Maserati Ezra (Local tourney winner) 1.0

• Versions

I'm far from the first or only to see the potential of this lineup, but here's my take.

Ezra Bridger or Rookie Pilot?

I strongly prefer Ezra for the following reasons:

• He's an extra Electroshock spot, letting me confidently run x2.
• Similarly, he's an extra Second Chance target, meaning I'm all but guaranteed to get the extra 5 HP; Maz can easily (and often does) die on turn 2.
• He has one fewer blank side.
• He has only 1 less damage on one side, but it's unmodified. He also trades Rookie's for a . I find to be more valuable than 90% of the time. And Ezra's side is amazing; Give me more resources and deny the opponent at the same time? Yeah, I'll take that over an extra .

Card choices

This was the first time I ran the deck seriously, so there's room for improvement. My events felt spot-on, except Logistics. I don't think I ever played that card all day and just used it for rerolls. If I had to do the day over again, I'd probably swap it out for Hit and Run or Rend. Surgical Strike was only really useful in one match but it sealed the game for me, turning 1 and 2 into a dead LR1K Sonic Cannon. I'll gladly trade 3 to put an end to that nonsense. I think if this deck becomes as popular as it ought to be, Surgical Strike will have to become x2. I've also considered adding a x1 Reversal just to sit in the discard pile for an opportunistic Millennium Falcon .

For upgrades and supports, my choices could definitely have been better. I'm not convinced that Hunker Down was worth it. It probably should have been a Hit and Run, Rend, or even Lead by Example. Though I'm not sure if the deck has the spare resources for Lead by Example, especially given that Maz Kanata - Pirate Queen is the ideal attach for it and she's often the first target of my opponent.

I think T-47 Airspeeder underperformed only because I almost always wanted to get something else out instead and usually had the resources to do so, like sitting on 3 and I also had Y-Wing in hand. Ghost also seemed pretty underwhelming for me, but it might have been bad rolls on my part. It felt like it wanted to roll the 3 for 1 when I was empty or rolled when I wanted to pair it with Ezra's +2. Running x2 C-3PO and Millennium Falcon, despite their is the right call; both of them do some serious work.

Matches

I beat several decks that I consider to be pretty good:

• eJango Fett - Lethal Mercenary / eCaptain Phasma - Ruthless Tactician
• eGeneral Hux - Aspiring Commander / Ciena Ree - Adept Pilot / Tie Pilot
• Mirror match
• eK-2SO - Reprogrammed Droid / Rey - Force Prodigy
• eDarth Vader - Sith Lord / Captain Phasma - Ruthless Tactician (also my only loss)

Most people went after Maz first, which I think is the right choice. Accordingly, when given the choice I put my shields on her to start the game. I know I'm not going to claim often, so unless I absolutely cannot live with the opponent getting their battlefield I often let them use theirs so I can get the shields.

Once the game starts, the deck gives you lots of opportunities to go ham on your opponent. Play Partnership to roll out Hera and U-Wing. Pay 1 to roll out Maz with your additional action? Seems fair. NARRATOR: It wasn't. Reckless Reentry and Strategic Planning on the same turn (or any combination of reuse cards) chained together to roll U-Wing 3 times in a turn, possibly getting Recycled to play a second one to roll out again? Also fair. Hera dumping Quadjumper to table to overlay with U-Wing on turn 1 for the mere cost of your starting resources? I'll accept.

Random bits

Early game, especially in matches against Big / Little 2-character lineups don't be afraid to resolve U-Wing as 6. Turn 1 U-Wings haven't really been a thing in 3-wide lineups yet, so this hasn't really had a chance to come up but I really think it's worth it. In games where I started with U-Wing in hand, I'd sometimes put my shields 1 on Hera, 1 on Maz for this reason. I'd only do it while you still have 3 characters unless there's a guaranteed win somehow by gaining shields, though I can't think of what that state could be.

Anyway, enjoy!