Aprha Burn 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Tarkin - Grand Moff and Doctor Aphra - Artifact Hunter are back with their new friend 0-0-0! I think the deck is a solid idea. It has bones, it has a gameplan, it has a wincon. Do the things Aphra shells like to do while burning your opponent and hitting Tarken PA every time. The deck needs to include targets for Tarkin PA that don’t feel bad to pay for –and- don’t cannibalize the character dice which are necessary for dice fixing and shields. I've done a little bit testing with the deck and I wanted to write up my thoughts about where it felt weak/strong and ask the community for their thoughts on changing the deck.

Battlefield – Petranaki Arena - Geonosis – This battlefield was a trap. The dream is being fast enough to claim, take 1ID and deal 1ID + 1UB to the opponent. But the deck isn’t fast enough to really claim consistently as it is built now. Maybe in the future if this deck can really speed up this can be an option, but for now I’m thinking Dry Fields - Atollon. I ran out of money a lot and I feel like decks in this meta are flush with cash so hopefully this will benefit me and not the opponent. My other thought is Docking Bay - Finalizer, free Bubble Shields and Backup Muscle would really help the deck's economy and may be scary enough for opponents to give me the shields at roll-off (although Tarkin/Aphra has really strong roll-off rolls!) The first round of this deck is usually the fastest round, so a claim to get a free 1-drop support seems like a great line of play.

Upgrades Chance Cube – staple to make more money. Need cash for removal and supports. Tarkin 1FC/2FC helps, but sometimes this is $2 Power Action fodder and that feels real bad.

DH-17 Blaster Pistol – never played this card at all. Each time I thought about it I felt like it was a waste. The only base Ranged side in the pairing is Aphra 2RD/1, and paying for a blank to remove is iffy too. My thought is to replace this with Fragmentation Grenade.

Supports 0-0-0 – The star of the show. The deck honestly wouldn’t function without him. Aphra’s gameplan feels better when you know you’re chipping away at the opponent at the same time. It’s the burn component of the burn deck. Need to drop this Round 1, Turn 1 imo.

Backup Muscle – a nice finisher. Gonna be sad when this rotates out BT-1 – with Trip 0s this guy is a monster. 2ID + four damage sides on what is normally a 1-drop.

Bubble Shield – this is the other thing I want to drop Turn 1. Soaking up damage from Crash Landing, Climate Disruption Array, or Dangerous Maneuver is incredible. I wish I could run more lol.

Climate Disruption Array – take 2ID to give 2ID, or 3ID with Trip 0s on the board. I think getting this down early is a great plan, stacking 3ID + Tarkin PA 4ID is a lot for the opponent to deal with. However if your opponent gets an early lead on the damage race this is a dead card.

Probe Droid – Played once and it did the probe thing, which was nice. But it was after the opponent claimed, so I’m not sure how impactful it was on the round. Included it for free droid and 1DR/- sides for Tarkin PA. Not sure I love it. Certainly slows the deck down.

Events Battle Fatigue – Opponent’s characters normally all have damage by the end of round 1. Seems decent, but it’s still single die removal.

By Any Means – helps to thin the deck and burn, but the special meta makes this removal card feel bad.

Crash Landing – a staple for the deck. Remember that assigning to Bubble Shield still gives you the card draw.

Dangerous Maneuver – another staple. Help even out damage, heal over to the Bubble Shield or use your shields that showed up late to the party (remove 2 from a character, assign back to remove shields).

Fall Back – this card was huge. Getting the money was sometimes a pain, but watching Built to Last decks discard 4 upgrades was a big win.

Relentless Pursuit – another finisher card. Should be used to kill a character after a big indirect assignment. Feels better in theory than practice? I think I just need more time with it; this still feels like a great card.

Target Intel – included to turn Tarkin/Aphra/BT 2ID sides into 2RD… never really used it that much. Thinking about cutting this.

Testing Procedure – pretty much a free dollar thanks to BT-1s four damage sides, but I’m not sure if this card should just be Deploy Squadron. Doesn't work with any of your Action: supports either.

Overall thoughts This deck has a lot of interesting lines of play. Sometimes you can stall by using several Dangerous Maneuvers to dig for an answer or a droid you need; other times you put a real and serious clock on the opponent with two CDAs and BT-1. Managing how you hit Tarkin PA is essential, as Aphra and Tarkin’s character dice are really good for shields/discards/focus. Due to the “Action:” nature of some of your supports, this deck cannot race Kylo2 or any other agro deck. So I don’t think it should be built with speed in mind. It is allowed to grind out the win if it can make the plays.

Cards I have thought about Deploy Squadron - seed up supports to get all the droids into the pool quicker

Ark Angel - sides seem lacking but I get droids in the pool faster

Tactical Mastery/Partnership/Lead by Example - I'm not sure how much a one-time action cheat or char+support action cheat will help in the long run. Plus Tarkin is the first target so Tactical Mastery will get turned off before too long.

I think I would replace DH-17 for Fragmentation Grenade straight up, even if I have to pay the dollar to keep the die around. But it would make for an OK PA die if needed.

Thanks for reading!