Deck : The Ultimate Creature Deck
By Matt Hyra
Columnist
Last week I showed you a nice, cuddly Light Side Krayt Dragon deck utilizing Leia's Kiss and a rather short leash. Such a fearsome beast surely deserves better. This Dark Side deck lets the neutral Krayt Dragon run wild, rampaging and pillaging all across the landscape. To make the Krayt feel welcome in the Dark Side's ranks, I've assembled a whole host of different creatures to keep it company.
In the Ground arena, the taskmaster of creatures big and small is the diminutive Geonosian Picadors. This super-cheap creature-boosting unit will give all your creatures +1 Power, even the mighty Krayt! This ability works so well in a heavy creature deck that he acts like a free Interceptor, distracting opponents from the real threat, the Krayt. Yeah, the Picadors will get knocked out quickly, but we have ways of dealing with that. The Krayt could use some help softening up some of the larger targets, so a speedy support creature would do well. Reek, with its 50 Speed, is just the thing. The 2 Power isn't great, but boosted by a Picador or two and he can damage mid-sized units enough to give the Krayt a good shot at wiping them out… all of them.
In the Character arena, I'm utilizing two creatures that can put the hurt on the Light Side. The most annoying of which is Nexu. His ability makes activated abilities like Evade and tap abilities cost one additional Force. Very annoying for opposing Jedi. That ability makes fast attackers like Massiff that much better as well. When the Light Side has plenty of Force, they will often Evade even a single point of damage that hits their Jedi. With Nexu out, they probably can't afford to do that, which will help ensure that the Stun 2 ability of the Massiff actually affects the target. Another cheap boosting unit is Sun Fac (A). He gives all other Geonosians Critical Hit 1. While it's too bad that the Krayt isn't a Geonosian, there are enough other Geonosians in this deck (22!) to make this guy a priority build. All these low health units are going to need some help staying alive, so they need someone to do some Intercepting for them. Darth Vader (C) is the most cost effective in that department, so the deck could use two of those, plus an (A) and (B) version for stacking purposes mainly.
Unfortunately, there are no creatures (so far) in the Space arena. While this deck hopes to win in Character and Ground, the fast and cheap Geonosian Space units will give the Light Side a run for it's money. When Sun Fac (A) is deployed, the fleet becomes rather formidable. The Geonosian Space units are Tyranus's Solar Sailer (A), Geonosian Defense Fighter, and Geonosian Fighter. The only thing they lack is long-term survivability, so a couple of Interceptors like the TIE Fighter DS-61-9 will help out.
The Krayt Dragon could use some Speed enhancement and fortunately this is where the Dark Side shines. Trade Federation Offensive is a great way to ensure that all of your Ground or Space units get to attack first. But sometimes it won't even be necessary to give anything but the Krayt a Speed boost. For a cost of 0 Force, Dark Speed can boost the Krayt to an incredible 60 Speed. Even if he doesn't get to untap and attack again, the Light Side player will think twice about attacking a unit that has already attacked. Dark Speed is also a great way to counter an Anakin's Inspiration, should the Light Side attempt a surprise return into the Ground arena.
Since most of the units in this deck are fairly small, they need some Battle cards to help keep them alive. Tyranus's Gift and Pilot's Dodge should be able to keep the Picadors alive long enough to really start adding up. In the Character arena, Knockdown is a great way to keep the creatures alive should Vader fail to show up on time to Intercept.
Once Vader does arrive, it'd be a good idea to stack him up by utilizing Splinter the Republic. However, an even better Splinter target is another Picador to boost your creatures even further. Incredibly enough, they aren't unique! Most Light Side players will attack the Picadors as soon as they get the chance, so it will be necessary to keep a steady supply of them coming. A single Hatch a Clone will remedy that. The Picador is so cheap that it's hardly a drain on your build points to pay for the Hatch and deploy one of the Picadors in the same turn.
Finally, to really drive home the message the Nexu are trying to deliver, a couple of Capture Obi-Wans will ensure that the Light Side is always starving for more Force, while you'll be playing Knockdowns and Gifts with reckless abandon.
Let see what the deck looks like all put together…
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Strategy Advice
In your initial hand, mulligan all Battle and Mission cards, unless you draw a Krayt Dragon. An ideal starting deployment would be one of each of the following: Tyranus's Solar Sailer, Krayt, Picador, Nexu, Massiff, Sun Fac, and Darth Vader (C).
When the Krayt has scared off the last of the Light Side units, Reek can tap to sift through the deck and get rid of unneeded cards, but don't tap him until the Light Side Ground units have been soundly defeated. The Light Side can be tricky and deploy units after you've tapped your Reeks, so be on the lookout for retreated units or multiple partially built units.
Light Side damage prevention Battle cards can stop a rampaging Krayt fairly easily, so even if you don't deploy a Krayt during set up, there is another way this deck can win. You'll want to deploy as many Nexu as possible and a good supply of Space units. This will force the Light Side to use up all those precious Yoda's Interventions, as the activated Evade ability of their Jedi will be too costly. Slowly build up a Krayt Dragon, then spring it on them when their hand size dwindles down to just a couple of cards. Now the Krayt should be able to take out unit after unit without worrying about the party being cut short by some damage prevention.
I'm always pleased to be able to make a deck that follows a theme and is quite effective as well. I hope you find it as fun to play as I do.