast Door Controls is on the table and go for a battle, swinging your saber. you absolutely have to keep the Jedi off the table in order to get that Visage damage hurting them and not you. and you have to keep your Sith on the table so you can force drain. this will most likely be the hardest matchup you will ever face, but these games will be the most fun you ever have playing Star Wars. and that's really what it's all about.

with all the matchups out of the way, how about 61st Cards:

Imperial Barrier

Presence of the Force

Force Field

Control & Set for Stun (or just Control)

thanks for reading, enjoy the deck, and please leave me helpful comments, like things i might have overlooked, cards i should consider adding. and please don't tell me that i'm the hundredth person to post this deck. i build my decks one card at a time, by myself, without copying other people or using their decks as a bluepring. did anybody else take the time to explain why their decks are all the same? read this strategy and you should be able to construct your own Hunt Down without simply copying mine, because you'll actually understand it. most other decks don't shoot for that kind of educational strategy section.

Ryan French

grouchy old uncle owen

Shadow 13

Rebel Strike Team founder

http://www.decktech.net/43

See also

Sources


References

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