Vader/Guard 20-person store championship winner 1.0

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• 1.0

I've been digging Vader Guard recently, but had been playing a force power based version. However, a combination of getting tired of drawing holocrons without force powers and vice versa (and the anti-synergy of Vader/Mind probe, the high resource cost of Force Lighting damage sides, etc) and seeing the top 16 Gencon List by jasonsbrown on this site, I decided to try a more melee heavy version.

I started with the skeleton of the Gencon list, and then tweaked it a bit. I decided the holocrons from his list were not worth it with only Makashi training and Force Illusion to really benefit from it. I also wanted to run two boundless ambitions because getting those + Price of Failure can win games, and two each gives a much higher chance of not only getting them together, but getting them before Guard dies.

I also tweaked the mitigation suite a bit, dropping one deflect for a second overconfidence, as Overconfidence is one of my absolutely favorite blue control cards. In hindsight, I'd probably rather run two deflects and one isolation in the current meta, but that is definitely a meta call.

Finally, wasn't sure on the Use the Force X2 in the Gencon List. Its definitely a decent enough card- especially coupled with force speed, but I wasn't sure on the one resource cost of it. I opted to run doubts instead to help bring the curve down over all.

For those keeping track at home, the changes I made thus far are:

Holocron -> Boundless Ambition Deflect -> Isolation Use the Force x2 -> Doubt x2 Holocron (2) - ?

So, I had one slot list. My initial reaction was to simply slot in a second deflect and be done with it. However, upon looking at how low my resource curve was, I decided to try a single Rise Again. I figured over the course of the game my resources would likely slowly tick up (assuming I'm not getting choked by an Unkar or other disrupt heavy deck), and that if I managed to pull off the Rise Again it would be a backbreaker (plus could pull a Lightaber or Kylo's Lightsaber I had pitched out of discard), and if I didn't the chance was worth one slot in the deck.

During the tourney, I didn't ever play Rise Again (though was about to once that would have likely sealed the game if I hadn't rolled absurd damage to end it that way instead) so I don't know for sure if its worth it, but I definitely feel like its a one of I'd like to continue experimenting with as a one of.

My Run:

Round 1: vs. Emo kids (Won) Round 2: vs. Emo Kids (Won) Round 3: vs. Funkar (Won) Round 4: vs. Vader/Guard - Force Power version (Lost)

Top 4: vs. Han Solo/Snap (Won)

In the finals, I was paired up to face the Funkar player I had previously beat in Round 3. I've played him several times with both of us playing different decks throughout the Atlanta area in various store championships, and while I was feeling confident I had a good matchup (especially having won in Round 3) the best of 3 certainly could have been anyone's game. That said, both of us had previously Won SCs, so with the Bye (and Plaque, because who needs more than one of those?) sliding down the ladder to someone else in the top 4, we decided to not play the final round and just both took our Phasma promos so that he could get on the road. I took the Store Champion label, however, for what that's worth.